Rayne's Return (Hearts of ICARUS Book 3)

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “But you can still fold time, right?”

  “Yes, I can do that,” he assured her. “That ability is located in a different part of my brain than the area they destroyed.”

  “Why didn’t you call for help, Wolef? If you can duplicate my calls, surely you could’ve called to your own people.”

  “I considered it, of course,” Wolef replied. “But I could not lure another dragon to share in my fate. Instead, I sent a death call, so that none of my people would risk themselves attempting to trace me.”

  “Five hundred years all alone, a prisoner not only of the Doftle, but of your own mind and body as well,” Rayne said, silent tears running down her face. “And here I was, feeling sorry for myself because I’d been here for one lousy year.”

  “You are too hard on yourself, Solin,” Wolef said. “Anyway, I did not spend all of that time alone.”

  “No?”

  “For the first hundred years after my capture they moved me around from space station to space station every decade or so. I was something of a curiosity that everyone wanted to study, you see. On occasion I was able to find other prisoners to speak with, which was usually a nice diversion, but it never lasted long. Either I was moved, or they were, or they lost their minds, which happens sooner or later with most Doftle captives. About two centuries after I was captured the Xanti destroyed a world called Jotunn. Have you heard of it?”

  “I know that it’s one of the worlds destroyed by the Xanti, as you said,” Rayne replied. “But aside from that, I know nothing about it.”

  “The Jotunn are magical creatures, which drew the unwelcomed interest of the Xanti. The Doftle captured a few of them before the Xanti annihilated their planet for refusing to cooperate with them. One of the Jotunn, a fellow by the name of Jinjie, was taken to the same station where they were keeping me, and managed to escape his cell shortly thereafter. No prisoner had ever escaped before, and it drove the Doftle to distraction as they tried to figure out how he’d done it, and where he’d gone. Unfortunately, he couldn’t actually escape from the station itself even though the Doftle eventually concluded that he had. We spent years trying to find a way to do it, but it’s impossible. The only way to leave a space station is to transport from the station to a nearby ship, and the only ships nearby are always Doftle ships. Jinjie hid in my cell for a century or more, and we kept each other company.”

  “Are Jotunn naturally long lived, or did the Doftle do something to him?”

  “It’s natural for them as it is for most magical beings, including dragons.”

  “What happened to him?” Rayne asked.

  “I don’t know,” Wolef replied sadly. “I was moved to another station, but there was no way for Jinjie to accompany me without being caught. As far as I know, he’s still there.”

  “You couldn’t send him back in time, could you?”

  “No, I couldn’t,” Wolef said. “He’s a magical creature, so his magic automatically defends against other magic, and he did not have the ability to release it long enough for my magic to work on him. We made many attempts over the years, but without success.”

  “I’m sorry, Wolef,” Rayne said. “If you tell me where your friend is, I can try to rescue him.”

  “I know only the Doftle’s terms for the station, and the world it orbits, and I don’t know if it’s still in the same place after all this time anyway. But I thank you for the thought, Solin.”

  “Wolef, why did the Doftle capture you? And the Jotunn? And me? What is their purpose in all of this?”

  “What their ultimate purpose is I do not know,” Wolef said. “What I do know is that they are in a competition, of sorts, and they mean to win it.”

  “Competition?” Rayne asked, stunned. “Do you mean…like a game?”

  “As I understand it, yes.”

  “What do we have to do with their game?”

  “We’re the game pieces.”

  “That’s not funny, Wolef,” she said, feeling sick at the thought.

  “It’s not meant to be,” Wolef said. “I’m quite serious, I assure you.”

  “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

  “The Doftle here, in the Thousand Worlds, are all part of what they call a Tentacle. There are other Tentacles in other galaxies and, perhaps, in other regions of this galaxy, but I don’t know how many, or where, exactly, they are. And before you ask, no, I don’t know where the Doftle are from, either.”

  “They don’t even discuss their home world among themselves?”

  “Once, about three hundred years ago, I overheard a conversation between several Doftle. One of them was bemoaning his fate at being sent here, to the Thousand Worlds, and at one point came very close to naming his home world. Before he got the word out of his mouth, his friends killed him.”

  “They killed him for nearly speaking the name of their planet?”

  “Yes,” Wolef said.

  “Why not just tell him to hush up? I don’t understand.”

  “Neither did I, to be truthful, but that is the Doftle for you. It was a difficult blow for me as I’d been trying to learn that bit of information for a very long time, but at least I learned why nobody spoke about it. They are very protective of information regarding their origins.”

  “So it would seem,” Rayne said, sitting down on her cot to rest her trembling legs for a few minutes. “What is this game you were talking about?”

  “”From the bits and pieces I’ve been able to put together I believe that these Tentacles are in competition with each other. The Tentacle here, in the Thousand Worlds, was very excited for a few decades because they felt that they were on the cusp of winning, but something went wrong and it set them back. I don’t know what their objective is, nor do I know what their reward for winning would be. The Doftle are gifted manipulators, though. They’ve been here, in the Thousand Worlds, for more than ten thousand years and yet only those of us who’ve been so unfortunate as to become their prisoners know of their existence.”

  “That’s quite a feat for a technologically advanced race,” Rayne said.

  “Indeed,” Wolef replied.

  “Wolef, is the Weeble who lured you into a trap the same Weeble that’s here, now?”

  “Yes, he is. They live an extraordinarily long time but it’s not natural for them. They’ve either discovered how to extend their lives themselves, or they’ve stolen the knowledge.”

  “Have you ever seen or heard of a female Doftle?”

  “No, not once. I’ve never even heard them speak about females.”

  “The one thing I’ve learned about Doftles is that there are more questions than answers,” Rayne said with a frustrated sigh. “It sure would be nice to know what it is they’re trying to accomplish.”

  “Yes, it would be,” Wolef agreed. “But after five centuries of eavesdropping, I’ve yet to discover that.”

  Chapter 9

  Before Rayne opened her eyes she knew that she wasn’t alone. She raised her shield automatically and sat up, already knowing from the unique combination of oak and lime that it was Ari who sat in the chair near the bed. “Hi,” she said. “How do you feel?”

  “We’re all fine,” he said. “You?”

  “Hungry again,” she said. “Or maybe I should say still hungry. It seems like all I want to do is eat and sleep.”

  “That’s good,” he said. “It’s exactly what your body needs right now, especially after pushing yourself so hard today.”

  “What time is it?”

  “Dinner time,” he said, just as the door opened.

  “I slept all day again?” she asked in surprise.

  “Yes, you did,” Ari replied as Rayne turned to watch Landor and Con enter, both carrying big trays. “We tried to wake you up for lunch, but you were too tired, so we let you sleep.”

  “We brought dinner,” Landor said, setting a tray down on the table before turning to face her. “I know it’s forward of us to invite ourselves to dine with yo
u, so please don’t hesitate to kick us out if you want. We’ll understand.”

  “No, please stay,” she said, getting off the bed. “I’d rather not eat alone. Will you excuse me for a minute?” They nodded and she crossed to the bathroom on legs that still felt a little shaky, but much better. By the time she came back out, the table was set, drinks were poured, and they were waiting for her.

  “This is nice,” she said as she took her seat and reached for the glass of sasuna. “Thank you.”

  “It’s our pleasure,” Con said.

  “Ari said you were all fine, but are you? Really?”

  “We are, really,” Landor said, glad that she’d taken off the brown contacts. The brown hair didn’t bother him so much, but he didn’t like the contacts. He’d come to rely on her eyes to tell him the truth of her feelings, but the contacts hid everything. “Thank you for helping us, Rayne. I thought we’d be able to control ourselves enough to avoid a blood rage, but it was more…difficult…than we expected.”

  “I know. I’m just glad I was able to help.”

  “What about you?” Landor asked. “How do you feel? Are you in any pain?”

  She looked up at him in surprise, then shook her head and picked up her fork. “I feel a little weak still, but that’s all.”

  “You look tense,” Con said.

  “I am, a little,” she admitted. “Earlier today I said I wanted to tell you something, and I think now’s the time.”

  “If it’s making you tense, maybe now isn’t the right time,” Ari said. “There’s no need for you to rush anything, Rayne.”

  “Thank you, Ari, but I really do need to do this now.” She frowned. “I guess I should first ask if you tried to fix the alarm system while I was sleeping.”

  “No, we didn’t want to wake you up, so we decided to do that after dinner,” Con said. “Why?”

  “Because there’s no need,” she said.

  “Why not?” Landor asked.

  “I suppose you’ve already figured out that my psychic ability is a shield.”

  “We’ve come to that conclusion over the past couple of days, yes,” Landor replied.

  “Because you can’t always tell what I’m feeling?” They all nodded. “That’s just what I call my partial or half shield. When it’s all the way up, I can’t be detected by sight or scent, and not even my sisters can sense the most extreme emotions from me. I don’t make myself invisible exactly, but when my shield is fully up not even electronic components register my presence.

  “It sounds like a personal Blind Sight,” Ari said.

  “Not quite,” Rayne said. “I can’t hide sound.”

  “But we can feel emotions from you,” Landor said. “Now that we’ve spent time with you it’s easy to see that the unruffled calm we always feel coming from you doesn’t match what we see on your face or in your eyes, which is confusing as hell, but we definitely feel you.”

  “I know,” she said. “That’s another component of my shield, one I’ve never told anyone about. Until now.”

  “You know you can trust us, right?” Landor asked.

  “Yes, I know that,” she said, smiling a little. “When my sisters and I were very young, one of the first skills my parents tried to teach us was to control our emotions. It was more important for my younger brothers of course, as it is for all male Clan Jasani, but they wanted us to develop the ability, too. Tani and Salene didn’t have any trouble with it, but for me, it was impossible. If I was sad, or scared, or angry, then that’s the way I felt. I couldn’t change that just by wanting to no matter how hard I tried. So, I taught myself to raise my shield just enough to hide my emotions, but nothing more. That didn’t work out so well because not even my sisters could sense anything from me, which gave away the fact that I was using my shield. I kept working at it until I discovered a way to hide my true feelings, and at the same time project an aura of calm. What you call contentment.

  “Part of the reason I felt I needed to tell you this is that I can’t watch you waste time on the alarm system when I know it’s not necessary. I went out this morning, and then returned, and I had my shield all the way up the entire time so no one could see me. That should have kept the alarms from tripping, so I’m guessing that the alarm was on the door itself, which would explain why it went off.”

  “Yes, that’s right,” Con said. “Thank you for saving us a lot of time and frustration.” Rayne nodded, then took a bite of her dinner.

  “You said that the alarm system was only part of the reason you wanted to tell us about your shields,” Landor said. “What’s the other reason?”

  Rayne finished chewing, put her fork down and gathered her courage. “I know I’m not what you had in mind for an Arima, and I know you’re disappointed, but the fact is that I’m your berezi and we need to face that.”

  “We’re not disappointed,” Landor said, interrupting her. “We just made a mistake. We were so focused on restraining ourselves, so worried that we’d claim you before you had a chance to grow up, that we stayed away from you far more than we should have. If we hadn’t, we would have noticed that the emotions displayed in your eyes didn’t match the emotions we could feel coming from you. It was an enormous error on our parts, and we’re very sorry for it. Hurting you is the last thing we wanted to do.”

  “I understand,” Rayne said. “But I’m afraid you’ve made another mistake that you aren’t even aware of.”

  “Which is?” Landor asked.

  “You thought I was immature, as you put it, because I seemed to be calm and unaffected all the time. Once you realized that my true emotions were different from what you sensed, you swung a bit too far the other way. Even though your reasons for thinking I was immature were wrong, your conclusion was not wrong.” She waved a hand at their surprised expressions. “Oh, I know that right now I’m a bit of a mess. But when all of this is over and I’m back to myself again, you’ll see that what you label immaturity really is a big part of who I am. I don’t think immaturity is the right word for it, but I’m sure that once you get to know me, that’s what you’ll think.”

  “I’m afraid we don’t understand,” Landor said, frowning. “Why would we think that?”

  “I like to be happy, I love to laugh, and I always try to see the good side of things if at all possible. I love to write music, and I have enough talent that I’ve been told, more than once, that I’m a fool for not pursuing a career with it. But I don’t want a career. Not a full time one, anyway.”

  “What do you want, Rayne?” Landor asked.

  “I want a warm, loving relationship like my parents have with each other, and a big, happy family with lots and lots of children,” she said, her eyes lighting up as she spoke, giving her a glow that had them momentarily captivated. “That’s what I’ve always wanted. I want it so much that I’d decided to put my name on the list for Arima House as soon as I got back to Jasan after Tani’s wedding.”

  She paused and studied their faces for a long moment, but she couldn’t tell what they were thinking or feeling. But she’d started this, so she was going to finish it. “I know you think I’m hurt because you thought I was too immature for you, but it’s not true. Believe me, it’s not the first time I’ve been called that. But I am hurt that you rejected me without even giving me a chance because of it.

  “That said, I also have to say that I know I’m not the only one with dreams, and I truly am very sorry to have disappointed you in yours, especially now that I’ve come to know you a little.” Landor opened his mouth but she hurried on. “Please, don’t misunderstand me. I’m sorry about it, but I’m not willing to pretend to be other than I am to fit your ideal. Even if I were willing, I very much doubt that I could. So if that’s what you have your minds set on, then we have a problem.”

  “We’ve certainly made a mess of things with you,” Ari said sadly. “But you’re wrong in thinking that you’re not the type of woman we wanted. We’ve always known that our Arima could be anyone, so we wer
e careful not to set our hearts and minds on any particular trait. All we wanted was a woman to love, who would love us in return, and one who, we hoped, would want a big family.”

  “We stayed away from you because we thought you weren’t ready for us,” Landor said. “Not because we didn’t like you.” She raised her brows and he shrugged. “Okay, yes, we were frustrated by the fact that it seemed to be taking so long for you to grow up, but that’s not the same as disliking you.” She thought a moment, then nodded, accepting that. “We ask that you give us a chance to get to know you. And we ask that you take time to get to know us, as well. Will you agree to this?”

  Rayne’s heart leapt. She was so happy that he’d suggested the same thing she’d been about to suggest. It told her that they wanted to make things work between them as much as she did, and that went a long way toward healing her hurt feelings. Just as she started to agree wholeheartedly, a thought entered her mind, instantly dampening her enthusiasm.

  There was one very important issue that they hadn’t mentioned, so it looked like it was up to her to bring it up. Unless she could prod them toward it.

  “I do want to get to know you, and it makes me happy that you want the same thing. But, I think we should put any other concerns we might have on the table before we come to an agreement,” she said, then looked at them hopefully. Landor frowned, getting that she had something specific in mind, but unable to imagine what it was. He looked at Con, and then Ari, but they appeared to be as clueless as he was.

  “We have no further concerns at the moment,” he said. “If you do, we would hear them now.”

  Rayne hesitated, then lifted her chin. “I know that you don’t have a…,” she paused, searching for a word that was less embarrassing that what she’d almost said. “I know you don’t have a physical attraction to me.” She paused, so relieved to have that part out that she missed Landor, Con, and Ari’s surprised reactions. “I’m concerned about that because I was taught that identifying your berezi was, for male-sets, a…well…physical…thing, and you told me that you didn’t have that…reaction.” She pressed her palms to her cheeks, wondering if it was possible for them to actually catch fire due.