Becoming (Daughters of Saraqael Book One)

by Raine Thomas

  When one of Skye’s tears slid down her bloodstained cheek and dropped heedlessly onto the oozing black wound marring the hand she clung to, there was a flare of light when the tear touched Amber’s flayed skin.

  Gabriel saw it. He caught Skye’s baffled gaze. He also realized that Amber’s thrashing had paused for a notable instant before resuming.

  He was afraid to move. Afraid to breathe. Afraid to hope.

  Olivia, however, could never let a puzzle go unsolved. She blinked back her own tears and then leaned forward to catch one of Skye’s glistening tears on her fingertip. She held it over Amber’s wound and let it drip.

  Nothing happened.

  But when she moved to sit back and a tear that had traveled along her cheek and through the blood covering her chin plopped onto Amber’s injured thigh, another pop of light flared.

  He understood. Frantically glancing around, he spotted Olivia’s arrows scattered on the ground. Grabbing the closest one, he paused to gather one of his own tears on his left ring finger, then used the fine arrow tip to pierce the skin. Then he touched the combined fluids to Amber’s hip. Brilliant light flared. Amber moaned rather than screamed when the next wave of cursed pain hit her.

  Even as Skye and Olivia caught on and silently leaned over so their bloody tears would touch Amber’s injuries, the chamber filled with the sound of weapons leaving their sheaths. Shocked by the sound, Gabriel glanced around in confusion. Only then did he realize that every one of the elders was weeping. Even the unemotional Ini-herit.

  Gabriel’s overwhelming grief had affected them all.

  They came forward, slicing fingers and palms, mixing their blood with their tears and then touching Amber where the cuts had been made. The chamber filled with flashes of light.

  Eventually, Amber’s thrashing ceased. She stopped crying out. Her face eased into peaceful lines. Before she closed her eyes and eased into a more natural state of unconsciousness, her irises had once again turned gold. Her wounds closed, appearing as nothing more than thin, red lines where the cursed blade had broken her skin.

  She would be scarred forever…but they believed she would live.

  “We have all done what we can,” Jabari said solemnly. “The rest of this fight is hers alone.”

  Amber slept. When she opened her eyes, her brain felt thick. Feverish. She couldn’t seem to hold onto a solid thought. Gabriel sat beside her. Wherever it was she was lying.

  Catching his gaze, she said the first thing that came into her hazed mind. “Are we married?”

  His lips twitched. He put something cold and wet against her forehead and she wanted to protest, but it was surprisingly soothing. “As married as Estilorians get.” A concerned expression crossed his features as he brushed his hand over her cheek. “Is that okay with you?”

  Her tongue didn’t want to cooperate, but she managed to reply simply, “Sure. I love you.”

  Then she closed her eyes to clear her vision with a slow blink because she was seeing two of him. When she reopened them, he was clearer. And dressed in a different outfit. He looked more like the human Gabriel in a white T-shirt and blue shorts. Her brain still felt wrapped in Kleenex.

  “Weird wedding, though,” she said, continuing their conversation.

  Realizing she was speaking, he leaned closer. She vaguely realized that he was the only thing around her she could manage to focus on. “What?”

  “Weird wedding,” she repeated, wondering why her voice sounded like a croak.

  “Oh. Well, we can have a more human ceremony when you’re feeling better,” he offered with a small smile. Even in her foggy state, she recognized the worry in his gaze. He held a cup with water in it and propped her up enough that she could sip it.

  The liquid felt like a miracle against her dry throat. “Thanks,” she said slowly as he settled her back down. “Orange juice would be even better.”

  Now his smile reached his eyes.

  She had another thought she wanted to express. She closed her eyes to bring the thought into focus. This time when she opened them, Gabriel was dressed in a royal blue short-sleeved shirt and khaki shorts. She might have been imagining it, but his hair looked longer. Her brain finally clued in that she was blacking out rather than blinking, but that was the best it could do before her thoughts scattered again.

  “Does this mean we get to have sex?” she asked, finally recalling what she had meant to convey before she closed her eyes.

  There was a snort of laughter, but since she was staring at Gabriel, she knew it hadn’t come from him. He turned and sent a warning look over his shoulder. She was too loopy to care that someone had overheard the intimate question. Where in the world was she, anyway?

  “We’ll discuss that when you’re feeling better,” he said softly when he again looked at her.

  She processed that. “Am I dying?”

  “No,” he answered vehemently. She saw raw emotion flash through his eyes. She wished the fog in her brain would clear so she could hear his thoughts.

  “Guess I’ll get better then,” she said. “Got any orange juice?”

  “Of course I do.”

  He turned to the small table beside her bed. Huh. She was in a big bed. Her vision grew more indistinct when she tried to see beyond the bed. There were splashes of color around the room. Were those the outlines of other people? But then Gabriel held a glass of orange juice to her lips and assisted her in drinking it, and she suddenly couldn’t find the energy to care.

  As he gently laid her back against the pillow, her thoughts cleared for another moment. She recognized the exhaustion and sadness in his eyes. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  He frowned. She tried to say more, but her eyelids felt like weights, and she once again faded.

  This time, she dreamed.

  In the dream, she wielded her sword, its blade flashing white in the moonlight. There was movement all around her, but her gaze was centered on her opponent: the Mercesti who had faced her in the coliseum chamber.

  “I am going to kill you,” he said matter-of-factly, circling her and waving his curved black sword. “None can survive me.”

  “That’s funny. Because I’m still standing here,” she replied, her eyes following him.

  His scarred face spread in a malignant grin. “But you are not. Do you not see? I have taken you from him. Only those with unshakable faith can defeat the curse of my blade.”

  “Well, I have faith in Gabriel. And no one and nothing will take me from him.”

  She swung her sword. They battled until the sun rose. She never flagged, swinging her blade again and again, parrying his attempts to get past her guard. Her instinct guided her and led her true. And finally, when the sun fully crested over the horizon, she nodded.

  “Enough playing around,” she said. “Gabriel is waiting for me. Go to Hell.”

  And on her next opening, she drove her sword right through the Mercesti’s heart.

  The next time she surfaced, she felt perfectly coherent. The room was dimmer. She figured she had surfaced at night. Only one softly-glowing orb rested against the high ceiling.

  Slowly, she lifted her head. Now she could focus on the entire room. It was presently empty outside of her and Gabriel, who was lying next to her in the big bed. He had an arm thrown protectively over her waist. She was covered only with a sheet. He lay on top of the sheet wearing a pair of dark brown shorts and no shirt.

  For a while, she simply settled back and stared at him. Memories from her mental nebulousness slowly filtered back to her. He had never left her side. The exact circumstances that had led her to this bed weren’t clear, but she knew she was recovering.

  He had left a glass of water on the bedside table an arm’s reach away from her. She carefully reached over and lifted the glass to her lips, finishing every drop. When she set it back down, her hand shook. She was obviously still weak.

  As she returned to her pillow, Gabriel stirred. He pulled her closer without opening his eyes and
brushed his lips against her forehead. When his breathing quickly evened out in sleep, she realized the action had been well-practiced and instinctive. The knowledge touched her deeply. She turned her head and noted that their lips were just an inch apart. It took little effort at all to lift her head the remaining distance to kiss him.

  He responded even in sleep. His lips moved against hers. She slowly brought her right hand up and curled her fingers into the hair behind his head, deepening the kiss. That was when he awoke. But rather than pull away, he pulled her closer.

  And there was the healing energy she needed. Finally, she was strong enough to focus her power on healing herself. The energy coursed through her in brilliant waves. Instinctively, she pushed some of that energy toward him. Golden light flared around them.

  She clung to him, welcoming his touch, savoring his kiss. He promoted her healing, yes, but it was his love she craved. Her entire body tingled as it regenerated strength. She sensed the same thing happening to him and realized he had been almost as much in need of her touch as she had his. He had weakened as she had weakened. Not just from a lack of sleep, but from emotional turbulence and deeply crippling worry for her.

  I love you so much, she thought fervently, not wanting to part long enough to speak the words.

  Realizing their mental connection was reestablished, he responded in kind. Her mind flooded with all of the things he had wanted to tell her while she was battling the curse and couldn’t. There was so much emotion in his thoughts that tears filled her eyes and trailed down her cheeks.

  In the end, she understood with exceptional clarity that she had in Gabriel everything she had ever wanted. Indeed, all she ever needed. With him, she could truly conquer anything, no matter how incredible it might seem. And he felt exactly the same about her. He would never turn from her. To him, she had always been and always would be worthy of his love.

  And so it was that they healed each other.

  Epilogue

  They were married in a traditional human ceremony in a location known and attended only by the Estilorian elders, Olivia, Skye, James and Caleb. The setting was remote, tropical and temperate with a rocky and awe-inspiring coastline. As the sun set over the calmly rolling sea, Amber and Gabriel joined hands and exchanged vows on the white sand beach while Jabari officiated.

  “I, Gabriel, take you, Amber, to be my wife…”

  “I, Amber, take you, Gabriel, to be my husband…”

  She was dressed in a simple white sundress with a sweetheart neckline and a flowing skirt that reached the tops of her bare feet. Her hair, which she had insisted on cutting, hung in loose, windswept curls to just between her shoulder blades. She wore a single orange and gold tropical bloom above her left ear. The gold stars and blue-gray flames that marked the outsides of her golden eyes served as the only added color on her lovely face; she wore no makeup. Her only jewelry was the ring that hadn’t left her finger since she and Gabriel had exchanged them on the human plane. Jabari simply improvised that part of the ceremony.

  Gabriel wore a loose white shirt unbuttoned over a white tank top and khaki-colored pants, his feet also bare. Behind him, wearing identical garb, stood James and Caleb. On Amber’s side, Olivia and Skye wore sundresses the exact blue-green of the ocean beside them. They carried bouquets of tropical floral in bright shades of gold and orange. The Estilorian elders, all of whom were in attendance, got into the spirit of the wedding’s casual theme. They wore loose, colorful dresses, casual pants and tank tops. No one wore shoes.

  When Amber and Gabriel kissed to seal their marriage vows, their shared joy spread among everyone in attendance. It was nothing short of a miracle to a people who had felt very little in centuries.

  At the conclusion of the ceremony, the group moved to a spot on the beach that had been prepared with wooden chairs and softly glowing orbs of light around a fire pit. There was food and drink for everyone. The mood was festive and light.

  When the sun had fully set and everyone had eaten their fill, Gabriel turned to Amber. “I have a wedding present for you,” he said.

  Her eyes widened. “We were supposed to get each other presents?”

  He laughed. “I don’t know if we were supposed to, but I did.” And then he glanced at Sebastian, the Lekwuesti elder, who waved his hand toward Amber.

  Amber stared at her lap as the gift materialized with a wash of lavender light. Her eyes grew even wider.

  Skye gasped with delight. “A guitar!”

  “Not just any guitar,” Amber softly clarified as she rubbed the body reverently. “The same exact kind of guitar he bought me for my fifteenth birthday.” She tested the strings, tilting her head as she gauged its sound, and positively beamed. It obviously met with her approval.

  “How were you able to get this?” Olivia asked curiously. They all knew objects didn’t transition between the planes.

  “I worked on recreating it…with a little help,” he said, giving a thankful nod toward the Lekwuesti elder.

  Sebastian gave them all a modest nod and small smile.

  Amber set her gift carefully on the empty chair beside her and then threw her arms around her husband, kissing him soundly. “Thank you, Gabriel. You know I love it. It’s perfect.” She touched the side of his face. “I wish I had thought to get you something.”

  “I would consider it a gift if you would play it, Little Star,” he responded, his eyes full of warmth and pleasure.

  After touching her forehead to his and sighing happily, she sat back down and lifted the guitar. She gave it a few practicing strums.

  “This is so cool!” Skye said excitedly, bouncing in her seat. “I wish I could play. Oh, what can you play?” She clapped her hands together. “I know! Can you…” she trailed off and flushed, obviously aware of the fact that her taste and style differed from that of her sisters. But she continued gamely, “Can you play ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow?’ You know, the ukulele version?” Blushing, she stammered, “It’s a happy song. It’s always made me think of the beach.”

  Not removing her gaze from Skye’s, Amber gave her a half-smile, moved her hands on the neck of the guitar and immediately launched into the song her sister had requested.

  As the cheerful strumming surrounded them, Skye laughed and jumped to her feet. She turned to Caleb beside her and yanked his arm until he reluctantly stood. Then she started dancing, forcing him to move to keep up with her as she held his hands and gyrated and spun in time with the music. Olivia sang along with Amber, their voices blending melodiously together. Gabriel nudged James with a grin.

  It would be remembered as the most joyous event in all of Estilorian history.

  From a distance away, Knorbis stood beside Ini-herit and watched the festivities. The Wymzesti was smiling, something his friend the Corgloresti hadn’t yet mastered. Knorbis supposed it wasn’t so surprising that the practical and grounded Ini-herit was much more receptive to the more negative of the powerful emotions shared recently by their connection to Gabriel. But he found it unfortunate and worrisome. Achieving the balance between the positive and negative sides of these extraordinary feelings would be essential if Ini-herit and the other elders were going to be able to handle processing them. Opening oneself to only the negative side was a recipe for disaster.

  But Knorbis understood, as well, that he was more open than all others to every level of feeling due to his highly intuitive Estilorian class. He would help the elders all learn how to embrace the amazing emotions transferred to them by Gabriel.

  “Does she know she was largely in the dark for nearly a month?” Ini-herit asked to break the silence.

  His gaze was focused on Amber, and Knorbis also turned his attention to her. She looked like a different young woman now than the pale shell who nearly wasted away recovering in Ini-herit’s own bedroom. Knorbis doubted she would ever truly know the details of that month. How the worry, sadness and utter devastation that her condition caused Gabriel created a ripple effect that sent all of the eld
ers into seclusion to try and cope with the foreign and powerful sensations. How her sisters wouldn’t leave the house where she lay, unwilling to be away from her in case she needed them or if there was any change in her condition. How all of the Estilorians who had welcomed her presence to their plane had mourned in their way, knowing only that she had been attacked by Angius and struck by his cursed blade. The elders had yet to share the news of her survival with anyone outside of those currently attending the wedding, still uncertain whom they could trust.

  Knorbis and Malukali, being from the two classes most in tune with mental processes, had done what they could during the dark time. They both spent most of the past month sitting with Gabriel, giving him an outlet for his grief. They had listened to his many stories about the human plane. About his relationship with Amber. Although they hadn’t understood it on the most basic emotional level, they certainly listened and absorbed.

  It had also helped Knorbis better understand the odd reactions he had when in Malukali’s presence…but those self-revelations were his to deal with at a more appropriate time.

  “I believe Gabriel explained that to her,” he replied finally. “They do not keep things from each other. As I understand it, they can read each other’s thoughts, so deceit is really impossible.”

  Ini-herit grunted. “It seems that Gabriel has helped her learn to move past the typical barrier she once placed between herself and others. She has clearly accepted her sisters.”

  Knorbis agreed. “They will need her strength as much as she will rely on their individual powers. She risked herself for them, and they did the same for her. That will help them bond and guide them through any challenges to come. They will need every advantage they can get.”

  “Do you really believe she has developed an immunity to the cursed blade?”

  Nodding, he said, “I am confident of it. She has more depth of faith and spirit than we could have guessed, or she would have succumbed to the cursed blade’s deadly powers.”