Air's Mark (Lords of Krete Book 3)

by Rachael Slate

Airla placed her hands in her sister’s. The other nymphs gathered around, setting their hands on each other’s shoulders. “Yes, it must be done. You deserve to be free.” Though it sliced through her, she ignored Lycus’s low grumblings. Their plan was a good one, except it wouldn’t save her. She could resign herself to a frozen fate, but never when her sisters might be saved.

  That she would never accept.

  “I never told you the truth of why we were cursed here. It’s time you know.” She seized in a bolstering breath. “That same day we landed here, the now-King Minos of Krete sent his Minotaurs to attack the centaurs. They were the cause of the great storm of smoke and fire, and we were in their path. To save us, Lycus employed powers gifted to him by Zeus not long afore that. He did this because I’m his mate and he wished to save us from the Minotaurs. Only, by misfortune, he sent us here, instead of to warm safety. If not for me, you would never have been cursed.” She lowered her head and awaited her sisters’ harsh judgment.

  “No, Airla,” Syke murmured, squeezing Airla’s hand. “If not for you, for Lycus, we would have been destroyed. I can’t believe you kept this burden all these years, but we are your sisters. We would forgive you anything, and we will wait until your tree thaws so we might attain freedom together.”

  Hope and relief jolted inside her. Even more, resolve pounded in her blood. “I thank you for understanding, but I can’t let that happen.” She spun toward Lycus and raised her chin in defiance. “Do it.”

  “Never,” he snarled. “It will kill you.”

  She folded her arms and sighed in determination. “I am already gone.”

  Lycus tossed his head, refusing to accept Airla’s decision. Staying meant death. Even if she didn’t freeze right away, Apollo might send down his burning rays.

  Yet, this was what his mate chose. To save her people. Even when facing death. A century, he’d mourned her loss, never coming to the same sacrifice as she.

  He had to respect her choice. Bloody hell, he’d stay by her side until the end. That was his choice.

  “Very well.” He nodded and summoned his powers before anyone could counter them otherwise. An icy wind swirled around his feet and shot outward from his hands, growing larger and more blustery with each cycle. The whirlwind swept around the grove, plucking the trees from the ground. All save one.

  The trees groaned but gave way, their roots peeling from the soil and snow as he lifted them into the air. The giants wrapped about the tree trunks and the nymphs gathered in their arms, floating into the sky. Swiftly, he summoned forth a great expenditure of his powers and blasted them through the glass ceiling, shattering it. His winds surrounded the grove and giants, blocking them from view and safeguarding them against the sun god.

  Concentrating on his homeland, he envisioned the secure meadow in the midst of the mountain, where the sun god’s rays couldn’t pierce. Rhoetus had ensured it was heavily warded against any prying eyes.

  Lycus thrust out his arm and sent the band sailing across the horizon, toward Krete, and made certain they landed safely. Then he spun around to face the deserted meadow. The pools of water left behind from the melted ice of the trees had already frozen again, leaving gaping holes in the ground, scattered between him and Airla.

  The obsidian glass had shattered around her, shards stuck into the ground like great broken blades.

  She crawled out from beneath her tree’s branches and peered at him, tears icing in her eyes. Frost lined her lashes, cheeks, and nose, the cold spreading through her as her tree froze.

  It was too late.

  He’d saved her people, but he couldn’t save her.

  The impotence weighed down his limbs, but she extended a hand for him, and he strode to her, wrapping her in his arms.

  Not even the warmth of his love could save her from freezing. “Airla, I—”

  “Thank you,” she whispered, her teeth not even chattering.

  He grimaced. “I don’t deserve thanks for this.”

  “You saved two races today, and in turn, they’ll help save the centaurs. It’s no small feat, my love.” The bark of her tree began to glow, beckoning her home. She pressed her hand to his chest and her fingers clutched his shirt. “Don’t send me into my tree. I couldn’t bear to continue my existence without you.”

  He glanced from the illuminated trunk to her. Staying here meant an eternal death. “Are you certain?”

  “Yes. Now, you must let me go, but promise to press on. They need you.”

  “Nay, I cannot leave you.” The notion alone tore through every inch of his being. He dropped a kiss on her frozen lips.

  “You,” she inhaled a shallow breath, “must.”

  Then she fell limp in his arms, and he glanced up to witness the last leaves on her branches freeze over and her bark dim. The leaves dangled like ornamental icicles, shining diamonds against the bright sunlight. The beautiful sight crushed his hearts.

  She was gone.

  Howling, with frigid tears streaking down his cheeks, Lycus sank to his knees, cradling his mate in his arms, and cursed every god he could name. The grief carved a hollow cavity inside his chest. Yet it wasn’t the same numbness as the first time he’d lost her. The first time, he’d envisioned she would be better off.

  Now, she was truly gone, sacrificed.

  All because of him.

  As he dipped his head, a sizzling hiss crossed his ears, and a small eruption flared to his right, then behind him, and to his left.

  Good. Apollo was seizing his revenge. Lycus wouldn’t long suffer the loss of his mate.

  He bowed his shoulders toward the ground, resigned and grateful.

  “Truly? Is that it?” a gruff voice scoffed in front of him. “I spent a lot of time plotting my entrance, you know.”

  The familiar baritone rang in Lycus’s ears. It couldn’t be… He whipped his head up and blinked into the fiery stare of his brother, Demoleon.

  Lycus’s jaw dropped and words evaded him.

  Surrounded by a splendorous frame of erupting flares, Demoleon poised before him, in his enormous dragon form. Larger than a barn, the firedrake crouched, pegging those flaming orbs in Lycus’s direction. Scales of burnished copper glinted against the sunlight and his forked tail flicked in the air, while talons the size of daggers dug into the snow as the great beast settled.

  “What are you doing here?” Lycus found his tongue. “Rhoetus said—”

  Demoleon swiped his paw. “I’m here now, that’s what matters. Let’s see about thawing her.”

  “It’s already too late.” Lycus dragged his focus to his beloved, whose flesh was as cold as death in his arms.

  “Nay, I think not.” Demoleon extended an enormous paw toward him, waving for him to place Airla on it.

  Not daring to hope, he laid her on the firedrake’s paw.

  Demoleon lowered his head to Airla’s face and blew the softest mist of warm air, tendrils of heat swirling about her mouth and snaking inside her nostrils. Tenderly, Demoleon shifted Airla to Lycus’s arms.

  His hearts didn’t pound a single beat while he waited for Airla to return to him.

  Her eyelids fluttered and a pink flush crossed her cheeks. She moaned, blinking, frost melting from those dense lashes outlining sparkling eyes. “Lycus?”

  “I’m here, my love.” He cupped her cheek, not daring to move lest he break the spell and end this dream.

  She stretched, grimacing and exhaling on a shudder. “I was gone. Everything was dark, cold. I don’t understand.”

  Gently, he tilted her face toward his brother. “Airla, do you remember Demoleon?”

  The massive dragon bowed gracefully before them. “At your service, milady.”

  “I…” She squinted, and his brother barked a laugh.

  “Perhaps better like this.” Demoleon flashed into his centaur form. A massive beast with a burnished copper hide, yet his front left hoof was lame. The Minotaurs had beaten him before his parents had had the chance to hide him with Lycus a
nd the others. Along with the deformed limb, a flame’s kiss had scarred his left cheek, visible when he turned his head, yet both only served to add to Demoleon’s fearsome presence.

  His eyes were the color of blue flames, incandescent and flickering, and his copper locks were clipped short. Of them all, Demoleon was the only to have faced the Minotaurs. He’d managed to scramble away at the ushering of his mother. Which meant, the scars on his outside were nothing compared to those on the inside. Poor male.

  “Oh, yes, I remember you.” Airla cast him a kindly smile. “Your loss and your pain sadden me greatly.”

  Demoleon shuffled his hooves, as though uncomfortable with the empathy.

  “I don’t know how to thank you.” Lycus cleared his throat and altered the direction of their conversation. “I thought we were finished.”

  “You’re my bloodsworne brother.” Demoleon stomped his good hoof. “Never would I abandon you or your mate.” He twisted to regard her tree. “Allow me.” Blowing a swirling, heated mist, Demoleon thawed her tree, slowly, gently.

  Airla jolted in his arms, gasping.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She lifted her face to his. “Nothing. In fact, everything is perfect.”

  Airla closed her eyes and shuddered while her tree thawed, warmth deep in her roots for the first time in a century. She’d forgotten what this sensation was like. It was incredible. Soothing, comforting, balmy.

  She whipped open her eyes. “What about the sun god?”

  Both males followed her gaze to the skies. How long would it take Apollo to note the giants’ disappearance—and to blame them?

  “Let’s make haste.” Lycus inclined his head at Demoleon, and the male blasted his powers from his hands, swirling flames whirling about him, until every inch of her tree was thawed.

  “It’s time for us to depart. Will you come, brother?” Lycus helped Airla to her feet and released her to embrace his brother.

  Demoleon thumped him on the back. “Wish I could, but I’m not finished my mission yet. I’ll join you as soon as I can.”

  A fierce determination crossed his flame-blue depths—the kind only love could spark.

  Airla glided to him and pressed a kiss to his cheek, whispering into his ear, “Open your heart, and she will see your devotion.”

  He jerked back, but peered at her and gave a solemn nod. “Thank you.”

  She smiled and squeezed his arm once. Demoleon transformed again into the dragon and shot into the sky, flapping those enormous leathery wings several times until he vanished across the horizon.

  Lycus followed his brother’s departure and shifted to her. “Time to set off, my love.” He extended his hand toward her, so much more than hope and love in his eyes. This was their new beginning.

  They were finally free.

  Heart racing, she slipped her hand inside his. Lycus blasted icy winds around them, swirling higher and harder, and sweeping her tree from the ground, roots and all. They rose into the air, and everything blurred so much that she buried her face against his chest and held on.

  The transport was much gentler than last time, and before she’d gasped in a hundred breaths, her feet landed on solid ground once more.

  Solid ground, earth, and not ice or snow. A laugh bubbled on her lips and she spun from his arms to behold a green meadow brimming with trees. Her sisters.

  And my tree.

  Hers settled into its place in the middle, and Airla closed her eyes while her roots delved deep into the luscious soil.

  “Mmm,” she moaned, soaking in the nourishment and warmth.

  “Make that sound again,” Lycus rumbled against her ear.

  She was about to, but squealing exclamations burst around her as the other nymphs flocked to her side and surrounded them.

  They swept her up into their sea of sisterly affection. The ground vibrated beneath her feet while the giants loped toward her. Those enormous males scooped her into their hands and passed her through their crowd, showering her with adoration.

  “Zethes!” She squeezed his hand in tenderness and he kissed the top of her head. “Little nymph, I am glad to see you. Where is your mate?”

  She twisted about and noted Lycus was no longer in the meadow. He wasn’t present among the crowd, either.

  Zethes set her on the ground and she wound toward the cavernous exit of the secluded meadow.

  Squinting into bright sunlight, she shielded her arm across her face. Lycus stood in the distance, surrounded by a handful of males and females. And were those Amazon warriors?

  Nay, those could not be massive crabs crawling across the cave walls and ceiling, could they?

  Sweet gods, this place was more than what she’d envisioned.

  This was the home of their army.

  This was their salvation.

  His brother Arctus, a bear shifter and guardian of Earth, had brought back a band of Gargarean fighters and a legion of Amazon warriors, including their leader, Kleoptoleme—who was also his mate. And breeding with their child. Incredulous.

  Even now, a grouping of Karkinos and Amazons sparred in the field below. If Amazons had come here, it was for one thing—War. And Victory.

  They would accept nothing less.

  Viewing them bolstered Lycus’s faith. He hadn’t dared to hope that anyone would fight for them. Yet in this sanctuary, several races had banded together to free the centaurs. And purge Krete of those vile Minotaurs, once and for all.

  However, Lycus could only toss his head and glare at the male who dared to presume to mate his younger sister, Cyane. The crab shifter extended one rough looking hand, but Lycus crossed his arms and glowered.

  “Oh, come, Lycus.” A water nymph with short blue and black locks and a spritely sweet face, Cyane linked her arm through his. “You’re not the only one permitted a mate. I promise Theron isn’t trustworthy in the least.” She snorted a laugh at her jest.

  Grudgingly, he accepted the male’s hand, and bared his teeth as Theron’s grasp locked, iron-tight against his. Fierce, stormy eyes pinned him. “I and my people, the Karkinos, are your allies. We have pledged ourselves to fight for you in your war and to free your people, so that we may join together as one.”

  “A fancy speech. Let’s see how you handle yourselves on the battlefield.” He bared his teeth and wrenched his hand free.

  Instead of accepting his dismissal, his sister’s mate transformed into a tremendous luminescent blue crab with claws sharper than swords. “If you’d like a demonstration, we are available at any time.” Theron scuttled backward and cast him a smirk.

  “Enough of this.” Cyane shoved between them. “I want to see Airla. Where is she?”

  Lycus spun toward the direction Cyane was scanning and a grin spread across his mouth as he caught sight of his mate. She glided toward him, so lithe and lovely, and the color was returning to her features. Rosy hues in her cheeks. The paleness that had overtaken her green locks melted away, and now, the vibrant verdant glittered in the sunlight.

  “Airla!” Cyane rushed to her side and squeezed the other nymph in a fierce embrace. “I’m so glad you’re home.”

  His mate squeezed back and glanced straight at him. “You’re right. I am home.”

  Epilogue

  One month later

  “What’s this, my love?” Lycus chuckled as Airla bounced on her heels and cast him the brightest beam ever. Her good humor was infectious. She clutched something tiny in her hand, waving it beneath his nose.

  “Guess.” She chimed a laugh, so light and sweet.

  “Well,” he scratched his jaw and played along, “I don’t think ’tis a rock. Heh?”

  “No, it isn’t.” She bit her lip so enticingly, he groaned.

  “A vegetable for our supper?”

  “No.” She teetered on her feet and he sensed she longed to blurt it out.

  Which made him yearn to prolong the game even more. Casting her a mischievous smile, he crossed his arms, pretending to ruminate. �
�A new pet, perhaps?”

  “Indeed not. The crabs are enough.”

  He barked a laugh. “A dagger from the Amazons.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Obviously it’s far too small to be that. You’re not even trying.”

  “Aye, I am.” He unfolded his arms and squinted at her fisted hand. “A block of cheese.”

  She huffed, “Of course not.”

  He mimicked her puff. “Well, then, I surrender. What is this most precious treasure you have to share with me, my darling Airla?”

  Triumph curving her lips, she inched toward him, revealing her palm.

  He surveyed her open hand. At first, he observed nothing. Until he trained on a tiny dot in the center of her hand. “What…is that?”

  “If you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you.” She scoffed as he sent her a stern scowl. “Very well, I will tell you. It’s a seed.”

  “A seed?” He lifted both brows. Sure, his mate was a Hamadryad. A tree nymph. But what was so bloody exciting about a seed?

  His jaw dropped.

  His hearts stilled.

  The room spun.

  Airla’s tinkling laughter rang in his ears.

  “When would you like to plant her?”

  “Plant. Her,” he stuttered, his focus dropping to his mate’s belly. “I’m so confused right now, nymph.”

  She smiled in reassurance and seized his hand, placing it atop her belly. “Our child grows within me, and this is her tree. When she is born, her spirit will emerge from the tree and join with her body. All you need do, my love, is tell me when you’re ready to be a father.”

  The air crushed from his lungs. A father.

  He shot his gaze to Airla’s. Purest love shone from within her evergreen depths. “Now,” he blathered, “I want her, you, us, together, now.”

  She tucked the seed into her skirt pocket and cradled his face in her hands. “It doesn’t happen quite that soon, centaur, but soon enough.” Laughing, she pressed a bubbling kiss to his mouth and dragged him from the room toward the meadow.

  Once they reached her tree, she smiled at him. “Whenever you’re ready.”