“I know you’re angry at yourself,” he continued. “But you shouldn’t be. Anyone in your position would have run away. It’s my fault for not telling you the whole truth.”
She managed a quick glance at him. “Have you heard anything? Has he attacked yet?”
“I don’t know.” Zack kept his eyes on the road. “But if Vardok’s sending his soldiers, he must be getting impatient.”
“Do you think…” Alix hesitated. “Do you think we’ll ever see each other again? After the… marriage?”
Zack said nothing but pulled over to the side of the road. He cut the engine, undid his seat belt, and twisted in his seat to look at Alix face to face. She knew the answer before he spoke. She had known it before she’d even asked the question.
“I wish I could tell you yes,” he said with a bleak, tight-lipped smile. “I wish I could tell you that we could run off together and disappear and never have to deal with any of this again. But I know you too well, Alix. I know that you couldn’t live with yourself if you turned your back on this responsibility.”
Alix nodded, unable to speak. Zack was right. No matter what choice she made, she would never be happy. Once she went back to her world, she would never see Zack again. She would probably never be allowed to see her family again.
But they would be alive. That’s what she had to remember. They would be alive.
Choked by the sudden overwhelming grief that washed over her, she nodded her head and closed her eyes to the tears streaming over her cheeks. She felt Zack pulling her close, wrapping her in his arms, and thought of how unfair it was that they had so little time together. Whatever happened in her future, whatever future she might have, she would always have the memories of their brief time in the cabin. It was all she would ever have.
It wasn’t enough.
Neither of them spoke during the last leg of the trip. There was no need. Everything that would happen from this moment on was virtually predestined for her. She would go back to the shifter world and do her duty to protect everyone she loved. She would suffer Vardok’s brutal mating and more than likely bear his offspring. And when she lost her value to him, she would be quickly and efficiently disposed of.
She guessed she had maybe five or so years left to her before that happened. Time enough to provide heirs and raise them through their infant years.
Her chest felt hollow. Each breath felt more forced than the last. How was she going to endure those few years without Zack? If she had been told that was all the time they would have together, she would be grateful for every last moment of it. But she would be leaving him behind. For his own safety, she would never be able to even speak his name.
When she was young, she’d never dreamed life could be so cruel. In the days when she still believed in love, she had dreamed of someone like Zack whisking her away and living happily ever after. As she grew older and put away such silly fantasies, she imagined herself as Queen of her kingdom, benevolent and beloved, alone but not lonely.
But now that she’d had a taste of what life could have been like with Zack, she couldn’t go back to the way she had been before coming to the human world. She knew what it was like to be loved and touched and cherished. She’d been given a glimpse of paradise, all too quickly taken away.
“We’re here,” Zack said quietly.
Through a gently falling snow, Alix could see the rocky shores and the slow, rolling waves of the ocean. The lighthouse sat atop a stony bluff, surrounded by nothing but rocks and snow. It was made of the same stone, almost ancient in its simplicity and crudeness. A small house was connected to its base.
It reminded Alix of the remembrance stones her people placed atop the graves of loved ones. Dead. Cold.
Alix climbed out of the SUV and walked around to the front of the truck, where Zack waited. A brittle wind whipped at them from the ocean, but she was beyond feeling cold. A rough path led through the rocky soil to the lighthouse. In a matter of steps, a matter of minutes, she would be past the point of no return.
He sensed her thoughts and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his warmth, holding her tightly as he buried his face in her hair and she hid against his chest. This couldn’t be the way it ended. Zack raised his head and she looked up at him, wishing she could fix this. That she could make it all go away.
Zack gently brushed a few flyaway hairs from her face. He caressed her cold cheek with a slow sweep of his thumb. He gazed into her eyes for a few moments, as if trying to communicate something to her that he had no words to express. Alix wanted to cling to him, but she knew that he would follow her emotional lead. If she collapsed with grief, so would he. She knew they were both stronger than that.
“Before we go in…” Zack’s voice broke with huskiness and he looked away from her for a moment, composing himself. “I don’t know what will happen next but…” He took a shuddering breath, and when he returned his gaze to her, tears shimmered in his eyes. “I want you to know that I love you more than anything in this world or the other. I always have, and I always will.”
Any bit of strength she had left fell away. The touch of his hand was almost unbearable in its tenderness. Urging him closer, she kissed him softly, longingly, tasting the salt of her tears mixing with his. This would be the last time.
As they parted, she saw her pain mirrored in his eyes.
“I love you, too,” she whispered, broken. “I always have, and I always will.”
He pressed one last lingering kiss against her forehead and took her hand tightly in his, interlocking their fingers as if he would never let her go. “We do this together. I’m with you every step of the way.”
Alix nodded, forcing a faint smile.
It was time to go.
12
Zack
This is Hell, Zack thought as they walked to the small house. He glanced over to Alix and saw the dread and fear in her eyes. I can’t even imagine what she’s feeling right now.
He gave her hand a squeeze that he hoped would be reassuring as they reached the door. She took a deep breath and nodded, and he lifted the ring of the door knocker, a tarnished brass ouroboros symbol of a snake eating its own tail, and rapped it against the door. A minute passed and then the door opened with a painful squeal of rusty hinges.
An old woman stood in the doorway, a crocheted shawl gripped tightly around her throat. Her silver white hair hung loosely over her shoulders, catching the wind and whipping around wildly, giving her the look of a modern day Medusa. She was small, almost fragile, her blue eyes ghosted by cataracts. She looked over Zack first, then Alix.
“You here for the Arch?” she asked. Her voice bore a distinct New England accent that bordered on caricature. Despite her apparent frailness, she spoke loudly, with an authority gained with age.
“Yes,” Zack said.
“Then get in here before we all freeze to death.”
She stepped back and allowed them to enter, closing the door behind them and locking it. Zack heard the click and turned to the old woman again, who smiled sweetly.
“Don’t worry about that. I have to keep the damned kids outta here. They want to play in the lighthouse like a bunch of damn idiots.” She shuffled past them. “Come in and have some tea.”
Zack quickly took stock of their situation. There were no threats to be found. No unusual smells or ominous signs. The interior of the house looked exactly as you would expect an old woman’s house to look: lace doilies, knick-knacks everywhere, floral overstuffed couches that had seen better days. The living room was dimly lit, but other than that, he could find nothing out of the ordinary.
And yet…
He felt the hackles on the back of his neck rising.
“I assume y’both have names,” she said as they entered the tiny kitchen. She took three tea cups from a cupboard and set them on the table. “I’m Agatha Penwhistle, but you can call me Aggie. I’m not one for being fancy.”
“Zack Arno,” he said as he held out a chair for
Alix. “And this is Alix Markonian.”
Aggie nearly dropped her tea kettle. “Markonian?”
Zack exchanged a glance with Alix.
“Yes,” Alix said quietly. “I’m the… er…”
“The princess!” Aggie exclaimed. “Oh my soul… this is a surprise. You’ve got a lot of tongues wagging about you on the other side.”
“Do you know what’s happening?” Alix asked, leaning forward in her chair. “Have you heard any news?”
Aggie shuffled to a cabinet with agonizing slowness, quiet as she took down a box of tea bags and returned to the table. She dropped a bag in each cup, then filled it with hot water. Every movement seemed to take forever.
“Oh, I can’t say that I have,” she finally said as she sat down in her chair. She seemed as frail as a bird, all sharp angles and fragile bones. “I don’t get to hear much, you know. People forget about the gatekeepers.”
Zack sensed that the old woman was desperate for conversation. Her eyes were alight with the joy of having company.
“How long have you been here?” he asked.
Aggie smiled. “Since I was a youngling,” she said, nodding her head. “My father was gatekeeper for many a year until he drowned. Then I took over. Been here ever since.”
“Isn’t it… lonely?” Alix asked quietly.
“Yes and no.” Aggie giggled. “Some days I have so much traffic coming through the portal that I can barely get a chance to breathe. Sometimes they sit with me for a spell. I always like that.”
“Do you have a family?” Zack looked around the kitchen and saw several framed photographs. Most of them were of an old man. He didn’t see Aggie in any of them.
“Used to,” Aggie said, sipping at her tea. “Husband ran off like a right bastard. Never married again. Weren’t blessed with younglings, so… here I am.”
“That’s so sad,” Alix said softly.
Aggie laughed. “Nah. I’m better off without the old fart. He never liked living in a lighthouse anyway.”
Zack tried to smile politely, but he couldn’t shake the sense that something wasn’t right. He only dimly listened as Aggie and Alix made small talk, quietly searching the room for any hints that he might be overreacting. The kitchen was completely ordinary, decorated with chickens and eggs, crocheted hand towels hanging from every drawer pull. He imagined that if he saw her bedroom, it would be covered in ruffles and pastel colors.
It was all his imagination. Had to be.
“So where exactly is the Arch?” he finally asked, accidentally cutting into their conversation.
Aggie’s chin snapped up as if offended by the interruption. “Can’t we finish our tea, first? I have cookies, if you like.”
“I’m sorry, Aggie,” Alix said, “but I have to get back to my family as soon as possible. Could we please…”
Aggie huffed a long-suffering sigh and grimaced as she pushed herself up to her feet. “I suppose so. Just follow me.”
Zack took Alix’s hand and put himself between her and Aggie as she led them down a narrow hallway to a massive wooden door. She unlocked it with an almost comically huge skeleton key and a blast of cold, stale air assailed them.
“Lighthouse is decommissioned, you know.” Aggie walked into the darkness and took a gas lantern down from a peg on the wall. She felt around the pockets of her baggy jeans until she found a lighter. “Most lighthouses ‘round here are automated. No need for anybody to man the light anymore. Shame, really. ‘Twas a good job. Nice and quiet. Nobody to bother ya.”
She led them to a spiral metal stairway. Zack estimated roughly three hundred steps to the top. Aggie surprised him by agilely climbing ahead of them, moving easily.
“My daddy used to sit up here and drink,” Aggie said and cackled. “Whoo...he liked his beer. Used to make me go down the road and buy it for him. Herb—that’s my bastard husband—used to like it too. Never could stand the stuff m’ownself. Too damn smelly.”
Zack looked back to Alix and in the wavering light of the gas lamp, he could see the uneasiness in her eyes. She was feeling it too. The curving stairs were making him dizzy and he struggled to keep his gaze fixed on his feet, taking one step at a time.
“Never could figure why the Arch was up here so high,” Aggie continued. “Way I heard it, the Arch on the other side is on the ground. I always used t’imagine everybody going through on this end and splattering down on the ground on the other side.” She laughed loudly. “I was so disappointed when I found out that wasn’t so. Woulda been funny.”
They finally reached the top of the stairs. Another huge wooden door stood on a small landing, and Aggie unlocked it with the same skeleton key. It creaked as it swung open and another gust of cold wind blew inside the stairwell.
The Arch looked the same as any other portal, a crudely made doorway of stacked stones. It stood behind the lens, facing out to the ocean, startlingly out of place. The gallery deck that surrounded the lens was open to the elements and the wind that howled off the ocean.
The moment felt unreal. It was finally happening. In a matter of minutes it would be over. They would step through the portal, and Alix would be lost to him.
Aggie stepped aside as they reached the Arch. “You know, it’s the damnedest thing. I completely forgot that I have heard about what’s happening over there. Old woman’s memory, you know.”
Alix moved around Zack. “What did you hear? Is my family alive?”
“Well, that’s hard to say.” Aggie smiled, but this time there was something dark and mean in her eyes. “Last I heard, Vardok hit the Markonian region pretty hard…killed a whole buncha dragon folk. Nasty scene. Just nasty.”
Alix fell back a step. Zack caught her.
“What about my father?”
Aggie laughed. “Him? Oh, child...he was probably first one killed. Unless Vardok happened to take some hostages. He likes to do that, you know. Keep ‘em around for a while so he can beat on ‘em when he gets bored.”
Alix looked back at Zack, and he knew instantly what she would do. Before he could catch her arm, she flung herself headfirst through the portal, disappearing in a wavy flash of light. Zack immediately tried to follow, but Aggie stepped in his way.
“No, sssssir…” She said as she shifted into her true form. In a heartbeat, she had turned into a massive king cobra, her hood flaring out as she rose higher in the air, until she rose to her full height of six feet, almost eye to eye with Zack. Her scales were a sickly gray, peeling in places, but her black eyes held his as she hissed.
She belongs to the Master, Aggie whispered into Zack’s mind. Leave her be and you can live.
“No.” Zack shifted to his wolf form, limping slightly on his wounded foreleg. He bared his teeth and growled, watching for the first sign of a strike. The snake’s fangs curved inward, shining needles that dripped venom. One bite would be all it would take to kill him.
Your choice…
The cobra coiled the lower two-thirds of its body, flaring its hood, flickering its black tongue. Zack tensed, keeping low to the ground, ready to spring to either side. He kept his gaze fixed on its eyes as it undulated with almost hypnotic grace. It sprung itself at him, coiling tightly around his midsection. Zack could feel ribs breaking with each slow squeeze. It raised its head high over him, enjoying his pain, prolonging it. Zack scrabbled against it with his claws but could not wedge a paw between his chest and the snake. He panted for breath, struggling for air.
An image of Alix flashed quickly through his mind. Smiling. Happy.
The snake abruptly snapped forward, jaws extended wide, aiming for Zack’s neck. He lunged forward and buried his fangs into the cobra’s light yellow throat, shaking his head fiercely as he dug in and held on. The snake thrashed, but he sunk his teeth in deeply, whipping the cobra from side to side as its blood flooded his mouth. He managed to swing it away from him and watched in horror as it slammed into the stone of the Arch, bringing the whole thing down to a pile of rubble. This doorway t
o the shifter world was closed forever.
Furious, Zack grabbed the cobra’s tail between his fangs and finally flung it over the edge of the gallery deck. He watched it fall end over end onto the rocks below.
In an instant, Zack shifted back to human form and spat foul snake blood from his mouth, gagging as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His breaths were sharp and shallow. He couldn’t begin to guess how many ribs might be broken.
If Aggie was working for Vardok, he had a feeling that the Arch on the other side would lead to the Northlands. He had the sense that they had been herded to this Arch specifically for its closeness to Vardok’s kingdom.
But now this portal was closed. And Alix was alone on the other side.
13
Alix
The doorway opened into shadows.
Alix stumbled as she stepped out of the Arch. The ground was bare, littered with rocks and huge stones. Her eyes adjusted and she saw that she stood on a flat plain. A blast of cold wind staggered her and she shivered, pulling her jacket together as she stepped further away from the Arch. Was she in the Northlands? Had the Arch brought her that far away from her home?
She turned back to the portal, waiting for Zack to join her. When he had promised that he would help her see this through, she had felt both relief and guilt. She wasn’t going to have to go through it alone, but what if she were risking his life?
He was right behind her. Wasn’t he?
Did he change his mind?
The thought made Alix’s stomach cramp and she sat down heavily on a nearby rock. She couldn’t really blame him if he had decided not to come through with her. After all, he’d done all that Braydon and her father had asked—he’d kept her safe and brought her back in time to fulfill the arrangement. She was the one who had allowed herself to believe a young girl’s fantasy was coming true. She was the one who allowed him to get close to her.
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