Guardian's Redemption

by Marie Harte

  As she shared the moment with Arim, her heart fluttered with the knowledge that she truly loved him as she never would another.

  Sparks of energy shot through them, tying them together in a way words could never do. In the span of a few seconds, Lexa saw the immense void where Tanselm’s power had been, a boon the land granted Arim that Tanselm would never willingly give ‘Sin Garu. The energy Lexa herself shared wouldn’t sustain Arim forever, but it would do temporarily. They would have to hope it would be enough to rid them of ‘Sin Garu and free Tanselm from the Malinta demons’ touch.

  Arim’s groan shook her concentration and severed their link. Shouts from behind her told her the spell holding the Storm Lords frozen had vanished.

  Seeking damage control, she quickly pulled Sava down to her and whispered, “Not one word about Ravyn’s visit.”

  Sava placed a finger over his lips. He leaned close to whisper back, “Not one word, little mother.”

  Clenching her jaw, Lexa shot Sava a look to kill, irritated anew at the joyful mirth on his face. Dark Mother, but Ravyn had to be joking. As Lexa helped Arim sit up, she couldn’t make sense of much.

  “What happened?” Arim rubbed his temples and stood with Sava’s and her help.

  “Arim, are you okay?” Marcus and Tessa spoke at the same time.

  “Damned Dark Lord…”

  “Jonas, ease up!”

  A cacophony of voices filled the room, but Lexa had eyes only for Arim. To her relief, he steadied on his own. His energy seemed as strong as it had been before, if a few degrees dimmer than the bright Light it normally was.

  “Arim, what happened?” Aerolus shot Lexa a wild look, and she knew he had seen Ravyn. Shit. Hopefully, he hadn’t heard everything she’d said.

  “I was kneeling by your mother,” Arim began in a throaty rasp, “when everything went black. I couldn’t see you anymore,” he said to Lexa, his eyes narrowed.

  The others glanced from Lexa to Arim and quieted.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Darius’s groan drew out into a heavy sigh as he glared at Arim. “Mother’s…passed. You’re as white as a sheet, and you’ve brought the Dark squad with you.” He glared at Jonas, Sava and Lexa, and Lexa wished she’d taken the time before to work on Darius and his smart mouth. “Are you okay or what?”

  Lexa ignored Darius and nudged Arim towards a chair. “Sit down before you fall down.” To her satisfaction, he grunted his displeasure but walked with his usual arrogance to a nearby chair while the others peppered them with questions and angered looks. Once Arim was seated, Lexa turned to address the others. “All of you just shut up for a minute.” She deliberately glared at Darius, pleased when his vocal cords seized under her enchantment. The spell worked to silence the others in the room as well. “Your uncle is feeling the effects of Tanselm’s draining energy.” Not the entire truth, but one that will suffice until I can have a good heart-to-heart with Arim. “’Sin Garu has somehow managed to bridge the demon world to Tanselm. As we speak, the demons are stuffing themselves with Tanselm’s energy.”

  She released her mute spell, waved away their angry protestations and continued. “I’m going to take care of ‘Sin Garu just as soon as I can locate his whereabouts.”

  Sava nodded. “I found him. He’s holed up in the between. I can show you where.”

  “Perfect.” Arim’s menacing growl told the others he was more than fine, but a potentially lethal force.

  The others grinned with relief that their Guardian of Storm seemed both hale and hearty.

  “We’ll come too,” Aerolus pledged and took a step forward, only to find Alandra under his arm and once again seething with temper.

  “Not without me,” the petite woman asserted.

  “And me,” Tessa added, as if daring Marcus to contradict her.

  “Actually, none of you will be going,” Lexa delivered before Arim could. Pleased at his frown and the shouts of his nephews and their affai, she waited until the noise lowered again to explain. “Light Bringers are generally foolish, but not foolish enough to take pregnant women into battle. No, your most royal highnesses,” she needled, pleased to see the Storm Lords so irritated. “Your place is here, defending your land and your expecting affai.”

  Cadmus frowned. “Pregnant women?” Cadmus seemed stuck on the word ‘pregnant’.

  “Mother of Shadow,” Alandra gasped and faced Aerolus. “That’s why I’ve been so emotional lately. I feel such extremes, and I’m always so tired. I just thought it was the stress of all this.” She sadly glanced at Ravyn before looking away as quickly.

  But Lexa saw tears of joy in her eyes as she looked into her husband’s face. “We’re going to be parents.”

  Aerolus blinked down at his wife, his mouth agape. “What?”

  “Nicely done,” Sava murmured in Lexa’s ear before joining his niece. He gave Alandra a gentle hug. “I’m so happy for you, Alandra. And for you as well, Aerolus.” He glanced around with a smile. “Congratulations to all of you.”

  “I don’t understand.” Darius looked confused, but Samantha grinned from ear to ear.

  “Your. Wife. Is. Pregnant.” Jonas spelled out. “You’re right, Sava. Light Bringers are slow.” He gave Ellie a thumbs up. “So long as the baby looks like Ellie, Cadmus, I think you’ll be okay.”

  As understanding settled among the Storm Lords and their affai, grand happiness mingled with the melancholy still lingering over the group.

  “I wonder if Ravyn knows.” Arim startled Lexa, who’d been so focused on his nephews she hadn’t heard him rise. He gathered her in his arms and hugged her back to his belly, his chin on top of her head. “I think she’d be pleased.”

  “She knows. This is just what she wanted,” Aerolus murmured, his gaze resting curiously on Lexa and Arim. Then he turned back to Alandra and Sava and nodded at something Sava said.

  Lexa sucked in a breath when Arim rubbed her belly. Had he heard Ravyn? By the Dark, she hoped not.

  Sava smiled at her with evil intent when she glared at him.

  “Someday that’ll be us, Blue,” Arim’s low rumble vibrated in her ear.

  That someday might very well be today. Butterflies trembled in her stomach at thoughts of mothering. What did Lexa know of parenting? Much of what Muri had taught her lay buried under the pain of her death, and learning about the right way to guide one’s young meant soul searching through the hurt that came with Muri’s memory. Then too, any child of Lexa’s was bound to be confused. A Dark Lord mother and a Light Bringer father? And not just any Light Bringer, but the Guardian of Storm. They’d have to get rid of his Killer of Shadow moniker, especially if the babe was a Darkling…

  What the hell am I thinking?

  Her panic must have resonated through Arim because he tightened his hold on her.

  “Blue?”

  Luckily, Darius interrupted the moment. He walked arm in arm with Samantha, next to Marcus and Tessa as they rounded on Arim. The others joined them, and Lexa felt like a bug under a microscope. Everyone crowding, staring… Memories rose, the feeling of being judged and found unworthy present as she recalled another instance when Light Bringers had surrounded her…

  “What the hell?” Cadmus stared from Lexa to Arim and began to laugh. Aerolus added a chuckle as well. “All that shit you gave us about marrying ‘creatures of Dark’ and you go and take a Dark Lord?” The others began smiling, though Darius and Marcus looked less amused than suspicious.

  Lexa shook her head. “It’s not—” what you think refused to come because Arim interrupted.

  “You will treat my chosen with respect, because if you don’t, I’ll let her do whatever the hell she wants to with you.”

  Ellie elbowed Cadmus in the gut, and he bent over choking. “I, for one, am glad to have Lexa with us. It was only a matter of time.”

  Alandra nodded, her face a soft, rosy blush, full of happiness where before had been only sorrow. “Me too. Balances out all the Light in this place.”

>   “Don’t look at us,” Tessa said, sharing a glance with Samantha. “We’re just poor xiantopes, women with no power but the stuff ‘their husbands let them use’,” she muttered, her blue eyes sparkling. “And that’s quoting the esteemed Church. You’ll have to blame all the Light on our idiot husbands.”

  “Tessa,” Marcus said with a sigh, sounding pained. His arms tightened around her as he brought her in for a sound kiss.

  “I don’t know. I kind of like the idea of Darius changing diapers.” Samantha laughed at the pained look on her husband’s face, but her expression sobered as she caught sight of Ravyn again. “It’s terrible to be happy when Ravyn’s not here with us.”

  “She is,” Aerolus whispered, looking over their shoulders.

  As one they all turned to see Queen Ravyn glowing with the afterlife. She smiled and waved, then winked out of sight.

  “I thought she couldn’t do that,” Lexa murmured, wondering who the hell was making up these rules for the dead. What happened to “don’t tell Arim I was here?”

  The narrowed glance Arim shot her had her quieting very fast. His hand stilled on her belly, the heat of his Light filling her stomach with a drowsy, pleasant warmth. “We need to talk.”

  “Yes, we do,” Sava emphasised, staring hard at Lexa.

  She swallowed, not ready to tell Arim what she suspected couldn’t possibly be true. “Right. We need to focus here. I’m not exactly your—”

  “—wife, not yet,” Arim corrected, addressing his family along and her with a definite bite in his tone. “We’ll fix that soon enough. In the meantime, we have a whole new set of circumstances to handle. Sava and I will deal with ‘Sin Garu. The rest of you have to protect yourselves and Tanselm. We can’t afford to lose any more Storm Lords. No arguments,” Arim directed at Darius.

  To Lexa’s astonishment, Darius agreed.

  “What about the Church?” Jonas asked, his aura decidedly Dark. “No one’s addressed that yet. I told you Remir said the Church—”

  “Remir?” Lexa welcomed any information about the Djinn she could find.

  Jonas clenched his jaw. “Dead, torn apart by demons. He mentioned the Church when he warned me about Ravyn’s pending death.”

  Lexa found herself pitying the departed Djinn and frowned, not liking this sudden welling of emotion for everyone and everything. Bad enough she loved Arim. Did she have to start feeling gladness and sorrow for everyone she knew as well? She glanced at Arim and saw his gaze centred on Jonas.

  Arim demanded that Jonas recount what had happened with Remir and swore when Jonas finished. “By the Light, I hope what I’m suspecting is wrong. We can’t afford to trust anyone but ourselves any more. Jonas, you’re in charge of the Djinn, and Alandra, the Aellei are yours. Both of you focus on your people and ferret out any possible traitors. Pray to your Dark you find them before I do.” His eyes blazed, power welling in the inky orbs, and Lexa’s loins tingled. Damn, but he was hot when riled.

  His nephews nodded with satisfaction. She could see and sense their relief that their uncle was at least back to normal…or so it appeared. Lexa still wasn’t sure what the hell had happened when she’d brought Arim back from the brink of death, or how Sava seemed to know what to do to save him.

  “If you need me, call out.” Arim tapped his head. “Darius and Aerolus, I’m open to you. But if you can no longer feel me, it’s because I’ve cut myself off.”

  “Why?” Marcus asked.

  “Because he’ll be hip deep in battling a Dark Lord,” Aerolus answered. What normally passed for a smile flitted over his lips. “Not the one by his side, but the other one we don’t favour so much.”

  “You’re not really going up against him by yourselves?” Darius asked. Lexa had wondered how long it would take the most stubborn of them to come to his senses and object. Not that she didn’t agree. If Arim thought he was going to confront ‘Sin Garu with only Sava by his side, he was looking to get his ass handed to him—by her—first and foremost.

  “No. I’m going up against him my-self.” Arim silenced Lexa’s retort by placing a hand over her mouth. He ignored the ice frosting his fingers and shook his head. “Later. We’ll talk about it and other things later. Give me a minute.”

  He left her side to confer with his nephews, leaving Jonas and Sava ample time to corner her while the affai shared their joy with one another.

  “Are you going to tell him?” Sava asked.

  “Tell who what?” Jonas stared between the two of them, talking in the same hushed voice.

  Lexa snarled as much as she could while whispering, “Sava, shut up. I’ll deal with this in my own way.”

  “She needs to tell Arim she’s carrying his children,” he ignored her and explained to Jonas.Children?

  “Holy shit.” Jonas looked flummoxed, and Lexa hurriedly shushed him. “So what are you having? Little shadows? Will half the kids be Storm Lords and the other half Dark Lords? That’ll be fun.” He pretended to hang from a noose. “How many are you expecting?”

  “Shut. Up.” Lexa ran her hands through her hair in agitation. She so did not need this right now. “Ravyn was muttering a lot of nonsense. I think the Next addled her brain.”

  “No.” Sava grinned.

  “I don’t remember Ravyn saying anything.” Jonas stared from Sava to Lexa and back again, poised for an explanation.

  Sava answered. “While the rest of you were frozen by our touchy little Dark Lord, Ravyn showed up to congratulate the affai on their pending bundles of joy. She included Lexa as well.” He turned to Lexa. “I distinctly recall she looked at you and mentioned ‘children’.”

  “But that doesn’t mean I’m pregnant now.” Lexa immediately lowered her voice when Arim’s head jerked up and his startled gaze met hers. She hunched down so Sava blocked Arim’s view. “She could have meant an early congrats for the children I’ll have later. As in, one at a time a few years down the road…if we survive this war, that is.”

  “Hmm, maybe.” Sava didn’t look convinced. “Still, you should level with Arim. If it were my aeva, I wouldn’t want her anywhere near ‘Sin Garu with a babe in her belly.”

  “True.” Jonas crossed his arms over his chest. “You have to think of the child.” He glanced at Sava, then grinned back at her. “Sorry, children.”

  “You two are a royal pain in the ass, you know that?” Lexa snapped. “And not one crack about you being a king, Sava.” The Aellei opened his mouth and closed it without a word, his lips curled. “I don’t feel a life inside me, and I’m powerful enough to know the truth. Bottom line is that if Arim goes up against ‘Sin Garu alone, in the state he’s in, he’ll die.”

  “State?” Jonas glanced at Arim, who kept looking over at Lexa’s little group while he spoke in a low voice to his nephews.

  “He’s not at full strength,” Sava explained. “Lexa brought him back from a fate worse than death. The demons have a hold on Tanselm. They’d love nothing more than to take Arim as well. The Light in his soul is especially attractive to demons, and our irritable sorcerer is far from being at full strength. His energy wavers, weakened from his sorrow for Ravyn, as well as his uncertainty about Lexa.”

  “What?” Since when was Arim ‘uncertain’ about his feelings for her? What did Sava know that she didn’t?

  “You’ve never told him how you feel about him, have you?”

  She squirmed, not wanting this conversation, and especially not with Jonas holding onto every last word. “This isn’t the time or place, Sava,” she said coolly, trying to make him back off. Regretfully, her time with Arim seemed to have made her less of a threat, for Sava and Jonas showed no sign of disinterest in the conversation.

  “My own Dark Mistress, even for you, that’s cold.” Jonas shook his head in disapproval. “You’re having his babies and you haven’t even told him you love him? What are you waiting for?”

  “Yes, Lexa. What are you waiting for?” Arim asked in a deceptively quiet voice.

  Lexa stil
led as Arim joined their little group. “Jonas,” she hissed, promising herself she’d make him pay for his loud mouth.

  “I’ve got to go. Djinn to command, you know how it is.” Jonas winked and vanished.

  Sava sighed. “I’ll be in the commons with a trencher of much needed food and wine coming up with a plan. Find me when you’re done arguing, or whatever it is you two do together so much lately.” He glanced purposefully between them, muttered something about hard-headed magic-users and sex, and vanished as well.

  Lexa glanced beyond Arim only to see everyone in the room staring at her. Crap.

  “What?” she asked, feeling defensive. “Oh please. Just because everyone else in this Light-forsaken room is pregnant doesn’t mean I am.”

  “You’re pregnant?” Darius asked, his eyes so wide they looked like bright red rubies.

  “Dark Lord babies, in Tanselm?” Marcus stared down his nose at her, and she wanted to turn him into a royal Popsicle.

  “I’m not pregnant.” Lexa glared at the lot of them.

  “I think it’s great.” Alandra smiled, sharing a grin with the other affai—now baby-crazy women who would probably consider even ‘Sin Garu’s child a gift.

  Lexa didn’t hear anything more because Arim whisked her away in the next heartbeat. Blinking, she found herself in his room, a place she hadn’t visited since she’d escaped several months ago—or by Tanselm time, weeks ago.

  Without warning, Arim took her in his arms and kissed the breath out of her while pressing a hand to her back and another to her belly, awkwardly caging her.

  After a minute, he released her mouth and stared down at her, his eyes swirling with colour, his breath raspy.

  “I can’t tell. Damn me, but I don’t feel anything unusual inside you but my Light.”

  “Bastard.” Lexa wanted to push him away for his high-handedness, but all the strength in her body seemed to have left her as sexual anticipation made her weak with want.

  “Would it be so bad, Blue? A belly full of our children?” Arim asked huskily, his hands roaming over her belly and up to cup her breasts. “To see your nipples distended, your breasts rounded and full of milk as you suckle our babes?” She wasn’t sure why, but all his talk of mothering was making her hot. “With your eyes and my temperament, of course. Light Bringers with a core of Dark Lord within them.”