Rion had written down some of Lana’s history himself, in the records of the Adrastos House for future generations. His sister-in-law had been more than half starved when Aodhan had found her tribe for the relocation. “There should be none in this city starving.”
That a Dardaptoan female would face such was an abomination on the very rulers of the Houses and of the city. Was that what it was? Had she faced starvation while within the city? How was that even possible? The people of the city were supposed to be looking out for each other, the way Dardaptoans had for centuries.
Or was the city just getting too big in numbers, and the anonymity of great numbers was starting? That was not something he wanted to consider.
Most Dardaptoan Houses or tribes numbered less than ten thousand, once the numbers grew past that someone inevitably would branch off, taking with them the younger, unmated of the tribe. And a new House would be formed. New mates would be found.
He had done so himself. As had Marcos, and Aodhan, and Marous, and Rix, and Adric. And so many of his other brothers, ones even he had not met. It was the way of things, especially in the Adrastos line.
But a city of three hundred thousand? Were the most vulnerable falling through the cracks?
It would be something Rion would discuss with his cousin Nalik when he was first able. In the meantime… “That will not be an issue again. Tell me, why has she yet to waken?”
“Probably shock, most likely. I think she is very young, probably twenty-three or twenty-four in actual years. Just out of childhood, really.”
Rion understood what Barlaam was saying, though he found it ironic. A Dardaptoan was different than a human or Lupoiux—Dardaptoans took a bit longer to mature fully, and the signs would be there for the healers to tell, to estimate a Dardaptoan’s true age. A Dardaptoan would often appear no older than a thirty year old human, but if a healer was experienced enough they could predict within a few decades how old a Dardaptoan truly was. Barlaam’s own mate was less than twenty-three—the age at which most Dardaptoans were considered adult. Lana was close to eighty, from what Rion remembered.
He took a moment to study his mate physically. She had long brown hair and pale skin. Freckles crossed over her nose. Her lips were thin and pink. Beautiful. He’d always known she would be.
She wore a human sports bra, and that bloodied garment was all that protected her modesty from him and the healers. Lana cut it free from her body, then looked up at Rion and his brother. “I will handle this part, boys. If you’ll step outside, I’ll let you know when I have her clothed decently.”
“Of course.” There was no of course about it. He did not want to leave his female, even in the hands of his brother’s Rajni. The thought was far too frightening, even to a seasoned Adrastos warrior such as himself.
But he dutifully followed Marcos from the room.
His brother turned toward him. “I know, brother. I wouldn’t want to leave her, either. I’m not too thrilled having Lana in this damned city right now.”
“What do you know of those creatures? Have you seen such before?”
“No. I haven’t. I was on the balcony at the time of the attack.”
“I was in the old library. I had followed her in there.”
“What in the three hells was she doing in there? Nalik condemned that place for a damned good reason.”
Rion did not know that. “Why?”
“Because the Laquazzeana Phaenna has declared it cursed.”
Chapter Ten
Mara woke warm for once. Relaklonos was far colder than her native Colorado and was just another part of this new world she hated. And the room she had been sleeping in for the last several months had no glass in the windows and the leather squares that covered the two openings were drafty and ill-hung. Combine that with a lack of a real bed, and she was actually more comfortable than she had been in a very long time.
She so did not want to wake up. But…she did every day, didn’t she?
Usually she heard the boys talking quietly in the room next to the one her mother occupied. Her mother had wanted Mara to share the larger of the two bedrooms with her, but at first Mara had been too angry to even think of sharing with her mother.
She needed her own space, somehow. She’d slept on the floor of their living room for the last five months. The rock floor.
She’d been planning to take over the dark cellar, but after the original attack on Thrun she had been far too frightened. She did not want to be underground if another earthquake hit, either. If the city was attacked again there was nothing to keep their house—apparently the oldest and worst in several neighborhoods—from collapsing in on itself.
Mara needed to be close to the outside walls in case that ever happened.
Just the idea of being without light and air terrified her. Had her pulling in a breath, just to prove to herself that she could.
Her eyes opened.
She didn’t have a frackin’ clue where she was. There were people around her—a woman, a man, both dressed in the color she’d learned was the color of healers in these Dardaptoan people. There was another man there, and she looked at him for a moment.
That’s when the details of everything that had happened flooded her mind. She tried to sit up but couldn’t.
The man from the library moved, his hands came to rest on her shoulders. “Don’t move too much, little one. They had to glue your arm together in a few places to keep you from bleeding too badly.”
“Where’s my mother? My brothers?”
“My brother Aodhan went to fetch them.” His words were soothing, and she could at least appreciate that. But who was he, and why had he been in the library? “What do you remember?”
“Not much.”
“Why were you in the library? Nalik had ordered it avoided for very good reason.”
She heard the chastisement in his words and her spine stiffened—metaphorically. Mara didn’t have the energy to straighten for real. “I—“
“You know what, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you are safe.” His hands slipped up from her shoulders to her face. He shocked her when he cupped her cheeks. She looked at him, seeing the resemblance to the man who’d brought her family here so many months ago. They had the same shape face, the same dark hair, and gold eyes. Only this man seemed different somehow. Who was he? “Tell me, what is your name?”
“Mara.” What else could she say? She was having a difficult time looking away from him. What did it mean, that she found this stranger so compelling? “What happened? I remember the library. I touched the face of the carving, then you were there. I don’t know what happened after that. How did I get here?”
He frowned then pulled back. He sank onto the bed beside her, then wrapped one hand around her right. “I carried you. Do you remember the attack?”
“There was an attack? I thought I just fell inside the library. It was a bit of a wreck in there…” Was he telling the truth? “How badly am I hurt? I don’t want my mother or brothers to see me this way. I…need to get home. See if they are ok.”
“I’m sure they are fine. Do not task yourself too much yet,” the female healer said. Mara looked at her fully for the first time. The woman had bright red hair and freckles, and eyes that were very understanding and compassionate. She immediately felt a bit calmer. Were all the healers like that? She’d not very many of them, just a minor healer who’d treated one of her brothers when he’d cut his leg a week after they’d moved to this place. “We are fetching them. The attack was centered around where you were. Your family most likely was unscathed. It’s you we need to be worried about.”
“Why the library?”
“You know nothing about the curse?” It was the man on her bed again. Who was he and why did he feel like he had the right to be there? He must have been someone important.
He wore a turquoise scarf, similar to the one the woman wore. Were they related then? Hadn’t she learned that these Dardaptoans were divided
by House colors? Her brothers faced taunts all the time for not having true hashas. It had taken her a while to put it together. Her mother hadn’t bothered to give the boys—or Mara—any indication what Dardaptoan family she had come from. Her brothers were the only children in the small school who had no family color. When asked, her mother refused to even speak of it. Would only shake uncontrollably and change the subject.
Mara had stopped asking. What did it matter? She and Skylar and Shiloh would never be a real part of these people.
Or their father’s. If they knew little about their mother’s people at least there was a chance to learn—with their father’s, they had nothing to go on. Not even a pack name, which she had learned was customary.
They had nothing.
She looked away from the dark gold eyes looking at her, and down at the rest of him. He wore white, something she knew meant he was important. Only those with standing in this city, in these Dardaptoans, were allowed to wear that color. Her mother had made that very clear the first time Mara had tried to wear a white shirt out of the house.
It was the first time Raejel had forbidden Mara to wear anything. Shock alone had had Mara complying. Later, her mother had apologized, had explained that white was a significant color and to wear it without thought would only bring Mara trouble.
The tunic she wore now was white. And embroidered with the same turquoise that was tied around the man’s waist. What did it mean?
“I’m sorry…I just…can’t think right now.” She tried to lift her left hand to wipe her eyes, but the bandaging was too heavy. And it burned.
She looked back up at him. Why did her attention immediately go to him and not the other woman or even the male doctor who’d said very little? There was worry on his face—for her? Why? “I…who are you? I’m sorry, I don’t know you.”
Chapter Eleven
Never had anything hurt him as much as those words and the confusion on her face. “I am your…”
He stopped. If she didn’t know, should he really tell her? Maybe she did know but for some reason did not want to acknowledge it? Or was she just confused from her injuries and what had to have been extremely frightening to her? “I am Clarion Adrastos, dhar of the Adrastos House. Well, one of the Adrastos Houses, there are apparently quite a few. My family calls me Rion.”
She had eyes almost brown in color, very unusual for a Dardaptoan. Her Lupoiux blood, perhaps? Still, whatever it was, the distrust and fear in them had him wanting nothing more than to scoop her up in his arms and vow to her that he would never leave her to face any fear alone again.
But he knew that would frighten her, too. “I followed you into the library. I knew there was a good reason to avoid such a place.”
“There was an earthquake, wasn’t there?”
Rion had forgotten that. Barlaam shook his head. “There were no quakes that I know of. Lana?”
Rion looked at his sister-in-law. She was particularly sensitive to such things. But she was shaking her head in the negative, as well. “There were no quakes. Just that piercing cry of those beasts coming from wherever it was they originated.”
“When we came out of the library, we were immediately surrounded. Where did they come from?”
“I will be finding out,” Marcos said. He was the closest brother in age to Rion, and though they had been separated for several hundreds of years, Rion still felt the bonds between them strongly. He was only closer to one other sibling, and that was his little Nora.
“Of Nora? I need to see that she is safe.” Guilt was strong. His responsibility to the sister he had raised from early teenhood was strong. Only his responsibility to his Rajni could overshadow it.
“Nora is well,” Barlaam said. “She is with Jade and Mallory. Aodhan secured them all before heading to Center Thrun City.”
Rion thought for a moment. “Was the attack widespread? Or just surrounding the library?”
“Focused on that area,” Marcos said. “And while there were certainly a fair number of the creatures, they were relatively easy to dispatch.”
Rion hadn’t counted exactly, but he knew he had faced more than two dozen of the winged beasts with just his sword hand. He had not let go of his Mara. Not even for a moment.
She was watching them all, confusion in her eyes.
Rion wrapped his fingers around hers. “You’re safe now. I promise you that. No matter what, I will keep you safe.”
Chapter Twelve
Who was this guy?
She thought about pulling her hand away from his, but didn’t. It felt good, warm, and she believed him when he said he’d keep her safe. She hadn’t believed anyone in months, so why should she believe a stranger?
She didn’t know, but she did. “I’m sorry. I…don’t know who you are or why I am here. Where is here, anyway?”
“You are in Thrun’s Ruling Hall. This is my sister-in-law Havalana; she’s one of the great healers.”
Mara remembered the name, though she had never seen the woman close up. Everyone who’d arrived on the day she had had seen what people had said was the goddess of the Dardaptoans touch a woman and claim her as her sister.
Mara had never heard of the goddess or any of the Dardaptoan legends. Her mother had kept her and the boys at the edge of the crowd, where they could not see much at all.
But everyone had spoken of it for days.
Mara would not forget anything about that first week in this city, in this world. She and her mother had barely been speaking—it wasn’t much better between them now, to be honest—the boys had thought it was all a great adventure until they found the house they’d been given and realized it was small and in poor condition. The worst one in their neighborhood.
Mara had yet to fully understand why their family had been consigned to such a bad spot. Her mother had refused to discuss that with Mara, as well.
Perhaps she would have had a better time adjusting and accepting, this new world if her mother had just been more open with information. Mara hated being kept in the dark, hated not knowing what was happening. And her mother had done just that. Deliberately.
And Mara didn’t see that changing soon.
Her mother had worked in the real world as a nurse at one of best hospitals in Fort Collins, Colorado. The boys had attended a four-star private elementary school and had had lots of friends, played sports, and excelled. That wasn’t the case here.
Her mother spent most of the day deep inside the small stone house, the boys struggled to get through a single day at school, and Mara…
She fetched water and snuck into abandoned libraries.
A far cry from her work as a humanities student. She’d had to abandon every plan for her future she had made, everything she had worked and studied for. And she had worked hard.
Thrun and that man Aodhan had taken all of that away.
“I am Mara Garnier. From Fort Collins, Colorado.”
Would she ever see her home again?
“I am pleased to meet you, Mara…”
There was something in the way he said her name. It had her stomach heating in a way she definitely didn’t expect.
“Did you give me something, medicine or something? “ Maybe that was it? Although she had learned in recent weeks that medication didn’t work on Dardaptoans. She wasn’t full Dardaptoan, was she?
Maybe part of her problem was that she didn’t know exactly what she was supposed to be?
“We gave you a small bit of something for the pain. And we had to get blood in you, of course.”
She tried not to let her revulsion show. She had never enjoyed vampire lore or movies, and finding herself suddenly being one of those blood drinkers sickened her.
Her mother had been lacing her drinks and her food with blood for years.
A sudden rush of longing hit her. “Where’s my mother?”
“She’s on her way.” The woman patted Mara’s hand. “She’ll be here shortly. In the meantime, tell me about your arms. We need to w
atch for infection from that horrible green sludge. I cleaned your wounds, and we think we got every bit of it out, but we need to be sure. You are both Dardaptoan and Lupoiux, I believe Aodhan said? That will help you in the speed of healing.”
Mara thought for a moment. “I am not sure what I am. You’ll have to speak to my mother about that. I did not know about Dardaptoans or Lupoiux or anything else until that man showed up on our door.”
“I see.”
“I thought I was human…”
A delusion she would never have again.
Chapter Thirteen
Rion hoped his shock wasn’t as clear on his face as Lana’s was. She turned away, but he didn’t doubt his Rajni saw the surprise.
Her mouth trembled and her eyes were guarded. But there was a strength in her face that gave him hope.
They would have a long way to go for her to understand their bond, wouldn’t they? For all purposes, if she knew so little of their people, she most likely knew nothing of Rajnis.
The path before him looked longer than he’d expected.
It wasn’t long before she was resting again. Rion just sat and stared at her, studying the face of the mate the goddess had chosen from him.
So, so young. So obviously confused. How was he supposed to help her? It was obvious she was feeling lost and adrift, or was that just her injuries?
He looked at his brother and sister-in-law. Their eyes showed their understanding and compassion. “What am I to do to help her?”
Lana patted him on the shoulder. “Just as your brother is doing to help me. Time. It is something we Dardaptoans, even the lost and injured, tend to have a lot of.”
Marcos disagreed. “But do not take too long, brother. Having your mate is the best thing a male can experience. A moment without her is a moment too long.”
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