by Raine Thomas
James processed this. Then he said, “Well, I think it’s a damn shame.”
That made Gabriel laugh. The simple, very human statement conveyed just how much his Gloresti had changed in the past few months. He had to admit that he found it comforting to have someone else as connected with one of Saraqael’s daughters as he was.
Which brought him back to the other purpose of his visit.
“To that end,” he said, his tone once again serious, “There have been a few changes in the behavior of our fellow Estilorians since your wedding. Particularly among the males.”
“Oh?”
Gabriel nodded. “I’m going to ask you to keep the displays of your feelings for Olivia to a minimum when in view of others. It’s apparent that they’re all getting a sense of the true depths that an avowing involves. I believe that despite what they might have initially thought about the ‘half-human sisters,’ they’re now beginning to crave joining with them.”
“That means—” James glanced at the door leading toward Skye’s room.
“Exactly. Skye is the only unpaired sister left.”
“But Caleb—”
“Isn’t ready,” Gabriel interrupted. “And the others have picked up on that. Caleb has noticed the increase in male observers during the training sessions since you left, of course, but he hasn’t yet connected the dots.” When James caught his gaze, looking troubled, he added, “Our brother has a slow burn. He isn’t quick to form judgments and has an amazing amount of tolerance. It’s what makes him such a good match for Skye.
“But when he realizes why all of these males are suddenly gathering around, that slow burn is sure to ignite. We have to be ready.”
James lifted his chin resolutely. “Of course.”
“Thanks.” Turning to head back into his bedroom, Gabriel paused. Then he caught James’ gaze and couldn’t resist grinning. “It’s going to be kind of fun to watch, isn’t it?”
Returning the grin, James repeated, “Of course.”
Chapter Four
The fire from the forge blazed with searing heat. A few feet from the blasting flames, sweat glistening over every inch of his skin, stood the powerful Mercesti leader, Grolkinei. With focus and repetition, he brought a hammer down again and again, shaping the glowing sword tip where it lay pressed against the anvil.
He occasionally found such tasks centering. These days, it was also practical.
His commander, Ryce, used to head weapons development. Now, however, Ryce was dead. Grolkinei had, in fact, only recently learned the specifics about his death. His commander had been slain by a black panther that had apparently played an integral part in rescuing Saraqael’s second daughter, Olivia, about three weeks ago. Until a suitable replacement was identified for it, Grolkinei had decided to take on the task of developing weapons himself. And since he vented his unholy fury over the escape of Saraqael’s daughter as he forged, the weapons he created were heavily cursed.
Perfect for killing other Estilorians as painfully as possible.
As he pounded on the super-heated sword, he once again revisited the black memory from those weeks ago, using it as motivation to fuel his rage and strengthen the powerful curse on the blade.
He remembered his sense of triumphant victory when he had walked into the underground chamber of his secret base with his commanders and saw the helpless half-human female chained in the center of the room, completely at his mercy. He remembered both her courage and her fear with equal clarity, remembered how she skillfully deflected the attempts of his commander, Kanika, to mine her thoughts for helpful information. He remembered the feel of the device of torture he had picked up from the table of such implements and remembered using it against her. Remembered watching her pulse race and the pupils of her unusual light green eyes dilate as a result of her terror.
Most especially, he remembered how she had refused to give him the answers he was seeking.
Bringing his hammer down with undeniable aggression, he wondered again whether events would have been different if he had remained in that chamber instead of leaving the girl alone with Ryce and his other commander, Cesaro, now also dead. The intent had been to allow the two Mercesti commanders to use their own forms of torture on Saraqael’s daughter to finally elicit the answers he needed. It had obviously failed.
Synchronized with his pounding hammer, Grolkinei’s thoughts resounded relentlessly through his mind. He remembered the moment when one of his soldiers, significantly wounded, encountered him and his commanders, Angius and Kanika, in the underground tunnels and explained that the other Estilorians had come for Olivia.
And they had come en force.
In an unexpected show of unity, every one of the other Estilorian classes had come together in the search for the missing half-human. Where usually only the highly-trained Waresti became involved in hunting Mercesti, in the search for Olivia there had also been Corgloresti, Gloresti, Wymzesti, Elphresti, Orculesti and even Lekwuesti and Scultresti. Hearing of the involvement of all of the Estilorian classes had made Grolkinei realize just how important Saraqael’s daughters were, but by then it had been too late to do anything but flee.
Sparks flew as he connected again with the glowing weapon before him. He had lost two very valuable commanders in the incident with Olivia. That was certainly enough motivation to keep him in front of the fiery forge as often as it took to create an arsenal full of cursed weapons.
Of course, his remaining commanders frequently reminded him that the cursed weapons might not make much difference. After all, Angius had failed to kill Saraqael’s firstborn daughter, Amber, with one of the most cursed weapons in existence.
Shortly after the ceremony held by the other Estilorian classes to welcome Saraqael’s daughters to this plane, Ryce, Angius and Layla had attempted to acquire one of the girls. Kanika, an Orculesti at the time, had led the three sisters right to the Mercesti commanders, allowing her jealousy over Gabriel’s love of Amber to rule her actions. Her attempt to lead the eldest girl to her death had instantly converted Kanika to a Mercesti, something she had obviously not considered before making her decision to act. Still, although Angius had sliced Gabriel’s avowed three separate times with his cursed blade, she had apparently survived.
Such a thing was entirely unheard of among Estilorians. Getting even the slightest cut by a heavily cursed Mercesti blade usually caused an Estilorian guaranteed death. As Anguis’ blade possessed the strongest of all curses, a slice from it inevitably resulted in a tortuous death. Learning that the half-human had survived the attack had come as a tremendous shock to the rest of them.
Especially to Angius.
Grolkinei didn’t think he would ever forget the look on his most feared commander’s face when Kanika had declared that all of Saraqael’s daughters lived through the attack after the Becoming ceremony. Although Angius probably thought that he had masked his reaction, Grolkinei had certainly noted it. Just as he knew that his fearsome commander dreamed nearly every night of the golden-eyed warrior who had permanently marked him with her blessed sword. The Mercesti leader knew that Angius wouldn’t be content until he had once again faced her in battle.
Grolkinei intended to have that occur sooner rather than later. He had his remaining commanders working tirelessly to add to their ranks and replenish the Mercesti who had been lost in the rescue of Olivia. Kanika was focused almost entirely on intercepting thoughts from other Estilorians who might be close to taking that step that would convert them to Mercesti: killing or intending to kill another Estilorian for a reason other than defense. Once those weak minds were identified, Layla used her own mental skills to implant suggestions to urge them further toward conversion. Angius then took on training new recruits once the conversion was successful. It was a system that Grolkinei had been using for some time, though not with nearly the intensity as now. He hadn’t wanted to draw too much attention to their actions before. Now, however, their system had been discovered thanks to the botched captu
re of Olivia. It wouldn’t have been difficult for the elders to piece together how the Mercesti had lured the weak-minded Lekwuesti female into bringing Olivia right to them.
Because he knew that the other class elders would now be frantically devising a way to strengthen the enchantments around their hidden base, he had ordered his commanders to work around the clock to convert more recruits while they still could. As a result, their numbers had increased considerably in the past three weeks.
And if that wasn’t bolstering enough, there was now an anonymous Estilorian who had established contact with them shortly after Olivia’s rescue. Through this traitor, who was being quite careful in the information he or she sent to Kanika to avoid prematurely converting to Mercesti, Grolkinei had gotten some of the answers he had been seeking regarding transitioning to the human plane.
He had been trying to use Saraqael’s half-human daughters as a sort of conduit so that he, himself, could enter the human plane. Once there, he intended to bring across the rest of his class one by one and then exercise his considerable power to rule over humanity, as he felt was the way it should be…a right that had been denied him and all other Estilorians when his former leader, Volarius, had joined with the eight other elders and created the Estilorian plane those many centuries ago. Grolkinei had been trying to get back ever since. He had been certain that the anomalous half-human females would at last open that door for him.
The traitor had explained, however, that Grolkinei’s goal of crossing the planes was utterly impossible. The only class with the ability to freely cross the planes was the Corgloresti. And the Corgloresti usually had to pair with a Gloresti before making the transition, though Saraqael’s daughters had been able to transition as newborn babies without such a pairing. On occasion, Gloresti could also transition between the planes if it was necessary to save their paired Corgloresti from harm, which was how, in part, Gabriel had been able to cross the planes nearly two decades ago to live among humans. No other class of Estilorian, Mercesti included, would ever be able to cross.
While Grolkinei had been told this a number of times in a number of different ways over the years, this was the first time he actually believed it. The reason for this was simple. The traitor had allowed Kanika to read his or her mind to determine the level of honesty behind the thoughts.
Fortunately, Grolkinei had already established a backup plan in the event that this was the definitive answer he received regarding his quest. He would continue to build the Mercesti ranks to numbers that would overtake the other classes in battle. Only the Waresti, Gloresti and Corgloresti classes were trained for fighting, so the others were dismissable. Then he would challenge them in battle, ultimately wresting control of the Estilorian plane from the elders. Once he was in control, Grolkinei would force the other elders to abolish the Estilorian plane using the very powers that had created it.
In yet another intriguing angle he was eager to pursue, Kanika had recently intercepted several thoughts surrounding the pregnancy of Saraqael’s eldest daughter. The news of the child created between the Gloresti elder, Gabriel, and his avowed had watered the seeds of a plan that Grolkinei had developed shortly after the incident with Olivia.
If he could get one of the sisters within his control, he could impregnate her with his child. Then he could raise that child, teaching him how to flex his inevitably mighty Corgloresti-Mercesti powers, and send him across the planes to rule over humanity in Grolkinei’s name.
While it was hardly as appealing as going to the human plane himself, the idea was growing on him. There were issues to be resolved for such a plan to succeed, of course. His child would need support on the human plane, so he would have to figure out how to establish that. But he would have time to figure that out as the child grew and learned.
Yes, it was still a possibility, he mused as he stopped hammering and studied the results on the cooling blade. Satisfied, he waved at one of the Mercesti soldiers standing nearby. The soldier used his ready equipment to transfer the blade to the quench tank a couple of feet away and continue the forging process.
Wiping the sweat from his brow with a towel handed to him by another soldier and then drinking some water that he brought forth with his power, Grolkinei considered what he knew about each of the sisters as he weighed the idea of siring a child with one of them. The eldest, Amber, was incredibly strong and had overcome the curse of Angius’ blade. But she was already pregnant. While the idea of taking her from Gabriel held a marvelous appeal, he would have to figure out what to do about the child she already carried. Would he allow her to deliver it? Trying to terminate the pregnancy early could jeopardize her health, defeating the purpose. But he would not allow any son or daughter of Gabriel live to take its first breath. So he would have to wait until she delivered before killing the child and then wait for her body to be ready to accept another pregnancy. Quite inconvenient.
Easier by far to attempt this undertaking with Olivia. The second sister wasn’t as strong as the first, but he had directly witnessed her remarkable courage and sensed her underlying power. She would make an excellent mate. However, Kanika had only just learned that Olivia was now also avowed. Grolkinei had to believe that another pregnancy could result as quickly as the firstborn’s did, meaning that he was probably already too late.
Downing the contents of his cup, he refilled it with more water, his gaze idly following the motions of his soldiers as they worked. His thoughts then moved to Skye, the youngest of Saraqael’s daughters.
Her ability to command holy light made her the least appealing of the three. After all, he had no desire to feel its brutal and scarring effects. But he was obviously short on choices now. He had been giving some consideration to the problem these past few days. Layla had been able to use her powers to command Skye to sleep after the Becoming ceremony. He wondered if Layla could somehow suppress the youngest daughter’s abilities while he was in her presence. It was something he would discuss with Layla when he caught her in the right frame of mind. Her hatred of the half-human who had scarred her face was no small thing. Perhaps between Layla’s unholy motivation and some input from their new traitorous ally, he could figure out a way around the problem of the holy light.
Leaving the forge and heading back to his current home base, he wondered again about the identity of the mysterious traitor. They hadn’t been able to determine much about him or her, which told him that the Estilorian was likely fairly old and experienced. Not many beings could mask most of their thoughts while opening themselves to be read for honesty by one such as Kanika. He wasn’t even certain of the traitor’s motives yet, which he found mildly troubling.
He had considered and dismissed the fact that this was someone attempting to lead them into a trap of some kind. The traitor hadn’t asked them for any information at all about their location or their plans. He or she seemed content to simply feed the Mercesti what information they could without crossing a line that would convert them.
And thanks to the traitor, they knew that the Orculesti elder, Malukali, and her commander, Ailfrid, had instituted regular, ongoing scans for treacherous thoughts. It made the traitor’s actions even more risky and puzzling, but also told Grolkinei that the elders were nervous and going to great lengths to protect Saraqael’s daughters. Although he had realized how valuable the girls were considered by the other Estilorians when they came after Olivia, it was helpful to have that punctuated.
After all, he now knew what it would take to draw the Estilorians away from their hidden base and into battle. And he now had someone on the inside to help him accomplish it.
Chapter Five
Standing at the crest of the hill, Skye studied the landscape with deep curiosity. The grass was vibrantly green and as high as her bare knees. Deep purple flowers dotted the meadow and scented the breeze that lifted her hair. To her left several hundred yards away was a dense forest that stretched as far as she could see. To the right, the ground sloped down. Although she couldn’t
see where it ended, the sound of roaring water told her it was probably a cliff. The warm sun lit the sky to a brilliant azure. Huge clouds floated lazily overhead, casting shadows as they passed in front of the glowing orb.
She had no idea where she was, but she knew it wasn’t Central. The home base of the Estilorians was filled with magnificent buildings and structures in tones of white, blue, gray, pink and violet, blending with the sky around them in magnificent and mystifying ways. While there were also a few forested areas around the buildings, there was nothing as relatively flat and expansive as this.
Not to mention that fact that she was entirely alone for the first time in months.
Realizing she was dreaming, she smiled. She actually enjoyed dreams. Though they were rarely as vivid as this, dreams were usually fun and unpredictable, allowing a form of escape.
“And what is it you want to escape, Skye?”
Stiffening, she turned slowly with wide eyes and spotted the speaker standing behind her just a few feet away. After reminding herself it was just a dream, she responded, “Hello, Grolkinei.”
He was dressed entirely in black. Some kind of flowing silk shirt, conforming black pants and black knee-high boots. She found herself thinking that the outfit was highly unoriginal for a villain. Then he raised an eyebrow and took a few steps closer. Although she desperately wanted to retreat, she found her limbs paralyzed. His dark hair blew around his compelling face as he stared down at her. A small, thoughtful smile tugged at his lips, creating a dent in his cheek.
