by Raine Thomas
“I don’t understand why they never mentioned this,” Olivia said quietly.
She was twisting her wedding ring around and around her finger. The breeze blowing through the park caught a couple of light green and brown strands of hair from her braid, but she didn’t reach up to brush them back like she normally would have. When she pinched her lips together, Skye suspected it was to fight her rising emotions.
Heaven knew she was in the same boat. The numbness had long ago worn off.
“They must not think we’re ready or something,” she said at last, trying to keep her voice from trembling. “They didn’t tell us because we’re not good enough—er, trained enough yet.”
“That’s a load of crap,” Amber snapped. “We’re damn well ready. We have been for weeks.”
Skye knew her sister’s frustration wasn’t directed at her and didn’t take offense. Instead, she felt a swell of pride. Amber thought she was ready?
“They didn’t tell us because they didn’t think we could handle it,” Olivia said with the same edge of anger in her voice. “You heard Knorbis. He qualified what he said about our abilities by mentioning how young we are. They all think the same thing.”
Skye considered what her sisters said. She knew that they probably felt an added layer of hurt toward their husbands, who had obviously hidden some seriously significant thoughts from them. That could color their judgment.
Then she thought about Caleb and his silence on the matter. And decided their words were right on the money.
And would you have been able to focus so well on your training if you had been under the pressure that such knowledge places on you?
She heard the voice of her spirit guardian and carefully considered his words. Closing her eyes, she sighed.
You’re right, Qel’a.
Then she said, “They wanted us to be able to focus on getting ready for this huge responsibility. They knew we wouldn’t have been able to if we were told right off the bat we were going to have to save their entire people.”
There was a pause as her sisters considered this. They turned to look at her at the same time.
“Good one,” Amber said. She gave Skye a small smile and a nudge with her elbow.
“I guess that makes me think of James as a little better than a wart on a toad’s butt,” Olivia mused. She looked rather relieved.
After another moment, Amber sighed. “I guess we’ve let them stew long enough. Let’s see what they have to say for themselves.”
Skye started to rise, but Amber reached over and grabbed her arm. “Uh-uh. They’ll come to us. We’re still the ones who were wronged here. They should have said something to us by now.”
Since she agreed, Skye sat back and waited, crossing her arms over her chest. She thought of the past few weeks and the many times Caleb could have said something about the prophecy and what it meant for her and her sisters. She thought of how many times he told her that she was training to protect herself…from Mercesti, from other less-than-friendly Estilorians, heck, even from random, rampaging wild animals. But never a thing about battles for livelihood.
And really? Unworthy outsiders? That was a part of the prophecy that all Estilorians believed? It made her wonder what she and her sisters should find so appealing about living among them. And she wondered if Caleb had ever thought of her that way.
It hurt too much to consider.
A minute later, they approached. She wondered if anyone else noticed that Gabriel walked in the middle and slightly ahead of James and Caleb, much as Amber had done with her and Olivia. As soon as that thought floated through her head, she saw Gabriel’s eyes drift briefly down to Amber’s belly, saw the distinct softening of his gaze, and thought that she wouldn’t be able to hold out for one second against it if it had been her facing him down.
Amber glanced sideways at her and she realized her thought had been a little too loud. Sending a silent apology, she got to her feet and planted her hands on her hips as the three males stopped a few feet away.
“Come on,” she said to Caleb, keeping her tone clipped and her face clear of expression. “We can’t exchange thoughts, so let’s go hash this out in private.”
She turned briskly, felt her long hair and her skirts flare out behind her. When she got about fifty feet away, she waved her hand. A small cottage suddenly appeared in front of them. She walked right up to the door, but before she could open it and walk inside, Caleb hurried forward and took the door latch.
“I created the place,” she said with a huff. “It’s not like I created an enemy inside.”
He didn’t comment. He just opened the door and looked inside. Then he stood against the door so she could flounce inside.
The second he was inside and the door was closed, she rounded on him.
“So I’m capable of using my power to create something like this, but not capable of defending myself, is that it?”
He frowned. “It’s my responsibility to see to your protection.”
“That’s not what you’ve been preaching all of these months. You said that I was training to defend myself.” She saw the remark hit home. Then she said, “Amber thinks I’m quite capable, and so does Olivia. Why is it, I have to wonder, no single Estilorian seems convinced of it?”
He didn’t reply.
“You know what I think? I think you also believe I’m capable of defending myself. What you don’t believe is that I’m ready to lead a battle. A battle you never even bothered to tell me about.”
“I—”
“I’m not quite finished, Caleb,” she ruthlessly interrupted. Her emotions were overtaking her judgment, but she just couldn’t find it in herself to stop them. “You lied. Omitting something so huge, whatever the reason, is still a lie.” Her voice wavered, but she plowed on. “You’re the best friend I have here who isn’t related to me. Do you know how much you’ve hurt me?”
She felt the first tear fall and stopped talking. Her throat had closed up on her.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m assuming since you’re crying that you’re done talking for the moment,” he said levelly. “Does that mean you’re ready to listen?”
It was like a slap, and not at all the response she had expected. Completely shocked, she could only stare at him as tears dripped down her cheeks.
“Good. Then I can say now that it was never our intent to hurt any of you. Yes, we kept the last part of the Great Foretelling from you. We didn’t exactly go into detail about any of the prophecy, for that matter. It wasn’t important to us. You are.”
That eased some of the sting from his initial harsh words. But it wasn’t exactly an apology. She still thought he was being far too dismissive of her feelings. He seemed to think that his explanation, logical though it might be, made up for any hurt his choices and his actions had caused.
He was wrong.
“That’s what you have to say to me?” she asked carefully, as though being sure she understood.
He just nodded.
“Fine.”
She waved her hand. The cottage disappeared. Then she turned and walked away, not caring if he followed.
“Skye, don’t leave until we’ve finished discussing this,” he said, reaching out and grabbing her arm.
Pulling away from him, she replied through her continuing tears, “I can’t talk to you about this without it being personal, Caleb. It’s very personal, and I’m very emotional about it. You obviously don’t want to see or deal with this emotion. So we’re done.”
Now he looked like the one who’d been slapped.
She started to turn away, then looked back up at him. “I’ve just learned that every Estilorian’s opinion about me was formed centuries before I was even born. No one who meets me does so without a preconceived idea of who I’m supposed to be. I’ve learned that the reason everyone is being so civil and welcoming to us is because they think we’re going to lead them in some miraculous charge. For heaven’s sake, you’re all training us
to see that we do exactly that.
“I’ve just learned that I’m considered valuable…not for anything I’ve done, but for something I have yet to do. And I’ve learned that the reason you’re all so concerned about our protection is to make sure we fulfill this prophecy.”
“That’s not true,” he argued.
“No?” She raised an eyebrow and once again planted her hands on her hips in challenge. “Then why are you so concerned for me?”
When he only stared at her for several long, silent heartbeats, she nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
And turning back around, she once again walked away.
This time, he didn’t stop her.
Chapter Fifteen
From their position on the bench Skye had created, Amber and Gabriel watched Skye and Caleb. Though the words weren’t quite clear from their distance, it was obvious things weren’t going well.
“Should I help him out?” Gabriel asked as he idly rubbed Amber’s neck.
“That wouldn’t be fair,” she responded.
He sighed in reluctant agreement. “Man, it’s hard watching him screw up.”
She patted her belly. “Consider it practice, Daddy.”
Raising an eyebrow, he admitted, “That sounds really weird.”
“Don’t I know it,” she said with an inelegant snort.
She leaned into him familiarly, breathing in his comforting scent. She could admit it was very nice to know and be known by someone as well as she and Gabriel knew each other. Their many years together made making-up a fairly painless process. Lord knew they had butted heads enough throughout their human adolescence and into young adulthood. But in the end, they both knew they loved each other. Thus, hurt could be forgiven and forgotten with time and apology.
Her sisters didn’t have it quite so easy. She glanced to their left. Olivia and James had gone in that direction to have their conversation. She considered the fact that they had only been together for a few months, not much time to really get to know someone. But she knew they were both level-headed and would listen to what each other had to say, both with their minds and their hearts. Olivia would come to understand and to forgive.
Skye, on the other hand, was at a distinct disadvantage compared to her sisters. She and Caleb weren’t avowed, which meant they didn’t know each other’s thoughts. And Skye was ruled by her emotions while Caleb was very, well, reserved at expressing his. While that combination usually did very well to offset each other, when it came to communicating about something so important as this, they still didn’t know how to understand one another.
And when Skye turned and walked away and Amber saw her expression, she knew things had taken a very bad turn.
“Uh-oh.”
She started to get up, but Gabriel swiftly got to his feet and helped her. Ever the gentleman.
“Guess we’d better go after her,” she said. When she heard Skye’s sob, her eyebrows rose. “Ugh.”
Knowing she didn’t like emotional displays, he threw a companionable arm over her shoulders and started them both walking a few yards behind Skye.
“I’m sure you can handle it,” he said reassuringly.
“Of course I can,” she responded. Then, sliding her gaze toward his, she added, “I’m having Olivia do the talking.”
“Of course you are.”
“And he didn’t answer you?” Olivia asked later that evening.
Skye shook her head miserably. She was sitting with Olivia and Amber in the common area that served as a kind of central hub between all of their beds, the single bathroom they all shared and a closet containing several days’ worth of clothes for each of them. The sisters were currently in their pajamas, as it was well into the night. Gabriel had taken Caleb and James aside to have a conversation with them, so the girls were currently alone in the quiet space.
Their accommodations were, much like everything else in the Wymzesti homeland, rather odd. The center of the space contained several colorful sofas and stuffed chairs, a wooden coffee table and woven rugs on the gleaming white floor. Balls of light bounced along the ceiling. In a circle around this hub were the bedrooms. Only, they weren’t rooms so much as beds enclosed by opaque white walls and a sliding door that opened and closed automatically and without sound. There wasn’t even a footboard at the end of the mattress. They were simply meant to step into the little space and fall onto the mattress while the door closed behind them.
She had serious doubts about her ability to sleep in the rather tomb-like chamber, but knew she had little choice but to try.
“I even deliberately gave him time,” she said in answer to Olivia’s question. “But he just stared at me like I was mental or something.”
The sisters were quiet for a moment. Then Amber said, “You know, I never thought about all of this from that perspective.”
“What perspective?” Olivia asked. She was rubbing a consoling hand over Skye’s back.
“They need us more than we need them.”
That made Olivia’s eyes widen. She seemed to give this closer consideration. Then she nodded. “I see.”
“I mean, if you really boil it down, what are we getting out of all of this?” Amber continued thoughtfully. “We’ve given up everything we knew on the human plane. We’ve made all kinds of adjustments here and allowed them to parade us in front of everyone like weird displays. Now we’re joining with the elders to enhance the protections for all Estilorians against the Mercesti. And then we’re supposed to teach them all about emotions and lead them in a battle of some kind to make sure they all remain happy.
“And in return, we’re made to train until we’re ready to drop, Estilorians think we’re diluted half-breeds unless they have a use for us and we’re going to be the only beings on the entire plane that can biologically reproduce.”
Again, there was a long, depressed pause.
“I think I want to go back,” Skye said at last. Her tone was quiet and serious. When her sisters caught her gaze, she added, “I’ll help fortify the protections for each of the homelands. But after that, I want to go back to the human plane.”
“But you can’t,” Olivia said with a frown. “Your powers have grown too much. It was because we couldn’t control our powers that we had to leave the human plane in the first place.”
“And I can control them now.” Skye again looked from one sister to the other. “We’ve been trained, just like Amber said. I’m positive I can manage a very normal life on the human plane now. I need to be around people with emotions…people who form judgments about me only after they get to know me.” A single tear slid down her cheek. “People who care about me for me, and not what I can do for them.”
Olivia’s eyes filled. She caught Amber’s worried gaze. They both wanted to argue with her, but neither of them could find any good reason to.
Gabriel looked consideringly from James to Caleb. Both of the young Gloresti appeared tired and drawn. It had been a very long day for all of them. And tomorrow, with the coming ritual of power, it promised to be even more exhausting.
The three of them had congregated in a small sitting area not far from their hub of rooms. It was a more public space, but it was the only spot that allowed them to easily keep an eye on the only entrance to their accommodations. Fortunately, there was no one else in the area at the moment.
“I wanted to speak with both of you after what occurred today,” he said at last. “Amber seems to be better now that we’ve talked about things.” He glanced at James. “How’s Olivia doing?”
James raised an eyebrow, as he had already had a conversation about this with his leader. Rubbing his thumb briefly over the cleft in his chin and flicking a quick glance toward Caleb, he said, “Oh, well, she’s better, too. Still a bit upset, but she understands. How about Skye?”
Caleb glanced up briefly without expression. “Skye is Skye. She’s overwrought and unwilling to listen to reason.”
“Come again?” Gabriel said with quite a bi
t of surprise. Caleb was usually more compassionate than this.
“She seems to think that the only reason any of us want her and her sisters here is to fulfill this prophecy,” Caleb explained. “That we only see them as valuable because of that, and we otherwise wouldn’t be concerned for them at all.”
Both Gabriel and James looked positively stunned by this announcement. After processing this, Gabriel ventured, “But you told her that isn’t true, right?”
“Of course I did. But then she wanted to know if it wasn’t because of the prophecy, why I was concerned for her.”
Exchanging a look with James, Gabriel prodded, “Okay. And you said…”
He pursed his lips. “She knows it’s my responsibility to see to her well-being. I told her how we care about all of them, and not because of the damn prophecy.”
Oh, geez. It was even worse than he had thought. Struggling not to wince, Gabriel said, “Did you say it just like that? That ‘we’ care about ‘them?’ Nothing about how you feel about her?”
Now a sullen look flashed across Caleb’s face. “I see no reason why everything has to boil down to feelings. I know that the two of you have a different relationship with Amber and Olivia than I have with Skye. I’ve changed a great deal since meeting her, not all of which I’m comfortable with. And I don’t appreciate having feelings imposed upon me.”
Sitting straighter, Gabriel actually felt the expression leave his face. “I see,” he said, keeping his tone carefully neutral and his thoughts to himself. “You’re absolutely right, Caleb. We shouldn’t try and impose anything on you that you aren’t interested in feeling. Our apologies if we’ve made you uncomfortable.”
Caleb hesitated. Then he nodded.
