by Tenaya Jayne
Forest picked up the little thing and looked at it for a second before pocketing it. "That's handy," she said to herself.
She turned her attention to the file sent from Redge and was astounded at his speed and efficiency. Of course, he hadn't unearthed everything in the few short hours since she'd seen him, but what he had discovered made her head spin. She'd need time to consider what to do about the knowledge there.
"Kindel," she called through the wall.
He stuck his head around the door. "Yes."
"I need to issue arrest warrants. Can you do that? I don't know how."
"Sure. Who are we going after?"
"Vladien and…Dracula."
Kindel flashed a broad, amused smile. "Dracula, huh?"
Forest groaned and put her head in her hands. "It's only my first day."
"I knew you'd waste no time stickin' it to 'em."
Kindel left the office, and Forest went back to contemplating how to structure the new judiciary system. She made notes, borrowing from her knowledge of past Regian practices and what she knew of American policies. The Rune-dy's library came to her mind, and she wondered what she might learn of the justice systems of other worlds. Determined nothing she created would be corrupt, broken, or inefficient, Forest didn't realize how long she'd been working when Kindel popped his head in again.
"We didn't discuss my hours, but I was hoping I could go home before the moon hits its zenith."
Forest glanced around the room, noticing for the first time there was no window. "I'm sorry. Is Ena still working?"
"Yeah. We've been waiting for you. I wouldn't worry about her, though. She's still giddy with excitement." Kindel came over and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Go home and get some rest. It's just your first day. The job will be here tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that."
Forest nodded and put her notes in the desk drawer. "I'll go home soon. Please make sure Ena gets back to the Onyx Castle safely."
"No problem."
Forest locked her office an hour later and walked out into the deserted lobby, Baal walking beside her.
"You did good today," he said. "I'll be here at your disposal for the next few days."
"Thanks, Baal. I appreciate it."
He waited while she told the ogre by the entrance where she wanted to go. Forest waved to him as she stepped into the blackness.
The weight of the day crashed onto her shoulders as the portal dropped her in the fringe close to her house. She wished Syrus was there. Her stress lifted a fraction as she entered her garden.
"Hello? I'm back. Netriet?" she called as she unlocked the front door.
The house was dark and empty. Forest switched on the lights and went through the house. Netriet was gone. Forest was disappointed. She'd wanted to tell Netriet about what she'd done and how things went since she'd left.
She went back outside. "Netriet?"
Nothing.
Forest shrugged and went back inside, locking the door behind her. Was she gone for good, or would she come back?
Exhaustion took over. She turned the lights out on her way to the bedroom, pulled off her boots and sword, and fell onto the bed, fully clothed. "Syrus," she sighed before falling deeply asleep.
****
Rahaxeris crossed his arms and surveyed Syrus across the table.
"So?" Syrus asked.
"I think it's a great idea, Syrus. I've got all kinds of information about such things." He stood and walked over to the wall of books, scanning the titles. "Here we go. This one."
Rahaxeris set the heavy tome on the table in front of Syrus. Syrus clenched his eyes shut and muttered his new incantation a few times before looking down at the words and pictures. Rahaxeris let him read for a few moments in silence.
"Here. This is the right thing," Syrus said turning the book toward Rahaxeris. "Can you make those?"
Rahaxeris looked. "No problem. Just give me a few minutes."
Syrus waited as Rahaxeris went into another room. He came back with a small sealed box. "Here you go. Both are in there."
Syrus tucked the box into his cloak. "Thank you."
"Don't mention it…By the way, your sight intrigues me. You're able to see by your own words."
"Yeah. It doesn't last, and it's not very clear. But I've been changing up the words, and sometimes I get more time or more color."
"Maxcarion offered no help when you sought him?"
"That's right. He said my blindness was permanent."
"Hmm. Sounds like you hold the key to your sight within you. Maybe you just haven't figured out the right combination to heal your eyes completely. You should keep trying."
Syrus contemplated. "Perhaps you're right. I will keep trying."
Rahaxeris opened a portal for him back to the Obsidian Mountain. He landed at the base and began the long climb up to his room, his prize tucked safely next to his chest. Ithiel, Guyas, and Taurus were in their nightfall mediations and didn't come out to greet him. He rested his elbows on the window ledge in his room, his sight sliding back into darkness. He didn't want to sleep on the floor, alone. He wanted to sleep wrapped around Forest. The constant pain of separation pricked and stung.
She'd had her first day of work and yet they weren't together, celebrating. She said she would kill Leith as soon as she accepted her title, and she'd accepted it. Rahaxeris had confirmed it. Her slave mark would be gone. His mind flooded with images of making love to her for the first time as a free woman. The fantasy overwhelmed his body. His feet weren’t nailed to the floor. What the hell was he doing here?
He turned around and headed back out the door he just entered. Halfway down the stairs he stopped. His hair stood on end, goose bumps spreading over his skin. Icy fear dropped into his stomach as intuition piqued. Syrus continued down the stairs in a break-neck run.
Chapter Twenty-four
Forest nestled down into her pillow, dreaming. She looked up, surrounded by trees, as dark clouds spread over the sky. The wind howled and beat down on the trees, their branches cracking from the strain. Scraping and crumbling noise filled her ears and as the trees continued to break, they began to scream. Forest covered her ears as the screaming grew louder, and louder, and louder…
Forest woke up, the sound of her alarm screeching. She sighed, annoyed, and clambered off the bed. How had Netriet tripped it again? Forest rubbed her eyes as she opened the front door and stepped out into the velvet darkness. Full lucidity had not yet taken a hold of her. She squinted at the gate. No one was there. Her eyes darted over to the flashing red lights on her alarm system. Forest ran and punched in the code, silencing it.
She turned a full circle, now fully alert. Her heart galloping up to her throat, blocking her breathing, as her eyes landed on it. There, on her stone wall, drawn in blood, was the design that used to disfigure her neck and shoulder: her slave mark entwined with the seven crescent lovers marks.
The front door of her house stood open, creaking on its hinge. Her eyes darted around again. Her tree that stood close to the wall had two broken limbs. Leith must have scaled the wall. His laugh sounded from inside the house before he stepped into the light of the doorway, smiling, and holding her sword.
Unarmed, she had no choice. Forest ran. She ducked under the archway and out into the woods before he'd taken two steps in pursuit. She heard him follow. She circled around the backside of her property. Stopping behind a tree trunk, listening. He was quieter than she knew he could be. The hammering of her pulse made it harder for her to hear minute noises.
She'd never feared him like this before. He wasn't here to rape her. He was going to kill her. Her scar began to burn. Forest bit down on her knuckle to keep from crying out in pain. What was he doing to cause her this pain? Lava ran through her veins.
The sound of his quiet footfalls sounded to her right. Forest pushed off from her hiding place and bolted, the heat rising up her neck, spreading into her skull. Her vision doubled.
"How does that feel
, love?" his taunt sounded behind her. "You should have killed me when you had the chance."
The heat was unbearable. If she would have had a weapon, she'd have cut open her head to relieve the volcanic pressure. Her steps faltered as black spots popped up in her blurry double vision. He was behind her.
She faced Leith, pulling her hair. "What are you doing to me?"
"You're my slave. I'm ordering you to feel what I want you to feel. You see how benevolent I've been to you all these years, how loving. I could have inflicted this kind of pain on you any time I wished, but I never wanted to hurt you, love."
Forest turned to run again…but she couldn't move. An odd feeling pinned her to the spot. She looked down. Her sword, bright with blood, protruded from her stomach. It didn't hurt so much, she thought, until he twisted the blade to the side.
Forest's scream rang through the trees.
Leith put a hand on her back and pushed. Forest slid down the length of the blade to the ground. He threw the sword aside and turned her over, face up. He straddled her and sat down on her wound.
She couldn't breathe. The world dimmed.
I'm dying.
Leith leaned close and kissed her bloody mouth. "I'm breaking up with you, Forest. I'm sorry it couldn't work. We're just too different. It's not you, it's me."
Her time was closing in. He kissed her again, a tear falling from one of his eyes. "I did love you, Forest. I gotta hand it to you. You almost beat me. You would have, if it weren't for your love for me. Your love stopped you again and again."
Forest's vision jittered for a second, and then everything went smooth, too smooth. Colors began to bleed into one another. She closed her eyes. She didn't want Leith's face to be the last thing she saw. Syrus reached out to her in the ebony abyss, and she floated to him.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Leith gazed down at Forest, her lifeblood running from her body into the thirsty ground. He wasn't happy about it. He hated having to break his doll.
A roar of rage and agony blasted through the woods like a shockwave. Leith jumped and turned around, instantly caught in the grip of hands so strong, his bones broke under the fingers.
Leith's cry for mercy landed on deaf ears. He jerked and squirmed as electric objects entered his body from the hands that held him. His icy eyes met the hard steel of Syrus'. He recognized his captor.
"So, you're the one who took her from me, cousin…You're too late, Syrus. She's dead."
Syrus didn't bother releasing Leith to pull his short swords from his belt. He opened his palms and filled Leith's body with sphere after sphere of his rage. And the second he was full, Syrus broke them all open, shattering through Leith's body like glass.
Leith fell to the ground, eight-ball hemorrhages in his eyes, long jagged cracks snaking over every inch of his skin, bleeding out.
Syrus lifted Forest off the ground and carried her back to her garden. The magic at the gate let them through. He fell to his knees, clutching her to him, and wept. "Forest, don't leave me," he whispered. "Please. Please. I cannot live without you."
He laid her gently on the ground and placed his hand over her wound. The same words he used to regain his sight, he now chanted over her, pulsing power from his palm into her injury. He'd never tried using his power to heal.
Her heart beat languorously. Syrus felt every slowed beat through his body. Then it stalled and stopped.
"NO!"
Syrus gathered her against him again, red lightening cracking over his whole body. The electric current engulfed Forest, the lightening streaming into her wound like water to a drain. Moving up through her veins, jolting her silent heart.
Forest's eyes shot open. A scream exploding from her lungs.
Relief such as he had never known flooded Syrus. His tears fell on her face as she looked up at him.
She reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. "Syrus…" She winced, a weak gasp of pain sliding from her lips as her slave mark broke open, bled, and then sealed back together, her flesh new and perfect.
Her stomach wound began pulling itself together under Syrus' hand. Her eyelids fluttered, her eyes sliding backward, and her hand fell from his face as she dropped into unconsciousness.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Forest opened her eyes in the darkness to the familiar sounds and scents of her bedroom. Had it all been a dream? A terrible, terrible dream? She moved her hand to trace along her scar… but there was no scar. She exhaled, feeling the bruised weakness in her core. She turned her head. She was in her bed, Syrus silhouetted in the dark, asleep next to her.
Syrus had known she was in danger. He’d saved her life.
Forest sat up, her hands involuntarily clutched at her stomach. The vision of her sword coming from her flesh flashed before her eyes. She shivered. The image was a terror that would stick with her the rest of her life.
But Leith was dead. The knowledge brought a strange twinge. She placed her feet silently on the floor and crept out of the house. Compelled to see his body, to have her eyes confirm what her new skin already had, Forest walked through her garden and out. The moon cast its light on the woods around her. She'd lost time, unaware of how long she'd been out. His body may have fallen to ash by now, or Syrus may have done something with it.
It was closure she craved. Just a private minute to say goodbye.
Leith's mangled body lay face up. The aquamarine moonlight reflected on the surface of his eyes. The areas of his skin that were undamaged held the appearance of wet wax. She stared at him, momentarily numb.
The numbness didn't last. Forest choked on the vomit rising up her throat as all of her memories of him from the first to the last flashed through her mind. She fell to her knees next to his body, shaking with silent tears and held his hand, his fingernails crumbling to dust at her touch.
"It didn't have to be like this," she whispered. "I'd have given you my love freely, if only you'd have asked for it. If only you could have been kind…if only…"
The memories of how her marks confused her heart stung in her chest. However forced, false, and twisted it had been, she had loved him. And it could have been real, if only he would have been content with the free gift of love. But he wanted property rights.
Forest moved through every emotion she'd ever had regarding Leith, setting each one free like a bird to the wind. Decades of weight lifted from her little by little as she opened her hands and released the past. But another sinking feeling swooped into her stomach. She turned her head around abruptly. Syrus was standing behind her. A pain worse than being stabbed, worse than death, sank into her heart, transferred from Syrus.
****
His eyes didn't deceive him. He'd never seen clearer without human blood. But how Syrus wished what he saw was a cruel illusion. She shed tears for Leith. Tears! With plain regret in her heart. And the words she'd uttered, he'd have traded anything to un-hear them.
Betrayal. Betrayal too deep to pardon. Everything within him that lived for her…died. His heart shut down in self-preservation, and he went cold inside. He took a step back and lifted his hands in surrender. "Well, I guess I wasn't supposed to see this. By all means, continue telling his corpse how you love him and you wish you were bound to him and not me."
"What? Syrus, that's not—"
"Not what? True? You've pushed me away and pushed me away, rejecting my heart over and over. You've held me at arm's length, and you let him live when you had the chance to end it. How can you say you love me when you obviously love him, and how can you love him in the first place?"
"Syrus, please—"
"No, don't worry about it, this one's on me. I'm the fool who thought underneath it all, you actually loved me."
"I do!"
"That's a damn shame. If it's true…this is going to hurt, a lot."
"What's going to…" Forest's voice trailed off as Syrus closed her access off to his heart.
Forest gaped at him, unable to breath. He was rejecting her as his mate. The l
egendary pain of such a thing rushed on Forest. The invisible ties between them pulled and tore like hacking off a limb but leaving it hanging by a sinew, still connected, but dead. Her eyes, hands, and heart ripped apart under the surface as he turned his back and walked away.
Forest didn't move. It hadn't really happened she told herself. Amazingly, the pain of rejection, at least the physical part of it, was already fading. How could that be when all the stories told of enduring agony? That individuals who rejected their life mates suffered lifelong excruciation? It wasn't some searing sting or burning leaving her writhing on the ground; it quickly settled into despair and desolation sliding through her veins, poisoning every inch of her.
I can live with it. It's not that bad.
She continued to watch his retreating back. He walked at a steady pace, his frame completely ridged, until she could no longer see him at all.
Strange. This is what I wanted, right? Isn't it? To be free of anyone and everything. To live my life without the burden of hurting him because I can't be what he wants. To let him go. Never see him again. Never touch him. Never hear his voice teasing me. Never again see his childlike smile. What I want…I? What I want?
When did I become so damn noble?
Forest rubbed her hands together. The pull of their bond still existed in her palms, like a ghost, a mere phantom of what had been there. But it was still there!
Get off your ass, stupid!
Forest jumped to her feet, grabbed her sword from the ground next to Leith's body, and ran for her life.
The moonlight slid along the blade as it shot through the air, missing Syrus' head by an inch, sticking deep into the trunk of a tree next to him. He whirled around as she came up behind him, his eyes bugging with shock.
"Where do you think you're going, sucker?" she demanded.
"Forest…what are…what do you…" he spluttered.
"You're not going to just walk out of my life. Especially when your reasons are ass backwards."
"What?"
