by Tenaya Jayne
“Syrus,” she whispered before falling back into a death sleep.
****
Zeren, Ithiel, Merick, Netriet, Kindel, and Ena stood around a table laid with a map of Regia, trying to figure where Forest might be. Zeren had dispatched search parties of royal soldiers, each led by one of the Kata masters that came with Syrus to the castle after the mountain was attacked.
There were many ideas being thrown around the table about where she might be hidden.
Syrus strode into the room with Merhl, and everyone fell silent. None of them needed to ask if he’d found her; they could tell by the look on his face.
“The Rune-dy are dead, except Rahaxeris. Copernicus has him,” Syrus said. “Copernicus plans to keep Forest alive so she can sit on the throne next to him…” He took a deep breath, schooling his rage before continuing. “Despite that I heard him say this, Forest has already been on the edge of death since she was taken…” He rubbed the heel of his hand over his heart and grimaced. “I’d given up hope. I thought I’d lost her…We can’t rely on his intentions to keep her alive. We have to get her back. But I fought him. I can defeat him. He would be dead now, if he hadn’t run like a coward.”
Everyone looked around at each other.
Kindel slammed his fist down on the table. “If only we still had Redge,” he said.
“Redge is lost to us!” Syrus growled.
“What haven’t we thought of yet?” Ena demanded.
Netriet’s eyes rounded, and her cheeks flushed. “No one has sought out Shi!” She moved over to Merhl; Merick followed her. “Send us to the Wolf’s Wood,” she said to Merhl urgently. “Shi might be able to help us.”
“Wait,” Zeren said. “Take some backup with you.”
He gestured for the security ogres standing at the door to come forward. Netriet, Merick, and two ogres went through the portal Merhl opened.
Syrus clasped at his chest and fell onto his knees. Kindel and Zeren ran to him and braced him by the shoulders.
“It’s happening again!” Syrus yelled. “Forest is dying! We have to hurry…no time…her heart fails…”
None of them could do anything to help Syrus. They had no answers, could offer no comfort.
He got to his feet and looked at the map, but his mind couldn’t focus. All he could do was feel. Forest’s life was going, and again, he was out of time to save her. Whatever was happening to her, it was happening faster than before, much faster. All hope left him. She only had moments left. There wasn’t time to do anything. He had no direction. It was over... He’d lost her.
“Send me home, Merhl,” Syrus said quietly.
Tears filling his large eyes, Merhl nodded and opened a portal for Syrus.
“Go with him,” Zeren told Merhl.
Merhl came through the portal after Syrus. He stood back and was silent, forced to witness Syrus’ anguish.
Syrus fell out onto his knees. He threw his head back to the sky. “FOREST!”
His voice echoed for miles. The terrible sound falling again and again with the piercing agony of his soul. He struck the ground with his fist. Lightning shot through the earth and rocks. A tremor rolled through the area in a terrible aftershock. He sighed raggedly and pulled Forest’s sword from its scabbard.
“What are you doing?” Merhl asked.
“I’m getting ready to die.”
“No… Don’t do that.” Merhl came forward.
Syrus jumped to his feet, turning the blade to Merhl. Merhl stopped, assaulted by the look in Syrus’ eyes. He couldn’t stand the pain he saw there. He understood clearly the desire to be free of that kind of suffering. Merhl held his hands up and took a step back.
“You will be missed, Syrus. Regia will mourn the loss of you and Forest.”
Syrus lowered the blade away from Merhl. “Go home…make sure Forest’s memory is never forgotten.”
Merhl tried to clear the lump in his throat, but it wouldn’t budge. With his heart heavier than it had ever been, he bowed to Syrus and opened a portal back to the Onyx castle.
Syrus watched the portal close and sighed. He looked around the garden. His memories stroked his heart with soft fingers that soothed, and the next moment stabbed deep with razor-sharp nails. He had nothing to live for. Without Forest there was no reason to continue. He couldn’t move on. He couldn’t heal. Nothing could replace his mate or his child. The excruciation was already there inside him, waiting. It hovered, letting Syrus know it had him, and there was no escape.
“At least I had you…even if it was such a short time…moments really. I wouldn’t change it, my love. I only wish we’d had more time…” He pointed the tip of the blade to his chest and held still, listening to Forest’s heart. He could feel the moment was upon him. Any second, and her heart would beat its last. The moment she died, so would he.
Chapter Ten
Everyone had left, except Shreve. Copernicus had taken Rahaxeris with him to Paradigm, and the believers were all gone to gather the slaves and make ready for the takeover of the Onyx castle. Shreve sighed as he put out the torches and worked to erase the traces of the gathering. He hated his life. He didn’t believe in anything. He was just along for the ride. Doing what he was told. There was so much innocent blood on his hands. Had this been his purpose, when he’d been created? To be a weapon? He didn’t want to be a weapon. But he didn’t know what he did want to be.
He was almost finished clearing the area, but he had one more job left: taking care of the body of the girl that had died for sport. He’d been avoiding going near her, but he had to now. Her eyes were open, unseeing, directed at the moon. She was young, in that age right before maturity. Beautiful. And her life had ended before it really began.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “May your soul find peace.”
“Sophie!” A cry came up behind him.
Shreve turned to see a young woman running at him. She looked just like the girl on the ground. He stepped back as she fell on the dead one, who was surely her sister. The young woman wailed and held the body to her chest. She looked at Shreve and stood. Challenge seared through the pain on her tear-streaked face. Hatred flamed in her deep purple eyes. She pulled her long light brown hair back from her face. He couldn’t help but admire her trim, powerful build.
“Are you the killer?” she demanded.
“No, but I didn’t help her, either.”
“You’re one of them, aren’t you? The Aluka circle?”
“Yes,” he said quietly.
Her fists clenched. “I am no one, yet. But someday, I will stop all of you. If the rest of Regia cannot stop you, then the wolves will. And I will lead them.”
Shreve smiled. He liked her. “Good luck to you then. My condolences on your loss. What is your name?”
“Sabra, and don’t you forget it.”
“I can assure you, I won’t.”
Shreve gave her a little bow and opened a portal. The dead girl would be taken care of properly. He was sorry to see she had been loved, that she would be missed. She had family…a sister. He had a sister too, who needed his help. And Copernicus was elsewhere.
Shreve landed on the deck of the ship and went directly below to Forest’s cell.
“Forest? Forest are you awake yet?” He came to her side.
His spine stiffened as his eyes adjusted to the dimness. He grabbed her arm. “Damn it, Father.”
Forest’s veins were dark grey and swelled like exposed tree roots from the injection site. He laid his head against her chest and listened. This was beyond him. He didn’t have any special power or skill set that could help her. Shreve contemplated for a second. Saving her life might cost him his.
Screw it, he thought as he shifted his appearance so he didn’t resemble Copernicus and opened a portal.
****
Syrus heard the portal open, thinking it was Merhl again. He opened his eyes slowly and blinked once, sure he was imagining what was in front of him. Syrus rushed to the stranger who carried For
est and took her into his arms. He looked at the deliverer, but the man had already turned and was going back through the open portal. He hadn’t even gotten a good look at him. Then the portal closed, leaving them alone.
He laid Forest down gently on the ground and took both of her hands. The pull of their bond mixed with his mage power in his palms. Red light moved up from his hands into hers and rolled through her whole body before coming back to Syrus, translating to him what was going on inside her.
A small lightning-filled sphere formed in his hand, and he placed it on the crook of Forest’s arm. The sphere began to spin and turn grey. It slowed and stopped. He grabbed it, now filled with poison pulled from her, and threw it. It exploded when it hit the ground. Syrus made another sphere, again placing it on her arm. If only she wasn’t so far gone.
Syrus removed every drop of the toxin from her body, but the damage it caused left her bludgeoned inside. He felt her slip deeper into death sleep, her heart too tired, too injured to continue. The muscles of the walls and chambers sighed in defeat, having lost all structural integrity, and let go of the blood inside it like a fist relaxing open.
“Oh no you don’t! Forest, you come back here, right now!”
Syrus closed his eyes. Rage beyond what he had felt on the Obsidian Mountain when he’d lit it up and killed the attacking ogres, pooled under his ribs. She was right here. He wouldn’t let her die. It was non-negotiable.
Another lightning-filled sphere formed over his heart. He pulled it off and slammed it into Forest’s chest. The sphere thrust through her flesh and bones, into her expired heart where it broke open.
Her eyes shot open for a second then rolled back again closed, her heart coughing weakly once just once.
He pressed his forehead against hers. “Fight, Forest! Fight!” he shouted. “When have you ever backed down from anything?! I’ll never forgive you, if you give up now! Do you hear me? I will never forgive you!”
He held her against his chest. A dome of red electricity covered them. Tendrils of it latched on to Forest, shocking her over and over. In one last push, Syrus gave her the full force of everything he had, putting his own life in danger with the effort.
The dome blazed in a blinding flash and pulled back down into Syrus before shooting through her like a shockwave.
He couldn’t feel anything; he could barely hold on to her. He slumped down as she took a shallow breath. Then another. Her tattered heart beat faintly, and she opened her eyes.
“I didn’t know you could be so mean,” she whispered.
Relief didn’t begin to cover what he felt. He chuckled. He had his family in his arms. He would have thought it a dream, had he not hurt so much.
Tears filled his eyes. “Don’t you ever…ever scare me like that again.”
With great effort, she reached up slowly and placed her hand on her stomach. “I’m pregnant.”
“I know… I can hear the baby’s heartbeat, just as I can hear yours.”
“Is the baby okay?”
He frowned, listening. What did he know about babies? The sound of the baby’s pulse was different than it had been before, but it was steady. “I don’t know,” he said honestly.
She blinked and looked around as much as she could without moving her head at all. “Home? How did I get here? Rahaxeris?”
Syrus shook his head. “Someone brought you. I didn’t get a good look at him. He left as soon as I had you, without saying a word.”
Forest frowned and then closed her eyes. “I can hardly move.” She groaned with pain and gingerly touched her sternum. “What did you do to me?”
He kissed her mouth, his tears falling on her cheeks. “What I had to.”
Syrus took a deep breath, mustering the strength to stand, and carried her into the house. He barely made it to the bed and laid her down before his legs gave out. He fell onto the bed and wrapped his arms around her in a vise grip before passing out.
****
Zeren was beside himself. At first Merhl wouldn’t talk. When he finally did, Zeren was utterly torn about what to do. He wanted to go to Syrus and demand that he not harm himself. The only thing that held him back was his firsthand experience of losing his own life mate. Zeren had decided to continue living because of Syrus. If he were in Syrus’ position now, having lost his mate and his baby at the same time…well, despite how it would hurt Zeren to lose Syrus, he didn’t want him to live with that kind of agony.
Zeren closed himself away in his quiet room and sat still in the dark. He waited one hour before going back to the room where those who cared most about Forest had just stood, trying to help save her. Netriet and Merick were back and someone had obviously told them Forest was dead. Merick stared at the floor with empty eyes as Netriet clung to him. Kindel held on to Ena and stroked her back as she sobbed on his chest. Merhl looked at the floor, crying silently. And Ithiel sat in a chair with his eyes closed, meditating through whatever he was feeling.
“Open a portal for me,” Zeren said quietly to Merhl. “Leave it open, I’ll be back after I see to my son’s body.”
He walked slowly through the rushing blackness, pushed onward by duty and weighed down with sorrow. The garden was empty. Zeren looked around. The ground in front of him was scorched in a perfect circle. He frowned as he noticed the door on the house stood open. He walked into the silent space and listened. He heard breathing. Zeren followed the sound into the bedroom. How could it be?
Both of them were there. Zeren exhaled in relief as all the grief he’d been feeling vanished. He shook his head in amazement. It wasn’t the first time Zeren had thought that Forest and Syrus were more than destined life mates, more than desperately in love with each other, they had something so rare and strong he didn’t even have a name to put to it, but it seemed to create miracles.
They looked terrible, but they were alive. He’d have to wait to get the story. They definitely needed rest.
Zeren ran back to the waiting portal to tell everyone he’d left grieving, that their tears were unneeded.
Chapter Eleven
Shreve stood on the deck of the ship, looking out at the sea. He was supposed to be making sure everyone was getting ready for the takeover of the Onyx Castle. He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. Learning he was a clone had changed things for him. Copernicus wasn’t his father as he’d been led to believe. That simple fact had altered something inside him. He owed Copernicus nothing.
He had the power of every Regian race, but he probably wouldn’t live a normal lifespan. His DNA was old from the moment he was created. But on the other hand, he had been spliced with wizard blood as well. Who knew? He might outlive everyone.
He didn’t know who he was, but he wanted to. He hadn’t begun his life in Regia, but it was his home. There would be a place for him, somewhere. He could hide in the open for the rest of his life, if he wanted. He could change his face, and he could change race at a moment’s notice. He could do anything he wanted with his life.
His life, he thought for the very first time. This was his life, and he would claim it.
Shreve pulled Forest’s silver sword from around his waist. He thought about her as he looked at the blade. Had her mate been able to save her life? The child’s life? He would find out later. He slid the sword back into its scabbard. Maybe one day, he’d return it to her.
His gaze traveled down to the wooden planks under his feet. It was time to sink this ship and for him to disappear before the window of opportunity closed. He went below deck into Forest’s empty cell. Shifting his right arm into beast form, Shreve punched a hole straight through the floor. Water rushed in. He quickly punched three more holes. The water rose up to his chest. He smiled to himself as he shifted his arm back, pulling from his ogre blood, and opened a portal. He went through the rushing blackness as the ship sank beneath the jagged surface of the Crystalline Sea.
****
Redge was disoriented. The morning sunlight fell on his face through the open
roof of the ruin. He sat up, groaning. He ran his hand over his slave mark, wishing he could cut it out of his flesh, but he knew attempting that would do no good. Only when Copernicus was dead would he regain his freedom. He’d been such a fool, thinking he could go in and make a real difference in the effort to take Copernicus out. The price of his folly was beyond any nightmare he’d ever had. His hands had been turned against his friends and against his loyalty to Regia.
Acidic misery moved slowly through him as he thought about when Syrus had come to see him. His mind lingered on the things he didn’t want to think about: Copernicus marking him, beating Forest, the unborn child she carried, what torture Syrus must be going through, if Forest was even still alive? And now, in the midst of all that, he’d dreamed about Journey in a way he never had before.
She’d spoken to him. She’d touched him. It had been so intense, so real, and as a side effect, his heart delivered self-inflicted wounds to the rest of him with every pulse. The tangible layers of the dream had made him miss her more. He always missed her, but at the moment, he raged for her. He was so ravenous for her, so miserable and utterly unsatisfied.
He stood and sighed. His stomach rolled with hunger. How long had it been since he’d eaten anything? He’d have to go into the city. He didn’t want to chance running into anyone he knew. He had nothing to hide his face with, no hooded cloak. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the contents. Just a few coins. Enough to stop into a smaller, seedy hotel for a while. He could bathe, eat, and head back to his isolation before midday.
He shouldn’t do it, he thought. His stomach growled again, vociferously, making up his mind for him. He headed for Halussis, hoping desperately he could get in and get out without being noticed by anyone who would recognize him.
