by Abigail Owen
“Did you ever doubt it? I’ve known since you took my hand and shook it the day we met,” Ramsey said. “Why do you think I pushed you away so hard? No way was I going to be responsible for my own te’sorthene’s death.”
She pulled back and gave him a mock scolding look. “No more unilateral decisions. From now on we decide things together.”
Ramsey grinned. “Hey, I’m not the one who broke promises today, now am I?”
Lila bit her lip and looked contrite. But before she could apologize he said, “I understood then. If I hadn’t agreed, I would’ve found a way to chase you into the air and bring you down myself.”
Lila sighed with relief. The old Ramsey would have been royally pissed. But something in him had changed. She looked up, a question in her eyes.
But she didn’t have to ask. “I lost you. The day Maddox kidnapped you… I knew I couldn’t ever go through that again. It changed something inside me, Lila. It was time to fight for us.” He tweaked her nose. “And boy did you give me a merry chase. Tonight – witnessing Griffin and Selene - I thought that maybe I’d destroyed any chance I had with you years ago, despite how you respond in my arms.”
Lila shook her head. “I just needed to get past my own fear that you would reject me again. Or leave me. I thought I’d grown strong and independent. But I was still a pathetic, scared little girl.”
“Never pathetic. You endured my rejection for a long time.”
She held up the cell phone. “And then I listened to these. And I knew. I was the one keeping us apart now, not you.”
Ramsey looked at the phone, and understanding lit his eyes. He laughed. “Thank God for modern technology then.”
Lila laughed with him and then burrowed back into his arms.
She felt him kiss the top of her head. “Stay with me tonight?” he asked. “We’re both exhausted, so I’m only suggesting sleep. For now. But I don’t want to let you go.”
She looked up into the green eyes she loved so much. “I don’t want to leave. Tonight or any other night.”
Chapter 43
“Lila!” Adelaide’s panicked voice crashed into her mind.
Lila was in the middle of explaining to the High Council all the events she’d been directly a part of in the battle. The debriefing had been going on for the past week, but today was the first time she’d been called in.
“What?”
“He’s leaving. Something’s wrong. I know it,” came Adelaide’s panicked reply.
Lila searched through the minds in the castles until she found Nate’s. And what she found there made her sick.
“Selene… Selene!”
The Queen, who was in the middle of talking, gave a slight nod. She was listening. “I have to go. Emergency with Adelaide.”
Another small nod.
Lila grabbed Ramsey’s hand and stood up. “Excuse us for a moment, please.” Trying to not to cause a scene, she quickly dragged him out of the room.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Lila took off at a run, knowing he’d follow her. “Nate’s making a break for it,” she thought to him.
“Shit,” he muttered beside her.
“I’m coming, Delia. Where?” she mentally called to her sister.
She got a flash of images back. Lila picked up the pace as they made their way through the castle. Muscles burning and breathing hard, they sped around the final corner into the hallway where Zara’s cell was located. Adelaide was already there standing in the doorway. Her skin was so pale she looked waxy. Lila thought her sister might faint at any moment.
Lila and Ramsey hurried to her side and saw Nate, Zara, Talia, and Corin in Zara’s cell. Clearly Maddox’s healer wasn’t quite as good as Hugh—Corin still bore the scars of Ramsey’s fireball the night she and Maddox had tried to take Lila at the cottage.
“Don’t do this, Nate,” Adelaide begged. “Don’t go.” She held her hand out to him imploringly.
“Talia’s my te’sorthene,” Nate said. “I have to go.”
Lila gagged on the bile that rose in her throat. What had happened to him? She’d never seen him look so cold. So distant.
“I’m your te’sorthene,” Adelaide said. Pleaded.
“Are you?” he asked. A sneer curled his lip.
Lila watched her sister as Adelaide engaged her ability to see relationships. She used her telepathy to watch what Adelaide was seeing.
Adelaide shuddered beside her. “It’s still there, Nate. It’s faint but it’s…”
“Goodbye, Adelaide,” he said. And he was gone.
Through Adelaide’s eyes, Lila saw the barely- there thread of the te’sorthene line connecting Adelaide and Nate snap in half.
At the same time, a wall of Adelaide’s terror and heartbreak slammed into her.
“No!” Adelaide screamed. She fell to her knees, sobbing. “No! No! No!”
Adelaide turned to look at her with eyes so tortured that Lila flinched. Her entire body was wracked with a terrible trembling. “I can’t… I can’t… Please help me,” Adelaide sobbed.
Lila wrapped her arms around her sister. She could feel bones under her hands. She hadn’t realized that Adelaide had lost so much weight. Using the power inside herself, Lila pushed serenity into her sister until her sobs stopped and her head lolled on Lila’s shoulder.
“I saw what losing his family – his te’sorthene – did to Maddox. Her mind, her spirit, might not survive this,” Lila whispered to Ramsey.
“Maddox didn’t have you. Or Lucy and Hugh. Dexter, Charlotte, Ellie, Alex, Griffin, Selene, me. He lost his entire family. Adelaide has us. We’ll help her survive it,” he said.
“Yes, we will,” Lucy said from behind them. Tears streamed down her face, but a mother’s determination was in her eyes. The rest of the family stood behind her. Griffin had heard Lila’s summons.
“And we’ll get Nate back,” Charlotte said. The same look of determination in her own teary eyes.
Lila nodded. “And Maddox?”
“We’ll survive him too,” Selene said.
“The same way,” Alex said.
Ellie, finally well enough to walk, stepped forward.
“Together.”
KEY CONCEPTS, CHARACTERS, & POWERS
Key Concepts
Svatura – Any person with extraordinary powers. The term was coined by Ellie and Griffin’s great-grandfather who lived with a group of gypsies. It is a Roma term.
Powers – Primarily powers are genetic, passed down through generations. But each new generation has a slightly different take on the power(s) they inherit. Most Svatura marry humans (there’s not a ton of Svatura out there) and so most offspring only inherit one power. Multiple powers are unusual. Powers also kick in around puberty and gaining perfect control over them takes time (centuries sometimes). In addition, if a baby may inherit more than about three powers, usually that results in twins, who split up the powers.
Aging – Svatura age at a slower pace. It kicks in around puberty and slows down exponentially for the first thousand years and then slowly speeds back up. They can live as long as two-thousand years.
Vyusher, Timening, etc. – Some tribes of Svatura people give themselves a more regional name. Vyusher means wolf. Timening means jaguar.
Te’sorthene – another Roma term. In this series, it means fated souls bonded by heart and spirit.
Core Svatura Family
Lila Jenner – Relationships: Hugh’s and Lucy’s daughter, Adelaide’s sister, Ramsey’s te’sorthene, Alex’s adoptive sister. Powers: inherited – sees when people are telling the truth, senses and heals emotions; received – falcon morph, telepathy, dream control.
Ramsey Pierce – Relationships: Charlotte’s and Dexter’s adoptive son, Lila’s te’sorthene, Nate’s adoptive brother. Powers: firestarter.
Ellie Aubrey Jenner – Relationships: Descendent of the original Svatura/gypsy line and Svatura Princess, Alex’s te’sorthene and wife, Griffin’s twin sister. Powers
: Metamorph forms include dragon, jaguar, wolf, and falcon (she gets more forms when she touches other metamorphs), controls others’ powers if she’s touching them, linked to her twin’s power of telepathy.
Alex Jenner – Relationships: Ellie’s te’sorthene and husband, Hugh’s and Lucy’s adoptive son, Lila’s and Adelaide’s adoptive brother. Powers: freezes objects (not into ice, but stopping motion).
Selene – Relationships: Queen of the Vyusher, Griffin’s te’sorthene, Gideon’s twin sister. Powers: inherited - wolf metamorph, dream visitor, turns off others’ powers (including hiding Svatura from trackers in small numbers), enhances others’ powers around her; received – falcon morph.
Griffin Aubrey – Relationships: Descendent of the original Svatura/gypsy line and Svatura Prince, Selene’s te’sorthene, Ellie’s twin brother. Powers: telepathy, invisible shield (can be used both physically or to make himself invisible), linked to his twin’s falcon shift.
Adelaide Jenner – Relationships: Hugh’s and Lucy’s daughter, Lila’s sister, Nate’s te’sorthene (?), Alex’s adoptive sister. Powers: inherited - sees relationships between people; received – telepathy, falcon morph.
Nate Pierce – Relationships: Charlotte’s and Dexter’s adoptive son, Adelaide’s te’sorthene (or Talia’s?), Ramsey’s adoptive brother. Powers: super strength and speed.
Hugh and Lucy Jenner – Relationships: each other’s te’sorthene and spouse, Lila’s and Adelaide’s parents, Alex’s adoptive parents. Powers: Lucy – senses the essence of a person (good/bad) and tells if they’re Svatura, premonitions; Hugh – physical healing.
Charlotte and Dexter Pierce - Relationships: each other’s te’sorthene and spouse, Ramsey’s and Nate’s adoptive parents. Powers: Charlotte – teleporter; Dexter – turns things to metal (including gold).
Vyusher
Gideon (deceased) – Relationships: previous King of the Vyusher, Selene’s twin brother, Maddox’s protégé. Powers: inherited – forces people to his will and makes them think it was their idea; received – wolf metamorph.
Oren – Relationships: Vyusher High Council member, Selene’s second father. Powers: astral-projection.
Desmond – Relationships: Xavier’s son, Selene’s good friend. Powers: invisibility.
Xavier – Relationships: Vyusher High Council member, Desmond’s father. Powers: moves the castle to any location.
Maggie – Powers: projects sound and the wolf pack’s thoughts.
Sheila – Powers: tracker.
Others – Jason – telekinetic who can crush, Darius – controls earth (dirt, rocks, etc.), Megan – creates a vacuum, Angelica – soothing presence.
Maddox’s Forces
Maddox – Relationships: The big bad. Gideon’s mentor and lieutenant. Powers: inherited - dragon metamorph, dream control. Received – wolf metamorph.
Zara – Relationships: supposedly Maddox’s te’sorthene. Powers: unknown.
Corin – Powers: teleporter.
Talia – Relationships: Nate’s te’sorthene (?). Powers: feels others’ emotions, unknown.
Melanie – Powers: puts people in stasis/coma with a touch.
Others (Unnamed): lasso guy, strong guy.
Louisiana Svatura
Marcus – Relationships: Leader of his tribe, Lila’s friend. Powers: toxic gas.
Stephen – Relationships: Marcus’s lieutenant. Powers: Creates steel bands.
Dane – Powers: inherited – bear metamorph; received – wolf metamorph.
Seamus – Powers: inherited – lava bombs; received – wolf metamorph.
Ariel – Relationships: missing, kidnapped by Maddox and taken away. Powers: Nerve control (removed by Selene).
Others Named – James – telepath, Beau – alligator metamorph, Sylvie – creates tornadoes.
Others Unnamed – pink bubble-gum blog maker, 2 tiger metamorphs.
Other Characters
Unnamed Timening (Brazilian Svatura) – the leader of the tribe, a woman, unnamed.
Gustavo – Timening (Brazilian Svatura) who buries people alive.
Unnamed Timening (Brazilian Svatura) – anaconda shifter.
Unnamed African Svatura – lioness shifter.
Unnamed Russian Svatura – freezes (ice) with a touch.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for trying out a self-published author. My readers are incredible and very important to me. I would not be able to do this without readers like Annayanna Halder who won the “Name Svatura Book #3” contest, coming up with Dahlia as the flower for the book. My readers’ encouragement and interest inspired me to keep writing the Svatura series. I would also not be able to do this without my editor - Wendy Schirmer, my cover artist - Jason Vines, and a host of helpers. A huge THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU to my amazing husband and children who support this obsession of mine.
I loved every second of writing and publishing this book. I hope you enjoyed exploring this little world I created that has been floating around in my head for years. If you enjoyed this book, please look for the final installment of this series out in winter 2013.
If you would like to contact me, feel free to go to any of my author sites. I love to hear from my readers. Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Abigail Owen, Author
Author Sites:
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Table of Contents
Copyright
DEDICATION
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
KEY CONCEPTS, CHARACTERS, & POWERS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
