by Aja James
Through their linked minds, their joined flesh, she kept funneling her memories into him. There was nowhere to run. No escape. Despite the Master’s program to compartmentalize his memories and neutralize his emotions, the warrior felt overwhelmed.
Most of all, he finally felt.
Chapter Nine
“She’s gone dark. Coms cut off. We have no way of tracking them.”
Inanna bit off the words with barely contained frustration and fear. Right now, she couldn’t afford to be the terrified, disconsolate mother. She had to find her warrior strength. She had to focus.
“They were headed northeast. Most likely up the coast or close to it. Tristan is working with Devlin and Grace at the Cove to see if they can help narrow down the flight paths,” Gabriel added beside her.
Her Mate didn’t touch her or hold her to provide reassurance, for he was also in warrior mode. But she felt his worry as keenly as if it were her own. And his presence next to her, their linked minds, gave her comfort though they remained physically separate.
“How is Tristan’s shoulder wound?” Eveline asked, having been briefed in the aftermath of Benji’s abduction.
“Rain wrapped him in a bandage made of zhen. He’s no longer bleeding, already back in the tech room working on the search with Ayelet and Adam. Seth is helping Jade heal, and Aella is with Cloud.”
It was fortunate that the injured warriors, at least the Immortals, were Mated. As such, they healed much faster by taking Nourishment or Sustenance from their Mates. Unfortunately for the human Chevaliers, they could only take pain killers for their aches and pains, but at least modern drugs worked on them.
“Until we pinpoint where they are, our hands are tied. We don’t even know why the Paladin took him,” Gabriel growled.
Eveline, Inanna, and Tal shared a look.
Ishtar insisted on being present also, though her stab wound obviously still pained her, the flesh barely knitted together. They all congregated back in the library as if led here by invisible hands. The answers were near, among the ancient tomes, parchment and scrolls. They all felt it.
They just didn’t know where to start looking.
“What? What did I miss?” Gabriel demanded, noticing the silent communication.
Across the wide oak table, Ishtar looked to Tal for answers as well.
“We have a good idea why Benjamin was taken,” Eveline said grimly.
Just as she uttered the words, Cloud entered the library with Aella slightly limping at his side. Rain and Valerius filed in close on their heels.
As succinctly as she could, Eveline caught them all up on Sophia’s and her revelations a couple hours ago.
“Benjamin is the Light Bringer?” Gabriel asked, frowning as he tried to make sense of it. “What does it mean? What powers does he have? Even if he possesses some great Gift, he’s only a child. And a human one at that.”
The Dark warrior with an ancient Akkadian Pure soul clenched his jaw, biting off the words that frayed gutturally at the end. They all heard what he didn’t say—my child. Though Gabriel wasn’t Benjamin’s biological father, he was the only father the boy knew.
The very best papa, Inanna’s heart cried. Despite her determination to remain stoic in the face of this crisis, she took Gabriel’s hand in hers and squeezed his fingers tightly.
Her Mate took a calming breath and continued in a steadier voice, “He wouldn’t come into his Gift until he reaches adulthood. Isn’t that the way Gifts work with Immortals? Doesn’t he also have to have an Awakening?”
Having been human in this incarnation before Inanna turned him, Gabriel was still learning the various mysteries of Immortal Kinds, especially those who were not born Pure, as his soul had been in his past life. He himself, for example, did not possess a particular Gift beyond his immortality, even when he had been a Pure One.
“I came into my Gift of foresight when I was just a few years older than Benjamin,” Tal said quietly. “It is different with each individual and each Gift.”
“We don’t know for certain if he is the Light Bringer,” Eveline reminded everyone. “Erebu could be The One as well. And I haven’t discovered any clues as to what could be the Gift—”
“My cousin marked both of them,” Cloud interjected thoughtfully, and all eyes went to him.
“You mean, White Dragon? When did that little devil come visit?” Aella asked.
“When Erebu was here, during an art session with Benjamin, the dragonfly came. You were there too, Rain. Do you recall?”
The healer’s eyes sparked with the memory.
“I recall Benjamin chasing Erebu around in the crafts room while Erebu tried to swat at some sort of buzzing insect, yes.”
“That was my cousin in dragonfly form. Remember what I told you?” Cloud turned back to Aella.
She nodded, her eyes widening in recollection as she said, “He will show us who the savior will be. A warrior dragon borne of earth.”
The total silence in the library was only disturbed by soft exhalations of surprise.
“It is thusly written in one of the three scrolls we found during our journey to the Middle East,” Cloud explained.
“When the Universal Balance needs it, a dragon warrior will appear. And I will be the one to train him, for only I have the knowledge and experience to do so, having once been a celestial dragon.”
“Fight fire with fire,” Ishtar murmured. “Dragon against dragon.”
“But the dragonfly landed on both Erebu and Benjamin,” Rain recalled.
“Wait,” Inanna inserted, holding up a hand as she gathered her thoughts.
There was so much information to absorb. It was only hours ago that she learned who Benji’s sire was.
Her own twin brother. A brother she didn’t even know existed until recently.
“Assuming that one or both of them can become a dragon…how is that even possible?”
Cloud stepped in to explain. Only Aella knew his secrets. But they’d now reached a critical juncture where he could no longer keep silent.
“Dragons aren’t meant to be earth-bound. Not since the beginning of time. Or at least the age of the gods. We come when we are needed. As a celestial dragon, I could only transform once on earth before I must return to the heavens. All of the ingredients have to be present—”
“Ingredients?” It was Rain who interjected.
Cloud met her gaze.
“Yes. A spark from all Kinds must be present in the physical shell that would house the dragon spirit. Dark. Pure. Elemental. Animal. And human. Only then would the body be strong enough to withstand the transformation. Millennia ago, I’d transformed in a human body.”
He looked back at Aella, his Mate. Her eyes softened as she held his.
“It was never supposed to happen. There were…repercussions.”
He regarded the rest of the group once more.
“My current form has all of the ingredients, but I am not destined to be an earth-bound dragon. My role now is that of a teacher. A guide. But which of Erebu and Benjamin is The One?”
“Erebu is Tal and Ishtar’s son,” Rain spoke slowly, thinking out loud. “Tal is Pure, and Ishtar is Dark, but she also has an animal spirit.”
“It must be from my sire,” Ishtar inserted. “He was Queen Ashlu’s Blood Slave. My mother never had the animal spirit. She was a Dark One through and through.”
“Yes, I recall now,” Rain said. “When Ava and I tried to find a cure for Tal’s condition, we ascertained that you are related to Medusa by half. You share one parent, but not the other.”
“Different sires,” Ishtar confirmed.
“Who was Queen Ashlu’s Consort?” Tal asked beside her.
“I know.”
Everyone focused on Eveline.
“’Tis the day for unveiling secrets,” she murmured. “He does not even know it himself…”
“What do you mean, Eveline?” Ishtar urged, the hairs on the back of her nape standing on end with premoni
tion.
“Alend Ramses.”
A round of indrawn breaths swept the room.
“The Dark King,” Eveline confirmed. “Many millennia ago, he used to be known as Prince Hulaal. He was Ashlu’s Consort. He was born a Pure Elemental before he turned Dark after suffering the Decline. He is Medusa’s sire. But he never knew. He doesn’t know now. I don’t know how to tell him. It’s so…”
Eveline huffed a sigh and dragged a hand through her fiery mane.
“Complicated.”
“And the fact that we ended her makes it even more so,” Inanna added.
“Understatement,” Eveline muttered.
“Why didn’t you tell us when we relayed the news of Medusa’s…extinction to the Cove?” Gabriel queried. “It could have been useful information.”
Eveline shot him a look of both frustration and chagrin.
“I hadn’t even figured out a way to tell the male I love about the evil spawn he didn’t know existed, who was suddenly no more. Forgive me if my first thought was not to divulge a private matter of this magnitude to the Royal Zodiac at large.”
“Is that how Medusa became the Hydra? Did she have all the ingredients too?” Rain got them back on topic.
“Medusa would have had Dark, Elemental, and perhaps a bit of Pure in her blood, given that Ramses was born Pure. I do not know if his turning into a Dark One changed his chemistry, only that he retains a Pure soul, I believe,” Eveline mused.
“We would have to confirm this with Sophia, given that she can see Pure souls. I doubt she has ever spent any amount of time with Ramses to know. But back to Medusa—she definitely didn’t have human, and I’m not sure how she would have gotten an animal spirit.”
“A mystery for another day,” Aella said briskly.
“Didn’t you say that the Hydra was an unnatural abomination?” she asked of Cloud. “In all likelihood she did not acquire all the necessary ingredients legitimately.”
“And Erebu and Benjamin did?” Ishtar interjected.
“Let’s recap,” Rain refocused their attention. “Erebu is Tal and Ishtar’s son. He has Pure, Dark and animal in him. He is still missing human and Elemental, however.”
“But Benjamin has human,” Inanna breathed. “He is Olivia’s son.”
“Perhaps that is why Wan’er took Erebu and has commanded the abduction of Benjamin,” Eveline surmised. “To somehow infuse them with the missing ingredient or ingredients.”
“I still can’t believe Wan’er has deceived us all this time,” Rain whispered. “I never could have imagined…”
Valerius enfolded her small frame in his arms from behind, quietly giving her his strength.
“I doubt her name is really Wan’er,” Eveline murmured. “She has deceived all of us. Perhaps Medusa as well.”
“But what does all of this have to do with the prophesized Light Bringer?” Inanna brought them back to where they started.
“I have one interpretation,” Cloud answered.
“There are three types of dragons. The Celestial Dragon of Destiny. The Netherworld Dragon of Dreams. And the Earthly Dragon of Truth. Depending on how you interpret the prophesy, ‘Light Bringer’ could also mean ‘Truth Bringer.’ Which can, in fact, refer to an earth-bound dragon.”
“My mind is boggling,” Aella muttered. “I’m out of my depth here. Eveline, what do you make of all this?”
The Seer and Scribe of the Pure Ones shook her head.
“I need more time. There are so many things running together in my head. The past and the possible future. I don’t have all the clues yet. Only pieces of the larger puzzle.”
“What would we do with this information even were we to find all the answers?” Ishtar asked. “The most urgent task is to recover Sophia and Benjamin.”
“And there’s another conundrum,” Aella mused. “Sophia’s inner Darkness. When we searched for her soul’s reincarnation, we were looking for Ninti, who was all Light. But since her Awakening, Sophia has this scathing Darkness within her. Where could it have come from?”
“Could it relate to the lines from the Zodiac Prophesies that you read to us before?” Tal asked.
Eveline read the lines to everyone present again. They all took a few minutes to absorb the haunting words and their import.
“Whatever their true meaning,” Cloud finally murmured, “it is clear that the fates of Sophia, Erebu and Benjamin are intertwined. Perhaps the Paladin’s as well, if he is the trigger for her Darkness.”
“Is this why Pure and Dark are cursed never to be together?” Ishtar whispered, the look in her eyes bleak.
“Have we brought this on ourselves by tempting the Fates and going against the Goddesses’ decree? That our children and their children should have the weight of the Balance on their shoulders. That they should be in such imminent danger…that they should suffer so…”
“Never, ana Ishtar,” Tal rasped, his voice low and husky with emotion. “Do not think it. Please…do not.”
A heart-wrenching look passed between the two Mates. Ishtar’s mouth quivered briefly before she firmed her lips with renewed determination. Everything they’d been through, everything Tal had suffered…it was not in vain. She beseeched him silently to forgive her moment of weakness. She would never doubt again.
“I agree one hundred percent with Tal,” Eveline stated with absolute confidence.
“As I have discovered in my research at the Cove, our Kinds were always meant to be together, not apart. Pure and Dark are two sides of the same coin. Elementals, Animal Spirits… the multitude of our different Gifts…we have them because they create Balance in the Universe. When one Kind dominated over another, oppressed others—that was the aberration. And that’s what we have to fight against now.”
“Indeed,” Aella concurred, steel in her tone.
“Our enemy is amassing unspeakable powers, with a far-reaching network of control and chaos. An army that will take all of our allied forces combined to defeat. We cannot let her grow stronger. We must recover Benji and Sophia at all cost.”
“And Erebu as well,” Ishtar added.
“Don’t forget Dalair,” Rain said. “No matter whose side he’s on now, Sophia needs him. And if he is indeed her trigger, then we cannot let him return to the enemy.”
“How’s Jade doing?” Aella suddenly asked of the healer. “Well enough to leave the Shield?”
“What do you have in mind?”
“It’s time we paid the Dark King a visit,” the Strategist said. “It’s time he chose his side. Eveline, keep searching through the archives. Let us know as soon as you find another clue. I’ll take Jade with me to the Cove to pay your male a visit. Maybe she can help talk some sense into him.”
Eveline huffed a breath of annoyance.
“Then you should take me instead. I am the Keeper of his heart, after all.”
Aella tipped her lips up in a lopsided smirk.
“Jealous, Evie dear?”
Eveline made a shooing motion.
“Go away if you’re not going to help. Tell my honey bear I said hello. And keep the vampire hussy’s hands to herself.”
“Noted,” Aella said.
“I’ll come too,” Inanna volunteered. “Maybe I can convince the Chosen to help us make our case and sway the King.”
“As long as he doesn’t know we executed his daughter, our chances are probably fifty-fifty,” Aella muttered beneath her breath.
“Meanwhile,” Eveline addressed the remaining group as the two women walked out, “gather round folks. I need all the help I can get deciphering these texts.”
“The answer is in here somewhere. We just have to find it.”
*** *** *** ***
The sun had set.
By Sophia’s calculation, if she understood their ETA correctly, they had about an hour’s flight left.
For the past hour, she’d focused on their joined hands, coalesced all of her feelings and memories, and funneled them relentlessly into Dala
ir.
She was exhausted, hungry, thirsty. She didn’t dare let up for fear that if she broke their connection, whatever progress she was making would be forfeited. And she was making progress. She knew it.
Despite Dalair’s stoic exterior, despite that he never once looked in her direction, keeping his eyes on the horizon, she saw hairline fractures in his impenetrable mask.
It was the way the muscle in his jaw ticked. The way the vein in his temple pulsed. The way his breathing grew more labored. The way his hand involuntarily tightened around hers, squeezing her so hard she thought he’d crush her bones.
As it was, her left hand was mostly numb, her fingers white and bloodless. But she squeezed him back just as hard. This was the closest she’d been to him since her past incarnation as Kira. Closeness in terms of understanding between a man and a woman.
Before her Awakening as Sophia, she’d been his charge; he’d been her protector. She was still growing into herself. And after her Awakening, they’d not had time. Even though she’d taken him inside her repeatedly over the past few days, it was only his body she touched. Nothing else.
Now, though she hadn’t spoken a single word, she’d shown him so much. Thoughts and actions he never knew, because he’d been biased by his own perspective and made assumptions about hers. And he couldn’t deny them, because he lived her memories with her through their Bond. He experienced everything from her point of view.
He felt.
Her emotions. Her doubts. Her dreams. Her desperate, helpless, endless love for him.
Come back to me, Dalair, she beseeched him silently.
Keep holding onto my hand. Don’t ever let me go again…
6th Century B.C., Persepolis, Capital City of the Persian Empire.
“Kira, my love, I have news from the front!”
Kira was sitting on top of the northern hill not far beyond the Palace gates that overlooked the bustling metropolis of her husband’s homeland.
After ten years of marriage, perhaps she should have begun thinking about Persepolis as her home too. But…things hadn’t gone the way she’d hoped when she first met “her prince.” Starting with the fact that he was not, in fact, her prince.
