Panthers of Brigantia Shifter Box Set

by Lisa Daniels

  The look on his face was a combination of hurt and shock. “Why would I do that?”

  “Isn’t that why you are staying quiet? I know that people use the high priestesses; so many of them are indebted that it is shocking that they still function.”

  Darius opened his mouth, then thought better of it. Narrowing his eyes, he pursed his lips, his mind clearly spinning. “That is decidedly not what I wanted to hear.”

  “I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news again.” She shrunk down under a blanket a little.

  Thinking she was cold, Darius reached over and pulled it up and tucked her in. “No, no, I already knew, I just did not know that they were letting the uninitiated know. It is… very disturbing.” He rubbed a hand against his forehead. “That is going to make things more difficult because they already think of you as one of their own.”

  “It is only a matter of time.”

  “A few of us have been wondering if that is true.” Darius stood up and moved away. “At least we have been since I found out you have been following Ignacio.” Pacing around the room, he began to make her feel ill at ease. Finally, he looked over at her, “I am not keeping this quiet just for you, and I am not going to force you to do something you don’t want to do. However, I will urge you to help.”

  Rosaline shifted a little, “Why me?”

  “Because we don’t know exactly how far your abilities extend. And right now, we aren’t sure what kind of magic we will need.” He sat down and looked at her, “It has been several weeks since you last spoke with Itzel.”

  Rosaline’s eyes widened, “How is that possible? I thought you said it was a week.”

  “When you remove yourself from your body, you lose your anchor in reality.” She looked at him and shook her head. Darius ran a hand across his mouth, “You are removing yourself from linear time. There is no corresponding amount of time you are gone. When I woke you, it had been a week, but your body and mind were not syncing up, so I, um, manipulated time around you so that you could recover on your own. Without sleep, your body and mind were able to start operating as they should. The food kept you functioning, but it cannot fully replace sleep. That is why you feel exhausted. You haven’t slept in weeks.”

  “I don’t… I don’t understand. Doesn’t that mean you haven’t slept?”

  “I will once you are recovered.”

  “What about Ignacio?”

  “He is already here. Dulce has sent him word that she is fine, so he calmed down not too long after arriving. Though he is wondering why we haven’t sent him anywhere after saying that we needed him back. That one has been difficult.”

  Rosaline closed her eyes and tried to understand exactly what had happened. “I’m having a hard time following what has happened. If you have been here with me, how do you know what has been going on outside?”

  “Don’t worry about it.” He waved a hand. “Just think of it as you were unconscious for a few weeks and now you are recovering. The food that you ate and a good night’s sleep will make you almost as good as new. Tomorrow, you will be accompanying Ignacio and a few other,” he cleared his throat, “people.”

  “What aren’t you telling me?” Rosaline narrowed her eyes. Something about the way he glossed over the people bothered her.

  Darius looked at the door, “Dulce will be among them, though her abilities are fairly narrow. She is being accompanied by Draven. I think you will like her, despite your initial impression. You, Ignacio, Benettio, and Faith will be traveling with them. The poison that you mentioned that was in Ignacio’s system was a tool of the Unwashed to try to control Dulce. He did purge it, by the way.” Darius stopped and looked at Rosaline. “When you disappeared, he wasn’t sure what it meant, but purged in case. You saved him a lot of pain. Unfortunately, the poison in Dulce’s system has been harder to purge. And that is why so many magic users are traveling together.”

  “That sounds like it will be an interesting lesson.” Rosaline was beginning to feel exhausted.

  “You can certainly look at it that way.” He helped to settle her down in the bed, shifting her further back so that she didn’t fall out as she rolled to face him.

  “Why do you hide in the shadows?” Rosaline was finding it difficult to keep her eyes open, but she had some questions she wanted to ask.

  “It is easier than answering questions about my appearance.” His voice sounded a little sad.

  “That isn’t the whole truth. If you are worried about your appearance, though, I can tell you that you are incredibly handsome. The second most handsome man I’ve ever seen. And I have never thought that the guardians were particularly handsome. Maybe it is your eyes, they suck a person in and hold them captive.”

  “I’m not sure that is a positive view.”

  “I would love to see more of you. It’s funny.” She wiggled a little under the blanket.

  “What is?” The voice was nearby, but Rosaline couldn’t open her eyes.

  “I thought that Itzel was making it up, but she knew what you look like. You must really like her to let her see you. That, or she makes you feel really comfortable.” There was silence. Peeking her eyes open a little, Rosaline saw Darius’s expression. “Oh, I see. You are in love with her. You should tell her, you know. She really needs someone, and I think that you probably do, too.” She closed her eyes, fighting to finish what she wanted to say. “You hide in the shadows, and I used to think that it was because you didn’t like us very much. Or that you wanted to keep your anonymity. Or something. I don’t know, I guess I never gave it too much thought because it was your preference. Now that I have seen you—not just what you look like, but how caring you are—I am certain that you deserve more. If you live like this, you will be miserable. And so will she.”

  A hand brushed her hair out of her face. “I am not completely certain you aren’t trying to talk to someone else.”

  Rosaline pushed her face into the pillow. “He’s in love with Dulce. And I have my own path.” She fought to open her eyes. “I'm talking to you, Darius. We all take you for granted, and if you don’t do something, there will be nothing but regret in your future. You are amazing and unbelievably handsome. She would be crazy to turn you down.”

  Whatever Darius said in response Rosaline missed as she drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 6

  An Unusual Mission and an Unexpected Confession

  Rosaline woke the next morning feeling better than she had in years. Her mind was much clearer, too.

  Sitting up, she looked around. “Darius?” She only half expected him to respond. Scanning the room for any sign that he had been there, Rosaline noticed a note on the table. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. As she neared the note, she saw a sandwich near it and a small bag on the table. Giving a little laugh, she picked up the note and read it. The first thing she noticed was how elegant Darius’s handwriting was. She ran her hand over it to see if he had somehow managed to use magic, but the grooves under the letters made it obvious that he had written the message.

  I hope you are well rested after so much turmoil. Unfortunately, there is no more time for you to think about what you did and why. Hearing it was enough to convince me of something that you likely haven’t realized yet, but it is not my place to relay that information to others. This is going to create problems for you, but I think you will do the right thing in the end—even if it takes you longer than it should. You will need to forgive Orion because he does not know what I know. Be aware that he means well, and he is hoping for the same outcome that I seek. If only you could tell him what you told me, it would be easier in some ways, but much harder in others.

  I do not envy you the path you are on, but I trust that you will eventually find your way to where you belong.

  They are expecting you at 7:00, so you have less than 10 minutes to grab the sandwich and bag and meet them at the crooked tree to the east. I will be here to help you when you return, should you need it.

 
Darius

  Her eyes flicked to the clock, and as he had predicted, Rosaline had 10 minutes to reach them.

  “I'm going to be late!” She dropped the note, and it fell unnoticed on the floor.

  Grabbing the sandwich and the small bag, she dashed out of her chambers and ran toward the nearest exit.

  Rosaline was panting as she finally reached Orion and Ignacio at the rendezvous spot. Orion was joining them in the beginning of their trip because his mission was in a similar direction. At least that was what he told her. Rosaline suspected he knew some of what had happened, especially after the warning in the note, but she wasn’t sure how much Darius had told anyone of what had happened. She couldn’t talk about it either, which would have made things more difficult if it had been just her and Ignacio. She turned to look at the sprawling home of the druids and wondered just how far Darius had gone to take care of everyone.

  Hopefully he will do something for himself before it is too late. Rosaline decided to look for him when they returned. She suspected that she owed him a lot more than she was aware.

  “Are you alright, Rosaline?” Ignacio was looking into her face.

  “Oh, yes, fine. Thank you. Just takes a while to get my head back into the everyday after, you know.” She wasn’t quite sure what everyone had been told, and not wanting to contradict Darius, Rosaline kept her activities vague. That also made it true since she wasn’t quite sure what had happened. Nervous that Orion was going to make things difficult, she shifted her grip on the bag. “So, what are we meant to do?”

  A slender hand pulled the bag from her hands, and she turned and looked into the smiling eyes of Orion. “Let me carry that for you. It looks like you have just woken up, so go ahead and take care of your hair. I’ll handle this.”

  Rosaline patted her head and realized that she hadn’t done anything to it since she had followed Ignacio to Ishtar. Giving a bashful nod, she quickly brushed it with her fingers. Her eyes automatically went down, and she noticed that she was dressed for a trip. Rosaline had not gotten dressed, which meant that someone else had changed her. Her cheeks flushed. Obviously Darius had been very busy—or both he and Itzel had been. She made a mental note to thank them when she returned.

  As Rosaline’s mind spun, Ignacio answered her original question. “Well, Draven is trying to continue his work, sort of—to be honest, I don’t think any of us really knows what he is up to besides Caspian.” Ignacio looked over at Orion, who nodded. “He and Dulce have been active doing whatever it is they are doing, and we have been asked to help protect them. They managed to get into some pretty serious trouble recently because Dulce can be tracked by the poison in her system. Apparently, they are still trying to work it out of her body, but there is no word on how long it will take.”

  “I think that you are starting to lose me.” Rosaline had tried to process what he was saying, but her mind wasn’t fully on the present.

  Orion laughed, “For now, the best way to explain it is that you and Ignacio are providing additional support. Haiden was going to do that, but something came up and he had to leave them. They ran into trouble after that, but refuse to ask Haiden to rejoin them because whatever he is doing is apparently important and personal. And no, we don’t know what that is either.” Orion anticipated her question. “The reason you came up was because the last time you were sent on a mission, you came back and required weeks to recover. This should be fairly easy, you won’t have to do anything to anyone, at least not anything like a judgment.” Orion indicated Ignacio, “That will be Ignacio’s role.”

  “You aren’t going to stay with us?” Rosaline looked at Orion.

  “No. While you were recovering, a lot has happened. Ignacio can catch you up on some of it, but I am needed elsewhere. But we are heading the same way for a bit, so I will be helping out.”

  Rosaline bumped him with her shoulder, “That is very sweet of you. I’m sure you aren’t exactly fond of babysitting us.” She was feeling particularly good since he didn't seem to be treating her any differently than usual.

  Orion laughed, “I can’t say that I mind. It is certainly nicer than what I am going to be doing.”

  “Just remember what I told you a while back.”

  “You mean when you told me that my concern was unnecessary right before you disappeared to recover for several weeks?” He gave her a knowing look.

  Rosaline scrunched up her face, “Yes. But that wasn’t what I was trying to remind you of.”

  “Oh. Sorry, I must have forgotten.”

  Ignacio stepped between them, “You will have to forgive the old man. His memory isn’t quite what it used to be.”

  Rosaline laughed as Orion pushed Ignacio behind them. “You have plenty of time to talk with her later.”

  She continued as if there hadn’t been an interruption, “You need to be good to yourself because we are going to need this version of you in the near future.”

  “I'm not entirely sure how to respond to that. You aren’t a seer, and even if you were, their abilities don’t work on shifters.”

  “Really?” Rosaline stopped and looked at Orion, then her eyes travelled to Ignacio. “Seers can’t see the future for shifters?”

  The assassins looked at each other. Then Orion took her elbow and guided her forward, “Yes. Nor does it work on other magic users, for the most part. They can only tell our futures by seeing it in the futures of humans, and some of them are very adept at that.”

  “Really? That sounds incredibly complicated.” Rosaline pulled her arm out of his hand. “They must have other abilities, then.”

  “Yes. They tend to be the best healers of the magic users, and the really clever ones can use those abilities against people as well. I dare say that their best at the moment is Harmony, though I am not sure what is happening with her right now.”

  Ignacio was walking on her other side, drawing her attention from Orion. “The seers have been scattered—no, isolated describes it better—because they can tell what someone is planning. The Unwashed spent a long time working to make sure they could not help each other. The champions didn’t exactly help either, and it has resulted in the death of a lot of them.”

  Orion shook his head, “You can’t exactly blame the champions for what happened. Seers were being manipulated and had killed some of the champions. It was safer to draw back and assess than to lose more of their numbers. The maneuver was justified since Ishtar did nothing to protect them. They may not be subservient to seers like guardians are to mystics, but seers don’t really have any kind of magic that will help during a fight. In most circumstances. That is about as much as I can tell you about it, though. You are going to get some time with a couple of seers and champions, and that will teach you as much as you need to know about their abilities.”

  “More like a champion and an outcast,” Ignacio muttered.

  Rosaline laughed, “Yeah, I don’t know if Draven would be happy about being called a champion.”

  Orion smiled, “That is a good point. Thank you, peanut gallery.”

  Ignacio and Rosaline giggled.

  Several hours passed as the trio headed toward their destination. When they finally came to the point where Orion had to take a different path, he turned and smiled at them. “This has been a real pleasure. It is so rare that such a serious journey begins with joviality. Then again, I suppose these days everything is rather grim.” He ran a hand through his shiny black hair as he sighed. “Ignacio, take very good care of her. I am not quite sure what happened, but Darius is being unusually… helpful in letting others fill in the gaps. I know that it is unnecessary to say, but still, keep an eye on her at all times.”

  Ignacio looked away, “It almost sounds like you don’t trust me.”

  “I trust you more than nearly anyone else, but I also know your limitations. And weaknesses. Be careful. Especially after what happened in… while you were away.” The weight behind Orion’s words was obvious, but Rosaline wasn’t aware of the meani
ng. “Now, if you would please go contact the others to see how far they are and make sure that the path is safe to them. I will be much more comfortable leaving you two if you can verify that things are fairly safe.”

  Ignacio’s eyes flicked over to Rosaline, then returned to Orion. “Of course.” He stepped away from them and shifted. Rosaline watched as his sinewy frame changed into a sleek black form. His familiar green eyes were much larger as he turned back to look at them one time, something obviously on his mind. He then turned around, and Rosaline couldn’t help but stare at the way his muscles bunched up before he shot forward. His gait was entirely different than the last time she had seen him, and she knew that he had managed to purge all of the poison from his body. He sprung into a tree and disappeared from sight.

  Rosaline relaxed, and a smile spread across her face as she felt relief to see that Ignacio was alright.

  “Rosaline,” Orion’s voice was more serious than when he had addressed Ignacio. The smile on her face faded a little as she turned to look at him. “I am largely against you being sent on this mission because I am not sure what transpired since our return, but Darius was rather insistent that you go. According to him, we won’t know what magic will be needed, and your untested abilities might fill the gaps. The logic behind that is clearly flawed, so I am taking that as his way of saying to just trust him. There is no one that I trust more than Darius. However, he is not always right.” The expression on Orion’s face was stern, something that she was not accustomed to seeing. He stepped closer to her, “As the priestesses felt compelled to remind me, it is not unusual for a priestess to lock herself away for weeks at a time. A few months ago, I could have believed that was what you were doing. However, the way you acted after the last mission indicated there was something else going on in here.” He reached out a finger and touched her forehead, “and here,” his finger pressed the area over her heart. “Your actions could put everyone at risk, including yourself. I believe that you need more time to mend from the last mission, but are being forced into this one. Right now, you are an extreme wild card, in more than one way.” His eyes moved over to the direction in which Ignacio had just disappeared before he looked back into hers. “Do not put anyone into unnecessary danger because you feel that you should be able to take care of it yourself. He…” Orion was about to say something, but thought better of it, “Many of us care about you, but that does not mean we will not hold you accountable for your actions.”