“Are you asking me to be here?” his eyes shot around the place for a second. “To… live here… with you?”
I nodded, whispering to him, “Yes.”
The brightness of his gorgeous blue eyes hit me full force, and I suddenly found myself drowning in his elation. His smiles, his grateful kisses to my face and my hands, it was blissful. “I would love nothing more,” he whispered before pressing his lips to mine in a slow, warm kiss that had me leaning toward him for more. “Let me get your phone,” he stood from the couch and went to the door. After he closed it, I listened to his footsteps as they trotted down the metal stairs.
“You’re going to be so happy,” I whispered to my daughter as I played with her little hands. Ten fingers, ten toes, and, thank the gods, no markings. She was something wild, that was for sure, but she would be able to live a normal life. Well, as normal as could be. “What will we call you?” I kissed her soft forehead and smelled her hair. Somehow, even though she had never been there, my baby had the smell of the moor in her hair. It was mesmerizing and magical. “Are you a Lillith?” I whispered as I heard Elliot trotting back up toward the door. “An Iris? ”
“Your aunt has called you eight times,” Elliot barged into the room and made the baby cry. It was a short-lived fuss, but I gave him the stare down no less.
“Be quiet,” I scolded in a whisper. Reaching out to hand me the phone, Elliot came over and sat at my side. “Here,” I said as I lifted the baby over to him. Curling her up into his arms like before, Elliot was all smiles with his little girl.
I took a deep breath and went to stand from the couch with a few residual aches. Being part-dragon certainly had its perks. After the birth, Elliot had taken her to the sink to clean her up while I changed the bathwater and ran the shower. It didn’t take long for the pain of the labor itself to go away. And once I had washed and let the warm water cleanse me, I nearly felt myself again. Walking around took a few minutes to adjust to, but I got dressed and got comfortable within a couple of hours of the birth.
Standing at the counter, I called my aunt. While it rang, I realized my belly was almost the same as it was before the little bump appeared. I felt the area where she had grown and could remember the kicking and the subtle flips she did early on. My eyes caught Elliot, who was gleefully watching me reminisce, and I blushed.
“There you are,” my aunt said out of breath on the other end of the line. “I’ve been calling for hours!”
“Well, I was a little busy,” I smiled.
“So were we.” I could hear a car door slam through the phone line, and again my aunt sounded out of breath. “I’ve been all over town.”
“Is something wrong?” I asked, and instantly Elliot was interested. “Slow down,” I said to her as she mumbled through a delay, saying something about Dylan. “Are you at his house?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she told me. “No, he isn’t in here!” she was shouting to someone else. “Did you try the barn?”
“Who, Aunt Cressa?” I asked, like a fool. Who else would she be looking for at my brother’s house?
“Irene,” she spoke my name with a firmness in her tone. “I need you to come back to the house. It isn’t safe where you are, even with Elliot. I think someone took Dylan.”
ENLIGHTENED
“What do you mean you think someone took him?” I was pacing around the house. “Weren’t you here? Didn’t you see if he got up and walked out or not?” It didn’t matter what I was saying just then, because everyone was too busy gawking over my baby. “Why did you think he woke up anyway?” I crossed my arms and waited for them to answer me. For my sister, my aunt, or my dad to stop cooing at my baby for more than two seconds. “Hello?”
“How are you just walking around here like that?” Charlotte stuck out her hip. “I mean, you just had a baby, and look at you!”
“I know,” I rolled my eyes. “But guys, we need to find Dylan.”
“Right, yes,” my aunt got up from the couch and took a deep breath. “We checked all the places he could be if he had woken up.”
“And?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she shook her head. Biting the nail of her thumb, she huffed.
“Then Dune is either awake, or someone came and took Dylan,” I plopped onto the couch next to Elliot and proceeded to cross my arms. A little noise from my baby caught my attention and I had to smile. “How did you guys not hear something?”
“Well, love, we shared a few stories,” my dad started to explain.
“Had a few drinks,” Erik continued the explanation.
“Then fell asleep, right here,” my aunt told us as her words slowed and her eyes got big. “We were blinded,” she announced. “There was a faerie here,” she went searching around the house for clues, sniffing and investigating everything everywhere.
“Blinded? Aren’t you protected against these things?” I asked the three of them. “Don’t you have a ring or a necklace or something?”
“No,” my aunt shrugged as she passed by me to search over the front door.
“Then why did you try so hard to make me wear my ring?”
“Oh, I asked them to,” Elliot spoke softly as he continued to cradle our daughter.
“What?”
“When your brother left Frostmoor, I told him to protect you, to keep you out of the High Prince’s hands,” Elliot informed. “In whatever way he had to.” I just sighed.
“Anyway,” I returned to my thoughts, “if Dylan was taken, then why? And where would they go with him?”
“I think I know the answer to that,” Erik came rushing through with one of his little colorful books in hand. This one was green. “We all know why the stone was created, but not how,” Erik told with his professor-like glare over the top of his wire glasses. “Knowing the materials, understanding the process… that is what he’s after.”
“Who?” I asked as fast as I could, confident I already knew the answer.
“Markus,” he nodded.
“He took my brother, didn’t he?” I felt a rush of fear flood my veins. “He’s probably torturing him, and there isn’t anything Dylan can do to fight back. We put him in a coma for god’s sake!”
“Irene,” Elliot scolded as he looked down over the baby. I mouthed an I’m sorry, but she didn’t make a sound. “Can you locate him?” Elliot asked my aunt and Erik.
“Not without blood,” my aunt said.
“And you aren’t his blood,” my dad made clear.
I went to the kitchen and got a bottle of Snapple. I popped it open and drank it down, then realized the solution was easier than we thought. “Aunt Cressa, can’t you locate Dylan?” I marched back into the room with my brow arched. It seemed so obvious, too obvious an answer.
“That’s the first thing we tried,” Erik said as he slightly lowered his head in disappointment. They had done everything they knew to do, but finding my brother was proving to be impossible. And I truly did believe that Markus wouldn’t hesitate to cause him pain. I could just see him, chained in some dark stone building, being fed hawthorn, his cuts and bruises not healing. Unable to transition, crying out in terror. Begging for release.
“Irene!” Elliot shook my arms and I dropped the bottle. Somehow, enough time had passed for my Lord to get up, hand our baby to my dad, and meet me face to face in a panicked tone. “What happened?” he demanded an answer. He must have been trying to get my attention for a few minutes. To be so worried, so bothered, when I had thought nothing had happened. Something did, though. I had gotten a vision.
“I saw him,” I told them. “He’s chained up,” I trembled, the words sticking in my throat. “He’s not healing, he’s in pain,” I shook my head in doubt. Elliot’s hands caressed my arms and warmed me back to reality.
“We’ll find him,” he swore to me, more certain than anything, at least according to his tone. “This’ll help.”
“I fear we have another person to save,” my aunt said to us as she lifted something from t
he screen door. It was a long dark strand of hair, just a little wavy, just a bit like silk.
“Bryn?” Charlotte stepped up and looked over the hair. “You think she blinded you?”
“Could have,” my aunt nodded. “But I bet not willingly.”
“Julian went to help her,” my dad revealed. “They were supposed to return this afternoon.”
“We can’t waste time,” I crossed my arms. I had had enough of Markus and his desire to keep interfering with my life. “We have to find Dylan, we have to get rid of Markus, and we have to end that stone.”
“Allow me to help,” a man’s voice—Dune’s voice—smoothed over us from the porch. Thankfully my dad had handed my daughter off to Charlotte, because both he and Elliot were growling like they’d transition any second.
“Do not step foot in this house,” my aunt spoke through her teeth.
“I will not harm you; I came to help,” he told.
“How can you help?” I asked from behind Elliot.
The man stood silent for a moment with his hands behind his back. “Please, Lady Irene, come hear my story.”
“No,” Elliot didn’t flinch in his reply, even though Dune wasn’t speaking to him at all. To Elliot’s defense, I had spent enough time doing things on my own, thinking I was smart in my choices. They helped me learn and grow, and realize that I needed to be protected as much as Elliot offered his guard. Looking over to my sister and my daughter, I decided not to go outside, that the outcome was too uncertain.
“I won’t come out there,” I said, stepping up between my dad and Elliot. “I would like to hear your story.” Dune gave a single nod. “But first,” I spoke clearly, “if you’re awake, then where is my brother?”
“I do not know,” his eyes met mine and I could tell he was being honest. In fact, Dune had never been dishonest with me, at least not that I knew. I felt like I could trust him, sort of like how I knew Tristan was not the monster he pretended to be months ago.
“Who woke you? I asked, still vying for space between the dragons.
“Markus and his puppets,” Dune revealed.
“Bryn?’ I got to my toes.
“Julian?” Elliot asked just as quick.
“I did not hear their names,” he shook his head. “But the girl… I did see her shift into a deer.”
That was Bryn for sure.
I had never gotten confirmation of her shape-shifting abilities—or Cole’s for that matter—but I just knew. I had always known.
“Are you still bound to my brother?” was my next question. If Dylan was indeed suffering, then Dune would not be standing here so content.
“When I woke, I felt no one, nothing,” he said. “I assume Markus has a new enchanter helping him. One of his last few allies.”
“Who would that be?” I asked, but he shook his head.
“Please, Lady Irene,” he took a deep breath as though he was tired, exhausted. He then asked, “Would you please listen to my story now?”
I gave a nod, and then he began.
“I met Markus many years ago, as he was on his way to Frostmoor with his sister,” Dune told. My first thought was how Iliana had known Dune this whole time, but she never said a word. “His sister was kind, but I had seen men like Markus before. He wasn’t traveling for her sake; he was running from something. We shared a few meals together, during the last of which he asked me to be his enchanter.” Dune, leaning against the column of the porch, seemed to be remembering the moment. He had a grin for a second, as he stroked his chin, but the happiness faded quickly. “I initially accepted his honor, but regret followed me everywhere in the coming months.”
“Did you break your bond?” my father asked. There’s a bond?
“I could not,” was Dune’s reply. Lifting his chin to face my dad, the enchanter spoke with a hint of envy, distant and nearly forgotten. “I needed to stay close, to keep him from hurting Nerissa.”
“What do you want with her?” my dad’s shoulders stiffened there beside me, and for a second, I was rethinking having my daughter so close to all these beastly creatures. When I glanced over to Charlotte, though, as she rocked my daughter to sleep, I knew everything was fine.
“I loved her,” he spoke breathily, almost magically. “I saw how Markus touched her,” Dune continued as his brow tightened. “How he left her bruised.” I looked up at Elliot, who was now lowering his head in regret. He had seen the same with his own mother, and even then, he chose to do nothing. Now, speaking through his teeth, “How he took advantage of her.” I had chills. “I knew your mother would never betray a council member,” Dune had stood straight and taken a deep breath. Looking more composed, he addressed my father directly. “Not at the risk of losing her family. So, I threatened her. And your sister. She didn’t want me to,” Dune was again reminiscing as I spoke up.
“She knew what you did?”
Dune nodded as a smile crept over his lips. “She was afraid of Markus, but I… I had treated her like a goddess.”
“You’re the one she loved,” my dad realized. “She’d meet you, secretly, out by the woods.”
“Every new moon,” Dune laughed a little, but his happiness was brief. “I’ve missed her so.”
“Why can’t you find her?” I wondered as I stepped up to the door and put my hands on the frame. “Why would you need me?”
Dune shook his head. “I’ve done all I can to find her. Years have passed, but she remains locked in that garden of moss and desiccation.”
“Aren’t you the one who put her there?” I asked him.
“No,” he stepped up toward the door and shook his head. “I tried to get her family to leave. I tried to make your mother flee,” Dune spoke on the tip of his toes to my father. “But instead, she sent Nerissa away for safety. Little did she know…” he trailed, again lowering his head.
“Know what?” I pushed at the door, but Elliot was quick to pull it shut.
“That Markus was waiting for her. A young dragon, who was too foolish to see what he was doing, posed as her escort, and your mother was elated. But Nerissa wasn’t taken into hiding to protect her from me. She was sealed in preservation, trapped on that vile island full of darkness!” he raged, just inches from the screen now.
“You meant to save her, but you doomed her,” was what my father gathered from that tale. I rolled my eyes. “You caused her this pain. And you left me believing she was killed at the hands of the future Lord’s father!”
“I wanted her to get away from him!” Dune shouted back. My dad, though, had heard enough. Out the door, pushing past me, growling, eyes red, my dad was ready to transition. Right there under the moon.
“She didn’t deserve this,” my dad spoke through his teeth. “She deserved to live a long life, to have children.”
“She still can,” Dune offered, stepping away from my dad’s advances. The enchanter didn’t want to fight. He came to make peace. “Your daughter can find her, I can wake her,” he urged. My dad had stopped charging at Dune, standing tall with his chin rising in thought. “If we find her before the land is restored, we could save her,” he pleaded, passion cutting through his apathetic façade.
“What do you mean before the land is restored?” I walked out to the porch. Elliot didn’t fight me to stay, I think he knew Dune was no longer a threat. That didn’t mean he forgave him for Talon Grove. I could see the hatred, the fear in Elliot’s eyes as he watched Dune’s every move.
“When the stone is quelled, the land will again belong to the enchanted,” he revealed. “It won’t be tainted by ill-conceived creatures.”
“Is that what elves are?” I wondered. They weren’t like the other creatures I knew. They were a product of a stone of death. They didn’t have a realm; they couldn’t be sensed.
“They’re not natural,” Elliot shook his head at me. “But there are other creatures more terrifying, more elusive, more destructive.” What other creatures?
“If we find Nerissa, then you can help h
er?” I asked the enchanter. He nodded. “And then we quell the stone and save Samira.” Dune didn’t argue. A bow to my plan and we were on the same page. “And what about my brother?”
“I don’t know where he is,” Dune repeated his words from earlier.
“I meant how you used him. How you hurt him,” I remembered the stone. I remembered my conversation with Dune when he stole me away. “How can I trust you? After the torture you put my brother through. After what you did to Elliot.”
“Lady Irene, please,” he neared me, but I stopped him with a clench of my fist. Tightening my grip, I thought only of the water within Dune’s body. The hydration of his organs, the muscles, the tissues. I clenched my other hand, clamping down as I felt my nails burrow into my skin. Dune fell to his knees, but lucky for him, my Lord knew how to forgive.
“Irene,” Elliot shook me from my trance. “He can help us against Markus.”
I looked down over Dune and breathed a quick, sharp draw of air. “Do not betray me,” I warned. “I will not hesitate to end your life.”
ISLE LORE
The plan was simple. Get to Isle Lore, save my long-lost aunt, revive Samira, quell the stone. Everyone was ready, packed, and gathered to leave. Everyone except for Cole.
“Is he late to everything?” Elliot grunted.
Erik’s laugh made it worse, but funny no less.
“He’ll be here,” Lydia told, standing beside Lucas, but not touching him like she had before. There was a coldness to her that I couldn’t quite pin.
Cole came rushing into the driveway, hitting the brakes and kicking up the gravel. My aunt sighed in frustration. By the time he got out, with his bag in hand, running to meet us in the backyard, she was ready to scold him.
“Listen here, that patch of gravel has been replaced several times this past year,” she waved her finger at him. “And it isn’t cheap.”
“Sorry, Cressa,” he jerked the bag onto his shoulder as his chest rose and fell rapidly. “I’ll pay for it this time.”
“Well, still,” she crossed her arms.
Witherstone- Wings of My Legion Page 18