“Thorn,” she moaned out softly, closing her eyes. She wondered how she could go from feeling deathly ill to perfectly healthy so instantaneously. Unless…
Pax’s eyes snapped open. She looked around to find herself in the same infirmary from her dream, but Thornton was standing several feet away. He was wearing his glasses and looking at her suspiciously.
“Hey, Paxie. I just came down from the office. Were you having a sex dream about me?” he asked with a boyish grin on his face.
She groaned and resisted the urge to get up and smack him. She turned over in the hospital bed so that her back was to him. So it was a dream after all. What on earth was that? She then noticed her complete lack of fever, perspiration, headache, or convulsions, and she frowned. “I’m perfectly healthy,” she mused.
“Sure you are. Mom had you fixed up, and your body healed itself.”
“I had this dream that I was very, very sick. I thought I was going to die for sure.”
“And I was there?”
She shrugged. “Yeah. You were taking care of me, I suppose.”
He placed a hand on her shoulder gently, although her back was turned to him. “I always will.”
She felt a shudder run through her body at this small, reassuring touch. She ran over the details of her dream in her mind, wondering about what exactly had been going on. She knew that her dreams had a tendency to come true, and this worried her. What could possibly make her so ill? She had never been so ill in her life, excluding the unnatural conditions of the Pseudosphere. Would she really experience that at some point? Would she die from some strange virus instead of on the battlefield? This thought made her body jerk itself upright, into a seated position. No—she needed to die on the battlefield. That was the most suitable way to go, for her—just like her grandfather. She suddenly realized that she was welcoming the unknown threat from afar.
“Tell me what’s going on, Paxie.”
She remained motionless instead of giving him a response. He suddenly appeared before her, ripping his glasses from his face. He leaned forward, putting his nose very close to hers.
She looked up at his blue eyes in confusion. “Thorn... what...?”
“Father won’t explain to me why the hell he was allowing you to use a dangerous technique like Morta Bhava. So I’ve been patiently awaiting your explanation.”
“Thorn…”
“Near brushes with death? Letting my father destroy you like that? I won’t let you do this again. You could have died out there! This is your life we’re talking about, not some children’s game!”
Before she could control herself, Pax’s palm was swinging outward to connect with his face. The slap echoed in the empty infirmary as Pax stared at the red mark on Thornton’s face. She had not realized that her boiling anger had caused the skin of her palms to grow piping hot, and she had committed the equivalent of branding him with a hot poker. She almost felt contrite when she saw the mark on his skin, but she knew that he would heal.
“I hate that,” she whispered.
He sighed, realizing he had crossed Pax’s major line by implying he found her actions childish, and he knew he needed to fix this mistake immediately or risk even more of her wrath than he had recently garnered. “I didn’t mean it that way! Look, I know we’ve had some shit between us lately, but we’re still friends, aren’t we? More than that, we’re still partners—still on the same side? We’ve always had each other’s backs. So won’t you tell me what’s got your knickers in a twist?”
“No.”
“Don’t you think I deserve to know so I can prepare too? We’re still part of the same team. We may not share a bed anymore, but we’re deva warriors, sharing a common ancestry and legacy.”
While she realized that these fancy words were merely a guilt trip, she couldn’t help beginning to feel guilty. She chewed on her lip, realizing that she couldn’t withhold important information from him that could potentially save millions of lives, if not their whole planet. Again. He was a powerful fighter, and he deserved to know. He would know, sooner or later, and this was as good a time as any.
The question of whether she really, truly still trusted him underneath it all was easily answered.
“I’ve been having nightmares,” she confessed. He knew how to break her too easily with that fighting-partner spiel. “I wish I knew what it was exactly that I’m preparing for. I just know that I’m terrified, and I feel like anything I do won’t be enough.”
“Nightmares don’t mean…”
“Thorn, my dreams have been coming true. Prophetic dreams—like the one I just had.”
“Oh.” His eyes darted to the west nervously. “Then I guess I’d better take some time off work and focus on practicing a few new techniques. I nearly fried your uncle like a shish kebab a few days ago, totally by accident. I’m getting rusty.”
“You should. Join me and your dad for some training sessions sometime,” Pax suggested.
“Maybe after the Charity Ball,” he said with a nod. “Can’t let godly business interfere with the company business.”
Pax smiled. “Your priorities are ridiculous. I can’t believe you’re nearly forty and still so terrified of your mother.”
“Hey, I resent that!”
Shoving him away playfully, Pax couldn’t resist slinging one final barb. “I know your arthritis makes physical activity unpleasant, but let me know when you’re feeling up to a training session, old man.”
Thornton chuckled. “Sure. You let me know when you grow up, and maybe I can teach you a thing or two, little girl.”
She grinned at the familiar exchange. They didn’t actually feel so far apart in age, but it had always been a point of amusement to poke fun at their fourteen years discrepancy. At least some things will never change, she thought to herself with contentment as she left the infirmary.
Chapter 17: Some Sentimental Value
Suja was lounging luxuriously on the soft cushion of a chair made from a giant oyster shell. When she heard the sound of her brother’s approach, she smiled and rose to her feet. “It is so good to see you. I was just thinking of how proud I am of the progress you have made in such a short time.”
“Is that so?” he asked in a low voice.
“Yes, Suraj. I am simply blown away by the way you—”
“You know that isn’t my name any longer,” he told her quietly. “You would be wise to address me appropriately.”
“Forgive me. What should I call you now, darling?”
He gave her an irritated look. “I am Lord Zvarin. You have gone to great lengths to transform me into the creature that I now am, and you should know its name.”
“It’s not a bad name, brother. It’s not a bad look, either. You have vastly improved from the drab little boy I came upon in that pyramid a while ago.” Suja gracefully floated around him, observing his stature and hair with approval. “Quite appealing—this coloring is exotic and striking. I am so glad that you underwent this transformation. I think we’re about ready to take Earth, and the rest of that pesky Milky Way.”
“What business do I have with a useless place like Earth?” Zvarin asked.
“Useless!” Suja remarked. “Useless? Oh, baby brother. The Earth is home to some of our greatest allies and most exciting enemies. I would hardly call such a cornucopia of fun times useless!”
“It is also the seat of your scrawny slip of a husband. I do not have time for your personal vendettas any longer, Suja. I am no longer under your command.” He turned to her, his shoulder-length green hair falling around his face to accentuate the sharpness of his chin and nose. “The Earth will be permanently removed from my itinerary. There are much more important things to be done in this galaxy. And the next. And the next after that.”
“I trust your wisdom, but I really feel you are overlooking a place with a wealth of history and knowledge. The Earth has always been important to our people, brother—”
“Silence, bitch.” He grunted in a
nger. “I am hardly your brother anymore. I am hardly one of your so-called people.”
“You always will be my brother,” she said, moving to stand before him. She placed a hand on his shoulder tenderly. “Like a sponge, you have absorbed the power of a hundred men—but I know that you remain the same kind soul beneath all of these new muscles and sinews.”
The tall man looked down at her condescendingly, his chest rumbling with laughter. “Don’t you know anything about men, Suja? Don’t you know anything about our capacity for evil?”
“I know you,” she said softly. “I know that you have never abused or misused your power once in your lifetime. I know that you are better than I am—you are filled with immense goodness.”
“The greater the goodness that resides in a man’s soul, the greater the darkness once it disappears. The kinder and gentler a man is, the more ruthless and depraved he becomes if you piss him off.”
She lowered her gaze. “I know that I have wronged you—”
“You know nothing about me, demon! You are less than nothing to me.”
“Please Sur—ah, Zvarin. Understand my great respect for you. I wish for you to rule all the lands I have secured for you, and all the lands we have yet to conquer. We will do this together, like we planned.”
“Like you planned.”
“Brother, you don’t have to act so tough…” The white-haired woman frowned when she found herself suddenly encased within green flames. It seemed that Zvarin was trying to trap her with some sort of mind trick. Shaking her head, she walked forward proudly, assuming that the flames would cause no harm to her indestructible body.
She was wrong. The moment that her fingers reached out and touched the wall of emerald energy, she felt a venomous tremor of pain ripple through her nervous system. Suja screamed and recoiled, looking down at her hand in shock. She watched her skin crumbling and putrefying in circles as though being eaten away by some kind of virus. “What is this?” she whispered, gazing through the flames that had somehow managed to imprison her.
“This is your end, Suja.” Through the gaps in the cackling green flames, his gaze bored into her. The reflection of the fire was visible in the perverted, maddened sheen of his eyeballs. “You deserve this—you deserve worse than this, but I don’t have time to waste in drawing it out. You appreciate creativity and destruction, so I believe you won’t be disappointed by what happens next. Rest assured: I will take all the lands that once belonged to you. I will take all the people that once belonged to you. I will take everything.”
Suja stepped backward, a bit unsettled by the viciousness in his violet eyes. “What have you done to me?” she asked, looking down at what appeared to be a fast moving infection spreading throughout her body. She tried to use her prana to cure herself, but she could not seem to stop the parasites that were eating away at her from the inside. She looked back up at him in horror. Did he really intend to destroy her? Although the wall of poisonous flames he had erected was meant to ensnare her, she was almost grateful that there was something separating them in this moment, creating a protective barrier. No one had been capable of inflicting harm upon her in as long as she could remember. Pax Burnson had occasionally bested her by thwarting her schemes, but she had never truly managed to harm Suja. She had never truly intended to harm Suja, and even if she or her friends had intended this, they would not have been capable of doing so.
“You believed coalescence was a potent, unexplored technique,” said Zvarin as he stared through the flames. “You were correct. But you had no idea how correct your theories were. You used me as a guinea pig, thinking that I was expendable—and I was.”
“I never considered you expendable,” Suja told him as she gasped, trying to stop the disease from metastasizing into the rest of her body. “I just wanted the best for you.”
“Sure. You wanted me to become something greater, because you were unimpressed with what I was. You were unsatisfied with the man that I used to be—you decided to play the almighty goddess and mold me into something better. You never considered that I was happy with who I was.”
“How could you have been happy?” she said frantically, feeling herself growing weak. “You had nothing. I gave you kingdoms! How can you use your newfound power and wisdom against me?”
“I had much more than you will ever know.” Zvarin lifted a hand, causing the flames to swirl up around Suja, effectively trapping her within a fiery prison. Nothing I can ever take will replace what I have lost. But I will take everything anyway.
I do want you to have everything, brother, Suja communicated with her mind as the flames surrounded her. She closed her eyes tightly as she felt the toxic flames lapping at her skin and searing directly to her core.
And I will, he responded. There is nothing left to do—I no longer have any values or morals. In this melting pot that is my psyche, there is only lust for dominance. I will take every world there is to take. But first, I will amuse myself with taking your life. There is not enough of your brother left within me to protect you. What little scrap of him lingers in me is watching from a distant corner as I mutilate you. You are nothing, Suja. Do not make any mistake in thinking that you might possess some sentimental value for me. Once your body has been destroyed, I will have you thrown to the rodents for their pleasure.
Suja emitted a sigh as she gazed through the green inferno surrounding her. “Someone needed to hurt you,” she whispered as she materialized a giant lotus flower beneath her. She lowered herself to sit on the petals and gracefully crossed her legs as she felt the venom eating away at her vital life force. Perhaps her murderer would tell a different story, but she would perish elegantly. “Now you’re really just like me, little brother. Now that you’ve become power hungry and empty inside, you’re truly family.”
* * *
“What were you thinking, Pax? You can’t just steal my father away and disappear for such a long impromptu vacation…”
“We were training. It wasn’t a social visit—we were practicing important techniques.”
“I don’t care. It doesn’t help us get closer to any of our goals. It doesn’t help us get revenge on the guys, and it doesn’t help me prepare for the ball.” Amara was impatiently tapping her foot, making the porcelain figurines dance on the shelves.
“Good grief! Those aren’t the most important things in the world.”
“They’re pretty damn important,” Amara hissed.
Pax held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. Sorry, Mara. I had my reasons, it was just…”
“I know your damned reasons! I can read your brain, remember? Do you know that you nearly made us miss the ball?”
“That can’t be possible. The ball isn’t for ages yet.”
“It’s tomorrow, girlfriend. You missed the appointments for nails and hair that I scheduled this week! This is a disaster! Para’s going to look horrible because you’ll be a mess!”
“You knew I wasn't going to those appointments anyway.” Pax eyed her friend suspiciously. “Hey, Mara—I can’t read minds. What’s really wrong with you?”
The blonde woman sighed and sat down abruptly, letting her head fall into her hands. “I lied to Ash. I told him I had a date for the ball.”
“You did what?”
“And now I need to show up. As myself. With a date.”
“Mara!”
“I know, I know…”
“No! This wasn’t part of the plan!” Pax accused. “How are we going to go to the ball as Para if you are going as yourself?”
“I have a plan…”
“Goddammit, Amara! We said we’d get them back evenly, and do to them exactly what they did to us. Ash never flirted with other women when he was with you. He never…”
“I know! I didn’t mean to say it. I didn’t intend for this to happen! But you have to go along with me on this Paxie. It will only set us back an hour or two, you’ll see.”
“Fine. You’re my only friend, so I don’t really have a
choice. What’s the plan?”
“Well, I have this great excuse for Para being late. I also have great excuses for you and me having to leave the ball early. Not together, of course…”
“Wait. I have to go to the ball as Pax—as me—too? That was never part of the…”
“Paxie, Paxie! It’s a great opportunity to save your reputation after the media said all those horrid things about you.”
“Well…” After a moment Pax found herself nodding reluctantly. “Fine.”
“Great! Now here’s the plan. We start tomorrow morning with Ash.”
* * *
“Medea, you look really tired.”
“I’ve been working very long shifts, Ash. I basically worked non-stop for the last three days with hardly any sleep,” she fabricated.
“And you still came to train with me? You’re crazy! You need your rest.”
“Oh, trust me. Part of me wanted to rest, badly. But another part of me really didn’t want to disappoint you! I saw how excited you were when I managed to create that ball of energy.”
“I think you might have a real talent for this. Have you been practicing?” Asher asked.
“Of course!” Para exclaimed. “I found it so interesting. I tried to make a little ball of energy every night before bed. It wasn’t as easy without you encouraging me, but I think I’ve got the hang of it. The only downside is that putting out so much energy makes me so exhausted. I usually fall asleep right away!”
“Show me what you can do,” Asher urged her with a smile.
Para put her hands together and took a deep breath. She falsely caused her flexed fingers to shake as though she was exerting a considerable effort. She made a small sound as she formed an energy ball.
“There!” she said proudly, displaying the cantaloupe-sized ball of pale orange energy.
“Wonderful! Can you make it bigger?” Asher asked, grinning.
“I’ll try,” she said, pretending to concentrate. She moved her hands slightly apart and focused the tiniest more energy into the ball until it was basketball-sized.
Thirty Minutes to Heartbreak Box Set (Books 1-3) Page 81