“Blood?”
I groaned at Mama Lucy’s outburst and kicked Craig’s foot again. “Thanks, really, you’re making this night so much better.”
“I’m going to assume I don’t want to know what he’s referring to.”
“No, you don’t. You know what, how about you two fill Mama Lucy in on what happened after we were taken captive by Kadin? I need a shower and five seconds away from both of you.”
The chair legs scooted harshly across the floor, and I stormed upstairs, ignoring their worried gazes watching me.
There was no reason for me to be on edge like this, but I couldn’t help it. My sanity was growing more fragile by the second and those memories I needed merely teased me. Telling me exactly what I’d have to do to get them.
How far I’d be willing to push myself.
I locked myself in the bathroom, turned on the hot water, and after stripping out of my dirty clothes from the past week or so, slipped into the clean water, bubbles and all.
I hadn’t realized how much everything ached until that moment and decided I’d say in until the water turned cold… but being a dragon, that might be a while.
I grinned, ready to relax for an hour at least, and closed my eyes.
14
Forrest
I dumped out everything inside the knapsack, and located the pieces of the shield wrapped up in a rough cloth I’d found at the palace before making our run for it. “Three pieces, that’s all we have so far. Three lousy pieces of that entire shield.”
“You made it back in one piece. That’s something,” Lucy said, as she spread out the three pieces.
“Almost didn’t, all because of my father.”
I sank into the chair and glanced toward the stairs. She could’ve been killed, as well as Craig. I could’ve lost both of them because of my arrogance in believing my father would listen to me. That he would never doubt anything I said to him as the truth. I’d put both their lives in danger, as well as the lives of everyone relying on us to solve this crisis.
“I’m assuming he’s listening to you now?”
“He sent men to guard the Darrah lands as well as to Boshen to find the breach created by the plague there,” I replied. “But if there are even signs of it here, I’m not sure what good it will do.”
“We’ll have better warning,” Craig said. “That’s all we can do until we find the rest of this damned shield.”
“You said you had an idea of someone who might know. Who is it?”
He knocked his knuckles hard on the dining table. “Sorcerers.”
Lucy’s brow rose, and I stifled a laugh as she scowled at him, even as she smirked. “The ones you ripped off that landed you bloodied on my doorstep?”
“To be fair, that was my cousin,” Craig corrected, “but yeah, the same ones. They will not be too pleased to see me, and honestly, I have no idea how we can even find them.”
“Leave that to me.”
I tilted my head, confused. “How do you know where they are? No one knows where the sorcerers live. There’s no trading that happens with them unless they want it to, and the only time they come out into the open is when they need a favor.”
Lucy held up the largest piece of the shield we’d found so far, letting the light play through it. “I have my ways. We witches have more in common with them than most think. I can find them, but it’ll take time. They’re not exactly in this dimension, if you want to know why you can never find them. Technology, advancements in science affect their magic… and they’re a bunch of old men who won’t change with the times,” she said, the last bitterly, as she carefully set the bit of shield back down.
I was still waiting for her to give us some sort of lecture after filling her in on what we went through the entire time we were gone, letting Kate get into trouble, but she had yet to do it. It bothered her, though, that much was clear. She glanced worriedly toward the stairs as much as Craig and I did.
“Earlier, you said blood,” Lucy said quietly. “It’s from her power, isn’t it?”
I hesitated to answer, not sure Kate would appreciate us having this conversation without her present, but Craig replied quickly. “Yes, from using too much too early, and not understanding what she’s doing to herself. It’s putting a strain on her, physically… and mentally.”
“That strain hit us all,” I growled, remembering how vividly we’d seen Celandine disappear from our sights, knowing she was going to die. Seeing the others dead around us.
Each time I closed my eyes to sleep, it was all I saw. Moreover, I knew she had seen worse than that during her time locked up in a cell. She’d seen more death, more destruction, seen all of us careening toward an end that would destroy us for good. Her past life was physically dragging her back in time to relive every raw emotion Celandine felt, hear the cries of the dying as they fell at her sides. It was a wonder she wasn’t more broken by what happened, and there was more to come. So much more.
“Do you fear for her life?” Lucy asked.
I didn’t even have to look Craig’s way to know he bore the same dour-faced expression I had, in answer to that question.
Lucy raised a brow. “Well now, isn’t this an interesting turn of events.”
“What?” I glanced up, and was surprised to find her smiling, despite the sadness lingering in her eyes. “The whole past life thing? Yeah, it’s a great turn. Makes everything so much better.”
“Not what I meant, smart mouth,” Lucy huffed, and Craig sniggered. “You two caring for her the way you do, and clearly not ready to tear each other’s throats out anymore. Very interesting indeed. I’ll have to see what I can dig up on these three names you mentioned.”
“How far back do the witch archives go?” I asked.
“Thousands of years, just as with any other race, but in all my time on this earth, I’ve never heard mention of this darkness either.” She glanced toward Harry when he lifted his head and started whining. “What, don’t tell me you know about it?”
He shook his shaggy head, and I looked to Craig for help, but he shrugged. “Ah, Lucy? Are you talking to the dog?”
“As a matter of fact and I am, and sorry to say, he’s not just a dog.”
“I’m sorry, he’s not?” Craig muttered, and glanced at it with a mix of disgust and horror. “What is it then because that… thing licked my face when we first met.”
I bit back a laugh when he glowered at me, and Harry sauntered over to plop down beside Lucy’s chair. He was tall enough to rest his head on the dining table, and she scratched behind his ears. His eyes closed, apparently enjoying the attention, and his tail thumped against the table leg.
“From what I can tell, he’s a warlock who pissed off the wrong witch,” Lucy told us. “Not sure how long he’s been in this form, but it’s been a while. I promised I’d try to get the curse broken as soon as the coven met again.”
“How long until that happens?”
“Usually it’s only at the two solstices, but I’m going to be requesting a special gathering with all this crap going on. I want answers, and I’m not going to wait until December to get them.”
“And you’re just going to what, let him run around your house?” Craig asked, still sounding uncertain.
“He’s been a very good protector so far. I see no harm in it.” She winked at Craig. “You want, he’ll sleep at the foot of your bed tonight.”
“No thanks, I’m good.”
“Suit yourself.”
Craig excused himself from the table to wander into the kitchen.
I heard the faucet run, and didn’t want to bug him. He’d been acting a bit strange since the incident with his father at the palace, worse, when he read the letter from Broden.
I wanted to talk to him about it, but when I rose to follow him, a weird rush of emotion filled me, but it wasn’t me feeling it.
I closed my eyes and reached out my hand, following what felt like a physical tether leading me to Craig.
; Worry flowed along it, as well as fear of failure, fear of loss… and love. I wondered what he worried about and didn’t believe it all centered around Kate. Thinking of her, another tether materialized, and I reached for it next.
This one vibrated with a range of emotions, anger, confusion, and a strong feeling of compassion for more than one person.
Curious, I reached out, my eyes still closed, and tapped into both tethers.
The strong connection rocked me off my feet, and I felt my back slam into the nearest wall, but couldn’t break free.
I sucked in a breath, my brain on overload as it tried to make sense of what Kate and Craig were both feeling.
In those few seconds, our connection became clear to me, a connection that would never die, not even when our physical bodies did. Celandine, Broden, and Malcolm’s souls were interwoven together in a beautiful masterpiece of life and love, of loss, and hardship. Three souls that would never be parted from one another.
I managed to unclasp my fingers, and opened my eyes to see Lucy standing in front of me, Harry sitting worriedly by her side.
“Forrest?”
“That was… that was incredible,” I breathed, unsure of what was going on in my head right now, but unable to not hear the echoes of the others’ emotions without even trying to. “I felt them… how is that possible?”
“You’re an empath,” she said quietly. “I have not seen one in hundreds of years, certainly not one as strong as you seem to be.”
“Empath?”
“You feel others’ emotions.”
I narrowed my eyes as I focused on Lucy and shook my head. “No, I can’t feel anything from you.”
“Interesting, very interesting indeed.”
“Bad interesting?” I asked as I held my hands before my face to study them.
“I would think not. You said the three past lives of yours, they were all very connected on an emotional level?”
I nodded. “But we don’t know much about how they met, what brought them together.”
“I have a feeling very soon you will. Do the others know yet? About your gift?”
“No, I mean we’ve all felt a connection, but nothing like this.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell them just yet either. We were still recovering from the past days of finding out crazy events about our past lives as well as getting captured, escaping, fighting, escaping again… no, this news would have to wait.
I started for the kitchen, but Lucy caught my arm, subtly shaking her head. “It doesn’t take an empath to know he’s doing something. Let him be for a while.”
I glanced at the kitchen when I heard what must’ve been the back door opening and shutting. She told me to check on Kate instead, and then get myself settled in for the night. There was a guest room toward the end of the hall where her room was, that had not been taken over by kids yet.
“And they’re all still safe, right?” I asked of the many orphans she looked after.
“Safe and sound. Go on, I’ll see to Craig.”
I trusted her to do as she said, and moved toward the stairs.
When we’d been back at the palace, I had expected to feel like I was home again, and be comforted by that fact. But being back at Lucy’s home, knowing Craig was just outside, and Kate upstairs, made me realize all those years I had no idea what the idea of home really meant.
I reached the upper hallway, and passed by Kate’s room, the door was partially open, and I gave it a knock to see if she was up for talking.
It swung inward, and her eyes met mine as she stood before a tall mirror on a stand. Her hair was wet and hung down her back loosely, her mostly-bare back.
I tried to swallow, but a sudden lump in my throat prevented me, and I choked instead, coughing as she turned to face me, wearing nothing, but a damned towel.
“Forrest? You alright?” she asked, walking slowly toward me.
I managed a nod and smiled, turning away. “Sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were alright before I headed to bed.”
“You can come in you know.”
“I didn’t want to bother you.”
“You’re not bothering me,” she insisted, and her hand was on my arm a second later. “Forrest, look at me, would you?”
I hesitated, but lifted my gaze to see hers filled with amusement and a slight flush to her cheeks when our gazes locked.
She was clearly not worried about me seeing her barely clothed, and it wasn’t like I could see anything anyway.
“Sorry, I just… I know things are still strange between the three of us.”
“Are they?” she challenged gently. “I’m starting to feel like not having you two around was the reason I felt so confused all these years.” She padded back across her room and stood in front of the mirror again. “I was studying the runes on my arms, and legs, and everywhere else, but I don’t understand what they mean.”
I moved toward her, keeping my eyes on the runes. I could do that, but even as I told myself to stare only at the tattoos, I failed at not thinking back to our first kiss, and wondering what a second one would be like, now that our past lives were awakened.
“This language is old,” I told her, my fingers hovering over the ones on her forearms as she held them out to me.
“How many dragon languages are there?”
I tilted my head, moving my gaze farther up her arm. “This isn’t just a dragon language.”
I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed it before, but I guess when the runes were pulsing with light, I was more concerned about her not dying from whatever burst of power erupted from her instead of truly looking at the runes.
“What do you mean?”
“You asked us once, about dragons and demons being related somehow. Why?”
“Malcolm, from my visions, his face shifted to look like a demon. And I noticed several others reacted the same,” she told me, her brow furrowed. “Why?”
I traced my fingers over the large runes moving along her upper arm to her shoulder.
They started out jagged with sharp edges, mirroring a more demonic tongue, but then there were softer curved shapes interwoven around them, curled here and there mimicking a dragon’s serpentine body. I moved along the back of her neck, and gently moved her hair over her other shoulder, so I could see the intricate shapes that covered more of her skin.
“These runes… they’re a melding of the dragon and demon tongues,” I finally told her, amazed what was before me. “I’m not sure if there’s anyone alive who can decipher them, but this is fascinating.”
“So you think they are related then? Dragons and demons?”
I nodded, and opened my mouth to say something else, but when I looked up, our gazes met in the mirror.
My hands rested on her bare shoulders, and her lips were curled in a soft smile as she reached up to hold them where they were.
Part of me said I should go, but I didn’t want to. The entire time she was down in that cell, all I pictured was a guard coming to tell me she’d bled out, or worse, my father killed her without telling me what he was going to do. Every night when I closed my eyes, I pictured her dead at my feet, and I had done nothing to save me.
But the feel of her warm skin beneath my hands, listening to her breathing, all this reassured me she was, in fact, alive, and we’d survived.
Slowly, she turned to face me, and before I could think about what was going to happen, our lips were together in an intense kiss that rocked me to my core.
My arms wrapped tightly around her, and lifted her off her feet, needing to hold her close after so much time spent worrying if she would live.
We wound up backed into the nearest wall and the only thing that mattered at that moment was that this kiss not stop.
When I felt her towel slipping, I quickly caught it, and she scrambled to keep it up as we laughed, her cheeks flushed, and my heart pounding in my chest.
“I uh, I should let you get some sleep,” I murmured, rubbing the back of my neck as I ba
cked toward the door.
“Yeah, you should get some too.”
“I will, I think.” I grinned when she did, and briefly wondered how much more complicated this was about to get. “Night, Kate.”
“Forrest?”
I’d been turning to leave, and continued my spin, so I faced her again. “Yes?”
She rushed to me and just hugged me, squeezing me as tight as she could.
I returned the favor, resting my cheek on top of her head.
A wave of love washed over me, and I sighed to feel it, sensing how deep that emotion ran.
At the same time, I felt her love for another, for Craig, but instead of making me jealous, it completed our circle.
I had no idea how this was going to work out, or if it would in the end, but all that really mattered was the three of us find a way to keep our strength, support one another.
Before the end, we would need to lean on each other if we were going to have a hope of surviving.
15
Craig
I rested my arms against the fence in the garden, staring up at the stars. After reaching the Darrah lands, and then being captured by the dragons, I hoped we’d return home with more answers, but instead, the mountain of questions continued to mount. Questions that I was starting to doubt would ever be answered.
Raghnall knew more.
I should’ve cut him deeper, made him feel the pain that he inflicted on me as a child. Maybe then he would’ve told me what I needed to know.
But then I’d wind up just like him, wouldn’t I?
Funny how that always works out. Turning into the monster you swore your whole life you would never be.
I was getting desperate, we all were.
Something stirred within me, a darkness I never felt before, not even after all the torture I suffered through.
A voice in the back of my mind whispered over and over again I wouldn’t be enough to save them. They would die, again.
And there was nothing I could do to save them.
I hung my head, growling at the night, and muttering for the voice to be quiet. I would do whatever I had to do to keep them breathing.
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