The Truth about Heroes: Complete Trilogy (Heroes Trilogy)

by Krista Gossett

  Without missing a beat, Melchior grabbed the fatally wounded Rienna and threw her over the nearest horse. It was no better than a gauntlet, this way out, and Melchior and his would-be rescuer were sliced beyond the hope of salvation as they fled the scene on a stolen horse.

  They rode well away from pursuers, a dying horse with its dying passengers, one holding the head of a dead Queen. When the head fell, Melchior stopped the horse, not quite able to think clearly due to the blood loss, mostly from a severed arm… He mused that it was the arm he hadn’t lost before that was gone now. He slid down off of the horse to retrieve it (the head, for the arm was long lost) and heard a heavy thump behind him as the horse died and Rienna fell like a forgotten doll.

  Melchior turned with all his wobbly effort to see the glassy stare in Rienna’s long-dead face and dropped the head he had just picked up. His face said nothing as he fought death, falling first to his knees then losing the battle before the grass touched his cheek.

  That wasn’t the way things were supposed to go and Rienna was violently pulled away from this vision of horror as the Queen began to address the crowd. She did not hear this address either, still horrified by what had been shown to her. Clearly, she had to be smarter than that— she didn’t even doubt that ignoring the vision would mean she would be doomed to play it out again.

  She let her eyes meet Melchior’s below and his infuriatingly lopsided smile spread and she could not help but smile back. Oddly enough, even the hot sun felt cool on her skin now and she felt a presence she had not felt in so long and knew who had sent her the vision and what she had to do.

  Kalhmera, the Goddess, once called only She, had promised long ago to protect the children that had helped her claim this new world and she did not fail them now. Rienna stepped forward now and cleared her throat to address the Queen as Kalhmera appeared beside her. The Queen was enthralled and her steely façade trembled with uncertainty. Rienna smiled calmly at the goddess then at the Queen.

  “I know the laws of kings are not negotiable, but the goddess has granted her protection and I cannot let him die. Please understand that I bear you no ill will, but Melchior is not the man you think he is. He was being controlled completely by Viper and his general. I too wanted to hate him, your Majesty, since it was his face I saw behind the machine that killed my husband and father both, just as your father was killed. When I met him, he was prepared to die for sins he could not control and I was eager to speed that up. It would not have been justice. Just as we did not punish the others that had been forced to serve him, I beg you now to take solace in the fact that the true murderer of your father is dead and justice was served when Viper died,” Rienna said, for the queen’s ears alone, as the others murmured in the confusion. None saw the goddess nor heard Rienna save the Queen alone.

  The Queen looked now at the Goddess and back at Rienna, her eyes expressing the turmoil within, but she saw the Queen’s heart soften and she nodded.

  “All right, Rienna… I should have listened before—you have been a dear friend and a savior and I was blinded by my own despair, just as you were once. I can ill afford to be so impulsive and if a goddess can forgive him, then who am I to ignore it. You may take him and accept my sincere apologies,” the Queen said now and signaled to the guards that the execution was to stop with mixed reactions from the crowd.

  She barely heard the Queen address the crowd now about justice having been served and this man was not to blame, as she leapt the balcony rail to approach Melchior, tenderly removing the noose from his neck and kissing his cheek.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Melchior asked before the mystified shock of this situation even wore off. Rienna wore a serene smile as she turned to him and squeezed his hand in hers.

  “Kalhmera has not forgotten us. I spent all day preparing to die, forgetting she had no intention of letting us… Seems a little silly that we just get to walk out of this one,” Rienna explained, the faraway softness in her voice letting him know she was no less mesmerized by the strangeness of it. Melchior did not need further explanation. Kalhmera was not a conventional deity, having been a timeless observer with a kind soul. Still, he wondered if the crowd would uphold the Queen’s decision with many people still convinced he was a killer.

  Melchior was on edge, but they walked hand in hand until the sky turned the color of summer citrus, Melchior filthy and barefoot and Rienna the immaculate female warrior. He was beautiful to her still and her heart was liquid with joy for their future.

  When she heard a great many hooves approach from behind, her smile never faded. She expected there would be rebels after them that would object to Melchior’s freedom and there were maybe thirty of them glaring angrily at them now. She reached naturally for the sword as she always did. Melchior frowned at being unarmed but reached for the long dagger at Rienna’s waist, even taking a small moment to tickle the skin at her midriff deliberately before unsheathing it and testing its weight in his hand.

  “I guess I expected a dagger belonging to my brother once to be heavier,” Melchior grumbled, with a cocky shrug.

  “They’ll feel it,” Rienna countered, swallowing the laugh that threatened to break her tough façade. She failed and it escaped abruptly anyway. Melchior shot her a sideways glance, his eyes dancing with the promise of battle and his instant fondness of this woman, before looking back at the men stupid enough to approach them directly.

  “I do believe my sick sense of humor is rubbing off on you,” Melchior managed to admit.

  “I love you, too,” Rienna confessed, trumping him. She reveled in the shock he couldn’t hide in that moment. “Once we take care of these guys, Seije and Eden should be nearby. You can meet Arden and Lily too. Finn and Verity will meet up with us later for dinner.”

  “Nearer than you think,” came Seije’s voice as he rode up on his horse with Eden behind him. He leapt from the horse and gently helped Eden down before drawing his sword. Eden’s little arm pulled at his sword arm and he lowered it instantly.

  “Uncle Seije, let me show Mommy and Scruffy Guy that I can handle this,” Eden asked in her softest, yet strongest little girl voice.

  “Scruffy Guy…” Melchior grumbled, but was clearly amused.

  Rienna’s face was shadowed with dread as Eden toddled forward with all the grace a four-year-old could manage.

  All but Rienna and Melchior lifted their weapons as her eyes were only for her daughter as Eden stepped forward, a very alien, adult expression of seriousness on her little heart shaped face. Rienna whimpered and meant to gather her up, but Melchior held her arm. Rienna shot him an angry desperate look, but he shook his head, silently telling her that no harm would befall the girl and to watch for now.

  “We have no quarrels with the rest of you, just give us Viper’s lackey and we’ll let you be. We take no pleasure in killing the captain or a child,” the bearded man at the front said, obviously the oldest of the group of armored men due to being the only one with any facial hair.

  Eden resolutely walked fearlessly past her small group and Rienna grabbed for Melchior, fighting the urge to sweep up her little girl. Ice tinged the grass around Eden’s feet and a strange fog came from the girl’s hands. Rienna cried out in confusion and fear, but Eden lifted her hands and in moments, a swirling blizzard had frozen the men and decorated them in a thick layer of shining frost and icicles. She closed her hand and the men shattered in frozen dust, their horses fleeing in terror.

  The pretty little girl with Ashe’s white hair and Rienna’s smoky grey eyes looked back at her mother, looking suddenly apprehensive. Rienna broke free from Melchior and hugged her little girl fiercely.

  “Magic was supposed to be gone…” Rienna lamented, not sure what to think of it finding a home in her daughter. Her heart hurt for what that could mean. She meant to touch Eden’s skin but it burned with the extreme cold of the girl’s skin and she wept, holding Eden where she could. Was this Sea Star’s so-called gift? No, no, if anyone knew it wou
ld be the goddess. What had she done?

  Kalhmera wanted to comfort Rienna but she watched as she always had, in silence. She was the Goddess and the most powerful among them, but this was a new world built on an old world and it appeared there were things that even she could not control. The six of her children below embraced and headed north. Rienna had called for Kalhmera but she would not appear to them again—she would lead them to a place where Finn and Verity were waiting, maybe the place where Lyria had come from, a place where people would understand Eden’s power. They would return to Ersenais later, of course, and the Queen would not change her mind. The Queen would keep revering them as heroes, even Melchior, because Viper… Gren… was gone.

  Eden was not the only child that a new kind of magic was surfacing in and Kalhmera did her best to make sure these children were not left to fend for themselves. Many of the children were the offspring of her beloved heroes and she wondered if that was due to the elementals that had resided in their parents. It was odd that she had to admit that she had no idea what was going on, but she did not have the ability to rescind the powers either; the powers were attached to the children and only death would release them, which she would never do. It is possible that the stubborn magic would just find its way into other children.

  Being a Goddess was tiring. With the heroes’ journey finally over, her eyes felt heavy. She would just rest them for a while…

  When Rienna and her group had settled to camp (Finn and Verity had met them for dinner and decided to come along as well, with two-year-old twins for Eden to play with), Rienna wandered off to a stream and dug through her bag, looking for an apple, when a little wrapped package fell out. Krose’s gift. She had known she might not be going back to the cottage so she had not forgotten to grab it before leaving. He had told her not to open it until she was ready for the truth and even now she wasn’t quite sure she was. She flipped the paper package in her hands and took a breath as she unwrapped it and found the leather-bound book Krose had always been writing in. He had never bothered to ever ask her if she opened it because he knew the time would come. It took her hours to read it all (and had been interrupted once by Arden checking on her when she asked him if she could have a few hours’ privacy) and when she got to the end, she watched in awe as words kept flowing on the page, detailing how she read the very book that sat in her hands.

  She let it fall from her hands in shock, but did not dare leave it there. It is not known if she will ever dare to open it again, but the words will flow until the pages are filled and their stories are told. This is the final gift that the goddess gave to her. Although, as she wandered back to where her friends and family camped, she could think of a greater one as her eyes met Melchior’s.

  Later that night, Rienna and Melchior lay beside each other, naked and sweaty with their limbs entwined under a light fur pelt that barely covered the bottoms of their legs, and he grabbed her hand to entwine his fingers with hers. She watched with a feeling of completion finally settling over her heart. She pushed herself up and flicked her tongue over his nipple while he growled at her, his energy spent. His other hand shot out and he tickled her relentlessly. She squirmed and bucked and curled into his side, laughing with mirth. He stopped but both of them were still grinning ear-to-ear and Rienna ran her fingers over the dip in his abdominal muscles.

  “Even if you don’t love me, I want to be with you…” Rienna said, revealing the insecurity in her heart.

  Melchior sighed and shook his head, chuckling. Rienna felt his laughter and sat up to punch his shoulder, her pride wounded. He caught her hand before she could hit him again and he shook her hand until her fingers loosened and kissed the tip of each finger gently.

  “You’re not going to be happy until I say it, are you?” Melchior asked her cruelly and she pulled her hand away. She scrambled to get up and leave, but he pulled her down on top of him and grabbed her breast possessively, letting her feel his arousal pulsing awake against her inner thigh. She glared at him as if she weren’t losing her willpower.

  “I don’t want you to say what you don’t mean,” Rienna hissed out through gritted teeth, already sliding herself along the throbbing length of him instinctively.

  “Would you believe it if I said it now or should I wait until after I’ve fucked you for the fourth time tonight?” he growled lustily.

  “It’s just fucking for you,” Rienna said breathlessly, already sliding down slowly onto his swollen shaft, her body trembling with the pleasure of him filling her.

  He held her still and it pained her. He rolled her over underneath him and held her face in his hands, made her eyes focus on his. He was usually all too happy to let her take control, but this time, she would not regret him taking it.

  “I have always loved you, Rienna. I loved you when we first talked, when I could see your little breasts through your wet shift and you held a sword to my throat…” He slid out of her and in again. “I loved you when my best friend captured your heart and took my hand to stake his claim on you.” And again, he slid out and in, his eyes more intense. “I loved you when my brother was your second chance at love and even more when I turned you away, though I wanted you more than air when I did.” Rienna bucked when he slid out and in this time, but he held her head and waited until her eyes cleared and met his again. “I have loved you every day, knowing you deserve better than me and I will love you as long as I live whether or not I ever deserve you.”

  This time, when he slid out, she quivered with orgasm as he slid back in. He wasn’t quite done with her yet and he used his thumbs to wipe away the tears that had sprung into her eyes.

  “Then why are you always in such perfect control and I’m a mess?” Rienna sobbed as his rhythm picked up slowly. He wasn’t done driving the point home yet.

  “Probably because I love you more,” Melchior teased and she laughed, stuttering between the strength of each thrust. It quickly turned into a moan as he quickened her desire and when she peaked this time, he finished inside her. When he rolled away, she curled into the crook of his arm, wrapping her arm across him possessively, tracing scars with her finger lazily.

  “You always have to one-up me,” Rienna said poutily.

  “Men don’t lose to women,” Melchior said, and let her punch him as he laughed, tickling her again until they were both laughing and exhausted.

  It was the first time in a long time that either of them slept so soundly and when they had to scramble for their furs when Eden came bounding in the next morning, she knew she had the family she had always longed for. Her heart was near to overflowing as Eden tackled Melchior and he had her laughing hysterically as he held her down and tickled her face with his beard. It was a feeling that made her feel positively heroic and perfectly loved. The bards could tell any tale they chose, but her story was complete.

  The End of Book 3

  & the Heroes Trilogy Hey Readers! I hope you enjoyed the first trilogy of my first series. Since I started out my creative journey as a comic book artist, novels are a new step for me and I hope to continue to grow as a writer and explore my ideas in different media. It is ideal if each outlet enhances the others.

  The next trilogy will explore an all-new cast of characters, a new generation of heroes that live in the shadows of their famous parents. While the focus on the next one is still largely about discovering the mysteries of the world, the characters in this one do become more sexually adventurous. However, my personal focus was more on the development of a new magic system, one with a cost, and more origin history.

  I changed tact a bit, opting to release this series without illustrating each book. I may go back and illustrate for them later, but I’m focusing on releasing the books as is so I can start work on a web comic idea.

  Moving onto completing more cover work to get the rest of the series out… Check out my social media in the meantime…

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