Salene's Secrets

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “I can’t tell you if I object without knowing what it is you’re talking about.”

  “A buffer will be needed to protect you before we can power bond,” Wolef explained. “I mentioned that, did I not?”

  “Yes, I believe you did, but I didn’t know what you meant then, nor do I now.”

  “You do not wield magic, and you’re not a shifter, so you cannot hold dragon power within your body for more than a few hours without it causing you irreparable harm. Therefore, you need a place to put the power when you aren’t actively using it. The buffer must be strong enough to hold my power, and small enough to bond with your skin without discomfort.”

  “Bond with my skin?”

  “It has to be connected to you so that the power I place within it can enter you when you wish, then retreat until you want it again,” Wolef replied. “I’m afraid wearing it against your skin will not suffice.”

  “I see,” Salene said, looking down at the ring. It was an exquisite and unique diamond, and the setting suited her taste perfectly. She would have worn it proudly all the days of her life if things had turned out differently. But things hadn’t turned out differently. It was time to accept that once and for all.

  “All right, let’s use it,” she said, offering the ring to Wolef.

  “Does this mean you’ve made your decision?”

  “I’ve spent a lot of time these past two weeks trying to decide what to do with my life. To be perfectly honest with you, Wolef, it’s either this, or find a job that I won’t care about and probably won’t enjoy, or sit on this ranch doing nothing for the remainder of my life.” She lifted her shoulder in what appeared to be a careless shrug. “You’re offering me an opportunity to ensure that Rayne gets to live the life she wants, stop the Doftles, and at the same time try to do some good. I’m taking it.”

  “I thank you, Princess Salene Dracon, for the honor of your acceptance,” Wolef said, bowing his head.

  Salene returned the dragon’s bow from where she still sat on the floor. “I thank you, Wolef, for trusting me with your power. I promise that I will never abuse it in any way.”

  Wolef smiled, a rather frightening expression on a dragon even if he was small enough to fit in her bathroom. “I feel quite relieved,” he said as the ring rose into the air above her hand, then drifted toward him.

  “Just out of curiosity, who did you choose to power bond with if I’d said no?”

  “I’m afraid I lied to you, Highness,” Wolef said without the slightest trace of shame. “I didn’t find anyone else.”

  “Then why did you say you had?” she asked, surprised.

  “Because I wanted you to choose this for yourself, for your own reasons,” Wolef replied. “Not just as a sacrifice to your sister.”

  “Okay, I can understand that, I suppose. But before we go any further I must ask for a promise from you.”

  “If I can give it, I shall.”

  “Please promise that you will not lie to me again.”

  “This promise is freely given, Highness,” Wolef said. “Now, where on your person would you like the stone to reside?”

  Salene’s eyes went from the ring to the note lying on the floor in front of her. Our love forever. Not so long ago, she would have believed that. Not so long ago she had believed that because they had loved her. She knew that for a fact because she’d felt it. Just like she’d felt the absence of love on the day they’d broken faith with her. The problem between them had been lack of passion. Not love.

  She decided that she wanted the stone to remind her each and every single day that she’d once found love, and that she’d lost it, proving that nothing was forever. She looked up at Wolef. “In the center of my forehead.”

  “You are certain?”

  “Yes,” she replied, then frowned. “How important is it that this remain a secret between us?”

  “For myself, it is not necessary at all,” Wolef said. “For you, it might be quite necessary. It wouldn’t do for the Doftles to target you because you’re power bonded with a dragon.”

  “No, it wouldn’t,” she agreed. “Can you make it look as though it’s jewelry? Attach a chain to it perhaps, so that it appears as though I’m wearing it?”

  “Yes, that’s easily done, and camouflage is a good idea.”

  “Thank you,” she said, relieved to have made the decision so quickly. She watched in silence as the ring, now floating in midair right in front of the dragon, began to glow with a pulsing, golden light. It grew brighter and brighter until she had to not only close her eyes, but put her hands over them as well.

  “You may look, now,” Wolef said a few minutes later.

  Salene lowered her hands and raised her head to see the round diamond floating in front of her eyes. But it was no longer golden. Instead, it was the deep red of a blood ruby, surrounded by delicate white gold filigree in a shallow V-shape.

  “Why is it red?”

  “Because it’s filled with power. When you draw the power into yourself, it will return to its original color. When you return the power to it, it will once again become red.”

  “It’s beautiful, Wolef,” she said. “I’m not questioning you, but the stone isn’t that big. How much power did you put into it?”

  “All of it,” Wolef said, then smiled. “How much space do you think power should require?”

  “Not a clue in the cosmos,” Salene replied. “But, if you’ve put all of your power into this stone, what about you? Won’t you need some?”

  “Did you forget, Highness, that I no longer walk the plane of the living? I am spirit, and spirit does not wield power such as this. I am merely its guardian now.”

  “It’s kind of hard to remember that when I can see you and talk to you,” Salene said, her eyes returning to the red stone suspended in the air before her. “Once you attach this to me, will it remain there forever?”

  “Not forever, no,” Wolef replied. “It will remain in place until you choose to return the power to me. It is my hope that you will not do that until the Doftles are driven from the Thousand Worlds.”

  “I won’t, Wolef,” she said. “I promise. You’re entrusting me with your power for a reason, and I accept it for that reason. I have chosen this path of my own free will, and I will not leave it until I have reached the end.”

  “You wear honor with the same grace as your sisters,” Wolef said, bowing again.

  “That’s a compliment I accept gladly,” Salene said. “What next?”

  “Hold it to your forehead in the position you want it. Be certain the placement is exactly as you wish as removing it will be a more difficult process than placing it.”

  Salene plucked it out of the air, then stood up and faced the mirror that ran along the wall behind the bathroom counter. She placed the stone in the center of her forehead, then raised it up a bit until she was happy with the way the filigreed arms angled up to her temples.

  “All right,” she said. Almost immediately the stone and the metal began to feel warm against her skin, and for a moment she was worried that it would burn, but it didn’t. Before it became uncomfortable it began to cool.

  “That should do it,” Wolef said.

  Salene removed her fingers gingerly, half afraid it would fall off, but it didn’t move. She tugged at it, but it was firmly in place. She looked at where the filigreed gold disappeared into her hair, glad to see that the ends didn’t show. It looked like a circlet or headband that had been pinned in place, which is exactly what she wanted.

  “Thank you, Wolef,” she said. “It’s perfect.”

  “I’m glad you’re pleased with it, Highness.”

  “Please call me Salene,” she said. The dragon dipped his head in a slow nod. “What happens now?”

  “You must practice drawing the power out of the stone, then putting it back. The more you practice, the more quickly you will be able to do it when the need arises.”

  “What if I can’t put it back?”

  “That i
s why I want you to begin practicing,” Wolef said. “If you have a problem, simply call to me. I will feel your need through the power bond. Understand, however, that I will not be able to remain with you for long, or come to you each day.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s not easy to manifest myself in this way, Salene. It is not meant for those of us no longer living to remain on this plane, and it’s even more difficult to manifest a physical form that can be seen. The longer I stay, the longer it takes for me to regain the energy to reappear.”

  “Get out of here then,” Salene said at once. “I’ll call you if I need you.”

  “I will be listening. Until then, farewell, Salene.”

  “Farewell, Wolef.”

  After the dragon vanished Salene closed her eyes and stretched her senses out for the Gryphons. Nothing happened. She reached for Tani, then Rayne, and again felt nothing. It was decidedly strange to reach for those she loved and not be able to feel them. While she didn’t like not being able to feel her sisters, it was a relief not to feel the Gryphons.

  Everything has a price, she reminded herself as she collected the black box and the note and returned them to the jewelry box. She closed it, carried it into her bedroom, and put it in the bottom drawer of her dressing table. Then she picked up her wine glass and took it downstairs for a refill, silent tears running down her face. She’d just taken an irrevocable step toward her future as a woman alone. It was even more painful than she’d expected it to be.

  ***

  “That’s beautiful, Salene,” Aisling said when she saw the red diamond on her forehead the next morning. “Is that a real ruby?”

  “No, it’s not,” Salene replied honestly, but offered no more information.

  “You might want to take it off so it doesn’t get damaged while we spar.”

  “It’ll be fine,” Salene said, then turned to hang up her jacket, hoping Aisling would take the hint and drop the subject. When she turned back around Aisling was staring at her with one brow raised. Salene wasn’t ready to share the fact that she’d power bonded with a dragon because it would inevitably lead to questions about the Gryphons that she couldn’t answer. So she returned the stare until Aisling smiled and changed the subject.

  Her thirteenth day of training was the hardest yet. Not because of training, but because it was the day the Gryphons were leaving Jasan for Garza. She hadn’t consciously kept track of the days since her conversation with her father, but when she awoke that morning with a powerful urge to go to the Gryphons, she didn’t have to think too hard to know that fourteen days had passed.

  At first she thought it was just one more thing for her to try to distract herself from thinking about. But it was much more than that. She’d never felt anything like the constant, pressing need that grew stronger and stronger as the hours passed, or her mind’s automatic attempts to reach out and feel them despite the fact that she no longer had that ability. She didn’t understand what was happening, and she didn’t like it, but she couldn’t tell anyone about it, either. Not without them wanting to know why she didn’t just give in to the urge and go to them.

  She worked as hard as she could with Aisling all day, but couldn’t shake the feeling for a single moment. As soon as Rudy left after speed traveling her back to the ranch, she went straight to the horse barn where she saddled a horse and took off. She spent the remainder of the afternoon racing over the familiar hills and valleys, returning to the barn just before dark. She took her time caring for the horse, cooling it down, brushing it out, feeding it, and trying to lose herself in the routine as she’d done so many times before. It did nothing to ease the intensity of her feelings, but at least she managed to stay away from the Gryphons. For the first time she was truly glad that she could no longer sense them. If she had, she doubted she’d have been able to stay away no matter what they thought of her.

  When she awoke the following morning she was relieved to find that the feeling had passed, though it left a hollow place in her heart. For the first time since she’d begun training with Aisling, she didn’t want to go. She wanted to stay home, preferably in bed with the blankets over her head. It was only when she caught her reflection in the bathroom mirror, her eyes going straight to the red stone on her forehead that she remembered she had responsibilities now that exceeded her own emotional needs. Responsibilities that she’d chosen to accept, and that required her to have at least some battle skills. She took a deep breath, and reached for her toothbrush.

  The following day, her fifteenth day of training, she was surprised when Aisling cut their sparring short in the middle of the afternoon. “Is something wrong, Aunt Ash?”

  “Not at all,” Aisling replied, leading the way to the refreshment counter in the corner. “I have something for you.”

  Salene sat on one of the stools at the counter, curious to see what Aisling had for her today. She didn’t think she could carry too many more weapons, but she’d try anything Aisling asked of her.

  “I’m very proud of you, Salene. You’ve worked much harder than I expected, and your improvement these past two weeks has been remarkable.” She bent down behind the counter, then straightened with two big bundles in her arms. One was wrapped in white paper, the other was wrapped in black silk tied with a red cord. She placed both on the counter in front of Salene and sat down.

  “This is kevlex,” she said, tapping the paper wrapped bundle. “I ordered some of my favorite styles made up for you, but so far only three basic black outfits and half a dozen colored camisoles have been delivered. There’ll be more in a few days. Please promise me that you’ll wear them when you leave Jasan.”

  “I promise, Aunt Ash,” Salene said, peeling back the paper to see the garments. Kevlex was thin, soft, stretchy and comfortable to wear. It was also tougher than the heaviest armor.

  “There’s also another package with black boots and a leather weapons vest,” Aisling said, bending down again. She set a cardboard box next to the kevlex. “The vest has loops for your sai and knives, and there’re sheaths on the boots, too.”

  “Thank you, Aunt Ash,” Salene said, close to tears. “So much.”

  “You’re welcome, Salene, but there’s more.”

  Salene glanced at the other bundle doubtfully. “You’ve already given me so much.”

  Aisling arched a brow. “Open that.”

  Salene knew better than to argue with that particular tone so she reached for the bundle, untied the cord, and unrolled it into an eighteen inch wide length of silk that had narrow pockets sewn all along both sides. Each pocket held a weapon. There were twenty four matched throwing knives, and six pairs of sai, their handles gleaming in the overhead lights of the training room. Salene slid one of the knives out of its pocket, immediately liking the weight and feel of it in her hand. She took a closer look, and gasped.

  “These are Kunian steel,” she said in wonder. “This is too much, Aunt Ash.”

  “They were meant to be a sort of graduation present before you leave for EDU-11 in a couple of weeks, but when they arrived last night I decided to give them to you now so you’d have a chance to practice with them.”

  “But Kunian steel,” Salene said, turning the knife over in her hands again before returning it to its pocket. She hesitated before sliding the knife in, then slipped a finger into the pocket first. Just as she’d suspected, it was lined with paper thin strips of Kunian steel. Good thing too since otherwise the knife would have cut the silk the moment it touched it.

  Kunian steel wasn’t actually steel at all. It wasn’t even metal, though it did look like steel. It was a gemstone created in the laboratory using quantum phase manipulation to create a crystalline lattice structure that could never arise in nature. Kunian steel had to be grown into the shape of a knife, or sword, or whatever the artisan was making, using special air-tight molds so that blade and hilt were all one piece. This was because there was no substance known that could cut it, carve it, or even sharpen it once it was exposed
to air. Kunian steel weapons never dulled, never chipped, broke, or bent, and they could cut through diamonds as easily as a cleaver cut bread.

  “Aside from the fact that I want you to have the best weapons available, I have another reason for wanting you to have these particular weapons.”

  “Yes?”

  “Did you know that the Council began a series of tests on that Doftle arm Rayne brought back?” Aisling asked while watching Salene slide one of the sai out of a pocket and turn it over in her hands.

  “No, I didn’t,” Salene replied, running her fingers over the silky surface of the weapon. “Now that Mom and the Dads are gone, I don’t get much news. What did they find?”

  “The results aren’t back, yet,” Aisling said. “Olaf and Rudy told me a week ago that the scientists were trying to cut samples from it for testing, but they couldn’t find anything sharp enough. They managed to stab it with a couple of different tools, though not deeply, but they wanted to take lab samples, thin slices and cross sections. Every single tool they tried failed to cut it with any precision or uniformity at all, and most couldn’t even scratch the surface. They even tried lasers. Finally, someone thought to try using a Kunian steel blade.”

  Salene’s breath caught in her throat. “It worked?”

  “With ease.”

  Salene’s eyes closed as relief washed through her. “Thank you, Aunt Ash, more than I can ever say. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” Aisling said. She watched Salene examine the new weapons, biting her lip as she struggled with whether or not to ask the question her Rami had been urging her to ask.

  “Go ahead, Aunt Ash,” Salene said softly as she slid one of the sai back into its pocket.

  “Talus, Jon and Kar were here the night before they left for Garza,” Aisling said, immediately taking Salene up on her offer. “Talus caught your scent, and asked about you.”

  “What did you tell him?” Salene asked in a low voice.

  “I told him that you’d visited and that you were fine.”