Titus covered his mouth with his hand, squeezing his mouth shut as shivers caused goose bumps to break out over his skin. “My mother? My sister?”
His voice was a raw whisper and his pain ripped through her in a jagged slash of pain. She clutched her heart and felt tears coming to her eyes uncontrollably. Was this what it meant to be bound to someone? Selena didn’t think she’d ever get used to sharing someone else’s emotions.
“They weren’t there. Axonia thinks that your father might have sacrificed himself for their release. They could be safe in Goldun, but we don’t know for sure.”
Titus’s hands rested on the stone railing again and he bowed his head, eyes closed, hair falling haphazardly over his brow. Selena came up behind him and placed her hand on his back.
“We will save them, Titus. You just have to give me a chance to save them. I won’t let you down.”
Titus’s laughter was bitter. “My little princess, taking the weight of the world on your shoulders.”
He stood erect and turned, backing away from her and bending to shift into his animal form. The silk trousers ripped in two and lay in tatters on the floor as the white wolf emerged. The blue eyes were mournful, bearing into her soul in a single glance that left her feeling invaded and crestfallen all at once.
We all have our parts to play in the time to come, he said, turning to prance down the tower stairs on all fours. I have just realized what mine will be.
Where are you going?
Do not worry for me, Selena. I will return well before the Red Dawn. If you need me, you know how to reach me.
You mean this telepathic communication thing has a long-distance plan?
Wherever I am, you can always reach me. Always remember that, my love.
Titus?
Yes.
I think … love you, too.
A chuckle.
Selena could already see his white form disappearing away from the palace at a run.
Selena?
Yeah?
I know you do.
~*~
Titus hated to leave Selena, but he knew that his mission was crucial. With only seven days left until the Red Dawn, time was of the essence and the journey back to Goldun would be a dangerous one. Thankfully, he still wore the enchanted Talisman that blocked the reach of Eranna’s Eye. Hopefully, he wouldn’t run into any of her hunters. He didn’t fear a fight, but he didn’t exactly have time to stop and play around with the Minotaurs.
As he ran, surety gripped him. It urged him on, reminding him what was at stake here; his home, his family, his pack mates and now, his love. Her parting words stayed with him, warming him from the inside out. That she would voice her feelings out loud, even being unsure of them, gave Titus hope. Hope that she would not abandon him; that even if the battle was lost and Damu were to fall into ashes, she would find a reason to stay. It took everything he had to focus on the task at hand and not lose himself in daydreams of Selena as his mate and a shared life. That a future with her in it was possible would sustain him for now. Everything else would have to wait.
Titus traveled through the night, stopping to take water and rest whenever he could. When hunger overcame him, he hunted and ate, remaining in his wolf form. His respites were brief, and he was back on the trail again, making his way stealthily down the lesser known paths to Goldun.
Adrah had mentioned other wolves, shifters who had retreated to the Fae realm hoping for refuge. It was for this reason that Titus traveled there now. Not just to search for his mother and sister—although knowing they were safe was important to him—but to gather those lost wolves, those separated from their families and packs, those looking to come out of hiding and join the fight.
Like him, many of the wolf shifters had thought of the prophecy as a long shot. Titus only hoped that he could convince them otherwise. It was clear to him now that winning this battle on the Day of the Red Dawn could mean the difference between life and death for many of his kind. It might just be the start of something big; the Falladians taking back their world and saving the unsuspecting human world from enslavement. He knew many men who would want to join him, and hoped that they would be instrumental in convincing others. Titus knew that each and every man would count against Eranna and her hoard. He had been to Mollac and knew firsthand the kind of army her Witches and Sorcerers had crossbred in their dark lairs. Despite the thick fur running down his back, he shivered.
~*~
When morning came and Titus still hadn’t returned, Selena couldn’t help but be worried. She tried not to think about it too much, especially since he’d specifically told her not to worry. She’d dropped a pretty big bombshell on him the night before and he’d been through a lot in the short time they’d known each other. Maybe it was best this way, being apart while preparing for what next week would bring. Selena had to do what she had to do and so did Titus. It would be awfully hard to concentrate on training for battle if she was constantly around him, staring into those fathomless, sky blue eyes or longing to run her fingers through that silky dark hair. And if he was going to keep walking around without a shirt on, then she and Damu were both going to be in really big trouble because she couldn’t seem to focus on anything else when Titus’ naked chest decided to make an appearance.
Selena shook her head as she once again donned her leather pants, tunic, vest and boots from Goldun. She hated to give up her silky, gem-studded Princess wardrobe, but these clothes were better for what she’d be doing this week. Thankfully, someone had washed them and hung them up in her wardrobe. After getting dressed and pulling her hair up into a ponytail, Selena met her mother in the dining room for a quick breakfast. Then the two started off for the war room, where Thaddeus and Eldalwen waited eagerly for their arrival. Axonia happily left her in their care.
Nerves created a tight knot in her stomach as Eldalwen and Thaddeus showed her the various wind harnessing weapons lining the walls of the war room. After the time she’d spent with Axonia last night, Selena felt closer and more comfortable with her mother. Thaddeus and Eldalwen intimidated her, which she figured she’d have to get over sooner or later since they’d be fighting side by side. Still, it was hard to get over that fear of not measuring up to two men who obviously knew their way around a war room.
Selena’s eye caught on a long, golden-handled instrument and she paused, ignoring the surrounding blades, swords, and other oddly shaped apparatuses in favor of it. The scepter was long, nearly as tall as she was and carved with the same markings that lined her brother’s and fathers arms and chests. At the top a golden cage of branches held a red ruby, much like the one that dangled around her neck.
“What about this one?” she asked, reaching out to touch the engraved gold’s smooth surface. “It’s beautiful.”
Thaddeus and Eldalwen smiled at each other and chuckled, stepping up to lower the weapon from the wall.
“What’s so funny?”
“It is not funny so much as it is ironic,” Eldawen said as he held the staff out to Selena. “You have chosen the very same weapon used by the previous daughters of the Red Dawn. Every last one of them has wielded that staff.”
Selena grabbed the staff and felt a jolt of awareness rushing up her arm and straight into her heart. A vibration began within her and slowly rippled outward, pulsating with an undeniable energy that Selena couldn’t have ignored if she wanted to. A whisper of something moved over her skin, creating a chilling effect that left her shivering. Thaddeus smiled proudly and nodded.
“The power of the staff calls to you,” he said. “Even if we had any doubts about your status as our eldest princess—which we do not—this would prove it beyond the shadow of a doubt. That weapon carries the spirits of the previous owners. They now live in you. You are the daughter of the Red Dawn.”
Tears filled her eyes and Selena allowed them to spill uncontrolled. This moment felt like something out of a movie—like Rocky making it to the top of the stairs, or Neo learning how to dodge bulle
ts while in the Matrix—one of those moments that would be immortalized in her memories until the day she died. She didn’t understand how or why, but Selena just knew that this occasion would mark the defining moment of her life. Her entire life she’d felt as if she didn’t belong, like something was wrong with her because she didn’t fit the same mold as the other kids. Selena knew better now. She turned her tearful eyes to Eldawen and found identical ones staining his weathered cheeks. He smiled.
“I have waited for almost two decades to see you holding that staff. What do you say your brother and I show you how to use it?”
Selena wiped at her tears with the back of her hand and nodded. “I’d like that.”
~*~
Chapter Fourteen
Titus waited impatiently in the sitting area of Adrah’s chambers, nursing a cup of tea he didn’t want and pretending to be patient. He had arrived in Goldun that morning after a long night of nonstop running and he was exhausted. He wanted a meal, a hot bath, and a cool rock to curl up on and sleep, but he wanted something else more than he wanted that. His need to know what had happened to his mother and sister kept him going. He wouldn’t be able to close his eyes until he knew that they were safe in Goldun.
Titus was just reaching the edge of his patience’s rope when the door to the chambers swung open and the Faerie queen came gliding in. She was clothed in white and silver as always, her nearly white hair unbound and flowing almost to her ankles. That secretive grin curled her lips as she swept into the room and came toward him with open arms.
“Titus!” she exclaimed, her voice a lyrical and soothing balm. It eased the tension from his shoulders the second he heard and it and Titus released the breath he’d been holding as she kissed both of his cheeks warmly. “How wonderful it is to see you, my dear. I have been waiting for you.”
“You have?”
She nodded. “Of course. I knew that once Axonia told Selena the news of your father’s unfortunate circumstance, you would return here to inquire about the rest of your family.”
Titus’ eyebrows shot up. “Is there anything you cannot see, Your Majesty?”
The coy smile was back, crinkling her iridescent eyes at the corners. “Your mother and sister are here,” she said instead of answering his question. “I will, of course, take you to them straightaway. First, there is something else that you and I must speak of, something of the utmost importance.”
This time, Titus was one step ahead of Adrah. “You want me to lead an army of the shifter refugees against Eranna in the Battle of the Red Dawn.”
Adrah lifted on eyebrow and dipped her chin. “My, now who’s seeing things clearly?”
“We have to take a stand against her, to give the wolves under her possession a fighting chance. There has to be a way to break her hold over them and give those who want it a choice. You have already offered so many of us refuge. Could I trouble you to take in a few more?”
“Anyone seeking refuge during these dark days is welcome here and I am more than happy to gather those who have already come for you this evening. It would be best if they were to hear it from you; you are their leader now, Titus.”
“I will do my best to lead them.”
“And what of Orem? If the Alpha of the Awcan pack should choose the other side?”
Titus’ jaw tightened and he shook his head. “He won’t.”
“But if he should? I have to know that you will do what you must when the time comes, Titus. You must put your loyalty to the other shifters, your faithfulness to Fallada above all else; even familial ties. Can you do this?”
Titus felt his heart breaking at the thought of having to face his father on opposite sides of the battlefield, but he knew that Adrah was right. There was always the chance that he would have to kill him. He squared his shoulders and forced a show of confidence that he did not feel.
“Of course,” he said. “I will do what I have to.”
Adrah nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Very well. I will take you to them now. Then you will rest. Tonight, you shall have your time to speak and select those who will follow at your side. There are six days until the Day of the Red Dawn. You will leave here with all shifters willing, as well as a contingent of my own Warrior Fae. They will travel with direct orders from me to defer to you, and in your absence, King Endroth.”
Adrah turned and guided him from her chambers and through the maze of corridors lining Osbel Tower. When they reached the outer courtyard, Titus’ heart slowed, pulsing noisily in his ears at the sight that greeted him. The little girl with the raven black locks ran forward first, her brown eyes sparkling in the sun, her screech of joy accompanied by a gap-toothed smile.
“Titus!”
He knelt down just in time to catch her, bringing her tiny child’s body up against his chest. He buried his nose in his sister’s hair, tears springing to his eyes as he inhaled the familiar scent of pine and clean outside air.
“Farrah,” he whispered her name, holding her back from him to inspect her. Satisfied that she was all right, Titus stood to embrace his waiting mother. Rashi’s face was heavily lined and Titus felt nothing but guilt at the sight of her red-rimmed eyes. It was no wonder his mother looked so worn and grieved; she’d lost her son to the evil queen’s hands and now her husband.
“I’m back. I’m here, Mama,” Titus crooned as he held her, letting her spill her grief out onto his shoulder. He had failed her. His father hadn’t meant to, but by turning himself over to Eranna, he too had failed her. Titus rubbed her back gently, absorbing every tear she shed into the fabric of his shirt. When she was finished, she pulled away and smiled up at him, stroking his jaw with a trembling hand.
“My son,” she whispered. “You have come back to me.”
He nodded. “Yes. Very soon, we will all be together.”
“Adrah has told me of her plans for you. Are you ready to do what has to be done?”
“We have already spoken of it. There is to be an assembly tonight.”
“I must warn you,” Rashi said, her eyes wide, “they will not be receptive at first. Many of them think to hide out the coming war here in Goldun. They think that they will be safe from her here.”
Titus frowned. “That is madness! Those are our pack mates out there, our families. We have to save them!”
“I know this, my son, but they do not. You have to tell them; you have to make them understand. Come, you should rest. You will need every ounce of your strength. Adrah has given us a lovely apartment here in the tower with plenty of room for you.”
Titus grasped his mother’s hand and lifted Farrah onto his hip. At the prospect of a hot meal and a nap, he was suddenly very drowsy. “That sounds wonderful,” he said, allowing Rashi to lead the way.
As they walked, Rashi eyed him curiously out of the corner of her eye. After a while she smiled.
“Oh my. When were you going to tell me that you had found your mate?”
Titus felt a flush coming over his cheeks at the mention of Selena and his mother’s perceptiveness. He had never been able to hide anything from her.
“I was going to get to that later.”
She squeezed his hand. “Is she of the Awcan pack?”
Titus winced. “Sorry to disappoint you, but no. She is not even a shifter.”
Rashi gasped. “Oh dear. You’d better tell me everything that’s happened. Mating between our kind and non-shifters is rare. This is truly an odd match.”
“You have no idea. Mother, how do you think you’d feel about being related to royalty?”
~*~
“Close your eyes. Now, slow your breathing and try to grab on to that feeling you get just before you start to run. I don’t mean that rush of adrenaline; I am talking about something that hovers just above that within your senses. That oneness you experience with the very air around you. Do you feel it?”
Selena focused on keeping her eyes closed as every hair on her body seemed to stand on end. Did she feel it? Hell, how could she not
feel it? She could feel everything around her; the heat that she was slowly becoming accustomed to, Thaddeus standing just behind her and Eldalwen circling her, the deep timbre of his voice vibrating through her.
“Yes,” she said, her grip on the staff in her hand tight. “I feel it.”
“Good,” Eldalwen said. “Now, focus on it. Pull it into yourself. The best way for me to explain it, is like a ball of energy coming directly from your center. It will expand and grow as you focus it, until you can no longer contain it. You will release it from your body in a blast of power. Channel it through the staff. Think of the weapon as an extension of your body. It is now a part of your arm. Use it to direct the wind in the direction you wish it to go. Now open your eyes, without losing your focus on that feeling.”
Selena opened her eyes slowly, squinting against the sunlight that blinded her at first. They stood on the balcony of the Eastern tower of the palace overlooking the city. Though the air around them was calm, the charge of energy that Selena felt was like the winds of a hurricane. She was glad that they’d brought her to this tower. The sensation she was experiencing was all too familiar to Selena, and she’d always related it to running. Now, there was nowhere to run and Selena had to do something with her power.
She allowed her thoughts to drift back to the fight with the Minotaurs, with the surge of power she’d felt then. Just when she thought the energy welling in her chest would bring her to her knees, Selena thrust the scepter out in front of her, her lips parted on an uncontainable scream as a the power worked its way out of her chest and down her extended arm. The wind whipped around them powerfully, blasting her hair back from her face and howling noisily. Thaddeus’ grin was wide, his own hair flying in the face of the windstorm she’d just conjured up.
“Well done!” he bellowed to be heard over the wind. “You’re doing it!”
Daughter of the Red Dawn (The Lost Kingdom of Fallada) Page 17