by Missy LaRae
“Accepting your transmission,” she heard her mate’s clipped voice on the other end.
“Tyler’s not in his room. Lily and I are going to strap in on the main passenger deck. Please locate him.” She stopped talking and walked out of the room, knowing that her mate would locate Tyler at all costs.
Walking the corridor, several Syren pressed their hands to their hearts in a quick exchange of respect as she passed by, but she was too busy to return the greeting to them. Her main concern was getting her daughter strapped in and safe, and figure out what was going on.
“What’s going on? Why did the ship tilt so hard?” Lily was fast approaching the point where she knew she wouldn’t be able to handle anything else other than sitting in front of a toilet dry heaving her guts out. Merely walking while the ship was rocking back and forth while rocketing through outer space was making her violently ill.
“I haven’t been given that information yet, but I do know that an unidentified vessel was approaching us from behind. Whether or not that has anything to do with it, I don’t know.” Since she was holding on to Lily, there’s no way that she could even utter the barest of white lies, or her daughter would know it.
They walked into the main passenger deck, and Alexia was dismayed to see that Tyler wasn’t among the Syren who were strapped into flight chairs. She looked around and saw most of General Vallen’s soldiers as well as Kellen Tedor and his family.
“Kellen, have you seen Tyler?” Alexia doubted that he had, but since he knew with absolute certainty what her son looked like he was the logical one to ask.
“No, Highness, but I’ll go look for him immediately.” Kellen unstrapped from his seat and disregarded Alexia when she told him he didn’t have to. There was no way he would let anything happen to Tyler now that they were on their way to Amatia Prime. He had grown fond of the teenager in the few days that he’d been with him, and he knew without a shadow of doubt that Tyler would be one of the most powerful Syren that their species had ever seen.
He walked down the hallway towards Tyler’s room, but figured the one place a teenage boy was likely to be was the galley. If Tyler’s appetite at the hotel had been any indication, the youth was seriously
undernourished and needed large amounts of food to satisfy him.
Reaching the galley, Kellen braced himself on the entrance door as the ship took another violent lurch, nearly throwing him head first into the room. He saw Tyler lying against the wall with a gash in his head. He must have been walking when the ship tilted hard the first time, Kellen thought.
Reaching the young male’s side Kellen gently probed his arms and legs to check for injuries, and finding none looked around for some napkins or something to press against his head.
He saw some a few feet away, snatched them up, and pressed them to the cut on Tyler’s head. A small trickle of blood was slowly flowing from the cut, and it worried him greatly that Tyler might be severely injured.
Bracing himself with his feet spread apart wide Kellen grabbed the teen under his arm pits and dragged him backwards until he reached the entrance to the galley. He pressed his palm on the tele link and asked for the King of the Sword.
“Highness, this is Kellen Tedor, I’ve located Tyler in the galley, he has a head injury and I don’t know the extent of the injuries to his neck. Please send a back board to load him on and someone to help me carry him to the passenger deck.” Kellen wasn’t sure it was appropriate for him to speak to Tyler’s father in that manner, but he hoped any offense he gave would be off set by the fact that he was taking care of his son.
He waited there, pressing the napkins to Tyler’s head, for the backboard to arrive from the medical bay. The ship continued to sway back and forth, and he hoped with all of his might that they were dodging space debris, and not actively engaged in a fire fight with the Sa’Chaelle.
He had his back pressed to the wall, and his hand over Tyler’s head, when the ship did a double barrel roll, and he was thrown down the hallway. He watched helplessly as Tyler’s limp body was thrown through the air again and again, and then he saw nothing at all.
Chapter 17
“Something’s wrong!” Rory screamed.
Her heart was hammering in her chest. She could barely breathe. She’d been relaxing in the garden at the palace, and wondering again for the hundredth time if she’d made the right decision coming to the Kingdom of the Sword. She’d been inspecting every single unmated male that she came in contact with, but none of them interested her in the slightest.
“Princess? What’s wrong?” Alix watched as Rory dropped to her knees beside the bench she’d been sitting on. The moon was bright, and brought everything into crystal clear focus for him. He watched as she struggled to breathe, and walked over and knelt beside her.
“Is everything okay?” He wasn’t equipped to deal with the outpouring of emotions that Rory was experiencing, and looked to the edge of the room where a servant was standing with a gilded tray of drinks.
“Attend me here, please,” he requested. Running over, the female dropped to her knees and looked at him.
“What may I assist you with, sir?” Her voice was soft as silk, and her large blue eyes peered at Rory with compassion.
“Is there a female attendant to the Queen that you can summon to speak to the Princess? We have no female’s present with us.” He knew that Rory would speak with a female if she was part of the household of the Queen, he didn’t know how comfortable she would be speaking to him.
“Yes, sir, I’ll be back straight away.” She got to her feet and ran to the door and out of his sight.
“He’s hurt. He’s bleeding, and he’s in so much pain. He can’t open his eyes!” Rory cried as she felt her Heart hurting. She saw him in her mind’s eye. His long form was pushed against a wall, and he was bleeding from his head. She couldn’t tell where he was at, but she could feel every bruise and bump that he was receiving. She felt like her head was going to explode and knew that this was what her Heart was feeling. She rushed to him in her astral form and knelt by his limp body. Running her hands down his chest she tried to soothe him, but knew that he didn’t feel anything. Her touch, her very presence, would not be felt by him in this form.
“He’s laying against some sort of wall, and there’s a siren going off. I can’t stay with him, Alix! My head hurts so much!” Rory reached up and touched her nose, and was shocked to see blood on her fingers. She didn’t want to leave her Heart again, but felt like she had no choice. His physical pain was
manifesting in her, and she couldn’t hold on to consciousness any longer if she stayed attached to him.
“Let him go, now, Princess! He’s in pain, he doesn’t know that he’s hurting you! As your future Mate he wouldn’t want to ever hurt you! Let him go, disengage yourself from him!” He’d seen instances where Syren who were not yet mated had a physical connection that brought them together. He didn’t know who Rory’s mate was yet, but it sounded like the young male was in serious danger at the moment.
“What’s going on?” Ashalee ran to
Alix’s side and peered at Rory.
“She’s mentally attached to her Heart,
and he’s had some sort of injury to his head. It’s
making her nose bleed.” Alix was grateful to see
the Queen’s youngest sister at their side. There was no one more appropriate than she to speak
to Rory.
“Come, Rory. You need to stop thinking
about him. Lay here on your back with me,”
Ashalee instructed the younger girl.
“That’s it, lay back and let your gaze
linger on the moon. Just look up at the beauty of
our sky and our moon. Let the power of Amatia
inside of you. Think about the peaceful waves
of the Northern Hemisphere right now. Imagine
yourself in your mother’s room with the
swaying of the chapel. Let him go. He does
n’t
want to hurt you. Let him go.” She kept
repeating those words to Rory, and let out a
deep breath as she felt the girls hands relax, and
heard her breath even out.
They stayed like that for what seemed
like hours, but it was probably much less. They
were gazing at the moon, and breathing deeply,
letting the power of their mother Amatia inside
of them.
“Thank you for helping me. I’ve never
experienced that kind of pain before.” Rory’s
voice was steady, and her breathing even as she
spoke. The pain in her head was gone, and she’d
wiped away the blood that had trickled from her
nose. Feeling the iridescent rays of the moon
invade her was soothing and calmed her in a way that little else, with the exception of her
mother, could.
“Who is this mate of yours?” Ashalee
asked.
“I don’t know who he is. I’ve had
visions of him, and I know that he is a Son of
the Sword. That’s why I came here, but I’m
confused by what’s going on. I don’t know
what’s happening to him. It’s very scary to me
to think that he is in danger and know that there
is little to nothing that I can do to help him or
protect him.” Rory’s voice broke, and she turned
her head away from Ashalee. She didn’t want to
cry in front of the older woman, but knew that
she was on the verge of bursting into tears. “Well, all I can tell you is that we’ll do
everything we can to make sure you meet your
Heart. If he’s here in the Kingdom of the Sword,
Alexia and Jackson will help you as much as
they can when they return.” She reached out to
Rory and touched her arm.
“He will be okay. Amatia would not be
so cruel as to give you your Heart and then take
him away before you were even able to meet
him. You have three years until your mating
ceremony is supposed to take place, so you have
plenty of time to find him.”
“I know you’re right, but this is the
second vision I’ve had of him where he’s been
distressed. I know he can’t be here on Amatia,
because we’ve nothing like that happening right
now.” Rory hated the note of desperation in her
voice.
“It’ll work out all right, Princess. Have
faith. Trust in what your Mother has told you,
and trust in what Amatia Prime has shown you.
Don’t lose heart just yet. You’ll find your
everlasting mate, eventually.” Ashalee had no
other words that she could think to say that
would comfort Rory. She sat with her on the
hard bench, staring into the moon lit sky until
the dual suns made their crest over the top of the
horizon, and the moon kissed the sun in a sweet
farewell.
Chapter 18
“Oh my god, Tyler! Don’t be dead!”
Lily screamed as she saw her brother being carted into the passenger deck by a group of Syren males on a back board. His arms hung limply at his sides, and she could see bruises on his face, and a large gash on his head. She unstrapped from her flight chair, unconcerned with her mother’s warning to stay in her seat.
“No! He’s my brother!” Lily’s voice broke as she neared his limp body. The males placed the back board on a table and secured it with latches so it wouldn’t go anywhere. Not knowing if his spine was affected, no one wanted to sit him up straight and risk having him become paralyzed.
Lily practically threw herself on top of Tyler, and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the faint pulse pounding out a slow cadence in his neck. Forgetting for a moment her irritable stomach, she laid her head on her brother’s chest, and poured her love into him. With every fiber of her soul she crammed as much love and well being into him as she could. She didn’t know if it would work, but she knew that her life as she knew it would be over if her brother didn’t wake up.
Alexia watched, stunned, as Lily started to glow. Her skin gave off a beautiful white-gold hue, and her hair wrapped itself around Tyler to the point that there was no way that Lily could pull herself off of him without hurting herself.
The magnitude of Lily’s love for Tyler could be felt by every single Syren in the room. Alexia walked closer, needing to be near her children. She felt her daughter’s love as if it were a living, breathing entity within the room. The shallow breathing of her son began to even out, and Alexia dropped to her knees in disbelief as his head wound began to close. Before their stunned eyes Tyler’s bruises began to fade, his wound closed entirely, and he began to stir on the backboard. The lights dimmed, and it was as though the two of them were the only ones in the room, connected, whole, one single unit. Lily continued to hold on to him. Her very essence was radiating outward, filling up the space with a magnificent love that brought tears to nearly every Syren’s eyes there to witness it. It was devastating to Alexia’s heart, in a beautiful and wonderful way. She had worried since Asrah came home that her twins would be stunted, unable to show their emotions. She knew she had nothing to worry about.
“What? Lily?” Tyler choked out the few words, and felt his sister’s arms wrap around him even tighter. He felt like his head was about to blow apart, and his chest hurt from the weight of his sister on top of him.
“Lilybelle. I’m okay, you can get up,” he mumbled. He laid strapped to the table as his sister finally began to loosen her cement grip on him. He felt her hair disentangling itself from around him, and he tried to pull his arms up, but they were strapped to some kind of board.
“Let him up,” the Queen commanded. She rose to her feet as the males unstrapped Tyler from the backboard, many of them wiping their eyes while they did so. Their unabashed curiosity for her son and daughter was evident in the way they looked at them. The queen looked over to see General Vallen in the entry way and saw him motion her over.
“What is it?” She asked as she got closer.
Vallen looked at his Queen, and at the two children in the passenger deck whose life he was about to change forever.
“It’s Kellen. He went to look for Tyler and found him. When the ship did the barrel roll, he was thrown down the hallway. There’s no bringing him back, Highness. His neck was broken.” He watched as her face crumpled, and he grabbed her to steady her.
“You’re certain?” Alexia asked. Her pale eyes searched Vallen’s and swelled with tears as he nodded.
“He saved Tyler’s life, there’s no doubt in my mind. If he’d been left in the galley he most certainly would have been killed striking something as he was thrown about. As it was, he was only thrown onto the ceiling. Do you want me to talk to his sons, or would you prefer to do it?” Vallen knew that this was not something that the Queen desired to do, but knew that she would immediately deny his offer, which she did.
Alexia turned towards Talon and Timothy and walked to them with dread in her heart. She’d liked Kellen immensely, and more so because he was the one who had brought her children back to her. She watched as Timothy leaned towards his brother to ask him
something, his red hair swaying as he moved. His cherubic face was scared, and uncertain, but not devastated yet.
“What, Mother, what’s happenin’?” Lily could tell that there was something wrong, and saw her mother walking over to Talon and Timothy. She realized then that Kellen hadn’t come back. Her heart filled with dread as her mother crouched in front of Talon, and she began to speak. She couldn’t listen. She’d saved Tyler. She could save Kellen too.
Lily broke into a ru
n and passed General Vallen’s outstretched arm by mere inches. She had a vague idea of where the galley was, but no real sense of where she was headed.
“Lily! Stop!” She heard General Vallen running behind her and knew he would catch her. There was no way she could outrun him.
“You have to stay in the passenger deck!
It’s not safe yet!”
“No! Let me see him! I can save him,”
Lily fractured inside. She turned to the older
man and pushed at him.
“Where is he? Tell me where he is now!”
She was enraged. How dare he even attempt to
stop her!
Vallen knew there’d be no reasoning
with her, and took her by the hand and led her to the medical bay. There, strapped to a table, was Kellen’s body. His hands limp at his sides, his eyes closed in his final sleep. The brightness of his life extinguished. The muting of his soul was evident by the fiery hair which laid still, and soft
on his head.
“Why? Nooo! Let me touch him!” Lily
was incensed. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Not to someone that loved her. Not to someone
that she’d hugged a day before and felt so close
to. She reached him. The devastation in her
heart poured out of her, and she tried to wrap
him in her love. She wanted to fix every broken
part of his body. She fell on his lifeless body as
hands attempted to pull her away. Her anger
grew, her incisors lengthened, and her eyes grew
black as she turned around in full Syren rage. “Do. Not. Touch. Meeeeeee!” She
whispered.
Vallen stepped back, shocked to his core
at the dramatic change in Lily as her rage
ignited. Most Syren could not change at will,
but Lily seemed able to summon her rage with
ease.
Lily turned around and touched Kellen’s
cheek with her fingers, turning his face towards