by Meg Anne
The Talyrian tolerated the embrace, but her velvety body was practically vibrating with tension.
“I didn’t know. I’m so sorry, girl.”
Starshine let out another huff that sounded more like a whimper.
“We will make her pay for this, you have my promise.”
At her words, Starshine seemed to relax, finally pressing some of her weight against Helena’s body.
Helena pulled away slightly, wanting to be able to look into the Talyrian’s eyes as she spoke. “That is part of why I came to visit. We are trying to track that evil bitch and her minions down. I know that you are in mourning, but I would like for you to come with us.”
There was nothing to signal what Starshine thought of her words until the massive head dipped in what would have passed for a nod on a human.
Relief filled her, and Helena allowed herself a sharp smile. “I cannot promise you that I will let you repay her kindness in kind.”
Starshine’s eyes narrowed and she snarled softly.
“You can have anyone else, my beautiful girl. But Rowena’s death belongs to me.”
The words were infused with her power, her body making the small transformations that tied her so closely to the creature beside her.
Starshine inspected Helena, appreciating the signs of the predator she saw before her.
There was another huff, and Helena knew that the Talyrian had agreed. With that settled, all they needed now was to find her.
Then they could both take their revenge.
Chapter Nineteen
“I’m sorry that this was the best we were able to do, Kiri,” Reyna said as they ducked beneath a low vine.
Helena laughed. “There’s no reason to apologize, Reyna. This is still better than what I would have been able to accomplish.”
The Night Stalkers had been familiar with Bael, but only to a certain extent. Large parts of the jungle were off limits to them, keeping them out with very powerful magical barriers. They knew only of the Keeper’s Catacombs in theory, having a rough idea of where they might be located given the presence of the barriers. Even still, their guess was a better starting point than what Helena would have been able to offer as it got them straight into the heart of the jungle, thereby saving days of travel on foot.
If the others were tired of bouncing around Elysia in search of Rowena, they gave no indication. If anything, her army seemed more determined than ever.
Ronan moved into place beside her, his handsome face grim as he studied their surroundings.
“Need something?” she asked.
Ronan’s eyes cut to hers. “Not specifically, but being here again has me on edge.”
Helena couldn’t help but notice that Reyna was staring resolutely ahead, completely ignoring the exchange.
“Did I miss something?” Helena asked Von.
“You didn’t hear?” Von asked in surprise.
“Considering my question, I think you can safely surmise the answer.”
She felt his chuckle as if he was standing right behind her. “When Reyna learned what happened with the Air General, she ran up to him and slapped him across the face.”
“Wait… what?” Helena stopped dead in her place, her mouth hanging open in shock. “How in the Mother’s name did I miss that?”
“It happened while you were dealing with other things. I just thought you knew.”
“Why did she slap him?”
Von sounded darkly amused as he replied, “I think her words were something to the effect of ‘I didn’t risk my life saving you once so that you could go ahead and hand it over at the next opportunity.’”
“That sounds reasonable,” Helena said, her lips turning up in a smile. “I wish I could have been there to see it.”
“It was fairly memorable, to say the least. I don’t think anyone has ever dared to put Ronan in his place like that before.”
“What did Ronan have to say about it?”
“Well, at first he sort of glared at her—”
“As Ronan is prone to do.”
Von laughed, and the feeling of his mirth filled her with warmth. “Exactly. But instead of laying into her, as he would have anyone else, he just apologized and watched her storm off.”
“How very interesting.”
“Don’t you go and start meddling. Those two need to work out whatever is between them on their own.”
“I never meddle.”
Von’s silence was as damning as anything he could have possibly said.
“I don’t!” she insisted.
Realizing that Ronan and Reyna had stopped a few feet away while waiting for her to catch up, she rushed forward. “Sorry, distracted.”
“Clearly,” Ronan said, his jaw clenched. “Do try and pay more attention, Helena. Need I remind you what happened last time you went for a walk here?”
“I don’t like your tone,” she informed him primly, not appreciating his insinuation on top of the one Von had just given her.
“I don’t care.”
Helena huffed, ready to remind him who served who when Reyna spun toward her Shield.
“Don’t you have something better to do?” she snapped, her eyes like glittering emeralds.
“Something more important than keeping my Kiri safe? No, I don’t. I’m the Shield, that’s literally my number one priority.”
Reyna let out a cold laugh. “Oh, is that what you were doing? It sounded more like you were trying to bully her.”
Ronan’s blue eyes went wide. “What the hell would you know about it, Night Stalker?”
“As the only other one of us that rules, I would assume a hell of a lot more than you.”
“Keep your eyes open,” Ronan snapped, his jaw clenched as he turned and walked back to the others.
There was a long moment of silence until Helena finally broke it by asking, “So, you and Ronan, huh?”
Reyna shot wide eyes at Helena before wisps of shadow began to roll up her neck, almost like she was trying to conceal herself behind them. It was an interesting way to blush.
“Listen, you two are adults. I’m less concerned about what you do together and more worried about how it affects him. Ronan is one of the most selflessly loyal men I have ever known. If all you are interested in is toying with him, then you should leave it alone.”
“Toying with him?” Reyna repeated. “Not that it’s any of your business—”
“He’s my Shield, his well-being is very much my business. As much as I like you Night Stalker, if you hurt him, you will have to answer to me.”
Reyna’s mouth was still open like she wanted to say something, but she closed it when she realized Helena’s eyes had turned into sparkling iridescence.
“Fair enough.”
Helena nodded, and the two continued to walk in silence.
“You wouldn’t call that meddling?” Von asked.
“It was a warning.”
“Ronan is perfectly capable of taking care of himself.”
“I just watched him piece himself together after the last woman broke his heart. I’m not going to stand idly by and watch it happen again.”
“I don’t think Reyna’s the type of woman who would be that careless, knowing who he belongs to.”
“Nor do I, but sometimes a reminder can be useful in resetting one’s priorities.”
She could hear Von’s laugh from somewhere behind her. “So was it a warning or a reminder?”
“Why can’t it be both?”
“Ronan is lucky to have such a fierce protector.”
“He would do the same for me.”
“Given that I am the one who would be on the other side of the threats, I am not entirely sure how to feel about that.”
Helena smirked. “You planning on doing something that requires threats?”
“Not at the moment, but you never know. Forever is a long time; I’m bound to do something stupid eventually.”
“Noted. I’ll ask Ronan to keep his eyes pe
eled, just in case he sees an opportunity to give you a good reminder.”
“Mother save me. Knowing Ronan, he’s going to start coming up with reasons to crawl up my ass and then use protecting you as an excuse to get away with it.”
They were both snickering when they came upon a wide clearing that was surrounded on three sides by a burbling stream. Helena glanced toward the sky, or what little of it she could see.
“We should probably set up camp here for the night. We’ll send scouts ahead to see if they can find the first of the barriers so we know how close we are come morning.”
There were a few shouts of agreement as others set to work.
Dinner had been a quiet affair. A large part of it probably had to do with their diminished size, but Helena knew it also had something to do with the fact that they were all on high alert. Once again, she was traveling with only a select few of her guard plus a small retinue of Reyna’s Night Stalkers. Anduin and the Storm Forged had remained behind with the rest of the army at the Palace, ready to call them back if Rowena struck there, or to join Helena if she called for him.
The entire group was scattered around a fire, having just finished off a rabbit and vegetable stew that Effie had prepared for them. How she’d managed to make something so delicious with limited resources was beyond impressive.
“It was amazing, Effie!” Helena said, using a bit of magic to clean the dish before returning the bowl and spoon to her pack.
The rest of them gave satisfied murmurs of agreement.
“Thank you,” she beamed. “It was nice to have a familiar task to focus on for a while.”
Effie was just settling into place beside Helena when a startled shout had everyone jumping up.
“Sorry everyone! False alarm,” a red-faced Daejaran said. “It was just a spider. Caught the little fucker climbing up my neck and I over reacted. You can all stand down.”
Helena let out a relieved laugh, glad that she hadn’t been the one to have an eight-legged friend crawling all over her. Turning to Effie, to see if she shared in the amusement, Helena let out a startled cry of her own.
Effie’s blue eyes had rolled back into her head, and she had already started convulsing.
Helena rolled her onto her side and did what she could to keep her from hurting herself.
“What should we do?” Reyna asked.
“I don’t think there’s anything we can do,” Helena murmured, wincing in sympathy as her friend was lost to her vision.
“She just has to ride it out,” Timmins added.
Helena discretely wiped away the drool that had started to run from Effie’s mouth, her skin feeling like ice beneath her fingers. She had no idea how long the vision lasted, it felt like hours as her friend’s body spasmed although it was probably less than a minute in total.
Once she began to still, and it was just small twinges in her arms and legs, Effie’s eyes fluttered open. The whites of her eyes were bloodshot, and a small trail of blood was dripping out of her mouth from where she must have bit down on her cheek.
“Do you think you can sit up?” Helena asked in a low voice.
Effie groaned.
“It’s okay; take all the time you need. There’s no rush.”
Effie’s pupils were fully dilated, only the barest trace of blue ringing around the swollen black pupils. She still didn’t seem to be entirely present.
Looking at her with a healer’s curiosity, Helena pressed the palm of her hand into Effie’s forehead. Perhaps she could help speed up her friend’s recovery by easing the pain the vision had caused.
Helena closed her eyes and pushed a small tendril of power into the newest Keeper.
“Helena, wait!”
She wasn’t sure whose voice it was, perhaps it was many, but it didn’t matter. As soon as Helena’s power flowed into Effie’s body, the damage was already done.
Instead of Helena being able to seek out and sever the final ties of the vision, the vision sank its claws into her, sucking her down into its final haunting scenes.
At first, Helena wasn’t sure what was happening. The world had become entirely muted, everything cast in shades of gray. It wasn’t until she realized that she was no longer kneeling in the clearing that she understood where she was.
“Effie?” she called, but no noise left her mouth. It seemed that she could only bear witness to the events unfolding before her, not interact with them.
Helena looked around, trying to make sense of what was happening. There was nothing she immediately recognized about her surroundings. It looked like she was sitting in the center of a massive web, each shimmering tendril trembling as if caught in the middle of a storm. She could not see far enough to determine what had anchored the web, it seemed to span out as far as she could see in every direction.
An ice-blue spider appeared and began to make its way carefully across the shaking web. It chittered, seeming excited by what it had trapped. Nervous, Helena tried to move out of the center of the web, not wanting to be there when the spider inevitably reached the center.
The more she tried to free herself from the sticky strings, the more hopelessly entangled she became, until eventually, she was fully encased in the silky strands. It wasn’t until the ghostly twilight of the world went dark and she was completely encased in darkness that Helena began to scream.
It was the sound of her screams the sent him running, his pants only hastily half-laced. Von had stepped away to water some plants, certain that the others could keep his Mate safe in the handful of seconds he would be out of sight. He was already plotting Ronan’s murder for allowing whatever it was to put that level of fear in her voice.
“You have one fucking job, you bastard,” he muttered darkly. Logically, he knew Ronan was not to blame for whatever was happening, but having a target to direct his anger toward was infinitely better than the alternative.
He blinked his way back, not paying attention to anything other than where the trees were, since he didn’t think it would feel too good randomly appearing right in the middle of one. It took him all of three seconds to make the journey back to their camp, his heart somewhere in the vicinity of his throat the entire time.
When he burst through the last of the vines, he saw Effie curled into the fetal position, Timmins whispering in her ear, and Helena curled into Ronan’s arms, her entire body shaking.
“Somebody tell me what the fuck is going on, right the fuck now,” he ordered, his voice filled with deadly menace. Anyone that knew him, knew better than to ignore the threat barely concealed within the words. He was on the edge of reason, a heartbeat away from grabbing his weapon and asking questions later.
Surprisingly, it was Reyna who answered.
“Helena was trying to help Effie. Another of her visions was triggered, and it looked like she was finally past the worst of it when Helena touched her. The vision must have pulled your Mate in, one second she was in control of her body, the next she was slumped over the Keeper.”
Von’s eyes narrowed, not liking that his enemy was something he could not battle. He moved through the others to Helena, carefully pulling her from Ronan’s grasp and lifting her in his arms. Her scream had terrified him more than he’d like to admit, and right now, feeling her against him was as much for him as it was for her.
“I’m right here, Mira,” he told her. “You’re safe.”
Her tremors began to subside almost immediately. She pulled away, looking sheepish. “I’m not entirely certain what happened.”
“It looks like you were drawn into Effie’s vision,” Ronan said, his voice even although his eyes were wild.
“That’s what it felt like,” she agreed, her voice not quite steady.
“Is that normal?” Von asked, seeking out Timmins, who usually had the answers for this kind of thing.
Timmins shrugged. “When it comes to the Keepers, there’s very little that is known.”
Von frowned. “Are you alright?” he asked Helena, who still see
med paler than he would have liked.
She nodded. “I think so. I couldn’t even tell you what it was that had me so scared. I just knew that if I stayed there one more second it would have been the end of me.” She shuddered, her tongue darting out to lick her lips.
“I felt it too,” Effie croaked. Their heads all turned toward her.
“Did you See what I did?” Helena asked.
Effie shrugged. “I wasn’t aware of you at all, so I don’t know.”
“Can you tell the rest of us what you Saw?” Timmins asked.
Effie swayed where she sat. “I can try.”
“If you need awhile to recover…” Helena started.
She shook her head. “It’s alright. I’d rather get this over with.”
“Was it like before?” Kragen asked.
At the same time, Ronan asked, “Did you see Rowena again?”
Effie shook her head. “No. It wasn’t like before. I didn’t See any people this time.”
“If you didn’t See people, then what did you See?” Helena asked.
Effie’s eyes narrowed as she searched for the words to describe her vision. “It felt more abstract this time. It wasn’t as if I was watching a scene as it was happening, like with Rowena and the Endoshan. This time, it was like the images were all a metaphor.” She stopped, looking confused. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure how to explain it.”
“It’s okay, dear. Why don’t you just start by telling us what the images were,” Timmins said with a kind smile.
Effie nodded, still looking the worse for wear. “At first there was smoke, the kind that you see just after a fire goes out. It was thick and gray; everything was gray.”
Von found his eyes moving to Helena, who was silently nodding along with Effie’s words.
“After the smoke cleared, all I could see was a web. It was beautiful and so elaborate. Each strand was unique, both in color and in its substance. I found myself wanting to pluck one, knowing that it would show me who or what the strand represented, but I couldn’t. At first each strand twinkled with its own separate life, but then the longer I stared, the more they blended until I could no longer tell where one began and another ended.” The words were coming out in a rush, and Effie had to pause to catch her breath.