Realms and Rebels: A Paranormal and Fantasy Reverse Harem Collection

by C. M. Stunich

  That wasn’t the only change. As I watched, those same scars on my feet thinned, then faded until only a small slash of light remained. The ache in my side from the mostly healed knife wound was gone, and...

  My gaze met Orel’s. His eyes were different. Under the white-violet was a hint of dark brown. And under the light of his hair, it was black.

  Pieces of my sight were returning. It still applied mostly to the gryphons, but it was more than I had had.

  My heart sped, and I gasped. I reached up, my gaze following my fingers as they wandered over Orel’s chest. Our lights reached for each other, tangling. Kunil chuffed, and I glanced over, noting how his copper also mixed with Orel’s white-violet when they drew close.

  The bond.

  My eyes closed, and I blocked out everything. In the back of mind was a new... awareness. It felt cool and gentle. Orel. I smiled and reached for that connection. It welcomed me. I reveled in the feeling of comfort until Kunil chuffed again as his talons tapped against the floor.

  “So impatient,” I chided, still smiling. I held out my hand to him and he stepped forward, butting Orel aside with a partially unfurled wing. He cocked a head, his beak shining, the delicate feathers that surrounded it sparking. His tail swished, whipping behind him and thumping against the furniture. In a sharp move, his talon was before me, hovering just over my palm. Waiting for me.

  I closed the distance and pressed my middle finger into the sharp tip. Light swirled again. Weariness lifted, and vitality rushed up my limbs and settled in my middle. I could weave an entire bolt of silk or run miles through the sand. I could, I could... I could keep up with Jamie.

  Heart beating steady and strong, I lifted the blade, hovering over his feathered knuckle just above the talon, and waited for Kunil to transform. Seconds passed, and he remained in gryphon form. Then he moved, and the blade sliced through his feathers and to the rough skin beneath. He rumbled as the connection snapped into place. Unlike Orel, this one wasn’t gentle. One moment there was and empty place in my mind, and the next Kunil was there, prowling around. I knew now what Audax had meant when he described Kunil’s strength and speed as powers of their own. Kunil chuffed and leapt to the bed, nearly knocking me to the side. He curled around me, his head resting on the mattress to my left, his tail flicking in my lap. It came up, the tip tickling my chin, and I pulled it down. The rumble increased, and I smiled.

  And then Audax was there. Unlike the other two, he was nervous, shifting on his feet, tufted ears flat to his head.

  “You don’t need to do this if you don’t want,” I said. The same sense that insisted I needed to go with them tomorrow also told me we needed to be bonded, but I didn’t say that. This was wholly his choice, just as it was mine.

  Audax bobbed his head and extended a forearm, one golden talon held higher than the others, trembling. The hesitation I’d had with the others—more from unfamiliarity than fear—was absent with Audax. Once more I ran my finger down a talon until it rested against the tip. I smiled at the golden gryphon and pressed up, the movement easy and assured. He chuffed, the sound higher pitched than Kunil’s, and his head wove. He rumbled, and Kunil’s own rumble picked up in intensity.

  “He’s still young,” Orel said, shoving aside Kunil’s hind legs and sitting beside me.

  Audax opened his beak and hissed at the white-violet gryphon, then snapped. He didn’t come anywhere close to connecting, more the gryphon equivalent of an eye roll.

  “Hey, ignore him,” I said, my voice soft. “We have to finish this.”

  Audax’s head bobbed, his ears coming forward. A moment later the man stood before me. “Thank you,” he said.

  My brows drew together. “For what?”

  The gold in his cheeks deepened. “Um.”

  Orel chuckled. “As I said, he’s young. He was nervous.”

  “It’s not as if you’ve done this before!” Audax glared at his brother.

  Kunil let out a coughing roar directly next to my ear, and I jumped. I pulled on his feathers. “Stop that.” I twisted to face Orel. “I thought you were all bonded?”

  Lavender bloomed on his cheeks. “To each other only.”

  Heat filled my cheeks. “Oh.” Well, that made sense, otherwise there would be more of them here already, wouldn’t there?

  Orel nudged me. “Finish it.”

  I turned my attention back to Audax, extending the blade for a third and final time. This time he did not hesitate, but cradled my hand in his left, then brought both of ours to the middle finger of his right hand, pressing the blade in until blood welled and dripped. As the gold enveloped me, Audax eased into my mind beside his brothers.

  Hello.

  The thought was clear.

  Hi. I concentrated on Audax, hoping he got it. Well, he would, wouldn’t he?

  Yes, I would.

  I laughed aloud. I’d been worried that having someone in my mind like this would feel... intrusive. Instead, all I felt was comfort and peace.

  Just as my dreams had promised.

  “Will you stay?” I asked. I wasn’t sure how we would all fit—the bed wasn’t large enough—but I would sleep on the floor if necessary. I didn’t want them away from me, at least not yet.

  Audax shifted back to his gryphon form. No, you will not be sleeping on the floor. I can do that. He let out a coughing roar, and I sensed amusement and affection. Or the giant one can take the floor. He takes up enough space for two gryphons.

  Kunil wasn’t as big as that, but he was effectively covering much of the mattress. I shoved at his side. He didn’t budge. Orel shoved him, and that got a reaction. Kunil twisted to his feet, looming over us, and glared at his brother. After a moment, he huffed out a breath and lay back down, only this time he arranged himself to leave half the bed for the rest of us.

  Wait.

  I studied my surroundings. Everywhere the gryphons touched, I could see. The lines were faint and cast in shades of gray, but they were there. I reached out, finding the edge of the pillow. It appeared, the tight weave of the cotton matching the smooth texture. And my hand was there as well, showing even stronger than it had when Kunil and I completed our bond.

  What it all meant, I didn’t know.

  I settled beside Kunil, and Orel lay behind me, his chest to my back, an arm around my middle. The mattress dipped once more, and Audax claimed the foot of the bed. It was tight, and I believe Audax crushed Orel’s legs, but we made it work.

  I fell asleep like that, surrounded by warmth and spice and feathers and fur.

  4

  Wind rushed through my hair, and I grinned, exhilarated at this most recent turn of events.

  I was riding a sandstorm.

  Well, more accurately, I was riding a gryphon in a sandstorm.

  After we’d freed the emissary and sent him on his way—with two skins of water and enough food to feed him for a week, if he ate the same portions the flawed did—it had been time to set out for the next compound. Tirpul was the closest, but my new instinct had kicked in and compelled me to assert that we head for Saar. So, to Saar we went.

  Kunil had insisted he be the one to carry me—something about the other two being too puny to hold me for the time it would take to make the journey.

  I wasn’t sure how to take that, but chose to believe Kunil was insulting his brothers and not me.

  My fingers dug into the feathers at the base of the copper gryphon’s neck. I sat just below his shoulders but above the wings, the only spot which wouldn’t impede Kunil’s movements. We flew in a bubble of air, the sand swirling around us. Kunil dipped to the left, coming too close to the wall of wind that surrounded us for my comfort, and my stomach lurched.

  The roar of the wind blocked out anything else I may have heard, but Audax was with me in my mind, keeping me updated. And also, apparently, playing.

  The outline of a gryphon pouncing on a terrified man formed in the wall of sand before me. Then Orel’s taloned forelimb swiped out, wiping them both a
way. Merriment and bloodthirstiness clamored in the back of my mind.

  They were ready.

  We are nearly there.

  My heart pounded. That had taken much less time than I anticipated. It was nearly a two days’ journey on horse, if the guards’ whispers were any indication. We’d managed it in an hour or less.

  Remember the plan, I thought. Audax would get the message regardless, but I wanted to make sure they didn’t become too enthusiastic and swoop in as they had done at Eusos. Saar was where most of our food was grown and livestock kept. It wouldn’t survive a sandstorm.

  We know.

  I could hear the accompanying eye roll.

  And we need to all go in together. This I was also sure of.

  Why?

  I don’t know. But trust me.

  A sense of agreement came along the bond from both Kunil and Orel.

  Minutes later we landed. Immediately my body felt heavier, gravity taking over with a pronounced effect. The sands continued to rage.

  We need Kunil.

  I slid off the copper gryphon’s back, thighs and butt protesting. I’d forgotten how strenuous riding anything was, and taking a seven year... break from it didn’t help. Kunil dipped his head at me, then launched himself into the wall of twisting sand.

  This next part was the trickiest, according to the brothers. If they couldn’t bring the sands into Saar, they needed to at least surround the compound and create an oasis. To do that they needed to control exactly where the sands landed. And they needed to do it fast, starting farther out than they would for the other compounds and then working in. We weren’t worried about losing the element of surprise, as no one should know what this sandstorm heralded, but it was still time- and energy-consuming.

  I sat, settling in to wait in my bubble, and pulled out a water skin. Brushing stray grains of sand from the tip, I brought it to my dry lips and took a sip, luxuriating in the simple fact that I could drink any time I was thirsty.

  My eyes slid closed. The limited sight that had been returned to me was no use at the moment, my surroundings simply a dark blur of gray, and my thoughts wandered. Gradually a new image formed in my mind’s eye. Flawed bent over crops. In their hands were barrels of white crystals, which they spread over the ground. The crops withered and died. A new scene. People—women and children—tied to whipping posts, their backs bloody. Most hung from their bonds, lifeless. A man, cloaked in the crimson of the emperor’s advisors, stood in a shadowed corner of the dusty yard, watching, his black-gloved hands clutching a scroll. His head jerked toward me, and our eyes met.

  I gasped, and my lids lifted. I clutched my pendant, using it to center myself from what I had just seen. This was no mere daydream. This was happening now, or would be soon. That man, the one in red...

  We needed to get into Saar, now.

  I see. Audax, always in my mind now. We’re headed back to you. The sands are good enough. And you were right. If this is what is happening, it will take all of us.

  Restless, I stood and paced the confines of my bubble. I didn’t know how much time we had or if we were already too late.

  Then they were there, my three... my family. Around us the winds slowed then died away, leaving behind drifts of sand that undulated with a dark glow.

  “How far are we?” I asked.

  Orel transformed to his human form. “Not far. Ten minutes by gryphon.”

  I gave him a slight smile. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to be funny, but I appreciated the light outlook. In fact, all of them glowed brighter than they had, and they stood ready, light on their feet, talons, and paws.

  “Plan? You know better than I how to kill guards and claim a territory.” I moved to Kunil, assuming he would be the one to carry me.

  “We go in without the sands, he said. “If the layout is similar to Eusos, there are barracks to the north. We’ll come in behind those and take out any guards still there. We’ll continue to the square while Kunil goes to the fields to stop the salting.” Salt, that was what the white crystals had been. Of course. “We won’t worry about the flawed. We won’t need to,” Kunil finished.

  “There is a man in red robes. Be careful of him.”

  Kunil flashed to man. “Why?”

  I shook my head. “I do not know. His eyes... Just be careful of him.”

  Kunil didn’t acknowledge me, just shifted back to gryphon form.

  “You,” Orel continued, “will get the workers somewhere safe and stay with them, keep them calm. Audax will accompany you.”

  Dread built in me, and my breathing sped. “There is something wrong.”

  Orel’s head lifted, and he scanned the horizon before focusing once more on me. “What?”

  I shook my head. I didn’t know. Nothing, no instinct, was coming to me.

  “Then we stick with this plan until you know more.” He gripped my shoulder, fingers massaging the muscles there. “We need to get in there.”

  I pulled in a breath and let it out slowly. “Yes, we need to get in there.”

  We have you, Mila. We’ll make sure you stay safe. Audax skimmed his beak over my head.

  It wasn’t me I was worried about. I nodded, then stepped up to Kunil, who knelt down. Even so, his shoulders still reached my hip, and I had to scramble a bit to mount him. Then we were off. He leapt, wings beating in heavy, wide sweeps, with Audax and Orel right behind. This ride was different. Though it was in shades of gray, I could see the land around me fading into a horizon delineated by a silver line. In minutes Saar was before us, the boxy buildings standing like malformed growths on the flat grasslands. Animals grazed on the left. Rows of crops stretched out to the right, small figures working among them, just blurs of charcoal. I couldn’t tell if they were salting or harvesting or something else.

  It’s the salt, Audax sent.

  We swooped down, landing about a mile out from the barracks. I stayed on Kunil as the gryphons loped in toward the buildings. There were four, and we slowed to a prowl as we neared one at the end of the row. I couldn’t make out any movement and closed my eyes, opening my other senses. Nothing. Not a sound, a scuff, or a whispered word came to me. I pulled in a breath. Heat and spice. That was it. There should have been more—dung and the pungent scent of animal at least.

  “There—”

  We see, Audax answered me. Silence is essential.

  Right. There’s no scent either. It’s wrong. I slid off Kunil. He rumbled with the whine that told me he wasn’t pleased. I absently patted his shoulder. Stepping in front of the three gryphons, I once more opened my senses, straining for anything.

  A flicker of shadow between two buildings, this one different from the dull gray of my surroundings. Gleams of light through ragged black—like tarnished silver—flickered, there and gone.

  That was what we needed to hunt.

  Kunil stalked forward, blocking me from the buildings. Audax and Orel spread out, crouched low, wings tight to their bodies.

  Sound returned in a rush as men sprang into view. They rushed from between buildings, yelling, spears and swords held before them. Still more rose from the rooftops, crossbows drawn, ready to fire. I spun, taking it all in. Tarnished silver flickered in a window, and I lost it again.

  Get on Kunil, we need to get away and regroup.

  I turned to where I’d last seen the copper gryphon and launched myself at him. There was a snick and whoosh, and blood bloomed in his side, glowing as it had when we bonded. He roared, the cry piercing my heart.

  Get out, get out, get out, Audax roared next to me and sprang into the air, gaining altitude too rapidly for the crossbowmen to hit. Orel moved to Kunil’s side. Violet-white light twined toward the wound, spreading over it and stopping the flow of blood.

  Sand roared in the distance. Orel moved back to me, pushing me back away from the soldiers and Kunil. The copper gryphon went into motion.

  He’d been holding back. That was my only thought as Kunil whirled among the soldiers, becoming nothing
more than blurs of light. Crossbows twanged and bolts thudded into the ground as the gryphon dodged them.

  Orel crouched beside me.

  Get on, Audax sent. Kunil will keep them distracted while—

  A screech cut through the roar of the coming sands. A screech I didn’t know.

  Orel, get her out of here. Kunil will finish the guards. And then fainter, so I wasn’t sure if Audax had intended to send it, Thought this land wasn’t claimed.

  Kunil roared at the sky as a new figure swooped from above, talons out. It was a tarnished silver to match the man I’d seen. A gryphon. And he was working with the empire’s soldiers.

  Audax, one hind leg limp, intercepted, clawing a line of blood from the new gryphon even as it wheeled away. Kunil roared as a soldier got in a hit. He whirled, taking out the man before turning his attention back to the tarnished silver gryphon.

  I dug my fingers into Orel’s fur and tensed to pull myself to his back, when a new figure appeared from between the barracks. My attention fixed on him. Clad in robes that swirled around his feet, I was sure they were a bright red, though I couldn’t see them as such. He stopped just on the edge of the battle, eyes fixed on me.

  “Mila, dear, it is so good to finally meet you.” His voice was smooth and sweet. “I’ve been waiting for you. For a very long time, in fact.” He tilted his head and flicked a hand.

  Something pricked my neck. I reached up to brush away a tufted needle, even as my lids drooped. More words washed over me, and I swayed, sinking to the ground. Kunil and Orel roared, and white-lavender and copper blended in front of me. Gold and tarnished silver crashed together.

  The bad dreams were back.

  Someone screamed. My hand scrambled for something to hold onto and found a stone. I gripped it, needing an anchor. This wasn’t the good dream, but the bad. Liquid splashed across my face, and I reached up with my other hand, wiping it away. Sticky, and smelling of copper. Blood. Blood and sand and stone.