Most. There was one woman with purple and green hair, and a t-shirt with a vampire printed across the front. She ran right toward Rion and he scooped her up.
Mara watched him greet the woman and felt some of the fear lessening within her. He loved this woman, didn’t he?
“Nora. I want you to meet my rajni. Mara, Nora, my baby sister.”
The woman stared at Mara for a moment, before grinning. “Hi. Welcome to the Dark Ages, ain’t it a real kicker?”
“Something like that.”
“You know anything about computers?”
“Enough to know that I really miss mine. I was a humanities major at the University of Colorado, though I did do a minor in computer graphics and another in programming.”
“I think you just became my new best friend. This guy thinks a computer should be the size of Sydney and still be monochrome. I get nightmares thinking about it.”
Mara liked her. She seemed wonderfully normal. The Australian accent was there—and it was an accent that was normal for Mara’s experience. It spoke of home. “I can imagine. Your brother said you were trying to build a battery?”
“I’m working on it. The ideas are there, but it this world’s atmosphere the execution isn’t exactly what I am wanting. But I am working on it. I’ll figure it out. One way or another.”
“I’m sure you will,” Rion said. “Now, let me introduce her to some of the others.”
“Sure, sure. Guess dear old dad is here somewhere. Heard cousin Nalik was threatening the dungeon for the old creeper.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
The day was surreal. She would have a difficult time remembering all the names, but most of the ones she’d met seemed genuinely kind. Her confusion lessened—a little. The tension and fear from not knowing what was going to happen was still there. But the people today did not look at her with the same disgust as those who she had lived among the last five months.
Rion stayed at her side for the entirety of the day, and Mara found herself relaxing as the hours went on. He was quiet and thoughtful, and they found much to talk about when he gave her a tour around the Hall. He even took her back to his suite just after lunch to show her some of the books the High King had given him to study.
She finally found this world to be fascinating. Finally. More, she was starting to feel a bit of hope. Maybe the future didn’t seem as bleak as it had the day before.
She looked at the main reason for that change. “I need to see my mother. I have some questions for her. And I need to make sure she’s ok.”
“Of course. We can go to her now.”
“Thank you.”
Fifteen minutes later she was standing outside another stone door. This one had a carving of a deer wrapped in clouds. It was a beautiful piece of art. Rion knocked. Mara immediately tensed. What was she even supposed to say to her mother?
Rion wrapped his hand around hers. “I’ll be here with you. You’re not facing anything alone again. Even your mother.”
She nodded. He was there. What did that mean exactly? Was it always this way for rajnis?
How far was she willing to take this?
Her mother opened the door, suspicion in her eyes. She widened the opening when she realized it was Mara there.
Her mother still wore human clothes. Was it stubbornness? Mara didn’t want this to be another of their arguments. Surely they both realized that? Things had changed so much since yesterday. Did her mother see that? “Mama. I think we need to talk.”
“Are you staying with him, then? You don’t even know him.”
“I don’t. And I don’t know if I am staying with him. I know I’m not going back to Center Thrun City. And I don’t think you and the boys should, either.”
“It’s the home we’ve been given by our dahr.”
“We have a dahr? Who?” There was no man she’d chosen to worship the way her mother apparently did.
“Adric Adrastos.”
“My father,” Rion said from Mara’s left. He stepped toward her mother and Raejel backed away. Mara followed him in the suite. It was bigger than the entire house in Center Thrun City. “But you are a Black by birth, are you not?”
She stared at him for a moment. “Yes.”
“Of whose House? Nalik or our grandfather’s?”
Her mother was quiet for a long moment. “Your grandfather’s. When we came here, I settled near my original House. I thought that was where we were supposed to be. But…”
Not a bit of it made any sense to Mara.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“And for some reason, some slight you’ve given his family, he consigned you and your children to suffer in this world.” Nothing Rion was surprised by. There had been plenty of good reasons for him to leave his father and grandfather so many years ago. This was just another reiteration that he had made the right decision. His only regret was that he had not found Mara five months ago, that he had not protected her before now. “He is that kind of vindictive. They both are.”
“They are family.”
“Mine, too. But that does not mean you have to revere them. Or follow them any longer. My arm of the family has much room for yours. And Mara, whatever she decides.” He looked at his Rajni. She looked so beautiful in the white vestis and pardus, tied with his House hasha. Perfect, and exactly as she should. But there was still confusion in her eyes. “Tell me of your Rajni. Mara’s father.”
“He was Lupoiux. I left my people to go with him. I had no choice.” Raejel lifted her chin. “My dhar…his words were damning to my heart. I was to deny the mate our goddess gave me. How was I to do that? Even my parents…they chose to back him. They did not want half-Lupoiux children, especially considering the Druidic blood I inherited from my mother’s mother.”
“Your parents, my grandparents, are still alive?”
“I do not know. I have yet to find them in this place. I do not know where they have gone. And the few times I have asked, I have been denied that knowledge. I am sorry, Mara. I thought it was better to think them dead, than to know they did not welcome you as much as your father and I.” Rion watched the mother reach out for her daughter. Mara hesitated, the gesture showing her true confusion and pain at her mother’s actions.
Then she was in her mother’s arms and weeping. Raejel rocked her daughter for several long moments. When she pulled away, Rion was there with a tissue. For both women.
“I don’t know what to do next,” Mara said. “I don’t know anything about this world, or what it means. Any of it.”
Raejel looked at Rion. “Can I have a moment or two alone with my daughter? My sons are exploring the grotto behind this place. I’d like you to meet them soon.”
“I’ll head on out there. Give you all the time you need.” He wanted to kiss his Rajni but refrained. She wasn’t ready for that at all.
He would force himself to be a friend first, and not a lover. That would come with time. He did not doubt that. It was the Goddess’s way. Rion had never been an impatient man.
He would have to remember that. He settled for a brush of his hand over her cheek. “I will return to you soon.”
Her cheeks flushed, and a small smile touched her lips. “I would like that. I think. And…thank you.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Mara watched him leave, and felt a tugging in her heart when he was out of sight.
She looked back at her mother. “I…I don’t really understand anything about him.”
“But you’re drawn to him, feel like you need him whenever you can’t see him? It is the Rajni way.”
“Does it ever go away?” Mara sank into the nearest chair. She took a quick look around the suite. Their belongings were piled precariously on a small blue couch. “What are our plans?”
Her mother was quiet for a long moment. “You should stay with him.”
Not what she had expected, that was for sure. “Why?”
“You were meant for him. I thought you would be older when y
ou found your Rajni. Thought there would be a better way or time to teach of what you are. I am sorry I have been so wrong.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“There never seemed to be a good time. And after your father…how could I tell you that you would hurt like I do? I miss your father every single day. I am not sure why I am still alive.”
“Mama?” Fear, hurt, bitterness, longing, all were in her mother’s voice. Mara held out her hands toward the woman who’d raised her. “I know you miss him.”
“It is different for a Dardaptoan, Mara. It hurts so much more to lose your mate. Most Dardaptoans die after they do. I’m not sure why I didn’t. If it’s the fact that I have the healing gift, or because I am half-Druid, or what. But I should have died when your father did.”
“And you feel guilty over that? If you’d died what would have happened to me? Would the boys have even been born?”
“I don’t know.”
Mara stood, then sank down on the couch by her mother. “You did what you had to do. I know that. I remember what it was like before he died. Remember how happy you were. And I miss him, too. But we’re here now. We can’t keep going on like we have been these past five months.”
“I have known that, I’ve seen it every single time I’ve looked at you since we came. And…I was afraid you hated me for everything. I should have told you, and should have given you better choices. It shouldn’t have taken you nearly dying in the demon world for me to tell you. If he hadn’t been there…But he is Adrastos. I cannot understand.”
“I don’t know what I am supposed to do with him. He says we are supposed to be together, but what does that mean, exactly?”
“Baby, the moment he claimed you as his Rajni, you were as good as married in Dardaptoan law.”
“I don’t have a choice?” That terrified her. Wouldn’t it anyone? “No matter what I want?”
“Of course your wants will be considered. Our people are not heartless. But your soul will cry out for his, you’ll feel…broken…when not with him. Eventually you will not even think of being apart. It is the Dardaptoan way.”
“But I am not full Dardaptoan.”
“No. My mother was half Druid. They follow the goddess Nelciana. They’re not like the ones you studied in college. They’re quite a bit different. We can talk about that later. And you are Lupoiux. Mostly Lupoiux, though you favor Dardaptoans more, being a female.”
“Does that make much difference?”
Her mother was quite again. When she spoke her voice was low, and Mara could hear the tears. “I loved him with everything I had, Mara. He was beautiful, inside and out. But the dhar of my House hates Lupoiux. Viciously so. He viewed my being with your father as an act of treason, I think. I was still a very young woman by Dardaptoan standards, not quite thirty. I packed a single bag, and I left. I knew what it would be like if I ever returned. And I planned never to. If it had been safe for you and the boys to remain in the human world, I would have been happy to do so. But it wasn’t. And here we are. I have been frozen these past five months. Fear for you most of all behind it. And the boys, of course. But I knew at your birth that you would be different than most Dardaptoans, that you would have a destiny to fulfill. One of those destinies is finding your mate. I did not want you to find him so soon. I wanted you to have time to make your own life first. Like I didn’t. And when I lost your father I had no idea of how to care for us all. Especially in the human world.”
“I see.” Did she? Her mother’s words made sense. And so did the obvious pain in the other woman’s face. Her mother was hurting so much. Mara rested her head on her mother’s shoulder. They both needed the comfort. “So what am I supposed to do now? He wants me to help him. To study the different Houses in this city. The families. Record it for later generations.”
“And that would definitely intrigue you. Would fill you with a purpose. But it would put you with him, close. Intimate. With a male who, understand it or not, is halfway in love with you already. I can promise if you go with him, you’ll be well treated. He is Adrastos, and they definitely love their mates. His father, too. It is hard to believe he is the son of Adric. I thought Adric would kill me that day. And now someday we may share grandchildren.”
“You won’t. Even if Rion and I…which I am not saying I will…That man, this Adric, he won’t be a part of our lives. Ever.” Of that she was very certain.
“Of that, I am glad. But more for your sake than mine. There is nothing that man can do to me now. Not now.” Her mother kissed her hair. “We are safe here, now. And now you know the truth. A burden has been lifted.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rion found the boys easily. They were like small male versions of his Rajni. Same dark hair, same shape eyes, though theirs were dark green. They eyed him with the same wariness.
He bowed first to one then the other. “Hello. I am Rion Adrastos, Dhar of the Australian Adrastos. I am happy to meet you.”
They stopped tossing the ball between them and stared at him for a moment. “We’re Lupoiux, you know.”
“I can sense that. I have a cousin who is part Lupoiux. He can turn into any animal in any world. A bit difficult to play hide-and-seek with him as children. You are Skylar and Shiloh, correct?”
“How do you know? Did our mom or sister send you out here? Do you know where Mara is?” The bolder of the two boys asked.
“Your sister is well, and is inside with your mother. They are talking of things. Of the changes coming.”
“We’re not going home, are we?” There was hope in the boy’s voice. Rion felt compassion for the children and what they had endured.
“No. This is the safest place for our people. You will need to speak with your mother. Your sister waits inside. They are discussing the future.”
The boys were obviously concerned and worried. Rion put a hand on each boy’s shoulder. Anger was there in him, anger at his father and grandfather for not doing their familial duty to the widow and her young. That was a grievance that would be Rion’s to address when the time was right. His father had left his Rajni to suffer unnecessarily. It was Rion’s right to get her the recompense her family deserved.
The boys were overly cautious as they entered the suite given to them. The bolder spoke again, calling for his mother.
Raejel was curled around Mara on the couch. Both women’s eyes were red and raw from their tears.
Rion immediately felt a rush of helplessness. Crying women terrified him.
Mara looked up at him. “My family can stay here?”
“Of course. I will speak with my cousin. The younger Nalik is a much better leader than our grandfather. One reason why he has been destined for this city. He will ensure your family is welcomed appropriately. If she is of the Black House, she is his cousin of some sorts. Your family can join his without question. But since you are dhan of my own House, they will always have a place within my own House as well. So you have choices now. And I will support you whatever the decision.”
“Thank you.” She looked at him with an expression filled with gratitude. It had him uncomfortable in the extreme. He didn’t want her gratitude.
He wanted her love. Once again he reminded himself that would take time.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Her mother wanted her to stay in the suite with her and the boys, but her mother didn’t say that. But Mara knew. It was in the sad expression in her mother’s eyes when Raejel suggested Rion take Mara’s belongings to whatever suite he occupied.
Mara wasn’t sure she was ready for that. In fact, it was the exact opposite.
In her world you didn’t just meet a man and move in with him in less than one full day.
But apparently that was how it worked around here.
Her belongings fit into a single tote and two duffle bags. He carried the tote.
“I won’t sleep with you. I don’t know you.” She hadn’t slept with anyone before, she was so not ready to just jump in the be
d with a strange man. No matter how intriguing she was starting to find him.
“I am ok with that. I told you, Mara, we do not have to rush anything between us. You can occupy the suite next to mine until you feel more comfortable with me. Nora is on the opposite side. We will take some time, get to know one another first. Do you think that would work?”
He was being so reasonable about all of it, wasn’t he? What was she supposed to think about it all? “I just need a lot of time to think. Figure out what I want to do. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He stopped outside a door, then smiled at her. “I am just happy I found you. That’s what matters to me. I have waited for you for hundreds of years. I’m not going to do something to make you unhappy now that I’ve found you. And if that means you need a while to figure out how to make this work for us, then I am good with that. This will be your rooms. Mine is right here. There’s a door that connects the two inside. When you are ready, we can open that door permanently. I’ll give you the key. Use it when you are ready. And not a moment before.”
He slipped a key out of his pocket and held it out to her. “It’s yours. I’ll be on the other side when you’re ready. Until then, I’m right here if you need me.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
It was easier than she expected. Over the next week Mara found herself building a routine, one that worked for her and her mother.
And Rion.
He was there every morning when she knocked. And that first morning after she’d settled into the suite he’d given her—which was about the size of the house she’d left behind in Colorado—she’d found herself knocking pretty early on his door.
They spent most of their days together. Exploring the city and the people in it. And trying to figure out who or what had first built Thrun. No one really knew the answer to that, and Mara found the idea fascinating.
The Forlorn Page 6