by Raine Thomas
She watched them for a moment as they walked away. Amber brought her arm up and put it around his waist, as well. The two of them had been best friends on the human plane. That had blossomed into much more over their six years together living in the same foster home, and now they were married and avowed, as connected as they could possibly get. Especially in light of Amber’s history of emotional detachment formed after multiple displacements before the age of twelve, their connection was nothing less than a miracle, Skye thought. She got a tremendous amount of joy watching the two of them together.
When they were out of sight, she turned back to Aurora. Squatting again, she said, “You did a wonderful job, naruya. I know Olivia wanted to be here with you when this time finally came, but I’ll keep every moment up here to share with her when she gets back.” She tapped the side of her head.
She watched the new family quietly for a few more minutes, her smile never fading. Because she sensed Caleb staring at her, she resisted the urge to reach out and pet the panther. Although she felt perfectly safe doing so, her Gloresti tended to overreact to such things.
“I’ll come and check on you in the morning,” she finally promised, standing back up. Then she tilted her head and considered her own words. “Well, later this morning, I guess,” she clarified, amused with herself. Then she turned and caught Caleb’s gaze. “Okay. Thanks for waiting with me.”
He nodded. Unlike her, he was generally a being of few words. Somehow, she found that trait rather comforting.
They walked in silence, heading back toward the bedrooms that the Estilorian’s hospitality class, the Lekwuesti, had prepared for them while they stayed at Central. Not surprisingly, they didn’t encounter anyone once they entered the building housing their rooms. The hallways, lit by balls of light that bounced against the ceiling and followed their progress as they walked, were quiet. Skye could hear the swish of Caleb’s long hair, pulled into a ponytail, brushing the back of his tank as he turned to glance in all directions, ever vigilant.
Then he surprised her with a question. “What’s a Disney character?”
“Um. What?” She could feel her face heating and prayed she hadn’t heard him correctly.
“Your sisters have referenced Disney movies and Disney characters in regards to some of the things you’ve said. I’m curious to know what they are.”
She considered saying that she couldn’t tell him. Estilorians as a whole were largely ignorant of the ways of modern humans, having lived on this separate plane of existence for over two millennia. The elders of each class had agreed over time to limit how much information was shared about human culture because there were many things that could not—and should not—be replicated on this plane. Keeping such details quiet was one of the earliest things impressed upon Skye and her sisters, who all remembered very clearly what life had been like on the human plane at the time of their transition.
“Hmm,” she stalled, struggling not to fidget under his thoughtful gaze. “Well, I’ve told you about movies, before I knew I shouldn’t.”
“Yes.”
She sighed. “Disney movies—the ones my sisters call me out on all the time—are kind of like fairytales put into movie format.”
“Fairytales?”
How did one explain such things to an Estilorian? Until she and her sisters, along with Gabriel, had transitioned here, emotion had been all but unknown to Estilorians. They had learned only after separating themselves from humanity for the sake of protecting humans from themselves that all they had known of emotions had been left on the human plane. Sure, they were relearning those emotions now that she and her sisters were here and could teach them, but some things were just about impossible to explain without some point of reference.
Finally, she hazarded, “Uh, well, I guess you could consider fairytales fictional stories with heroes and heroines who face challenges and overcome them. There’s always a happy ending and usually some kind of love story.”
He considered this in silence for a full minute. Then he said, “Why is it your sisters seem scornful of these movies and characters?”
Glad to note that they were getting close to their rooms, she fiddled with the end of her long braid and shrugged. “Amber and Olivia are both more realistic than I am,” she admitted. “They know that life doesn’t always have a happy ending.”
“And you don’t?”
They had reached the door to her room, which adjoined James’ empty bedroom on one side and Caleb’s on the other. He paused with his hand on the handle to her door, holding her gaze.
“I…” she trailed off and looked down. “I just think life is easier if you always believe the best is going to happen. What’s the harm in hoping for a happy ending?”
When he didn’t comment, but instead entered her room and opened his senses to check for any danger, she withheld another sigh. She entered behind him when he waved her in and closed her door behind her. She expected him to continue into his room once he verified hers was clear. Instead, he walked over and stopped directly in front of her. Her eyes widened in surprise and question.
“You shouldn’t allow yourself to feel foolish for being an optimist,” he said simply.
And as she watched him turn and walk to his bedroom, she thought with quite a bit of amazement that it was the nicest unsolicited thing he had ever said to her.
Chapter Two
Six hours later, Caleb finished dragging his mattress from Skye’s bedroom floor and putting it back in his bedroom. It was a daily routine he had established the second day of their stay in what Skye and her sisters called Estilorian Central about a month and a half ago. He had gotten the idea from James after finding his fellow Gloresti sleeping on his mattress in Olivia’s room. That first night of sleeping on the rug in Skye’s room had been less than comfortable. This was a welcome compromise.
Like James, he had been uneasy sleeping an entire room away from the sister he was meant to protect, even with the door between their rooms open. There were too many unpredictable variables. And after Olivia had been abducted a few weeks ago, led by a seemingly trustworthy Lekwuesti into the hands of the evil Mercesti, Caleb’s protective instincts toward Skye had been heightened even further.
Still, there was no need to advertise his nightly presence in her room, he thought as he repositioned his mattress and threw his bedding back into place. Although Estilorians didn’t subscribe to the same privacy standards that humans did, he knew that there were certain expectations, particularly from archigos Gabriel, in regards to the respectful treatment of Skye and her sisters. Any deviation from that would provoke significant consequences.
As the only half-human Estilorians in existence, the sisters were regarded differently by different Estilorians. Every one of the class elders, for example, heralded them as the fulfillment of the Great Foretelling issued by the Wymzesti elder, Knorbis, many centuries before. They saw the sisters as harbingers of hope. Amber’s pregnancy and the fact that her shared love with Gabriel had returned emotion to all of the elders lent credence to this belief.
Other Estilorians, however, had not all been so clear and open-minded toward the girls. Even after six weeks here at Central, reactions continued to be mixed. Whenever someone met Skye or one of her sisters for the first time, there was a range of reactions: curiosity, distrust, interest…even fear.
And the first time an Estilorian saw one of the girls smile or heard one of them laugh, it was nearly always met with shock and bewilderment.
Standing at the sink in his bathroom and working his hair into some sort of order with his comb, he glanced consideringly at the mark on the inside of his right wrist as it reflected in the mirror. The symbol had appeared after the unexpected exchange of vows and power he, James and Gabriel had undertaken with the sisters. They now all bore the mark. It was merely one of the ways his life had changed in the past few months.
After he finished his morning bathroom routine, he changed from his sleep tank and shorts and pull
ed on a khaki-colored training tank with camo pants and dark brown combat boots. Then he walked back into Skye’s room through the open adjoining doorway.
She was sleeping on her left side, her back to him. As was usual, she slept on top of her covers rather than under them. He knew she had grown up in a cold climate on the human plane, a place called Kodiak Island, Alaska. The temperate climate at Central was quite a bit warmer than what she had been used to.
Her purple sleep tank and shorts left quite a bit of skin bare. His gaze swept over her exposed right shoulder, saw the swirls of light blue tattooed there marking her as a daughter of Saraqael, as well as the light blue crescents along her shoulder blades from which her wings could emerge. He paused a bit longer in his perusal at the sight of her partially bared back where her tank top had ridden up during the night. Then he continued up and over the curve of her hip to her long, incredible legs.
On the human plane, she had been a dancer. He had learned that she had begun by studying the tribal dances of the native Alaskans who had raised her, but she had become so passionate about it that she ended up taking lessons in nearly all forms of dance. The results of her human efforts on her Estilorian musculature were practically beyond words. Although he had never been one to take notice of a female’s form before Skye transitioned into his life, he constantly found himself admiring hers.
He took another step closer to the bed. Her long, softly curling hair spilled onto the bedding behind her, the ends of it hanging over the side. The lovely brown tresses glimmered with golden and reddish highlights. One streak, however, glowed an almost startling light blue. That unusual, one-inch-wide streak of color had formed along with the mark on her wrist a couple of months before. Her sisters each also had such streaks in their hair, Olivia’s light green and Amber’s gold.
Skye had recently cut her hair, a decision she had made with all of the careful weight a commander would give a strategic military maneuver. He knew that she was a bit obsessive about her hair. Up until this recent cut, it had fallen all the way down to her hips. After months of taking time every morning to bind it all up before their daily training and exercise, she had finally made the practical decision to cut it shorter. Still, though quite a few inches had been removed, it fell to just below her shoulder blades.
He was secretly glad she hadn’t cut any more of it away. He was probably as fond of it as she was—though he would never admit it even under threat of torture.
Since she was sleeping and he was unobserved, he reached down and lifted some of the soft locks. Leaning down, he brought them closer so he could catch their scent. She had showered after returning from Aurora’s paddock and whatever cleanser she had used still clung to her hair and skin. He was fascinated by the variety she had in the scents she wore every day. Today was…
What was it? Frowning in thought, he inhaled again. The identity of the scent eluded him.
She sighed softly and began shifting. He dropped her hair like he had been burned and stepped away from the bed. When her body curled into a stretch, he thought once again that she was the most graceful being he had ever seen.
She blinked up at the ceiling and then turned her enchanting light blue eyes to him. “Oh—good morning,” she said, her face lighting with a smile that had the dimple in her left cheek flashing.
“Good morning.” He deliberately ignored the racing of his heart that her smile caused. As he told himself regularly, he would surely get used to the potency of that smile one of these days.
“Guess it’s time to get up and moving, huh?”
He nodded once without expression. “I’ll wait for you in my room. Gabriel will be dropping in shortly to discuss the day’s activities with me.”
She waved him off as she slid off the side of the bed and headed toward her bathroom. He watched the sway of her hips with unbidden fascination. “Yeah, yeah. I know the drill. Go and plot your devious workout routines and weapons training that Amber and I will suffer through today.” When she reached the bathroom and turned, one hand on the door, she said, “Try not to get too much enjoyment out of it.”
He froze for a moment, thinking she had caught him staring. Then he realized she was teasing him about planning her daily activities. Nodding abruptly, he turned and walked back to his room. Her vibrant laughter floated after him. And as he acknowledged to himself every time he heard it, the joyful sound made him want to smile.
This time, since no one was there to see him, he did.
He wasn’t smiling two hours later.
Estilorian Central was, in fact, the primary location that most Estilorians considered home. It was heavily protected by the powers of the class elders, preventing the Mercesti from identifying its location. As that location was in the air hovering over the middle of the vast ocean in what humans called the Bermuda Triangle, finding it would be quite the feat even without those protections in place.
The base of the airborne Estilorian stronghold, which also served as the Elphresti class’s homeland, was the largest habitable area comprising the base. While each of the other non-Mercesti classes had their individual homelands spiraling up into the air over the ocean from this hub, those were all much smaller in size. The design of the stronghold had been intended to have a central area where all classes could gather as wanted and warranted. Over the centuries, however, the classes had grown more isolated, rarely congregating in the larger, more public center of their stronghold.
The arrival of Saraqael’s daughters a little less than six months ago had changed all that.
Caleb had noticed almost immediately how more members of all of the classes were suddenly making appearances at the base. The Lekwuesti elder, Sebastian, had established their adjoining rooms here so as not to show favoritism or impose upon any certain class. It was also in the plans to bring the sisters to each of the different homelands as soon as Olivia and James returned from their honeymoon. But until then, curiosity seekers abounded.
As they did nearly every morning, the girls were training in the base’s main courtyard. Their daily training ranged to include such things as physical conditioning, flight training, weapons training, and spiritual and mental awareness and focus. Because the sisters were potential targets by both Mercesti and even some non-Mercesti Estilorians due to their unprecedented parentage, the elders had implemented this training regimen months ago in hopes the girls would ultimately be able to protect themselves as needed. Of course, as the incident with Olivia had shown them, all it took was one moment of inattention or deception to put the sisters at risk.
Caleb approached the training sessions very seriously. He was quietly pleased that Skye did, as well. Of the three sisters, she had the most difficulty focusing. But he had never seen her treat her training lightly.
However, it had grown notably difficult for any of them to focus with the growing crowds.
“Gosh,” Skye said, looking up with wide eyes from her position on the ground where she was completing her stretches before beginning the day’s exercise routines. “What’s the deal?”
He followed her gaze from his position standing beside her. There were so many Estilorians gathered around the courtyard that the outer edges were no longer visible. A few of them, such as the Gloresti and Waresti commanders Hitoshi and Harold, waited in the middle of the courtyard to participate in the training. Most, however, were merely there to observe.
“They’re curious,” he finally responded.
He looked down again and studied her. She had raised her finely arched eyebrows in response to his observation as her gaze moved along the courtyard. Like her sisters, she had markings along the outer edges of each eye, indicating that she possessed powers beyond those of average Estilorians. Her eye markings consisted of three small, light blue swirls matching the mark on her right shoulder blade. Because Amber was avowed to Gabriel, her eye markings were gold and blue-gray, the symbol on her shoulder matching the one on Gabriel’s right bicep. Olivia and James, also now avowed and married, sh
ared light green and dark blue markings.
“Sure are a lot of guys,” she said after a moment before moving fluidly into another stretch.
He watched her lay flat on her back in the grass, placing her arms palms-down on either side of her body. In her fitted, swirled orange and yellow tank with matching leggings and filmy overskirt, she looked like a splash of sunshine against the green backdrop. She lifted both of her long legs up and over until the toes of her orange slippers touched the ground behind her head. It was a move neither of her less-flexible sisters was capable of, but she made it look effortless.
Considering her words, he once again looked around the courtyard. She was absolutely right. Nearly every observer was male. And focused very closely on her at the moment.
Scowling, he moved to block her as much as possible from view. He wouldn’t have thought there would be anything that interesting about watching someone stretch. But there was no denying the interest he saw from some of the observers. A couple of them had even bent at the waist to try and see her from another angle. His jaw clenched as he fought the urge to growl at the more blatant offenders. Crossing his arms over his chest, he stared at them until they noticed the frost in his gaze and wisely feigned interest elsewhere.
“Let’s move into weights,” Gabriel announced. He and Amber were a few feet to the right.
Inexplicably relieved, Caleb reached down and helped Skye to her feet. She took a moment to tuck a tendril of her hair that had escaped its knot behind her ear, the movement delicate and entirely female. The top of her head didn’t even reach his shoulders, something that always surprised him when he noted it. Her bright, energetic personality somehow made her seem twice her actual size.
He leaned down the slightest bit and inhaled again. This time, perhaps because he wasn’t focused so much on it, his brain registered her scent.
“Mango,” he murmured triumphantly.