Revelation: The Todor Trilogy, Book One

by Jenna Newell Hiott

  “Will you come to me?” she asked.

  “If only I could, I would be there in a heartbeat,” Gemynd said with a note of sadness.

  “I can bring you here!” Numa exclaimed with Joy. “I only need your permission.”

  Gemynd was silent for several moments. “Then you have my permission,” he finally said, his voice thick with emotion.

  Numa closed her eyes and held her hands out in front of her. She wondered for a moment if she should have practiced on something less substantial first. Maybe an apple as Radine had done. But she could still feel the Oneness of everything around her and she instinctively knew that this would be no different than rearranging the trees had been. For Gemynd was part of the Oneness too. Part of her. All she had to do was direct her will.

  Numa took a deep breath in and held it. “I will Gemynd to be here now,” she said as she exhaled.

  She could feel him there before she ever opened her eyes. His hands rested lightly in hers. His warmth more comforting than the sun.

  Numa opened her eyes and there he was. He was truly standing right before her. Numa noticed right away that his Lifeforce was very faint, a mere glow. And she also noticed that a golden thread of it connected her heart to his. Every time she had told him she loved him with her whole heart, it had not been mere words. For now she could see the tangible proof of it.

  “Is it really you?” he asked and cupped her face tenderly between his hands. He squinted his eyes as though it was too bright for him. “Oh, how I’ve missed you.”

  His voice broke and a tear slipped from the outside corner of his eye. But then he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him and burying his face in her hair. It was in that moment that Numa saw Gemynd’s Lifeforce ignite and Joy burst through his entire being. She pressed her face against his neck and breathed in everything about him.

  “I love you,” she said simply and as her body rested against Gemynd’s rough tunic, Numa became aware that she was naked. Somewhere in her adventures in Turiya, she must have dispensed with her kirtle and apron.

  Gemynd pulled back and looked deep into her eyes. His lips spread into a smile and Numa’s knees buckled. She reached up and touched his cheek. “I’d nearly forgotten how beautiful you are,” Numa said, her heart pounding now just at the sight of him.

  “I never forgot anything about your beauty,” he said in reply, his eyes hungrily taking in every last part of her. “I carry it with me always. It is better than the sun and moon put together.”

  He kissed her then, so gently it was but a mingling of breaths. “Oh, Gemynd, let us never be apart again,” Numa said against his lips.

  Gemynd pulled back and looked at her once more, his black eyes growing even darker. “I’m taking you. Right now,” he said with a growl in his throat. This time his mouth came crashing down on hers with ravenous ferocity.

  Liquid warmth pooled between Numa’s legs as she kissed him back, tongues and lips twisting together, arms entangled. Gemynd pushed Numa back against the rocks, pressing his body against hers.

  “Wait,” Numa said, pulling away, panting. “I know where I want to do this. Close your eyes.”

  Gemynd did as he was told and with just a shift in focus, Numa moved them to Nocturiya. Beautiful, golden moonlight engulfed them as they stood in a patch of luscious grass at the edge of the slow-moving river. But Numa was certain Gemynd had not seen any of it, for when he opened his eyes, he never moved them from hers.

  “I love you,” he said just before he kissed her again. Then he grabbed Numa’s hair in his fists, forcing her head back. He raked his teeth and tongue and lips down her neck, and Numa felt she was on the brink of erupting into flames.

  She tore at his tunic and then his breeches until, at last, it was just his skin against hers. Swiftly, but gently, Gemynd lowered Numa to the ground and settled himself on top of her. His hands felt like they were everywhere on her body at once and she shuddered with the pleasure of it.

  Numa swept her hands down Gemynd’s back and pushed on his buttocks. The searing ache to have him inside her consumed her with its desperate sweetness. “Enter me, Gemynd,” she demanded and opened her legs to him.

  Gemynd wasted no time on false protests and with a single thrust, pushed himself inside her. Numa gasped with the sudden, hot pain that rushed through her. She had not expected that so much pain could come from something she had wanted so desperately.

  “Numa?” Gemynd asked, holding very still. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes,” she whispered as the pain began to dissipate and the hunger returned in its place. “Go slow.”

  Gemynd moved his hips back slowly, then forward again, moving himself in and out of her. After only a few moments, the pain had become a distant memory and Numa hungered for more. She lifted her hips to press herself harder against Gemynd’s body wanting him to go deeper and faster, but finding that speaking would be too much of a distraction.

  The flames that threatened to erupt within her were back, licking at her skin. Her breath caught in her throat and moans of ecstasy escaped. She felt that she was floating, going higher and higher and higher and then she suddenly realized her body was going to burst into a million pieces.

  “Gemynd!” she shouted as an explosion overtook her and her body convulsed.

  Gemynd grunted loudly and his whole body went rigid then twitched. He laid still for several moments, and Numa relished the feel of his pounding heart against hers.

  “Why did we wait so long to do that?” he teased.

  “Because one of us was dead set on being a Keeper,” Numa replied with a smile. It was just as it had always been with him. So easy. So fun.

  Gemynd smiled back then rolled onto his back, pulling Numa up onto his chest. He closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. Although the sky was dark in Nocturiya, the moon was bright enough that Numa could see him clearly. He was magnificent. But now that her hunger for him was satisfied, she could see that he looked very different than when she’d last seen him.

  He was thin. Too thin. His ribs stuck up like shallow tree roots poking out of the ground. His cheeks were sunken and a jagged scar ran all the way from his left ear to his mouth. Numa drew her eyebrows together as she traced it with her finger. She sat up then, studying him and saw that his torso was covered with scars. Her hands flew to her mouth. Had the scars been put there by fire? By blades?

  “What has happened to you?” she asked. “Oh, my Gemynd. You’ve endured so much pain.”

  Gemynd glanced down at his belly and then back at Numa. “None of it compared to the pain of being torn away from you,” he said and pulled Numa’s hands away from her face.

  “What did they do to you?” she asked again.

  “It’s all part of the training,” he said. “It has its purpose. Do not fret, my dear.”

  Numa swallowed hard. Bile rose in her throat as she imagined Gemynd’s beautiful body being marred by firebrands and knives. “You are so very strong,” she said, thinking she would have wished for death rather than being subjected to such pain.

  “I had to be strong,” he said and propped himself up on one elbow. “So that I could one day come back to you, my wife, my everything. And some of it has been absolutely marvelous. For one thing, my father is there.”

  “Your father?” Numa asked with a gasp. “I know you’ve longed for him your whole life. What is he like?”

  “He’s a lot like me,” Gemynd said and smiled. “And we get along like old friends.”

  Numa felt a wave of Joy pass through her. Gemynd had found his father at last. “Iturtia has given you an enormous blessing,” she said.

  “Come here,” Gemynd replied and pulled Numa into a deep kiss. It was a kiss of passionate love and devotion. When he was done, he pulled back and said, “So tell me of your training. How do Empyreans train?”

  Numa giggled. “We don’t apparently,” she said. “I met a woman named Radine who told me that I am my own teacher, although she ha
s certainly taught me some things. She is the one who told me I could bring you here.”

  Gemynd raised his eyebrows. “Very mysterious, indeed,” he said with a sly smile.

  “I don’t know that I even want to hear about your training,” Numa said, eyeing Gemynd’s scars again.

  “Iturtian training is all about strengthening the mind,” he said. “We practice a lot of psychspeak and psychanimation.”

  “Have you become quite adept at it?”

  Gemynd nodded. “Top of my class,” he said with a look of pride.

  “I would expect nothing less,” Numa replied and leaned down for another kiss. “I wonder what Soman’s training is like.”

  A dark expression passed over Gemynd’s face. “I imagine it is an exercise in luxury,” he sneered.

  “Shall we bring him here and ask him?” Numa said. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have the three of us together again?”

  Gemynd grabbed Numa’s wrist and squeezed it a little too hard. “No,” he said with warning in his tone. “Do not bring him here.”

  “Why ever not?” Numa asked, pulling her wrist free. “What is the matter with you?”

  “I did not mean to hurt you,” he said gently and grabbed her wrist again, this time putting a tender kiss on it. “It’s just that I have not forgiven Soman’s betrayal. He was supposed to be my brother. But because of him, I was torn from you on our wedding day. Everything I’ve been through is because of him.”

  Numa looked at him and saw that his Lifeforce was diminishing again. “I don’t believe it was Soman,” she said. “He truly loves you, Gemynd. There must be another explanation.”

  “I’ve thought it over a thousand times. It’s the only logical explanation. Soman wanted you for himself.”

  Numa laughed. “You know Soman as well as I do,” she said. “Maybe he would want me for one night. But then he’d be ready to move on to a fresh body. He would never have gone to all that trouble. Has that miraculous brain of yours considered that one of the survivors from the tavern said something to the wrong person and it made its way back to Aerie?”

  Gemynd looked sideways at her. “It’s possible,” he conceded. “But I still don’t want you to bring Soman here. Not now. Right now I just want you all to myself.”

  Numa smiled and fell into his waiting arms. “I can live with that,” she said and kissed him, fanning the flames of desire back to life.

  They made love again and again then floated in the luxurious water, talking of old times and dreaming of the future.

  “And when we get back to Aerie, perhaps we can work to change the rules so that our children would only have to leave if they choose to,” Gemynd said.

  “I agree completely,” Numa said and manifested two apples. She tossed one to Gemynd who laughed as he took a bite of it.

  “And here I’ve been so impressed with my own glinting abilites,” he said. “Is there nothing you can’t do?”

  “I don’t know yet,” Numa answered. “I’ve only just begun to explore them.”

  Suddenly Gemynd grew very still in the water, his head cocked to one side, much the way a deer listens for predators. “Hush,” he whispered.

  “What is it?” Numa asked, looking around.

  “Hush,” he repeated, then suddenly dropped the apple and in one swift movement, scooped Numa up and ran from the water. He set Numa down by a tree and stood protectively in front of her.

  Numa saw Gemynd’s eyes dart wildly from side to side. The pulse at his neck throbbed and his breaths came shallow and fast. He was afraid.

  “There is nothing to fear here,” Numa said in as soothing a tone as she could manage. “Gemynd, whatever you think is out there is not really there. It is an illusion based on your fears.”

  “Hush,” he said again, utterly oblivious to her words.

  Numa lowered her head. It was too late. She’d lost Gemynd to his fear and she knew he couldn’t be reasoned with right now. And he was not Empyrean. No amount of coaxing would cause him to ever see Turiya as it truly was. He did not have the ability to see Lifeforce.

  “Scitte!” Gemynd said through gritted teeth and crouched low. “They have surrounded us.”

  “Gemynd, there is nothing there,” Numa pleaded one more time.

  “I won’t let them hurt you,” Gemynd said. “I am going to run into the clearing. They will come after me. When they do, I want you to run in the opposite direction. And just keep running.”

  Numa tried to swallow, but felt as though a stone had been lodged in her throat. Who knows what could happen if Gemynd truly believed something was chasing him? It was too great a risk to take. Numa knew what she had to do.

  Her lips trembled as she grabbed Gemynd’s face and forced him to look at her. “I love you and I stand by my vow to be with you again in Aerie one day.”

  Gemynd nodded. “And I stand by my vow to you,” he said.

  Then Numa put her attention on the thread of Lifeforce that connected her heart to Gemynd’s. She took a deep breath. And sent Gemynd back to Iturtia.

  Gemynd

  Gemynd folded his hands behind his back as he turned a slow circle, his keen eyes taking in his surroundings. From his vantage point at the top of the watchtower, he could see everything that occurred inside the pit. He could see when the fire was low and needed more coal or a blast of air from the bellows. He could see when the rats had become sated and needed to be garnered in a corner to become hungry once again. He could see when the reamers needed oiling and blades needed sharpening. And, most importantly, he could keep his eyes on the instructors.

  As he surveyed the scene, he felt an urgent nudge in his mind and he mentally opened the door for communication.

  “Pit warden, I need your help,” a now-familiar, panicky voice said to Gemynd’s mind. “My student has been cut clean through the belly to his viscera. I fear I’ve killed the boy! His training is surely finished. What shall we do?”

  Gemynd took a deep breath and summoned patience. Ileethios was his newest instructor and was proving to be unworthy of the task. Every couple of moments, he begged for Gemynd’s help, always in fear that he had caused irreversible harm to his student. “Do you recall the proper protocol in a situation such as this?” Gemynd asked.

  “I am to call for the healers,” Ileethios said quickly. “But I fear it is too late. They may be able to sew a body back together, but surely they cannot bring the dead back to life.”

  Gemynd sighed again. “Hold tight, Ileethios,” he said and began his descent from the watchtower. “I am on my way.”

  Gemynd had spent a great deal of time over the last three years in the pit. First as a student, then as an instructor and now as Pit Warden. He had developed such complete mastery over his thoughts that he was able to be utterly unaware of the stench and heat of the pit. The screams and anguished cries of the tortured children registered in his mind as the sounds of learning.

  Gemynd was proud of his appointment as Pit Warden. It was an elite position only one rank below Director of Iturtia and he had certainly earned his way to the post. He had been driven by a desire to impress his father and met every one of his lessons with a determination to excel. In less than six months, he had mastered his level one training and had received the honor of being the first student ever to advance to instructor so quickly. He had even beaten his father’s record by an entire month.

  Gemynd had found great Joy in being an instructor. He relished the moment a young student would finally grasp that he had control over his thoughts. One moment the student would be screaming in anguish and begging for the lesson to stop, and then suddenly a silent calm would fall over him. Without fail, in those moments, Gemynd would find a smile on the student’s face.

  But it soon became apparent that the other instructors turned to Gemynd for guidance. More and more he found himself assisting them rather than instructing students. So when the previous Pit Warden stepped down, it was no surprise to anyone, including Gemynd, that Golath appointed
him to the post.

  Ileethios met Gemynd in front of the pendulum station. The young instructor’s eyes were wide and pathetic. “Show me the boy,” Gemynd commanded.

  Ileethios guided Gemynd to the small figure that lay on a wooden frame beneath the pendulum. The boy was still strapped to the table, his arms tethered above his head and his ankles bound to the frame. A puddle of blood had formed beneath his body and the life-giving liquid still dripped from a gash in his abdomen.

  Gemynd looked at the boy’s face and saw a pair of brown eyes looking back at him. The boy blinked and Gemynd rolled his eyes. “Ileethios, not only is the boy not dead, but he is fully awake,” Gemynd said through gritted teeth, then moved to inspect the boy’s wound. The pendulum had cut through the boy’s skin and into his muscle, but nothing vital had even been nicked.

  Gemynd faced the boy again. He was probably a nine, but tall for his age. And though his eyes were full of fear, Gemynd could see that deep within them was the strength of a true Iturtian. This boy would be just fine. “You’ll have your first scar,” Gemynd said to him and gave him a slight smile. The boy nodded slowly and despite his pain, he smiled proudly back at Gemynd.

  “Shall I call for the healers now, Warden?” Ileethios said over Gemynd’s shoulder.

  Gemynd lowered his brows as he turned to the inept instructor. “Your insecurity is a disservice to this boy,” he scolded. “You have forgotten the purpose of active training.”

  Ileethios cowered. “I remember the purpose of training,” he said in a rush. “I truly believed the boy to be dead.”

  Gemynd sighed and shook his head. “Then you must not know the difference between alive and dead.”

  “I feared I had harmed the boy.”

  “That is the insecurity I was talking about,” Gemynd roared. “And your fear is the only thing that will cause any real harm to that boy. As an Iturtian instructor, you must teach your students how to rely solely on their minds for that is where their strength lies. You must teach them to have complete control over their thoughts regardless of what their bodies experience. You have failed this boy. You have no business being an instructor.”