Dixon (Stratham Shifters Book 6)

by Sarah J. Stone

  “Oh,” she said, in shock.

  “And you know Jeffro's medical facilities are second to none,” he said. “As well as Jeffro's palace. There is a future for you, and it is bright.”

  She remained silent a long time, thinking.

  “I don't know if I am strong enough to do this.”

  “Sienna, you have been strong enough for everything else that came yout way,” Desmond said. “This is not the toughest hurdle you have faced.”

  She bit her lip, thinking of the death, the destruction, and the hurdles they had overcome. In a lot of ways, this was not the hardest day of her life. Being unable to use magic, watching Devon's life fade, and thinking for a horrible second she wouldn't be able to save him, those things were much worse.

  “I know that what you are saying is right,” she said, after a long moment. “I know that this is the right way, and I do think I've known it for a long time. I just thought… you promised me.”

  “We did,” Nathaniel knew he had broken that promise. “I'm sorry for that. Promises change, little one, as the world makes our purposes more clear.”

  “I could be Eliza's translator,” she said. “I could work alongside her.”

  “That would make me happy,” Nathaniel replied. “I would know that you would be safe, and it would give me an extra excuse to visit.”

  “Nathaniel,” Desmond said. “You're on trial and your status as a witch is up for questioning.”

  “I take after my Maestro.” Nathaniel grinned. “Is this decided then? This is what we will do?”

  The three of them looked at each other, keeping emotions at bay.

  “Yes,” Sienna said. “This is what we will do.”

  She had feared this moment for so long. She had expected to feel abandoned, thrown away, angry, sad. Her heart was torn, but she knew this was the right thing to do, to serve Nature.

  Her heart also leapt at the possibility of being with Devon without sneaking around.

  “All right,” Nathaniel replied. “Let's go, then.”

  “The Jurors have taken your recommendation and your defense into consideration,” Thomas said, looking between the two of them. “And have accepted your recommendation to end Sienna's training.”

  She felt it hit her like a wave, and leaned against Nathaniel, who slipped a hand around her shoulders.

  It was sad, but they were free. Free of pushing, free of trying, free of hoping for something that would never happen.

  “You will—”

  “Excuse me,” Desmond broke in. “I will move on, as well.”

  “What?” Everyone turned to him in shock. Mariah squeaked, betraying her emotions.

  “I am past my prime, Maestro, too old to take another Tiro. And we both know that I have walked a grey line for far too long. Every time I walk in here, it's to argue semantics, and I imagine I would continue to do it until my death. Instead, I offer my honorable discharge, my retirement”

  Sienna had expected that as well, but it still shocked her. She couldn't help but exchange a smile with Desmond, though. They were both sharing a secret, a life that would bring them happiness

  “Desmond.” Thomas shook his head. “Why did I know that was coming? And I am guessing, by the way that you have reacted, Maestro Mariah, that you intend to go with him.”

  “Yes!” Mariah was not wasting her chance. She rose, and Desmond gently scuffed his feet, making enough noise for her to hear him, and advance forward. He held out his hand and she took it. No one had any question in their mind as to what was going to happen when they retired.

  Witches who retired were supposed to hold themselves to the same standards as when they were working. But those who walked the grey line, like Desmond, clearly had other ideas about how they were supposed to spend their remaining days when they had given most of their life to the service of Nature.

  She squeezed his hand, turning to face Thomas.

  “I announce my retirement as well,” she said.

  It was such a beautiful love story. Sienna's heart soared. She hoped that she and Devon could have a story like that someday, with years behind them and smiles on their faces.

  She knew it wasn't likely, but Desmond did inspire her to at least try.

  She glanced to Nathaniel and he quirked an eyebrow at her. It would be just like him to also announce he was off to Jeffro, to marry Eliza and be a Prince. Sienna couldn't imagine a happier ending, really. They didn't have to be restricted to this life. They didn't have to deny their hearts.

  But the Jurors had other ideas. Before Nathaniel could speak, Thomas cleared his throat. “Then your fate is also known, Nathaniel.”

  “Is it?” Nathaniel asked, suddenly feeling a sinking in his stomach.

  “The condition for taking Sienna was that we would pick the next Tiro of yours. Your skill and experience will be carefully matched.”

  “Oh.” Nathaniel went pale as he remembered that promise, so many years ago. He didn't think that they would actually go through with it, though.

  “We do not find you guilty for the death of the King, nor the death of the witch potential. But you will comply with our orders on the assignment of your new Tiro.”

  Nathaniel knew that this was his last moment to rebel. He could walk away, he could decide that this life was it for him. He had always thought that he was different from the rest, always thought he was meant for a stronger path. He had two dreams in his life. One was to be with Eliza and the other was to sit on the Jurors.

  He had also known that he couldn't have had both.

  Desmond glanced to him, saying nothing with his voice.

  You can walk away.

  Of course, I can, Nathaniel said. But until Eliza says the word, I am here.

  Like Maestro, like Tiro, Desmond replied and Nathaniel had to agree.

  “I accept,” he said, squeezing Sienna a bit closer. She hadn't expected that, but she knew that one day, Nathaniel would go on to replace her.

  “Dismissed,” said Thomas. “And onwards, to your new lives.”

  “You will always be my Tiro,” Nathaniel whispered to Sienna, as they left the room. “I promise you. Just on a different path in life.”

  “Will you get a warrior now?” she asked, a question she had asked since the start of their training. She had always known her warrior Maestro wanted a Tiro to walk in his footsteps. At the start, she resented it, followed by feeling sad that she could never live up to it.

  “I don't know,” he answered. “Maybe not.”

  “What do you think?”

  “Maybe they'll give you someone who can teach you patience,” Desmond said, from the other side. “Or calm.”

  “Doubt it,” Nathaniel answered with a smile.

  Chapter 22

  “You never realize just how much stuff you accumulate, until you have to pack it up,” Mariah said, three days later. They had been given a month to vacate their rooms, the only place they had ever known.

  But Desmond thought it was best if they went as soon as possible. Starting a new life waited for no one, and he wasn't sure how many years either of them had left. As he packed Mariah's possessions into boxes, he looked around the single room. “How many hours, days we spent in here,” he said. “It's a room I will always think of when I think of you.”

  “Laughter, tears, all of it.” She sank onto the bed. “Retiring means all our magical usage is reported back to the Jurors. Every time we open a cupboard, flip a switch, we have to tell them. I don't know how we are supposed to do that.”

  “We do it the same way we always have,” Desmond answered with a shrug. “Walking a grey line, getting away with mischief/”

  “Is that your answer to everything?”

  “Perhaps,” he replied. “I did have a question for you, though, while we were in here.”

  “Oh?” She raised an eyebrow. “You sound like you're up to something.”

  “Down, actually,” he knew she couldn't see him, but he crouched down on one knee. His leg
cracked and it ached slightly to touch his once strong leg to the carpet. He took her hands, pulling a box out of his pocket. “I was wondering if you would pledge yourself to me.”

  Her face was no longer smooth, and her hair was no longer solid and dark. She had laugh lines, wrinkles, and scars. But he was not young, either, his own face tanned and weathered, his hands knicked and twisted.

  Neither of them cared about their outer appearance. Forty years of love, of longing, surged in the room.

  “I could do that,” she said, casually, although she couldn't keep the smile from her face. “If you wanted.”

  “Yes,” he said. “If that's what you want. I don't know how many years we have left, Mariah, but I would like to make the most of them.”

  “Then yes, I will pledge myself to you,” she said, leaning in and landing a kiss on his lips.

  He breathed in deep, touching her face, kissing her neck. He was so grateful in this moment to just be in the same room as her. The idea that they were never going to be separated again was mind blowing.

  “How shall we do it?” she asked. “It's not as if there is a space here for pledge ceremonies.”

  “We could just go into town,” he replied. “Today, if you like?”

  “Today?” She chuckled. “I think we should at least wait for Sybil to come back. She'll be angry to miss such a defiant move. She's due back tomorrow, if you can wait.”

  “That I can do,” Desmond answered. “I've waited forty years for you, my love, I can wait another day or two.”

  “Good,” she said. “And I'll assume you want yours with you?”

  “Of course,” he said. “I'll show Nathaniel how it's done.”

  Mariah chuckled

  “Did you hear him after the Jurors? Speaking about how he had a dream to sit with them one day?”

  “I often wonder where I went wrong with him,” Desmond said, with a smile.

  “Are you surprised by his choice, though?” Mariah asked and Desmond paused.

  “No, not really. I had to give him a little nudge, but in the end, Nathaniel always chooses the right thing. He knew long before me that this path had come to an end. He was just so attached to her, that was all, as one often is with their first Tiro.”

  “You should tell Reynolds,” Mariah spoke the words both of them had been thinking. “He's in the dungeon, it's just a short lift ride.”

  “And security clearance,” Desmond said. “Which we don't have if we are retired.”

  “Surely, they will let you see your old Tiro,” she responded. “Just to say goodbye. There is a chance we could never set foot in here again.”

  “I don't think the Jurors will be swayed by emotion.”

  “Then sway them with fact,” she said. “Maestros always have a right to their Tiros, no matter what path they have taken. That's part of the bond, the strength of magic. It's forever.”

  He sighed, staying silent.

  “Mariah, there have been so many who have thought me strong. They have relied on me for so much. They have walked through the mouth of hell, knowing I would pull them out the other side. But I am not sure I am strong enough for what you ask.”

  “It is because you are not strong enough that you must go see him,” Mariah replied. “It doesn't have to be today, and it doesn't have to be before we are pledged. But I will not let you leave here until you have said goodbye to him. For him. He needs to know that his Maestro also chose a different path, and there is a chance of happiness down it.”

  He raised up to kiss her forehead. “You always know the right things to say.”

  “I try,” she said. “Now, we should get back to packing.”

  “And you are also always business,” he said, as he stood up. “I do wonder how you've accumulated so many things. I've got one bag, at most, and it's half-empty.”

  “Keep packing,” she said, settling against the wall. “Complaining never got us anywhere.”

  She was fully capable of packing. But he was happy to do it for her, as he was happy to do most things to make her happy.

  “Pledged?” said Nathaniel, with a wild grin that night at dinner. Sienna and Devon had spent the day in a similar manner, packing her things, and they were reunited for a cafeteria dinner like nothing had changed. Only Nathaniel still belonged in the cafeteria, Desmond noted, among young Tiros and old Maestros. “Of course, you will, that's brilliant.”

  “Will they still let you stay retired, if you are pledged?” Sienna asked. “Or will you be cast out?”

  “If they haven't cast me out yet,” Desmond answered. “I highly doubt this is going to make them change their minds. We'd like you all to be there, of course, if you could. A day or two, at most.”

  “You move fast,” Nathaniel replied, in surprise

  “Or slow, depending on how you look at it,” Desmond answered, and Nathaniel smirked. “You'll attend then?”

  “I will,” Nathaniel answered. “Sienna, eat.”

  “You're not my Maestro,” she answered, with a smirk, but she did pick up her fork. “Of course, we will come.”

  “We'll get ideas for our own day,” Devon answered, and the older two Maestros froze, turning to him with such a hard stare that he felt shivers going down his spine. “Not right now, I mean. Perhaps…in a few years.”

  “Years?” Sienna echoed and Devon swallowed hard, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

  “In some…time?” he tried again, and she appeared to accept that.

  “Where's Laura?” Nathaniel asked and Devon shoveled food into his mouth like he hadn't eaten in years.

  “She'll be back in a bit,” he said. “One day quest to a moon. She's been taking quirky quests lately.”

  “Do you remember that quest we had?” Sienna answered. “To a planet that felt like it was stuck in the stone age?”

  “Earth?” Desmond asked her, naming a well-known planet that was mostly a human settlement. She really should have known that.

  “Yes.” She blushed. “I suppose I'll forget a lot of the planet names, now that I won't be constantly looking them up on a map.”

  “Eliza will put you to work. Don't worry,” Nathaniel answered. “From what I can tell, she plans to have a base on Natrine, but continue to rule from Jeffro. At least, until Natrine uprises.”

  “Which will only be a matter of time,” Sienna said, softly. “And when it does…”

  “When it does, little one, you can call me,” Nathaniel promised her. “And I will come, in an eye blink.”

  She exchanged a smile with him. There would always be a special bond between them, no matter what their status.

  Both of the youngsters finished early, leaving the two Maestros at the table as the cafeteria began to clear out. Glad for a moment alone with his former Tiro, Desmond cleared his throat.

  “You'll be all right here, after we leave?”

  “I will be,” Nathaniel assured him. “Don't waste your remaining days worrying about me.”

  “Days?” Desmond asked. “I should hope that I have more than days left.”

  “Ha,” Nathaniel grinned. “My humor has rubbed off on you.”

  “It'll stay here,” Desmond replied. “With your bad knock-knock jokes. Have you seen Christa, by the way? Mariah wants to borrow an outfit from her. I don't know why. She looks beautiful always.”

  “Women like new outfits,” Nathaniel replied. “And Christa is in the hanger. I can go, if you want?”

  “I wanted to ask you something, actually,” Desmond said. “If you wouldn't mind…being my pledge assistant.”

  Nathaniel's eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

  “Your pledge assistant?” It was the greatest honor at a wedding, to stand beside the groom. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,” Desmond answered. “I would be honored if you accepted.”

  “Of course, I accept!” Nathaniel grinned. “Thank you!”

  “It means that you will be responsible for our rings,” Desmond said. “And generally gui
ding the ceremony. And I remember the last time you were responsible for rings.”

  Nathaniel grinned. “It was one time. It will be fine.”

  “Of course, you can bring your Tiro,” Desmond said. “If they assign you someone before then.”

  “Oh.” Nathaniel faded for a moment. “I don't think they will. Do you?”

  “I don't know,” Desmond answered. “They may have someone already in mind, or they may be watching the tournaments late in the year. They will likely give you a warrior, Nathaniel. And you should be prepared for that.”

  “I know,” Nathaniel let out a breath. “I just think I've grown so much since then.”

  “You have,” Desmond answered. “And I'm sure the council sees that too. For now, don't dread the future. Whoever you get will join into our family, our bond.”

  “Our bond,” Nathaniel said. “Is growing mighty large.”

  “It is,” Desmond replied. “And one day, when you look back on all of this, you will see your accomplishments not in the quests you win, but in your Tiros, and their Tiros. It may seem a long way off, but trust me, Nathaniel, it will come full circle.”

  “You've been a wonderful Maestro, Desmond,” Nathaniel said, in a rare moment of emotion.

  “And you will be better still.” Desmond rose. “There is much to do. I'll see you tomorrow, then?”

  “Yes,” Nathaniel assured him. “And by sundown tomorrow, you'll be pledged. No longer free.”

  “Or more free than ever,” Desmond answered, “depending on how you look at it. Goodnight.”

  “Goodnight,” Nathaniel called, unable to keep the smile off his face. There was a time when these past few days would have been a nightmare. But now, they seemed like a good dream that was just beginning

  Chapter 23

  “Is this what Desmond had in mind when he suggested you pledge yourselves to each other?” Sybil asked, as she looked around the historic church. “It's beautiful, but it's a bit…old-fashioned.”

  “They had a quest here once,” Mariah said. “And Sienna thinks it's stuck in the stone age, which makes me think of our love. Forever.”

  “That's beautiful,” Sybil said, as they stood waiting just off the main alter. “And it's wonderful that it was free just when you needed it.”