by Krista Walsh
Phil and Joly stared at him as if he’d sprouted another head, but they were in for a fun and short trip if the signs were true. Jeff braced himself for the pull of a much smoother ride compared to the vortex, but just as the lights began to flash in his vision, the blue, white, and black tunnel opening up in front of him, he remembered he couldn’t leave right then.
“What’s this?” asked Phil.
“It’s the Meratis incantation,” said Jeff, starting towards the door, fighting against the gentle tug. His vision began to clear and the room came back into focus. “It’s perfectly safe. She’s got the hang of it by now.”
“Where the hell are you going?” Joly demanded, eyes wide with fear of the unknown.
Jeff had never seen the Meratis spell work from the outside before. The two men stood surrounded in light, the colours swirling around them as they began to fade.
“Tell Maggie to meet me at the stables,” he said. There was no time to say more before the men disappeared completely.
With a whoop and a hop, which he regretted immediately as both his side and thigh shot him through with pain, he hurried back through the snow towards the stables.
The horses must have felt the shift in the air, because none of them seemed at ease. Jeff did his best to keep them calm, grabbing the reins of both, and murmuring soothing nothings, but he hoped he wouldn’t be trampled when the spell took them.
He closed his eyes and waited.
After a few minutes of nothing, he opened his eyes and listened for voices on the air.
The horses grew impatient, stamping at the ground, and Jeff was ready to stamp right along with them. How long would it take Maggie to get to where he stood now and cast the spell? Had something gone wrong? Had it not worked? He’d seen Phil and Joly disappear from this world, but had they reached the other side?
Hope faded into symptoms Jeff knew as panic. He gave up trying to control the horses and held onto them only to stop himself from falling. His breath quickened at the thought of being trapped in this dimension entirely by himself with only the horses for company. As much as he loved Swish, the loneliness would be overwhelming. Nothing but a life he could see but not touch; nothing but one patch of paradise where he could eventually drown himself if things got too bad. There would be no future for him, no company.
His panic rose, and he couldn’t catch his breath. His fingers started to tingle and spots appeared in his vision. Swish snorted and began to fidget under Jeff’s hold, Ariana’s mare reacting to both of their discomfort.
Jeff thought he might be sick, he felt so dizzy.
Calm down, Powell. Calm down.
With effort, he tried to control his breathing, but lights flashed in his eyes, and everything around him began to fade.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jeff? Jeff! Breathe. It’s all right, honey, I’m here. We’re here. You’re all right.”
The dizzying swirl of light faded away, but black clouds still danced on the edges of Jeff’s vision and he couldn’t stop hyperventilating. The sound of a voice not his own cut through some primal part of his brain, but he couldn’t accept what was real or what he hoped was real.
He opened his eyes to see Cassie leaning over him, concern and happiness on her face. She helped him sit up, and Maggie crouched beside her, rubbing his back in circles while he calmed down. The shock of being around friendly faces overpowered him, and he threw his arms around Cassie’s neck, refusing to release her until he was sure his senses weren’t lying.
“I’m here, Jeff. You’re back. We found you. I told you we would always find each other,” she murmured in his ear, pressing kisses on his forehead and cheeks. She held him just as tightly as he held her, and nothing but the awareness of so many other people standing around them would have made him ease his grip.
Keeping his arms firmly around her, he looked up into Jasmine’s and Brady’s faces where they stood behind Maggie.
“You guys made it. How did it end? What happened? Where’s Swish?”
Panic rose up again as he looked around and didn’t see the horses. “Did they make it? Does the Meratis spell pick up animals? He was there, he—”
“Hush, love,” Ariana soothed. She stood next to Jasmine, her arm around a wide-eyed Venn. “He’s here. He and the others made it back just fine. Paul took them away a few seconds ago. He’s going to give them a good rub down with the brushes and fill them up with fresh hay.”
“They’re in a much better state of mind than you are right now, Author,” Jayden commented. “A person would think you didn’t know which way was up.”
Jeff prepared to lash out at him, but saw his friend spoke with a smile. Joking. They could do that now the battle was over.
“Phil and Joly?” he asked.
“Confused, but safe,” Venn assured him.
“Let’s get you inside and freshened up,” said Cassie, “then we’ll fill you in on everything.”
As the adrenaline drained out of his body, Jeff felt lightheaded and wobbly. Feeling flooded back into his hands and feet, and the sweat on the back of his neck cooled. Colours flooded into the scene around him, and he felt the fresh air on his cheeks.
He laughed.
“I do want to freshen up, but not inside.” With Cassie and Maggie’s help, he got to his feet. They were outside what was left of the stable.
Jeff laughed again at the thought.
At that moment, he didn’t care if another vortex opened up and swallowed all of them, as long as this time Cassie came with him. He didn’t care if dragons were still flying overhead, or if a whole army of Raul’s followers was about to march through the gates and challenge them to another round.
He extended his hand towards Cassie. “Come with me?”
Cassie’s eyes widened and she looked at the others.
Jasmine shrugged. “We have no lack of news, but nothing that won’t keep.”
Venn grinned. “You kids go have fun.”
Cassie slid her hand into Jeff’s, and he led her away. Before he’d gone too far, he stopped and turned back, seeing his friends stare after him in baffled confusion. “Thank you, by the way. For finding me. I know it probably crossed your mind to leave me behind.”
He said the words with a grin, and Jayden returned the smile. “Only for a minute, Author.”
Jeff slung his arm around Cassie’s shoulders and led her towards the Fountain.
***
With no means or desire of marking the time, Jeff and Cassie soaked in the water until their toes went pruny. For the first half of their time together, no words were spoken beyond whispered murmurs. They put aside everything they’d seen, everything they’d experienced, and luxuriated in each other’s company.
The warm water against the chill of the wind, the bright colours against the pureness of the white snow, the pleasure of every caress against the bite of pain in his side—the sweetest contrasts heightened every emotion and sensation, making that moment the sum of every moment that had passed and every moment that would ever be. It was blissful nirvana, and neither wanted it to end.
Eventually, sated, sore, and sleepy, Jeff rested his head back against the frozen earth, pressing Cassie tightly against his good side.
“How have I never been here before?” she sighed.
“I’ve never had time to show you,” he said. “Think about it. Since you’ve been here, has there ever not been a crisis?”
Cassie thought for a moment, and shook her head. “I guess not. We’re destined to be run off our feet.”
Jeff peered down at her with one eye. “Is there any crisis now I should be aware of?”
She chuckled. “No. Everything is pretty wonderful, actually.”
“Good,” said Jeff. “That’s all that matters. That’s all I want to hear about for now. Except you. Do you want to tell me what happened?”
Cassie didn’t answer right away, running her fingers over his chest and stomach, carefully, skirting around the scab of his stab wound
.
“I was so scared when you disappeared, Jeff,” she said, skipping right to the end. “I’d only just found you and we were so close to being out of it. And then to see you get stabbed, and only seconds later have you vanish into that damn vortex. I was so afraid I’d lost you for good that time.”
Jeff held her tighter. He didn’t want to dwell on his fear and loss of those weeks. A thought popped into his head and he interrupted her to ask, “How long ago was that, anyway? Was I gone the full week and a half?”
She looked up at him, her brow furrowed as she tried to work it out. Jeff kissed the crease between her eyebrows that he found so endearing.
“That sounds about right,” she said. “We were back at the Keep only a few days after you disappeared. Maggie and William tried to reopen the vortex and get you back that way, but it didn’t work. We would have tried the Meratis spell sooner, but Maggie had to figure out how to access another dimension, and there was so much—”
“Never mind. I don’t want to think about that now. Let’s go back to you. The Sisters took you away from me, the bitches. Where did you end up?”
Cassie shrugged. “Near the village. Most of Raul’s followers had already taken up residence there. Like I said, they found me on the outskirts and I had to convince them I was one of them. A Raul fanatic looking for like-minded people, shunned by my own community, on the run from the authorities. Lucky for me I knew some in-depth details of Raul’s history, because they ate it up. I even convinced them I’d been a soldier at Treevale, which got me into the inner circle.”
“Genius,” said Jeff. He reminded himself she was here with him and safe, because his mind started to worry retroactively for her safety. “They treated you all right, then? You were okay?”
Cassie nodded against his shoulder, but Jeff noticed the hesitation. He didn’t push her to answer, and after a moment she said, “The things they were doing, Jeff.” She shuddered against him. “It was awful. They had me help dig up the corpses of those poor animals. They would set traps for them, because the reanimation worked better when the bodies were fresh, but if they couldn’t catch enough live ones, they found dead ones and worked with that. So disgusting. I won’t get into the details, but it’s why I had to cut my hair.”
She covered her mouth for a moment and pressed her hand against her chest, fighting back whatever thoughts had turned her face a sickly grey.
Jeff ran his fingers through her wet tresses and kissed the top of her head. He couldn’t seem to keep his lips off her longer than a few minutes at a time.
“I like it,” he said to distract her. “I miss your ponytail, but I like it short. You look even more kick-ass.”
She giggled and looked up at him, catching her lips under his jawline. “Thank you. Anyway, I heard most of their plans. Like I told you, they wanted to bring the dragon back, and sacrifice you to bring Raul’s spirit back into the dragon. I don’t know if it would have worked. You could probably tell from the animals that as much as these people idolised Raul, they had none of his skill or ability. They probably would have botched the whole ritual. I’m still glad they didn’t get the chance.”
“Me too,” said Jeff.
“As for the vortices, they always said they had a way to close the rifts once the ritual was completed, but again I don’t know if it would have worked.”
Another question pushed its way to the front of Jeff’s mind. “Did Maggie and the others manage to close the rift then? It’s not a pressing concern?”
“Not for now,” she said. “That part is a little complicated.”
“Then I don’t want to hear it yet. Keep going.”
“That’s pretty much all there is. I wasn’t there very long.”
“You were covered in bruises when I found you,” said Jeff, trailing his fingers over her cheek. “That can’t be all that happened.”
He knew she didn’t want to talk about it, but he had to know. He had to have the details of what she’d suffered because of him. Then he would know how much he had to make up to her for the rest of his life.
She chuckled. “Don’t get it in your head that you have to play hero, Jeff. The bruises weren’t because of them. Well, most of them weren’t. The guy who found me wasn’t exactly gentle, but I soon showed him it was better not to mess with me. The others were my own fault, I’m afraid. I was dizzy after the Sisters transported me into the forest, and I tripped, fell, and hit my head. Embarrassing, really.”
Jeff tilted up her face to kiss where the bruise had been. “I’m sorry you got hurt, but I think I’ll skip avenging your injuries just this once.”
“What about you? You’ve been busy.”
Jeff raised a shoulder. “None of it matters now. Everything I did was to get back to you, and now you’re here.”
Cassie twisted in the water so her body splayed out over his, and she looked down on him. Jeff wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her from floating away and felt his body rush with new heat.
“Is this Jeff Powell before me, telling me that the story doesn’t matter?” she asked in feigned shock.
Jeff kissed her. “Some people only live for the endings. For this particular story, I’m with those people.”
Cassie smiled and kissed him again. Her fingers traced patterns over his chest and disappeared under the water, and then once more they both lost track of time.
***
It was dark by the time they returned to the Keep. Jeff’s stomach grumbled, the only part of his body unsatisfied. That and his lips, he discovered, still unable to stay away from any part of Cassie’s body for too long.
“Stop it,” she said with a laugh, pushing him away as they entered the foyer. “The way your stomach is growling, I’m afraid all of these kisses are just a precursor to you having me for dinner.”
Jeff growled in her ear before biting her neck, and she giggled.
“You two are disgusting,” said Jayden, who happened to walk down the stairs as they came in. “I’m glad I’m ridiculously hungry, or you’d put me off my appetite.”
“You’re just jealous,” said Jeff.
Jayden snorted. “Gods know I could have my choice of any woman in the village.”
“Oh really?” Ariana asked, coming down the stairs behind him. “And who might the unfortunate woman be that you have your eye on now? I’ll hurry to warn her in advance. Save her the trouble.”
Jeff held back a sigh, disappointed that they hadn’t worked out their issues in the time he’d been gone. He didn’t relish having another chat with Jayden on the subject.
“Not all women are as shrewish as yourself,” Jayden retorted. “Some of them enjoy a compliment and a sweet word in their ear.”
“You give them the word right before you run off and pretend it never happened, like the gentleman you are.”
Jayden flushed red. “I’m not always the one that does the running, if you recall. You were the one to skip out on me.”
Ariana came down another step. “I had responsibilities. I was trying to be a grown-up for a change. I expected you to do the same and come after me. It’s not like you didn’t know where I’d be.”
Jayden climbed up a step towards her. Jeff and Cassie remained in the foyer, too afraid to move and direct either of their attention on themselves.
“‘There’s something I need to tell you,’ you said, the night before you left. ‘I’m the queen’s daughter.’ You hardly gave me a chance to hear you before you disappeared. How was I supposed to know you wanted me to follow? For all I knew, that was your way of telling me you’d made a mistake. That you didn’t love me, shouldn’t have married me, and wanted to be rid of me and go and be with some foreign prince.”
He waved his hand towards the door, as if a line of foreign princes waited to sweep her off right now.
“I had no idea how you would react,” Ariana argued, her voice rising to match the volume of his. The hue of her skin matched her hair, and her lips trembled. “The way you looked at m
e when I told you, I thought you believed the mistake was yours. I was so afraid you would tell me we had to end, because your loyalty was to my mother and you wouldn’t disrespect her by marrying me against her wishes. I saw the thoughts pass through your mind and it would have broken my heart to hear them. So I ran away. I’m not proud of it, Jayden, but I loved you too damn much. Do you know how long I waited to hear from you? How much I prayed to the nine gods every single night that you would ride up that road and claim me as your wife?”
She looked like she was about to say more, but emotion caught in her throat, and she raised her gaze to the ceiling with a slow exhale.
Jayden stared at her, his eye wide, the hand on the railing shaking as badly as Ariana was.
Cassie froze in Jeff’s arms, and Jeff held his breath.
Jayden’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, and for a moment there was silence.
“Gods-be-damned, woman,” he finally said, his voice low and husky. As much as he felt badly for invading their privacy, Jeff strained his ears to hear him. “For the bloody merciful world, you drive me madder than a viper in a nettle bush.”
He said nothing else after that. Taking the three steps up to meet her, he wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and laid on her a kiss so deep and wild that Jeff started to blush.
At first Ariana froze, one hand against the wall to gain her balance, the other against his chest, possibly to push him away. But after a moment she relaxed into the embrace and moulded herself against him.
Cassie stifled a laugh against Jeff’s shoulder, while he stood there grinning like a fool.
“About damned time,” he said softly.
Jasmine came down the corridor from the direction of the dining hall, and her eyebrows rose halfway up her forehead. “And what’s this new development? Someone tell the kids to hide their eyes.”
Jayden raised a finger in his sister’s direction without leaving Ariana’s lips, and Jasmine rolled her eyes with a grin. She turned to Jeff and Cassie and wrapped her arms around them both. “I’m starving,” she said in greeting. “I’m so glad you guys are here so we can eat.”