“Now, wench!” he said, eyes flashing. “Go get her for me now!”
Lea took one look at the red glints in the depths of his eyes and shot off the bed. She
had some idea what was happening and ran as fast as she could toward the dining car,
figuring that was where the Blackwind would be. As soon as she saw her, she yelled at
her that the Reaper needed her.
Penthe paused with a glass almost to her lips. “What’s wrong?”
“I think he’s about to Transition!” Lea said, trembling violently from head to toe.
“Oh hell!” Penthe hissed, and slammed her glass down on the table, shoved her
chair back and practically flew past Lea.
Everyone sitting in the dining car turned pale. Lea barely felt Riley taking her arm
to seat her at his table. She looked up at him with dazed eyes.
“Here,” Riley said, pressing a glass of water into her hand. “Drink.”
Penthe almost missed the door to the Reaper’s compartment and had to snake out a
hand to grab the doorjamb to halt her mad rush. She stepped back and as soon as she
saw the naked Reaper on all fours in the center of the bed, his head swinging from side
to side as he panted, she felt her insides turn to water.
“Lock. Me. In,” he managed to say, his back arching.
The sounds coming from the Reaper’s body sent chills down Penthe’s body but she
didn’t question his command. She jerked the door closed and held the handle, bracing
her feet on the opposite jambs as she held it, shouting for the conductor to bring his key.
Hurrying toward her, the conductor’s hand was trembling so badly he dropped his set
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of keys and had to stoop down to snatch it up, whimpering as he poked unsuccessfully
at the lock trying to get the key in.
“Hurry the fuck up!” Penthe yelled at the poor man.
Something hit the door hard and it rattled in the frame. Although the Amazeen had
her full weight behind holding it shut as the conductor struggled to lock it, the portal
gave just a little and she had to strain to pull it closed again.
“Damn it, man!” the Blackwind hissed. “Lock the damned thing!”
Snarls came from behind the door as the conductor managed to turn the key and
lock the portal. Vicious scraping sounds down the wood made the hair stand up on the
little man’s head. Growls and chuffing noises echoed from the room as things began
hitting the door.
Despite knowing the door was locked, Penthe continued pulling on the handle, her
booted feet braced halfway up the doorjambs as she put her weight behind holding the
handle.
Total destruction was going on inside the Reaper’s compartment. He was howling
fiercely and pounding on the door.
“What should we do?” the conductor asked, his face as white as parchment.
“If he breaks the window, he’ll…”
At that moment the sound of glass shattering and a triumphant howl told the
Amazeen the Reaper had leapt from the compartment. She let go of the door and ran
back through the sleeper car, the dining car—barely noting the looks of horror on the
passengers’ faces—and sprinted through the social car and out to the observation car. In
the distance, she saw a wolf streaking through the woods beyond the rails and knew
Bevyn Coure was running free. She turned to find Riley behind her.
“Is he loose?”
“That he is,” she said.
“Should we have them stop the train?”
Penthe didn’t know how to answer that. If the Reaper had any control over himself,
he more than likely would not attack the train but if he were lost to his animalistic
nature, he might harm someone. She weighed the consequences, the options, then her
shoulders slumped.
“No, I don’t think that would be wise,” she said at last.
“He’ll follow us,” Lea said, and they turned to look at her. “He doesn’t want me to
see him like that.”
“I thought he said he wasn’t near Transition,” Penthe said.
“Perhaps the wounds altered his cycle,” Lea said. She was leaning against the open
door of the observation deck, the wind from the moving train blowing her blonde hair,
her arms wrapped around her. “His flesh was so hot I should have realized what was
going to happen.”
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“Well, there’s nothing we can do,” Riley said. He went to Lea. “Let’s go get that
food.”
“I can’t eat now,” Lea said. “I’m too keyed up.”
“You should try,” Riley told her. “At least come on in and sit with us.”
Penthe took one last look behind the train then came toward Lea. “He’ll be all right,
wench.”
“Aye,” Lea said, and moved back, her head down.
“He called me because he knew I had the strength to hold that door shut,” Penthe
said. “No other reason.”
Lea lifted her head and met the Amazeen’s gaze. “I know.”
Riley walked behind the women as they moved back through the social car and into
the dining car where everyone was looking up at them expectedly. “He’s running
somewhere off in the woods out there,” he told them. “There’s nothing to worry about.”
“Will he be all right?” one of the elderly women asked.
“He’s a Reaper,” Lea answered. “He’ll be fine.”
* * * * *
Though his mind had been taken over completely by the animal side of him, Bevyn
Coure was aware and as he sat hunkered over the deer he’d brought down, his fangs
buried in the sleek brown neck, his thoughts were on Lea. Drawing the dead animal’s
blood deep into his own body to replenish what he’d lost, the Reaper held his woman’s
face firmly in his mind. She was his anchor to sanity that kept him from attacking a
nearby party of trappers who were sitting around a campfire only a few hundred yards
away.
Using the power that had been given to him, he closed his eyes and concentrated on
finding Lea at that moment. With the small amount of blood he had taken from her, he
could pinpoint her position and hear every word she spoke. He could sense her state of
mind and knew she was worried about him. That made his heart ache.
“Do not worry, sweeting,” he sent to her.
On the train, Lea jumped, hearing that voice in her head. She nearly choked on the
cup of coffee she had been trying to drink.
“I’ll join you when I am able, but don’t be concerned if I am not there,” he whispered to
her. “I can’t predict how long the Transition will last.”
“Are you all right?” she whispered.
“Think the words, milady, and I will hear them,” he told her. “And aye, I am all right.”
There was a slight pause then she said, “I love you.”
“I love you too. Sleep well, mo shearc .”
“Not without you by my side,” she told him, and was relieved to hear his slight laugh.
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When he said nothing more, she knew he had terminated their conversation.
Looking around her at the others, she met Penthe’s steady look and knew the Amazeen
must have realized Lea had been in contact with her Reaper for the Blackwind nodded
to her then turned her head to look out the window at the dark scene
ry they passed.
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Chapter Nine
The train pulled into the Boreas station on the North Sea in the midst of the
rainstorm that followed behind them from Clewiston. Blustery wind whipped at the
windows, sending sheets of rain cascading against the glass.
“I hate rain,” Penthe said. She had her Dóigra clutched in her hand as they waited
in a line to exit the train.
A cool breeze came in through the door the conductor had left open when he’d
exited onto the platform. He stood conversing with two tall men in dark brown
uniforms who Riley told them were guards from the Citadel.
“See that big coach over there?” he said, pointing at a large conveyance pulled by
six horses. “That’s what you’ll be making the trip up to the fortress in.”
Penthe and Lea exchanged a look, neither happy about striking out in the storm.
For the last two days Lea and the Amazeen had formed a touchy kind of truce.
With Bevyn still gone, the women had settled into a relationship of sorts that would
never be friendly, but at least was no longer purely antagonistic. It had helped that her
Reaper had spoken psychically many times over those days to Lea, calming her fears
and promising her he would meet her at the Citadel.
“Why do you suppose they have not filled in these awful craters or removed some
of the fallen buildings, at least planted some trees to conceal the scorched land?” Lea
asked as she peered out the window at the destruction she realized had to have been
caused during the Burning War and subsequent cataclysmic disasters that had hit the
area.
“There are those who believe the goddess Herself wants it kept this way to remind
the Terrans of all they lost because of their warring ways,” Riley said. “It is a vivid
reminder, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Lea agreed. She stared up the manmade mountain that could be seen
through the wavering lines of the rain on the windows. A steep climb wound its way
up the mountain in a serpentine trail. Her stomach roiled at making the perilous
journey.
“Your coach is ready, my ladies,” the conductor said as he climbed onboard. He
took Lea’s bag but Penthe refused to allow him to touch her weapon, glaring at the man
instead.
Thanking Riley for everything he’d done for them, Lea and Penthe bid the gambler
farewell, Lea asking him to come to Orson to visit if he got the chance.
“I’d like that and just might take you up on the offer,” Riley said. He tipped his hat
to the women.
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Following the conductor from the train, Lea and the Amazeen hurried to the
Citadel guards, who respectfully greeted them. Penthe regarded the coach toward
which they were being led and decided the vehicle was long enough to accommodate
her Dóigra.
“Lord Arawn is waiting for you at the top,” one of the guards told them.
A loud, piercing whistle sounded and the guard explained it was to alert the guards
at the Citadel that the coach was on its way.
“Security is very strict here,” the man told them. He eyed the Dóigra but said
nothing when Penthe informed him she would keep it with her.
“Just don’t point it at Lord Arawn,” the man warned. “Our Prime Reaper is not
overly fond of Amazeens as it is.” His mouth twisted. “None of us are.”
“Fuck you too,” Penthe snarled at the man, dismissing him as she climbed
unassisted into the coach.
Lea gave the guard a tremulous smile. “I’m sorry. She can be a bit rude,” she
apologized to him.
The guard tipped his hat. “Don’t let it concern you, Lady Lea,” he said. He held out
his hand to help her climb the steps.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You are our first Reaper’s mate and it is my privilege and honor to serve you,
milady,” he said softly. “I hope you enjoy your stay at the Citadel.”
Surprised the man knew she belonged to Bevyn, although she realized as she took
her seat and he closed the door behind her, this was why her Reaper had been
summoned to the Citadel. She was the reason he would be punished and that bothered
her deeply.
“Looks like you’re going to be treated like royalty,” Penthe grumbled as the coach
jerked forward and left the protection of the canopied platform. The rain hitting the roof
nearly drowned out her next words. “As befitting a Reaper’s mate.”
Lea ignored the words. The glass windows did not allow that much to be seen for
the rain was pounding against the coach, but she strained to see out until the climb
became so steep it made her nervous.
It seemed to take forever for the coach to reach the summit of the manmade
mountain upon which the fortification sat. The imposing sight of the legendary building
caused both women to gape at it as the coach pulled up to the myriad steps leading into
the building. Made of brick and mortar, the huge fortress had been constructed over a
legendary Terran building that had been destroyed during the War. The five sweeping
arms of the Citadel were fashioned along the lines of a flattened star and rose five
stories high and included a huge basement that ran not only under the ten sections of
the ground floor but the huge center courtyard around which each arm had been built.
Covering twenty-nine acres and encompassing six million square feet of floor space, the
Citadel was an impressive, forbidding stronghold.
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“We’ve nothing like that on Amazeen,” Penthe said.
“I doubt there is anything like it here either,” Lea commented.
“Not even the Bastion?” Penthe said. “The one in the Northlands?”
Lea shrugged. She had no idea what the Bastion was.
A man in a brown uniform came down the steps with a large umbrella as the
guards, who had driven the coach, got down from their seats and flanked the coach
door. After returning the salutes of his men, the newcomer motioned for the door to be
opened.
“Good day, ladies,” the man greeted them. “I am Giles D’Brickashaw, the Primary
Guide. Welcome to the Citadel.” He held his hand out to Lea. “It is an honor, Lady
Lea.”
Lea took Giles’ hand and was helped under the protection of the large umbrella, but
even so, rain cascaded down around them and blew water against her gown. She
glanced back at Penthe and was pleased to see the warrior woman frowning.
“You will grow accustomed to our weather,” Giles said. “It rains very frequently
here and there’s a storm brewing out in the North Sea to collide with the one that
followed on your heels.”
“Has there been word of Lord Bevyn?” she asked as they began the steep climb up
the steps.
“He is already here, milady,” Giles informed her, “and awaiting you.”
Lea breathed a sigh of relief. She had not heard from him since she woke that
morning and had been growing worried.
“He is well, milady,” Giles said with a smile. “His Transition did not last as long as
normal since it was caused out of cycle by the severity of his wounds. He is most
anxious to see you.”
“Are the other Reapers here?” Penthe asked as they neared the top step.
“Just Lord Arawn, the Prime, milady,” Giles answered. “The others are on
assignment.”
Lea reached out to touch Giles’ arm, halting him. “Is he in a lot of trouble because of
me?”
Giles smiled gently. “There is no need to worry, Lady Lea. As I understand it, his
punishment will not be harsh. A week in a containment cell isn’t a cakewalk but neither
is it brutal punishment.”
“Would it help if I went before the Shadowlords and…?”
“Milady, his sentence will be nothing that Lord Bevyn does not expect or for which
he is unprepared. Had he not wanted to spend his life with you, he could merely have
walked away.” D’Brickashaw covered her hand with his. “He chose not to.”
“But…”
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“As a Reaper’s mate, you must be strong, milady,” Giles said sternly. “You must
support him for it is his decisions that will direct your lives together. Honor him and
the commitment he has made to you. Show the Shadowlords how you feel about him
but do not grovel before them—they will be annoyed if you do. Do not show them
disrespect by disputing their decisions—your mate will bear the consequences if you
do. Be strong and stand behind Lord Bevyn, give him your support.”
“In other words, don’t let the Shadowlords know how much I hate what they will
be doing to him because of me,” she said.
“Precisely,” Giles declared.
A man in a dark brown uniform came striding toward them. He stopped and
smartly saluted Penthe. “I have been asked to escort you to the Security Section,
Captain.”
Penthe blinked. “You have mistaken me for someone else. I hold no rank among the
Amazeen,” she responded.
“With your permission, ma’am, Lord Kheelan has assigned you rank here. He will
discuss this with you once we have you processed in,” the man replied.
“Processed?” Penthe repeated, her eyes narrowing. “Show me to this section of
yours. We’ll see what the hell is going on!”
Lea breathed a sigh of relief as the Amazeen stormed off. She felt acutely
uncomfortable anywhere near the woman.
Giles led her through the unbelievably beautiful reception area and down a long
hallway until they came to the anteroom of the High Council, stopping now and again
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