“You lack the ability to do what is necessary, to kill to prevent a future problem. I do not have that problem. Your family is what holds you back, keeps you from being all that you could be, from grasping all the power that lies before you.” Esson rose on black wings, swooping down into the chasm and then up the other side, bypassing the barrier. Before him the Brownie army stood, spears held ready to attack.
Rose screamed, and for the first time she used her wings. She flapped them weakly, hovering slightly above the ground then fell back down. Hitting her hand on the ground in frustration, tears pricked her eyes. She reached to the stone for the knowledge she needed, and this time was able to fly down into the chasm and after Esson. Her flight might not have been as graceful as his, but grace was not what mattered in that situation. All she cared about was saving her mates.
She heard screams as she soared up out of the chasm. Brownies lay on the ground, clutching their throats. Others charged each other, fighting with their spears. Esson stood before the gathering, waving his arms, conducting his own orchestra of death. Rose searched for her mates, but couldn’t see them, Thea, or the girls. She prayed that they were safe.
She flew at Esson and tackled him to the ground. She couldn’t look around to see what was going on, but the sounds of fighting stopped, and confused voices penetrated her concentration. Her hands clasped around Esson’s neck, his face laughing into hers as she squeezed.
“Yes, my love, my dear niece. Feel your anger, feed it with your despair. Let it grow–” His voice cut off suddenly as vines sprouted from his throat.
A tear fell on her great uncle’s cheek as she cried for what must be done. “No, Uncle. I am nothing like you. This hurts me. I do not want to take a life, but I must before you destroy the world.”
His body melted into the earth and a large Mandrake plant grew from his body. An ivy vine with long needles created a prison over it, warning all of the death that would come from the plant.
Rose fell back on her heels, sobbing for what she had done, for the lives that had been shed, and for the all she had lost. Warm arms enveloped her as the smell of pine filled the air. She turned and buried her face in Gris’s chest.
“Shh, Muisje, it’s over. We are all here and safe.”
“We are not all here,” she sobbed.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Gris
Gris picked her up and carried her through the Bog. The Keep was a half day’s walk, but he and Niall would carry her the whole way. Keyne and Niall kept a running monologue, reassuring her of their love. No one mentioned the obvious loss of the baby. Gris didn’t know what to say, how to make her feel better. He didn’t want to add his loss onto hers.
Tears ran down his cheeks. His father, Snowden, Cullen, and now the baby. He felt as if he would drown under the heartache but had to be strong, so he pushed it into a box. He would be strong, the rock that they all held onto in the storm.
He glanced to his brother and saw Niall struggling as well. He handed Rose to Niall, giving his arms and heart a break.
Niall
He held Rose close to his chest, wishing that he could fill the empty void. He felt like everything had been sucked out of his chest. Niall wanted to talk out his feelings but was afraid of making it worse for Rose and his brothers. So, instead, he spoke soothingly to her, reassuring her that all would be well, that he loved her. In between murmurings, he glanced to Keyne and saw the longing in his brother’s eyes, but his body was more incorporeal than normal, and he wouldn’t have the strength to hold Rose.
Keyne
Cold permeated his ghostly flesh, and he didn’t know if he was reacting to Rose or if something was happening to him. Was his time here up? Was he to go the way of Jake and Snowden?
But there was so much that he still had to live for. He wanted to see the girls grow, to see them mature into strong women. He wanted to see Rose healthy and whole, to love her until her time on Earth was at an end.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Gris
He set Rose down on a soft bed.
Thea ran her small hands through Rose’s hair as her gravelly voice spoke. “You’re safe now, sleep.”
Rose’s eyes drifted shut into dreamless sleep.
“What did he do to her?” Gris asked, not wanting to leave her side.
Thea had had one of the tents prepared with a bed and arranged for her to be bathed and dressed. He hadn’t realized the extent of magic the princess had, but when she had told Rose to sleep, Rose had relaxed into the mattress and slept deeply.
Three female Brownies had come in and bathed Rose, working around the three men who hovered around her. Once she was clean and settled, they left the men to speak with Rose.
“That is a Bloodstone,” Thea said, her voice filled with disgust. “It is a very valuable stone that in the wrong hands becomes dangerous, as we have seen here. Esson bound Rose to the stone, allowing him to use her to open the portal from the demon realm to Empyrean.” She paused to look at Rose, and a tear trailed down her cheek. “His ceremony entailed cutting her life line with Angiron.” She picked up Rose’s hand that had been wrapped in white gauze, her gold blood seeping through. “It will never heal since he left angiron in the wound. When he cut her life line, he, in essence, killed her, causing her to lose the baby. But at the same time, he bonded her with the Bloodstone which saved her life.”
“What is the Bloodstone exactly?” Gris asked. Everyone had heard of them, but it was an item that had more rumor than truth to it.
“A Bloodstone is a rare gem that has special properties to it. In ancient times, they believed that when ground up and ingested, it strengthened the life force of the person and provided clarity through balance of their spirit. In this instance, I am not sure what he did, but he fused a stone to Rose’s aura. It has awakened all of her abilities and strengthened her mind.”
“So, how do we remove it?” Niall asked.
Thea looked down at Rose and sat silently for a minute before she looked up at the men in front of her. Tears pooled in her large blue eyes. “We don’t. Removing it will kill her.”
The men look at Thea and then Rose. Keyne was the first to move, going over to the far side of the bed to curl up against Rose, holding her close.
“Thank you, Thea. I know this hurt you to tell us,” Gris said, his voice rough with unshed tears.
“I’ll be here when she or any of you need me. But right now, you need each other. Don’t worry about the girls. I will take care of them,” she said and quietly left the men to watch over Rose.
“What now?” Gris asked his brothers. “She won’t be accepted in society with the stone infused like that, and as Thea said, we can’t remove it.”
Keyne looked at Gris and shook his head. “For now, we stay here, we love her, and when she is ready, we talk about where to go after all this.”
Gris looked over to where Niall sat, a hand on Rose’s head, tears dripping into her hair. He was almost as worried about Niall as he was about Rose. Niall had told them what had happened back at the safe house.
When Rose had decided to return and fight Esson herself, Gris and Keyne had tried to talk her out of it. But she had been determined that only she could stop him. When Gris had been meeting with King Ailar, Rose had snuck back into the safehouse. By the time Gris had discovered that she was gone, Esson and Rose had disappeared. Niall had been near death, and it had taken all his energy to heal him and get them both back to Empyrean, Thea, and the girls.
Once Niall could speak, he had told Gris about the fight in the safehouse—how, in fear, he had opened his wings and killed many of the demons, including Cullen, and of Esson killing Snowden and Jake. After telling him everything that had happened, he had barely spoken a word, his sensitive heart tearing him apart over the deaths that he had caused.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Rose
It had been weeks since she had killed Esson, and she still struggled to get up, to act normal. She di
dn’t know what normal was anymore. Thea would bring the girls to see her, and she would perk up for the time they were with her, putting on a brave face. But she could see the girls’ fear in their eyes when they looked at the stone infused into her forehead. How could she blame them when she looked at it in disgust as well?
In the fairy realm, she was treated like a Goddess. The Brownies were so thankful for saving them from the destruction that the Demons had planned, yet at the same time they feared her powers. If she even mentioned something she wanted or longed for, it appeared in front of her.
She had tried hiding in the tent from the Brownies, but Thea had shooed her out, saying that it wasn’t healthy to lie in bed. So, she had taken to long walks in the Bog. Often times, she would be accompanied by Ortheus shadowing her. He wouldn’t ask her to speak, just would walk behind her making sure she was safe, and as needed, encouraging her to return to the tent to rest.
Gris, Niall, and Keyne kept themselves busy with the King and returning to the safehouse to clean it and make it livable. When they looked at her, all she could see was sadness in their eyes, and she found herself hiding from them.
As she was leaving the tent, Thea stepped in front of her. “Rose, this isn’t healthy,” she said.
“What’s not healthy?” she responded bitterly. “I lost my son, my mate, I died and came back. I have powers I shouldn’t have, I am dealing with a combination that no one in history has dealt with, and you stand there and tell me it isn’t healthy!” She was screaming by the time that she finished as she turned her back on Thea.
She tried to walk away, but Thea stood in front of her again. “Yes, you have a lot to be angry over, pain that no one should have to carry. But you are pushing your mates and children away.”
“I’m pushing them away? They look at me in fear and disgust. Niall, Gris, and Keyne are too busy with the King and the stupid safehouse to care how I feel. The girls don’t need me. They are doted on and loved by the Brownies.” Rose flung herself onto the bed, burying her face in the pillow.
Thea came and sat on the bed, rubbing Rose’s back. “They are as lost as you, Rose. They don’t know how to deal with the loss of the baby or Cullen. They are afraid to say something to hurt you or upset you.” She paused for a few minutes.
Rose didn’t know what to say. She had been so absorbed in her own pain that she hadn’t thought to how her mates might be handling it.
“It is time for you to connect with them again, to talk and fix this, before you completely fall into despair,” Thea told her.
Rose looked at her friend. She wasn’t holding back anything, not pulling any punches with her, and as much as Rose resented it, she knew it was what she needed to hear.
Looking up at Thea, she asked, “How?”
Thea smiled. “I have a plan.”
By the time that she had explained the plan, Rose had the beginnings of hope and a smile. The first step was a hot bath and some clean clothes.
Chapter Forty
Rose
Feeling clean again, Rose followed Thea’s directions and carefully wrote out some notes to her mates. She placed them on the bed, where they would see them when they came in. She then took the path that Thea had indicated. It was maybe a twenty-minute walk from the Keep, but it felt a world away. Hidden behind a grove of trees, a small waterfall fell into a pond. Beside the pond, a tent had been set up and a fire was laid ready to be lit. She peeked into the tent and saw that Thea had done as she had said. Pillows and thick mattresses covered the floor. Small lights hung, waiting to be lit. In one corner sat a small table with a tray of dried fruit, cheeses, and breads, a small mesh tent covering it.
Thea had told her that this particular pond and waterfall were charmed to prevent any Nixie or other creatures from entering. She said it had been where she and Ansil had spent their time together.
The water looked inviting with the sun glinting off it. Rose decided to take a swim while waiting for the men. She stripped her clothes off, set them on a rock, and waded into the water. Closing her eyes, she floated on her back, relaxing for the first time in weeks.
She didn’t know how long she had been floating when she felt a splash of water on her chest, she quickly sat up and treaded water, looking around to see what had disturbed her. Standing on the shore were her three males staring at her, their gazes hot and making her feel something she hadn’t felt for so long. She watched as they stripped down to nothing, their arousal evident. Keyne was the first into the water, his cool arms surrounding her.
“Hi!” he said, softly kissing her.
“Hi,” she responded. This was going to be harder than she thought. This physical side of things flowed naturally, but the words stuck in her throat. How did she tell them what she was thinking, what she was feeling?
Warm hands came up behind her and clasped her breasts as soft lips kissed her neck. “We missed you,” Niall said.
“I missed you, too.” Gris came up next to her and held his hand out to her.
She took it, kissing it. “I’m sorry.” Tears filled her eyes, her voice catching.
“There is nothing to be sorry for,” Niall said. “We’ve all been hurting and hiding in our own pain.”
They floated together, talking quietly of their shared pain. Rose finally told them of the time she had spent in the demon realm. What she had thought was weeks had, in fact, only been ten days. Once their skin had turned into prunes, they left the water and spent time lounging in the tent, talking and reconnecting.
Much later they sat around the fire.
“Where do we go from here?” she asked her mates. “We left the mountain escape to find out what Esson was doing, but also to stop Daig. Now, we have spent months here in Empyrean.”
“We have been dealing with the Guardians while you recovered,” Niall told her. “When Esson died, so did Daeg. We found journals in his desk. He had linked his life to Esson for more power. When Esson died, so did Daeg’s power source. The journals go back 250 years! We had no clue how old he was and how long he had been in power.”
Gris picked up the story as Niall moved to snuggle Rose. “The journals show that his power was tightly held, and that he didn’t share secrets. He didn’t have any children that we could tell, and his only lover turned out to be a demon. We think that the Guardians are clean. There will be a meeting of all the Guardians later this year to pick a new head. Before that, we will need to address some of the issues that have come from Daeg, one being the role of the first born.”
Rose frowned at that. “You better not even think of marrying me off to anyone. I know that we have had our issues these past few months, but you’re stuck with me.”
The three men laughed at her. “No, dear one, you are stuck with us,” Keyne said.
They sat in companionable silence for a while.
Finally, Rose spoke. “There are a few elephants in the room, so to speak. I think we need to talk about them. The hardest is our losses.”
She turned to look at Niall, putting her hands on either side of his face, making sure he heard her. “None of us blame you for Cullen’s death. We all should have thought ahead to the possibility of one of us using our Guardian Light near him. He died the one way he would find acceptable—fighting for our safety.”
Niall nodded his, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. “In turn, you need to know that you did not do anything to lose the little one. It was not your fault, and you are a good mother.” He leaned his forehead to touch hers. His tears mingling with hers.
After a few minutes, she looked to Gris and Keyne, “Neither of you could have prevented me from leaving, but I am sorry for the worry and stress I put you through.”
“We know, love,” Gris said. “We always knew that you did what you had to. Though, I can’t say we weren’t worried.”
Keyne moved to sit next to her as Niall pulled her into his lap. Gris sat at her feet, massaging them.
“Now, we need to talk about the stone,” Keyne said.
Rose looked down at her hands. Until this moment, she had almost forgotten about it. But she couldn’t bear to see the disgust in her mate’s eyes.
A cool finger lifted her chin up. “Rose, we don’t find it disgusting. You could never be that to us. You’re gorgeous no matter what. We love your body, but more your spirit is what calls to us.”
Tears pricked her eyes. How could she have doubted these three? “But what about going home? I can’t go out like this, people will stare. I will never have a normal life.”
“What is normal?” Gris asked. “You have already far surpassed normal even by Guardian standards, being mated not once but three times, one of whom is a ghost.”
“And Thea has a plan for that. You were happy in the mountains, right?” Niall asked.
“Yes, I loved it there,” she said remembering their home.
“Thea suggests that we go back there and live. There is plenty of land available, and we can make a new Guardian Shifter base there. To start with, we can be secluded, but then as things grow and you are more comfortable, we can let people into our circle.”
Rose nodded, loving the idea. She finally could see a future for them. There was one last question she had. “What about the girls?” she asked.
Keyne smiled at her. “Rose, you are their mother. What you have called their fear is them reacting to you being distant. They love you and just want their mother back.”
She could do this. With three strong mates, Thea, and her daughters by her side, she would show the world what the demons had discovered. Love would win over everything.
Cherish (The Guardian Series Book 3) Page 12