Page 18

Diana

H ow did I make Raven see that if saving the realms required my death, it was a small price to pay?

Not that I wanted to die, but seeing Myrr speak to Raven in Elhimna’s voice had weirdly not been a surprise. I’d survived Edmund’s attack as a child, and while I fought to live, I’d always known that death lay in wait for me.

At least this way, my death would mean something.

We weren’t there yet though. I weaved my way through the piles of rock—an old landslide—and headed straight for the smoke. Here and there, I lost sight of it, but the smell drew me on.

The others were silent.

Well, not quite.

“I don’t know why you’re all so blue,” Myrr grumbled. “We’re alive. And I smell dinner cooking.”

“It’s not even lunch!” Maverick spluttered. “Where do you put it all, woman?”

“Sometimes my bra, sometimes just in my pockets.”

My lips quirked. Myrr would never change. Nothing fazed the old Oracle, and that was a constant in this world that gave me a small comfort.

Voices floated in the air, coming from ahead of us. A man. A woman. Children. The bark of a dog.

Kevin gave a low woof and took off running. “Kevin, no!” I tried to grab him as he bolted past me, taking Myrr for another flat-out gallop.

“Weeee!” Myrr lifted one hand to the sky, her body bouncing. I took off after them, chasing them through the piles of rocks, skidding to a stop as the path opened into a vista I hadn’t expected. Raven was at my heels, Nicholas and Maverick not far behind him. Theo…well, Theo would catch up eventually.

A two-story stone house was built into the base of the mountain, smoke curling from out of the chimney. The yard was not sand, but green, and lush, as if we’d stepped into another oasis. Only this one was not created by a wily god. I hoped.

A garden to the one side of the house was overflowing with produce and fruit, chickens with two heads pecked at whatever grubs they could find, and a low moo snapped my head to the side.

A small herd of cattle—mind you they had flames in their eyes which was more than a little disturbing—were penned up in a field that spilled out and away from the house.

Kevin though, he was what really commanded attention. Because he’d found another hell-hound to play with. One whose eyes were as crooked as his.

Myrr bobbled on his back, finally managing to slide off one side. I scrambled forward and caught her before she fell, dragging her away from where the two hell-hounds romped around each other.

“Looks like he found his brother,” Myrr grumbled.

I held tight to her as the door to the house opened. A woman with long, sleek, black hair and forest-green eyes stepped out, a long spear in her hand. “Who are you?”

Letting go of Myrr I slowly held my hands up.

It was Maverick though who stepped forward to take point. “Jade. It’s…been a long time.”

Her eyes and the weapon swung toward him as he held his hands wide. “Maverick? How…how is it possible?”

He shrugged. “You know me, I’m a survivor.”

Her eyes narrowed and her dark brows furrowed. “Like a cockroach.” She pulled back as if to throw the weapon and Maverick waved his hands.

“Stop. Jade…I tried to save her. You know that!”

Jade’s green eyes hardened. “No. You came and got me and left her alone! I’d have found her eventually, but that will never happen now, will it? You left her because you’re a fucking coward and couldn’t stick around through the hard stuff!”

“Couldn’t agree more,” Raven muttered under his breath.

I wanted to elbow him, but it was Nicholas who took the next step.

“I can show you the truth, Jade.”

She shook her head and opened her mouth to reply when a voice from inside hollered. “Mama! I’m hungry!”

“A child after my own heart,” Myrr said with a sniff.

I sighed. “All of you, back up to the rocks. Right now. I need to speak to Jade woman to woman.”

Raven glanced at me, and I gave him a quick nod. He could be on Jade in a flash, but I didn’t want to scare her.

We needed her as an ally, not an enemy.

They did as I asked. Jade did not lower the spear, and I didn’t approach her. “I’m sorry to burst in on you like this. But we need your help.”

A tiny pair of hands circled around Jade’s legs. “Mama?”

“Inside, Horace, I told you to stay inside.” She didn’t waver from her stance. “My mate will be back soon. You really should go, he doesn’t like visitors.”

“We can’t,” I said with a helpless shrug. “All the realms are at risk, Jade. And you hold a key to saving us all. I think you know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”

How the hell was I going to convince her to come with us? She had a child. Even as I thought it, a wail from inside told me she had a second, younger child waiting for her. How could I ask her to leave them? We couldn’t protect them all.

Slowly she lowered the weapon. “What is your name?”

“Diana.”

Her hands began to shake. “Queen of the werewolves?”

I dipped my head toward her. “The very same.”

The weapon clattered to the ground, and she caught herself on the edge of the door. “I dreamed of you. They told me you would come, and I would have to leave. Leave or…”

She started to sink to the ground, bumping her knees on the doorframe with a soft thud.

They?

“Nefir, or Elhimna?”

“Elhimna,” she whispered. “I cannot leave…my babies are here. My mate. I cannot leave them.” She covered her face with her hands and began to sob, her thin shoulders shaking. The wail of the younger child continued, spiking in pitch and fervor.

Approaching her carefully, as if she were a wild animal, I crouched next to her. “Maybe you should get your little one, and we can talk about this. Maybe there is another way?”

Still shaking, she pulled herself up. I offered her a hand, but she waved me off. “Wait in the yard. I will bring refreshments.”

“Thank you.”

Her eyes glittered with tears. “Do not thank me yet.”

She closed the door and a moment later the wailing eased off. I turned to see the others watching. “Now we wait.”

Only a few minutes passed before she opened the door again, a platter balanced on one hip, a small child on the other.

The little one was very obviously half human-half demon with the pair of tiny horns sprouting from the top of her head. Her milky white hair curled like a cherub’s, despite her parentage. The older child slunk out after his mother, the same milky curls, the same horns, only he bore a scowl on his face.

“What are you doing here?” he growled.

“Speaking with your mother.”

“This is our home,” he all but hissed the words. “Go away.”

Lovely.

Kevin and his newfound friend–or brother, if Myrr was to be believed–bounded between us, tumbling against the boy and taking him with them. Jade’s eyes tracked them.

“They are from the same litter I think.”

I waited for some smart-ass comment from Myrr, but she remarkably remained quiet.

Jade took us to an outdoor table, chairs placed all around the edge, right under a blossoming tree of some sort. The petals were pale blue and purple, very pretty.

“How is this all possible?” Raven asked, his voice gentle. “It is…heaven in a place known only to be hell.”

Jade’s lips tipped up in a soft, suddenly shy smile as she poured drinks for everyone. “My mate did this. He understands the earth, and how to pull water to places that are dry.”

Nicholas let out a low whistle. “Waterborn demons are rare. I’m surprised the king allows him to be here and does not keep him closer.”

Her face hardened, fear flashing clearly in her eyes. “The King doesn’t know. No one does. You are the first to…to ever see our sanctuary.”

I shook my head and held up my hands, palms facing her. “Your secrets are safe with us, Jade. I wish we didn’t have to disturb what you have here, and we will tell no one when we leave.”

She relaxed and passed out the cups. I took a long breath at the edge of the cup and smelled nothing dangerous. Still, I waited until Jade took a drink.

I noted that only Raven waited, as I did.

I set my cup down after just a sip. “The power you carry…it is a key to saving the entire world. Human and the Territories. You can bring your family, your mate, we will get you to the Werewolf Territory. You’ll be safe there.”

Even if I had no idea how we were going to do it.

Her shaking started up again. “Even if I wanted to help, I am bound to this place. I was a slave, and my mark was burned not only into my body, but into my soul. As long as Malach reigns, I cannot leave the Demon Territory.”

There was no reason for her to lie. The truth was far too brutal to bother.

Theo sipped his cup of water, swirling it around. “What if there was another way?”

We all turned to him.

“What do you mean?” I asked, not sure why he was taking part in the conversation at all.

He shrugged. “You think that Akmon just kept me around all these years because I was good with the lighthouse? Anyone could do that.” He rolled his hand, and a tiny bit of fire bloomed on his palm, then danced across his fingertips. “But I could produce a fire that as long as I was near, it wouldn’t go out. Among other things. I do have a little magic…”

Our party of four just stared at him.

“How?”

He cocked his head, contemplating. “I captained a ship. The Marigold, after my mother. Shortly before the Veil fell, my men and I were lost at sea somewhere between the Territories and the Human Realm. It was a strange time. We’d find little islands with just enough resources to refuel us for a while but not forever, and we’d move on, in search of people. One of those islands that existed somewhere between fantasy and reality had these mushrooms. We ate them and–there were six of us left at the time–we all had different reactions. It was fun for a while. Craddock could make us a little rainstorm. Old Phinneas could fly…for short spurts, anyway. But then we came upon Bathsheba’s island, and—well, she had them for dinner, and I wound up alone.”

“I’m so sorry for the men you lost, Theo,” I murmured softly.

“Seriously?” Maverick spluttered. “You have magic, and you didn’t tell us?”

“Didn’t seem pertinent at the time. Now it does.” He shot a glance at Myrr.

She leaned over and he leaned in as if he thought he was going to get a kiss. Instead, she whacked him right in the face with a gnarled fist. “Foolish toad! We almost died in the desert, and you did nothing!”

“What was I gonna do? I’ve been injured or near dead from thirst since day one. If I want to use magic, I need to be hale and hearty, or I’m as useless as I look. Until I drank that magic water of Nefir’s, I couldn’t have helped if I wanted to.”

I pushed my way between them, my back to Myrr, my front to Theo. “Tell me, exactly, what you’re capable of.”

He scratched at his white chin stubble and squinted. “Well, it’s hard to say for sure. I haven’t had much cause to use any of that in a long while. Once I realized I wasn’t strong enough to escape the island, it didn’t matter much. That said, I had a pretty good handle on working with elements. I think I can call the shard to the surface of her skin. Granted, we might have to create a small cut to remove it, but?—”

“Do it,” Jade said. “Now. Take it out of me now!”

Her outburst caught me off guard. “What?”

She leaned forward on the table. “If you can take it out of me, do it. This…thing inside me killed my sister. It is the reason why the demons stole me away and brought me here. It has done me no favors in this life. It feels like a foreign entity inside me. I sense it always, writhing, pulsing. Like a restless beast. If I give over to it, I know I will lose myself forever. I don’t want it. I never wanted it.” Her eyes closed and she swallowed hard. “Take it and be gone before my mate gets back from his hunting trip.” She turned to face Theo. “Are you sure you can do it without it killing me on the way out?”

He pursed his lips. “I’m not certain, but I swear I will stop if I feel taking it will do you irreparable harm.”

“Alright, then.” She nodded. “That is worth the risk to be free of it.”

Raven broke the spell, sweeping the table clear. “Nicholas, the sheets on the line, grab them.”

Nicholas ran to do as he was told.

Maverick stood up. “Wait. Jade…I don’t?—”

“With your track record, you don’t get a say,” she snapped.

I felt a stab of pity for Mav as her arrow hit home, but there was no time for mending hurt feelings. If her mate was dangerous, we needed this done before he was back.

Nicholas flipped the sheet over the table and Jade walked over to me and handed me her child, then climbed up and laid down.

“Just like my dream. I saw this part too.”

Theo went to her side, a distinct red mark on his cheek from Myrr. He rubbed at it absently. “Good, then you know how it all turns out?”

“I do.” A tear tracked down her cheeks. “My family will be saved, and I will be free.”

The baby snuggled her head against my neck and stuck a thumb into her mouth. I went to stand next to her mother. Jade reached out and I took her hand. It seemed so strange to find myself comforting a woman I’d just met.

“We need something to put it in once I retrieve it,” Theo said. “A box or something similar?”

“The jug” —Maverick pointed at the silver jug Jade had served us with— “has a lid.”

While I didn’t think it was ideal, there was no time for arguments. It seemed clear that we didn’t want to be here when her mate came home to find a troupe of strangers on his doorstep, his wife bleeding and prone on a table.

Last thing we needed was another fight.

I squeezed her hand. “It will be okay.”

Theo held his hands over her body, skimming along maybe an inch above her skin. He paused and frowned. “Flip over.”

Jade did as he asked without question.

“Ah, there it is.” Theo’s hands ghosted over her back and stopped just below her shoulder on her left side. “Behind your heart. Tricky.”

Jade hiccupped. “I can sense him drawing closer. You have only minutes. Do it quickly.”

Minutes. Fuck me. I held the child and Jade’s hand as Theo began to work his magic. “When I tell you”—he pointed at Raven— “you make a small incision. The item?—”

“Shard,” Maverick and Nicholas said in tandem.

“Fine, the shard will be able to slide out. Myrr, if you’ll have the jug ready.”

The others stepped up to their places and Theo began to hum under his breath, a steady drone that ebbed and flowed, tugging at something deep in me. Jade trembled from head to foot, and she gripped the edges of the table with her free hand.

“There” —Theo pointed, and the back of Jade’s shirt rose as if something was trying to get out— “Raven, cut?—”

Only there was no cut needed. The shard shot out of Jade’s back. She stifled a cry and went limp.

The shard hovered in the air, as Theo tried to cup it. “Come here you slippery thing.”

I couldn’t look away from the shard as it slowly rotated in the air, avoiding Theo’s grasp as if it did not like him. The color was like nothing I’d seen; pearlescent and darkness, a rainbow of colors and then…nothing. It changed with each beat of my heart, mesmerizing me.

The child squirmed, and I let her slide down my body to the ground, entranced by the spinning shard.

Someone was yelling. Theo. Theo was yelling. Trying to command the shard.

It wasn’t even that big, the size of a short pencil, sharp at both ends, like a crystal.

The world slowed down as Myrr climbed up onto the table, straddled Jade’s prone body and tried to scoop the shard into the jug.

But that wouldn’t work. I knew it as surely as I knew what came next. It didn’t want to be inside an inanimate thing.

Will you accept me? I need a host if I am to survive.

I breathed out. For the safety of those I loved, for all the realms, I held out my hand. This was the death that awaited me. The shard did not want to be in me–not truly. It wanted Jade. So, like her sister I could carry it…for a time. But eventually it would kill me.

I knew it in every fiber of my being. This was the cost. This was how we got it back home.

Yes.

The shard spun toward me, then like an arrow, shot straight at my chest. The blow knocked me backward and I hit the ground hard, struggling to breathe.

Sound and light came back to me in a burst of noise and bodies rushing toward me. Raven scooped me up and we were running. Or he was running, and we were weaving our way back through the rocks.

“The others….” I gasped and touched my chest. The wound was small, like a pinhole really. It hadn’t torn into me like it had leaving Jade.

“They’re coming right behind us. Her mate was close. We had to leave.”

“Why? Is he evil?”

“I don’t know, but he wouldn’t have to be. If I saw you lying there like Jade, I’d strike first and ask questions later.”

“He could have stolen all the water in our bodies with a thought if he chose to,” Nicholas said as he caught up to us.

We were out of the rocks. When I turned around, Theo and Myrr were riding Kevin.

Kevin didn’t seem to care. If anything, he seemed energized by his visit with his fellow cross-eyed litter mate.

Maverick was running behind them.

“Is she alright? Is Jade going to be okay?”

“She’s fine. Relieved, actually. Like we’d freed her from an anvil around her neck.”

Thank gods.

Raven didn’t put me down, and I didn’t ask him to. My body felt…strange. Like it wasn’t quite my own anymore.

We made our way around the base of the mountain, to find ourselves up against another desert. Or maybe the same desert, just the other side of it.

“We could get to the coast,” Nicholas said. “I don’t think it’s far from here. Sneak to our boat…assuming nothing else goes wrong.”

Maverick wiped sweat from his face. “What’s the chances of that, man?”

Raven held me a little tighter, his whole-body tensing. “Oh fuck.”

I didn’t want to know, I didn’t. But I looked and saw what had him freaking out.

Oh fuck, indeed.