Page 21 of The Dragon’s Stone Hearted Mate (Mori’s Mementos #1)

Chapter Eighteen

Rho

I paced the crossroads while I waited to meet up with the person who should’ve been a lifelong friend to me.

We were bound to twins but instead of being friends we might end up enemies depending on what the newcomer had to say.

The soul collector took his sweet time, leaving me with empty minutes to fill.

The information coming in over my and Morvan’s mating link was jumbled, as if even he couldn’t make sense of everything.

Though, it sounded like we’d seen the last of the assassins.

Drugs and gambling. Huh? Some habits are passed around forever but it always came back to money.

Caw-caw. Caw-caw.

The soul collector sounded off in the distance and I spun in a circle attempting to discern which direction the bird was calling from. It wasn’t the bird who held my attention but the woman with long black hair swishing around her waist.

“Guess Torvan’s bi or pan,” I murmured to myself. “Not that it’s pertinent information anymore.”

I stood akimbo waiting for the woman to reach the crossroads.

She was slender and walked with her head down as if she didn’t trust the path not to drop out from under her feet.

Her yellow skirts swished around her ankles, playing over her bare feet.

I didn’t know what she could tell me that I didn’t already know.

Torvan had been banished and sent on a Sisyphean task.

“Hello, brother,” the woman sighed. “I’ve come a long way and that stupid corvid made me walk most of it or I’d have been here sooner. My mate’s always had a thick skull but this is an all-time low even for him.”

“Reincarnating out there makes them lose sight of who they are,” I said, dropping my hands off my hips. “I hope your journey wasn’t too treacherous.”

“It was a journey,” she nodded, looking up at me with blue eyes through her long lashes. “It’s not over yet. I need to reach Torvan before it’s too late. If they leave him over there to linger, who he really is will fade.”

“I think he’s pretty close to getting the job done,” I told her, explaining the important parts of what I’d overheard from Earthside so far.

“I’m an earth witch. I can offer a trade for you getting me over there,” she said. “I can get you over there.”

“If you can ‘get’ me over there, why can’t you get yourself over there?” I asked.

“Ummm… It’s complicated. I shouldn’t be allowed anywhere. I should be getting sucked through some intergalactic magic tube to become a baby about right now.”

“Not the bear’s baby?” I arched a brow.

“No, fate isn’t that weird. Ew… Torvan would never hook up with my father.”

“You do know Torvan is dead right. If you go now, you might never see him again.”

“I will too. He’ll be reborn. At least he will if we can get this all wrapped up.”

“Not my daughter,” I shook my head.

“Double eww! Shit, rock man! What sort of family do you think this is?” she asked, contorting her face into an impossible to replicate look of disgust. “How about you stop with the questions and let me explain, eh?”

“Go for it,” I nodded.

“I am an earth witch – dead or alive – it doesn’t matter.

I can make you a traveling charm that will allow you to travel with your mate.

It may not last for eternity, but it will last long enough for your purpose.

Dragons do not live forever, unfortunately.

I need you to get me to Earthside. I need to see him one more time and then I’ll go and be alive again. ”

“Why can’t you just walk through one of the gateways?” I asked.

“Because I am forbidden by the soul group to do so! I am forbidden to walk there but I have already left the grove of souls and cannot reach my parents that way now. I am as stuck as he is and all because I sought to help my other half and --- I am so tired. It’s like they don’t want him to succeed. ”

“What is your name?” I asked her.

“I have had so many. I do not know what my parents will call me. One is to be a lynx and the other a goat. It’s going to be an interesting life if I get to live it.

The magic says I cannot pass through the gateways of my own accord but if you carried me, I think together we could make it over there. ”

“Let’s go get our dumb dragons,” I sighed and then smiled because I couldn’t help it.

Even if this was all a trick, I couldn’t turn down the mere idea of a chance at being by Morvan’s side again.

“We have to stop and talk to a friend of mine before we leave. He may want to come with us. He’s rather fond of Morvan. ”