Winters awakening, p.15
Winter's Awakening, page 15
Brenna sagged against the wall, finding it hard to breathe. Despite her anxiety over Erideni, a deeper pain simmered in her. Now she understood Sebris’ comment from last night about taking what they wanted before all was lost. He didn’t believe in species mixing—not seriously. She’d be a one-time fling like the other females he mentioned. She wasn’t special to him at all, beyond being the chosen.
Tears burned her eyes. She swayed. Hands grasped her, and she clutched at the arms holding her up, trying to steady herself.
“M’lady, are you unwell?” Taivis’ anxious gaze swept over her probably ashen face.
She released him and rubbed her aching brow, the pain in her skull hiking again and competing with the one in her heart, but she forced a smile. “Yes-yes, I’m fine.”
His frown remained. “You shouldn’t be on your feet after that terrible ordeal. I’ll make you some herbal tea, it’ll help.”
Ugh, she’d probably vomit. “No, I’m okay. I think I’ll go and lie down.” At his obvious concern, she tried for a smile again. A blast of icy pinpricks skated over her nape. Brenna glanced past him and sighed. Talitha sliced her a venomous glower before storming off. She doubtless thought Brenna was after Taivis now.
“M’lady.” With a little bow, he limped off toward the outer doors, probably to go and help. And she was stuck inside.
Instead of returning to her room, Brenna made her way to the healing tower. She knocked and entered the quiet room, the strong scent of herbs and clover filling her nose. Erideni lay on her stomach, her wings spread and resting on padded attachments fixed to the bed. The middle of her right wing was bare of feathers. The wound on the minor coverts appeared bloody and raw, the slender crushed bones visible.
Tears clouding her eyes, she gently stroked the feathers near the destroyed extremities, more pinkish now after being cleaned. Ugh, she should have washed the blood off her hands. She carefully laced her fingers with Erideni’s bruised ones. “I’m going to find your magical stone, Erideni and make this right.”
Sebris stopped at the entrance to Erideni’s home. The entire front had been destroyed, smashed to rubble. There appeared to be no more dangerous explosives planted anywhere else.
Another mortal weapon. And with this total destruction, he could feel the drop in the magic as if it was his very own soul weakening.
Whoever planted the explosive had wanted to cause major damage, and as much as he would prefer to lay this destruction at the Empyreans’ doorstep, they wouldn’t resort to something so detrimental, knowing he had Brenna and just how important she was. No, they’d come charging for her, that is, if they got through the continuous ice storms over the eastern seaboard.
“This is not something our world can cope with much longer,” councilman Arche said, walking up to him. “The place is in chaos and fear runs deep among our people.”
“I already have my warriors running a scan through the towns and residential areas. The incoming reports say all is clear so far. This was probably a scare tactic on the rebels’ part, a warning.”
Arche sighed. “So, they attack you then… Or is it the foretold one they’re after?”
Harsh breaths sawed in and out of Sebris’ lungs. It had been his damn mistake, putting Brenna at risk in a moment of weakness, taking her to see the damn gardens. No matter this hold she had over him, he couldn’t give into the dangerous pull to her. It would not only be catastrophic for his world if anything happened to her, but a tragedy for them both.
And for Shera, too. Her life was in his hands.
“They don’t know about the chosen,” he said, his expression returning to impassive. “Those explosives had been planted sometime during the night. They probably waited for the right time, with people around to set it off. I’ll send a report to the council at our findings.” He turned to leave.
“Wait,” Arche said. “Is that her I saw with you earlier?”
Sebris gave a slight incline of his head.
“She is too fragile for our world.”
He didn’t need his council to point that out to him, too. He had to get her out of here.
Without a word, Sebris headed back to the busy stronghold. He found Roic and sent him off with a message for Erideni’s parents, inviting them to live at the fortress until their home was rendered safe to rebuild. Living in the mountains, he didn’t dare take a chance of the place collapsing on them until he was sure the bedrock hadn’t sustained any weaknesses.
A moment later, he stopped at Brenna’s room. But when his knock went unanswered, he sighed. Without even scanning, he knew where she’d be.
He flashed to the healing tower. There, on a chair, she lay asleep. Her head resting on the bed, her fingers linked with Erideni’s.
He gently detangled their grip. Her hands bore several small cuts and bruises on her skin and knuckles, one was still bleeding. His mouth thinned. How the hell had he missed those when he tended to her head injury earlier? He held his palm on hers and sent his healing power in a sweep over her wounds.
He scooped her into his arms, and she sighed in her sleep, sliding her hands around his neck, her soft breaths teasing his skin as he flashed them to his quarters. A journey that was both tender and torturous and filled with needs he had to shut out.
As he lowered her to the bed, her eyelids flickered open. Searing blue irises held him in a hypnotic hold. “Sebris?”
The sound of his name on her lips pierced him in the chest. She lifted her hand, her fingers tangling in his hair, as if to hold onto him. “I’m so sorry for what happened. It’s all my fault. If only I-I’d agreed to help you sooner. But I thought you were the bad guys, enemies to me and to people I cared for, and helping you would be detrimental to them, which is why I resisted at first—” A sob broke free.
“Shh…” He pressed his lips against her gritty brow. “I know. Right now, all that matters is that you are safe. I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you.”
“You only say that because no one else can find your artifact,” she rasped on a hiccupy breath.
Sebris willed her to sleep. You matter more to me than just being the chosen, Brenna mea.
He gently untangled her fingers from his hair, realizing then the missing artifact was the last thing on his mind, as he stroked her dust-covered locks from her brow. His gaze drifted over the dirty, bloodstained dress she still wore.
Not wanting her to awaken to this grisly reminder, he undid the front buttons and peeled the dress down her body. The silky, strappy top she wore under it rode up, revealing a delicious tan waist, curvy hips and thighs. White underwear hugged her tempting bottom and desire coiled through him like a vise.
A soft, shuddering breath escaping, Brenna rolled away from him. He pulled the covers over her and straightened, so damn grateful she wasn’t severely injured or, worse, dead. An abyss formed in his chest at the very thought. He stood there, unable to move—to take a single step away from her.
Several long seconds passed before he could move. He scrubbed a palm over his bristly jaw and walked out. They had to leave Dregarus sooner than he’d planned. He couldn’t keep her in a world that was so hostile any longer.
Chapter 14
The strong scents of incense, sage, and potions in the healing tower crowded Brenna’s nose as she rolled the newly dotted stone dice between her fingers.
After a restless sleep, she’d awoken early. Unable to settle, she’d come back here in the early hours of the morning. However, finding herself in her underwear, faint memories stirred of Sebris putting her to bed. And she realized he must have undressed her, too. Heat crept into her face, but just as fast, her embarrassment faded recalling the horror that had occurred.
Exhaling a weary breath, Brenna leaned back in the armchair, her gaze fixed on Erideni’s pale, still face. Adara had put her friend in a restorative sleep, explaining it was better this way, or the pain would be too intense for her to endure.
It is despairing, the violence that besieges my world. The reedy whisper coasted through Brenna’s mind, heavy with sadness. Her head snapped up. The ghostly woman with the dark hair and white nightgown hovered at the foot of Erideni’s bed.
So young and to be slain…
“She’s not dead!” Brenna leaped from the armchair and stomped closer. But the ethereal woman sailed to Erideni’s side, indistinct white fingers caressing her cheek. Not her. The many young lives lost through the centuries for a war that should never have been…
“How can it be stopped?”
The woman’s image wavered. The magic must reunite…
“Yes-yes, we know this.”
A revolution must occur…
What the hell? “A revolution? You contradict yourself! Who are you?”
I am one of three. I am one with all… The answers sought… A revolution of change… her voice grew fainter. Her image flickered like a TV screen on the blitz as if it cost her to maintain form. Her figure wavered and petered out.
A revolution of change?
Did she mean the rebels? Did Sebris have to speak with them instead of continuing with this ongoing civil war?
The door opened, and Xever walked in. His expression somber, he stared at Erideni, and Brenna knew he was thinking about his daughter.
“I’m so sorry about Me’gana,” she said softly.
Pain flashed briefly in his gray eyes, but he gave a little nod. “It was a long time ago.”
But the pain never really goes away, does it?
“You want to say goodbye? We are leaving for New York.”
Now? Her gaze rushed back to Erideni. She’d never see her young friend again. Her chest tightened with grief. “So soon?” she whispered.
“Trouble brews. It’s safer for you and better for us that we start the search for the artifact as soon as we can.”
This wasn’t about her, so she pushed all her pain and frustration aside, set the painted stone dice on the bedside table along with a newly drawn game, and rose.
Since she had nothing she wanted to take back with her, she picked up the cloak she’d left on a nearby empty bed, and followed Xever back to the private study.
Paxyn, Taegér, and Roic waited out on the railless balcony. They nodded at her, but their expressions remained grim.
She stalled near the outer door, feeling as if a noose had tightened around her neck. When they’d first brought her here, she was in a coma, unaware. “So, we dematerialize and go to a portal to cross between worlds,” she choked out to Xever, needing clarity.
“Yes,” Sebris answered from behind her.
Brenna spun around and gaped. How could she not? Yeah, she’d seen him more often than not in their plain dark, military-style clothes, and once in drawstring pants and tunic. Now he wore leathers, a black Henley molded to his broad chest, and biker boots. Despite the familiar human clothes, he looked far too dangerous and sexy for her peace of mind.
“All clear on the farmlands?” he asked Xever, stopping at her side.
“Yes. The animals are safe. We’ve doubled the guards everywhere, just in case.”
Sebris nodded, tying back his shimmery hair into its usual ponytail.
Her heart thumped painfully when she realized she’d never see him again once the artifact was found. So, she busied herself with putting on her cloak, then glanced around, only to find they were alone. Xever and the other warriors had left.
Well, this was it. Hugging the flowing black fabric tighter around herself, she took the two steps to the doorway and then just stood there, shuddering at the bitterly cold wind seeping beneath her outerwear and icing her skin. A warm wall came up behind her, and calloused fingers laced with hers.
She looked up at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“About what?”
“That you not only need the magic to survive but to be blessed with children as well?”
“My apologies. I should have, but I let the problems of Dregarus consume me.” His mouth tightened briefly. “We are long-lived, and some do live forever, so having a babe is a rare blessing. But the mystical Stones—all seven of them—are needed to shroud a couple with its magic to bind the mating. Though it’s not always guaranteed, a babe can result.” He glanced out to the snowy lands. “A handful of young is better than none.”
Brenna didn’t understand how magic worked here, but she’d seen the solemnity in Erideni, felt the peoples’ sadness through her young friend’s words at their lack of children, and witnessed Talitha’s bitterness.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. Nature won’t be beaten and have those who can live forever over-populating her world. It’s why we must find the Stone of Light.” His features hard, he drew her close, and she rested her brow against his chest, shutting her eyes. His powerful arms slipped around her. It would be the last time she would hold him like this.
In a moment of déjà vu, a feeling so strong that it constricted her chest, Brenna felt as if she belonged here, in his embrace. As he dematerialized them, she wondered if his own arms had tightened around her, too.
They reformed on snow-covered ground, her boots sinking into the ankle-deep mush as she took in the stark white, hilly drifts in front of them, and the ocean beyond. “Where are we?”
“Near the Gray Seas. They separate Dregarus from the other dominions,” Sebris said. “There’s a soft spot close to the beach, allowing us to traverse to your world.”
To her right, a sea the color of ash churned and spat its icy sludge onto the shores. On her left stood a great forest of trees unlike any on Earth.
Their bark gleamed bone-white, sharper than the snow and stark against the gray sky. From tree to tree, the branches interlocked like human fingers stretching across the sky in a woven tapestry of glittering silvery-white leaves. The spaces between trunks appeared like doorways to different worlds, each one a mystery. There seemed to be a sentience in the silence, and she’d swear the trees listened. Watched. Waited.
Something inside her stirred in response. The urge to stroke them took hold. She’d never seen or experienced anything this incredible like the Rean Forest.
With all the whiteness around, it had to be why she hadn’t noticed the trees the other evening when Sebris brought her here.
Several feet away, the forest gave way to utter destruction. And there, the warriors waited for them. But seeing the decimation again in daylight, her chest cramped with empathy. Like fallen sentinels, the remains of the once majestic trees stretched out in miles of macabre graveyard.
How could anyone be so cruel to hurt these mystical trees and innocent people?
Damn rebels. They might be angels of a different caliber, but obviously not all angels wanted the same thing for their world.
As they neared the destroyed site, at the tug on her psyche, she deviated to the undamaged trees near them. Sebris followed, his grasp tightening on her hand. Eyes shut, she reached out and stroked the smooth white trunk. A hum slithered through her. Gentle. Soothing. But when she glanced at the ruined stumps again, despair and pain twisted abraded her. She crossed to them, dragging Sebris along, and knelt on the snow-covered ground.
“What is it you look for?” he asked, his tone soft.
She shook her head, unable to explain this wrenching sensation in her. “To see this pointless destruction, it hurts.”
A hand briefly stroked her hooded head, and the scent of winter nights and ice-covered evergreens enclosed her. Her breath hitched. He stays close so he won’t lose contact and you become an icicle, idiot. Nothing more.
“Let’s go.” Though he held her hand, his gaze appeared centered somewhere in the distance, his brow furrowing.
Sighing, Brenna pushed to her feet as a buzzing energy brushed against her fingers. She gasped, stumbling back into Sebris, her heart seconds from flying out of her throat in terror. Her gaze darted about in a frantic search, her tingling fist held to her chest.
“What is it?” he demanded, all his attention on her.
“Something’s here.” A familiar flow of warm air brushed against her arm. No, it couldn’t be. She reached out and the smooth glide of scales caressed her fingertips. Her gaze widened in stunned surprise as the giant, ghostly animal took shape, bumping Xever, who’d joined them, out of the way.
“What the fuck?” he growled, eyes narrowing. A sword appeared in his hand.
Sebris hauled her close, but he hadn’t summoned his weapon. “Brenna, don’t move.”
Taegér and Paxyn hovered nearby, blades drawn.
A low, warning rumble escaped its throat and glowing red eyes nailed Sebris as it brushed possessively against her. Its dull silver scales rippled, as if in anger.
“Hell, it is a Drega!” Xever instantly took a few steps back, keeping a careful distance. “We mean her no harm,” he murmured, his tone soft, calming.
With a strident bellow, the Drega suddenly knocked into her, separating her from Sebris. A soft thwack echoed above her as she fell on her backside and landed in the snow. The creature’s heavy, long neck covering her.
“Brenna—” Sebris took a step to her, but the Drega hissed.
“Don’t come any closer,” she rasped. “I’m okay. I’m okay.” Groaning, she pushed at the massive animal, needing air in her lungs. With a whine, it lifted its neck off her but didn’t move away, its small car-size head snapping about and keeping the warriors at bay.
“Fuck, how do we get that thing away from her?” Xever demanded. “It would probably incinerate us to dust.”
“We don’t. Only Brenna can,” Sebris said. “You okay?” he asked her from across the creature’s massive body.
She nodded, grabbing hold of its neck and sitting up. “What was that?” she breathed.
Sebris frowned. “A long extinct animal, probably wiped out by the freezing weather. Their spirits still linger here.” He carefully moved around the Drega and lowered to a crouch near her, ignoring the animal’s low, warning growl. He put a hand on her back.
“Shh, they mean me no harm.” She stroked the creature’s scaly nape, calming it and met Sebris’ stare. “No, I meant that sound before the dragon knocked me down.”
