A Warrior's Quest Page 14

  Had the Beansidhe, the Laquazzean or whatever she actually was lied to him?

  He scrambled over the grass and pulled his Warrior girl into his arms. Her name was a whispered prayer to gods and goddesses he would never truly believe in. Her head lolled back, and her body was limp in his embrace.

  He checked for a pulse. Nothing.

  Her heart was still.

  Hands were pulling at his shoulders, tiny hands. Hands of a female. He growled and looked at who tried to separate him from his gamata.

  Clouded yellow eyes, flooded with tears, met his. “Let me see her!”

  The healer Bronwen, filthy and battered, but alive. The girl of barely fifty that his female had had a hand in raising. She was like a daughter to his Aureliana. She would grieve like a child mourned a mother. He allowed some space between his chest and the woman in his arms.

  The healer wrapped both her hands around Aureliana’s left.

  The healer glowed when she healed, but that glow was dim now. “She’s nearly gone.”

  Nearly? Nearly? “She isn’t gone yet? She is so cold.”

  “She needs blood. Give her blood.”

  “Every drop I have.” But how? The previous times she’d bitten him, taken what she wanted, needed, for herself.

  The girl healer seemed to understand what he had to do. “Bite your wrist; get a good steady flow of blood. Hold it over her lips…if…if she’s still in there she’ll do the rest instinctively. If…you are her true Rajni she will recognize you.”

  He sank his own teeth deep in to his wrist. His blood, strong, healthy green Warrior blood, welled. He held it over his female’s lips.

  Nothing.

  She was not drinking.

  “You sure she lives?” Rathan asked the question from somewhere behind Ren. Ren did not look at his brother, all of his focus aimed at the woman in his arms.

  “For now.”

  “Where did the Beansidhe go?” He refrained from calling her a Laquazzean in front of the others. There were some things he needed to mull on before sharing. And now wasn’t the time. Not now, with her so pale, so still. So gone. “Help her…please…”

  He didn’t know who he asked.

  But the voice came again, this time much warmer than before.

  Several surrounding them screamed as a woman emerged from the back of the courtyard. “Tell me, Renakletos Malickus, did you mean your words spoken to me earlier? Would you go in her place?”

  He looked at the people who mattered the most to him. His brother nodded; Rathan understood. His sister, sound and whole and safe near the Warrior Twin King who’d been caught unawares in the latest attack. Her sadness was in her face, but so was her understanding.

  His daughter, still hidden under the stone bench, the spawn Thas held in her arms like baby doll.

  She would be his one regret.

  But Aureliana would care for her. See that she was loved. And that was what Cerridwen truly needed.

  “Gladly. Without hesitation.”

  “Sacrifice.” The Laquazzean walked to the spawn and brushed a loving hand over Cerridwen’s black curls. “You understand it, then? She has sacrificed much for who she is. And she met her fate willingly, putting her own needs second to the needs of those she cared about. And those she had never faced. Can you say you would do the same?”

  “Yes.” Sacrifice took more than just courage. It took heart.

  Love.

  Like the love he felt for the woman in his arms. “For her, I would do anything.”

  The Laquazzean smiled, a beautiful light that had his eyes burning. “Would you give me an oath, Demonkin son of King and Queen?”

  He bowed his head. “Yes.”

  “An oath to protect, defend, cherish, and love the woman in your arms, and any spawn the two of you may create or be given. Would this be a vow you could and would make, Renakletos Arenus Malickus?”

  “I swear to do all of those things. To protect, to defend, to cherish, to honor, and to love her. With everything I have been given, this I vow thusly. And the same for any spawn.”

  Pale blue light surrounded all in the courtyard. The cold that had arrived with the Laquazzean in Beansidhe-form turned to immense, intense heat.

  Aureliana was yanked from his arms.

  He grabbed for her, screaming her name.

  Had the Laquazzean betrayed him? Why? Had he not met her demands? Did she not know he would do anything at this point?

  Aureliana rose above the crowd, still so achingly silent, limp. He scrambled over every obstacle, every person, in his way as he tried to get to her. “Give her to me!”

  She spun. He spun. The entire world around them spun, still surrounded by that ethereal blue light. The Laquazzean laughed, then sang something in a language probably far older than the world itself. The singing grew louder. Ren wanted to cover his ears; every note made him feel like a monster, unworthy of everything—especially of the woman he so desperately wanted to get to. He wasn’t fit to touch so much as a single hair on her head.

  No one was.

  The spinning increased until Ren doubled over and vomited. Aureliana still hovered above the crowd trying to reach her. But they couldn’t. She was at least fifteen or twenty feet in the air.

  Ren felt sick, worthless, and useless.

  But he would never stop trying to get to her.

  The spinning doubled, tripled if possible. Ren couldn’t keep up; the screams around them were louder, more shrill. The grass beneath his feet was drenched; somehow the blue light had turned to blue rain unlike any he had ever seen before.

  He fell, then pushed himself back up on his feet. He kept going; Aureliana was moving away from him, away from everyone. Just…floating. Floating above them all.

  He fell again. Cursed the skies and cursed the Laquazzean, cursed himself.

  Never once did he curse the Warrior girl.

  He kept going. The singing grew louder. Louder. Intermixed with the laughter of a thousand voices.

  The world spun in reverse, flinging him to the center of the rose bushes his sister-in-law had transported from Gaia. He ignored the thorns. “Stop! I will give you what you want. Just give her back to those who love her!”

  The singing stopped. “Do you love her, Renakletos Malickus? Really, truly love her? Will you treasure her until the day one—or both—of you depart this earthly place?”

  “Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times yes! You can have my soul if it brings her back!”

  “Then so be it.”

  Darkness surrounded the courtyard; the screams of some came again. Ren ignored it, trying to get to where he’d last seen Aureliana. Maybe, maybe he could climb the balconies overlooking the gardens and reach her that way. Somehow.

  The sounds next were of bells or voices or a combination of both. A thousand, ten thousand harmonized over the castle. Beautiful. Ren stopped his mad pursuit of Aureliana. Beautiful. Had he ever heard anything quite as beautiful?

  He knew he hadn’t.

  He fell to his knees in the blue rain, his soul hurting from the imperfections and weaknesses of his heart that had consumed him for so long.

  For the first time in his two thousand years of life, Renakletos wept.

  Chapter Thirty

  He didn’t deserve her. He knew that now. Why had he ever thought he did; ever thought that he was doing her a favor by offering her gamata? He was not worthy of a Laquazzean. No demon was.

  But that was exactly what he had been given. Aureliana had changed.

  She was no longer Dardaptoan. She was more.

  She was one of them. And he had been tasked with protecting her. He had never felt more humbled.

  She had shifted, though she remained in the air. Her eyes were open, and it was if she were walking through the skies, through the blue rain.

  She and the Laquazzean met a foot off the ground. Grasped hands. Stared at each other. Sisters, now.

  Ren stayed on his knees.

  He could see those surro
unding them in the courtyard now. It was his brother’s people, his. The rhacshas demons were dead; their bodies dust as was their way. It would take months for the yellow and red ashes to be worked into the courtyard soil. All that watched what was happening were friends, loved ones, of Aureliana.

  There was significance to that, but he wasn’t the kind of male to focus on significance. He’d always had the here and now. But this…this was something he would never be able to comprehend. He understood that.

  His warrior girl still held the other’s hands. Did they realize they resembled each other now? He started to stand, to go to Aureliana, but hands held him back.

  The blind prognosticator, his own tears on his cheeks stood next to him. “This is for Aureliana now. You have both passed what the Laquazzean required of you.”

  “But what happens now?” Ren whispered the question, too in awe of what he saw for regular speech.

  “That’s up to them,” Theo nodded toward the females. “No one can ever know what a Laquazzean’s future holds. Or what they will do on this world. In any realm.”

  “And that is what the Warrior girl is now?” Was this finally the destiny the Wolf god has spoken about? “Why?”

  “That is something we cannot know. But I do know that she will not be the last. There are more to begin. More to come, if our worlds are to survive the upcoming Wars.” Theo clapped him on the back, and Ren struggled not to fall face first into the still-blue mud at his feet. “We can only do our best to help and guide them. For their fates carry all. Go to her. She’ll need you now. Go, my Rajni and I will tend to your babes. And Ren, the deities have blessed you now, including the Laquazzean. You are blessed.”

  ***

  Aureliana knew all in the courtyard were watching her and the Laquazzean she now knew was Phaenna. She hadn’t been a Beansidhe at all, but had only taken the guise of such.

  You’ll have such abilities, when you have need of them. Phaenna spoke inside her mind, the thousand voices she’d used previously condensed in to one. It took me a while to understand all of mine.

  How was this possible? Why was I chosen? I’ve never heard of someone becoming Laquazzeana. I’ve heard they’ve all gone mad. All who have tried. Aureliana felt each question pour from her mind into the other Laquazzean. She recognized Phaenna now, too. The old woman who’d placed Thas in her arms was now in the guise of a beautiful woman with warm brown skin and eyes of the greenest Aureliana had ever seen. Which was the real her? Aureliana suspected she’d never know.

  Those who have tried for greed or power. Not those of the Chosen Laquazzeana, the babe you call Thas, he is the child of two Laquazzeana who aspired to greater powers than even the oldest of our Kind possessed. They lost their souls through their own choice of darkness. They were able to sustain each other only long enough for you to be given their babe. It is you who are the start of a new Kind, not just the babe. Your younglings will be of this Kind. You are merely the first. And they will help the worlds grow together in peace. If you can protect these realms from what is to come.”

  What is that? It chilled her, even to think of the term. Instinctive response? Or something that was a part of her now?

  None of us know. Not of what it is or who it is. But the gods and goddesses, the demons and various Kinds that populate the eighteen realms, none are as strong as this coming. But you and the other Asceshian will be. You must.

  Others. There would be more that this happened to. Who? Did she know them? Why? Why them, why her?

  And would she be able to do it? She felt so different now…But…

  Is this really what you want to know now, Aureliana? Or would your heart be perhaps more filled with the love of your mate and the children you will raise together?

  Ren! Where was he? Why could she not remember what had happened to him? And dear goddess, what of the babes—Thas and Cerridwen, and little Zephra? Kindara and Rathan, Danae and Bronie? Where were they, were they all safe? Where is he?

  Look around you, my dearest sister, Great Mother. Your loved ones await…For you to guide them.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Aureliana looked at the people surrounding them, and saw Phaenna was correct. Everyone watched her. Everyone—there was Kindara, sheltered in Rathan’s arms. He was filthy, covered in the blue mud the likes she’d never seen before. But at least the demons hadn’t killed him. Bronwen was there, glowing like she always did when she healed. There was a large male hovering over her. Koios.

  Danae and Zephra were nearby, the second Warrior Twin King behind them.

  Theo and his Rajni, Cormac, and his. Aodhan. Her brother was there, a bloody gash over his head that Kindara was trying to tend to. Mallory was in his arms, was she hurt? Her and her sister had once been human. Demons and battles were bound to horrify them. She’d make a point of checking on them herself soon. First, she needed Ren and the babes.

  The crowd parted for her. And then he was there. Big, muddy. Purple.

  He was still in his purple battle skin. Did he realize that?

  She started toward him.

  He was watching her, a look of awe and vulnerability on his face. People moved out of her way. No one spoke until she got close to her brother. His eyes were wet from tears. That was something she wasn’t used to seeing from her brother. Mallory was on her feet now, pale and silent. Aureliana hugged her sister-in-law, then her brother. She loved her family so much, and they were the majority of it. She told them that then walked on.

  Bronwen was next; she paused in her healing long enough for Aureliana to hug her.

  When she did, she held Bronwen tighter. She didn’t know how she knew it, but everything in her told her that Bronwen would face her own destiny soon. She told Bronwen she loved her; something she had said before to this woman she’d helped raise. Bronwen was as cherished by her as Jierra was.

  Rathan and Kindara held each other tightly. This fight would have been especially difficult for Kindara—the fear that she would lose Rathan had to be something Kinney dealt with daily. Aureliana knew exactly how Kindara had felt.

  Ren was beside his brother, the children cradled in his strong arms now. Cerridwen no longer glowed—thank the deities—and she was happily sleeping on her father’s shoulder. Thas fussed, but Ren held him tightly. More lovingly than he ever had before. Did he realize that?

  She stopped in front of him. Felt sudden awkwardness hit her, despite the newness she felt.

  What was she supposed to say to him now? He was filthy. But she wasn’t much better. She took care of that with one tiny thought, removing the mud, blood, and everything else from their clothes and skin.

  “Some new trick you can do, pet?”

  “One of a few.”

  What did it mean for them? Would they be able to be together now? Was he still her Rajni?

  She was a Laquazzean, more of a deity now than the girl goddess she had worshiped her entire life. What would that mean for her now? For them?

  He took the next move, passing the babes off to Mickey and Mallory. Then his arms were open and Aureliana was in them. She laid her head on his chest and wept, the enormity of everything that had happened to her—them—in the last few hours too much for her to process just then.

  Her world had tilted on its axis the moment she’d accepted her fate. The moment she’d looked at Phaenna and knew what lay ahead for herself. She couldn’t explain it, even now. But what had happened was meant to happen. Why she didn’t know. How she would cope was something she didn’t know, either. But she would.

  His hand fisted in her hair, now loose and clean. The other arm was hooked around her back and he used it to yank her closer to his chest. “Damned fool girl. Must you always get yourself in to these scrapes? Taking on a damned Beansidhe?”

  “Phaenna was never a Beansidhe. I know that now.” The other Laquazzean wasn’t; she was just a woman like Aureliana. With a bit more thrown in to the mix. But how could she make him understand that? “She just needed a way to get me her
e. Where I needed to be. And a way to get Thas to me. Where he needed to be.”

  “I do not understand.”

  “She gave me him. To raise. Because his parents were what I am now. But they…they lost themselves. And only lived to birth him. I’m entrusted with him now.” Because she was entrusted with so much more. It wasn’t just her and Thas that were the start of this new Kind. But Ren too. Because his blood flowed in her veins. And because he was one who had fed Thas besides her. His blood flowed in Thas, too. And in Cerridwen. They were the start of something new.

  Did he know that yet? Did he realize what they had been entrusted with?

  He pulled away from her and she looked up at him. His face was somber, sincere. “I will protect you.”

  “You’ve said that before. I’ve always known I could protect myself when the time came.” And she could. She had proven that tonight. She’d gone with Phaenna willingly; she hadn’t been forced or taken. Everything had been her choice. “And I did. I will. More is coming, Ren. And I will be there.”

  “Then so will I.” He smiled that arrogant Warrior Demon grin that drove her wild. “For from this day forth, you and I gamata, Rajnis¸ or whatever you want to call it. More. We are fated. You will never get rid of me, now, pet. I am yours.”

  So he was. So he was.

  Aureliana jumped in to his arms, and wrapped hers around his neck. He kissed her, hard, there in the midst of their families and friends, in the middle of his brother’s ruined courtyard, with the oddest blue rain falling around them.

  She knew it didn’t come from Phaenna anymore. She was responsible for the blue rain. She controlled it with these newfound gifts of hers...Gifts that were given so that she could protect the realms and all the vulnerable and weak in those realms.

  Phaenna had called her Great Mother.

  Aureliana understood there was significance to the name. What it was she didn’t know. That would come in time, she was certain.

  There were a lot of things she was certain of, and that were so dark she knew she would never understand them. What was she supposed to think about that?