Chapter 26:
Shadow’s Twin
Once Xalanth and Sadie were informed of the contents of the crates, conversation was eschewed in favour of getting the Tenebrae the help they needed.
Though there was a tense moment where the Dragon leveled her attention, and her glowing green eyes, on Brandon and the poor teen nearly wet himself.
With all of the new arrivals the farmhouse was even more crowded than before so Paul chased most of the Amazons back outside.
Lilly likewise stayed on the porch with Brandon, though the Dragon’s stare had practically made it unnecessary to guard the trembling youth.
The Hornets had quickly left as well, taking their bond-mate with them. Barely half of them were still able to fly, so Oldeera had to leave matters of security in the hands of Xalanth and Nina.
The two powerful monsters easily forced the Tenebrae to their knees on the rug in Paul’s living room in front of Volka and Nameless.
The Valkyrie drew in a steadying breath as she saw firsthand that man’s folly still existed a thousand years after her sisters sought to find a means to combat it.
“We need to help these poor girls.” She announced.
Nameless quickly agreed, pushing his concern for Milly to the back of his head while he and Volka focused on the two Tenebrae.
Miranda handed him their heartstones and with some relief he saw that they weren’t nearly as dark as Nina’s, or even Erica’s had been.
“Okay, maybe this time we should get comfortable first?”
Within seconds Booker had pulled one of Paul’s overstuffed chairs behind Nameless and the younger man shot him a grateful look as he sat down, Volka kneeling beside him.
“I am fine here. Let us proceed, Husband.”
She put her hand atop his and he nodded quickly before closing his eyes. Now protected by Volka’s golden aura he reached out to one of the stones in his palm.
But to his great surprise, both stones reached back.
It was a disorienting experience, not unlike crossing your eyes while looking at two very similar objects, bringing them together to form one imperfect whole.
He hesitated for a moment, opening his eyes and looking to Volka, but her expression was just as confused.
“Volka, what is this?”
She shook her head.
“I have no idea. These girls, whoever they are, they are like twins, but that is obviously not possible.”
He looked to the two girls held in place by Xalanth and Nina, one Lambda, one Lapine.
Once again he closed his eyes and considered the two heartstones in his fist, but the same strange sensation reached out to him again.
“What’s wrong?”
Sadie’s concerned voice cut through the darkness and caused him to tear himself free of it again.
“Sadie! Here, you can sense this right?”
Volka extended her aura out to the older Empath and she placed her hand over the Valkyrie’s and closed her own eyes.
After a moment a look of shock took her face just as it had Nameless’s.
“It’s like… they share the same soul, but not quite?” She spoke with great uncertainty.
She, Nameless and Volka exchanged worried looks while the rest of the room exchanged confused ones.
But Nina simplified the matter for everyone.
“Can you help them or not?”
Though she was far stronger than the bunny girl she held pinned to the floor, the poor creature still squealed and hissed at her and the giant’s annoyance was plain to see.
Sitting up slightly Nameless again looked to Volka.
“Yes, I think. We have to try, right?”
The Valkyrie nodded firmly.
“I agree, but Lady Essig, please stay back. I must focus solely on keeping my husband safe as we navigate this mystery.”
The white hair woman reluctantly moved back after a worried glance at her Dragon.
Nameless took a deep breath to steady his nerves.
“Well, here goes.”
Yet again closing his eyes, he sought out the strange double soul-image as he and Volka were pulled into the darkness before them…
In the living room everyone else could only watch.
Their eyes were closed for several minutes, but the room started suddenly when Volka cried out and fell over on the floor while Nameless likewise slumped in the chair, unconscious.
__________
While the others were dealing with the Tenebrae, Oldeera stood in the wreckage of their hive, her fingers interlaced with her bond-mate’s.
“It’s a good thing you two got out when you did, honey.”
Cordelia huddled against her with a blanket over her shoulders as she too took in the destruction.
“What a mess.”
Oldeera shrugged at the young girl’s lament.
“Hives rise, and hives fall.”
“Glad you’re being all philosophical about it, but I still really liked it in there, even if I was completely lost outside the bower.”
She rested her head on Oldeera’s good shoulder.
“I suppose, it being the place where I found my queen, it was special.”
Oldeera conceded before she turned her head and kissed Cordelia’s hair. Two more of her Hornets snuggled in to her other side, keeping the chill in the air at bay and providing more hands to hold her with.
As one of the Hornets’ fingers slid under the blanket and over her stomach Cordelia winced slightly.
“My abs still hurt.” She confessed.
“It was a magical night, before the disruption.”
She merely nodded as she remembered the haze of pleasure that had consumed her, in the cold reality of day it seemed more akin to a dream.
“I-I don’t know where to go from here Oldeera.”
The queen let out a breath.
“If I might make a suggestion?”
Cordelia nodded against her shoulder.
“You should go somewhere with a shower. You stink, my Queen.”
They shared a giggle.
“Do you have any money? We could go to the bathhouse, the morning rush should be over.”
“I do, and we could.” Oldeera spoke carefully; “Or you could bathe at home, and face your family. Preferably in that order, for their sakes.”
Another quick snort of laughter but then Cordelia sighed.
“Yeah, I guess it’s time to face the music, I’m not sure who I’m more worried about: Dad or Christina.”
Both.
The answer was both.
“But I mean after that, I don’t know what to do after that. Some major secrets were just dropped on me, and I already had the new bond-mate thing to worry about.”
Oldeera and her Hornets pouted adorably.
“Are we a cause of worry for you honey?”
Cordelia settled her head on the queen’s shoulder and spoke drily.
“You mean after you were all almost killed? Or before, when I had to figure out how our two very different lives fit together?”
“Fair point. But my hive is no longer pledged to the Aegis, in fact it is not my hive, it is yours. We will do anything for you honey.”
“But you still want to work with the Aegis, right? Especially now, with the crazy chick out there?”
Oldeera nuzzled her face into Cordelia’s hair, breathing in her heady scent; even unwashed it was intoxicating to the freshly bonded queen.
“What I want… is to rest my wings for a time, to heal the wounds that were inflicted on my sweets and to pick up where we left off last night. We don’t need to make any decisions today.”
Cordelia sighed.
“Yes we do. Nameless was right, at least about the whole putting-people-in-danger thing.”
“Honey?”
“We can’t stay in Kettering.”
Even as she said the words it broke her heart a bit, not for herself but for her dad and younger sister.
Worse, she wouldn’t be able to explain the situation to them, not without putting them in danger.
Now she understood Nameless’s point, when they spoke behind the bakery.
She would do anything to keep her family safe.
“The fact is, unless the Aegis catch up to that bitch, she could come after you again if we stay out here right?”
“She might.”
Cordelia let out a shaky breath.
“So like I said, I don’t know where to go from here.”
Several moments passed as the Hornet queen considered her words.
“Well… if it helps at all, we do still have a hive set up in Garland. In a place of honour too, at the top of one of the old-world spires.”
Cordelia’s eyes narrowed at the mention of a spire.
“The top? Like, how high are we talking?”
Oldeera chuckled throatily at the irony in her bond-mate’s concern, afraid of heights yet bonded to some of the best flyers in the world.
“There’s stairs, I think.”
Cordelia groaned.
“I don’t know, maybe-” Her eyes widened suddenly; “Have you ever been to Algrade?”
Oldeera shrugged.
“A number of times. Why?”
“In all the chaos, I never told you. Christine got accepted at the university.”
“That’s wonderful!”
Cordelia nodded.
“It is, but she admitted to me the other night that she was really nervous about living in such a big city. Especially with all the shit you hear about the slums.”
Oldeera smiled slowly.
“The slums aren’t as bad as people make them out honey, but perhaps having her beloved sister and all of her scary Hornets around might make your sister feel safer?”
The young woman smirked as she kissed the brow of one of the other Hornets.
“I don’t know about scary… kind of warm and fuzzy actually.”
The Hornets squirmed, one of them buzzing her wings slightly behind her, causing her bond-mate’s whole body to shudder at the massaging sensation.
Once again Oldeera buried her face in her hair.
“Oh honey, now you’re just being mean.”
__________
Volka eyes fluttered open sometime later, while Nameless remained unmoving.
“She’s awake! You okay there missy?” Paul asked anxiously.
She allowed him to help her up, and quickly moved to put her hand on her husband’s cheek.
“I-I’m fine. And so is he, apparently.”
“The hell happened?” Miranda growled.
The angel shook her head slightly, her eyes unfocused as she stared at Nameless.
“An experiment, I suspect. Aegis Booker, it is as you feared, Jonathan did this to them. Once he forced them into the darkness, he bound them together. Likely he pulled them both into his mind, and forced their memories together, making them confused as to where one began and the other ended. We fixed that first, but when we did...”
“Like a rubber band snapping?” Sadie observed as she came to understand what happened.
“Just so. We were simultaneously together, and yet I was in one mind, he was in another, something had to give, and when it did it was… jarring.”
Erica licked her lips anxiously.
“Are you sure you’re alright now?”
Volka smiled reassuringly.
“We are. It was a shock but I took the worst of it and he recovered quickly. He has been in the Lapine’s mind ever since, whatever Jonathan did, my husband is finding it easy to undo, they should be-”
A gasp came from Nameless and the Lapine on the rug and their eyes fluttered open as they sat up.
Nina hauled her charge to her feet, though she kept one hand on the Lapine’s wrist just in case.
Everyone was quick to notice that the bunny girl’s eyes were dusky brown once more as she looked to all the faces in the room.
And focused on Nameless with a look of utter adoration.
“Master…” She whispered.
The room drew in a collective breath.
And then exploded.
“You greedy little peckerwood!” Paul shook his head.
“Come on!” Erica whined.
“I’m going to strangle you!” Miranda glared at him.
Nameless rolled his eyes and gave the Lapine a stern look.
“Not funny Chelsea.”
She giggled as she wiped at her eyes and gloated at the shocked and angry expressions around her.
“Kinda funny.”
But her amusement ended when she saw the Lambda held tight in the Dragon’s grip next to her.
She looked back to him while gnawing her lip anxiously.
“You’re going to help her too, right? Please? In our mind, well, she had it way worse than I did!”
He nodded.
“Yeah. Volka? You okay?”
The angel’s eyes held a glint of amusement at the Lapine’s joke.
“Wow, are you really a Valkyrie?” The bunny wondered while Nameless and his angel turned to the second girl.
“A story for another time. Husband, this time we go together.”
They dove into the Lambda’s mind.
__________
Nameless was in another farmhouse, though this one was shrouded in darkness, and he could feel Volka’s arms around him and the light of his anchors glowing in his mind.
A woman and her children were crying and it broke his heart; at their feet was a man, a good man, who had died to protect them, an axe lay broken at his side.
No, that wasn’t right; he died to protect someone else, someone who was hiding from them. He looked around the house and spotted her crouching behind a big beam in the front room, watching her family greave.
You can come out, I won’t hurt you. I’m here to help.
She clutched the beam tighter and hid her face from him.
It’s my fault.
It was the same thing he had heard from every Tenebrae that he had ever dealt with and so he knew how to deal with it.
I’ve been down that road before, so I’ll just say: nope.
His mental body crossed his arms in front of himself in a big ‘x’ while he shook his head.
Walnuts, she came with walnuts. I hate walnuts.
The huddled figure sobbed in desperate fear.
Who did? Show me, please?
I… I can’t, this is my fault! He’s dead because of me, all my fault. She loved him, she loved him so much and now he’s gone! She’ll never forgive me for this!
Husband, this is a real memory, if somewhat skewed, Evadne killed this man.
Yeah, I can practically feel her in here.
The sudden crack of a walnut shell resounded throughout the house, the Lambda flinched and Nameless gave a mental shudder.
She is but a shadow within a memory. No harm can come from her. Focus on the Lambda.
Right, um, what’s your name?
I did this. My fault.
He sighed and reflected on the similar situation he had faced in Chelsea’s mind, misplaced guilt amplified beyond reason.
This time he opted for a more aggressive tactic.
You killed that man?
Finally she came out from behind the beam, her eyes wide in shock as she met his gaze.
What?! No! I loved him… I think, didn’t I?
If you loved him, then why did you murder him in front of his family?
Shut up! I didn’t do that! You… you don’t know what you’re talking about!
So you’re saying you didn’t kill him?
Yes- I mean no! No, I didn’t kill him!
He nodded with an audible ‘ah’ as if a great mystery had been solved.
I think I understand now, but if you didn’t kill him, why are you feeling such guilt over it?
Be-because it was my fault! I think?
You tell me, I wasn’t there.
It was… no, I was telling Jordan a story. And we were all happy, and then… she came. She came, and, and she…
The overwhelming shame subsided but it was still a terrifying memory, so Nameless tried a different tact.
He used the light of Nina’s anchor to bolster the sheep’s wavering resolve so that she could face the dreadful memory unafraid.
It worked, perhaps a little too well.
The Lambda made an aggressive bleat and tilted her head down as she looked around for someone to ram with her spiral horns.
She took my mistress’s husband from her! She took Steve away from his children! And then she dared to take me from my Mel! I will ram her to the ground and trample her face into the dirt! I will crush her skull and stomp on her spine! I will wear her bones as I-
Volka’s dry voice broke into the angry sheep’s tirade.
Husband, too much Nina, I think.
He quickly agreed and drew back the light of his giant’s anchor.
Way too much. Danna? It is Danna right?
Yes?
She was a bit dazed now that he had pulled Nina’s rage out of her. But the shadows had fled from her eyes, and colour returned to her mind and its memories, though the sight of the weeping woman remained.
You want to see your mistress? You want to see Mel and her children?
Her lip trembled and she gave a mournful bleat.
More than a-a-a-anything!
Okay, then it’s time to wake up.
__________
With Danna awake she sat near Chelsea on Paul’s couch, the two swapping shy glances, though Nameless noticed the sheep girl was squinting a great deal.
“Aside from the weirdness at the beginning, that seemed… way easier then when you saved me.” Nina observed quietly.
“It was.” Volka agreed before turning to Nameless; “And that was a very clever trick you did with Nina’s anchor. Something I never thought of. Though I am curious, Nina? Did you feel anything a few moments ago?”
The Gigas shrugged.
“Horny. Still pissed at Evadne. Same as before. What the fuck is an anchor?”
The Valkyrie was staring at her intently.
“But did you feel… more, ah, ‘pissed’ than normal?”
“Hard to say. Why?”
“Empathic magic, as used by humans anyways, is a relatively new branch of magic. And it is important to watch out for any pitfalls. Our husband used your strength to bolster Danna so that she wouldn’t be afraid. If either of you feel anything unusual please let us know!”
Nina shrugged, while the squinting Lambda swallowed.
“Is my… wool going to turn red or something?”
“A distinct possibility.” Volka nodded gravely.
Nameless quickly reassured her otherwise and soon the conversation turned serious again.
“It was easier than before. The emotions they felt, they weren’t real, or at least, not the way they were feeling them. Danna felt somewhat responsible for the death of her bond-mate’s husband. So Jonathan took the guilt from that memory and he blew it wildly out of proportion, to the point that it was all that she could feel.”
The Lambda shuddered, and Chelsea put an arm over her shoulders and rested her hand on hers.
Sadie’s eyes narrowed.
“Such a thing, I see how it would work, but you are right, it wouldn’t take another Empath long to undo it.”
“Yeah, if he wanted to invest the time though, he could mess up a monster girl really badly. I think, with you two at least, he was trying something new.”
“The whole mind swap thing?” Erica asked.
“Yeah. Though what he hoped to gain from it, I have no idea.”
“Do either of them know why they were in that warehouse?”
Miranda asked him, her look intent.
Surprised, and realizing that the whole room was hanging on his every word, Nameless chuckled and deliberately nodded his head towards the two former Tenebrae.
“Miranda, wouldn’t it be better to ask them?”
She opened her mouth to snap at him, but then her cheeks turned a bit pink and she clamped it back shut.
He wasn’t wrong.
__________
Brandon had decided that a life of adventure wasn’t for him.
The Amazons and the grouchy Wolfen frightened him to be sure, but a fucking Dragon was something else entirely.
He genuinely believed the green scaled woman was going to kill him with just that one look.
So he sat quietly on the porch, waiting for the Aegis woman to finish with whatever she was doing in Paul’s Fletcher’s house, and for her to finally seal his fate.
Fortunately his fate had nothing to do with the Dragon, as an hour later he was standing in front of his dad’s smithy with Miranda and the smaller of the two Wolfen.
“Rory Dixon?”
“That’s me.”
Rory rubbed at the stubble on his chin as he considered the sorry sight of his son, bedraggled, filthy, barefoot, and wrapped in a blanket.
“My name is Miranda Holt, with the Aegis. Your son has gotten himself into some serious trouble.”
Brandon’s head hung low as she spoke.
Rory sighed.
“So I see, he wanted to make his own way in the world. And now look at him.”
To his surprise the Wolfen standing behind his son winked at him with a smirk.
Rory spent the next few minutes hearing of his son’s activities, as well as the charges against him, though he raised an eyebrow at the harshness of them.
“What happens now?” He asked slowly.
“I can authorize leaving him in your custody if you want, even though he’s over fifteen, I can make an exception, I don’t see him as being a flight risk.”
This time the Wolfen snickered and the woman had to elbow her in the ribs.
Rory was beginning to cotton on to what was happening and gave a slow nod at her raised eyebrow.
“Well I don’t know. You see, he stormed out of here in a huff, talking about being a man now. Seems to me he can handle this on his own.”
“Dad… please.”
The pleading expression on his son’s face was difficult to see, even for a gruff man like Rory, so instead of beating around the bush he nodded at the Aegis women.
“How does this work then? I sign some form or something?”
“Yes, you sign a form, and guarantee your son’s good behaviour, if this case goes to trial then it will be his recent behaviour that can tip the scales in his favour, maybe even keep him out of the dig-sites.”
Brandon’s ears perked up at that little scrap of hope.
Rory rubbed at his chin some more.
“And what does that entail? Good behaviour I mean?”
The grey haired woman shifted her weight to one leg.
“He’ll need to get a job, and he’ll need to keep that job. He’ll need to toe the line and stay out of trouble with the local lawkeeper. I saw that he had a couple of property infringement emoluments in his record, so he’ll definitely need to avoid another one of those.”
Desperation was written across Brandon’s face as his eyes begged his father to sign the papers.
But Rory wasn’t about to let him off the hook so easily.
“I don’t know, he screws around a lot, this sounds like way too much work for him.”
Miranda nodded her understanding.
“I understand. Come on then Jan, we’ll take him back to the compound in Wayfelt to await his arraignment. Thank you for your time, Mister Dixon.”
Brandon gaped in despair at his father who was still stroking his chin.
“Well, I suppose I could sign for him. But just so we’re clear though, if he doesn’t get a job, doesn’t toe the line, the charges come back and the Aegis comes to take him away?”
Miranda’s look was almost comically grave.
“With a vengeance.”
He nodded.
“Fair enough, where do I sign?”
Miranda held out a clipboard with a blank sheet of paper on it and had Rory sign and initial it in several random places while keeping it from Brandon’s view.
“Alright then, Rory Dixon, I leave your son in your capable hands. And Brandon…”
He gulped but met her severe glare.
“I don’t want to have to come back here, understand?”
Her threat was clear and the cowed teen nodded vigorously.
Rory gripped his son by the scruff of his neck, though somewhat gentler than the last time he had done so, and led him inside with a final nod to the two operatives.
“Thank you Aegis, come on boy, you need a bath. And apparently we need to have another talk.”
As Miranda and Jan turned to leave, her Wolfen gave her behind an affectionate squeeze.
“We should look into working with the truancy board Mistress, because that was fun!”
__________
Nameless walked quietly down the hallway as Milly drifted off again.
The Minotaur had barely slept the previous night, and they were loath to move her to the cottage unnecessarily, as Paul wanted to monitor her condition, so she was napping in his guestroom.
She was going to be fine, but to see all of the various injuries she had suffered in the last day or so caused her master’s chest to tighten.
It was early evening, and in the kitchen Xalanth stood behind Sadie, who was sipping at a cup of tea that Paul had just handed her. Booker had Juni erect a water column in the bathtub so that he could speak with the other councilors with her magic while the Saenga Amazons had gone back to the cottage with his other girls.
“She is well?” The Dragon rumbled.
He nodded, unable to speak around the lump in his throat.
“I am glad. She is a kindly soul, and she fought valiantly against a creature far beyond her. The world needs more like your Milly.” The Dragon sighed, smoke drifting from between her lips; “Would that we had arrived sooner, I could perhaps have ended this nightmare.”
Sadie reached up and patted at Xalanth’s clawed hand on her shoulder.
“What was it you said to me once? Don’t dwell on would-haves or could-haves, deal with what is.”
The Dragon quirked an eyebrow.
“I said that?”
Sadie smiled and tilted her head as she sipped her tea.
Xalanth leaned down and kissed her lady on top of her head.
“I am very wise, then.”
Paul propped himself against the kitchen counter and crossed his arms.
“In all the excitement I forgot to ask what brings you out here? So much going on these days a simple visit seems unlikely.”
Sadie set her cup down and gestured for Nameless to take a seat across from her.
“Forgive me Paul, I know it chafes at you to be ordered about in your own home, but I would like some privacy to speak with Nameless if I may.”
But as Paul leaned away from the counter the orphan shook his head.
“Anything you have to say to me.” He said simply.
Sadie measured the young man’s words for a few seconds.
“Very well, then. Nameless, with what Ophelia told me when you were brought to her orphanage, and from what you learned from Jonathan’s memory Xalanth and I have been looking for your family.”
His head shifted back on his neck in surprise.
“But… my parents are dead.”
She smiled kindly.
“Yes, but you had other family, my friend. Not to mention a right to know where you came from.”
His jaw dropped but Paul didn’t miss a thing.
“You said ‘had’?”
The older Empath let out a mournful sigh.
“I am so sorry, but it seems that the last of your family, your father’s parents, your grandparents, died last winter. They were both in their eighties and from what we were told they went peacefully.”
He was in shock.
“Last winter?”
Unbeknownst to him, tears began to flow down his cheeks.
Wordlessly Paul handed him a napkin and placed one gnarled hand on his shoulder as the young man wiped the unexpected moisture away from his face, confused at his own reaction.
Sadie quietly nodded, waiting for him to compose himself.
“Who- I mean, what-” He swallowed and closed his eyes as he ordered his thoughts; “What were their names?”
“Your grandfather’s name was Gregor Armstrong, your grandmother’s Joleen Levesque. They had two sons, your uncle David who died a few years prior, some kind of accident. And… your father.”
She watched his face as his eyes opened at the mention of his sire.
He took a few breaths as his emotions got the better of him for a moment.
“And h-his?”
Her voice was steady as she answered.
“Your father’s name was William.”
He let out a shuddering gasp as the name hit home.
“William?”
She nodded.
“From what we were told, most of his friends called him ‘Will’.”
He couldn’t keep himself from burying his face in the napkin and the three people in the room were silent as his shoulders shook.
After a time he pulled his face from his hands, and his voice was almost pleading as he repeated.
“They died just last winter?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“But that’s so recent…”
Once again the occupants of the room let the young man process the information, Paul gave a quiet sniff and a cough as he blinked rapidly.
Nameless suddenly looked up, his eyes hopeful.
“Wait, what about, what about my mother?”
Sadie regarded him carefully, as if ensuring that he was ready for more information.
“Like you, your mother was an orphan. According to her birth papers, her mother, your other grandmother, died in childbirth. The father was marked as deceased. Your mother’s name was Kendra Wilburn, though she chose to take your father’s name when they married.”
Nameless took in a shuddering breath.
“William and Kendra… Armstrong?”
Sadie merely nodded.
Nameless heard a clinking of glass behind him before Paul dropped a drink in front of him, two fingers-full of amber liquid at its bottom.
He quaffed it without batting an eye, the burning alcohol warming him to the tips of his toes as he absorbed the fact that he was truly alone in the world.
“There is more.” Sadie began.
“Cass?” He replied with intuition that briefly surprised the older woman.
After a moment, she nodded again.
“We were told that you never saw Kendra without her best friend, a Troglodyte named Cass. They must have been very close. We don’t know the full extent of their relationship though.”
Nameless coughed, the burning in his throat overtaking him for a moment.
“When we were in the Sansee, the Trog there said that she had a life-debt. After being inside Jonathan’s mind, I thought it was to my father. I guess maybe it was to my mother?”
Sadie sighed as she had to deliver yet more bad news.
“I’m afraid we will never know. Cass died ten years ago. As far as we can tell, Evadne caught up with her in Karmest. From the lawkeeper’s reports it was… not pleasant.”
Nameless felt a surge of hatred overcome him, but it was quickly replaced by guilt.
“She was tortured wasn’t she? Evadne trying to find me after Jonathan went into his coma? Like my dad, she died protecting me.”
“Nameless I-”
“It’s fine. I get it.” He blew out a breath while shaking his head in amazement; “How did you two possibly learn all of this?”
Smoke swirled out of Xalanth’s mouth as she answered him in her rumbling voice.
“Patience, and some luck. My lady and I have a great deal of experience in finding people. Many times we have searched for other Empaths.” Her voice dropped into a deep growl that would have made Nina shiver; “To discover that Evadne was hunting them as well is… galling.”
Flames licked her lips as she spoke the last word, and for once Nameless wasn’t intimidated by the Dragon, instead sharing in her anger.
“Thank you, both of you. I’m going to go check in with the girls at the cottage, Paul could you-”
“I’ll look after Milly. Go be with your bond-mates.”
He held his composure through the quick farewells, and even out of the house.
It wasn’t until he reached the edge of the stone bridge near his field that he broke down.
Of all the revelations that evening, even that of his parents’ names, what disturbed him the most was how recently his grandparents had died.
He slumped against the railing of the bridge, and just as he had done in recent nights he looked up at the night sky, the faint burble of water a minor distraction from his inner turmoil.