Winter turned to spring, and by that time I was strong enough to venture downstairs and outside with Aiko or Shoshen’s help. Sionnach was beautiful in winter, and it was glorious in spring. There was no grass, but instead thick spongey plant life that reminded me of clover, the leaves and stems violet, the flowers pink and white. Larger plants grew – bushes with crystal leaves and flowers with crystal petals. I asked Aiko where she got the herbs and fruits for cooking, and she’d shown me that the odd, shining plants had seeds inside gem-like pods with crystal walls so thick they shattered when they hit the ground, dispersing the seeds and stems that were also used for cooking. Small fruits also grew that way, like peas in a pod, and larger fruits as big as melons swelled in hard shells.

Near the castle was a small lake I hadn’t even known was there before. It was so strange seeing water that wasn’t blue but instead a deep, clear pink. I often spent time there during the day, breathing in the cool, clean air while Brekken ran laps around me, wondering if the water would be warm enough for swimming in the summer. I thought, by then, I’d be strong enough for that kind of physical activity. Especially if Wylfrael helped. I sat on the shore, chin on my knees, picturing the two of us in the water, him holding me, helping me drift through the gently lapping waves. Both of us happy. Both of us free.

I wondered if we’d ever get there. If we’d ever just be able to live a somewhat normal life, a life that wasn’t burdened by bargains and duty and distance.

I didn’t know the answer.

But I watched the waves, and painted, and healed.

And I hoped.

OceanofPDF.com

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE Wylfrael

Two things kept me from going entirely insane while away from Torrance. The first was the fact that I could have short visits with her on Sionnach. The second was that Sceadulyr actually seemed to be sincerely searching for his mate. If he’d simply been toying with me, keeping me away from Torrance just to torture me, I was not sure I would have been able to stand it. But beneath his sarcasm and blustering, I could tell his desire to find her was going stronger with every sky door I opened.

I did not know if he cared about finding a mate to love or if he just wanted to restore his star map, but I did not really care. As long as he was not purposely slowing down or impeding our purpose, I could grind my fangs and force myself to continue.

We found the humans quite by accident, after five of what Torrance called “months” of travelling with Sceadulyr. It was a world neither he nor I had ever been to, and, besides the humans’ machine (which I instantly recognized as being the ship I’d seen on my world) there seemed to be no other sentient life here. It was a grey planet of cold mountains and jagged valleys, cold and barren. We did not spend long flying over the surface and were going to leave when the shining metal of the human machine caught my eye. As soon as I saw it, my rage came flaring back. Rage like I’d felt when I’d found them on Sionnach, but a thousand times worse. Because now, I knew what they’d done to Torrance. Now, I knew that they’d not only invaded my world, but also abducted and forced my mate into servitude, along with all her friends.

“You look like you’ve swallowed a poisoned sword, Wylfrael,” Sceadulyr called as he followed me in descent towards the humans’ machine.

Sword. I couldn’t even say the word now. I no longer carried a blade, and I’d left my father’s bloodstained sword on Sceadulyr’s world. I had no idea what had happened to it and never cared to find out.

Sceadulyr learned the cause of my anger quickly. Like last time, warriors with tiny weapons accosted us, shooting little rocks that pinged off my hide like grains of sand. I was much stronger than I’d been last time I’d faced the human forces, and their rock throwers had almost no effect. Sceadulyr was even stronger than I was, having not expended any power to open a sky door here. With a narrowing of his gaze, he landed beside me, washing shadows over the fallen rock things and sending them flying back through the heads of the ones who’d aimed them.

“Don’t hurt any of the unarmed females,” I growled as the warriors crumpled to the ground all around us. “I promised my wife I’d try to find them for her someday and keep them safe on Sionnach.”

For a moment, I wondered if Sceadulyr would argue, if he’d object to me giving him an order. I was not asking him not to harm the human females, I was commanding him, the underlying threat clear in my words.

But instead, he tossed me a lazy grin.

“Of course, Wylfrael,” he said. “I am loath to cause any further strife between you and your lovely little bride. The shadows know you’ve already done enough to hurt her.”

Fury and shame crystallized, then shattered inside me, sending cutting shards throughout my body. I did not have time to fully react to Sceadulyr’s taunt, because more warriors were spilling from the machine, blasting their weapons at us. Between Sceadulyr’s power and mine, taking care of them was short work. But a familiar sound was starting up. The same whirring sound that had indicated the humans’ departure from Sionnach.

“Don’t let them leave!” I snarled. I couldn’t use too much power subduing the machine, because I’d need to open two more sky doors very soon. One, for Sceadulyr. And another, that I would have to keep open for much, much longer, to bring the human women through one by one. Hoping Sceadulyr would listen and assist me in this, instead of using my own power to crush or disable the machine, I stormed inside it, through the opening the warriors had come out of.

Every warrior who met me on the way had his skull crushed and his weapon pulverized. The whirring sound sputtered, then stopped, and with some relief, I realized Sceadulyr must have used his shadows to get inside some necessary component of the machine. I found yet more warriors in a room with a glittering array of buttons and screens and killed them all.

Where are they?

Where were the women? Torrance’s friends? I could not leave without them.

I closed my eyes and stilled, listening and sniffing the air until faint human voices bled through the shining silver walls. I followed the sound, and the thickening scent of human women, until I found them, huddled together in a cowering group in a large open room with many tables and chairs.

Some of them screamed at my entrance. Others closed their eyes and scrunched smaller. Some of them prayed to human gods. A few others, trembling, as angry as they were terrified, lifted their chins and stared, as if daring me to kill them.

“I will not harm you,” I said softly, advancing slowly on the group. My approach alarmed them, and the entire mass of bodies and limbs pressed harder against the wall. They had no webbing and had no idea of what I said. So, I settled on the one word I knew they’d understand, the one word I hoped would make a difference.

“Torrance.”

The shouting and crying died down, like I’d uttered a spell of silence.

“Torrance,” I said again, gruffly this time, just the simple sound of her name wrapping tightly around me, making me ache.

One woman near the front of the group, one of those who’d held my gaze and not cried and screamed, straightened. Black hair with stripes of yellowish pink rustled around her shoulders as she spoke.

“Torrance? What about Torrance?”

What about her...

How could I possibly explain it all? Explain that she was my wife, my mate. My sole reason for living and also the reason I would someday walk happily into death’s darkness?