Gail crouched down next to Starlight and Phoenix and held her palm over Phoenix's forehead. "I only have some very mild healing skills, so I can't help here," she said, "but I can definitely feel the pain you're in. You really took the hard way in, didn't you?"
"Is there any other way?" was the polite response. He gathered Starlight closer and held on tightly. He had missed her like mad, and he was furious that he hadn't been able to get back in time to protect her. When Starlight eased back, he scowled darkly. "Damn it, I ought to beat your ass. You scared the shit out of me."
"I know, I know." Starlight helped her twin soul stand and then balanced him as it became clear that his right ankle didn't want to take his weight. The reason appeared obvious too; the ankle was already turning various shades of purple and swelling.
Phoenix looked at his ankle and then asked the Caretakers blandly, "Any of you three sleeping with a real healer?" Silas and Gail immediately pointed at Talon who just snorted. Phoenix began to laugh. "Geez, I was joking."
"I'm not." Talon grinned. "My wife is a healer, and so is our daughter. Let's get you into the castle." He helped Starlight balance Phoenix, and he was able to hobble along with their help back toward the castle. The ceiling was being repaired already, and the rest of the Cultivators across both generations had shown up.
From the top of the stairs, Theo said very cheerfully, "This is great! Now I'm not the only bloody redhead around here. Maybe people will stop pointing and gaping!"
Phoenix looked up at the speaker and blinked. "By the gods," he said in bemusement, "he's just like me, isn't he?" He spotted Shanae and Sayena coming down the stairs and lifted a brow slightly as he saw the elaborate crowns they wore as High Queens. "You must be in charge around here. How do your necks not hurt?"
Shanae grinned. "I'm going to like you." She held out a hand to Phoenix and was not surprised when the younger man performed the formal courtesy of taking her hand and pressing it to his upper left arm where his Flower Mark could be seen. He did the same with Sayena as Shanae tilted her head and studied him. "So you're the Aster equivalent."
"I'll assume that means I'm the Fire Flower Element, so, yes. My flower is the edelweiss, though, of course. If the two of Aster are those sassy two up there, I don't mind being associated to them." He smiled as Theo winked at him. "Phoenix Hinojosa at your service." He eyed Shanae and Sayena alike as he realized they both had to be Dual Cultivators though their Defender Mark was hidden, but did not say anything about it. Starlight inevitably had to hang up her Mask, too.
"Nix and I have been together since we were five." Starlight grinned suddenly. "It kills him that I'm a month older."
Phoenix gave her a haughty look. "It does not make you a month wiser, honey. It just means you'll get old faster." He shoved his messy hair out of his eyes. "Where do I melt into a bed and die? I'm exhausted and feel like I've just finished training with Vincent. Ow. Getting here was not pleasant. Where is here?"
"Protea," Shanae offered. "Which is a world in the Blossom Field galaxy. And to anyone wondering how he speaks Blossom, that's something Tasia did recently. She cast some sort of spell between time-space that meant someone coming through our way would learn Blossom, and going the other would learn Alurian." She grinned when brows lifted. "I know. But it's Tasia. Healthier for us all if we stop questioning how she does stuff. She can surprise even me and Sayena sometimes."
"We will explain everything, promise," Kacey told Phoenix as she and Raine moved forward to balance Phoenix instead of Starlight and Talon. "Sayena, can you handle Talon? His head is trying to explode from Phoenix jumping dimensional walls. He's trying to play it off as no big deal, but he's lying through his teeth."
"Damn it, Talon." Shanae scowled at him. "I offered to sub you!"
Talon had an odd connection to time-space that did not come from any Time or Memory power; he had the Metal Flower Element, actually. It had existed since he had been born in his first life, which meant that he also felt fluctuations if something rippled time-space. It could give him headaches whenever Sabin, Claret, Racine, or even Tasia used either Time or Memory magic/majik. He had learned to deal with it since it faded fairly quickly as long as they were not doing things like traveling through time; at that point, Kacey or Sayena had to help because the headaches did not fade fast or at all. Tasia's hypothesis about dimensions being held together by time-space had been proven accurate by Talon's poor condition after Starlight's arrival. Phoenix's arrival had just punched his head anew. "It's not as bad as she thinks it is," he muttered. Sayena’s hand touched his forehead to spread healing magic, and he would have fallen if Silas and Ulyen hadn't hastily caught him. "Okay maybe it was."
"Stubborn man," Kacey grumbled as she and Raine escorted Phoenix. "Let's go get you into the guest room next to Starlight's and we'll heal that ankle of yours. Then you can sleep all you like."
"Yes'm," he grumbled as he let two Daffodil Cultivators help him up the stairs. As he was settled into the room, and Kacey and Raine examined his ankle, he looked at Starlight. "Star . . . I have some bad news. You need to sit down."
"Oh god." Starlight went white. "My sisters? Sunlight, Moonlight . . . are they okay?" She didn't even notice Raine suddenly moving over to help her into a seat, too terrified at the idea her sisters were wounded or worse.
"No, no. Far as I know Vincent has Sunlight, and Kiegan grabbed Moonlight and ran." Phoenix took a deep breath. "Starlight . . . Raven is missing." When Starlight sucked in a sharp breath, he continued, "Just before I left, a Knight got word to me that the crystal coffin had been shattered and there was no sign of Raven."
"Minstrel?" Starlight whispered.
"I doubt it. He'd be happier if Raven stayed asleep forever. No . . . this looked like Raven had busted himself out. There was blood on the crystal from the inside of the coffin, not the outside. If he got himself out, he may try to get here as well." His ankle was now healed, so he moved over to take Raine's place beside Starlight. "He's alive, Star. That's what matters."
"I'm just scared," she whispered. She turned her face into Phoenix's shoulder and did not notice when the two other Cultivators quietly left the room to give them privacy. She held onto her twin and finally admitted what she hadn't been able to tell anyone, even Shanae or Sayena. "What if we don't get Aluria back? I couldn't bear it if I didn't get our home back. Or worse, what if it dies? Raven is my soul mate; I cannot have a child with any but him. Sunny or Moony would have to bear a child to save Aluria's future. It's all so complicated now, with time running out."
"We'll get it back," Phoenix said confidently. "Now tell me where the hell I am and what's going on." Starlight did so, and after a moment, he decided, "Okay, that actually makes me feel even more confident about things. Sounds like we've gained some serious extra firepower from these Blossom Field Defenders of either generation, and it also sounds like the Resurrection team couldn't be stopped from helping us even if we asked."
Starlight had to smile at that and let go of her friend so that she could stand up. She paced a few feet away and then back again. "What do you know about Glacia?"
"Not much, unfortunately. I know he arrived on Aluria about twenty-six or so years ago and he's been Cashlin's general for most of that time." He frowned thoughtfully. "He called himself a witch, and his power 'majik' that was different but alike to our magic. Which sounds like is far more common here if all of the Resurrection Era Cultivators are witches as well. Maybe he came from here originally. Could probably ask that Talon if maybe he felt someone crossing dimensions two and a half decades ago. Probably has not been easy for him with Glacia coming and going since, too."
"Sayena is trying to figure out what she calls a 'delayed subconscious healing' and I don't know what that means, but as she's the Apex of Light, I expect she'll figure it out. She and Shanae and Tasia do the most amazing things, really." She wrapped her arms around herself. "There's something about Glacia that has been bugging me since we got here. It really hit me earlier today. His eyes looked so . . . shattered when he saw Emily and Ryan reveal themselves as Defenders. It was like he had seen something he didn't want to know." She fought a hint of a chill. "He fought as if he was denying what he knew. Thinking about it now . . . I wonder if he knows one of the Resurrection Cultivators. He reminds me of someone."
"Who?"
She thought about what she remembered of Glacia from Aluria, without the mask or majik disguising his voice. She compared them to all of her new friends, and horror rose hotly to choke her. Though his eyes remained caramel in both light and dark, there was no mistaking how much like Tasia's they looked. They even shared the same sassy tilt to the corner. A tremor rippled through her body as she began to see more similarities. The same accent. The same icy temper. "Oh gods. Oh gods, Nix! He reminds me of Tasia!"
"And Tasia is . . . ?"
"The Dual Cultivator of Iris, which is the Ice Flower Element so she's Jeo's equivalent, but she's also Lead Defender for her team and a sorceress and just . . . amazing. She . . . I think she's related to Glacia!" She turned and grabbed Phoenix's hands as her twin got to his feet. "We can't tell her!" she said urgently. "We can't! It would hurt her to no end to learn they might be related!" She shook her head when he started to protest. "No, I'm serious. I owe her my life, Nix. Literally. Promise not to tell!"
"Alright," her friend said slowly. "I promise. I just hope I don't regret it."
From where she was leaning against the wall outside the room, Shanae slowly closed her eyes as the disturbing premonition she had been feeling for days finally cleared. She had wondered why she felt as though there was a glacier of despair moving in on Tasia, and now she knew. She also knew her best friend knew everything already; there had been a look inside her eyes of mingled grief and anger after they had returned from helping Delilah and Ulyen.
"Okay, Tash," came Robert's voice from behind her. "Now would be a good time to tell me what the illusory hells is bothering you." She looked over her shoulder with an arched brow, and he returned the look. "What, I wasn't supposed to know? I know you better than you do. Something's bothering you, so I want to know what it is."
"It's nothing." She waved a hand dismissively and headed down the hall toward their bedroom. She shut the door behind her but wasn't very surprised when he opened it and followed her in. He locked the door, and she eyed him as she stubbornly crossed her arms. "Now what?"
"It always comes down to this." His voice was amused, but there was something heated in his eyes. He began to unbutton his shirt, and she admired the tempting flesh thus revealed. She would have happily let him run around shirtless if it wouldn't distract her from her work. He started walking slowly toward her, and his stride looked predatory. "Whenever you refuse to tell me something, I always have to wrestle it out of you. If I didn't know better," he added as he reached for her, "I'd say you did it on purpose, you little demon!"
A bit breathlessly a few moments later, she asked, "Now would I do that?" When he just snorted at her, she had to grin and thread her hands through his fluffy and curly white hair where it escaped his crown. "Okay, maybe I would."
Chance was walking his normal patrol of the gardens, though looking for other possible weaknesses in the defenses, when he caught a whiff of LeAnn's perfume. His entire body began to ache with greedy hunger, and he grit his teeth with an audible click. He had to do something about this helpless reaction he had if he so much as smelled her skin.
He had been avoiding her as if his life depended on it. He didn't trust his control around her any longer. He had unintentionally hurt her, and that just added to his guilt. The entire reason he resisted was so he wouldn't hurt her! He was not good for her, he was going to break her heart, and there was no way they could be soul mates! He didn't have a soul mate, damn it. Surely she was just confused. Maybe her being a witch had thrown off her senses. Hadn't someone said witches who were Cultivators could feel desire for non-soul mates? That had to be it.
He silently stepped closer to a portion of the garden closed to public tour and cloaked himself in the shadows so that no one could see or sense him. The area where he and LeAnn stood was the place where a lot of training took place; there was a punching bag hanging from a tree as well as other equipment littering the floor. It sat right near the balcony to Shanae and Robert's room, allowing the Apex of Dark to watch any training matches at her leisure.
Judging from the thuds and jangling chains, LeAnn might be trying to destroy the punching bag. He stepped closer to see better, and his pulse spiked through the roof. She wore a pair of hip hugging shorts and a workout bra with a loose tank top over it. Her long legs were left completely bare, and the warm fall wind teased the ends of the hair she had piled into a ponytail high on her head. The powerful muscles in her arms and legs were distinctly defined as she kicked and punched the bag with a set and grim expression.
He had only a moment to be grateful he wasn't her sparring partner and then he went still as she suddenly lifted her head. She shouldn't have been able to sense him at all because she did not have the Shadow Flower Element in any shape, yet her head turned and her eyes locked onto his with an unreadable and mysterious gaze. She turned her head back and slammed a fist into the punching bag. The chain snapped and the bag hit the ground.
He winced. She had never been very subtle. Hating himself but knowing he had no choice, he walked out of the shadows and slowly crossed to where she stood. She was sweaty and hot and smelled unfairly delicious, as if her pheromones might literally be dragging him in like a particularly powerful magnet. He very nearly bolted, but he knew he needed to face her. "LeAnn," he said carefully, but trailed off for not knowing the words.
She didn't look at him as she replaced the chain on the bag. "What?" His hand closed around her wrist, and she tried to ignore the wild racing of her heart. His very presence fed her longing for him. Being aloof had killed her because it went against everything she was, but it had worked. He was finally taking the first step forward. At least he did not realize she was still leading the dance they made.
"I just . . ." He took a quick breath. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? I was an ass."
"I'm sorry you're an ass too," she retorted. She kept her expression carefully bland as she met his eyes. "What are you apologizing for, Rubeo?"
Somehow, the way she said his name made it sound almost like a caress. He suddenly regretted giving her permission to use it. The level of intimacy was already too strong between them. "For the other night. I had no right to grab you like that."
"Well, yes, you did. Hell, I deliberately provoke that side of you whenever I can, so I consider it tacitly implied that at any point you want to grab me, anywhere, I am a more than willing participant. Trust me, if I had been unwilling, I would have been kicking and screaming and not trying to memorize your mouth with mine." She freed her wrist with a lithe twist of her arm and walked over to where her towel had been tossed. She deliberately swung her hips just a little extra and heard the slight catch in his breath. "The harder you retreat, the harder I will chase you. Fact of life, I'm afraid."
"Damn it, Leslie Ann!" he snapped in frustration. "Why can't you understand that this is wrong?"
Her temper spiked as she swung around. "How is it wrong, Rubeo?" she demanded. Her eyes smoldered with a blend of anger and pain. "How is it wrong for me to pursue the man I love? You're my soul mate! I've loved you my entire life! Tell me, here and now, that you're not in love with me even a little and I'll walk away without looking back!" she challenged.
He opened his mouth, but the words got stuck in his throat. His stomach fell out through his feet as he realized that he couldn't say he wasn't in love with her. It would be a lie, and he had never before lied to her. Ever. Not even once. He had always somehow found it abhorrent. Terror rose as his feelings threatened to choke him, and he took a slight step backward.
She studied his face and eyes and saw what he could not hide and yet could not say. Her heart swelled painfully. She threw the towel aside to leap into his arms, and she wrapped herself around him like a vine. He tried to pry her loose, but somehow his hands ended up in her hair and his lips found hers as if he could not get enough of her. Would never get enough.
This time it was LeAnn who broke the kiss, and she let go of him as suddenly as she had grabbed him. It left him reeling, and he stared at her with blind hunger that did nothing for her self-control. Her eyes nearly black with her emotions, she said huskily, "Think about that, Rubeo. Remember that when you're cold and lonely at night." She leaned in closer so that he was sure to get the full impact of her presence. "You know where my room is. I'll be waiting for you anytime with my arms open." She turned on her heel and walked away, and she did not look back.
His entire body ached so badly that he could only stand there and stare after her hungrily. When he heard his king politely clear his throat, he looked up in surprise to find Robert leaning on the balcony. He was still shirtless and clearly just out of bed, and there was a distinct grin on his face. Chance winced. "Hi."
"You know," Robert said blandly, "a person can get arrested in some places for staring at another like that." He propped his chin on his fist with a lazy smile. "I'd love to tell you the frustration eventually goes away, but I'm sorry to say it'll grow over time like an addiction even if you do take her up on the offer to sneak into her room. Just remember that you'll have to marry her if you do. Which, you know, might not be so bad since you then wouldn't have to sneak at all."
Classic Robert. He discussed his own child's love life with the same lack of concern he might discuss his own. Desperate, and his voice reflecting it, Chance said, "Damn it, Robert, give me a hand here! She's your baby! You should be the one objecting the most to her wanting to hook up with someone like me!"
Robert's temper stirred though he fought to keep it down. He would box Chance's ears later for daring to think he had less worth than any other Caretaker. He may have had humble beginnings, but so did half the others, and his promotion to Captain of the Royal Knights—as the title implied—had given him plenty of status. Also, Robert felt utterly no shock at the events since he had known for ages where things would go. Even before the two times LeAnn had traveled to Rebirth as part of a Paradoxal Pivot and brought back adjusted memories, he had known. Those adjustments had really only confirmed his suspicions. Hazards of Future Sight, really. He also wholly liked Destiny's choice for his daughter, and was wholeheartedly on her side.
However . . . he had plenty of annoyed memories of the Royal Era where Chance had interfered in his own love life. It was just too delightful not to take advantage of Chance's discomfort. The sweetest revenge the High King could think of was not interfering in return. "True," he mused. "She is very much my baby. I probably love her nearly as much as I love my two soul mates and soul-sister, and that says it all, really, since you literally can't love anyone else as much as someone connected to your soul."
"Exactly!"
He just grinned. "Unfortunately, as is my way, I am terrible about spoiling those I love most." Innocently, he added, "In other words, what my little princess wants, she can have. You're on your own, friend."
Chance fled the scene. Quickly, and with the air of a man in a panic because he knew he was going under for the third time.
Robert looked over his shoulder as he heard his wife laugh and found her standing in the balcony doorway. She wore nothing but the pink silk robe that he loved for it perfectly flattered her eyes. "This is fun," he told her with a grin.
"Well worth waiting a few thousand years to see him get his, isn't it?" she remarked.
"Definitely." He smiled as he wondered what LeAnn had up her sleeves next. His daughter was every bit her mother's child; her intelligence and cunning couldn't even be measured. It did his heart good to know his deviousness had been added to the mix. She was a terror, bless her heart.
* * * * *
The laughter reached him first. One voice was a young girl's, and she shrieked with laughter in the manner of a child who was well loved and knew it. The next voice was a baby's, and he or she gurgled and giggled. Smatterings of real words emerged in the way of a quickly growing toddler. The final voice was a woman's and very familiar. Her voice had filled with laughter, and the very power of her tone seemed to demand others smile as well.
Arthur's heart clenched in his chest as he stepped around the edge of the play structure in a park and looked to where his daughter chased a young girl in laughing circles around a tire swing. The baby sat nearby on a blanket and watched with clear glee as his mother played with his sister.
Arthur had honestly assumed the girl was his granddaughter by blood since she had her mother's hair, her father's eyes—with magenta undertones rather than shadows—and a skin tone near to theirs as well. At eight years old, she was just young enough to have been a pre-adulthood birth for Tasia, which, given what he had heard that she and Rodi had been together since childhood, could be plausible. It happened only rarely, but did happen. However, in the course of digging a bit more in the blank spots around his daughter, he had learned that Anna Aria had been adopted nearly two years earlier. He found that harder to believe, really. She had clear and obvious and powerful majikal bonds to both of her parents that were normally more commonly found between blood relations. Arthur's own bonds to Tasia had broken decades before.
Three dragons laid on the blanket with Daelan. Two were the ones that he had seen with Tasia before, and the third was a purple baby curled up with her nose tucked under her tail. She was nothing more than a slip of a thing, and the rainbow-colored dragon had a wing extended over her to protect her from the sun.
Arthur glanced back to Tasia and Anna as the former caught the latter around the waist and tumbled her down onto the sand to tickle her without mercy. She was an incredible mother. She had, of course, had a great example. He had both respect and affection for Olivia, though he was no longer in love with her. In fact, he had been extremely happy to hear she would be marrying Tosh soon. She deserved happiness, and he had hoped over the years she would find it. He had every confidence that her soon-to-be husband could give it to her.
He had nearly decided to walk away when Anna suddenly looked at him and began to frown. It caught Tasia's attention as well. He knew she could find him even if he hid, so he walked forward until he was only a few feet away from them. "You're a beautiful mother, Tasi," he said quietly.
Because the words echoed with sincerity, she accepted the compliment with a nod of her head as she got to her feet and brushed the sand off her denims. "Go sit with Daelan," she murmured softly to her daughter, and waited until Anna had run over to join her brother. She walked a few feet away and inclined her head for Arthur to follow. He joined her, and she asked evenly, "What the hell do you want now?"
"Too many things I can't have," he retorted. "We'll start with you listening to me for once." She opened her mouth, and he held up his hand sharply as his eyes narrowed. "Enough, young lady. You will hear me out whether you like it or not! I know damned well you've got the curiosity of a kitten. Surely you want to at least hear my excuse."
She crossed her arms and leaned a shoulder against the wooden support of the play set. Eyes narrowed, she studied her father. He was right. She did want to know, and she did have a deep curiosity; she blamed it on her thirst for knowledge. She was also viciously aware of the clock ticking away in her heart to tell her that somehow the premonition kept coming closer and closer. Damned if he would die before she knew what he had thought he was doing. She needed to know whether she could forgive and forget, or simply forget. "Alright. Talk. But I reserve the right to walk away."
He smiled wryly. "Fair enough, I suppose." He fell silent for a moment as he tried to sort out his thoughts. He could not explain how he had accidentally ended up on Aluria, so he focused on the start. Slowly he said, "Contrary to what you think, I never stopped loving you and your mother. I was just hit one day with a desire to travel that I could not resist. I needed to see things. I hit the road and I loved it."
"More than you loved us," she muttered bitterly.
"Damn it, no!" His voice was sharp, and so was the motion of his hand as if he would cut through her words. "It wasn't that I loved it more, it was that it filled a different sort of need in me. Damn it, how could I uproot you just for my selfish hunger? You had made some new friends, and Olivia loved the farm."
Her sudden laugh held no humor. It made Anna wince and scoop up her brother as he fussed. They did not like hearing their mother laugh without meaning it. She got to her feet in agitation as Anira woke and flew over to Tasia for comfort. She landed on Tasia's shoulder and then climbed down into her bra to burrow against her heart.
"You have no idea, do you?" Tasia's eyes had darkened to gray rather than brown inside her tumultuous emotions. Only those of the strongest Light, Dark, or Gray could have their eyes change color to match the color of their blood. She and Rodi went gray; Shanae, Evan, and LeAnn went black (though LeAnn had white speckles); and Sayena, Robert, and Reagan went white. Chance and Allister could also go black and white, if pushed hard enough; being technically of Shadow, it took a stronger push than the others. "You honestly have no idea. It was more selfish to run out on us than it would have been to take us along! We'd have followed you anywhere! Do you have any idea what I've gone through? No, because you weren't here." A shudder rippled through her body. "I would have killed to come home from those horrors and have a father to hold me. Tosh needed to be there for Raine and Storm, and I did not feel right asking to take his attention. I could have had Dad—Dane, I mean—but it took me a month to open up to him, and be comfortable with him. I didn't know how to accept being a daddy's girl. Imagine that."
"Horrors?" He felt sick to his stomach as he saw the memory of something terrible in her eyes. He wanted to reach out and hold her now, but he knew that she would go for his eyes if he tried. He felt sicker still as he realized, and accepted, that Dane had taken his place in her heart as much as, if not more, than even Tosh had. He could see, let alone feel, the majikal bonds.
Could telling him change destiny, or cause it? She didn't know. She only knew she had to go with her gut instinct, and it told her to tell him everything. She took a breath and straightened her back. She met her father's eyes directly. "Horrors. Do you remember when I was five? The accident on my birthday that left me nearly dead?"
His stomach clenched. "I'm not likely to forget. There was no nearly about it. You had to be revived several times." The memory, to that day, still haunted him.
"You should remember then how my friends had 'accidents' too. Raine and Theo and Beth and Storm. It happened to Emily and Ryan, too, though we did not know them at the time. Something nearly deadly happened to all of us. Something that froze the Seeds inside us so we never Activated or knew we were Cultivators. Twenty years later, we unintentionally gathered of our own will and found ourselves kidnapped to Aria so a False King could try to kill us and stop us from stopping him."
The clenching became nausea. He shifted his weight in protest. "What happened?"
"What didn't happen?" Something that might have been black and white lightning very briefly flickered inside the swirl of shadowy power in her eyes. "I shattered my own soul to become a sorceress. I gave up my pride. I ended ten thousand years of weighted destiny." Her eyes lifted and met his, and he felt at last the full force of her power. The music, the shadows, and the ice. The dragon blood and the majik. The pure arcanistry made of magic and majik and arcane forces. The chaotic blend could be seen in the infinite swirl of power in her pupils. "Let me make it as plain as I can. You know I am a Ruler Cultivator of Iris. I am also a Defender Cultivator of Iris as well—and even one to Aria. I am Dual, and I am the Lead Defender of the Resurrection Cultivators. I am the twin soul and personal guardian to High Princess LeAnn Protea. I am the daughter of Lower Queen Yvette and Lower King Dane Iris, and I will succeed them when the Iris Kingdom is finished being rebuilt. I am the High Priestess of Protea and the Ephemeral Plane, and the last of Liena Vanguard's maternal line. I don't need you, Father. I've found my way without you. But then . . . that was your choice."
She turned on her heel and walked over to her children. She took Daelan from Anna and then took her daughter's hand with her free one. The dragons followed in their wake, and none of them looked back once.
I am the Lead Defender of the Resurrection Cultivators.
The words vibrated in his mind and imprinted on his soul. He very nearly turned and threw up his breakfast as sickening pain spread through his entire body. His daughter was his mortal enemy. The leader of the Defenders who protected Starlight while she was on Protea. He had been shown hints that it was so, and he had refused to believe them. He had no choice but to believe now.
What was he supposed to do next? If Cashlin found out about their connection, things would fall apart even faster, and there might be no knowing what would happen to either Arthur or Tasia alike. A choice loomed before him, and neither option looked pleasant. Why did it have to happen this way?
* * * * *
Because Phoenix was dying to explore the city and Starlight could go out with just him as a bodyguard, they headed alone to the marketplace bright and early the next morning. Starlight gave her friend a quick rundown of how Blossom Field worked in general and Protea/Delphinium specifically, and then Phoenix gave her a quick update as to what the rest of their Defender team was doing and where.
Vincent and Yuiki had taken Sunlight away to one of the other countries where the resident king not only disliked Cashlin, but had also expressed more than a passing interest in Sunlight herself—most everyone knew they surely had to be soul mates, but Sunlight had proven both stubborn and blind in the way only a Dark core could.
Kiegan and Lilac had grabbed Moonlight and run with her and Captain Vargas of the Alurian Knights to the Deep Woods far from the main kingdom where they could hide safely away at a Leyline. Rose and Jeo kept the enemy soldiers out of the other two Leylines. It was of critical importance that the Leylines not fall lest the entire world collapse. Each Leyline directly channeled two different elements for Aluria as a whole.
"I'm not so sure about Rose," Phoenix admitted. "I'm not sure she can handle this. She's only five! She didn't even get a chance to train or learn anything before she had to be sent into war. That hurts, Star. How is that fair? Tell the kid her mother and father died in battle, and suddenly we realize she has a Seed of her own, it Activates, she gets a Mask, and she has to fill her mother's shoes? Shit."
Starlight's eyes darkened considerably as she thought about her smallest guardian, Rose Johnson. Her mother had been the Alurian Defender of the Glass Flower Element, and she had been the only member of the team to meet her soul mate Caretaker and marry him after becoming an adult, so she had also been the first to have a child. No one had even realized a Seed existed inside Rose as well until April and Taylor had given their lives to protect their world, and suddenly a Mask had appeared in Rose's hands. The child had not even hesitated. She had put on the Mask, asked for a weapon, and promised to do anything she could. "Yes, she's five," Starlight said softly, "but she's strong. She has April's spirit. You can see it."
"I know." Phoenix still hated knowing that Rose had been forced to take up the reigns of a position that she shouldn't have needed to be in for many, many years, if ever. Defender generations fell with painful youngness on Aluria as well, but not usually before the following generation had reached at least two decades in age. "Still, I'm worried. I hope Luc is still checking in on her."
Luc Carter was a squire and Knight-in-training who worked at the Captain's right hand. Even at twelve, he had proven to be skilled and unexpectedly gifted; he actually had what appeared to be magic from the Water Flower Element. He and Rose had been the closest of friends since meeting, and once she had donned her Mask, he had begged Vargas to be reassigned to helping Rose—to which Vargas had agreed.
"I have every confidence he is," Starlight said firmly. She smiled. "I'm pretty sure no one would, hmm, care for her better." She linked her hands behind her back and smiled as they headed down the road to the marketplace. "Shanae and Sayena both gave me money to spend, so let's splurge just a little. It's been a long time since we had a chance to relax, isn't it?" She blinked suddenly as she saw a flash of familiar ashy brown colored hair dragging an only slightly familiar flash of rust colored hair. "Storm?"
Storm swung around so quickly that Kari stumbled and nearly tripped them both to the ground. She caught her balance, and her breath, and then gave a startled shout as he changed directions and dragged her toward Starlight and Phoenix. "Stormy! Whoa, Stormy, slow down!" When he skidded to a stop, she quite firmly put her hands on his shoulders and applied pressure. "Stay. Good boy."
"Where's my cookie?" he demanded accusingly over his shoulder at her.
"I'll bake some," she promised. She looked at Phoenix and Starlight who were both trying not to blatantly laugh out loud. "It's genetic," she informed them gravely. "And it frightens me because Logan is twice my size and Raine drags him around." They both grinned, and she offered them a hand palm up. "Kari Anohue, at your service. You must be the dimension hoppers that Stormy mentioned."
Starlight had learned the local greeting so placed her palm on Kari's. As she did, she felt the unexpected and surprising presence of Thunder Flower Element magic that was not Kari's. It felt like it belonged to Storm, actually. It seemed very distinctly different from Kari's personal gift as Caretaker, whatever it may be. Starlight glanced at Storm and asked, "Branded her?"
"Well, she's so cute I needed to make sure other people didn't try anything. I considered a tattoo for a while. Something like 'Fondle At Own Risk' but she's afraid of needles." He went on without missing a beat, "So you're Phoenix huh? Starlight's twin soul mate? Nice to meet you. I'm Storm Peacer, he who is the younger Dual Cultivator of Gladiolus. Technically also Storm Gladiolus if you want my Ruler name, and really, my common name would be Storm Anohue, but Kari is still trying to find engagement rings as sassy as I am. Since that'll take forever, I'm learning to balance being a betrothed and yet not engaged man."
Phoenix's eyes had widened and then they narrowed fractionally as he realized that Storm may have been younger than almost all of his other Defender partners, but he was by far one of the more dangerous. His very personality led people to trust him, and his eyes knew things. There was an understanding and knowledge in his eyes that Phoenix had only ever seen in people who had lived at least four times his age. "Nice to meet you, Storm," he finally said. "What're you two doing out here?"
"Shopping!" he answered cheerfully.
"Going insane," was his lover's mutter, which earned her a well-placed elbow in the diaphragm. She smiled at him with such emotion in her eyes that Starlight's heart melted. She loved to see Cultivators with their soul mates, possibly because she could not yet have her own. Kari caught her look and sent her a quick smile; Starlight reminded her of Sayena so she had to like her. "Want to tag along?"
"Sure." She matched the smile. "Maybe we'll get into less trouble as a group."
"Hell no," Kari countered instantly. "Stormy actively looks for and encourages trouble."
"I got you, didn't I?" the pattern master murmured under his breath. While the others laughed, he turned his eyes toward the sun in the distance to gauge what time it was and how long they had until the market closed. Clouds shaped like glaciers moved across the face of the sun, and shadows cast across the ground. His heart began to beat dully in his chest as a pattern condensed out of the possibilities that had been only nagging at him thus far.
There was another glacier entirely that had created a shadow, and it was only a matter of time before that glacier was torn apart within the chaotic force it had created. Everything was heading downhill now, he realized as he closed his eyes. The premonition was very close.
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
