The entire universe had begun to buzz with the news that the final Ruler Cultivator of Blossom Field's younger generation had finally gotten engaged. Rumor had spread far and wide about the way she had forced her fiancé's hand, but most just laughed and winked knowingly at it. Blossom Field itself had been expecting the outcome almost from Crown Prince Theodore's wedding, so everyone felt quite pleased with the outcome.
LeAnn was distinctly the most pleased. Even Chance couldn't help but be amused with her smug reaction. He still felt a bit unsure over everything, and he was not certain if Destiny had done her any favors by making them soul mates, but he was sure that he could not let her go ever again. There would be nothing left of him if he tried. Still, one evening as they were walking in the garden, he asked her, "Why me, Leslie Ann?"
She stopped under her favorite tree and leaned against the trunk to look up at his face in the light of the lamps. Knowing he was always there for her to look at, to reach out and touch, to hold and be held . . . there was no greater happiness for her. Even with the danger around her and her friends, even knowing they faced an evil unlike any other . . . she was happy all the way into her soul. "I don't know," she finally told him with a smile. "From the moment I realized you were my soul mate, I was happy. I fell in love with you before I ever had a hope of loving anyone else."
He tilted his head slightly. "When was that?"
"When I was little, after I almost got Mom killed during that skirmish with evil . . . you came up and just sat with me, watching the fight with me. You didn't say anything but . . . that was the moment when I fell in love. When I knew you were the only one I would ever love in my heart and soul alike." She did not ask when he had fallen in love with her; she honestly was not sure if he knew since it had blindsided him to realize he loved her that way at all. "Although, to be fair, I had picked you out before birth anyway. That's what we think. That we Cultivators get to pick the soul mate we want before we are born."
He lifted a hand and threaded his fingers into her thick black ponytails to tease out the white streaks. It still stunned him a little that he didn't have to fight his instincts urging him to touch her. She reveled in his touch, and he did not need to fight himself. "Why would you pick me?"
She smiled. "That's a secret."
"Fair enough." He eased closer until their bodies barely touched. "I keep thinking I'm dreaming and will wake to find you gone." He lifted his other hand and curled it around the back of her neck. "You did something to me, LeAnn. I can't seem to get over it. What spell did you use?"
"If I tell you, that spoils the majik," she teased. An ache panged inside her soul. She felt his love whenever he touched her. Saw it in his eyes. Heard it in his every word. Yet he still could not say it outright. He still did not wholly smile. She wanted to heal him so terribly. Ensure he knew his tender heart was safe in her care. "Kiss me."
"Is that an order, princess?"
"Why, yes, it is."
"Then, if I must." He kept his eyes on hers as he drew her closer and touched her lips with his. Her hands came up to rest feather light on his face, and a shudder went through his body. He dragged her closer to deepen the kiss and savored her rich chocolate melting in the sun taste. He was getting addicted. Only distantly did he hear someone clear her throat, and he realized belatedly that they were not in the right place or at the right time for what he was thinking.
He hastily released his fiancée and turned his head to see Starlight and Raven watching them with smiles. He knew the courtship had been a farce but still did not like the other man. His eyes narrowed slightly and he unconsciously pulled LeAnn closer as if to reinstate that she belonged to him.
LeAnn, trying to catch her scattered thoughts and calm her pulse, didn't notice their visitors at first. "You're too good at that," she complained. "And would you give me a good reason why we're waiting until marriage? Seriously. I'm like the only one of my friends who hasn't been tumbled! I thought it was some sort of tradition for you Caretakers to seduce your intended before marriage!" He turned her head, and she saw their observers. "Oh. Hi. He won't let me seduce him," she said accusingly.
Starlight bit her lip to hide a laugh. "Try harder?" she suggested.
"I might have to," LeAnn muttered as she pulled out of Chance's arms. "I have to meet with the other Defenders," she explained when he gave her a surprised look. "Starlight's going with me. Play nice with Raven," she warned him, "or I'll knock you silly."
He stared after the two women as they left and didn't even know his confusion was on his face until Raven asked softly, "What puzzles you more? Her lack of wariness of you, the fact that she loves you, or the fact that you love her as much?"
"Yes." Chance shook his head and then raked a hand through his hair. "She's had me wrapped around her finger since she was born," he admitted on a sigh. "No one gets to me faster. I have absolutely no control around her. What if I hurt her? She cuts through to my temper so damn easily."
"Considering her own temper, I doubt she's concerned about it," he said simply. "And neither should you be. I don't doubt you have the capacity for violence—you would not be a Caretaker or a Captain if you could not fight—but the very fact that you are a Caretaker should be enough to tell you that you are incapable of harming those you care about." He clapped Chance on the back companionably. "Do you always lose your temper around her?"
"No," Chance admitted. "I've noticed since we got engaged that I only lose my temper if she's spoiling for a fight. I otherwise remain calm and get her out of her snit." A hint of a wry smile touched his lips. "Not that I'm not used to the latter with her father. He has some royal snits of his own."
"There's your answer." Raven smiled. "You lose your temper easily because she likes to fight sometimes. Those of us who are mates to Cultivators have to give them what they want to be happy, so . . . your temper flares only when needed."
"Or she gets in danger," he muttered. He turned to face the other man evenly. "I want it to be clear that I don't really like you. In fact, I damn near hated you for a while because of your pursuit of LeAnn. Even knowing it was fake doesn't change my feelings on that. Nothing personal, you see, but you brought danger into the lives of people I live to protect."
"No offense taken," Raven told him. "I'd be the same way. In fact . . . that's rather the reason I'm here. I want to talk to you about Minstrel." When Chance lifted a brow, he gestured toward the bench near them. "Let's have a seat and I'll explain a little about the Mad Bard and why he hates me."
Chance thought about it and then nodded. While Raven sat on the bench, Chance leaned against the tree near it. "What is it that makes him tick?" he asked quietly. "The Resurrection Cultivators have a theory from the pattern masters, but is it accurate?"
"It is." Raven closed his eyes as he put his head in his hands. "How old do you think Minstrel is?"
Chance frowned. "He supposedly looked a bit on the young side."
"He's supposed to be about thirty-six, which is my age, but he froze in aging around age twenty. No one has ever determined why." He sighed. "He was always . . . off. He killed his parents when he was a child. Cashlin took the throne and some think perhaps they worked together on the murder. Doctors declared Minstrel mentally unstable, but Cashlin kept him around by excusing him as not knowing what he was doing."
"There's something deeper wrong in him, then," Chance said quietly. "There are many mentally unstable people of varying sorts on Protea and Delphinium alike, but they are non-violent. Often difficult, to be sure, but far from dangerous except in the rare instance."
"That was the feeling on Aluria as well. And people wanted to help him. He just did not want to be helped." He could not remain seated and got to his feet to pace. "We met at a diplomatic meeting when we were around five. He . . . he was a frightening little child. Empty eyes. We had an old servant who scolded him one day for breaking a vase." He raked his hands through his hair. "Next morning we found the servant gutted and left for the birds."
Chance's stomach rolled but he kept his voice neutral. "And he hates you because . . ."
"Because of something he did that he blames me for." Raven sighed. "He was always in competition with me, for goddess only knows what reason. When we were ten or so, I bested him at a fencing match and accidentally broke the foil he was using. He went into a blind rage and attacked everything in sight. The foil had been special, I suppose. By the time someone stopped him, he had wounded at least ten people and killed two others. One of those dead was a child his parents had adopted after she got orphaned. People referred to her as the 'common princess' because she had common origins but made a perfect princess. Even Cashlin seemed very fond of his adopted sister."
"And she was extra special to Minstrel, I take it?"
"Very. She was five years younger than Minstrel, and a good kid with a kind heart untainted by those around her. She was also strangely close to Minstrel and had an odd ability to calm him down or make him less insane. That was lost entirely when he accidentally struck her down in his blind rage. When he realized what he had done, he clutched her body and wouldn't turn loose. He blames me for her death because I provoked him, if you can follow that logic." Raven clenched a hand into a fist. "That hat he wears? It's a replica of the one her doll had been wearing that time."
"He keeps getting creepier," Chance muttered.
"It doesn't get better from here. He's also, truly, brilliant. I heard someone call Tasia a 'rubber brain' and after an explanation, it made sense. It applies to Minstrel. He could have been so much more than he became. He had discovered that killing things brought him joy, and he had never felt that before. So he kept on killing." Raven began to pace restlessly with his arms crossed. "Five years ago, he snuck into my kingdom and began to manipulate the minds of the people and my family. By the time he killed some of the servants, they were convinced I had done it and I was disowned."
Chance said nothing, and he continued, "I knew he had done it, and so I confronted him. We fought. Somehow he managed to strike me down. I lost my sword into a river, and I was lying there on the verge of death." He looked at Chance directly. "Know what hell is really like? It's being lost in the mind of a madman. I saw it. He showed me it. Like a broken clock that replays the same moment over and over. Then . . . I blacked out. I vaguely regained a bit of consciousness to hear Jeo—the Alurian Defenders' healer—telling me he was going to make me sleep until I healed, and then I was out for good until I woke in a crystal coffin. I broke out and . . . you know the rest."
Silence fell on the sunset lit garden as Chance thought about everything he had been told. He had an almost uncontrollable urge to find LeAnn and hold her, to reassure himself that she was safe. Even when enemies had been brilliant, even when they had been evil . . . they hadn't been literally insane. From that point on, he thought grimly, the Resurrection Cultivators as a whole would be under the same rules as the High Rulers: they did not go anywhere alone, and there would always be an extra Defender or Caretaker with them. Frankly, he did not intend to let LeAnn out of his sight unless she was in Tasia's company. The only person he would ever allow to protect his mate under these circumstances was her lethal twin. "Basically," he finally said, "he despises you and will stop at nothing to see you dead?"
"Pretty much."
"Nothing new there. That happens regularly. Usually in October, too. I hate autumn." And that said, he turned and walked away, leaving a rather bemused Raven behind him in the gardens as he headed for the meeting space inside a greenhouse in the gardens. The meeting was just breaking up when he got there, and he counted heads quickly. LeAnn wasn't present. He fought to squash the fear that rose as he noticed Tasia still there. "Where's LeAnn?" he asked her.
"Said she was looking for you." She quirked a brow as he ran off and then murmured to herself, "If you'd just let yourself open up, you'd know where she was at all times, just like I do. Idiot."
LeAnn was sitting on a swing in the rock garden when she sensed him approach. She smiled and turned toward him. "So there you are. I was wondering—mmph!" The last of her words was lost as he literally snatched her off the swing and into his arms where his lips covered hers hungrily.
She clung onto him and reveled in the wildness she could sense. He hadn't kissed her like that since that scene after the attack so long before, and she had been craving his passion since then. She knew he wanted her as terribly as she wanted him, but he was so damned careful to not lose control! He finally lifted his head, and his blue eyes looked as beautifully azure as the sky. She could only manage, "What was that for?"
"Don't go wandering off alone!" His voice was nothing more than a soft growl as he gave her a little shake. "If something happened to you . . ." His voice broke, and he gathered her so close in his arms that she almost couldn't breathe. "Damn you, Leslie Ann."
She rested her head on his shoulder and ran a hand gently over his back to soothe him. "I'm fine, Rubeo, I promise. I also promise not to wander off alone with you or another Defender with me—even in our own palace grounds. I respect your need to keep me safe."
He let out a quick breath. "I'm beginning to suddenly sympathize with your mother. How did that happen?" She punched him half-heartedly, and he held her closer with his face in her hair. He was very much sympathizing with Shanae. It was not easy to give that much power over yourself to another person, no matter how much you loved them.
* * * * *
Starlight and Phoenix were walking through the gardens together an hour later when they spotted Raven ahead of them. Starlight smiled. Phoenix scowled. He didn't object to Raven, per se, but he was still irked at the other man for being so damn stubborn he had almost gotten himself killed. It would have destroyed Starlight.
"Raven!" Starlight ran forward and leapt into his arms, and she held onto him tightly as he swung her around in a circle. She cuddled close and then eyed her scowling twin. "Oh go away."
"Yeah, like I want to watch you two snuggling." He sniffed derisively and walked away around the wall of the garden. That was far as he went, however. He did not want to intrude yet he did not want to let them out of his sight.
Storm's words echoed in his head, and he frowned as he remembered how the others had assured him that Storm was a pattern master and never wrong. Considering it came on the heels of Kari's own patterning, and the premonitions that all those with Sight kept having, Phoenix felt very disinclined to leave the people he loved unguarded.
He feeds on fear. This pattern . . . it's like plaid. There's no other way to describe it. All these colors and paths going in different directions that somehow make sense when it's done. All I can see now is that he wants to cause the greatest pain to the strongest people. Tasia's in danger for it, and most of all, Raven is in danger for it because it's personal. And because of that . . . Starlight is in danger too.
Raven drew Starlight closer and smiled as he smoothed her hair back out of her eyes. "Did you all come to any understanding?"
"A few." She kept them to herself and wound her arms around his neck. Not an easy feat when he stood a foot taller than she did, but she enjoyed the effort. "It always vexed me that you just kept outgrowing me more and more until I needed to stand on something to hug you."
"You like sitting on my lap, though." He lowered his hands and flexed his fingers in the soft flesh of her waist. He loved the plump shape of her body and the way she felt cuddled against him. "I sometimes worry I'll hurt you, though."
"Never that." She cuddled against him as he drew her close. "So," she said softly, "are we going to go that whole route again? The one where you won't marry me until your name is cleared? You're kinda stuck now and have to marry me one way or another." She grinned up at him. "There are some laws that are not just universal but also interdimensional. Might as well just get married sooner rather than later."
"Star . . ." He cupped her chin gently. "Do you really want to marry a man with that sort of stigma attached to him?"
She rolled her eyes. "I am the queen, I make the laws, and I'll issue a danged royal pardon if necessary. Only your parents still think you're guilty, and we can work on them later. Like after we give them a grandkid. They'll come knocking then."
His hands trembled as he gently brushed her hair back out of her face. It never ceased to amaze him the depth of emotion he had for this petite woman. He had loved her for his entire life. He would love her until the end of time. "Alright," he said softly. He rested his forehead against hers. "I'll marry you whenever you want." Humor lit his eyes. "If Phoenix will let me," he added louder.
Phoenix sighed. "Yes, yes. Be happy and prosper and all that." Since he was caught, he came out of hiding and walked over to them. He regarded Raven for long moments and then lifted his fist and slammed it square in his stomach. His breath whooshed out on a grunt but he didn't stagger. Phoenix just smiled. "Since you can handle my punch, you can have her. It's always been my idea of a good test." And he would die before admitting his hand hurt from the blow.
"Thanks," Raven muttered. A chill suddenly whispered across the back of his neck, and he looked around warily. He just felt as if something had been disturbed somehow in a way that made his skin crawl. "Phoenix," he said quietly. "Take Star to the Resurrection Cultivators. And all of you stick together."
Starlight wanted to stay yet she went willingly as Phoenix took her arm and hurried with her through the gardens. She had felt it too. Something . . . mad had breached the shields and set off alarms in everyone.
Raven drew the sword he had borrowed and crept slowly through the vast garden. He had not thought Minstrel could penetrate the immense wards the priestess had put on the castle, but he clearly had. The sensation of madness kept growing thicker. It moved suddenly, quickly, and struck without warning. A female voice screamed in the distance, and it sounded like LeAnn. An explosion followed, and his soul abruptly felt cut in a way that meant his soul mate was in danger.
He raced in a terror back through the gardens toward the sounds. He was not the only one running. Both generations of Defenders were coming from all directions, Elders and younger alike, and all Caretakers on ground as well. They descended on the place where the explosion had come from and saw instantly what had occurred.
Phoenix lay motionless on the ground and covered in blood. Tasia stood defensively over him and projected a shield of Ice and Shadow magic to protect the fallen Defender. She did not look any better than he did. In fact, she looked worse. Wounds covered her body and dripped gray blood to the ground where clover bloomed. Her eyes had gone solid gray as she used her arcanistry to even remain upright. Neither wore their Masks, implying the attack may have come on too hard and fast to prepare.
The source of the wounds and the reason for the shield was a monstrous viper of at least twice the Iris Defender's height. It lunged again and again at the shield in a blind effort to get through. "Destroy it," Tasia said, and her mystical voice sounded unusually flat.
It took more than a few combined attacks from the various Defenders in the area, but eventually they managed to eradicate the monster. Tasia released the shield and tried to step forward only to have her legs buckle under her. She landed in Rodi's arms as he shot forward, and he gently lowered her to the ground. "Tasia!" he said urgently. "Anastasia!"
Her lashes fluttered and then opened slightly. Her eyes locked on Chance's instead of her husband's. "Get . . . her back." Her eyes closed again as she slumped against Rodi. The only thing that could make her sleep other than the black poppy of Aria—inherent in her husband's very scent—was extreme injury. Insomnia had plagued her all of her life until she had met Rodi, thanks to her powerful mind never shutting down or her All Sight constantly afflicting her with visions. Seeing her fall here stirred up panic that compounded once they realized both LeAnn and Starlight were missing. That was why Phoenix and Tasia looked in such horrible shape; they had willingly laid their lives on the line for their twins and nearly died in the process.
A low sound of fury vibrated from Chance's chest. "Raven." He looked at the other man. "We're going." For once, they were in perfect agreement, and both looked ready to tear Minstrel apart. The snapping shadows around the hilt of the sword Chance had taken to wearing physically just underscored it as a whole.
"Damn it!" Shanae snapped. "Is Rodi the only Caretaker around here who thinks before he charges in? Take a Defender with you!" She flicked a glance over those who were present. "Racine, you're going with them. Because of that, Allister, you are going too." Both nodded instantly and quickly followed Chance and Raven as they ran from the gardens.
Storm looked at where the viper had been and his mind sorted through the information quickly. The monster had gotten onto the grounds through the shields. It had set them off, but it had gotten through. Nothing was supposed to be able to even enter if it was evil. "How odd," he murmured. "How could it get past Tasi's shields?"
"Everyone inside the palace, now," Shanae ordered firmly. "We need to wait for the others to get back with LeAnn and Starlight before we discuss what to do about Minstrel and his abilities."
* * * * *
Raven led the way through the nighttime city; at the current nineteenth hour, the city had already begun to bustle with its night life. He knew Minstrel would go somewhere he felt secure, and he would not be getting there easily if he had to tow LeAnn and Starlight. That narrowed down the options dramatically, thankfully. "Wish I could just find her," he muttered.
Racine hesitated and then said, "Well, you can actually. Any pair of soul-bonded people can use that connection to find the ones connected to them. It's tied to how a Caretaker can sense a Cultivator in danger, or a Defender sensing their Caretaker, or twins sensing their High Ruler."
Chance's lashes flinched visibly. More than fury churned inside him. Terror had risen fast, and he felt like an absolute idiot on top of it. His eyes had been painfully opened with these events. He had not felt LeAnn in danger. He could not console himself by saying it had been minor. It had been serious enough to incapacitate Phoenix and badly wound Tasia. He had not felt a thing even though his soul mate had been taken. His efforts to protect himself meant he could not protect her. He had kept himself from giving her his soul as he had feared he might, but that meant he had no way to know when she was wounded or in danger. The problem was inside him. It had to be. Every other Caretaker, even before being lovers, had been able to sense danger to their Cultivator.
No more. He was not going to be an idiot any longer. He had to get LeAnn back, he had to tell her how he felt, and he had to give her everything. Protecting himself and keeping her safe could not work together. It was all or nothing, and he wanted it all. Even if meant making himself vulnerable. Even if it meant opening himself up. The other option was the risk of losing her when he could save her, and he could not risk that. "Racine?" he asked quietly. "Tell us how to find them."
She felt hope swell inside that maybe, just maybe, this event would right the final wrong. "Well, it's actually as simple as reaching out with your soul to find the connection to the one you are trying to locate, and then you just know. Raven has a better shot at finding Starlight because they are already lovers and fully interlocked together. That," she added gently, "was the thing you truly feared most, Chance, and why you have resisted even being LeAnn's lover. It will make you weaker, yes—or at the least give you a new weakness, but it will also strengthen you in ways you may not expect. You are a truly, deeply, emotional creature. I think only Tasia and Rodi and our Apexes surpass you. Which, given LeAnn's need to be loved, is fitting. You are fitting to be her Caretaker, and perhaps now you are believing that."
Leave it to the future Librarian to the Hall of Records to spout wisdom beyond her age. Chance nodded in acknowledgement, and Raven tried reaching out through his soul to where he could feel Starlight. Somehow, suddenly, he just knew. "Follow me!"
They ran quicker through the city as they followed his lock on Starlight. It took a short time to find where she and LeAnn were being held, and everyone came to a sharp stop. Minstrel had the two women suspended upside down from a crane that dangled over a pit full of spikes and razor blades. Raven's heart froze in his chest. "Star," he managed to say.
Starlight spotted him and relief made her lightheaded. Or maybe it was the dangling upside down. She wasn't sure anymore. "Raven! I have never been so glad to see anyone as I am right now!" A note of fear entered her voice. "Is Nix okay? And Tasia?"
"Alive and in with healers by now." He kept his voice even with effort. "LeAnn, are you okay too?"
"Oh, I'm hanging in there."
Racine bit her lip. LeAnn really was a perfect Delphinium/Protea combination, wasn't she? Robert's ability to laugh in danger, and Shanae's to keep her cool in the same. "Can you transport free?" she called.
"Nope, he put up some sort of blocker on magic."
"Come out, Minstrel!" Raven called. "We're here!"
"You rang?" Minstrel asked congenially from the top of the closest building. He was smiling, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. The scar across his face looked darkened and ugly as if the madness inside him tainted his very flesh. "You brought a small army, didn't you?" he asked Raven.
Raven's smile didn't reach his eyes either. "I brought Chance because you took his Cultivator. Racine and Allister are here to make it a fair fight. Would you like to come down and face me, Minstrel? As I recall, the last time we fought fairly, I beat your ass."
The ground under their feet began to shake as Minstrel's fury became a palpable thing. It stopped just as suddenly, and he laughed outright. "Wonderful!" He clapped his hands. "You actually made me mad for a moment!" He grew thoughtful as he turned his gaze toward the women precariously balanced over the pit. "I wonder how you might make me feel if I dropped them."
The sword in Chance's hand turned black within the space of a breath and shadows seethed around his feet. Minstrel watched in fascination. "I see. I thought you didn't feel at all, but I see now that you feel too much. You're very like the sorceress." His gaze turned wistful. "Even when she was under attack, even when I took her princess, she didn't break. She gave me her fury, but nothing else. I want to see her tears now. I wonder if they are sweet."
A pulse of Nature magikry tore through the air and made everyone look sharply to the side. The power rippled over LeAnn's body, and she suddenly shape-shifted into a hawk to free herself from her binds. She shot through the air at Minstrel, and she changed back to a woman as she attacked. He barely managed to jump back in time, and her fist landed where he had been. A chunk of the rooftop exploded outward in a five foot diameter around them.
He knelt and caught her by her shirt collar. She looked up at him with eyes darkened to white-speckled black, and he almost lovingly caressed her face. "I wanted you to hit me," he told her.
Her expression did not change. "Then you shouldn't have moved."
He smiled as he tightened his grip on her shirt and then flung her over the side of the building. Chance dropped his sword on a panicked sound and shot forward to catch her. He managed to break her fall, but the impact knocked them both painfully flat.
Allister had already been moving. He freed Starlight from her perch and got her away to safety. Racine moved to join them and stood in front of them to stop Minstrel from pulling any dirty tricks. Raven saw that as a clue, and he gestured for Minstrel to join him. "Well?" he demanded sharply.
Minstrel jumped over the side of the building and landed lithely on his feet, despite the forty-foot gap. "I'm not going to fight you now," he said cheerfully. He began bouncing on his toes and made the bell on the end of his hat jingle. "I'm gonna wait because fighting you now is silly. You'd just win. I want to make you suffer, Raven." He gave a laugh and swung around to leave, and he disappeared in mid-step.
Raven immediately turned and ran toward Starlight. Even before he got near, she was running toward him in return and jumping into his arms. He didn't get a chance to speak before she kissed him fiercely. When she finally let go, he held her tightly to keep her from getting away. "Star . . ."
"I'm fine!" she told him fiercely. "Now take me back to the castle! I want to see Phoenix! I won't let him leave me!" She burrowed into his arms, shaking, and he glanced at Racine who nodded and transported them all right to the castle.
Tasia and Phoenix were still sleeping to recover from the repair work the healers had done, and Starlight planted herself by their side. She would not budge until they awoke and she could be reassured they were both alright. Sayena and Raine did not quibble over that. They just got her a blanket and some hot tea to calm her nerves.
LeAnn had needed a brief doctor visit of her own. That landing had not been comfortable on her or Chance alike. He had been bruised fairly badly, and she had cracked a rib as well as landed herself a decent concussion; her hand had not been in pretty shape either. Kacey patched both of them back together and intended to let LeAnn sleep the rest of the night in the sickroom, but Chance resembled a wolf with a wounded mate, so she turned LeAnn over to his care without a word. She did smile, though.
LeAnn awoke two hours later to the realization that she was neither in the sickroom nor in her own bed. The bed was quite comfortable, certainly, but much bigger and didn't have a soft feather cover. She didn't have to open her eyes to know she had to be in Chance's room. The pillow under her cheek carried his scent. It was such a familiar and wonderful thing that tears stung the back of her eyes.
"Leslie Ann?" Chance straightened from where he had been sitting next to the bed. He carefully eased onto the bed beside her and reached out to tenderly brush her bangs out of her eyes. The sight of her sleeping in his bed had brought such an overwhelming wave of tenderness that he still felt shaken. She belonged with him. "Are you okay now, sweetheart?"
She gave a soft sigh and snuggled more firmly into the pillow. "I'm dreaming," she decided drowsily without opening her eyes. "Don't wake me up." It had to be a dream. He only spoke in such a tender voice with those loving nicknames inside her dreams. She dreamed only very rarely given her connection to the Immortal Fields, but those few always were of Chance.
"LeAnn." He gave her a little shake and made her eyes pop open. "Answer me. Are you okay?" He scooped her up, blanket and all, and settled her on his lap with his arms snug around her waist.
She stared at him a bit owlishly. "I think I went through a mirror to a reverse world. Who are you, and where is my Rubeo? I want the snarly one back. This one is scaring me."
He tugged her closer and she cuddled against his shoulder without question. He buried his face in her hair and felt happiness well until it came out as a soft, though slightly rusty, laugh. "You'll have to get used to me." He eased her back again and framed her face with his hands. His eyes searched hers as he saw confusion fill her face. "You've been patient with me, Les. More patient than I deserved."
"I'm willing to take whatever I can get from you," she countered simply. "I love you more than anything. My pride doesn't matter. That's a lesson I learned the hard way, watching Tasi and Rodi. All of us learned it. To have a chance for a happiness that goes through your soul, any price is worth paying. I love you, Rubeo Chance. I don't love you despite your flaws. I love you because you are you."
His fingers trembled on a surge of emotion. "The gods help me," he managed to say roughly, "I love you more than anything, anywhere. Losing you would destroy me."
She stopped breathing. "What did you say?" she whispered.
It had been so easy to say that he could only wonder how he had never said it before. "I love you." His blue eyes seemed to glow softly with more emotion than she had dared dream of seeing. His fingers trembled as they caressed her skin, and he let them. He no longer fought against being weak, giving her the same power over him that he had over her. "Will you listen to me?" he asked softly. "I need you to understand."
"Yes."
Because it wasn't easy to talk about with her in his arms, he reluctantly released her and got to his feet to walk a few steps away. "I idolized my brother," he began quietly. "He was my hero. He worked so hard for our family, and his decision to join the Royal Knights of Delphinium to help support us more didn't surprise me. I tried to join as well but did not make the cut."
"Ah ha. And things become clearer. No wonder you've had such issues with being Captain." She studied him curiously. "Why didn't you make the cut?"
A hint of a wry smile touched his face. "You know, Sabin never told me. Yet, after I got thrown into the role of Captain, he said that he felt no surprise for it, that I fit the role well. So your guess is as good as mine." He took a long breath. "Vermillion did make the cut, and he became a Commander as well after making that cut, too. He was my idol, and my best friend. I became somewhat of a fixture at the castle myself in his appointment, and everyone made me feel welcome. I never . . . imagined the hate inside him would make him do what he did."
"How could you?" she asked simply.
He closed his eyes. "Hearing you say that makes me believe it. For ten thousand years, I've carried the guilt of wondering if I could have stopped him if I had known what he was thinking, or if I had spoken up with my doubts. Honestly, Vermillion should never have been a Commander. Even then I felt it, that Diego rightfully belonged in that role. I always thought Hannah and Quint should have just waited two years and appointed Diego then. I know the kingdoms would have still fallen somehow, but not in a betrayal of a Commander sworn to defend a High Prince!" He made a helpless gesture. "The least I could do was join Diego to find Vermillion after he disappeared while investigating a flare-up. I knew something was wrong. Vermillion had . . . been very different, desperate to prove himself better than Diego. So we went looking." Quieter, he said, "We found him before we died."
She took a little breath. "I didn't know that."
"Well, you wouldn't. Robert's been the one telling you all my secrets, but that was one thing I swore he would never know. Only Diego and Shanae also know the truth. Diego and I had found Vermillion in the middle of one of Nemesis' camps. Consumed in hate and willing to embrace evil, his uniform already stained with blood. I pleaded with him to not do something stupid. He didn't say a word to me, even when Nemesis cut me down. I died staring at my brother's impassive face as if we were not brothers at all. An insult made only worse because I ended up in limbo instead of moving to the Realm beyond." He took a long breath. "Maybe rebirth would have been better. I had never been able to trust easily or easily open my heart. Minstrel said it right. I feel too much. After Vermillion . . . it just hurt too much to imagine letting anyone that close to me again." He gestured to the scars on his face; one on each side of his jaw and another over his nose. Small scars, not disfiguring, but clear. "I earned these at the end, so even looking in a mirror reminded me of the betrayal."
"And then I came along."
"And then you came along." A hint of a smile touched his lips. "There was no letting about you, Leslie Ann. I had spent ten thousand years burrowing so deeply into myself for safety that you blindsided me. Shanae was right as usual: I was oblivious to how soul mates worked because I just never really understood love. Neither I nor my brother did. Emotions have always confused me somehow. Perhaps because I feel them so strongly. "
"But unlike your brother," she scolded him gently, "you have the ability to learn because you want to learn. You may always be confused by emotion, and you will likely always have some difficulty expressing yourself, but now that you want to try, that can change. And I'll help, okay? I understand all of this, Rubeo, I truly do. Now you have to learn how to trust people. It's another kind of strength when you can rely on others around you."
He sighed faintly in mock exasperation. "There's that Delphinium blood. I was hoping that eternal optimism had been squashed by Shanae's more pessimistic view. Better than being like Tasia, I suppose. I didn't think a pessimistic optimist existed, but given her recent statement about 'things will be fine but we're going to suffer getting there', I've changed my mind."
"You're teasing me!" she complained. Hearing herself, her eyes widened. "You're teasing me? Since when have you ever teased anyone? You don't know how to play!" She gave a muffled yelp that embarrassed her as he suddenly snatched her up off the bed and into his arms. "Put me down!" she demanded. "I'm not done scolding you."
"There's no pleasing you. First you want me to open up, and then you complain when I do! Which do you want, princess? Make up your mind."
She wound her arms around his neck and held on tightly. "I want the real you, as much a pain in the ass as I think you will be. I loved you when you didn't know how to show what you felt, and I will love you even when you get a bit smothering and overprotective as you emotional Caretaker types are wont to be. I will love you until the end of eternity so long as you promise to never let me go!"
"Never!" he vowed softly, his voice certain.
She let out a long sigh and let her body relax against him as she held on tighter. "You stubborn pain in the ass. I went through hell with you. Do you know how long I've been working on you?" she demanded. "From the day of Theo's wedding, everything I ever did was to get you to realize you were my soul mate!"
"So it was a plan!" His eyes narrowed. "You were manipulating me!"
"What of it?" she shot back. "What're you going to do, change your mind?" She half-expected a scathing retort, but what she got inside was a sudden glow of laughter in his blue eyes and a smile slowly spreading across his face. She stopped breathing entirely. She had never seen anything as beautiful as his smile. "Rubeo . . ."
He slowly lowered her to the bed once more and leaned down to cage her against the covers where she could be caught in the shadow of his body. "Get used to this," he told her. His lips tenderly skimmed hers. "You make me happy, Leslie Ann, and I never thought I would be. I still don't deserve you, but I will kill anyone who tries to take you away."
Tears spilled down her cheeks before she could stop them. "Why tell me this now?"
"Because I painfully realized that by pushing you away, I pushed you into danger. I did not feel when you were attacked, LeAnn. I could not find you. I can't protect myself and protect you at the same time. I'm choosing to protect you because I love you more than anything else in my life." He grimaced. "And goddess help me, do not give me daughters just like you!"
She started laughing. "Sorry, there might not be a choice about that since you're from within the galaxy!" She threw her arms around him happily. "But that's okay. You handle me fine. You can handle our daughter."
He started laughing as well. "Says who?" The laughter broke off abruptly as she surged up and kissed him hotly. Humor converted instantly to hunger. The kiss continued to unravel until neither could breathe, and he finally broke free to mutter, "We're not on birth control, Leslie Ann."
Her lips curved into a wicked grin. "I am, which is good enough. I always get what I want, Rubeo." She kissed him again, tangling their tongues together, and then whispered huskily, "You can go on it tomorrow. Ask Aunt Sayena for the prescription. She won't giggle at you. Much. And even if I wasn't on it, damned if I'm letting go of you now. We've been waiting too long, Rubeo."
"Well you can wait a few minutes longer for me to get something at the least," he told her firmly. He freed himself from her arms and stood. "Stay here. Promise."
She blinked. "Uhm. Alright?" She watched him leave the room and felt as bemused as she did frustrated. Just what was he going to get? She sat up on the bed and looked down at herself to discover she still wore the clothes she had been wearing during the incident. She felt more than a little grubby and icky after the ordeal. After a moment to decide her options, she got out of bed and went to her fiancé's closet. He wouldn't mind if she borrowed something—in fact, he would probably like it.
When Chance returned a few minutes later, he was carrying a basket. LeAnn was nowhere in sight so he asked, "LeAnn?"
"Right here." She stepped out of his bathing room on a smile. "Borrowing a brush and freshening up."
He nearly dropped the basket. She had stolen one of his nightshirts, and while it hung large on her, he could clearly tell she had nothing on under it. Her freshly brushed hair hung around her shoulders and down to her middle back. The opening of the shirt in front went low enough to reveal her Flower Mark and the pendant she still wore. "That," he managed to say, "is not fair."
She grinned. "Everything is fair." She cocked her head. "What have you brought?"
He remembered the basket belatedly and put it on the table. "I just felt this is a special night, so we should treat it special. You're not the only one who has been waiting." He looked at her. "You know you are my only, don't you?"
She walked closer and eased up the few inches needed to kiss him. "Yes," she whispered. Her lips curved. "If it makes you feel less self-conscious, that is not uncommon among you Caretakers as well, actually. You may have been a little more, hmm, extreme in your lack of interest, but it seems somewhat universal." She walked her fingers down his chest slowly, tugging at the laces on his tunic. "Do promise I get to peel you out of your uniform later. I've had fantasies about that."
"Behave yourself." He firmly moved her hand. "For now anyway." He pulled a bottle of fermented juice out of the basket as well as candles. "And before you look at me with any more surprise than you already are, I can't say I thought of it. I just went to get the juice. Diego caught me."
She nearly giggled. "And suggested candles?"
"He was insistent on it. He also insisted I start reading some of Tasia's novels for ideas."
The giggles started getting free. "I would not argue." She framed his face in her hands and kissed him tenderly. "I think it is a fair thing," she whispered, "that you would lose one brother and gain another. Perhaps Uncle Diego rightfully belonged in more of Vermillion's roles than we knew. Except as younger rather than older this time. He's always been closest to you. Watch and see. When we get to our wedding day, he will insist on standing on your side of the ceremony because you don't have any other family." She kissed him again and lingered. "I'll light the candles if you pour the drinks."
While he poured out two glasses, she spread the candles around the room and then lit them. Once she turned off the lamps, the flickering light filled the room with soft and wonderful shadows. She turned at a step and found Chance right behind her. He had already removed his tunic and now offered a glass of juice to her. She smiled at him over the rim as she sipped at it. "There you go again. Taking away the fun of undressing you."
"You took away my fun," he countered. "We're even. Besides that, we will have a lifetime to undress each other." He smiled. "I like the sound of that, really." He set his glass aside and then set hers aside as well. His fingers tangled into her hair as he drew her up for another kiss, but one that lingered. The greedy desire had not gone away and instead had softened. He wanted to spend forever touching her. He lifted her onto the bed and then went willingly when she tugged him down with her.
To her surprise and delight, he proved to not be a silent lover. With every touch, every caress, every kiss, he breathed his love again and again. The sound of his voice was as devastating to her sensitive Shaman ears as the feel of his fingers on her skin. When she finally tumbled him over to return the favor, she deliberately let her power well as she teased him. As her teeth nipped his ear, he asked roughly, "Are you always that sexy, or just with me?"
"Just you. I'm Protean, Captain. I use whatever weapons I possess in any war." She smiled down at him as her hair fell over her shoulders to tease his skin. "Hmm. I like being on top like this. I think I owe you payback for being so stubborn."
He could have protested, and plausibly turned the tables on her, but he had no will to try. He also suspected the tiniest bit she might actually be stronger, which was more than a little thrilling. She did not need him to protect her anymore . . . but she wanted him to do it. That was more important.
Breathing grew more ragged as hunger churned harder. He sat up suddenly but his hands kept her from falling before stripping the nightshirt away entirely. His remaining clothes ended up somewhere on the other side of the room. Her head fell back on a whimper as he lavished kisses on her sensitive Ruler Flower Mark. He tuned her slightly to equally taste her Defender Mark, which only felt more sensitive and intimate, and he thought he could actually taste her magikry. The sweet sting of summer and the rich chocolate of her Dark core. "Bittersweet," he managed to say.
"Pardon?" She caught his head and forced him to look at her, and the desire clouding his eyes matched the force churning inside her.
"Bittersweet chocolate. That's you. Not too sweet, not too bitter. The perfect blend. Addicting."
"That is terribly romantic, Rubeo. I don't think you need to read my twin's books after all." A laugh caught as he kissed her with an edge to send her senses spinning. The room spun too as he rolled her to the bed and pinned her bodily. He felt so utterly safe and secure that tears welled. Not just physically, but inside her soul, he kept her safe. Her breath hitched as he slowly took her, and when he could go no deeper, she felt their souls just . . . click together.
He eased back and then thrust deep again, and his lips stole her little gasp. He slowly moved faster, harder, and her knees grasped his hips so she could meet his power with her own. She caught his face in her hands and felt her heart wrench and then overflow at the look in his eyes. More than desire now swirled in his eyes. Shadows. She could see beautiful shadows moving across his blue eyes not unlike how they moved in the eyes of the other Shadow elements. Her heart ached at the realization that she had truly, fully, healed him. As ecstasy loomed and hovered and threatened to tear them apart, she let her majik well inside until it filled her mouth. She kissed him as deeply as she could, letting the majik spill into him, and she saw his eyes widen in shock and delight. Ecstasy finally delivered on its promise, and the waves of wicked pleasure could not entirely erase the deeper joy at, finally, being there together as Destiny had always intended.
She snuggled into his arms after and considered the merits of simply never moving again. He seemed to have no inclination to move either, and the way his fingers absently moved over her skin implied he might be a wonderfully tactile lover. "Just a warning," she murmured against his shoulder, "that if you suddenly find you can turn people into frogs, it's my fault. But read a biology book before you try. Uncle Talon will thank you."
His chest rumbled with a soft laugh. "I appreciate your assumption as to who I would be transforming."
"I'm observant." She sat up and stretched. "And starving. Imagine that. I missed dinner, as well." She slid out of bed and walked over to the magically-controlled device that had been installed in all occupied rooms. It had many of the same functions as a PCA, but it had only a few select locations to access: namely, the wing where the servants lived, and the kitchen. She pushed the button for the kitchen, and when the night shift chef answered, she said cheerfully, "This is LeAnn. Could dinner for two be brought to my fiancé's room?"
A pause, and then a muffled laugh answered her. "Of course, Your Highness. It will be there in thirty minutes." Just before the line cut out, he could be heard telling someone, "You owe me money! I told you that's why he wanted the juice!"
LeAnn shot Chance a grin. "Your life, including your love life, will forever be on display because of me. That means you'll have to make sure you keep me happy."
"I'm not finding that so hard to do," he countered. "I just let you do what you want, pull you back in when you're too wild, keep you out of danger, and fight with you when you need. I've been doing that for most of your life anyway." He tugged her down into his arms when she walked over to the bed and mock scowled at him. "Oh, don't pull that face. I'm not wrong." He snorted rudely. "In fact, I'm half-convinced that's why things fell the way they did. Like your father with your mother, I need the advantage of having been near you all of your life so I can predict the trouble you'll get into!"
She grinned. "I would hate for you to be bored, Rubeo."
In the hallway outside the door, Tasia listened for a moment and then sauntered away down the hall with her hands linked behind her back. It had been a calculated risk to let herself be wounded enough LeAnn was taken, but it had paid off as her Sight had said it would. Something good, and long overdue, had happened. It was only too bad it couldn't dispel the lingering sensation of madness in the air. The Mad Bard was plotting, and he would move soon.
Very soon.
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
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