Tasia rarely ever kept secrets from her friends unless for their own good. In this instance, better they knew. No sooner had Minstrel disappeared than did she get out her PCA and call LeAnn. When her twin answered, she said only, "I'm fine."
"I guessed as much but . . . what the vined hells were you doing?" LeAnn demanded. "We all felt the spell you released, and it gave poor Beth a headache! Not to mention Logan was all but gnawing on the furniture; Raine and Reagan literally had to sit on him to keep him here!"
"Sorry," she said quietly.
LeAnn fell quiet as well. Then, "Well, not really, I'm sure. But we forgive you anyway. Now, what did happen? Or is this something we need to get together with the Elders and Alurians on?"
"At the least the Alurians."
"You owe me money," she said in an aside to Chance. "I told you she was kicking Cashlin's ass!"
Tasia had to smile. Her friends, especially her twin, knew her very well indeed.
* * * * *
The Caretakers of their generation got dragged to Protea Castle for the meeting as well, much to their surprise. They had not usually been a mandatory component of any meeting before. Since that raised the number of people meeting to over forty, Shanae very wisely had everyone go into the throne room instead of a drawing room. Its vast space could hold a hundred or more comfortably, and it was used for the weekend sleepovers as well.
Those who were conjurors made enough pillows, beanbags, chairs, and rugs for everyone to find a place to sit comfortably. Maxim looked around and then shook his head wryly. "I begin to see the merits of why no more than two generations have been alive at a time. It gets crowded fairly fast otherwise. Even Sabin and Claret's backyard would have gotten overstuffed at this point."
"We'd have just moved to the Chivanti manor in the mountains," Sabin retorted on a grin.
Arista shook her head as she settled back against the couch she and Diego sat in front of; the couch itself held their daughter and future son-in-law. Not uncommonly, the families had bunched together around the room. At the least, she had finally gotten used to how utterly casually the Resurrection Cultivators used their majik. It had only taken a few years. "What's the meaning of this meeting anyway? Clearly this is major, Tasi."
Tasia was the only one still standing, and she began to pace slowly. Everyone there knew her well enough to know to stay out of her way, so outstretched legs got tucked in. "The Alurian Cultivators are here because it directly affects them. You all are here because you have a right to know. My partners are here because they have to know. And we brought our Caretakers because flat out we don't trust Minstrel's track record where that's concerned."
"And with good reason!" Logan said firmly. "Quite frankly, most of us are just kids when it comes to battle, but like hell we'll let ourselves become easy targets and be liabilities to you."
Sayena smiled. "Sometimes knowing when to stay out of a fight is as important as knowing when to fight."
"Uh-oh, she's waxing philosophical," Robert murmured. "Quick, someone start talking before she regresses back to normal."
Sayena smartly smacked her brother in the back of the head and made everyone laugh. Tasia grinned. "I can't disagree with him, so I'll just keep going." She took a long breath. There was no way to say it delicately or without confusion, so she just said it outright. "I killed Cashlin this morning."
Starlight shot to her feet in sheer shock. "But . . . but how?! I mean, my god, I knew you were powerful but how?!"
"The actual how of the deed is not the critical part." Tasia brushed it aside with a wave of her hand. "The circumstances are. Minstrel set Cashlin up. He, well, essentially gave me him to kill. As a gift. He said it himself, that it was a gift to me for being so strong. Strong enough to make him feel pain."
Starlight slowly sat down again, but she still looked shocked. Phoenix was more thoughtful. "That doesn't surprise me," he finally decided. "Minstrel has never been the type for familial relationships. Cashlin being his brother was no more important than anyone or anything else. We assumed he would turn on him eventually. He doesn't love anyone."
"Not quite true," Raven reminded him. "Sabirah."
"About Sabirah," Theo spoke up. "We contacted her."
"Is that why you were all naked in the attic?" Gail grumbled.
"They were what?" Evan blinked. He could not quite reconcile the incongruity of the action, or the odd presence of it in the conversation.
Reagan coughed. "We're witches, Dad. We do that sort of thing. We didn't need clothes let alone armor for what we were trying to do. Really, until we got knocked out by the dragon force, we had been just fine overall."
"Dragon force!" Delilah's forehead hit her hands. "Now you say you were attacked by a dragon?"
"Not attacked!" Ryan hastily assured her. "It was protecting us from something else trying to attack us—which wasn't succeeding anyway," he added quickly when both his mother and father eyed him equally.
"Well, that, and my grandfather is an arrogant jerk sometimes," Tasia said dryly.
"Only she would call the King of Dragons that," Beth noted on a snort.
"Only she would get away with it!" Terry said with emphasis.
"Either way . . ." Theo waved a hand in the air to bring things back in line. "What it boils down to is that we contacted Sabirah. She told us that saving Minstrel would save her, but to save him we needed to destroy him, and yet destroying him wouldn't save him. I think Minstrel was pissed when she left. He tried to attack us but we were linked as ten. He didn't stand a chance."
"Despite it," Tasia picked up, "Tananeen's power swept the room and removed him. He also wished to speak with me so he knocked all of us out. It's what he does," she said apologetically when her friends eyed her. "He told me that I cannot hesitate to open the door we all keep sensing, and that I'm the only one who can open it."
Racine shuddered. "I swear my vision said we should not open it at all!" She moved closer to Allister as he pulled her into his arms. His warmth, as always, banished the chill she got when she remembered the chaos of her vision. "We destroyed his dream, and it was in front of the door, right?"
"Ow!" Rodi winced and scooted away from Storm. "Someone's brain kicked into overdrive. Smacked into my brain as a wave of static."
Storm had gone deep into his mastery. His eyes stayed open, but they flickered rapidly like a computational machine processing information. Even Allister and Racine across from him could hear the static hum inside their own heads. "The plaid in Minstrel," he said slowly, "is tied together by Sabirah's blue thread. When the blue thread was removed, everything came apart wildly. What if we, well, helped Sabirah's spirit pass on?"
"I don't think we can," Emily spoke up. "I'm not sure any of the rest of you noticed, but when we were talking to her, I was really confused because she had a shackle around her ankle and there was a chain connected to it that had to be as big as my arm."
Tasia's eyes narrowed, and Theo frowned. "Someone bound her here," the latter muttered. "That oddly makes sense."
Ulyen frowned. "Is it possible Minstrel did it? You've mentioned his obsession with his sister." He looked at Raven. "You know him best. Do you think he could have tied her spirit to him?"
"It's very possible," Raven agreed. "In fact, it would not shock me in the slightest." He let out a long breath. "That gives us a plan, but not necessarily an action to take." He glanced at Theo and Asheria, knowing they were the two who acted as mediums thanks to their Ghost Sight as Aster Cultivators. "Can you banish good spirits?"
"If they want to go." Asheria ran a hand through her short orange hair in a gesture more of agitation than frustration. "Do you think Sabirah wants to be freed?"
"Yes," Storm responded instantly. "She would not be helping us unless she wanted to be freed."
"If the pattern master is sure," Chance decided, "then that's good enough for me." He scowled as all eight Commanders suddenly stared at him. "Now what?"
"Holy shit, you've turned agreeable, and you're willingly participating," Maxim snorted. "Next thing we know, you'll tell jokes."
Diego looked at LeAnn. "Damn, Leslie Ann. You should have seduced him earlier."
Amid the snickers and the outright laughing, LeAnn said drolly, "I did try, but he's horribly stubborn."
Chance glared at Diego but refrained from comment. He just filed it away under revenge the next time they got to sparring. If anything, training with Tasia had assured him that he could smack Diego and Talon alike around sufficiently for their wiseass remarks. Nothing pleased these people. They harassed him for not opening up, and then harassed him when he did. Then again . . . that was part of friendship. That took getting used to as well.
"With Cashlin dead," Veronica asked Starlight, "does that mean that Minstrel is now technically the king? Since Cashlin stole and claimed your throne, and Minstrel is his next of kin, by laws of succession, that means Minstrel is king."
"Yes." Starlight wrapped her arms around herself. "I would hope he might be willing to surrender and give me my home back, but why should he? Now he has an army. He can torture and abuse my people until he has a buffet of terrible emotions to feed on."
"It won't satisfy him," Rodi said quietly. "Eventually he will be drawn back to us. To Raven. And to Tasia. Especially to Tasia. He knows she's equal to the Apexes." He ignored the sharp breath that Arista took suddenly. It was Shanae's choice to tell. "He'll want to break her."
"That means he'll be coming after you next," Pallas noted.
His smile turned savage. "Let's see him try."
* * * * *
Anna had been left by herself for the first time thanks to the large meeting, but she had promised Yvette and Dane to not leave Delphinium Castle. She instead explored the halls inside. She felt a little sad, and really bored. She really, really missed her mommy and daddy and little brother. She knew she was there to be kept safe, that the enemy might try to hurt her, but she wanted so badly to help her mommy even a little. There was always something she could do for her mother. Even if she was just there to heal her when she got home; Tasia could actually heal herself, but she knew Anna's need to support her and so often did not bother to mend everything before she got home.
A bell softly chimed. Anna turned around quickly but saw nothing in the hall with her. No one had come up that she could see. Yet, her sixth sense clearly told her that someone had joined her. Her heart pounding madly, she held her breath. "Who's there?" she whispered.
Don't be afraid. The voice seemed to come from the air and sounded eerily like her own. I'm not going to hurt you.
She quickly rubbed a hand over her forehead to clear the point where she received her Sight. The fact that she had it was as yet a secret only her parents knew since it was only just developing. Clearing the mental focal point allowed her to suddenly see a little girl hovering in front of her. It felt like looking into a mirror and seeing herself reflected in different clothes, but the other girl also looked both insubstantial and translucent. "Are you a ghost?" she whispered.
Yes. I died many years ago. Sabirah floated down to land in front of Anna. Your mommy needs you.
"But what can I do?" Anna asked. "I want to help her. I want to be strong enough to help her. But I can't."
You can. I can help you, and you can help her. But you need to help me first. Do you trust me?
Anna looked into Sabirah's eyes, and her developing Empathy told her what her heart already had: this ghost, whoever she was or whatever she was, meant her no harm. Whatever her reasons, she truly wished to help. "Okay," she said. She took Sabirah's outstretched hand. "What can I do?"
Sabirah smiled as the chain around her ankle suddenly shrank. You've already done it.
* * * * *
Minstrel was having fun. Leading an army was really easy since all he had to do was tell them to do something and they did it. They didn't like doing it, definitely, but he scared them into obeying by threatening their families. He had them obliterate an entire city and the waves of terror and pain had been delicious but . . . "Tastes great, less filling," he said to himself as he began to pace in the throne room. His throne room, he thought with a giddy giggle.
He took out a coin and studied it. He wanted to feel real emotions, strong ones, and that meant he needed to go play with Raven or Tasia. Only they had ever provoked out the deepest of feelings from him.
His head suddenly lifted. "Sabirah?" he asked the air. He wrapped his arms around himself and began to rock back and forth. "You seem happier now, Sabirah. I can feel it. I told you that I wouldn't let you be unhappy. Soon you'll never be alone."
He took his coin and flipped in the air. "Heads for my favorite sorceress," he announced. The coin landed on the floor with a little clink and fell heads up. He thought to himself about things. Going after Tasia directly was silly. She would be too inclined to keep control of her emotions. He needed to break her formidable walls.
He remembered then, how beautifully she had burned when he had attacked her princess. Anticipation hummed inside him. What if he took it a step further and went after her other half? Oh it wouldn't be easy; he was ridiculously strong within his own right. Then again, hurting him would be wonderful if only because of that very strength. With a spring in his step, he skipped out of the room and left the two-headed coin face up and down in the middle of the floor.
* * * * *
"I've been meaning to ask," Terry said to Rodi as they, Kimber, Kari, and Logan all headed back into the city. They had left their Cultivators to continue their meeting alone since it had been fairly obvious they made a distraction. Most of the rest of the Caretakers across both generations had dispersed as well. "You've said it, and Tasi has said it, that you're a witch. But you're . . . definitely not quite the same as Logan and me. I've never really asked about that."
"For one thing," Logan noted, "you're one hell of a lot more powerful. And that doesn't shock me, by the way."
Rodi lifted a brow. "How so?"
"My sister would be bored with a mate less strong than her." He smiled wryly. "You remember your wedding? Er, the official one," he amended. He might not yet know all the details of the trip, but he had at least been told that one. It still amused him. "The wedding crasher?"
"Ah." Rodi's smile turned dangerous. "Him."
Kari's brows shot up. "Whoa, what happened?"
"Well, basically, a guy that Tasia went out with once decided to be more of an asshole than we thought he was originally, so he tried to object to the wedding," Terry offered dryly. "So Max and Sabin objected to him and removed him. Physically and by the seat of his pants."
Kimber grinned. "Nice."
"My point," Logan continued, "was that even if he had turned out to be decent underneath, and Tasia hadn't even known you, Rodi, she would have gotten rid of Riam fast. He had nerve enough to constantly ask her out for two months before she finally agreed, but that's about all I can say for him. The fact that he immediately chose to hide his own shortcomings behind accusing her of using majik on him to make him interested really says it all."
"He said that?!" Kari's eyes widened. "And he lived?!"
"Well, yes, but . . . he had all but turned himself into an outcast for it." Logan smirked. "People don't really tolerate that attitude much, you know? And that he dared crash the wedding of a Crown Princess to a former Ruler Cultivator from an allied world? He, ah, left the planet pretty quick after that, we'll just say."
"I'm pretty sure he was escorted off the planet," Terry said drolly. "Max had mentioned something about 'enjoying some duties where protecting Rulers are concerned' to Beth, and the timing felt pretty coincidental." He glanced at Rodi. "And so you know, it does not escape me that you're as good at avoiding answering questions as your wife is. If we keep talking, you'll let us."
Rodi smiled wryly. "Guilty. However, it's not that I don't want to talk about it; I'm just not sure how to explain." He raked a hand through his thick black hair, and his wedding ring glittered on his thumb. A poppy-shaped clip in his hair over his left ear made of labradorite and amethyst was also a wedding symbol, but from Aria. He and Tasia both wore them; hers was clipped over her streak of golden yellow hair marking her as Iris' Defender. "Majik entered the Ruler Cultivator line of Aria when Liena Vanguard, Tasia's ancestor and the first High Priestess of Protea, blessed the family that had adopted and raised her."
"Oh, I see," Kimber said. "And it kept evolving in your line the way it did in Tasia's."
"Pretty much. We're not entirely sure how—it was dragon blood that made the power grow without diminishing in Tasia's direct line—but it definitely happened. It had to happen. I needed to meet her as close as could be met to a sorceress." He laughed suddenly. "I just chalk it up to Destiny and leave it at that. But what it comes down to is that I'm technically almost a wizard, and not a witch. And I say technically because I've never felt a distinct difference in my power evolution. I hover at the cusp without going over, though neither Tasia nor I yet know why I can't. I should. I have six elements and two rather potent skills, and my limits are remarkably long. But I can't—yet."
Kari tucked her hands in her pockets. "Kind of like dancing on the edge of a fence, huh?"
"A bit. It still makes me stronger than the lot of you put together." He elbowed Logan. "He hates that. He was the best around until I arrived and metaphorically smited him."
"Shut up, Rodi." It was said half-heartedly. Logan and Rodi actually had as close a friendship as Raine and Tasia, for much the same reason. They just enjoyed poking fun at each other and keeping Tasia entertained. He was going to return the taunt when he felt a sudden and familiar burn through his blood that meant danger approached. At least that made sense now; dragons were known for their built-in warning systems. His tensions transmitted to Rodi, and they automatically moved to put their backs together. "There's something here."
"Crap." Kari, Kimber, and Terry also put their backs together to make it harder to sneak up on them. "Why did we have to get the crash course in combat?" Kari wondered with a sigh. "I would rather have worked my way through things."
"So has every Defender Cultivator across time." Rodi drew his sword and let his senses expand outward. He was not at all surprised by what he found. "You can come out, Minstrel," he said clearly. "I'm well aware that you're there."
"Aww! You're no fun!" Minstrel appeared with a pop of sparkles that came showering down on them. Logan was quick to get a majikal shield over them, and the sparkles exploded against it harmlessly. Minstrel quirked a brow. "Nice!" he praised. "I can tell you've been practicing since I last saw you!" He floated down and landed on the ground facing Rodi. "It's nothing personal," he told him, "but, you see, you belong to my sorceress. To get the strongest feeling from her possible, I need to hurt you." A wistful look appeared in his eyes. "Though I'm sure I'll feel quite a bit from you as well. You have a capacity to feel emotion not far from hers."
The soft tingle inside Rodi's soul that was the constant presence of his lover's arcanic soul sharpened with sudden and deadly fury. He smiled dangerously. "The good news for you is that she knows you're here. She's already on her way."
Minstrel blinked. "She can sense me through you? Huh. Interesting. I figured she'd sense you in danger, 'cause she's a Defender and you're her Caretaker, but I didn't know she could actually feel through you."
He touched his heart with his free hand. "There is something inside her that burns without dimming. A force of hope. It makes her exceptionally sensitive to those her soul is fused to, able to actually feel through their skin if she needs, so she knows what danger they confront. Nothing will stop her from coming to my aid if I need it."
Logan briefly glanced at him but said nothing. It certainly sounded as if Rodi had determined at least partially why Tasia—and potentially Shanae and Sayena—had the ability to sense danger to their brothers as much as their lovers. It would make a great deal of sense if it tied to the arcane force of Hope all three could use. Only the two Apexes could actually gather all hopes in the universe and release it as a Whisper to create miracles, but, honestly, at Tasia's rate, she might end up able to do it as well. She already skirted creating miracles anyway, and did a lot of things like an Apex without being one. That would just add to the list.
He was also not surprised that Rodi had not mentioned Tasia could sense Logan in danger or any pain he felt. It was best to keep Minstrel from focusing on him as anything more than a way to hurt Raine; he had already been tested, and it needed to stay that way. If Minstrel knew hurting him would hurt Tasia, he would attack. Logan did not stand a chance against him, and he knew it. It was a bitter acceptance, but he would not be used against his sister!
Minstrel evaluated what he had been told and his smile turned sinister. "So hurting you literally hurts her. How delightful." He made an elegant gesture and several Reparations appeared in the area around him. Though Cashlin had been killed, his collected evil power had been easy enough to claim before it dispersed back to the cosmos. Minstrel considered it his own personal bucket of fun now. "Here's how it works," he said cheerfully. "Either you fight them, or I sic them on the city. I bet they'd get a lot of killing done before the Defenders got here."
Rodi stepped out of Logan's shield and majikally called for his sword and uniform. The gray and purple outfit had been designed for battle, but still had homage to both the black poppy and the purple iris. It had also been defensively enhanced. It was nowhere near as strong as a Defender's armor—nothing was—but it would still be far better than nothing. "Stay in there," he told his friends quietly. "Quite frankly, you'd become mincemeat."
As they watched him walk forward, Kari muttered distinctly, "You can always tell the Caretaker who is mated to a Lead Defender."
The monsters leapt for Rodi and he met them head on. He let his sixth sense tune toward Minstrel so that he knew if the other man intended to try anything sneaky, but it took away some of his ability to sense sneak attacks from the Reparations. He could feel a burn of pain from a claw slicing down his arm but did his best to ignore it.
They all knew the moment Tasia got within a hundred yards. The ground quivered in the sheer force of her fury. An immense dome instantly appeared over the top of everything and sealed off the outside. It was not her power; this crackled like Chaos.
Kari felt a jolt of understanding. "He trapped her in here with us!" she told the others sharply. "Because he knows that she can't call backup if she's too busy trying to keep us alive!" She quickly turned and slapped a hand over Logan's and added her majik to their shield. She was just in time. More Reparations struck the shield and bounced off.
Terry and Kimber wasted no time in helping to strengthen the shield. As long as they kept monsters out, they could keep safe. If they kept safe, Rodi and Tasia could concentrate on fighting and destroying the enemy.
Tasia's fury manifested in the blazing gray of her eyes behind her Mask and the fierce glow around her dragon pendant—something always visible even in her armor. No one ever dared lay a hand on the people she loved, especially not her soul mates or her soul brother. Her sword appeared in her hand, and she shot forward in a blur of purple and gray to wade right into the fight.
Minstrel could not have been more delighted. He called on more Reparations and moved to the side to watch. Rodi and Tasia fought seamlessly side by side but eventually even they had difficulty with the sheer number of mobs. Minstrel wanted to see her burn brighter, and he sent more monsters to beat on the shield protecting the witches.
Tasia was aware of his intent but grimly kept her focus on her own fight. As long as her kids kept strong, they would be fine. She just wasn't sure how long they could last. She could see the sweat rolling down Logan's face that indicated he had started to reach his limits. His power was great but far from infinite.
The protective shield broke with a horrifying crack and repelled the monsters. It also sent the four witches inside flying. Dazed and drained, none of them could get to their feet let alone make another shield. Minstrel went lightheaded with delight as he felt their fury and fear.
Tasia whirled and threw her arcanistry at her brother and friends. A second shield formed just before the wave hit, and the Reparations were repelled violently. The split in her concentration meant a different monster entirely managed to get close to her, and it lifted a massive claw for a strike that could very well kill if it pierced her armor.
Rodi knocked into her at the last second and pushed her out of the way to safety. The monster's claw struck him in his stomach and went through the material of his uniform as if it had not been blessed at all and then buried deep into his body. The force of the impact sent him flying, and he landed hard. Gray blood began to pool under him. Tasia scrambled to her feet and rushed to his side. "Rodi! You dumb bastard!" she said raggedly as she slapped her hands down over the wound. "Kari!!"
She was already hurrying over with the others close behind. Logan and Terry quickly put up a second shield to cover them all as Kari also put her hands down over the wound on Rodi's stomach. "Shit, shit, shit," she breathed. "I don't know if I'm strong enough for this! His internal organs have been shredded! I don't—I can't even determine how to fix this!"
Tears ran ceaselessly down Tasia's face though her expression stayed calm. "Raw will is enough. I can't do the healing myself—I have to protect all of you. Take my majik. Take whatever you need. I offer it freely." Her lashes flickered only slightly as she felt Kari immediately pulling on her majik. The healer could combine their shared healing ability and bolster her own strength with Tasia's literally infinite majik to, maybe, make the impossible happen. It truly was down to Kari to save Rodi: he and Tasia already had a child to secure the future of Iris, meaning he may have fulfilled whatever need there was for him. Worse, he and Tasia were not a normal mated pair. If Rodi died, Tasia would not survive long without him.
Tasia slowly got to her feet and the sky turned black with storm clouds over their heads. White and black lightning flickered. She picked up Rodi's sword and her wand of oak and amethyst appeared in her other hand. She wielded them dually as she waded into battle once more. The land shook violently. The only visibility came from the flashes of lightning and the gray glow emanating from her body. She needed neither light or nor dark to see: her Gray eyes literally could not be blinded.
Minstrel had been so entranced by the waves of pure molten emotion that he didn't realize she was right on top of him until he found himself receiving a sharp kick in the side of the head. He flew into a wall hard enough that he cracked it from top to bottom, and he felt equal cracks through his body. He laid there dazed and slowly looked up to see Tasia standing over him. She glowed like an avenging goddess as she stared down at him.
His palms began to sweat and his heart raced wildly. A powerful urge to run welled hot and wild. Fear. It choked him briefly, for the first time in his life. As soon as he realized it, the fear smothered in sheer delight; ironically, the only emotion he ever felt easily was delight when either he fed on the emotions of others, or when, somehow, he felt something on his own. This delight welled up high. He had felt something new. He had felt an emotion by himself that he had never known before! "I'm afraid of you," he told her gleefully.
"As you should be. I would stop myself from hating you if I could, but I can't." Power churned across her gray irises for her pupils had nearly disappeared. "If he dies, I will make your death quick and painless." It was the worst thing she could threaten him with, and they both knew it. "Screw it." She bent and dragged him up off the ground. "I'll kill you now."
Their eyes locked and everything went away around them. She found herself alone in the middle of pure emptiness. With a start, she realized she was either having an odd vision or she had somehow been taken inside Minstrel.
The emptiness began to fill with emotions. Anger. Hate. Obsession. Emotions crucial to life but so very dangerous when not balanced. These were wild and mad and consumed everything they touched. She knew then that she looked inside Minstrel. Something, some pain from Chaos, cut at her and stabbed into her soul until she cried out. She forced the pain down as she desperately tried to find what lay at Minstrel's heart beyond the terrible emotion.
The feeling of obsession swirled around her and choked her until she couldn't breathe. She felt something looming behind her and whirled swiftly . . . only to find herself staring into nothing. There was nothing. No pain, no hate. There wasn't even a sense of relief from leaving them behind. Just . . . nothing. The emptiness that heralded evil. It was the most terrible thing she had ever felt.
A bell chimed. She looked down to find Sabirah standing beside her. The small girl gently took her hand and smiled in reassurance. The emptiness retreated, and she could breathe again.
Her eyes opened and she found that only a few seconds had passed since she had grabbed Minstrel. Her arcanistry welled up inside her in a searing wave of volatile emotion that made the sparks in her blood leap visibly over her flesh for a moment. Minstrel yelped in pain as the power blasted into her hands and burned him to the bone.
She dropped him and backed up with her arms wrapped around her body. Music seemed to snap and surge inside her. She had been wounded all the way to her soul with such vicious force that she had to sing now to heal the gouges before they spread.
Kari's head jerked up in shock as she felt the sudden torrent of Tasia's power surging at her. It flooded into her with such force that she nearly collapsed. Kimber braced her and covered her hands. "Focus!" she snapped. "I'll help!"
Kari let Kimber support her and poured the power through her hands and into Rodi. A wild cataract of yellow light sealed the wound closed and mended the damage to his organs. Rodi drew a sharp breath but did not wake. Kari cut off the power and slumped against Kimber. Her head was spinning. "Holy hell," she managed to say.
Logan and Terry knelt down beside them and shrank the shield down as well. At Kimber's questioning look, Logan asked grimly, "You can't hear it?"
Kimber belatedly realized she could hear music inside her soul long before it reached her ears. It startled her at first and then her gaze slowly slid toward Tasia. "Oh shit." She quickly lifted a hand to add her power to the shield but she had no hope of it working. Nothing could stop a Mystic.
Minstrel's throat closed and his eyes burned. Terror was a raw and living thing inside him and he thrilled to it. So much she had given him. So much more than he had dared hope for. What would she give him next?
The sky seemed to go even blacker and the ground trembled harder. And then . . . it stopped. Tasia's eyes glowed with power as she lifted her voice in haunting cadence and began to sing.
You have nothing left to give, nothing left to offer me
Everyone you cared for has been taken away from you
I can't do anything for you now; your soul has shattered to dust
The broken shards inside of you are cutting me to pieces
It may be a lonely way to live but you don't want help
This moment building up with pressure climbing ever higher
Is destroying the dream that you protected for so long alone
We're heading toward a breakdown
All the dreams you hoped for have gone away
Everything that you were promised doesn’t exist
There is nothing left in your heart; you have lost your way
The broken shards of your soul are cutting me to pieces
Blood stained your hands when you tried to touch the sunset
This moment building up with pressure climbing ever higher
Is destroying the dream that you protected for so long alone
We're heading toward a breakdown
The broken shards inside of you are cutting me
It may be a lonely way to live but you don’t need people anymore
This moment building up with pressure climbing ever higher
Is destroying the dream that you protected for so long alone
We're heading toward a breakdown
The searing wave of her emotions was too strong. Minstrel couldn't bear it. It made raw physical pain. He swiftly disappeared and removed himself from the scene entirely. As he left, the dome he had made disappeared as well.
The rest of the Resurrection Cultivators and their mates stood right outside the edge of the dome. All of them wore matching expressions of shock and fear. They hadn't known what was going on inside. All they had known was the wild wave of Tasia's power. Her song had punched them in their souls. They would never forget.
"Tasia!" LeAnn and Raine rushed toward her, but Raine saw Rodi covered in blood. She paled. "Shit!" She changed course and scrambled toward him instead. As she dropped to her knees and swiftly examined him, she realized he was already healed. "Thank god," she breathed. She looked at Kari. "You did a great job."
Kari managed a thumbs-up, but she had no more energy than that and rested tiredly against Storm's shoulder as he held her close. Kimber and Terry weren't in much better condition; they were more than willing to let Theo and Beth support them. Logan felt equally grateful when Raine moved to his side. He felt like he had gone through a wringer. He had pushed his capacity for majik to max.
"Anastasia?" LeAnn asked softly as she stopped next to her twin. "Are you okay?" She meant it in a general sense since she could plainly see the wounds lining her friend's body through her armor and the pallor of her skin.
Chance had been around a long time. He had seen what happened to especially strong Defenders when they reached a breaking point but could not break. He was already there behind her as she fell, and he caught her safely. She was unconscious before he stood with her in his arms. Luckily, he had just enough strength to handle her; conveniently, he thought then, given her connection to LeAnn. "Too damn much like Shanae," he sighed.
"Let's take them home," Ryan suggested softly. "It's shielded by Tananeen himself. They will be safe there, and sure as hell they'll be more comfortable!" He shivered and wrapped his arms tightly around himself. "Whatever happened," he whispered, "it left behind echoes so loud that I feel them, and I'm the weakest here with Empathy."
Beth and Terry both looked as pale as chalk, but both had had long experience at fighting their own much stronger Empathy. Still, the sight of them told even those without the skill that Minstrel had left something in the air behind him. "It makes me wonder if my sight into him," Beth whispered softly, "was wrong after all."
It was close to midnight before Tasia awoke with her normal instant alertness. She never woke slowly unless her sleep had been brought by her husband. She knew instantly that she was in her own bed, in her own room, in her own house. The physical pain and exhaustion seemed a thing of the past. Emotionally, she still felt as if she had been ripped in two. It reminded her of being on Aria and forcing herself to break in order to be reborn. Would she have to shatter her soul a third time for some other evolution? What evolution was there left?! "I can't bear this again," she whispered softly.
She immediately felt Rodi move and he leaned over her where his arms could cage her safely. Her eyes opened, and she looked up to see him watching her with magenta shadows in his black eyes. He wore only a pair of pajama bottoms, and his body was exposed to her eyes in the candlelight around them. Not a mark remained on his skin. "I'm fine now," he told her softly.
"You'll be black and blue when I'm through with you!" She didn't hit him, though, and instead threw her arms around him as tightly as she could. Shudders rippled through her body and she couldn't get warm. "I saw it," she whispered. "I saw the heart of madness. It was . . . emptiness. That's what insanity is. It's the emptiness of nothing."
He gathered her as close as he could and wrapped the blankets around them tightly. She wore the matching pajama top that went to his bottoms, but he eased the edge of it up to run his hand over her bare skin soothingly. Sparks flew between their skin, but this time, both felt them inside as much as saw them outside. The Light and Dark inside him had begun to spark, too. "Promise me something," he told her quietly. "When all this is over, you will finally cry everything out. You cannot cry now because it will fuel Minstrel, but when that sick son of a bitch is gone, I want you to cry until you can't cry anymore."
She sighed. "I don't need to cry. My songs healed me."
"Anastasia." He caught her face in his hands. "You think I can't see the deepest wounds inside you where your music did not reach?"
Her hands closed over his wrists. "I will have to shatter myself again. Through tears or music or by my own hands, it has to happen."
"Then so be it. I will put you back together." He feathered his lips over her face before tenderly kissing her until her body relaxed. His mind sought hers to comfort, and he winced a bit. If the mental wounds she felt had been physical, Sayena would have literally tied her down to a medical bed. "Just rest for now." His majik welled around him with soft gold color and brought the soothing, restful scent of the black poppy.
Her entire body relaxed and her eyes closed as she let him soothe her. That was the nice thing about a strong Caretaker. He made it very easy to rest and take a breath from saving the world. But it could only be a breath. Minstrel was still out there, and she now felt the burning inside her heart to see him stopped. Now it was personal.
©Stacy J. Garrett. Do not reprint or redistribute without permission.
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