The bitter north wind cut across the cheeks of the four of them. They were camped on their bellies at the crest of a crusty hill, grey sky above, all eyes trained on the building a quarter-mile away. It was a peculiar structure for the area, a typical one-story southwest adobe hut, pink, plopped in the middle of the sienna-swirled hills of the Badlands. It had no windows, and a scrubby dirt road led to the door of the hut. There was one black suv parked in front.
“You sure that’s not his?” Aiden asked.
Triaten shook his head. “Couldn’t be. We were at least a half-hour closer to here, and there were two separate reports that came in that he was on the move. He couldn’t have gotten here before us.”
“Any clue who’s in there?” Charlotte slid down on the hill and rolled to her back, her brow furrowed.
“No.” Triaten’s answer was clipped. He knew they were here for answers; nonetheless, he didn’t like not having a guess as to who was in the structure.
Triaten felt Charlotte’s hand on the small of his back. He swallowed hard as he fought the urge to tell her to go. That he didn’t want her anywhere near whatever was going on in that hut. He stifled the words, as he knew she would only laugh at his request, and then come back with a calm ‘everything will be alright.’
Plus, he didn’t want a repeat of their conversation this morning. They had only been asleep for a few hours, after fully exhausting the initial explorations of what their bodies could actually do together — and hell, it was a lot — when the first call about Horace came in. His world had just irrevocably shifted after being with Charlotte, so his first thought when his cell rang was dread. Not dread for himself, but full-on, gut-wrenching fear that Charlotte was there and he might be bringing her into danger.
A protectiveness that he hadn’t anticipated invaded. He had always respected Charlotte’s ability to handle herself. But after Africa — after he was so close to losing her and now to finally have her, body and soul — Triaten was having a hard time swallowing the fact that Charlotte may be threatened.
So when they were getting clothes on, he broached the subject of her staying back at the motel. He forced his voice casual as she dug through the piles of clothes for her undergarments. “You could just stay here in bed, you know.” He sidled up to her back as she stood up, his bare torso brushing onto her skin, as his lips went to her shoulders and his arms went around her.
“Hmmm, that doesn’t sound tempting unless you’re in it with me.” She spun in his arms to face him. “And not the reason I’m here. I’m here to be by your side, and you know that. So why are you suggesting it?”
Triaten shrugged to hide the fear in his gut. “I just don’t know what we’ll find with Horace. There’s no reason to bring you into what may be an odd situation.”
Her eyes narrowed at him. “You mean dangerous situation, don’t you?”
“Maybe.”
She immediately scoffed. “Don’t you even dare. Do you think I want you going into this? Do you not think I’m scared to death of what you’re walking into? And do you really think I’m going to let you do it alone?”
“No. No. And no, unfortunately.”
“Yet, I’m not suggesting you stay in bed, am I? Because this is something that needs to happen.” She put her hands on either side of his face. “Whatever your father is up to, we’ll handle it. Fear of danger has never stopped either one of us, Tri. And it can’t start now.”
There was no telling Charlotte what to do — there never had been. With a sigh designed to stuff down his anxiety over Charlotte’s safety, Triaten leaned down and kissed her hard. Then he lifted up, relenting. “Fine. But it’s killing me to leave this moment.”
Skye’s cough brought Triaten back to the present. He looked past Charlotte’s head to see Skye lying on her stomach, watching the hut.
“Do any Panthenites have see-through vision?” Skye asked dryly, to no one in particular. “That would sure be handy in a situation like this.”
Aiden glanced over at his wife, his look giving Skye her answer, then shifted his eyes over her head to Triaten and Charlotte. “Forgive her. I have not been able to convince her that Marvel Comics didn’t invent the Panthenite race.”
Skye was nonplussed. “There are similarities. You have to admit.”
Silence. None of them could really argue the point.
Skye scooted down, holding steady her scabbard as she flipped onto her back, mirroring Charlotte. She rubbed her hands together, trying to warm the bare fingers sticking out of the fingerless gloves. “I know you guys are used to it, but I still don’t take discomfort without note like the rest of you. This is bitch-slapping cold out here.”
Eyes not leaving the building, Aiden reached behind him and lifted his black soft-shell jacket up from his waist. “Warm them up in here.”
Skye slid her hands under his jacket and smiled to herself as he twitched when her ice cube fingers touched his skin.
“Speaking of powers, Charlotte, I’ve been wondering, can you heal cancer?” Skye asked, her voice neutral curiosity.
Surprised by the random question, Charlotte looked at Skye, and then stole a glance over her head at Aiden. He gave her a no-idea shake of his head.
She looked back at Skye. “Yes and no. I have tried. But it hasn’t turned out very well. I can heal it away, and it works for a time, but then it regrows — regrows in a much more vicious and aggressive way. The patients I have tried to help, I really only just made them suffer more. So I haven’t touched cancer in years. Why do you ask?”
“Oh. No reason. Just curious.” Skye’s voice was flat.
“There.” Triaten announced, and Charlotte and Skye flipped over onto their bellies and scooted up to look over the ridge.
A black Mercedes came from the east down the road. As it neared, it became clear that it was Horace, and he was alone. The sedan came to a stop in front of the hut, and Horace got out. He tightened his overcoat as he walked around the car and into the building.
“We move.” Triaten’s voice had taken on a deadly tone.
“The plan?” Charlotte asked as they all got to their feet, adjusting scabbards and steel attached to their bodies.
“We go in, and get some answers. That’s the plan.”
Triaten ignored the worried look Charlotte shot to Aiden. He wasn’t going to discuss it. Instead, he started down the hillside, cutting down through the rock and sand with purpose. The other three followed.
Triaten paused at the door of the hut, ears trained to the inside. He could hear conversation, but the sound was muddled through the thick adobe walls. Charlotte, Aiden, and Skye took formation behind him, sword ready in each of their hands. At the quick glance over his shoulder, each gave him a nod.
He kicked open the door and the four rushed in, swords high. Halfway to his father, Triaten pulled up, shocked. He had only seen him once, but recognized immediately who his father sat across from at the lone table in the hut. Skye’s father, Evan.
Skye’s gasp behind him confirmed it was Evan. The gasp cut off just as Triaten felt Charlotte turn and line up her back to his. Her body was tense and poised for attack.
Both Evan and Horace stood from their seats. Horace was livid — his fists clenched and face turned a bright red.
Evan looked over at Horace, anger evident. “If this is a set-up, I would take a moment to look at where my men’s blades are right now.”
Horace’s eyes bore into Triaten, even as he addressed Evan. “It is no set-up. I came alone. This intrusion is as unwelcomed by me, as by you.”
“Triaten.” Charlotte’s voice behind him was alarmed.
Triaten glanced over his shoulder. On one side of the door, Aiden stood frozen, a Malefic holding a blade against his neck. Confusion flashed onto Triaten’s face. Aiden would not let anyone hold steel on him. Yet there he stood, still. Triaten knew Aiden would have no trouble taking down the Malefic that had him under sword.
It wasn’t until Triaten followed the direction of Aiden’s eyes that he saw Skye. On the other side of the door, a Malefic, from behind, had her gripped tightly around her chest, her arms stuck in at her sides. He had a short blade pushing in on her chest, right at her heart. The Malefics had been flanking the doorway, and had easily picked off Skye as they came in — which had made it easy to pick off Aiden.
Although Aiden could easily kill the Malefic that had him under blade, he was too far away from Skye to get to her before the Malefic sunk the blade into her heart. They were all too far away. And Skye’s toes weren’t even touching the ground. She had no leverage to move.
Evan chuckled. “Okay, now that we all know what’s going to happen if anyone advances on me, I think it’s time to take my leave.” He turned to Horace and gave him a short nod. “I’m afraid this intrusion ends these discussions.”
“Before you exit, Evan, I’d like to introduce you to Charlotte.” Horace motioned at Charlotte. “She’s the one I was telling you about.”
Evan stepped to the side of the room so he could see Charlotte, who was still behind Triaten. Triaten’s raised sword followed him.
Evan slipped a wool coat over his shoulders as he looked her over. “Interesting.” The word hissed out as his chin bobbed. He turned back to Horace and inclined his head. “Another time.”
Horace gave a curt nod.
Evan walked across the room, giving wide berth to Triaten and Charlotte in the middle, both of their swords trained on him. He paused in front of Skye and her captor. He stared at her as he addressed her husband. “Aiden, you can join your friends in the middle of the room.”
Aiden didn’t move.
Annoyed, Evan shot him a look. “She won’t be harmed. Nor are we taking her. She’s just insurance for my safety to the car.”
Rage barely bridled, Aiden slowly pushed the blade away from his neck and took several steps into the room to join Charlotte and Triaten.
Satisfied, Evan turned back to Skye. “Daughter. Always a pleasure. I will see you again soon, I imagine.”
And then he disappeared out the door.
His two Malefics followed, one quickly scurrying to the driver’s side of the suv, the other, trailing last, walked backward to the suv, dragging Skye along with him, blade still on her heart. It wasn’t until he bumped into the vehicle that he loosened his grip on her, shoving her to the ground as he got into the suv. The vehicle tore away, kicking up red rock and sand into the air over Skye.
Aiden was to her instantly, both helping her to her feet and staring at the retreating vehicle. Skye grabbed his arm, and motioned to the hut through the dust cloud, effectively making the point that no, they weren’t going after Evan. They would have to save that for another time.
They walked back into the building, flanking Triaten. All four stood wide in the room, facing Horace.
Horace glared at all of them, no less livid, and not backing down from their accusing glares.
Triaten waited a moment in silence, then his sword clattered to the ground as he stormed across the room, fist raised. The punch Triaten delivered crushed Horace’s jaw, and he flew back, the wooden chair he had been sitting on interrupting his fall.
Triaten stood, heaving, over his father.
Horace rubbed his jaw as he adjusted himself on the seat. He scowled up at Triaten. “I let that one happen, Triaten. Don’t make the mistake of thinking I’ll let it happen again.”
“What are you doing here, Horace?” Triaten’s words were halting, seeping out in accusation. “What are you doing with the Malefics?”
Horace leaned on the table and got to his feet. His eyes reflected the same murderous intent of his son’s. “You don’t know what you’ve interrupted, Triaten. Out of all my children. You were the chosen one. And now this? You dare question me? Question my motives? Unacceptable.”
Triaten repeated himself. “What are you doing with the Malefics?”
“Not Malefics. One Malefic.”
“Any is too many. From your own lips, father. Any is too many. And out of any of them, Skye’s father? I defended you to Edmund. Don’t make me a fool.”
Horace waved his hand in dismissal. “You only need know my dealings with Evan are purely strategic. We are, unfortunately, like-minded on certain goals.”
“And those goals are?”
“We needed the Malefic force that coordinated the attacks to have,” Horace shrugged, “some success in Africa.”
The fists that had begun to relax at Triaten’s sides, re-tightened. “What?” He shook his head. “I hope to god that you don’t mean success at the price of thousands of lives.”
“You look at me like that? Question me again? We saved most. A hundred-thousand. I did not allow the deaths lightly. Those thousands were a necessary sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice? What do you know of sacrifice?” Triaten sneered.
“I know enough about it to send Atticus to one of the sites that was decimated. This move was that important.”
Triaten’s face went white. “You didn’t.”
Next to Triaten, Skye turned her head up to Aiden, plain confusion on her face. “Aiden, what is he talking about? What thousands are dead? We saved them.”
The side of Horace’s face curled in calloused amusement. “They didn’t tell you, dear?”
Her head swiveled to Horace.
“Looks like I’m not the only one with convenient secrets.”
Skye looked back at her husband. “Aiden?”
“Aiden,” Charlotte interrupted, “you need to take Skye outside and explain. We’ll be fine in here.”
Aiden glared at Horace, and for a moment, it looked like he would attack.
Skye’s demanding voice stopped him. “Aiden, what do you have to explain?”
Swiftly, Aiden sheathed his sword and turned to Skye, grabbing her wrist that held her sword. “Let’s go outside.”
Skye looked around the room at all the eyes on her. Triaten and Charlotte’s held concern, Horace’s held mild derision. She twisted and yanked her wrist away from Aiden’s grip. “Fine.”
She stalked out the door, Aiden trailing.
Triaten immediately turned his attention back to Horace, anger brewing stronger. “You sent your own son to slaughter?”
“I did. Atticus would have agreed with the decision.”
“His own death? Don’t be so sure, father. You are fast losing all credibility with this son.”
“This is bigger than any one of us, Triaten.” Horace’s knuckles rapped the wooden table. “The flame moon cycle has started, Triaten, we all know it. And the African massacres — count it as round one. It was only part of the larger strategy, for both the Malefics and Panthenites. You think round one, Panthenites — not quite. This was a skirmish. We haven’t even begun this war.”
“A war where you come out the end as a god?”
A modicum of respect crossed Horace’s face. “So you know?”
“That god-status is the Malefic’s end game? Yes, we know. What I’m trying to figure out is why you would ever help them achieve that goal — you wouldn’t, unless it was going to benefit you.”
Horace’s face turned red again. “Don’t be insulting. None of this is for my benefit. I do not wish to be a god. You think I would send Atticus to death to benefit myself?”
Triaten glared at him.
He slammed his fist on the table. “You think I’m lying?”
“The only truth that I’ve heard, the only thing you’ve reminded me of today, is that you are keen on disposing of both humans, and apparently, sons.”
“It’s a lesson I keep having to remind you of, Triaten. Disposability.”
“You needn’t worry,” Triaten answered dryly. “That lesson took the very first time you taught it.”
Horace’s eyebrow rose in question.
“Ma.” The weight of a lifetime was on that one word from Triaten.
Horace rolled his eyes. “A human,” he muttered.
Triaten took a step toward him. “I’ve never asked, father. But it’s suddenly quite clear. I know you impregnated her, and deemed her gone. But why did you let me see her get taken away? You brought her to me, told me to say goodbye. I was to never see her again.”
Horace looked at him coldly.
“She screamed when you tore her away from me. Screamed for me. I was her baby. I was hers since I was two days old. And you tore her away. You shoved her into the carriage. And when she tried to crawl out, was half down the side, you yanked her back into the carriage by her hair. She wailed and screamed as the horses took the carriage away. And you had the driver go slow. You made me watch her leave. Watch her crumble.”
“You had become too attached.” Horace harshly pointed his finger at Triaten. “You needed to see how easily a human could disappear. That they weren’t worth your adoration.”
Triaten’s teeth gritted. “I…was…five.”
Horace’s arm swung wide. “And that was old enough to learn humans are not like us. They are disposable. They always have been. And you have always loved them too much, the humans.”
“And you don’t? You’ve kept plenty of their women. Hidden countless of your human half-breed offspring around the world.”
“Yes. And all of them are disposable as well. Just like Atticus. I appreciate humans for the balance they keep the world in. And as entertainment. Humans are necessary, but will never be anything more than a sub-par species. That woman that you thought of as your mother was no different. Disposable.”
Triaten became deathly still. The musty air in the room stalled, as Horace’s words echoed in the walls.
Silently, Triaten turned away from his father, and walked back to his sword, lying on the frozen dirt floor of the hut. He stared down at it.
Minutes passed in silence, until Triaten slowly bent down, his fingers slipping into the handle of the steel.
Horace behind her, Charlotte took a step toward Triaten. Still in a crouch, he looked up at her, eyes demanding she back off.
Her face crumpled, pleading with him. Her voice was a whisper. “No. Triaten. Not the way.”
He watched her as she silently pleaded with him, his face hardened in cold contempt.
When his muscles unleashed, he shot up, and Charlotte instantly recognized what he was about to do.
So she stepped in front of Horace, and the steel impaled her, right below her left shoulder. The tip of the sword halted, an inch from Horace’s heart.
Charlotte buckled at the instant pain, staggering backward, dropping her own sword. Horace moved out of her path. She bumped into the wooden table, and gripped the edge with her hand, fighting to remain on her feet.
Triaten had immediately released the sword, and when she succeeded in opening her eyes against the inferno in her chest, she saw him, deathly white, soul crushed as he watched her. He was frozen in the middle of the hut.
She met his eyes and shook her head, slowly, trying to tell him that it was alright, that she would be fine. But another wave of pain shot through her body, and she folded at her stomach, attempting, but failing, to hold in a scream.
“I am going to kill you.” Was the next thing Charlotte heard, and when she looked up, Triaten was advancing on Horace, a rage that she had never-before seen in him fried the air.
“Triaten. Stop.” Her voice managed to be stronger than she thought she could produce.
He halted, halfway to Horace. His eyes didn’t move from his father.
“Stop. You need to leave.” Charlotte’s voice was growing weaker.
The rage in Triaten didn’t drain, instead, it shifted to Charlotte with his look. “You side with him?”
Charlotte swallowed the scream that the next wave of pain was producing. It was all she could do to get the next words out, but she knew everything — everything — hinged on getting Triaten out of the shack. Hinged on stopping him.
“I do. If it will get you out of here. I do.”
Triaten stared at her, and the rage slowly tornadoed with betrayal on his face. It took minutes for the fury to explode. It exploded in his body — every limb, the core of him, shaking. But his words were cold, callous, as he spoke to Charlotte. “Then you have made your choice.”
He turned and stormed out of the hut, knocking the door off its hinges along the way.
Once he cleared the door, Charlotte fell to her knees in a mixture of relief and pain. She gasped against the agony in her chest, trying to steady herself. She looked up at Horace. He said nothing to her. Just watched her, face blank.
Slowly, she got to her feet. Her jaw set hard, she glared at him. “Pull this thing out of me.”
“Are you going to stand or sit?”
“Stand.”
“As you desire.” Horace walked around her, turning her shoulders so she could lean on the table with her right hand. He put his hand into the black hilt of the long sword.
“Ready?”
Charlotte closed her eyes, chin buried on her chest. “Do it.”
He pulled smoothly and quickly, but it was a long sword, and Charlotte felt every inch of it, slicing her muscle and tissue as it exited. But she wasn’t going to collapse. She wasn’t going to let Horace have the satisfaction.
Blade out, she took minutes with her head down, fighting against the blackness that threatened her brain. Finally, she opened her eyes. Horace was watching her.
“I need the sleeve of your coat,” she demanded.
“Really?”
“Do it. I have to stop the bleeding. Unless you want Aiden to come in here and finish what Triaten started. Him, I won’t be able to stop.”
Horace went over to his black trench coat and ripped the sleeve off. He handed it to Charlotte.
“You may be feeling the need to judge me, Charlotte, but every son should want to kill his father. It makes them stronger. That’s what I have worked hard to create in Triaten, strong character. Strong enough in body and mind to defend his own. Strong enough to lead. To make hard decisions.”
Charlotte’s face contorted at his words. She wasn’t sure if the rock in her stomach was from the pain, or from Horace’s warped views of the world.
“You live in a very sick reality, Horace.” She stuffed his balled-up sleeve under her soft-shell jacket, pressing it against the bleeding wound. “Give me the other sleeve.”
He did so, and she wedged the other ball of cloth behind her shoulder, hoping it would soak up enough blood that there would be few questions from Aiden. Luckily, her jacket was black, and would hide the blood. The tear in the fabric was obvious, but their clothes were always torn, so hopefully, he wouldn’t note it.
But she did need to stall until the bleeding stopped. She walked over to the open doorway. The door had come to rest at a sad slant, only a few bottom screws held up the shredded wood, barely keeping it from clattering to the ground.
Eyes on the landscape, Charlotte exhaled relief as Triaten disappeared from view over the faraway ridge.
“You’re not going to go after him?” Horace asked.
Charlotte pressed on her chest as she stared at the desolate red hills. “I know when to leave him alone. And in this instance, I’m the last person he needs.”
“He should need no one. That is the point.”
Charlotte couldn’t stop her head from shaking. “You are turning any affection he has for you into hate, Horace. Is that really what you want?” She didn’t turn around to face him. “You do realize that taking Susan away had the exact opposite effect on Triaten, than what you had tried to manipulate? You martyred her. And Triaten has cared about nothing but saving innocent humans, since.”
“It will eventually wane. Of more interest to me, is that I see you and Triaten have finally decided to mate. That will bode the Panthenites well. It is well-past the time you took your duty to the race seriously.”
Charlotte turned into the hut and went to pick up her sword. Attempting to not jostle the open wound, she awkwardly slipped her sword over her shoulder and into the sheath that hung across her back. Her eyes went to the open doorway, still refusing to look at Horace.
“I have spent my whole life trying to prove I’m not just a vessel for the next generation. That my worth is something more. But after all this time, that is still what I am to you and the elders, isn’t it?”
“You weren’t branded for nothing, Charlotte. Your blood is too pure.”
She spun to him, eyes questioning. Through all the years, she had never gotten any of the elders to talk of her lineage. “If it’s so pure, why was I dumped like trash on the mountain?”
“Dumped? No, we took you away from your mother.”
“Took me away?” Charlotte reeled. “Why would you have done that?”
“She didn’t care for how she was impregnated.” Horace shrugged, nonchalant. “She tried to cut you from her belly several times. So she had to be strapped to a bed for most of the pregnancy. She never saw you. You never saw her.”
Horror flashed on Charlotte’s face, and then was immediately replaced by suspicion. “Why are you telling me this, Horace?”
He sighed. “It’s a cautionary tale. I tell you now, away from the mountain, this is your warning. The elders have not given up on all of the old practices. They may have a sheen of modernity, but they haven’t strayed far from many ancient practices. For stability, we still need to expand the Panthenite race. Frankly, Charlotte, they have near lost patience with you. One way or another, you will be bred soon.”
Charlotte’s jaw dropped slowly, horrific understanding permeating her brain.
“I am just relieved you’ve gotten there on your own. We had given up on Aiden mating with you — the male has to be willing, of course, and since Skye came to be, that’s not going to happen.” Horace continued with a dismissive wave. “I wasn’t looking forward to explaining the situation to Triaten or Aiden. So Triaten is a fine choice for your first offspring.”
“What do you mean, my first? Triaten is my only choice.”
Horace only offered a shrug. “Regardless, the match will be most acceptable to the elders.”
Charlotte’s jaw finally managed to snap back into place. “You do not get to discuss us, Horace. We are not your concern.”
“Everything you do, my dear, is of my concern. After Skye shifted time back, your refugee camp was on slate for sacrifice. I stopped that because of your presence.”
Charlotte’s eyes were like ice, her voice, cool detachment. “Don’t even try that, Horace. I know very well that if you did manage to stop anything, it was because Triaten was at the camp. We both know you would not sacrifice him.”
Horace shrugged his shoulders. “Be that as it may, you are alive because of me.”
Charlotte took a deep breath, grasping for control of her anger. “Horace, you have been the closest thing to a father for me. But the respect you’ve earned throughout the years is quickly waning. It is, in fact, in shreds. Do not burn those last shreds. I am leaving right now, because, quite frankly you disgust me.”
She turned and walked toward the door, then paused. She spun back to him.
“Whatever game you’re playing with the Malefics, it needs to stop. There are too many innocent lives at stake. And Triaten will kill himself trying to save them. You’re jeopardizing everything you’ve built with the Panthenites over the last one hundred years.”
“Did it ever occur to you, that is precisely what I am trying to protect?” Horace reached to the back of the chair to pick up his sleeveless coat. “You worry too much about the human lives, Charlotte.”
“Do I?” She winced at sharp pain as she crossed her arms. Her eyes flew to the ceiling, looking for patience. “You know I live by the starfish parable.”
“To make a difference to one?” He scoffed. “It’s a nice notion, Charlotte, but it was made up by someone who never had to be accountable to the grand scheme of things. We cannot afford to take the minute point-of-view, especially during this flame moon. We need to concentrate on the big picture, and what is right for all, instead of what is right for some.”
Charlotte shook her head sadly. “So why does the big picture always seem to involve death?”
She didn’t wait for a response. Instead she turned and walked out the door, stepping high above the shredded wood.
Outside, Charlotte followed the voices of Aiden and Skye to the back of the pink hut.
She stopped when they were in view, arguing, and then interrupted them. “We need to get out of here. Before I kill him. Which I wouldn’t like to do, as he’d probably kill me first.”
Skye turned to Charlotte. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but dry — the tears had already dried along her cheeks. “All those babies. All those mothers,” she whispered, shaking, at Charlotte.
Aiden’s hand went to upper arm, but she shrugged it off, taking a step back. She wasn’t letting him touch her.
“I thought I saved them. I thought I made a difference. I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do enough.”
Charlotte went over to her quickly, throwing her good arm across Skye’s shoulder and not letting her escape. “But you did, Skye. You saved tens of thousands. You saved me.”
Charlotte started walking, guiding Skye along with her. Aiden trailed behind.
“Why didn’t you tell me right away?”
Charlotte conjured up calm reason, even though her own gut was shredded. “Almost all of the camps were defended. You made that happen. You just need to concentrate on that. It was just a few that fell. And between coming after Horace and those reports of the fallen camps being verified, there hasn’t been time to process any of it. Much less tell you about it.”
“But those ‘few’ means thousands died.” Skye’s voice was small.
“Yes, and thousands more lived.”
Skye just shook her head. “I should have done more. Given us more time.”
Charlotte pulled to a stop and turned to Skye, grabbing her shoulders. The movement tore the wound on her chest, but she ignored it. “You need to stop. Without you, all of us would have died under these attacks. And then we really would have had several hundred thousand innocents dead, and mayhem in the world. Hundreds of thousands, Skye.” She couldn’t hold back the slight shake she gave Skye’s shoulders. “This isn’t a game. And your power isn’t something to trifle with. You are that important because you can save so many.”
Charlotte looked at the ground and sighed. With a deep breath to steady herself, she looked back up to Skye. “But we all have our limits of what we can do. And this may sound harsh, but the limits are reality, and it sucks — but you have to get used to the fact that some will always die, Skye. We can’t save them all.”
Charlotte dropped her hands from Skye’s stunned shoulders, and turned, beginning the trudge back to the vehicles.
The long walk back was bitter, both in the biting wind, and in the shoulders of all three. Charlotte, Skye, and Aiden moved along the cold ground in single file. Over the last hill, Charlotte sped up as she went down.
Fear settled onto Charlotte’s brow as she stepped over the deep tracks on the ground next to Aiden’s jeep, and looked across the empty expanse of land. Triaten was long gone.
Skye was the first to notice Charlotte had passed out in the back of the jeep. They hadn’t been ten minutes away from Horace’s shack. Skye scrambled over the front seat to get to the back as Aiden screeched to a halt.
Gently slapping her face, Skye quickly got Charlotte to open her eyes.
“What the hell happened in there, Charlotte?” Aiden demanded, from the front, once Charlotte’s eyes came into focus.
Skye quickly held her red-tinged hand up to Aiden. Blood had seeped through Charlotte’s jacket onto her fingers. Skye pulled Charlotte’s jacket back, only to see the blood-soaked, bunched-up sleeve tumble out.
Charlotte grabbed Skye’s wrist. “Stop. It doesn’t matter. It was an accident. Let’s just get back to the mountain.”
“Hell, no. We’re going back to the hotel so we can look at this.”
Skye stayed in the back seat, propping Charlotte up after she passed out again. At the hotel, there was no sign of Triaten. After getting Charlotte inside to her room, Aiden insisted they stay there the night, to let Charlotte’s wound properly heal. A long, jarring trip home would do her no good.
It was deep into the night when Triaten snuck into the room. He had called Aiden, just to make sure Charlotte was okay. He had no intention of coming to the hotel. But Aiden’s assurances hadn’t been enough. He had to see her.
Triaten let the door rest against the frame, not letting it close completely. He wasn’t staying long. The light in the bathroom was on, the door cracked, and the rays of light lit Charlotte’s face as she slept. He walked silently across the floor.
He stopped at the bed, looking down at her face. Her brow was furrowed, even in a deep sleep. Leaning over her, his eyes travelled down her body. She was naked, but a sheet, pulled up just above her breasts, covered her.
His eyes rested on her left chest. The wound was hidden under a thick bandage, wrapped tight to her body, and it went up and over her shoulder. Dots of red soaked into the white of the bandage. Triaten couldn’t stop his arm from reaching out, and his hand slid gently onto her.
He touched her chest lightly, tender in the slight movement it made over the wound. Triaten’s stomach churned. He did this to her. He almost killed her. He drew his hand back.
She rustled at the touch, groaning, but she didn’t wake.
Damn her, he thought, she was never going to change. She was always going to act without thinking. Act without the slightest regard to her own safety. He didn’t know if he could do this. Have her and lose her. He wasn’t ready to be forced to face such a possibility.
“God, Char. You bring me to my knees again and again,” he whispered at her. His throat collapsed on him as his brain flashed to Africa, when he held her, dying, and then to that split second in the hut where he thought he had killed her.
Her head shifted. “Don’t...Don’t leave, Tri.” She mumbled into the pillow.
He knew she was talking in her sleep and wouldn’t wake — she slept hard while healing. And he couldn’t stop himself from softly answering her. “What I did to you…I almost killed you Char — it’s unforgivable. It’s killing me and I can’t be around you. Not now.” His fingers brushed hair off her forehead. “Just go back to sleep.”
She gave the softest moan, but her eyes remained shut.
Triaten fought himself, but he eventually pulled his hand from Charlotte’s face. He stepped away from her, and went back to the door.
Her cracked mumble stopped him. Even asleep, the angst in her words was palpable. “You know my heart, Tri. I would never choose Horace over you. Never.”
Her body curled up in a shudder. “Don’t leave me, Tri.”
Hand on the door, Triaten could not tear his eyes from her. Her cheek nestled into her blond hair, spread on the pillow, and she gave the slightest quiver as she inhaled.
He would not let death be her reward for loving him. And that’s exactly where he feared they were headed.
Triaten walked out the door.
~~~
It was days. Five days passed after the scene with Horace in the Badlands, and neither Triaten nor Horace had shown back up on the mountain.
Skye had finally made some inroads with Shiv. Every day, she and Aiden would head up to the ranch. And no matter how much pain Shiv would try to inflict on Skye, Skye held her ground, not leaving, no matter how harsh or cold it was being in a room with Shiv. Hour after hour, day after day, Skye eventually just wore Shiv down, the both of them discovering that there actually was a bottom to the bottomless pit of anger Shiv felt toward Skye.
Charlotte, on the other hand, bordered close to insanity. She would have gone after Triaten immediately, but had no idea where he disappeared to. There wasn’t the slightest trace of him.
So she was stuck going back to the mountain. Going back to worry and wonder about when she would need to start searching for him, even though she didn’t have a clue where to start. Worry and wonder if he could really believe she would ever choose Horace over him.
Hotel Auric was constantly buzzing, as the elders were pulling in forces from all parts of the world. While they didn’t know what the next move of the Malefics would be, they were readying forces. Without an appearance by Triaten or Horace, and no one to rebuke to DeLisio’s allegations, Edmund chose to vilify Horace’s actions and the subsequent deaths in the refugee camps.
So when Triaten was finally spotted going through town, word quickly got to Charlotte at her clinic. She took off in search right away.
Up the mountain and back down, and no Triaten. Outside of Joe’s, she stood in the chill that was not cut at all by the morning sun. She half-leaned against her suv, pulling her coat up around her neck, while staring at the pine trees swaying in the nipping wind. Where could he be? She’d been to his house, to the ranch, to Aiden’s adventure shop, to Hotel Auric, to Joe’s, and no Triaten. Had he skipped back out of town while she was searching?
She tapped her car key on her teeth, scanning her mind.
Then it hit her. One place on the mountain she didn’t check.
When she pulled up to the time-beaten house, with grey clapboards falling in, she heaved a sigh of relief. Triaten’s jeep was parked alongside the decrepit two-story building.
She spotted him instantly, or at least the back of his head. He sat atop the roof of a first story wing that jutted off from the main structure. He was facing the backyard. Charlotte parked, and tightened her wool coat around her as she got out. She plucked her way into the house, side-stepping fallen lumber, rotted remnants of what was once a magnificent home. A magnificent home that now housed birds and critters, and looked it. She kept to the inner wall as she went up the staircase, hoping that the few steps she found that could hold her weight wouldn’t just snap under her feet.
She stepped into the room to the left at the top of the stairs, and closed her eyes as memory after memory washed over her. It had been at least eighty years since she’d been in the house, in that room. Triaten’s room.
She opened her eyes and the ajar window opposite her, top pane long broken, beckoned her over.
He sat, footing tapping, on the low slant of the rooftop, arms resting casually on his knees. She wasn’t going to give him a chance to request to remain solitary, so she quickly went through the window, stepping lightly so as to not dislodge any of the old roof shakes. Triaten glanced up at her, but didn’t say anything.
She sat down next to him with a sigh, and even though she rubbed her hands together to force some heat into them, she was already warmer just being next to him. She pulled her legs up, wrapping her arms around her shins.
Triaten looked over at her. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she replied softly, and took in her surroundings. The house may have crumbled, but the towering pines were the same, only bigger. Her nose wrinkled at the thick smell of decaying wood. She wondered if they would fall through what little was left of the roof.
“You found me.”
“Took some searching. But you knew your coming through town wouldn’t go unnoticed.” She looked over at him, contemplating. “Did you want to get found?”
Triaten’s gaze moved to the needles of the trees. He shrugged. “Not sure.”
Charlotte nodded with resigned understanding. She picked at the fold on the front of her crisp black jeans. Her eyes went to the right, taking in the crumbling house. “How long has it been since you were last here?”
Triaten followed Charlotte’s gaze. “I don’t even remember.”
Charlotte looked at Triaten, then back out to the woods. Silence sat upon them.
“I stabbed you, Char. I almost killed you.” His words were flat, but Charlotte could feel him shudder as he stared at the green pine needles.
“Tri — no — it was my fault. It’s okay.”
He looked down at her. “What I did to you. It’s not okay. It’s unforgivable. I’ve been so worried about others harming you, I didn’t see that the true threat was me.”
“Ridiculous, Triaten. I stepped in front of it — I wasn’t thinking — it was stupid, but I’m fine.”
Triaten’s eyes narrowed at her. “It’s not fine, Char. Two inches lower, and I would have killed you. Killed you. That is not okay, and it’s not something I can live with.”
Charlotte was momentarily stunned at the ferocity in his words. And she had no idea what they meant. Fear invaded her chest. She looked away from him, her eyes settling on a squirrel, busy scampering about the overgrown clearing, nuts in cheek.
He added nothing on to his last comment.
Minutes passed, and Charlotte grew antsy. What had she done? In trying to save everything, had she ruined everything? She glanced at him, noting that his jaw was set rigid. “Where have you been?”
“Out. Nowhere. Nowhere that mattered.”
“I was worried. And mad. You left me, Tri. I wasn’t sure how long I could wait until I came searching for you. Especially after...” Her voice trailed as her heart flew high in her chest. With a cough, she cleared her throat and continued. “Where was your mind?”
Triaten didn’t answer her right away, and the occasional bird caw crept through the air, exasperating the silence. The faraway look in his eyes told volumes. He sighed with a slow shake of his head. “I thought about disappearing, Char. Disappearing out in the field. Leaving the elders. Leaving the mountain. Leaving you.”
Charlotte straightened even as her gut dropped. She forced her voice steady. “Hmmm. That’s a little too honest.”
“Is there such a thing with you?”
“No, I guess not.” She paused to study his profile as she forced the next words to leave her mouth. “So why didn’t you leave?”
Moments ticked by, and heart in her throat, Charlotte watched Triaten’s jaw flex and unflex. Then he looked down at her.
“You’re home.”
The words flooded into her body, heating her blood. Words that meant the world. She smiled in relief as she leaned into him. “I think you also know I wouldn't have let you disappear. Space, yes. Disappear, no. I would have found you, no matter what.”
Her words coaxed a small smile from him. He looked down at her. “Yes, I kind of knew that. And I would be lying if I didn’t admit I considered it as a course of action. Letting you come to me.”
She grinned. “Then you could have left me a better trail.” Her smile faded. “So what were you considering while you were gone?”
“I was questioning us — aside from the stabbing. Char, you know I have always loved you. But I didn’t know, didn’t anticipate this would be so different. After we were together...I just didn’t expect the depth of what happened to me after you were truly, wholly, mine. Body and soul.”
“Why would that make you question us?”
“You need to feel this.” He grabbed her hand and positioned it over his heart. Even through his jacket, she could feel the out-of-control heartbeat. His voice was rough when he looked down at her and slid a hand along her jaw line. “Char, you wreck me.”
Charlotte’s eyebrows angled in question.
“All my control. All my logic. You wreck it. This is too raw. I didn’t anticipate the worry, the endless possibilities of what would happen to me if you were ever taken away from me. And then I stabbed you.”
He closed his eyes, drawing a steadying breath. “You know my mind works at a thousand-miles-an-hour. You. Horace. It made a storm. And then he threatened you — introducing you to Evan — he wasn’t at all subtle. And suddenly, I wasn’t sure I could take the fear that I would have to own. The fear that comes along with us being together.”
Charlotte hesitated, considering her words carefully. “Tri, you know I can’t take that fear away, because we can only control so much.” Her hand slipped from his heart to his knee. His foot tapping ceased. “But here’s what I can promise you. I fought death for you once, and I’ll do it as many times as it takes in our lives. But there are no guarantees, Tri.”
“I know. And that’s what I can’t come to terms with. I had honestly been judging Aiden for trying to keep Skye so sequestered from danger, and now I’m in the very same frame of mind with you.”
Charlotte’s palm slipped down to his inner thigh, caressing it as she watched his face intently. “But you can’t concentrate on the end like that. It could be tomorrow. It could be a thousand years from now. But we’re not together for the end, Tri. We’re together for the life lived before it.”
He wrapped his arm along her shoulders, his hand curling into the warmth of her hair. He leaned down, taking her lips on his, gently caressing the depths of Charlotte’s nerve endings. He pulled back only slightly. “And that is the reason I came back. You are not only my home, you are my logic when I need it.” His mouth went back onto hers.
When he eventually pulled up, a twinkling smile was touching his cheek. “Besides, it was driving me crazy — not having you, not touching you. It was actually stupid of me to be questioning things. Even though I probably needed to do it. And it took some days, but I realized it was selfish for me to be staying away. Not fair to you. Not fair to Shiv. I still have responsibility to her. We never ended things.”
Charlotte nodded. “Skye has been making some inroads with her.”
“Really? That’s good for both of them.”
“It is, but apparently it hasn’t been easy, according to Aiden. He is not exactly a fan of Shiv’s.”
“He just hates it when he has no power over Skye’s happiness,” Triaten reasoned. “Shiv’s a good one — Aiden will come around once she and Skye reconcile.”
Charlotte leaned her head on his shoulder, which prompted Triaten to wrap his arm even tighter around her back. On the grey roof shakes in front of their feet, black shadows of the trees flickered in the slight breeze.
“Do you remember how much time we used to spend out on this roof?” Charlotte asked as she watched the stillness of the forest.
“I do.”
“We were such little buggers then, running rampant through this town.” She nestled her head further down into the crook between his arm and chest. “I always used to envy you. I know Aiden did to. You had this house. This family. While Aiden and I just had the elders and randomness at the hotel, you had the father. You had the home.”
“I did for a little while.”
Charlotte paused, then dove in. “Tri, you never told me how Susan left. You had always said you woke up that day, and she was gone.”
“I didn’t want you to know what Horace had done.”
“Why not?”
Triaten wavered, burying his face in the top of Charlotte’s head. It took a minute before he spoke again. “I was embarrassed. Embarrassed that I loved her so much that he had to take her away from me. Embarrassed that he would do such a thing.”
“Even then, you were protecting him.” Spite laced her words. “You were five, and you were protecting him.”
The shrug he heaved visibly moved Charlotte’s head.
Minutes passed before Charlotte spoke. “I’m sorry.”
“About?”
“That day he took her away. We sat out here, and I tried to convince you not to go after her. I was too little and too afraid. But if you had told me what happened, I would have gone with. I just didn’t believe it when you said she would never leave you willingly. I didn’t trust you. I didn’t believe she could love you that much.” Charlotte stopped, swallowing hard. “And I didn’t want to believe it, because my own parents had tossed me aside so easily. I was so wrong. I was wrong and you went after her on your own.”
“Char, it’s the past. And for how well that turned out, it’s a good thing you didn’t come with me.” His arm tensed around her waist.
She crooked her head so she could look up at him. “Maybe, but you know, you didn’t see Horace when he brought your limp body to me. He was a wreck. You were my first real heal, and it took me a long time. By the time I was done, and you were awake, he had his composure back. You never saw how destroyed he was when you were broken like that.”
“That was a long time ago, Char.” Triaten’s body tightened. “And after the altercation in the Badlands with him — it just set off a storm in my mind where I’m doubting, questioning, everything in my life. Everything I do. I can’t help it, because like it or not, my whole life touches off of him. And if I can’t trust him, what his motives are, how can I trust what my life is? It’s a storm I can’t get rid of.”
“It’s okay to question, Tri. You’ve been so busy running around saving everyone else. You should be taking the time to question what Horace and the elders want out of you.”
“And what about what they want out of you?” Triaten’s fingers had slipped to the back of Charlotte’s neck, tracing the symbol — triple infinity, raised in a fluid, hard line of scarred skin.
She usually jumped when someone touched it, but she hadn’t even realized the motion of Triaten’s fingers until he noted it to her.
She sighed. “What they want out of me hasn’t changed. I’m still a one-trick pony to them.”
Triaten didn’t accept her levity, keeping his voice serious. “Why did you never carve it off?”
“I couldn’t.” Charlotte shrugged. “Too weak, I guess.”
“Believing in something bigger than yourself isn’t weak, Char.” His fingers still gently looped the symbol on her neck.
“Honestly, I’ve thought about it a thousand times. But I could never do it. No matter how I’ve tried to avoid it, it’s who I am. Just like you were meant to lead.”
“Why? Because Horace deemed it so a hundred years ago? Is that a good reason?”
Charlotte grabbed Triaten’s free hand and entwined her fingers into his. “Tri, I’ve been running, you’ve been running — we’ve been running from the same thing our whole lives. You, from joining the elders. Me, from breeding for them. I don’t know that the running has gotten us anywhere. So maybe, just maybe, it’s time to try a new tactic.”
She pulled his hand up to her face, letting the heat of his skin warm her lips as she talked. “Tri, here is what I know of you. You were meant to lead. It’s always been what you’re best at — no matter that it is what your father wants. Take him out of the picture, and you’d be in the exact same spot. A born leader.”
“But Horace doesn’t want me to lead — he wants me to be him. And he’s mad that I won’t come around to his way of thinking.”
Charlotte spat out an exasperated chuckle. “Do you mean his notion that sacrificing human life is a necessary evil?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Well, you don’t believe it. I don’t believe it. So we work to change it. We will find another way, one that doesn’t involve the constant sacrifice of life that Horace and the other elders have so easily accepted.”
Triaten smiled at her head. “Still think we can change the world, do you?”
She nodded on his chest. “I may have been lost for a while there. But I think I’m back. You lead me back, Tri. You always do.”
“Good, because it’s just in time to pick up the optimism for both of us. For I still have a lot of questions in this brain that need reconciliation.”
Charlotte sat upright, pulling away, but still staring at him. “Are you still questioning us, Tri?”
He gave the seriousness of the question its due thought before he answered. “No, not us. There isn’t an ounce of me that doubts my choice of this fate with you. You — our life together — is worth more than anything. And I will trade, connive, barter, or pummel anything that threatens it.”
His hand went to her hair, tucking a smooth strand behind her ear. “Me. It’s me I question. I’m afraid. Afraid I’ll fail you. Afraid I can’t put you first. When it’s what you deserve.”
“Who’s above me?”
“It’s not a who. It’s a world of whos. The other day with Horace — it just reminded me that protecting the innocents — it is who I am down to the core. And I want to put you first above it, but I don’t know if I can.”
Charlotte’s eyes closed as relief set in. When she opened them, she was smiling. “Tri, that’s where you don’t need to worry. I never asked to be number one in your life — scratch that — I do ask that I am number one when it comes to your bed...and your love. But beyond that, Tri, I only ask to be by your side. You don’t ever have to worry about putting what you were meant to do on this earth above me, because I will be right there at your side, an appendage you couldn’t slice off if you tried.”
Triaten chuckled as his hand went to her cheek, cradling her jaw. “Is it any wonder that you’ve always had a hold on my heart? So we get to make a home together, wherever, through whatever?”
“Through whatever. As long as we’re together, I’m happy.”
Triaten stepped into the ranch through the kitchen door. Charlotte had said Aiden and Skye were probably up at the ranch, as they had been when she stopped up there looking for him, so he wasn’t surprised when Aiden was sitting at the heavy wood table, hunched over a map.
He didn’t look up at the cold blast of air coming through the door. “Been wondering when you would show up.” Aiden glanced up, eyes directed pointedly behind Triaten. “You see Charlotte yet?”
“Yes. She’s down at the barn, checking on the horses. She’s staying out of sight for the moment.” Triaten moved to the table to look over Aiden’s shoulder.
“Going to talk to Shiv?”
“Yes. What’s this?” He nodded to the map.
“The Folotto compound. The elders are considering a pre-emptive strike against the Folotto family, as they’ve made no effort to hide the fact that they were behind the massacres in Africa. This is the best surveillance we have of their compound in northern Europe. The mountains around it are angled such that satellite shots are pretty weak. You were gone, so they asked if I could take a look at the tacticals. I’ve been antsy with all the time up here, so agreed.”
Triaten smiled. “You may not want to hear it, but it’s nice to see you involving yourself again. The elders must be pleased.”
Aiden shrugged. “They’re hitting too close to home. We almost lost Charlotte, and I know they’re still looking for an opportunity to take me out after my...rampage before the flame moon. I don’t even want to think about Skye being on their radar.”
Triaten patted Aiden’s shoulder. “Well, I’m glad to hear you’re calling a spade a spade in regards to your ‘rampage.’ Charlotte said things were going better for Skye and Shiv?”
“They are. Shiv’s been more than resistant, but my wife has the tenacity of a wolverine.”
“Good. I don’t take what I have to do next lightly, so it will be good that Shiv has someone she knows is by her side.”
Aiden’s nod was solemn.
“Where are they?”
“They were on a walk,” Aiden answered, “and should be back soon, I imagine. Rafe is out with them. You should check out the library. As much as Shiv has not impressed me with how she has treated Skye, that girl is talented.”
With a nod of thanks, Triaten left the kitchen and wandered to the library. He stood at the doorway, and gave a low whistle at the sight in front of him. The floor was complete. Complete and gorgeous.
The two goddess in the center had an ethereal quality about them, both of them designed with a serenity that seemed to mask a storm. The ground beneath the left figure, with her hand in the soil, swirled from the black of the dirt, into a deep crimson, representing the bowels of earth. The blue sky that the other goddess reached for turned into a pale blue-white as it went higher. Both the crimson and the white flowed around the outer edges of the room, meeting, clashing, and dancing as their colors melded together.
The door behind Triaten opened and he could hear the clip of Rafe’s feet on the wood before he turned around. Both Shiv and Skye stopped short in the foyer when they saw him.
Skye shot a concerned glance at Shiv, and then forced a smile on her face. “You’re back. Good. We were all worried.” She stepped forward and gave him a quick hug and kiss on his cheek.
Pulling back, she looked over her shoulder at Shiv. Skye’s feet stuck, and she suddenly looked unsure about what to do.
“Skye, can I get Shiv alone for a few moments?”
Skye’s eyes darted between the two. She was unwilling to leave the situation until Shiv spoke up.
“It’s okay, Skye. Go find Aiden.”
Skye nodded and went down the hallway, but her walk lingered.
Triaten watched her disappear, then he turned to Shiv. “Come in here with me?”
Shiv dutifully stepped past him into the library, and Triaten slid the door closed behind her. She went to the middle of the room and bent over, pulling the sleeve of her jacket over her thumb to polish a small tile that had an errant smudge of grout on it.
“It’s outstanding. Perfect for this room. I am honored to have the beauty of it in the ranch. Thank you.”
Shiv stood and crossed her arms across her rib cage. She wasn’t smiling at the compliment. “You’re welcome. And?”
“And what?”
“You didn’t pull me in here for nothing, Triaten. Skye wouldn’t tell me what happened when you guys were gone. It gave me a reason to be mad at her, but that’s beside the point. I can already tell by your face where this is headed. So we don’t need to elongate the pleasantries.” She stopped and narrowed her eyes at him, challenging. “Tell me I’m wrong?”
“You’re an extraordinary woman, Shiv.” Triaten took a step toward her. “You are genuine, and strong, and smart, and beautiful.”
“But not enough for you, right?”
“I’m sorry, Shiv, if Charlotte hadn’t come back –”
Her hand flew up. “Stop right there. You may not mind being second choice, Triaten. But I do.”
“It’s not about first or second choices, Shiv.”
“It isn’t? Really? Do you honestly think she would choose you if her Thomas was still around?”
Triaten winced.
“Truth hurts, doesn’t it?”
Anger flashed across Triaten’s eyes, then disappeared. “Shiv, this is beneath you.”
She shrugged, her arms clasped in front of her again. “Tell me, Triaten. Tell me the time you were with me, that you weren’t freer than you’ve ever been. More free in body and mind. The past has done a number on you, Triaten, but I could see you let everything go when you were with me. Tell me that’s not true.”
“It doesn’t matter, Shiv. It isn’t who I am. Not really. I have been in a crisis of faith — a crisis of life — but I have my center back.”
“And your center is Charlotte?”
“My center is me. What I was meant to do. Charlotte makes no demands, but she reminds me of it.”
Shiv bit her lip as she heaved a steadying sigh, hands on her hips. “And I can’t compete with that?” She shook her head before the words finished. “No, don’t answer that. Forget I even asked it.”
She looked down at the floor, staring at the goddesses. Her hand went to her forehead, rubbing it. Minutes passed, and then, with a deep breath, she managed to look up at him. “I’ll be gone within the day.”
Triaten grabbed her arm as she walked past him. “Shiv, you don’t need to leave. Stay here. I’ll stay at my house.
She jerked her arm away. “I’ll be gone within the day.”
Shiv slid the library door open wide, and walked out the front door. Through the front library window, he watched her get into her car and peel off.
Triaten trudged to the back of the ranch. Skye jumped him the second he stepped into the kitchen.
“God, Triaten.” She shook her head. “I knew this was going to happen, but still...still…damn you. Damn you.”
Triaten took the scold, knowing he had earned it. “She’s gone. You should go after her.”
“She leave in her car?”
“Yes.”
Skye turned back to Aiden. His arm was already out, keys dangling.
She took them and left.
Triaten went over to a cabinet and pulled down two glasses and a bottle of whiskey. He poured himself a healthy dose and sat down at the table.
“Anything I should know about that?” Aiden asked.
“No. It went as expected. I’m an ass.”
“That, you are.” Aiden grabbed the other glass Triaten had set down, and poured a swallow. “Now, do you want to help me figure out these old surveillance shots? I’ve got one nice route in, but I need at least three more options.” He took a sip of the amber liquid. “That, and we need to talk about your father.”
Triaten shrugged. “Until he shows his face again, I don’t know what to think, or what to believe.”
“We’ve obviously kept the information about who he was meeting with to ourselves. But whatever game he is playing, if he’s playing it with Evan, I can’t help but assume they plan to use Skye. And you know that isn’t going to fly with me. No matter if he is your father.”
“Don’t worry. It’s not going to fly with me either.”
“And what the hell was he doing introducing Charlotte to Evan?”
Triaten’s thumbnail started to carve the wood in front of him. “Who knows. It was something, or it was nothing. You know Horace — mind games are his specialty. I imagine he plans to keep me in-line by threatening Charlotte now.” He rubbed his neck and took a dose of the whiskey. “How about DeLisio — what did Edmund do with him?”
“He sent him off.”
“Sent him off or sent him off?” Triaten asked.
Aiden shrugged. “He left him alive. He got him to sign away the rights to the Algeria/Morocco border land — and then sent him off. This should have been terrifying enough for the bastard that we won’t be hearing much from him. Let him crawl into a hole and die alone with his money.”
Triaten gave a satisfactory nod, and then downed the last drops in his glass and stood. “Let me just go give Charlotte the all-clear.”
~~~
It was dark when ranch phone rang hours later. Triaten answered it, and without a word, handed the phone to Aiden.
“Aiden — Shiv is gone. We were at Joe’s and we were fine, but then we fought — god — I don’t even know what about — and she went to the bathroom — but then she didn’t — she wasn’t in the bathroom when I checked — she left instead.”
“Do you know where she went?”
“No, but I guess back up there. All her stuff is there.”
“So that’s a good thing?”
“No, Aiden. She is really drunk. She could barely walk away from me. She can’t drive like this. And you know how dangerous some of those curves and switchbacks are from here to there.”
“Got it. I’ll head down and try to intercept.”
“Good, thank you — I’m coming up after her right now.”
~~~
“Shit.” Aiden tensed. He saw the lights of Shiv’s car haphazardly bobbing against the mountain wall, before he saw her car. The sheer randomness of the lights against the rocky face told him the Mustang was not driving in a steady line.
He was two switchbacks down the steepest stretch of the road, when her car rounded the bend below him. He eased Triaten’s jeep back to the apex of the curve, and threw it into park, turning the hazards on. If she was going to crash, at least Triaten’s jeep might stop her Mustang from going over the sheer edge that dropped off from the road at this spot.
Aiden got out of the vehicle and stood in front of it, walking down the gravel toward the bobbing lights coming at him, hoping she would see the flashing lights and at least slow. It was when the car sped and veered, scraping into the inside wall next to the road, that Aiden knew Shiv was in serious trouble.
Behind Shiv’s car, Aiden’s jeep suddenly rounded the corner, just in time to shed headlights onto Shiv’s car bouncing hard off a rocky outcrop. It sent the Mustang flying to the outer edge of the pass, about thirty feet in front of Aiden. The car flew off the road, the back bumper catching at the lip of the embankment. It hung for a moment, just before it plunged.
The Mustang crashed nose-first into the strip of road below it, and then fell into a nose-over-tail roll down the next embankment.
Dirt flew as Skye screeched to a halt and ran from the jeep. She skidded at the spot Shiv went over, and would have plunged after her, had it not been for Aiden grabbing her arm at the last second.
He pulled her back until her feet were on ground, instead of air.
Choking, she looked up at him, desperate and demanding. “Aiden — can you stop it?
“Yes.”
“I need you ready.”
“Do it.”
Skye closed her eyes.
Instantly, Aiden was standing on the road again, watching the Mustang crash into the wall. He dove into full sprint, and reached the car just as its front tires left the ground for air. He grabbed at the car, reaching furiously for anything to get a solid grip on. Heels dug in, and the car pulled him as it slipped over the edge.
Wheels still spinning, the car hung straight down the side of the mountain when Aiden finally stopped its momentum. He was on his belly, every muscle exploding, fingers clutching the back frame under the bumper.
“Aiden, pull it up! Pull it up!” Skye was screaming as she ran up the road. The headlights of the jeep were aimed at Aiden on the edge.
They could both hear the screaming coming from inside the car.
Aiden slid his knees through the gravel, getting them under his body. He heaved hard three times, and with a groan, pulled at the car, getting to his feet. Straining, he shuffled his feet backward, steel scraping as it tore along the rocky edge. The wheels were still rolling forward, fighting him with every inch gained.
The car back to horizontal, Skye ran around behind him to the driver’s side. She pulled at the door. It was locked. She pounded on the window, but Shiv was in full-on freak-out.
“Shiv, get it out of gear!” she yelled through the window.
Screams were the only reply.
Aiden was losing grip, but his voice was calm. “Get her out of there, Skye.”
Skye turned, searching the ground. She grabbed the first sizable rock she could find, and turned back to the car, smashing it through the driver window. Shiv recoiled from the blast, scampering over to the passenger side of the car. Her feet wedged onto the center console, pushing her back hard against the opposite door.
“Shiv, get out of the car!” Skye demanded as she leaned in through the window, reaching for the gear shift.
“What the hell is he, Skye?” Shiv screamed back. Horror shook her body. “What is that?” She pointed back at Aiden.
Skye took her own yell down a notch as her fingers fumbled with the gear shift. “You don’t understand, Shiv. Just get out of the car, and I’ll explain.”
“Like hell, you can explain.” Shiv turned and pushed open the door, and then flopped out of the car, tripping and hitting the ground like a rock.
Skye hit neutral with the shifter, and pulled herself back out of the car window. The wheels stopped spinning, and she saw Aiden go down onto his backside, arms above his head.
She flew back to him, skidding on her knees, her face above his. His eyes were closed.
“Aiden.” Fear exploded as her hands went about his face.
He opened his eyes. “I’m fine. Just exhausted. I don’t full-on lift cars every day, you know.”
She couldn’t hide a smile as leaned down to kiss him in relief. “Thank god I married Hercules.”
“Yea, and now you have some explaining to do.”
Skye got to her feet and jumped over Aiden, looking for Shiv on the other side of the car. She was gone.
“She took off running up that hill.” Aiden pointed. “Grab a walkie from the jeep. Do you need a flashlight or is the moon enough?”
“Moon is fine.” Skye shouted over her shoulder. She was already half-way to the woods.
~~~
Damn, she was fast, Skye muttered to herself as she plucked her way through the pines and leafless twigs of underbrush. She could still hear Shiv up ahead, but hadn’t caught up enough to see her. There was no trail, not that the fact slowed Shiv in the slightest.
It wasn’t until they hit a sheer, rocky outcropping that blocked pathway straight up the mountain, that Skye finally caught sight of Shiv. She moved in and out of moon shadows along the base of the rock face, eyes looking upward, searching for a viable ascent.
It was worth yelling now.
“Shiv, just stop. It’s just me. No one else but me. Stop.”
Shiv looked over her shoulder at Skye, but kept moving.
“Shiv. I will follow until you pass out, so you may as well stop. I swear it’s just me here.”
Shiv slowed her steps, allowing Skye to quickly catch up with her.
“You can come with me, Skye, but I am not stopping. I’m getting as far away as possible from that monster back there.”
Skye reached out and grabbed Shiv’s arm, spinning her around, face-to-face. “That ‘monster’ just saved your life.”
Shiv jerked her arm away. “Great. Give him my thanks. That doesn’t mean he’s not a monster, and I am getting the hell off this mountain. I knew something was really wrong with this place. I never should have –”
The fireball that flew through the air and exploded in a tree directly above them, cut Shiv off. Both sisters froze, mouths agape as shreds of sparks shot from the point of impact and floated down toward them.
Flames instantly blasted alive, jumping from one tree to the next, fanning themselves up and down the trunks.
“Holy hell. We have to get out of here.” Skye whispered. Without looking, she reached down and grabbed Shiv’s hand, pulling her back in the direction they had just come up from. Her eyes were trained on the trees, watching them spark and alight one after another.
They were in a full-speed run along the base of the rocky outcropping, when the wind picked up behind them, sending the flames into a parallel race which threatened to cut off their path back down the mountain side.
Skye saw the flames advancing, and jerked Shiv into the woods, cutting right in front of the advancing fire. They flew through the forest, feet wrestling with the underbrush, but still stayed ahead of the flames that tailed them, no matter what direction they headed.
Through the blood pounding in her ears, Skye heard the barking first, then Aiden bellowing her name. They were a distance away, but she could hear them, and she headed for the sound, dragging Shiv behind.
At the crest of a slope they pulled up. Aiden and Rafe were far, but she could see their movement in the trees under the moonlight. They were barreling up through the forest toward Skye and Shiv.
“Aiden!” Skye yelled down the mountain side.
“What? No. Not him!” Shiv ripped her hand from Skye’s grip. She took off along the top line of the crest.
“Shiv!” Skye’s eyes went desperate as she screamed. She looked down the hill at Aiden, then at Shiv’s retreating back. Shiv was headed in a straight line that would intersect the fire.
At that instant, another fireball appeared in the night sky, trailing for a glorious moment like a comet caught too close to earth. It shattered into the ground below Skye. Right between her and Aiden.
Skye covered her eyes at the explosion, sparks and flames reaching up at her, the force sending her backward. She didn’t know what to think of the first fireball, but now that there were two — this was some sort of attack, she was sure of it. Real panic tightened her chest, but she took a swallow of the smoke-thick air and tried to ignore the pressure in her chest.
The initial explosion calmed, and Skye searched the slope, looking for a way down to Aiden. She would get Shiv and drag her down there by her hair. But the hill was already a wall of flame. Skye looked over her shoulder. She was now sandwiched between the flames — both fires creeping closer and closer to her. And she had lost sight of Shiv.
Just as she took her first step to run after Shiv, the walkie she had strapped to the back of her jeans beeped.
She turned it on. “Aiden?”
“Skye — thank god.”
“Aiden, what the hell is happening? Where are these coming from?”
“It’s an attack, and Skye you need to get out of there. You need to run to your right as fast as you can. It’ll take you to the river before the fire cuts you off.”
“I can’t — Shiv’s the other direction.” Skye was already on the move, following Shiv into the thickening cloud of smoke.
“The fire is already closing in that direction — you need to go right now, Skye.”
“I can still get to her. Is smoke going to kill me, Aiden?”
“No — but you can’t stay in there Skye — you know about the fire, about becoming a Malefic.”
Skye stumbled, then caught herself on a tree. “We don’t know that it didn’t happen when Evan had me.”
“Skye, you can’t take the chance — you have to get out of there.”
“You know I can’t leave her, Aiden.” The smoke was getting thicker and thicker in front of Skye. She yelled for Shiv.
“Shit — it’s closing in on you.” Aiden was yelling now. “You burnt to a crisp is not okay, Skye — there’s only so much Charlotte can heal. You have to go now. I’m trying rain, but it’s not working — the winds are taking it.” There was a long pause. “I can’t get to you, Skye. I can’t get to you through the fire, but I can at the river. You need to get to the water. Please don’t choose this. You need to save yourself.”
Skye tripped and almost fell, but kept moving. She didn’t answer him.
“Skye?”
Skye stopped and closed her eyes against the soot flying in the air. She pushed the button on the radio. “Aiden, I know I told you I would always choose you, but if I don’t go after Shiv...if I abandon her again.” Her voice caught and she shook her head to herself. “I can’t do it. I love you more than life, but I won’t be able to live with myself if I abandon her again. I promise you I will try to get us both there.”
“Skye –” Aiden’s yell was heart-crushing.
Lump in throat, Skye bore down, ignoring his voice as she turned off the volume and attached the radio to the back of her jeans.
Without hesitation, Skye flew, searching, and within moments, tripped over Shiv before she saw her. Shiv was on the ground, weak coughs shaking her body. Skye knelt by her head. Shiv’s eyes were closed.
“Shiv — wake up.” Skye slapped her face. “Shiv!”
Shiv’s eyes numbly opened with a racking cough. “Skye –” she sputtered as her fingers reached up to Skye’s arm, “you didn’t leave.” Her voice was barely audible over the cracking of burning wood around them. “You...you need to go.”
“No. Not leaving you Shiv.” Her hands were still on Shiv’s face. “I’m getting you to your feet, and we’re getting out of here.”
“No, Skye — I can’t. I can’t walk anymore...I can’t run. You need to get out.”
“No. We are both getting out of here.” She grabbed the walkie from her back and clicked on the talk button. “Aiden, I don’t know if I’m in range — if you hear this, we’re headed back to the river along the ridge.”
A weak crackle over the speaker was the only response.
Shiv managed the weakest squeeze on Skye’s arm. “Go. You can make it out.”
Skye grabbed Shiv’s shoulders. “No more. We are getting out of here. You remember when we were little and I got you out of the car in the river? Same thing. I’m not leaving you. So just shut up and save your strength.”
The heat closed in, more intense than ever. As quickly as she could, Skye slid her arms under Shiv’s shoulders and hoisted her half to her feet. The smoke was already so thick, Skye spun in a circle, momentarily disorientated. She turned, hoping she was heading back in the direction she came.
The thick wall of smoke lessened, so she assumed she was tracking in the right direction, mostly dragging Shiv. Shiv’s movements and body were getting limper and limper. The coughing had ceased.
Skye could feel the thickness in her own lungs. So much ash and smoke had been sucked into her body, it weighed her down like lead. But she kept moving, hoping. She knew she was traveling along the top of the ridge again, when her foot repeatedly slipped down the hillside, missing solid ground. She could see nothing around her, except for the orange glow of the fire, which lit the suffocating smoke blanketing her.
Skye didn’t even realize when she hit the ground, and it surprised her when she tasted the dirt in her mouth. Her feet were still moving, arm still wrapped around Shiv. But she was flat on her stomach. Every pore was suffocated with the weight of the smoke.
Skye closed her eyes, concentrating on the moment Shiv’s car hit the rock wall, which had sent it flying over the precipice. Time had to move back.
Skye opened her eyes. She was still on the forest floor.
She closed her eyes, trying again.
No time shift.
And Shiv was not moving. Skye pushed up on her arm, but the extreme effort only rolled her over onto her back.
The orange smoke spread in a thick blanket above her. The scalding heat, now, not even noticeable to her numb skin.
She stared up at the orange-grey haze, eyes burning from the smoke, as bright embers went flitting and flying, then flaming out above her. Little fireflies in a haze of hell.
~~~
Charlotte looked at the tracker. “This has got to be it. The beacon stopped moving here. It’s right below us.”
“If she still has it on her.”
“Aiden said there were faint words after he lost contact. And it was moving until a few minutes ago. She wouldn’t have left it behind, she knows that.”
“Shit, we can’t see anything down there.” Triaten pulled his head back into the helicopter; the flames reflected enough light upward, that they didn’t need flashlights.
Triaten and Charlotte had started down the mountain the instant the time shift happened, knowing something was wrong. Rafe had jumped into the back of the truck. When they got to the spot where Shiv’s car had almost gone over, they figured out pretty quickly what had happened.
Rafe was already tracking a path from the scene, when the first fireball screamed across the sky. Rafe was way ahead of them, but they could follow the barking. By the time they caught up to Aiden, the fire had engulfed the mountainside. And then they found out Skye and Shiv were in the middle of the flames. So Aiden took off toward the river, and Triaten and Charlotte scrambled a helicopter from the airfield, praying they could get to them in time.
“We’ve got to get down there — there’s still this sliver in the middle that isn’t engulfed.” Charlotte was already attaching to the drop cord at the edge of the helicopter opening. She pulled her black gloves on tight.
The pilot’s voice came over their earpieces, interrupting the noise of the helicopter blades. “You need to either drop or not — we have to get out of here — the copter downdraft is spreading the flames out of control.”
Both Triaten and Charlotte ducked their heads out of the copter again, searching the mess of flames licking upward at them.
“I’ve got to pull up now — there’s only time for one of you to drop.”
“I’m going. Hold it steady.” Charlotte answered the pilot and moved to the edge of the helicopter, leaning back as she prepared to rappel down.
Triaten grabbed her wrist. “You’re not going down, Char — look at the fire — it’s closing in.”
“We have to go now. I need status,” the pilot demanded.
“I’m off.” Charlotte tried to wedge her wrist from Triaten.
He gripped her tighter. “I’m not letting you go down.”
“Tri, Shiv is down there, and I’m the only one that can keep her alive.”
“No. You can’t go down.”
“If I don’t, and she dies, Tri –”
Triaten grabbed her behind her neck with his other hand and pulled her into him, his face inches from hers. His voice was just below a yell. “And if you do go down? If you do, you could be dead, Char, and I’m not going to lose you. Not again. We’ll figure out another way.”
“She’ll be dead by then. You know that.” Charlotte leaned back away from him, but he still had her left wrist in a death grip. With her right hand, she reached up and locked onto the drop cord.
With one swift move, she lifted her body up and wedged both feet onto Triaten’s stomach, and kicked hard. He flew back into the helicopter, slamming against the opposite wall.
Feet on the edge of the helicopter’s opening, Charlotte leaned way out, almost horizontal. She paused for a second, wrenching apology on her face as she saw the fear in Triaten’s eyes.
“Char, no. I can’t lose you.”
“Well then, you better save me. I know you can do this, Tri. I save her. And you figure out how to save both of us.”
Charlotte dropped out of sight, disappearing into the flames and smoke before Triaten could even get to the side of the helicopter and look down.
Within moments the line went slack.
Charlotte hit the ground hard, not being able to see through the smoke enough to slow down. She felt her left leg shatter up to her knee, taking the brunt of the landing, while her right foot snapped in half.
Flat on her back, she disengaged from the cord, and choked back a frustrated screech as she bit her lip.
“Bloody, fucking, dammit-all-to-hell!” she screamed, unable to keep the words in her mind and not in her mouth, pissed, even though she was half-grateful a tree didn’t take her out on the way down.
Her head tilted back into the ground as she closed her eyes, letting the pain wash over. When it peaked, she shut off any attention to it. She lifted her arm and looked at the tracker on her wrist. The blinking red light was almost right on top of her green light. Just to her left.
Charlotte sat up and looked around her. Nothing but thick smoke in every direction. And the incessant cracking of the fire wasn’t allowing a thought to form in her mind.
“Skye,” she yelled.
No answer.
She got to her one good knee and began crawling to her left. She went a few yards, seeing nothing. A few yards more, and something suddenly squished under her hand.
A body, she knew, even though she couldn’t see down to her own hand. Her fingers quickly followed up over the legs and torso, to the face. Charlotte put her head down, nose-to-nose, and then she could finally verify that it was Skye. She was alive, no bubbling burns that Charlotte could identify, just immobilized. Smoke wasn’t going to kill her, just stop her.
Charlotte slapped her face, trying to get her to open her eyes. Skye refused to cooperate, but she did open her mouth.
“Shiv. Help her. Shiv. Shiv. Help her.” It sounded pitiful. And she kept repeating it.
Charlotte followed Skye’s outstretched arm, pulling herself over Skye’s prone body. She ran into Shiv almost immediately. She could feel Shiv was on her stomach, so Charlotte flipped her over.
Dead weight.
Charlotte ran her hands over Shiv’s body, hoping for some sign of life. She didn’t feel any, but she wasn’t giving up. Ripping off her gloves, she rubbed her hands together, and then set them on Shiv’s chest, one over her heart, the other splaying her lungs.
Charlotte’s hands glowed red — the only thing she could see through the smoke. She’d seen her hands glow tens of thousands of times, but this time they had an eerie glow, almost like a flame, through the smoke.
Time slowed as Charlotte tried to heal Shiv. Tried to get her heart beating, her breath started. Time slowed and the smoke became impossibly thicker, closing in on Charlotte, suffocating her limbs. The heat was intense, and breaking through the smoke, the flames were shooting closer and closer. There was no route out, now. They were completely enclosed by the flames.
Charlotte couldn’t judge time, didn’t know how long it took before her body gave up, and she collapsed, head hitting the ground, arms and hands still on top of Shiv. Her hands were still aglow, still valiant in their effort to spark Shiv back to life, even if she could no longer hold her own arms up.
Embers were falling rapidly now. Landing on Charlotte’s cheeks, burning through her skin, only to be extinguished when they reached blood, and were sizzled quiet.
Charlotte fought to keep her eyes open. Fought because she wasn’t going to give up on Shiv. She wasn’t going to give up until her hands were burnt off of Shiv’s body. Until then, there was still hope.
Charlotte focused her eyes on her hands. She had lost all feeling in her limbs, and didn’t trust her own touch — whether it was imaginary or real. Didn’t trust in anything other than the glow of her hands.
So when the drops of rain hit her cheek, she couldn’t feel them. Even though she saw them hitting and bouncing off her hands, she didn’t believe them.
And then she saw Triaten.
Past her glowing-red hands on Shiv, Triaten burst through the flames, a tornado of wind and rain clearing the smoke and blazes surrounding them. A hell-storm of water and fire engulfed Triaten, but he was solid. Aiden was right behind him. The rain clouded on her lashes, and she tried to blink the thick wet cloak away.
Triaten was soaked — his dark hair, t-shirt, jeans — and it just made more visible the relief that shook his body when he spotted Charlotte.
Time still crawled, and Triaten was in slow-motion, even though he was in full run. It was an eternity for him to cover the ground between them, but his eyes never left Charlotte’s, not until he skidded into the pile of them. He grabbed her, ripping her hands away from Shiv.
As Triaten picked her up off the ground, Charlotte caught glimpses of Aiden gathering up both Skye and Shiv.
Triaten carrying her, Aiden carrying Skye and Shiv, they went back out through the corridor of rain they had come in. Charlotte closed her eyes against the downpour, and then passed out.
~~~
When Charlotte opened her eyes again, she saw the dark brown ceiling in Triaten’s room at the ranch. It took her a moment to figure out if she could feel her arms and legs, and hands and toes again. Her leg was still shattered, she could feel the pain. But at least she was feeling it again.
She turned her head on the pillow and was greeted by Triaten’s furious stare. He sat next to the bed, leaning forward, hands clasped under his chin.
She ignored his murderous look and threw her hand out to his face, her thumb on his cheekbone, palm caressing his jaw.
Her words were soft, almost broken. “You walked through fire for us.”
“I walked through fire for you.” His hand went over hers.
She smiled. “I knew you would find a way. You always do.”
The anger hadn’t edged. “And if I hadn’t?”
He cleared his throat as he moved forward and put his hand behind her head, fingers gripping deep into her blond hair. “God, Char. Promise me you’ll never do something as stupid as that again. Promise me.”
“You know I can’t promise that.”
He searched her face, and then his hand dropped from her and he sat back on the chair. His head bowed and silence flooded the room.
His voice was rough when he finally spoke. “I can’t lose you, Char. You put too much trust in me.”
“And you don’t put enough trust in yourself.”
Charlotte reached out and grabbed his knee. “Tri, look at me.”
His gaze crept up.
“You have never failed me, Tri. Never.”
His eyebrow crooked. “Except for Thomas?”
Charlotte gave the slightest shake of her head. “I didn’t know it then. I didn’t know it for the longest time.” She moved her fingers up to reach his hand, and then pulled it to her chest. “But you brought us to here. To together. You didn’t fail me.”
Triaten’s fingers moved under her touch, trailing along her chest to land above her heart. His palm flattened, holding hard the steady beat through her skin.
Their eyes locked, and they both took the moment in time fully, without thought to the next. A moment of heart-shredding, soul-surrendering acknowledgement. There were no more questions about it. They were each other’s hearts.
An owl called out in the dark, a gentle, but insistent sound that broke into their room, breaking the moment.
Charlotte took a deep breath. She didn’t want to leave that second in time, but the moment was no longer hers to keep. And she had to know. She didn’t want to say the word, and she fought herself trying to get it out. “Shiv?”
Triaten didn’t answer right away.
“I didn’t save her, did I?”
Triaten shook his head.
Charlotte’s hand left his and went to her face, covering her eyes as her head sank deep into the pillow. She drew several shaky breaths, trying to control the crushing guilt of her own failure.
She was still hiding under her hand when she whispered, “I am so sorry, Tri. I tried and tried.”
“There wasn’t anything you could do.” He grabbed her elbow and gently pried her hand away from her face. When she wouldn’t look at him, he moved from the chair to sit on the side of the bed. He tilted her chin toward him. “I know you weren’t giving up on her. I saw that when we found you.”
Charlotte shook her head, throat hard.
“No one could have asked for more, Char.”
She buried her face under her hand once more, steadying her emotions. It took minutes, but eventually her hand came off her eyes.
“How long have I been out?”
“Two hours, tops.”
“And the fire?”
“It’s contained. It’s burning itself to the middle and then dying.”
Charlotte propped herself up to a sitting position, and winced as she moved her leg. Triaten grabbed an extra pillow and put it behind her back to lean on. She pulled the sheet off her leg to look at it.
Elastic bandaging strapped two long planks of wood around her leg, from shin to ankle.
“I know, it’s crude, but it’s holding the bones in place, I hope, until they heal. It felt like three clean breaks along the bone,” Triaten pointed to the three spots along Charlotte’s shin that were pulsating, “but you should still check the placement to make sure I got it right.”
Charlotte bit her lip and bent forward. She closed her eyes as her fingers traced their way along the skin. She nodded in relief. She wasn’t up to resetting her own leg at the moment. “They’re in place. Thank you.”
She pulled the sheet back from her other foot. It didn’t hurt nearly as much as her leg, and was almost healed already. She pulled up her leg to poke at her foot.
“How did you and Aiden gather enough rain to get to us?” She asked with a wince as she cracked and repositioned her arch.
“Horace. And Helen used her wind power to funnel it down on us.”
Charlotte’s head snapped up and she blinked in surprise. “Horace is back?”
“He is.”
She looked at him suspiciously. That was too curt an answer.
He gave her no time to question it. “I have to ask, when you were in the fire, did you see a light?”
Satisfied with her foot, Charlotte leaned back against the pillows. “A light? What kind of light? There were a lot of little explosions, and the fire was all around.”
“The kind of light that happens when a Panthenite is baptized in the river.”
Charlotte’s forehead wrinkled, confused. “What? Why in the world — shit — is Aiden worried about Skye?”
Triaten nodded.
“She still doesn’t remember if she went through the ‘birth by fire’ shit the Malefics do when Evan had her?”
“She doesn’t remember a lot from the time in the cave. Both Aiden and her were assuming Evan did it to her, but this fire — it’s way too suspicious — those fire balls were gunning for Skye. They had to have been.”
“I don’t know.” Charlotte rubbed her temples, closing her eyes. “Like I said — lots of flames and explosions around us, but I don’t know about the light. The only thing I was watching was my hands. And I was comatose by the end.” She looked over at Triaten. “Why didn’t Skye turn back time?”
Triaten shrugged. “Don’t know. And we can’t worry about that right now. Right now, I need you to visit Aiden with me. I know your leg is still a wreck, and you need to sleep to heal it, but Aiden needs you. The fire messed him.”
“Why didn’t you wake me up?” She was already trying to move off the bed.
“Stop. I’m carrying you in there.” He moved off the bed and then leaned over to pick her up. “And there was no waking you up. Or Skye. Even after we dunked you two in the river.”
It was then Charlotte realized she was in one of Triaten’s t-shirts, her heavy legs bare as Triaten carried her out of the room, and into the hallway. “You guys brought us to the river?”
“We wanted to rush the healing along, and it worked — after we plopped you both in the river, the two of you spent the entire time up to the ranch puking out all of that smoke in your bodies.”
“Really?”
“Yea, the jeep is a mess. But it helped. Neither of you could move at all before the river, so at least body function came back again after submerging.”
They paused at the door of the room Skye had stayed in when she lived at the ranch.
“I have to warn you,” Triaten’s voice was grave, “I know you’ve seen Aiden in pretty wicked shape, but this...this is bad. He went into the fire multiple times trying to get Skye.”
“No.” It came out in a small gasp.
“Yes. So steel it and fix it.”
“Get me in there.”
Triaten had not overblown the savageness of Aiden’s burnt flesh.
He was slumped in a chair, leaning back, hands across his belly and feet propped up on the bed. He was watching the sleeping Skye intently. Rafe was asleep on the bed next to Skye, nose nestled tight to her arm.
As they got closer, Charlotte silently prayed she was seeing the bad half of his face.
“Hey.” Aiden whispered, but didn’t look up at them.
Triaten set Charlotte down on the bed next to where Aiden’s and Skye’s feet were touching. Charlotte could now see him straight on, and unfortunately, she had been looking at the good side of his face when they came in. Flesh was gone, giving way to strands of matter blackened and charred on his cheek down to a visible jaw bone. She looked down his torso. The entire left side of his body shifted between various states of vacant skin, blood and pus, and bones.
“Wow.” Charlotte’s hand went on his shin next to her, and he flinched. She picked up her hand. “That is not the handsome face I’m used to. You really did it this time, didn’t you?”
“Not yet, Charlotte. No fixing me until I know Skye is awake and okay.”
“She was in that smoke for an insane amount of time, Aiden. She’s going to sleep for a long while.”
“Those fireballs were aimed at her. There was a reason for that. If she wakes up and...” Aiden’s voice trailed.
“If she wakes up,” Triaten stepped in with logic in his words, “and something Malefic suddenly got turned on from that fire, she’s still Skye, and she’s not going to wake up crazy. And we’ll all be here.”
“I’m not falling asleep.”
“Aiden, if Skye wakes up and sees you like this, she’s going to freak out,” Charlotte reasoned. “It’s hard for me to look at you right now, and you know I’ve seen the worst. I can’t imagine how it would be for Skye to wake up and see you in this much pain.”
“Just let Charlotte heal you, Aiden. Do it while Skye’s asleep — she’ll be out for hours still.” Triaten walked around the bed and tapped Rafe’s rump. The dog rolled and got to his feet. Triaten patted his neck, and Rafe licked Triaten’s arm before he jumped off the bed.
“Let me propose this,” Triaten continued. “You are in such bad shape, Char is going to pass out the second she’s done with you. So why don’t you all crawl into bed, Char can heal you, and then I will watch over my three bears.”
Triaten reached in and slid Skye’s prone body to the side of the bed, leaving plenty of space for Aiden and Char.
“I promise to wake you up if Skye so much as twitches,” Triaten promised.
Aiden looked over at him, hesitant.
Triaten walked back around the bed and gently put his hand on Aiden’s less burnt shoulder. “Just let me take his one, my friend.”
With a sigh, Aiden relented, and slowly, grimacing against the pain, moved his immense form into bed next to his wife.
Four hours later, before the early dawn of light, Skye was the first to move a muscle. Triaten watched her intently, and her journey from sleep to wake was a slow one. One that looked like a fight between the world of dreams and the world of reality.
And then she shot straight up, gasping for air. Terror filled her face until she looked around and saw Aiden in the bed next to her in the dim moonlight. Her hand went to his stomach, but he didn’t move.
Slowly, she realized Charlotte was in bed next to Aiden, and she glanced up, finally catching sight of Triaten.
“Shiv?” She choked out.
Triaten didn’t want to be the one to tell her, but Aiden and Char weren’t moving. His heart breaking for her, he whispered, “I’m so sorry, Skye.”
She burst out of the bed in a blink, stepping away from the mattress, from Triaten, her hands up, fighting off the truth she didn’t want to hear.
Triaten stood up, and began shaking Aiden. He didn’t react. The wounds Charlotte had healed were so deep in places, it was no wonder he wasn’t snapping too. But Triaten kept shaking him.
It wasn’t until Skye put her hand on his wrist that he stopped and looked over at her.
“Is he okay?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t wake him. I need to be alone.” It was a whisper, and oddly flat.
Triaten nodded.
Skye stiffly walked out of the room.
Triaten followed her downstairs, keeping his distance, and then let her be once he realized she wasn’t leaving the house. She went into the library and closed the door behind her.
He was upstairs with Charlotte and Aiden, watching the morning light stream in through the window, when Aiden finally moved. Aiden’s hand went out to the vacant spot Skye had been sleeping in. Feeling nothing but sheets, he was awake and out of bed in one motion. A quick search of the room, and his eyes narrowed at Triaten.
“Where is she?”
“Downstairs.”
“Dammit Triaten — you said you’d wake me.”
Triaten stood up on the opposite side of the bed. “I tried, you were too deep. And then she stopped me.”
Aiden pulled on a black t-shirt and jeans Triaten had found for him. “She knows?”
“Yes.”
“Dammit.” Aiden punched the bed. Charlotte rustled, but stayed sleeping.
“How is she? Was she acting any different?”
“Aside from just losing her sister, she was fine. She didn’t wake up a crazy Malefic, she just wanted to be alone. I’ve been checking on her. She’s downstairs in the library.”
Aiden’s eyes closed, half in relief, half in dread at the loss Skye just suffered.
Charlotte woke up at the voices.
“I’m going down.” Aiden strode out of the room.
Triaten sank back down to the chair.
Charlotte rolled over on the bed to face him. “Do we need to go down there?”
“No –” he shrugged, “I don’t know — yes. Let’s give him ten minutes. How are your leg and foot?”
Charlotte sat up and gently swung her calves off the side of the bed. She circled her foot. “Foot’s good. But I’m going to leave your splint on my leg longer.”
“You should go back to sleep.”
She shook her head. “No, we need to go down. Let’s just go find me some pants that’ll fit over your splint.”
Ten minutes later, Triaten and Charlotte made their way down the stairs, Charlotte hobbling on her bandaged leg.
Surprise registered on both of their faces when they got to the foyer and Aiden was standing outside the room, his forehead leaning against the thick mahogany door of the library. His hand was frozen on the handle.
They came up behind him, and could immediately hear what had stopped him. Gut-crushing, screaming sobs were coming from the library.
Charlotte’s hand went over the back of Aiden’s shoulder, and she squeezed it. “You have to go in there, Aiden.”
His head stayed on the wood of the door. “I don’t know. I don’t know what’s right here. I can’t fix this for her. You hear that pain. What am I supposed to do? What can I do?”
“Hold her.” Charlotte rubbed his shoulder. “And if she doesn’t want that, sit by her. Talk to her. Listen to her. Just be there. That you can do.”
Aiden nodded. With a deep breath, he cracked the door.
Skye was a mess on the floor. Splayed out on the center of the mosaic, her cheek pressed into the floor on the face of the ground goddess, fingers clawing at the tiles of her hair. She only wore one of Aiden’s shirts, but it was long enough to reach her thighs. Sobs were racking her body, and her shoulders blades were heaving with the weight of the pain.
Minutes passed before she realized the door had opened and Aiden was standing at the threshold. Her sobs paused as she pulled herself half up, balancing on her elbows. She burrowed her legs into her stomach.
“Where is her body?” she choked out.
Aiden looked back at Triaten.
“She’s in town, waiting instruction.” Triaten answered.
Skye took the news and slid back down, burying her head into her hands. Her shoulders shook. She was pleading when she looked up again. “Why couldn’t I save her, Aiden? Why?”
He moved to her in an instant, gathering her up in his arms. “I don’t know, hon. I don’t know.”
Aiden collected her up the best he could, and she disappeared into him, his large frame swallowing her racked body.
At the doorway, Triaten turned to Charlotte and she nodded. Silently, he slid the door closed.
Charlotte leaned against the door. “She has already been through so much. I worry about when it will all be too much for her.”
“Aiden will be able to keep her sane.” Triaten ran his fingers through his hair, and then reached out to wipe a tear from Charlotte’s cheek. “Hungry?”
“No. Honestly, all I want right now is a hot shower. Smoke is still all I smell. And it’s just a cruel taunt of how I failed Skye.”
Triaten’s eyebrow rose at her comment, but he said nothing.
Charlotte started to hobble up the stairs, but Triaten didn’t let her take two steps before he picked her up and carried her the rest of the way. He set her down on the teak bench in his bathroom, and went over to the marble shower. “Do you want all the jets on?”
“Yes, I need every inch of me doused, please,” she answered as she took off Triaten’s shirt.
Triaten’s fingers flew across the LED screen, and in a second, all fifteen jets turned on behind the glass enclosure. Five from above, and the rest lining up and down the sides of the spacious shower.
“Let me help with that.” Triaten walked back over to Charlotte and knelt in front of her. She had just removed the wide lounge pants and was bent over her leg, trying to find the end of the bandage Triaten had wrapped her leg with. “It was a fast, crazy wrap, so it’s not going to be the easiest to remove.”
His hand slid along her skin just above her knee, finding the spot he had tucked the end of the bandaging into. He unwrapped the long snake of the bandage, going around and around her leg, and then he suddenly stopped.
His hand went to the top of her bare thigh, his head following it down, resting on the back of his hand. His breathing was hard.
Charlotte’s hand went into the thick of his dark hair. “Tri, what? Are you hurt and didn’t tell me?”
He didn’t pull his head up, but he did shake it as he mumbled into her thigh. “No…Sorry...god, Char — it just hit me again.”
“What did?”
He looked up at her. His eyes were burning moist. “How close I was to losing you...”
“No. You can’t think like that. I’m right here.” Both of her hands clasped his face.
“I’m just having a hard time reconciling this, living with this constant dread that you’re going to disappear.” His fingers were digging into Charlotte’s thigh. “I faulted Aiden for wanting to protect Skye from, well, everything. But no more. I need you safe, Char. And it kills me that you are in danger so often.”
Charlotte leaned forward so her forehead touched Triaten’s. Her hands still enveloped his head. “Tri, you’re not six, and I’m not Sarah. We are not powerless. No one can take me away from you. I won’t let it happen, and you won’t let happen.”
His eyes closed. “I know. I just wasn’t ready for that sudden…overwhelming.”
He cleared his throat with another shake of his head and went back to unwrapping. He didn’t look up at her with his next words. “But Char, you have to do something for me.”
“Anything.”
“Stop and think.” He looked up at her, dark eyes intense. “You’re a doer. You’ve always been like that — a doer, and I don't want that to change about you. But please — please — before you ever again put yourself in front of bodily harm — take one millisecond, for me, and think.”
Charlotte’s head cocked to the side. “I'm not wired like you, Tri. I do. I can't just turn that off.”
“So don't turn off the doing, just add a layer of thinking in there. A layer of consequence. That's all I ask.” His hands slipped to her waist. “No, not just ask, this is me begging for that. Begging you to think.”
Pain shot through his eyes, and Charlotte was useless against it. Her fingers went along his jaw again, and she brought her head down to his. Her words choked out. “I will. I promise.”
With a grunt of gratefulness, Triaten finished unwrapping her shin. Leg free, Charlotte rubbed her hands up and down her lower leg. As haphazard as Triaten’s splint was, it had done its business well. She walked gingerly to the shower, and stepped into the steam.
Ten minutes into the scrubbing, wet muscles pressed into her frothy backside. Triaten’s mouth brushed her ear.
“I thought I could wait, Char, but I just need you. These moments — our moments — keep slipping away.”
His lips slid down her wet neck, as his hands skimmed around her waist. “I couldn’t wait outside — I thought I could, but I need to feel you, Char. Me, deep inside of you. Live. Vibrant. You. I know your leg isn’t healed yet. And you need to sleep. But lord help me, I just need to be with you. This moment.”
The washcloth slipped from Charlotte’s fingers and she spun around in Triaten’s arms. “You have it. You have me. This moment. It’s ours.”
Triaten’s hand moved up her slick back to her neck, as he leaned down on her. His lips hit hers hard, the urgency proving she was alive and fine in his arms. Her hips leaned into him as the kiss deepened, his mouth opening to hers, asking for the essence of her.
Their skin slipped, hands and limbs moving, exploring, with neither grabbing traction until Triaten’s hands slid under Charlotte, and he lifted her up.
She gripped his shoulders, nails clinging the hard muscles as he eased her down onto him. Her legs clamped around his waist, struggling through the slick soap to lock. Her head tilted back in the waterfall, and she gasped against the liquid as Triaten accosted her neck, leaving not an inch of flesh untouched. He pulsated inside of her, but his hips remained motionless as he enjoyed the taste of her.
Charlotte reveled in his touch, until it became agony waiting for him to move within her. Hips swiveling, she bent her head down to him, and buried her fingers into the back of his wet hair. She pulled his head up from her body. Descending on him, she demanded with her lips that the burning deep within be sated.
Triaten needed little encouragement, and he devoured from below, both in mouth and body. They slammed into the wall of the shower, and he took her to the edge, screaming for release.
But her demands did nothing to hinder her own body from pulling and teasing Triaten to his own edge. And at the last second, before they both went over the precipice, she pulled up from his mouth, eyes deep into his.
He plunged one last time, extracting for the both of them, every ounce of pleasure from the moment. Water pounded their bodies, but neither noticed, so consuming was deepness of each other.
The wind whipped tiny balls of ice at the windshield in front of Triaten and Charlotte. Drops that were a precursor to what was to be the first real snowfall of the season.
Grey and cold. Storm brewing.
The exact sentiment Triaten and Charlotte could both see in the slump of Skye’s shoulders as she got out of Aiden’s jeep and trudged across the tarmac to the plane.
Skye had decided earlier in the day that Shiv’s body should be buried by their parents in their hometown. Shiv’s body was already on board, just awaiting Skye’s accompaniment.
Charlotte looked over at Triaten. “Are you ready?”
He cut the engine. “No. But this isn’t about me.”
They both got out, stopping to get their duffel bags from the back of the vehicle before they walked over to the plane. Aiden and Skye saw them right away, and they paused at the foot of the plane’s ladder.
Charlotte dropped her bag when they reached the pair, going straight to Skye and embracing her. “I am so sorry, Skye,” she whispered to her friend. “I tried and tried to save her, but I failed her and you. I am so sorry.”
Skye pulled back so she could look at Charlotte directly. Her face remained mottled with tear-induced red blotches, and her eyes were bloodshot. “No, I saw — I couldn’t move, but I could see — you did all you could — I couldn’t have asked for more. How you even got to us, I don’t know. And that you would even put yourself in danger like that…” Skye’s hand went to Charlotte’s cheek. “Thank you. It means the world to me, it truly does.”
With an understanding frown, Charlotte nodded. “Anything you need, my dear, you let me know. Anything.”
“Thank you. I’m okay right now. I just want to get back to Cloquet.”
With a nod, Charlotte moved to Skye’s side, but kept her arm about her shoulder. They took several steps onto the stairs, while Triaten and Aiden picked up the bags and followed them.
Suddenly, Skye spun around on the stairs. Shifting out of Charlotte’s arm, she looked down past Aiden, directly at Triaten. Fury in her face. “No. You do not get to mourn her.” She pointed a shaking finger at Triaten.
“Skye, Triaten –” Aiden’s voice was reasoning.
Her icy glare shifted to Aiden. “No — he does not get to mourn her. He is not coming with.”
Aiden looked helplessly over his shoulder at Triaten.
Triaten stared back at the three faces staring down at him. “It’s okay. I’ll stay. Take care, Skye.” He nodded at Aiden and then backed down off the stairs.
Charlotte put her hand on Skye’s shoulders, gently turning her around and guiding her up the rest of the stairs. They disappeared into the cabin of the plane.
Aiden stepped back down off the stairs to face Triaten. “I can see you don’t want to let this one go, but she’s destroyed right now, Triaten. I know it’s hard, I know how much Shiv meant to you, but I need you to leave this one alone.”
Triaten rubbed his jaw in annoyance, then relented. “Fine.”
“Before we leave. Do you have any word on where those fireballs came from?”
“No. And there is one possibility I don’t want to entertain, but anything could be true at the moment.”
“Which is?”
“Edmund. He’s the only one on the mountain that controls fire — no one else that’s currently here has the ability. Unless someone came into town.” Triaten shrugged. “Obviously, it could have been a Malefic from across the valley, but it was so well-placed. Those fireballs were spot on — and then how the fire spread, trapping them. Edmund couldn’t have done that alone. He would have needed wind helping him.”
“Helen?”
“Maybe, but she was helping Horace with the rain and getting us through the fire.”
“Playing both sides?”
“Could be, or it actually could have been Malefics. God help us if it was. Hell — god help us if it really was Edmund and Helen.”
Aiden sighed. “It’s a lot of shit that needs to get figured out.”
Triaten nodded and tilted his head at the plane’s windows. “Yea, and all I really want to do is get on the plane.”
“It’s better that you stay anyway. Horace was already demanding your presence at the Hotel. And one of us needs to show after what we promised.”
“Promised?” Charlotte stood, paused at the aircraft’s entrance. She quickly made her way down the plane’s stairs. She stopped at the bottom step, and confusion was in her voice. “Who promised Horace what?”
Aiden looked over his shoulder at Charlotte, then back to Triaten. You didn’t tell her? He mouthed, eyebrows raised.
Triaten’s head tilted downward, but he kept his eyes up, his jaw smoldering as he looked from Aiden to Charlotte. He gave Aiden a barely perceptible shake of his head.
Aiden winced. “I imagine we’ll be back within a few days. We have to take care of Shiv’s affairs as well, aside from the burial.” He turned and walked past Charlotte, still stuck on the bottom step. He paused to kiss her cheek, and then disappeared up into the plane.
Charlotte’s eyes lasered on Triaten while she waited until Aiden was gone. The cold wind was whipping blond strands of hair from her low ponytail. Once they were alone, the accusation was quick to manifest. “Tell me, Tri, am I staying or going? Because you have a lot of explaining to do if I’m staying.”
Triaten’s eyes shifted to the body of the plane, and then back to Charlotte. His voice was low, hesitant, when he finally answered her. “Stay. Please.”
With a deep breath, Charlotte stepped down and walked past him over to the jeep. She stopped at the front bumper. Triaten followed her. They both turned, and in silence, watched the plane take off.
As the plane disappeared out of sight around the mountaintop, Triaten whispered. “I loved her, Charlotte.”
Putting aside her swelling anger, Charlotte put her hand between Triaten’s shoulder blades. Through the soft-shell jacket he wore, it was obvious how tense he was. “I know, Tri. You loved her. Skye loved her. That’s enough for me to know how special she was.”
They stared at the treetops of the pines where they plane had cleared land. The sleet was slowly turning into snowflakes, and the wind was picking up, blowing the white flecks near horizontal.
Charlotte’s hand dropped from Triaten’s back, and she crossed her arms across her chest. She looked up at Triaten. “What did you promise Horace, Tri?”
“Nothing…” The pause was dooming. “Everything.”
Charlotte’s mouth fell open as her eyes widened at Triaten. He avoided her look. “God, no, Tri. Tell me you didn’t.”
“He wants us on his side, now and whenever he deems it, we’re his force, no matter what.”
“Why would you do it? Why would you promise him anything?”
Triaten’s eyes swung down to Charlotte. “I had too.”
Charlotte’s eyes closed in a wince. She leaned back against the front of the jeep. Her eyes implored when she opened them again. “Why?”
“He was the only one that could get us through the fire. He was the one that created the downpour of rain, and Helen used her wind power to narrow it above us. It was the only way.”
Her eyes to the heavens, Charlotte swallowed hard and shook her head in denial. “What’s the one rule that we’ve always lived by, Tri? Owe the elders nothing — we’ve seen them destroy too many Panthenites — and we always vowed, you, Aiden, me — to never, ever let them have control over us. How could you do this?”
“Char, you have to understand –”
“Yes, please, make me understand.”
“There was Africa, and I almost lost you there, but it was nothing compared to watching you disappear from that helicopter. You were finally, actually, mine. I love you on such a different level — and I was sure I was about to lose you — I almost jumped out after you right then. If the pilot hadn’t pulled up when he did, I would have been down there, burning up with you.”
“You would have figured out a way to get to us without Horace’s help. You lost faith, Tri. You lost faith in yourself.”
Triaten moved in front of Charlotte, positioning himself between her outstretched legs. “Char, are you not listening? I was desperate. Desperate to get to you as fast as possible, and he presented himself. I wasn’t — couldn’t — take the chance and come up with another solution. I didn’t care how I did it, just that I got to you.”
She watched him, silent for a moment. A tear of frustration welled in her eye. “You still shouldn’t have done it, Tri.”
Triaten’s hands went to either side of her face, and his eyes were more serious than she’d ever seen them. “It was you, Char.”
She bit her lip as she uncrossed her arms and her hands slid along his hips. “But it’s your future you promised away, Tri. For me. I can’t accept that. You have to go. You need to get in a plane — in your jeep — right now, and go. Disappear. If this is the result of us being together, than you have to be free of me. You can't let Horace and the elders use me against you — that’s what he's doing, and it’s not going to stop here. You thought about it once, disappearing, and now you need to do it.”
She wiped away a tear. “I refuse to be the reason you are stuck in a life you don’t want. I love you too much for that, and I need you to be living life on your terms. Not the elders’. Not Horace’s.”
Triaten looked around, buying time as he scanned the hangars, and forest, and tarmac. Streaks of snow swirled on the pavement. He was calm, undaunted clarity when his eyes settled on Charlotte once more. “You realize this is the same spot you left me. And now you’re asking me to leave you?”
Charlotte looked around, startled.
“I’m not going to let you do it, Char. Or let me do it.”
“Do what?” She wrinkled her nose, trying to shake a large snowflake off it.
“I’m not going to let us make this complicated.” He wiped the white fleck off with his thumb. “We always do this. You do it, I do it. The only damn thing that’s ever stopped us from being together is us. Our crazy-ass over-thinking minds. But it’s simple. Do we want to be together?”
Charlotte blinked, taken aback. Her head was nodding before she choked out a whole-hearted, “Yes.”
Triaten heaved a sigh of relief. His hands tightened behind her neck. “Then let’s be together. Let’s make it simple.”
“Just because it’s simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy, Tri.”
“When have our lives ever been easy? What’s one more complication?”
“But Horace –”
“No. The choice I made with Horace was mine. The fate of that choice is also mine. You don’t want me to lose faith in myself, but Char, I need you to not lose faith in me as well. No matter the promises made, Horace will not rule my — our lives. I will honor the promise with my own integrity. I won’t run from it. But I’m most definitely, not going to leave you.”
Her hands re-tightened on his hips and she pulled herself upright, shuffling her feet closer to him.
“Char, it has become shamefully obvious that my life was a pittance of an existence before we were together. And I don’t plan on ever going back to that pittance again.”
His knuckles brushed her cheek. “Nothing is going to take me away from you. You’ve always been my home, Char, now I need to be yours.” His fingers slipped along the back of her neck, tracing her scar. “Let me be your home. Let me give you children. Let me give you a life worth waking up for.”
The smile she unleashed at Triaten was breathtaking. Blue eyes shining, the light in them burning brighter than ever, she slid her hands up his back, pulling his body into hers. “You’re right, Tri. This is the simple part. And my faith in you, I haven’t lost it, nor will I. The same is true for my love.” Unwavering certainty was in voice. “I choose you. Always. We are best like this.”
He bent down, lips brushing hers. “Together?”
“Together. Come what may.”
Through the crust on her lashes, her eyes pulled, wedging themselves open. In the miniscule light, she could see a dingy white plaster ceiling and a large metal fixture with a broken light bulb hanging above her.
A face leaned over into her eyesight. Wrinkled skin. Grey hair.
“Do you remember what happened to you?”
She had no answer. She couldn’t move a muscle.
“Doesn’t matter.” He continued. “What matters is the choice you have to make in the next thirty seconds.”
She blinked, still trying to comprehend.
“Your life…Abandoned by everyone you ever loved. Used. Beaten. Disregarded time and again. A life of apologies. A life that you never really owned. A life spent hoping others would love you. But that love never came. And then you were given a death sentence.”
His eyes bore into her from above. “But now you are being granted another choice. So here is the question. Are you ready to live life without apologizing for yourself? Ready to live a life where you are in control and have the power?”
He paused. “Choice one: to live that life. Or choice two: you can close your eyes, and return to the darkness you were just in. Which will it be?”
Dead silence followed his question.
Dead silence until her mouth cracked open. Decrepit air hissed from her lungs. “Live.”
~~~
“What do you mean you lost her body?”
Skye looked over at Aiden, angry disbelief riveting her face. She leaned across the table and ripped the phone from his hand.
“This is her sister. What the hell did I just hear?”
The voice on the other end of the line stuttered. “I am so sorry for your loss ma’am. I know this is a shock, but your sister’s body. We checked it in last night, and when we came down this morning, her body was gone.”
“Gone? How could that be? Where would it go?”
“That’s just it, ma’am. We have the place secured at night. There is no way in. The police are here, and we’re checking with all of our workers and associates just in case.”
“Just in case of what?”
He fell silent.
“Just in case of what?” Skye demanded.
“It’s never happened to us, but sometimes, when there is a young female body…they are valuable to some people.”
Skye swallowed back the breakfast that had just travelled upward from her stomach. “You get my sister back.” She hissed.
She handed the phone back to Aiden.
“This is her husband again.”
He was silent for a few moments. “I repeat what Skye said. You get her back. I will expect updates hourly.”
He tapped the phone off.
~~~
The hotel phone by the side of the bed bleeped a caustic tone that ripped Skye from the troubled sleep she was lost in. The day had gone by with no trace of Shiv’s body, and Aiden had finally forced her into bed to sleep. It had taken an hour, but exhaustion had finally won out over her mind.
So she was instantly bitter at the intrusion into the blackness that sleep afforded her. And when she realized Aiden was in the shower, and the phone was just going to continue to ring, she rolled across the big bed, and annoyed, picked it up.
“Yes?”
A voice she didn’t recognize was on the other end. “You want your sister’s body back, you come to 3892 West Hartford Road. Alone. 3892 West Hartford Road. Alone, or she is gone for good.”
Click.
“Hello?” Skye said into the receiver.
No answer.
Skye stared at the bathroom door, partially ajar. She didn’t know how long Aiden had been in the shower. And he was usually quite quick. She scrambled off the bed, pulling on clothes as she grabbed her shoes, a long knife, and the rental car keys. She was out the door in twenty seconds, bare feet running down the hall, leaving the sounds of the shower behind her.
~~~
There was no moon on this black night, and Skye squinted at the number just below the red neon bar sign. 3892. And this was West Hartford Road, unless the GPS glowing on the dashboard was wrong.
Skye took in the scummy bar as she quickly whipped her hair into a braid that came down over her right shoulder. It was a small bar, with no windows, save for a small horizontal slit high on the door, so she had no idea what she would be walking into. She wondered how much time she had before Aiden would find her. She guessed that the rental car company could track the vehicle fairly quickly, and that Aiden probably had already woken up half the company in order to find her.
Best to take care of this quickly, whatever this, was.
She took a deep breath and checked the knife tucked into the back of her jeans. She pulled her shirt over the hilt of the blade, berating herself that she hadn’t grabbed a sheath for it.
The cold hit her hard when she got out of the car. She hadn’t grabbed a jacket, either. She walked quickly across the pot-holed street, and pushed in the cheap, hollow door.
There were very few people inside, seven, at most, and not one looked up when she entered. Skye looked around the dinge. And then she spotted exactly why she was there.
She walked over to the bar and remained on her feet.
“Evan. I should have guessed.”
Evan turned on his barstool and looked past her toward the front door. “I applaud you for following directions so true, my daughter. Where is your watchdog?”
“Not here. Now where is my sister’s body?”
Evan looked her up and down. “Your watchdog trains you well, doesn’t he?”
Skye rolled her eyes. “My sister?”
His hand went to his chin, stroking it as he contemplated her. “Tell me. Why didn’t you save her? You have the power.”
Skye’s face went crimson in immediate rage. “I would have died for her.”
“So why didn’t you save her?”
Skye gritted her teeth.
Understanding crossed Evan’s face, and his top lip curled in smirk. “You tried, didn’t you? You tried and you failed.”
He stroked his chin some more while Skye resisted pulling her blade and stabbing him. She still didn’t have her sister back.
“Hmmm. We all knew time moved back once that night, but that didn’t save her, did it? Do you know why it didn’t work?”
His musings were only met with silence.
“May as well answer, daughter. We’re not moving past this point until you tell me.”
Skye crossed her arms across her chest. “No. I have no idea why it didn’t work. The first time I moved back time saved her from crashing her car. The second time in the fire didn’t work.”
Evan nodded slowly. “I have a theory, if you’re willing to learn something about your power. Turn it back, right now. Go back to when you walked in the door.”
She glared at him.
“It’s not a trick. It’s an experiment.”
“I will perform nothing for you.”
“Fine. Then you are choosing not to get Shiv’s body back?”
Skye’s lips tightened as her glare deepened. She had been searching for answers as to why she couldn’t save Shiv. But she despised being forced into anything by Evan.
She was stuck, and knew it. So without a word, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the moment she stepped into the bar.
She opened her eyes, and she was instantly at the door again. She scanned the room as she walked back over to Evan, hand under the back of her shirt on her blade, just in case.
She stopped in front of him. “And what?”
“And try again. Go back to that same moment in time, or one right before it.”
Understanding dawned on Skye. Her gut heavy, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the same moment in time she had just gone back to.
She opened her eyes. No time shift.
Evan watched her. “Was that the same instant in time, or before?”
“Same.”
“Try before.”
Skye closed her eyes and concentrated on the moment she looked at the bar from the car. She opened her eyes. No time shift.
“So interesting.” He tapped a folded forefinger on his chin. “It seems you can only re-arrange a time thread once. Interesting limitation. That must have been terribly frustrating, watching her die.”
Skye winced, and rage shot her hand back to her blade.
“You don’t want to do that. You won’t win.”
Skye’s hand slipped to her side.
“I only mention it because had you known, you could have saved her. The people around you Skye, they aren’t interested in exploring your power. Knowing exactly what you can and cannot do with it.”
“Stop. I leave the next time you talk derogatory about Aiden or my friends.”
“They are who they are. I am very different. I am interested in what you can actually do. Just remember that.”
Skye was at her breaking point. “Evan. You got me here by promising Shiv. Produce her.”
His folded finger tapped his chin again. “Before I do. I warn you against the shock.”
“What shock? What did you do to her body?”
“What if it was a mistake? What if she’s alive?”
Skye’s heartbeat flew out of control. Her voice was dangerous. “Don’t, Evan. Don’t. She’s dead. I saw her body.”
Silently, he pointed to the worn, black door at the back of the bar.
Skye squinted through the haze of the dark bar.
“That is where you need to go, child.”
With a look to burn his flesh, Skye moved past Evan and crept to the back of the bar, her body tense and ready for anything. No one attacked, no one jumped out at her.
She grabbed the wobbly silver knob and turned the handle. Door cracked, she peeked out, and seeing nothing, she stepped through the threshold.
Blackness, save for one weak overhead light, surrounded her in the bar’s parking lot. It was silent, and the cold immediately encased her bare arms.
And then she heard it. It was a muffled scream. A scream begging for someone to stop. Skye flew past the line of cars closest to her, eyes searching in the dim light. Within seconds, she found the source of the screams.
Held down on the trunk of an old sedan, a girl thrashed under a pony-tailed dirtbag. His hand clamped down over her mouth, while his elbow dug into her chest, pinning her to the car. He was freeing his pants with his other hand as the girl kicked wildly.
And then Skye caught sight of the girl’s eyes.
The girl was Shiv.
Skye’s blade was high, attacking in a blur. The dirtbag looked over his shoulder just in time to see the blade come down on his body.
The knife went into his neck, and he slowly fell backward off of Shiv, and slid to the ground, landing on his knees. He was a man, not a Malefic, as the blade easily stopped him.
His hand went up to knife, trying to free it. It didn’t take Shiv a second to slide off the car. She went to the dirtbag and knelt in front of him. Casually, she swatted his fingers away and wrapped her hand around the hilt.
She yanked it from his neck.
And then she sunk it into his heart.
He slumped forward, hitting the ground hard and rolling to a crooked stop on his side.
Shiv followed the lifeless body, and then leaned over him, ripping Skye’s knife from his chest.
“Wow. You feel it too, don’t you?” Shiv asked as she stood and wiped the blood of the blade off on her jeans. She held the knife out to Skye. “He told me, but I didn’t know. I didn’t know it would feel like this.”
Skye took the knife silently, her hand shaking.
Shiv’s head fell back and she breathed deeply, licking her lips. “God, this is insane. Insane. Doesn’t it feel fantastic?”
Repulsed at the warm euphoria flowing under her skin, Skye trembled. “What the hell is this?” she asked, horrified at the blood burning, pleasuring every pore in her body.
Shiv’s eyes came down to Skye’s. “We’re sisters, Skye. Turns out we always have been. Evan’s my father too.”
The shock of seeing of Shiv alive, of killing, of the appalling joy flowing through her body, combined and sent Skye’s feet staggering backward. “No, Shiv. No.”
The knife clattered onto the pavement.
“Yes. Feel this, Skye. Really feel it. That fire was a gift. I’m Malefic now. And so are you.”
Disgust warred with the ecstasy in Skye’s body.
Then, the ecstasy won. Her head fell back and her eyes slipped closed. All thought. All fear. All confusion. All rage. All of it floated from her body, leaving in its wake nothing but sweet electricity in her veins. She swayed for minutes, letting it take over her being.
Aiden’s voice suddenly cut through her haze. “Skye. What the hell have you done?”
Her eyes fluttered open to see him heaving in stunned rage at her.
The shame was immediate.
Shit.