Jeri was still stunned by the fact that she was in a different realm. She looked around slowly, taking everything in. It looked the same as where she had just been. A lot greener, a lot cleaner, but the buildings she could see looked the same. She took a deep breath. The air was definitely not the same as home.
“How are you feeling?” Paisley touched her shoulder.
“I’m okay.” She smiled. “A little in awe, but I feel fine.” She looked over to see Trendan was bent over. His hands braced on his knees.
Paisley grinned. “He’s one hundred percent Solrelm. Their bodies don’t like coming to Alterealm.
“It’s better.” He said and then blew out a breath. “The implant seems to make it a lot less uncomfortable. He straightened up slowly. “Not having to sit in the acclimation chamber is nice.”
Paisley pulled out her phone. “I’ll let Elder Adrian know nothing bad happened.”
Jeri watched his face turn to shock.
“I was the first one direct porting was tried on?”
Paisley nodded but didn’t look up from her phone. “We were pretty sure you’d be okay.”
“That’s comforting.” His expression blanked, and just that fast, he was back to being a prince from another realm.
She moved closer but made sure to keep enough distance so that her pendant wouldn’t cause problems for him. She paused and held it away from her chest. She was going to be meeting another man from Solrelm, and she didn’t want to cause him any further issues than he’d been through. She couldn’t imagine going about your day and then finding out that it was a lie and that your memories had been suppressed and altered. “I’m going to take this off for now.” She undid the chain and tucked it into her pocket. “In case I need to move closer to this man to see clearly.”
Trendan eyes went cold briefly, but then he pulled his shoulders back and stood there without comment.
“They’ll be here in a minute.” Paisley looked at the house. “We’ll wait out here. Beth is inside with Sonia. Bastian, Nova, and Troy are bringing Glen.”
Trendan pulled out his phone and looked at it with a sober expression on his face. She took that time to study his soul. She had many times before, and each time it was different, which was unusual. She wondered if was because of his age or if there was another reason. It was better to take long looks when the soul’s body was distracted doing something else. Otherwise, she’d run into walls that blocked her from seeing clearly.
She saw him somewhere that was bright and—pristine was the only way she could think to label it. He had long, braided hair, but it was definitely him. Before she could observe more, the moment changed, and he was covered in blood, holding what she thought was some sort of ancient axe or something similar to one. The calm, blank aura that usually surrounded him wasn’t there. In this moment, he was vengeful and angry to the point of seething.
“Oh. There they are. They must have ported in over there to give Glen a chance to adjust before they got here.”
Jeri blinked to clear her focus and turned to see Bastian, Nova, and one of the kings walking slowly with a large redheaded man. He was holding his stomach, but his expression held resolve that nothing was going to stop him. “I can’t imagine what he’s feeling.” She whispered. “To suddenly remember that there is someone out there you love and that you have a child.”
“It wasn’t suddenly. It took the FaTerra women many sessions to unlock the magic and restore his
memories.” Trendan said in a low voice.
“If I were Sonia, I’d be running out that door right now.” Paisley mused.
“The child was a concern for her,” Trendan informed them. “She’s worried about how it may affect her.”
Jeri watched him watch Glen as he approached. His brows were creased with what she thought might be concern. “If someone told me I had a daughter with someone I love, every breath that child took would be adored.” She said softly.
He turned and looked down at her. For a few moments, the concern lessened, and then he stood taller once more and walked toward the door. He stopped at it and turned to look at her. “It would be better if you look during the first interaction.”
Jeri took a deep breath and slowly released it. This man was a walking inconsistency. One moment, he was this stiff, proper man, she supposed that way the royal way he’d been programmed with early on. She turned to look at Bastian and decided that training may have failed where he was concerned. Walking slowly toward the house, she looked at him to see that he would look at Glen then his gaze would flick to her every few seconds. In the next moment, the proper royal prince would turn into someone that was plagued by such emotion that she wasn’t sure how he handled the dual disposition.
The door opened as she reached it, and Princess Bethany smiled at her. She liked this princess. She was pleasant to be around. She was also a walking contradiction; she’d heard Liri talk about how she could toss what looked like fireballs from her hands.
“I have knots in my stomach for them.” She said in a low voice.
Jeri nodded and stepped inside the house. Trendan came through right behind her and placed himself between her and the others coming in behind them. She was surprised when she realized he felt the need to protect her. She glanced at the princess. Perhaps he wasn’t aware that she could toss fireballs with a thought.
“The first of many,” Bastian said when he stepped inside and looked at his brother.
“That is the hope,” Trendan said quietly.
“It’s like a redhead convention.” Bastain grinned and moved out of the way so Liri could come in.
Jeri looked around. He wasn’t wrong, the princess, Liri, herself, and Glen all had red hair. When the big man stepped in the door, he froze. Jeri turned to see a woman with blonde hair and a little girl with red standing at the end of the hall.
“Sonia.” He said, the disbelief clear in his voice. He continued to stand there.
“I never thought I’d see you again.” Sonia put her hand over her mouth and hugged her daughter into her side with the other arm.
“Is that daddy?” Cambree asked, looking up at her mother.
Sonia turned and picked her up and held her against her chest. “Yes, it is.”
Jeri remembered she was supposed to be checking Glen’s soul. Forcing herself to look away from the woman who had tears of joy rolling down her cheeks, she focused on Glen. His soul wasn’t ancient, was the first thing she noticed. Tilting her head, she concentrated harder. There was something slightly off with his soul. It wasn’t in a bad way, but she wasn’t sure what she was seeing. Without taking her gaze off him, she touched Trendan’s arm.
“What is it?” His warm hand covered hers.
His touch. The sudden reaction from inside her broke her scrutiny of Glen’s soul. She looked up at him and saw that he was feeling the reaction too.
Movement made her look away. Glen was moving down the hall with slow steps. Sonia put her daughter down and rushed toward him. He caught her, and she all but disappeared in a hug from his much larger body.
King Troy followed behind Glen, keeping distance between them but close enough he could have reached out and touched him. Liri had told them he could read thoughts or something like that; Jeri wasn’t sure. He must be checking to make sure Glen didn’t have problems while here.
“What did you see?” Trendan leaned down closer to her.
“It wasn’t bad, I don’t think. Not in the way that the dark souls are, but I believe the magic did some damage. There are dark spots.”
“What does that mean?” Bastain was standing closer now. He looked from her to his brother and then their hands on his arm.
“I don’t know.” Jeri wanted to pull her hand away because the whisper of sensation moving through her seemed to increase the longer they touched. She also didn’t want to stop it at the same time. She looked down so her face wouldn’t reflect the amusement that she was, too, now a walking contradiction.
Trendan cleared his throat and then released her hand and stepped back at the same time.
“Is it something that will get worse? Or is it just a damaged area because of the magic?” Bethany stood with them now. “I don’t know anything about souls.”
“We know more than most.” Bastian said slowly, “But I think this might be out of our league.”
“Father?” Trendan asked him.
“Or Sigor.” Bastian looked to his brother and then to Liri.
“Is there a way to check it to make sure it doesn’t spread? Maybe we should ask the FaTerra princess.” Liri looked worried. “Glen’s was recent. What’s going to happen to those that had been suppressed with this magic for decades?”
Jeri hugged her waist. “I wish I could be more help.”
Trendan’s head snapped to look back at her. “Without your help, we wouldn’t know at all.”
“I don’t see these spots,” Nova said in a quiet tone. “With the lawless, I can see the darkness. I don’t see that with Glen.”
“That’s good, right?” Liri looked from one cousin to the next.
“Yes.” Trendan pulled out his phone. “As long as it doesn’t spread.”
Jeri glanced between them. “What happens if it does?”
“We don’t know. That’s the problem.” Bastian watched his brother type on his phone. “One more thing we don’t know.” He didn’t sound impressed.
“But we know it can be removed and look,” Liri motioned to the three people at the other end of the hall entwined in a big family bundle sitting on the floor.
Trendan put his phone away and looked. He stood there for several moments and then nodded. “We should get Jerika back home.” He nodded and then walked out the door.
Jeri offered a quick fake smile to them and then went outside. She stopped when she saw he was standing twenty feet away, his back to the house. His hands were on his hips, and he was looking off into the distance. She went over and stopped beside him. “That feeling—”
“Our souls reaching for one another.” He said it with no emotion in his voice at all.
Jeri frowned. “You didn’t like it?” She inhaled slowly.
“What?” He looked down at her. “No. That’s not it.” He motioned toward the house. “I’m just thinking, trying to figure out what possible outcome we might be facing in the future with men that have been living a lie for decades or longer.”
She watched several emotions cross his face. “You care about them.” She shook her head. “I mean, the people, not the situation or for your realm’s sake. You care for the people.”
He watched her for a moment. “My whole reason for being is the humans.” He titled his head and gave her an amused look.
“I know that. I mean, you care so much—” She sucked in a breath. “That’s why I see the battle and the bloodied weapons in your hand.”
He jerked back like she had just smacked him. “You see that?”
“The older a soul is, the more I see.” She waved her hand up and down in front of his body. “Yours isn’t young.”
“No. It’s not.” He put his hands on his hips and looked down at the ground as he sucked in a deep breath. “You can’t—” He looked at the house. “You can’t tell my brother or cousin,” he shook his head, “or anyone from my realm.”
“Why?” Her eyes widened. “I won’t tell anyone, but why would you want to keep it from others? You fought because you care.”
“It’s against the watcher’s regulations. We can not get involved in human conflicts. It could sway the outcome and a soul that was meant…”
“Then why did you do it?” When she’d seen the aftermath of a battle, she hadn’t imagined he was breaking rules to fight. he was not predictable.
“The first time,” he glanced at the house, “because innocent women and children were being slaughtered just for the reason that they were different.” He shook his head. “Something inside of me broke…”
“I’d say it was whole, not broken.” She watched Bastian come out of the house and then turn to talk to Liri. “As someone who is different, I understand the persecution you face with no cause at all.”
He tilted his head and studied her. “My realm is partly responsible for the suffering you have faced.”
“A Few from your realm, not all, and not you either.”
His brows creased. “I’m old enough that I could have…”
“You are now. You’re doing something about it now.”
He glanced at his brother and then stepped closer and leaned down. “It will never be enough to right the wrongs done…”
Jeri touched his face and forced herself to ignore the zing that traveled down her arm from it. “I thought you were a hard, emotionless man—but now I see that it’s exactly the opposite. You feel too much, and your cold, hard shell is just a front to hide it from others.” She smiled at the shocked look on his face and then lowered her hand and stepped away.
“What is this?” Bastain was right there, between them. He raised one eyebrow and looked at her, and then turned to his brother. “You look like she just slugged you.” He smiled and gave her a side-eye. “What did you do to my impeccably groomed brother?”
“It’s none of your concern, Bas.” Trendan’s tone was level. His facade was back in place.
“Oh, but—what is this?” He stepped closer to Trendan and seemed to be looking around his body instead of at it. “Uhh. Your souls. They sing together.” He grinned at him. “You can’t hide that, brother.”
“What’s happening?” Nova and Bethany came up to them.
“Big brother has found his other.” Bastain chortled.
“Really?” Nova looked from Trendan to Jeri. “That’s lovely.”
“Oh no, it is not. He is also a prince of our realm and can’t do what our cousin did. It’s horrific and grueling, the waiting…” Bastain’s mouth dropped open, and he looked at his brother. Stepping closer, he grabbed the front of his jacket. “If you share your soul before I do—that makes you heir to the throne, right? Not me?”
Trendan looked down at the hand holding his jacket and then raised one eyebrow at Bastian.
Bastain released the material and brushed his hand over it. “Sorry. I almost made it wrinkle.” He put his hands on his hips and stared at Trendan. “It does, doesn’t it?” Before Trendan could respond, Bastian spun around and grabbed Nova, and hugged her. “A fantastic loophole, to be sure.” He kissed her quickly on the mouth. “We may escape that sentence, after all, my lovely one.”
“I don’t understand.” Nova looked around Bastian at Trendan.
Trendan glanced at Jeri for a quick second before looking at the back of Bastain’s head. “The eldest is not the automatic heir to the throne in our realm. The first to share their soul is.”
Bastian kissed Nova again and then released her. “Yes. Yes.” He pointed at Trendan. “Can’t have someone sitting on the throne that has no other—so it’s a lovely clause that states first come, first serve—for an eternity of tedium and regulations.” He smacked Trendan on the shoulder and then spun around and looked at Bethany. “Let’s go. This day just got so much better.” He grinned.
Trendan gave Jeri a wary look. “I need to speak with my father and Sigor about the spots on Glen’s soul.”
“Right. Yes.” Bastain was still grinning. “Work, work, work, and then,” he gave Nova a heated look, “maybe play sooner than anticipated.”
“You are an idiot,” Trendan mumbled and then went over and put his hand on Bethany’s shoulder. he reached the other out to Jeri. “We’ll get you home.”
Jeri went over, put her hand in his, and looked from Bastain back to Trendan. She didn’t know what had just happened, but she was going to be asking someone questions—just as soon as she figured out who would have the right answers.