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Cal shuffled into her chamber, head down. Her mind...it was in chaos. The anger still burning in her was the only thing supporting her numb body. She wanted to go home and forget this whole myth of a nightmare. It shouldn’t even exist. Her nice, comfortable life should, where she had to only worry about acing her next test or arriving on time to rehearsals.
That should be her reality.
In no foreseeable way could immortality mix with mortality, elf with human. The feasibility of it didn't seem possible now. To think otherwise was insanity. Heck, one elf had tried to kill her, and she’d already spent much of her life in therapy. She shivered in spite of the warmth in the room, whose grate was piled high with burning wood.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
The voice startled Cal out of her thoughts. She glanced at Maggie and shook her head.
“Okay.” Maggie stood from her chair while Cal trudged to the bed, kicking off her slippers. Her friend pulled the sheets and comforter down, and Cal dropped onto the bed. Yanking the covers to her neck and turning her head away from Maggie, Cal released a new stream of tears. The chair Maggie had been sitting in creaked, telling Cal she was still in the room.
Her relationship with Relian had been going so well—too well. How could she be astonished at today’s outcome? She’d been fooling herself, overlooking so much, too much. He kept more half-truths and secrets than the average woman did shoes. Were he and his kisses her consolation prize for being stuck in Eria?
When she thought about Relian’s affections being nothing but a nicely placed sham, nausea hit hard and fast. What could a mortal offer that they didn’t already have? Nothing but pure mortal blood, which they had a decided lack of.
Their argument played over in her mind. Her words had been harsh but true. That violent kissing episode had certainly shocked her. She sniffled and wiped a hand over her face. Relian’s fire had burned away his composed façade, had burned her. Elves, a people so similar to humans, did have some of humanity’s failings and fragility. Instead of scaring her, that idea heartened her. It wouldn’t be normal for even elves to be...so inhuman. Touching her tingling lips, she found them slightly tender. He’d definitely lost his calm. That thought made her grimace. She had made him lose it.
Her realization didn’t appease her. In fact, it only showed how ill-suited they were for each other.
She gave a dark chuckle. Stuck in a land where she couldn’t leave but also where no one apparently could force her into a complete bond.
Reconciling the fact she had no control of almost anything in her life had shaken her foundations. There was no denying the dubious beginnings of the bond. The consequences of denying their link—which wouldn’t only affect her but their two realities—reeked of emotional blackmail. And she was damn tired of it.
She wanted no “greater destiny.” For God’s sake, she just wanted to be a college student.
***
The next evening, Cal was lying listlessly on her bed. Maggie plonked down beside her. Cal wanted to ignore her. However, her friend was determined to rouse her and kept poking her in the chest.
“Come on. Get up. Enough moping around. You’ve eaten every meal in here today and will feel better if you get out.”
Cal sighed and slowly sat up. Maggie wouldn’t stop, otherwise. Sometimes, it was just easier to give in. “Fine. I’m up.”
“And sitting there like a lump.” Maggie pulled her off the bed. “Come on. Let’s hightail it out of here.”
Cal would’ve rolled her eyes if she had the energy. “And go where? We’re stuck here.”
Maggie shrugged. “We might not be able to leave Eriannon, but we can still explore.”
An hour later after following Maggie around like a silent shadow, Cal had to admit she did feel better. The fresh air and change of scenery, along with Maggie’s relentless chatter, had finally pierced her mood funk. Right now, they were in a rooftop garden they’d stumbled across. It offered stunning views of garden and field.
Maggie found a bench and sat, patting the area beside her. “Join me, Cal.”
Once Cal was seated, Maggie turned to her. “Okay, now talk. I haven’t been able to get a thing out of you about what happened yesterday. But you always feel better once you’ve talked about it.”
Another charge that Cal couldn’t deny. So she spilled everything that had occurred between her and Relian yesterday afternoon. Maggie listened attentively, nodding and frowning in certain areas, until Cal mentioned one tiny bit of information.
“What!” Maggie screeched later, jumping up from the bench and staring at her in disbelief. “They actually believe that you have something to do with the magic going a.w.o.l?”
Maggie’s loud voice left Cal’s ears ringing, and she winced. “No, not with the magic disappearing, per se, but with the solution.”
Maggie folded her arms and leaned against the waist-height wall surrounding the garden, one foot crossed over the other. “How? I fail to see how you can change anything.”
“Join the club. But that’s all they have, and they’re holding onto it tenaciously.”
“So because our worlds are somehow connected and because they can’t find a solution to the troubles of their world in their own dimension, they foresaw the answer coming from our world, and you’re it? God, we’re screwed.”
Cal cringed. “It wasn’t quite put that way. They think I have something to do with the solution, not necessarily that I’m the whole answer.”
Maggie made a disparaging sound. “Well, that’s a relief. Not putting too much pressure on a girl, then. You’re a normal woman with no magic tricks up her sleeve, but hey, I’m sure you’ll come up with something.”
Cal buried her face in her hands. “Our worlds are royally screwed. They’re not floating up shit creek. They’re sinking like a fifty-ton turd in it.” She didn’t have any special abilities. How would the bonding change anything for Eria?
Looking up, Cal pursed her lips. “Relian is also seen as part of the equation. We seem to be a package deal to them.”
“Like you can’t have one without the other?”
“Yeah.”
“Sheez, no wonder they don’t want to let you go. Not that I blame them if they’re right. This is so much bigger than either of us. What are two paltry humans to them if one of them can play a part in saving the world?”
“Worlds.”
Maggie snorted before a small smile curved her lips. “Hey, since it looks like you’ll be going nowhere, maybe you should think about talking to Relian.”
“Talk? Why?”
Maggie flashed her a look that said playing dumb wouldn’t work. “You share a growing bond with him. All that’s left is to finalize it and make it official. I get that you’re angry and hurt. You have every right to be. However, I do somewhat understand the logic of most of his points, even though he and his band of merry elves could’ve handled the whole situation a lot better. Besides, we both know that you’re crazy about Relian.” Cal tried to protest, but Maggie cut her off. “Don’t even think about denying it. I know better.”
Frowning, Cal eyed Maggie. “Whatever, Mom.” Was she so transparent? To Maggie, yes, apparently.
***
From the edge of the forest, Relian checked the position of the waning sun in the sky, though his gaze kept wandering toward the direction of Eriannon and Cal. Just the thought of her sent frustrated longing roaring through him. Since their argument six days before, the sensation of losing control of mind and body had brutally hit. Sleep had deserted him, and he was running on nerves alone.
All because of Cal.
He’d even tried to summon the veil. Of course the dratted thing didn’t respond. He’d thought a trip to see her family and friends might lessen her anger at him. But it seemed that the veil was done interfering, at least for the moment.
Gritting his teeth and ignoring his shaking hands, he resisted the beckoning call that was his tie to her. He had more important matters to think about than himself. His growing discomfort couldn’t be allowed to interfere in his duties.
Two of the scouts should’ve returned a long time ago from the plains that rested beyond this woods. He feared he knew what that meant—the darkindred had received their newest recruits. The trees behind him cast long shadows over the ground. Though they hadn’t seen a hint of their enemy, the darkindred had to be lurking out there somewhere. The empty farms they’d found proved it.
His patrol had ridden about five hours south from Eriannon because of reports of darkindred activity. The creatures pillaged farms for loot and elves to convert. They rarely killed outright during these sackings. Why would they? Always, more people were sought for their army.
Relian whistled to his company so they could move on. No sense in wasting time here. He wanted to find the miscreants and get home to Cal. His heart seized up painfully. Home to Cal. Right now, there was no such thing. He wasn’t sure if there ever would be, not after that argument where everything had seemed to explode in his face.
The worst part was that Cal had been right on so many accounts. His words had reeked of superiority. Anger had taken hold of his tongue, and hurtful things spouted from his mouth. He had kept so much from her. Had he lost her trust irreparably?
He remembered Cal’s words about his people and mind games. Because of their long years, his people did have a tendency to dissemble. A mortal would not suffer it gladly for long. They didn’t have the time, so could he and his kind fault humans for their impatience?
Though it pained him to admit it, he’d bumbled up everything with her right from the beginning. There had been so many times to reveal the full truth, but he’d never found the courage to do so until forced into it.
As his men gathered around him, he stalked to his horse. Out of nowhere, an even deeper hungry feeling crashed down on him, wringing a gasp from his lips. He clutched at the reins in an effort to stay upright.
“Captain, are you well?” Enven, his second-in-command asked, holding out a concerned hand.
After a few breathless seconds, Relian nodded and ignored the proffered hand. “I’m fine,” he said curtly, but it came out as more of a croak. Somehow, he managed to mount his horse, but once on, he swayed perilously.
This time Enven grabbed his arm and held him steady. “I don’t think you are, Captain.” He hesitated. “It is your binding with Lady Calantha that is affecting you?”
Relian scowled. Nothing remained secret for long among his people. “More than likely, but I have a job to do here, and I intend to do it.”
The red-haired sentential nodded warily. “And we will help you, but we need to know any potential weaknesses you may be suffering from right now. You’d ask the same of us in an effort to keep everyone safe.”
Relian sighed, his shoulders slumping for a moment. “You’re right. As my second-in-command, I should let you take leadership for now.”
“You’re our captain. You lead us, and I’ll offer a hand if need be.”
An unwilling smile came to Relian’s lips. “Aye, my friend.”
However, Relian knew his own strength and felt it slipping away quickly. If he wanted to be of any use as a warrior, he needed to return to Eriannon soon and talk to Cal. More like grovel. He wanted—no, needed to complete the bond, preferably sooner than later. Otherwise, he didn’t trust his sanity to hold out. Forget about any previous worry of being content—he just didn’t want to go mad. Now if she’d only go along with it all.
His group rode out onto the plains. Before long, they ran into a small force of the darkindred. Relian didn’t even have time to think. His body remembered the motions of battle well enough that he didn’t get his head sliced off. But otherwise, the skirmish was a haze to him. He parried, he hacked, and he cut down darkindred as if they were nothing but tall stalks of wheat. Blood sprayed in the air and coated his face.
One moment he was riding through a river of darkindred and the next he was sailing through the air. The hard ground jarred all the bones in his body and stole the air from his lungs. Over him stood a darkindred, whose face was frozen somewhere between the bestial look of the newly converted and those who were slowly morphing back into their old mien. The creature, with a nasty smile, hefted up a sword. Relian saw his death coming toward him. Panic and resignation held him immobile. All remaining energy had deserted him, and he could only think of how he’d never have a chance to love Cal the way she should be. At that dark moment, he finally admitted he loved her, a human, his Cal.
As the sword descended toward him, there was a soft, meaty thump. The darkindred faltered, and the blade wavered. Then the sword and darkindred fell toward him, but Relian regained enough of his mind to roll out of the way.
He slowly sat up, watching the darkindred cautiously. Since he’d been taken by surprise once already, he didn’t want a repeat of that occurrence. The darkindred who’d nearly killed him remained dead, though. The feral face quickly reverted back to its nearly perfect elvin countenance. As so many times before, he couldn’t look away, no matter how it horrified him to see elvin features sullied so with death.
After the eternity of a few seconds had passed, the only person he found standing above him was his trusted second-in-command. The fight was over, with only his soldiers walking around on the field. Relian let out a long, ragged breath as his blood pounded in his veins. It was finally sinking in how close he’d come to dying.
A relieved smile shone on Enven’s face as he lowered his sword. “Captain, that was a near one!”
Relian pushed himself off the ground and winced at the soreness already taking hold. “It was. You have my thanks. Has the enemy been routed, or were all captured or killed?”
“A small portion attempted to escape, but I think we managed to take them all down. There were only a few left alive to capture, and we’re holding them securely.” He nodded toward three or four darkindred, who were bound, hand, foot, and mouth.
Relian stood and placed his hand on Enven’s shoulder in thanks. “Good. Let us see to our wounded and clear the field of the debris. Then we head home.”
Home. Such a little yet all-encompassing word. He’d only have a home if Cal were in it—willingly.