“We have intercepted confirmation that they
will attempt to make the transition tonight,” said Cesaro.
Of Grolkinei’s commanders, he was the most
reliable when it came to ferreting out information. The thin,
unassuming, white-haired Mercesti was so successful because he was
willing to illicit the information through any means necessary.
Easy enough when you didn’t have a conscience.
Across from Cesaro sat the blonde, waif-like
Layla, Grolkinei’s mystic commander and the female who currently
entertained him as a mate. She nodded in agreement, her Mercesti
red eyes moving among the other commanders. “I intercepted another
message to the Elphresti not an hour ago also confirming this.”
Although it wasn’t extremely reliable, Layla
had the ability to pick up on the thoughts sent out by the
Orculesti. She had been focusing her energies on this skill for
several months, since they had first gotten wind of the possibility
that Saraqael’s daughters might be returning to the Estilorian
plane.
Grolkinei nodded. “Excellent. I imagine since
neither of you have mentioned it that the exact location of their
transition has not yet been identified.”
Cesaro shook his head with a frown. Layla
replied, “No. But I will continue to scan, of course.”
“Of course.” He turned his attention to the
tallest and largest figure in the room. “Angius, how would you
recommend we proceed?”
Between his face being half-covered in
leathery scars that had occurred during his acceptance of his
Mercesti form and his absolutely legendary fighting skills, Angius
was by far the most feared Mercesti outside of Grolkinei. He was
also highly intelligent and a brilliant strategist. His bald head
gleamed almost white in the sunlight.
“Without knowing their transition location,
we are forced to wait.”
With considerable reluctance, the other
fighting commander in the room, Ryce, growled, “I hate to say it,
but I concur.”
Grolkinei once again nodded. “Much as I had
determined myself. Well, we have waited this long. Another few
hours will hardly impact our plans, and we can spend some more time
defining our strategy.” He raised his eyebrows. “Any more coffee or
tea, anyone?”
Rubbing his thumb along Amber’s ring, Gabriel
stared consideringly at Ini-herit. The cool, remote tone of the
Estilorian made his narration seem unconscionably harsh. At several
points, in fact, Gabriel had wanted to verbally lash out against
the things he said, but that would have done little good. It was
evident that Ini-herit was acting in the only manner of which he
was capable. His words were simply meant to inform, not hurt.
But hurt they had, and Gabriel felt it in
Amber’s taut frame. His heart ached for the loss she had suffered
and for the pain these new revelations had caused. Knowing she
wouldn’t welcome it didn’t prevent him from wanting to wrap her up
in his arms and get her away from there as quickly as possible.
Fortunately, she seemed calmer now that they
had gotten to his part in this bizarre tale. That helped ease his
own tension, and he asked, “Am I a Corgloresti, then?”
“No. You are a Gloresti. In human terms,
think of this as something like a bodyguard. When Corgloresti
transition to the human plane, their Estilorian forms are
vulnerable. The Mercesti are aggressive and unscrupulous and would
think nothing of harming a transitioned Corgloresti. And there are
occasionally environmental dangers such as stray animals or weather
changes. Thus, the Gloresti dedicate their lives to the protection
of the Corgloresti on the Estilorian side of the plane. In the
direst of circumstances, the most powerful Gloresti can cross
planes, but it must be in order to protect their paired
Corgloresti, and the time they can remain on the human plane is
even more limited than for us.”
Ini-herit looked again at Amber. “At least,
that had been the case before the girls were born.”
With a sinking feeling, Gabriel said, “I was
Saraqael’s Gloresti, wasn’t I?”
“Not directly, but you were supervising the
Gloresti who was supposed to protect him. At the time of Saraqael’s
interaction with Kate, you were not pledged to a particular
Corgloresti. You were between pairings. We needed more Gloresti
trained, and as the oldest and strongest of your class, you were
the best to do so. Unfortunately, as is the case with most
Estilorians, particularly those with more than a century of age,
your perception and interpretation of human emotions were both
highly compromised. You, and thus the Gloresti you were training,
failed to realize what was happening between Saraqael and Kate
until it was too late.”
An inexplicable feeling of guilt flooded him.
Amber’s right hand moved to his knee as if she knew his thoughts.
His grip on her hand tightened briefly in appreciation for her
silent support.
“Once Kate arrived on the Estilorian plane,
you spent time with her trying to reason out what had happened. We
needed to know if other Corgloresti could be at risk of succumbing
as Saraqael had. You felt obligated to prevent such a fatality from
occurring again. However, achieving a complete understanding
regarding Kate’s claims of Saraqael’s love eluded you, as it did
the rest of us. We certainly know on a basic level what love means
among humans, but actually experiencing that significant a
connection—one that results in putting ourselves as well as
humanity at risk—is a foreign concept among Estilorians.
“Of all of us, you were the one most
concerned with how our lack of comprehending this specific human
emotion had resulted in such dramatic consequences. You felt the
weight of Saraqael’s loss most keenly. You also argued that the
coming children would be half-human and likely prone to human
emotions of this level. You pointed out we would be unable to
perceive or correctly interpret those emotions, meaning we could
not effectively communicate with them. It was a valid concern.
“And so, when you approached the remaining
elders and said that you wanted to enter the human plane in such a
way that you could gain this much-needed understanding of human
nature, we listened to your plea with objective ears. It was
decided that we put all of humanity as well as our own kind at risk
by not educating ourselves as thoroughly as possible. And we
devised a plan to make it happen.
“After much deliberation, it was determined
that the only safe way to enmesh you into human society without
risking your sanity was to deliver you to the human plane in the
form of a baby and have you grow as a human would. To do so, we had
to completely repress your Estilorian self. In essence, we had to
erase everything you were from your awareness. It required your
complete submission, a relinquishing of all of your power and a
great amount of our combined abilities to make it happen.”
He sensed Amber turn her head to look up at
him and he glanced over. One corner of her mouth rose.
I’m not surprised. You’ll always do what’s
right.
Blinking in surprise, he wondered if he had
just imagined her thoughts. The words had seemed startlingly clear.
Then he swiveled back to Ini-herit when he spoke again.
“By the time we were ready to send you over
to this plane, the girls had made their crossing and Ambryl’s
whereabouts had been determined. We opted to place you
geographically near her, knowing that her Estilorian guardian had
been killed before a proper human guardian could be identified. The
Elphresti reasoned that having you near at least one of the girls
would make our tracking of everyone easier. As it happened, that
decision proved to be the solution to Ambryl’s placement
issue.”
There was another pause. Gabriel held
Ini-herit’s creepy stare and tried to find some part of his
consciousness that identified with his supposedly Estilorian
“self.” He still didn’t feel any different. But for some reason, he
hadn’t doubted a word that Ini-herit relayed. It was more than a
little scary.
“Hey,” Amber said suddenly, looking over at
Gabriel. “If you came over here after me, that means you’re
actually younger than me!”
“Actually, his form was that of an infant
rather than a newborn when he transitioned. And he is millennia
older than you,” Ini-herit corrected in his serious tone.
After a moment of staring at the Estilorian,
both Amber and Gabriel broke into laughter. It was just what they
needed to help lighten the intensity of the conversation.
Ignoring their outburst, Ini-herit went on,
“The Corgloresti assigned to you on this plane, Gabriel, posed as
your human mother until she identified a suitable human
guardian.”
“Mrs. B,” Gabriel murmured, his humor fading.
“How much does she know?”
“Enough,” Ini-herit responded vaguely. “We
have been able to monitor your progress using the skills of our
Orculesti, who can travel to the human plane with their minds using
an Estilorian on the human plane as a conduit. We observed you grow
into the young man you are now. And when Ambryl joined you, we were
then able to monitor her more closely than we had before. It
admittedly made things easier for all of us.”
“Geez,” Amber said with a frown. “Totally Big
Brother. What about privacy?”
Ini-herit shrugged. “A human concern that
means little to us. Your safety was of far more importance.”
He had a point.
His dark gaze moved between them and then
settled on Gabriel. “At approximately nine o’clock this morning, we
lost all connection with you. Something occurred to place a barrier
against entering your mind, which is why I injured you when I
tried.”
Amber gave Gabriel a questioning look, and he
caught her gaze while adding pressure to her ring using his thumb.
She blinked as shock and comprehension sank in. Rather than
explaining, they turned back to Ini-herit.
“Is that why you’re here?” she asked
incredulously.
“Of course not,” he answered, “though it is
perplexing.” He paused and stared at them another moment. Realizing
they weren’t going to respond, he said, “We surmised that this
disrupted connection might somehow be a result of your birthday and
the growth of your power, Ambryl. After all, that is the reason I
am here.”
“My power?”
“Your recent surge was more intense than the
previous ones. If Gabriel had not acted quickly, human lives would
most certainly have been lost. As it was, you nearly drowned.”
Amber looked stunned. Gabriel figured she was
now realizing that the Estilorians knew literally everything about
her…meaning they also knew what had happened at the pond after he
had rescued her. Her face flushed and she started nibbling on her
lower lip. He released her hand and gave her shoulder a comforting
squeeze.
“And your sisters also had surges this year,”
Ini-herit explained.
Obviously forgetting all about her
embarrassment, she sat straighter. “They did?”
“Indeed. Neither of their surges was as
violent as yours, but we quickly came to the conclusion that this
is the time to bring you all back to the Estilorian plane as
quickly as possible.”
“I’m kind of relieved to hear—what?” She
gaped at him.
“Since we knew you were planning this trip
and Skylar lives in the area, it was quite simple to get you all
together for the transition. I followed you from Atlanta to make
sure nothing went awry with our plans.” Seeing their expressions,
he added, “Ambryl, you are now old enough to defend yourself and
understand your origins. The hunting by the Mercesti on our plane
has grown steadily more persistent since your birth, putting your
Estilorian form at greater risk. And, most importantly, your
presence on the human plane will endanger human lives, which we
find unacceptable. Our Wymzesti have unanimously predicted that by
the end of this day, your power will surge to a highly dangerous
level. They are rarely wrong.”
Gabriel thought about Amber’s fluctuating eye
color and the near-convulsion she experienced when she touched
Olivia. Then he pictured her lifeless body beside the pond,
remembering all too clearly his absolute terror when he thought he
had lost her. Torn, he looked down and again caught her gaze.
“I’m not going to leave you,” she said
firmly. “I don’t care if I have to hide in a cave to get through
the night, I won’t do it.”
“And you will not have to,” Ini-herit
responded before Gabriel could. “Gabriel is coming with us.”
Fifteen minutes later, they emerged from
Nick’s office two very different people than who had entered it.
Still reeling and feeling like the survivor of a major catastrophe,
Gabriel put his right arm around Amber’s waist as Ini-herit opened
the office door and directed them through. Across the hall in an
open office sat Olivia, Skye, Nick and Jean. They all got to their
feet and turned to face them when they walked into the hall. Their
expressions ranged from Nick’s seemingly mild curiosity to Jean’s
maternal concern. Olivia and Skye both looked startled and
uncertain.
“Uh…” Skye began, her gaze shifting between
them. “Gabriel, um, you have a little something right—” she started
to point to a place on the side of her mouth and then made a wide
circle to indicate her entire upper body, “here.”
Glancing down, he suddenly remembered the
blood covering them both. It seemed ridiculously unimportant now.
“Yeah,” he said for lack of anything more insightful to say.
“I’ll go get you two some clean T-shirts from
the gift shop,” Nick said. He paused as he neared them. Reaching
out, he briefly placed a companionable hand on Gabriel’s shoulder.
Then he turned and walked down the hall.
Jean had stepped forward and now reached out
to rub Amber’s upper arm in a show of concern. Gabriel felt Amber
tense against him at the stranger’s touch. He gave her credit for
not pulling away.