Again, the lights faded, rising over Skye.
Gabriel thought she looked unusually somber. Getting analyzed so
thoroughly in front of a group of strangers had to be terribly
difficult. “Skylar. Where your sisters rely on earth and nature for
their energy, you draw it from the air around you. For you,
something does not have to be tangible to exist. You have always
maintained absolute faith in what you are, your confidence in your
own abilities never flagging. This spiritual inner strength made
your transition notably easier than it was for your sisters, and it
will aid you considerably in your new form.
“You have developed grace and poise and a
respectable amount of physical strength through your dedication to
dance. That precision of movement and the ability to convey thought
and feeling through action will also be something upon which you
can draw as you learn in your Estilorian form.
“Where Ambryl and Olaya use caution or innate
control regarding emotion, however, you do not have this ability.
Your emotions fly wide and free, prohibiting you from achieving the
focus you will most definitely need to manage your power. As with
your sisters, however, you can learn to develop this necessary
focus if you are willing. We will rely on your unfailing faith
through the challenging times ahead.”
The lights rose. Gabriel was rather surprised
at the absolute silence. There was hardly a hint of movement in the
entire coliseum. Everyone, including the three central objects of
their attention, stood as if transfixed. Jabari managed a small
smile, easing some of the tension.
“When you were born,” he said, looking at
each of the girls in turn, “you were each given a mark to identify
you on this plane as the progeny of Saraqael. This mark will now be
revealed by your assigned Gloresti, the guardian who has watched
over you on this plane since you were first sent across to live as
humans. The Elphresti will witness this revelation as the governing
Estilorian class. Simon, please turn Ambryl around.”
Gabriel couldn’t prevent himself from tensing
as he watched Amber’s Gloresti reach for her. She hurriedly turned
herself before Simon could actually touch her.
Jabari nodded. “And now, the Gloresti’s kiss
to reveal the mark.”
At that announcement, Gabriel’s eyes closed
in response to the intensity of the energy surge that rushed
through him. His human awareness wanted to vehemently protest such
an act. It took all of his focus to calm himself down and remind
himself that this was simply a ceremony and that Amber needed this
to fully Become. When he again opened his eyes, it was to find
Amber staring at him with mild panic in her eyes as Simon leaned
toward her. Then the Gloresti touched his lips gently to her right
shoulder.
And nothing happened.
Amber held Gabriel’s gaze as she felt Simon’s
lips touch her shoulder. She was so intensely relieved that Simon
wasn’t kissing her on the lips that she could barely breathe. She
might just have had to punch him and tell them all that they could
take their ceremony and—well, she supposed that was irrelevant now.
As she had at one time earlier in the ceremony, she watched
Gabriel’s eyes flash to a dark blue. Once Simon kissed her and
stepped back, Gabriel’s eyes eased back to their human blue-gray.
It was quite fascinating.
Then she became aware of the murmurs. When
she saw Gabriel’s brow wrinkle in puzzlement, she glanced over her
right shoulder and caught Simon’s eye. He was obviously confused.
She tried to look at her own shoulder to figure out what was going
on, but couldn’t see a thing. When Simon turned to look at the
colorfully-dressed ceremony leader, she lifted her gaze to him, as
well.
Jabari raised an eyebrow as he studied her
bare shoulder. Then he looked over her head, across the
stadium.
“Gabriel. Please approach the Elphresti.”
Amber’s head whipped around in alarm. Would
Jabari blame Gabriel because something had gone wrong with this
reveal? If so, what did that mean? Was there something she had done
to cause this? Her heart pounded fiercely.
She watched Gabriel leap easily over the low
stone wall that divided the seats from the center of the stadium.
He didn’t use his wings, and she suspected it was a deliberate
choice on his part. As he got closer, she was able to more clearly
see the physical changes he had undergone. If she had thought he
was “yum yum” before, he was a delectable delicacy now. She could
sense the power in his every movement. It was a heady thing.
He quickly reached the outer edge of the ring
that had been etched into the dirt floor to delineate her boundary.
His gaze remained on her with every step. Unable to resist, she
started moving toward him. She just wanted to touch him. Just one
touch.
Suddenly, he raised one hand, his eyes
flashing dark blue. She came to an abrupt halt as she heard a sound
of surprised pain behind her. When she glanced around, she saw
Simon stumbling back awkwardly and clutching his chest, as if
Gabriel had physically shoved him. Simon had obviously been
reaching out to stop her.
“She doesn’t like to be touched,” Gabriel
said in a hard voice.
She realized he still had his southern
accent. For some reason, even in light of the stressful situation,
that made her smile. While she was considering all this, Simon
bowed his head in response to Gabriel’s comment. She turned back to
Gabriel and watched his eyes fade back to blue-gray. He caught her
gaze.
“I’ll be right back,” he said softly. She
nodded.
Then she watched him walk over to Jabari and
fought the urge to join him as a show of support. When Jabari
indicated as much, Gabriel came to a halt. She guessed this wasn’t
meant to be a private conversation, as Gabriel was somewhere
between the ring in which she stood and the position of the
Elphresti elder.
After a moment of heavy silence, Jabari
spoke. “Gabriel, are you avowed to Ambryl?”
Avowed?
Her brows drew together in thought as she
heard gasps and murmurs around the stadium. She ran her thumb over
the ring on her left hand. The phrase was obviously foreign to her,
but she sensed its import. This had to be the reason that Simon
hadn’t been able to make the mark appear on her shoulder. The
ineffective kiss and the fact that their rings—for she had seen
Gabriel’s on his finger—had survived the transition between the
planes must be of great significance.
She could see Gabriel considering his
response to the question. Then he turned and caught her gaze.
She nodded at him.
He smiled and turned back around. “I am.”
Noise swelled at his response.
“And this obviously occurred on the human
plane,” Jabari said when the crowd again quieted.
“It did.”
Jabari’s gaze moved from Gabriel to Amber and
back again. “I am assuming because your Estilorian self was
suppressed at the time that the exchange of vows occurred before
you understood their significance?”
“That’s true,” Gabriel responded
matter-of-factly. “But even now that I have again assumed my
Estilorian form, my vows remain true.”
There was more buzzing from the crowd.
Amber’s gaze shifted around the coliseum’s seats. It may have been
her imagination, but it sure felt like everyone was looking at her.
The sensation was highly disconcerting.
Jabari turned briefly to consult with the
group of Elphresti behind him. Then he turned back around and
looked at Amber. “And do you, Ambryl, understand what it means to
be avowed to Gabriel?”
Pushing aside her hatred of being the focus
of attention, she forced herself to think about what needed to be
done if she was to remain with Gabriel. She stepped to the edge of
her circle. “May I move forward to address you?” she asked.
“Of course.”
Deeply relieved, she left the circle and
walked to Gabriel’s side. She noted that he had gained a couple
more inches on her and she had to look farther up to catch his
gaze. Although they couldn’t read each other’s thoughts, the love
in his eyes was clear. Because she knew she wouldn’t want to stop
touching him once she started, she refrained from reaching out to
grab his hand as she so wanted to. Instead, she stood inches from
him and faced the Elphresti.
“First, while I have your attention, I would
like it known to everyone here that I prefer to be addressed as
Amber, out of respect to my mother and the life I left behind to
come here.”
Without so much as a blink, Jabari said,
“That is no problem, Amber. Henceforth, you shall be addressed as
such. And now, in answer to my question?”
She turned to face Gabriel, but spoke loud
enough for her voice to carry. “I can only assume by everyone’s
reaction to the term ‘avowed’ that it bears great weight among
Estilorians. The vows Gabriel and I exchanged were private…intended
only for each other. But they were sincere and spoken from the
heart. I’ll repeat them here and now if that’s what it takes to
remain by his side.”
She held out her left hand. Gabriel’s
delightful eyes caught the light as he held out his. They wove
their fingers together. She nodded at him. At the same time, they
said, “I love you now and always will. You’re my best friend and I
have complete faith in you. I wear this ring as a symbol of my love
and unbreakable commitment to you.”
And when the rings began to glow, they leaned
forward to kiss and seal the vow.
The universe could have imploded then and
Amber wouldn’t have noticed. The past couple of days had been the
longest she had been apart from Gabriel since they first met, and
they had been by far the most stressful. As soon as her lips
touched his, it was as if everything was suddenly all right.
His taste filled her. The feel of him, both
familiar and foreign, felt perfect against her. His hands moved to
cradle her, making her understand without words that she was loved,
cherished and under his protection.
A quick sear of pain slid across her right
shoulder and along the outside edges of her eyes, like she had been
branded. She inhaled sharply. Almost immediately thereafter, he
tensed against her in a similar manner. They didn’t pull apart.
Although she had never been romantic or at all sentimental, she
wanted nothing more than to engulf herself in the essence of him
for all the days to come.
And then her mind was filled with thoughts
and sensations that were not her own.
Thank God. I’ve missed you so much. I love
you, Amber.
She could have wept when she realized she
could hear his thoughts again at last. Instead, she briefly came to
her senses and broke away from his kiss, pulling back to look into
his beautiful eyes.
I love you, Gabriel.
His face reflected surprise as he also
realized the connection had been reestablished. Then he
grinned.
You’re wrapped around me
, he thought
with a laughing gleam in his eye.
Now her eyes widened and she looked at
herself. He wasn’t lying. With a flood of embarrassment, she
started to put some space between them. He wouldn’t let her.
Instead, he held her still beside him for a moment and looked into
her eyes.
We have much ahead of us. But we’ll face it
together.
The silent words calmed her down as nothing
else could. She nodded firmly in agreement. When he deliberately
turned her so that she faced the center of the stadium and her back
was to the Elphresti, she didn’t resist. She trusted him
implicitly.
His voice rang out across the silent stadium.
“Amber bears the mark of her father, Saraqael. It falls to you,
Jabari, to acknowledge the mark on behalf of the Elphresti and the
Estilorian people.”
Jabari’s magnificent black wings suddenly
emerged, and he lifted out of his place in the seats to land
quietly beside Amber. She kept her eyes on him and realized that he
didn’t make her nervous or uncomfortable. She sensed that Gabriel
considered him a friend, and that allowed her to relax. When he
gave her a subtle wink as he approached, she hid a smile. This was
someone she would consider a friend.
The Elphresti approached her and glanced at
her shoulder. Then he turned and looked at Gabriel’s right arm. He
nodded.
“Let it be known that the Estilorian known as
Amber now bears the mark of her father, Saraqael, as well as that
of her avowed, Gabriel. And he also bears her mark.”
Amber realized that the pain in her shoulder
and around her eyes during the kiss had been the making of her
mark. She gave a quick glance over her shoulder and saw an
indistinguishable glimmer of burnished gold and blue-gray.
Realizing that only a mirror would allow her to see the parts of
her body that now bore the imprints of her pairing with Gabriel,
she turned to him. He held his right arm toward her so she could
see his bicep. Now inscribed there was a star-like pattern, very
similar to what she had seen on the outer edge of her eyes. It was
a four-pointed gold star, like a ball with thin, diamond-edged tips
at four points. Surrounding the star on Gabriel’s arm were
flickering, blue-gray flames.
To her, it was utterly beautiful and
perfect.
And so are you
, she heard.
Startled, she looked at him. Then she
realized he had read her thoughts. She laughed, not caring that it
was the only sound in the silent coliseum and that all eyes were
entirely focused on them. She had Gabriel now.
Before Jabari spoke again, Gabriel took
Amber’s arm and pulled her gently in the direction of the circle
she had abandoned. Simon stood there still, watching
uncomplainingly and without expression. She suddenly realized how
the Gloresti who had protected her must feel, having failed to
invoke the mark he had spent nearly two decades waiting to bring
forth. Guilt flooded her.