Secret Worlds (310 page)

It’s
never
the right time with you.

He turned and stared coldly at me. I stuck my tongue out at him with my arms crossed over my chest. I didn’t even try to hold back my anger and hurt over the way he was acting toward me. He shook his head and turned around slowly.

“Just give me a reason, Marren,” I said in as calm of a voice as I could muster.

Enid and Raden glanced behind them. They turned forward and kept on walking, following a gesture from Marren. His eyes fell on me with a chill that froze me in place. I tried to force away the pain his look brought and only focused on the anger.

“Now is not the time to talk about it. Wait, please?”

“You made me believe in a love that didn’t exist in this world for anyone else. And here you are turning your back against me, like everyone else in this pathetic, miserable excuse for an existence.” I spoke low, stressing every single syllable. “You want time to sort out your thoughts? Fine by me, but I can’t guarantee that I will be willing to accept you back.”

I stepped forward, moving past him as he said, “Relena.”

I ignored him.

“Relena, wait.” He grabbed my arm and forced me to turn around. I glared at him. “Why do you take my mood personally? I’m not trying to avoid you, and I’m not meaning to be cold to you. Why are you reacting this way?”

“Now
you’re
the one that’s blind,” I said then stomped off.

We moved to a path that curved between mountain peaks and led to the mouth of a massive cave. The width appeared as though it could span that of a dragon—wings spread wide—had they still existed on the mortal realm. The cold in the wind this high up forced me to wrap my arms around myself. I shrugged off any attempt by Marren to try to warm me. Danst, Enid, and Raden walked along the left wall of the cave toward the darkest part.

“Better be moving along soon, the both of ye,” Raden called behind him. His image was swallowed in the liquid like blackness, promptly taking Enid’s form as well. Danst had gone before.

I leaned against the wall of the cave and waited for the remainder of the day to disappear.

“Are you going to ignore me forever?” Marren asked.

I had been ignoring him. Every attempt to speak to me in my head and every slight effort he made to touch me. I stared at him coldly. “You made me believe I did something wrong. Ever since last night, you have been cold and distant.”

A thought occurred to me, giving me an idea on why Marren was so distant. “Is the reason because I won’t give you the traditional ceremony you want?”

“What? No. That’s not it at all.”

“Then why are you acting this way?”

“I’ve been trying to tell you nothing is wrong, but you won’t accept that. You’re convinced I’m avoiding you.”

“Then answer me this, why won’t you touch me? Why won’t you kiss me or even look at me? You’ve been avoiding my gaze this entire day and trying to avoid talking about whatever is bothering you.”

“You must wait until I can sort out my thoughts, okay?”

“No, it’s not okay.”

“Relena, please…”

“I’m not convinced I’ve done nothing. You’re standing too far away from me even now.”

“I can’t. Please. I can’t…” A desperate, trying emotion came from him.

“If I’ve done nothing, why not touch me or look at me…or even talk to me?” I asked, no longer able to force the pain in my heart away. Tears blurred my vision and ran down my cheeks.

“Because I can’t focus when you’re near, and I needed to be able to make sure no one followed us. I needed to be able to ensure I got you here safe!”

I realized that was only part of the reason, but I bought it still. My anger dissipated along with the resolve I had clung to.

“You could’ve told me that in the first place instead of making me believe I had become diseased and withered.” The pain of changing crept in, and I started to shake, hurting as much as the first time, and I feared this time would be the same.

“Don’t fight it, you’ll make the pain worse.” Marren’s voice flowed over me in a slurred wave of liquid air. I only barely heard a word and understood even less as the cramping intensified.

The pain had grown so intense my knees gave out, forcing me to the ground. I lay on the floor of the cave and endured wave after wave of the same horrific pain I had gone through on the first night. I kept thinking of the words:
The pain becomes less each time
, but that didn’t seem to work. I was just as raw and reduced to nothing until it subsided in its own time.

“Now what?” I panted as a peacefulness washed over me. The torture of changing ebbed farther away.

“We cross over.”

He helped me to stand and then let go of me so I could walk on my own.

“Still convinced I’m going to get us killed, huh?” I asked sourly.

“Stop, Relena.”

“Perfect, I get to cross over as a thorn in your side,” I muttered under my breath and crossed my arms over my chest.

Marren grabbed my arm and pulled me into him, pushing his lips into mine so fiercely I tasted blood. He wrapped his arms tighter around me as if he tried to merge our bodies together.

I can’t touch you like I want, and I can’t kiss you like I want. I can’t be with you like I want, and I can’t for reasons I can’t explain right now. But I will, I promise. Just not right now. I’m not sure how much you are receptive to yet. Let’s get crossed over first, okay?

I couldn’t think to answer, so consumed by his kiss. So overwhelmed with the fierceness and the way he rushed, making it hard to keep up. The emotions he pushed through me—the extreme passion and desire that overrode my own—filled me to the brim and the sadness he experienced because of something preventing him from being able to let go and give in.

I’m yours completely, no matter what. I wish you’d understand that. You should know by now you shouldn’t be afraid of telling me anything. You shouldn’t keep yourself away from me either. All you need to do is tell me you can’t and stay by my side. Otherwise, it hurts.
A stray tear fell down my cheek, mingling with our lips. Adding salt to the blood and not enough to get us to stop.

He pulled away staring deep into my eyes. I felt his gaze deep in my soul—even with the little light that was left. He reached down and wrapped his arm around my legs and lifted me into his arms. I wrapped mine around his neck and rested my head on his shoulder as he stepped into the black ink filled chasm, toward the world mortals could never see.

The blackness was thick and soft and just as liquid as it appeared. Marren’s steps remained sure. The liquid didn’t even make us wet. With the fading of the rushing water that had filled my ears as soon as he walked through, a new sound took its place. The sound of a forest, awakened and moving, just like on the mortal realm. With birds singing, flapping wings, hooting of animals in the distance, and a shallow sound of a waterfall close by.

I held onto Marren as he stopped outside of the cave mirroring the entrance on the other side. Although on this side of the entrance, figures depicting all the Ancients stood guard to protect the magic this realm offered.

Everything appeared as it was on the mortal realm with only a few differences. This place was wild and free. Lacking in the control of human hands that governed where trees would grow and where houses would sit.

Marren lowered my legs to let me stand on my own, keeping a hold of my hand. I stared in awe at everything lined in a bluish-green glow and much brighter than the mortal realm’s auras. Even the stars burned brighter and the moon more brilliant.

Sounds of strange birds filled the night air as unseen creatures skirted in between the trees. Upon the mountains around us were a few glowing lights of fires. Even the scent of the forest was thick with a sweet and heady bouquet carrying on a slight breeze.

“What do you think?” Marren asked, bringing my hand to his lips for a kiss.

“No words can describe what I think.”

He chuckled under his breath.

“Come on, the others are waiting for us. See them? Up the road ahead?” He pointed ahead of us.

I peered down the road finding a small group of huddled figures. They waited for us to join them with aura’s faintly lined in bluish-green. I nodded. Marren pulled me behind him while I took in everything surrounding me, overcome with the magnificence and beauty.

“Follow me and stay close. We will likely bump into some unpleasant things on the way to our home.”

I clung to him tightly as we walked slowly. The path ended abruptly as small tendrils of dirt fingered into the line of trees that stopped the path from going farther. Marren stepped through, pulling on my hand, but I didn’t move. He glanced over his shoulder. His eyes were full of worry.
What is wrong?

The path just…ends?

He let out a chuckle, forcing my heart to dance. “This is for our protection, in case someone manages to get through.”

“I thought it was impossible for a mortal to get through?”

“Mortals aren’t the only thing we need to worry about here. Besides, it would be really hard for a mortal to pass through the crossover without getting lost. It can be a very disorienting experience. The last thing we want is for someone to happen upon our world and go off telling others.”

He turned to face me, his dark hair falling along his shoulders. His dark skin shone silvery in the moon’s light. But his face, the wolf part, was increasingly shadowed. His eyes beckoned me, and his excitement and elation to be home filled me.

Such unreasonable anxieties I had. I was one of them, not some mortal who happened to glimpse the world not meant for them. I smiled, the sharp points of my teeth biting into my lip slightly and uprooted my feet from the ground they seemed attached to as I walked through the boundary of trees.

***

We walked for what seemed like hours. I paused to stare at strange flowers and inhaled their perfumes, some of which Marren had stopped me from doing, saying something to the effect of being killed by the poisonous fumes or getting a festering wound from a thorn.

“You need to teach me about your world and its secrets before I roam into a dragon-occupied cave and find myself eaten.”

“That would be extremely hard to do.” There was a chuckle he tried to hide in his words. “Dragons no longer exist, even in our realm.”

“Oh, how sad.”

“That’s a consequence of what we had to endure before the move here.”

Our conversation ended as a part in the trees opened up to a clearing. As we continued through, I noticed a number of paths led up to a set of stairs, one for each path, which rose to a large round pavilion. The pillars gleamed in the moonlight, topped by another band of stone, round and hollow in the center. On the platform, a round table carved from the same stone stood in the middle, followed the same design. I imagined what its use was for. Surrounding the table were chairs, carved from the ground up. Each had a unique design and was extremely intricate.

“Dwarven craftsmanship, lass. Finest in this or any other realm!” Raden’s voice boomed through the clearing, over the trees and bounced against the mountains and then returned to us.

“Indeed, the most impressive detail I’ve seen yet,” I agreed.

“Or ever will,” he added.

“This is the meeting stone,” Marren said, drawing my attention to him, “built by the Ancients—not just the Dwarves—though you can clearly tell who had a hand in what.”

He moved around the table to a chair with the depiction of a tree sprouting from the stone. Its trunk bent to make a seat and two branches reached out to form the arms. At the head of the seat, the top of the tree, rose a full moon, cresting over the leaves. Unlike the carvings in the marble palace I had come to call home, this one didn’t move. I frowned.

“Do you not like it?”

My eyes met his, filled with concern mixed with worry that thickened his voice. I said, “I love it. I thought the carvings would move like those on the mortal realm.”

He smiled. “Is that all?”

I nodded.

He pulled me into him and planted a kiss on my forehead. “This is the only place where magic can run free and do as it wishes. The carvings you saw back on the mortal realm are only mere enchantments to impress you and introduce you to my world. Here, those things aren’t needed.”

A snapping sound, like a branch being broken off a tree, sounded through the silence. Marren’s head snapped up. Everyone surrounded me. Below, at the base of a set of stairs in front of us, dark shadows shifted like liquid tar with a pale glowing line. Marren’s grip on me tightened. A growl filled his throat.

Panic filled me. I stepped behind Marren and searched the blackness, seeing too many things darting in and out, the thin lines of their auras blending together to form an unrecognizable moving mass.

Marren?

Stay behind me.

What is going on?

Stay. Behind. Me.

I clung to him, wrapping my arms around his torso and peeking around his shoulder at what seemed like a large group of dwarves. A blurring line of movement went beyond the group, drawing my attention as the lines skirted and moved with shadows dipping behind trees and thick bushes.

“The girl is going to come with us. Don’t be brash, Marren,” a deep voice spoke from within the crowd. Marren growled at the threat of taking me.

“You’ll come through me to get her,” Marren snapped.

A sharp point pricked the small of my back, forcing me to suck in a breath of surprise.
Marren—

“Act like you’re going to do anything but walk down those stairs, I’ll run you through.” A woman’s voice, thickly accented and rough, with hard consonants and rounded vowels held enough warning and promise to make me listen.

Marren’s body stiffened like the trunk of a tree. My heart drummed harder, trying to escape its cage. I started to turn around to see who stood behind me when something slammed into my head, everything went black.

The smell was awful. The dank sweet odor of something rotting mixed with piss, feces, and death. Every movement caused my stomach to clench. I opened my eyes to constant black. I had no way of telling how much time had passed since being knocked out. Something seemed out of balance, like the floor I lay on was slanted, yet solid enough.