Dreams of the Forgotten (4 page)

When we walked into the kitchen, Marjan was cooking breakfast. Jory sliced potatoes and Stan lingered over the coffee machine for the black gold to fill the waiting pot. The only coffee I experienced nowadays was what I licked off of Ushna's lips. He, Nathan, and the Goddess Uttu watched me like hawks. I couldn't sneak a sip of java without some lectures and looks of disappointment.

I kissed Marjan lightly on her cheek. She was the wife of Hakim, the priest of Shamash, who'd moved his family from their home in Kuwait when his patron God told him his prince had need of him. So he'd packed up Marjan, and their young son Atash, and moved them thousands of miles in search of his Xenres. They were finally getting settled in and acclimated to my tribe and the United States. Marjan had only recently felt comfortable enough to start dressing more casually, discarding her Burka in exchange for a simple a traditional Tudung head scarf.

I couldn't care less what Marjan wore. She was golden in my eyes. She'd come to my aid at a time when I needed some relief and had become the mistress of the kitchen. Cooking meals might seem like a trivial thing to most outsiders, but she'd been feeding all of the guards, who started out at a count of fourteen, and quickly grew to over one hundred in a few short months.

In addition, ever since I had become pregnant, the aroma of certain foods would send me sick to the bathroom. She'd quickly learned what I couldn't endure and took those foods out of the house. I was officially spoiled because her food was out of this world.

She fondly patted my cheek before turning back to the stove and the quartet of burners she was overseeing. Ushna grabbed ice out of the freezer for his nose. His face was bruising quickly. Stan and Jory had discarded their leather jackets, hanging them over the kitchen chairs. Gregori was as far away from them as he could get, and interestingly, Juan stood close to Gregori, rubbing the small of his back and whispering into his ear. Stan watched the two of them out of the corner of his eye, pretending to wait for the coffee to brew, hands fisted on the countertop. The air was thick with tension, a virtual powder keg poised to explode.

The back door opened, the brisk predawn air flooding the kitchen as my brother, Nathan, followed by Corey, walked in. Nathan appeared as if he'd jumped out of bed. He had on shorts and a T-shirt, his brown hair sporadically sticking straight up. He set his black bag on to the table. Corey stood at post by the back door, arms crossed over his chest, scowling as he kept an eye on everyone.

Nathan pointed to one of the kitchen chairs. Ushna immediately stood next to me holding a bag of ice to his face. I took his hand and pulled him down onto the seat next to me. Nathan flashed an annoying light in my gaze and then withdrew a pressure cuff from the bag. He glanced at Ushna's nose and bruised eyes.

"Someone want to tell me what happened?" "Stan and Jory wanted to surprise us and tackled us on the bed." I sensed the low, almost inaudible grumble from Ushna. I quickly added, "They didn't know," when Nathan shot me a look of shock. "Ushna covered me in time and I wasn't hurt."
"And Ushna's nose?" Nathan prompted.
"The guys decided that this morning was a good time for a brawl," I said snarkily.
Gregori sat down next to Ushna and snorted. Stan, then Jory, took a seat across the table from us and stared as Nathan measured my blood pressure, listened to my heart and then to my stomach. Stan scowled and Jory's brows climbed into his hairline.
"What's going on?" Stan asked as he started to look me over.
"Your blood pressure is slightly elevated. I'd like to do a sonogram. It's just a precaution," Nathan said.
Marjan started setting platters of food on the table while Nathan placed everything back in his medical bag. He glared at Stan and Jory, and knowing Nathan, he had more questions but he held his tongue.
Nathan had set up a practice in town but we'd also built and equipped an office here on the ranch. Not too long ago, I made trips into Clearwater without using the
ring of illusion
Gregori had gifted me. But in the last couple of weeks, my stomach had taken on a life of its own, and I had the look of someone six months pregnant. If I kept this up I'd be the size of a small barn by the end of my four months.
My brother was concerned over the development but I didn't believe there was anything to worry about. My bones still hurt along with the joints in my hips, back, and knees. I continued to get nauseous sometimes and I had the appetite of a linebacker for some of the strangest food combinations. Maybe I
wouldn't
instinctually know if something was wrong. There wasn't a book on male pregnancy or anyone I could talk to about what to expect. So we were left guessing.
Marjan finished setting the table, leaned over and kissed my forehead, then Ushna's and Gregori's. She reminded me of my mother, Rose, who'd died long ago in a car accident with my father, Ramsey. I glanced at my older brother, Nathan, and felt a pang of regret. Mother, Father, brother, and sister; I still regarded them as such, even though my birth parents were assassinated when I was born.
"Tristan," Jory said, watching Nathan pack his bag. "What is wrong with you?"
Nathan looked up after he snapped the black bag closed and pinned my friends with a hard stare. "He's pregnant with twins," he explained.
Stan, who'd been taking a sip of coffee, choked, and spit it out… on me. I guess that's one way to get some coffee. Jory slapped Stan on the back, staring at me with wide eyes. Gregori handed a dish towel to me and I cleaned myself off.
"Go ahead, Einstein, call him fat again," Gregori snapped at Jory with a barely controlled sneer.
"What?" exclaimed Nathan. I held my hand up to halt his outburst. It was the least of my worries right now.
Once everything was wiped down, Stan pierced me with a glare. "You'd better start from the beginning."
Ushna gave a low sound of warning and pulled me closer. "Back off, Stan. You've no reason to be pissed off at any of us. I'm tired of the two of you jumping to conclusions before anything's said. At this point, I'm inches away from kicking your asses back to California. If you're going to continue to be combative, we don't need you here."
Stan looked from me to Ushna to Gregori to Nathan. "Don't look at me," Gregori said. "Stay or go, it's your choice. You left before, you'll leave again. I don't care either way."
Jory rubbed at the nape of his neck. "They're right, Stan. We've been
intense
since we arrived. Let's hear what they have to say."
Stan crossed his arms and nodded his head. I started filling my plate and my stomach snarled loud enough for everyone to hear. "This all started back when I broke from Theo Sullivan."
I didn't get any further when Jory snorted and wouldn't meet my gaze. I got a sick feeling in my gut that I knew what his problem was.
"Speak your mind, Jory. I'd like to know what you're thinking."
Jory stared at me accusingly. "You broke with your Twin Flame. Do you know how many of us don't find our Bashert? How we go through our life hoping for something that might not come? Waiting for the one person who'll make us whole, who'll bring us peace and you… you had it all, only to throw him away like trash. Then… then you entice Ushna to your bed. Are you going to toss him away when you've grown tired of him?"
Ushna had begun growling again. As much as I loved it, I'd rather they were sounds of passion and not ones of anger. "Stop, Ushna." I laced my fingers with his. "I asked him to speak his mind. He's concerned for your wellbeing."
"Bullshit." Gregori's voice was icy cold. "He is talking about things he wasn't here to witness. He's taking someone else's opinion and not questioning the validity of it. He's supposed to be our friend, our brother, our family." Gregori stared at Jory with scorn. "He's not even
trying
to hear you out. He wasn't there to see how Theo poisoned your bond through his deception and lies. He wasn't there while Ushna held you in his arms on the council room floor. He didn't have to watch Nathan cut the poison out of your body, or listen to your screams while I tried to separate your soul from Theo's. They weren't there to hear how Theo refused to allow you to claim him. Four fucking years you were together, and he refused you, causing your soul to
merge
with his instead of
entwining
with it. You nearly died and he sits there across the table, vomiting words someone else has fed him, because he didn't have the balls to find out what happened. When did we betray him? They left us without a backward glance."
Silence fell over the room. I ignored Stan's and Jory's pained and confused stares. My breakfast was suddenly tasteless. Regardless, I ate to give them time to digest what Gregori had said. Theo's betrayal wasn't what I liked to think back on. I hated that it still hung over me like a dark cloud.
Taking a napkin and rubbing it over my mouth, I tried to find a place to start. "Ushna offered to be my guardian after The Breaking. No one knew what to expect since there'd never been any survivors."
I watched their faces. Jory stared off into space and Stan seemed to be attempting to put together a puzzle.
"Yet you lived." It was a statement, Stan talking more to himself than to me.
"Yes, because of Ushna. He was able to keep me alive, anchored to this world, and didn't allow me to fade," I replied.
Jory's gaze pulled back from the faraway look only to snort, "Right."
Everyone watched Jory. The animosity was so out of character. Jory was fun loving, always joking and laughing. This attitude was mean, almost cruel. Maybe he'd changed in our time apart but I didn't think so. Something niggled at me but I couldn't put my finger on it. I regarded my friend. He stared off into space again, his hands moving erratically. He rubbed his head, scratching at his chest, and then his hands were back on the table for a split second before he grasped his forehead again.
Prompted by a gut feeling, I leaned over and whispered into Ushna's ear, "Do you smell any strange magic on him?"
Ushna lifted his head slightly; his nostrils flared as he drew in air, slow and steady. His brow wrinkled a little then he got up and went around the table toward Jory. His nose worked through the air and snuffled openly.
Jory tracked Ushna's approach warily. "What?"
He didn't answer but walked up to Jory, taking deeper and deeper breaths.
Jory scraped his chair back from the table, but with two quick steps, Ushna had grasped his arm, inhaling the air around him acutely.
Panic laced Jory's features as he struggled to pull his arm free. "Let me go! What are you doing? I haven't done anything. Stop!"
Corey quickly stepped up and grabbed Jory's other arm, barking out orders that brought four more guards into the kitchen. Captains Juan and Michael came to my side while two warriors secured Stan, who seemed stunned, but he didn't fight the controlling grip placed on him.
Everyone watched Jory as he turned an ugly shade of red and he thrashed between Corey and Ushna. He was panicked but something else moved through him, barely perceptible.
"Jory!" I barked and used
Alpha Bond
for the second time within an hour.
Even though Jory couldn't move, Ushna and Corey didn't release him. Ushna aggressively sniffed Jory about the face, neck, and head.
"There is something here, very subtle. He's been wearing the magic a long time," Ushna said, looking over to Stan speculatively. "Gregori, do you think you can reveal the spell?"
"Tristan," Jory gazed at me with pleading eyes. He trembled, his face flushed, and sweating profusely. "Please."
Stan, who'd been quiet and observant, released a stuttering breath, his body twitched before surging forward toward Jory. He strained against the guards who held him securely. Jory's distress seemed to cause a corresponding reaction in Stan.
Chanting, Gregori placed a hand on our friend's chest. The Magi song faltered and he snatched his hand away from Jory's chest, shaking with a hiss. With renewed determination, Gregori continued singing, grabbing Jory's shoulders with both hands. The air smelled of ozone and rain before Jory screamed. A glowing orangey-red spikey vine had begun to appear. The cord came out of his left ear, wrapped around his head like a spiked crown and trailed down his neck to wrap around his chest before splitting. One sharp cord buried itself in Jory's navel and the other connected Jory to Stan where the thorny creeper wrapped around Stan's chest to disappear into his navel.
"Shit!" Stan swore as he swiped a hand through the cord.
Jory stared with wild eyes, "Get it off! Get it off me!" He was barely this side of hysterical. I couldn't release the
Alpha Bond
because I smelled his terror. If I withdrew the bond, he'd inadvertently harm himself or someone else.
"You need to calm down, Jory." I used
Voice Command,
hoping to break into his rising hysteria. He stilled but his eyes hadn't stopped moving, seemingly unable to stay on any one thing for any length of time. "I'll remove the enchantment but I can't do it while you fight me."
He lowered his head, took deep breaths, yipped and whimpered in anguish as he fought to control of himself. "Yes, Tristan… alpha."
I blinked. Ignoring my discomfort at Jory's sudden formality and submission, I ordered everyone outside. To remove the binding spell, I needed to be anchored to the Earth. I waited for everyone to go out the back door of the kitchen and followed last. Outside on the back porch stood my tutelary, the God Ashur. Several weeks ago, he replaced Ki as my guide and teacher.
When he'd first come to me, he had been in his true form. His skin had been a Mediterranean blue. He'd had no navel, nipples, or body hair. What passed for hair on his head had been red fleshy tentacles. His feet were three toed and clawed. On his back he'd had the most beautiful set of black-tipped, bronze wings. He'd appeared both foreign and beautiful.
I wasn't sure what Ashur was the God of. I didn't believe Ashur was actually his full name. But I did know he was older than Ki, of the second generation of Gods. It made Ashur much older and more primordial than Ki.
With help, Ashur had created a passable identity, which he presented now. He was my height with dreadlocks that hung past his shoulders, dark chocolate skin, and deep onyx eyes. He still had problems choosing his clothes. He wore green plaid golf pants and a turquoise silk shirt.
He watched Stan and Jory as they were escorted to the yard with the vine swaying in between them. He pursed his plump lips before following them.
Compared to the Ki, who was my first tutelary and a manipulative bitch, Ashur was laid-back, and so far, exactly what he seemed. We met for my lessons with him teaching me songs to sing to the Earth along with their purpose. Afterward, he merely… hung out. He loved to watch everything, fascinated with some of the simplest things. He hadn't entered the house, and never made demands. When teaching, he laid out all of my options and allowed me to choose. He explained everything he taught me, at times sounding like an instruction manual. He didn't endeavor to be more than what he was, my teacher.
Ashur circled Stan and Jory, the cord pulsing when Ashur stepped up to it. As the vine moved of its own accord, constricting around both of their chests, the more agitated Jory became and, to a lesser degree, Stan.
I slipped off my shoes and buried my feet in loose soil. The barbs looked painful, but as I tested the magic through the Earth, the spell seemed to take their fears and amplify it in both men.
Ashur glanced from one to the other, reached out, and with a single finger plucked the vine. I watched in bewilderment as in unison they threw their heads back and moaned. Ashur watched them writhe as he ran his hand along the enchanted vine. Gregori took a step toward Stan before halting abruptly, scowling at Ashur.
"The two of you have shared a lover." Ashur brought the spiked vine to his mouth and gently tongued it.
Gregori's face went hard. Glancing away, he turned and walked over to stand with me.
"What?" Stan gasped in pleasure. I felt like a voyeur peaking in on an intimate moment. "No," Stan panted. "Not since college." Even in the crisp morning air, sweat covered his face.
Ashur came to stand next to me. "That is a control enchantment, created with human sex magic."
"Humans have magic? Wait, sex magic is a myth."
"Yes, humans have magic and sex magic is not a myth." Ashur gave me a toothy grin. "What I mean by sex magic is the essence; their semen was combined with the spell master's to bind them to the caster's will. The purpose was to play on and enhance his fears." The God pointed at Jory. "This person had to have known both of them; otherwise, binding the two of them together would have backfired, killing the both of them
and
the caster. He or she would have needed to make sure they were enough alike so when the spell antagonized the one, the other wouldn't resist."
I regarded Stan and Jory, wondering what had happened to cause this. "Can it be safely removed?"
"I will show you how to cast off the binding but the experience will not be pleasant for them."
I shivered, remembering when Ki had pulled off a remnant of a broken binding spell from me a couple of months ago. The string of the spell that had been tugged through me had felt awful and it was nowhere as extensive as this. Unpleasant? What an understatement.