Rapture (Elfin Series) (29 page)

“I am afraid your injuries are beyond my ability to repair,” he said. “I have seen others emerge from the water where you appear to be trying to reach. I can get you to the platform with your assistance.”

She couldn’t find the energy to speak, so made another sound in her throat and moved her head in a form of a nod.

“This will hurt.”

He lifted her. Pain screamed through her body. She squeezed her eyes shut against it. When she again opened her eyes, she realized they were in the water. She must have passed out.

“Thought I might have lost you there,” he said. “Are you ready for placement on the platform?”

Why would he not get on it with her? The thought floated through her head and then faded as insignificant. They had only a couple feet more to go. Extending her right arm toward the platform, she indicated she was ready. He obligingly moved forward. When her hand came into contact with the platform, more tears welled in her eyes. He settled her on it and stepped away.

“Good fortune to you, Luvania,” he said.

She once again thought to ask why he wasn’t accompanying her, but by then she was lifting into the sky.

The trip took an eternity. She lost consciousness more than once. Each time, she saw her rescuer’s face in her mind, though she hadn’t actually glimpsed him during their encounter. Thoughts of him from the past as well as what he had just done for her kept her focused, overriding the brutality she had endured.

She wanted to thank him. Wanted to praise him for giving her hope merely moments after she had given up and decided she was going to die. She wanted to help him as he had helped her. Surely he needed her help if he was living on the mainland and had removed himself from existence for over five decades.

Her delirium grew. Thinking became difficult. But at long last, through vision that was slowly fading to gray, she saw the outline of Central approaching.

She had made it.

The platform eased its way into Central’s loading bay. The darkness of the underground cavern had her blinking to try and focus. It did her no good.

Her brain registered the sounds around her, but couldn’t interpret them. The pain had leeched from her body. She understood then that it had all been for nothing. Her efforts. His efforts. For nothing.

“Holy light!” she heard.

There were other sounds. Other exclamations. People touching her. But she no longer felt anything. She registered only one lingering image.

“Luvania, can you hear me?”

Something flickered in her mind at the echoing voice. Caoilinn.

“Luvania, can you tell us who did this to you?” the Lekwuesti commander asked, her words filled with urgency.

She wanted to tell them. They needed to know. Others would be at risk as she had been. There were dangers beyond any Estilorian’s knowledge lurking on the mainland.

So she struggled to work her strained vocal chords as darkness clouded her mind. There was something important she had to tell them. Wasn’t there?

Then she remembered. The image she had carried with her on the ride to Central. Someone she needed to help.

And with her last breath, she told them.

“
Zachariah
.”

Chapter 1

Being seventeen absolutely sucked.

Tate crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at the grassy ground beneath her booted feet. The response to her request had been exactly what she’d expected, but that didn’t make her any less annoyed. She would be eighteen in about a month, for all holy sake. What difference did a few weeks make?

“You know why I’m saying no, Tate,” her father, Caleb, said in his level tone. “You’re not yet eighteen. Leaving the area of protection around our home would be very unsafe. You can’t bring forth your wings yet.”

She looked up at him, fighting against the instinctive pout that she knew wouldn’t help her cause. “Only because you won’t let me try,” she countered.

He gave her The Look. It was one he had mastered over the years, and she felt her shoulders hunching against it. Huffing out a sigh, she rolled her eyes and said, “Okay, fine. So I’ve tried. But that doesn’t mean I’d be helpless out there. I’d be with Quincy and Sophia, and they won’t be very far outside the area of protection. Don’t you trust Quincy?”

Her father gave her another look, this one telling her that she was losing her touch. “I certainly do trust Quincy. He brought you into this world and he would protect you to his death. Is that what you want?”

She pursed her lips in frustration. He knew she wasn’t going to say yes to that. Refusing to give up, she said, “What I want is for you to trust my ability to defend myself. I’ve been trained to do so since I was old enough to hold a weapon. I know very well that mom only trained for a few months after she transitioned to this plane before she helped you defeat Grolkinei. So I’m curious as to just when you’re going to consider me ready.”

Now, her father’s dark blue eyes seemed to take her measure. Then he acknowledged, “Well played.”

“Thank you.”

“But it doesn’t change my mind.”

“But, Dad—”

“No, Tate. My answer is final.” He reached out and tugged on one of her many bouncy curls—curls that resembled his outside of their coloring. “You offered a sound argument. But the last thing that Quincy and Sophia need is a distraction while they’re outside the area of protection. That would defeat the purpose of their efforts. On top of that, my concern for your safety won’t ease until you’re eighteen, and even then, I’m your father. I love you and I’ll always worry about you.”

Her frown softened at the words, but she still found the disappointment hard to swallow. She knew that she was ready to experience more of the world. How could he not feel the same? “I wouldn’t be a distraction,” she grumbled. “They wouldn’t even know I was there. You’re going to have to learn to trust my abilities at some point, Dad.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’ve lived a much more sheltered life than your mother and your aunts did, Tate. You don’t understand it yet, but you’re a much younger seventeen than they were.” His lips curved into a smile that eased the sting of his words. “When you’re really ready to leave the area of protection, you’ll understand what I’m saying.

“The bottom line is that you might be the oldest of all your siblings by five minutes, but you’re not the oldest of your cousins. Clara Kate and Sophia will experience certain things before you and Tiege do. But that won’t make those experiences any less special for you when it’s your turn. Before you know it, we’ll be taking you and Tiege out for your first attempt at flying.”

At the mention of her twin brother, Tate shifted her gaze to the training paddock. Located within equal walking distance of her family’s home, her Aunt Olivia and Uncle James’ home, and her Aunt Amber and Uncle Gabriel’s home, the paddock was used by all three families. Tiege even now trained with Uncle James in the use of the blessed kamas gifted to him by the elders. The sickle-like weapons gleamed white in the sun as he worked through his weapon forms under their uncle’s careful eye. A number of their siblings and cousins also performed various stages of training with her Uncle Gabriel and Aunt Amber. The younger children were at school and engaged in studies with Aunt Olivia at this time of day.

When she opened her mouth as a thought struck her, her father said, “And no, I won’t let you go even if Tiege is with you.”

Deflated, she now did allow her face to fall into a pout. “Fine,” she huffed. She turned to stride down the slope leading to the paddock, figuring she’d work off her irritation in a contest with her brother.

“Tate.”

She stopped and glanced back at her father. Even if he hadn’t been standing higher on the slope than her, she’d have to look up to meet his gaze. His sculpted Gloresti musculature combined with his height made him a very imposing figure. She had always found that comforting, however. And when he now gave her a knowing look and waved her back up the slope, she felt a layer of her irritation slide away.

Giving up, she walked over to him and let him draw her into a consoling hug. He had never allowed one of his children to walk away on a harsh or angry word. Since she knew she pressed him more than any of her siblings did, she could only appreciate that.

Even if she did think he was being ridiculous and overprotective.

“I’m eager for you to find your wings, too,” he said, the sound of the words a rumble in her ear where it rested against his chest. “You’re my firstborn. I can’t wait for you to experience what it is to fly…to achieve another milestone of your existence. But it’s only a few more weeks.”

More composed now, she pulled away from the hug and caught his gaze. “I know, Dad. You’re just trying to look out for me. And I love you, too.”

This time, when she pulled away and headed toward the training paddock, he let her go.

“How did our babies suddenly get to be approaching their eighteenth birthdays?”

Caleb kept his gaze on his daughter’s retreating figure as his wife, Skye, walked up beside him and took his hand. He watched the sparkling, fluffy, knee-length skirt that Tate wore over her cargo-style pants spring up with every step, just as her multi-colored, beaded curls bounced in their high ponytail. She had the tall and curvy build of a grown female, but many things about her remained achingly young.

In response to his wife’s question, he just shook his head and gave her hand a squeeze, having no answer. It did seem just yesterday that he was a neurotic mass of nerves awaiting the births of Tate and Tiege, and now here the twins were, mere weeks from learning to fly. The time had passed much too quickly, even for a being who didn’t physically age.

Tate, in particular, was growing up more quickly than he could handle. As his firstborn child, she certainly held a special place in his heart. And her free, uninhibited spirit so resembled her mother’s that he couldn’t help but love her all the more for it. But she worried him, too. Where her twin was content to follow the rules, she consistently bent them.

“I had the dream again.”

Now he looked down at Skye. Her light blue gaze was centered on the paddock. As usual, she wore her long, softly curling brown hair down, and it caught in the breeze, allowing the sunlight to reflect on its beautiful red and gold highlights. Her fitted, knee-length sundress formed a swirl of rainbow-bright hues centered right over her round belly. Their next set of twins was due in about two months. Unlike her sisters, Skye was prone to multiple births. This would be their third set of twins.

I know
, he thought, taking advantage of their ability to share thoughts as an avowed couple.
I had the same dream
.

Tate asked you if she could go with Quincy and Sophia, didn’t she?
Skye thought.

He nodded. “I told her no, of course,” he said.

“And we’ll keep an eye on her tomorrow?”

“Of course. As always.”

Such concern when expressed by other parents might have seemed overprotective, he supposed, watching Tate join Tiege’s training session. Her blessed nunchucks whirled and winked in the light as the twins sparred.

But then, most parents didn’t dream of the future.

The dream he shared with Skye had been recurring more and more regularly ever since their niece, Clara Kate, transitioned to the human plane a couple of months ago. In the dream, Tate was alone and outside the area of protection that surrounded their homeland. An unseen attacker took her off-guard, grasping her in a brutal grip and disorienting her. When she finally realized what was happening, her terror was devastating.

But it was the end of the dream that caused Caleb to wake up in a cold sweat with an agonized cry in his throat. It had his normally positive and cheerful wife looking sad and worried. And it served as the reason why they absolutely couldn’t let Tate have her way when it came to her request to venture out with Quincy and Sophia.

For they had both foreseen their firstborn daughter’s death.

Please enjoy this Excerpt from

The Ve
ssel
book 2 in the White Aura Series

by Felecia Tatum

Scott

Livvie had been missing for two months and twelve days. I’d never even heard her scream when she was taken. I’d flown down the stairs to find her gone. I was with her less than 24 hours and lost her. I’d been searching ever since. And her parents…I still didn’t know what happened with them. The whole house was a disaster area and there was no sign of them. It could have been a burglary, or a bad business deal, or someone from the magical world. Grandma was looking for clues that led to one or the other, but she kept coming up short. Something very strange was going on with the whole situation.

I enlisted Juniper and Mark to help me. My whole family were doing all they could. Juniper was a huge asset with her newfound powers.  She knew Livvie better than any of us, and having her heightened senses was going to be wonderful if we ever got a lead on her whereabouts.

All of us were on edge. We couldn’t figure out who would take her. The Crimson Calamitous was injured so badly he wouldn’t be hurting anyone any time soon. So either he was working with someone before, or there was another enemy after us.