The Stone Prince (31 page)

He watched the amulet sink, slowly at first, then disappearing altogether in the depths. Silence stretched for a long while. Neither he nor Heather moved away.

“Thank you for coming with me,” he told her softly. “I just wish you could have known her.”

“I knew the most important thing about her. She loved you.”

“Aye, she did. She truly did, and yet I am responsible for her death.”

Heather’s fingers tightened around him.

“I could take you back to your world if you wished.” His gaze never left the water. He didn’t want to face her yet, for fear of what he’d see in her eyes.

She answered without hesitation. “I want to stay here with you…if you’ll have me.”

The viselike grip clamping around his muscles eased. He turned his chin to stare at her in wonder, awe and happiness. “I am glad, so glad. I do not think I could survive without you.”

She gave him a half smile. “You’re stronger than you think, Percen. We both are.”

He took her face in his hands, loving the feel of her skin. “I have to go back for a little while. I cannot tamper with Imperia’s time, for the magic here will not allow what has happened to be undone. But I
can
manipulate another world’s time within a season of my last departure. While that will not save my mother,” he whispered sadly, “it will allow me to do something for her.” He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against Heather’s. “I must try and right the wrong I have caused Katie and Jorlan.”

“I know, and I’ll be here, awaiting your return.”

He placed a soft kiss upon her lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Behind them, Imperia’s three suns finally descended.

K
ATIE WHIPPED
her truck into her driveway. Two weeks had passed since Jorlan had returned to stone. Two miserable, horrible, wretched weeks! She’d been racked with grief every day, grief that only grew, never lessened.

Gray called her every morning. The first week, he’d been in shock from what he’d seen. But he and Steve had agreed not to speak of the things that had happened. Who would have believed them, anyway? Now Gray and the rest of her family simply wanted to know how she was doing.

How was she doing?

Horribly.

She wanted Jorlan back in her life, in her arms and in her bed. He was her husband, after all. How could
she have ever been so stupid as to think she didn’t love him? So stupid to think he didn’t love her? She’d invaded every library and Internet resource she knew, but hadn’t even found a cross-reference to a stone spell.

Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she rested her head against the steering wheel. The future looked so bleak and pale without him. What was she going to do?

What was she going to do?

What if she never found a way…No, she couldn’t allow herself to think like that. She
would
find a way to save Jorlan; she had to believe that. Determined, she wiped her tears away with trembling fingers and emerged from her truck. She strode inside her house. Fighting great waves of depression, she tossed her jacket on the floor and went into the kitchen.

Without Jorlan beside her, everything just seemed
wrong.
Like her soul wasn’t complete. She sniffled, dangerously close to tears again. Pressing her lips tightly shut, she went into the living room and flipped on the television. She squeezed her eyes closed and tried to clear her mind. She hadn’t slept at all in the past weeks and soon felt herself drift away into fitful oblivion.

A few hours later, she awoke to a man standing over her.

Percen.

She jolted up, fury pounding through her. “You!”

She lunged at him, intent on killing him for all the things he’d done to Jorlan.

He didn’t try to fight back, just let her beat at him, as if he knew he deserved every punch, scratch and kick.

Finally, her strength deserted her and she collapsed on the couch.

Percen remained in front of her, though he watched her cautiously. “I’ve come to help you,” he said.

“Why should I believe you?” she snapped, but hope was a silly thing and was already unfurling inside her.

“You shouldn’t,” he answered simply. “All you can do is allow me a chance.”

“Can you free him?”

He hesitated only a moment. “Nay. I cannot. I created the spell so that not even I could undo it.”

Her shoulders slumped. What good was he to her if he could not grant her fondest desire? “Get out of my house, Percen. I don’t want you here.”

“What I can do, however, is teach
you
the stone spell.”

He could teach her the…Katie sat up straighter. Yes. Yes! Why hadn’t she thought of that before? If she turned herself to stone, she could be beside Jorlan forever. She didn’t have to think about her answer. “Yes. Teach me the spell.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Damn you, yes!”

“Then you will need this.” He placed a small blue stone in her palm.

Warmth tingled up her arm, and power hummed at each of her fingertips.

“Come,” Percen said. “I would like to see him.” Together they walked to Jorlan’s statue.

Each time she saw him, Katie was filled with love and tenderness and desperation for this man she had so long denied.

Percen stood, gazing at his brother. “Why did I not release my anger sooner?” His deep baritone dripped with longing and pain. “Why?”

What a pair they made, Katie thought. Jorlan’s brother unable to let go of the past. She, unable to grasp the future. “We all have our reasons for doing the things that we do. We can only learn from them, and go on.”

“Heather says the same.” Percen sighed, the sound an echo of his inner torment.

Lord, in her grief, she had all but forgotten Heather. “So Heather is well?”

“Aye. I have made her my life-mate, much to the distress of the Druinn. But I am High Priest, and they can do nothing to usurp my law.” His gaze skidded away. “I—I am sorry for all the pain I caused you, Katie. So sorry.”

She thought about all the things she could have said just then.
I hate you for what you’ve done. I hope you feel as much pain as I do.
But she realized that she truly didn’t want to say those things. She couldn’t. It took only one look at Percen’s blue eyes, eyes so much like Jorlan’s, to see that he suffered, too. She took in a deep breath and sighed. “You are…forgiven. I have to forgive you,” she rushed on, before she stopped herself. “This is my fault as much as yours. Had I not been so stubborn, so selfish, Jorlan would never have returned to stone.”

A look of disbelief sprang into Percen’s eyes. “You truly forgive me?”

“I think even Jorlan has forgiven you,” she added. “The grudge you bore each other brought you nothing but pain.”

Percen all but sobbed, “Nay. It brought us love, as well.”

For a long moment, the only sound was birds chirping nearby. Katie didn’t think she could respond to such a statement. Her love for Jorlan was killing her.

As if it hurt to look at her, Percen moved his gaze to the fading sunset, and said, “I have freed Mon Craig. If you decide not to utter the spell, and wish to visit Imperia, go to him and he will take you.”

Her lips trembled, and she managed a nod.

“Jorlan can hear us, do you know that?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I know.”

“I want him to know who killed his father. ’Tis my gift to him, though I know it can never make up for what I have done.” He faced the statue. “It was…it was our mother. Do not blame her though,” Percen rushed to add. “The king asked her to do it. He hated being old while she was so young.”

The knowledge shocked Katie, and she knew it had shocked Jorlan, as well. “How do you know this?” she asked.

“I divined the truth the same day ’twas done.” Percen paused, sucked in a breath, as if to bury the past. Unable to talk about it any longer, he said, “And now, my gift to you. Are you ready to learn the spell, Katie?”

She didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”

“Know first, that if you do this, you will be trapped inside, unable to respond. Nothing, not even a kiss, will set you free.”

“I understand.” She curled her fingers more tightly around the jewel she held, suddenly recalling the first psychic she and Jorlan had visited.
You have the power within yourself to go home.
Home was with Jorlan, and
Katie would use every ounce of power she possessed to be with him. Even as stone.

Percen conjured a yellowed tome and handed it to her. “As you hold the stone, say these words…my sister, and know that I am eternally grateful for your forgiveness.” With that, he disappeared.

Katie spent the next hour tying up the loose ends of her affairs. She wrote a letter to the bank, telling them to give the deed to the Victorian to Frances. She wrote a letter to each of her brothers, explaining how much she loved them and expected them to always follow their hearts. Last, she wrote a letter to her dad. It was the hardest to write, and she often had to pause to wipe away her tears. When she finished, she signed, “Love, your sixth son.”

She left the letters on the table, knowing her brothers would search for her in a day or two. She just prayed they would understand.

With nothing left to do, she placed herself next to Jorlan, wrapped one hand around his and held the azure-colored jewel in the other. She was about to give up her freedom, her family, and her life, but oh, she was gaining so much more in return. If she couldn’t have a life with Jorlan, she would spend eternity beside him. After a deep breath, she began to utter the spell. Seconds later, she thought she felt the breeze kick up. She even saw a few leaves drop to the ground. But nothing happened to her.

She uttered the spell again. Still, nothing. She was as flesh-and-blood as always. Realizing she didn’t have the power to make it work, she leaned against Jorlan’s arm, closed her eyes and began to cry. Not a sob
bing, gushing cry, but a salty trickle that flowed slowly down her cheeks. God, she missed Jorlan so much.

Katie’s palm began to burn. The jewel burned like debris from a spewing volcano. She felt something shift beside her. Then…nothing. “I love you, Jorlan,” she said, because it seemed there was nothing else to say. The spell hadn’t worked.

“Ah,
katya,
” a male voice said, rich with promise, “I will never tire of hearing your confession.”

Shocked, she jerked her head to stare at the man standing beside her, at the bronzed skin she loved and had missed so much.

Jorlan stood, smiling down at her. Lord, he was here and real and with her. Truly with her. Now tears of joy and hope and love slid down her cheeks in the torrent she denied herself before. She became a blubbering slob and she didn’t care.

Jorlan held her through it all, and brushed away her tears. “It feels so good to hold you again.”

“But how?” She gave him a watery smile. “How are you standing here, Jorlan?”

He chuckled. “’Twas not a stone spell you uttered, but a wishing spell. ’Tis something that works only with a supreme act of unselfishness. When you spoke the words, your willingness to join me gave you your fondest desire.”

“You,” she breathed. “It gave me you.”

“It seems I owe my brother a debt of gratitude.” He caressed a finger along her jawbone. “You were right, you know? I have forgiven Percen. How could I still hate him when he has given you back to me?”

Suddenly overcome with the force of her joy, she
threw her arms around his neck. “Oh my God,” she said in between kisses. “You’re real. You’re real. You’re real.”

He breathed in the scent of her hair. “I am real, and I will be with you, here, always.”

Frowning, she pulled back just a little. “You don’t have to stay here, Jorlan. Mon Graig can take you to Imperia. And if you’ll have me…I’d like to go with you.”

“I will have you,
katya,
but I will have you here.
This
is my home. Besides, I am well able to open a vortex on my own now. Mon Graig is not needed.”

“But you haven’t been back, haven’t seen your family or your—”

“
You
are my life-mate, my family. The other half of my soul. I realized over the last days that Imperia is my past. You are my future.”

With those words ringing in her ears, Katie felt whole and complete again, fulfilled. Jorlan had come back to her and wanted to spend his life with her! What had she ever done to deserve this much happiness? A smile of contentment curved her lips, then slowly faded. “I’m sorry about your mother, Jorlan. So sorry.”

Sadness flickered in his eyes. “She has joined my father. I know she has found her rightful place, and I must be content with that.”

“I love you,” Katie whispered.

He kissed her softly. She clung to him. When he pulled back, they were both panting with need.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” she said. “I mean, what are the odds of you and I ever meeting? Of all the
planets in all the galaxies, your mother sent you to mine.”