Ultimate Passage: New Beginnings: Box Set ( Books 1-4) (28 page)

M
arissa squirmed
, twisting back and forth. The first creature had returned—with Finn and another Asazi. She tried to call out to Finn but the hand over her mouth was too tight.

She panicked. Was he a prisoner of theirs? No, he didn’t seem to be; it looked like he was with them because he wanted to be. Then a worse thought hit her. Maybe he hadn’t realized it was her? If not, then why—

When Finn drew his weapon and aimed it her way, she almost burst into tears. She froze, terrified. What the hell was he doing? The other Asazi pointed at them, and Finn lowered his weapon and approached. Then he said something in a foreign language.

Suddenly she was loose. “Finn!” She twisted once more and scrambled down the tree, fell the last three feet and landed against Finn’s chest with a thud.

“Marissa.” It was as if her name had been ripped from his heart and came out his throat, so tortured was his tone. He turned her around, checking her all over, head to toe, front to back. “I missed you. Are you all right? And the baby?”

She leaned back against him. His chest was solid, comforting. Finn rested his chin on her shoulder, then wrapped his arms around her, put his hands on her abdomen, and buried his face in her hair. “How is my baby?”

That did it. Marissa burst into tears, turned around, and buried her face in his chest. “Take me home, Finn. Now.”

“I will. I’ll figure out a way. Give me time, because I’m not on the best of terms with my people. That would make it kind of hard to get to a vehicle.”

Marissa wondered if she should tell him about Saraz and his claim of being able to create portals. If she opened that door, would she have to tell him about her near-infidelity with Saraz? Okay, maybe it was more than near, but they hadn’t had sex. Then again, her body had responded to Saraz in a way she didn’t like and wished it hadn’t.

“If you’re not on good terms with the Asazi, then—” She looked at the older Asazi man.

“It’s unbelievable.” Finn’s tone changed. “It’s amazing. This is my father.” His smile was bright against his green skin. “Par, this is Marissa.”

The Asazi man stepped closer.

“Your father? Alive?” Marissa looked from one to the other.

“Nice to meet you, Marissa. I am called Norn.”

“I thought Finn said Par?”

“That’s like Dad in Asazi.” Finn’s color darkened. “He didn’t die in battle. We’ll talk later.”

A small part of her felt envy because she missed her father. A greater part of her felt joy that Finn had his father back. She knew losing him at such a young age had left a gap in Finn’s life. She hugged him tighter.

Norn cleared his throat. “Let’s get back to the waterfall. It’s more ideal than this place to spend the night until the sun comes up and we can get to Raiza.” Then he said something in another language to the two creatures who had captured Marissa.

She stood on tiptoe to whisper in Finn’s ear. “Who are those two?”

“They’re Kormic. My father’s brothers-in-law.”

“That means...” She didn’t want to say it out loud.

“He is with a Kormic woman.” His voice was still low.

“Are you okay with that?” Finn had spent all his life hating the Kormic, and now, with his father married to one, it had to be difficult.

“I’m learning that so many things I held to be true aren’t, and that things are not what they appear.”

Ugh.
She would have to tell him the truth about Saraz. All of it. She took a deep breath. Later. Not now.

“Marissa, this is Barz.” Finn pointed to the taller Kormic. “And that’s Corzine.” He indicated the other one.

Both Kormic smiled and nodded.

She did the same. “Do they speak English?”

Finn looked at Norn. “No.” Then Norn smiled. “Maybe you can teach them English while they teach you Kormic.”

Not a chance. I won’t be here long enough.
That was what she wanted to say. “Sure.” She infused her tone with an enthusiasm she did not feel.

All four of them headed into the barely moonlit forest, with Finn repeatedly asking her if she was okay and if she needed him to carry her.

Finally, they arrived at a waterfall. Norn led the way behind the waterfall into a cave.

“Jungle cats are not fond of fire or water. The waterfall deters them. We’ll build a fire small enough to not attract any enemies, but large enough to use for torches in the event a jungle cat does brave the water.”

Marissa was so tired she almost collapsed on the bedroll Finn laid out for her. “Will you be here with me?” She rose up on her toes, placed her lips on his, then let her tongue trace their outline.

He groaned against her mouth. “Woman. I want you.” He pulled her close, his erection pressing against her abdomen.

“Finn.” She kept her volume to a low hiss. “Behave.”

He studied her with hooded, hard-to-read eyes. Beneath her fingertips, his shoulder muscles strained, the wings pushing against her hands.

“Get into bed. I’ll be back in a little while. Let me make guard shift arrangements with Par and the brothers.”

Marissa tried to stay awake, though sleep pulled at her.

A
kiss
on her neck made her moan. Marissa shifted so she could help probing fingers make their way up her thighs. She startled. What if it wasn’t Finn? What if it was—

“Saraz.” His name was torn from her subconscious.

‘You’re mine.’

She jerked to a sitting position. “Go away, Saraz. I’m Finn’s.”

Then she looked around. “Did you hear him?”

Finn jerked upright, pulling his hands off her legs. He looked at her as if she’d lost it. “Hear who?”

“Saraz. He said I was his. Didn’t you hear it?”

Finn shook his head slowly, as if he was trying to process what she was saying. “You know Saraz is our god—well, the Asazi god.”

“I know. I met him. He told me about the portal. The prophecy. Everything.”
Why the hell am I crying?
She couldn’t stop the tears that were becoming sobs. She buried her face in Finn’s chest. “He said I’m Carrier. And our baby is Bearer. And that she will give birth to Deliverer.”
Jeez.
She sounded crazy, hysterical. “He said I had to name her Alithera and that she would have wings. And he just talked to me. In my head. Like he does. Just now. Didn’t you hear it?”

Finn was quiet and still.

She looked up from his chest. “Say something.”

“I’m not sure what to say. All of that—it is a lot to process.”

M
arissa dropped
her head against his chest again. She sobbed for a long while, and then, after even more hard sobbing, she fell still. He felt her pulse, listened for her breathing. She was fast asleep.

What in the curses was that about?
He kissed her brow and laid his hand on her abdomen where his son was growing. He knew it had to be a boy. And he had to make sure his son didn’t kill her the way Finn had killed his own mother. History would not be allowed to repeat itself. He untangled himself from her arms, covered her, and walked toward the fire.

Finn was lost in his thoughts, staring at the mesmerizing, flickering flames, when his father found him.

“You have your woman and child. Why do you seem pensive and melancholy?”

“There is far too much going on.”

Par said nothing. The firelight reflected off his shimmering skin, making it seem as though he glowed. And still, he said nothing.

“Marissa is not making sense.”

“Sometimes females do not. It is difficult for us to understand their complexities.”

“She is talking nonsense. I think the jungle got to her. She says she met Saraz. That she is Carrier and our baby is Bearer. That Saraz is a living being who controls our portals. That he has Asazi women living with him as concubines.”

“There is truth in what she says.”

“What part of what she says is true?” Finn was having a hard time believing one-tenth of what Marissa had told him, and he couldn’t even pick which tenth to believe. He was certain she’d been brainwashed or drugged.

Par said slowly, “All of it.”

“What in curse’s shadow are you talking about?”

“It’s a very complicated story. I’ve only heard it in passing. It involves an Asazi girl who escaped from Saraz, heavily pregnant. She was discovered by a group of Kormic. She died giving birth, but not before recounting a story similar to Marissa’s.”

“You saw the girl? What happened to the baby?”

“I never saw her. This was before I met Raiza, before her village was splintered by my appearance. It somewhat of a legend, and there are several variations. The commonality of the legends is that there is one who calls himself Saraz who changes shape, lives in a monastery, can make portals, and that all of the young Asazi women who enter the monastery in service of Saraz are never seen or heard from again.”

“Everyone knows that, Par. That is what happens when we send an Asazi woman into his service at the annual festivals.”

“Exactly. And no one really knows what happens there.”

Finn shook his head. “This is so much to take in. What happened to the baby? The one that the escaped woman died giving birth to?”

“There are a few different versions of the story. They say it was a boy. Some say it died during birth, but a Kormic woman revived it and claimed it. That it was hideously monstrous and she took it and fled to the isolation of one of the Farlands mountain ranges.”

Finn rose from the boulder he’d been sitting on. He walked around the fire, making slow circles. Marissa’s story was not founded on a dream, or drug-induced, or even a hallucination. He needed to talk to her about it.

He stopped and turned to his father. “If you know all of this...”
Curses.
He was struggling to assemble a coherent thought. “You know where this monastery is?”

“Barz and Corzine know something. They were talking one day.”

“Do you believe any of this?”

“No, and I do not know if there is a man, Asazi or Kormic, or any other being living in this monastery that I’ve never seen.” He studied Finn. “Why? What are you thinking?”

“About portals. Marissa is adamant about returning and we can’t go back the same way we arrived. I’m not exactly on the friendliest of terms with our people.”

“I do not fault you for wanting to go, and as one who can never go home again, I certainly understand Marissa’s desires better than anyone. Earlier, when we were waiting for Barz and Corzine, you said if humans saw wings on the baby, whether in utero or during childbirth, that you, Marissa, and the baby would be isolated and analyzed by scientists.”

“Marissa mentioned having an unattended delivery, to keep humans from witnessing.”

“And if the baby has wings?” Par’s face had a stricken look.

“I know.” Finn could only imagine his father’s next words.
So why risk it?
“She wants to go. I love her, and I’m afraid if I give her what she wants, we risk her death or our discovery. If I don’t give her what she wants...” Finn punched his palm. “I could lose her. She may leave me.”

“I do not envy you this position. The question that you have to answer is, what is more important? Is keeping her with you more important? Worth more than her life?”

“How can you even ask that?” Finn demanded. Then he realized exactly what he was doing. “This will not be easy.”

Marissa’s scream brought all thoughts to an abrupt halt. Finn spun around and sprinted the short distance, all of a few yards, to her bedding. It was flat, empty. He turned toward the entrance to the cavern. She stood there, facing away, her back to him, immobile.

Finn ran to her, followed closely by Par, Barz, and Corzine. He touched her arm. “Marissa?” She was cool to the touch. Her face was pale, eyes transfixed. She didn’t look his way.

“Saraz.” Her lips barely moved.

Finn looked in the direction her eyes were focused.

A man stepped out of the shadows. No, not a man. Not Asazi, not Kormic, not human. The newcomer’s eyes glowed in the dimness, his pupils a vertical black slit in the middle of an iridescent, metallic green. He was tall, imposing.

Finn put his hand on his TripTip, but didn’t draw it. The newcomer had done nothing threatening yet. His skin was interesting, considering that Finn was Asazi and accustomed to scales, but this one... Finn wanted to lean in for a better look at the newcomer’s skin.

“Marissa. I am disappointed with you for leaving.” His voice was deep, with an ethereal timbre that made it sound unholy.

Could this be the Saraz that Marissa had mentioned? The one who lived in the monastery?

The newcomer took a step closer. Finn side-stepped, half-blocking him from Marissa. He didn’t even look at Finn, as though Finn’s presence was of no consequence.

He continued, “I am disappointed in your cohorts’ assistance in your endeavor to circumvent the prophecy.” He turned and waved his hands, beckoning.

Two Asazi women stepped forward, both dressed in flowing outfits that revealed more than they hid. Could these be the concubines Marissa had mentioned? Were these the Asazi women who had been sent into service to Saraz? More complications.

“Taya. Cinia.” Marissa’s voice quivered, as though she were scared.

She knew their names? What could Marissa be nervous about? What was there about this creature that could scare her so much?

“Though I’m disappointed in you, Marissa, I am equally, if not more disappointed in these two. My favorites. Betrayers.” His voice was menacingly low.

“Saraz, forgive us, please.” The red-haired one ran forward, lowered herself to the ground, and reached for his hand.

He pulled away. “You are exiled.”

The blonde approached, stumbling on the rough terrain. “No, please. You know the Asazi will not take us back.”

“Then you will make do in Midland.”

The two women wailed that the Kormic would kill them. He silenced them with a wave, then turned to Marissa. “You will come with me. For the good of the baby and yourself.”

Why wasn’t Marissa answering him? Why was Marissa not telling the newcomer to go to hell?

Finn wondered if Marissa hadn’t told him something. Had something happened? Did she want this newcomer?

If she wasn’t going to deny him, Finn would take care of it himself. “No.” Finn stepped between them. Marissa was now directly behind him, the newcomer a few feet away.

A hum started. Low, but building to a thrum. It seemed to come from the being. The two Asazi women stumbled back, almost backing into Barz and Corzine, who hadn’t moved since they’d arrived on the scene. Finn had noticed that Barz and Corzine had not registered surprise when they saw the newcomer. This lent credibility to Par’s earlier statement that they knew something.

The thrumming grew louder still. The newcomer shook, then twitched. His cloak fell away, and a set of thick, black-scaled wings unfurled with the explosiveness of a surge. His body expanded and thickened, turning him into a different creature, one that resembled a dragon from Earth’s folklore.

He gave Finn a look of acid disdain. “Who are you to deny me, mortal?”