Ultimate Passage: New Beginnings: Box Set ( Books 1-4) (35 page)

T
aya leaned against the tree
. They’d been on their feet, moving through the undergrowth for hours, stopping for Corzine to examine one trace or another of Cinia’s venture south.

The sun was rising. The dawn hours were a splash of lilac and rose where the Midland trees parted above head. The forest was a bustle of animal noise and activity until the trio moved into an area, then all went silent while the fauna studied them to be sure they weren’t predators on a hunt.

Barz had not said a word since they’d left their camp. Nothing. Taya would have found it easier to deal with if he’d been angry and railed at her.

“How is Cinia still moving about? How is it she hasn’t collapsed from her wounds?” Taya asked Corzine. She wouldn’t ask Barz. Let him sulk. She didn’t need to talk to that big arrogant soldier.

“She healed quickly. Not surprising for the medicine that Raiza provided. Raiza was training to be our top healer . . . before . . .”

He wasn’t finishing his sentence, and Taya was curious. Should she push him? Curiosity drove her. “Before?”

“Before she gave up all to be with Norn.” Corzine picked up a blade of wide grass. He studied it, holding it up to the sunlight that filtered through the rainforest ceiling. He kneeled, touching the grass, pushing it aside gently.

“Odd.” His voice was low.

“Odd?” Taya didn’t find it odd that Marissa gave everything up for the man she loved. She didn’t find it odd at all, though she’d never met anyone she would do that for.

“Yes. Odd. Someone else has been tracking Cinia.”

Taya’s hand flew to her mouth, clapping back the outcry that almost escaped.

Barz approached from his position of being indifferent and disinterested while leaning against the tree. “Any idea?”

Corzine shook his head, no. “Whoever it is, there’s only one. And he is very adept at camouflaging his progress with hers—presumably male, because the prints are a bit heavier, and because no woman in her right mind would be out here alone.”

Taya bristled at that, though she knew deep down she agreed. She wouldn’t want to be an unarmed woman out here.

“How far from the Farlands?” Corzine asked Barz.

“Not far. Maybe one-tenth of a day’s walk.” Barz frowned. “You think?”

Corzine shrugged.

“Think what?” Taya looked from one Kormic brother to the other.

“Could be.” Corzine added.

“We should go find out.” Barz picked up his lance, a trident-shaped spear.

Taya stood, feet shoulder-width apart, hands on hips. “I’m not going anywhere until you two catch me up on what in the name of curse’s shadows you are talking about.”

Barz looked at her, his gaze traveling from her toes to the top of her head, then back down to her breasts, tight in the snug outfit Raiza had provided her with. But he didn’t need to be so obvious about it. When his gaze dropped lower, between her legs, a heat pooled there. A rush of sensations traveled throughout her body, responding to the lust deep behind his hooded eyes.

“Stop.” She crossed her arms over her chest, fighting for control of her body, while she knew that her skin was beginning to shimmer a shade of sunset pink with desire, and would shortly flare a bright orange with anger.

Barz turned, began a trek down the trail.

Corzine took two steps behind Barz, then turned to look at her over his shoulder. “Come. I’ll explain as we walk.”

She hurried to catch up with Corzine, throwing dirty looks at Barz, casting imaginary daggers at his back with her eyes.

“Explain, then.” She barked at Corzine, her voice sharp. Sharper than she intended to talk to this calm Kormic man. But his brother—she clenched her fists—he was making her crazy.

“We’re close to a southern Kormic tribe. Perhaps one of their sentries saw her and was tracking her. So we will go follow up on that. They are distant . . . cousins of ours. We don’t see them often. Only at weddings, funerals, and annual gatherings.”

“Wouldn’t they kill her? I know that Kormic . . . well, you know . . .” she whispered to him, hoping that Barz wouldn’t hear her.

“It is my hope that they would not. I am counting on their keeping her alive.” He winced, a pained expression on his face.

She gasped.

Corzine shook his head. Imagining the worst, she did not pose the question again.

Corzine studied the forest floor. Then stopped abruptly. She didn’t notice and almost ran into Barz, grabbing his arm to keep from falling.

Barz held her waist, pulling her against him. His muscular torso was hard against her, her breasts pressed against his chest.

“Are you alright?” His voice was low, his lips close to hers.

Her breath caught, then froze. A surge of desire flushed throughout her body. She tightened her grip on his arm to keep from leaning into him even more, though that was exactly what her body yearned to do. Behind the fabric, her nipples pressed outward painfully, as if seeking his body, his touch. His warrior’s face was a mask of desire. He lowered his head slightly, his lips almost touching hers. Then he pulled back.

“My apologies. I thought you were going to fall.” His voice had a catch in it, a lower timbre giving something away.

She cleared her throat, hoping her own voice would not crack. “I would have. Thank you.”

Corzine’s voice came from right behind her. “What is it?”

She whirled around. “I almost fell. When you stopped suddenly—I—then—” She could not assemble a sentence, not with Barz so close to her now. Conflicted emotions ran through her. What was wrong with her? Desiring Barz, yet thinking that Corzine was the better, gentler match? She shook her head, breathed in a lungful of forest air to regulate her breathing. Then a thought occurred to her. Was she interested in two men, unable to choose because the time with Saraz had confused her? Did she lose her ability to discern right from wrong?

Barz cleared his throat. “Corzine? Did something happen?”

Corzine gave her a pointed look. Then he turned away from her, looked at the forest floor. Indicated a spot with his head. “Her tracks. They stop here. His do not.”

Taya looked around her in horror. How could that be? Where would Cinia have gone? “That doesn’t seem possible.”

“Unless he carried her.” Barz added. “That solidifies the theory that he is probably male.”

Corzine took two more steps, his eyes glued to the ground, his posture alert.

“Now his tracks have ended. Right here.”

“Impossible.” Barz announced raising his eyes to the trees. Looking around.

“You think maybe he traveled by trees?” Corzine asked.

“Unless he can fly.” Barz added.

Both men turned to one another suddenly. “Asazi.” They said at the same time.

M
arissa waited
for Norn to corroborate the facts for Finn. Her heart ached. She knew Finn’s sense of honor. Knew he wanted to be on the side of righteousness.

Norn had a sad expression on his face. As if he knew the truth and did so reluctantly. He rubbed his forehead, his Asazi skin a deep blue, almost purple. “I cannot. It is true. What she says is true. What Saraz told her, all true, so far.” He paused before adding the so far part.

Marissa wondered if this was because he didn’t want to completely burst all of Finn’s illusions. Or if it was because he was expecting part of Saraz’s story to be a lie.

“Then where did the Kormic come from?” Finn’s tone was one of disbelief. “I don’t want to be disrespectful. But I’d like to know.” The animosity had vanished from his voice.

Marissa didn’t want to continue, because to her the part that came next was the worst. She would not have wanted to be a part of a group of people that did what the Asazi did.

“The Brethren cursed Saraz and the Asazi women. All Asazi babies born to the Asazi women were—” God, how could she even do this to Finn? “—they were Kormic. They came out not as infants but ready to fend for themselves, just smaller. And the Asazi were so horrified that they took the babies and placed them at the edge of Midland, almost in the Farlands. When those young ones tried to return, the Asazi attacked them, forcing them back.” Marissa paused, not because Raiza needed to catch up, but because she couldn’t talk about it, this act saddened her so. She cradled her blossoming abdomen, cupping the life that grew within.

Raiza wrapped up, the Elders murmured, low and privately, their mumbled words sounding angry.

“Saraz told me all of this. He also said that the Sacred Writings are his own writings, they came to him in a dream.”

Finn shook his head. “This is so foreign to me.”

“But it is true,” Norn added.

Finn turned to Marissa. “Why would Saraz tell you all of this?” Hurt crossed his features, a light blue color. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Maybe he thought I’d never have a chance to share the story. I mean if he had his way, I was going to deliver the baby and he would have his mate, and then I suppose, either he’d kill me or force me to live my life out in his temple—monastery—whatever.” She reached for his hand. “Discussing him never ends well for us, and I kept putting it off, waiting for a better time . . .”

Finn shook his head. “All this war—for nothing. Ages of war between Asazi and Kormic. For nothing. Because of one. Or if he’s to be believed because of a group, like him. How can it be fixed? How can we fix it?”

“Screw fixing it. Let’s go home.” Marissa wished she could have bitten her tongue. She didn’t plan to speak her mind.

Raiza was translating still. Marissa hoped that she didn’t repeat what she said. “That was off the record.” She told Raiza.

Raiza looked at her with a quizzical expression.

“I don’t necessarily want that shared.”

“I do not want to be guilty of lying. Or misleading. I did phrase it in a gentler way.” Raiza smiled at her.

Thank goodness this alien woman had her back. The last thing Marissa wanted was to anger a bunch of Elders from the half of the population on this planet that she hadn’t pissed off yet. She already was probably the most wanted on the Asazi list. Or maybe that was Finn. Then she’d be second.

‘This is cozy.’

She flinched, not reacting quickly enough to cover it, and hoped no one noticed. Saraz. In her head. Mind-talking.

Marissa recognized Saraz’s voice immediately. Not to mention he was the only one who had ever projected into her mind.

‘Go away.’
She hissed in her head.
‘Leave!’
That one was a scream, one that even reverberated in her own mind.

‘With the Elders here? Why would I do that? These monsters. Horrid creatures that deserved to have been aborted before they were born.’

‘It’s not their fault they were created. It’s the fault of your Brethren. Seek vengeance on the Brethren.’
Marissa seethed inside.
‘Please go. No good can come of your being here.’

Now she was worried. If Saraz were somehow hurt, she wouldn’t be able to go home. If he were to hurt the Elders, that could start a war between Kormics and this little group of individuals.

‘No. I want to see the baby. She is to be born shortly. I want to be sure she is fine in your womb. It has been a week. And I know you are getting close.’

‘I’m not close. I’m a little over six months in.’

‘Asazi baby gestation is seven months.’
His announcement struck her like a punch in the stomach. Like being tossed into a creek in the middle of winter. She thought she was a couple of months away, maybe a little more. And now she was learning that she had two or three weeks before giving birth. Her head spun. There were tiny dots in front of her eyes. It was like everything closed in around her.

“Marissa?” Finn was taking her hand, rubbing it. “Are you okay?”

She blinked. “Yes. I’m fine. Why?”

“Raiza asked you a question.”

“I was daydreaming. I’m sorry.” She turned the volume up to Saraz in her head. ‘
Go now. I will see you after.’

There was no response to her demand. She let a sigh of relief out, thankful that Saraz had gone.

“The Elders were asking if you were going to stay in Midland after the baby is born.”

Great. This was going to bring up the sore point. And as if it wasn’t enough that this had created tension between Raiza and Norn, Marissa felt guilty that Norn was willing to gamble his life with his wife and young son to give her a way to return home.

“
T
his is too far
for an Asazi to be,” Taya explained. “Asazi soldiers do not travel alone in Midland.” She insisted. Surely they should know that.

“True.” Corzine agreed, running his hand over the spikes on is head. Touching one, in small circles, as if deep in thought. Watching him was mesmerizing. Taya wondered why she couldn’t feel for him the way she felt for his rougher, bigger brother.

“We still have to go to the Farlands. They are the only ones who may have an answer. Even if that answer is that there is a rogue Asazi soldier in the area.” Barz shrugged mighty shoulders.

Taya kept her thoughts as neutral as possible during the walk. She refused to look at Corzine or Barz. Finally, catching on to the idea that she wouldn’t talk to either of them, the one in front of her or the one taking up the rear, the men rearranged their walking order, and took the lead, letting her take up the rear.

The Kormic brothers seemed content with the silence, walking shoulder to shoulder. She studied the two men. So very different. Barz with his strong, tall, muscular build and remoteness, refusing to be weak, or to yield to emotions. No tenderness, no sweetness, no weakness.

Corzine, also tall, but built lean, not as stocky, and not afraid to let the sensitive side of him take control, though he was far from effeminate, and definitely willing to take care of Taya when she needed.

She sighed.

When both men turned to look at her, she realized it was out loud. She lowered her head, casting her gaze to the forest floor, and kept walking.

After what seemed like a long time to her aching feet, the terrain started to change. The green, moist, mulchy forest floor yielded to a dryer, denser soil. Trees became increasingly sparse, until there was a time they were few and far in between. Where the trees had been was now covered in rocky outgrowths barren of much foliage. The rocky outgrowths ranged from a man’s height to a building’s height.

In the distance a tall mountain range spanned the entire horizon.

Taya froze in her spot, staring at the visage. Corzine stopped walking and came back to where she stood. “Do you need to rest?”

“No. I am fine, but this . . .” she waved her arms at the panoramic view of desolation peppered with rockiness and a few occasional sparsely-leaved trees.

Corzine nodded. “The Farlands. You have never been?”

“No. never. Asazi do not come here. It’s forbidden.”

His head snapped back to study her.

She tried to explain. “It’s not—” How could she explain, without stirring up the animosities between their people? Animosities she didn’t feel. And animosities she was certain were not merited. None of that seemed to matter now, she was not Asazi, not really. Nor would she ever be. She wasn’t Kormic. She wasn’t anything. She was a Midlander, if she had to put a term to it. More like a Midland refugee, she thought, since she had sought refuge here. Then again, so had the rest of their group.

Corzine took her hand. “It is . . . what? Finish your thought.”

Barz approached. “She does not want to say it. The Asazi. The Kormic. The Asazi do not come here. They do not lower themselves to come to the scene of abandonment, where they left their babies to die all those centuries ago.”

Taya gasped. What the curses was he talking about? “You are despicable, you know that? And you are a liar. Why would you seek to promote such a myth? One that is so divisive. Why do you hate us—me—so?” She shoved at his huge chest, but the Kormic man did not budge. He was solid, like one of the rocky outgrowths. She burst into tears, except she didn’t know if it was because of his statement about Asazi or if it was because he was so hostile toward her.

Corzine embraced her. “Why is this so upsetting to you?”

She couldn’t answer that. And didn’t want to answer. How could she say that for some reason how Barz felt about her mattered? And now he’d lumped her and all Asazi into some type of category, claiming they abandoned babies here. “You heard what he said. About Asazi. Why would he say that?”

Corzine was silent. She pulled back a little from his hug so she could looked up at his face. His expression was sad.

“What?”

“This is not the time to discuss this.”

“Just tell me.”

“Taya, do you trust me?”

That was an odd question. All those weeks in Midland, all that she had seen of his character, of what a good man he was. Of course she trusted him. She would trust him with her life. She was trusting him with her life, just by being alone with him. In Midland. And now in the Farlands. “Yes.” Her voice was the quietest whisper.

“Then please, let us not discuss this now. It creates too much upheaval and our energies will need to be focused on finding Cinia.”

There was something he wasn’t telling her. She could tell. “And?”

He clenched his jaw, then released it. “And we are in the Farlands. Where there are Kormic that have never seen a
good
Asazi. Between that and finding Cinia, I think our efforts will be better spent without worrying about what Barz said.” Corzine gave his brother a cautioning look.

This was puzzling to Taya, because Barz was always the one who made decisions when it came to the two of them. And Corzine yielded. But he was right. They had enough to worry about. Just wait until they got back to camp. Barz could make those wild accusations in front of Finn and Norn. They would take him to task for his misgivings and lies.

Corzine took her hand, nodded to Barz, and they began their walk, leaving the Midland forest behind them, and heading toward an environment that seemed as unforgiving and unyielding as Barz himself.