Vengeance (39 page)

“Eamon!”
I howl as Hendrix drives his boot into Eamon’s leg.  The
sound of bone snapping makes my stomach churn.  He stomps again,
this time higher.  High enough that I fear he has shattered
Eamon’s hip.  His right arm hangs limply beside him.  His
chest seems concave, as if he took a hard beating.  I can see
that Eamon is struggling to breathe.  There is no fight left in
him.

“Bastien!”
 

“I know.”
He stares down at the child in his arms and back at Eamon.  “I
can’t leave the baby!”

Eamon cries out as
Hendrix stomps down on his lower leg, his boot crunching all the way
to the floor.  He tries to fight back, to snatch at Hendrix with
his remaining good arm but his enemy remains just out of reach.
 Bastien reaches toward him, trying to cradle my child and reach
Eamon’s fallen sword at the same time.  Eamon lifts his
gaze to Bastien and then toward me.

“Take care of
her for me.”  Eamon kicks out his good leg and sends the
sword spiraling toward Bastien.

Gripping his hilt
with two hands, Hendrix drives the tip of the lighted sword deep into
Eamon’s chest.  My breath catches as Eamon’s mouth
falls slack.  Blood stains his chest as the hand that was
reaching out for me falls to his side.  

“No!” I
howl as his head rolls to the side.  I watch his gaze fade,
shifting into nothingness.  

The room careens
around me as I arch my back and screech in agony.  Bastien grabs
onto the edge of the bed as the ship shifts.  “Illyria,
take the baby!”

I reach out for my
son.  Bastien hardly has time to ensure that the boy is safe in
my arms before he dives for the sword.  He comes out of his roll
and slams the sword right up through Hendrix’s gut.  Blood
spills down the blade, concealing the brilliant white light.  Bastien
slowly withdraws the sword and rises as Hendrix falls to his knees.  

Hendrix’s
expression is frozen with shock.  Bastien looks back to me and
then slashes with the sword.  I hear the thud of Hendrix’s
head hitting the floor as if it were a boulder smashing into a
canyon.  

Bastien is thrown
off his feet as the ship quakes again.  “Illyria?”

My scream rises as I
push, knowing that my second child is on its way.  The baby in
my arms flails and I try not to crush him as I push.  Bastien
rushes toward a control panel on the wall.  “Get us in the
air!”

I can hear a great
cracking, like stone splitting all around us.  The ship heaves
this way and that.  Bastien rocks on his feet as he stumbles
back toward me.  “What’s happening?” he
shouts.

The child in my arms
begins to glow, like a pulsating star in the sky.  I am forced
to shield my eyes as he burns brighter than any sun I have ever
glimpsed.  

“Illyria?”

My
teeth begin to rattle and the ship lurches.  For a moment I
experience a terrible weightlessness before we plummet.  Bastien
flails to grab onto my bed but misses and rolls across the floor,
slamming into the wall. The terrible groans from the planet sound as
if the entire world is disintegrating beneath us.  He lies still
for a moment and then I hear a pained groan.

Daddy?
a
tiny voice calls to me.

I
look down at the child in my arms and feel my heart shatter.  
Daddy
is gone, sweet child.

I can feel his
anger, feel it rush over me like a tidal wave.  I gasp for
breath, fighting to keep from drowning in his fury.  

Are
you doing this?
I
call to him.

We are.  We
will save you.

A tear slips from my
eye.  I knew this moment was coming, didn’t I?  The
end for all of us?  Everyone is dead.  My friends.  Eamon.
 Soon Bastien and I will follow as well.

There
is nothing left to save.  
I
lift the precious boy to my lips and kiss his cheek.  
My
little Eamon.

An intense heat
floods through me.  I gasp, shocked by the intensity of it as
baby Eamon’s glow flickers out.

We
will save you. There is a way to give you a second chance.

Bastien grunts as he
claws his way toward me, the floor levels out once more.  I can
hear the frantic hum of the engines.  The ship struggles to
rise.  The hull of the ship begins to crack.  “What
happened?”

“I think we
fell into some sort of sink hole.”  He rises beside my bed
and stares down at the child in my arms, his eyes wide with alarm.
 “Oh god,” he mutters.

“What?  What’s
wrong?”

Bastien’s face
is pale beneath the blood and soot.  “His eyes are black!”

We
will save you
,
the tiny voices repeat in my mind like an echo.  

I hear a thunderous
groan and brilliant white light floods the room.  I reach out
for Bastien, grasping his hand, and then everything implodes.

THE END

My
eyelids flutter open and I am suddenly all too aware of how close
Bastien is to me.  I stare in disbelief at how full his lips
are.  How clean his face is.  No longer bloody or marred by
soot.  I notice how tight his embrace is and feel disoriented in
his arms as I place my hand on his chest.  “Your heart─”

He
leans in and brushes his lips against mine, his touch light and
gentle.  He reaches up to cup my cheek, his eyes wide and
searching as he slowly pulls back.  My lower lip tingles as I
run my fingertip across it, pausing to process his first touch.

“Are you ok?”
He asks.

I
nod, although my head is swimming at his nearness.  
What
is happening to me?  How did we get here?  Where are we?

My surroundings seem
foreign.  Instead of the healing bay aboard my Caldonian ship, I
am surrounded by pine trees that rise high overhead.  The air
holds a chill that speaks of a coming frost.  The sky is visible
over Bastien’s shoulder.  Distant clouds are beginning to
build.

The
ground feels cold beneath me.  I run my hands over the soil and
realize that it is a mixture of dirt, pine needles and leaves.  I
start to speak, but Bastien leans in again and the scent of his skin
turns my thoughts into chaos.  Without stopping to consider the
consequences, I wrap my hand around his neck and crush my lips
against his.  My lips muffle his cry of surprise as I curl my
fingers around the soft hair that drapes down to his neck.  His
hair is shorter than it should be, but I don’t care.  

I
can’t believe that I am here.  That he is here.   I
remember a terrible noise and then a blinding light and
then...nothing.  Until now.

As
his hands curve around my back, I rise up into him, locking my hands
together around his neck.  The heat of his body pressed against
mine is exciting, the movement of his lips sinfully intoxicating.

My breath comes fast
and hard as I lean in closer, my knees digging into the dirt beside
his thighs.  I let my head fall to the side and Bastien’s
lips trace a line down my jaw, his fingers digging into my sides.
 The irrational urge to laugh bubbles up within me as I realize
I’ve never done anything so completely reckless before.

Not like this.  Not
with complete abandon.

If
this is a dream I pray that it never ends.  If this is Heaven,
then I have finally found my place with Bastien, as I know I was
always meant to be.

“Bastien,”
I whisper and smile as his grip on my waist tightens.  I lean
into him and press him back to the ground.  He goes willingly,
his eyes searching mine as I lean down, hovering less than an inch
over his lips.  His fingers pull at my waist, silently begging
me, but I smile and shake my head.  He groans, arching up to
meet my lips, and I give in to his need.

The soil under my
hands begins to shift as small tremors ripple out from me.  There
are no barriers between us, no sarcastic cracks or awkward banter.  I
realize that I want this, want him more than I want air to breathe.
 I feel rooted in place, as if my very existence was meant to
bring us here to this very moment.

My
eyes widen as I realize that I have been here before.  In this
moment.  
I
remember this kiss,
I
realize as I sink further into his embrace.  
This
was our first.  The first moment that I realized that I truly
loved him.

Bastien pushes me up
and rolls me onto my back, placing himself beside me.  The
coolness of the ground eases the scorching heat bearing down on me
from above.  Each time his fingers caress my bare skin, I feel
drawn into him.

His chiseled body
presses against the length of mine while his arm cradles my head.
 His lips leave a slow, blazing trail down my neck.  I lean
my head back to allow him access to the hollow of my throat and a
shiver of pleasure washes over me as his breath tickles my delicate
skin.

I
react to every touch, every breath, and every pounding heartbeat.
 The smallest touch is torture and yet more satisfying than I
could have ever imagined.  I open my eyes and watch the trees
tremble overhead as I dig my fingers deep into the dirt.

I feel alive,
connected not only with Bastien but the world around me──the
trees, the soil, the earth.  Energy courses through my body,
making my skin tingle with overwhelming sensitivity.

The
Earth?  Am I really back?  How is this possible?

Bastien chuckles
when I gasp, his lips pressing against the tender flesh just behind
my ear.  A thousand tiny goosebumps spread along my skin as he
shifts to caress just above my waistline, moving slowly around from
my back to my stomach.

He dips his head,
softly tugging on my bottom lip with his teeth before pulling back.
 He teases me, taunts me, makes me no longer care if this is a
dream.  I want this.  I want him.

The trees groan as a
perfectly circular crater forms around us, revealing the maze of
roots that burrow deep into the ground.  A fallen log is caught
up on the outside of the sinkhole and rolls into a nearby tree,
startling me.  Reality comes crashing back in with the
thunderous boom.

I push against
Bastien’s chest, frantic to be free of his embrace.  He
rolls onto his side, his brow furrowed with confusion at my sudden
panic.  “What’s wrong?”

“This…this
is wrong!”  I scramble out from under him, clawing my way
to a tree a few feet away.  I cling to it, waiting for my heart
to stop racing as I try to slow my breathing.  The taste and
feel of Bastien lingers on my skin but a single sound rings clear
through my mind...the sound of a newborn’s cry.  
Where
are my children?  Where are my friends?  What has happened
to us?  

“Are you ok?”

He makes no move to
come closer and I’m grateful for it.  “I’m
sorry,” I whisper without turning.  “I just...I
don’t know what is happening.”

“We kissed.
 It’s not the end of the world.”

My head whips around
to stare at him as his words fall over me like a freezing rain.
 “Where am I?”

Bastien’s brow
furrows.  “Are you ok?  You’re acting kinda
strange.”

“Where am I?”
I press again, turning to fully face him.  I can see his
concern.  It is written plainly across his face.  He looks
so much younger than I ever remember seeing him, almost carefree.  

“In
the woods.  A couple hours’ hike from camp.”

“Camp?”
I whisper, feeling my fingers begin to tremble.  “And my
friends?  Are they alive?”

“Of course,”
he replies.  His brief laugh falls away and he rises up onto his
knees as if he wants to come to me but he resists.  His brow
dips with confusion.  “You saw them yourself this morning
when we left.  They are just fine.”

I
blow out a long slow breath and press my hands to my abdomen.  I
close my eyes and curl in on myself as I feel the flat planes of my
stomach.  Warm tears sting before they roll down my cheeks.  
My
children are gone.

I press a hand to my
lips as I fight back against the gaping hole that has opened in my
chest in their absence.  I barely had a chance to hold my little
boy.  I never even got to give birth to the second.  

“Illyria,”
Bastien whispers as he draws near.  

I
press my hand to my thighs and double over, closing my eyes.  
Think.
 This has to be a dream.  Wake up!  I am in the
healing room.  Bastien is with me there.  

My hands flinch as I
open my eyes and look down at my legs.  Both legs.  A tear
slips down my cheek as I wiggle my toes.  I pinch my leg and
gasp in disbelief as I feel pain, real pain.

“Illyria?”
 I look up to find him kneeling before me.  His gaze is
tender, achingly so.  “I’m sorry if I pushed you too
fast.  You know that I would never do that.”

I wipe my nose with
the back of my hand.  “It’s not that,” I
whisper as I try to comprehend what has happened.  “Am I
real?”

Bastien smiles.  “Of
course you are.”

“And this
place?  It’s not a dream?”

He shifts closer to
me and takes my hand in his.  “Do you always dream of
handsome guys?”

My breath hitches.
 “You’ve said that to me before.”

He nods and slowly
twines his fingers through mine.  “I have.”

I
close my eyes and let my head hang low, my hair falling over my face.
 I remember all of this.  I remember meeting Bastien in the
City.  Of him pulling me from the lake and taking me back to his
cave.  Of Eamon’s jealousy when I first brought Bastien
back to the cave.  Of kissing in this very spot.  I
remember a thousand other things too.

I tighten my grip on
his hand.  “You feel real, but how can this be?”  I
lift my head to look at him and gasp, seizing the blonde strands that
fall across my face, tangling with my eyelashes.  “I’m
blonde.”

“Last time I
checked.  I’ve always had a thing for blondes,” he
muses.  “Though I think you could look hot in a darker
color as well.”