Willing Sacrifice (5 page)

His hold was careful but absolute, shackling her wrists in his long fingers. “You need to let me talk to Brenya. A perimeter won’t hold them forever.”

Delicious heat glided up her arms. She had to try twice to find enough air to speak. “How do you know?”

“Experience. Someone has to go out and kill them.”

He meant himself. Grace could see it in the way his eyes narrowed, as if he were already planning an attack.

She didn’t want him to risk himself. Of course, she never wanted any of the women to take risks either, but it was different this time—personal in a way she couldn’t explain, even to herself. “You’re still injured. If you want to fight the Hunters, you can talk to Brenya about it tomorrow when she’s rested. Until then you need to let me do my job.”

His jaw was set with determination, and she knew that if she didn’t do something soon, he was going to push past her and do whatever he wanted.

“Please,” she said, not even caring if she sounded like she was begging. “If you let me finish my job, then when you’re feeling better, I’ll take you out to find the Hunters. I’ll show you the trail I saw and where I think they might be coming from.”

He shot to his feet again, a look of fury tightening his mouth. She expected him to yell at her, but his voice was calm enough to chill her bones. “You got close enough to see a trail?”

The urge to turn and flee pounded through her, but she breathed through it, trusting that Brenya would never have left her alone with someone who would hurt her.

“I’m not sure, but I think so. All the leaves and branches were sliced clean, as if something had cut right through them. A Hunter is the only thing I know of that could do that.” When she spoke, her voice shook a little. Not that it would have helped if she’d sounded rock steady. She was sure he could feel her frantic pulse pounding where he gripped her wrists.

“Does Brenya know what you saw?”

“Not yet. I just found the trail today and was on my way back when I heard the screams.”

“When the lizard attacked,” he guessed.

She nodded. “It’s too close to dark to go out today, and I won’t let Brenya down. You need to stay and let me do my job.”

He stared into her eyes for a long minute before he spoke. The whole time his thumbs kept stroking the skin of her inner wrists. “If it were anyone but you I’d already be out that door.”

She didn’t know what he meant by that, but she wasn’t about to question his change of heart.

He let go of her and turned. Right in the center of his bare back was a flat metallic disk just like the one embedded in her skin. In the very same spot.

Surprise and curiosity flooded her, knocking all good sense out of her head. She rushed forward and grabbed his shoulders to hold him still while she studied it.

Intricate markings covered the surface. She wasn’t sure if they were merely decorative or if the symbols meant something. As her finger glided over the warm metal, she felt a tingling sensation flicker across her spine. It was gone so fast she questioned if it had ever happened.

“Where did you get this?” she asked.

He was silent for so long she wasn’t sure he was going to answer. Then, in a low voice filled with sadness, he said, “It was a gift from a woman I loved.”

A tiny spurt of jealousy flashed through her, leaving behind a greasy film of shame. She had no business feeling envy over women Torr had known. Not only that, but it was clear from his tone that the woman had caused him some kind of pain. Maybe she’d betrayed him, maybe she’d left him. Whatever the case, she’d hurt him, and here Grace was thinking only of herself.

“I have one just like it,” she said. “But I’ve never seen it up close before. It really is pretty.”

“Where did you get yours?” he asked. There was something strange about his inflection, but she couldn’t figure out what.

“I don’t know.”

“Really? Seems like the kind of thing you’d remember.”

“I don’t really remember much of anything before Brenya brought me back to life.”

“Have you tried?”

“Of course. I spent months working to regain my memory, but whatever bits are left, they’re more like echoes.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s hard to explain. It’s almost like all those things were scooped out of me and all that’s left is a kind of emotional residue that couldn’t be completely removed. Sometimes I see tiny glimpses, but there’s no context. I feel things, but have no idea why.”

“Do you remember any people?”

“No, but I remember loving them, laughing with them.”
Hiding from them, cowering in fear.

She didn’t want to think about that, so she turned her attention from the disk to the surrounding male flesh. Slight bruises lingered along his back, maybe where he’d fallen or been hit. Trails of dried blood and caked dirt led from the lower edge of the disk toward his singed blue pants.

She picked up the cloth and wiped away the mess, revealing puckered scars where the prongs of the disk entered his skin. She traced the marks with her fingertip, and his whole body clenched.

She gave a sympathetic wince. “Sorry. Does it hurt a lot?”

“No. Does yours?”

“Not exactly.”

He turned, putting his chest at a level with her gaze. That magnificent tree clung to his skin, tempting her to spread her fingers over the branches.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked.

There was a smudge of dirt along his ribs, and she used the excuse to touch him and wipe it away. He truly was a beautiful creature, and even though the damp cloth muted the feeling of his skin, she could still sense the firm resilience of the flesh below.

His scent surrounded her, and that nagging feeling of familiarity called to her again. She was certain she would have remembered a man like him. Even if she hadn’t, surely he would have told her if he’d known her. Still, there was something about him that tugged at her senses.

Then again, she’d heard some of the visitors talk about the men they’d met, how handsome or charming they were. How they’d been chosen as mates for their strength or intelligence. Maybe all men had this kind of effect on women, and she was just experiencing it firsthand.

“I feel things sometimes,” she admitted. “I’m sure they’re coming from the disk.”

“What kind of things?”

“It’s personal.” Sometimes, when she was lonely, she imagined those feelings coming from a friend—someone like her, not like everyone else here. She wasn’t beautiful like the Athanasian women and their children. She didn’t have magical powers. She was physically weak. She wasn’t even in training the way the little girls were. She wasn’t strong enough to survive their fierce mock battles.

She was different from everyone here, and while they all treated her well, she knew she wasn’t one of them. There were no talks of her going on an exciting trip to fulfill her destiny. As far as she could tell, no one here even thought she had one.

Maybe that was for the best, because the idea of walking away from the only world she knew was terrifying. But some days the loneliness was hard to bear, and the feelings coming from the disk helped remind her that she wasn’t ever really alone.

Torr’s voice dipped down until it was a low, quiet temptation. “Tell me, Grace. I want to know.”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m sure you have the same feelings, too. Unless I’m imagining the whole thing.” Which she hoped wasn’t true.

“Do you feel angry? Sad?” he asked.

He felt the same thing? Relief washed over her, and until this moment, she hadn’t realized just how much she worried that she was making it all up. “So I’m not imagining it.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice thick with regret. “If I’d known . . .”

“Known what?”

He paused for too long. “If I’d known how much talking about this would upset you, I never would have brought it up. I’ll just sit here and be quiet so you can do what Brenya asked.”

Thank goodness. The sooner she was done with Torr, the sooner she could find a quiet place and try to figure out what it was about this man that sent her emotions rioting.

Grace pulled in a long breath, forced herself to put on a smile and went to work.

T
orr had been hurting Grace for years.

That was the thought that kept scrolling through his mind, over and over.

That anger and sadness she was feeling? That was all his. The disks they wore connected them. They allowed her to heal his paralysis by taking it upon herself. But her human body had been too weak to fight off the magical poison the demon had used on him. Only Brenya’s magic had saved Grace from the fate that had awaited Torr. And now the magic that bound them together—the connection the disks formed—was feeding her all the pain and fury he’d felt since she’d nearly died to save him. Four years ago.

He had to find a way to make it stop.

By the time Grace finished cleaning him up and left, dusk had fallen over the area. He slipped out of the hut while she went to get food for him.

Sneaky, perhaps, but necessary.

He asked a little girl where he could find Brenya. Her bright eyes were wide with curiosity as she pointed to a larger hut on the far side of the clearing, just past a giant Sentinel Stone. There were fewer runes on it than on the ones he was used to seeing, but the carvings were just as intricate. Like all Sentinel Stones, this one radiated power. As he neared it, he began to recognize that power as the same he felt humming through Brenya.

Torr slipped through the trees, keeping out of sight as he approached the hut from behind. When the coast was clear, he pushed through the rickety door, not giving a shit that he was uninvited.

Brenya sat in a sturdy chair made from smooth black twigs and branches. Her eyes were closed, and she looked older than he’d ever seen her look before. Skin that had been smooth only a little while ago was now drooping and lined with age. Her shoulders were bowed inward, and her whole body rocked like a metronome.

“You should not have come unannounced,” she said.

As he watched, her wrinkles smoothed and her body straightened. Whatever magic she used to appear younger drained her visibly, blanching her skin.

“Save your energy. I don’t care what you look like,” he told her.

She waved toward the door. “They do. They need me to be strong, not old and frail.”

“So you waste your power looking younger?”

“Do not judge what you do not understand.”

“Fine. Whatever. I came because I need your help.”

“I have done for you all I can, young Theronai.”

“It’s Grace. You said if I hurt her you’d end my world. Well, without even knowing it, I’ve been hurting her.”

“I know. You should have learned to control your emotions better.”

“The woman I love was taken from me, possibly dead. That’s not the kind of thing a man just shrugs off without feeling something. And for me, it’s only been a few months. I hadn’t even had time to
think
about getting over losing her, if such a thing is even possible.”

She let out a long sigh. “What do you ask of me?”

“How do I take the disk off?”

“You do not.”

“She’s better now. There shouldn’t be any danger.”

“She has worn it for too long. Much longer than you.”

“I figured that out. She said she’s been here four years.”

“Not just that. It is part of her. She has never known a life without it. Or without the feelings flowing through it.”

“So what do you want me to do? Stop feeling?”

“If you must. You said you would do anything for Grace. This is your chance to prove that was no lie. Find happiness. Give that to her instead.”

“Then let me tell her who I am. Who she is. Once she remembers me and the love we shared, we’ll both be happy.”

“If only you had as much intelligence as you do determination.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Some things are best left forgotten. The pieces of Grace that I hid were not ones that served her future happiness. They would have kept her from healing.”

“Are you saying you don’t think we should be together?”

“She is human. Not your kind.”

“So? I’d rather have a short life with her than a long one without her.”

“You will live a long life without her no matter what you do. The closer you tie yourself to her, the harder losing her will inevitably be.”

“I’m already tied to her as close as a man can get. I love her.”

“What about her? You have seen how gentle her heart is. When she realizes that she will die and cause you great sadness, that she will stand in the way of you fulfilling your destiny as a Theronai warrior, do you think that will add to her happiness? Or will she mourn for what she will take from you because you give her no other choice?”

Torr had never considered how it would make Grace feel to know she was going to age and die before him and cause him pain. He’d never even once stopped to consider how it might hurt her to know she kept him from finding the female Theronai who could channel his power and save his life.

He still had several leaves on his lifemark. He still had time. But it
would
run out, and the years he spent with Grace were ones he would never use to find a mate who could help fight the war against the Synestryn.

Even the idea of looking for another woman to spend his life with—one who wasn’t Grace—was enough to make his stomach turn. But it was his duty to live, to fight, and the only way he could stay alive was to find the woman who would stop the decay of his soul.

If Grace ever learned that she was standing in the way of him finding the woman who could save his life, it would kill her.

Brenya closed her eyes in sadness. “So you see now. Being with her own kind is her best chance at happiness. She should grow old with one of her own. Feel that her life is long and full, rather than short and fleeting by comparison.”

Finally Torr realized the truth. “You didn’t bring me here just to fight that lizard, did you?”

“No. I could have slain the beast with a mere thought. But I needed your presence, and I am tired, even for thought.”

“You want me to take her back to Earth, don’t you?”

“Among other things. I do have need of you here, but I also knew that if you were the one to escort her home to her own kind, you would see to her safety. Without her memories or knowledge of the danger she would face on Earth, I thought it best if she had a protector. Someone she trusted.”

“She doesn’t even know me. You saw the way she flinched when I touched her—like I’d hurt her.”

“Before you leave, she will know you. Trust you. You will stay here and spend time with her while you drive back the invasion that the Solarc has sent to draw us out.”

The Solarc?
The instant spurt of fear that shot through Torr was completely involuntary. If the Solarc wanted something from this place, Grace was in horrible danger. So was everyone else here.

It took Torr a minute to wrap his head around just how much trouble he’d stepped in. “Why does the Solarc want to draw you out?”

“I am growing an army.”

“Of what?”

“The Sanguinar are dying. Without them, you have no hope of driving the Synestryn back, away from my home world.”

“We do what we can, but there’s not enough blood for them to survive. If we spent all our time letting the Sanguinar feed on us, we’d be too weak to fight.”

“That is why I left Athanasia. Why I convinced my daughters to make the ultimate sacrifice.”

Torr had been so wrapped up in seeing Grace again, he hadn’t really stopped to think about
why
Brenya was here with all of these women.

“I don’t understand. What exactly are you doing here?” he asked.

“You will understand in time. For now it is enough to know that the women and children here must stay hidden from the Solarc at all costs. If he senses my hand in slaying his minions, then it will be like a beacon showing him the way to me.”

“Why are you hiding? I thought the Solarc ruled Athanasia, not this place.”

“He does. With terrifying authority. But when I left him, I knew he would not stop searching for me until he found me.”

“Why?”

“Because I was the first to leave his domain against his will. I gave his subjects the idea that they did not have to stay under his rule. He seeks to make an example of me.”

Torr eased into the nearest chair. The bulk of his weight made the black branches groan, but it held him up.

His mind slowly put together the pieces she laid out. “You were the one who cracked open the Gate. You’re the reason the Athanasian men have been able to sneak out and father children with humans. You’re responsible for the birth of Helen, Lexi, Andra and the other Theronai women.”

“I only opened the door. What my children did with it was their own decision.”

Children? “Wait. I thought the men who came to Earth were Athanasian royalty—the sons of the Solarc himself.”

“Yes.”

“And they were your sons, too?”

“Yes.”

“Are you telling me . . . ?”

“I’m the Solarc’s wife, Queen of all Athanasia, and he will not rest until I am once again under his control.”