Chapter 191 - 190. Meeting Mom II
Maisie
I dreamt of a woman.
In her hands, she had a stone of blood ruby. She was on her knees in front of an ancient rock. She wasn’t the only one.
There were six others. Men dressed in warrior’s leather and weapons strapped to their gigantic frames. They were all distinctively different from each other and they had a look of hardened resolve on their faces.
All seven of them formed a circle around the rock. At the center of the rock was a hole--as heart. It glowed with faint light as the ruby pulsed in the woman’s hands, like it was calling to the ruby.
The woman was sobbing uncontrollably, her hands shaking around the stone. She spoke and her words were strange and hoarse. She was not speaking in any language I had heard before, but I knew it at heart.
"Please," she cried. "I can’t—I can’t lose you. It’ll kill me. Please don’t make me do this. I can’t live without either of you."
The man who knelt closest to her clenched his jaw and took her wrist in his, even as she shook her head, wailing. He took a blade from another dark haired male kneeling close to him and tore a line across her palm, causing blood to spill on the stone.
It began pulsing erratically, and he yanked her forward forcefully, holding her wrist over the hole. His violet eyes were hard. But he looked at her with so much love, she began thrashing against him as he said, "You must. You will." He smiled. "Live, Elara."
"Florian, no!" she screamed as he placed her hand to hover over the rock’s heart.
The other males had their slit palms on the rock, watching her with the same love and sadness the man named Florian was, even as they smiled. I felt her fear. Her desperation. Her helplessness. She didn’t want to say goodbye. It felt like she was dying.
The man named Florian placed his slit palm over the rock and jammed the woman’s hand over the hole, pushing the ruby into the heart of the rock.
The world around them exploded into colors and sound, the light from the ruby flaring so brightly, it temporarily blinded her. The light shot straight as an arrow to the skies, parting the clouds beyond. And from the light, she saw that the fabric of the atmosphere had begun to split.
A voice came from everywhere and nowhere all at once. Ancient, yet young, cruel and yet, soft. It lilted and though it was the most beautiful sound she’d ever heard, it spoke the words that broke the woman.
"The price has been paid, Elara Thorne."
The woman looked away from the rift she had opened. And saw that her greatest fear had come to life.
All six men lay back from the stone, their bodies stiff and unmoving and pale, drained of their life force. The light gone from their eyes. And she knew they were gone.
She screamed.
****
My eyes flew open. I panted.
"Are you..." someone said beside me, and I jerked away.
Where was I?
For a full minute, I couldn’t differentiate dreams from reality. I could still feel the rough edge of the rock biting into my knees. I felt the cut on my palm as though the dagger had cut into my own skin. I felt the lancing pain in my chest and the severance that felt like death.
My fingers curled against my tight, aching chest and a wretched sob tore out of me. I felt such great loss, it felt like my soul had been split into several pieces.
"It was a dream, Adams," said Soren.
Slowly, my surroundings came to focus and I blinked back the terrible images from the dream, trying to get my bearings as my chest heaved.
I was in a bedroom I didn’t recognize with walls made from rocks, and the day’s events came rushing back to me.
The Ridge. We were at the ridge to meet Margaret. I was alive. My mates were alive. Not dead. Not lifeless. I wasn’t alone. The pain wasn’t ripping me apart.
Soren’s face came to focus and something about seeing his violet eyes first cracked something in my chest. He had the same eyes as the man from my dreams. The same hard set to his jaw. The same softness that I occasionally glimpsed in his gaze when he wasn’t being stoic. The same softness he regarded me with.
I lunged into his arms and held him tight as another sob ripped out of me.
He stiffened for a second, but his arms came around me, holding me to his chest as he brushed his hands down my back, down my hair. "Shh. It was just a dream." When my shaking subsided, he said, "Want to tell me what happened?"
"Someone–people–died," I croaked.
He tucked my hair behind my ear. "Someone close to you," he assumed.
No. I didn’t know him. But it felt like I did.
I could still feel the male’s blood on my hand. The pulse of that otherworldly power from that stone in my hands.
The price has been paid, Elara Thorne.
Goosebumps flooded my skin. Goddess, but it felt so real. Was it just a coincidence that I had dreamt of a woman who had the same last name as my father? And the stone? It looked just like the ruby in the crown. What on earth was happening? Was I finally going insane?
I pulled away, shaking my head free of the nightmare. Then I looked around the opulent bedroom, running my fingers through my hair. "What happened? Where’s everyone? The last thing I remember is getting out of the car."
"You passed out. We brought you in but the healer mentioned you only needed to rest. The others apparently couldn’t stop fidgeting and panicking, snarling and threatening to kill the Hunts for doing something to you and rip off the healer’s head–"
My eyebrow arched and he shrugged. "We’re in enemy territory, love. It sets us on edge, waiting around for a blind attack. We have our men and spies stationed around the mountains but it doesn’t make us any less uneasy. And fear makes us sometimes... irrational."
"Sometimes?"
His eyes narrowed. "You must be feeling a lot better if you’ve still got some snark in you."
There was a knock on the door then and a timid female voice came through, "Y-your Highness–"
"You can come in, Kara," Soren said, his lips twitching on a smile, and I arched my brow, wondering what the hell was so funny, until the door creaked open and a blonde girl poked her head into the room.
Our eyes met and my lips parted in surprise at the instant recognition. It was the girl who had gotten jumped by Tessa in the woods. "You’re..." She looked perfectly healed. Not even a scratch or a scar from that night remained. "...okay." I swallowed. "I’m glad you’re okay."
She lowered her gaze, a red blush creeping over her face, and in a way, the innocence in her eyes reminded me of Juliette. They were both blondes and had blue eyes and though they looked nothing alike in spite of that, I thought they were kindred spirits.
"I’ll leave you two to talk," Soren said.
My eyes widened with panic and I spoke with my face. "Don’t abandon me with her! I don’t know what to say to her!"
His eyes twinkled and I could literally hear the words behind that smug smile. "I’m sure you’ll figure it out."
If he was leaving me alone with her, then he trusted her. And I didn’t miss the fondness with which he nodded her over.
Still, I shot back at him, "Traitor," hoping my scowl was more than enough to convey my thoughts.
He must’ve caught it because he chuckled softly before kissing the top of my head. "There’s at least half an hour before dinner begins. I’ll come back for you then." He drew back the covers, reaching for the hem of my dress and the girl gasped when he lifted the hem of my dress and grasped my ankle.
My face turned red. "What are you doing?"
"You twisted your ankle when you fell," he muttered as he pushed my feet this way and that, inspecting. "Does this hurt?" he asked.
"N-no," I answered, flustered.
He seemed completely oblivious to the fact that we had an audience, but then his violet eyes flicked to mine and they smoldered me. He lifted my foot to his lips and my stomach knotted when he kissed the curve of my instep. "And here?"
I kicked at him. "Let me go, you pervert."
He flashed me a sly grin and dropped my foot. Then he dragged his gaze along my calves. "Nice legs."
Kara shuffled back, lowering her head as Soren walked past before I could hurl a pillow at his head and when he smiled at her, stars filled her eyes, a blush running down her neck.
Oh dear. My half-sister definitely had a crush on Soren.