She crawled onto his lap and hugged him. “I am so sorry, Gavyn. I’ll not stop until Ajali repealed those laws.”
“It was Darkans who assassinated your mother. I understand why the laws were enacted.”
She bravely lifted her chin. "Yes…but the vile actions of a few do not represent the many." And then his love started to cry, deep, harsh sobs, and he understood she was letting go of a hatred she had of the dark ones for the longest time.
He held her as she poured her fury into his arms, until her sobs quieted, and until she slumbered. Several minutes of staring into the high-rise ceiling and merely holding her and wishing he would never let her go, a faint stirring pierced through his thoughts. Gavyn frowned, caught the mental knock and tentatively opened his mind.
“Did you kill your father?”
He stiffened and peered down at the woman in his arms. Her chest rose gently, she still slept, yet he had heard her clearly in his thought. At his silence, another stirring came in his mind, gentle and uncertain.
“Will you not tell me?”
He opened his thoughts and tentatively questioned, “Xian?”
“Yes, my love?”
His heart pounded like a war drum. Ajali had told him that he had formed a telepathic connection with Tehdra. A link the Darkans referred to as lei and was only possible between mated pairs. Was Xian his mate? If yes, where was all the rage and roaring possessiveness the Darkans were rumored to have for their mates?
With trembling fingers, he brushed the lock from off her forehead and peered into her face. Wet spikes still lingered on her lashes, and he used his thumb to wipe away the tear stain.
“No, I did not. He traveled to the mountains and performed seppuku.”
“Did you watch as he pierced his own heart with a blade coated with flames?”
“I did.”
And he had grieved his father even as he had struggled to understand his betrayal.
“I am sorry, Gavyn. You have lost so much.”
And the echoes of her sorrow, regret, and breath-taking love and acceptance stayed with him a long time.
How do I let you go?
Chapter 7
A small army had been gathered on the clearing behind castle Shela, their destination the mountain paths that would covertly take them from her kingdom to the wasteland. Warriors had been sent ahead to safeguard the routes and ensured no spies or any civilians who could report their movements were ahead. King Ajali, his consort, Uriah, and Lady Shae stood in the distance and observed as their convoy slowly crawled away. All the farewells had been said over an hour ago, and Xian sensed Gavyn's stare though she did not see him atop the parapet with Ajali and the others.
Their night together she would treasure for all her life, even though she could not escape the awareness it had felt like the beginning of something beautiful, instead of a farewell. Taking a deep breath, Xian sent a piercing whistle into the air. An ear-splitting shriek echoed down the mountain from the caves, and several of the warriors who accompanied Prince Baku exchanged wary glances.
She hid her smile as her wraith rolled from the cave, plunged off the mountain with mesmerizing grace, and arrived with fearsome agility in the vast, open area. Azriel landed, the force of the wind generated by his wings tumbled her locks from its upset knot to her waist.
“What is it?”
“They are real?”
“It is a legend.”
“Be on guard men, it can attack at any moment.”
Whispers from Prince Baku's men swept through the clearing, as she made her way over to Azriel. He was a terrible sight in its width and height—a monstrous creature born of darkness. It appeared shadowy and insubstantial, yet one could also see the outline of his massive body, the clawed feet, its sinewy wings, and serrated teeth. Empty sockets where eyes should’ve been glared pitilessly at the gathering.
Prince Baku recoiled before he caught himself, then smoothed his face into impressive impassivity. “I’ve heard of these creatures,” he said, walking closer but staying at a respectable distance.
Xian glanced at him. “Have you?”
“Yes. Why have you summoned it?”