“You do?” he asked surprised by her words.
“Yes, I do. I know that as a King you will have to make difficult choices, and I know that the safety of those under your care comes first.”
“No,” he shook his head, “your safety comes first then everyone else’s.”
She smiled. “Fine, my safety comes first. I’m sorry that Lorsan put you in a position to have to kill.”
Trik let out a deep sigh. “Well, he’s going to be putting me in that position many times starting tomorrow.”
“What?” Cassie asked confused.
“We leave out at first light,” he looked down at her and reached out and gently brushed his thumb across her cheek. “for battle, Love. I’m tired of waiting. It’s time we end this.”
She walked into his opened arms and laid her head on his chest. Trik felt the rightness of her warm body and as he closed his eyes and let her scent and her familiarity soak into his bones, he prayed to the Forest Lords that this wouldn’t be the last time he would hold his Chosen. He prayed that there would be many more nights, with hopefully less clothing.
“I heard that,” her muffled voice said and he laughed as he kissed her head.
“Can’t blame a man for hoping, Beautiful, especially when his future wife looks like you.”
Chapter 13
“We’ve set the world on fire. We’ve taken the very thing that was to make them great and poured it out all over the ground, trampling it as we fled. We struck, and now we run as the beast we have provoked comes to life. If we lose, we can at least say that we did not go quietly into the night. We stood for what was right. We stood for those who could not stand for themselves.” ~Tony
Elora heard the explosion before she felt the heat of it as Cush carried her in his arms. He picked up his pace and his feet never faltered even when the ground quaked.
“We almost got in that vehicle,” she mumbled to herself in disbelief. “We would have been blown to teeny tiny bits.”
“I can’t imagine you in bite size pieces,” Cush told her, not even breathing hard.
“Did you just make a joke?” she asked him as she looked up at him.
His lips twitched but he didn’t answer her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled up so that she could look over his shoulder. Her mouth opened slightly as she saw the flames that engulfed the vehicle. These flames weren’t the same as the ones that Rin and Cush had produced; these flames were black.
“What the,” she muttered.
“Black flames?” Cush asked as he continued to run.
She nodded as her eyes continued to stare at the odd flames.
“Their magic is a product of what is inside of them. Dark magic for a dark soul,” he explained.
“So basically whatever you look like on the inside is what will come out?”
“Exactly,” he agreed.
They continued on in silence and Elora eventually settled back in his arms. She laid her head against his chest and tried to keep the wall up between them. She was getting tired of holding it up. She missed him, oddly enough, even as she was held in his arms. She missed the closeness that she felt between them when she didn’t have a mental wall separating them. She knew that the minute she let it down he would know what she was thinking and would know that she intended to stay in the human world without him. And she knew that he would probably blow a gasket, so for now she would just keep that little tidbit to herself. Damn, where is my best friend when I need her? she thought to herself. Oh that’s right, she’s stuck in another realm attempting to take out a dark-elf king, she added and grinned to herself. Cassie would tease her about talking to herself, but then if Elora knew Cassie, her best friend had already had many of her own pep talks with herself.
She didn’t know how long they had been running when she finally felt Cush begin to slow. She picked her head up from his chest and looked around. She saw that her mom was standing next to them so Elora pushed away from Cush, motioning for him to put her down. She could tell that he didn’t want to but he finally gave in.
“There’s a motel there,” Tony said breathlessly. He was pointing to a dilapidated building that was sporting a twitching neon sign that struggled to advertise V_CA_CY.
“Good,” Oakley wheezed as he too attempted to catch his breath. “Running for my life exhausts me and I could use a shower.”
“We get two rooms,” Cush spoke up.
“I call girls and guys,” Elora said quickly before Cush could assign them. Cush frowned at her but she simply shrugged.
“You have much to learn if you think that will deter him,” Lisa whispered to her as she leaned in close.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Elora asked her mom.
“We’ll talk soon.” Lisa smiled to her gently. “I’m in agreement with your brother; I need a shower.”
Cush took Elora’s hand. “We’ll get the rooms; you guys keep watch for anything that looks suspicious.”
“And by suspicious you mean?” Oakley asked.
“People who are too beautiful, black flames, or someone holding a sign that says I’m a dark elf and I’m here to kill you,” Elora quipped.
“Right,” Oakley chuckled, “thanks, Sis.”
“Anytime, Bro. Like I said, I got your back.”
Twenty minutes later Elora threw herself on the stale motel bed and sighed. “Saving the world is tiring.”
Lisa laughed. “Are you sure it’s saving the world that is wearing you out?”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” she groaned. “Okay, so you know how in the movies people always have revelations at the most inopportune times?”
Lisa nodded as she sat down on the bed opposite her daughter.
“Well that actually happens,” Elora continued. “I mean there we were in the middle of a war zone with Cush and Rin shooting out elf magic and flames all around and BAM!” she hollered. “It just hits me, Cush likes what he does, Lisa. He likes being a warrior. He enjoys hunting bad guys and taking them out and I will get in the way of that. That is why he didn’t want a Chosen. That is why at first he didn’t want me.” The words are only a little painful as she says them, though she knew they would hurt worse if she thought that he truly didn’t want her.
“Okay,” Lisa prompted her to continue.
“Well, I realized that I can’t take that from him. I mean, seriously, how long until he rolls over one night and looks at me and thinks this is what I gave up fighting for? I don’t want him to resent me, Lisa,” she said as she sat up and slammed a hand against her chest in emphasis. “It would kill me if one day he realized that he was unhappy and would have been happier had he not taken me as his Chosen, or whatever, but continued to be a warrior.”
“Elora, Honey,” Lisa started but Elora held up her hand to stop her mom.
“No, I know what you’re going to say and I get it. I do. I know that because I’m his Chosen that there is some mystical, soul mate crap, and you’re going to say there is no way he could ever resent me, but I don’t believe that.”
“Okay, that’s not what I was going to say,” Lisa chuckled. “But good guess. What I was going to say is that don’t you think that Cush is old enough to decide for himself what he wants?”
Elora looked taken aback. “No,” she said matter-of-fact like which drew another laugh from her mom.
“And why not?” Lisa asked.
“Because he’s a guy and more than likely he’s simply thinking about what happens in the bedroom if we are together or whatever.”
“Elora,” Lisa shook her head, “Cush is not a sixteen-year-old boy. He’s a grown man, an ancient warrior, who has known all his life that he might one day meet his Chosen. You need to give him more credit than that.”
Elora thought about that for a few moments before she finally shrugged. “Maybe. But is it really a chance I should take?”
“Is this about Cush? Or is this about you being afraid of getting hurt?” Lisa asked.
Elora felt
as if a ton of bricks had been dropped on her chest. Part of it was definitely about Cush, but now that her mom had asked the question she had so studiously been avoiding in her own mind, the simple truth of it was staring her in the face and she couldn’t turn away. She loved him. Plain and simple—she loved the elf warrior who was overbearing, bossy, pushy, and yet surprisingly, funny and sweet. She loved him and she was terrified that he wouldn’t—couldn’t love her.
“You suck,” she told her mom with a half-smile.
Lisa patted her leg. “Talk to him.”
“Yeah, okay, I’ll get right on that,” she paused, “after we save the world.”
Lisa shook her head and then stood and walked to their motel door. She pulled it open and looked back at her daughter. “Nope, you’ll do it now.”
Elora’s eyes widened as Cush stepped in. “Thank you, Lisa,” he said to her mom, his eyes never leaving hers.
“Crap,” Elora breathed out as the object of her conversation shut the door behind her mom and locked it.
Tony watched as Lisa came into the motel room he was sharing with Oakley and the two other light-elfin warriors. She looked incredibly young to have a grown son and nearly grown daughter, but then if she had been mated to an elf, she had, at least at one time, had near immortality.
“So what’s your story,” he asked her as she sat down at the small table and chairs that were shoved into the far corner of the room. Lisa’s head snapped up to look at him; her eyes widened slightly at his question.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
Tony walked over and took a seat across from her. “I mean, how did a human end up the Chosen of a dark elf, have his children, and then end up a widow?”
She smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “You do realize that you asked me how I ended up the widow of a dark elf right? It makes much more sense that if I am a widow it would be of a dark elf and not a light elf, doesn’t it?”
“You’re dodging the question,” he pointed out.
She shrugged. “It’s not something I like to talk about. We all,” she looked at him pointedly, “have skeletons in our closets, some more than others.”
Tony held up his hands in surrender. “Touché.”
“All you really need to know, Tony, is that my mate was a good man and he died doing the right thing.”
“Did Trik kill him?”
The words hung in the air between them like a contagious disease neither of them wanted to catch. Lisa met his eyes and gave a small nod. Tony watched her for a few seconds longer before he spoke again. “So what now? Did Cush have a plan for after he destroyed the production of Rapture?”
“We need to get the portals back open,” she told him. “We figured out the only way to do that is to have one of Lorsan’s subjects willingly give a sacrifice of blood.”
Tony laughed out loud as his hand slammed down on the table. “You think you will get one of the dark elves to betray their king?” He shook his head. “Not likely. They’re too scared of what he will do to them.”
Rin sat up from where he had been lying on one of the motel beds. “We never said it was going to be one of the dark elves,” he pointed out. “We said it had to be a subject of Lorsan, meaning anyone under his rule.”
Tony’s head turned slowly until his eyes collided with the large warrior. “Ahh,” he blew out a breath. “You want me to be the sacrifice.”
“Are you ready to talk?” Cush asked.
Elora straightened her shirt for the hundredth time, though it hadn’t needed it the other ninety-nine times either, and studiously tried to avoid meeting his penetrating gaze.
“Well, I don’t think I have much of a choice; it seems that you and my mom are in cahoots against me.”
She heard the warm rumble of his deep chuckle and fought the urge to climb in his lap and beg him to hold her close. She had to be strong and she had to get a freaking grip because she needed him to understand that she wasn’t going to let this happen between them just because they were destined for one another. Did she want him? Hell yes, but not if it cost him doing what he loved most.
“So?” he prompted when she didn’t continue further.
Finally she tilted her head up to look at him. She immediately realized that this was a bad decision because his light blue eyes were nearly dancing with desire, and she could practically see him shaking like a junky with his need to get his hands on her. She knew the feeling.
“I realized something today while we were out there,” she motioned towards the door past him, “burning up elf plants and running for our lives.”
He waited.
She twisted her hands in her lap and bit at her bottom lip before she continued. “I realized that you really enjoy hunting down bad guys, and you really enjoy being a warrior—doing what you are trained to do.”
“You realized this because I told you?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No, I realized it because it was written all over your face. You were like a little kid on Christmas.”
“And?”
Her eyes widened at him and her jaw tightened as anger welled up inside of her. “And?” she snapped. “And I’ve decided that I’m not going to be the one who takes that from you. I’m not going to be the reason you stop doing what you trained to do—what you obviously love to do.” She was breathing a little heavier when she finished as she attempted to get her emotions under control. It was so hard with him and she still wasn’t used to feeling so emotional and frankly, she didn’t like it.
“What do you mean you’ve decided?” His low voice and soft words should have been a red flag for her to just shut up, but then Elora was getting really good at ignoring red flags when it came to Cush. “Decided what exactly?” he asked.
She let out a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair. She pulled the long mane over her shoulder and quickly braided it, using it as an excuse to think before she finally just said what she needed to say.
“I’ve decided that once this is all done, once Lorsan is taken care of and Trik and Cassie are safe and all is right in the world, we…,” she motioned between them, “will just go on with our lives,” she paused, “separately, in our own realms.” Elora decided that as soon as that last word left her mouth she had never heard such utter, complete silence. It was as if the damn bed bugs, that she was sure were living in the motel bed, were holding their breath waiting to see what the warrior would do. He took a step towards her and she struggled not to stand from where she sat and move away from his imposing presence.
“You honestly believe I would choose my job over you?” he finally asked after several tense minutes of silence. “You think that I would rather go into battle than be with my Chosen?” he asked before she could answer the first question.
Elora licked her lips nervously and then pulled her shoulders back and stood up so that she didn’t have to tilt her head so far back to look at him. “That’s just it, Cush. I may be your Chosen, but you didn’t choose me.” BAM, she thought to herself, how do you like them apples. “You feel what you feel because you have to. You don’t have a choice and that’s not good enough for me. Not when it means that you might just throw away something that you love doing, something that you actually chose to do.”
He laughed but she didn’t think for a minute that there was any humor in that laugh.
“You think that I chose to be a warrior? You think that this life wasn’t forced on me? We aren’t human, Elora. We don’t live in a society where we go to school and get to be whatever our little hearts’ desire. As a male of my race the first thing they evaluate us for, before we are even a handful of years old, is our battle skills. Do we defend ourselves or do we hide? Do we protect others first or do we think of our own safety first. I was chosen by my king before I turned four summers. I was singled out to be a warrior long before I even had aspirations or dreams. Don’t think for a minute that I ever chose this life. It was chosen for me. I was predestined for it—just as you were pr
edestined for me.
Elora didn’t know what to say to that. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to be a child and told that you would be a warrior—that you didn’t have a choice. “You see that’s my point,” she said suddenly as she realized what she was trying to get across to him. He had just made her point for her and she wasn’t going to let the advantage slip away. “You have never been given a choice in your life and I’m not going to do the same thing to you. Okay, I get it; we’re soul mates. I totally believe that.” She wasn’t about to deny it because she could feel her soul was screaming at her to shut her big trap. “But I’m not going to tell you that you have to be with me just because we were made for each other. That’s not fair to you,” she paused and then finished with, “or me.”
Cush’s eyes narrowed. “Hold up, is this really about you not wanting to force yourself on me or is this about the fact that you don’t want to be with me? You just said it’s not fair for you. Do you feel like I’m forcing this on you?” She could see the hurt in his eyes and she should correct him. She should tell him the truth, but she saw this as her chance to push him away, a chance to make sure that he didn’t get stuck with her.
“Look, I realize that you are the other half to my soul. I understand that without you I won’t ever be whole. But, Cush, that’s just not enough for me to give up my life and it shouldn’t be enough for you either.” She turned away from him and had to bite her tongue to keep from crying because she knew at any moment he was going to tell her she was right. Any moment he was going to tell her to have a nice life and it was going to break her heart. She didn’t want him to see her if and when he finally did it.