Chapter 31
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S teele reached out a hand, and Cyan walked over.
Instead of grabbing his hand, she wrapped her arms around him, and he pulled her close, holding her against his heart, right where she belonged.
He knew it. She knew it. But it might take a bit of time for them to get used to this bonding that had happened so quickly.
He kissed the top of her head. Then squeezed her tighter in a bear hug.
When he relaxed his grip, she didn’t step away, just leaned back and looked up at him.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I am. That was not how I expected it to end,” he murmured. “Yet it is appropriate in that it’s hard to imagine a better ending. Although I’m not sure how we’re supposed to explain this.”
“That’s Terk’s problem. As soon as Brent made a threat against whoever was on the other side of the gate, his words brought this fight to a rather foregone conclusion as far as the Beacon was concerned.
Although I figured if we could get him to enter the gate, the Beacon would help,” she noted.
“I don’t know what the Beacon is doing or how the Beacon is doing this, much less what kind of mechanism is behind it all.
However, as far as I’m concerned, this is probably the best answer. ”
Steele frowned. “I wonder if Brent will be frozen here forever.”
“I presume so, but I don’t know,” she admitted.
“We’ll leave that up to Terk to decide. Or maybe Brent will just be frozen here until MI6 arrives.
I would love to see the look on the agents’ faces when they realize what has happened.
I mean, is there a body to recover? Is Brent alive in there?
Will the Beacon ever release him, or has Brent been obliterated?
In which case, how does the MI6 team handle it? ”
“If he’s alive,” Steele replied, tilting his head back so he could see her face, “do you really think he won’t escape?”
“That may well be why the Beacon did it, because Brent was so sure that it wouldn’t matter, that nothing we did could ever stop him.”
“And that’s when things changed, wasn’t it?” Steele asked, with a sigh. He looked over at the space where the gate had been. “Even the doorway is gone. That’s unexpected.”
“Yes, but in a way it’s perfect,” she stated, and they both walked slowly toward the gate leading back to the castle.
The sun rose ahead of them. It was a beautiful morning.
The pasture seemed extra bright, the grass with a brilliant lime hue under the brilliance of the sun, the flowers colorful in their glorious array, and even the birdsong had an extra sweetness to it.
She stopped, looking around carefully, then voiced her question.
“We’re on Terk’s side of the gates, correct? ”
“Yes.” Then Steele chuckled. “Yes, we are.”
She resumed walking forward. “I wonder how that worked because I was on Terk’s side in the woods, but Brent should have been on the Beacon’s side of this world. Yet we could talk and communicate.”
“I was on Brent’s side.” Steele looked around as if seeing the brightness of where they were and frowned. “I wonder when I went from one side to the other?”
When I released the barrier so you were one.
“Ah.” They looked at each other, then smiled and linked their arms as they walked toward the castle, both with a calm joy inside.
As they approached the castle, she asked Steele, “Do you think the Beacon will ever give up Brent?”
“I don’t know, but I think that’s a Terk problem,” Steele noted. “I can tell you it’s not a me problem, at least not anymore. Can you imagine trying to explain this within the laws that govern our world? I don’t think either of us wants to deal with that. Especially not with MI6.”
“Right,” she agreed, with a smile. “That would definitely be a Terk problem.”
At that, another voice broke in. “It would be nice if you guys didn’t just leave all these Terk problems for me to deal with.”
They turned to see Terk and several of his men standing there, all smiling.
Cyan asked Terk, “Did you see what happened?”
“I did, as did most of my team. I’m not sure anyone here could have predicted that ending happening either. It certainly wasn’t planned,” he noted.
“Meaning, when you started this?”
“Meaning, when I first put up the Beacon, I wasn’t thinking of quite how”—he frowned—“ protective it would be.”
“I’m not against the protective part,” Celia shared, as she walked forward, holding two babies in her arms. “Considering the number of lives that we have to protect here, I’m not against it at all.”
“And yet,” Calum pointed out, “how do we keep this from happening again? It’s one thing for it to have happened now, but we can’t have people being disappeared by the Beacon, right?”
“Only if they’re the wrong people,” Celia stated, turning to him, “I sure won’t give a damn.”
One of the other women laughed and pointed out, “The Beacon seems to be bringing together whatever it thinks it needs.”
“What it needed in this instance is anybody’s guess,” Celia said, “but, for the moment, that asshole is gone.”
“That’s the problem though. For the moment isn’t all that reassuring,” Cyan pointed out.
Celia nodded. “I’m very aware of that. Yet the Beacon is in charge of this one. And I am okay to let the Beacon have Brent.” And, with that, she smiled, then turned and walked away, with most of the others following her.
Terk looked over at the two of them and waved them inside. “So, now that you’re a part of the household, let’s go get some food.”
“That sounds great.” Cyan smiled up at him. “I can’t say either of us got much sleep last night either, but food first is a great idea.”
Steele nodded. “Honest to God, I’m starving.”
Terk looked back as they walked closely behind him. “Looks like you two settled up your differences?”
Cyan glanced at Steele to find him staring back at her. She smiled. “Most of them. It might still take a bit of time for the rest.”
“No, it won’t,” Terk disagreed comfortably. “It might take a little bit of time for it to mesh and blend to be as smooth as you think it should be,” he clarified, “but that’s an entirely different story. Your two energies have blended. Changing any of that right now is,… yeah, unlikely.”
“Ever?” she asked.
He smiled at her and nodded. “Ever. And cheer up,… it’s a good thing.”
She chuckled, then looked back at Steele to see him studying her. She fell back a bit, putting a bit of distance between Terk and the others. “Are you okay?” she asked Steele.
“I’m okay,” he replied, eyeing her intently. “But you do realize—”
“I know,” she said, placing a finger on his lips.
He asked her, “But are you okay with this?”
“Ah”—she smiled—“you’re worried that I’m being forced into something.” Using air quotes, she added, “ A relationship I didn’t sign up for .”
“It didn’t exactly happen in a normal way,” he pointed out, eyeing her quizzically. “There’s nothing normal about either of us.”
She stopped, turning to place a hand on his chest. “Tell me something. If you could separate our energies right now, would you?”
“No.” His response burst out immediately. He thought about it and explained, “Because right now it feels as if we were ever to separate, it would be…” his voice deepened, infused with tenderness, as he frowned and then reluctantly shared, “the most horrific thing ever.”
His arms tightened around her. “I don’t know how it came to pass that this became so important,” he admitted, “so necessary,… almost like breathing, but your presence feels that way to me now.” He shook his head.
“Maybe that’s the true magic of the Beacon.
” He glanced around and asked the Beacon, “Did you plan this?”
A rumble came all around them.
She chuckled. “I’m not sure whether that rumble was a yes or a no.”
“I’m not sure that rumble was anything other than thunder,” Steele declared, as he glanced up at the skies. “But, God, the thought that all of this came from an encounter with Terk’s Beacon?… Wow.”
She reached up to kiss him. “Even wow has a whole different meaning right now.”
He laughed, pulled her up close, and gave her a searing kiss. “So, are you ready to figure out the next stage of our life?”
“Yeah,” she replied, as she fell into step beside him. As they neared the castle, she asked, “Do we even know what we’re doing here?”
“You came to visit Terk. I came because the Beacon called me.”
She froze, then turned back to him. “Do you think the Beacon did that deliberately?”
He paused and then started to chuckle. “Honest to God, I have no idea. But given everything else the Beacon has done to mess up our lives…”
She immediately tapped him on the cheek.
Rolling his eyes, he corrected himself. “I mean, pair up our lives , so I guess maybe it’s a possibility. Yes.” He glanced around for the Beacon and asked, “So,… was this deliberate?”
Just silence came.
She frowned and added, “I think this is one of those things that we just don’t get a clear answer on.”
“Of course not,” he conceded, with a sigh. “That would imply that it was willing or was under direction to provide answers on matters of love.”
She chuckled. “I think we’ll find out that the Beacon has become a whole lot more than what Terk intended it to be. It’s learning. It’s growing. And, if nothing else, it is guaranteed to keep us guessing.”