58. Raise the Alarm
~ MELEK ~
The Shadows of Shade made my skin crawl. After a full day within the fog, I was growing claustrophobic, thankful for the spears at my back again because they steadied me for a fight.
But how did one fight a swirling, ever-moving fog?
Yilan reassured me the uneasy feeling wasn’t the power of the Shadows, but rather a common reaction in the mind. It would pass.
We stopped and lit a fire for lunch on the second day and I told Yilan we needed to take a real break.
We were all weary, hungry, and tired after sleeping on the ground.
The excellent beds in the Shadekin Palace had spoiled us.
I wasn’t the only one groaning when I’d pushed out of the furs Yilan and I shared overnight.
“It’s a two day march through the Shadows by the shortest route—which we aren’t taking. Do you want to risk losing most of the third day to the fog?” Yilan asked me quietly, under the level of the rustle of the forest and the others’ low voices.
“A couple hours won’t change our last day of travel dramatically, but it could make today a lot more bearable,” I muttered.
Yilan shrugged and told everyone to remove their horse’s saddles to give them rest.
An hour later we had a fire, boiled water for tea, and a much improved morale.
We were all sprawled on the ground in a circle, letting the flames beat back some of the damp mist. With full bellies and warmth from the tea, we could almost have been traveling for fun.
A simple adventure. Not a group of allies surrounded by a deadly fog with a supernatural threat.
Yilan’s head had just tipped slowly against my shoulder and my eyes were just beginning to droop when the sound of trotting hoofbeats reached us, dampened by the fog, which was disorienting.
For long seconds I couldn’t tell which direction the hoofbeats were coming from, and turned to count our mounts—had one of them broken its tie and taken off?
I loosed one of my spears and pulled it to my side just in case.
But a few seconds later the hoofbeats grew louder, and then the fog swirled, spitting out a sweaty, chestnut mare with a hooded figure on its back far too small to be a Neph.
At first I thought it was a messenger—and if so, the news must be dire. But then the horse slid to a halt, blowing hard, and the rider threw back the hood… to reveal a handsome, middle-aged woman.
Harris.
I blinked as she looked frantically around, scanning our circle, and all of us stared back, stunned. Then Yilan leaped to her feet and Harris zeroed in on her.
“Where is she? She’s with you, right?”
In the bond, Yilan went cold and my stomach clenched as I felt the fear wash through her.
“Who?” Yilan breathed, though she must have known.
“Istral!” Harris said frantically. “She disappeared yesterday. It took hours to check all of her hiding spots and be certain she hadn’t hidden herself back at the Palace. I’ve been riding since midnight—she must be here. She must be!”
“What?!” Yilan’s hands covered her mouth and when she spoke, her voice was shaking. “She’s not. Harris… she’s not with us.”
The woman threw up her hands with a terrified wail. I was about to go to Yilan when I looked at Gall who was seated on a fallen tree a few feet to my right. He’d be beside himself to know Istral was missing. We’d need to—
But Gall was just sitting there, staring at Harris. He looked stunned.
And wary.
Not terrified.
Not even scared.
And not worried ?
Yilan whirled, her expression terrified and my name on her lips, but I put my hand up to her and rose quickly to my feet, striding over to Gall whose eyes snapped from Harris to me as I approached.
“Gall…” I said with a deep warning in my tone. “Do you know anything about this?”
My instincts screamed when, instead of defending himself, or chittering with delayed terror as happened when he was afraid, he squirmed.
“Gall?” I repeated as I reached him, staring down at him.
But Gall just stared at me sullenly, then shook his head and shrugged.
I waited, but he did not speak.
Which was Gall’s way of keeping secrets.
Except for his worried conversation with Yilan about the fog and who was—or wasn’t—safe within it, he’d been very quiet since we left the Palace.
I thought it was because he was upset about leaving Istral, and I’d tried to be understanding.
But now that quietness took on an entirely different light.
“Gall.” When he met my eyes, I let him see both compassion and warning in my gaze. “Are you hiding anything? Do you know anything about where Istral is? I think you do.”
His lips pressed thin and he shifted in his seat.
“Gall, please,” Yilan gasped, appearing at my side. “If you know anything—please. Istral isn’t… she’s not equipped to—”
“She’s much stronger than you think,” Gall said sullenly.
“Gall,” Yilan started, sounding horrified, but I gripped her hand to stop her.
“Gall, no one is going to hurt you or-or punish you. But if you know anything about where Istral is, you must tell us. She may need help.”
“She doesn’t. I help her if she needs it, but she’s not—” he bit the word off, then cursed as Yilan gave a little shriek.
“Where? Where is she?!”
I stepped up and grabbed Gall’s arms, forcing myself not to shake him. “Gall, you have to tell us where she is.”
“I was just doing as you said and protecting and providing!”
“Wait… providing for who?”
“My mate,” Gall said, a hint of steel in his tone.
My heart sank. Oh Son. You can’t know…
“Your what?!” Yilan gasped .
Letting go of Gall, I grabbed for her hand and pulled her to my side. She was terrified for her sister, but raising her voice to Gall wasn’t going to make him open up.
“Gall—”
“I’m not stopping. She’s coming with us. I’m bringing my mate just like you are. And I’ll claim her just like you claim yours.”
Oh fuck. “Gall, it’s not that simple—”
“She will be killed, Gall! How could you—”
“You said the Shadows won’t kill any Shadekin. And she’s Shadekin, just like you!”
“Yes!” Yilan spluttered. “But that doesn’t protect her from injury, or beasts, or other fucking Nephilim! Gall, she’s not trained, she’s not prepared for this—where is she? Where the fuck is she?!”
I grabbed for Yilan as she darted forward like she’d grab Gall and shake him, hooking an arm around her stomach and pulling her back against me, though she fought at first. I understood the urge, but it wouldn’t help.
“Gall,” I said as calmly as I could. Gall slowly lifted his eyes to meet mine. “Do you know where she is? Exactly where she is?” I asked quietly.
Yilan went still, listening, but her heart was pounding against my palm. I sent a rush of reassurance through the bond and squeezed her.
Then Gall nodded slowly. Several gasps and muttered curses rose, and I growled a few as well.
“Gall, you have to take us to her.”
Gall’s jaw went tight. “She would hide. She knows to hide if anyone comes near who isn’t me.”
“She’ll let me close,” Harris said, her voice still shaky, but free of tears now. “Show me, Gall. Or tell me. I’ll go to her. She’s… she’s probably cold. And afraid.”
Gall scowled. “She is not cold, and she’s only afraid that you’ll take her back, away from me.”
Yilan clawed her hands into her hair, but when she spoke this time, she kept her voice quiet.
“Gall, please… please, I am begging you… please tell me or Harris. Let one of us go to her.”
Gall glanced at me and I nodded. He sighed. “I’ll take Harris. She won’t get mad,” he said, pushing to his feet and starting off into the forest .
Yilan clawed at me, trying to pry my arm from around her middle, but I hissed at her not to move. “Let him take Harris. She’ll bring her to us.”
“But… Melek, she’s so timid. And she’s been traveling alone? For two days?”
Harris heard us as she passed on her way to follow Gall. She was pale and clearly worried, but she whispered, “She’s much braver with Gall near.” Then she hurried after him as he stepped into the trees.
Yilan was trembling, but she stopped fighting and soon I set her on her feet holding her until a few minutes later the fog swirled again, and Istral appeared in the shadow of Gall, Harris walking alongside her, one arm around her back, the other hand clamped on her arm like she was afraid Istral might disappear.
She was wearing a fur lined cloak and there were tears on her face, but her expression spoke more of frustration than fear.
“Istral!” Yilan tore out of my arms and ran to her sister, throwing her arms around her and hugging her desperately.
Istral hugged her back, dropping her head to her sister’s shoulder and squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
But when Yilan eventually broke the embrace and started examining Istral, babbling about how scared she must have been, and how tired, reassuring her that Harris would take her back to the Palace, Istral shook her head and took two steps back, straight into Gall, who stood tall, his jaw set, and his eyes darting between me and Yilan.
Yilan went still, gaping, as her sister shook her head again. “I’m not going back.” Her voice was barely above a whisper, and she looked pale. But her chin was high, and she reached back to grasp for Gall’s hand.
I was stunned.
Yilan was floored. “Izzy—”
“Gall is my mate and I’m not leaving him. You didn’t leave yours. I’m not leaving mine,” she said in a cracked, thin voice.
Yilan blinked. “The fuck you aren’t—”
“Mate,” I said quietly.
Yilan’s head snapped towards me. “Don’t tell me you had something to do with this?”
“Of course not,” I growled. “But if they are mates, you can understand—”
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Yilan hissed. “They’re… they’re… this isn’t that!”
My heart squeezed for her. She’d been so disturbed when Harris suggested that the two might have some kind of connection.
She just couldn’t see her sister as anything more than a child.
And if I thought she truly was a child, I wouldn’t have pushed.
But I knew if the bond existed, it was chosen by God.
A divine right. And that meant it was good.
“I’m not going back,” Istral said, her voice a little bit stronger this time. “I’m not leaving him.”
“And I’m not leaving her,” Gall added quickly, then looked at me with his lower jaw jutting out.
Harris looked back and forth between them, horrified, but she was calming.
Yilan however…
“This is not a matebond! You are young, and you don’t understand—you don’t have a clue what is involved in a true bond. Either of you. It’s… it’s…”
“You never believed I was a real woman,” Istral said, her lips trembling.
“What? That is not true! I’m only saying—”
“He’s my mate. He keeps me safe. I’m staying.”
“But—”
I slipped up behind Yilan and wrapped an arm around her, hugging her from behind, dropping my chin to her shoulder. “Love, I think… I think maybe we should just calm down and think this through.”
“Surely you can’t think that they’re—”
“I don’t know,” I murmured, glancing up at Gall who was holding Istral now and glaring at anyone who looked at them. “But I know that I don’t want to see any of the women in my life unhappy with each other. And maybe… maybe we need to listen to them.”
Yilan turned in the circle of my arms and looked up at me, craning her head back, staring at me, her brow furrowed and lines appearing at the sides of her mouth. “You must be joking?”
“At least they’re safe for now.”
“Not for long! We’ll reach the border tomorrow! No, this isn’t—Harris can take her back.”
“No,” Gall said.
And Istral turned, pressing herself against him, shaking her head.
Yilan was about to launch into them again, so I spoke quickly .
“Gall, what makes you so sure that Istral is your mate?”
Gall’s brow furrowed. “She has a piece of me.”
I blinked and I heard Yilan’s breath catch.
“Can you… can you explain that?” I breathed.
Gall shrugged. “A piece of me… right in my chest… it… broke off and went to find her. And I have a piece of her, too. Now we can feel each other.”
Yilan’s breathing became very quick and shallow. I held her, sending every reassurance through the bond that I could.
“Anything else?” I asked him hoarsely.
“I can speak in his mind,” Istral said quietly.
“What?!” Yilan gasped.
Istral raised her chin, but she was trembling. “I can speak in his mind, even though he’s Neph. He’s my mate. And I’m not leaving him.”