Chapter 27 #2
Three hours later, Valik still lay unconscious in bed.
Scarlett and I sat by his bedside in comfortable chairs, courtesy of the Mystics’ hospitality.
I had to admit that the water and earthy ambiance of the room were truly calming.
My mind still spun with questions from Shadow’s revelation about Slate Helair’s faked death.
Seeing Onyx, only to be slapped in the face with the potential truth-bomb of Slate’s survival not even ten minutes later, was quite the shock.
Every time I thought of Onyx, I felt as if a dagger had been plunged into my heart.
Why didn’t he tell me he was alive? Or at the very least, try to contact me over the last few years?
Ever since his disappearance, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to get close to a guy emotionally.
While Onyx and I had shared a secret relationship, it had been real. Or so I’d believed.
Earning my position as the Royal Domain’s Inquisitor seemed to work in my favor when it came to power dynamics.
I used that to take on a dominant role, and no one questioned why I wouldn’t kiss them with tongue or perform oral.
Curiosity and a need to be submissive drove them to me to fulfil their fantasies.
Onyx had been the only one outside of my father, Forest, and Grim who knew I didn’t have a tongue.
But before I became Inquisitor, I hadn’t needed to be dominant with Onyx.
Being with him had been intimate and liberating.
He had seen me, and his patience had been on a level I’d only experienced with Scarlett.
As for Slate, just…what the fuck? I didn’t even know where to begin with that one. I found myself relating to Gray in a way that went beyond the trauma her father had inflicted upon us.
I sat with my elbows braced on my knees with my hands clasped together.
I stared at the floor, mesmerized by the water rippling and flowing beneath my feet, fascinated that it wasn’t soaking into my boots with no solid barrier separating us.
Lost in my thoughts. I was beginning to think that seeing Onyx had been a lapse in my mind.
Perhaps I’d imagined him when it had really been someone else.
But those eyes…I couldn’t have hallucinated them. All these years, I’d tried to picture them, but it was never the same as seeing him face to face.
I sat back in my chair, bouncing my knees anxiously. It could take Valik an entire day to wake up, but I didn’t have that kind of time. Maybe I could reach him in his subconscious state. Scarlett’s head lay slumped on her shoulder, a little dribble of drool sliding down the corner of her mouth.
I closed my eyes and cleared my lungs with a deep, cleansing breath.
If there was any hope of reaching Valik, my thoughts needed to be empty.
I focused on the sound of the comforting water that wafted throughout the room.
It lapped beneath my feet, its soothing properties seeming to permeate into my soul.
My thoughts barreled through my head like a destructive bowling ball.
It felt impossible to silence them all. I must have sat there for nearly half an hour just trying to patiently wait out the thoughts battering me and taking me off course of my goal.
At last, I decided to mentally place the thoughts into some weird witchy cauldron each time they demanded my attention.
Once they were in whatever concoction I’d placed them in, I embraced the dark silence in my mind, then focused on seeking out the thread that would connect Valik to me.
The energetic cord coming from Valik’s forehead couldn’t be mistaken for anything else. The blinding silver thread was thicker and stronger than the cords I’d seen from Scarlett and Nell, and the power exuding from it was awe-inspiring and intimidating.
Cautiously, I reached out with my essence, connecting with the thread beaming from him. I gasped, clutching the space between my brows. The pain that seared through my skull felt like someone had spliced my brain in two, followed by a piercing ring that made my ears want to bleed.
What the fuck?
Instinctively, I tried to pull back, but Valik’s voice echoed in my mind. “No. Stay. It’s fine.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “It worked?” My fingers hurt from wrenching them together to bear the pain searing through my skull.
“It did. I see you’re a quick learner.” Valik lay motionless and pale in the bed before me, not giving any hint of his consciousness.
“Why does it hurt so badly to do this with you?” I grunted, forced to squeeze my eyes shut.
“I’ve been told I tend to take up a lot of space in people’s heads. Part of my charm, I suppose.”
I opened my eyes through the pain, incredulous. “Can you take anything seriously?”
“Of course, I can. For instance, you need to get to Gray.”
“What? She’s not here, though,” I said, caught off guard.
Valik made a snorting sound in my head. “Obviously. That’s because she’s in the Wind Kingdom.”
I frowned. “The Wind Kingdom? Isn’t that where the Druids live?”
“It is. And if you are what I believe you are, then you’ll be able to enter their domain.”
“Okay, before we get onto that, do you know anything about someone named Slate Helair?”
“What about Slate?” Valik asked it in such a casual manner that it made my heart drop.
“You know Slate?” Why hadn’t he mentioned this before?
“Of course, I know Slate. He’s been staying with me for the past however many years he’s been pretending to be dead.”
“And you’ve failed to mention that little fact to me because…”
“It never came up.”
I massaged my temples as if I could rub the headache from my skull. “Did you know he was with Gray this entire time?”
“I had a strong suspicion.”
“Well, is he with her now?” I pressed, hoping for some clarity.
“They are together in the Wind Kingdom. Brecken has them now, but we need her here. And I think you might be the only shot we have at accomplishing that.”
“Okay.” I nodded with a sigh, ready to get him out of my head so this migraine could go away.
Scarlett began to stir, and I leaned my head back against the seat.
“Could you wake the fuck up now? I don’t know how much longer I can withstand this pain.”
“Wish I could. When I opened the portal this last time, I essentially disentangled the fabric of the universe to allow so many people to walk through it. It completely drained me, so I’ll probably be out for another day or so.”
“Gods,” I said, shaken by his vast power, wondering where he came from and what he was. I ran my fingers through my hair to smooth it to the side as I focused on staying on task. “Any idea where I can find the Wind Kingdom?”
“Tali. Talk to her. And don’t go alone.”
I glanced over at Scarlett. Her eyelids cracked open as she came to, and she sat up once she spotted me standing. “Where are you going?”
“Okay. Well…” I began, still speaking mentally to Valik. “Rest up, I suppose. I’ll be on my way.”
“Best of luck, Sjodin. Come back with our queen.”
I nodded, despite knowing that he couldn’t see me. Directing my focus on Scarlett, I said to her mind, “To find Gray.”