Time #3
There was a white marble conical funeral plinth that, if you didn’t know what this place was, and as such, to look for it, it would be lost in the blinding white of the snow that surrounded it.
Mangold and Zyra approached first, with Zyra putting their bouquet of flowers at the base of the plinth, while Tanyn and I hung back.
We gave them time.
They took it, in silent reflection.
It was only when Zyr let out a little sob that Manny led her away.
I turned to Tanyn to hand him the bouquet.
He took it without looking at it.
No, he was staring in my eyes.
“Cold?” he asked.
I was freezing.
I made my lips curve up. “I’m totally getting used to it.”
“Liar,” he whispered.
Caught.
I shrugged.
His head dropped and he touched his lips to mine.
He was killing me.
When he lifted away, I said, “Say hi to her from me.”
Instantaneously, red lightning crackled through his now black eyes.
But he nodded and moved to the plinth.
Hurley went with him and sat down in the snow beside Tanyn’s feet.
It took him a while to lay the bouquet by the plinth, and watching him standing there, staring at the space where, under the snow, his mother’s body lay, it was too much. Too intimate. Too private.
I turned away, walked to the shore and stared out to sea.
And I thought of the pic of the female on that couch, smiling.
The lynx in their pen, healing.
The lynx outside their pen, roaming.
I thought of welcoming small rooms in a tiny portion of a vast castle that made a happy home.
I thought of a motley group of four people, stranded, alone, and making a family.
I thought of a boy fishing, to feed his mother as the supplies ran low.
And partly tame, mostly wild beasts circling a dead female to protect her from nothing.
And I wept.
I was so in my thoughts, when I felt the touch on my neck, I was surprised.
I turned.
Looked up.
And Tanyn gazed down at me.
“She would have loved you,” he whispered.
I sob tore out my throat, and I collapsed into his body, my arms rounding him.
His did the same to me.
Tight.
“Comm us when you’re in Abyssinia. We’ll fly over. Have dinner.” Standing on the landing platform, the soni-jet loaded up behind us, waiting for Tanyn, Hurley and I to embark, Zyra was holding me and talking in my ear.
“Okay, when Mira sorts everything, I’ll let you know.”
She pulled her head away but didn’t let me go.
“Also, we want to come to Nocturn. See your gallery.”
I smiled at her. “That can be arranged.”
“I’ve never been to Nocturn,” she said.
“Well, you’ve got an in for a VIP tour of Spikeback Castle,” I bragged.
“Oh Lilith! I’d love that,” Zyra exclaimed.
“Female,” Manny grunted. “Let her go. The pilot doesn’t have all night for you to gab.”
Zyr glared at her husband then turned back to me, rolled her eyes and griped, “Males.”
I smiled at her again and gave her a squeeze.
We released each other and I went to Manny for a hug.
He engulfed me in his arms and this time I got the squeeze, and it was tight.
He let me go with a pat on my shoulder and a, “See you soon, lass.”
“You will,” I confirmed.
“Baby?” Tanyn called.
Not even drunk, I went right to him.
He took my hand, we sent one last wave to Zyra and Mangold then walked up the steps, holding hands, Hurley following us into the jet.
The pilot came in after us. The door folded up. We settled in, sitting next to each other, taking off hats, coats and gloves and buckling in.
We took off.
Just a note, the Grenadiers stayed behind.
They were Manny and Zyra’s detail, and only Tanyn’s when he was there.
And since I learned that day at lunch the soni-jet had military capabilities, including stealth, cloaking and armor, and our pilot was a Red Lance (the aerial form of a Grenadier), my detail would meet me on Aleksei’s platform in Nocturn, and Tanyn’s would meet him at Berg Castle.
“Don’t be smug,” I warned after we broke through the sound barrier and we were cutting through the sky.
“Pardon?” he asked.
I looked at him. “I’m bummed to leave.”
His eyes got lazy (kill me), he took my hand (kill me harder) and lifted it to his mouth so he could kiss my knuckles (kill me dead).
He set my hand on my thigh and said, “We’ll come back.”
My phone in my bag chimed.
I took it out and looked at the display, expecting it to be Mom, or one of the gals, because they knew we were away and probably wanted deets of the weekend.
Though, I was surprised, because they also knew Tanyn would be with me, so it’d be awkward to give deets, even in a text comm.
But when I looked at the display, I felt my brows inch together.
It was only a comm code at the header to the text, not someone programmed into my Palm.
And the text said…
My insides grew cold as I fully opened it.
Tanyn must have felt my reaction, because he asked, “What is it?”
“I…don’t know,” I answered, my voice strained.
He plucked the Palm out of my hand.
“What the fuck?” he growled, and I knew he’d read it.
My Palm chimed again, and leaning into his arm to peek, I saw another text come through.
Then another.
And a fourth.
And a fifth.
Respectively:
Exhume her.
Exhume him.
Autopsy.
They were murdered.
And you’re next.
“Tanyn—” His name on my lips was shaky.
But I got no more out.
He turned to me and his eyes were red.
“You aren’t going home.”
Oh…
Crap!