39. A New Presence #2
He’s already awake. I feel it before I open my eyes, in the connection we have here.
I roll onto my back and stare up at the ceiling. The roots up there pulse slow, steady, like a warning light on standby. I follow the pulse with my eyes, trace the path down the walls, then look over at him.
He’s propped on one elbow, head in hand, watching me. His eyes are gold and dark, less molten now and more like a coin. The green light plays over his coppery skin and green sweat, cooling the tone.
“We both seem to be sweating green. This is a first for me. I feel ok,” I say.
He doesn’t say anything at first. Just looks.
When he speaks, his voice is so low it barely registers. “You shared my gift, Elena. I don’t know what it means. What will happen in the other biomes if the other rulers experience this with their Starfallen Brides. The Concord Stone wasn’t originally designed for this.”
I frown. “For what?”
He glances away. “Gifts given to Starfallen women. A gift amplified by a warlord mate.”
He says it like an accusation, but not at me.
He sits up, hair wild, muscles mapped in shifting light. He rubs something from the scar on his jaw, then turns back to me, face shuttered.
“The Concord Stone was designed to select brides for balance. Never for power. Never for dominance.” He touches my shoulder, the gentleness at odds with his words. “Your presence shows this has changed.”
I breathe. “You think I’m dangerous.”
He laughs, short and rough. “Right now, as far as Xytheos is concerned, you are the most dangerous thing in this Reach. I am engineered, firmly designed, to preserve the stability of Xytheos. To prefer my biome. You are not, my little human female. You reach out to the others, and now you touch my power.”
“I didn’t mean to do it. It just happened.”
He plays his fingers along my arm. “I meant for you to do it. If you use my power, Jarrett will eventually sense it. He will move to contain the threat. But if you do not, the world will pick off your friends, one at a time.”
I push up onto my elbows. “How do you know?”
He looks me dead in the eye. “The Council does not fear war. They fear something new. They will try to fix the Stone. And quietly try to undo the changes it made.”
Rythar moves around the root nexus, touching the vines and stones.
“Are you ready?” he asks.
“For what, exactly?”
He gives a small shake of his head. “I am uncertain what you must accomplish. Only that you must move first, and secretly. Contact your Starfallen. With my power. I will help you monitor for Jarrett’s surveillance. Can you start now?”
I nod, but my hands shake as I press them to the rim of the pool.
He sets both hands to my shoulders, grounding me. I can feel his heartbeat through my skin. The connection snaps taut, humming like a live wire.
I close my eyes, and sink into it like a circuit.
At first, all I sense is the room—the living wall, the heat of his hands, the faint scent of mint from the water. The connection opens, but Rythar’s biome power runs alongside, holding me steady.
I reach for Sophia. It’s easier now, with Rythar’s power.
Sophia’s presence is so clear it’s a shock, like stepping into cold water.
She pushes back at me at first, but won’t let me go.
Like we’re mentally holding hands. And she’s not alone—there’s a new warmth there, someone with her, a shadow just behind the curtain. Finally, we can communicate.
Sophia. I tell her. Hushbite came from Xytheos. We have to find out who.”
We spend a few precious minutes figuring things out. But Sophia says it’s not safe for us to talk. Maybe the High Lord can’t watch me here, but he’s on Sophia’s side. She’s got to figure that out.
I reach for Maya next. The link comes wild and hot, like a jittery rush of color and sound. The High Lord is definitely watching her. I feel him nearby and get out fast.
Finally, I look for Dana. Jarrett’s wall is there with Dana, but his mind is not. I slip under it. Dana’s psychic presence is huge, all sand and wind, a horizon with no end. My head fills with images—desert, cloudless sky, towers, and a face I recognize but can’t name.
She’s not afraid. She’s furious. She’s fighting something bigger than herself. She doesn’t know I’m here. I need to get her attention.
The root nexus shakes under my hands.
Rythar moves in, arms tight around my waist, holding me against the blast. He grits his teeth, but his power pours in, stabilizing me just enough.
Sophia cuts in, her voice slicing the haze. Mr. I’m-In-Charge is listening on my end. Shut it down. Dana knows I’m here. I’ll talk to her later.
Sophia yanks, and the link severs. I collapse, gasping, back into my own body.
I barely register Rythar catching me, tucking me into his lap. His hands are ice on my skin. I’m overheated and twitching.
“Were you seen?” Rythar rasps, searching my face.
“No, but Jarrett’s watching on that end.” I gasp. “I could see Dana, but she couldn’t see me. I got the message to Sophia.” I’m spent. I can’t explain more.
Rythar carries me up and out of the root nexus.
I expect him to lay me down in the first soft place he finds, but he moves to a room near the surface.
It’s a simple room with a ceiling of woven root and a bed that’s more platform than mattress.
The only light is from particles drifting in slow circles overhead, throwing shifting patterns across the walls.
“They’re like the first time you took me to the bridge. Up to the forest canopy,” I murmur.
He grunts assent as he sets me down gently, kneeling beside me. My skin is still too hot, every joint buzzing from the psychic blast. Sweat slides down my sides, pooling in the small of my back.
“You’re shaking,” he says, concerned.
I try to steady my breath, feeling the connection to him strengthen me. We share the emotional connection—and then there’s something new at the center of it all.
It starts as a flutter in my belly, almost like nausea. But it’s not. It’s a new presence.
My hand flies to my abdomen.
I look at him, my voice barely more than a whisper. “There’s something else.”
He frowns, moves closer, palm splayed wide across my skin.
A shudder runs up my spine, this time not from pain but from recognition.
He goes still, eyes burning like embers, every line of his body tight as a bowstring. “You carry my child,” he says.
Tears sting my eyes, not from weakness, but from the shock of wanting this so badly I can’t hide it.
He traces my belly, his hand dwarfing my entire midsection. “It is very early,” he says, voice rough, “but I sense her life.”
“I didn’t really believe this was possible,” I say. My voice cracks on the last word.
He grins. “I did.”
I laugh, the sound wobbly. “This doesn’t feel real.”
He kisses me, soft this time, mouth moving slow over mine.
“We will protect her,” he whispers against my lips. “You. Me. Our world. Xytheos must survive. Must remain stable. Become stable again.”
He has to correct himself because we both know that my arrival, the crash-landing of twenty human women mated to biome rulers with strange powers, has pushed Xytheos the closest to chaos it’s been in a thousand years.
I close my eyes, lean into the safety of his chest. “Dana is smart. She’ll find the connection between Hushbite venom and Xytheos,” I say. “Maybe whoever did that is involved in what’s going on with the Stone.”
He nods. “It is a good start.”
I try to focus on the next step, but my hand drifts back to my belly. “How long is gestation?”
He shrugs, like a mountain moving. “Impossible to say. Scans will tell us more.”
The room is quiet. I reach up, grab a fistful of his hair, and pull his mouth down to mine. The kiss is desperate, a promise and a warning. He answers in kind, pressing me into the bed, his hands roaming, never settling.
We make love again, slower this time, no urgency, just the knowledge that something new and impossible grows between us.
After, he cradles me in his arms, hand spread wide across my abdomen, as if daring the world to try and take what we made.
I breathe in the scent of him. “We’re ready,” I say, meaning all of it.
Rythar laughs softly. "After trying to civilize you, war seems like an easier challenge.”
I swat at him, laughing.
He catches my hand, his smile fading as he looks into my eyes. “I was not ready for you, Elena. No male could have been.”
His hand spreads over my abdomen. “But I will be ready for her.”
I cover his hand with mine.
“We will be a family,” Rythar says.
I drift toward sleep, the mate bond humming, his arms a wall around me.
I follow the circuit between Starfallen Brides as far as I can go, but no matter what I do, I can’t reach my other friends. It’s up to Sophia now.