Chapter 60
Rafe
“I don’t buy it.”
And I don’t care if he does or doesn’t. I buy it. I trust in Ava. She’s already signed the dissolvement papers and has given me her word that Sam is safe.
“If she utters a word, I have Taka. I’ll go back and un-do it,’ I say from behind the parchment as I browse through this week’s healers’ section. He’s twitchy, and I get it. For years he’s carried a burden he’ll be outed as a time traveller and a crossbreed of elements.
Something his chain of command won’t tolerate.
His integrity will come into question. Had he been documented from the beginning, he’d have just been on their watch list, so being outed now, after living for so long would look damn-near suspicious.
He grumbles in the chair on the opposite side of my desk, his foot resting up on the corner.
“How’s the toe?”
“Trotter’s doing good. So good I’m being sent back tonight.”
“Tonight?”
He nods once. Damn, I thought I’d have more time with him. For him he’s spent our entire lives together, for me, there’s still a hole. It’s dulling by the day, but the ache still lingers.
“Just what the fuck is going on in Winari?”
“Classified.”
I roll my eyes, returning to my paper.
“Seriously, you’re not gonna push for details?”
“You just said it’s classified.”
“Yeah, but I want you to sound a little bit interested in my life.”
“I’m very interested in your life. But you said it was classified?”
He waves a hand dismissing the notion, and I am very fucking confused.
“Someone, someone extremely dark and deadly…” he lowers his voice to achieve an ominous tone; I just find it amusing. “… opened a portal to the Wraithlands.”
“Fuck.” Well, that’s not good. It’s said the Wraithlands are filled with beasts and demons of the worst kind, damned to the Wraithlands to be tortured eternally for their wrong doings.
“Not good at all when a shit ton of demons and blood hounds escaped. That’s how I lost my toe. Fucker chomped it off. Had to gut the thing to get it back. Gnarly creatures,” he mutters.
“Do I need to pull a Lina and break your leg to keep you safe?”
Sam snickers. “I did the breaking, she did the retching.”
Sounds like my girl. I smile. “Tell me again.” These days I do anything, any excuse to talk about her. It’s been too long since I saw her, and every day that passes is another day where doubt drowns me, tormenting my soul that she’ll never come back to me.
“No, I’ve exhausted the tale, Rafe. Come on, time to move forward.”
He shifts beneath my glare. There will be no moving forward. Not for me.
Sam clears his throat. “So, what’s Ava doing?”
“Packing,” I nod to the portal currently open to my cabin in Eklin. “As soon as she’s done, I’ll send her to Fazyr. She wants to go home.”
“Officially a bachelor, eh.”
Officially, on paper, yes. In my heart, no. The organ I thought to be merely an efficient pump, now owned and consumed by the beautiful, voiceless woman with a sharp tongue.
Lina, baby, where are you?
All my memories are intact. She hasn’t got her tongue back yet and it takes all my strength not to search for her, to see if she’s ok. Because what if her husband hurt her, what if she went back and he hurt her so bad he…
“Rafe, don’t.” Sam’s grip on my shoulder pulls me from thought. “Don’t spiral. She’s fine.”
He doesn’t know that.
Faint humming ripples the air, golden colours of Eklin luminating as a dark silhouette nears from the other side of the portal. I march over and take Ava’s hand to steady her.
“Packed and ready to go. Oh, I got hungry and ate some Eklinese biscuits. Why do you have so many? Hey Sam…”
For Lina. But I don’t tell her that, I pat my stomach instead.
“Ava,” he says, disdain lacing his tone. He keels over when I backhand his groin. He’s still sour about her, I’d be too, sure, but he needs to take his own advice; time to move forward.
“You sure you’re good? Ready to go back?”
“Yes, gods yes,” she chuckles, pushing a red curl behind her ear. “I never want to shovel pig shit again. Sam, how do you do that, every damn day.”
“What pig—”
He keels over again on the second whop I send to his groin, my eyes telling him to shut the fuck up.
“A dream come true for our Chuck here.” My smile is wide, no doubt unconvincing but Ava brushes it off.
Tapping into my power, I change the location of the portal from Eklin, to Fazyr, the Fire lands. The colours changing from a golden glow to shades of red. It mixes beautifully with Ava’s glossy curls.
She steps closer to Sam, his eyes wary, and holds out her hand for him to take.
“I really am sorry Sam. I hope in time you can forgive me.”
His jaw clenches, nostrils flare, eyes flickering with hate. Sam was one of the most forgiving souls I knew, but I’m not sure if the last sixty years had changed him.
He refuses her hand. “You know why I’ll never forgive you.” I guess he has changed. “But I wish you a good life, Ava.”
Ava swallows beneath his hardened glare. There’s something more here, but I won’t pry. Not yet.
She ducks her head and brings an arm around my waist. I lean down bringing my lips to her ear.
“He’ll be fine. What’s important is moving forward, that means living your life how you wish to live it, Ava. Don’t let me down.” I press a kiss to her cheek.
“You’ll make the best husband for Thea.” I swallow down the searing lump in my throat. “I hope to meet her again one day to apologise,” she says, adjusting the strap of her sack on her shoulder.
I nod. I smile. I place my hand on the small of her back and guide her through the portal, her silhouette becoming fainter and fainter the further she goes in. Soon I can’t see her at all, and I close the gateway, letting out a breath that’s burnt my lungs.
“I hate that woman,” Sam says through gritted teeth.
“Despite the obvious, is there any more to it that perhaps you haven’t told me?”
He puckers his lips, shaking his head. He’s lying.
“Come here.”
“Huh?”
“Come. Here.”
He steps forward, cupping his dick to shield. I snicker as I wrap my arms around my brother, his shoulders tense, and I just breathe him in for a moment. One arm comes around me, smacking my back.
I have my brother back. And he’s no longer in danger, well, not from Ava’s blackmail anyway.
I just need Lina now.
So close. So close to the life I only dared to dream of.
So. Fucking. Close.