Chapter 35
After Vega’s suggestion to load the few people they were taking up onto the backs of Khort’s and Arlet’s dragons got shot down in a sea of resounding no’s, they tacked up the few horses people from Solum brought when they’d been chased out of their home, and doubled up.
Vega and Arlet cozied up together while Khort flew overhead, keeping watch from the skies.
Vega finally got all her questions answered about Arlet’s dragon, Speravi, known to others as Avi. Her full name was Latin for “I have hoped.” A fitting name Arlet picked when she was nothing more than a mirage.
“I learned about halfway through your last life I could manifest her. At first, Khort and I thought it was just an illusion like everything else. It didn’t take long to realize she was so much more than that.
” Their horse slowed to a lazy walk through some thick brush, following close behind Octavia, who refused to ride with anyone for the sake of Tilie.
“She’s had a personality and a voice of her own from the moment she first appeared inside my mind, like I created her separately from myself, but I could still control if she was there or not.
It was like projecting her, but her home was nestled inside my power somewhere…
but when you broke the curse, that piece of me broke and I’d been in so much pain, all I could think about was dying and taking her life too.
So I pushed her out, giving her whatever chance to live she might have without me.
” Avi swooped down from the clouds above, flying level with Khort.
“Can you and Khort talk through her?” Vega asked as they ducked under a low hanging branch.
“Only when Khort’s in dragon form. Avi channels his voice to me and then sends my thoughts back. It’s so weird.” Arlet laughed, leaning back in the surprisingly large saddle when they cleared through the thick brush.
“Is it like a doorway? That’s what it feels like with me and Bridger.”
She felt Arlet’s body bob with a shrug against her back.
“Ours is more like a long tunnel. I’m on one end, Khort at the other, and Avi relays the messages.
” Their different bonds were intricate in ways Vega hated not understanding.
“How is that, by the way? Not getting a break from Bridger seems like… a lot.”
Vega focused on that bond, on the connection to Bridger cemented inside her in a way she never thought she’d be comfortable with… and she fucking sighed in contentment at the feel of him on the other end.
Thankfully, their horse followed Octavia’s, giving Vega nothing else to focus on other than her response.
“It kinda feels like coming home.” She chuckled at how silly it sounded out loud.
“I can’t believe I didn’t realize it sooner.
There were a couple times where I remember thinking, ‘Hmm, that’s weird.
I didn’t say that out loud,’ And then when I heard him begging me to come back after I’d stopped my heart. ”
Arlet chuckled like Vega had told a funny joke. “He definitely wasn’t begging for you to come back. The second your body disappeared he—oh.” It hit Arlet then. “He was begging you to come back inside.”
Vega nodded, letting silence wash over them. Without the sound of their voices, the horses crunching fallen leaves beneath their hooves became the soundtrack to the start of Vega’s spiral.
“You and Bridger then?” Arlet asked, pulling Vega up from the whirlpool of what-ifs threatening to drag her under.
“I’m not sure yet,” she replied. She wasn’t ready to answer that question.
Arlet wrapped her arms around Vega’s midsection from behind and squeezed. “I trust you know what you’re doing even if it doesn’t feel easy.”
Vega let one hand go from the reins, holding on to Arlet’s wrist in a backwards hug of her own.
“I don’t deserve you.” The girls held the hug for longer than normal, their breaths syncing and hearts thudding in time.
“I won’t forget what he’s done. I know better than to let myself lose pieces of what we’ve gone through…
but he had to do it. There’s no telling what would have happened had he not taken control of the army.
” She squeezed Arlet’s hand, three quick pumps, and let her hand fall back to the loose reins.
“I don’t expect you to trust him. I mean, I’m learning to do it all over again.
All I’m asking is that you give him a chance. ”
“For you? Anything.” There was a pause, and then Vega practically felt the twisted grin Arlet wore. “But you better make that motherfucker grovel.”
Vega laughed, liking the happy sound. “Oh, don’t you worry. He’s not off the hook yet.”
The rest of the ride went by fast, their horses happy for a break when they reached the edge of Demuto. Lake Vehemens roared angrily, bringing back the memory of the last time Vega had been on the edge of this lake—she’d told Bridger she didn’t care if he died.
Guilt made her reach out. “Made it to the border of Demuto and Pax. You getting close?” Vega asked, sliding off the saddle after Arlet.
“I stole a military vehicle when I crossed into Ardor. It’s a quiet night here,” he shot back immediately.
“Is it really stealing if it’s a vehicle from your own army?”
Bridger had gone alone, leaving his soldiers to assist in returning to Demuto and behind in the caves to watch over the children and elderly who couldn’t defend themselves if something happened.
She didn’t expect him to respond, so when he did… Vega actually choked on nothing but the saliva in her mouth.
“The quiet has given me plenty of time to play around in everyone’s head. Khort hasn’t been doing anything fun, which I guess is good since he’s keeping watch…”
Playing around in everyone’s head? No.
Vega was going to kill him.
“But Arlet? Well, Arlet Videri has been in a position most men, myself included, would love to find themselves in. Riding you from behind, having conversations about the future. Me and you.” He drew out the last word. “You and me.”
Vega slammed the door shut, rattling the walls of her own mind as Khort landed on human feet, shifting from his dragon to the perfect landing.
She didn’t keep the door closed for long, afraid of what might happen if he couldn’t get to her if he needed to. Vega grumbled under her breath at the sound of Bridger’s belly laugh cutting through the closed door.
It was slightly unsettling how her need to have access to him at all times had become somewhat of a lifeline.
Vega had spent a lot of time feeling alone.
It was nice to know she wasn’t anymore.
“Why are we stopping outside Demuto?” Khort asked, coming up on Octavia with urgency.
Tilie went for his ankles.
Khort made the right decision, stopping to give them both their space.
“This is where I was told to meet,” Octavia answered matter-of-factly. “Tilie will make contact and let them know we’re here.”
Khort huffed. “That’s a waste of time when I can get there faster in the skies.”
Octavia rolled her eyes, landing them on Arlet and Vega. “Is he always like this?”
“Yes,” the girls answered in unison.
The look on Khort’s face made Vega feel like a bit of a traitor. She shrugged, smiled, and said, “It’s the truth.”
Octavia rolled her shoulders back with a triumphant smile, knowing she had Vega and Arlet in agreement.
“I know you’re eager. Demuto was once your home, but no offense…
you currently have no connection to it, nor have you stepped foot inside its boundaries for what, fifty-five years?
Fifty-four? It was before I was born, and that’s all one big history lesson the children of Demuto missed out on.
” Octavia fluttered her fingers toward the direction of Demuto.
“Ya know, cause no schools. Everyone is killing themselves or going crazy.” She grimaced.
Vega wondered what all she’d seen in her lifetime.
“Our leader doesn’t want anyone crossing over, especially not when no one has any idea what this curse being broken is going to look like.
It’s their job to protect the shifters. It’s my job to adhere to their orders.
” She motioned to her fox already disappearing into the trees of Demuto. “Tilie knows what she’s doing.”
After Vega and Arlet got Khort to relax, as much as Khort could relax, at least… Vega figured a good distraction for him would be teaching him and Arlet how to shield their minds for privacy.
Leo and Octavia sat next to each other on the other end of the fire he’d started with the three level ten soldiers standing in a little group of their own, not allowing their guards down.
They’d definitely been trained by Bridger.
“Okay, so you feel that sheet, cover, whatever thin fabric you wanna call it?” Vega asked.
Khort and Arlet held their eyes shut tight. Arlet scrunched so hard the creases of her face wrinkled like she was a hundred years older than she actually was.
But they’d never age again.
Arlet nodded.
Khort concentrated too hard to do anything more than grunt.
“Good, now grab it.” Vega wasn’t as good as Bridger was in explaining this.
“Grab it, how?” Arlet asked, letting her concentration go when she popped her eyes open.
Khort followed suit, throwing his arm over the log he sat in front of.
Octavia used it as a bench, thoroughly engrossed in what the three of them were doing.
Her mouth opened and then closed. She tapped her lips with her finger and then opened her mouth again.
“Fuck, I don’t even know where to start.
It’s not often I’m at a loss for words.” She laughed, her eyes bouncing over them.
“You three—four being gods is going to rattle the shifters. Especially you.” Octavia nodded to Khort.
Khort looked up from the flames and stared into Octavia’s green eyes for a few silent heartbeats before cocking his head and asking, “Who are you?” He shook his head, correcting his question. “I mean, who’s the shifter bloodline you descend from?”