Chapter Sixteen
Katrina
There was too much. It was bright and dark and cold and hot and raining and sunny and snowing and windy and utterly still. She was here, but she was not. People drifted around and through her like ghosts. Bursts of pleasure and flame and sorrow skidded across her skin, so thick that she could drown in it but lighter than a butterfly’s touch. It was too much and not enough all at once. She shuddered as the ground formed beneath her feet and crumbled at the same time.
Was this what it was like to be held in the heart of time? To experience all of existence in a single breath? She was going to be torn apart, she was going to lose her identity. She couldn’t process it all, yet could not push it away, not even for a moment.
In the stream of knowledge that flooded her senses, she found a single spot that she could hold onto. She grasped it with all of her being and willed herself there. She felt her body extend past her feet. Felt herself connect with the veins of the earth. She felt the land and reached to the borders of Byrelmore to take it with her.
A voice caressed her ears. She couldn’t turn to see where it came from, but the voice came again. “Wildref.”
She saw a face. A familiar face, with bright eyes and a bright smile. Indulf. Her father. He cradled her in his arms. She was so small, so unaware. All she knew was that the arms that held her were safe, that the eyes she saw were full of love. She was warm and comfortable and cared for. In this strange new world, with the terrifying brightness, the cold, the lack of her mother’s heart always beating in her ears, her father was a place of warmth and safety.
She gazed up at him not with her infant’s eyes, but with the knowledge of everything he had gone through. She saw the joy on his face. Felt the gentleness of his hands; strong enough to tear a man apart, yet so tender as they held her that she felt no fear in his grasp.
“Wildref?” he repeated. “That’s a lovely name for our baby girl. Little Wildref. You’re going to grow up as a princess. A strong, mighty dragon with a heart of steel and gold. You’ll be as beautiful as your mother.”
The voice from before spoke softly. “As brave as your father.”
Katrina blinked, and Indulf’s face was gone. Instead, there was a woman’s face; it was achingly familiar, reflections of what she saw in the mirror, with a few changes here and there. Her eyes were lighter than her mothers, her nose a bit broader, face a little fuller.
“My baby girl,” she sighed. “You have grown so. I cannot tell you how proud I am of you. You have become a true queen. But you have to find something to hold onto or you will be lost.”
Something to hold onto?
“Wildref.”
A phantom pair of lips pressed to her forehead. She was in arms again. This time she gazed at her brother. The brother who sang to her, the brother who was always eager to help change her diapers or give her baths, the brother who would walk the halls, rocking her when she would not stop crying and her mother was too tired to continue. Her brother who never saw her as a threat to their father’s love, but who gave her all his love unconditionally.
She saw the tears on his face as he kissed her forehead and whispered that he loved her. She felt the pain in his heart, the feeling of being ripped in half as he passed her to another set of arms. These ones were unfamiliar but would become the ones that she loved dearly. The ones she ran to with her first steps, the ones that held her with her first broken heart, the ones that were always there, open and waiting for her whenever she needed them.
Two new faces peered at her with such love that it took her breath away. There was never any hesitation in them. They loved her the moment they saw her and never stopped loving her.
“Katrina,” they murmured. “We’ve waited so long for you to come into our lives.”
Indulf. Warmund. Maria. Devon. Father, brother, mother, father. She reached out to them, clinging to them. She could not lose herself. She had to return for them.
She felt the land sliding through time. Felt it falling into the ocean. Waves rolled off, huge tsunamis that would drown everything in their path. She reached out, grabbed them, and eased them back into the water. The ground shook, and she spread herself thin, holding everything into place. Her mind began to slip; she didn’t have the strength to hold it all and herself. She felt herself slipping away.
Arms wrapped around her. Hot, tight arms. Arms full of love, full of pain.
Thonis smiled at her as she stepped out of the grocery store and nearly ran into him. He laughed when she told him about a child she nannied throwing up all over her. His arms wrapped tight around her as they played in the lake, as they made love in her room, as she stood burning.
“I won’t let you go.” The promise rang in her mind over and over.
And she didn’t have to hold on anymore. He held her down, kept her grounded and kept her… her. She smoothed out the ground, connected it with land already in place, calmed the waters and set a new path in currents to go around the new land. She reached through time and tugged forward those that had been left behind. She reconnected the Earth’s veins, the lay lines, and felt the magic move from the core of Byrelmore, the core of her, until the world was wrapped in magic.
Then it all faded, and she was left as only herself again.
“Katrina!” Voices jumped up together as they cried out in concern. Her head lolled to one side, finding support in a strong shoulder. Her eyes started to drift shut but not before Thonis’ gaze met hers. She smiled at him and reached to stroke his face.
“You didn’t let go,” she whispered, “you brought me back.”
And then everything was dark.
***
Katrina woke to feeling more exhausted than she had ever felt before. She was tempted to just give in and slide back into unconsciousness, but a nagging feeling in her brain prevented it. There was something happening… something she had to do… or something she did…
Her eyes slowly opened to find herself in a white room. The light was dim, and a beeping sounded in her ears. She frowned. They didn’t have heart monitors in Byrelmore…
Memory rushed back to her. Standing in the middle of the relics. Cutting the battery to let the magic flow. Her breath caught in her chest, but there was nothing else. That was the last thing she remembered.
Katrina jerked forward, yanking against IVs in her arms. Beside her, there was a snort and yelp. She twisted to see Thonis fall off the narrow hospital bed. Before she could ask if he was okay, though, he had bounced back to his feet. A huge smile spread over his face and he wrapped his arms around her, kissing her again and again. Katrina kissed him back distractedly, half uncertain of what was going on, half just happy to be here with him.
“Did it work?”
Thonis eased away from her, though he kept his hands cupped around her face. He searched her eyes for what seemed like forever before he spoke.
“Yes. It worked. You brought Byrelmore to present-day Earth. It was… a miracle.”
Katrina let out a happy sigh. As she went to lay back down, though, she saw the bandages wrapped around his arms and jerked back up. “You’re hurt!”
“A few burns, nothing major.” He waved a hand airily. “They’re mostly healed now. I must keep these on because the doctors don’t know about dragon regeneration. It makes them feel better, so I do it.”
She frowned at him, but he didn’t seem to be acting like he was in pain, so she nodded, satisfied with what he had said, and leaned back into her pillows. The exhaustion rapidly faded from her body, leaving her feeling invigorated. The fires that she had gained in Byrelmore burned brighter than ever now. Everything just felt right.
Fingers brushed her jaw, and she turned to Thonis. The smile, the happiness in his eyes was so much that she couldn’t help but grin back. They had made it. Their worst fears had not been realized. It worked. Now everybody could stay with their families, the children would be raised with both their parents and mates would not be separated.
Katrina knew that it wasn’t going to be as simple as everything being hunky dory from now on. There had been people worried about dragons when they were in a different land. It was only logical that those humans would be terrified about dragons in their midst now.
But she also knew that it would be passing. Whether it was something she learned in the timestream or just a gut feeling, she wasn’t sure. But she did know that this was the start of her happily ever after, and whatever trouble might come, she would never again fear losing her family. Any of them.
“I love you,” she whispered to Thonis.
“I love you, too,” he whispered back and kissed her.
And as they kissed, she knew something else… the start of their dozen was already on its way.