“Essa.” The bonded male inside Nazrin sought and located her with ease. She was asleep, thank the gods. Though, in the dream, she wasn’t at peace. She wandered, alone and frightened, in an infinite cloud of blackness.
Nazrin brushed aside the thick, dark wisps and floated toward her. She lifted her gaze, but it didn’t settle on him. Instead, she glanced behind him, as though waiting for others to appear.
Except, this wasn’t her dream.
It was his.
Nazrin blocked out the other images her mind might conjure. “Sirena. This isn’t your dream. I’m here, seeking you in your mind.”
She frowned, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. “Why? What further plans do you have for me?” Fury flashed, deepening her malachite eyes.
“I have no plans for you, but those who pretend to offer you shelter would exploit your powers.”
“And you haven’t?” She snorted and gripped the amulet hanging around her neck.
He grimaced at the falsehoods between them. The black mists floated in the air, coating the ground like an inky pit of tar. They prevented him from reaching her. If he advanced, he’d fall into that abyss. First, he must patch the holes created by his lies with truths. Only then would he be able to shield her in his embrace.
She scoffed. “Everyone seeks to use me for their own dark purposes, and you, Lord Nazrin, are no different.”
“Nay, I am. You’re my mate and I’ve waited decades to claim you as such.”
“How can I be your mate,” she folded her arms protectively, “when you can’t bond with me?”
He cocked his head. “Why would you assume we can’t bond?”
“I watched you die, Nazrin, the day the branch speared you. I know you’re immortal.”
His heart rammed into his ribcage. “If you knew, why didn’t you confront me?”
She tilted her chin. “I shouldn’t have had to.”
Aye, she shouldn’t have. Guilt speared him anew, more agonizing than the branch. “Why did you return to—” He froze as ice crept up his spine. “Do you know they sent you as a spy?”
Her lips parted on a hitched breath. “Yes.”
Damn Apollo. “What did you reveal to them?”
The color drained from her face. “Nothing. Please, trust me.”
“Aye, Sirena. I trust you. I always have.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me you’re immortal?” She sighed, her shoulders deflating.
Was her affection toward him enough to overcome her contempt? “I feared you’d hate me, as I hate myself.” He hung his head.
“Hate you? For being immortal? Why?”
A spark of hope flared inside his chest. Her lips didn’t falter on the word immortal. “My nature is a curse. You’re not wrong to deem Wind Borne capable of great evil. Darkness coats our souls. For a normal existence, the corruption is manageable, but my father cursed me with immortality.” He curled his lip. “Living forever will make me like him.” Talons spiking, he clenched his fists at his sides. “Centuries ago, I begged Hades to let me die. Instead, Persephone showed me you. The moment I beheld you, I knew. An immortal lifetime without you would be a fate worse than death. When you passed, we’d never meet again, not even in Elysium. The goddess offered me a new bargain.”
She furrowed her brow. “What bargain?”
“For your life, Sirena. I traded mine for yours.”
“What do you mean, my life?”
Time for the hardest truth. “Before your birth, the Fates declared a prophecy—that you would cleave Halcyon. The Lord of the Underworld would have ended your life rather than risk the unfavorable fulfilment of that prophecy. But Persephone offered me the chance to save you, to save both of us. If I ensured your aid in their cause.”
“The War,” she murmured. “What happened with the prophecy?”
“You fulfilled it,” he cast her a grin, “the moment you joined with the others and saved Amaya’s life. You brought us together in ways you can’t imagine. And that child,” his throat squeezed tight, “she means everything.”
“It was an honor.” A wistful smile played across her lips, tilting downward. “Why would you do such a thing? Trade your life for mine? You don’t even love me.” Her voice broke on the word love.
“Love?” Nazrin repeated, the word thick on his tongue. All of this time, all of this torment he’d lashed upon himself, and what she yearned to hear was the word “love.” He tossed his head as the tremendous weight of his fears eased from his shoulders.
He paced forward, but halted at her flinching. “Since the first day we met, I’ve declared my devotion. I’ve protected you, I’ve circled the skies above.” He raised his hand toward the clouds and how he’d performed his hawk’s declaration of courtship. “Love…’tis too weak a word for what I feel for you.”
She tipped her chin. Was that a spark of hope in her eyes?
“You’re the gentle summer breeze that lifts my wings and causes my heart to soar. You’re my hope for redemption, the purification of my soul. I’d rather cut off my wings than be without you.” The kolasis, or cutting off of wings, was the highest form of punishment and torture for a Wind Borne. The pain was rumored to be excruciating. His raptor winced, but agreed.
Besides, his raptor droned, they’d grow back.
Unless I used a sword forged by Hephaestus. He chuckled as his dark half went utterly silent. At last.
The swirling fog thinned. Encouraged, he prowled forward. “You’ve taught me to embrace both halves of myself. To surrender the control I’ve so long clung to out of fear.” The purification he’d long awaited wasn’t a cleansing, but rather a balance. He took another step forward and the last of the black mists dissipated. “Essa, aye, I love you.”
Her lip trembled. “You do?”
“Do not doubt my heart, for it is in your hands.” He brushed a strand of hair from her face. Even in a dream, she quivered beneath his touch. Then he snared her into his arms, sighing at how real she felt, despite the dream.
“I wish you’d told me the truth,” she whispered against his chest.
“As do I, my love.” He let out a shudder and flapped his wings.
“What about my blood betrothal to Kai?”
He stiffened. “It changes nothing.”
“It changes everything,” she hummed. “How can I be your mate if I’m fated to marry him?”
Nazrin whipped his head. “It matters not what spell was cast on you as an infant. Sirena, you are mine.”
She tensed, but he held her firm. “No, I belong to him. I don’t have a choice. Please understand.”
He towed her closer. “You always have a choice. Always. Though in my heart, I’m certain. You belong with me.”
“How do you know?”
Nazrin cradled her chin and gazed deeply into her eyes. “You don’t burn when you kiss him. You burn only for me.”
Then he kissed her, hard and possessive, sampling the bitterness of her grief, the sharp bite of her fears, and the floral soaring of her hope. She melted against him, opening her mouth for his kisses. His raptor squawked in triumph. He yearned for this moment to last forever and for them to never face any other reality.
But this was a dream.
With a groan, he broke their kiss. “Show me where you are, Sirena. I’ll come for you.” He caressed her cheek with his palm and bent to taste her lips once more—sweeter than any fantasy.
“Apollo’s temple.” She blinked and the scenery around them transformed into mountain and ocean, honing in on the entrance to a cave.
Nodding, he released her from his arms.
Then she vanished, a vision of perfection shattered before his eyes.
***
Essa awoke, gulping for air. Was it a dream? Or had Nazrin embraced her once more, declaring his love? She smiled. Yes. The image of Nazrin was too perfectly seared into her mind to have been a dream.
He had wished to bond with her, but he wasn’t able to until their lifespans were the same. The warmth of his love spread through her, chipping away at the ice of betrayal coating her heart. He’d made mistakes. He’d lied.
She’d done the same.
Still, his heart was true. He’d been terrified of losing her. Now, more than ever, she yearned to run into his arms, his wings wrapping around her. With his strength, he’d never let her go.
She was his mate. Her heart soared with the knowledge.
Though he declared he’d rescue her, she couldn’t risk him doing so. No, she must escape and find her way back to him. Her brow set in determination, she tugged on the clothes set out for her—the standard white robe and dark blue cloak the priestesses wore—and stole through the cavern.
In the second antechamber, a stream flowed. Not deep enough to swim in. She examined the current. If the water wound out of this mountain, so would she. She followed the path into the tunnel beside the stream.
The stone passageway twisted, narrowing considerably, and she was barely able to squeeze through. Beneath her feet, the ledge thinned and the constricted corridor forced her to wade in the shallow stream. The water swirled around her ankles, but didn’t extend any deeper.
Ahead, she detected light. She hastened her footsteps as she dashed through the water, forcing the liquid to fall silent behind her. Chest pounding, pulse thudding in her ears, she slowed and inched toward the ledge. Her heart jolted, beating erratically while she scanned the scene.
A larger stream joined this one. Overhead, its water crashed down, down, and downward still in what must be at least a fifty-foot waterfall. The cascade merged in frothy white waves with the lake below.
In the distance, she scented the ocean. If I can reach the ocean, I can swim to Halcyon.
She wavered. If only I had wings. The fall was too great, too dangerous to risk. What spanned beneath that spray of foam? Would there be rocks with gnashing grey teeth waiting to devour her body, pulverizing it against the lake floor? She sighed. No, she’d have to determine another way out. A dozen sentinels guarded the main entrance and the tunnels connecting to the underwater manor, but she might devise a path through.
Twisting, she studied the sides of the cave. Leaping wasn’t her only option. If she procured some rope, she might be able to hook it around that protruding tree branch and climb down.
Retracing her steps, she crept through the passage. She’d have to work quickly. Dawn’s rays already filtered into the tunnel.
As she headed toward her chamber, she detected a low murmuring of voices across from the main antechamber. She drifted in that direction instead.
“I’m not sure, Cassandra. What if she refuses me?”
A male? She halted and pressed against the cave wall, angling her body to peer into the alcove.
Her aunt lounged on a chaise and a large male reclined on the ground at her feet. His face tilted toward her in adoration.
“Refuse you? Look at you. Young, handsome, strong Andreas. A son of Apollo, no less. No maiden has ever resisted you, and she certainly won’t. Besides, by the morrow, she won’t decline any male, regardless of species.” She twirled a lock of his thick dark hair and smirked.
“Are you certain, my love?”
She dropped the lock and waved a hand at him dismissively. “Of course. Your father commands you. Do you not wish to prove your allegiance to him? She must be made with child, now. Imagine Apollo’s wrath should that bird sink his claws into her.” She shuddered. “No, the half-breed must not bear his child.”
She slid her hands along the youth’s athletic body. “Come, Andreas. When this is over, you can return to my bed.”
Essa clamped her hand to her mouth to stifle her gasp and she bit down hard on her tongue. Cassandra coerced this male to… Her stomach churned and she couldn’t complete the horrid thought.
Nazrin, her instincts, they were right. Her aunt wasn’t true.
She had to escape. Now.
Fury sparked in her blood and she lowered her hand. She wasn’t this woman’s pawn and wouldn’t be manipulated like this poor youth. Andreas was blind in his adoration for Cassandra and devotion to Apollo.
“How are you going to keep her here until then?” The male grimaced. “And…afterward.”
“Hush Andreas. Essa drank every drop of the tale I wove.” She closed her fingers around a silver goblet and took a lengthy sip. “She’ll not leave this place. Not until she is dead.”
“What about her mate?”
Cassandra shrugged. “We needed him to unlock her abilities for us. To mate with her so she’d enter the breeding season. A Wind Borne being betrayed by his mate is an unexpected but most satisfactory compensation for our efforts.” Her mouth curled into a sneer. “Mark my words, no son of Zephyrus will ever breed with one of my blood.” She smashed the goblet on the stone table.
“Isn’t she to be the next Pythia?”
She snorted. “Apollo never had any intention of making a half-breed abomination his Pythia. Besides, when I disposed of my sister, he promised me this position of honor, for eternity. After the babe is born, the amulet’s power will transfer to him, just as it did with Essa. Then we can dispose of her. Don’t fret, young one. Apollo wills it.”
My mother. I was right. Cassandra murdered my mother. Abducted and nursed me with her lies, and now plots my death. This Oracle was mad. Essa’s temper blazed, ready to erupt. Apollo never intended to appoint her as his next Pythia. They’d deceived her. And what did they mean by the amulet transferring its powers?
Her fingers didn’t slip from the precipice of faith she’d clung to. No, this time, she leapt.
Andreas’s eyes glazed under the Oracle’s spell. “Afterward, you’ll quit the temple and become my wife—”
“Ho, what are you doing?” A guard spotted Essa eavesdropping.
She stiffened at the cloaked figure, heart racing as Andreas and Cassandra stalked into the main chamber.
“Why are you awake, niece?” Cassandra prowled toward her, a forced smile pasted onto her face, as though she calculated how much Essa had heard.
“Niece? Why bother calling me such, Oracle?” She placed her fingers on the wall behind her and calculated the distance to the tunnel. “Isn’t half-breed abomination more to your preference?”
Lethal power darkened her features. “You can’t escape, Essa. You’ll do as you’re told. You will bear Andreas’s child and your son will be a great warrior to lead Apollo’s army.”
“Never. Allow me to leave, and my mate won’t crush you like the lowly insect you are.”
“Lowly?” she sneered. “I’m the Pythia, child. Don’t presume to challenge me.”
“It’s my wrath you shouldn’t seek, Oracle.” Her powers simmered in the back of her mind, awaiting her to harness them. “Allow me to leave, or face the consequences.”
Cassandra laughed, a low, menacing cackle that chimed off the cavern walls.
Essa glanced from her left to her right. Guards approached on all sides. Nowhere to run.
She was trapped. Again.