28 years later
“Dying?” Dakota felt like someone had ripped his heart out. “What the hell do you mean she’s dying, Carmen? There has to be something we can do!”
“Do you think I haven’t tried everything? She’s my granddaughter!”
Dakota pinched the bridge of his nose to keep the tears from streaming down his face at the sight of his heart lying in bed, pale as death.
“We have to do something. She can’t die.” He leaned forward to lightly brush a strand of hair from her face.
“Without her magic, she won’t last long. Her healing power is what kept her alive when the Brutes had her before—we just didn’t know it. Now that it’s gone, I fear she doesn’t have long left.”
“What about Argento? Their healer? Is there something they can do?”
Carmen shook her head, and what little hope Dakota had been feeling extinguished at the pain reflected in the old woman’s eyes. Anastasia was going to die, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
“I don’t know what to do. I’ve failed her. I never should have let her go.” Carmen shook her head sadly and covered her face with her hands.
“She would have gone anyways. This is my fault, I blamed her. I didn’t give a single thought to what she might be going through. We need a damn miracle, Carmen.”
Carmen closed her eyes again and gripped the hand of her last living relative. A thought occurred to her. “We might be able to get one.”
Dakota looked up at her and saw a glimmer of hope. “What do you mean? You said you did everything.”
“I did. But there might be someone else who can help.”
“Who?”
“The sorceress.”
“Sorceress? Isn’t that what you are?”
Carmen smiled lightly. “No. There is only one at any given time. She is rumored to be the most powerful person in any of the worlds. Someone who is capable of just about anything.”
“Well, where is she?”
“She’s reclusive. I’ve only seen her once, but Gregory knew her well. If anyone can help Anastasia, it’s her.”
“Let’s go.” Dakota pushed to his feet and headed for the door.
“She doesn’t take kindly to guests, Dakota. Especially those that are males.”
“I don’t give a damn. If she can help Ana, we’re going.”
“I will go with you.”
Dakota noted her face going pale and reached forward just in time to guide her into a chair when she stumbled. “You need to rest.”
“There is no time.”
“Carmen,” he insisted.
“Go tell Tony and Elizabeth. No one else comes with us, Dakota.” Carmen waved her hand and Dakota turned to leave.
“She will live,” he said, more for himself then Carmen. He took one more look at Anastasia’s broken body lying on the table and he willed it to be so. Without her, he was nothing. “Hang on, Anastasia,” he whispered as he headed for the door.
“How is she?” Tony looked up as Dakota stepped outside into the sunlight. Dakota looked to his mother, who appeared to have aged more than ten years in one night. Her eyes were swollen and etched with worry. She needed to rest, but refused to leave. Dakota hated that his news was only going to make things worse. “Mom, can you give Tony and I a minute?”
Elizabeth eyed him. “Dakota, don’t you dare cut me out of this conversation because you are trying to ease my worry. I’m a damn doctor, I know she’s not doing well.”
“It’s worse than that—she’s dying.”
“What?” Tony’s voice was so much smaller than normal, and Dakota felt a pang of regret at his choice of words. He knew Tony thought of Anastasia like a daughter.
“Carmen thinks there’s a way to save her.”
Tony got to his feet, and Elizabeth stood with him. “What can we do?” he asked, ready for any mission that would give Anastasia a chance.
“We need to go to someone Carmen called The Sorceress. Carmen thinks she may be able to save Ana.”
“She’s a myth, a legend. We’re staking Anastasia’s life on fiction?” Tony’s jaw hardened.
“Carmen says she’s real and we have to leave within the hour.”
“I want to go.” Elizabeth finally spoke, and Dakota noticed the way his mother was avoiding his eyes.
“Mom.”
Elizabeth lifted her face to Dakota’s, and it was shimmering with tears. He stepped towards her and wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m so sorry, Dakota.” The tears she was working to hold back rushed down her face. “If she dies—”
“It’s not your fault, Mom. This is Vincent and those Brutes that had a hand in it. None of it is your fault, you hear me?” He pulled back just enough to see her face and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “I love you, Mom, and I’m so glad you’re all right.”
“She shouldn’t have come for me. Why did she come alone?”
“She loved you. I blamed her and was keeping my distance. I pushed her away because I was afraid for you and she went alone because she couldn’t find me.” Dakota’s jaw tightened at the memory of the last words he spoke to her.
“You couldn’t have known anything was going to happen, Dakota. Truth be told, I was angry with her as well,” Tony admitted.
“Why would either of you be mad at her?”
“Anastasia got drunk. It’s why the barriers were dropped and Vincent was able to get to you.”
Elizabeth took a step back from Dakota. “Drunk? But—”
“There’s no baby. Vincent tricked her. The Trepidos revealed that little nugget the night of the attack,” Dakota told her, and Tony saw the shock turn to anger.
“But you said the barriers dropped because she was drunk? That’s not why I was taken. Vincent had very little to do with anything except manipulating a poor girl’s mind.”
“What are you talking about?” Dakota questioned.
“Sarah drugged me with something. I’m not exactly sure what—we were having tea one minute, and the next I was lying on the ground in the Brute world.”
“Sarah took you? Selena’s daughter?” Tony’s fists clenched at his side. When Elizabeth nodded, he continued. “Where is she?”
Elizabeth’s eyes filled. “She’s dead. Anastasia killed her.”
“What exactly happened?” Dakota asked, rubbing a hand on his mother’s back. He couldn’t forget she was hurting too.
“Talk later,” Carmen interrupted as she stepped onto the porch. “We need to go. Now.”
“Where is this woman?” Elizabeth asked, and leaned into Tony.
“On another world. One that is nearly unheard of and damn difficult to get to. It takes a hell of a lot of magic to reach her.”
“Can you do it?” At her look, Dakota continued, “Are you able to in your current condition?”
“Yes, Dakota. I may be old, but I can still muster up the energy I need to reach her. Go grab Anastasia, we leave now.”
Dakota disappeared into the house.
“You need to keep watch, Tony. Strange things are coming, I can feel it.”
“I will.”
Carmen nodded. “We should be back within an hour. I cannot imagine she is going to wish us to stay long.”
“Good luck,” Elizabeth said.
“Oh, Anastasia.” Tony’s eyes widened and filled with tears when he laid his eyes on her limp body. Her face was swollen and nearly unrecognizable with the bruising that marred it. Her body was covered in abrasions and coated with her own dried blood. He took a step towards her and took in the rise and fall of her chest with the shallow breaths she managed. He shut his eyes against the visions of his wife and son’s bodies all those years ago. He couldn’t lose Anastasia too. He had already lost everything, and if she died, he wasn’t sure he could survive it, or if he’d even want to. “Bring her home,” he said to Dakota.
“I will.”
Tony placed a kiss to her head and stepped back so Dakota could carry Anastasia down the stairs and to where Carmen waited.
As he walked, Dakota did his best to not look down at Anastasia. Each time he did, the only thing he could remember were his last words to her.
“That’s the problem, Anastasia. Lately you don’t think. Last night you were ready to give up on everything. Well, congratulations, your decision probably cost my mother her life.”
He had been so stupid, so incredibly insensitive to what she had been going through. Just months before she had been trapped in a Brute stasis where she was convinced she had been married to him and they had a daughter. She had been happy within the illusion and had been forced to give it up. Then to believe part of that dream was coming true and to have it ripped away. She had thought she was pregnant. Shit, they had both thought she was pregnant. Then Vincent once again shredded any chance at a happy ending. What the hell had Dakota expected her to do? Getting drunk had been her way of working through it, her way of moving on, and he had not only chastised her for it, but had told her that if his mother died, it was going to be her fault. He was a real prince, wasn’t he. She deserved so much better than that. If she survived, he was going to be better for her.
“Dakota.”
Carmen’s voice pulled him from his thoughts and he looked up to see her, his mother, and Tony staring at him. He choked back the lump that had formed in his throat, and felt the burn of the tears in the corners of his eyes.
“Let’s go,” he said, shifting Anastasia in his arms so her head leaned against his chest.
Carmen closed her eyes, and you could fill the shift in the air as she summoned the magic in her blood. Within moments, a portal opened before them, and without hesitation, she stepped through.
“Love you, Mom,” Dakota said, and smiled at his mother. “Watch over her, Tony.”
“I will.” He nodded slightly.
Dakota clutched Anastasia tightly to his chest as they stepped into the portal. After the now familiar feeling of weightlessness disappeared, he took a moment to catch his breath and then opened his eyes.
They stood in front of a small cottage. The walls were old and fading, as was the railing on the rickety porch that surrounded it.
A light breeze ruffled the tall grass that reached to Dakota’s waist and surrounded them completely. There were no mountains, no hint of any other civilization anywhere. It looked as if the place had been deserted. Dakota took a deep breath. The air was fresh, but it didn’t carry the sound of birds or any other animals.
What kind of person wanted to live in a solitary world? Was it possible Carmen had been wrong and the Sorceress didn’t live here anymore? A momentary panic filled him. If she wasn’t here, what did that mean for Ana?
The door creaked open and he realized that not only did she exist, and still lived in this empty world, but they had also arrived right on her doorstep.
The woman who stepped out looked nearly as exhausted as the old house she lived in. Hair that he imagined had been auburn at one time, but was now a faded brown, was pulled back away from her face, and she wore a chocolate-colored dress that nearly matched the color of her eyes. He hated to think it, but there was nothing spectacular about this woman at all.
How was she going to save Anastasia?
“Who are you?” The woman spoke with a slightly raspy voice and her tone left little wonder as to her current mood—she was pissed that they were here. When Dakota started to take a step forward, Carmen held her hand up to stop him.
“We met once before, Monique. I am Gregory Silvan’s mother-in-law.”
At the mention of Anastasia’s father, the woman straightened slightly, and Dakota noted a twitch at the corner of her mouth.
“Carmen. It’s nice to see you again. I was so sorry to hear of his and Annabelle’s passing,” she said with a less irritated tone. Dakota swore he saw remorse in her eyes.
“Thank you.” Carmen nodded her head slightly.
“Who is he?” She nodded towards Dakota and crossed her arms under her chest.
“We don’t have time for this,” Dakota muttered under his breath, and started to take a step towards the cottage again.
“You have time for whatever I deem necessary. You are in my world and standing in front of my house, remember?” Monique’s irritated tone was back, and Dakota felt a flare of his own anger.
“She’s dying.”
“I can very well see that,” she retorted matter-of-factly.
“Can you help her?”
“I don’t know who ‘her’ is.”
“Liste—” Dakota started, but Carmen stopped him with a shake of her head.
“Forgive him, she is his fiancée. This is Anastasia Silvan, Gregory’s only child. Gregory’s brother had her cornered by Brutes and then he stole her magic.” Carmen’s voice cracked at the end, and Dakota looked over to see a tear slip down her cheek. “Please, she will die otherwise. She needs you, Sorceress.”
Monique’s face softened slightly, but Dakota didn’t miss the anger that tightened her jaw at the mention of Vincent. He wondered if she had known him as well. “Leave her on the porch. I will take care of her.”
“We aren’t just going to abandon her on your porch. We stay.”
“Then she dies.”
Dakota felt his temper flare again at the nonchalant tone of her words.
“Dakota, she will be safe,” Carmen insisted.
“I’m not leaving her. This isn’t negotiable.”
The Sorceress studied him for a minute. It was strange to her to see a man so intent on protecting a woman. The only other man she had ever seen show protectiveness that way was Gregory with his Annabelle.
“Very well. You will bring her inside, then you will leave.”
“Did you not hear me? I stay with her, I’m not leaving.” Dakota stood his ground. He didn’t know this woman, even Carmen didn’t know her—not really, anyways. He’d be damned if he was going to leave the woman he loved in the care of some stranger. Especially not when she may not live another day and that stranger was so afraid of the world that she hid in a cabin in the middle of what appeared to be a deserted world. What other reason would she have for being here alone?
“Fine. But you will leave my home. I don’t care if you sit outside, you will not be inside with us. That is nonnegotiable.” She put her hand up and then stepped aside so he and Carmen could bring Anastasia inside.
As Dakota passed her, he noticed the thick scar that ran across her throat. The sight of it made him understand her hesitance and fear completely. Someone had tried to kill this woman before. Judging by the ragged edges of the healed wound, they had probably come very close to succeeding.
When the entered the house, Dakota wasn’t surprised to see that the inside matched that of the outside. The creaky wooden floors were covered with thin rugs, and tapestries that looked to be made of the same material hung on the walls. A fire roared in a fireplace, but that was the liveliest thing in the single-room cabin.
“Put her on the bed,” Monique instructed, and Dakota gently laid Anastasia on the small twin-size bed.
“I love you,” Dakota whispered, and kissed her pale cheek. He pressed his forehead to hers. “Please come back to me, Ana. I can’t live this life without you. We have to experience that future we’ve dreamed of.” He placed another kiss to her forehead and then stood. “If anything happens to her because of you, I don’t give a shit how powerful you are—I will come for you.”
“You think I’m afraid of you?” Monique’s lip twitched as if she were amused.
Dakota didn’t even blink. “You should be. She is my entire world and the only thing that makes my life worth living. If you do anything other than try and help her, I swear I will kill you, no matter what it takes.” He stepped out of the cabin with Carmen on his heels.
“You can return for her in two weeks,” Monique said, and slammed the door shut.
“What the hell does she mean, two weeks?” Dakota asked Carmen angrily.
Carmen shrugged, and Dakota could see the lines of exhaustion on her face.
“I don’t know,” Carmen said, and took a seat on the steps leading up to the porch.
“What are we going to do if she dies?” Dakota voiced his deepest fear, hoping it might in some way diminish it. Instead, the lump in his throat grew painfully and his chest tightened.
“We can’t think like that,” Carmen said, and smiled at him. “Anastasia is as strong as they come, and Monique will take care of her.”
“How can you be so sure?” Dakota asked, and looked back at the door the woman known as the Sorceress had slammed only moments before. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, because I am beyond glad that she is willing to try and help. But Carmen, why would someone so powerful be hiding here? Why not at least come and help us? She has to know what’s going on out there, with Vincent.”
“She’s not the same as she used to be. Years ago, she would have.” Carmen took a deep breath. “She used to be so beautiful, so vibrant when she was young. But she ended up falling for the wrong man. It was such a shame to see, Dakota. The day I met her, I said to myself, ‘What a wonderful choice the universe has made to carry on the Sorceress name.’ She was a spitfire.” Carmen laughed sadly. “But the next time I saw her, years later,” she shook her head, “she was bright and passionate like fire, he was ice, frozen down to the very heart that beat beneath his chest.” Carmen clasped her hands together and an orb appeared with an image in it. The woman who stood before him encircled by magic was absolutely gorgeous. Her auburn hair shone brightly, and was only outmatched by the huge smile that spanned across her face. He could see the similarities, sure, but it was hard to believe that the woman inside the house behind him had once been the woman he was looking at now.
Carmen slammed her palms together and the light exploded. “It was only a matter of time before he snubbed out her light.”
Dakota couldn’t do anything but shake his head. What type of man would it take to dull the light he had seen within the woman Monique had once been?
Carmen got to her feet. “I am going to need rest. I imagine you are not coming back with me?”
He took one look at Carmen’s weary face and knew he couldn’t let her travel back alone. “You believe she will be safe?”
“She will be, Dakota. I promise Monique will not harm her. She owes Gregory her life, and even though he is dead, she will come through for him.”
“Then I will take you back, but I want to come back here tomorrow. That’ll give me enough time to gather some things I’ll need.”
“Okay.” Carmen offered him an exhausted smile. “What do you say you escort an old woman back to town?” She offered him her arm and he looped it through his own.
Dakota couldn’t help but smile. “I would be honored,” he said, and watched as she closed her eyes and the portal opened before them once again.
He took one last look at the house and his jaw tightened.
“I love you, Ana,” he whispered, and then stepped through the light.