An Empire of Stones Read online

  And because I am in love. I am completely, impossibly in love with a human. She has torn away the very foundations of my belief, and I no longer wish to be the man I was. I want her to be mine, without having to change who she is—because she is my better. My superior in every single way imaginable.

  The truth I had been searching for hit me with sudden, irrevocable clarity.

  “I have to go,” I stated.

  “What?” Lithan screamed. “We have not decided! We must settle this matter at once—and if your mind can’t be swayed from this ridiculousness, then we need to discuss a more adequate replacement!”

  I smiled at Lithan.

  “It is Ashbik you need, Lithan. If you’re worried about your position, I can put in a good word for you. Despite your ruthlessness, you do have some more redeeming qualities that Ashbik may approve of,” I commented dryly, “such as your lowly birth. That might endear you to him.”

  Lithan stuttered, sounding like he was being strangled, his face turning an unattractive shade of mottled red.

  “Lieutenant, take over; fight for Ashbik. Trust me on this if nothing else.”

  I turned and headed to the door. I hadn’t even left the room when I heard Lithan suggesting that Jenus be brought back from his banishment. Thankfully, Memenion’s laughter at his suggestion could be heard all the way out in the hallway.

  The ministers would come around eventually. They didn’t really have any other choice. Despite my personal dislike of Ashbik, I did believe that he had what it took to be emperor.

  I strode through the castle as swiftly as I could, putting the politics aside.

  I wanted to find her.

  Hazel

  I stood against the door to Tejus’s room. My flesh was prickling with goosebumps and my heart was racing.

  Had I heard correctly? I still couldn’t quite believe that I had. Because if I had, that meant that Tejus had just committed an act completely devoid of selfishness. I had waited outside the door of the council chambers, and I had heard his speech. I had heard the sound of a man standing up for what he believed in, against all the odds, against every single instinct that his upbringing had instilled in him.

  He had changed.

  He had become the man I’d known he could be.

  I heard his sure-footed approach from the corridor. He must have left his ministers to dispute over the outcome without him.

  I jumped away from the door. It swung open a second later, and Tejus stood in its frame, looking murderous.

  “Why didn’t you go to the human quarters like I told you to?” he barked at me.

  I smiled at him softly. He could no longer aggravate me with his commands—they were for my safety, and I knew that he prioritized that above most things. Tejus and I still had a lot to learn about each other, but of some things I was sure. Tejus was a good man, and he could say and do things to try to dissuade me and the rest of the world of that fact, but I would no longer be fooled.

  And I couldn’t stay silent a moment longer. Tejus had to know how I felt—and that I would no longer be accepting his refusal.

  I opened my mouth, and tried to speak.

  I couldn’t.

  What? No…not now!

  I tried again, watching confusion pass through Tejus’s expression. No matter how hard I tried, not a sound would come out.

  The pestilence of silence.

  Now?!

  I could have screamed. Of all the times the final apocalyptic warning could have picked to show up… Instead, I watched Tejus try to speak, trying as I had and failing. The rest of the castle had fallen completely silent too—there were no faint mutterings of the ministers, no yells and commands from the servants’ quarters, no crying or complaining from the kids in the human quarters. It was like a blanket had been placed over the world, settling it into sleep.

  There are other ways to communicate.

  I approached Tejus. He stood still, watching me closely. As I got closer, I could see that his heart was pounding, and that every muscle in his body had tensed—as if he was readying himself for battle, to fight off his enemies, to conquer. But there was nothing left for him to fight. Not tonight, anyway.

  I took both his hands in mine. He frowned down at me, unsure. I smiled, and pushed out my mind toward his. I saw understanding dawn on his face, and he latched onto the energy that I was offering. Our minds started to entwine, the golden rope appearing, seeming like it was lengthening rather than thickening—and in my mind I saw it start to entwine our bodies together, its glow lighting up our skin and pushing us closer together.

  I sent him the memory of standing outside the door, listening to his speech to the ministers. I pushed my feelings toward him—my love and determination.

  I love you, Tejus. Don’t refuse me anymore. Please surrender. Give us a chance.

  His eyes softened as he looked down toward mine. I no longer had any idea if we were in the mind meld or not. He drew me closer to him, his arms sliding around my waist. Then images started to flicker in my mind.

  Oh…wow.

  They were his memories. The day I arrived in Nevertide, my face enraged and yelling at him; my fear of jumping over the last stone during the labyrinth trial; holding me after our victory at the disk trial; my face lighting up when he first showed me the library; peering up from the bottom of the temple; the first time he’d seen me in the gown I’d worn to his coronation; smiling at him in the firelight on the night of the ice fires; then our first kiss.

  You love me.

  His lips met mine, and the memories melted away. I kissed him back, my hands running up his chest. The mind-meld broke. The room—the tapestries, the velvet sofas, the books and swords—all should have come rushing back into focus, but all I saw was Tejus.

  I broke the kiss, panting. His eyes held a question, but, speechless, I had to show him what I wanted. With trembling fingers, I undid the button at the top of his shirt. His hands moved over mine, stilling them.

  His expression looked troubled, but I gently removed his hands from mine.

  This is what I want.

  I moved down to the next button, my movements surer now. I didn’t want to give him another excuse to stop me—he had to know how I felt, and this was the way I wanted to show him, with my body, with my touch. All of me.

  I ran my fingers across his chest, and I felt his breath hitch. The scars were still there, jagged spikes across his smooth, pale skin. I gently eased his shirt backward off his shoulders, exposing his collarbone and fully exposing the broadness of his frame.

  You’re so beautiful.

  Up close, able to touch him in this way, I was awestruck.

  His shirt fell away, and I smiled up at him. It dimmed when I saw the hesitation in his eyes—there was reluctance there, and I didn’t know why. I never knew why.

  Please?

  My fingers pressed into the skin on his stomach, and the muscles jumped beneath my touch as he inhaled sharply. He wanted me. Wasn’t that enough?

  He closed his eyes for a moment, shutting me out. When he reopened them, I could see that he’d come to a conclusion. The pupils grew wider; his eyes became hooded and dark.

  Without warning, he picked me up. Afraid to fall, I wrapped my arms around his neck. He moved me to his bedroom, not taking his eyes off me. He shut the door and locked it. He laid me gently down on the bed and knelt on all fours over me.

  His hair brushed against my face. I tugged at it gently, pulling his lips down toward mine again. The kiss was hot, needy. It became more and more urgent with every passing second, and my head started to spin in the most amazing way.

  This time he broke the kiss, and we both came away breathless and panting. He ran his hand from my hip up to the side of my waist. He looked at me with a questioning expression—was I sure? Was I ready?

  I nodded, but he knew already. Gently, with agonizingly slow movements, he removed my pants and shirt, leaving me in my underwear. I felt exposed and too vulnerable, but as his gaze he
ated, tracing the curves of my body, it no longer seemed to matter.

  He bared me completely, tenderly brushing my skin with his fingers. Then he moved off the bed, standing up and removing his clothes, tossing them carelessly on the floor. I couldn’t help but gape.

  He climbed back on top of me, holding the back of my neck in one hand and pulling my lips toward him. He kissed my lips, softly, chastely, and then marked me with butterfly kisses from the corner of my mouth, down the nape of my neck. My skin felt like it was on fire.

  I could feel the tautness of every muscle in his body, and the tension between his legs. My body started to hum with anticipation—intense, flickering heat that flowered up within me. He smiled up at me from where his kisses had finished, and then re-covered my body with his own.

  His tongue explored my mouth, and I felt like I was rolling into oblivion, a heady, shaking kind of heaven. As our bodies molded together as one, I felt a bittersweet pain, and then nothing but wave upon wave of ecstasy. A warm glow spread around our bodies, and I didn’t know if it was my imagination or not, but I felt like the golden rope of our mind-melds had reappeared, linking us inextricably together—heart, mind and soul.

  Tejus took a shuddering breath, and explored deeper. I clasped him tightly to me. I would never let go. My mind felt as if it was floating off somewhere above me, and the only thing keeping me in this land was being tethered to Tejus—unable to look away from his glittering dark eyes.

  You’re mine, I thought, hoping that he could hear me. Always.

  Rose

  We were back in The Shade; Corrine and Mona were off gathering a team of witches who were going to help us in our search for a portal. Caleb and I were studying maps, looking for the likeliest co-ordinates from which to begin our search.

  “This isn’t going to be easy,” Caleb murmured. He traced his fingers over the length of the British Isles, all the way down to the rest of Northern Europe.

  “It’s a lot of area to cover,” I agreed. I was starting to worry—how long was it going to take for us to explore the miles of sea?

  “I think our best bet will be to split into two teams,” Caleb said, “one heading to the North Atlantic, and the other sticking to the North Sea. We can’t ignore that area, it’s just as viable a location for the portal if we’re talking about aviation travel.”

  Ashley and Landis had reported the same as we had—a few locals noticing weird bird migration patterns in Guernsey, and one old man mentioning seeing extremely large birds in the sky at night that he had sworn were vultures.

  “Corrine back yet?” Claudia asked, walking into the room with a box of headsets that we were going to use to communicate while at sea.

  “Not yet,” I muttered distractedly, studying the maps.

  “Well, we need to get a move on.” Claudia had become increasingly agitated since returning from Portugal. She and Yuri had come up empty on every lead that they followed, and I could share her frustration—but I didn’t want to rush headlong into this. If we picked the wrong ocean spots, then we would seriously delay our investigation.

  “I know,” Corrine replied tersely, suddenly appearing behind Claudia at the door. “We’re moving as fast as we can, but believe me, this isn’t going to be easy—and you can’t expect instant results, even if the theory is correct.”

  She was right. There was a big question mark over this theory—and for such an ambitious undertaking, we were placing a lot of faith in the assumption that the birds were connected to the disappearance to our kids, and that they would be coming from the sea somewhere…

  “It’s the only lead we have. We have to at least try,” I told them both.

  “So what’s the plan?” Corrine asked.

  Caleb showed where he’d marked out the likely co-ordinates on the map, and proposed splitting ourselves up to cover more ground.

  “How many witches do we have?” Caleb asked.

  “Ten, not including Mona and Corrine. It’s a good start. Mona will take one team, and I’ll head up the other. Although the North Atlantic is going to be the trickiest—there are fewer islands there, and it’s obviously much larger. The North Sea has plenty—especially up by Scotland.” Corrine studied the map intently. “We’ll travel to the Fair Isle in the North Sea, and Île Saint-Nicolas in the Atlantic.”

  We divided up the teams, Caleb and I going with Corrine and three other witches, and Claudia, Yuri, Ashley and Landis going with Mona and seven other witches as the slightly larger team to take on the North Atlantic.

  “The rest of the witches will be here in an hour,” Corrine said. “Suit up. Everyone take a headset.”

  We all returned to our treehouses. After entering our apartment, Caleb and I hurried straight to the bedroom, where we changed into water-resistant uniforms. My entire body felt tense and anxious, and I fumbled with my zipper twice.

  “Here,” Caleb said, taking over. He ran the zipper up my back, and the familiar feeling of my husband’s firm touch restored some of my sanity.

  “I’m trying to treat it like any other case,” I murmured, “but it’s hard. Every time I look at Claudia or any of the other parents, I feel guilty. It was my decision to send the kids to that camp…”

  “Don’t think like that,” Caleb reprimanded me. “How were you to know? None of us could have predicted this.”

  I knew that he was right, but it didn’t stop me from feeling like a pretty crappy mom right now.

  “Let’s leave,” I croaked.

  We made our way back to the courtyard outside the Sanctuary, where the witches were waiting for us—along with Claudia and Yuri, and Ashley and Landis. We were ready to go.

  “Anything?” I asked for what felt like the fifteen millionth time.

  Corrine shook her head wearily, not even bothering to reply. I looked out on the endless ocean, its waters calm for the moment, the sun dancing about on the tops of the placid waves. There was nothing to be seen for miles, just an endless expanse of blue. We had taken a sea plane instead of a boat, hoping that we’d be able to cover more ground, but it hadn’t made much difference. We had to go slowly so the witches could get a sense of what was going on in the water, and then we paused every so often to refuel from the massive storage tank that we carried.

  At each side of the plane, witches stood at the open doors, scanning the water—seeing if they could pick up on any surges or disruption that might indicate that a portal was close by.

  “Claudia?” I called into my headset. “Anything?”

  The line was really bad at such a long distance, but after a few seconds’ delay, she came in.

  “Nothing. Not yet.”

  Ugh. “Okay.”

  I switched it off, and sighed. Caleb gave my knee a squeeze.

  “We knew this would take some time,” he said.

  I leaned back, trying to think positively, when the muttering of two witches made me look over to the right side of the plane. Corrine hastened over from her side, and they started talking animatedly. I looked at Caleb, hardly daring to hope…

  “Corrine?”

  She turned around, beckoning me to the side of the plane.

  “Look at this!” she exclaimed.

  Caleb and I rushed over to her, leaning out to look at the water. Up ahead we saw the waters rushing and swirling — creating huge ripples on the surface of the water and massive white-foam sprays that flew up noisily, and which were starting to affect the drift of the plane.

  “Let’s get closer!”

  We had taken one of the younger GASP members to man the plane, and he nodded, accelerating over to the source of the activity.

  We flew higher, avoiding the now large waves that were being created by the swirl up ahead.

  “I’m definitely getting something,” murmured one of the witches, her eyes closed as she tried to focus on the energy.

  “It’s a portal,” Corrine acknowledged with a smile. “I can sense it.”

  We passed right over the swirl. Looking down,
we saw what looked like a small typhoon in the water—the ocean swirled downward for about a mile until a black disk hovered in the center of the swirl. It wasn’t like most of the portals I’d ever seen—that normally seemed to hint at another world behind it, like a galaxy of stars or blue skies. This surface was as thick as black tar, moving slowly and sluggishly as if it was alive.

  “Oh, my God,” I croaked, clasping Caleb’s hand.

  “We found it,” he breathed.

  All of us stared, speechless, at the hole in the ocean beneath us.

  Sherus

  It started with a pain. As if a rock-hard hand was clutching at my heart, tightening its grip, making me want to scream out.

  I sat up in bed, my fingers pressing against my chest, trying to calm the sensation. It was the middle of the night, and my chamber was empty, the red glows of bloodstone providing the only light. I looked around wildly, a sixth sense picking up on some strangeness that I couldn’t define, but all the same, it was enough to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

  The pain in my heart receded, and gingerly I stepped out of my bed. Leaving the warmth of the covers behind, I stood shivering in the middle of the room, my gaze drawn to the draped windows that were fluttering gently in the breeze.

  There was nothing wrong here—why did I feel like there was?

  I walked over to the windows, pulling back the drapes. To my relief, the night sky was as it always was: the fae planets shining brightly up ahead, filling me with comfort. I watched for a while, until I heard the pitter-patter of summer rains emerging from the sky. Getting cold, I was about to turn away from the window and return to my dreams when a violent tear of lightning ripped through the sky.

  I watched in horror as the prongs of light appeared to split up the fae planets—a sharp dagger of yellowing light appearing in the space between each of them, as if the very universe was being split.