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  “It’s unfortunate that the Gloresti bond doesn’t extend between child and parent,” Uriel said. “You could easily find them that way.”

  They still didn’t know why it didn’t. The children all carried the blood of their Gloresti fathers, though it was blended with that of their half-human, half-Corgloresti mothers. Over time, their fathers had changed diapers, cleansed wounds and received exuberant and sloppy kisses from their babies. But the bond that typically formed between a Gloresti and a being with whom he or she exchanged bodily fluids—one way that a Gloresti bond formed—was never established between the fathers and children. Over time, it was generally accepted that because Caleb, James and Gabriel were already formally paired and avowed with Skye, Olivia and Amber, they couldn’t establish the same type of pairing with anyone else.

  Jabari looked at Malukali and Knorbis. “Did you perceive any thoughts last night about this?”

  The two elders shook their heads. Malukali said, “We have never been able to fully read the Kynzesti, as you know. We didn’t perceive anything.”

  Knorbis briefly stroked her hair in a supportive gesture. “In all honesty, it had been a very trying day for both of us. We went to bed earlier than usual. We might have missed their departure.”

  “Why would archigos Ini-herit go with them?” commander Caoilinn asked.

  “Why would any of them go with Tiege?” the Elphresti commander, Khalidah, replied. “Surely they understand that he is highly unstable right now.”

  Despite the fact that he had said and believed as much the night before, Caleb stiffened at the implication.

  “We have no way of knowing what occurred,” Gabriel said, briefly catching Caleb’s gaze and giving him a nod. “Sophia and Clara Kate are as close to Tiege and Tate as siblings. I’m not terribly surprised that they agreed to go. It’s much more unexpected that Ini-herit went with them, but I have to think that he believed Tiege’s story and was somehow convinced to participate without telling any of us. And I have absolutely no idea what possessed Quincy to go.”

  Olivia sat between her sisters, holding Skye’s hand on top of the table. She said, “We may have brought them into the world, but none of us really understands the bond between the Kynzesti…particularly Kynzesti twins. I think what we should be focusing on is how to get to them.”

  “The Waresti are searching for them,” Uriel said. His commander, Harold, and second commander, Alexius, had already started the search. “The moment they’re found, we’ll know.”

  “And if Ini-herit contacts me for anything, I will know where he is,” Sebastian said. He was the Lekwuesti paired with each of the elders. The multiple pairings were unique to him as the class elder.

  “What about this Zachariah guy?” Amber asked. “Is everyone still looking for him, too? Our kids are out there with this murderer on the loose.”

  “We’re still searching for Zachariah as well as Kanika,” Jabari confirmed.

  Skye looked around the table. Strangely, Caleb noted she had more optimism and life in her light blue gaze since learning of Tiege’s defiance. “I don’t want to sit here feeling useless, but…” she looked down at her very round belly.

  “Your families need you with them,” Knorbis said, his dark purple eyes understanding. “And it wouldn’t be in the best interests of your health or the health of your future children to leave the safety of your homes right now. Besides, Tiege and the others could return at any time.” He looked to his commander and second commander. “I’ll work with Meda and Leoma to see if we can try and predict their likely course. We will continue to work with the information discovered by the investigating Waresti to reason out what the rogue Mercesti are pursuing, as well.”

  The others nodded.

  Caleb listened with a heavy weight on his chest as plans were made that didn’t involve him or his family. It felt wrong to not be charging into action. But he knew that Knorbis was right.

  It seemed his firstborn children were meant to fight this particular battle on their own.

  PART II:

  Resist

  Resist [v. ri-zist]: Used with object. To withstand, strive against,

  or oppose: to resist infection; to resist temptation.

  Chapter 14

  “Ariana, come here.”

  She hurried to comply. As she had been commanded, she performed a curtsy before the Mercesti who ordered her over to him, keeping her head bowed. The action had anger and humiliation burning in the back of her throat.

  “My boot is untied,” the Mercesti said.

  Although she ached to tell him to tie it himself, she promptly fell to her knees and tied the laces, making them as tight as she dared in an effort to calm her temper.

  Her travels with this group of Mercesti had extended into almost two weeks now, though the days since the death of her best friend, Tisha, were all one big blur. They treated her abominably. Her Lekwuesti power had been strained to the point where she was now utterly exhausted regardless of the time of day. They wanted food and drink. They wanted clothing and accessories. They wanted portable housing and comfortable furniture. About the only thing they weren’t demanding of her was soap or other items for their personal hygiene.

  She would gratefully stretch her power a bit further to create such things if the disgusting group would but use them.

  As she finished tying the Mercesti’s boot, he grabbed her by her hair, which they insisted she wear unbound. Although she wanted to scream, she had also learned that such behavior merely provoked these beings. So she endured the revolting kiss he forced on her, praying it was enough to satisfy him. Fear was a storm in her belly as he reached for the neckline of her gown.

  “Enough, Nels.”

  The voice was cool and effective. Nels shoved her away with a brief snarl before stomping over to the nearby soup tureen presently bubbling over the campfire. He lifted the ladle and drank some of the hot soup right from it.

  Fighting the urge to wipe her mouth with her shaking hands, Ariana glanced at the male who spoke…their leader, Eirik. He stared back at her, his red eyes cold and gleaming. He wore his blond and red-striped hair in a half-ponytail spiked on top of his head, with the rest of his hair falling below his shoulders. A white line ran straight down the entire left side of his face. He stood a foot taller than her and was three times as broad in the chest.

  “If you take much longer to get us to our goal, I will not continue to stop them,” he said.

  His deep, gravelly voice made her shudder. She believed every word. He had already started letting the males take more liberties with her as a way to “motivate” her. And she had witnessed many heinous things while in his presence…more than enough to warrant her fear.

  Nodding once, she turned to walk back to the center of the camp. She had to stand there throughout their meal in case one of them wanted anything. As she stood, she did the same thing she had every other night since her capture.

  She wondered how she would find the object they sought.

  Finding things was her specialty. Unlike many full Estilorians, she possessed a second power: the ability to find anything that had been lost. It was because of this power, in point of fact, that she was in her current predicament.

  While they were on their first visit to the mainland almost two weeks ago, Tisha had taken Ariana aside and begged her to help her find a necklace she had lost. The necklace had belonged to another Lekwuesti named Charlotte, and Tisha had wanted to avoid invoking her friend’s wrath. Ariana refused, not wanting to disobey the dictates of the Gloresti protecting them. They had been told not to double-back or they might risk encountering Mercesti who might be following them.

  Unfortunately, Tisha hadn’t listened. She decided to take matters into her own hands. While their assigned Gloresti gathered to discuss the horrible news that a Kynzesti had been killed by a kragen, Tisha had snuck away to search for the necklace herself. Alarmed for her friend, Ariana had ultimately used her second power to search for her to
try and bring her back to the campsite housing the rest of their class.

  Her search was now hazy in her memory, but she clearly remembered witnessing Tisha’s brutal murder before she passed out.

  When she regained consciousness after finding Tisha’s body being ravaged by Eirik’s primary henchman, Deimos, Ariana found herself alone in a tent with Eirik. He hadn’t so much as introduced himself. He instead explained that he sought a sacred object, one that would significantly alter the order of things on the Estilorian plane. He further explained that he had overheard her speaking privately with Tisha, and that he knew of her ability to find things. To verify it, he had followed her when she chased Tisha down.

  He offered her a deal. He would allow her to live as long as she did whatever they said and found the Elder Scroll.

  She didn’t have any idea what the Elder Scroll was.

  Making matters worse, it didn’t appear that Eirik had many details about the object, either. His descriptions were vague, and she got the impression he didn’t have the answers to her questions. Whenever she pressed for more information in hopes it might help her find it, he growled and lashed out at her.

  The problem was, her power only worked if she knew what she was looking for. And even then, it helped if she had some kind of connection to the object. In this case, she had neither.

  The bottom line was she had no way of doing what Eirik wanted her to do. And in very little time at all, she figured she’d be as dead as Tisha.

  “Come here, female.”

  Jolted from her thoughts by Eirik’s command, Ariana approached him to avoid provoking another punishment. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the tent she had created for him. She stood in the middle of it with her hands clenched in front of her, praying he was quick if he finally decided to kill her.

  “You disappoint me,” he said after a long moment. His unfeeling red eyes stayed focused on her face as he slowly walked a circle around her. “Do you have nothing to say?”

  “No.”

  “No excuses for your failure?”

  “None you haven’t already heard.”

  She realized her weariness kept the tremor of fear from her voice, a fact that pleased her. He couldn’t see her trembling knees beneath her long skirt and she kept her hands clasped together to prevent them from shaking. At least she wouldn’t die looking like a coward.

  “Perhaps some time spent with Deimos will help you reclaim your abilities.”

  Her stomach pitched painfully. “My abilities have not diminished from what they have always been. I made no secret of their limitations. Hide something of yours somewhere you believe I can’t find it. I will.”

  He issued a noise behind her that might have been disbelief. Then he moved back in front of her. He stopped walking, leaving less than a foot between them. She had no choice but to look up and meet his eyes, an effort that made her knees even less stable.

  “Tell me what you need to successfully find the scroll.”

  She almost sighed. This was something she had been over with him before. But if answering him kept her safe from Deimos and his other followers for even another minute, she was happy to do so. “I need to know more about the scroll itself. What does it look like? How was it made? In what general area was it lost?”

  “I have told you that these things are not known.”

  “Not known by anyone?” she countered. “Or not known by you?”

  His eyes narrowed dangerously.

  Nerves had her blurting, “I ask because if there is someone who knows more about it, they could aid me in finding it.”

  That brought a thoughtful look into his frightening eyes.

  “How did you find out about it?” she asked. Now that she had issued her previous statement, she wished she hadn’t. She just unintentionally involved another being in this mess.

  He resumed his movement, pacing around the tent. When his back was to her, she eyed the pair of curved, black krises he wore strapped to his back. Trying to wrest one from him in a bid for her release was laughable, but she couldn’t deny the thought flashed through her mind.

  “There must be another way,” he said.

  Ariana understood then that the being who had told him about the scroll was dead. She wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or terrified.

  “Is there no record of how the scroll was made?” she wondered. “Could someone not just ask the being who created it?”

  “Beings, you fool,” he replied in a frosty tone. “It is called the Elder Scroll. How could you not reason that it was created by the elders?”

  Her face filled with color. It seemed ridiculously obvious now that he said it.

  “So you are essentially telling me that you can only find the scroll if you have access to one of the elders?” he asked.

  “Well, if there is something tied to the scroll—even in a minor way—I could possibly funnel enough energy from that to find the scroll itself.”

  He continued pacing in silence for a long while. She tried not to think of the fear sitting like overcooked bread somewhere between her heart and her stomach. And she desperately hoped she didn’t drop to the floor in exhaustion. She had swayed a couple of times and caught herself.

  Abruptly, he stopped. When his eyes met hers, they gleamed.

  “What about the sword that look the life of one of the elders who created the scroll?”

  She felt her face fall into horrified lines. “D-do you mean Grolkinei’s sword?”

  “It belonged to Volarius before Grolkinei killed him with it. Volarius always wore it. He would have had it on his person when the scroll was created, I am most certain.”

  Working hard to swallow, Ariana nodded. The object would suffice. What she didn’t know was what the residual energy clinging to it would do to her psyche when she opened her senses.

  He moved closer to her. Lifting his hand, he trailed a finger down her cheek to the pulse pounding in her neck. “It will mean a change in our course, so you had best be certain about this. If you are wrong or attempt to deceive me, I will make sure your suffering exceeds your worst imaginings.”

  Chapter 15

  "Do you think they’ve found out that we’re gone yet?” Sophia asked as they made camp the night after their departure.

  “Yep,” Tiege said.

  “You seem awfully certain,” Clara Kate observed as she assisted Ini-herit in building a fire. Although they could create light easily enough, the fire would provide better heat. It promised to be a cool night.

  “Oh, I am. My dad dissolved my illusion a while ago. I sensed it.” And he felt incredibly guilty about it, too. But he didn’t mention that. Opening his bag, he glanced around. “Is anyone hungry? I have bread, apples and cheese.”

  Sophia shrugged from her position on a log next to where Ini-herit and C.K. arranged kindling. “I could use a little something. Toss me an apple, would you?”

  “That should be enough kindling,” Ini-herit said. “Now we need to create a flame.”

  “No prob,” C.K. said. She flicked her wrist and a spurt of fire flew over the wood.

  “Showoff,” Sophia said as she took a bite of her apple.

  C.K. grinned. “When we need a plant grown, we’ll let you do your thing.”

  Sophia stuck out her tongue. It made Tiege smile, something he hadn’t expected. He glanced at Quincy, who had been very quiet since getting dragged into this. That sense of guilt once again surfaced as he realized how miserable his friend looked.

  “Quincy, can I talk to you for a moment?”

  With a look of surprise, Quincy said, “Okay.”

  Tiege got up and walked into the woods. Behind him, he heard C.K. explain to Ini-herit about the Kynzesti third power…the power of the elements. She could command small amounts of fire. Sophia could make plant life grow. Tate could produce water. He could make things cold.

  When they were outside of hearing distance, Tiege stopped and faced Quincy. Deciding not to beat around the bush, he sai
d, “I’m sorry I got you caught up in this.”

  “What?” Quincy looked genuinely confused.

  “I can tell you’d rather be anywhere else. I want to apologize, as well as thank you for coming with us even though you don’t want to be here. I really appreciate it.”

  His eyebrows lowering in understanding, Quincy shook his head. “Don’t be an ass, Tiege. I wouldn’t rather be anywhere than with you, trying to find Tate. You’ll never know what it was like flying after that kragen, knowing that it had Tate and not being able to get to her.”

  Tiege pursed his lips. “No, I won’t,” he murmured.

  “I didn’t mean…”

  “Hey, it’s cool,” Tiege said, deliberately shrugging it off. He knew in his mind as well as his heart that his sister was alive. That was all that mattered. “I’m glad to know that your misery isn’t on account of my dragging you out here.”

  Then he realized that Quincy’s color had risen. The Corgloresti glanced back at the camp, where Sophia was just visible through the trees. When she laughed at something C.K. said, Quincy’s mouth turned up at the corners.

  His lips parting as realization dawned, Tiege said, “Are you serious? Sophia?”

  Quincy’s smile vanished as he turned back to Tiege. “You mean—Tate didn’t tell you?”

  “Tell me what?” Tiege asked, not sure how to feel about this new understanding of his friend’s feelings for his cousin.

  Now, Quincy rubbed the back of his neck in obvious discomfort. “Well, that’s a bit of a surprise. I thought she told you everything.”

  Up until she snuck away, Tiege had thought the same thing. It was a painful realization to learn that she didn’t. In this case, however, he could certainly understand it.

  “Tate would never reveal another’s personal secrets, Quincy,” he said, glancing back at Sophia. “She knows everyone’s truths. If she went around revealing everything she knew, I don’t think anyone would be happy.”

  “Yeah. I know. It’s just…”