Balfor's Salvation Page 22

  Then another male entered his throne room. Though he had his eyes closed as he focused on his internal battle, he recognized the scent. It was Gorzo, his musk stronger than other Sanctuary males because he was still One, still technically immature. Gorzo braved approaching Balfor when Ranove would not.

  His primal paused in its struggle for control. Balfor could feel its curiosity at Gorzo’s presence. He opened his eyes and snarled when the other male got close enough to speak to him in a low voice. Balfor’s claws dug into the stone of his throne, scoring the carved marble. His wings spread as he leaned forward in an aggressive stance towards Gorzo. “Now is not the time!” he bit out through clenched teeth.

  Gorzo remained unfazed and undaunted. “Now is the best time.”

  Suspicion filled Balfor. “Why are you here?”

  “You must stop fighting and become One again. The battle against your primal will only weaken you until you are no match for the bright ones, even with the Mother’s Blessing. She will aid you. She will help you emerge as One again. The Sundering was wrong. She wishes to make it right.”

  Balfor waved an imperious hand to brush aside Gorzo’s words as if they were a swarm of stinging gnats. “What you suggest is madness, especially at this time. I would lose the connection to the Mother and be unable to defend my people, much less reclaim my concubine.”

  Gorzo’s expression remained neutral as he shook his head. “The Mother will show you the way. Go to her Heart. She will guide you.”

  Suddenly, the voices in Balfor’s head, which had remained silent during his struggle against his primal so as not to distract him, swelled into a crescendo of noise where words were difficult to separate out. Finally, they were offering their input again. It was about time. Except that they were actually agreeing with Gorzo. Something they had not done in the past, remaining silent whenever the barbarian had offered the same advice before. Now the voices were insistent that he go to the Mother’s Heart and slip into the meditative trance that would open his mind to her guidance.

  His primal, still trapped behind the veil, seemed to also hear the voices, maybe because they were now talking so loudly. It stopped breaking chains and settled back as if it was waiting. There was no help for it. If he didn’t follow their guidance, the voices would never shut up and leave him in peace.

  *****

  Stacia rested in her bed, trying to recover enough strength to focus on a plan of escape. Her eyes were closed, not because she was sleeping, but because she couldn’t handle the constant bright prismatic light that surrounded her and beat against her eyelids. At least they hadn’t sedated her again. Though unconsciousness would have been a welcome relief from the bright light, she needed time to plan. There was no way she was going to just lie here waiting for Balfor to come rescue her. But it also wouldn’t be a good idea to just run off in any old direction wearing nothing but a hospital gown, even if she could figure out a way to get free of the restraints.

  Then something happened. The air in the cavern changed. There was a much brighter light, if that was even possible, followed by a presence that felt so huge it seemed to fill the cavern. She smelled the scent: musk, masculine, earthy, alien. And terrifying. She remembered a smell like that. The smell of adurians. Her heart pounded with the memory of that fear. Her nose was clogged with adurian musk as her helmet malfunctioned, the nano-fibers melting away from her face, exposing it to the adurian warrior. Then he lifted his hand and swung a—

  The booming voice that filled the cavern and hurt Stacia’s ears also shook her out of her memory.

  “So this is the concubine of Prince Balfor? How unexpected.” The voice was deep, smooth, and seemed to shake the very ground beneath her. Like Balfor, this male spoke DC Common with a barely detectible accent.

  Her hair stood on end from the power in that voice. She kept her eyes tightly closed, feeling more vulnerable than ever before with her wrists and ankles restrained to the bed.

  “Look upon me, human. Look upon your Lord, Prince Uriale.”

  Stacia ground her teeth, but kept her mouth as closed as her eyes. Now was not the time to give in to her urge to tell this bastard to go screw himself. For once, she had to try and keep it together.

  “You dare to disobey me?” Uriale’s tone sounded surprised rather than angry.

  “Go to the nine hells, bastard,” she muttered just under her breath.

  But he heard her anyway. And he laughed.

  Enraged by his amusement at her expense, she opened her eyes and turned her head towards his voice, her mouth opening to berate him, and screw the consequences of her hasty words. “You arrogant fu—”

  Stacia lost the breath to speak when she got her first real look at the adurian prince, the ruler of the “Lords” her people had worshipped as gods. He stood several paces away from her bed. From where she was lying he appeared to be even taller than Balfor. Thick, muscled arms crossed over a massive bare chest, rippling with muscle and adorned with glowing tattoos over smooth golden skin. His skin also seemed to glow with an inner light, though not as bright as the dizzying pattern of tattoos on his chest.

  He watched her from eyes that glowed with white light. His face was as sublimely handsome as Balfor’s, though it didn’t make her heart flutter. Instead, the beauty of him chilled her blood. The adurians were all beautiful—at least the ones she’d seen—including the one who’d scarred her for life.

  But Uriale was in a whole different class from the warriors she’d fought, just as Balfor was something more than the other umbrose. His features, from his shapely lips to his strong jawline to his slightly slanted eyes were flawless. Platinum blond hair hung down to his waist. Ivory horns, tipped with lace-worked gold, curled back from his broad forehead. Glorious pearlescent white feathered wings arched behind him. Though he had claws and talons like the umbrose, he did not have spurs on his elbows.

  It wasn’t his physical appearance that cut off the breath she needed to speak; it was the sheer power of his presence. Balfor had a similar powerful feeling about him that separated him from the other umbrose. The difference was, Balfor’s presence aroused her and drew her to him. The presence of this prince scared the Nine Hells out of her. She’d never been so afraid of anyone before in her life. Perhaps it was because she already knew the kinds of horrors he was capable of visiting upon her and those she loved.

  He chuckled at her stunned silence. “Now you're speechless? No more whispered insults? Pity. I found your defiance amusing.”

  Stacia’s limbs trembled and her teeth chattered as she shuddered uncontrollably. She’d never had such a paralyzing reaction to a threat before. That realization filled her with the determination to fight Uriale’s effect on her. Since she was still bound and helpless, it fell to using her words to show he couldn’t cow her. “It’s not my job to amuse you. Go bother someone else.”

  “You do amuse me, though it’s true that it isn’t why you’re here. You have a more important purpose. You’ll be the key to ending the war. When we have Balfor contained and his connection to the Mother disrupted, we’ll finally be able to destroy Sanctuary and all of the umbrose.” There was a fanatical look on his face as his glowing eyes narrowed on her. “Only then will we have peace and a chance to rebuild our once-great civilization.”

  “You’re talking about genocide, you monster!”

  Uriale’s beautiful lips twisted into a snarl that revealed teeth that were every bit as pointy and sharp as umbrose teeth. “I am talking about the survival of my race, you ignorant creature! How dare you cast judgment on a superior species?” His scowl deepened, twisting his beautiful features into a macabre mask filled with hatred. “I seek only to end this war, which will never happen unless the umbrose are no more. They started this war with us eons ago. Our annihilation has always been their intent. We would not have resorted to such drastic measures had they given us any choice.”

  Stacia struggled against her restraints, wishing she could sit up. It was impossible to confront
someone effectively when you were lying down while they stood over you. “That’s a lie! The adurians started the war!”

  Uriale’s laughter was bitter and harsh this time. His expression remained fixed in its scowl. “I can guess who told you that. And what would Balfor know of it? He’s a youngling, not even fifteen centuries. He was not there when war was first declared. He knows only the lies he has been told.”

  Shit, how old is this crazy adurian? He looked no older than Balfor, who was mind-bogglingly old, come to think of it. “You’re saying you were there?”

  Uriale’s snarl dropped away and his eyes widened. He looked startled at her question, or perhaps at the fact that they were even having this conversation. Then he frowned. “I’m done with humoring you, human. I’ve satisfied my curiosity.” He turned away and started walking towards the well of light in the center of the cavern. Pausing, he glanced back over one winged shoulder. “I was not certain what type of human Balfor would choose as a concubine. I’ve known so many of your kind, and usually find them so tiresome. Since I find you more interesting, I’ll keep Anata away from you.” With those words, light surrounded his body. She heard his voice as the light grew so painful she had to close her eyes again. “You have no idea what a favor I’m doing for you.”

  Stacia pondered his last words, and the tone he’d used to speak them. It seemed crazy that she could predict the mood of such a creature, but he’d sounded almost tormented.

  Chapter 25

  The veil had to be destroyed. That was the first step for Balfor to reunite with his primal. As he meditated in the Mother’s Heart, Her crystals surrounding him, pulsing with shadows and darkness, his mind was not still and silent like his body. This place smelled of Stacia and his primal. His primal had defiled it by killing and eating here, but the Mother did not seem to hold that against it. What little he heard of her whispered words beneath the cacophony of his ancestors’ voices told him that She did approve of this reunion, and that She would still remain connected to him.

  Tearing the veil away was as agonizing as he feared it would be. It had become such an ingrained part of his mind that it was like amputating a limb. Only this would not grow back, even with time in the Mother’s Heart. Then it was gone, and he and his primal occupied the same mind, with nothing separating them. This time, the primal was not behaving like a frenzied beast, though it still crouched, waiting and wary, most of the chains he’d forged to hold it dangling broken around it. It watched him as he completed the next step, releasing the chains. They dissolved with his thought, and Balfor was surprised when his primal didn’t immediately surge forward to attack him. It still waited.

  Now was the task that had never been done before. No one had ever become One again after the Sundering. Balfor existed in two separate entities. Neither half of him knew how to join back together. The shadows had nothing useful to add, though they hovered anxiously around the Mother’s Heart and whispered softly in his mind, fearful of aggravating his primal.

  His primal growled low in its chest at the shadows. They boiled away from Balfor and the unchained beast within him.

  This will never work. I stand to lose everything with this madness. He felt the Mother’s soothing calm seep over him. She sent him the visions which were her chosen form of communication, since Her voice—even deep within Her Heart—was only ever a whisper. The vision was of him and his primal embracing, then merging to become one again. They were both snarling in agony as their ethereal bodies blended.

  Inside his head, Balfor approached his primal. He was surprised when it didn’t immediately shy away. Instead, it growled a few umbrose words, which surprised him. He’d believed it incapable of speech. It said, “get over with.”

  Then it charged him, and the pain began.

  *****

  Balfor wasn’t even certain what time of day it was when he allowed the shadows to carry him back to his throne room. He really just wanted to sleep. For a long time. But there was no time to rest. Uriale and Anata had issued a formal challenge that he meet them in combat. The prize was Stacia. He’d already answered the challenge and agreed to their meeting place. He’d been the one to pick the time, giving himself two days to assemble his legions and get them on the move. That time was fast approaching.

  Though the challenge was supposed to be between him and the prince and princess, he fully expected them to cheat, just as they had done at the Twilight Pools. That was why he wanted his army at his back. The adurians no longer had honor. They no longer upheld the ancient codes. Because of this, he no longer cared that he also intended to cheat. Stacia wouldn’t be the only prize. He fully intended to capture Uriale and Anata and lock them away from any source of light. Then he would keep them chained until every last adurian was dead. Only then could he kill them both, unconcerned that their power would pass on to another adurian prince who would return to threaten the umbrose in the future. It was the only way to ensure lasting peace.

  Tired as he was, Balfor was confident he could defeat them, especially now that he was One. There had been a rush of memories shared between him and his primal that had nearly overwhelmed them both. Someday, when he had a clear moment, he would sift through those memories and relive them. Many were ugly memories of frenzied rage from his primal, but some were beautiful memories of Stacia. There were also strong memories of his youth in the nest that had been kept fresh in his primal’s mind. He no longer felt the primal’s emotions as a presence separate from himself. It was ecstatic to be part of him again and that was an emotion that Balfor felt. They were One. There was no more “he” and “it”. That idea would take some getting used to.

  He’d returned to his throne room to ponder his strategy and get updates from his generals and advisors. Instead, he found it empty except for Ranove and his concubine, Lilith. Her presence in his throne room was unusual enough that it gave him pause. She’d never been here before, as he’d never had a reason to summon her. All her dealings with him went through Ranove.

  Ranove bowed to him while Lilith sank into a deep curtsy. “Your Highness, I am glad that you have returned when you did. The time for your challenge with Uriale and Anata nears.”

  Balfor waved away Ranove’s words. “I’m well aware of that. Where are the others? I want the status on my legions.”

  Ranove stood straight from his bow. “They will be here shortly, but there is something we must share with you, Your Highness. Something Lilith has been informed of by the human military force, the Commemoro.”

  Balfor turned his attention to Ranove’s concubine. The female was skittish around him, and always had been. Not at all like his Stacia. Although Lilith had confronted him in public for Stacia’s sake, arguing for leniency after the incident that had caused all of this. As angry as he had been then—and now it seemed like such a long time ago—he’d admired her loyalty to her friend. But now, she flinched from his gaze, keeping her eyes trained on the marbled floor rather than look up at him. “Tell me what your people have to say that’s so important I must be bothered at this critical time with it.”

  Lilith’s shoulders hunched higher. Then she took a deep breath and straightened, lifting her chin and finally meeting his eyes. Balfor saw the underlying steel in the female. “I assure you, Your Highness, I would never have bothered you without good reason. The Commemoro have news that my Lord Ranove says is very dire.”

  Balfor had little patience for games. “Out with it then.”

  Lilith braced her body as if expecting a blow from him. A ridiculous notion. He wasn’t such a monster as to strike the messenger of bad news. Especially not a female.

  “Commemoro agents have determined that the adurians have discovered the Father’s Heart. It’s located where you’re going to meet them for this challenge.”

  Balfor should have braced himself for a blow, because that was what her words felt like, even spoken in her soft voice. “They’ve found what?” He looked to Ranove for confirmation.

  Ranove nodded. “I t
rust the information. The Commemoro has agents deep within Diakonos ranks. They’re watching the adurians just as carefully as we are, but they’re able to get their people closer because the adurians still trust some humans. The Commemoro are aware that the Father’s Heart makes the adurians exponentially stronger. They want that no more than we do. They already have a plan to destroy the Heart, but right now, your concubine is inside of it.”

  The thought of the humans destroying a sacred Heart, even if it was the Father’s Heart, was disturbing, though he couldn’t argue that it was the best course of action. Otherwise, the adurians would be untouchable anywhere near it. He would have been easily defeated during the challenge if he’d gone into it unaware of this news. Most disturbing to him though was Stacia’s fate. “I assume the Commemoro is willing to make the sacrifice that I am not. They throw away their people as if they’re meaningless.”

  Lilith was the one to answer him, and she sounded as angry with her own people as he was. Her initial fear of him seemed to have dissipated from concern for her friend. “General Jack Caruthers is the one who contacted me personally. He’s been willing to sacrifice a pawn in the past for what he considers the greater good. In this case though, he’s offered an alternative.” Deep frown lines creased her brow and her eyes narrowed above her veil.

  Balfor already suspected what she was going to say. The human military had been trying to open up talks with him for two years. They wanted a permanent alliance with the umbrose. He’d refused all their overtures, and lately had told Ranove he didn’t want to hear any more about them, but now they had him. Balfor wondered if they knew how much he cared about Stacia or if they were just grasping at shadows, hoping one of them had substance. He motioned for Lilith to tell him their offer.

  “They’ll extract Stacia prior to destroying the Heart. It’ll be risky and might cost them agents, but they consider it worth the price if you agree to an alliance.” Lilith’s tone was bitter, but it was only a meager reflection of Balfor’s own bitterness and rage at the arrogance and audacity of these humans.