Page 17 of Stone Sentinels

It’s a silly question because there’s only one candidate. There’s only one man strong enough to allow me to feed from him. Cambion. Well, that’s not true. Variant would be equally able but clearly he’s not on offer.

“My choice would be Cambion,” I reply softly.

“He appears to be the only… viable option,” Dragan agrees.

“But, I think that option is looking like more and more like an impossibility.”

“It’s Cambion or…Variant,” Dragan barks back. “Which means it’s Cambion because I’m fairly sure Variant still wants you dead. Probably even more so now.” He sighs. “There are no other options.”

I nod because I know Dragan’s right. “Yet Cambion can barely even look me in the eyes ,” I say.

“He needs to figure his shit out,” Dragan responds gruffly. “If it gets to the point where we force him on you, that’s what we’ll have to do.”

“How would that work?” I ask, frowning at him.

He shrugs. “We lock the two of you up in the same room together and you turn on your seduction full bore. We don’t let him out until he… does what he needs to.”

“It sounds so…”

“It doesn’t matter how it sounds,” Dragan interrupts. “We can’t let you fall to the darkness.”

“Right,” I say and nod. “Are you sure Cambion and Variant are the only ones strong enough to survive… bedding me?”

Dragan nods. “You saw what the books said.”

I nod again and then fall silent. We both just look at one another for what feels like an eternity. I finally break the silence. “I don’t want to turn into a succubus.”

“I don’t want that either,” he admits.

Dragan leaves me when we return from our walk and I return to the clearing to practice while the others eat supper. I have no appetite. I can hear the sounds of clattering plates and silver as they feast. Jovial stories about Kolvar and his band of mercenaries fill the cottage with happiness, causing laughter to carry out the windows and to my ears. But, I can’t share in their mirth.

Not when there’s so much on my mind.

Winter is coming to The Veil. I can feel the chilling tendrils of frigid air seeping into my skin, drying the sweat on my face as I run through my practice drills over and over. I push myself until my muscles ache and the others head to bed.

Pyre appears before me and I nearly scream. He smirks, lifting his hands in surrender. “You’re getting better, Eilish. Soon, you’ll be a warrior.”

“Not soon enough.”

“Are you truly ready?” he asks. I don’t answer, but I follow him as he walks into the woods. There’s no way I can tell someone who has so much faith in me that I’ll never be truly ready because I don’t understand my past. And now I wonder if I truly want to understand what happened in my past. I have this strange feeling that maybe knowing the truth will hurt more than it will help.

Maybe some things are better left unknown? I know Pyre disagrees. He thinks that no matter how painful the truth may be, it’s necessary in order to heal. And I do feel broken. In fact, I feel empty inside.

It’s as though each day that passes without answers, I find myself becoming numb to the world around me. Even The Veil seems less vibrant and fascinating as we wander beyond the usual areas of the forest and come on a placid lake.

Wisps twinkle above the water and I hear the sound of beautiful singing. “Nymphs,” I whisper. They appear from the fog that floats on the surface, their snake-like tails swishing in the water. Large, beautiful eyes stare up at me.

One of the sirens lifts out of the lake, and steam coils from her lips as she breathes in the cold air. Long, flowing emerald locks cling to her shoulders and breasts. She blinks at me with an amphibious stare and I reach my hand out. The nymph flattens her palm against mine, and I peer deep into her eyes.

Eilish, her voice whispers in my mind.You are one of us…

“Pyre? Are succubae similar to nymphs?”

“They are closely related to sirens, harpies, and nymphs, yes.” He pulls me away from the nymph and toward a cluster of blue crystals at the water’s edge.

“Why are we here?” I ask as I face him.

“Recall I told you I couldn’t return your memories to you?” he asks. I nod. He continues. “I visited the spirits and asked for their assistance. They told me to come here.”

---