Page 38 of The Stone Survival
I set my fork down, the last vestiges of the warm fuzzies melting away. “What’s going on?”
She looked to Derek to continue.
“When I turned chimera, I went somewhere. I can’t remember it all, but I was being hunted there. I was…afraid.”
He’d kept this from me? “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You are happy,” he said as if that explained everything.
And in his head, it did. He’d been protecting me, just as he always did. “Oh, Derek…”
“We spoke to Mirrowind about it,” Shar continued quickly. “Remember she said Derek was a shadow sylph?” I nodded. “Yes, well it seems that someone called Aine has marked him.”
“Who’s Aine?” Palia asked.
“Some fae deity. I’m not sure,” Shar said.
“But why does she want Derek?”
Shar shrugged. “All Mirrowind could say was that it seemed that Faerie may be opening its doors and this Aine creature was maybe asserting some kind of claim. Sylphs belong to her, it seems.”
“Not this sylph,” Derek growled.
“Damn straight,” Curi said. “She can fuck right off.”
“I wish I’d told her that,” Derek said wistfully. “Maybe next time.”
“There won’t be a next time,” Shar said. “We won’t let there be.” She turned to me. “His connection to you helped him fight her off and come back to us. But that connection is weakening as he becomes more independent.”
I wish you’d told me what happened, Derek.I projected the thought to him. He frowned and glanced at me in confusion.Can you hear me?
You sound far away. His voice was distant too.
We were truly losing our connection.
And that wasn’t something we wanted to halt. Heck, I wasn’t sure it was something we could halt. His freedom didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be able to sense when I was in dire peril; all it meant was that he could choose whether to come and save me—an autonomy everyone deserved.
“Then what do we do?” Serath asked. “How do we stop her from taking him?”
“The mating…” Levi said. “It’s a bond that allows you to keep your independence, but it tethers you too, doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” Derek replied. “I can take a mate of my choosing.” He looked down at Shar. “And I choose Sharniza because when I look at her, she fills my heart with sunshine.”
“That’s beautiful,” Palia said softly.
A reflective silence filled the space between us.
A loud belch shattered it. Touron covered his mouth, eyes wide. “Sorry.”
Ginia giggled, and Palia joined in, and a moment later, we were all laughing, and that moment…that moment was perfection.
CHAPTER 18
SELAS
The cuff keeping me from shifting is off, and as the minutes tick toward midnight, I can’t help but wonder if this is some kind of test. A trick. But the doubts fade as quickly as they take form. Benny wouldn’t be so cruel.
If he says the door will be open at midnight, then he means it.
