Page 3 of Risen
Soon enough, we arrived on Pee Lee island.Canada.A year ago, I’d never even left my pocket world.Now I was in a different country.A neighboring country, sure.But still.This was a big deal for the girl who had been locked away in a tower for a couple of decades.
Taking a bracing breath, I squared my shoulders, lifted my chin, and slipped into my holy priestess role...elevated.Able to heal mortal wounds with a touch.Removed from insignificant things that didn’t relate to my purpose, things like my own thoughts and feelings.The cult had left me with a lot of habits and beliefs I wished to be rid of.But this one thing had been a gift.I could pretend with the best of them.I might be falling apart inside, but I’d never show it.
Whatever the naga thought of me, they would not look at me and see me as shrinking and weak-willed.Everyone who met me would only see Sadavir’s perfect mate, his equal.
As if reading my thoughts—maybe feeling my determination through our mate bond—Sadavir squeezed my hand and leaned in to press a kiss to the top of my head, sending me pride and love so strong it outshined anything else I was feeling.
Chapter 2
Martina
Intheend,itwasn’t nearly as difficult to get to the Naga enclave as I had assumed it would be.We were met with suspicion and a bit of implied threat when we reached Pee Lee, but Robin’s contact the ferryman was well-known to the people here.Robin’s presence and the charm and alpha command she was able to turn on so smoothly ensured that we met with the right people after landing.And once those people realized that Sadavir was a naga—and one who claimed to be related to the royal family—we were given escort to Middle Island in no time at all.
With everything that had gone down recently with our quest to find the emperor, and Acacia, and the attack on The Fox, combined with Ruya’s strong new bond to the snake, I knew Robin’s instincts must be screaming right now.But no one outside our court would ever know it.I was an alpha myself, and I had met plenty of our designation in my life, but I’d never met an alpha who could force themselves to be so flexible, to push their instincts down and deny themselves with such iron will.
I’d been part of Robin’s court for decades, and I still wasn’t sure whether that particular skill of hers was more of a blessing or a curse.
I narrowed my eyes, watching our princess as she walked before me, following Sadavir’s lead.The fact that she was giving over some of her authority and control to the naga alpha was not only surprising, but also vaguely concerning… One of these days, her iron will was going to fail her, and when she truly lost control, I was afraid it would make every outburst up until now seem like a toddler’s tantrum by comparison.
Middle island looked deserted, nothing but costal wilderness to meet the eye in any direction.But there was an energy here that was palpable to my paranormal senses.That must be the naga’s doing.I wasn’t a spell crafter or magic user.My own abilities were primarily limited to my shifter nature.But evenIcould sense that this place was well protected.
“The security spells on this place are fuckingmasterful,” Sanka breathed from beside me, in his typically elegant fashion.I huffed a quiet laugh as he confirmed my assumptions.“Large area of affect, multiple layers.I’d love to talk to whoever cast this shit.I could make The Fox invincible!”
The mention of our sanctuary made my gut clench.For all we knew, there was nothing left of The Fox for Sanka to put wards on.
“Don’t worry, we all know you’ll pester the naga until they give you the information just to shut you up,” Yukio muttered.“Now focus, sorcerer.”
Sanka winked at him like a moron.But I knew he could multi-task with the best of them.Sanka might sound like he was sightseeing, but he had his magical senses attuned and I knew, from years of working beside him, that he could react to any threat in an instant.
Our guide led us down what looked like a deer trail, into the heavy forest near the middle of the island, and the cynic in me was sure he was leading us to an ambush.The natives of the island could murder us and leave our corpses here and no one would ever be the wiser.But he finally stopped before a large boulder and bowed deeply to Sadavir.
“This is as far as I can go,” he said, enunciating and speaking slowly to make sure the deaf shifter could read his lips.“Only naga can pass the barrier.”He paused to glance at the rest of us.“And those you’ve claimed, of course.”
Robin snorted and I smelled smoke, but she didn’t say anything.If pretending to belong to the naga prince was what it took to get us to safety, she’d do it.But she definitely wasn’thappyabout it, and that worry niggled at me again.This sort ofcompliancewasn’t Robin.But I couldn’t figure out if this was just more of her legendary self-sacrificing control, or… something worse.If she tried to justgiveus all to the naga alpha when this was over, she wouldn’t have to worry about the emperor killing her, because I was going to strangle her.
Sadavir clapped the guide on his shoulder and nodded.The naga’s energy was high, his posture one of openness and confidence, but I could see the tension in his powerful body.He wasn’t quite so certain of his welcome as he wanted us to believe.
I moved one of my hands to rest on the knife at my belt, inserting myself between Ruya, Cicely—who was carrying Josh—and whatever danger might come at us if Sadavir’s people rejected his request for sanctuary.The betas and omega were our most vulnerable and valuable court members.No one was going to hurt them on my watch.
The big naga rolled his shoulders, took in a deep breath, and stepped forward, placing a hand on the boulder.The earthy flavor of his naga magic shimmered in the air for a brief moment, unlocking the illusion that had been placed on the rock.A few wide stone steps shimmered into view, leading down to a tall, ornately carved stone door, partially carved into the rock and partially hallowed into the ground.
Sadavir turned back to face the rest of us with a bit of relief in his expression before he caught himself and projected confidence once more.Lifting his hands, he signed,“Follow me.”Another touch of his naga magic opened the door and we descended beneath the island.
I glanced back as the door shut behind us, leaving us in a wide earthen tunnel lit by surprisingly modern wall sconces.Unease crawled over me.The magic that hid this entrance had probably just snapped back into place behind us, meaning no one would ever know we were here beneath the earth.
It would be a great deterrent if anyone from the cult managed to follow us to the island… but it also made me feel distinctly claustrophobic.I liked to have multiple escape routes mapped out, preferred to know we could fight and escape if it came down to it.Right now, I felt like we were going in blind, and I didn’t like it atall.
The place pressed in on me, reminding me of my escape from the vampire den all those years ago—I had hidden in a crumbling part of the Detroit underground that was hardly more than earthen walls while I waited for my captors to find me and force me back into slavery to slake their twisted need for unwilling blood and sex… I took a slow, steadying breath and kept my eyes on Robin’s back, tracking the sweep of her long braid as it swung side to side with her confident steps.She had pulled me out of that nightmare and given me purpose.This tunnel wasn’t that one.And I had a job to do.People to protect.
A dozen paces in, we turned a corner, and the rock and earth tunnel became more obviously manmade, reinforced with pillars of carved stone and metal supports.The increased roominess and modern touches were nothing like the hole I’d hid in all those years ago, and it helped ease some of the tension that was drawing my shoulders up around my ears.It also gave me something new to focus on, since we came face-to-face with a guard station and a sturdy metal gate laced with magic barring our way.
The auras of the guards marked them as naga, and a few even wore their true half-snake form.It was interesting to see how different this handful of people were from the only naga I’d ever known.Every naga here was shorter and narrower than Sadavir, who towered over them.But it wasn’t just their physical forms that were different—their entire presence was… less.It made me realize all over again just how powerful Ruya’s true mate really was.
Sadavir was usually quiet and a bit withdrawn back home in our court, respectfully tucking away his alpha side and his natural dominance, for the most part, in favor of having a safe place for him and Josh to hide out.But he was a strong alpha, and royalty among his people.The reminder ruffled my own, slightly less dominant, alpha side.We would do well to remember who this man really was.We might not have to worry about Robin handing over control of the court to him—he could probablytakeit, if he wanted to.Especially now that he had the benefit of being among his own people, bolstered by the innate magic of his clan.And by the powerful omega who had moved forward to stand arm in arm with him as he greeted his people.I swallowed the growl that wanted to escape my throat at the realization.
One of the guards came forward to lead the security check, all efficiency and curt wariness over the group of strangers in his territory.But when Sadavir introduced himself, the calm scene devolved into a commotion.Apparently, the guards all remembered their missing prince—though they’d thought he was dead—and they were falling all over themselves to get word to the higher-ups.
But I didn’t miss the way they regarded the rest of us with suspicion when they thought we weren’t looking.Sadavir’s homecoming might be big news, but these weren’t people who readily welcomed outsiders.My eyes landed on Ruya again, standing regal and calm at his side, exuding the subtle, powerful omega energies that urged everyone in her vicinity to fall over themselves to treasure and protect her.What if they threw us out, but kept our omega?Shewastrue mate bonded to their prince, after all.Coming here had been a terrible idea.I shifted my grip on my knife, every bit of alpha instinct I possessed urging me to grab Ruya and get out of here.
