"So what do you want to do tonight?" Lucy asked as we made our way toward the house. "We don"t have to leave for Nephilius for a few hours."
I tried to think about what I really wanted besides Brace at my side. I wanted my girls around me.
"I think a girls-only slumber party might be the key for tonight," I said, feeling my spirits lift. Nothing like the therapy of friends and family to put things in perspective.
And I knew deep in my heart that the half-Walkers were not spending enough time together. Our powers needed to mingle and learn each other. We needed to be so familiar that our energies meshed together without thought.
"The theatre room would be perfect for that," Josian said. "You grab the girls and I"ll let your mother know to break out the food."
Lucy and I hurried along then. We had never had an opportunity to do these normal girl things on Earth. And I didn"t know about her although the green glitter floating around gave a good idea but I was d.a.m.n excited.
Chapter 11.
The five of us stretched out our legs. Lucy was the teacher that night as she demonstrated how to paint our toe nails. There were these little gadgets on First World that dyed your nails, but Lucy declared that to be able to do this by hand was a skill every girl should have. Somehow she"d procured little bottles of what looked like paint, and some tiny brushes.
As she layered a sparkly purple across her nails, each of her strokes was smooth and clean. I had more of the red I"d chosen on my actual toe than on the nail, but it was fun nonetheless.
Cerberus was sprawled next to me. He was back to horse size and both heads lolled to the side as he observed the room. He looked a little disgusted, but that might be because of the bright pink nail polish he was sporting on one of his paws. A few growls directed at Lucy had prevented the second set of nails from being completed. But knowing my pixie friend, that wouldn"t deter her for long. And she was less patient than I"d even expected.
"Cere," she trilled. "Can I finish your other front paw? You look ridiculous with only one done."
Yeah, that was why he looked ridiculous.
He sniffed loudly and tucked his legs under him. Four eyes leveled on her in a glare.
I waved my little brush at her. "He"s a h.e.l.lhound, woman. If you paint his other nails I"ll be forced to defend his bada.s.sness and kick your b.u.t.t." I came to Cerberus" defense.
She pouted before moving back to her own toes.
"So what"s the aim of this practice?" Ria asked. She"d chosen an earthy green that matched the ivy print across her hair. "How does this find you a mate?"
Lucy and I cracked up.
Between chuckles I managed to answer. "I"m not sure this can find you a mate. On Earth women would paint their finger and toe nails, dye their hair, rip the hair from their body, and perform many other ghastly practices in the search for a husband and eternal youth."
Lucy and I had always thought we were so lucky. We had far less body hair than the Earth girls in the compound, never needing to wax or shave. But now we knew it had nothing to do with luck and everything to do with our Walkers and pixie genes.
My words had Fury, Talina and Ria"s mouths falling open, and the nail polish falling from their hands.
"Was it in the vain hope that a man would save them from the torture they inflicted on themselves?" Talina finally asked.
Fury interrupted. "Whatever the reason, let"s be grateful for a moment that we belong to worlds where, if you find your one true mate, it doesn"t matter about any of those things. They"re tied to you on a level that means you"re perfect for them no matter how ... hairy you are."
Chuckles rocked my chest again.
"It"s a little scary, though, don"t you think?" Lucy had finished her left foot and was moving on to the right. "If you have only one true mate, what happens if they die? That"s life over for you too, right?"
"I"d rather five minutes with Dune than a lifetime of safety without him." Fury was uncharacteristically sentimental as she s.h.i.+fted her ma.s.ses of silvery white hair off her shoulders. Her voice was quivering and her eyes a little watery. "I know with ma.s.sive highs come depths of lows. But what would life be without the spark he brings to me? Good or bad, I"d take any amount of time with him."
Fury had actually been the hardest to convince to spend a night without Dune. Those two were virtually inseparable. And since she was one of the toughest, most independent women I knew, that said a lot regarding their bond.
"We don"t seem to have quite the same bonds on Spurn. In general there are no long-term relations.h.i.+ps," Talina said as she stared at the movie playing quietly on the huge projector screen. "It must be my Walker side that ties me so completely to Ladre."
"Does that mean he doesn"t feel the same way?" Ria"s lyrical tones floated around the large room.
Talina pursed her lips, before turning back to her feet and attacking her toes with what I"d deem unnecessary force. "I"m not sure. He says that he feels the tie and the bond between us. But I can"t help wonder if it"s simply that there are no other Spurns here."
"Have you offered to send him back to Spurn?" I asked, attempting to keep my voice gentle. "That might be the truest test."
The expression on her face just about broke my heart. It was hurt and longing, and in her eyes was a love so strong it was burning a hole through the foot she was glaring at.
She sighed, her hands slowing and her strokes of polish moving more precisely. "I haven"t asked him directly, but I"m pretty sure he wants to go back." Her voice broke. "I haven"t been able to find the strength to let him go."
I opened my mouth to say something else I hoped a little less blunt and more rea.s.suring this time but she continued before I could speak.
"In the end, it will be better to send him home. That way he can really decide what he wants, and if he chooses us, I"ll know that he"s in it for the long haul. That this is as real to him as it is to me. So I should let him go." She dropped her head to rest on her raised knees, and her long emerald hair surrounded her protectively. She was finished with her toes now and handed Lucy the paint.
I reached out and snagged one of my arms around her shoulder, trying not to kick our wet toenails. "It"ll be okay, Talli, you"re special and Ladre sees that. Besides, you always say he"s not like a normal Spurn. Maybe that"s because he was born to love a beautiful half-Walker. It won"t take him long to realize that Spurn is an awfully lonely world without you."
"And if he doesn"t realize how awesome you are," Lucy growled, "I"ll kick his b.u.t.t."
"More like pixie-dust his a.s.s. Hope he likes to wear green glitter." Fury lifted her chin in Lucy"s direction, stirring her as usual.
Talina smiled at their antics, before becoming solemn again. "I know. He just worries about the clans, whether the Baroons are ruling fairly without him. How the Earons are faring without Gladriel or ... Raror." Her voice broke over her brother"s name. "Just all of the things a good leader considers."
And Ladre had been a good leader. Despite the clan rivalries, he"d been liked and respected by most of the inhabitants. But I was with Lucy. I"d be kicking him right in the a.s.s if he hurt Talina.
"I"m going to let him go." Talina nodded her head decisively a few times. "It"s the best thing in the end." One of her rare true smiles finally appeared. "But enough about me. Let"s move on to something more positive."
We were all finished our toenails now, and Lucy jumped across to junk food and gossip. I threw a handful of some sort of delicious mini alamonlette chip cookies in my mouth before almost spitting chunks of them across the room at Lucy"s next question.
"So, Ria, is your mate going to be a member of a pack on Regali? Can the animal-people be with ... not pack?"
I tried to contain my chuckles. Lucy was going to find herself strung up in a bunch of vines soon. And I already knew the answer to this from my earlier conversation with the Regali half-Walker.
Ria grinned, her beautiful face creasing in mirth, although a slight pink mottled her cheeks at the question. "We have mated pairs on Regali, but they stay within the specific packs, so a leon only mates to another leon." The smile dimmed slightly. "I have no pack, and no other that"s like me, so I always believed I would be alone. Which is not a problem." She finished hastily. "Being queen is more than enough to sustain me."
"But you"re Walker. You could find your mate on First World or amongst the other Walker clans," I offered, wanting her to know that her disappearing-dream-man wasn"t her only option. "There"s nothing like having a mate. Don"t give up so easily."
"You don"t have a mate, Abbs," Fury bluntly pointed out.
"Uh, that was rude, Fury," Lucy snapped. "Don"t make me pixie-dust your a.s.s. You"ll look like a freaking Christmas tree, all green and red."
I cleared my throat, interrupting before war or fire bombs broke out. "Yes, I know, but I see how it is for you and Lucy. I can tell that a true mate completes you."
Cerberus must have sensed my distress. He dropped one of his heads onto my thigh, and the comfort was instant.
"Well, I won"t give up then. Maybe my mate is just around the corner." Ria was genteel as always.
"We"ll have to introduce you to Lucas," Lucy grinned, "you two have a lot in common."
Lucky I"d finished the cookies, but I did almost snort quant juice from my nose. Once I had stopped coughing I spluttered my words at Lucy.
"You"ve got to be kidding me. What in the world besides exceptional physical genetics do they have in common?"
"Exceptional physical genetics?" Talina furrowed her brow.
"They"re both hot as h.e.l.l." Lucy laughed. "Well ... Lucas and Ria are royals, they lead their people fairly, they even talk in the same politically correct phrases."
Ria tilted her head as she examined her already dry nails. "I feel that there couldn"t be a more disastrous love match than two leaders from different worlds. We would forever be torn apart or forced to choose between love and our people."
"I couldn"t agree more." The masculine voice had us all spinning to face the doorway.
Cerberus was suddenly on his feet in front of me, low growls filling the room and raising the hair on my arms.
Lucas stood there, a grin on his handsome features, although he looked a little unsure when he faced the two-headed guard hound. He was dressed all in black, which set off his icy blond hair and blue eyes. And he was sans crown at that moment.
"Sorry to intrude. I dropped by hoping to catch Abby between world-jumping." His eyes scanned the room before coming to rest on Ria. "I didn"t realize I was interrupting girl time."
And then, as if Lucy had preempted the future again, something pa.s.sed between the gazes of Lucas and Ria.
"No," the Regali half-Walker gasped, "it can"t be you."
Lucas fisted both hands into his hair. His eyes widened as his features froze. "I ... s.h.i.+t ... I can"t believe this," he muttered, before taking a step toward her. "You can"t be real. The dreams were not real; Abby"s the chosen Empress. This makes no sense."
"Dreams?" Lucy interrupted.
Oh, s.h.i.+t. Lucas was the man she"d talked of.
My heart was aching again, but for Ria this time. She looked like she was about to cry. d.a.m.n, the more people I cared about, the more my emotions were stretched ten ways.
Ria"s voice wavered as she crossed her arms across her chest. "When I was younger my world was pretty harsh. My mother was gone and I was trying to find my place among the packs. I remember the first time, during my spiritual ventures, a young boy appeared. When he visited me I wasn"t alone; there was another just like me."
"Sounds like she was sampling the calia flowers," Lucy murmured to me.
I elbowed her. At that point Cerberus must have decided Lucas was no threat. He settled back into a sleeping position, resting his head on his half pink-tipped paws.
"Over the years his appearance changed; we grew older together." Ria stood then, her ma.s.ses of luscious hair falling to her calves. "I never thought he was real, and I never realized how much I relied on those moments, until he stopped arriving." She stalked right up to the dumbstruck Emperor. "You stopped once I became queen, as if you thought I no longer needed you. I still needed you!" she practically shouted in his face, before storming from the room.
Wow, I"d rarely seen Ria worked up like that. When she"d told me about the spiritual dreams she"d been mostly sad. But now ... well, her anger was almost as extreme as her reaction when we had found all of her dead and skinned pack members. Which told me how strong her feelings were right now.
"Uh-oh, you have some explaining to do, king-boy," Lucy trilled. She fluttered in the air, sparkling dust wafting from her.
"I think maybe you have some explaining to do, Luce." I reached out and yanked her out of the air. "You totally predicted that and pretended like it was just a throwaway comment."
"I told you," she twitched her lips, hiding a smile, "I still have pixie powers of premonition. Some of my visions were definitely my own. And now that my mind is protected, I can sense what belongs to me and what is ... other."
Confused muttering erupted around the room. We hadn"t told the girls yet that not all of Lucy"s visions had been real. Having no choice now, Lucy quickly explained what she"d learned about pixies and her new abilities. When she was finished, I locked the sh.e.l.l-shocked emperor in my gaze.
"Back to you, Lucas, you also dreamed of Ria?" I asked him as he crashed onto one of the squishy couches, his head in his hands.
"I should go after her. I can"t sit here while she"s upset," he said, his voice m.u.f.fled. "But I know this can never work; I"ve always known that you were my chosen." He lifted his head and faced me. "I won"t do this to First World or to you, Abby. You"ll be all alone."
Uh, wait, what did he just say? The girls were clearing their throats and trying not to look too closely at each other. Great friends. They were about ten seconds from laughing their b.u.t.ts off.
"I"m perfectly capable of finding a man." I flipped Lucas off. Yeah, he was the emperor, but he was also an a.s.shat. "And I have no interest in being your empress."
The room exploded in laughter then. Lucy was draped across Cerberus as her chest shook.
Lucas ignored my soon-to-be-ex-best-friends. "Fate dictates differently. I"m the emperor; you"re the chosen empress; there"s a connection between us," he said.
"You"re wrong, Lucas." Lucy pulled herself up, her laughter more contained. "I see the path very clearly on this and Ria"s your chosen. But there"s some truth to Abby being the empress also. It"s now up to you to find the path where both of these "destinies" align."
I narrowed my eyes at her. Dammit, whose side was Lucy on? As if I didn"t have enough to occupy my time, and she knew about Brace he was my future. There was no way I could rule Abernath as the princep"s mate and First World as the empress. Talk about torn between love and your people. I"d be in the same up-s.h.i.+t-creek-without-a-paddle-boat as Lucas and Ria.
Suddenly Lucas" face brightened. I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. Why were his eyes so sparkly? Where had the lines of stress gone? What was his scheming mind up to now? He met my laser-beam eyes. I was giving him the glare of a century. He smiled, just to be more annoying than usual.
"Could that work, Abby?" His voice was low. "For the first time in the history of our rulers, could we have an emperor and empress who ruled together, but were not romantically linked?"
And his thoughts were suddenly very clear. I rubbed my hands across my face, giving myself a moment to consider his words. s.h.i.+t. I wanted to protest, but his words resonated with a ring of truth. On occasion I still had the dreams of First World; the ones where I was the one to save the people. I"d never mentioned it to anyone, not even Lucy, but in these dreams I was the empress, and the ruling duo of me and Lucas worked. My more practical and less privileged nature tempered Lucas and provided the perfect ruling balance.
"Abby?" Lucy sidled closer.
I was lost in thought. I"d never noticed before, but not one of the dream scenes involved anything romantic or s.e.xual with Lucas. We were often together, making decisions, but we never touched or kissed. In my need to ignore these visions, I"d not paid close enough attention to the facts being presented to me.
"I"m not happy to admit this, but ... I think you might be right, Lucas," I finally said. "We"re definitely not true mates; I know that for a fact." I held my hand up before he could ask how. "But I"d be lying if I said I didn"t have a tie to First World and its people."
Lucy interrupted Lucas before he could reply. "Not to change the subject or anything, but can anyone tell me why when we first arrived on First World Brace"s fake dad ... or whoever that dude was, called this planet Grandier." She pursed her lips. "I"ve never heard anyone else use that name."
Lucas chuckled. "Honestly the only ones I"ve ever known to use the original name were my father and Deralick." He shook his head. "It"s always been First World and always will be."
I nodded my head. "This was the first world in this star system. The name fits."
The sound of a throat being cleared had us turning to the doorway again. It was Josian. "Walkers have always called it First World. I think it was one of the Emperors who thought it needed a grander name ... and from this Grandier was born." As always Walkers held the answers. Josian strolled into the room. "I was just coming in to kick the Emperor out. I had strict instructions that you girls were not to be disturbed."
I wondered who"d been brave enough to ignore Josian"s orders. Probably Lucas just showed himself in.
"I"m leaving. I think I"ve achieved more than I expected from my visit." Lucas stood, showing no annoyance at Josian"s domineering att.i.tude. "When you"re finished saving our worlds, Abby, you and I need to have a very serious chat about the future."
His tone told me that was not a polite suggestion. It was an order.