Alora: The Portal (Alora 2)

Alora found her own eyes watering as she followed Graely and the others outside again.

“Why are you crying?” Kaevin’s voice was as surly as his expression. “He doesn’t deserve your sympathy.”

“If you’d been born in a different place, it could’ve been you instead of him.” Alora retorted.

“Not me. I’d never even consider swearing fealty to Vindrake… no matter what he did to me.”

“You can’t know that, Kaevin. You just need to stop being so judgmental.”

Before he could reply, she turned her back to him.

“What did you determine, Chaleah?” Graely bounced on his toes, sporting a broad smile.

“Daegreth would rather you kill him than let him go to do you harm. It’s fascinating!”

“I don’t believe this!” Kaevin ran his fingers through his hair. “He’s Water Clan. He’s got the bondmark.”

“Nonetheless, Daegreth is willing to sacrifice his own life to save ours,” said Chaleah.

“Glare it!” said Kaevin.

“Kaevin! No cursing!” Graely scolded.

Kaevin crossed his arms, jutting out his chin.

What’s gotten into him? Why doesn’t he want to give this poor guy a chance? Alora shot him a dirty look.

“It doesn’t matter what Daegreth is willing to do,” Kaevin grumbled. “He is what he is. Even if he doesn’t want to serve Vindrake, he does. We can’t change that, so why are we wasting our time?”

“We can learn from him,” said Graely, his voice rising with enthusiasm. “Daegreth was an honor guard; surely he knows a great deal more than the average warrior. With Chaleah helping, we may learn enough to counter Vindrake’s moves.”

“But there’s no reason for Alora to be involved,” Kaevin said, taking Alora’s hand in a firm grasp and tugging her away. “We should go back to Montana.”

“Right,” Graely nodded. “You and Alora can take Brian back now. We won’t be returning Daegreth to Vindrake, at least not yet.”

“Wait!” Brian grabbed Graely’s shoulders. “Daegreth was trying to tell me something about being in Montana. He said it felt different.”

“That’s right.” Alora jerked her arm back, dancing with excitement. “And now I remember, I didn’t notice his bondmark at the hospital before we came here. Maybe the bloodbond doesn’t work in the other realm.”

“But he attacked a man in the hospital. He must have been under Vindrake’s control.” Kaevin’s blood vessels pulsed on the side of his heated face.

“Oh, that’s right—I forgot he did that. I guess he still had the bloodbond after all.” Alora tried to reason it out in her mind, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

Graely lifted an eyebrow. “Did he kill someone?”

“No,” Alora answered. “Dr. Sanders told me he ran in the room and found Daegreth holding some man with his legs. It was some poor lab guy who just wanted to get a blood sample.”

“This is wonderful news.” Graely clapped his hands. “Daegreth couldn’t possibly have been under Vindrake’s control at the time. The man would be dead now.”

“But his arms were bound,” Kaevin objected.

Graely put a hand on Kaevin’s shoulder. “You know as well as I that a trained warrior could easily kill a weaponless man without the use of his hands. And he wouldn’t have obeyed another man’s order if the bloodbond had been in effect.”

“We can’t be certain.” Kaevin persisted. “Perhaps because of his injury he was too weak to kill the man. I still don’t trust him.”

“Does this mean I can take him back to Montana with me?” Brian asked.

“Why not simply question him here?” Kaevin suggested. “You can discover everything you need with Chaleah’s aid.”