Yolanthe lay on her chaise-longue, her back aching from having been slammed against the stone stairwell. She had a bump on her head as well as a variety of bruises, even a few cuts from flying debris.
The waves of energy created by Warrior Owen and Katlynn had stunned her in every way possible. If she’d ever believed the mousy female could have brought forth so much essential power, she would have killed her long ago.
She drew a deep breath. “I hurt,” she whimpered.
Zander knelt beside her and pressed a cool cloth over her forehead. He’d summoned her favorite healer, but for some unknown reason the man hadn’t yet come. She thought about killing him in place of Katlynn just to give some relief to her bashed sensibilities.
She still didn’t understand how her careful plans had gone awry. Especially since Zander had finally made contact in the future streams with Duncan’s brilliant presence of almost pure gold. Zander had seen Duncan and the team enter by her portal, so she’d set up the ambush with great care.
Zander had even found it possible to interfere when Duncan attempted to communicate telepathically with Warrior Luken. Of course, the moment Duncan had launched his grayle power, Zander’s ability to disrupt Duncan had ended. But the biggest surprise was Zander’s ability to prevent Rachel from using her shield in the Third grid. This alone gave her some hope for the future.
But above all, she greatly feared Duncan was finally coming to understand the scope of the power given to him. Every instinct screamed at her that she must find him, entrance him once more, then set him on his destined path to locate Rapture’s Edge, solely on her behalf. Her window of opportunity was closing fast.
Only where the hell had he gone?
Zander had reentered the future streams very quickly following the debacle in her prison. But he’d found no sign of Duncan’s stream, which meant he’d been blocked again, but by whom?
“I’m so sorry, sister. But I want you to know I won’t give up.” Zander took her hand in his and kissed her fingers.
“I know, dearest. I have every confidence in you.”
Zander frowned suddenly. “Sister, I beg you to leave off your plans concerning Duncan. You were injured today and what would I do if anything happened to you?”
Her dear brother was so beautiful, just like their father. With her free hand, she caught his chin. “I will never leave you. I will always care for you.”
“Yolanthe, please know that I don’t need our father’s love. He wanted me dead from the beginning and I truly have no feelings for him. I’m begging you to forget about Duncan and forego your plans.”
She stared into silvery-blue eyes, loving her brother so much. “I do this because it’s the right thing to do. You should have your inheritance and your rightful place in my father’s home and in his plans for Second and Third Earth. Nothing less will answer.”
He sighed heavily, no doubt understanding he wouldn’t be able to move her from her path. More than anything else in the world, she wanted Zander to have his birthright. And she wouldn’t let anything stop her, not even tonight’s wretched outcome.
~
After dinner, Duncan walked with Rachel back to their dwelling. The serpent in his gut was quieter than he’d ever known it to be.
“Duncan, what is this place? Is it possible we all died in Yolanthe’s prison and were transported to the afterlife?”
He chuckled. “I know what you mean. The Seer, Megan, did her research on each of us well.”
Earlier, she’d led them personally to the home she’d prepared for them to share as a couple. Though they’d taken a tour of the dwelling, afterward they’d only had time to shower and change for the feast. But now they could explore the land surrounding the house as well.
He led her to a small vegetable patch, enclosed with a natural wood-branch fencing. Rachel opened the gate and moved inside.
He watched, leaning over the top rail of the fence. She was lit up from within, her love of gardening evident from the warm glow on her cheeks. She’d never looked more beautiful to him and a quick burst of breh-hedden desire streaked through his veins.
She rose up from examining a large plant and turned his direction. Her nostrils flared. “I can come back here later because I’m thinking you have something other than plowed earth on your mind.”
The property was a half-mile from any other neighbor, so he said aloud, “Don’t be so sure because I’m definitely thinking about ploughing.”
Rachel laughed, moving toward the gate. “I’m coming.”
“That’s the idea.”
Her laughing eyes met his as she sent. You please me in every way and now I have a garden I can tend as well, time permitting.
When she closed the gate behind her, Duncan took her hand. She’d been right to add the last bit about ‘time permitting’. Every bone in his body knew Yolanthe would be out for blood and wouldn’t rest until she’d made another attempt to bring him back under her control.
As he led Rachel up a rising path into a much narrower but wooded side canyon, he made an internal commitment to somehow end for good the woman’s hold over him.