Stone of Ascension (29 page)

She turned back to the Ancient. “Send me home.”

After another long pause, the man finally consented. “As you wish.”

Damian inhaled sharply, the slight hiss snaking through the air to wrap around her aching heart. The two marks cried out in unified denial as the dragon’s tail slowly uncoiled its tight hold on the white bird. The separation burned against the sundering of two forces that should never be parted.

The energy rejected her decision; the stone fired in angry refusal against her chest, trying desperately to overpower her demand. But it didn’t have the strength to change her will. To force a choice she didn’t want to make. The energy could only respond to her desire, not manipulate or control it.

The clarity of that understanding only strengthened Amber’s resolve until she felt the prickling sensation unfold from within her to encompass her.

Remember, child, sacrifice is but an act of giving if done with the right intentions.
The parting words whispered in her mind before disappointment and loss descended as she dissipated away. To her surprise, the raging pain was still palpable despite her molecular state.

But it was a pain she would endure. One she had battled before and survived.

Only it had never burned as deep and all-consuming as it did right then.

Chapter Twenty-One

In a move of instant decision, Damian thrust away from the wall and dove for Amber. His dragon roared in approval as he made a frantic grab for her disappearing form.

His arms closed around air.

He was too late. Amber was gone.

Pain raked through him from the sudden absence of a vital part of himself. The force of the impact of his shoulder hitting the ground was nothing compared to the internal agony.

He’d hurt her. Again. When he’d told her he wouldn’t.

But she’d lied to him. Or had she? Was his own bitterness and history keeping him from seeing the truth? From accepting what was blatantly obvious?

The energy flushed hot and powerful through the emptiness. Amber’s feelings—sorrow and betrayal—fought for equal ground against his own anger.

But the feelings were weakening. Growing fainter the farther she went from him. Need motivated him. Desperate, he faded out to follow her energy trail.

Despite what she was—part Shifter enemy—he couldn’t let her go.

His molecular form slammed hard against the circle barrier. A barrier that prevented him from exiting and chasing after Amber. The reality of his entrapment sent out biting curls of frantic recklessness that consumed him with fury.

Solidifying back in the room with the Ancient, Damian turned his rage on the man. “Let me out of here,” he roared as he stalked toward the man. “You let her go, but you keep me? What game are you playing? Her life is in danger.”

“I didn’t think you cared, old one.”

Damian wanted desperately to hit the infuriating man. To knock him down and physically stop the games he played. But force wouldn’t work, and his last thread of rational thought kicked in to remind him that although the Ancient appeared smaller and weaker, he was actually a hundred times more powerful than Damian.

Turning away, he stalked to the wall and braced his arms on it. Breathing deep, he tried to pull up the emotionless, icy void that he’d functioned within for the last millennium. The stark emptiness of existence that had allowed him to move on when his life had imploded so long ago.

But it was nowhere to be found.

His throat was raw, dry to the point that his attempted swallow felt like sharp edges of glass being forced down to pierce the lining of his esophagus. His arms buckled, his head falling to slam against the wall. Amber had ripped the door wide open on the emotion-free box he had perfected and now he couldn’t go back. All the feelings he hid from and swore he didn’t need—didn’t want—were now fully exposed and waiting to be acknowledged.

“I shouldn’t care,” Damian finally rasped, his back still to the Ancient. “My head tells me to let her go. Not to care.” He inhaled and closed his eyes in an attempt to black out the pain. It didn’t work. “But I can’t. Everything else in me tells me to go after her. To save her.”

“And why is that?”

Damian pushed away from the wall and turned around. The Ancient stood rooted in the same spot, his hands clasped behind him. His face held no emotion. No hint of support or thought as he waited patiently for Damian’s answer.

“Because she’s mine,” he finally admitted, the low words dragging from the depths of his soul to hit the air with the truth. His dragon roared his approval at the admission. Beside the dragon, the white bird cried.

The Ancient smiled. “She is safe, Chosen One. I sent someone to follow her and watch out for her until you can return. I would not put one so valuable at risk.”

Damian stepped forward. “Then let me go after her. Let
me
protect her.”

“You have your own demons to conquer before you can help her, Damian. You are the Chosen One for a reason. You have lived through much, endured much, so you can do much. But your first step must be to accept the past so you can go home. Your people are waiting for you, Damian.”

He couldn’t stop the scoffing sound of disagreement. “Wrong. My
people
tried to imprison me yesterday. Once again, they refused to believe me. Called me a liar. I owe them nothing.” Bitterness twisted hard and tight in his gut.

The Ancient’s eyes narrowed, a deep wrinkle creasing his brow. “Maybe. But you owe yourself more. You owe Amber everything.”

“Which is why I need to go to her. To protect her.” Even now, he felt the bond weakening, his strength waning as the distance between them grew.

“The king will rise, his virgin bride by his side…”

“What?” Damian gaped at the man, who was now spouting words of lunacy. “King? Don’t think so.” Hell no. He shook his head in adamant rejection.

“I know so.”

“How?” He stepped forward until he was in the Ancient’s face. “How could you possibly know all this? What gives you the right to dictate the future?”

The man did not back down or cower in the face of Damian’s rage. Instead, his dark eyes held fast to Damian’s as he leaned into the anger, meeting the challenge that was extended. “I know because I have lived. Because I listen. Because I believe.” The steel in his voice held strong against the softness of the words. “Your future is your choice, not mine. I dictate nothing.”

“Hell of a game you’re playing, then.”

“Wake up, Damian,” the Ancient snapped, his sharp reprimand a solid slap. “Go do what’s right. Go prove them wrong. Be who you know you are, and all will be right.”

“And who am I?”

The man leaned back, his shoulders softening along with his face. “You are Damianos Aeros, Son of Kadmos and heir to the House of Air. You are no more or less than that unless you choose it to be so.”

Damian spun away from the infuriating man. His fingers raked through his hair, pulling on the strands until it hurt. Desperate, he grabbed at the last morsel of doubt he could cling to.

“But she’s not a virgin. Not anymore.” The admission leaked out of him on a cringe. The sharing of something so private was a violation of an unspoken trust.

A low crinkle of laughter broke through the hostility that held the room in its tight grip. “But she was when it was needed.”

Damian whipped around and pierced the man with a hard stare. “Explain yourself.”

The Ancient’s lips curled in an enigmatic smile, a light of mischief sparking his eyes. “You’ve been gone a long time, but even you must remember that a relationship consummated within the bounds of a sacred circle creates a binding connection stronger than any words.”

Damian’s knees buckled, his weight too much for the sudden enormity of responsibility the words represented. He crouched, his head resting in his palms as he processed the latest revelation.

“By the laws of the energy,” the Ancient continued, unaffected by Damian’s descent to the floor, “you two are bound. A mated pair. When she came to you, she was a virgin. Your virgin bride.”

“You tricked us,” Damian accused.

“No. You joined willingly. I had nothing to do with that.”

Damian’s head whipped up, a snarl curling his lip. “But you cast the circle. You made it what it was with the hope your plan would work.”

The man had the decency to incline his head in admission. “I will not deny that. It was a necessary play in order to hasten the outcome. Time is running out. I only accelerated what would have happened eventually. At least be man enough to admit that to yourself.”

The muscles in Damian’s thighs tightened, prepared to spring. Denial rose in his chest and fought valiantly to rush forth and reject what the man was once again saying. But the bile stuck in his throat and burned a rancid path of refute as it fought against the truth.

Heaving a deep sigh, he pushed to his feet and once again faced off against the man who was both his nemesis and his ally. “You have manipulated my life, torn my family apart and forced endless years of pain and misunderstanding upon many who did not deserve it. For that, I despise you.”

The man simply nodded, his acceptance a smooth ease of agreement.

“From now on, my life is mine.”

“Of course,” the Ancient agreed. “Your life was always yours. The choices you made belong to you and you alone. That is the power of a true sacrifice, one given in the belief of rightness—in truth and honor—in spite of the personal pain it inflicts.”

Damian bit his tongue to hold back the retort. Instead he pushed forward. “Are you responsible for this?” He lifted his hand to show the intertwined dragon and bird. The two marks were now completely separated beneath his skin, each struggling against the pain that pulled them apart.

The man smiled again. “No, old one. That is the doing of the energy—of the two of you. A sign of dual power. Of a joining that will bring great strength to the coming war. Together, you will ascend and lead the Energen race in the battle that faces us all. It is your destiny. It is time you rise to it.”

“And the wings on the dragon? What do they mean?”

“The winged ones were once our greatest strength, our allies, against the serpentine Shifter dragons.” The Ancient narrowed his eyes. “You must recall the tales, the stories of the great winged giants of the West. The dragons that soared on positive energy until the Slander convinced the world they were the evil ones. He persuaded all who would listen to kill the winged ones into extinction and tricked them into honoring the eastern wingless dragons instead. The ones who are the true bearers of the negative energy and of all that is evil.”

Damian stepped back and dropped his hand, trying once again to absorb and reconcile the words of the Ancient. “And Louk? What of him and his—” He stumbled over the word. “Mate?”

“What of them?” the man snipped, impatience finally filtering through his voice. “Listen to what I say and don’t fight what you know to be true. Your own denial holds you back. Not your people or the energy. Only
you
.”

Emotions warred with the logic, with all that Damian knew. His dragon paced, eager to rejoin its mate. The energy pushed at him to follow, to find Amber and keep her by his side.

Forever.

She was his bonded mate.

“Drop the barrier, Ancient,” Damian demanded, his voice filled with the authority of a CEO controlling his destiny. Or a king commanding his right. “There is only
one
thing I need to do right now. The rest will play out as the energy determines. Now let me go to her.”

As simple as that, the invisible barriers dropped. Damian felt the energy give way and then he was gone, his heart following his need. His life hinged on the unbreakable link that connected him to his future.

Amber.

Chapter Twenty-Two

The cool brush of the late afternoon wind wound through Amber’s hair, pulling the ends up in a taunting dance of defiance. She snapped her head back and inhaled the salty air. Closing her eyes, she absorbed the freshness and embraced the freedom that surrounded her.

The solitude that held no expectations or judgments.

She stood alone and confused, poised on the edge of the Aquinnah cliffs. The steep edge located at the western point of Martha’s Vineyard was both rugged and beautiful. Dusk crept up behind her as the sun made its slow descent beyond the horizon, glimpses of it flashing through the solid bank of clouds that cloaked the sky.

She shuddered against another strike of the wind, the icy currents circling her neck and snaking under her clothes. Amber hugged the wool coat closer, a valiant attempt to retain what little warmth she had as she looked out over the crashing waves of Vineyard Sound.

Unwanted, Damian’s scent drifted over her, embracing her in security while cutting her with betrayal. She gasped, releasing a huge gust of pain that tore from her chest and threatened to take her to her knees.

It hurt. A simple description that didn’t come close to defining the ache that encased her in a numbing iciness steeped in rejection. Once again, she wasn’t good enough. Tainted by association. By blood she didn’t want. Didn’t ask for.

But it was in her nonetheless.