Legend of the Touched (32 page)

"I'm not hurt. Why wouldn't I be okay?" He turned his
head so he could try and see her face.

She sighed and rubbed his arms before pulling away so
she could sit down. "Because this can't be easy for you. Lynx
raised you for as long as you can remember, and now he's gone. And
your brother..."

"Yes, what about him?" Jason gripped the hem of his
shirt. He didn't want to talk about how he felt right now, if ever.
As they flew, Navi had filled him in on everything that had
happened. A mix of emotions filled him when he thought about the
fate that became his father. Lynx had lied. Jason couldn't forget
that, but the man had raised him. Despite their differences, Jason
still loved him in a way. At the same time, Lynx had it coming and
justice needed to be served. Ideally, Jason would have preferred to
have his "father" put on trial instead of murdered. For the crimes
Lynx committed against Navi, though, it was fitting in a way for
her to carry out the sentence.

"Matt's probably taking it hard too," Gwen said.

You have no idea.
Jason would tell her about
it later, the things Matt had said to him. For now, all Jason
wanted to do was sleep and pray that the whole thing was a dream.
It wasn't. He knew that, but for a few hours he could pretend.

Stripping off his sweaty shirt and pants, he settled
into the bed in only his boxer shorts. These were the only clothes
he had. Unless Gwen had taken it upon herself to pack him something
in the backpack she'd brought. She'd prepared. He wished he had.
I thought I was.

Then it dawned on him that he truly would not be able
to go back to his home ever again. Not unless he figured out how to
make peace with his brother, something that felt impossible to do.
And with that thought, tears filled his eyes, but he refused to
cry. He'd chosen to do this knowing the consequences would be
great. For some reason, he thought it wouldn't hurt so much.

"I did the right thing," he whispered.

"You did," Gwen agreed.

"This will be worth it."

"Try to sleep. Tomorrow might be a longer day. There
will be a lot to do." She paused. "I'm proud of you. I love
you."'

"Love you too," he mumbled back before yawning.
Overcome with exhaustion and sadness, he soon fell asleep.

Chapter Seventy-Six

The Oceina

Tai put Ethan back in his incubator satisfied that he
was safe. Lance and Katelyn's egg was also okay much to everyone's
relief. According to Asher, there might be complications in the
future. For now, all was well. She left the nursery, Darien at her
side. He hadn't left it since they landed.

Holding on to one of her hands with two of his own,
Darien stopped and stared down into her eyes. He opened his mouth
to speak, but she beat him to it.

"Don't ask me if I'm okay again," she said.

"I wasn't going to." He brought her hand to his lips
and gave it a small kiss. "Do you want to rest?"

"I was able to sleep pretty well there. What is this
place?"

"Sanctuary."

"Yes, but
what
is it?"

He led her through the impressive marble halls of the
palace. Sanctuary was much more beautiful and welcoming than Inero
Castle had been. Dimly lit with electric lights that simulated the
effects of fire, the Inero castle had been chaotic. People came and
went constantly as she was being dragged through its halls.

Sanctuary in comparison was much lighter. There were
old-fashioned flower-shaped electric lights illuminating the entire
palace. She hadn't seen much of its grounds, but the entryway had
been breathtaking. White marble floor with a high ceiling. There
was a stained glass window with a blue lily painted onto it that
the moonlight had poured through. The most obvious difference was
how much quieter Sanctuary was than the Inero Castle. Sanctuary was
empty, as if it were abandoned. There wasn't a servant in sight. In
some ways, it was eerie and in others relaxing. Tai didn't think
she'd enjoy being waited on, and the quiet would be a welcome
change from all of the activity of an unbelievable year. Even the
city was too much for her sometimes. Sanctuary made her think of
home.

As she stepped outside into the warm night air and
took a good look at her surroundings, she thought of home even
more. The island where she grew up was a lot warmer than Oceina
City. It was further south and had lots of rich tropical jungle.
Sanctuary was surrounded by a similar setting. Wild flowers bloomed
on the other side of a stream that was flowing next to the castle.
The water babbled quietly against some rocks. The stream couldn't
have been deep because she could see the moon reflecting off of the
wet stones. Darien led her across a bridge and they entered a
garden. In the middle of the garden was a shallow pool that looked
to be around three feet deep, and in the center of it a small
island with a dragon statue – an Oceina dragon.

"This was the home of the first of our kind. It's
about three islands away from where you grew up," Darien said
quietly. "When the world first began, it was your island where my
many-greats-grandfather had found the love of his life. They fell
in love, and devised the whole sacrifice ritual so that they could
be together and not have suspicion. It worked, but the world began
to expand and grow more populous. His son, who became Lord after
him, decided to move to the mainland where he founded Oceina City.
When
my
grandfather Lucca stepped down from being the Great
Lord so Dad could rule, he moved here. He made sure to create a
magic portal so we could get here should the need arise. And it
did. I had no idea where the palace was though until after I came
here."

She listened to him speak, leaning her head against
his shoulder as they walked to the pool. Together, they stared out
at the statue. "I was really looking forward to getting to see snow
for the first time. We don't get any where I lived. We probably
won't here. All it does is get cold in the winter."

He laughed, albeit quietly, but it was still a nice
sound all the same. "This is hardly cold. The city sometimes
gets...got… well below freezing."

"Oceina City is still there. It wasn't completely
destroyed," she pointed out.

"You're right, and someday we'll go back and you'll
be able to see the snow. Hopefully soon. I wanted to take you to
see the Festival of Tears celebrations, but that won't be happening
this year." He gazed down at the water.

Tai leaned up and kissed him, turning his face so he
was now looking at her. "Next year. We will do it next year, and
every one after that."

"And we will celebrate here in the meantime. The
first day is technically today, and we have a lot to celebrate," he
said, still quiet.

"And remember," she whispered. He nodded, but didn't
say anything. Tai sighed, watching her husband and his thoughtful
frown. He was blocking those thoughts from her, and it troubled
her. "Something is bothering you."

"I'm tired of almost losing you. And I'm thinking
about what could have happened if the plan against the Inero Lord
failed," he said.

She nodded slowly. "Ah, what ifs."

"I know. It doesn't matter now. Getting out of there,
having it go so smoothly, had to be a miracle."

"Yes, I'm amazed myself," she said honestly. It did
seem like some kind of divine intervention happened. Tai wasn't
much of a believer in any higher power, but tonight was enough to
make her start. The timing was too perfect.

When he faced her and stared into her eyes, she
noticed a new kind of determination in his gaze. "We won't have any
more close calls. You're going to be safe from here on out." He
took a step forward into the water and for the first time since
they came home again, he relaxed. His shoulders eased down and he
took a deep breath. As soon as both of his feet touched the water,
glittering blue streams of light began to flow into him.

Tai's eyes widened and she was amazed by the beauty
of it. "What's going on?"

"I'm regenerating the magic I lost. Being Touched, I
have a lot of it, but to fly so fast and hard two times in such a
short period of time... Plus I was attacked with the element of my
weakness. It hurt a lot more than I was anticipating. The water
though..." He dropped his hands to his sides and trailed his
fingers into the pool. Wisps of the same blue light came to his
fingertips.

"The water is our element and it makes us strong."
She paused. "Which I don't understand why they attached a magical
bracelet to me that has water magic in it. It makes me feel
strong." She showed him her wrist where the glowing metallic band
still rested on her tightly.

"To keep you from talking to me. I doubt they were
anticipating you knowing how to use magic." He brought his hands
out of the water to look at the bracelet. With one rough tug he
snapped it apart.

She rubbed at her wrist, feeling the loss of power
right away. "I don't know how. Until my brief lesson with Navi, I
didn't even know I could use any magic."

"Most wives can't do much," he said. Taking both of
her hands in his own, he urged her into the water with him. The
cool liquid felt nice on her skin. The glowing blue light around
Darien intensified. When she gazed up into his eyes, she noticed
them reflect the glow – an even more intense blue than they were
naturally, and a slight sparkle in them as well. Then he leaned in
to kiss her. The instant their lips touched the water around them
began to churn. Tai would not let it distract her from her husband.
How she had missed the feeling of his lips on hers, and especially
the passion in which he did it. She held his face, pulling him
closer to her. Her eyes closed, and for that moment in time she was
completely lost in him.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear when their lips
finally parted.

Her eyes fluttered open and she found them surrounded
by a pillar of sparkling, blue water at least ten feet high. She
stared up in awe, spinning in a small circle before settling her
eyes on him once more. The magic they created when together was
powerful and beautiful. Her fingers tugged at his shirt hem,
determined to take it off.

"I love you too."

Chapter Seventy-Seven

The Oceina

Darien gave all of his new guests four days to get
settled. There was a lot of work for all of them to do. He could be
productive by researching and spending time with his family, two
things which were just as important as figuring out what to do
next. All of the reading gave him an idea of what that was.

Everyone but the children, Allegra, and Katelyn
gathered into the den. Darien sat down in a chair, and the others
followed suit.

"After all of the reading Alex and I have been doing
of the Holy Book, we've come up with a number of things describing
what we believe is this time period," Tony said. He glanced at Alex
and then continued. "It's never been a secret that to have a
Touched one on the Earth means that something big is going to
happen. As far as we know, there are two, and I believe there are
more. Especially with what Darien has said about his conversation
with Dad...Orion..."

Jason leaned forward in his chair. "Care to
elaborate?"

Darien took in a deep breath. "He said: four is one,
one is four. He was talking about the Touched. You feel it in you,
right? That there are others we need to find?"

"Yes," Jason said. He gazed absently for a moment, as
if lost in his own thoughts. "Which is why I was going to find a
way to get to you so we could work together. There are others. My
brother has talked about a Touched man from the Terran. Matt's
daughter is supposed to marry his son."

Darien frowned as he thought those words over.
"Daughter? What do you mean daughter?"

With a sigh, Jason rubbed at his forehead with a
hand. "My brother seems to believe that his child is a girl.
Something to do with the Great Dragon. When he wasn't so careful of
guarding his thoughts from me, I heard a lot more than he probably
realized. He did tell me that tests done by the doctor, scans, all
confirmed this possibility. It's part of the reason this whole
thing started to begin with. Because—."

"The Great Dragon will be born of Inero blood in the
city by the sea," Alex interrupted. "I read that in the Holy Book.
It also said the Great Dragon will be of pure blood. So if they
have a girl dragon, and she weds a boy dragon then what better way
to get a pure dragon?"

For a while, all Darien could do was stare at Alex in
disbelief. He could hardly believe what the guy was saying. It
sounded ridiculous based on everything Darien knew about his
species. And yet, the Great Dragon was the bringer of peace for the
land, the one who would vanquish the evil in the world. Why
wouldn't there be some kind of miracle involved in his
creation?

"So if this is true, and your brother knows this, I
guess I see why they want to take our land so badly," Darien said
at last. "Something tells me this isn't how things are supposed to
be going."

"Exactly, and it's got to do with that prophet Lynx
had been collaborating with. There's something off about him, but I
can't quite put my finger on what exactly," Jason said. He opened
his mouth, as if to say something more, but then quickly closed it
again.

Darien watched him, curious. Jason was peculiar, that
was for sure. "When you figure it out, let me know. We're going to
go north to Aero first. They are allies, and I'm sure their Touched
would be more than happy to help us figure all of this out.
Ideally, I'd ask the women and children to go there for safety as
well, but I doubt you'll agree to that?" He glanced over at Tai who
was shaking her head. "For now, you can stay, but if things start
to get out of control then you're going." And he made sure to say
it with such firmness that everyone knew not to question him on the
matter.