Balance Of The Worlds (13 page)

She opened her eyes when she heard the sound of a lock turning in the door and looked at him. He was pulling the shirt off over his head, and his pants followed.

Lothonos stood before her, naked and proud. Beautiful.

And most definitely aroused.

“Lotho?”

“Let me show you.” He paused a moment. “I am not good at expressing emotions. I am Lothon Druid, first and foremost. Softer emotions are not those with which I am familiar. We have no bed for us to lie in now. It is just you and I and the way we
feel
right now. Help me to feel again, Nelci. To feel you again. I need that now, and I think so do you.”

And she was guided by her feelings. No wonder she struggled to understand him. She looked down for a moment—she was half-naked, the
vestis
gone. Her hair was long and loose down her back. She hadn’t braided it out of the way yet.

She did not look like a goddess at that moment, did she? What did he see when he looked at her?

Was she just the mother of his children? Was that why they were there in front of one another? Was she second choice for him? He had once made his interest in Kennera well-known. And had never spoken anything of desire to her until over a year ago.

Yet he wanted her, now. Did she trust what words came from his mouth?

She looked up at him, and just for a moment, thought there was a flash of vulnerability in his dark eyes. That vulnerability was the only thing that gave her the courage to reach her hand out to him.

***

Lothonos knew how difficult it was for her, and he cursed himself for not having the words to express what he felt at that moment. The female that stood before him was utter perfection. Why had no one showed her that before?

He took the hand she offered and led her not to the chair, but to the small bench directly beneath the window. “I’ll be as gentle as before.”

She hesitated. “
No.
Don’t be. Show me how you are really feeling. Please, just this once? We don’t know what’s going to happen, Lotho. Shouldn’t we take the time we’ve been given?”

He couldn’t agree more, but the things he wanted to do to her…would frighten the three hells out of her. And he wouldn’t do that to her—yet.

Instead he kissed her, hard. With a gentleness he had to force himself to find, he guided her to the bench.

He wanted to dive onto her and consume.

But he didn’t. Instead he finished pulling the blue fabric from her legs until she was naked completely. With hands that trembled he ghosted up her stomach until he could hold her breasts in his palms. They had become fuller since the babes, and he wanted to worship them.

What would she think of him if he told her?

He had never let himself be so expressive with his lovers. Nor had he let himself be so confused by them.

But Nelciana was different.

Maybe it was time he admitted that to himself.

This was
his
female, the one he was most likely fated to be with. If he believed the Fates had such influence over the deities’ lives, that was. Lothon Druids very rarely took mates outside of their own Kind, but when they did…it was often a Nellana. He’d often wondered if that was because the Nellana felt just so damned much, and the Lothons needed that.

He did.

Still, this was the female he wanted. And the one he would have.

Lothonos followed her onto the bench, slipping one knee between hers.

She was trembling before him, and he could smell her nerves on her skin. He smiled; he rather enjoyed the knowledge that he could create such a reaction in her. Lothonos leaned down and kissed her again. He trailed small kisses down her neck and collarbone. Small nips designed to taste her. He would never forget the way she tasted, would he?

He encircled one nipple with his lips. She gasped and arched against him.

“Yes, you like that just as much as I, don’t you?” She was so sensitive there. He loved making her react so he did it again. He cupped her other breast with his hand.

He wanted to take all day making love with her.

But they didn’t have that, did they?

No. they had a stolen moment in someone else’s home while their Kinds gathered for the war. It was not what he wanted for her or them. But it was all he had to give her.

Lothonos made a vow right there to show her exactly what he felt for her, and that was exactly what he did.

Nelciana stared at the warrior witches that were at the front of the lines. Thousands everywhere.
Would they be enough? She carried her daughter strapped to her chest, and her mother’s sword at her side.

Dres had accompanied his father through the Lothon Druids that gathered. They had discussed their strategies after they’d redressed themselves in Kennera’s meditation room. He had flashed them both back to her suite, and she had wrapped herself in sturdy clothing—traditional Nellana clothing—and they had made the decision to face their peoples together.

To form one, stronger, Druidic Kind to fight against the Dark Sorcerer. Druids were some of the strongest when it came to power and magic. By joining together they may have enough to combat the enemies that would soon come.

Lothonos had shared the prediction he’d had the night before.

Something was coming, and soon.

Jordan walked at her side, ready to care for Nella when needed. Nelciana could feel the girl’s nerves, and she understood them. She felt them herself.

The crowd of witch-warriors parted, and she heard the hushed and revered tone.

Her sister and Phaenna stepped through. Chants of
Laquazzeana
went up into the sky.

Loren was dressed in the traditional dark green that their mother would have worn when preparing for battle. And she had a headband wrapped around her hair that proclaimed her as Nellana royalty.

Some of the eldest of her Kind would know what it meant.

And the rumors of her sister’s return had already swept through her people. They
knew
who Loren was.

And they were recognizing her with their praise.

Nelciana pulled her daughter from the carrier strapped to her chest, and she held Nella out to her sister. When she spoke, she made certain to do so loudly enough that all her gathering people could hear.

As could Lothonos’ where they gathered just beyond hers.

Most of her people were female, and many were mothers and sisters themselves. The Lothon Druids were almost completely male. Strong, silent, and ready to defend. But they felt. They loved.

They all did. And they all had something to fight for, didn’t they?

“Sisters, Brothers. Fathers, mothers. Listen to my words.”

Nella cooed and laughed loudly, the sound floating over the now hushed crowd. Nelciana climbed on a stone fountain so that those in the front could see her. Not everyone would be able to, but she knew those closest would.

“My daughter laughs. She cries. And even at her young age, she fears. So does her twin brother. And I am here. To protect them, whether those fears are childish ones, or whether those fears are something so much more. As is their father, my mate and the god of the Lothons. I fear, too. But I am a mother
first.
”

***

He listened to her words, where he stood across the enormous courtyard. He had positioned himself on a small hill, where he could look out over the masses. Lothonos could not see her face, but her words floated above the crowd, directly to his ears. “I am a mother first. And I know many of you are. Mothers and fathers. And it is that which brings you here today, not just the call of your god or goddess. But your desire to protect. I am the Goddess of Family, yet for so long I did not have that for myself. Now I do. My sister has been returned to me, whole and as a Laquazzeana. My babes born less than six months ago. And some of my sisters have been reborn into
this
life. The Lupoiux at my side possesses the spirit of my dear Cadra, who had been but twenty when the Dark Sorcerer took her from me.”

‘Some of you remember that day. You were there, and you remember what it was we will soon face. Yet you stand before me anyway. I cannot overlook your bravery or your sacrifice. And I know that you are here to fight. Not for me. Not for Lothonos. Not for yourselves or Levia or anything else. You fight for your children, for the worlds
they
deserve to live in. Nella and Dres, my children, your heirs, they are less than half a year old today. Should the world they inherit be a dark one? Should it be one in which we fear to have them, to raise them? To love them, lest we lose them far too soon? No. They shouldn’t. They should inherit the peace that has been Levia for all these five thousand years or more. And it is for that
peace
that I stand before you, ready to
fight
this day. Ready to protect.”

She took a deep breath, then took their daughter back from whoever was holding her. He could just make out the shape of his child, yet the impact of seeing her was all it took. He held Dres in a similar position for those nearest him to see.

More Kinds were joining the Lothon and Nellana. He recognized Dardaptoan and Lupioux and Solestru, dominating. His Kind, her Kind, Eiophon’s, Kennera’s, and Acylias’s.

Their family.

Nelciana continued. “Families exist in all of the worlds I have ever traveled through. The Dark Sorcerer, Haliophux is his name, will seek to destroy them if he can. None know why. I certainly don’t. But I know that if we join together this day, if we fight with
and
for each other, we will be ready. More prepared than we were five thousand years ago. We were
not
ready. We were ill prepared. And we paid the ultimate price. So prepare yourselves. Train, learn, guide and instruct those who need it. Make it known to all that
we will not let him win again.
Know that your gods and goddesses and that the Laquazzeana are here, fighting right beside you. Because you are not alone; none of us are alone in this fight. Because…despite everything Haliophux has tried,
families
will prevail.”

After her speech Lothonos pushed his way through the crowd to her side.

She was shaking, but she was beautiful. Regal. Ready to lead.

He would do his damnedest to keep her as far from the fighting as possible—it was his duty and his right to protect her, after all, as her mate—but he would not force his choices upon her again.

“You spoke beautifully.” He wrapped a hand around the back of her head, and pulled her closer to his chest. Their babes were cuddled between them. He did it deliberately, wanting all to know that he and Nelciana were a family. And they would continue to be, no matter what the dark bastard tried to pull against them.

“I just hope it is enough.”

“It will be,” Phaenna said. She was still far more subdued than Lothonos was accustomed to. She held out her arms, and he passed her his son. Compassion for the woman who had been cast out from what had apparently been her family for the choice she had made filled him. It wasn’t an emotion he was used to feeling. She cuddled Dres for a moment, then reached her other arm out for his sister. Nelciana handed Nella over, just as Eiophon and Kennera arrived with their own babes.

The Laquazzeana was silent for a moment. And then she began to speak. This time so quietly that only those closest could hear. Lothonos looked at those people—his cousin Eiophon, Kennera, Nelciana and her sister, the girl Jordan, and Acylias was there. Family again. It had to mean something, didn’t it? “Listen closely, my new family.”

He stepped closer to the women holding his children.

“Four Fates, four babes. Four corners of each world. Where once
they
controlled the barriers with impartiality now they don’t. For in their hearts is not a desire to protect
the worlds,
but to protect themselves. Fates should never have such selfish desires. It was not
I
who unbalanced the worlds with the barriers. In this, my heart is clear.
They
would have closed the barriers forever on all the worlds but their own, if we had allowed it. They would have consigned so many to unnatural and unfated deaths to protect themselves.”

“Phaenna?” Kennera said, shivering as she held her daughter close. “What are you saying?”

“That when we brought down the barriers created by the Dark Sorcerer someone
else
acted as well. I do not know who. And
he
has tied the barriers to four new
pillars
of the worlds, if you would. Those innocent, who carry the blood of the
most
wronged. Just one of the great destinies now lying before these four babes.” She kissed Dres and Nella each on the head. The babes seemed to understand. She handed his daughter to Lothonos.

He took her. His son was returned to his mother.

The prophecy Lothonos had seen more than one hundred years was now fulfilled.

His and Eiophon’s twins now controlled the four pillars of the worlds.

And it was
his
job to protect them until they were old enough to understand exactly what that meant.