Balance Of The Worlds (7 page)

He watched the two females from the shadows, his preternatural hearing allowing him to hear the words said. To hear the pain in the words of the woman who had suffered so greatly.

To hear the love in her tone when she spoke with Nelciana.

To hear the pain in Nelciana’s words, to feel it coming from her soul to his. To know he could do nothing.

He would not bring their children to this world. Everyone knew that the majority of the upcoming battles would occur in the demon world. Where it should; where they had half a chance of making a difference.

Relaklonos was a world made of a single supercontinent, and comparatively sparse in population. And supernatural occurrences were the norm in the demon world.

Not to mention that most of the population were warrior in nature. Numbers would give them an advantage. No one knew how great of a force the Dark Sorcerer would be bringing, but Lothonos suspected it would be more than their allies could provide.

A creature like the Dark Sorcerer would never attack if he did not think he would win.

But it thrilled him to hear Nelciana agree to return to their children. It would make
his
plan easier.

He had already given the orders to have the suite prepared where she would stay for the duration of the war. She would not like it at first, but he had insisted that every possible Levian luxury be included.

He was not overly concerned with how she would react to the captivity—Kennera had survived three thousand years in the castle with Eiophon. Nelciana would be fine with their babes needing her.

She took a portkey from the Laquazzeana, and he knew she would not be waiting to return to the babes. He did not blame her; the mothering instinct was strong in her.

He waited until she stepped through to their world, and then he stepped into the portkey behind her. He had a plan, and it was one he was quite satisfied with.

As he stepped through, his eyes met those of the Laquazzeana. She stared at him, and at that moment he understood.

She’d
known he was there, and what he was planning. And he had her blessing.

Because she knew something he did not.

“Love her, Lothonos. That is the key to all that you desire.
Love
her.”

***

When she opened her eyes, she was in Levia—somewhere in the dark forests that had surrounded the main city of Av for so long. If she looked to the east, she could see the towers of the palace where Kennera and Eiophon had been imprisoned for so long.

It helped orient her. She never knew with a portkey where she would end up in a world.

If the castle was to the east, then Lothonos’ estate, equally as large and opulent as the Lupoiux, was to the far west. At least a day’s walk. She had never mastered the art of flashing or teleporting, or whatever someone called it, though many in Levia had. If she needed to get somewhere she either rode or walked.

And since there were no horses or vehicles of any kind in Levia, she walked.

Her instincts told her the babes were to the west. She turned west.

Nelciana hadn’t taken more than a dozen steps when a dark ether formed around her. She jumped to the side, sword at the ready.

Lothonos stepped from the mist, strong and perfectly built. Perfectly calm. She relaxed. “You followed me. So quickly?”

“I was in the corridor when you left. If you are here, then so am I.”

The words would have meant more if they weren’t so incredibly without emotion. “Lothonos, wouldn’t your time be better spent with the others who plan war? The god of strategy surely has better things to do than stalk a female.”

“Not just any female.” He stepped closer, directly into her space. She wanted to step back—but he would see that as a sign of weakness, as a sign that he affected her. She didn’t know why it mattered, but it did. She had her pride, after all. “You know that.”

“Why? The babes? You told me they were protected. I am on my way to them, now.”

“Yes, you are.”

Something about the way he said it had her breath catching. Had her taking that step away. Lothonos was known as the Great Planner. And he was up to something, wasn’t he?

He followed her movement. Raised a hand and ran a finger softly over her lips.
She let him, so startled by the tender action.

That was her mistake. He pounced.

Nelciana tried to stop him, but he was too damned quick. He knocked her to the ground and ripped the sword from her hands. She yelled, a scream of rage unlike any she’d felt in a very long time.

What was he doing? Had he gone mad? She clawed at him, fighting with all she had.

It wasn’t enough. He subdued her on the cold, wet ground, and it was obvious he’d barely broken a sweat. “Get off of me!”

“In a moment. I find I am enjoying this much more than I thought I would.” He pressed his body to hers, and she felt every hard muscle. He was deceptively lean, wasn’t he? She’d noticed that about him before…

“Off. And explain yourself.”

“You truly think you are in a position to give me orders?” He did, though,
after
he’d bound her hands with some sort of magic. Lothonos lifted her from the ground and slung her over his shoulder. His hand lingered on her ass.

That, more than whatever it was, gave her pause. Lothonos had never touched her in that manner.

He’d barely touched her at all, save for the all the important ways. What was he doing?

And why was she suddenly struggling with the scent of him in her lungs, overpowering that of the Levian world around them? “Lothonos, please…?”

“All will become clear when we get where we are going.”

“Was this truly necessary? You know I would go with you to the babes without fighting. Unless…are you taking me away from them?” Real fear hit her. Maybe that was his plan? Separate her from the children because he had something else in mind for them—or her?

But that was ridiculous, wasn’t it? He had the babes in his possession already. There would be no need for him to hide them from her—or take her, bound, to where they were.

“Hush. You know where we are. The wolves will scent you.”

She
did
know exactly where they were. And he was right. The world of Levia was generally a peaceful place, but wild animals were prevalent. Wolves especially were drawn to the area surrounding the castle.

Wolves that were completely animal; nothing at all like the Lupoiux werewolves.

She was mostly immortal, but that did not mean she wanted her flesh attacked by wolves.

Not that she wanted to be carried off over the Druid’s shoulder, either. “I can walk.”

“And I can carry you. I have not forgotten some of the tricks Kennera used against Eiophon—tricks I suspect you taught her, witch.”

“That was different. She feared for her life.” Kennera had used so much of her life force to protect her people it had almost drained her completely. It had only been through demon intervention that her friend had survived.

Demons or Fates, Nelciana wasn’t entirely certain.

“And that makes the probability of you using the same tricks more or less likely? No. I shall keep my hands upon you until we reach our destination.”

“Can you at least tell me what that destination is?” She tried to buck herself off of his shoulder, thinking that if she ran he might not be fast enough to catch her. But he was too damned good—he had her entire body immobilized. She could talk, but that was about it.

She was stuck there, her head mere inches from the muscles of his backside.

He would have to reverse this little spell of his eventually, wouldn’t he?

When he did, she would be on him.

He carried her mother’s sword in one hand and held her secure with the other. Lothonos walked them through the woods with almost no care in the world.

And then her body was pulled in thousands of directions again.

***

His arms were around her when the world righted itself again. Strong and hard, they kept her tight and close to him. So he had the skill of moving through space and time, then. Nelciana would have clung like a wimp if she had been able to move her arms. “Where are we now?”

“My home. The back entrance.”

“You did all of this to bring me to your home? I was already on my way here, you idiot. The babes are inside; do you plan to carry me in as a prisoner? In front of our babes?”

“That is exactly what is to happen. I wish every servant, every soul in this place to know where I stand.
You
are not to leave; you are my prisoner until I say otherwise.” He sat her on the ground.

She looked up at him—Lothonos was a head taller than she and he used that to his advantage. Some of his hold on her body—the magical kind, not the physical, as he’d yet to lower his arms—was loosening. “I still don’t understand
why.
”

“It’s a simple matter of logic. You will be safe here; while I do what must be done.”

She gawked at him. He was serious, wasn’t he? “And what gives you the right to decree where I am to be? I have an
army of witches
waiting for me to lead them—”

“Yet we both know you are not as capable in that as your people expect.”

That stung. Mostly because of the truth in it. Not many of her Kind had been gathered in Av yet, but they were coming. And they knew that it was to war they were headed. It was the task she had given Whin an hour after she had reunited with her sister. The other woman hadn’t wished to leave her, but Nelciana had insisted.

“I will not leave my sister to fight this war alone.”

“She will not be alone. Your former beloved is at her side, no?”

There was something in his tone when he said it that told her Lothonos was actually feeling something. What that feeling was, she could not figure out.

But it was there. Why?

“Let me go, Lothonos. You do not want to do this.”

“What is it that I do? Protect the mother of my children? My female? Who would think less of me for doing such?”

Still that infuriating emotionless tone. “
I would.
And I am not your female, Lothonos. I have never been—nor will I ever be.”

“Yet you are the one I have children with. If that is not being my female, then what is?”

Was he really that clueless? “Have you looked at your cousin and Kennera lately? They
breathe
for each other. You barely tolerate me—and I do not understand you at all.”

“Yet we have a family, do we not?”

“Do we? Somehow I do not feel it so. The babes do not know you, as father or otherwise. Your doing, not mine.”

“In case you have missed it, war comes. What kind of father would I be if I spent my time coddling my young when I should be out there protecting the world they will one day rule?”

She felt her eyes widen. There was such
passion
in his words.

And the Druid god was the antithesis of passion.

“What of my choice? I am a creature of my own free will, as are you. Why do you have the right to override that?”

“None have given me such a right, no. Unless it is the babes. I act in their stead. To keep their mother safe for them. And for me.”

She fought a snort at that. “You care not for me, Lothonos. I was just a broodmare. Forget not that I was there that day, too. When you made your proposition. And when you fulfilled your side of the bargain. Now I am fulfilling mine.”

“By leaving our babes with
wolves?
Somehow I think not. You vowed to see my children raised…”

“And
safe.
This is my way of doing that.” His enchantment was waning; she felt movement returning to her feet, her hands. But what did it matter—the only place she wanted to be was inside his manor house.

Still, she would not make it easy for him. “I will see the babes, then I will be returning to Relaklonos. I have duties there. My stewardess is taking my army there for me to train. I have responsibilities to my Kind.”

“Responsibilities greater than our family?”

“
We
are not a family. We happen to share children. That is it. Plenty of deities do the same.”

“Yes, but we are not Greek or Roman or Norse, or any of those other foolish houses. We are Levian and Gaian.”

“Evalanadean.” Loren had returned to their home world with Jushua. She’d said it was much changed, much destroyed, from what it had once been. After the Dark Sorcerer was defeated, someone would have to return there and restore it to the glory it had once been.

Nelciana did not believe it would be her that returned—but perhaps Jushua and Loren, with Eaudne acting as the true queen of all lands.