Crusade Across Worlds (32 page)

“I love you so much,” he slips his hand out
from beneath my shirt and down to the button on his jeans. He pops
it and then does the same to mine. “So much.”

Pulling back, Reid whips his shirt over his
head. He tosses it to the floor and without stopping to ask, grips
both sides of my jeans and tugs them down my legs. My heart races
to keep up, my body on fire from the exploration of his.

Once he has my pants off, he lowers his
mouth to my skin, kissing up my thighs until he reaches their apex.
He stops and licks the black fabric. With a sharp inhale, I arch
back, burying my head in the blankets. I close my eyes and feel his
fingers loop around my panties. He slides them off, down my legs,
leaving me bare before him. Kissing back up my thighs, Reid slows
when he reaches my center again. This time, I feel a soft
stroke.

I squeeze the blankets.

He plays with me, his tongue searching,
probing, until I can’t control it any longer. I seize up and with a
glorious shudder, lose myself around him. Still trembling, I feel
my leg hook over his hip, his body fitting perfectly in mine. The
rhythmic friction amplifies the sensations, his serene expression
sending me into an erotic high. It doesn’t take more than a minute
for his brows to pinch together in pleasure, his jaw dropping in a
silent groan.

Shuddering, his forehead falls to mine, his
eyes closed, his eyebrows still pinched. We breathe each other in
for a moment before he peels open his eyes to look at me. Relief
and love gaze back, along with something else, the something he’s
still hiding. But before I can say a word, his lips claim mine in a
sweet embrace and he withdraws, rolling off me completely.

“Baby?”

He responds by yanking up his jeans and
fastening the button, then retrieving my discarded clothes.
Wordlessly, he hands them over and then sits on the edge of the
bed, elbows on his knees.

As I dress, I glance over. “Well that
was…intense.”

He doesn’t comment.

When I’ve finished zipping up, I sit down
beside him, watching him work through the something he’s been
distracted with. We sit in silence for a long minute before he
finally looks over at me. Running his thumb down my cheek, Reid
strokes it with the same reverence he always uses, a gentle touch
to remind me how much I mean to him. He stares at me like he’s
trying to figure something out, trying to grasp a concept too
unfathomable to comprehend. Pain fills his features.

“You need to tell me what’s wrong.”

He closes his eyes.

“Reid.”

“Clarence is right,” he finally says, the
words a low admission. “Every day is hard for Sampson. Every day is
a battle.”

“What do you mean?”

He leans forward, his head hanging between
his shoulders. “I never got it. Never understood until today. You
picked up on it. You could sense it on Larupip.”

“Sense what?”

“His grief. I mean,” he rubs his hands down
his face, “I knew he’d gone through some shit, but…”

“What? What do you know?”

Reid takes another breath. He’s holding in
something big—some important secret and it’s now that I realize why
he wasn’t talking much earlier.

“You know, don’t you? You know what the
message was.”

He stares at the floor, indecision wracking
his brain. Finally, he’s made up his mind. “It translates to
it
will always be you.
It’s the last line of the Dofinike wedding
vow,” he looks at me. “It means Sampson has a wife.”

Hozfin sits in his wooden throne, his furry
fingers tapping the carved armrest as he surveys his company before
him. Representatives from the Three Worlds are seated on the king’s
floor in a lopsided oval, surrounding a center filled with food.
Bowls of green and yellow melons have been placed between slabs of
roasted Horrop and cups fashioned from bark and fruit. Along with a
select number of Zingfinolds, the rest of us are lining the wooden
walls, observing the highly anticipated meeting.

“Please,” the Fychu gestures to the
bountiful display. “I hope there is no need to insist that you help
yourselves to some food.”

“Such interesting cuisine…” Chancellor
Keller examines the assortment. He scans the fruit first, and then
eyes the meat suspiciously.

“You may enjoy the roasted Horrop,” Blovid
suggests. “Excellent flavoring.”

Still uncertain, the chancellor meets the
king’s eye. “We have brought a few jugs of Hunnis. As a gift.”

“What this Hunnis?”

“A drink for celebration or special
occasions. It has a special potency to put one at ease.”

“Oh the power of booze,” Jace whispers next
to me.

King Hozfin nods and Maris pours him a cup,
which she then hands to Warze. Warze offers it to his king and
Hozfin downs the contents in one gulp and, with a grunt, he nods
again. “Hunnis good. Much thanks.”

“It is my pleasure, King Hozfin,” Chancellor
Keller bows his head. “It is sent on behalf of Queen Ariana, who
regrets being unable to attend. I have come to speak in her
stead.”

“As have we,” Ehan glances to his sister,
“who have come to speak on behalf of King Thias.”

“Wonderful,” Sampson looks around the
gathering. “Representatives of all three nations are present. Shall
we begin, then?”

“I will definitely say,” Chancellor Keller
starts, “that I am a little uneasy about returning to the original
plan. To have both Gifts here in the hope of drawing
Reuzkimpart—”

“We have discussed this.”

“It seems risky, Fychu.
Too
risky.
Even though both Gifts have been recovered—although how that was
possible, I shall never fully understand—I still think it best to
seek out the Vermix Leader rather than tempt and trap him here. It
brings the war to
his
ground and keeps the Gifts out of it
altogether.”

“And are these the queen’s wishes? Or your
own?”

“Queen Ariana stands alone in her opinion on
the matter.”

“Yet her opinion is the only one that
matters.”

“Her decision is the only one that is
followed
,” Chancellor Keller corrects. “Although, she takes
all opinions into consideration.”

“King Thias also does not wish to lure
Reuzkimpart with the Floating Ruby,” Norhra says. “He has requested
that the Gift be returned to his keeping so he can hide it once
more.”

“No,” King Hozfin shakes his head. “Gift not
his. Gift belong to inhabitants of Nerwolix, Nerwos
and
Zingfinolds.”

“We should not be discussing who and where
the Gift will be returned to,” Sampson sighs, “but what to do with
it, which is use it to capture Reuzkimpart. Three spies have
already been spotted here in Zinnollo. They have seen the Floating
Ruby and the Shadow Bag and—”

“How?” Maris asks.

“I scouted them scouting us. And I made sure
they saw what they needed to,” he looks around the king’s home.
“And I let them go.”

“You had no right to let them go without our
consent,” Norhra admonishes. “We have not yet decided—”

“Sister, please,” Ehan pleads and then turns
to Sampson. “Fychu, we were allowed to assist with the attempted
recollection of the Floating Ruby, but King Thias does not wish to
bring the Vermix here. He does not wish to lose more civilian
lives.”

“I understand your concerns,” Sampson
glances from face to face, “all of you. But I feel this is what is
meant to happen. Why would the Lynzees say that the Vermix are
invading if they are not? And to provide a specific time? I fear
that no matter what we do…this will occur. It is best we prepare
for it.”

“And Vermix…” Warze’s deep voice rumbles,
“you say saw Gifts? When?”

“Earlier today. After we returned from
retrieving the Floating Ruby. Vix, Clarence and I were carrying
both Gifts here, toward Zinnollo. We spotted a few Vermix in the
trees.”

“You lead them here,” King Hozfin growls.
“Vermix will attack Zinnollo again!”

“No,” Vix shakes her head. “Once we were
aware we were being spied on, we made sure to announce that in
three days we would be hiding both Gifts in the valley in the
Hylas.”

“They must know this is a trap,” Norhra
says. “To admit aloud your plans for their relocation?”

“The Gifts will remain here, of course,
while most of our forces will surround the valley, trapping them.
If
they come to Zinnollo, Jothkore, Vix, Qippert and
Clarence will relocate the Gifts to Larupip and Arosin,
respectively.”

“Fychu...” Chancellor Keller shakes his
head, hesitation in his tone. “I would not advise separating the
Gifts. And now that the Vermix spies have seen them, they are most
likely—as you intend—reporting to Reuzkimpart with their findings.
It makes no sense to keep the Gifts here in Zinnollo any longer. It
is too
dangerous
. I implore that you hand them over to King
Thias or Queen Ariana—anywhere other than here. Even transport them
to one of your moons now; just keep them as far from the Vermix as
possible.”

“I understand your hesitation, but more
spies will come. They will want confirmation that the Gifts are
still here. That is why we must keep them on-planet until the
invasion starts. Reuzkimpart may send for one final confirmation
the day they come. If there is even the slightest—”

“Reuzkimpart did not just pick one location
last time,” Norah reminds. “He spread out his forces. He will send
some to the valley, some to the Nerwo territory and the rest to
Zinnollo. This will be just like last time, except
exponentially
more dangerous because both Gifts will be
here. You are not able to see, Fychu. This…this is not the
way.”

“The Lynzees say it is.”

“They did not. They only advised that
Reuzkimpart will try again. They mentioned nothing of the Gifts.
That is
your
doing.”

Sampson takes a breath. “I did not promise
that I would know the answers to everything, only that I would do
my best to protect those who fight for the Way. I trained as a
Fychu during my time as a fugitive and it taught me many things.
Wisdom. Patience. Serenity. It also taught me to let go of the
things I cannot change and embrace what I feel is right.” He looks
around the king’s home. “Luring the Vermix with the Gifts is the
only answer I feel. It may seem ludicrous to you, but it makes
perfect sense to me. And if I believe in it so strongly, I merely
ask that you believe in me. Have faith that I have faith. Have
faith that the Lynzees, the Lost Princesses and the Mother herself
have chosen to aid
us
,” he glances from face to face. “We
did not believe it possible to obtain the Shadow Bag or the
Floating Ruby and yet…yet we were led right to them. Fallon,” he
extends his arm toward me, “was given a vision of the Floating
Ruby’s location. Why would these events happen if we were not meant
to obtain the Gifts? Sometimes things happen that we do not fully
understand at the time.”

“And after?” Salva asks, the attention of
the room shifting to the Mayan guard. “Once we have defeated the
Vermix…then what? What happens to the Gifts at that point?”

“The Shadow Bag will be returned to Queen
Ariana as promised, and the Floating Ruby will be given to Fallon
to return to the mountains.”

“What?” Norhra and King Hozfin interject
simultaneously. They look at one another before shifting focus to
Sampson.

“I believe Fallon can advise both ruling
parties of its general location, but she—”

“It is
our
Gift,” Norhra states. “Why
should a human know?”

“Both the Nerwos and the Zingfinolds have
not known its location for several millennia… why should it matter
now? Besides, you are not to utilize it.”

“It is our right to know.”

“And your leaders will.”

“Fychu, you cannot—”

“Perhaps we should save this discussion for
after the invasion,” Clarence clears his voice, trying to get the
topic back on track. “Right now, the main issue is preparation.
What kind of strength are we thinking for the valley?”

“The Mybyncians,” Sampson nods. “And half of
Thias’s forces.”

“Half?” Ehan frowns his surprise.

“Do you not think your kingdom will be
secure with half?”

“It…is a large request. I am not certain
King Thias will be feel comfortable supplying half. Perhaps a
third.”

“We will need more than a third.
Chancellor,” he turns to the Mybyncian representative, “how many
soldiers will the queen be sending?”

“As we are dealing with our own domestic
threat, I believe Queen Ariana advised that she felt comfortable
sending twenty-five hundred.”

“All right,” the Fychu nods, looking between
Warze and Hozfin, “and I think it best that the majority of
Zingfinolds keep to Zinnollo, protecting and surrounding the Gift.
I agree with Norhra that Reuzkimpart will try to puncture the city
again, so we will need it well guarded.”

“And if they do?” Chancellor Keller
asks.

“Clarence, Vix, Jothkore and Qippert will be
here.
If,
on the off-chance, the Vermix do break through,
Clarence and Qippert will relocate the Shadow Bag to Larupip and
Vix and Jothkore will take the Floating Ruby to Arosin.”

“Will there be any support positioned on
those locations?” Ehan asks. “In case the Gifts must be relocated
there?”

“Yes. A small lot, of course. Most will be
here, on Nerwolix, but I have contacted some of the Arizals on
Dellapalania. They will be traveling to the moons on the day of the
invasion. Assuming the Gifts are not transported there, they will
simply return home.”

“How many?” Warze asks.

“One hundred on Larupip and one hundred on
Arosin.”

“You think that is enough?” Chancellor
Keller asks, doubt coloring his tone.

“I think for a contingency plan, it will
suffice. Now,” Sampson threads his fingers, “we will have the
valley as the main target. Warze and I will be transporting the
decoys in a chest at day-break. They will either attack early—like
they did three months ago—or soon after. Either way, the valley
will be surrounded before we make the ‘relocation.’ Once they
arrive, we will notify those in Zinnollo and you,” he looks to Ehan
and Norhra, “can advise King Thias that the invasion has
begun.”