The girl was making her way back to the Stone.
“Excuse me, but do you think maybe you could stop for a moment and talk to me or give me a sign or something? Because I don’t know about you, but I’m freaking out because I’m either dead or dreaming, and if this is a dream, then, dang it, I should go see a doctor.”
The girl grumbled, stopped, and looked at me over her shoulder. She gave a quick headshake, then jerked her head back toward the Stone. She wanted me to follow her, then. Well, what else was I going to do?
Despite her cloak, her hair was sticking to her face and neck in wet strands. She walked right back up to the Stone, and this time, she put her palm out, just like the other girl had done. Before she touched the Stone, she looked at me, and then, holding my gaze, she put her palms against the rough surface.
I felt the Stone singing more than I heard it. I couldn’t say for certain that this was how it had been for me that first time, especially since the girl didn’t seem surprised at all.
She did something too, but not in the fumbling way I’d done when I’d wanted my guys to be okay. No, she used the Stone’s power as if she’d done it before and had a good handle on the how-to.
She pulled her hands back, but she was still doing something. I could feel it like I felt the raindrops on my skin. All the while, she watched me.
A thick fog billowed up out of nowhere. It hid everything, distorting all sound.
The girl had done this; there wasn’t a doubt in my mind about that. She pulled her hood down over her face and waved at me, then made a noise that sounded a lot like shoo.
“Look, it’s not like I want to be here,” I said.
She made the shooing gesture and noise again, slower and more pronounced this time, as if she thought I was slow to catch on.
Well, what else was new?
“You know what? Fine. I guess if I’m haunting you, I’ll find you again anyway.”
I walked off into the fog. I had no idea what else to do.
The fog thickened, and eventually the rain stopped. I’d been walking for a while before something felt different. At that point, I knew I’d left. Not just the Hill of Tara, but that place and time—if it was a place and time and not just my imagination.
Some of the awareness that had shown me Kinnek and Vergis remained, and with a quick glance, I made sure they were safe and sound, doing their thing back on the Hill, the light slightly more purplish than it had been earlier.
I was still alive, I realized, still in my mate’s arms, and with the same perspective shift that had let me see the darn Stone in the rain and then the Stone in the present with Kinnek and Vergis, I saw Inkiri smile at me. His expression was perfectly serene, so much so that it hurt to watch him, for no good reason I could tell.
How I had managed to drift back and forth between places, I had no idea, but I wanted it to stop, wanted to sleep normal human sleep. That inexplicable knowledge told me that the more of that I did, the faster I’d be recovered from the magic I’d done in Esaka.
In the end, I tried to make my disembodied consciousness stand still and closed my eyes. That finally worked. The blackness of true sleep and simple dreams came for me and swallowed me whole.
Chapter 4
Sometime early the next morning—it felt early, but that could have been me being exhausted and healing—I woke to a hmmmm very close to my ear. I cracked my eyes and swatted at the annoying mosquito. Which was not a mosquito.
“Oh, good! You are up,” Kinnek said when I blinked the sleep from my eyes. His nose was about two inches away from mine.
The moment I stirred and swatted—Kinnek was too quick for me to actually hit him—Inkiri started clicking.
“What?” I turned back around to Inkiri. “Sorry, did I fall asleep on you? Sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Kinnek straightened. “You are a very apologetic human.”
Inkiri’s breath ghosted over my hair. “He doesn’t want to be a burden.”
What I wanted was to not be the center of attention, but from how Kinnek was looking at me, I was. Also, Vergis was taking apart and possibly cleaning his gun on the coffee table and glaring at me. I lifted my head farther off Inkiri’s chest. Okay, maybe Vergis was just looking. That bagu definitely had resting bitch face.
Kinnek rocked on his feet. “Look at the sweet human and his doting mate! Anyway, sweet pea, we’re going to do a little bit of magic this morning.”
I groaned. “I don’t feel too well.” That immediately started Inkiri fussing again.
“Perhaps it’s best to let him rest more, Kinnek? He’s so delicate.” Inkiri inclined his head while he said it. Huh. Interesting. Was Kinnek more important than my something-like-a-prince mate? Said mate pulled the blanket up and over me again.
