Page 86

His words surfaced painfully. We cannot heal your body when your mind is trying to leave us.

“You asked me to sing away the memories of them both, Rada,” Lusca said. “But now it is time to remember.” He reached for the pendant.

“Wait.” I wasn’t certain I wanted him to take it off. “I have more mates. How many?”

“Two more to claim,” Skadi said.

“Serak?” I murmured, as Lusca lifted the shell.

The memories crowded in. He’d been taken from me by Edan. Corrupted and tortured until there was almost no Serak left. Edan had left his mark, but Serak had been the one I’d longed for, for so long.

How had I forgotten him? And… who else had I forgotten?

Lusca began humming. The pendant cooled, and my mind filled with more moments I had forgotten. Words. Mina. Mistress. Love. Tears raced down my cheeks, scalding me.

Lex. He had fallen just before Edan had plummeted in his dragon form. Before the volcano had erupted and collapsed, with them inside. I cried out, my scream echoing on the ice that fringed the nest.

All my mates reached for me, touching me. Anchoring me to the world. I almost hated them for it. They held on, even though I knew they could hear my thoughts. They stayed while Lusca finished his song, and I wept.

Time passed. I had no idea how much. More food appeared at my lips, and water. At some point, I spoke. “He’s dead? Are we sure?”

“We don’t know,” Kellin said from where he lay beside me. “We saw Lex fall into the maw. Edan fell on top of him. The crater collapsed.”

“Edan is immortal,” Lusca said. “Serak may well be alive. But Lex was only a human.”

“He was my best friend. He was mine.” I wept again, the pain searing parts of my heart I’d thought too burned to feel.

“We must go,” Skadi said quietly when the moon was setting. It would be full when it rose again. “You have two more mates to claim, little spy. The moon goddess spoke to me.” I was the only one to react. It was clear that the others already knew this. He spoke for a while of a visit. A wild tale, of time standing still, and a promise. “I told her I would take you back so you could claim the others.”

Two more. A shudder worked its way through me. If Lex was dead, then who did that leave? Serak and… No.

Somehow, I hadn’t let go of the tears Skadi had given me. I wrapped my fingers around their sharp edges and tried to stand. I couldn’t. The world spun, like I’d dosed myself with too much veninspire tonic. Hands and tails and tentacles reached to hold me steady.

“What’s… Why am I so weak?” I demanded.

Skadi answered as he pressed his tail to the spot on my stomach he’d marked weeks before. “You’re out of balance.”

I waited impatiently for him to go on.

“Edan marked you, but the claim was one-sided. His power is funneling into you, but your soul is unable to hold all of it. His fire filled you so entirely, it could only pour out of you. It burst your… How to explain this? The well of your soul.”

I pressed a hand to my throat. “Yes,” I said, his words making sense. “It feels like I’m leaking my… life?”

“You are. Yours and mine, and your other claimed mates. The energy Lusca and I both shared with you, and to a lesser degree the life force of your mortal mates, is running out through twin wounds in your spirit.”

I tried not to pass out at the thought of Goran, somewhere, growing weaker without knowing why.

“I have channeled as much of my power into you as I can. But I cannot fill the need you have. You must claim two more,” he said firmly, like he knew it for a fact.

“Are you sure?”

“Your goddess was. If you want to live, if we are all to live, you must return to Pict and take your mates.”

“Who?”

“You know who, little enemy.”

I couldn’t bear it. I’d imagined She had a life planned out for me that would be filled with things I wasn’t certain I wanted. A swollen belly and squalling babies. I’d never dreamed She might ask this of me.