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She turned toward Luken, whose blond hair had come loose from the cadroen and now flew about wildly as he worked on the latest folding-reappearing sword drill. He looked magnificent.
“He has a big-ass heart, like no one I’ve ever known. Maybe that’s it. Even I feel safe when he’s around.” She chuckled. “And I’m supposed to be guarding him, but maybe that’s why. I love him to death.” Almost as much as she loved Thorne.
“Okay, but are you sure you’re not regretting something?”
“Regret is the wrong word.” She turned her attention back to Merl, meeting his gaze. “Well, damn my fine hips but I think I might be sad.”
Merl’s brows drew together. “Why?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve served as the ruler of Second Earth almost as long as I can remember. The Council of Sixth has kept me here to keep the peace on this planet and I haven’t been allowed to ascend.”
“I didn’t know that. I guess I assumed you liked it here.”
“It’s never been about what I liked or didn’t like. I’ve done my duty and I’m happy to have done it. But I’ve missed a lot.” She gave herself a shake because she’d started sounding like a complainer. “I guess I never thought I’d actually leave Second Earth before the conflict was over.”
“The battle with Greaves didn’t end anything.”
She shook her head. “Made things worse. Seems he wasn’t the only ambitious asshole in his troops. And now there are three generals trying to take a bid for Second Earth, each getting Chustaffus’s support. Thank God Thorne has charge of the military operation.
“But extending my service to Third has left me with a strong sense I might be leaving Second for good.”
“You’re talking about more than just guarding Luken.”
“I guess I am. And no, I can’t explain it, but I feel strangely grief-stricken.” And that was exactly the right phrase. One part of her life was finally, after so many millennia, coming to an end and another was beginning. She’d just never imagined when she took this step it would be to serve as a Warrior of the Blood on Third as well as Luken’s Guardian of Ascension.
Having confronted the issue, Endelle felt surprisingly liberated. She glanced down at her rockin’ boots and let her grayle power flow, the force that fueled all the other Third Earth powers. She spread her arms wide and began to rise in the air, completely wing-less.
Her red smoke billowed now and she began to spin in place though at least four feet above the wood floor of the workout center. She stopped the spin and rose swiftly to the rafters, then dropped fifteen feet in a straight line. Afterward, she spun toward the entrance, holding her trajectory thirty feet above the floor.
Then she really let herself go.
She dove, tucked, and rolled.
She spun sideways, then stretched out horizontally and spun herself toward the rafters once more.
Freedom had come to her after thousands of years of service on Second and in a form that stunned her. She’d never known such exhilaration as doing a series of flips, twist and rolls through the air, all without her wings.
Below, the warriors had moved to the perimeter of the black workout mats and watched her. But she wasn’t performing for them, only for herself.
A very pure kind of joy had replaced her grief, at least for the moment, and she allowed herself full expression.
~
Duncan crossed his arms over his chest as he watched She-Who-Would-Live flying through the air, not a wing in sight.
Unbelievable.
He couldn’t help but smile. And whatever Merl had said to her had done the trick, removing Endelle’s learning block.
Her sudden and complete shift to Third Earth warrior made him turn his attention for a moment to Rachel. Her change had been no less dramatic or thorough. She stood near Luken, her eyes wide as she watched Endelle maneuver, glide, and occasionally streak through the air.
His woman was a warrior now, something he’d thought she would never become. But the times had demanded a great deal of them both, and neither had arrived at a final destination. Duncan knew he had so much to learn and each of his Third Earth emerging powers would require months if not years to refine. Though he had taken on the role as the one who would define the team’s missions from night-to-night, he knew in his heart his end-point on Third would be very different from his duties as a warrior.
Rachel was no different. She’d spoken earlier while at Jean-Pierre’s about questioning her current warrior life. They were in most respects stuck in a middle ground of learning without truly knowing what the future would hold for each of them.
When Rachel turned toward him, she mouthed, ‘Oh, my God,’ then reverted her attention to Endelle.
He felt the same way, marveling at the woman who’d been stuck on Second for thousands of years.
