Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [187]
If you’d like to think so, Everett.
Chills rushed through his limbs as he heard Regina’s voice in his head. He looked at her face, but she only smiled and urged him on.
EARTH—TIME: FORWARD
CHAPTER 44
Rosette stormed from the apartments, pounding down the stairs, her boots sounding like drums reverberating through the manor. She spouted profanities, her fists clenched and ready to strike. A group of apprentices backed into the wall to clear the path for her, tea trays tipping and saucers clattering.
Shall we explore the surrounds, Maudi? Get some fresh air?
‘Demons couldn’t get me there fast enough!’ She quickened her pace when she hit the ground floor. ‘I want to be as far away from here as possible, Drayco. Lead the way!’
He trotted ahead of her, tail lashing. And we are running from…?
‘Everyone! Everything!’
That’s inclusive.
‘Indeed!’ She knew her reaction was extreme even as she allowed the emotions to erupt. She was a volcano spewing lava, burning everything in her wake. She couldn’t hold back, didn’t want to try. It felt good to explode. Let them burn if they couldn’t move quickly enough.
As she passed the fountain, she broke into a run, screaming a war cry when pain shot through her ribs. What had happened there? She startled several apprentices who were sitting on the edge of the pool. The look on their faces made her chuckle, even in the midst of her aggravation. I’m having a tantrum, Drayco.
I’m glad you can see it so honestly.
She winced and screamed again. What in the demon’s pit happened to my ribs?
I think that was Everett’s doing. Cracked them trying to revive you. It’ll come good.
She ran out into the red desert plains, her body exulting in the physical exertion in spite of the ache in her chest. She wove a healing spell and the pain eased, reminding her how much she appreciated her body—and how much it had been through. When the sprint left her panting, she settled into a steady jog, Drayco loping beside her. The fire in her mind tempered and she began to reflect. ‘I didn’t see that coming.’
Nor I. What provoked you, Maudi?
‘You mean, what provoked me the most?’
That’s a start.
She thought about it. What was the huge provocation? It wasn’t like Jarrod suggested she had to conceive this minute, and she’d known all this year that the secret to his existence, the assurance of his continuation, lay in the spell she carried in her DNA. She just hadn’t put together what that meant for her. At some point the spell had to be passed on, and of course he would have been upset by her brush with death.
Brush, Maudi?
Drayco was right. She’d been clinically dead for some time, no denying it. Jarrod would have been shaken. On one level, he was deeply in love with her, and on the other, he had his own survival instincts to deal with—if ‘instinct’ was the right word. In any case, she felt the tension in her shoulders ease. It wasn’t like she’d never thought about having a child in the future—a distant future.
When she and Grayson were in the islands of Rahana Iti, she’d briefly fantasised about having one with him. He’d be a great parent, with his sun in the nurturing sign of the Cobra, or Cancer as they called it here on Earth. He’d be protective, intuitive, giving. He might be open to it, at least he’d seemed like it before she’d died. What was she so afraid of?
She slowed her pace, feeling more fire drain from her body. Maybe she should go back and find him, take him with her for the hunt. They hadn’t talked and she felt like they needed to. ‘Do you know where he is, Drayco?’
In the workshop near the stables.
‘Alone?’
Students are there, chatting, watching him draw…
‘Forget it. Let’s go.’
You used to like being with people.
‘I know, Dray, but I’ve been separate now for so long.’
Kali says it will take time to adjust.
Rosette quickened her pace, fire burning in her eyes again. ‘Is everyone talking about me?’
Pretty much. Do you want to run? Kali says it’ll be good for