Rosemary paced the hall frantically as she waited for Damien. When he pulled the bedroom door shut behind him, Rosemary sighed and came to him. "How is she doing?"
He nodded towards the foyer and they started to walk down the hall. "She's sleeping finally. She remembers everything now."
Rosemary clutched her chest. "That poor woman. Are you certain you should be leaving her alone right now?"
"There's no safer place for her in all the world, mother. Besides, I hardly have a choice. There are invaders at two borders."
Daniel waited in the foyer and was putting on his cloak as they exited the hall. "I'm leaving Jason and Eason behind as Watch. How's Gretchen?"
Damien shook his head from side to side. "She's seen better days."
Daniel gave him a sympathetic smile and patted his shoulder. "You can take Rhett and the brigade to th
"You're so stupid, Gretchen. Why do you keep getting sucked back into their stupid goddamn mind games?"She paced the room as her embarrassment over being repeatedly mislead escalated into a fury that was quickly consuming her. "I can't believe I've been so fucking stupid. Rhett was right, I must be the most hardheaded woman on the goddamn planet. I must be pretty entertaining to you all." She walked to the bookshelf and grabbed a row of books then screamed as she threw them to the floor making Jason startle. "You mother fuckers are always telling me I need to remember and see the truth then you keep shit from me all the goddamn time." She pointed at Jason. "Every fucking one of you. Is this some kind of sick fucking game, Jason?"Jason shook his head. He grew up right beside Tessa and her husbands and was more than familiar with their family's poor tempers and tendency to act irrationally. He had warned Damien more than once that
As the burn of the cool air hit her lungs, Gretchen slowed to a walk as she traveled the path South through the forest. She stopped and bent over with her hands on her knees as she breathed in though her nose and out through her mouth.She took her bag of holding from her back then sat on a fallen log as she rummaged through the brown leather bag. After feeling around the inside, she found a whiskey bottle of Haldir's that she had cleaned out and put water in. While she sipped from the bottle, she thought back about the library.Having her other lives revealed to her had not had the effect that Damien thought it would. Gretchen didn't feel like she understood anything better than she did before, but she knew one thing to be true...Her father needed her now. She felt it in her bones when he looked into her eyes from the back of that horse in her vision.Being faced with the reality of her existence and having the final barrier to her mem
"You know Damien will be coming along for you?" asked Jason as he turned the stick over in the fire.Gretchen let her hair down from the ponytail it had been in and shook out her hair. Eason watched her from across the fire and took in her beauty as the firelight lit up her face. "I don't really care and I don't want to hear his name for the rest of this little trip if you don't mind."Eason grinned to himself at Gretchen's attitude. There aren't many people who would even try to get close to a member from the Darke family and even less that would dare to defy one. Her flippant approach to them was entertaining to watch.Jason inspected the hare that he was cooking then took it off the stick and bit into it. "He loves you Gretchen."Gretchen rolled her eyes and leaned back onto her hands. "It's a dead issue, Jason. Leave it alone.""So, tell me
"Look at him, Agi. He hasn't even spoken since we claimed him." The aggravated captain wiped the sweat from his brow and peered back to Teddy as he stared blankly at the path before him. "This is the mighty warlock Daniel told us about? He's going to help save our world from all encompassing evil?" The ginger haired bearded man chuckled out as he imagined the sickly looking stranger fighting alongside a man like Daniel. "He doesn't seem like much right now, does he? He looks like a strong wind would knock him from the back of that steed."Agamori's white hair whipped sharply away from him as he shot an annoyed glance to his second in command, then he returned his gaze forward. "He's been through unimaginable horrors. He will need time to adjust to his new life here. It isn't easy for them to make the transition when they die their Earth deaths. Being reunited with his child again will be good medicine for him."The captain
"Owooo." Jason alerted Gretchen that he caught the scent of the King's riders up ahead. A wave of relief entered Gretchen's chest knowing that she was nearly there until she caught another scent, the one she had smelled the night she confronted her stalkers. The foul stench of the filthy Goblins."Ow Ow Owooo," she answered back. Gretchen and Jason broke from Eason and barreled through forest in search of the smell. As they wove between the trees, their wolf eyes saw nearly a hundred goblins and trolls waging a barrage of arrowS against a handful of the King's men. The horses that had not been lucky enough to run away and find cover, were lying dead or injured on the ground. The more skilled among the soldiers had managed to invoke spells of protection against the incoming projectiles, but those types of spells were short lived and would not last for long.Gretchen remembered her vision in the library and the
"Father! There she is!" Damien rode hard towards the battle in front of him and jumped down from his horse just in time to see the arrow send Gretchen crashing into a tree. He exhaled a pained groan as he felt the arrow tear through his mates' flesh and stood breathless while the scene played out in front of him in slow motion. "Oh, no! No don't do this, please." Daniel grabbed Damien's arm and broke him from his living nightmare as he pulled him towards it. They ran to Eason and Gretchen's side as the flames barreled towards them.Daniel stood tall against the approaching inferno then put his hand up to command it to stop. With a haunting wail, the fires halted and knelt before the Master of the Flames as he willed it so.While Eason struggled to lift himself off Gretchen's blood-soaked coat, Damien dropped to his knees beside him when he saw the brown wolf laying on the ground struggling to breath. A naked Jason put
"I'm so sorry," Damien whispered as he looked over Gretchen's sleeping face. He laid his head down beside her on the bed and softly slid his fingertips down her cheek. "I wanted to tell you Gretchen. I should've told you. I really can't blame you for being so angry. I see what you're thinking, but it's not true. It's not my fault I see things like I do. I just thought..I just thought if you could see the whole story laid out in front of you, that you'd understand why I've done the things I've done, not to make you someone else. Believe it or not, I quite like you as you are."As he heard the door swing open behind him, Damien sniffed back his tears and sat up straight in his chair. Teddy pulled up the chair beside him and sat down. "How's she getting along?" Damien licked his lips then swallowed back his tears. "Still sleeping."Teddy patted the back of Damien's shoulder and said, "She's right st
"Whoo, damn," Gretchen groaned as she braced her hand against the wound on her chest while she limped back to her bedroom. The further she walked, the weaker she felt and when she reached her room she was panting for air.Feeling her discomfort, Damien opened his door and saw her pushing her's open. "Gretchen, what are you doing? Why aren't you in bed?" He grabbed her arm and helped her to sit down on her bed.As she pushed him away, she said, "I'm fine. You can leave now."Damien pulled the chair in front of her and sat down. "Can you just put your stubborness aside for just one moment and look at yourself? You can scarcely breathe. Why are you even out of the infirmary anyway?"Gretchen looked him in the eyes and said, "I'm getting my things. I'm not going to spend one more night in this castle with you people."Damien wiped his mouth with his hand and shook his hea