A flash of purple light and I’m…
66
IRENA
…standing outside the Door of Uncertainty once more. I blink, looking around. Am I back? I see the Sorceress’s workroom with its many strange and mystical objects surrounding me. And there is the Lady of Thornmere herself, standing back and watching me with an interested expression on her face, as though she’s waiting to see what I will do.
But where’s Valen? I look around for him, frowning. Is he lost somewhere in the other-land beyond the door?
I’m just about to open my mouth and ask the Sorceress but before I can get a word out, the Door of Uncertainty bursts open and there he is.
He has a wild, shocked look on his face and the minute he sees me he grabs me, wrapping me in a bone-crunching bear hug.
“Valen…what…?” I wheeze, since he’s squeezing the air out of me. “What’s… wrong?” I finally manage to get out.
“Fuck, baby—I’m just so glad you’re all right,” he mutters in my ear.
His grip on me is so tight I’m seriously having trouble breathing. It makes me realize all over again how incredibly strong he is—and how careful he’s always been with me whenever we’re close.
“Can’t…breathe,” I choke out at last.
“Fuck. Sorry, baby.” He loosens his grip but doesn’t let go of me. Instead, he cradles my face in his hands and looks down at me anxiously—almost like he’s making sure I’m really there.
“Are you well?” I ask, looking up at him worriedly. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so upset before.
“Fine.” He blows out a breath. “I’m fine. Just glad you are too.”
“I take it that the Door of Uncertainty showed you…disturbing images,” the Sorceress says, arching an eyebrow at Valen.
He gets a guarded look on his face.
“Everything it showed me was bad—very fucking bad,” he says. “How do I stop the things it showed me from happening?”
“What did it show you?” I ask, frowning.
He shakes his head.
“Never mind, sweetheart. You don’t need to know.”
I have a feeling that I do need to know, but the Sorceress is already answering him.
“Remember that not everything the Door shows comes to pass,” she tells him. “Sometimes it shows false images…or things that may happen in the future.”
“I don’t want anything it showed me to happen, though!” Valen insists. “How do I stop it?”
A regretful look comes over her lovely face.
“No man may stop the wheel of time from turning, Master Drake. But do not let your heart be troubled—hopefully what the Door showed you was false.”
“What did you see?” I ask him again. “Did it have to do with me?”
It must have—why else would he have grabbed me like that when he first came out of the Door?
Valen gets a stubborn look on his face.
“I don’t want to scare you.”
“I’m not scared!” I protest.
