“I need to know everything.I mean...obviously you were there a hell of a lot longer than two months Fey time.What was it like?How does time work?”Aurora fired off the questions one after the other.
He was glad the female asked the things he wanted to know.
Starla shook her head while his gaze took in the visible changes.She’d been slim and fit as a teen, but this version in front of them was more.She was still slender, but her figure had curves as if time brushed over her with just the right strokes without giving too much.
“No, it wasn’t really any different than here, except I’d wake up and be older.I’d have this new knowledge, as if I’d gone to school overnight.It’s hard to explain.You’d go to sleep or be sitting at dinner, not knowing how to make coffee appear in your hand, and then, all of a sudden, I know how to do it.I swear, I thought one day I’d wake up and be in the retirement village, but Lula assured me I, we, wouldn’t, you know, die like that.Which reminds me.”She tugged a velvet pouch from her pocket.“Here is a Dragon Stone for you.Lula said it’s for good luck.I have one, too, but she wanted me to give you one since we’re sisters.Um, the knowledge is what aged me.It was like going to an accelerated learning program.It was a lot.But necessary for life, Jenna and the dragons said.Hey, Savage, Scepter.It’s good to see you both.Where am I staying?”
“Oh, I prepared a room for you.Come on.”Aurora looked at him and Savage.He didn’t know what she saw as she glanced his way, but her eyes widened.
“We’ll see you both for dinner in about an hour.I’m going to need to take my sister shopping this week.”
“Fucking kill me now,” Scepter whispered.
“That can be arranged.”
He watched the females go up the stairs before heading back down the hallway.His beast wanted to rip the head off of an enemy or destroy an entire army.His fingers flexed, the claws making it hard to make a fist.
“Are you going to tell me what the fuck is wrong with you?”Savage asked, pulling Scepter around to face him.
He bared his fangs, hissing a warning.“I am not in the right headspace for you to test me right now, Savage.”
Scepter shook his head and stepped back.
“Talk to me,” Savage said, holding his hands up.
“She’s my bonded mate.I denied her because she was too young, too innocent for me.Do you know what that does to a male like me who has given parts of himself to darkness throughout the years?One whose only hope of finding the light of their other half was lost, thanks to Fate?It shreds our souls.The very fabric of our being, leaving nothing but the feral beasts we fight to cage every fucking day of our long fucking lives, Savage.”He dropped to his knees, his claws gouging deep grooves into the marble floor.Blood dripped from the tips of his fingers.
“What do you need from me?”Savage asked, squatting in front of Scepter without touching him.
Scepter hung his head, resting his knuckles on the cold floor.“I must leave.”
He looked up, seeing the stricken look on his best friend's face.They’d been side-by-side for five hundred years.Scepter needed to put space between himself and the one who was like a brother to him.
“When?”
He looked up at the ceiling, feeling an invisible tether to the female who would never accept him.“Now.”
Savage stood and held out his hand.Scepter floated to his feet, taking the hand of his best friend.They embraced in a back-slapping hug, and then he stepped away.
“I will see to a few things before leaving this evening.Our connection isn’t severed,” he grinned, opening his mind to allow Savage back in.
“I’d have found a way to rebuild our link,” Savage growled.
“Don’t ever try to force me again.”Scepter narrowed his eyes.
Savage inhaled and inclined his head.“This is your home, Scepter.Always.”
Scepter nodded, then he exploded into a puff of smoke.
