She shook her head. “It’s okay. Let’s go down and see what he has to say.” She took his hand and urged him through the door. “He’s a high mage, I'm sure he’ll have some kind of explanation for all this, you’ll see.”
Reynner followed her, unable to stop the queasiness churning his gut.
***
Eve stopped at the entrance to the living room, her gaze on the stranger who stood near the picturesque windows talking to Aerén and North. A gentle tug on her hand and Reynner pulled her inside.
The mage turned, and eyes like an endless night surveyed them. The length of his braided white hair remained hidden beneath his navy robes.
“Eve, this is Allatus, high mage of Empyrea,” Reynner introduced her. “Allatus, my mate, Eve.”
“Hello.” She rubbed her hands down her pants.
“We have waited a long time for you,” Allatus said by way of welcome.
She smiled, and not knowing what else to say, she blurted out, “Reynner says the Stone’s magic isin me?”
“Yes,” Allatus said, studying her. “Its essence is in your blood. When it’s time,youwould have to go to Empyrea.”
Go to another world? Eve swallowed. Panicked. “Why can’t you summon the magic from me? I thought your realm needs it urgently?”
Allatus nodded. “Yes, we do. But we’ve waited centuries—a few more weeks won’t change much,” he told her. “It’s not just you, Eve, even though you do possess more of the magic. We have to wait until the rest of the pieces are located. Then the journey to Empyrea will be made.”
Reynner leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb, his brow creased in a frown. “What pieces?”
“When the Stone plummeted to Earth, it shattered,” Allatus explained. “A part of it, Eve absorbed.”
“How do we find the rest of it?” Aerén asked. “It could be lying anywhere.”
“No.” Allatus shook his head. “When the Stone fragmented, it would have selected the humans to keep it safe. Now, we search for the mortals who were wounded on the day of the accident. If they have magic in their blood, the scroll would respond to them. Once all are found, then we will take them to Empyrea.”
“That should go down well,” North muttered.
“Where do we start looking—yeah, I know, New York,” Aerén said. “But from what I’ve seen, humans move around. A lot.”
“With Eve’s blood, we’ll be able to scry for their locations using the scroll.” Allatus smiled at her, as if not to scare her.
Too late.
The hollow in Eve’s belly grew. She should have stayed in their room and let Reynner explain all this to her.
Reynner pulled her to him and brushed his lips over her hair. She took a deep, anxious breath and tried to calm down. Go to Empyrea—a place unknown, a place somewhere in the solar system she couldn’t even imagine. Heck, she hadn't even left the state of New York. She tensed up again.
“I will be there with you, Eve,” Reynner reassured her. “And it’s not forever. I won't take you away from your world. But we have to make the trip once all the humans are found to trigger the Stones of Light back to full power.”
“What happens when the Stone’spower fades again?” she asked him.
“Then those females not mated will reside in the tower of the mage,” Lucan answered, sauntering into the sitting room. Looking far too healthy for a missing man. “And you will visit when needed. Before you ask, the magic in the Stone would have found a way to keep them single, until the time’s right.”
Like it had with her. Eve had to bite back her irritation. “How do you know it’s only women? Men—”
Lucan shook his head. “This particular artifact is feminine in its power. It will choose likewise. Proven by the very fact that you were the first we located.”
Her mouth tightened, he had an answer for everything. “What makes you think they will come?”
“Why not? You did.”
She scowled. A pity he was a mage and would remain celibate. It would have been something to see him knocked off his imperious pedestal by some woman.
