“Where are you taking her?” I turn to Hassha as she grips the reins of a white horse.
She looks at me through the corner of her eye. “To Wellness Bay. We can heal her better there.” She gives me a onceover. “She has a dark energy in her that I haven’t felt in a very long time. We have things that can draw it out of her, but it will take time.”
“Do you believe us then? About Korah sending us to you?”
She exhales, reaching for the crown on her head. She removes it and studies the section that she’d previously attached. A splotch of Willow’s blood is on it, and she wipes it away with her thumb as if it’s a random smudge. Then she narrows her eyes at me, replacing it. “You say she’s your mate, but she doesn’t feel Vakeeli born.”
“That’s because she’s from Earth.”
“Ah. Explains how you got to Korah then.”
“My queen!” someone shouts, and Hassha’s head turns to find the voice. A woman in white rushes our way with two younger girls trailing behind. These girls can’t be any older than nine or ten. One has skin as dark as Korah’s with hair as snow-white as Hassha’s. Her striking blue eyes are set on Hassha, an excited expression on her face. The other girl has skin that’s just as pale as mine, her hair dark, eyes silver. Both wear dark tribal clothing and are barefoot. They continue making their way toward us while dragging something behind them in a black net.
“The girls found a man!” the woman announces.
“Mum!” the young dark-skinned girl shouts. “We took him down! See? We did good!”
“You shouldn’t have taken anyone down because I told you two to stay in hiding!” Hassha scolds her with a frown.
The pale girl looks at the other, eyes widening.
“We know, Mum,” the blue-eyed one continues, oblivious (or careless) to her mother’s anger. “But we saw this man running toward the village and you always tell us to protect the village no matter what, so we came out of the hiding tree to stop him!” The girls stop dragging the net, and Hassha walks toward them, dropping to one knee.
“I know I say that, but this time was not safe,” she murmurs. “I do not know this man. He could have hurt you.”
“Sorry, Mumma,” the pale one apologizes.
“No, he wouldn’t have!” the blue-eyed one retorts, then she backs away from Hassha and whips a sword out of a leather sheath attached to her hip. It’s not large like the other women’s, but its blade is flat, wide, and the tip gleams in the sun. “If he’d tried to hurt me or Maia, I would’ve gutted him like a fish and cut off his head,” she declares triumphantly.
“Minka,” Hassha sighs, and I notice she’s fighting a smile. “What will I ever do with you?”
“Who is this man?” Minka asks, pointing the tip of her sword in my direction.
Hassha forces the girl’s sword down, then side-eyes me as I step closer. She then rises to a stand again, putting her focus on the net the girls dragged over.
I look with her, and it’s Garrett, bloody and mangled. He’s still alive, panting raggedly.
“Let me out!” he shouts.
Love of Vakeeli. His voice infuriates me. I don’t know how he’s still alive, and I don’t care to stop my reaction. I deliver a swift kick to the side of his head, and to my surprise, that knocks him out. Really? A kick? After all the stabbing and punching I did beforehand?
“Ooohhh!” Minka squeals, waving her sword in the air. “I like this man! Mum, can we keep him?”
“We will not be keeping anyone, now you two get back to village with Carra,” Hassha commands.
Hassha watches the slim woman in white who approached with the girls steer them away, and when they’re distant enough, she asks, “Do you know this man?”
“Willow does,” I answer. “Apparently she was seeing this piece of shit while on Earth.”
“Willow. That is your mate’s name, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Her name runs through your mind a lot.” I start to ask her what she means, but she continues with, “How did this man wind up in Vakeeli?”
“He was going to attack Korah, so I knocked him into the portal she’d opened for me and Willow in order to stop him.”
With that, Hassha tips her gaze to mine. “You saved my sister’s life.” She steps away from Garrett, scanning him. “There is a dark energy feeding off of him—the same energy I felt on your mate. This man, he’s angry about something, and he’s being controlled by it.”
“I believe he’s a vessel of Decius, and I’m looking for a way to kill Decius so something like this never happens again.” I gesture to Garrett.
Hassha looks at me, stunned. “Decius is hunting you?”
“Me and my mate, yes. And he has my family right now. He’s threatening to kill them if I don’t return to him. I can’t let this go on any longer. I need him dead, and I’m certain you Regals know exactly what needs to be done in order to stop him.”
She squares her shoulders, looking off in the distance. I can tell she doesn’t want to deal with any of this, even more so when she clutches the end of the net Garrett is in and attaches it to one of her horse’s armored legs. “Come with me to the village. There, we can discuss more about Decius.”
