Greetings Readers!
I hope all of you are planning on an awesome break this weekend. I am hoping to get some rest, but that remains to be seen with all the work I have to complete for my largest-ever project! 50k words.
So far the client seems really nice, but we'll see how things go and whether he likes what I did for his first few chapters.
Anyway, we're wrapping up this flash back and moving on with the current time line once more. I made a slightly larger-than-average update for the weekend, so please enjoy it!
Bolx greeted a few of them and then asked to get a copy of what the prince had been working on. There must have been a reason that the Wolven would attack him directly. The data he asked for arrived soon, and he set to work. He knew the royal family would be in the middle of arrangements for the funeral, and he didn’t want to be underfoot.
He worked for hours, trying to understand how Aleux was thinking, and only realised that he hadn’t seen Kaiden for some time when the sun had sunk below the horizon. With Aleux being murdered, he was more than a little concerned, especially when his requests of the castle members resulted in no one knowing where she was. He went to all the places she liked hiding in; he had come to learn of a few of them as they had gotten to know each other. However, none of them were occupied by her.
There was only a single location that he hadn’t looked in yet, but he knew if she was there, it would take some time for him to find her. Sighing, he made his way to the kitchen to grab a few items, which he hastily shoved into a bag, and slipped out the back of the castle. While most of the castle was surrounded by buildings, there was a small forest around the back that the humans had refused to get rid of. This was where Kaiden liked to hide when everything got too much for her. Bolx cursed not knowing how to sense life force, as he stepped into the forest to look for his partner.
Although a small forest, it would result in several missing people every month, and Bolx knew he would end up as one of these people. Yet, if Kaiden was in the forest, she would find him long before he found her. He cursed having allowed her to be alone during this time.
He wandered through the forest, using his keen night sight to look for clues. Brucel had done a good job teaching him how to track when he was younger, and the skills were still fresh in his mind. There were fresh signs, but they didn’t last long, informing Bolx that Kaiden had taken to the trees. If she was above him, it would make it more difficult for him to find her.
Sighing, he set his back against a tree and slid down until he sat at the base. He pulled some bottled water from the bag and opened it. While he couldn’t sense life force as clearly as his sister, he was sure that Kaiden was close by, yet he wasn’t sure if she was aware of his presence.
“Your brother was developing an algorithm to determine where the Wolven would attack next, regardless of what planet they appeared on.” He said softly after he took a deep drink.
Silence around him.
“He was identified as the greatest threat, that’s why he was taken out. Had he finished that algorithm, there would have been no way for them to hide from us. He may have even been able to track them back to where they were coming from.” He sighed, “That would have been a great help.”
He heard rustling close by but remained seated, drinking from his bottle before fishing out a sandwich he had taken. He hadn’t eaten since this morning, and he was sure Kaiden was just as hungry as he was. He ate in silence. Giving Kaiden the time she needed to work through what she was going through.
He was starting on the second sandwich when he heard a voice above him say, “Pass that up, please.”
He lifted his hand and heard shoes on bark before there was a creak, and the sandwich was pulled from his hand. He looked up and saw Kaiden hanging upside down surveying the meal she had taken. He wanted to warn her about choking while eating upside down, but he minded his own business and pulled another sandwich from the bag. Kaiden eventually pulled herself up to sit on the branch, looking up at the canopy of leaves above her head while she ate. They sat in silence, and Bolx already knew she had made up her mind, and his heart ached.
He knew she was struggling with having to tell him about what she had planned. He could hear that her breathing was catching in her throat as if she was on the verge of crying or kept trying to say something and then stopping, or both. She was struggling to put into words what she was going to do. Likely because she didn’t know how he was going to react. Bolx hated that she had made up her mind without discussing it with him. They were partners, she owed him more than that, but she had lost her brother, and was hurting. He needed to be the support she so desperately needed.
He took a deep breath and slowly released it before saying, “I will be with you every step of the way. I will hold your hand, I will protect you, and I will not let you go through this alone. You will never be alone, I swear it.”
There was silence for some time, before shoes scraped along the bank and a weight landed next to him. She sat next to him, placed her arms around his neck, and hugged him tightly.
“I’m sorry, but I must do this.”
“I know. I hate that you have to be the one to do it.” He hugged the arms around his neck. “But I will be here until the end.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” She whispered. “Let’s go home.”
Bolx clenched his hands as he told the story. It was still painful, despite it being so long ago. He felt Saita put a hand on his left fist and he relaxed a little.
“Edzeeker was so thrilled when she agreed to do what he wanted of her. Within the week, she was under the knife and six months later it was over, and she was no longer the girl I fell in love with.”
Aleux waved away his comment as he got to his feet, “I understand you’re hurting, but do you have any idea of what information you’re sitting on?”
“Aleux…” Saita growled at him.
“Do you remember the algorithm?” demanded Aleux as he tapped the table with a finger. “Even part of it.”
Bolx pushed his pain away to think about what the boy was asking him and the implications of it. More than a year ago, he had told those at the council that he didn’t know how to track the Wolven, but in fact, he did have that information. He had spent so much time trying to bury his pain, he never thought he was also burying vital information that could have helped them.
“Even if you can remember the parameters that the prince used, I could develop a similar algorithm. It won’t be easy, but I can try.”
“I remember very little, but I think I can give you a head start.”
Aleux grinned and seated himself once more. He turned his head to look at his sister, “Not sure if Dad will like him, but I already do.”
“Only because of what’s locked in his head?”
“No, Saita.” Aleux crossed his arms. “For the longest time, Mother thought you and Astec would bond, but nothing I saw then is what I see now. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Bolx had to grab Saita’s hands to prevent her from picking something up from the table to throw at her brother. Aleux laughed and then said, “That algorithm then?”
Saita watched as the two men returned to the house to work on what Bolx could remember. She was glad that the two of them were bonding, but her heart was heavy with hearing the story. Bolx had lost so much before he was brought here. It made her feel guilty that she had taken advantage of his friendship and feelings for her. She couldn’t be what he truly wanted but she was willing to be second best to be able to have a semblance of the life she wished she could have.
She took the time to clear the table and clean up while the men were in the lounge with an array of papers that were being scribbled on. They were talking in hushed tones of things that Saita didn’t understand. She supplied them with drinks and later, snacks. The whole time the two of them had their heads bent over the growing pile of notes.
Saita had known her brother was smart, but she had no idea that he was smart enough to rebuild an algorithm from a few notes that Bolx could remember. She watched with fascination until it started getting late, yet the men still continued to talk.
“I’m off to bed.” She said stifling a yawn.
Bolx waved her off, but Aleux looked up and said, “I couldn’t help you when we were kids, but I can now.”
She wasn’t sure if the comment was meant to hurt her, but it did. She hugged him and then indicated the room he could use. She turned to Bolx and said, “Don’t forget where your room is.”
The Saith grinned shily, then continued to work with her brother, as she moved off to get some sleep. She was tired and hoped that she would get some sleep tonight. During the last year, she had learned how to balance her body’s needs for the energy the System produced. Occasionally, there would be several days where she didn’t sleep, only for her to remember and sleep for a day or two afterward. Yet tonight she was tired. So many things were happening at once. Her son going to the academy, she and Bolx cementing their relationship, and the summons to return to the humans.
She hadn’t told Saasha about the summons that had arrived a few days earlier, but she knew she couldn’t keep it quiet for much longer. Pura was getting worse, and she needed to become the official heir and train in the ways of being royalty. She sighed as she settled in bed, cradling a pillow to her chest as she lay on her right side to view the strip of light that came from the lounge under the door. She was glad that Bolx would be coming with her, but she wasn’t sure if this was what she wanted anymore.
She knew Pura needed an heir, but she had become so used to being a fighter, she didn’t know if she could slot back into the royal duties she had been trained to do as a child. She rolled to her back and looked up at the ceiling. She had to do this, but she had a nagging feeling that her every move was being watched and she didn’t know how to protect herself or those around her. She hoped that between her brother and Bolx, they could determine what the young prince had been working on.
She was so lost in her musings that she jumped when the bedroom door opened, and she heard Bolx softly saying good night to the prince who made his way to the upper levels of the house.
“I want to say he’s a good kid, but he’s far more mature than his age lets on.” Said Bolx as he closed the door.
“How can you tell when I am awake?”
“I see in the dark, your eyes were open.” He chuckled and came to sit on the bed before kicking his shoes off and lying on top of the covers.
They lay in silence for a while before Saita said, “I can’t imagine what you must have gone through.”
Bolx opened his mouth to say something, but Saita continued.
“You were twenty-eight when we came to Saith, right? I met you about two years before that.”
Bolx could hear the sadness within her voice, knowing what she was going to say next.
“You only had six months with her after the last surgery, didn’t you?”
Bolx rode out the emotional pain that hit him in the chest. He was surprised that Saita had been able to be so close in her guess. It had, in fact, been only four and a half months and so much had happened in that time. He had nearly lost her, grew close once more, the accidental pregnancy, and then here.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered, “I never once truly considered how hard it must have been to see me in this timeline.
She rolled over and draped an arm over his chest before placing her forehead against the side of his neck. She wanted to say more, but he stopped her.
“You wouldn’t have known what I had gone through, and I still think it is unfair of me to tell you any of this.” He rolled with a sigh as he placed his forehead against hers.
“I already told you; I accept this.”
“I am grateful, but Saita, is this what you truly want?”
She sighed softly and whispered, “I have a family of my choosing, what I have always wanted. This is what I want.”
“Then I am happy that I am part of your family.”
Next week we start to see the cracks in the Fell Dragon's mind beginning and Saita's return to the humans. Until then, enjoy the update!
For those of you who have never heard of Fell Dragon you can find Book 1 here, Book 2 here, Book 3 here, and Book 4 here, Book 5 here, and Book 6 here
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. I love discussing my books!
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
Saasha’s Direct Family
Saith Characters Recap
Human Characters Recap
Alternate Timeline Brucel
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Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 20>>You are Here>>Part 22
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