Page 29 of The Erion Triad

“Yes?” She licked dry lips.

“Tell me why you went to the tower. It’s important.” His gaze never left hers.

She nodded. “I had to get the crystal. It… was imperative that I went there. I got to the tower and I took it and then…”

“What do you remember after that, Lucie?”

She frowned, shaking her head. She had been at the tower. Kyel told her not to take the crystal, but the voice was insistent. She knew she shouldn’t have touched the crystal, knew it was wrong, but she’d done it anyway.

“I just wanted the voice to stop,” she said. “That’s all. It… it never let me be. It was always there, telling me what to do. What to say. It… it controlled me.”

The weather outside turned dark with a burgeoning storm. Daylight dimmed as black clouds rolled in from the distance. The warm air grew chilled as thunder boomed right outside the window. She jumped, and Juliran wrapped both arms about her. She soaked up the protection he offered, trying to stop trembling, but not quite managing it.

“Where did that storm come from?” Zaen said.

“I don’t think it’s a storm,” Kyel said. “What did you want stopped, Lucie? You can tell us. We’re your mates. We’re here to help you.”

“You… won’t be mad?” She’d be mad if someone had done what she had to them. The crystal was sacred to their people. It meant a return to fertility. People could find their own mates and have children. There had been no children born in years. Yet, she’d still touched it.

Zaen sat next to Lucie on her other side and threaded his fingers through hers. “We are your mates.”

His touch was like a balm, and she firmed her grip.

Kyel placed his palm over her cheek. She tilted her face into his touch. Outside the rain eased off and the thunder became a distant rumble.

“I will never be mad with you, Lucie,” he said.

She tested to see if the voice was there yelling in her mind and causing migraine after migraine to keep her silent. There’d been so many times she’d gone to tell them, and then it had started threatening them and her head had pounded. She had to keep them safe. They didn’t deserve anything bad happening to them.

“If I tell you, it will hurt you.” She put her hands over her mouth, scared that it might have heard her.

In the distance, thunder grumbled.

And yet, she wasn’t on their planet. She wasn’t subjected to the same rules as before. Possibly, if she didn’t tell them now, she would never get the chance again. She might never return from the trap of her mind. Her mates might be taken away from her forever and she would never see them again. For what it was worth, they had a right to know why she acted like she did. She owed them that, at least.

Yet the words died in her throat and she couldn’t even force them out. Her breath chopped in and out of her lungs and a hot, slick sweat coated her skin. She bit her lip so hard she broke the skin and yet the words remained stuck. She was so scared if she said anything it would fulfil its threat. She’d learned to be terrified and it had taught her lessons very well.

“It won’t hurt us because we will fight back. All of us together. You don’t have to do this on your own anymore. Tell me, sweetheart. We’re here for you,” Kyel said, drawing a trail down her cheek with the tip of his finger.

The voice in her head remained blessedly silent. Perhaps it had finally gone? She didn’t know. All she knew was that she was stronger with her mates. She needed to use that strength before it was too late.

The muscle ticked at Kyel’s temple, his eyes slightly narrowed, but they weren’t aimed at her. She knew that. He wanted to protect her. All the times she’d kept silent and didn’t tell them about the voice didn’t seem to be as important now. Looking at him, she should have known he would fight for her. That he was a hundred times more skilled than she was. It seemed so silly to have kept that all to herself, but the voice was just so persuasive—and terrifying.

She took a deep breath in and released it slowly.Do it, do it, do it. Just do it. Her throat eased enough to allow her to talk, and once she started, the words tumbled out, one tripping after the other.

“The voice. It started when the reptiles made me touch the crystal. It’s been there all along. Telling me things. Making me do things. It said… said it would hurt you all if I didn’t do them. I just wanted to keep you all safe. I didn’t want you to get hurt.” Her tears fell in earnest now, falling so fast and hard she had no hope of stopping them. “It said if I didn’t touch the crystal, that it would kill all of you.”

Kyel opened his mouth as if to respond.

Outside, there was a flash of light, and a thunderous crack. The window exploded into thousands of tiny shards.

Chapter Twelve

Zaen

Lucie screamed, but Juliran firmed his grasp over her shoulders and held her tiny, shaking form against the protection of his body. Zaen rushed to the window while Kyel checked her for any injuries.

A storm coiled in from a black horizon. Clouds billowed and rolled towards them, increasing in speed as they devoured city buildings. Wind whipped the curtains so hard that one side tore free, and the end flapped over Lucie’s bed.

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