Page 204 of A Soul to Guide

Now he was stuck on Earth while she was here.

Merikh had the sun stone, but unless he could figure out the key spell, he wouldn’t be able to activate it.

I’ll never be able to go back to him.She couldn’t make another portal, and entering Jabez’s from this side was suicide.

“Someone take her from here,” Cykran demanded, turning his head away from her. “She needs rest. I think that realm or creature did something to her mind.”

“I’ll give you rest,” she hissed as she lunged for him again, only to be pulled back.

She just kicked her legs and yelled, fighting desperately for an outlet. She’d never been violent before, had never truly tried to hit or attack anyone, but she wanted to beat the ever-living hell out of him right now.

She also wanted to turn to Mericato, the head of their security division, and show him what her small fists were made of. He’d shoved her through the portal and had done nothing to stop his soldiers, no matter how much she’d begged him to.

They could all go to hell right now. She’d happily send them there.

Tears were flinging from her face, and her hair was waving around her like a mess. She probably looked like a shrieking banshee as she fought against the people holding her back.

“Let go of me!” How many times would she have to say this today?

“Raewyn Daefaren, calm down this instant,” a booming voice bellowed, echoing off the palace chamber they were in.

Her spine went rigid, and all heat washed out of her from the sternness of her father’s voice. She turned to him with her head lowering, simultaneously clenching her fists at her sides.

“I raised you better than this,” he said as he stood there with his arms folded, his lips flat in a disapproving line. “Cykran spent days helping the people who were able to save you, and this is how you repay him? Them?”

He loosened an arm so he could wave it to those on the right of her.

Her tears bubbled faster as she looked over to her father. He looked so tired from the last time she’d seen him, and she hated the disappointed scowl he gave her. She always felt a certain way about his neatly cut, bearded face, especially when it looked that way at her.

She’d often strived to never receive it.

He was usually so cheerful, caring, and protective. The kind of man who was easy to make laugh, and who found it even easier to make others laugh. His anger was exceptionally rare, which made it more frightening.

“You don’t understand,” she said through gritted teeth, her fists tightening. “None of you understand.”

“Come, petal. Let’s get you looked at,” her mother cooed as she placed her arm over her shoulders and steered her. “You look so skinny. You’re worrying me.”

“I always looked skinny!” Raewyn’s outraged yell was loud, but she bit her lips shut when she finally looked up to see the eyes gawking at her.

The other seventeen councilmembers were watching her act immaturely, and she’d always held herself with such composure before this. She had to, as they could often be judgemental. Embarrassment soared, and it only made her feel more pitiful.

She’d had an outburst in front of them, in front of her parents, and the soldiers who had worked so hard to help. They thought they’d saved her from a monster, when really, they’d just separated her from someone she cared for dearly.

Raewyn just cried into her hands and let her parents guide her. Footsteps followed them, but she didn’t turn to check who it was.

She didn’t care right then. She just wanted to weep and be heartbroken.

Not even the comfort of being home brought her any joy at the loss she suffered. With red outlining her sight like a glow of flames, she didn’t bother to look at the white walls of the tree palace, or the bronze, silver, gold melted into the gaps. She didn’t look up to examine the purple and pink leaves through the windows, or downwards to marvel at the black obsidian ground.

“You should be happy,” her father sighed. “Do you know how difficult it was for Thorill to find you?”

Thorill was a portal expert. He was old, but that gave him the experience of once working with them. He’d been a portal stone maker and navigator in the past and had opened many portals to find people to connect with.

He was wise, and Raewyn had always respected him and his field – despite the fact that he wasn’t allowed to experiment with it any longer.

“It took him and his chosen team weeks to figure out where you’d gone,” her father continued, his back straight and proud as he walked beside her wrapped in her mother’s arms. “Of all the places you could have gone to, I don’t know if you were lucky or unlucky you ended up on Earth. We feared you would be eaten before we found you.”

“We were so worried, petal,” her mother chimed in.

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