Page 30 of Rhaz's Redemption
Reluctantly, he dropped his arms from around my legs and walked back to my mother.
“Why don’t you wait for me by that fountain while I say goodbye to Rhaz too,” she suggested.
Bhaz’s eyes lit up at the sight of the tall fountain covered in a mosaic of beautiful stones and tile. It shimmered like a rainbow with a light all its own.
“Okay!” He dropped her hand and ran toward the sparkling water and my mother turned her attention back to me.
“He’s my son, isn’t he? My future son.” The familiarity I had with him was too strong to be coincidence, and the way my mother looked at us as if we were already a family confirmed what I’d already been feeling.
“Yes.” A wide smile spread across her face. “When his time comes to return to the land of the living, his soul will choose to be with you. But until that time he’ll live with me along with the grandparents he met during his most recent lifetime.”
Bhaz. His name made me think of how Tarak and Gab-bae combined their names to make Tabby. Those brown eyes… I’d seen them before…
“Ask your question, son, and do not be afraid of the answer.” My mother encouraged.
“Is he the son of Beatrice as well? Is he our son?”
“Yes.”
Her answer shook me to my core. I’d been so adamant about rejecting any notion of having a family, and now here I was looking at the son I’d have with the female I cared most about in the entire universe. I’d been such a fool.
“Will I mistreat him like Dameron mistreated me?”
My mother took my hand and assured me, “that’s entirely up to you, but I think you’ve figured out the truth. You are not like Dameron. The path before you is much different than his, and much brighter.”
“Is he destined to repeat this fate? Will he die young in his next lifetime?”
“It was his destiny to die young in the lifetime he just lived. How long he’ll live with you and Beatrice is unknown even to me.”
I nodded my head in understanding. Now that my mother had crossed over to the other side, she had much knowledge andwisdom that I did not, but even her special knowledge extended only so far.
My mother pulled me in for a hug and confessed, “I wish I could tell you more, but that is all I know.”
“My time is running out isn’t it?” She always hugged me right before I was forced to leave.
“Yes, I wish I could go with you, but it’s not my time yet.”
“I love you, mom,” I whispered as I held back my tears. These goodbyes never got any easier.
“I love you too.”
Her voice was the last thing I heard as my soul was yanked from the realm of the dead back to the land of the living. There was complete darkness and then there was pain, so much pain.
A groan ripped from my throat as I regained consciousness. Everything hurt. Every muscle, every ligament, every inch of me was racked with pain.
“See, what did I tell you? He’s impossible to kill, but your act of bravery has won me over. I’ll let you fight with my hunters when the other dekes comes. You will fight to free the females they’ve trapped and when they see you and all your strength there will surely be one who will want to lay with you.”
“I want a female to love and protect, not one just for mating.” Gil huffed. He’d returned to his natural state. He still had four arms, but he was a similar height to Drovo and had a strong build like Tarak.
“Sure, whatever pleases you.” Dameron waved his comment away.
“I told them not to come,” I said. “They won’t waste their time saving me.”
I prayed that I was wrong. I didn’t want to be trapped here. I wanted to get back to Beatrice. I wanted to warn Tarak that my sire had something planned.
“They might not come to save you, but they’ll come to steal back the females I plan to save from their barbaric ways,” my sire purred knowing his words would strike me right through the heart.
“Stay away from them! Don’t go near our mountain!” I growled.
