Page 223 of The Lands Defying
“Cazier?” Darius asks, and I blink my eyes open to see her nod.
At least now I know Darius hears her too.
“Come, there is much to discuss,”She says, gesturing before her.
Darius’s hands land on my cheeks, his jaw ticking. “You okay?” I nod, leaning into his touch as he nudges his nose with mine. “We will leave whenever you want. Just say the word.”
“Okay.” He grabs my hand and leads me down the stairs to the left.
Runa and Drax move ahead of us, their tails wagging as they rush to Zahariss. Her chuckle echoes in my mind as she greets them, nuzzling their necks.
I can feel the affection she has for them from here, and despite the emotional turmoil I just went through, the sight warms me.
Once we reach the floor, we head to Zahariss and stop a few feet away. She’s so tall, my head barely comes up to her ankle.
“I am a God, of course I am large.”I blush, hiding half of my face in Darius’s arm as she chuckles.“Now, now, none of that. Let me take a look at you.”
I let go of Darius hesitantly when he gives me an encouraging nod. I stand before her, the wolves now playing with each other off to the side as I watch Zahariss assess me.
“Just like your mother.”I pick at my nails to stop the emotions those words cause.“You who have been through so much pain and heartache, it’s no wonder Cazier decided to share his own.”She shakes her head.“I’ll be having words with him shortly.”
“He’s here?” Darius asks, looking around.
“In ways.”A tinge of sadness nestles in her tone and my brows furrow.“Now, you have questions I suspect, speak freely, Heir of mine.”
The picking of my fingers worsens, and Darius takes my hand, holding it between both of his as he rubs over them soothingly.
“Why did you leave us?” I ask quietly, as if it is wrong to do so. “The lands are rotting, and you have been nowhere to be seen for years. Do you not care anymore? Did you abandon us?”
Zahariss pauses for a moment, seemingly to think of her answer.“I have never left the lands, at least not in spirit, just physically,”she says.“I know that you already know that. You can feel me all around the lands, in you.”I nod, because I have.“But physically,”she says, looking behind her for a moment.“I had no choice but to leave and stay here. Sit, I will tell you.”
I sit down in the grass, crossing my legs as I look up to Darius. He looks behind him and then back to Zahariss with a question in his eyes.
Zaharis lets loose a soft laugh,“She is safe here, Heir of Cazier. I assure you.”He tilts his head for a moment and then nods, sitting next to me.
He makes sure his knee is touching mine, and he leans back slightly, his arm coming across my back, palm on the ground.
“It runs deep, doesn’t it, Heir of Cazier,”Zaharias says, laying down herself and looking between us.
Darius hesitates before nodding. Zahariss nods back and I’m left wondering what it means in their gazes. Before I can ask, she starts to speak.
“To have made the lands, we leave a tiny piece of us in everything. From the water to the mountains, to a tree and a deer. Cazier and I wanted somewhere to reside, to call our home. But of course, over time that became lonely with just the two of us. So we decided to create you.”
“The people,” I say.
“Correct. With that, we wanted to give the gift of being a wolf, to let people run and feel freedom, to glide on four paws. It didn’t work very well at first, we had so many failures. Until we realized one day that the best time to give the people their wolves would be at the age of somewhat maturity.”
“Eighteen,” Darius says.
Another nod.“Giving wolves requires some of our power and with that, over the many moon cycles, the people evolved the more or less we gave. Some had power along with their wolves, some came to be witches, as you know them to be. Some went to the other lands and procreated to make something completely new. Some got greedy.”
My heart is in my throat at the sudden tone in her voice.
“In our ignorance, Cazier and I, we didn’t see the danger until it was too late. We were happy to share the land with others, to watch life bloom and die, to watch the balance of the cycle repeat again and again, each one bringing something new. The first instance when we thought something was wrong, was the creation of a bloodmate.”
“Wait,” I sit up straighter. “What?”
“You didn’t create that?” Darius asks.
