Page 32 of Emerald Waves
Light bursts swam in front of my eyes, shimmering with aqua and the brilliant green of sea grass. A sense of wrongness washed over me, along with the twisty, turbulent disorientation I’d experienced beneath the waves. One moment my mind was as silent as I could force it to be, the next, there was nothing but the mind splitting sound that had nearly been my undoing.
Sharp. Violent. I pressed a hand to my head, swayed, and would have hit the floor had Ionus’ not caught me. The thundering feet of our brother’s rushing into the room were the next thing I was dimly aware of, along with my dragons’ face swimming up behind my eyes, glaring as he hissed at me. There was a heaviness in my limbs when I struggled to pull away, and I could scarcely make them work, let alone muster up enough power to be successful.
My feeble efforts resulted in barely a twitch of motion and my brother’s scoffing grumble as he guided me to the couch.
What’s wrong? What’s happening?
Great, now I’d even gone and worried my mate.
Nothing but the memory I told you about, I explained, refusing to lie to him.It just caught me off guard.
What my dragon felt from yours was more than just off guard, it was blinding pain and a sense of being fractured.
I’m fine. It’s faded already.
Harrumph.
Great, another one determined to put an end to my keeping secrets. His face swam into view, and I felt horrible for pulling him away from the joy of just getting to know the babies. His hands cupped my cheek, holding my head steady so he could peer into my eyes, only I couldn’t focus on him. That sense of wrongness was back, like I was about to be smacked withanother wave of sound, only this time I braced for it, grit my teeth and fought to shield while enduring the intensity.
When it was over, I sagged forward, the weight of me against Emerson’s slight form nearly sent him tumbling over backward.
“He encountered something underwater,” I heard Emerson say, from what sounded like a thousand fathoms away. “It disoriented him and forced his dragon to retreat, leaving him human and vulnerable. There is a statue he brought back with him from his trip. We haven’t had the opportunity to research it yet, but he found it after the encounter. I’m starting to think it might be connected to these bouts of sound memory he’s experiencing. We shared a fraction of recollection earlier, and it was loud enough to startle me. It echoes in his mind even when he tries to block it out.”
If I didn’t block it out I doubt I’d be capable of much.
Then let your brother help you.
I thought we were going to figure it out together?
Many heads make easier solutions.
Do not get philosophical on me right now Emerson, please.
You are the most stubborn dragon I’ve ever met.
And you are…trying to help, I know, but this is not the way I handle things. I do not crawl to my brother and beg him to fix the things I screw up. It might take a ton of trial, error and brooding, but I correct them on my own, when I can keep him out of my head and my affairs long enough to manage it.
That’s ego talking. You have never been a singular I, and yet I sense from your dragon his frustration over you rarely allowing his help either. How can you divide out parts of yourself this way? We are mates, which means you are not only cutting me out now but my dragon too. Brood if you must, but you aren’t going to tackle this one alone, I forbid it.
Forbid it? Seriously? Do you really think you can…
Whatever else I was about to think to him was cut off by that sound again, and there was no blocking to keep him, or my brothers from hearing it. Writhing, I pressed my head to the arm of the couch and shook as pain coursed through my head, like someone had taken a scrub brush made of broken glass and drug it over my brain.
My dragon was in agony too, his roars a dim echo beneath that other sound. I kept them all from experiencing this with me that day under the water, but I was helplessly caught in its web now with no way to protect any of us.
“We need answers and to study that artifact right fucking now!” My usually unflappable elder brother declared. “Where is it?”
“Our horde.”
“Has he given you access yet?”
“Just a few hours ago.”
“Odem, go with Emerson to retrieve it, in case something happens when he touches it.”
No! No!! No!!!
I could barely think the words, while speech, at the moment, was impossible.
