Then Siban was there, crowding in to bend over her and clutch her hand. “Are you all right? Can you hear me?”
She opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. Her throat felt dry and raspy, her breathing labored. The smallest action took a great amount of effort. Tremors rippled through her body as her sluggish blood started pumping more quickly through her veins. She wiggled her toes, which sent a cold push of blood up and into her heart, causing her to shudder and convulse again.
King Gregory moved to Rell’s side, gazed upon her for a few seconds, and then nodded to somebody beyond her vision. Her mother and sister stepped forward.
“This will be over in a few seconds.” Jade lifted the thin fabric of the chemise Rell wore to just below her breasts. “You’ll be much stronger after Gregory brings you to full power.”
Unable to speak, Rell watched the man raise a dagger. Her heart beat faster. If not for Jade’s words of assurance, Rell would have believed Gregory was about to kill her, and the weakness of her body would have prevented her from stopping him.
“In death there is life.” He made a sign in the air above Rell’s body with the knife. “In sacrifice, return.”
More voices joined the chant. Again the hiss of herbs and their scent wafted around her. The three women who had returned her soul to her body laid their hands along different parts of Rell’s legs and torso. Warmth flooded her.
“All barriers destroyed and evil be spurned.” Gregory pressed the cold blade against the bare skin next to her heart. “No hindrance remain, from our blood be renewed.” Without warning, he made a shallow cut. The pain stung along her upper rib but was nothing compared to what she’d already been through. “That which was taken, settle in those who Bring true.”
Like a torch touched to dry timber, her body exploded as if on fire. Heat raced through every vessel, filling it with strength and burning away the cold chill of death. Rell gasped and arched away from the table but firm hands held her down. Siban’s low whispers helped keep her rooted in the present when her body and mind threatened to shatter into a thousand fiery sparks.
The sensation of choking pulled at her throat. She gasped, her eyes growing wide as panic gripped her. A white vapor spilled from her mouth and hovered above her face briefly before descending to cover her. A searing sting burned just below her bottom lip and the cloud evaporated, leaving her alert, but not completely free of pain.
Willa’s hand smoothed back her hair. Rell exhaled heavily and let her body relax against the table. Her throat still burned from thirteen years of inactivity.
“Water.” The word rasped from her.
Within seconds, a goblet of water appeared before her. Willa and Siban helped her to a sitting position and Jade held the edge of the goblet to her lips. The cool liquid soothed her burning throat. Rell coughed when her reflex to swallow threatened to rebel. Another sip—each cell of her body absorbing the first trace of drink in more than a decade.
She brought a shaking hand to her mouth and wiped. “Thank you.”
Nobody spoke, all eyes trained on her as if expecting her to do something—anything.
The woman named Meran approached. “How do you feel?”
Her emotions were too chaotic and contradictory. Happy that she’d made it through the healing. Grateful for a chance to live her human life again. Yet bereft over losing the nearly indestructible demon body that had protected her soul. Rell sighed. “Human again.”
Every person in the room seemed to relax, the tension melting into joyous chatter. What she said was true. She did feel human. Her muscles quivered with weakness and Rell couldn’t help but lament the loss of the strength her demon form had possessed. The skin she wore felt awkward and foreign. It was smooth and soft, so unlike the taut, thick hide of the Bane. Though her hair cascaded down her back, there was no burden of the small, weighty horns. But the thing she tried hardest not to miss was her wings. Now earthbound, she would no longer know the freedom of flight.
She looked at Meran. “I felt you during the struggle. You helped me.”
The young woman’s smile held a hint of the ethereal, as if she knew more than most and was among them for a higher purpose. Rell recognized Meran’s strength. She’d experienced it firsthand. Never would she underestimate this petite Bringer.
“I’m a Redeemer. It’s my duty to save souls—sometimes from the brink of the Abyss.” She indicated Ravyn and the other Bringer woman. “My sisters Ravyn and Juna were there too. We are the Trilation. Three to battle the darkness.” She shrugged. “You were our first successful attempt.”
“I’m very happy you succeeded.” Rell glanced at the other sisters. “I owe you my life.”
“You owe us nothing,” Gregory said. “It is us who owe you. This is a great day for the Bringers. We would not have known if the conversion would be successful without your cooperation. You were strong as a Bane and will be even stronger as a Bringer.”
She had been a strong Bane, but not nearly the strongest. His praise left a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. The line of Bringers blocked her view of the other table. “What happened to my demon form?”
The quick glances exchanged between some of the Bringers were not lost on her.
“Come.” Siban held out his hand. “We will say good-bye to her together.”
She hesitated only a second before accepting his hand. With an arm around her waist, he helped her stand. The Bringers parted to reveal the table on which she’d lain at the beginning of her healing. Her steps shuffled forward until she stood at the edge of the wooden slab.
As if created by a master sculpture, her demon form appeared to be only sleeping. No longer the pearlescent green, the skin had turned gray. When Rell reached out to touch a talon, the claw crumbled to ash. She jerked away. Like a row of children’s blocks that had been lined up and then pushed over, the ripple moved along the demon body.
First the hand she’d touched, then the arm and shoulder. The ash dropped and lay in neatly formed piles. Rell didn’t move, only watched as the body that had been her for thirteen years, disintegrated into gray powder. She wanted to scoop it up, to try and stop its destruction. Logically, there was no reason to want the reminder of all she’d been through, but the demon body had been a part of her—had protected her in a ruthless world.
When the last trace of her Bane form had fallen to ash, Rell turned away and looked at Gregory. “What now?”
He inhaled and scanned the crowd of Bringers. “Now we train.” He paused. “We have more Bringers to save.”
Chapter Three
Rell stared at herself in the mirror. The black wool-and-leather pants and tunic Ravyn had given her hung loose on her thin frame, but she liked the ease of movement that the clothes allowed her.
It had been three days since she’d retaken her human body—three days to become accustomed to its weaknesses. When she’d first been shown her image, she’d looked about sixteen. Meran had told her she would change until she matched her present age and then grow older almost imperceptibly from there on. Rell appeared to be around eighteen years old now. Still fresh-faced, but she no longer possessed the childlike roundness.
She smoothed her hand over her cheek. Even though she appeared nearly the same as the day she had been taken, the face that stared back at her was practically a stranger. Soon she would look her full twenty-eight years. She sighed, a twinge of vanity pinching her. Most women had the luxury of aging gradually. She would gain ten years within the next month. At least from that point on she would have centuries to grow used to her appearance.