Frowning, Talon asked, “What occurred?”
“We missed this object when we caged the prisoner. We tried to retrieve it this morning while he was investigating it, and he flew into a rage. Several officers were injured and have been transferred to the medic ward.”
“Will they recover?” Talon asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, what is it? Slide the contents out on my desk.” They walked to Talon’s desk, and I trailed Ryder to bring up the rear.
Here was that frightening sense of inevitability again. I almost didn’t want to know what was about to happen. I was afraid, but I walked toward the desk with everyone else anyway. There was a tug of energy from the pictures framed across part of the desk. In one picture, the profile of an older woman holding an infant caught my attention. Somehow I recognized her and was drawn to her, which was impossible because this was Ryder’s family, and I obviously didn’t know anyone but Asily.
And yet it was like she was reaching out to me, soothing me, telling me it was going to be okay.
Why did I need soothing? The feeling of dread doubled, and I suddenly wished I could be anywhere but right here. Hadn’t I been through enough? Couldn’t I just go home and pretend none of this had happened? I’d already accessed the damn Gods’ plane! I wanted to be done.
The officer tipped the bag sideways. As though in slow motion, out tumbled an achingly familiar heart charm that made me draw in breath. No, no, no more! I couldn’t handle all this volatile emotion. No. I didn’t want to know anymore. I’d had enough! Please!
My chest tightened. My breathing grew heavy. My vision grew tunneled. Blood rushed loudly as I tried to deny what I could see with my own eyes. It couldn’t be.
“Is that all?” Talon asked skeptically, dismissively.
“What is that?” Miara asked, picking up the charm. “It’s familiar to me. It must have significance. I’m sure it does.”
“He’s an animal. What significance can anything have?” Talon said with disdain.
“Taylor, are you okay?” Ryder was grasping my arms. “You’re like ice.”
Tell them, Taylor.
“Dreya?” I whispered shakily, hearing her voice in my head and suddenly knowing just who it was. Like a baseball bat to the head, dream memories slammed into my mind. For a few precious moments, it was like I couldn’t breathe, trying to gulp at the air like a fish out of water. The picture called to me, and my eyes were soothed as I saw Dreya’s profile on the edge of the desk. “Dreya, is that you?”
“My grandmother?” Ryder asked. “How do you know her?”
“Is she talking with you now?” Miara’s face was a study of shock.
Tell them. This is your part to play. You understand this truth now, don’t you?
“No. Please.” I whimpered as panic boiled over, and I shook my head, rejecting the evidence before me. “Why?”
“What is it, lin’de?” Ryder pulled me around to face him, looking concerned. “What’s wrong?”
You must. You know this.
“No!”
Your mother will be in danger if you don’t do this. You don’t have time to lose.
Silence stretched. Once again, all eyes were on me, with varying degrees of awe and confusion. I covered my face with shaking hands and felt on the verge of a breakdown. My world was being ripped apart, the pieces put back together in a random collage that was leaving me reeling, without any sense of self or foundation.
Taylor?
“Yes, I understand,” I whispered, and the other proverbial boot hit the ground with a magnificent, booming echo. The truth—the sick, awful truth of the charm, and its very telling meaning—hit home with a vengeance.
“Taylor, what’s happening? Why is my grandmother talking to you?”
With tears welling up in my eyes, fearful of what this news would bring, I looked back at the charm. Pulling my arms free of Ryder’s grasp, I gently took it from Miara with shaking fingers and cradled it in my palm, holding it before him. “My mother told me it’s a love charm. The hearts represent each married partner, and the pearl in the center is the newborn child protected by their love.”
Ryder’s eyes turned sharp. He went from having an expression of bewilderment to staring at me with fierce intensity, his look telling me that he was remembering the last time I’d shared this with him. He knew there was something important to this exchange, something he just wasn’t seeing.
“I’ve heard this.” Miara’s eyes snapped to me sharply. “When a child is born, a Brausiian child, this is the gift from the warrior to his life mate. I saw one of these. Long ago.”
“During the movement for peace?” Ryder asked.
His mother nodded, narrowing her eyes on me.
Tears spilled down my cheeks because I felt the significance. I looked up at Talon. He remained coldly impassive, staring down at me, but there were shadows there as he waited. I recognized them, now that I’d seen them on Ryder’s haunted visage.
“I was in his mind. His wife and child were killed in what he thinks of as an attack by the Sunan, and he holds you all responsible. He wants revenge.”
“But how would you know the symbolism of the charm?” Miara asked quietly. I sensed a core of strength in her to match Ryder’s and Dreya’s. They were good people just trying to survive. We were all survivors, but that didn’t mean we were all going to be friends, especially with the information I was about to share.
I looked up at Ryder and held out my arm, my mother’s bracelet glinting under the lights. Shiny and bright, the love charm that always brought tears to my mother’s eyes when she looked at it hung there. Clearly, the two charms were identical.
“It looks like my dad was a Brausiian warrior. He gave this to my mother when I was born, and before she disappeared, she gave it to me.”
Ryder’s face transformed almost as soon as he understood what I was saying. He stepped away. Angry dismay curled his lip. “What the hell are you saying? You don’t know what you’re saying. You have no idea about this.”
“Your mother received this charm from your father? You are Brausiian?” Talon’s tone was low and menacing. He pulled his mechanical device from his pocket. To do what with, I didn’t know.
“Yes.”
“She doesn’t know what she’s saying,” Ryder ground out.
“She’s our enemy,” Talon responded contemptuously. “Isn’t it obvious in the way she was arguing for the animal’s life?”
“I haven’t done anything to you,” I protested on a choked sob. My lungs squeezed with emotion, but I still backed away from him. “How could I be your enemy?” But it was so clear now. The animal. I was just poor white trash. I was trailer park. I was alone.
“Talon,” Miara said sharply. “Leave this.”
“We must protect ourselves! Our children!” Talon turned to the young soldier and commanded, “Make a cell ready. Take the prisoner.” The young soldier turned to me and grasped my arm with a firm grip.
“No!” I yanked on my arm to be free. The soldier’s fingers caught on my bracelet, and it broke. All of the charms scattered like confetti. I gasped. For several seconds, the silence echoed through my mind as I stared at the lifetime of dreams so carelessly scattered on the floor.
“No, no, no.” My anguished whisper came from the depths of my soul. The pain burned in my chest as I saw the representation of my mother’s heart and spirit scattered like rubbish.
Ryder growled through clenched teeth, backhanding the young man. He flew back on his ass. Ryder roared, “Do not touch her!”