Darcy’s gaze transferred to Excoria. She looked scared shitless, which served Excoria right for killing her. She sniffed. Now no one would ever know what had happened to her. The wolf could dine on them for a solid week. Her bones would be buried all over the neighbors’ estate.
Eww.
“No, don’t hurt me,” Excoria screamed.
A hawk suddenly flew into the room, circled, then landed on the coffee table. Next came a jaguar, then a unicorn.
Wow, she was really tripping. If this was what drugs were all about, she wanted no part of them. Although the unicorn was pretty. Still, she’d much rather live in the real world. Except that would never happen.
A tear slipped from the corner of her eye as a heavy fog rolled across the room. This must be the end. Everything was getting foggy. Good-bye, Mom and Dad. Good-bye, Surlock. Oh, God, they could’ve been so good together.
The fog began to clear.
Maybe this wasn’t the end just yet. She blinked, but her eyes were still filled with tears so it was hard to tell what exactly she was looking at.
Had she died and gone to heaven? There were three naked men and a naked woman in the room and the animals were gone. She blinked again.
One of the men was Surlock. What a nice fantasy to have before she checked out. Damn, she was so sleepy, she couldn’t … she couldn’t …
She closed her eyes on a sigh.
CHAPTER 30
Surlock rushed over to Darcy and began untying the ropes that bound her wrists. He glanced at the woman who was cringing on the sofa, immediately recognizing her. She’d thrown herself at him more than once on New Symtaria, but he’d rejected her advances, knowing that she only wanted his wealth.
“Darcy, I’m here. Can you hear me?”
Nothing. Darcy didn’t move.
“I should kill you for this, Excoria,” he said.
“You can’t. It’s against Symtarian law.” Her voice trembled.
“Maybe I’ll get my father to change the law. He is, after all, the king.”
Excoria whimpered
“What did you shoot her with?” Rogar asked.
“Perepsicol mostly,” she whispered. “But I added the sleeper so she wouldn’t have pain. I’m not so cruel that I would want her to suffer,” she whined.
Karinthia had grabbed one of the sheets that covered a piece of furniture and was tucking the end between her breasts, but when she heard Excoria’s words, she drew in a sharp breath. “The drug of death. Do you have the antidote?” She didn’t wait for Excoria to answer, but rushed to the box on the floor and began searching inside.
“The green capsule, but it may be too late,” Excoria whispered.
Surlock hurled himself toward Excoria and wrapped his fingers around her throat. “By the gods, I’ll kill you for this,” he growled. He wanted her dead, no matter the outcome, no matter the consequences.
Rogar grabbed his hands, but couldn’t break his hold. Surlock watched Excoria’s eyes begin to bug out and felt intense satisfaction.
“Kristor, I can’t break his hold,” Rogar said.
“Leave me!” Surlock told his brothers, but they didn’t listen and pulled him off Excoria.
Excoria grabbed her throat, coughing, then curled into a ball and began to cry hysterically.
“Our laws will take care of her,” Rogar told him. “Would you end Excoria’s suffering now? Or let it carry out through the rest of her life?”
At his words, Excoria began to cry louder.
“You’re right,” Surlock agreed.
“I have the antidote.” Karinthia loaded the capsule, aimed, and shot Darcy.
Darcy’s body barely flinched when the pellet entered. Surlock knew they might be too late. He couldn’t lose her, not after just finding her again.
“I have to cast a circle,” Karinthia told him, placing her hand on his arm.
“Can you do it alone?” Surlock asked.
Her expression was grave. “I don’t know, but I will try.”
“What can we do?” Kristor asked.
Karinthia scanned the room. “Take her to the long table.” She pointed to the other room. “Lay her on it.” She turned to the eldest of the siblings. “Rogar, you help Surlock. Kristor, bind the rogue.”
“With pleasure.” He walked toward Excoria.
Excoria tried to shrink into the sofa.
Kristor might not be the oldest, but he was the largest. He controlled the security on New Symtaria. No one dared invade their planet. He did not take kindly to someone in his family being threatened.
Surlock lifted Darcy’s limp body and carried her to the table while Rogar cleared the surface with one sweep of his hand. Darcy reminded Surlock of a broken doll. Only traces of the makeup she’d worn to the party streaked her face, and her dress was torn and tattered so that it barely covered her.
After he laid her gently down, he took her hand and raised it to his lips. Her skin was cold, lifeless. “Darcy, you can’t leave me,” he said. He knelt beside the table and began to pray.
Karinthia hurried from the room. When he heard her return a few minutes later, he looked up and saw his brothers had also knelt beside the table to pray with him.
They stood up as their sister placed on the table a wineglass, a knife and five small stones she must have found outside.
Rogar and Kristor had both donned sheets, knotting them at the waist. Rogar caught Surlock’s frown and smiled.
“We remember how our soul mates reacted to our nakedness. We don’t want to frighten your soul mate when she comes back to you.”
“Will she come back to me?” Surlock asked and all the pain he felt came through his words.
Rogar gripped his shoulder. “Our sister is powerful. If anyone can bring Darcy back, it will be she.”
“It is time,” Karinthia said.
Surlock brushed his lips across Darcy’s, then the three brothers stepped away from the table, moving out of the circle his sister would cast. For as long as he could remember, men were not allowed in the women’s circles. The most powerful of all Symtarians were high-born women. Magic had been passed down from the goddesses for centuries, though sometimes a little would spill over to the men.
Surlock only prayed this would work. Was his sister strong enough without their mother and other two sisters? Could she bring Darcy back? He drew in a deep ragged breath. Karinthia had to succeed. If she didn’t, he would surely go crazy without Darcy in his life.
The three brothers quickly lowered their gazes so that their sister could create her magic.
Karinthia began to chant the prayer of strength and guidance. Then one by one she raised the stones, invoking the spirit of the goddess to join her.
Next she took a knife of silver and made a cut above her wrist and let her blood run into the glass, then bound her wound tight before she raised the crystal glass once again.
“To the goddess of light, I ask that you bring this woman out of the darkness and back to us. To the goddess of rain, I pray you wash her soul clean of pain and let her live again. To the goddess of fire, I pray you will warm her blood. To the goddess of wind, I ask that you breathe life back into her. I give the goddess my blood and call on the powers of light, wind, rain and fire to save this woman, soul of my brother.”
Glittery light swirled around the stones like a snake, then illuminated the table as though a bright light had been turned on. Next came fire. Flames licked at the stones, then engulfed the table. But before it could burn, gentle rain quieted the heat and the fire became a warm glow. As wind blew softly in, it brought the fragrance of life and all things living.
Surlock clenched his fists as he offered up his own prayer to the goddesses, begging them to give Darcy back her life, to give him back his life. Without her, he knew he couldn’t live.
Karinthia poured the blood over Darcy’s still form. For a moment, it looked as if nothing would happen, then a shining light began to appear in one corner of the room. Karinthia dropped to one knee and bowed her head. The brothers did the same.