Warrior (Princesses of Myth #2)

Silas eased in behind me, covering my back as those surrounding us murmured softly between them.

Maslin broke through the crowd, drawing two people along with him. “Hope, I told my grandparents of your skill.” He extended one hand toward a man with bright copper hair and brown eyes, and were it not for the slightly darker tone of his skin, I wouldn’t have been able to tell grandfather and grandson apart. “This is Menalew Sol.”

His grandfather smiled. “Welcome to the compound. I look forward to getting to know you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” I dipped my head respectfully.

Maslin set his arm around the shoulders of the woman who stood at his other side. “My grandmother, Merie.”

The petite woman had a dash of freckles across her smooth skinned nose and long auburn hair coiled into a braid that dangled to her hips. “Maslin has spoken of you. Welcome.”

“Thank you. I’m truly glad to be here.”

More people arrived, including Goldie, who reappeared at my side.

Menalew cleared his throat. “Maslin told us of your plight and your skill of mind-merge. We have one of the elders searching for Elizara Sol. She is the youngest sister of Katerin, who left our clan thirty-six years ago. I knew your grandmother. We played together as children.”

I clutched at my chest, my heartbeat fluttering all over the place.

“Relax,” Silas snapped along our telepathic link. “Our hearts beat in tandem. It’s incredibly uncomfortable when yours doesn’t keep good time.”

“You’re the one who aligned our hearts. Deal with it.” I reached for Goldie and pulled her closer. “This is Goldie, my aunt, and behind me is Silas.”

Menalew welcomed Goldie.

Silas groaned. “What kind of introduction is that? Behind me is Silas?”

“What would you have preferred?” I itched to move. “This is real, isn’t it?”

“Yes. You’re nervous. I’m not surprised.”

“Pinch me now so I know I’m not dreaming.”

“Gladly.”

I jumped as his fingers nipped my waist.

Goldie nudged my arm, her gaze moving beyond the crowd. “Look, I think that’s Elizara Sol.”

I was up on my toes, searching as all hushed.

A woman clutching the folds of her white robes dashed forward. She had golden hair, silky and long, pinned with a jeweled clip, which sparkled in the last rays of the day. Chestnut-brown eyes, the edges rimmed with a lighter shade of milk chocolate met mine.

My chest tightened and Silas mumbled something, his words lost to me as I blinked back tears.

“Don’t cry.” Elizara’s voice wobbled as she stepped up to me. “I’m overjoyed. They said you are Hope, my sister’s grandchild.” She clasped my face between her shaky hands. “Katerin was outlawed from here, but I can come to her. Where is she?” She peered over my head.

Trembling, I gripped her hands. “I’m sorry. I’ve never met Katerin, and I don’t know where she is. My father raised me in Dralion. I live on the same station in the outback as Maslin.” She must not know where Katerin was either.

“Oh, I had hoped. The elder who came for me said you had mind-merge.” She closed her eyes and the lightest of touches brushed my mind then drew away. “I feel a link from you to the one behind you.” She scrutinized Silas. “You are connected strongly to him. Good. You cannot be without him.”

“How did you do that?” She’d tracked my merge to Silas, somehow, although she hadn’t intruded.

Her lips tipped upward at the corners, a small smile forming. “You have much to learn and I will gladly teach you. Within this desert clan, some have mind-merge, although that knowledge is kept close to home. We cannot have outsiders know of the greatest weakness of these few, because reliance is the way of the skill.”

“I want to know everything.”

“Then you will need to stay, but to begin, Katerin was exiled. Her mate, Nathwer, left with her thirty-six years ago. What of you?”

“My mother was abandoned in an orphanage on Earth when she was three days old. The nuns named her after her mother. Her name is Kate.”

“Your mother is well?”

“Yes, and she recently returned to live in Dralion with my father. I have a twin too, but my mother raised Faith in New Zealand.”

A murmur came from those assembled, their collective voices whispering, “Her mother mustn’t have mind-merge.”

“No.” I answered them. “Kate also never knew Katerin Sol. Her mother never returned for her.”

Heavy gasps. Lots of them. Our children were adored above all else, being raised within villages by their immediate and extended family. None was ever abandoned as I had just described.

“If we’d known of your mother’s whereabouts, one of us would have retrieved her from Earth and brought her here. I’m so sorry.” Large tears slipped from Elizara’s eyes.

“No, it’s okay. You didn’t know.” Her pain quickly became mine as our blood-bond cemented. She was family, without a doubt.