Foretold (Daughters of Saraqael Book Three) (26 page)

Olivia almost always dressed conservatively. She had obviously decided to go a different route today. Instead of her usual short-sleeved top, tank or sundress in soft tones, she was wearing a striking midnight blue, halter-style top similar to Skye’s in that it revealed a hint of cleavage and ended just beneath her breasts. The designer had created thin, light green jewels in the shapes of leaves that hung around the bottom edge of the bra-like garment and caught the light as she moved. The flowing skirt that accompanied the outfit was held in place by a light green belt and sat low at the waist, providing an eye-popping view of her defined midsection. A long slit in the side of the skirt revealed almost the entire length of her leg as she stood on the front step with her hands on the alluring curves of her hips.

The only adornments she wore were her specially-crafted bracers, gifted to her by Uriel for use when she shot her bow. James thought they made her look like a warrior temptress.

“Hello, commander Balduin,” she said with a smile. “Nice to see you again.”

“Olivia,” Balduin returned, inclining his head politely. If James didn’t know any better, he might have thought his second commander was amused.

She turned to glance at the crowd, acting much like Skye had, as though she was entirely unaware of the reactions she had caused. With a small wave, she said, “And hello to all of you, as well. I’m James’ wife, Olivia. Nice to meet you. I hope you don’t mind that I’m about to steal him away. He’s about to help me…string my bow.”

She managed to make it sound like that was actually the last thing he was going to do with her. Incredulous glances shifted from her to James and back again. And when she looked up and gave him a small wink and infectious smile, he felt the same swell of pride that Caleb had experienced.

“Shall we?” she asked, reaching out to link her arm with his.

“See you guys later,” he said, not taking his eyes off her.

And without a backward glance, he turned with her and walked back inside the house, leaving the onlookers standing in shocked silence as the door closed behind them.

An hour later, Caleb and his family gathered with the elders on the large balcony overlooking the central gathering area of the homeland. Below them stood thousands of Gloresti, every member of the class who wasn’t currently paired with a Corgloresti and on the mainland. He stood beside Skye, breathing in her orange blossom scent and thinking back almost twenty years to when he stood among all of them, awaiting his fate.

How had he possibly been so lucky?

“Greetings, Gloresti,” Gabriel said then from the front of the balcony, his voice carrying to everyone with the help of his power. “It’s wonderful to be standing here once again after so many years. For many of you, this is the first time you’ve seen me since my return, and I thank you for your patience as I fulfilled my duties as your elder. For others, this is the first you are seeing me at all. I welcome you and look forward to meeting each of you.

“As those of you who remember me will note, I’ve undergone some changes since my transition. I assure you, this is very much for the better of all of us. After all, the reason I transitioned was for just such a change. While the physical changes weren’t expected,” and he exchanged a brief, amused glance with Amber, “they are inconsequential compared to the knowledge and understanding of human emotion that I managed to achieve through our combined efforts. Already, emotion has begun to return to our kind. I assure you, there is no price too high for this valuable result.

“To that end, as all of you know, the reason we were compelled to relearn human emotion was because one of our kind, Saraqael, fathered three half-human daughters. It is my pleasure to introduce them to you today.”

There was a stirring of movement on the ground as everyone strained to get the best view possible of the balcony. Although the sisters weren’t being sequestered, they were off to the side on the balcony to make room for the elders. Now, the elders moved back and the sisters, along with Caleb and James, filed closer to Gabriel, nearer the edge of the balcony.

“Saraqael’s eldest daughter, Ambryl, known to us now as Amber,” Gabriel said, reaching over and pulling her close to his side, “is now my avowed and my wife. She has been given a formal title by the Lekwuesti. She is henceforth to be addressed as
kyria
Amber, and treated with all of the courtesy and respect you afford me.”

The crowd bowed as one, right arms crossed over chests. “Welcome,
kyria
Amber.”

She bowed to the crowd in response and acknowledgement of the greeting. Caleb noticed earlier that she, too, was dressed differently than usual. The black dress she wore—already an oddity on the more casual sister—was secured around her throat by a delicate gold chain. The entire length of her back as well as her defined shoulders and arms were bare. The skirt on the dress fell only to mid-thigh. The sandals she wore strapped up to the bottom of the skirt. The eyes that focused on her now went wide as they absorbed her beauty and the essence of her strength and power.

He had certainly noted Gabriel’s reaction when he saw her before the ceremony. To say his leader had been surprised was a huge understatement. Amber had laughed heartily over his expression.

Now, Gabriel continued, “Saraqael’s second-born daughter, Olaya, known to us as Olivia, and his youngest daughter, Skylar, known to us as Skye, are now my sisters. The Lekwuesti have conferred upon them the title of
adelfi
. They are also to be treated with all of the courtesy and respect you afford me.”

“Welcome,
adelfi
Olivia and
adelfi
Skye,” the crowd said, bowing again.

Caleb felt Skye’s surprise over the honor. Although she had always thought of Gabriel as an older brother, she hadn’t quite understood what that meant as far as Estilorians were concerned. She and Olivia both bowed to the crowd.

“All of you know that three Gloresti were given the honor of pairing with Saraqael’s daughters. Simon, who is on the mainland, has since been awarded a more advanced position among our class, since his services as Amber’s Gloresti reached an end. He is now a third lieutenant overseeing transition training. The two other honored Gloresti, James and Caleb, are now avowed and married to my sisters. For this reason among others, they are now my brothers. The title conferred upon them by the Lekwuesti is
adelfos
, and they are also to be treated with all of the courtesy and respect you afford me.”

Caleb had to work to keep his face expressionless. He didn’t think he had ever felt so esteemed.

“Welcome back,
adelfos
James and
adelfos
Caleb,” the crowd said with respectful bows.

James and Caleb bowed in return.

Gabriel paused. He turned and exchanged glances with all of them.
I think it’s time to tell them about Amber’s pregnancy
, he thought.
Kind of all at once. What do y’all think?

After a brief moment of exchanged thoughts, he turned back around to face the crowd.

“You will also be among the first Estilorians to learn some very important news,” he said, scanning the crowd with both his eyes and his senses. Caleb felt Gabriel’s hesitation before he took a deep mental breath and said, “Amber is pregnant. Our child will be born sometime in March or April, as best as we can calculate.”

There was a surge of noise as the Gloresti processed this highly unexpected news.

Jabari stepped forward then, prompting the crowd to quiet. “This child represents hope for all of us,” he said in his calm, authoritative voice. “He or she is everything we could have hoped for as a dying people. This news is cause for jubilant celebration.”

As though not knowing what else to do, everyone bowed again. “Congratulations,
archigos
Gabriel and
kyria
Amber.”

The flat voices chiming together had Gabriel and his siblings exchanging glances. Ultimately, they shrugged. They could hardly expect more enthusiasm from beings who didn’t understand emotion.

Turning back to the crowd, he said, “Thank you. And now, because they’re avowed to your leader and your fellow Gloresti, Saraqael’s daughters have expressed an interest in demonstrating their abilities to you. If you’ll all move to the outskirts of the gathering area, we’ll join you shortly.”

Skye and her sisters stepped into the room waiting for them and quickly changed into tanks, cargo pants and combat boots. Because their tanks were meant to conform to their figures to prevent someone from getting an effective handhold, Amber’s slightly rounded belly was more obvious than usual. The sword and scabbard she was about to buckle into place would only further accentuate it.

“Wait,” Skye said, looking at her sisters as they gathered their weapons. “Before you arm yourselves, we should dance.” When they looked at her with questioning expressions, she flushed. “You know—to limber up and, well, pump ourselves up.”

Amber and Olivia exchanged looks and shrugs. Amber put her sword down and Olivia did the same with her bow. Since the room they were in was large enough, they set themselves up to dance.

“What song?” Amber asked.

“How about ‘Stronger’ by Kanye West?” Skye suggested.

Amber nodded. Skye started the beat in her mind and then started moving. She let her talented sisters fill her head with their silent singing as she lost herself in the movements of the dance. They moved in perfect synchronization. An unstoppable team.

And it was exactly what they needed.

When they opened the door a few minutes later, fully armed, they faced their husbands with united resolve. Then they all walked out to the gathering area together, ready to prove themselves.

Skye couldn’t help but notice as they walked into the crowd that the Gloresti was a very
large
class. Even the few females she saw were all giants compared to her and her sisters. She felt dwarfed. That actually didn’t intimidate her. On the contrary, she thought that was to their advantage. More often than not, the smaller side of a match-up was underestimated.

When they stood in the center of the crowd, Gabriel said, “For those of you who don’t know, Saraqael’s daughters have shown particular aptitudes. Although they’ve been training in all disciplines, Amber is particularly strong in hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting. Olivia is unmatched in archery and is skilled with staff weapons. Skye’s primary weapon, her ability to command holy light, will not be of use here. But she is also skilled in hand-to-hand combat and the use of throwing weapons.”

He looked around the crowd. “Who would like to challenge them first?”

“I will if I get to touch one of them,” a male voice said loud enough that it carried. There was a tone to the comment that had Skye raising her eyebrows.

Gabriel’s eyes flashed dark blue as he honed in on the source of the comment. When the Gloresti’s eyes widened over having been identified, Gabriel flicked his wrist and sent him sprawling.

“Remove him,” he said coolly. And when second commander Balduin and lieutenant Edra moved forward to do so, he looked around at the crowd. “
Respect
. I demand it of all of you. Or you will answer to me.”

There was a great show of bowing. Skye realized this wasn’t going well. She exchanged looks with her sisters.

Amber sighed. Then she ran her gaze over the crowd. “Look,” she said in a loud voice, “We’re not unintelligent or ignorant, despite what rumors have been spread about us. We know that there are those of you who doubt our abilities. So, come on. We stand ready to prove you wrong.”

“Wearing a sword at your side does not make you ready to use it,” said a large, caramel-skinned male with a short buzz-cut and a scar above his left eye.

“Now, that’s what I’m talking about,” she said, nodding at him. “Let’s go a round then.”

The male frowned and looked from her to Gabriel. “I would not want to cause you harm.”

She laughed.

There were many exchanged looks over the reaction. Then she sobered her expression and removed her sword from her scabbard. After bowing toward the male, she launched into a ballet of movement that had even the most unemotional Gloresti widening their eyes in amazement. Her sword caught the sunlight as she flowed with incredible elegance from one fighting form into another. After another minute, she came to rest, pointing her sword toward the male.

“I’ll be fine,” she said. She stood and ran her sword over her palm, showing him the blood that resulted. Then her palm glowed gold and her skin was healed. It was the first time Skye had seen her heal herself without Gabriel’s aid, telling her that Amber’s powers were definitely growing.

“We can use wooden swords,” Amber added, “if you’d be more comfortable.”

He blinked several times, then nodded in agreement.

“Great,” she said, turning and moving back to the center of the area as she resheathed her sword. “Oh…and bring some friends for my sisters to play with, would you? This is going to be fun.”

As it happened, Skye didn’t think she’d had so much fun in a long time. She and her sisters kicked some serious Gloresti butt.

Amber defeated the outspoken male with her sword inside of a minute. He simply bowed with his right arm crossed over his chest and then turned to encourage the rest of his class to try.

She defeated one after another. By the sixth opponent, Gabriel declared that it was time to move on to another activity. A female stepped forward and asked to compete against Olivia in archery.

James simply smiled.

Once again, one after another opponent fell short of Olivia’s skill. She was able to hit any target squarely in the bulls-eye as long as it was in her sights. There wasn’t anyone who could compete.

When Gabriel again declared that it was time to switch disciplines, Skye knew it was her turn. She acknowledged the male who declared that he wanted to compete against her in throwing stars and darts. Then she promptly decimated him.

And the Gloresti after him, and the one after her, and the one after him and the one after him.

Ultimately, they were left with hand-to-hand combat. The problem was, no one wanted to oppose Amber because she was pregnant. Thus, they turned their interest to Skye.

But you’re probably already pregnant, too
, Caleb silently argued with her.

Yes
, she agreed easily.
But I’ll be careful. Have faith in me.

He didn’t say another word.

Her opponent was at least a foot taller than her and probably twice as wide. She had to admit, he knew what he was doing. He got in a well-targeted strike and managed to split her lip when she foolishly lowered her guard. But she realized immediately what she had done and didn’t make the same mistake again. And unfortunately for him, she had trained for months under Gabriel, Ini-herit and Uriel, the three elders with more training in defense and offense than anyone on the Estilorian plane.

He went down within three minutes.

“Enough,” Gabriel declared, winking at Skye as she stood over her opponent. “Who here remains to be convinced of the abilities of Saraqael’s daughters?”

In response, every Gloresti in residence went down to one knee. Skye had never felt so vindicated in her entire life. After Amber healed her lip, she smiled brightly and touched her fist to Amber’s and then Olivia’s before turning to James and Caleb. James touched his fist to hers with a grin, but Caleb shocked her by pulling her close in front of everyone and giving her a brief but meaningful kiss right on the lips.

As the power of his emotions hit her, it was all she could do to keep from breaking out into a weeping mess. All because she had simply done what she knew she could.

Later that day, the traitor followed Caleb and Skye’s progress as they left the safety of Gabriel’s dwelling. Although it had been conveyed to everyone that the ritual was delayed until the next day so that the sisters could rest, it was surprising to see Caleb and Skye on their own. After the sisters’ display earlier that day, it had probably made them feel more secure within the homeland.

The fools.

The couple expanded their wings and flew. With considerable care, their observer followed. After a short flight, they ended up at a waterfall. Caleb and Skye retracted their wings and walked beneath it. The traitor, quite familiar with this particular landmark, hurried in after them, remaining a full level above them on the stone face of the cliff supporting the natural phenomena.