Chapter 18

Liri expected to feel the panic of falling, but instead, she felt like she was flying through the air. It was very windy, with her hair being pulled. It was much louder than she’d anticipated, but she didn’t care. Her heart sped up, and she had to work on keeping her breath. This was amazing. She had just jumped from a plane. Remembering what Abraham had said, she wrapped her legs around him and hugged his chest. Her whole body warmed, and she knew it wasn’t from the excitement of the jump. There was a buzz moving through her. It wasn’t the adrenalin. She’d never felt it before but knew exactly what it was. Abraham was her soul’s mate. She’d suspected when they were getting into the plane when he’d brushed against her. She’d heard so much talk about it during her life; she knew all the signs. The problem was that she didn’t know what she should do about it.

A sudden shift brought her back to the fact that she’d just jumped out of a plane. There was a jerk, and the speed they were falling changed, and she glanced up to see the chute opened above them. She could feel his muscles shifting against her body as he maneuvered them to safety.

“You have to hang on and keep your legs up for the landing.” He spoke into her ear.

Liri lifted her face away from his chest and looked down. The ground was coming up so fast, she should have been screaming, but she wasn’t. She had every confidence that he would get them on the ground safely. She spotted a parachute a few hundred yards away and wondered if it was Rafael or the pilot. She knew it wasn’t Emil and Daxx because there was no struggle taking place.

“Hang on.”

She moved closer and tried to make sure she was out of his way for the landing. There was a bump, and then she was lying on her back on the ground with Abraham braced above her. The chute slowly descended on them, cutting off the sunlight. She released him and lowered to the ground. He was breathing fast from the exertion of the landing. His eyes were red, and something inside her moved, and she realized it was her soul reaching for his. Did he feel it too? “That was amazing.” Her own voice rasped, and it had nothing to do with the jump.

“Are you okay?” He pushed so he was on one knee and released the strap that tethered them together.

“Yes. I’d say let’s do it again, but I don’t think we have a plane.”

He smirked and started pulling the chute off of them. “I think we’d better go rescue my dad from Daxx.”

“Oh,” Liri pushed up to rest on her elbows, “I didn’t think of that.”

The phone ringing changed the entire atmosphere between them. His eyes were back to their normal blue color, and up close, she thought they were the most beautiful eyes in all the worlds.

“That is never happening again.”

Daxx shouting made both of them smile. Abraham got up and put out his hand to help her up.

“Thank you.” He added quietly.

Liri brushed off her pants. “For what? I didn’t do anything.”

“Exactly.”

The brush moved, and Daxx stomped out of the trees with Emil right behind her. She watched as Emil quickly assessed both of them. “Raf is that way.” He pointed. “I’m not sure where the pilot landed.”

“He’s right here.” The man came out of the trees on the other side of them.

Liri watched Abraham take off the pack. “We should call someone and tell them we’re on the ground.” Abraham held out her dusack. With a smile, she took it and put it in the sheath at her side. It was nice being around males that had no problems with women using weapons.

Emil pulled his phone out of his pocket and answered it, “Hang on, I’m going to put you on speaker while we go find Raf.”

“Find him?” It was King Chase on the other end.

“Yeah, the rest of us landed fairly close to each other.”

“Raf jumped by himself?”

Emil grinned. “Jumped—pushed, same thing.”

“Oh my god, tell me you took a video of that.”

“I don’t think that’s what is important right now, brother.” It was the other king, Troy.

“To you, maybe, but to me, it’s very important.”

Liri followed behind as they started walking through the trees.

“So, why would a mage go to such lengths to prevent us from reaching that area?” Emil successfully changed the subject.

“I’m guessing there’s something there they don’t want us to see or know about.” Liri recognized Leone’s voice.

Abraham stopped walking abruptly, and Liri almost walked into his back before recovering her step and moving around him. She stopped and looked up to see Prince Rafael hanging in the tree.

“Good news, Raf’s in one piece.”

Liri had always wondered what having siblings would be like. After knowing the Alterealm royals, she wasn’t sure if she would want any or not. The expression on Rafael’s face had her thinking not.

“How are we getting him down?” Daxx moved over and stood beside Liri.

“Down? Down from where?” It was Troy again.

Emil glanced at Abraham briefly. “His chute got hung up in the trees.”

“Raf is hanging from a tree?” She knew that was Kara.

“Yeah.”

Emil moved closer to the tree. “Can you cut the line and port to the ground?”

Rafael looked down at him. “And if I’m not fast enough, I’ll break my legs.”

Liri bit her lip.

“You heal fast.” It was Chase again.

Abraham went over and stood beside his father. “Cut the chute cords and use the strapping to wrap around the tree and climb down.” He called up to him.

There was a moment of silence.

“Do I look like a lumberjack?” Rafael called down, “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“Cut it and port, Raf,” Emil stated, sounding bored.

“When I get down, we’re going to find that mage or whoever, and I’m going to…”

“Daxx, port home, so more of us can come over,” Troy’s tone sounded like an order, but Liri knew he’d never give his mate one, “this turned out to be more than a quick look.”

“Right. Okay, just let me settle a second, and then I’ll meet you,” she looked up at Rafael, “Where am I meeting everyone?”

“Summit room. We were just going over some maps.”

“Get Rae ready. If there’s mage crap here, I want a warning. I’m not getting stuck in a cave again.”

She blew out a breath, “Okay, see you in a few seconds.” She looked up again. “Get down here so we can go kick some ass, Raf.”

Liri held her breath as Rafael grasped the straps on the pack. In one blurred moment, he was falling, and then he was standing beside her.

Leaning down, he put his hands on his knees and took some deep breaths. “I’m never getting on a plane again. Ever.”

“Raf’s down. On my way.” Daxx disappeared.

***

Liri watched King Chase walk toward her. All but a few of the Alterealm royals had come back with Daxx in two trips.

“Bastian would like one of us to take you back to Nova’s.” He glanced around, “I could do it quickly and still get back to have some fun.”

Liri looked at the others, “I feel I’ll be safe enough here.”

“We don’t know what we’re walking into…”

“King Chase, I don’t want to go back. I want to see what is so important that they ruined a plane to hide it.”

He smirked, “it is intriguing, isn’t it?”

“What’s going on?” Daxx came over. “We’re going to go now.”

“Bastian wants Liri back at Nova’s. He doesn’t feel it’s a safe venture for her.”

Daxx snorted. “It’s safer than the plane part of this trip.” She stomped her foot on the ground, “we can’t fall anywhere.”

Liri tried not to smile but didn’t succeed. “I will deal with my cousin when we get back.”

Chase lifted his arms, “Let it be known I relayed the request, and it was denied.”

“So known.” Victor motioned, “We’ll head toward it together,” he glanced at Raegan, “If you wouldn’t mind staying at the front.”

Raegan nodded, “there are no magic traces here.”

“Something knocked us out of the sky, so let’s use caution.” Emil pulled a sword from his back and started walking.

Liri watched the others draw weapons and did the same with her own. As she started to follow, she saw Abraham glance back at her and then slow his steps.

“I’ll take the back.” He said and waited until she went by him.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw he had both of his swords drawn and was looking all around them. Had he done that to be closer to her, or was he genuinely interested in watching their backs? She wanted to talk to him about what she had learned, but doing it with his entire family within hearing distance probably wasn’t the way to go about it. She stumbled on a branch and silently cursed herself for not paying attention.

A thought popped into her head. How was she going to explain to her mother that she’d found her other? It was something her parents had been waiting sixty years to hear, but she was certain they wouldn’t be happy with knowing he was half Alterealm and half human. She gave him a quick look and saw his eyes were red. Okay, maybe that was a quarter human.

“There’s green,” Raegan said softly, “all along here.”

“I hate mages.” Quinton stomped over and stood beside her, “stay back from it.”

“Beth, can you get a sense of what?” Leone glanced at his mate.

Bethany pushed up her sleeves. “I can try. I haven’t practiced that much.”

Liri was curious about what was happening and started to move closer to where the others were lined up. Someone touched her arm; she looked to see it was Abraham; he gave his head a slight shake.

“No telling what the spell is.” He stated in a low tone, “Better to give Aunt Bethany some space.”

She nodded, deciding he probably knew best, and looked back at his aunt. She was moving her hands slowly out in front of her.

“Let me try something,” Beth said quietly, and then sparks were coming from her palms. She repeated the motion with her hands, and the sparks looked like they were dragging across something. “Better get a mage here, maybe Clairee too.”

“Crap,” Daxx pulled out her phone, “Why can’t they ever just fight like normal people? Why is it always a ward or trap?” She typed furiously into her phone. “I sent Paisley, I’ll go get them when she messages back.”

Liri didn’t understand what was happening, but it was all very interesting. She turned around to ask Abe, only to find he was standing several feet away now, and his red eyes were trained on her. The fact that he had the option to have different colored eyes was both exciting to her and annoying, she was always stuck with near black. In all the time she’d been around the royal family, she didn’t remember seeing any of the other’s eye color change. She knew they could but hadn’t witnessed it up until now.

She turned to see Emil giving his son a strange look and then walking over to him. She didn’t know what he said to him, but Abe’s eyes changed back to blue, and then he shook his head.

“Okay, I’m going to go get them,” Daxx said loudly, not trying to hide the annoyance in her tone.

Liri turned to see if Emil and Abe were still talking, and it was just Emil standing there with his hands on his hips, looking around.

“Abe go back to help?” Rafael asked him.

Emil lifted his hand and let them drop. “I have no idea. He was just gone.”

“Gone like a trap, or he ported?” Leone came over.

“He didn’t move.” Emil looked at the ground, “I’m not sure he fed so…”

“That’s weird. Abe is usually more organized,” Bethany stated in a quiet voice.

“Well, maybe having to jump out of a plane messed with things.” Rafael snorted, “I know it did me.”

“Are you okay, brother?” Victor turned around and looked at him.

“Yeah,” Rafael rubbed a hand over his head, “just—annoyed.”

Daxx came back with Paisley, another woman, and a man in robes.

Liri turned to see if that meant they were all going, and Abe was standing beside his father again.

“Abe, are you good?” Rafael quirked an eyebrow at him.

Abe nodded, “Yes, I guess I was just focused on something too hard, and the next second, I was there.”

Rafael smirked, “Guess we know you can port now.”

Abraham’s expression was anything but pleased, “Sure. Now I just have to try not to do it.”

Emil slapped a hand on his shoulder, “Hopefully, we’ll be beating on mages shortly. That will help.”

Abe shook his head, “you used to be different.”

“I’m trying to blend in,” Emil waved his hand and pulled his other sword out, “with our crazy family.”

“I resent being called crazy,” Chase smiled at him, “we are far past that description.”

“Everyone shut up and dial in,” Daxx ordered. “Just in case.”

Paisley came over and handed Liri an earbud and a phone. “Heard yours got fried. I already dialed you in.”

“Oh,” Liri took it, glanced at it, and then put it in her pocket and the earpiece in.

“Everyone in?”

She was surprised to hear Arius’ voice on the earpiece.

“If I can’t be there, I want to hear it all.” He sounded amused. “Sorry, I missed you sky jumping, brother.”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Rafael walked by her and went over to the man that Daxx had brought back. “Bring it down, Romulus.”

“Yes, my Prince.” The man turned and started moving his hands in the air. Liri didn’t know what he was doing but surmised he was a mage. She didn’t know the first thing about mages, and from everyone’s thoughts about them, she was sure she didn’t want to.