Waterfall(30)

“They are our symbols of power. Our elements. Come, you shall see.” He stopped in front of another tapestry. This one was stitched in silver with blue gems attached in fluid, swaying curves, giving the effect of water. Water. She shook her head. She never would have thought that at any point in her life she would think of swimming or water and not have her stomach ball into a knot that could sink her. There was no knot now.

He gently set her on her feet and reached out for her hand. He pulled her to stand directly before him. “Place your hand on the threads.”

She spread her fingers along the smooth fabric.

“Grøn vandagame.”

The fabric before her rippled, and a golden glow filled the space on the wall that the tapestry had hung in. She squinted against the brightness. Was there anything beyond the light?

“Step in.” Jordan’s hand pressed firmly to the small of her back and urged her forward.

She squeezed her eyes shut, lifted her foot and stepped into the warm bright light. Her eyelids fluttered, and she concentrated on the elaborate blue-and-gold-tile floor beneath her feet. Jordan entered behind her. She spun about and took in the space she had stepped into.

In the center of the large room was a pool. The bottom was a warm gold color that sparkled with the light that poured in through the three curved glass windows that graced the ceiling. Iridescent stars made of glass or gems surrounded the windows. Wood alcoves were carved into the walls, and in each niche stood a different statue unlike any she had ever seen. One had many snakelike arms and an oblong, bulbous head. The next one was a fish standing on a tail that was twice its length. It had a large mouth and pointed teeth. Monsters of the sea.

The next was of a dragon emerging from the crest of a wave. The image of Jordan cresting the wave in the same manner, with smoke billowing from his mouth as he cried out to protect her, came to her mind. They were not statues of sea monsters; the statues simply depicted creatures of the sea.

She turned to Jordan. “This room is beautiful.”

“Each of the tapestries in the hall holds behind it a space that instills tranquility and power to each of us. I have never seen my brothers’ spaces. You are the first to see ours.”

Ours… She turned away from him. Every part of her body said this was correct, and she wanted him, but she was still wed to another. She had never considered herself someone who would be unfaithful. “Jordan—”

“I know. Our timing is not ideal. I will make this work. Hudson wants something. Of that I am certain. I will make a deal he cannot refuse.”

“He told me he wouldn’t let me go.”

Jordan frowned. “That is not an option.”

She didn’t want to think of such things in such an amazing place. Celeste walked to the pool. “I’ve never seen anything so wonderful. Tell me more.”

“When we were born, each of us received a small journal. The journal held little information except for this.” He waved his hand out over the pool. “That we each needed a specific element to remain strong. For years, I lived on a lake up in the mountains, but the locals noticed I didn’t age. They then hunted me as a death walker.”

She sat at the edge of the pool and dipped her toe into the water. The warmth startled her senses, and she tensed, then relaxed, slipping her entire foot in.

“Indeed, the water is warm. Not like the sea, but like the hot springs high in the mountains. I spent the second part of my life in a cabin by a river tucked away from the world. That is where Ferrous found me.” He shrugged out of his robe and walked along the edge of the pool to the opposite end. He dove in, and his skin changed to iridescent blue as he swam the length of the pool toward her.

His head surfaced at her feet, and water ran down his face in glimmering trails. “He brought us all together, Ilmir, Madoc and I. He searched us out, found us, brought us to this house and made rules for our existence. He gave us purpose, and a name. Zir. He is the reason we have survived.” His fingers gently clasped on to her calves.

Her legs jumped. Gracious, she needed to relax. She smiled down at him.

One side of his mouth quirked up, and he continued. “He had found other beings that were not human and had formed friendships with them. Friendships that led to stories, and stories that led him to know he was not alone in what he was. Those same friendships led him to small pieces of our lore and what little we have found so far about how we came to be. Hudson was one of that quality of friend. His fascination with the otherworldly and his power in human society has made him a great family ally.”

Oh, she was certainly an unwanted knot in their family thread. She stared at the water as it rippled around him. “Hudson has a fascination with the otherworldly?”