He remained as he was.
“Damn you!” She beat at his chest. “Why won’t you come back to me? I owe you a quarter now. Come back and collect.”
Her brother moved to her side, attempting to pull her away from the statue.
“No! I’m staying here, where I belong.” She clung to Jorlan with all her might. “I need you, Jorlan. I need you so much. I’m your little witch, and you’re my big bastard, and I command you to open your eyes.” Another round of thunder boomed overhead.
Maybe Percen could help? “Percen?”
His attention remained on the fallen woman.
“Percen,” Katie bellowed. “You get over here and you cast a spell! Do something to save him, or I will end you myself.”
“Mother,” he whispered, gathering the woman into his arms. A tear streamed down his cheek. “You are the one with healing magic, not me. Why did you do that? You could have saved Jorlan, even me, but not yourself. Why?” he asked again. He gave a violent shake of his head and raised his fists to the heavens, cursing. But then, suddenly, his shoulders slumped. He hung his head and sobbed. “I have done this to you. Me, and me alone.”
He looked up, but only to gaze beseechingly at Heather. “Help me. I—I’m so sorry for the things I’ve done to you. You were right. This isn’t better. This is so much worse. Please, Heather. Give me a chance, and I will make everything up to you, I swear it. Just…do not leave me. I need you too desperately.”
Wincing in pain, Heather lumbered to her knees. “I warned you what would happen.”
He closed his eyes for the briefest moment, fresh tears falling. “Let me take you to our healers. You and your mother. Please. Then I will return you, if that is your wish. I just, I need to do something for you.”
She gave a single, clipped nod.
Relief poured from him as he waved a hand through the air. He, Heather and their mothers disappeared.
All the while, images flashed through Katie’s mind. Images of billowing white grass, crystal castles and high-flying dragons. Imperia. The home Jorlan would never reach.
Because of me.
She folded into herself and sobbed.
A week later
DUSK SETTLED OVER the horizon, casting a gold and violet glow. Wind swirled around the two figures atop the cliff, lifting their robes in a primitive dance. The air was laced with silvery droplets of moisture that swept over the white sands of the Druinn territory, creating a cool, damp haven.
Despair ruled Percen. Nay, not just despair. Shame, too. And guilt. So much guilt. He’d caused so much pain. And for what? To assuage his pride?
His mother was dead, and she wasn’t coming back. Magic could do many things, but it couldn’t raise the dead.
Had it not been for Heather, who’d decided to give him another chance, as hoped, he would have willingly joined his mother. Heather had given him a reason to go on.
She reached out to take his hand, offering strength and encouragement without words. The little beauty had taken to his world well, blossoming more each day.
In his free hand, he held his mother’s amulet. He stood on a cliff above Artillian Mer, the largest body of water on Imperia, to pay his mother proper homage and give a piece of her back to the world she had loved. Trembling, he raised the amulet to his lips and kissed the center.
He drew in a deep breath and thought he detected her sweet scent. Tears began to slide down his cheeks; he’d cried more the past week than the rest of his life combined.
“I love you,” he croaked. He removed the left stone, the smallest of the three, then tossed the necklace into the churning amber liquid.
“Thank you for coming with me.”
“For you—anything.”
Something he still did not understand. “How could you forgive me for my actions? You warned me, yet I ridiculed you and hurt…everyone.”
Heather tightened her grip on him. “You learned from your mistakes. A rare and wonderful quality. Plus, I love you. That kind of means I’m predisposed to forgive and help you.”
He kissed her knuckles. “If you wish, I can take you back to your world.” His stomach churned with sickness. Please, don’t ask me to take you back. “I know you miss your mother.” Francis returned hours after waking; she’d wanted no part of another world.
“I do. I really do. But I’d prefer to stay with you.”
“I prefer you stay with me, as well. I just meant I could take us both to your world.”
“Oh.” Her eyes widened. “You would give all this up for me?”
“Aye.” He would give up anything. Everything.
She beamed a smile at him. “I love it here. Just as I love you. I’d still prefer to stay. If that’s okay?”
The churning ceased. He peered at her, brimming with wonder, awe and happiness. “Better than okay. I love you and want you happy, always.”
“Just as I want you happy”
He took her face in his hands, loving the feel of her silken skin, closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers. “I have to return to your land for a bit. I could not save my mother, but I can do something for her. I can right the wrong I caused Katie and Jorlan.”
Heather beamed another smile, this one brighter, wider, and tender. “I’ll be here, awaiting your return.”
“Thank you, Heather. For everything.”
She kissed the corner of his mouth. “I do have a favor to ask. I need to let Momma know I’m good. Will you deliver a letter to her?”
“Of course.” He turned back to the ocean and tugged her in front of him, wrapping his arms around her waist.
Together, they watched as the three Imperian suns descended, and the two moons rise.
* * *
KATIE WHIPPED HER truck into her driveway a little too swiftly for comfort. Two weeks had passed since Jorlan’s return to stone. Two miserable, horrible, wretched weeks she’d torch if she could. She’d been racked with grief every day. Her grief only ever grew; it never lessened.
Every morning, Gray called her. The first week, he’d been in shock over what he’d seen. But he and Steve had agreed not to speak of it with anyone. Who would believe them, anyway? Now Gray and the rest of her family simply wanted to know how she was doing.
How was she doing? In a word—horribly.
She wanted Jorlan back, alive and well. She wanted him in her arms and in her bed. He was her husband, after all. How could she have ever been so stupid as to believe she didn’t love him? How could she have been even stupider, thinking he didn’t love her?
Hoping to save him, she’d invaded every library and internet resource she knew, searching for a way to break a stone spell. She’d gone back to Mon Graig’s shop, but the receptionist hadn’t seen him,
Tears rained down her cheeks as she rested her head against the steering wheel. The future looked so bleak and pale without her husband. What was she going to do?
What if she never found a way— Nope. Not going there. She would save Jorlan. She would!
Determined, she wiped her tears away and emerged from the truck. Fighting doubts, she marched into the house and tossed her jacket on the floor and went into the kitchen.
Without Jorlan at her side, everything struck her as wrong. Her soul just wasn’t complete without him. She sniffled, dangerously close to tears again.