Hunger Untamed (Feral Warriors #5)(38)

Ariana shook her head. "I stopped going because I didn't remember I needed to. So the memories have been gone from the beginning."

Melisande looked at her sharply. "What else have you forgotten?"

"That's the question, isn't it?" Ariana murmured.

Melisande's hand stroked the hilt of her sword, her gaze flicking to Lyon and back to her queen.

Kougar met Lyon's gaze, a fine tension running between them.

"I have to request the wisdom of the queens again," Ariana stated.

Brielle gasped. "It's forbidden for any but a new queen to request an awakening."

"Has anyone ever tried? More importantly, has a queen ever tried?"

Melisande snorted softly. "Only you would know that. Or would have, at one time."

"I have to try. It's our only hope."

Brielle's hands twisted together. "Ariana, Morwun's magic is powerful, even now. It might force you . . ."

"To turn to mist." Ariana looked up, eyes closed, as if seeking guidance from the heavens. "He knows, Brielle. Hookeye knows I live. I have no doubt he'll strike again, and when he does, we'll lose." Lowering her face, she speared her lieutenant with a steely gaze. "We have this one chance. We have to take it."

"I agree," Melisande said.

Ariana's gaze snapped to Kougar's. "Wish me luck."

Her words registered a split second too late. Kougar lunged forward. "I'm going with you." But the words weren't even out of his mouth before she'd touched her moonstones and was gone.

As the other two Ilinas turned to mist, Kougar growled, "Melisande, take me with you."

"No." And they, too, disappeared.

Kougar growled low in his throat. Damn Ariana. Nothing ever changed.

Lyon's growl matched his own. "Now what?"

"Now we wait and hope she succeeds."

"And hope she comes back."

Frustration seethed, but it was the knowledge that she was out of his reach, that he couldn't protect her, that was roiling his insides.

"That, too."

His fist went to his chest, rubbing at the burn inside he couldn't reach. He was starting to care again. And deep inside, the poison flowed.

Chapter Ten

Ariana stood in the rock garden beside the small waterfall behind her palace in the Crystal Realm. The sky above was blue, sunshine glowing on the rocks and setting the air crystals to sparkling. Even if Kougar followed her, it would take him time to find her out here. And by then, she'd be gone.

She felt guilty for leaving him as she had, but he couldn't help her. He'd only insist on accompanying her, and she wouldn't let him. It was far too dangerous. Besides, it was time to put distance between them before the mating bond opened any more.

Melisande and Brielle huddled before her, gripping her hands. Ariana met their gazes one after the other.

"It's going to work."

Though she said the words to reassure her friends, it was herself who needed the convincing. Because although she'd clearly lost memories, she remembered all too well the warning that only a new queen could request an awakening. Anyone else who tried would invite the wrath of the first queen, Morwun, the spirit of the temple.

What form that wrath might take, Ariana didn't know. She wasn't afraid of pain. What had her trembling was the fear that she might, as Brielle feared, somehow be forced to turn to mist. That in trying to save her friends, she might kill them all.

She hugged her two best friends to her. "It's time."

"We're going with you," Brielle said quietly.

"No. I don't know what will happen when I make this request. I want you both to stay here."

Mel shook her head, the look in her eyes telling Ariana she would get no cooperation. "Brielle stays here, but I'm going with you. I'm your second for a reason."

"If anything goes wrong . . ."

"I'll be there to help you. Don't waste time arguing, Ariana. We need to get going before that Feral of yours shows up growling and making demands."

"You've forgotten how to take orders, Mel." Her tone was wry, for her friend's loyalty was rock solid.

A hint of a smile lit Melisande's eyes. "My job is to protect the queen. That's what I'm doing."

Ariana nodded. "Let's go, then. Let's find out what I've lost."

"Do you remember the Chamber of Life in the lower level of the temple?"

Ariana nodded.

"I'll meet you there." Melisande turned to mist, her form insubstantial for a moment before she disappeared.

Ariana took the corporeal's path, gripping her moonstone cuff and whispering the chant of transport as she visualized the chamber where all Ilinas were born. Moments later, she materialized within the inlaid ivory walls of the Temple of the Queens.

Around her, sconces flared. Goose bumps rose on her arms at the sight of this place she hadn't seen in centuries--the mosaic floor and the pure crystal altar standing at the very center of the circular room. It was upon the Altar of Life that new Ilinas came into the world. Upon which she herself had been born, not as flesh-and-blood creatures were born--springing forth from the wombs of their mothers as infants who must grow to full size--but through a ritual of magic that created women prepared to take their place in Ilina society within only a few education-filled months.