Rivers of blood and sand
Chapter 44

Over an hour later, we were sitting in the open living room of Titan’s spacious house. Tinted glass made up the ceiling over the living room, allowing moonlight to stream in, giving off a purple hue. The furniture was all ornate and filled with swirling patterns, but was still comfortable. It seemed he enjoyed having company and had more than enough seating for all of us. I was laid out on a sofa with my head resting on Ander’s lap. His fingers gently combed through my hair, soothing me and nearly lulling me to sleep.

I would’ve been passed out by now from my excessive energy usage if I hadn’t had the power bar and weird bright blue drink Titan offered to all of us. Even with the energy boost, we were all slumped in our seats, looking like we had just gone through hell. I hesitated before sitting on the sofa earlier, afraid to get blood and grime on it, but Titan waved away my concerns. He hadn’t seemed the least bit concerned about us getting his furniture dirty.

Roman wasn’t sitting and neither was Caspian. Both of them weren’t slumped like the rest of us, but I saw their weakened energy from the tightness in their faces and the way Roman heavily leaned against the wall. His arms were crossed and his fingers kept tapping his biceps in an agitated manner.

At first, none of us spoke. It was like we were too drained, emotionally and physically. While we had been dismantling the spells, the others had taken care of the four other beings. From the injuries some of the others sustained, it was clear these had been harder to kill than the first set.

This recent attack had left me way more drained than all the incidents in the creature's realm, and not just because of my excessive fire use. These past couple of days have been the longest of my life and the most draining.

I could easily go for a day-long deep sleep.

Titan was sitting backward on an ornate wooden chair that sat before a small round table. His arms were resting on the back as he faced us, with his eyes closed. I didn’t think he was sleeping, but he hadn’t moved or said anything in a while so I couldn’t be too sure.

“How did you do that?” I asked, looking at Titan. I probably should’ve been more specific with my question, but Titan seemed to know it was aimed at him. His eyes fluttered open and landed on me. At first, they were unfocused, but that only lasted a few seconds. He didn’t bother asking what I meant.

“I used a similar method to the way we contacted you in the dimension.” His rich and deep voice held notes of weariness. He hid it well, but I was still able to find hints of it from the way he rested his chin on his hands.

“I’ll have to admit, I’ve never heard of anyone able to contact others using that method,” Parker said, his tone casual as he sprawled back in his chair. Strands of curly hair had escaped his bun, brushing his cheekbone as he tilted his head to the side.

“I learned it from my parents.” Titan shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal or important.

Harmony, Jade, and Reed glanced in Ari’s direction. She was sitting on a loveseat, with her arms wrapped around her knees. Her expression was impossible to discern, which was the exact opposite of Jade whose emotions were always on display. How those two were sisters was beyond me with how different they were. She gave a small nod, one that I assumed meant he was telling the truth. It was something she often had to confirm for them.

She lacked her usual ditziness that would randomly make an appearance, and she hadn’t said a single word since we left their house. I was surprised she’d been paying attention at all. She was staring at the crystal lamp on the table Titan sat at, her eyes slightly unfocused the way one’s were when they were deep in thought.

The way the others had looked at Ari hadn’t been missed by the royals. Titan and Ashe shared a brief look, probably trying to figure out why Ari had nodded. Caspian’s focus tracked over us, his lips pursed. Roman’s reaction was the most subdued. He gave a brief glance in Ari’s direction before flicking away like he was bored. The only thing betraying his boredom was his still-tapping fingers.

“Do you have any idea what they were trying to summon to our realm?” Wyatt shifted on one of the other sofas, crossing a leg over the other as he draped an arm across the back. His gaze moved between the four royals.

“Are we sure they weren’t trying to use a back door to get into the prison realm?” Jade asked before anyone could answer Wyatt’s question. She told me everything Emmy had told her the day of her mating ritual. While I wasn’t inclined to believe her, it seemed our interests were aligned when it came to the rift. Even so, Jade made it clear that she didn’t trust her.

Titan considered her question for several long moments before answering. “It’s very unlikely. That realm isn’t a typical one with multiple doorways. No, this one is sophisticated and only has one way in and one way out. One door that requires five keys to open it. Chances are—”

“Prison realm?” Caspian asked, cutting off the rest of Titan’s answer, rubbing his chin as he pinned the entire weight of his gaze on Jade. Which was something Koa obviously didn’t like, but other than adjusting Jade so she was sprawled across his lap, he didn’t interfere. “An interesting use of words. You hadn’t called it that when we had our meeting.”

Ari scoffed, cutting off Jade’s reply. I was a little disappointed that her response was halted. It would’ve been interesting to see if Jade would’ve mouthed off to the intense elemental and told him to mind his own fucking business.

“That meeting was a fucking joke.” Derision dripped from Ari’s tone, her head resting back against the cushions.

Roman pushed off the wall and went to kneel in front of her, but he didn’t attempt to touch her. A safe move on his part with how unpredictable she could be, not that he knew about that. Odds were, he probably didn’t want to startle her since her eyes were shut.

“Is this from the fight?” Roman’s tone was soft, but there was a rumbling undercurrent. He’s always had a protective streak. It was sort of surprising that Roman wasn’t babying me, and I was glad his protective instincts were aimed at her rather than me. Although that might’ve had something to do with Ander, who was currently twirling a strand of my hair around his finger.

“I’m fine, it’s not from the fight.” Ari waved away his concern, but her pinched expression didn’t let up.

“Every once in a while she’ll get headaches if she uses too much energy,” Harmony said as she rummaged through the small bag strapped to her waist. She pulled out a small tincture, and when Roman held out his hand, she tossed it to him.

He tapped the metal container against Ari’s knee to get her attention. Her eyes were slow to open and she hesitated a moment before accepting the tincture. A herbal smell floated through the room as she applied the balm to her temples.

“Sometimes if a summoner is out of sync with their animal, it can affect the body in physical ways, like a headache,” Ashe murmured, stroking his chin as he considered Ari. “Have you noticed this with your—what is your animal?”

Several of us answered Ashe’s question at the same time even though it wasn’t meant for us.

“I don’t know,” Ari admitted after applying the balm. She sounded completely drained and I doubted she was in the mood to discuss this. It didn’t seem like more than a headache and exhaustion, so it could wait until we all weren’t ready to fall asleep.

“Is there any chance that thing could’ve found its way out into our realm? I mean, it seemed like that thing was right on the other side,” I said, feeling a spike of anxiety as I remembered the moving shadow and the dark energy.

“No,” Titan said, without a single hint of doubt in his voice or expression. “It may have felt like they were on the other side, but they were at the end of a hallway of sorts. When we dismantled the rift, we cut off the doorway and severed its connection to our realm. Whoever is on the other side, will need to find a different exit. And based on how much trouble they went through to create the shortcut, I doubt it’ll be easy.”

“You all should go home and get some rest. The rift has been dealt with and there’s nothing we can do to figure out who was on the other side. If we’re lucky, we’ll never find out,” Roman said, standing up.

We all said our goodbyes before Wyatt portaled off to wherever he now lived—I didn’t know if he still lived in the human realm. At the same time, Parker created a portal to the Convergence point. Just before I entered the portal, I hesitated and touched my wrist where the symbol faintly showed, glancing up at Roman.

“It’s permanent, kid. I’ll always be able to contact you if you ever find yourself in trouble again.” He gave my shoulder a light squeeze and gave Ander one of those manly nods they were all so fond of. I thanked him again for all he had done for us this past day. After one last glance at the royals, I entered the portal.

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