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But that is no longer true. Because Elora is alive and well and inside my realm. The woman who seems to have traipsed across the uncrossable border hearty and hale and invading every sense.
Her foreign heartbeat kicks up in my chest, and I rub my palm over it. I don’t know what to make of it, but I wish it would go the fuck away.
Another knock sounds, and I sigh. I am apparently destined for constant interruptions today.
Kaia stands on the other side of the door, her hands gripped in front of her. She looks uncharacteristically frazzled, and it sends a flurry of thoughts skipping through my head. All of them about Elora. The one thing I wish I could stop thinking about.
“What’s wrong?”
Stepping around me, she crosses to the fire and drops into one of the chairs, conjuring herself a glass of wine. She takes a deep drink before she speaks.
“She’s an interesting puzzle, your mortal.”
My jaw clenches, and my eyes narrow. “She’s not my mortal.” I claim the seat opposite Kaia and conjure my own glass of wine. “What happened? Did you kill her by accident?”
I try for flippant, but even I hear the dread edging my tone.
“Not to worry. She’s alive and well, but…”
“Puzzling?” I finish for her.
“Mmm,” Kaia murmurs into her glass. “The healer was right. She had power clinging to her, slowing the healing process.”
“That shouldn’t be odd. It’s what you were expecting.”
“Yes.” She nods. “What I wasn’t expecting was the way she resisted me when I removed it. It’s rare. It’s…”
“Puzzling.”
Kaia takes another drink of wine before setting her glass on the table with a clink. “She was unaffected by my calming power.”
“You’re sure?” My fingers tighten on the glass in my hand when she nods.
“It’s difficult to interpret what happened any other way. She shook it off like she might an unwanted touch. Almost as though it were second nature.”
I push out of my chair and pace over to the fire, setting my untouched wine on the mantel. Kaia would never force her power on anyone. It seems more plausible that the woman shied away from it and Kaia retreated. If it is indeed possible for a mortal to evade a god’s power, I’ve never heard of it happening before.
“Do you think her time in the Shadow Realm could be the cause?”
I tilt my head at the idea. “I’m not sure. Perhaps. This is new territory for me. A mortal crossing before death.”
“It would make sense. Things have felt so different recently. How long has she been here? Three days, you said?”
Her words snap steel into my spine, the realization hitting me all at once. We’ve not had a single breach or a whisper of power fading in days. Three days, to be exact. Not since Elora inexplicably crossed the veil into my realm.
I’m not sure what to make of it, but the timing can’t be a coincidence.
Whirling for the door, I wrench it open and race down the hall. I hear Kaia struggle to match my pace until she shifts in front of me and brings me skidding to a halt.
“What are you doing?”
I brush past her and continue my way down the wide hall. The tower’s entrance isn’t far from my rooms. A safety measure in case someone discovered the mystery woman before I was ready.
“Thieran.”
She grabs at my elbow, but I shake her off when we reach the tower’s lower door.
“When did things start feeling different to you?”
