“I’m fine,” Elli assured her. She squeezed both their hands. “Thank you both for coming, it’s very kind. But…”
“But the person you really want to see is your man, right?” Sonja looked at her shrewdly. “I take it you’ve forgiven him for drugging your punch?”
Elli nodded.
“That seems like a lifetime ago. He and I can’t ever be together but…but I’d still like to see him one more time.”
“Of course, you do,” Liv said gently. “Go on—he’s waiting at the other end of the Sacred Grove. Sonja and I are just glad to see you’re safe.”
”More than glad!” Sonja gave her hand another squeeze, then let her go and gave Elli a gentle push on the shoulder. “Well? Go on—go talk to him. He’s waiting for you.”
Elli thanked them once more and then went in the direction her new friends had pointed. Though she knew it could be nothing but a bittersweet meeting, she wanted to see Roke one last time and tell him that they had succeeded in their quest and the old Priestess Superior was healed.
Fifty-Eight
Roke was pacing back and forth in front of the statue of the Goddess. The Goddess’s face was calm and serene and her statue was placed on a slightly raised dais. A woven arch laden with flowering vines curved gracefully over it. It reminded him of the arch he and Ellilah had passed beneath during their formal introduction to the Tenebrian Court.
Gods, that seemed like years ago now—hard to believe it was barely more than a week! So much had happened, so much had changed.
Roke himself had changed.
As he had tried to explain his situation to Commander Sylvan, to tell about the adventures they’d had and explain how he felt that Ellilah was in trouble and needed help, he had felt something shift inside him. It was as though telling someone else—an outsider—about what he had seen and done and experienced with Ellilah, had allowed him to see what he felt for her clearly for the first time.
The fear of commitment that he’d felt all his life, ever since his mother had died and his father had descended into agonizing depression, had suddenly lifted. And Roke had realized that, Havoc or not, he wanted to bond with her—to bond her to him and love her all of his life. Finally, he was ready to take the risk he’d been avoiding for so long—finally, he was ready to love.
He just hoped that Ellilah would feel the same way.
I’ll tell her I love her, he thought as he paced back and forth in front of the statue. I know it’s not fair of me to ask her to break her vows permanently and come away with me but I have to at least ask. I’ll live with regret all my life if I don’t.
The memory of his mother’s death and his Sire’s suicide was still in the back of his mind—an aching wound that would never completely heal. But those awful old memories no longer had power over him. He was free now—free to love Ellilah the way she deserved to be loved and cherished.
If only she would consent to love him in return…
“Roke?” her soft birdlike voice—the voice that had tamed the fearsome Demon and had tamed his own reluctant heart as well—came to him through the trees.
“Ellilah?” Looking up eagerly, he saw her coming through the Sacred Grove. “Ellilah!” Running to her, he took both her hands in his. “Sweetheart! Are you all right? Did Commander Sylvan get to you in time? I wanted to come too but he wouldn’t allow it.”
“I’m fine,” she assured Roke, smiling up at him.
But Roke thought there was something sad in that smile—something that troubled him.
“Why did you come back?” she asked. “Weren’t you worried about getting caught?”
“I was caught,” Roke said. “And I’ve promised to make reparations. But I came back for you, Ellilah—I had a terrible feeling you were in trouble.”
“Well, you were right,” she said seriously. “It turned out that the old Priestess Superior wasn’t dying of a wasting disease after all—the Ascending Priestess was giving her Dreaming Drops to make it look like she was. We caught her trying to poison the old Priestess Superior once and for all with an overdose and then things got a bit tense.”
“A bit tense?” Roke demanded, raising his eyebrows. “What does that mean?”
“She pointed a blaster at me,” Elli admitted. “But don’t worry—she never even got off a shot,” she added quickly, obviously seeing his horrified look. “And the piece of the Healing Lattice worked on the old Priestess Superior even though she didn’t have a real wasting disease and now she’s much better. So, well…” She shrugged, looking suddenly shy. “That was all I wanted to tell you. I just thought you’d like to know. So I guess…” She looked up at him. “I guess now that you know everything is all right and you’ve vowed to make reparations for drugging the Christmas punch in the first place, you’re going to go.”