“She is not yet eighteen,” Ada protested.
“Age is relative,” Sloane spoke up. “Zahra is actually a very good suggestion.”
“How?” Rorik asked and then sent an apologetic look to Salem.
“She knows humans well,” Tegan said. “She survived a Drakhyn attack.” Tegan looked back at the Sisters before she addressed the others. “She knows House Akrhyn and would now happily stand amongst them, she is no warrior, and will counsel with her heart not her fighting instinct. It is no secret Zahra did not want an Akrhyn life, but that changed, and leadership should not be given to someone whocravesit, that way only corrupts.” Tegan took a deep breath before her glare was levelled at the Three. “And also,why Zahra?Because our brother died in my arms foryourwar.Hesaved you, not I.”
“Why not pick yourself?” Agatha asked, ignoring Tegan’s anger. “If that is all that is needed, why are you not taking a seat?” The Sister’s irritation was showing, and Tegan was perversely delighted she was finally getting a reaction from one of them.
“I am Heir. My duty to my House is first and foremost.”
“And do you not think these Akrhyn will judge you for placing your father, your adopted father and yoursisterin seats of power?” Ada asked.
“I didn’t put anyone in a seat. I am nobody, merely an Elite Sentinel. I made a suggestion. What you do with it is your own. Unless the rules changed while I was recovering? Do we no longer vote? Do Akrhyn no longer have asay?” She looked them over with scorn. “Yousee, but you do not know? Isn’t that what you told my brother?” Tegan shook her head in disgust. “You alreadyknowwho sits on the Great Council, stop your games, it is a new world. Just…go away.”
Tegan strode angrily from the room. She didn’t head back to her room, but went outside, her feet stopping short when she saw the grounds.
Trees were standing upright as if they had not been felled, and she knew without seeing, that the destruction from the bombs would be gone and the destruction from Cord’s Storm would be gone. Her feet itched to move, to discover if she was right, but she was afraid to walk forward in case it was a dream.
“When you got through to him, and he stopped his Storm and then he saw what his Flare had done to you, what the Drakhyn had done to you, and they took you to heal and you died…he ran. He came out here and fell to his knees,” Garrick’s wife said as she walked up beside her.
“Miriam.” Tegan remembered.
“Yes.” The Lycan smiled fondly at Tegan. “He was distraught at the pain he caused you, at the burns from his Flare that scarred you.” Miriam gestured in front of her, and she and Tegan walked down the drive.
“He did not mean it,” Tegan said as she stared at the familiar treeline. “He didn’t know that I would burn.”
“No, but it was his power, so he would feel he harmed you,” Miriam shrugged. “He came out here, and his body looked broken,” she whispered. “He put his hands in the soil and…” She looked at Tegan. “I have never seen anything like what he did. He sank his hands into the ground and it just…rejuvenated.”
“It is Arflyn, not him, she works through him,” Tegan said as she looked around. “She is on the Mark on his back.” Turning, she looked to the Lycan. “She healed the land through him. Does he still bear it?”
“We do not know, he has not returned.”
“No one has seen him?” Tegan demanded furiously. “What if he is dead?”
“You died, Tegan, only for a moment, but it was enough to break your bond. I think that and his own loss of control during the war,” Miriam said sadly, “I simply think it was too much, and he was broken.”
Tegan took a step backwards. “He wasbroken?” she asked angrily. “By Harrian’s wrath,Cord Lebedevdoes not get tobreak.”
As Tegan stormed back inside, Miriam looked to the side of the grounds where Sloane stood looking smug, and with a sly wink to the Lycan, he went back inside the Headquarters.
It took a further four days before Tegan had convinced them all that she was more than capable of finding Cord.
Castor Jameis took her to the edge of the Tongass forest. “I can follow you,” he offered.
“I will be fine,” Tegan assured him with a smile.
“Why did you not pick Pure Prime Castor Rorik?” Jameis blurted out.
“I didn’t think he would want to portal me,” Tegan answered, confused.
“For the Great Council,” Jameis clarified. “He was never against you.”
“Oh, that.” She reached out and squeezed his arm. “I didn’tpickanyone, it is for Akrhyn to vote. As it always has been.” She chose to ignore Jameis’s doubtful look at her words. “Anyway, even if I did, Rorik is needed where he is,” Tegan answered as she walked into the woods before she turned back to Jameis. “Trust me.”
The walk through the forest was healing in so many ways that the medical wards were not. The air was fresh, the trees heavy with greenery and the wildlife undisturbed. The old Tower rose first in her view, imposing, dark and not welcoming. The dark high wall that encompassed it was also foreboding. As Tegan pushed the gate open, she stopped in wonder at the building. Huge spires kissed the air, stone statues stared at her, knowing she did not belong there. She could see the appeal to Cord. Cold and imposing, the building did not invite people to explore. Tegan took her backpack off and looked up at the Tower and the other levels below it. She grinned at the challenge.
Cord had been studying in his room. The Master’s Tower was full of knowledge, but it was also really dark, damp and had very poor light. His room in the Tower had a south-facing window, and he had pushed the window open far to let air in.