Chapter 75

Amyr did not have a chance to respond, was not even sure he could speak, before Quynn made an exasperated sound. "Amyr! What are you doing here? And why is Yori here? Don't you realize how dangerous this place is?"

Did she think she was in any less danger?

Staefyn was looking at him with contempt, but Yori suddenly went to stand next to him and he reached out to tug on the sleeve of the loose shirt Staefyn was wearing. Where was his tunic? Amyr glanced around and his eyes fell on a bed that looked disheveled, the tunic discarded at its side and he turned to narrow his gaze on his brother who did not pay him any attention.

"If you are my father's brother, then you are my uncle, like Stryfe and Jeshed and Taeron." Yori looked up at Staefyn with an innocent smile. "Are you my uncle?"

The child's lack of guile seemed to confuse Staefyn and it seemed as if he had to work at easing the look of disdain from his face. "I am," he managed to say although the two words sounded forced.

Although he had learned not to touch the hands of others, Yori seized Staefyn's hand, and he suddenly stiffened, the smile frozen on his lips, and Amyr held his breath, wondering what he was feeling. Then Yori giggled. "You are very powerful, uncle."

Amyr saw that Staefyn had a similar reaction to Yori's touch. "As are you, nephew."

"I am Yori."

"And I am Staefyn. Why did you come here, Yori?" asked Staefyn with a disgusted glance in Amyr's direction.

"I wanted to see my mama, but I was afraid to ask papa, so I waited for him to ask me." Amyr was glad that Yori was better behaved than he had ever been or he would have come to Guerani Palace on his own.

Quynn released Amyr and held out her arms to Yori who yanked his hand away from Staefyn and rushed to her embrace.

Staefyn went to Amyr and grasping a handful of his tunic, he hauled him to his feet. "You are coming with me!"

"I am staying with my wife and son." Amyr shoved him back, but before he could take a step towards Quynn and Yori, they were surrounded by a bluish white glow and he knew he would be unable to touch them. Quynn gave Staefyn an irritated look before she turned her attention back to her son.

Staefyn smiled smugly at Amyr. "Now you have no reason to stay, brother."

The protection spell would keep them out of danger, and since Quynn was preoccupied with her son, touching his face, kissing his cheeks, running her fingers through his hair, Amyr had little choice but to accompany Staefyn when there was nothing he could do to breach his powerful spell.

"Are you putting me in a dungeon?"

"Dungeon?" He raised a brow. "What do you think this place is? Apolo designed this as a place of peace where mother could commune with the ancestors and father could escape the demands of imperial nobility. Edgeland Fortress is close enough to take any prisoners deserving of incarceration, so there is no dungeon here."

"You haven't given father a chance to use the palace," Amyr pointed out.

Staefyn's lips curved into a smile, but he did not respond as he turned and walked to the door. Amyr gave Quynn one last glance before he followed Staefyn from the room. The corridors were empty as Amyr would expect from a trance, and their boots echoed eerily as they walked without speaking.

His brother stopped before a door and when he opened it, Amyr tried to go past him but Staefyn stopped him. "I have taken a wife."

"You married that old whore?" Amyr was disgusted that Staefyn would elevate that woman's status.

Staefyn's gaze narrowed as he drew his brows together. "You speak of my mate."

"I speak of a female predator that took advantage of you." Amyr would have put his hand on his arm, to move closer to him so that he could advise him as a brother, but he was afraid of Staefyn's power. "You do not have to live the rest of your life under that creature's control."

Staefyn swept Amyr with a contemptuous look. "Quynn has already told me of the remedies devised by her mother. Do you think I want to live the life of a half-man?"

"How can you want to be with Xuxa?"

His brother smirked. "I doubt there is a female more skilled than Xuxa to give a male pleasure. Should I give that up for a life devoid of any pleasure?"

As he tried to think of an argument, Amyr glanced in the room to see a pale form on the bed, long dark hair spread on the pillows. Her thin body undulated and he heard her moan.

"My wife, Keilana of house Caron."

Amyr looked away from her to Staefyn who closed the door. "Jeshed told me that your warlord's army is coming together with the imperial warriors of house Caron. This is the reason? You have taken Taeron's leavings?"

He expected Staefyn to become angry at Amyr's reference to Taeron, but Staefyn snorted. "She came to me pure."

"And she will leave you pure," said Amyr with disgust. "What is she doing in this trance?"

"My wife is enjoying a conjugal visit from her husband," said Staefyn with a chuckle. "I have paid her several already."

"Yet you were with my wife," accused Amyr, clenching his fists at his side. He wanted to beat the smirk off his brother's face.

"I often sleep with your mate," said Staefyn. "Even when she does not realize I am there."

Amyr could not refrain from springing at Staefyn and he was able to land a blow to his jaw that cut his lip against his teeth. Staefyn retaliated by drawing a sword and when he lunged at him, a sword materialized in Amyr's hand to parry.

Staefyn sprang back, and he reached up to wipe his lip with the back of his hand as he glared at Amyr. "I thought you might have come here to try to convince me not to crush father's army, but I see you have come here to kill me."

Remaining in a defensive position although Staefyn did not look as though he would attack, Amyr said, "If we wanted you dead we would send Taeron."

"Yes, Taeron would probably be able to kill me." Staefyn sheathed his sword. "Is he pleased with his mate?"

"His wife," Amyr corrected him. "Dijana would not allow him to bond with her."

For a moment Staefyn did not say anything, but Amyr read the anger and resentment that rolled off him until his brother managed to regain control of his feelings. Amyr decided to twist the blade a little more. "She carries his child, a daughter."

As he suspected, he felt the pain that assailed Staefyn at the prospect of never seeing a female swell with his own child. Those feelings took longer for Staefyn to shrug off, and when he looked at Amyr, he saw disgust.

"You always knew exactly how to hurt me and Taeron. It sickens me to know that you are his imperial guard, that he will turn to you for counsel."

"That was your choice," Amyr reminded him and he was gratified by Staefyn's flinch.

But the gratification did not last long because Staefyn suddenly lunged at him and Amyr threw up his hands to protect himself, not realizing that it was what Staefyn wanted. He seized Amyr's hands and slammed him back against the wall. The power that flowed from him immobilized Amyr and he scarcely had the strength to draw in a breath.

Staefyn brought his face close to Amyr's, and when he met his gaze, his brother's green eyes glowed fiercely golden.

"No!" Amyr managed to croak as he was forced to stare into his eyes. This was the last thing Taeron saw before Staefyn bricked away his memories. Amyr was terrified that he would take away Quynn and Yori and the daughter whose fragile life he sensed so briefly within Quynn.

"Goodbye, Amyr."

Then Amyr felt as if his head had been shoved under water. He could not breathe, he could barely manage a coherent thought, and then he was spinning out of control, images of the people he loved being sucked away. Amyr tried desperately to reach out, to grab them, to hold them close.

Suddenly hands were grasping him, tearing at him, and he heard his name shouted just before it felt as if his head exploded. His eyes snapped open and he realized that he was in his bed. The hands of his Guerani family were on him and he could see by the panic on their faces that they had been as terrified as he had been. His face was numb as if it had been hit with a brick, and he turned his head to see Taeron shaking out his hand.

"By the gods, did you hit me?" He could barely speak and when he felt a healing touch, he turned to see that Apolo was healing him.

Amyr reached up to touch his own cheek, moved his jaw around and then he realized that everyone was staring at him with wide eyes. Then Amyr realized that he had used the hand with which he had been holding Yori as he lay on the bed. Spinning quickly, he saw that the place beside him was empty.

"Where … where is Yori?" he nearly shouted in panic.

They did not answer and Amyr spun to look at his mother.

"He disappeared," she told him. "Shortly before we realized Staefyn must be attacking you, he just dissolved before our eyes."

"We tried to catch him," Shamara told him sadly. "But Staefyn's magic is too powerful."

The emptiness he felt inside, not knowing what had become of Yori, that he had caused it almost made him shriek with despair. His mother took his hands and she managed to bring him back from the edge of madness.

And then he was suddenly looking into Staefyn's eyes again and he would have sagged to the floor with relief had Staefyn not held him against the wall. "You are still an arrogant bastard that needs Taeron to save him and mother to soothe his aches."

Amyr's heart was still racing, his body trembling. "Where is Yori?" Was this real?

"He is with his mother where we left him." Staefyn released him and Amyr was barely able to lock his knees to keep from falling to the floor. "You should not have used your child in your selfish scheme to be with your mate."

Amyr shook his head. "I did not come here for her."

"You are lying"

"I came here to speak to you, Staefyn. Do you think mother would let me do this so I could be with Quynn?"

Staefyn stared at him for a moment without speaking, and then he said, "I have learned what happened to Lord Renaeld and why."

"And you still married his daughter," said Amyr furiously. "Why do you hate mother so? And how can you believe the lies Xuxa has told you?"

"I no longer believe anything she has told me," said Staefyn, his face expressionless. "But I have gone too far to be able to turn back."

"It is never too late to turn back," Amyr told him earnestly.

Staefyn shook his head. "My actions have caused too much pain and suffering. I will continue forward and trust the will of the gods." He nodded in the direction they had come. "We will return to your family, and when you leave, you will tell mother and father that I will do what I must do."

With a heavy heart, Amyr followed Staefyn back to the chamber where they had left Quynn and Yori. They had gone from the floor to the bed where Quynn sat with Yori, his small head pressed against her belly, a smile on his lips. When he saw Amyr, Yori smiled and waved.

"Papa, my sister is happy to meet me."

Amyr glanced at Staefyn and saw that there was a genuine smile on his lips. He should not have goaded him as he had. Amy should have remembered Shamara's warning.

"Come with me, Yori. Your father can meet your sister as I show you the palace."

Before leaving, Yori kissed his mother's cheek and she gave Amyr a fearful look as Yori hurried across the room to take Staefyn's hand. Staefyn looked at her. "Do not be afraid, Quynn. I cannot harm Yori. I would not." With those words, he turned and left with her son.

Quynn watched the door and Amyr could feel that she was anxious, but then she held out her arms to him and he nearly tripped over his own feet to reach her. He held her against him for several moments, savoring how she felt in his arms even in this strange world, But she moved restlessly against him, and when he felt her digging under his tunic and heard her breathy sighs, Amyr hoped Staefyn kept Yori busy for a long time.

Later as she held him to her, his cheek pillowed on her breast, he laid his hand on her rounded belly and felt their child move as she greeted him with barely perceptible stirrings of joy. Closing his eyes, he saw her, their daughter, a little girl with tangled copper curls and Guerani golden eyes. She was ducking in and out of flowered shrubbery, giggling as she tried to hide.

Amyr sighed as the vision dissolved, and he raised his head to look at his mate. "We should not have done this."

She stretched her naked body against his. "No, Amyr, we should do it again." Quynn laughed, and taking his head between her hands, she tilted his face up for her kiss. When she let him breathe again, she asked, "How long will you stay?"

"As long as Staefyn lets me." Amyr doubted Staefyn would give him much longer to be with his wife. "Does he treat you well?"

"He does," she admitted, albeit reluctantly. "You don't need to be jealous of him. He is like a brother, a very aggravating brother. At first he seemed to want more, but his bond prevented him and now I think he is more interested in nurturing our unborn child."

Amyr sighed deeply. "I should be grateful to him."

Quynn grimaced. "When he is here, he protects me well enough, but he is more often than not away."

"He is often gone from the palace?" Amyr wondered if there would be a way to capture him during his forays in the hills.

"He says he is communing with the ancestors, that he can hear them speaking to him on the winds."

"We can all hear them," Amyr told her. When she started in surprise he explained, "We can hear them faintly at Edgeland Fortress, but Shamara, my mother and Apolo say that the voices are loudest in the sacred hills. They say that the voices are comforting, that they teach."

"Then Staefyn attends a lot of their lectures."

If they were teaching him, then it explained his power. Dax had spent the first twelve years of his life in the Guerani Hills before the imperials hunted down his people. In the years that Camridaeus had walked the hills to kill any survivors, Amyr wondered if Dax had learned from the ancestors to gain his strength. Did they try to help Dax overcome the monster? Did they try to help Staefyn now?

Amyr did not want to waste the time he was given with his wife wondering about Staefyn, so he gave his full attention to Quynn because he did not know how much longer Staefyn would allow him to remain.

When the first sun rose and Yori had not returned, Quynn began to fret about his absence, so they left the bedchamber to search for Staefyn and their son. They went through several empty rooms and then Quynn suggested they try the garden because she had seen Staefyn there many times. As she suspected,they were there, Yori seated on Staefyn's lap. When Amyr saw the blank stares, he realized that their hands were joined.

"A trance in a trance?" Quynn was as perplexed as Amyr.

Her voice stirred Yori and he released Staefyn's hands and hopped off his lap to go to his mother. "We must return soon."

Amyr looked at Staefyn who rose from the stone bench on which he had been sitting. "Listening to the ancestors?" he asked with a raised brow.

"You should listen to them," suggested Staefyn. "They have much to teach."

"Did they teach you to challenge your father? To cause the death of your mother?" demanded Amyr. "Did they instruct you on how to imprison your brother in a trance or how to betray the brother of your heart?"

"This is my trance, Amyr, not yours, not Yori's." Before Amyr could do little more than seize Yori's hand, Staefyn ended his trance and Amyr felt as if he were falling until hands seized him to pull him from the endless void.

When he opened his eyes, he quickly turned to see Yori beside him also opening his eyes, their hands still joined. Then Amyr turned to see the faces of his Guerani family. They bore expressions ranging from relief to hope, the latter belonging to his mother. He did not want to disappoint her, but he knew that he must.

"You were not gone long," remarked Shamara.

"A few moments," agreed Chaela.

"I was there for several hours," he told them.

"I saw my uncle Staefyn," announced Yori with more exuberance than Amyr felt. "He took me to visit the ancestors."

Apolo raised his brows. "You visited the ancestors?"

"We were in Staefyn's trance," Amyr explained. "I don't know how he did it, but he took Yori into another trance where they contacted the ancestors."

"Where were you when he was visiting the ancestors?" asked Shamara.

"Visiting his mate." His mother was looking at him with annoyance and Amyr looked away. "Did you speak to him at all, Amyr?"

"We argued," he admitted. "His power is incredible." He shuddered as he recalled the vision Staefyn had given him. Causing Yori harm by taking him away in the trance was Amyr's worst fear and Staefyn had learned of it and used it against him. He had deserved it for the cruel words he had spoken to him. Amyr knew he had a long way to go in overcoming the selfishness of his youth.

"Were you able to convince him of anything other than the fact you are still a canyon beast's backside?" asked Chaela. When he did not answer, she made a sound of disgust. "We should have sent someone else. All he did was bed his mate and anger Staefyn."

Amyr would have argued if he had anything to argue about. Chaela had summed up the trance succinctly. So he told them what he had managed to discuss with Staefyn and his response to their help. They were equally horrified that Staefyn did not want to leave his mate and that he had taken Keilana of house Caron as his wife. Although she did not show her feelings, his mother was not quick enough to hide the hurt she felt that Staefyn would make on oath with the daughter of the man that had shamed her.

When Amyr had finished speaking, his mother sighed deeply. "I cannot give up on my son, especially not now when you tell me that he speaks to the ancestors." She sat on the edge of the bed and she looked at each of her children, Yori, and her brother. "We all saw what happened to Staefyn when he was a child, how they speak to him now and they continue to counsel him. If they have not given up on him, then we should not."

Apolo reached out to squeeze her hand. "Arora, he has to heed their counsel, and thus far he has not."

She met her brother's gaze. "Then his fate is in the hands of the gods."

"As is ours," he responded grimly.