Page 20 of Commanding Flame and Shield
We were shields. Both physical defenders in past lives, and from what I’d been told, mental as well. Alec’s shield, it seemed, included emotions to some extent. His ever-easy-going demeanor achieved through some greater control.
“How do I use it?”
“In time. It’ll all come in time.”
“You had to have been assigned because of your ability.”
“In part. Alvara and Aren both have a good sense for souls that connect deeper though. She can’t always explain it, but she usually has some semblance of intuition of who has been in a soul group. Hell of a mentor you’ve got there.”
“She seems it. Can you tell me about her? She hasn’t exactly been…forthcoming. Beyond talking about Grayshell.”
He smiled. Playful and familiar, he teased, “Inquiring about another woman, old friend?”
I laughed. It seemed I had not been the kind of fellow to take a wife until the end of that life—there were only a few memories of the woman I felt tied to before the blackness.
“I just mean. You all seem to have a deep respect for her. Is she…your leader?”
“Of sorts,” Alec shrugged. “Aren is Commander. She’s Aren’s calling. His second. And she’s got an immense amount of power in that mind of hers. Spooky, honestly. She’s skilled inmostthings. Her clairvoyance is parallel to none—the visions she casts are scary accurate. And even without a vision, her intuition is very rarely wrong. If you tell her I said this, I’ll kick your ass, but she’s probably the most lethal of us when it comes to combat.”
“Themostlethal. Really?” I snorted. She was all kinds of intriguing, ungodly beautiful, but she didn’t seemlethal. That ethereal voice lingered in my ears, mesmerizing eyes imprinted on my vision.
“Aren doesn’t count—he’s a legend for a reason. And I’d wager…she’s second only to Ansel,ifshe’sreallytired.” He flashed a pearly grin that dripped in a cocktail of arrogance and endless stories. “That kind of power, wielded in such a disciplined way…it earns respect.”
I felt more than heard someone approaching behind us, and turned to see The Commander himself, as he leaned a casual shoulder into the door frame, his hands sliding into his pockets. “How do I put this nicely…” Aren chuckled. “Our Ally…has a natural inclination for violence.”
I about spit my water out my nose as he laughed.
“Don’t get me wrong, she’s pretty easy tempered, it’s just…when she’s done, she’sdone. Like…It takes alotto get her going. But there’s no slowing that train down once it’s gotten up to speed.”
“I certainly wouldn’t cross her,” Alec laughed, before chugging the rest of his own bottle. Something unspoken passed between the men, and they reached their hands out for each other. The moment they grasped each other’s forearm, their eyes went hazy. The fog only lasted a matter of seconds, before Aren nodded in approval.
“Nice work, gentlemen. Eat. Drink. Alec, show him how to be a shield.”
“What was that?” I asked when Aren had gone.
“My shields are almost always up. It takes a decent…err…distraction to drop them.” As though on cue, Aphaea appeared in the doorway, walking to his side. She snaked her arms around his bicep, raising on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek.
“Sometimes it’s easier to share my mind if we touch, and Aren and I can communicate quickly that way. Alvara and I have the opposite challenge. While she must work to clear her mind, to lend us privacy...I have to work to invite theirs in. I suspect you’ll be much the same. It’s what made you so hard for her to find.”
“The dreams—”
“Were real. You were tapping into the spiritual plane. She was trying to reach you there. How long do you remember them?”
“It feels like a lifetime. She popped up in them for some time, before they got more…desperate.”
He nodded, expression grim. “I don’t know if you realize how close you were to being swiped by crawlers.”
My skin prickled into goosebumps, hair on end. “The demons.”
“Yes. Very much real. And very strong on that dimension.”
“Layla. I dreamt they killed Layla.”
He grimaced. “That wasn’t a dream either, I’m afraid. Alvara got the vision at the last possible moment.”
“How was it the spiritual plane if they could have killed her?”
“We are souls in bodies, August. Not bodies with souls. If they destroyed her soul, she would never have woken from that sleep. Human doctors label them heart attacks, or strokes. But it was spiritual warfare.”
