Reflections of Each Other (Book 4) Now published so sample only

Chapter 12 - Ownership established

Chapter 12 – Ownership established

Xander's POV

Arriving back in Argonia was such a relief. I probably should have felt more loyalty for Teturia but I didn't. Being able to zap straight to Tilly's house once we crossed over the border was a relief. I was exhausted from having to do all that running just to get to the border.

The welcome when we got to Tilly's was not so pleasant though. There was a lot of yelling from Tilly's parents and Kale was glaring at the pair of us furiously. That was of course when I realised that Tilly hadn't left them any knowledge that she was leaving, which threw my anger in there as well.

"Oh shut up all of you!" Matilda's voice thundered over the rest of us and we all went quiet "I'm sorry I didn't leave you a note. I didn't think it would take me so long to get there and back."

"Tilly I warned you of the distance and that you couldn't use magic." I said softly and she turned to look at me with a deep seated worry in her eyes.

"But I could use magic Xander." She whispered and I put a stopper on my anger to finally notice the rather panicked feelings that were underlying everything else in her.

"Come here." I held my arms open and she fell into them "Are you still worried about what Feliscia said?" I asked and she nodded.

"I don't really want to go back on Goddess Day but I promised your Dad we would." She said as she pulled at a stray thread on my shirt.

"It will be fine Tilly. You'll see it will work out just fine." I whispered in her ear reassuringly. A throat cleared behind me and I turned to see Hayden looking seriously at us both.

"I think we need to sit down and calmly talk over what has been happening with you two." He said very diplomatically.

I sighed but followed him into one of the many conference type rooms they had in the Ambassador complexes. It took a lot longer to explain everything that had occurred in the last day than I thought it would. Tilly told them all about her journey there and what we did but she refused to say anything about Feliscia's words to her or Chiarra. I started to go into an explanation but Tilly stopped me and shook her head.

"They need to know what she said." I insisted in the calmest voice I could manage.

"No they don't. She was wrong." She said with a determined shake of her head.

"Tilly she knew your name without ever seeing your face before. This is important." I cupped my hands around her cheeks, gently trying to get my point across.

"No you can't tell them." She argued back but when I noticed tears gathering in her eyes I stopped fighting her.

"Okay I won't for now."

I looked up to see Hayden and Eileenia watching me with serious expressions on their faces. I shrugged what could I do? I wasn't going to make Tilly any more distressed than she already was.

"Matilda?" Eileenia raised her eyebrows at her daughter who just shook her head again.

I was surprised when she shot out of my arms and disappeared. It made me realise that she was even more upset about this than I first thought. Her family turned to me with questioning looks and I didn't know what to say to them.

"Xander what the hell's been going on man?" Kale sent me a frustrated look.

"Look I'm not saying anything if she doesn't want me to okay." I raised my hands up defensively.

"Fine so you guys are okay now?" Kale asked still looking at me intently.

"Yes we are back together. She came to me in a dream and I wasn't sure it was real until she actually turned up at my window as this strange looking bird." I tried explaining and watched their mouths drop open.