Glory of the Nephilim

Chapter 9

Ranid seemed to be close without being too close. I wasn't keeping my unease to myself, but he'd picked up on it early on. Like Nevin would, he never offered or tried to force comfort. He would simply be there when I asked for it. Maybe that was a trait of all Abassy. Yet another question added to the rapidly growing list I'd have for my husband.

The walkway was a bridge floating on a shallow marsh. The path was just wide enough for Bankal to fit. Rainan's hand never let go of his arm and I doubted he'd be okay if it had.

Ranid closed that minimal gap between us as I swayed slightly on the floating walkway wobbling underneath my feet. I was made painfully aware that Shylerinthian's didn't believe in handrails as my arm grabbed for something that didn't exist. It was Rainan who caught me before I fell into the cesspool below us.

"You don't want to fall into that, Lady Nora."

"Okay," was all I could manage as she all but handed me to Ranid.

"Here," the Abassy said softly behind me. He took something like a coin out of his duster. "It looks safe enough, but under the surface," he trailed off, tossing the coin into the murky water.

There was a tiny splash just before the foaming started. A ripple off to the left moved quickly to the disturbance and a mouth full of serrated teeth came up to engulf everything. Silence. The water was stagnant instantly.

"I've seen your lakes and your oceans," Ranid said. "Your creatures have purpose, even the most insignificant. Most things are only here to destroy you. Do not trust even the sincerest of things here."

There was a certain warning that hung onto the obvious one. I wasn't to trust anyone or anything. Even him.

"Jelgha will help us get your man."

In Laend, all I had to was think of him and he'd be there. I wasn't even able to use my power in Shylerinth. Even if he hadn't forbidden me to use it, I didn't have the same control I'd had before. Ranid had felt my power in Laend. He knew it was kilter and that was why he was being so protective. Or maybe it was only because he feared what Nevin would do if anything happened to me. Whatever his motivations, I was happy to have him by my side. Cautiously happy. After all, he'd said it himself that I shouldn't trust anyone.

"Mosquitoes," I said with a huff.

Ranid stopped and looked down at me, brows knitted. "Excuse me?"

"They have no purpose, mosquitoes. Absolutely none. They just spread disease or, at the very least, pain and annoyance."

"Your point?"

"Not everything has a place where I come from." I stepped around him and took up the lead. "I'm from there and I don't feel like I belong most of the time."

"Why do you stay there then?" His voice had gone soft, quiet. So had his footsteps.

"Because it's my dimension. Aren't rulers supposed to stay with their people?"

"Your man is seemingly reigning over Aughzdel without even acknowledging it. If you have the love and respect of your people, you can rule without meaning to."

The ground beneath us grew more solid and the fog dissipated completely. Bankal and Rainan were already at a flight of stairs that wrapped around a gargantuan tree. The sound of laughter and boisterous conversations filtered down from the very top of the tree.

Skelaldon was in the tree.

I'd always thought that tree you could drive through was weird. A whole city up on a tree in the middle of a marshland was an extreme I'd never imagined.