Page 38 of Enchanting Her Mate
“They are mine,” Jo says in a solemn tone. “When I sent a crack through the ground last eve, I believe I awakened them.”
“Awakened?” I repeat the word, not understanding.
Jo turns to me and scrubs a hand down her face. “Yes. I, uh, I believe I have woken the dead.”
EPILOGUE
JO
A WEEK LATER…
Iknew becoming Prime Hexrin would be stressful in the beginning, but I was not anticipating such a massive undertaking. However, I suppose I am to blame for my current level of stress. Not every Prime is forced to care for a group of undead Vi-kings, as Kayt described them, upon stepping into the role.
“Ri Huna,”one of the undead Vi-kings mutters as he kneels at my feet. It means “My Queen,” and I hear it no less than a hundred times each day. They also follow me everywhere I go. Even now, as I am at a table in the food hall––the part that is still functional despite the repairs needed––looking through an old spell book, they sit at a nearby table, watching me intently.
Though I suppose it is better than it was. The first few days after they arrived were miserable. We could not figure out where they came from or what language they spoke, so communication was limited to a handful of words, grunts, and over-the-top gestures.
By day four, Nee-roh’s brother, Koo-li, was able to send his scrapper, Zey-dah, to the village, and she used an advanced screen pad to determine they are an ancient alien race from a planet called Daxaev II that was destroyed centuries ago.
Zey-dah returned the following day with ear translators for the undead Vi-kings with our languages programmed in, and the members of the clan have been going to Kaiva’s med room to have our language chips updated with the universal language of Daxaev II.
Being able to speak with them is an improvement, certainly, but now I must decide what to do with them. I found a spell to reverse the reanimation, but that seems cruel. Even though I was not responsible for their original deaths, I do not want their second deaths on my shoulders. I am still struggling with the knowledge that I killed Tibik, so I am not inclined to add seven undead Vi-kings to that list.
“I am sorry,” I say to the undead warrior at my feet. “I do not remember your name. Could you please tell me again?”
“Onem, Ri Huna.”
“Oh-nem,” I repeat. “Thank you for your continued attention, but I assure you I am not in need of anything.”
He does not rise. He does not move. He just keeps staring at me with those unsettling lime-green eyes, the color glowing from where their pupils should be.
I spot Aye-vah walking past the food hall and an idea pops into my head. “Um, perhaps Aye-vah could take a look at that gash on your neck, yes?”
Aye-vah smiles brightly when hears her name called, but her face falls when she sees it was me. I do not take it personally. I know this is because she finds the undead males unsettling and does not want to touch their strange, translucent skin.
“Aye-vah!” I call out, gesturing for her to come over.
“Hi, Jo,” she says, nodding in greeting to the male at my feet.
“This is Oh-nem, and I believe he is in need of a healer,” I tell her, pointing at the gash running down the side of his neck. It is not bleeding, but it is open and not pleasant to look at.
“Um, okay, Onem,” Aye-vah says with a tight smile. “Follow me. I’ll get you all fixed up.”
Oh-nem looks torn as Aye-vah leads him away from me, as if stepping out of my immediate vicinity will cause him physical pain. I half expect the rest of the undead to run along after him, but they do not leave the table near me.
I am back,Alu sends, moments before she comes into view. She is carrying a large sack of belongings from the cottage.
She takes a seat across from me at the table as she shows me the contents of the bag: a few blankets, the pillows that Mek turned into a nest, and a sealed jar of tibbi.That is all?I send.Everything else was destroyed?
Yes,shereplies with a sadness I wish I could ease.Either destroyed when the undead awakened, or when the rubble that was left fell over the edge of the cliff and into the pool.
I am sorry I did not tell you about the cluster when I discovered it.I send to her.I was worried you would be eager to feed it like you did with the feathered reptilian and it would swallow you whole.
She chuckles through our link.That does sound like something I would be inclined to do. I am not angry with you, my mate. You were merely trying to keep me and Mek safe.
It seems the dark energy cluster I felt near Alu’s cottagewasthe undead Vi-kings. They were buried far beneath the surface, but when I sent a crack through the ground, it brought them back to life and provided a clear path for them to join us above ground. They followed the crack right to us.
“Ri Huna,” another of the Vi-kings, I think his name is Koh-dram, says as he kneels at my feet with his chin dipped.