Opal's Wish: Book Four of The Crystal Warriors Series (39 page)

Regardless of what the nursing staff thought they didn’t push for explanations. One of them—an older woman with a stern but comforting manner, whose name Opal was too tired to recall—told her they’d been fielding calls asking after “Jordan Cast’s daughter”. The nurses probably thought “Richard” was a stalker and Opal was hiding under an assumed name. If so, it wasn’t far from the truth.

The night nurse had been and gone, and Opal had dozed off in the armchair—again—when Sera’s scream ripped through the dark, silent room.

“Dan! Something’s happened to Dan! Mommy! You have to help him!”

“Sssshhhh, sweetheart. It’s j-j-just a n-n-nightmare.”

Sera bolted upright in the bed, and she shook her head. “No! It’s real! He’s gone, Mommy. Dan’s gone. I can’t sense him anymore. He’s gone.” Sobs wracked her little body, and Opal did her best to reassure and comfort her, but Sera wasn’t having any of it.

Opal switched on the light, hoping it would help calm Sera down.

The light had an instant effect but not one Opal could have predicted. Sera’s eyes rolled up in her head until only the whites showed. And then she toppled backward, hitting the mattress so hard she bounced.

Oh my God. “Sera!” Opal rushed toward her daughter and—

The hospital room vanished, replaced by a misty place that seemed strangely unsubstantial, like it didn’t truly exist except as some construct of Opal’s imagination.

She spotted movement and then Sera appeared, walking toward her.

There was someone else, too. A woman so beautiful that it hurt to look at her. She had impossibly green eyes and golden hair that cascaded in a shiny ripple to her ankles. She wore two barely-there swatches of silky material—one banded across her generous breasts, the other draped across her hips. She was holding Sera’s hand, and all Opal could think was that she had to be an angel. Which meant that Sera had….

Died.

No. Noooooo! “Take me instead,” she begged. “Please. She’s only nine years old. Please, take me instead and let her live!”

“Calm yourself, child,” the woman said. “Seraphine is not dead. Her soul has temporarily left its mortal shell to walk this realm. As has yours.” Her smooth brow wrinkled. “Which surprises me. Your will is stronger than I imagined, Opal Stewart.”

“Are you okay, Sera? Talk to me!”

Sera’s smile was a gift. “I’m okay, Mommy. This is Saiytada. And she’s a goddess. But she’s got an even worse name than me ’coz hers means ‘grief’!”

The goddess wrinkled her perfect nose. “You are fortunate I harbor a fondness for you, little one. There are few I would allow to show me such disrespect.”

“God!” Opal blurted, horrified at the sweetly veiled threat.

“You mean ‘goddess’ I hope,” Saiytada said, shooting her a glare that imprisoned the words in her throat.

“With a capital G,” Sera added.

“Exactly so, little one.” Saiytada ruffled Sera’s hair and they both giggled.

“I know you love me, Sai,” Sera said. “And I love you, too. But I’d love you more if you called me Sera, like I asked.”

The goddess’s proud features softened. “You are a delight, little one. I begin to understand why your Crystal Warrior cherishes you so.”

“I love Dan, too,” Sera said, her happiness dissolving into a sadness so profound that Opal almost closed her eyes rather than be forced to witness it. “I wished on the crystal Peter gave me for Danbur to be my daddy, and love me and Mommy so that we could be a family. But he’s back in the crystal now, isn’t he?”

“Yes, little one. The curse has taken him.”

“And he’s alone and scared.”

“Yes.”

“Can you help him, Sai?”

“No.”

“What if I go into the crystal instead? Sometimes I’m scared of the dark but I’ll get used to it. Dan did—for a long, long time. I can, too.”

Opal found her voice again. “Sera, no!” She lunged for her daughter, but Saiytada flicked her wrist and Opal was caught by an invisible hand that held her fixed to the spot. “Sera, no! I’ll go into the crystal. Danbur has….”

Tears welled and she blinked them back. She pressed her lips together but she couldn’t prevent the silent sobs that shook her body. “Danbur has sacrificed enough. Let
me
take his place. Don’t take Sera. Please!”

The goddess’s searing green gaze pierced Opal’s soul and displayed it like collectors displayed butterflies on pins. “And have you not sacrificed enough, Opal Stewart? Your innocence. Your hopes and dreams. Your career. Your happiness. Your ability to love, and be loved as a woman should be loved.”

“I don’t need that kind of love. I have Sera. She’s all I ever needed.”

“And Danbur? The man who loves you. The man that
you
love. What of him?”

“I… I… don’t know what you want me to say.”

“Phaugh.” The goddess waved a dismissive hand. “You are like a flower cowering in the shade, refusing the gift of the sun’s rays that would allow you to blossom. You, Opal Stewart, are withering on the vine. Heed me well. You cannot live your life solely for your daughter. To be the mother you have always strived to be for Sera, to help her grow to her full potential, you, too, must reach your potential.”

“I don’t—”

“Enough. I grow weary of this little drama. You are not bonded to the Crystal Warrior, thus you cannot offer yourself in his place.”

“What are you saying?”

“Choose, Opal Jordan Stewart. Your Crystal Warrior or your daughter. Who shall it be?”

“Is this a test?”

“Yes. Choose. And choose wisely, for your choice cannot be undone.”

The goddess waved a hand and a vast expanse of darkness blinked into existence. It was black on black on black. It had no beginning and no end. It simply was. But as Opal’s sight adjusted she could see a lighter patch of black. And then the focus shifted, rushing inward until she could make out a human-shaped blob. A man. And he was screaming….

Sera’s voice cut through Opal’s horror. “You have to choose Danbur, Mommy. You have to! He’s scared and alone and I can hear him screaming. He wishes he was dead! Save him, Mommy! It’ll be okay. I’ll be okay, I promise. Save him!”

“Choose,” Saiytada said. And Opal wondered how she had ever thought that voice was musical and sweet when it was so cruel and cold and merciless.

“Choose, or I will choose for you.”

Danbur. How would she ever forgive herself for what she was about to do. “Danbur,” she whispered, “I’m so—”

“It is done.”

“No! I didn’t mean—” But it was too late. Sera smiled a brilliant smile… and in the next blink she and Saiytada vanished along with the window to that black expanse of nothingness.

“No. Noooooo!” Opal sank to her knees, anguished and sick, appalled by what she had inadvertently done.

The air beside her rippled, ripped, spewed out a man.

Danbur.

He craned his neck, his gaze wild and frantic. “I heard Sera’s voice. Where is she? Opal, where is she?”

“She made me choose,” Opal whispered. “Between you and Sera. I said your name but I didn’t mean— God, what have I done?”

He sank to his haunches and grasped her hands. “Tell me. Everything.”

And when she was done he released her and stalked away. “You evil bitch!” he screamed at the sky—or where the sky would be if this place had such a thing. “Enough of your tricks. Release the child. Come face me, Pieter’s goddess, and we will strike a bargain.”

No response.

No one.

Nothing.

Opal curled into a ball and wished herself dead. And then a hand stroked her hair, and Danbur pulled her into his lap and held her while she sobbed her despair and heartache until she had no more tears left in her. Until she was empty.

Do not give up. Together you can bring her back. Together, you can defeat the curse. This is the true Test.

“Did you hear that?” Danbur asked.

“Yes.” Opal swatted the tears from her face. “It sounded like—”

“Hush. Do not say his name or
she
might hear.”

Danbur clasped Opal’s hands. “Close your eyes, Opal. Think of me and I will think of you—what we truly mean to each other. And then we will think of the most precious thing in the world to us both.”

“Sera,” she whispered.

“Sera.”

She held tight to Danbur and somehow she let him into her heart, fully and completely. And oh, it was frightening and wonderful and heartbreaking and humbling, seeing deep into his heart and soul, learning him, seeing through his eyes and experiences, seeing herself as
he
saw her. And finally, utterly comprehending how deep and enduring a love they had forged despite all the misunderstandings and the meddling and the heartache.

And then it was time to concentrate on Sera, to picture her face and her smile and the myriad things that made her beloved and dear, and—

“Mommy! You did it!”

Opal felt small arms encircle her, and then a small body wriggled between her and Danbur. She dared open her eyes. And Sera was here with them. Really truly here!

“I knew you loved Dan! And I knew both of you would find me and bring me back. Sai knew it, too. That’s why she tricked you.”

Opal gasped, struggling to find the words she wanted to say, struggling to cope with the pure happiness welling through her, unable to choose between gazing at her daughter, and the man she loved. Danbur was doing the same, his gaze flicking from Sera to Opal, and back to Sera. And Opal knew the love shining in his blue, blue eyes was reflected in her own.

But Sera hadn’t finished. “Isn’t there something you’ve forgotten, Sai?” she called.

The goddess’s laughter rang out. “Such a cheeky little one.” And then there was a loud
click
—as might occur when a deity snapped her fingers.

Between one blink and the next, Opal was back in her Green Lane townhome with Danbur and Sera. And as her daughter threw herself into Opal’s arms, and Danbur gathered them both into a hug, Opal knew, absolutely, that she had everything she’d ever dreamed of having. And much, much more than she had ever imagined she deserved.

~~~

“That turned out well, if I don’t say so myself.”

Pieter snorted. More good luck than good management, he thought.

“I heard that!” Saiytada glared at him.

“I might be more inclined to give you full credit for the outcome if you hadn’t forgotten something,” he said.

She narrowed her gaze. And he could see her mentally ticking off each aspect of the “clean up” that had been required after things had gotten a little out of hand. Such as when Danbur had mysteriously vanished from the interrogation room in the middle of a police interview, and Sera had vanished from her hospital bed.

“I’ve thought of everything,” Saiytada announced.

“No, you haven’t.” Revenge, Pieter decided, was a beautiful thing. Even if the form his revenge took must needs be small-scale and somewhat…
petty
in nature.

Saiytada stamped her foot. “Yes, I have!”

Pieter abruptly tired of his game. “Richard Windsor,” he said.

She frowned. “What of him? He was convinced by his attorney to drop all charges against Danbur. He is of no consequence.”

Of course she would see it that way.

“He is the kind of man who doesn’t like to lose,” Pieter said. “If you see no reason to punish him for what he did to Opal, then consider this. He will try to take Seraphine from her mother—not because he cares for the child, you understand, but because he sees her as a possession. Something that belongs to him. Something he must own. He will keep trying, regardless of the cost.”

Plus there was the matter of Pieter’s vow to Danbur. And by playing his trump card—namely, Saiytada’s fondness for Seraphine—Pieter hoped to provoke his goddess into taking care of Richard Windsor once and for all.

“Do you really wish that sweet, precious little soul in the hands of a rapist with the moral fiber of pond scum? He would ruin her.”

Saiytada’s expression darkened and her green eyes turned incandescent with rage. “He would not dare.”

“Oh, he will dare all right.”

“You have
seen
this?”

“I know all too well how humans think.” Pieter bared his teeth in a humorless smile. “Once upon a time I used to be one, remember?”

With a screech of rage, the goddess vanished. And Pieter smiled, knowing that Opal’s rapist was about to get exactly what he deserved.

~~~

Rick Windsor paced the floor of the Dallas apartment he kept for private assignations—such as the one he was about to have. Couldn’t have whores sullying his family home.

Speaking of whores….

Where the fuck was the one he’d ordered? The bitch was five minutes late. He would make her pay. Oh yes. He would make her beg—maybe even bleed a little. And afterward he’d throw a bunch of cash in her face and kick her out into the night… which would leave him plenty of time to brainstorm how to make another bitch who’d pissed him off pay.

She’d called his daughter
Seraphine
—what the fuck kind of name was that? And she’d kept the kid’s existence from him all these years, damn her. The kid was a
Windsor
. You only had to look at her to know that. And no daughter of his was going to be raised by a slut. Who was fucking a nigger, for chrissakes.

Rick threw himself into an armchair. He’d call in a favor, get someone to take care of that big black bastard, too. Dan, or whatever his name was. His fingers crept to his still healing face. Oh, yes. He would pay, too. Slowly, and painfully.

He’d sort that first, he decided. And then, while that skinny green-eyed bitch was still bawling over losing her boyfriend, Rick would take back his daughter. And better not forget the pièce de résistance…. Seeing to it that Opal Jordan Stewart AKA Jordan fucking Cast’s pretty face was ruined. So she’d never model again—never dare step foot out of her house again.

“I’m sorry I’m a little late.”

He glanced up, scowling. “How the hell did you get in?”

Her trill of laughter held a sharp edge but he didn’t notice because she was naked. And so fucking gorgeous she stole his breath. And he was too busy ogling her magnificent tits.

“Oh,” she said, “I have my ways.”