I chuckled, "Nice try."
He grinned, and for a tick, just a tick, it was like being back on Darlam. He looked at me, really looked at me, and I saw something flicker in his eyes before he grabbed his head, "Frygg!"
"Easy, big boy, easy," Nova was right by his side, massaging his neck. "It's okay."
I hadn't thought I would feel indebted to Zapharos, but not bearing these headaches was a blessing. Not that I would ever thank him if I saw him. At least not before I broke his neck for invading my head.
"Just a memory. I'm okay," Zaarek smiled at Nova, and the way she looked back at him, I could see Noevah in her.We are all here. That thought warmed my heart.No matter how or in what form, we are here.
It amazed me that the others had already figured out all the mated bond secrets and how our names were woven into the Soulweb bonds.
"For a moment, I saw you, Xyrek," Zaarek said, "in the forest. We were…" he shook his head, his face contorted.
"It's okay. Don't try to remember; it's okay," I said, alarmed. He looked like he was in a lot of pain.
"In… the forest…" he pushed out.
"Zaarek, please," Nova pleaded with him. He waved her hand off. A grin formed, at odds with his pained expression. “We were looking for… mushrooms—for Mom!"
I remembered. My lips curved. "We got the wrong ones, and everybody had diarrhea for days."
"They tasted… good though," he pressed the words out.
Sloane grabbed a healing wand and waved it over his head. But it didn't seem to help.
"Press your mating marks to his," Sloane told Nova.
I felt helpless, watching my brother in that much pain. The Ohrurs would pay for what they had done to us—were still doing to us.
Zaarek’s facial features relaxed as soon as Nova pushed her arm against his.
"Take a deep breath." Sloane nudged. "That's good. Now, another. Tell us about those mushrooms."
"Are you out of your mind?" Nova erupted. "He needs to rest, he needs to?—"
"Remember," Sloane interrupted unforgivingly. "They all do. This is not going to get any better, otherwise. Unless," she turned to me, "you have any way of contacting Zapharos."
"I'm not inviting that frygg back into my head." I cursed.
"If it helps the others?" Alice grabbed my arm. I shook my head, but her pleading eyes got to me. So did my brother's pain. Frygg. "I don't know how."
"Well, try. In the meantime, you guys," Sloane looked to each of the others, "need to try very hard to break through that memory barrier." She held up a hand to ward off any protests. "I don't care how much it hurts."
That was one tough female.
“Wait, before you leave.” Nova stopped us. “Alice, what do you remember?"
Alice paused, “Not much. Most of it is more like a feeling, like remembering a dream, you know?”
The other females watched Alice as expectantly as Nova; they all nodded like they knew exactly what she was talking about, and they probably did.
“Why, do you remember anything?”
“Hannah does, bits and pieces; for the rest of us, it’s more like you said. A feeling, a yearning, a breath of something that isn’t there,” Zoe tried to explain.
“It doesn’t make any sense; if we all died, then why are the men the only ones regaining memories of their past lives?” Nova said. Her words shook me to the core, but not as much as what Sloane asked next.
“The better question is, if we all keep reincarnating, why do the men only remember theirlastlife?”
