Free The Long Journey Home (The Legend of Vanx Malic Book 8) by M. R. Mathias

her.
    Then two things popped into his mind at the same time, and he put his face in his hands and squeezed the bridge of his nose.
    Dragon Isle is where he would break his seed. The island’s reputation would keep everyone away, and it held all the wealth of the world in Pyra’s old lair. It was a place that would suit Gallarael, too, for she could be who, or whatever, she was. She could shift shapes at will and hunt onall fours or with him as a woman. Or womanish, he decided, with a fond memory of making love to her lithe body.
    He had to admit, his feelings were not as strong as they had been when he’d thought her dead. Learning she’d survived, but not the baby, made him think she would be needing him, too. He knew she was. He did love her, and for a moment the
Adventurer
seemed unsure of its course.
    “Something wrong?” Castavonti asked, poking his head out from below.
    “Nah.” Vanx faked a smile. “I’m just trying to understand her.” All Vanx could do was shrug; he didn’t know if he meant the ship or Gallarael. “It looks like we will miss the storm.”
    “It does.” The sea mage nodded. “It is time to change the watch.”
    Castavonti rang a bell. A few moments later, a deeper, louder bell sounded from the
Ada Rosamond
, indicating that either Ronzon or Chelda was awake, and about to climb up into the crow’s nest of the taller ship.
    Vanx went to his bunk. His other idea had been that they were close enough to the Heart Tree for him to use the power of the Hoar Witch’s crystal to communicate with the Troika Sven, and maybe even Moonsy, directly.
    He cleared his mind, and when the dog joined him in the bunk, he scratched Poops behind the ears for a while. Only after his head was empty of thought did he grasp the crystal and squeeze, reaching for the Heart Tree and the enchanted Nexus formed by its roots.
    It wasn’t the fae he saw in his mind’s eye but the stunning form of the Goddess. She was beauty incarnate. She had a perfectly formed figure, breasts the size of melons, with dark cherry nipples and curves that had Vanx as hard as the wooden bunk he was lying on.
    She reached out and pulled him close. He expected her kiss as her lips came near, but, teasingly, her mouth went to his ear.
    Have you forgotten me?
she asked accusingly.
Have you so easily forgotten?
    Vanx instinctively pushed her away and saw that the Goddess who had allowed his unnatural life to be lived was angry with him. Very angry.

Chapter Nineteen
    You never know for whom it is
    the death bell tolls
.
    You have to keep on fighting
    and try to keep hold of your soul
.
    Vanx woke feeling chilled and afraid. He hadn’t thought of his goddess in months. Guilt would have riddled him, but Poops started barking. Immediately after the dog erupted, they heard the bell from the
Ada Rosamond
ring out violently.
    Were they being punished for his insolence?
    He felt the
Adventurer
let go of its tow and start speeding off to the starboard. It was circling back to get behind the
Ada Rosamond
, so Vanx didn’t dally getting his britches on and climbing back up to the deck.
    “What is it?” he asked Sea Mage Castavonti, who looked disheveled, as if he’d been sleeping at his post.
    The shrug of response Vanx got told him enough.
    “I can send you over,” Master Ruuk offered from the stair. He sounded perturbed at being awakened by the alarm. “I’m not sure letting go of that ship and circling back is the greatest idea. We should just keep going.”
    Vanx looked at both men in turn.
    “It wasn’t my idea,” Castavonti said, patting the center of the ship’s wheel that was, even now, turning in precise increments on its own.
    “Why?” asked Vanx.
    “Whatever it is that has alarmed them, is behind them.” The Zythian wizard wiped at the corner of his eyes. “We are heading to intercept it now.”
    Vanx submerged himself in Poops’s senses then. The dog was up, sniffing at the rail and looking intently at the other ship in