Willing Sacrifice by Shannon K. Butcher

involuntary. If the Solarc wanted something from this place, Grace was in horrible danger. So was everyone else here.
    It took Torr a minute to wrap his head around just how much trouble he’d stepped in. “Why does the Solarc want to draw you out?”
    “I am growing an army.”
    “Of what?”
    “The Sanguinar are dying. Without them, you have no hope of driving the Synestryn back, away from my home world.”
    “We do what we can, but there’s not enough blood for them to survive. If we spent all our time letting the Sanguinar feed on us, we’d be too weak to fight.”
    “That is why I left Athanasia. Why I convinced my daughters to make the ultimate sacrifice.”
    Torr had been so wrapped up in seeing Grace again, he hadn’t really stopped to think about
why
Brenya was here with all of these women.
    “I don’t understand. What exactly are you doing here?” he asked.
    “You will understand in time. For now it is enough to know that the women and children here must stay hidden from the Solarc at all costs. If he senses my hand in slaying his minions, then it will be like a beacon showing him the way to me.”
    “Why are you hiding? I thought the Solarc ruled Athanasia, not this place.”
    “He does. With terrifying authority. But when I left him, I knew he would not stop searching for me until he found me.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I was the first to leave his domain against his will. I gave his subjects the idea that they did not have to stay under his rule. He seeks to make an example of me.”
    Torr eased into the nearest chair. The bulk of his weight made the black branches groan, but it held him up.
    His mind slowly put together the pieces she laid out. “You were the one who cracked open the Gate. You’re the reason the Athanasian men have been able to sneak out and father children with humans. You’re responsible for the birth of Helen, Lexi, Andra and the other Theronai women.”
    “I only opened the door. What my children did with it was their own decision.”
    Children? “Wait. I thought the men who came to Earth were Athanasian royalty—the sons of the Solarc himself.”
    “Yes.”
    “And they were your sons, too?”
    “Yes.”
    “Are you telling me . . . ?”
    “I’m the Solarc’s wife, Queen of all Athanasia, and he will not rest until I am once again under his control.”

Chapter 6
    T orr sat there, shocked. The Solarc’s wife was not five feet from him. How could he not have known? “No wonder he’s looking for you. I can’t imagine that he was pleased that you left him.”
    “He killed thousands of our subjects in his rage. Earthquakes, floods, interrogations. For that, I am truly sorry.” Some of her wrinkles deepened for a moment before smoothing once again.
    “What will he do if he finds you?”
    “He can see through sunlight, peering in on distant worlds. It is why the Sanguinar cannot step foot into the sunlight. He
sees
them and sends his Wardens to slay them. The twin suns here prevent him from seeing me. He must have learned that such a thing blinded him, so he has begun using other means to find me—sending his Wardens to all the worlds where I might hide.”
    “That doesn’t answer my question. What will he do?”
    “Bring me home. Strip my mind clean of all I have done to defy him. All who have ever aided my cause will die a horrible death.”
    The crescent-shaped mark on his arm burned. “Does anyone else happen to use the same mark as you put on me?”
    “No. It is mine alone.”
    “Then I guess it’s in my best interests to make sure he doesn’t find you.”
    “It is. But for more reasons than you may realize. If he finds me, this whole world and every creature on it will be slain. Including your Grace. I have touched her mind in my efforts to heal her. That leaves a kind of mark the Solarc will recognize instantly.”
    Like hell. “Tell me what to do.”
    “As long as I am free, he cannot use me to find those I have touched.”
    “If you’re