Birthright (The Stone Legacy Series Book 5) by Theresa Dalayne Page B

there?” She extended her hand down the path of wreckage. “As if you could not clearly see the temple from this very place, towering over the trees I have cared for, for generations.”
    “I…” Zanya swallowed. Every time she’d seen Cualli, the goddess had always been at peace. This was the first time she’d witnessed the pissed off version, and she was on the receiving end of the crap-o-meter.
    After all, Renato had tried to give her a lesson in the consequences of using abilities once before—in his office—when she conjured a windstorm inside. He told her not to use her powers unless she was willing to clean up after them. At the time she thought he was playing the role of overbearing uncle. But now she understood.
    “I did destroy your jungle.” She stepped forward, looking Cualli in the eyes. “And I take full responsibility. It was an urgent situation. There was a tree—”
    “Yes.” Cualli glared, and Zanya could have sworn she felt the ground tremble beneath her. “There were many.”
    Zanya swallowed. “No. Not the ones I…” She wiped a tingle of sweat from her brow with her fingers. There was no good way to word it. “Not the ones I destroyed. There’s another tree. Yaxche.”
    Cualli’s features softened and her tightly pursed lips parted. “Yaxche?” The heat around the goddess seemed to fade, returning her to the familiar, gentle deity Zanya had always known.
    Zanya’s tense muscles eased. “I’m surprised you haven’t noticed.” Zanya closed her eyes and hung her head—resisting the urge to palm her forehead. “I didn’t mean it like that.” She exhaled and raise her gaze, then tried again. “ I mean , it consumed a group of birds near our home, and then animals. A lot of them. It was as if they were—”
    “Drained of blood.”
    Zanya nodded.
    Cualli extended her hand, and Balam obeyed her gesture by walking to her side. Balam had always been her protector. The goddess calling on him to stay close wasn’t a promising sign. “Then there are greater worries we must address. Yaxche is feeding on middleworld life.” Cualli shifted her gaze to Arwan. “And you, half-breed. Have you found the answers you seek?”
    Arwan watched her without a response. He may have found answers, but they weren’t what either of them had expected.
    “I don’t know what we should do,” Zanya said, finally breaking the silence. “Contessa is definitely responsible for Yaxche reaching into the middleworld. That much we know. But how to fight it—fight her—is still a bridge we haven’t crossed.”
    “The tree will destroy everything,” Arwan said. “Animals, plants, humans. Once Contessa grants it permission, it will consume our world, allowing the underworlders to break through, and our realms will merge.”
    Zanya bit the inside of her cheek. She hadn’t considered that as an option. But if Yaxche was used as a bridge—the way it was intended—that was exactly what would happen.
    They’d fight a losing battle.
    Cualli dragged her fingers between Balam’s ears. “Then we must call on all of our strengths to be sure that does not come to pass.” She trained her sights on Balam and gave a single, subtle nod.
    A deep growl grew from inside his chest.
    Balam bared his teeth, his ears pinned, and the fur on the back of his neck standing on edge.
    Cualli looked at Zanya. “I suggest using your gift to call any reinforcements you may have.”
    Balam snarled and leapt forward, forcing Zanya to stumble back.
    His legs quivered beneath him, and all at once, his jaguar form morphed into a towering man with bronze skin and bright yellow eyes. His face was adorned with streaks of blue paint, and bone earrings—what looked like animal teeth—hung from his lobes. A leopard loincloth covered the space between his lean, muscular legs.
    It was the first time Zanya had ever seen Balam in his human form.
    High, sharp cheek bones. Mocha skin. Dark lashes. Long, black hair hung down his back,