by Eden Ashley
Rhane watched the calculations of the sharp mind with interest, waiting for Ian’s next move. He didn’t have to wait long.
The kindred’s eerie cheer returned. “Or perhaps not.” He held up a hand to signal the flanking pack. “Would you be disposed to make a trade?”
“Perhaps.”
“Then there will be no further blood spilled tonight. Her life will be spared in exchange for a small favor.”
Crap. Rhane licked his lips. “Define this favor.”
Ian’s red eyes shone more brightly as he spoke. “I reserve the right to call upon you for one future bidding of my choice. You will do it. In return, you have my word that no kindred will seek to collect the debt created on this night.”
Rhane was not convinced. “No kindred…what about your human servants or other allies?”
“No one will threaten her.” Ian frowned slightly. “Your actions speak your love. Is any price too high?”
With a quick motion intended to communicate a tone of finality, Rhane sheathed Bellefuron. Several kindred were taken off guard at the gesture of good faith, jumping at the sudden movement. Ian’s hand flew up in warning. Their bodies writhed anxiously as the immense shadows settled.
His hackles were still raised, but Bailen had stopped growling. His teeth glimmered in the flashes of lightning.
“No price is too high,” Rhane said.
Bone and flesh reshaped, crunching and squishing wetly as Ian returned to his truer form. Rhane wondered if the transformation was anywhere near as painful as it sounded. Before Ian’s mouth disappeared, the alpha uttered a few parting words. “Perhaps the rumors are true.” And then as silently as they had appeared, the shadows disappeared and were reclaimed by the night.
Rhane gathered Kalista into his arms. Her eyes were wide open but reacting to nothing around her. He pressed her body close, hoping his warmth would plug some of the chill that seeped from her pores. She started to stir, her arms hugging about him reflexively.
Though the forest and across the miles beyond it, he carried her. Back in the relative safety of civilization and in the shelter of a deserted alley, he lowered Kalista to the pavement. Or at least he tried to. Her hold tightened and sharp claws dug into his neck and back. He winced.
“Kalista, it’s alright. I just need to make a phone call.”
But her arms did not loosen. Rhane shifted her weight to his knee and managed to free one arm. Finding his cell, he made the call. “I have her. But we’re going to need a ride.”
Chapter 14
Rhane was starting to get concerned. For over an hour, there had been no change in Kalista’s vacant demeanor. She sat at the edge of his bed, staring at the floor with water from her hair dripping onto the hardwood. She didn’t blink. She didn’t cry. She didn’t tremble. Kalista was frozen. Rhane would have preferred anything over this—even hysterics.
He pulled a chair from the sitting area and took a seat directly in front of her. When he called her name softly, she didn’t look up. Rhane tried touching her again, brushing his thumb across her cheek. She didn’t flinch away. “It’s time for you to come back.”
Her eyelashes fluttered. Lips that were ashen parted but no sound came out. A shiver visibly traveled across her skin, and Rhane decided he’d waited long enough.
“I need to get you out of those clothes. Please nod if you understand me.”
Slowly, her head lifted and she looked at him. The pupils of both eyes had expanded to encompass all of the white corneas, reminding Rhane of a shark.
He removed her shoes and socks, keeping his movements slow and careful as if handling a dangerous wild animal. Grasping her shoulders, Rhane pulled Kalista to him. She came willingly. But the blank stare remained, fixated on some point just over his shoulder. He undid the buttons of her blouse, eased the sleeves over arms that dangled limply at her sides, and cautiously avoided the claws that still extended from her fingertips.
Under different circumstances, the lacy red bra she wore would have sent his thoughts scattering in one direction with singled-minded purpose. But only a total jerk could have gotten stirred at a time like this. Rhane tossed the bra on top of the discarded shirt and started on Kalista’s lower half. Removing waterlogged jeans was never easy. Taking a size two off of a catatonic, sized-four teenager was nearly friggin’ impossible.
Finally managing to work the jeans down past Kalista’s hips and thighs, the rest came easy…until he looked up. Rhane got a face full of sheer, string, and thong. He exhaled slowly. Okay. I’m a jerk.
Letting the panties be, he started to recite the Pinyin alphabet, pausing only to tell Kalista what he was about to do before lifting her into his arms. Maybe hot water would bring more warmth to her cold skin. Kicking his shoes off, he stepped into a shower big enough for four people.
As the heat and steam soaked in, Kalista started to shiver as her body fought to return to a normal temperature. Rhane pressed her closer. She was standing on her own now but still leaning heavily against him. The way her curves molded into him was a perfect fit as her naked and wet body clung hotly to his. Her shivering stopped. Rhane started reciting the Russian alphabet.
Kalista raised her arms and slid them around his waist. Fingers, not claws, dug into his back. She lifted her head, letting him see her eyes were human again. Relief flooded through him.
“Rhane,” she whispered.
He nodded. “Welcome back.”
“How did you find me?”
He kept his volume low to match hers. “Bailen helped. He gets extra kibble tonight.”
The corners of her mouth upturned in the beginnings of a smile that never reached its full potential. Staring at her mouth, Rhane realized he’d finished the Russian alphabet. Kalista’s presence burned into him. Now it was he who shivered. It’d been so long. He started counting in Russian. That could occupy him for a while.
But his fingers still tightened, were still clutched into the roundness of her hips. Rhane tried forcing them to relax. Her voice helped distract him.
“I did something horrible tonight.”
“It’s alright.”
“I killed someone…something.”
“I know.”
She sobbed and buried her face into his shirt. “What’s happening to me?”
He kissed her hair and her tears. “Try not to think about it, Kalista. We can talk tomorrow.” He sank to the tiled floor, pulling her down next to him. She placed her head in his lap. As hard as it was for him, he simply held her. He was willing to hold her all night if it was what she needed. There were at least three other languages in which he held enough proficiency to count in.
#
Numb, Kali lay in bed next to Rhane. His arms were wrapped snugly about her, and she should have felt safe. But what Kali felt was nothing. There was the chance that if she did allow herself to feel, she wouldn’t survive the guilt, sadness, or rage that threatened to overtake her. Closing her eyes conjured the image of the little boy with Rhane’s features. And when he wasn’t there, the ugly monster with its gray and twisted features was.
Rhane’s breath came steadily. But it didn’t mean he wasn’t awake. If nothing else, Rhane was the lightest sleeper Kali had ever encountered. As she rolled onto her other side to see his face, he lifted his arm a bit and let her move more freely. Light from the waning moon and its surrounding stars shone in through a ceiling made mostly of glass. Kali could see Rhane’s face quite clearly. His eyes were open, watching her. And they were unreadable.
“Tell me what he was like.” She still couldn’t bring herself to say “our son” aloud. It was just as hard to pronounce the child’s name.
Pain flickered across Rhane’s face but was gone faster than the flame from a smothered wick. “He was beautiful, fearless, charming, and incredibly intelligent. One of the most promising fighters I’ve ever trained.”
Kali felt herself smiling. “He sounds just like you.”
“You’d always said if you hadn’t carried
him and witnessed his birth, you would’ve sworn the blood oath that I’d spit him out of my own mouth and created life.” Rhane smiled sadly.
“How old was he when he died?”
“For Warekin, aging is calculated differently than chronological earth years. We age in nine-year cycles that translate into a relative human maturity. Rhaven lived for thirteen and a half cycles. His maturity and appearance was that of a human boy of six.”
Kali pulled straight up in bed. She felt cold all over.
“What is it?” Rhane sat up beside her. “Your pulse is racing.”
He looked very worried. She knew how much it pained him to talk about the child, knew he’d spent four hundred years blaming himself for Rhaven’s death. Kali couldn’t bring herself to tell him about her vision of the decomposing body of a six-year-old boy.
“I’m fine,” she lied. “I just can’t sleep right now.” That last part was the truth. There was no way sleep would ever come that night.
“Kalista, don’t shut me out.”
Anger broke through the wall of numbness. “Why not? You’ve been shutting me out since I came here.”
“That’s true.” Rhane didn’t sound as if he’d taken offense. He lay back against the pillows and tugged at his hair. Though recently cropped, it was already sprouting back to a stubborn unruly length. “I’m just not good at talking about some things. I guess I’ve been keeping it all inside for too long.”
“I deserve to know.”
“You’re right.”
“Then talk to me!”
Rhane glanced at her. “I’m trying to.”
Feeling guilty for lashing out at him, Kali dropped the bitter and defensive tone, letting her shoulders slump apologetically. “I’m so sorry.” She grabbed his hand. “I didn’t mean to—”
The sentence was left unfinished as a barrage of images blasted through her mind. She saw Rhaven smiling brightly from a distance, sitting astride the huge black stallion that was Meggiddo. A man’s arms were wrapped about the child. It was Rhane. He turned to her laughing. Kali had never seen him look so happy. The scene changed. Rhaven was running through a field of wild flowers. The purple blossoms winked as if delighted by the boy’s laughter. She chased him. Bursting into another fit of giggles, Rhaven looked at her over his shoulder. Kali gasped. His eyes—they were huge, green eyes almost identical to Rhane’s.
A sharp pain squeezed her chest. She snatched her hand away and stood up abruptly. “I’m going to take a walk.”
He was clearly taken aback. “Now?”
“Yeah.” She shrugged, trying to appear relaxed, though knowing he could tell something was seriously wrong. Letting him see how fraught and anxious she really felt would not have served her purpose.
“Okay. Then I’ll go with you.” He hesitated. “…And we can talk.”
“No.” She couldn’t meet his eyes. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t.”
For a second, he looked as if she’d slapped him. Then his expression smoothed and he looked away. “At least let me send Bailen then.”
“Okay,” she agreed, feeling absolutely rotten.
Chapter 15
York had mowed the overgrown fields last week, making it an easy stroll through the manor’s acreage. Outside and in fresh air, Kali could breathe again. She gazed up, feeling at peace watching the stars. Bailen trailed behind at a polite distance, somehow having sensed she wanted to be alone. But if Kali knew anything about Rhane, one of the other kin was somewhere safeguarding from a distance.
Reaching the small pond that was just past the fields, she slipped off her tennis shoes. The mud was thick at the edge of the water. It felt good to squish it between her toes. She attempted to clear her thoughts, tried to not think of the child or of the creature she’d hunted and killed or of a certain ex-boyfriend who had become something other than himself.
A voice unexpectedly came from the darkness and startled her. “Why are you out here alone?”
Kali spun around, retreating several steps backward and into the water. Moonlight reflected against a head of white hair, and she relaxed. It was River. “I’m not alone. Bailen is with me.”
“And what chance does one mouse have against an army of cats?”
Everything about Rhane’s brother bugged her—from his creepy eyes to the stark white hair that was way too long and silky to belong to a man. The bored, condescending manner in which he spoke to everyone was infuriating. Being in his presence, especially alone, was unsettling. She was willing to bet it would’ve been okay with the others if she treated River badly. But she already had enough to feel guilty about and was determined to make polite conversation with him, even if it was the last act of her evening.
“Rhane said it was okay.”
“Ah.” River nodded. “Yet another in the pattern of ill-fated choices he makes where you are concerned.”
The comment incited an abrupt change of heart. Turning her back to him, she faced the water.
“I’m sorry.”
The quick apology and genuinely contrite tone in which he uttered it surprised her. Looking at him again, she got an even bigger shock. River was kneeling on the ground, his head deeply bowed.
“I have not had as long to assimilate into this culture as have the others. And I have not spoken to a common woman in nearly four centuries because none survived the massacre. Please. Forgive my offensive tongue.”
The scene seemed so alien. Her face warmed as an awkward blush rose to it. “It’s alright. Please get up.” She turned away quickly, before River lifted his head.
He was quiet for so long; Kali wondered if he’d left. Her hope sank like a damaged cruise ship when he spoke again.
“Has he told you why he fears the water so?”
Her shoulders tensed. If River was anywhere near as perceptive as Rhane, he probably noticed her discomfort. She tried to relax. “He drowned when he was a kid.”
“That is true.” Suddenly, River stood next to her, less than two feet away. “Did he also explain it was our mother who drowned him?” When Kali was silent, River continued. “He was a child born with eyes the color of a Glowing Stone. In our culture, it is a most unfavorable omen. Only on two occasions had this happened. In both instances, the infant was put to death to spare our kin from the suffering the child would bring to the people during its lifetime. Mother was simply fulfilling her duty when she tried to kill Rhane by holding her defenseless newborn at the bottom of a washbasin. Father stopped the act. He begged her to go against tradition and spare the child’s life. She did. Then she spent next twelve cycles regretting that decision and hating the first child of her loins.”
Kali shivered. “He said it happened twice. Did she try again?”
River nodded. “Father was called away to war. Mother sent Rhane to Snake Falls in the season of the river kings to fetch water. At such a time, our watering holes were infested with large, carnivorous serpents whose voracious appetites were made even more aggressive by spawning. Mother shoved Rhane into the water, hoping the serpents would finish what she had started. But my brother was spared yet again. Poisoned from their venom, bleeding from their bites, he spent several days trapped in an underwater cave. A boy from the village found and rescued him. As soon as he was well enough, my brother ran off to join the army. He was far too young, but Father gave the mandate to allow it.”
River had told the story with such a lack of emotion. It was no mystery which parent he’d inherited his personality from.
“How could she have hated her child so much?”
“Mother didn’t hate him at first. She simply wanted to save the rest of us.” After a pause that was filled with meaning, River continued. “The omen held true. Rhane lived to curse his people.”
“But he didn’t,” Kali snarled. She felt her feet grow warm though they were submerged beneath cold water. Her hands balled into fists. “He didn’t hurt anymore. And neither did I.”
“No one else believes that.”
�
��Your people sound horrible. Your mother was a cruel bitch. I hope very much that she is dead.”
“Then I fear I must disappoint you. Roma is much very alive.” River knelt down and swept his hand through the water. “Anger is proper.” Watching the ripples expand across the surface, his voice softened. “But be careful you do not pity him, Kalista. Rhane had Father’s love and my adoration.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“So you may hope to understand him…and the rest of us.” He stood up. “Anytime you wish to know more, come here. I will answer your call.”
Then River left as quietly and as quickly as he had come.
Chapter 16
“I want to visit my family today.”
“That’s fine.”
“I wasn’t asking for your permission.”
“You don’t need to. I’m not your father.”
“Really? How fantastic that you understand that.”
Kali was in a foul mood. Toeing the ledge of a meltdown, she wanted to yell insults and accuse Rhane of the most horrible things. The animosity wasn’t only for him. Each time York opened his mouth, she felt the urge to slap him. York did the smart thing and left the manor. But Rhane, always the martyr, stuck around.
It almost felt as if a seed planted during the night grew malevolent roots down deep into her mind as she slept. Daylight came, and Kali opened her eyes to anger and belligerence. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t stop herself. She couldn’t hold back mean words or unkind thoughts. The more she pulled at the roots, the deeper they plunged, infecting her brain like cancer. Kali wondered somewhat distractedly if feeding from the creature she’d killed had anything to do with it.
Leaning across the counter, Rhane rested his chin in one hand and watched her with an expression of barely concealed worry. All morning he’d resisted her attempts to bait him into a fight. Kali wished he would just get mad and retaliate. Maybe a stronger reaction from him could help snap her out of whatever it was that caused this.
