Soulless (Maiden of Time Book 2)

by Crystal Collier

  “Now why this hasty escape?” she demanded, each step shooting a midnight spark at the back of her skull. She wanted to stop him and take an easier pace, but the tension in his fingers seeped into her skin. “And why have you been away?”

  He grimaced.

  “The Soulless are coming again,” she guessed as they reached the servants’ stairs. She’d been watching the skies. Tonight marked an empty moon, the night the Soulless emerged to feast. From what John had told her, the Soulless were once Passionate, before they’d given their very essence over to a madman and been damned to a state of perpetual starvation. Since that time they’d been rotting, seeking what was lost, only satisfied when they fed on the remaining Passionate. Those taken by the Soulless became like them, hungry, eternal, decaying in their own bodies and taking on a wraith-like state under the new moon.

  A nervous laugh escaped Kiren—so new a sound she paused to take it in.

  He pulled her after him down the steps. “Them coming, yes that would be troublesome, but not fatal.”

  “Fatal?” A cool breeze curled across her arm. The servants’ door to the yard stood open, a gaping maw to the outside world and shadowed walkway.

  Kiren cleared his throat. “Alexia, there are...” His head flew up, fingers tightening over hers, ear tilted. “We must go, now.” He grabbed her arms and slipped them around his neck, lifting her off her feet.

  She gasped, unable to restrain her grin at the unexpected brush of his breath across her lips. “What is it? What did you hear?”

  His head shook.

  “Can you hear thoughts now?” The idea made her cringe.

  He chuckled. “I can only read what is in a person’s thoughts, and only when staring into their eyes. You know that. However, my ears are slightly more keen than most.”

  “From practice or inheritance?”

  He grinned. “Yes.”

  “Is it common for Passionate to possess more than one ability?”

  “Strengths. We call them strengths, and yes.”

  They stepped outside. Alexia clung to him, resting a head on his shoulder, eyes closed to block out the flashes of pain. Insects hummed in the late summer evening, the air thick with expected rain.

  “Who is coming?” she grated through her teeth.

  A groan rumbled in his chest. “There is a general air of panic when a being as powerful as yourself emerges.”

  She blinked up at him. “But I am not powerful—”

  “You will be.” The confidence behind his words flattened her argument like a press to fresh laundry.

  Trimmed grass extended about them, halted at a black line of trees clustered ahead. Alexia did not relish entering them, recalling how she had stumbled across one of the Soulless within those woods—a creature Kiren had destroyed to save her.

  He flashed a jerky glance either direction and broke into a jog.

  “How could anyone know about me?” She clung to him, focusing on the curve of his chin and the white scar he had yet to explain.

  “Word travels quickly.” His lips pressed in a tight line, lengthening the jagged blemish across his cheek. “And not all Passionate are anxious for you to be mine. Some even prefer your death to the shift in power.”

  She squeezed his shoulder, searching for his gaze. “You speak as though you do not lead them.”

  He heaved a breath, lashes brushing his cheeks. “There are factions among the Passionate seeking power.”

  “But you are their leader—!”

  “I protect them,” he said between breaths. “I keep the unruly in order. Some do not share my ideals of how that is best accomplished.”

  “Like whom?”

  His brow wrinkled, starlight catching his pupils. “The strongest group is the Breeders.”

  Her blood ran chill.

  “They believe this world should belong to us, and us alone.”

  She grasped the cottony material along his neck. “But if not for humanity, I would not exist.”

  Kiren’s cheek dimpled. “You understand my position then.”

  “I am not certain I will ever fully understand your position.”

  His grin faded. He slowed to a trot, then a walk, not meeting her gaze.

  She hadn’t meant to hurt him, but it was true. She loved him, but she worried that there were reasons she didn’t and couldn’t deserve him. Why had he chosen her?

  Kiren cleared his throat. “Breeders seek to spawn the most powerful Passionate by breeding unique bloodlines—children strong enough to overthrow the world. I have hopes that they will one day be persuaded to reason, along with the other factions, and unite with us.”

  She nodded. “These other factions…”

  “The Southerners and Ritualists are very weak, as are the Fishers and Old Believers. Only the Breeders pose a threat.”

  “And what do they call us?”

  His arms around her stiffened, gaze darting away. “Kingdom.”

  Bellezza’s earlier hail suddenly made sense. Alexia narrowed her stare, a look he didn’t return. “They accuse you of setting yourself up as a king?”

  He placed her back on her feet. Unkempt grass tickled at her ankles as his bottomless eyes swallowed her into their marine depths, promising an eternal Atlantis. “The important thing for you to know is that they are no friends of yours.”

  “And why is that?”

  He tugged at the necklace that disappeared below the cut of his shirt. “Because they are in a race to either claim or destroy you.”

  She braced herself with a hand on his chest. “Me? Because you and I are—”

  He shook his head. “Because when someone with rare talents arises, everyone rushes to take them.”

  Had that been the reason he came for her at first? The reason he chose her? Alexia shied. “Including you?”

  His head tilted, mouth puckering in disappointment.

  He hadn’t forced her into an allegiance. He had done the opposite, pushing her away from this perilous existence and keeping her strictly in the human world. Even so, the choice had been hers.

  His arm rounded her back, shepherding her toward the jagged tree line. “Edward tracks the family lines and identifies our kind before maturity—usually at birth. All are offered the choice to join us.”

  She recalled his hidden estate deep in the woods and wondered how many other hidden sanctuaries occupied England. How different would her life have been if he’d swept her away when she was a child? Might she have become a mere servant like her mother at a country inn?

  The corners of his mouth creased, face darkening. “Occasionally the Breeders reach one of us before me...”

  “What do they do?” She touched his chin. “What would they do to me?”

  His fingers bit into her side. “Any risk to you—!” He shuddered.

  Any risk to her directly affected his beating heart—in theory. She felt silly for suggesting it, “But you have not even...”

  His fierce eyes returned, a towering wave on perilous seas. “Have not what?” he asked, voice terse.

  Her entire face burned. Why was it so hard to say? They were to be wed! A wishful tremor rattled through her and her ears flamed. “You have not touched me.” Not intimately enough. John—the Soulless man who had married and destroyed her aunt—said an eternal bond formed through sexual relations.

  Kiren stopped and took her shoulders, meeting her gaze. “I have not, which means someone else could.”

  Panic roared in her ears, her pulse quickening.

  His voice quieted. “That is what they do, Alexia.” The backs of his fingers grazed down her cheek. “They take the choice away.”

  She swallowed. Her lips moved in protest, but no sound argument lit her mind. Could there be a deeper hell than being forced into an eternal bond?

  He stepped closer. “They combine the rarest talents and strive to create pure elementals, regardless of people’s will. What do you think would happen if they caught you? Where would your loyalties lie?”


  “With you,” she whispered and looked down—though she couldn’t know that. To be touched, to be eternally bound to another being... She gazed again into his stormy eyes.

  “I hope so.”

  Alexia grabbed his coat lapels, pulling him closer. “Then, then we must end the possibility!”

  He pushed her away, eyes a billowing sea of reprimand. “Alexia...”

  She bowed her head, her cheeks burning. Shame spilled over her like a spring waterfall. How could she think such an idea—or suggest such an immoral act with the man who had only ever been the most considerate, upright gentleman?

  Both his hands gripped at the back of his head, shoulders tense, elbows extended. His head shook, mouth working. He closed his eyes and exhaled a cleansing breath. “Our laws dictate that intimate relations outside of marriage are strictly forbidden. We are not like our human counterparts. We are forever.” Frustration leaked out of every word, a furious passion she yearned to know, yet so clearly forbidden her.

  She folded her arms, unable to meet his scrutiny for her inappropriate suggestion.

  Kiren’s arms dropped, his shoulders sagging. “The age-old tradition is enforced by our society as a whole. Those who break this rule are ostracized, banished, and occasionally put to death.”

  “What about the Breeders?”

  “Mostly they operate in secret, but any who have been discovered are no longer part of our society.”

  She met his stare, startled. “But how could anyone know about the bond?”

  He looped a finger through one of her loose curls. “It is reflected in their countenance.”

  John had said as much, that two people who were bonded shared a glow. He had also accused her of already being bonded with Kiren, so she hadn’t known how much weight to give his declaration.

  Kiren’s voice quieted. “The Breeders are at war with us.” An apologetic smile lifted his cheek. “They would like nothing more than a reason to remove me from power.”

  “Could they?” she whispered back.

  His mouth tightened. He gave a single nod and clasped her hand, pulling her toward the trees. “If I gave them reason. They, like the Soulless, will not falter to use every advantage against me.” He stroked her jaw, tenderness crinkling the corners of his eyes. “Our union will only place you in greater danger. Are you prepared for that?”

  She huffed. “I survived Bellezza.”

  “So you have.” He studied her a moment longer, then nodded, coming to a stop again. “Marry me today, Alexia?” The depths of his eyes blazed like the first azure touch of light in the morning sky. Darker flecks broke the color with aching need.

  Tears stung at the backs of her eyes. “You know I will.”

  His chin lowered, quickened breaths rolling across her lips. Her eyes fluttered closed, mouth reaching for his.

  “You are my equal,” his lips grazed hers, “my better,” they skimmed across hers again, “my heart.”

  She didn’t believe his words, but it didn’t stop her from sliding her hands into his hair and pulling his mouth to hers. He smiled against her lips before they parted. She pressed against his body, aching for greater contact as their minds connected. She stumbled across his cloud of worry—dark and billowing. He was afraid he’d lose her, but what could anyone do once she was his bond, forever?

  Five

  Into the Mist

  The sky hung black like a vat of tar stretched thin. Like Alexia’s nerves. Starlight dappled the moss under foot as they hurried between the thickening branches of Father’s hunting grounds, haze curling between trunks as though a cloud had dropped to the earth for the purpose of concealing them. Late summer pollens soured the air, too sweet for even honey bees.

  Alexia’s heart echoed in her ears, but the warmth of Kiren’s fingers filled her with assurance all would be well. His other hand gripped around his mysterious pendant, knuckles white.

  She had seen him use the medallion twice before, always against the Soulless. She recalled the feel of heaven on her skin as the pendant enticed the suffering creatures free of their tortured bodies, a sensation she’d been desperate to keep.

  A silhouette shifted against the vapor.

  Alexia startled and Kiren squeezed her hand.

  The person approached, frame bent with a hint of age, scraggly hair tucked in a tie. His dark eyes danced with youth that belied his physical presence while his hand tapped a rhythm on one leg, his bare feet silent.

  “Lester.” She looked questioningly to Kiren. If he’d brought the elder, he anticipated trouble. She quivered. Lester had always been kind to her, but a brutishness hid behind his mask, a savor for suffering she could never wash from memory. She’d been told he ran faster than any Passionate had ever run, making him one of Kiren’s most trusted and reliable sources for information.

  Kiren nodded at the elder.

  Lester nodded back.

  They moved past him into a small clearing. Bellezza’s golden curls glistened in the starlight, her glare narrowing as they neared. Kiren’s protective arm tightened around Alexia. She looked up into his face, questioning the wisdom of their display as he pressed straight ahead, features drawn in concentration.

  A wheezing like a giant inhaling whooshed through the trees. Fog pulled toward them. It swirled into a hazy cyclone, and the specks condensed and solidified into a woman’s profile, catching starlight as she thickened into a tangible body.

  Silky white strands swirled loosely about her radiant, smooth face. Her mouth turned upward naturally in full lips, nose curved and petite, thin brows arching. The fine roses stitched along her neckline and sleeves were so realistic, Alexia expected catch a whiff of their perfume.

  “Ethel!” Alexia threw her arms around the woman. Last winter when she’d lost her way in the fog, dear Ethel found and nursed her back to health. Since that time she’d been a constant friend and guide, always ready with the words Alexia most needed. She felt more real than any mother she’d known.

  “Have they successfully arrived?” Kiren questioned.

  “They have, sir.” Ethel half bowed, her hair blending into the pastel material of her dress. “The baron and his servants are safe.”

  “Father?” Alexia blinked. “You have moved Father?”

  Lester stepped forward. “Yer Father be—”

  A frigid gale blasted between them, a shriek on the wind. High soprano rent through Alexia’s ears, launching its power down her neck and into her pumping heart. The muscle seized.

  She gasped. Pain launched outward as though a fist squeezed about her vulnerable organ. Her knees slammed into the earth, ice sizzling through her veins, the freeze of death.

  The scream bit off.

  Alexia’s knees shook as she lifted her head. Bellezza knelt atop Lester’s prostrate body, melanic skirts veiling all but his bare, kicking feet, her arms flailing as she raked at his face with her nails.

  “Bellezza!” Kiren’s fists balled, his lips twisted with rage.

  The girl jumped.

  Kiren’s glare bored into the vicious child. She snarled back.

  In a blur of motion, Lester stood at the far end of the clearing. “You stay away from me, pigsty! Blasted banshee mongrel.”

  Bellezza glowered at Kiren. His head shook. She growled and rose, vacillating forward with each intake of breath, fury furling her nostrils.

  Alexia pressed off the ground and tottered. Kiren caught her, and Bellezza’s gaze shot to her, the rage melting out of her like butter against a heated skillet.

  Alexia knew unlike anyone else why the girl had attacked Lester. She was justified. Months, Bellezza had occupied a lonely cell in a prison. The only light came when Lester brought her meals and taunted her with insults and threats. Purgatory she’d called it. Purgatory.

  Bellezza roared and tumbled to her knees, clutching her head, eyes squeezed shut. A whimper escaped.

  Alexia turned, searching for Bellezza’s attacker as Kiren crunched to the child’s side. Les
ter was gone. Ethel stood a couple steps away, scanning the woods, legs wide, elbows lifted as though seeking balance.

  Bellezza cried out and dropped onto her side. Alexia reached for the girl as Kiren tilted her head back. Sweat glistened across Bellezza’s upper lip.

  “What is happening to her?” Alexia asked.

  He turned wide eyes on her. “Breeders. Go, now!”

  Fingers rounded her arm, the tender grip of her mother-figure. Ethel nodded.

  Movement tore Alexia’s gaze away. A short, barrel-chested man erupted from the trees behind Ethel, lifting a knotted club.

  “Ethel!” Alexia screamed.

  He swung.

  Ethel shimmered.

  The club sliced through mist as Alexia tumbled backwards.

  Ethel reappeared on the other side of the clearing. The man lunged at her. She faded again, popping into existence near the tree line, an assured smirk on her face.

  Ethel’s grin dropped. One hand flew to her temple and her eyes rolled back.

  Like Bellezza.

  Alexia reached to warn Kiren about a second attacker as the man leapt across the distance and grabbed Ethel’s long hair. She yelped.

  Alexia stood. Black sparkles fired through her vision. She cursed her injured brain and teetered back, catching herself on Kiren’s shoulder.

  Crack!

  She blinked the darkness away. Ethel lay silent, her back bent around a tree, one leg flailed the wrong direction.

  Alexia’s fists balled, nails digging into the flesh. She turned on the dwarf, aching to wreak havoc on him. The enemy’s gaze darted between Kiren and her. The attacker stepped forward, reaching for her with mammoth-sized fists.

  Six

  Blast

  Alexia tensed, watching those giant fingers stretch toward her, panicking over what she could do without killing herself in overexertion, and by extension, Kiren.

  The meaty hooks slipped across her loose curls.

  Electricity crackled in the wind.

  Decision made, she reached deep within to slow time. Her arm hairs stood straight, the air about her thickening as time stilled. Her brain wailed in protest. Liquid fire ate through her skull, every muscle seizing.