I held my pulsating cheek as he turned out toward the amphitheater. Everything inside of me wanted to stand there and keep my eyes on my friends, as if my watchful gaze kept them alive, but I had to trust that they could do their part. I needed to focus on doing mine.
“I have here today traitors to all Caelians. These people are here on the behalf of not only the Human Caelian Alliance, but they also have support from the Caelian Council.”
“Who are you talking to?” I asked, as I squinted to see if there was an audience. There wasn’t.
“My dear granddaughter, I am speaking to the cameras.” As he said this, three black drones came into view. Each camera’s lens grew and shrank as they focused on different parts of the stage.
“Oh,” I shrugged as if the sight of the near-silent machines were something I saw every day.
“Oh?” Miles turned to look at me. “Do you not understand the predicament you are in?”
“I do.”
“Good,” he sneered before turning back to the cameras. As he continued his speech about Caelian supremacy and how the council is corrupt, I snuck a glimpse back at the others. Not one cowered under the press of steel at their backs. An overwhelming sense of peace blossomed from the immense pride that I belonged to this group and them to me. I couldn’t help the smile as it stretched my cheeks.
“Do you think yourself safe because you’re my relation?”
“No. I’m just not scared.”
“Well, then we shall see if you’re still smiling once you watch each one of your people die.” Miles nodded to the man at the end of the line, who without pause pulled the trigger. A woman whose name I didn’t know slumped forward, her eyes dulled as blood drained out of the fist sized hole in her forehead.
Words escaped me as I stood there. It was too early to make my move, but I was unsure if I should let this continue.
Another nod. Another bullet. Another body of someone who had volunteered to come on this mission fell to the ground.
Two more shots rang out before I took a step forward.
“No, Sadie,” Kian yelled as the man kneeling next to him fell forward in a heap.
“And now we have come to lover boy. Oh how I waited for the day to tell you how twisted your dear Kian is. Did you know that it was he who found and brought the Caelian boy who gave the ultimate sacrifice so we could make the serum?”
“Yes,” I whispered, my eyes locked onto Kian’s.
“Oh, well that’s a pity. I was hoping for a little more dramatics for the camera.” Miles walked around me, circling just outside of my reach.
“You bastard,” Luca growled before the dull thud of metal against bone echoed through the silence.
“Yes, and here’s the brother. I pity your parents, for after today they won’t have a single child living.”
Indecision warred inside me. I could end Miles now, but it would not bring about justice, and the world would still fear Caelians. A tension so heavy I felt as if I were being smothered under a pillow filled the area. Miles was one thought away from murdering the man I loved, and more than anything, I wanted to save him.
But at what cost?
A tinkling sound of a communicator notification popped the tension. Miles smiled as he read the screen, replying with a quick flick of his fingers and placing the device back inside his pocket. A new group of signatures pinged on my internal radar, and I resisted the urge to smile.
“It looks like we will have to stay the execution for a little while longer.” Miles clapped his hands with barely restrained glee.
“Granddaughter, I hear that you have discovered a new aspect of your Talent. That you are able to drain norms as well as Caelians.”
“I … well … it’s complicated…” I answered truthfully, knowing that he would take it as being evasive.
“Don’t be shy, my child, this is a gift. You are a product of your genetics—a being capable of abolishing the lesser of humanity and giving rise to a greater species.” A madness brightened his eyes as his movements became less fluid and more erratic. “Today, I have a gift for you. An offering of peace that I hope will show you the path of righteousness.”
With a swing of his arms, the glass doors whooshed open and Kian’s father emerged in full regalia. Two younger boys carried his train as if he were walking toward his bridegroom. Behind the Order’s leader, being dragged out onto the stage by his daughter, was Dean Kerrington.
Dean was filthy and emaciated as if he had been living in the wild. With a crazed twitch of the head, he focused on me. “You,” he growled as he pulled at his restraints. Fear closed my throat when Mae let go and he barreled toward me. Just before he was in range to tackle me, he fell to the ground, convulsing.
Mae giggled from where she stood, a small black device pressed between her fingers. Although I knew she was on our side, a part of me recoiled from her obvious pleasure in watching the man who had tortured her for her entire life writhe in pain.
“Mae, dear, don’t kill him just yet.”
“Sorry, Mr. Koenig,” she replied as she pocketed the device.
My wary gaze stayed focused on Dean as he lay still, his chest heaving.
“Tell me dear Mae, what is Sadie thinking?”
I jerked my gaze from Mae to Miles, allowing all the fear I had been tamping down to rise.
“She’s afraid.”
“Good. Good.” Miles pinched his chin as he worked his jaw from side to side before pointing to the lump of flesh at my feet. “Pick him up.”
The man who had walked in with Dean and Mae lifted the former HPC leader with an ease that I had only seen when Kian used his Talent.
“Sadie, you will show the world your Talent by draining Dean Kerrington.”
“No.”
“No? Don’t you wish to recompense for the torture he put you through?”
“Yes,” I answered honestly.
“Then do it.”
“I can’t…”
With a rage-filled growl, Miles stepped forward and grabbed my hair, pulling me toward Dean while screaming at his people to “fire”. As soon as the man who had given me nightmares was within reach, every member of the Koenig family on the stage grew quiet. Their faces became slack as they each plunged into their own personal nightmares.
Lily walked down the center aisle of the amphitheater with Captain Monroe at her back, firearm drawn. Her brow beaded with sweat as she focused her Talent away from the two men in front of me.
“How?” was all my grandfather mustered before the world slowed down, and I watched the energy pulsating like blood flowing through a vein.
Before either man had a chance to register shock, I had them both on their knees at my feet with their arms firmly clasped in mine. As my Talent pulsed throughout my body, ready to enact justice, I spoke.
“Witness the atonement of these men’s transgressions against humanity and know that there will no longer be a need to be divided. We are one race. One people. We are united.”
The world around the three of us faded away as I released my Talent. It poured into the two men and pulled their Talent energy into me, leaving a single thread of light down both of my arms. “Dean” I thought, as my Talent separated and discharged the foreign energy in a sudden gush.
I fell to the ground as the world tilted and swirled around me, but I wasn’t finished. With every ounce of willpower left, I shouted, “The guilty will now endure the burden they spent their lives attempting to eradicate. They will forever exist as what they used to despise, and I hope in the end that disdain will transform into love.”
It hurt to breathe. Every word felt as if it were being forcefully pulled from my chest. Numbness crawled up my legs as I stared into the fading darkness. With one final breath I whispered, “Justice, not death.”
Epilogue
Kian
Almost two months later.
I pushed my legs harder as I rounded the corner of the street. Today was the first day I had been able to run o
utside since the whirlwind media storm following Sadie’s public sacrifice had overtaken my life.
My shoulder still stung from the bullet wound I had received fighting my captors while my girlfriend took on the responsibility of mending the divide between norm and Caelian. The world was shocked as they watched the two men transform right before their eyes. It was a terrifyingly beautiful thing to witness as I stood across from her on that stage, incapable of nothing more than fighting off the small army that arrived and tried to keep Sadie from her task.
When she uttered her final words to the world, I knew that it was over, and as I held her in my arms while the HCA and military forces surged on the compound, I finally let the tears overtake me.
Sadie didn’t watch as the president vetoed the Registration Act. She didn’t witness the destruction of the Koenig serum or help distribute the emergency anti-toxin that Cayden helped create. She wasn’t available for interviews as the world speculated if there would be more Caelians born with the same Talent who could act as intermediaries.
The Moreau estate loomed ahead and I pushed past the burning pain in my calves to sprint the last few feet. Lacy paced outside the door as I stumbled to a stop, bending at the waist and panting.
“You picked today to go for a run?” she screeched.
“I needed it.”
“Hurry and clean yourself up. Luca will be ready in 30 minutes.”
With a nod I rushed up to Sadie’s room, now my room. Even though Marianne had given me permission to stay and the option to alter what I wanted, I couldn’t let go of those god-awful pink and lace designs that reminded me of our one night of passion.
After a quick shower, I rushed to the medical wing where Madison and Rebecca waited outside of Luca’s room. “Why are we out here?”
“She wanted to speak with him in private before his therapist showed up,” Madison answered.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, she mentioned something about giving him the kiss he always wanted,” Rebecca snickered.
“Oh hell no,” I growled as I shoved the door open with my shoulder and pushed back the flimsy curtain blocking the view from the door.
Acting as if she didn’t have a care in the world, Sadie bent down and planted a long kiss on Luca’s cheek, her steady eyes trained on me. She had been waiting on me to barge in the room.
“So you wake up three days ago and now you’re kissing other guys?”
“I think he deserves one little cheek kiss for taking a bullet for me,” Sadie’s reply dripped with sass and stirred my desire for her. For weeks, no one could tell me if she would wake up or not. She stood there, still in the formless hospital gown and her hair a tangled heap held back in a single clip. She was beautiful.
“Dear God. Get a room,” Luca groaned as he pressed the button that lifted the mattress to a seated position.
Sadie slapped his arm, “Don’t be crude.”
“I tell him that at least twenty times a day,” Rebecca remarked as she and Madison stepped into the room.
“I am who I am, babe,” Luca replied. “You know you love me.”
“With all my heart,” Rebecca answered.
As Rebecca slid onto the bed, I walked around and drew Sadie into my arms. Her body molded against mine, each dip and curve a perfect fit.
“Want to get out of here?” I whispered, letting my lips brush against her ear and reveling in the way her body shivered from the contact.
“Where do you want to go?” she panted.
“With you? Anywhere. Just tell me what you want.”
“Take me home. Be there as I find my place in this new world. Experience life with me. Always find time to be with our friends. And show me love every day.”
“That’s a long list, my love,” I replied as I kissed along her jaw.
“I have a feeling you’ll manage,” she replied breathlessly.
My lips brushed against hers before I pulled back, making sure to look her in the eye. I wanted her to see the sincerity. “It may take the rest of our lives to fulfill your every wish.”
Her smile reached her eyes as she raked her fingers through my hair, pulling at the ends to guide my lips back to hers. “That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
Dear Reader,
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Coming AUGUST 2017
As We Rise Saga
As We Rise: Rogue
The Caelian Cycle
Lost
Bound
Shift
Redeem - A Novella
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About the Author
Donnielle Tyner has held down many jobs, but never found satisfaction until she became a freelance writer and stay at home mom. She’s from North Texas and enjoys her chickens, garden, and most of all her children. The Caelian Cycle is her debut series.
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The Caelian Cycle Boxed Set Page 57
