by Shania Tyler
Mason touched her cheek to silence her. “I believe you.”
The tension in her shoulders left at his words. His statement made her feel better already and not like a complete fool.
Still touching her cheek, he said, “Perhaps, you are too tired. Energy will have its limits, magic or not. Rest up and try again later.” He rose and held out a hand toward her.
Kelly nodded, though she felt horrible. There were so many wounded. Too many for her to rest. They’d fought for at least an hour. The least she could do was give them that same amount of time.
But it wasn’t working.
She took Mason’s hand and pushed off the ground with her other.
The moment she touched the rock, her fingers locked to the ground and she was flooded with warmth. Her eyes shot open, and she looked up to Mason to find his green eyes just as opened as hers.
Her eyes traveled down his chest, and she watched before her eyes as his wound knitted closed. The moment it did, she turned to Lou and touched his arm.
The leg began to heal.
Lou smiled. “Thank you.”
“What does it feel like?” Was there an echo to her voice? She didn’t sound like herself.
“It itches,” Lou said. “But that means it’s healing.”
Mason shouted to the men who stood around. “Bring the wounded here.” Then he turned to Kelly and said, “How many do you think you can handle?”
“Many,” she said in her new electrified voice.
In an awed tone, Mason said, “Your eyes are glowing.”
They were?
* * *
17
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
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* * *
“There are fates worse than death.”
* * *
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“Twenty-three are dead, which isn’t even ten percent of the men,” Davor reported from his seat at a long table.
“But they were still willing to fight. We will have a ceremony to honor them,” Mason said from the head.
Kelly sat at his side, but kept her distance, as the meeting was very important. Everyone had showered and changed, and Kelly now wore a dark Grecian-styled dress that Mason had told her brought out her eyes.
There were at least twenty other men around the table, but she’d only met Maurice, Davor, Noel, Lou, Aymee, and Theo who sat at the other end. Ethan had been given a seat that had belonged to one of the fallen men. Since Ethan had insisted on staying to protect Kelly and had proven his blood strong enough to resist the sound of Cos’s voice, they’d given him a spot at Kelly’s side.
He was no longer her boyfriend, but she was still very proud of him and relieved he was still alive. His dedication to being her guard had surprised her and had shown her that his assignment was more important than any of the feelings of betrayal she’d felt about him. He’d lied, yes, but he was fighting to keep her alive. She couldn’t be angry at him anymore.
Theo said, “If Ashur was sent by the Evaness, then they will soon know you were here. I find it odd, however, that they would send a spy and the Scourge at the same time.”
“They must have known the spy was dead,” Noel said. “And sent Ashur right after.”
Lou frowned. “How is that possible? The spy died only days ago. It takes a month to travel from Pria to Morwen.”
“It means,” Mason said. “That Ashur has a key.”
Theo blinked. “My aunt would never have signed off on someone coming to my home unannounced.”
“But Isabel would have. It’s no secret that Ashur is in her pocket.”
“So, the army could be coming soon.”
Mason shrugged. “Cos will need time to heal and they have no healer, since they never allow elves into the Temple of Jinn.”
Theo smiled at Kelly. “But we do have a healer and, thanks to her, many lives were saved today.”
Mason turned and smiled at her as well. Then he grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Thank you.”
Kelly blushed and then ducked her head as the men began to clap her for her. “Thanks,” she whispered.
The applause faded before Mason said, “We may have more time if Ashur has the key. I know my cousin. He isn’t going to want to let the key go so quickly. The key gives him the ability to go anywhere he wishes. He will take his time to report his findings to Isabel.” Which only made her a fool in Mason’s eyes. Ashur could only be trusted to do things for Ashur.
“So, what is the plan?” Theo asked.
“More training,” Mason said and then turned to Maurice. “You and Noel will lead out the training.” Then to Davor, he asked, “How did your meeting with the elves of Ember’s Woods go?”
Davor leaned back in his chair, pressed his fingers together and then rested them under his chin. “For a while, I feared they would not let me in. There have been traitors on both sides. They even fear elves, Rebel or not . . . But I was given an audience with their leaders. They are . . . inclined to allow your request, but we will have to wait until they speak to the gods.”
Kelly scrunched her nose at Mason. “Is this about me going to Talon Island?”
“She knows about this?” Davor asked. His eyes again moved from Kelly and back to Mason. And once again, Kelly felt left out on some big secret. Hadn’t it been her idea to go to Talon in the first place?
Mason gave a slight nod in his direction. “We will discuss this more later.” Then he said to the room, “Aymee has come to me about another vision.” He turned to Aymee, giving her the room.
Aymee, who sat in the center, knelt up in her chair and said, “I have seen Kelly at the House of Walls.”
Kelly grinned. She’d asked just earlier that day to go to the Pria. She turned to Mason and said, “Does that mean I get to go?”
Mason seemed upset by this and then said, “It is dangerous in Pria. The government is there, I am a fugitive, and you smell . . . much too appealing.”
Kelly lips fell.
Theo said. “It doesn’t have to be so dangerous a mission if we go during the festival. You’d easily blend into the crowds in a disguise like the rest.”
“What festival?” Kelly asked.
“It’s a celebration for the Year of Blessing. It is to happen in a month’s time in Pria. The city hosts most of the Western Lands. No one will never know your true identity, and if you go as my servant, no harm will come to you.”
She turned to Mason to get his reaction.
Mason scratched his jaw just as he’d done that first day he stole her from Earth. “I have been meaning to see what Isabel was up to.”
Hope bloomed inside Kelly. If they went to Pria, she would find out who her parents were. Perhaps they would even be at the festival.
The door opened and a small woman approached Theo and whispered in his ear before retreating.
He stood before she’d even shut the door. “We are to proceed under code two until I say so. To your positions, everyone.” He started from the room.
The rest of them rose and began to file out of a back door, opposite of the one they’d come through and from the one that had taken Theo back into the mansion.
“What’s happening?” Kelly asked as they got to their feet.
Mason took her hand. “We’ve an unexpected visitor.”
“Another enemy?” she asked. The thought of more war made her weary.
“We won’t know until Theo speaks with the visitor. That is what code two means. Everyone will act as though they are enslaved here and I cannot be seen. The visitor is more than likely family, since no warning was given. It means they used a Family Door.”
Kelly knew what that was. She’d already begun to read the book on ancient Asea that Vivi had given her. “What about me?” she asked at the back door. The other side was pitch black and she wondered where it led to.
Mason turned down a dark hall and guided Kelly with his hand. “If is best you stay far from any guest, a
s your scent will most likely drive them mad.”
The group continued down the hall, and Kelly felt herself being guided at a turn.
“Watch your step. We’re approaching stairs.”
The warning came just in time. She couldn’t make out anyone or anything as they climbed down. “How can you see where you are going?”
“Vampires can see in the dark.”
“So why all the torches?”
“For the elves.”
That made sense.
A door up ahead was opened, and Kelly walked into what looked like a storage room. There were chains everywhere and the elves began to place them around their necks and wrists. The vampires assisted the others in getting everything on.
Kelly’s heartbeat accelerated. “They’re going to suffer more silver just for the sake of a guest?”
“It’s not silver. It is steel. This is only a performance,” he assured her.
Kelly sighed and watched the elves dress. “Do I need to—”
A man approached Mason and handed him a faux-silver neck choker and wristlets. A design was imprinted through the cuffs, and it was studded with diamonds. It was much fancier than the others, but was still chains and Kelly didn’t want to wear them. But she didn’t complain when Mason began to dress her in them.
“Only for show,” he told her. “And who knows, you may not need them after all. The visitor could come and leave just as quickly as—”
“Mason.”
Mason turned to look at an approaching man. He was of average height and build and Kelly got the sense that she’d seen him before, but couldn’t place him. He was good looking, though she wouldn’t call him handsome. His face was absent any distinctive features, his hazel eyes stood out the most. “Roose.” Mason said to the man as way of an introduction.
“Kelly’s presence has been requested in the main house,” Roose said.
He cursed. “They know.”
“She knows something,” Roose confided, “But I don’t think she knows about Ashur.”
“She?” Mason asked.
“Colester Barna.”
“Theo’s aunt,” Mason said to Kelly. “Stand far from her and don’t let her touch you.”
Images of Jasna’s ability flooded her mind. Kelly shook her head. “I don’t want to go.” She grabbed his hand.
Mason’s mouth thinned and a moment later he said, “I will go with you.”
“But you can’t be seen.”
“I will hide, but I will be there.”
Kelly let him go.
“Kelly.” He grabbed her shoulders and forced her to meet his eyes. “I’ll kill myself before I let harm come to you. I swear it.”
Kelly stared into his eyes and calmly repeated what he’d said to her just hours ago on the field. “I believe you.”
He nodded.
Noel approached. “I’ll escort her and keep her safe.”
Mason nodded at him and back away from her. “I’ll be within reach of you.”
Kelly nodded and followed Roose and Noel from the storeroom.
They used a door that led to an outside staircase instead of the one that they’d used before. Above ground, Kelly saw they were on the side of the house. Torch lights led the way as they followed a stone path toward the front of the house.
“You’ve got this,” Noel said, reassuring her.
Kelly thanked him with a smile.
Noel asked Roose. “How was she when you let her through the door?”
“Calm,” Roose said. “I’m never seen Barna anything but calm . . . until she’s eating.”
Kelly’s steps slowed.
Noel said, “No one is eating you.”
Kelly wasn’t so sure. She asked Roose, “You let her in through the door? So, you’re a fairman?”
Roose nodded. “Yes.”
Kelly had read about the fairmen as well. They guarded all portal doors. “Could you not tell her no?”
“Telling her no would have made us more suspicious than we already are.”
“We?” Kelly asked as they began climbing the stairs to the house. “I thought Fairmen were not allowed to pick sides.”
Roose sighed and shrugged. “It is true and I’m sure that many years ago, that was so, but Fairmen on this side have much to fear from the Evaness. I am firmly on the Rebellion’s side.”
“But you can’t be killed,” Kelly told him at the top of the steps.
Roose turned to her and said, “There are fates worse than death.” He opened the door. “Be cautious, Kelly of the House of Jinn.” Then he departed back into the night.
Noel said, “After you.”
* * *
18
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
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* * *
“You will stay. Just for the night.”
* * *
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“And don’t try to trick me, Theo. My Milena servants told me they had a vision of a girl here with blonde curls and blue eyes and they all had the same vision.” The voice belonged to an older woman.
Theo’s chuckle floated down the hall. “Aunt, all of your Milena servants? I think you may be overdoing it.”
“No,” his aunt rushed on to say. “All of them, and they were told by their friends that they, too, had visions about this woman, appearing at a door with a marking of an eagle over it. You are quite lucky that I am the only person in the Evaness who knows of that marking. That silly eagle I caught you carving into the door when you were ten finally came to good use.”
Theo still had a smile in his voice. “And you almost had me flogged in Morwen Square for it.”
“Carving a Family Door.” She tsked. “It still angers me.” Then she calmed. “But this is your house, I reminded myself every day while raising you after your parents died. If you wanted to carve eagles into every door, so be it.” Then she became direct again. “Now, where is this girl from everyone’s vision?”
Noel placed a hand on Kelly’s shoulder and said, “I will announce you before you go out. Stand behind me at all time. Am I understood?”
Kelly nodded.
Theo said to his aunt. “I’m surprised Isabel didn’t also have this vision if every one of Milena’s line has had it.”
Barna waved him off. “Isabel doesn’t think we know, but her visions are all but gone and she’s too proud to hire Milena servants. It would be the largest sign that her power wanes. I heard she consults with doctors.”
“Barna?” Noel called.
Kelly heard a pause and then Barna’s voice returned with a sigh. “Oh, Noel. I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“I’m anywhere you need me,” he said, dipping his voice.
Barna giggled and then moaned. “Oh, Noel. Do come to my room tonight.”
“Why wait? Let’s go now. Or better yet, let us go back to your house in Estain. Let me serve you, Barna. Let me lay you down on a feathered mattress and worship your body.”
Kelly nearly gasped. She wondered who would say these sorts of things in front of a woman’s nephew.
“Yes,” Barna said urgently. “Let’s leave.”
Kelly lifted a brow in confusion.
“Say goodbye to Theo, Barna. Tell him where we are going and do it quickly so that I can do naughty things to you.”
Barna was speaking before Noel even finished. “Theo, I must leave. It’s urgent. Come, Noel.”
Their footsteps were heard going in the opposite direction.
Noel said, “Do you want me to tell you all the things I’ll do to you, Barna? Do you want to know where I will use my hands and my mouth?”
Kelly’s shoulders dropped as their voices began to fade.
“Oh, Noel, yes,” Barna said with fervor. “Just like last time. Just like you told me you would the last time . . . But you didn’t actually do it. You never came to me, Noel. Why?”
“Uh . . .” He paused. “I got lost, Barna, but we will do it now.”<
br />
“No,” Barna hissed. “No!” Then she laughed. “Oh gods, Noel! You did it again! You naughty fiend. How could you!” Then she laughed even louder. “Your gift is worse than Cos’s, tricking women into romantic thoughts, confusing my mind, and me at my age. No, no, no,” she said as her footsteps returned. “I want to see the girl! Now, Noel of the House of Orry.”
Kelly’s brows rose and everything about the last few minutes made sense. Like Cos’s singing and Davor’s flute playing, Noel’s words had the effect of getting people to do what he wanted.
A dangerous thing that.
“Well then,” Noel said. “I present to you, Kelly from Earth.”
Kelly wondered why he’d announced her that way, but stepped from around the wall anyway.
Theo wore a smile that was obviously practiced. Barna, however, looked very pleased with herself. She had faint lines around her eyes and mouth and Kelly surprised herself when she guessed Barna’s age to be around nine hundred years old. She had no idea how she knew, but she could sense her age . . . and her power. Barna was the first really old vampire Kelly had seen and had to say that the woman looked good for her age, no older than forty in human years.
Noel’s mouth hitched to the side, revealing a dimple in his cheek that she hadn’t noticed was there. Then he shrugged in a way that said, I tried.
Kelly nodded at him and then stopped when she was a few yards away from Barna.
“Come closer,” Barna said. “I wish to know what the visions are all about, but I must say you are very pretty. Glowing skin, hair, and eyes. Enchanting. Come here. Come to me.” She held her arms out.
Kelly looked at Noel.
Noel motioned with his head for her to approach him instead.
Kelly maneuvered around the group and stood almost behind Noel.
Barna frowned and asked, “Theo, why does your whore hide behind Noel? Do you share her? She wears the symbols of your house.”
