“You too late, Venus. You already agreed,” Ramien said, his words dripping with greedy venom. “Don’t you want your parents freed?”
They abruptly appeared. My parents. The king and queen of Alayeah. Mom, beautiful as ever. Her milk chocolate hair curled around her heart shaped face. Azure eyes sparkled with a mixture of joy and sadness. And, Dad. Still serene and regal. His deep burgundy eyes full of compassion. I rushed into their arms.
“Venus, my dear,” dad said. I wondered if these people knew I wasn’t theirs. But I already knew the answer. Of course they had to know. My true heritage kept a secret for sixteen years. From everyone in our country, in all of Kelari, including me.
“It’s alright, sweetheart.” Mom pulled me close.
At such a moment, I should’ve been happy. My wish came true. My parents, these people I believed were my parents anyway, were in my arms. But their bodies were false, and stank of Ramien.
“I’ve got to go,” I whispered, pushing them.
“What?”
“Why?” Mother clung to me, but I sensed her understanding. She knew. The music stopped. The guests spoke quietly amongst themselves, their eyes slashing into me. Yes, leaving would sentence those still in Helker to an eternity of torture, but if I allowed Ramien to win, his loathsome plans would go further, reaching beyond Kelari. They had to see the truth.
“I-I’m sorry.” Pulling my fingers from hers, I ran, using Britorent toward the doors. I dragged them open and stepped out. Ramien took over my body. Cret!
My body turned. One leg stepped in front of the other. I couldn’t even scream.
“You already agreed to my terms. There are no take-backs or exchanges. You will be my bride. Your soul is mine.”
I reached the stage much too quickly. My moved so I faced Ramien.
The rhinoceros shaman came forward. “Guests. Friends. Loved ones. We are gathered here today to witness the union of Venus, child of the gods and Ramien, ruler of the gods.”
I wanted to snort in disgust. Ruler of the gods. Ramien was so full of himself.
The shaman, continued, “In joining these two together, we will witness the dawn of a new age.” He turned to me. “Venus, do you take Ramien to be yours, body and soul?”
My mind screamed, “No! No! No! No! No!” But my mouth said, “Yes.” Fear knotted in my stomach.
“Ramien, do you take Venus to be yours, body and soul?”
A cruel smile curled his lips. “I—” Ramien began, but stopped.
The skin on his body faded in and out, rippled. For a split second I saw the thing beneath his façade. Gruesome sores covered a carcass oozing green puss. A being without a face. As quickly as it appeared, it was gone. I shivered inside.
Ramien grimaced, and said, “Remarkable.” He still held my body captive. Slowly, he turned, and shifted. As he did, I saw . . . something—someone. A ghost. But, how? His body had been burned in lava.
“Michael,” Ramien whispered. Silence fell over the room. The shaman and the guests were abruptly motionless. Still as statues.
Confidence radiated from Michael, a glowing assurance. He smirked. “Hello father.”
“Come to claim your prize, son?” Ramien mocked, glancing at me. His left eye twitched. Michael had really surprised him. He’d believed Michael dead.
Michael shook his head. “I’ve come to end your existence.” As he spoke, the medallion heated against my neck. Lavender light shot from it and landed on a metal dagger in Michael’s hands. It radiated against the blade.
Ramien inhaled sharply. The room altered from its glorious luxury to an enormous bug-infested hole in the ground. Creatures with thousands of legs and sleek maroon bodies scurried, while worm-like invertebrate pushed through the damp smelling dirt. Antennae turned to and fro, seemingly confused before burrowing into the ground. Spindly insects, reminiscent of spiders, shuffled about their business.
“You think you can end me? I am the beginning and the end.” With each word Ramien flicked his wrist and creature after creature fell over, as though it were dead. After several beats he flicked his wrist again, and the creatures got up, as though nothing happened, and continued on.
The room changed again. We were no longer in the dirt, but atop an icy mountain peak. The sky glistened with different shades of pinks and blues. Three small moons lined the sky. Ramien snapped his fingers and it looked like the world was suddenly aflame with fire. All around us, the fire rose, licked at my dress, at Michael’s back. Heat pressed against me like a living thing. Acrid smells of brimstone, and something else. Death? Consumed the air.
“I am the creator and the destroyer. You’re nothing but a child. You can’t annihilate what you don’t understand,” Ramien sputtered viciously.
We were back in the dining hall. All the bodies remained motionless. “I am more powerful than you can even imagine.” Ramien gnashed his teeth, and I sensed fear.
The smirk on Michael’s face grew into a full-blown smile. “That might be. But you use your power to hurt and destroy.” His head tilted sideways, as though he were contemplating what Ramien really was. “Maybe you can’t help it. You are a creature without a soul, after all.” Michael winked at me.
He’s so immature, I thought, though if I could have smiled I would have. Michael’s energy intoxicated me. Still, this was life and death. Most likely mine. Now wasn’t the time for lengthy speeches, or commentating. Ramien had me prisoner, and I wanted to be free. Michael continued, “I am a ferether, so I posses all you do. And, I am kelvieri, thanks to my mother.”
“Being kelvieri isn’t power, but protection. It extends your life, nothing more,” Ramien said.
“Perhaps.” A flash of pain crossed Michael’s face, and I guessed he thought about her—his mother. “But being from her gave me something you’ll never have. A soul.”
Ramien’s features turned dark. I braced myself for a battle. It didn’t come.
Michael holds Ramien’s body captive the way Ramien holds yours, Tortevia said softly.
Frightening.
Michael lifted the knife. It gleamed against the light of the chandeliers. Vapor, in lavender and crimson, pulsed around the dagger, seeming to give it life.
“A silly knife isn’t enough to kill me,” Ramien said, but I saw his dread grow, his whole being tensed.
“I think you know that’s a lie,” Michael said, looking directly at me. A chill blew through my veins and I realized fragments of Michael and I gave power to the blade.
The façade of Ramien’s body disappeared, leaving only his real form, which was truly dreadful. Michael winced at the sight of him. After a slight pause, he placed the knife’s point against the center of Ramien.
“I also have the strength of a god.” While he spoke, Michael shoved the blade into Ramien’s body.
I gasped internally, surprised. I experienced the blade go into the ferether as though I forced it into him myself.
A loud wheeze escaped Ramien. Michael let go of the knife, and must’ve released the hold he had on Ramien because the ferether fell backward, sliding down the steps.
The room came to life. A unified sigh. Ramien’s carcass drooped on the steps. Except the top portion, which hit the floor with a thud.
The rhino shaman glanced at Michael expectantly. He waited for a response to the question he asked Ramien. Flustered, he repeated in a deep, earthy voice, “Do you take Venus to be yours, body and soul?”
Neither the shaman nor the rest of the room realized what happened. But they had to see Michael wasn’t his father.
Michael’s smile flashed brightly. “I do,” he said, quickly glancing at the shaman before his eyes found mine.
The shaman nodded. Speaking loudly to the room, he proclaimed, “Then I pronounce you both bound. Eternally as one.” When he finished, the invisible grip Ramien had over me evaporated. I breathed a sigh of relief, immediately searching the crowd for my parents. With Ramien dead, what would happen to them? I received my answer instantaneously.
All of the guests’ bodies vanished! Including my mom and dad, Zaren, Palamina, Dervinias, Cheverly, and Palmo. Their glittering essences remained though, and flitted around the room, like excited butterflies. I could hear their thoughts:
Free.
We’re free.
It’s a miracle.
We’re saved.
Michael moved so we were toe to toe and took one of my hands in both of his. Rhino shaman said, “You may seal your bond with a kiss.”
I was in shock. The marriage didn’t count. Surely. I turned to Michael. “It isn’t real.”
He beamed, and my mind went blank. No words. No thoughts. I was swallowed up in Michael. It was as though I saw him for the first time. Not an arrogant human in need of a haircut, or even a soulless ferether. But as my counterpart, made for me in every way.
Your soul mate, Tortevia whispered.
And I finally comprehended what that meant.
Michael smiled. “I’m going to kiss you now. Ready?”
A very unladylike huff rose in my throat.
“Such a pain in the ass.” Michael grinned, dipping his head, and pressing his lips to mine. The kiss filled with promises of the Universe.
Soaring.
Soaring.
Soaring.
21. Freedom
When Michael released my lips, I sensed someone watched us. I turned, and saw Ith and Aetha. My actual parents. The gods of Kelari. Now I knew who they were, I wasn’t sure how to act. I was in awe of them. These beings, these gods. And I was supposed to be like them?
You are one of them, Tortevia insisted.
It didn’t make sense.
“Hello, Venus,” Aetha said, an ethereal smile lighting her whole face.
She and Ith stood at the bottom of the steps, inches from where Ramien lay face down on the floor. They paid him no heed, and I wondered if they saw him.
“We see him, daughter,” Ith said, his grass green eyes sparkling.
“Oh?” Had I spoken aloud? I didn’t think so, but Ith responded as though he heard me.
“Ramien was a body without a soul, like a husk, or an empty shell. He survived, as all ferether do, by feeding on the souls of others.” Aetha bent and placed a hand on Ramien’s face. At her touch, Ramien’s body withered, turning in on itself like a corpse decaying in the heat of the sun. The too sweet smell that was Ramien thickened the air momentarily, and then he was gone, and the odor went with him. “You and Michael used your combined power to destroy him.”
“Me? I didn’t do anything.” I was glad Ramien was gone. His death meant the souls were all free to return to the Creator, but it hadn’t been because of me. It was all Michael. “Michael did it,” I said, grabbing his hand in mine and lifting it upward. A loud cheer came from the essences fluttering around the room
Ith and Aetha came forward and took our clasped hands in theirs.
“You did better than we ever hoped,” Aetha said to Michael. Then she turned to me. “As did you.”
The medallion warmed between my collarbones again. The buckle heated at my waist. They grew so hot I thought they might burn me up. I looked down. The buckle glowed bright red. I guessed the medallion must be doing the same. Michael’s expression turned from mild interest to real concern.
“What’s happening?” he asked.
Ith and Aetha said together. “Watch.” As they spoke Tortevia burst forth and landed on all fours behind the gods. Tortevia roared and shook her mane, her enormous black wings flapped against the air, blowing my hair and the essences around. I couldn’t help but smile at her happiness.
Three young women gracefully landed next to Tortevia. They held hands and looked like triplets. They only way to tell them apart was the color of their calf length dresses. One wore an electric blue, another wore bright purple, and the last had on a candy apple red. Their feet were bare, and their hair was cropped short, and was as black as Tortevia’s fur. They giggled.
“What?” I asked, concerned they laughed at me.
Michael chuckled. “I know who the girls are.”
“Of course you do,” I uttered, sarcastic.
One of the girls waved and winked at him.
I wanted to box their ears, and tell them he was taken. But . . . that was just too weird to think about.
“These are they who belong to the gods of Kelari. Don’t you recognize them?” Aetha’s words were sad and spoken with a tinge of melancholy.
“So they belong to you?” I asked, confused.
She shook her head, and I swear her eyes filled up with tears. “No, my child. They belong to you.” Then she indicated Michael. “And you.”
Ith wrapped an arm around Aetha’s shoulders, and she leaned into him.
Michael glanced at my necklace, and his eyes grew wide. “May I?” he asked.
I nodded, remembering when he put it on me.
After he undid the leather chords, he held it up for me to see.
It was still as beautiful as before. The same images engraved upon it. A book lay opened. On one side were three girls. On the other was an irrihunter with a boy and a girl riding on its back. In the irrihunter’s paws it clutched something round.
Finally I understood. This was Tortevia, Michael and I. On the left were the girls, but who were they? What part did they play in all of this?
As though reading my mind, Michael said, “They are the Systern Sisters. Together they are the Keepers of Kelari. Not to long after you left me with Ith and Aetha, they gave me the Sistine Grimp, which is the book.” He pointed it out to me on the medallion with his thumb. “The sisters have kinda been hanging out with me in here,” he pointed to his chest, “and, in here.” He pointed to his head. “They are teachers, seers, and revelators.”
“Oh,” was all I could utter. They—the Systern Sisters—looked like simpletons.
Ith and Aetha moved toward Tortevia, and the sisters.
“Come here, children,” Aetha said, beckoning us to come down.
Michael stepped toward the stairs, but I hesitated. Everything seemed to be happening so fast. He seemed to sense my reluctance.
“I won’t let anything hurt you.” Michael brushed his fingers along my jawline. “Ever again.”
My insides clenched. I searched his face, wondering how he was so calm, so accepting of the events occurring around us. Since my sixteenth birthday I hadn’t had a moment all to myself—one where I wasn’t worried about my life, my country, my family, Zaren, even Michael. I’d been exiled to earth. Told Michael was my soul mate, that we were created for each other. Then I was finally made a kelvieri, the immortal I always dreamed of being, but that wasn’t even really true. Had me loving Zaren been a lie as well? My mind told me no, but I also realized it wasn’t the kind of love I felt for Michael.
At those thoughts I froze. “Holy cret, I love—” I clamped my hands over my mouth. Was it possible? My heart screamed a gigantic, YES.
“What?” Michael asked, an amused grin on his lips.
I shook my head. Pieces of the puzzle were falling into place, and I needed to allow my mind to grasp them.
The symbols in the heels of my kelvieri boots came to mind. In the left heel were stars. The other heel held fire. With a surety so undeniably strong it hurt, I understood the symbols represented what I was and what I would become. But I didn’t want it.
I’m not a god!
“Venus, child. You were created with—”
But I cut Aetha off. “No. I won’t be your pawn.” I glared. “You’re no better than Ramien.”
“Venus,” Michael balked.
The sisters and Tortevia let out a collective gasp.
“It’s true,” I continued. “Ramien wanted to use me as a means of becoming the Creator’s equal. You used me to take him down.” I began to breathe heavily. My part in the plan was over. What other use did they have for me? Did they intend to send me to the Creator? “I’m of no use to you now, just another piece you can toss aside . . .” I trailed off as an uncontrol
lable cry tore from my chest. “What more am I good for? You’ve won. Ramien is gone. The fight is over.”
Ith pulled me from Michael’s hands, and gathered me into his arms. “There, there, child,” he soothed. I wanted to resist, push him away, this god who was supposed to be my real father. “This planet is in need of you and Michael. You have much still to do.”
His voice soothed, but not his words. What did I, a sixteen-year-old kelvieri, have to offer beyond what Ith and Aetha could give? They were the gods of this world, not me.
Aetha’s arms joined Ith’s around me. “You and Michael are to become the new gods of Kelari. This was always the plan. The way the Creator intended it. We will be leaving soon.” As she spoke a lavender light surrounded us like a bubble.
I was about to ask what was happening, but my mind was inexplicably filled with the knowledge. Comprehension of the way Kelari was created, the creatures designed to inhabit the land. The first male and female kelarian. The growth of this world. Wars. Death. A billion lives flashed before my eyes at once, along with at least as many days. I felt as though my mind expanded, taking in all I saw. And somehow I understood everything. Including my part in the grand design set forth by the Creator.
“Oh my.” A sense of peace warmed me from the inside out. But even with all the knowledge Ith and Aetha gave me, a tiny part of me doubted.
“Doubt not, child. You possess all the keys the Creator intended you to have. You are the child Ith and I shaped you to be.” Aetha spoke with affection. She stroked my face with tender care. The intensity of her love sank deep, filling me with a glow.
Ith and Aetha’s lives descended into my memories like they were my own. Many hundreds of years ago, Ith and Aetha battled Ramien for the souls he’d stolen and kept in his Room of Souls. Ith and Aetha freed them, and after making a deal with Ramien, gave the freed souls new bodies. Was doing such a thing still an option? Could I give those whose bodies were killed new ones? I remembered what Palamina said after she slayed Zaren. ‘Only his body. Consider that.’
Beguiled (Book 2 Immortal Essence series) Page 10
