by I. T. Lucas
“That’s the official explanation. But I don’t buy it. Not entirely.”
“Do you know if your mother is still alive? Did he tell you at least that much?”
Lokan shook his head. “I’m not allowed to ask. The few times I did, I was punished. I learned to keep my mouth shut and search for answers on my own. Regrettably, he is incredibly smart and designed an impenetrable system.”
“You told me that you could’ve snuck Ella or Vivian into the harem.”
“Getting a human female in is doable. Risky, but with my compulsion ability possible. The problem is getting information out. Once they are assigned work in the harem, they don’t get out, not with their memories intact. Vivian and Ella’s telepathic communication was the only way.”
In reality, the only way out of the harem was in a coffin, but he wasn’t ready to admit that to Carol. He’d had a vague plan of having the one he’d snuck into the harem fake her own death so he could get her out that way, but he hadn’t worked out the details, and the truth was that he would have done it even if he had to leave her there.
Lokan had never claimed to be a good man, and it hadn’t bothered him before. But it did now. He wanted to be a better male for Carol.
She shook her head, her large blonde curls bouncing around her perfect face. “No wonder you worked so hard on luring them into a trap. It really wasn’t about Ella’s beauty.”
39
Carol
“Carol.” Kian waved her over. “I need to talk to you.”
She was on her way to the car, eager to get back to Lokan, but when the boss called, telling him she was in a rush wasn’t an option.
“Can you wait a moment? I want to put this bag in my car.”
After the barbecue was over, she’d gone to her house and collected a few more items of clothing and accessories. She’d even put in a board game and a pack of cards to play with Lokan.
The way things were going, it looked like she was in it for the long haul. The three hours away from him had been hard to endure. She felt as if there was an invisible tether connecting them. It was elastic, capable of getting stretched, but only to a certain point. After a while, the pull to get back had gotten too strong to resist.
“If you’re heading to the keep, we are going there as well.” Kian waved her over again. “You can hitch a ride with us, and we can talk on the way.”
As usual, Kian had Anandur and Brundar with him, but bringing Andrew along indicated that he was on his way to interrogate Lokan.
It was an inconvenience to leave her car in the village, which would necessitate hitching a ride when she had to get back, but she needed to talk to Kian before he went to see Lokan, and unless she did it over the phone, the only way to do it in time was sharing the ride with him.
Regrettably, it was going to be with an audience.
Not a big deal. It wasn’t as if she’d intended to keep her relationship with Lokan a secret. In fact, she was quite sure that most of the village population already knew what she was doing.
What they didn’t know, however, was that she and Lokan had been fated for each other. She was supposed to get him to talk by any means available to her, not to fall for him.
“I’m coming.”
Anandur was already closing the distance between them and reaching for her bag. “Let me carry this for you.”
“Thank you.”
Kian’s Lexus was spacious, and with Anandur driving and Brundar sitting next to him, and Andrew taking the back seat, she and Kian got in the middle row.
“Should I put my ear buds in?” Andrew asked.
Kian looked at Carol.
She shrugged. “What’s the point? Whatever Anandur hears is not going to stay a secret for long. You’d better hear it straight from the source.”
Looking at her through the rearview mirror, Anandur made a face. “I don’t talk when I’m not supposed to. All you have to do is tell me that you don’t want anything said in here to get out.”
“It’s okay. I meant no offense, and I have nothing to hide. But this is so new, and I’d rather it stayed between us for the time being.”
As Anandur pulled out of the parking spot, Kian turned to her. “I’m taking Lokan on a tour of the catacombs. Anything I should know before I talk to him?”
“There is plenty. First of all, you should know that he and I are mates.” When Kian’s eyes widened, she lifted a hand and kept talking. “I might be a little biased in his favor, so I’m just putting it out there to make you aware of that. But you should also know that my loyalty is first and foremost to the clan, and I’ll never do anything to betray or endanger it. Not even for my fated mate.”
With a groan, Kian raked his fingers through his hair. “How did that happen? And are you sure?”
Carol nodded. “I know it happened incredibly fast, but I know it’s real.” She chuckled. “I'm old and experienced enough to know that what I feel for Lokan is unlike anything I have felt before. And since I’ve had an immortal lover already, I also know that it’s not because the sex is out of this world.”
“Can it be that he’s just incredibly charming and you’re infatuated with him?”
“He is. But that’s not it. The three hours I spent away from Lokan right now made me feel as if I was fighting a tether that was pulling me back to him. I’ve never experienced this with anyone else and in no other situation.”
In the front, she could see both Anandur and Brundar nodding their heads.
She waved a hand in their direction. “You see? They know what I’m talking about. And I’m sure you do too.” She then glanced back at Andrew. “Do you agree? You’re mated too.”
“That’s how it felt in the beginning,” Andrew said. “It got easier later on. Otherwise, none of us could get any work done.”
That was good to know because she’d started to worry. Being joined at the hip with Lokan could get tiring fast. She was too independent to enjoy such an attachment even if it was otherwise wonderful.
Looking resigned, Kian nodded. “Now that we have that established, what else can you tell me about him?”
“Did he tell you about what he needed Vivian and Ella for?”
“He wanted to find out what, or rather, who Navuh is hiding in his harem.”
“Did he tell you why it was so important for him to find out?”
“He thinks that Navuh has someone special in there, and that this someone has influence over him. Since the only way to change the Brotherhood seems to be changing Navuh, Lokan thinks that this female might be the only one who can do that.”
She smiled. Of course, that was how Lokan had presented it to Kian. To admit that he wished to find out who his mother was and whether she was still alive would have made him look weak.
Not macho enough.
“In my opinion, it’s an excuse to cover his real reason, and he might be even telling himself the same lie. Lokan wants to find out who his mother is or was. She might have been a Dormant who died a long time ago, but she could also be an immortal. He didn’t tell you that because that would have made him look less manly, and we all know how important that macho nonsense is to you guys.”
“That’s a powerful motivator.” Kian nodded. “The question is, what am I going to do with this information?”
“There is more. Lokan has some pretty progressive ideas for the island, but even before his capture, he felt powerless to implement any of them. Apparently, he is the only one of his brothers who is immune to Navuh’s compulsion, and he can’t get them to back him up.”
“Yeah, I got that from him. Tell me about his ideas.”
40
Kian
“What are you going to do about it?” Anandur asked as the four of them parted ways with Carol at the elevators.
Kian was glad she hadn’t insisted on coming with them to Lokan and had gone upstairs to prepare dinner instead. Having her there would have made things awkward for everyone, even without the revelations she’d shared w
ith them during the drive.
“About what?” Kian asked.
There was a lot to choose from. Starting with Carol’s megaton bomb about Lokan being her mate, to the real reason behind his ambitious plan to infiltrate Navuh’s harem, and to Lokan’s surprisingly progressive ideas for the island’s population.
Naturally, he was going to verify those claims with Andrew’s help. Lokan might have been selling Carol a load of crap to get her on his side.
“About Carol’s claim that she and the Doomer are mates.”
“I’m not sure they are. Lokan is charming and manipulative, and Carol has been lonely since breaking things off with Robert. She can’t possibly know that Lokan is her one after spending one day with him.”
After having an immortal lover, even one she hadn’t been in love with, going back to humans must have been underwhelming, to put it mildly. It would be like drinking watered-down whiskey after sampling the best of Macallan scotch.
Stepping into the elevator, Anandur scratched his beard. “If it were anyone else, I would have agreed with you. But not Carol. Having an immortal lover is not a novelty for her, and I’ve never heard her mention any human male she developed feelings for. I don’t think she would mistake infatuation or great sex for a true-love fated bond.”
Kian arched a brow. “If memory serves me right, she didn’t mention the word love. She only said that they were mates.”
Anandur shrugged. “Sex often precedes love. The incredible attraction is the first sign.”
“Which can be easily mistaken for more,” Andrew said. “Before I met Nathalie, I thought that Amanda was the hottest female to walk the planet.” He glanced at Kian. “I hope you don’t mind me saying that.”
“Not at all. At the time, I would have been overjoyed if she’d chosen you instead of Dalhu. But that would have been a mistake. Amanda and Dalhu proved that they were true-love mates beyond a shadow of a doubt.”
Andrew nodded. “Until I met Nathalie, I didn’t know how much stronger the connection between true-love mates was, and I might have settled for less.”
“Time will tell,” Brundar said, summing up the discussion.
It was good advice, especially since they’d reached the dungeon level and were heading toward Lokan’s cell.
Arwel was waiting for them by the door. “Do you need me with you, or can I take a break?” He handed Kian the remote to Lokan’s cuffs.
“I think that between the four of us we can handle one Doomer. Did you change the setting on all of them?”
“Yes. They will explode only if you take Lokan out of the building. He is safe as long as he is inside.”
“You sure? Taking him to the catacombs is supposed to demonstrate how benevolent we are. Blowing up his wrists and ankles would be counterproductive to that.”
Arwel shrugged. “I did everything that William told me to do and then had him double check it. If the cuffs explode, you know who to blame, and it’s not me.”
“Noted. Is there anything you want to report before we go in? Any unusual behavior that you’ve noticed?”
Arwel smirked. “Carol has him wrapped around her little finger. After she left this morning, he kept pacing the cell like a caged animal, looking distraught. He hasn’t done that before. I think our Doomer prince is in love.”
“Or he’s an exceptional actor,” Kian murmured.
He was not buying the insta-matehood. It hadn’t happened this fast for any of the other couples. Not even Syssi and him.
Except, a small voice in the back of his head called him a liar, reminding him of his first reaction to Syssi. Kian remembered it as vividly as if it had happened yesterday. If not for his self-doubt and skepticism, he might have realized immediately that she was the one for him.
In fact, he’d known that from the very first moment their hands had touched and their eyes had met. After that, he’d spent several days trying to deny it, and then several more days trying to justify the instinctive response with logical explanations.
Maybe if he hadn’t been so stubborn and cynical, he would have declared them true-love mates from day one, just as Carol had done.
Now that Kian was more familiar with what Amanda and Syssi referred to as the Fates’ matchmaking process, he couldn’t even get angry at Carol or Lokan for their unexpected mating.
It hadn’t been their choice.
He was sad for Carol, however, and disappointed at the Fates for saddling her with Lokan as a mate. The woman had definitely suffered enough to merit a better pairing. She deserved a prince, but not the son of their arch-nemesis, who was a prisoner with no future prospects.
Lokan’s case was different than Dalhu and Robert’s. He wasn’t an ordinary Doomer, or even an ordinary immortal. Despite him mating Carol, the man was too dangerous to ever entrust with the clan’s location.
Unlike the other two ex-Doomers, Kian could see Lokan overriding the natural devotion to his fated mate in favor of his wider agenda.
That agenda, however, was still an enigma.
Was he his father’s puppet like Navuh’s other sons?
Or was he indeed the progressive thinker who wanted a better future for his people?
There was also a third option. What if Lokan had sought to overthrow his father and seize control of the island to become the next despot?
Did it matter?
Lokan wasn’t going to leave his cell, so none of his possible agendas were relevant. At some point, he might opt to go into stasis instead of enduring endless imprisonment, and if by that time he’d revealed all that there was to reveal, Kian might grant him his wish.
The only problem with that was Carol.
If Lokan was indeed her fated mate, she would want to follow him and enter stasis as well.
41
Lokan
Kian was on the other side of the thick door. Lokan couldn’t hear him, but somehow, he sensed him.
It wasn’t the prickling sensation in the back of his neck like he’d felt the first time Kian and his bodyguards had entered his cell. That had gradually subsided the longer they’d stayed with him until dissipating entirely by the time they’d left.
Still, he was willing to bet good money that Kian was about to enter. Not Arwel, and regrettably not Carol, but his cousin and probably his bodyguards. For some reason, Lokan couldn't feel the others, only Kian.
It was probably his imagination.
Arwel had called him earlier, telling him to get ready for Kian’s visit, and his inner clock must have calculated the time elapsed, signaling his subconscious that his guest should have arrived.
This was a much preferable explanation to some nonsense spiritual mumbo jumbo.
Still, when the door mechanism engaged and the taller of the bodyguards entered, followed by the somber blond, Lokan had to wonder.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen.” He dipped his head. “Did you enjoy your celebratory barbecue?”
“Very much so,” Kian answered as he entered together with the lie detector.
Did he go everywhere with the guy?
Made sense. If Lokan had someone like that, he would have taken him to every meeting. Except, that would have been superfluous since he’d solved the problem of reliability by assuming everyone was lying all the time.
Life was much less disappointing when that was the standard expectation.
“Ready for your tour of the catacombs?” Kian asked.
Lokan glanced at his cuffs. “Aren’t you going to remove them? I was told an alarm will sound the moment I cross the threshold.”
The redhead snorted as if it was a joke.
Treating Lokan with more respect than the bodyguard had, Kian explained, “We can change the setting on the cuffs any way we please. You can leave the cell, and nothing will happen. But if you try to leave the building, that’s another story. Not that you’ll ever get that far.”
The redhead batted his eyelashes. “You can run, but you can never leave because I’ll catch you.”
<
br /> Choosing to ignore the remark, Lokan followed Kian outside. “It’s a pleasure to leave that cell even for a walk down to the catacombs. I assume they are here since we are not leaving the building.”
“That’s right.”
An elevator took them several levels down, and as they exited into a dark lobby, the motion sensors activated soft lighting.
Four archways led out from the lobby, but since the lights had been activated only in the entry chamber, Lokan couldn’t see what was beyond them.
Kian walked toward the opening that was straight across from the elevators. “We seldom visit here, so there is no sense in keeping the lights on.”
A glass door sealed the entryway, but the moment Kian got closer it parted open with a hiss and the lights in the tunnel came on. “Someone really wanted to preserve the atmosphere here.” Lokan chuckled. “Not only are the lights shaped like wall torches, but they also flicker.”
The door closed behind them.
“Maybe it’s faulty circuitry,” the lie detector said.
Lokan shook his head. “From what I’ve seen so far, everything in this place is built to the highest and most exacting standards. If the lights flicker, they are supposed to.”
“Thank you,” Kian said. “And yes, it was designed this way. We have a very talented interior designer.”
After a short walk, they reached the first enclaves and the first corpses, or what looked like ones.
Although emaciated, the bodies didn’t smell dead. There was no decay, and when he got closer, Lokan could hear the very faint heartbeat Kian told him to listen for.
The walls of the corridor were lined with enclaves three tall on each side in some places, and two in others.
There were so many of them.
Lokan stopped next to nearly everyone and listened for the elusive heartbeat, and each time it was there, just as Kian had told him it would be.
When they reached a fork, Lokan stopped. “I don’t need to see any more. I believe you.”
