by Emma Dawn
Liam smiled then but I could see the doubt in his two-toned eyes. I lifted a hand and traced it over his face. His skin was warm and felt like home. “You don’t believe me?”
“It’s not that I don’t believe your intentions, it’s that I don’t believe it’s possible, what you be saying you’re going to do.” He sighed and blew out a slow breath. “The wrath and power of a woman who is fighting for those she cares about is an awesome thing. I don’t doubt you will give it your everything, Rosie. But I also don’t doubt that because of that very truth, you’re going to find yourself against the worst that the Chalice can throw at you. We already have your father chasing you. I’m not sure you want to throw down the gauntlet like this.”
I frowned. “You say that like the Chalice is a living thing. Isn’t it a cup to drink from?”
Liam shook his head and adjusted his body as though the rocks dug into him. I thought about us being on something softer, like a thick mattress and he grinned at me as the ground shifted under us.
“Very smart, Rosie. I like it.”
I shrugged. “I like my creature comforts. I won’t deny it. Now, tell me about the Chalice. Please.”
“It is a woman, a living woman who oversees the boundary between the living and the dead. She will be the final threshold you must cross to gain access back to your body. So, when you say things like you plan to find a way to save us all, then it makes me think that you might not realize just what you are throwing down at her.”
“Like the challenge of all challenges,” I murmured. “I hate it when other women think I’m pissing on their territory.”
He laughed silently, his chest rising and falling. “Something like that. She’s . . .difficult. And she considers this her realm.” Something about that didn’t fit with me.
I frowned. “I thought Vincent oversaw things?”
“He thinks he does to a degree,” Ivan said from the tent entrance, drawing my eyes. His face was tight with what was barely concealed anger. “Come out, you two, we have a problem.”
I scrambled after him, thinking about the horrors that could be waiting. Really, the worst of it were the grawks. What else could there be?
I stood and a gust of wind snapped into me, pushing me sideways.
Ivan beckoned for us to go to the edge of the camp where I’d been dragged out of the ocean. Still my brain struggled to comprehend how it could be done, how I could find myself in the water and then back in the mountains. Magic, it was fucking weird. I had to give it that.
“Listen,” Ivan said softly and I closed my mouth on the questions that flared inside me.
Torq moved up on my left and Liam stayed on my right. The four of us stood, ears straining over the sound of the wind. Nothing, I could hear nothing. Frowning, I lifted my hand and slowed the wind to a gentle—but freezing—breeze.
Ivan shot a look at me, eyebrows drawn over those icy gray storm-cloud eyes. But he said nothing.
Finally, my ears caught the sound.
Someone was calling my name.
“Rose . . .save me, Rose.”
Someone that . . .sounded like . . .Kessler?
Chapter Thirteen
It’s a Trap!
I was moving toward the sound of Kessler crying for me before any of the men could get their hands on me. At least for the first few strides. Then a pair of hands latched onto me and dragged me back into the camp.
Ivan held me tightly while I fought him to get to Kessler. It was like the call of a piece of my heart and that made absolutely no sense. None. But it was the truth, nonetheless.
“Let me go. He’s hurt! I can help him!” I screeched the words, feeling a cluster of madness roll over me.
“She’s spelled. Hold her down!” Liam yelled.
Spelled, how could that be? I tried not to fight them. I tried to hold myself still but my body was not my own. My body didn’t want to obey me because whatever tied it to Kessler were threads of steel that couldn’t be broken.
“Help me.” The voice shifted into Mars’s deep rumble and then the tears started as I launched myself against three sets of hands.
“No, NO!” I screamed the words while my heart pounded and my soul felt like it was being torn to shreds. Like I’d lost three pieces of it.
“You left me,” Jessop whispered in the wind and I couldn’t stop the sob that ripped from my mouth.
Two sets of arms went around me, holding me between them while the pain of losses that shouldn’t have hurt this badly rippled through me. Over and over, their voices called to me. Begging me to help them, asking me why I left them behind. They all hurt me. They all tore at my heart and soul as though I’d left pieces of myself with each of the three men.
My logical brain said it was ridiculous that I felt anything like this. Ridiculous. Yet, there it was, and my heart told me differently. My heart clearly spoke and it said those men may have been a part of my life for a short time, but they impacted me in a way I would never fully grasp or understand. Love was weird that way.
“Don’t think of their deaths,” Ivan’s voice cut through the pain like a hot knife through butter. “Think of the joy in them. Think of their lives.”
I tried to turn my mind from the darkness of their deaths and instead to the touch in their hands. To Kessler’s stunning green eyes, and the pull toward him, the way his care had given me confidence to get on a horse I was terrified of. His hands. Then Mars’s hands as they wrapped me in a pleasure I was not sure I would ever understand but I would take to my grave. The bravery in Jessop as he faced the water, his mouth as he undid any semblance of control I had ever had in my body.
Slowly, I slumped between the men as my memories saved me from whatever pull the voices in the wind had.
“We need to get her to the next challenge and away from this place.” Liam spoke over my head which was fine by me as I stood there, knees trembling, body wobbling.
Ivan let out a growl. “Fuck it all. Who?”
I leaned back, feeling Torq behind me. I don’t know how I knew but I knew it had to be him. “Torq,” I said.
His arms shifted around me, turning me around. “Are you sure?”
“My father is a warlock and he’s out there. Maybe we can figure out how to stop him. He’s why Jessop died. Not the challenge. Gavin did that.” I found the strength in my legs and stood straight. The wind had picked up again but I hardly felt it. “I’m not giving up on any of you. I refuse that option.”
Torq grinned, and his amber gold eyes seemed to glow with an inner fire. “I like a good fight. Let’s kick his ass.”
Hope spread through my limbs like a fire that matched his eyes. “Yes. An ass kicking is what he needs.”
“We have to move the camp,” Ivan said. “The grawks are getting closer.”
His words were like a slap across the face. “You mean I was really hearing them? Kessler, Mars, and Jessop?” I couldn’t keep the horror from my voice. I didn’t even try.
Ivan’s jaw ticked a few times before he answered. “Yes. They seem to be hunting for you even now.”
“Fuck,” Liam said. “Then we move now. Leave the horses. They’ll slow the beasts down.”
I didn’t like the sounds of that, but I was beginning to understand the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few. Or some shit like that. Torq took me by the hand, but he held me back as Liam and Ivan took the lead. “Let them go first or the next challenge will take us if we lead.”
“Okay.” I laced my fingers through his. “Torq, can you give me a hint of what we’re going to be facing?”
“You’ll see soon enough.” His voice was distant now, something he’d been anything but up until that moment.
“Don’t disappear on me now,” I said softly. “I need you with me, Torq. We have to deal with my father.”
He nodded. “I know. But the last time I faced my death, my charge was killed. I don’t like remembering that, not with you here at my side.” He finally looked at me and the worry was
written as clearly as words across his face.
I sighed. “One step at a time.”
That was all we could do, both here, and once we were in the challenge itself. Torq and I followed Ivan’s broad shoulders up the mountain. We walked through dips and valleys galore, and it felt like we walked for hours through the blowing snow and wind. Liam tucked in behind us, making sure our rear was guarded. There were no more voices coming out of the wind for me, no more calls for help. At least, none that I could hear.
But here and there, I was sure I heard the growls of the grawks, the call of the dead coming for us. I tried to remind myself there was no such thing as fatigue here, that I was not really alive and so getting tired was all just in my head. But I could feel the emotional strain on me and that alone was dragging me down. The ever-present night didn’t help either as it pressed around us.
Near the end of the climb, we faced a sheer rock wall. Ivan put his hand on it. “Can you make hand and footholds for us to go up?”
I nodded and moved forward, putting my own hands on the slick surface. White stone flecked with black dots, it reminded me of granite but I was no rock hound. I quickly made a ladder of sorts. Ivan went up first, then Torq, then me, then Liam bringing up the rear once more. The ladder went up and up, twice Ivan had to ask me to make more rungs. I didn’t dare look down and I was just glad that at least here we weren’t being affected by my father.
Or so I thought.
Ivan reached the top of the ladder first, of course, hopped up over the ledge and then looked down at me. His face twisted in horror as he bent and lifted a boulder over his head. “Fuck, he has me in his hold!”
I just stared at him, uncomprehending. And then I got it. Gavin had Ivan in his hold, and was using him to come after me. The only way to stop it would be to go into the challenge right there, dragging my father with us. “Torq, grab my foot!”
Torq grabbed my shoe and I leapt backward off the ladder, taking him with me.
“Rose, no!” he yelled as we fell. I had to though. I had to protect Ivan.
It was a long fall, far longer than I thought it should have been and it took me a few heartbeats to realize that we were no longer in the mountains, but somewhere else, falling through a clear open sky.
The air was much warmer and below us . . .damn it, below us was yet another body of water. I braced myself a split second before I hit feet first, going deep into the water, driving all the way to the bottom. My thick fur clothing weighed me down but I shifted it quickly to a skin-tight body suit, not unlike that I’d made for the challenge with Jessop. I kicked off the bottom and then pushed hard for the surface and . . .suddenly there was no water around me.
I stood on solid ground, sand to be exact. Torq was ahead of me, water dripping off him.
“Did you do that?” I asked.
“The water?” He nodded and then shook his head, his dark hair spraying out every which way like a dog. “We needed a soft landing, water was really our best bet.”
The heat hit me like a semi-truck as I took a big breath after the ice cold of the mountains. It was night here, just like in the mountains. But not for much longer, if I was right. The desert was flat, and the sand spread out in low rolling hills every which way.
“Let me guess, you died from thirst?”
“Nah, that’s too easy.” Torq grinned at me and gave me a wink. “A vampire killed me.”
My jaw dropped open. “What?”
He bobbed his head. “Long story, but we get along pretty good now.”
I blinked a few times and repeated my earlier question. “What?”
Torq sighed. “Look, this is going to be hard for you. Really hard. The vampire who killed me was—is—Liam. But he was insane when he attacked me, his hive had thrown him out and he pretty much lost his marbles. So, don’t take it personally.”
I bit my lower lip and closed my eyes. “Not tonight then, because the sun is close.”
“No, not tonight.” He took my hand and opened my eyes to see the worry in his. “We won’t kill him, Rose. We just have to outrun him. That’s it.”
I nodded but I wasn’t so sure. I couldn’t believe Liam would kill Torq. But it suddenly made sense why Torq had warned me, and why the two men seemed to avoid one another. Torq gave my hand a tug and I let him lead me for a moment until I remembered that my survival in the previous challenges had depended on not doing what the men had done in their previous life—AKA not walking the path that had led to their deaths. I tugged back and he stopped. “What?”
“Just let me think.” I let his hand go and made a slow turn, thinking about what direction would be best. The sun rose in the east, set in the west . . .and we were headed north toward the Chalice.
“North.” I tipped my head back. “Do you know which direction is north?”
“This way.” Torq motioned for me to turn and we started back what felt like the direction we’d come from. I knew that wasn’t right, but I was completely turned around.
“Can you tell me anything at all about my father? I know you said you didn’t know him well, but something? Anything?” I spoke carefully, because I had a feeling that the warlocks stuck close together. I shouldn’t have worried.
“Gavin’s family is powerful. You’re sure it was him? Did you get a good look at him?” Torq’s eyes were thoughtful. “Did you?”
“He wore a dark green cloak, like the color I’ve been wearing,” I said.
His body tensed as if I’d punched him. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, why? Does that mean something?”
“There are certain colors worn by specific families. The only one that wears the dark green . . .the only person who could be your father is Gavin. So, for sure it is him, then. I was hoping not.” He shook his head. “There were stories about him fathering two daughters outside the Temple of Light, in the human world. But we’d always chalked them up to just stories.”
A chill went through me. “You’re saying I could have a sister out there?”
He nodded. “The rumor went that he knocked up a human who had fairy blood in her to see what kind of power came through the child. And if the story is correct, your mother had a mix of all three kinds of supernatural. Fae, werewolf, and vampire. Which would make perfect sense since—”
“Since I’m drawn to all of those.” I blew out a slow breath. “I have a pretty good bullshit meter. It’s not going off.”
“Yeah, the more I think about it, the more likely it seems. Gavin had always been secretive about his movements. I’ll give him that.” He shook his head. “From what I know of him, I’m not surprised that he—”
He continued talking but my mind had gone inward, over my life and the parts of it that didn’t make sense. Mostly, I couldn’t evade the connection I felt to my best friend, Dominique. Our families had lived only a short distance apart . . .our mother’s had been best friends. More than once I’d caught them with their heads together. More than once I’d looked at Dominique and thought she looked like a fairy princess with her crazy long blonde curls and crystal clear blue eyes, the cupid bow mouth, how people had commented from time to time that we looked like sisters . . .
“Oh, my God, Dominque is my sister,” I whispered.
There was the crunch of feet in the sand behind us and I whipped around as did Torq. A man stood behind us. I was expecting Liam.
I was not expecting my father. He stood in the shadows of his dark green cloak, the edges of it rippling on the breeze.
“Too smart for your own good,” he said. “Dominque is your sister. And the bitch killed me.”
Chapter Fourteen
Daddy Dearest Is a Real Asshole
Standing in the desert night, staring at the man who was my father by blood, I suppose I should have felt something. Or maybe I just thought I should have felt something, but the truth was I just wanted him dead.
“You killed Jessop,” I snapped. “So, I don’t really blame my sister for ending your life. In fact,
I’ll be sure to thank her.”
“Cold. Just like your mother.” He shook his head with what could only be mock disappointment and lifted his hands. The sound around us rippled and shifted. I tried to stop him, but I didn’t really know what I was doing. I slowed him down though. I managed that much.
“I will take the Chalice,” Gavin said. “I will take it, and with it I will take your power. But first I need to kill this one so the Chalice has its blood.”
Strange as it was, I could see his intentions a split second before he moved his hand.
Lightning.
I threw myself backward, tackling Torq, and rolling with him down the side of a sand bank. Lightning hit the ground behind us followed by a scream what could only be called pure rage that cut through the air.
“Hold still,” Torq whispered and the sand moved up around us, burying us like a pair of crabs.
His arm was over my back and we lay on our bellies, buried well enough that no one would be able to see us. I hoped.
Torq shifted the sand so we could see through a thin veil. Gavin strode around, directing the lightning into the sand over and over, moving farther and farther away. I bit my lower lip, grit getting into my mouth. I didn’t care, not in that moment. I was struggling not to cry.
We waited until the lightning strikes were so far in the distance we could barely see them. “I think it’s safe,” Torq said and shifted the sand off us. “Hurry, we have to hurry the other way.”
I nodded and pushed to my feet. We ran as the sun rose on our right. North always north. So many questions rolled through me. I wanted to know what my father—no, Gavin—thought he’d accomplish by hurrying Torq’s death. I wondered if I could trade my father’s life and blood for Torq’s.
Hope spurred through me. It wasn’t much in the way of a plan, but I had nothing else to hold on to in this stupid place. I grimaced.
