And then he was striding over to greet me.
I registered Joti slipping away but couldn’t tear my attention from Kash. He stopped in front of me and leaned in so his lips brushed the delicate shell of my ear.
“My, you do scrub up well.” His voice was velvet and chocolate.
I closed my eyes briefly, reveling in his closeness, in the peach scent of his lip balm. In him. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”
He straightened and offered me his arm. “May I?”
I took his lead, feeling surprisingly feminine and fragile for once. “You may.”
The room, which had been filled with a light hum of conversation, was suddenly completely silent as Kash led me to the dining table and pulled out a seat.
I’d barely touched down when the table began to fill up. Faces I didn’t know openly studied me. I latched on to the familiar ones—Karishma, Joti, and Kash’s mother, Monica. They were seated opposite me. The head of the table was empty.
Kash shrugged off his jacket and hung it on the back of his chair before sitting down. His leg brushed mine. Usually, I’d have pulled away, but for some reason, the contact was reassuring. I let it be, reveling in the tautness of his thigh against mine.
Silence reigned, and a prickle of unease traced a line up my spine to settle at the nape of my neck, and then the clip of heels interrupted the quiet.
A lady came into view, tall, willowy, with silver hair and piercing blue eyes set against skin that was a shade darker than Kash’s. She swept her icy gaze over the gathered, and it snagged on me. Her lips curved in a small smile as she took her seat.
“Welcome to your first Raj dinner, Indigo.” Her voice was cultured and smooth. “I hope it will be the first of many.”
Everyone murmured in agreement except Monica, who I noted kept her mouth firmly shut.
“I’m glad to see you have taste,” Kash’s gran said to me before smiling at Kash. “My grandson is quite the catch.”
“And so am I.” I smiled sweetly at her. “I wouldn’t be here otherwise, would I?”
A few gasps ran down the table, and Monica looked across at me with a smile that was surprisingly warm. Kash’s gran was silent, her face frozen, and then she let out a bark of laughter that was so contrary to her stiff demeanor that it had me balking.
“Well, well. Not a shrinking violet then. I like that. Not afraid to speak her mind. Good.” She waved a hand at the table. “Eat, please.”
Cutlery clattered, plates were filled, and a low hum of conversation rose up again.
Kash turned to me. “She likes you.” He looked shocked.
“Why so surprised? I’m a likable person.”
He caught his bottom lip between his teeth and held it there for a moment before letting it go. “Yes, Justice, you really are.”
Something stabbed at my chest, warm and unexpected, and the impulse to lean forward and kiss those delectable lips surged through me so strong I had to squeeze my hands into fists to stop myself from acting on it.
Kash reached up and brushed a tendril of my hair back from my face. “I like your hair down. It suits you.”
My mouth went dry. “Thanks.”
He broke eye contact and turned back to the table. “Is food going to be enough for you?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Food will be enough.”
As he loaded my plate for me, I wasn’t so sure that was entirely true. I suddenly craved more than food.
More than blood.
I suddenly craved him.
Eleven
Dinner was over faster than I’d expected—pretty much as soon as Kash’s gran retired to her chambers. Chairs were pushed back and questions fired my way as the servers brought in more coffee and way too much cake.
“What’s it like to be a shadow knight?” a plump woman asked.
“Forget that, we need to know about the shadow casting. Can you show us?” a jowl-heavy guy said.
Kash held up his hands. “Whoa, she’s not here to entertain you. She’s here for the ball and to discover her weaver roots.”
The guy looked suitably chastised.
“Will you be visiting the Paynes?” a young woman about my age asked.
“Hush,” the older woman beside her said. “She doesn’t need to be tainted by the scandal.”
“But, Ma, she is the scandal.”
Her mother looked murderously down at her, and the girl snapped her mouth closed.
“I’m sorry about your father,” the jowly man said.
Several people gasped in horror.
“Indra!” The woman beside him, probably his wife, slapped his arm with a white glove.
He brushed her off. “Oh, shut up, the lot of you,” he snapped. “Like you’ve never broken a rule or two?”
There was silence, and more than a few sheepish looks traded.
Now that he’d brought the subject of Payne up, I needed to know. “Do you know what’s happened to Carter Payne? Where he is?”
Kash gripped my hand and gave it a slight squeeze. A warning to watch what I said.
The jowly man sighed. “He was taken to the tower a couple of days ago for judgment. We found out this morning that he’s been sentenced to banishment.”
Banishment? That didn’t sound so bad. I looked to Kash and then back to the jowly man.
“What does that mean?”
He blinked at me slowly and then shrugged. “I … I’m not sure. I suppose he’ll be sent away.”
I looked up and down the table to see similar expressions of momentary bewilderment.
“Where? Where will they send him?”
Jowl guy picked up his glass and shot me an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I don’t know.” He took a large gulp.
Long seconds passed, and the strange moment of collective disconcertion faded. Weavers went back to their coffee and cake. I looked over at Joti to gauge her reaction only to find her sitting with her hands on her stomach, looking stuffed. Karishma was busy laughing at something her dinner companion, a handsome, chestnut-haired man, had said.
There was something seriously off here, but it was impossible to put my finger on it. I needed to speak to Kash’s gran. I pushed back my seat and stood.
“Kash, I’d like some air, please.” I strode from the room, not bothering to wait for him.
“Hey, slow down.” Kash lengthened his stride to catch up to me. “Are you okay?”
“Seriously? Do you not see how strange what happened is?”
He frowned down at me. “I don’t understand. I know this may seem odd, the pomp and the ceremony and all the questions, but—"
I shook my head. “No. I don’t care about that. I’m talking about the subject of banishment?”
“What about it?”
“Where are people sent?”
He blinked slowly, and his gaze flicked away. “I don’t know.”
“And how many people have been banished?”
“I … I’m not sure.”
“Names?”
Silence.
I threw up my hands. “See? Why can’t you tell me?”
“Because he can’t remember.” An imperious voice came from the top of the stairs.
Kash’s gran stood there, a thick book clutched in her hand. “You want to know what’s going on. That is, after all, why you came here, isn’t it?”
I guess my cover was blown. I nodded.
“Then come with me.”
* * *
Kash’s gran led us into a study lined with books. The décor was dark and masculine, and the fire crackling in the hearth gave the room a cozy feel.
“What’s going on, Gran?” Kash asked. “Why can’t I remember?”
Kash’s gran sank into one of the leather seats by the fire with the book on her lap. “Because you aren’t meant to. It’s always been that way. An enchantment so old that only the chosen few are aware of it. I believe it was created to keep the peace and maintain the purity of our bloodlines. It was also a humane solut
ion to many of our societal problems.”
It? “What is it exactly? What does the enchantment do?”
“It erases people,” she said flatly.
My pulse thudded hard in my neck. “What?”
“Weavers who break our sacred laws are banished. They’re sent to another place, another reality.” She smiled sadly. “You may know it, actually. It’s called Lunar Creek.”
My pulse was hammering now.
“The TV show?” Kash sounded confused. “I don’t understand.”
“And you don’t have to. In a few hours, none of this will matter. Carter Payne will be wiped from your memories, and as this conversation relates to him, you’ll have forgotten it ever happened.”
No … “You can’t do that.”
“I’m not doing anything, my dear. It’s out of my hands. Despite your coveted ability, we cannot ignore what Carter did. He broke the law by procreating with a nightblood, and we cannot allow him to remain here, flaunting his transgression.”
“And how the hell will you explain my existence?”
“Oh, that’s simple. Your mother had a liaison with a weaver. We know not who, and you were born.”
“My mother will forget Carter too?”
“Everyone will forget him.” She gazed into the flames. “There are so many that have gone before him. He won’t suffer. He’ll find a new home, a new purpose in Lunar Creek, and you’ll watch him on the screen, day in, day out, drawn to the show without quite understanding why.”
The multimillion-pound show … Their wealth made sense now. The supes’ addiction to the show made sense too. They probably sensed something, maybe even knew someone on the show.
I breathed through the panic that flared in my chest. “Does the Nightwatch council know?”
She sighed. “They have been known to avail themselves of our services from time to time. We don’t accept murderers or psychopaths.”
“No, just innocent, kind men who happen to have had a child outside of their race.”
She pressed her lips together.
“I want to see him.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that.”
I wanted to punch her in the face, but that wouldn’t get me what I wanted.
I swallowed the need to do harm. “Please.”
She fixed me with an icy look, a look that was almost pitying. “You misunderstand me. It’s not that I don’t want you to see him, it’s that there is nothing to see. He’s gone. He was banished two hours ago.”
A pit opened inside me, yawning, gaping. Payne was gone? Payne, the father I’d always wanted and finally found, was gone. My heart had just begun to accept the possibility of a true relationship. The word dad had been on the tip of my tongue, and now … A sob caught in my throat.
Kash wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “Gran … I can’t believe this. This is wrong.”
“This is what’s allowed the weavers to flourish and live like kings.” She gave me one final look, part pity, part speculation, and then waved her hand in a dismissive gesture. “Go console her, Kash. You’ll only have to do so for a few more hours, and then she’ll belong to us.”
Kash shot his gran a stern look before steering me from the room. Outside in the corridor, my vision blurred with hot tears. A few hours. I had only a few hours, and then Payne would be gone from my mind. From all our minds. I had to do something. There had to be a way to get him back.
But how could I get to him? He was in another fucking reality.
Another reality …
Oh, God! I turned in Kash’s arms. “I need the keys to your bike and the gold access card.”
“What?”
“I have to go. Now.”
His frown cleared in comprehension. “You have a plan, don’t you?”
I nodded.
“In that case, I’m coming with you.”
“You can’t. You have the ball.”
“Do I look like I give a shit about the ball?” He took my hand in his. “You’re more important. Payne is more important.”
Having him with me felt right. I nodded mutely.
“Good. Now let’s get the fuck out of here.”
We broke into a jog, away from the study and across the landing toward Kash’s room.
I had a few hours, and I needed to make them count.
I needed to get to Larkin.
Twelve
I wanted to say goodbye to Joti, to say sorry for missing the ball, but if I did that, then I’d have to explain to her why I was leaving, and there was no time for that.
A few hours, Kash’s gran had said.
How few were a few?
We made it out of the gated community and into the village in less than twenty minutes, and then we were running for the portal, hand in hand, his fingers wrapped tightly around mine.
We materialized in the fountain at the Academy to a full moon and the sound of howls in the distance. The moonkissed were running tonight. Harmon would have been running.
A sharp stab of sorrow shot through my heart. Fuck. Not now. I couldn’t fall apart right now. I’d failed my best friend. I couldn’t fail my father. I had to save Payne.
“This way.” I climbed out of the fountain and ran toward the Academy.
Regular cadets weren’t permitted in the shadow cadet dorms, not without authorization. Not without Larkin’s permission, and as far as I knew, I was one of the only cadets that used the entrance via the Academy—the entrance where Larkin had to buzz us in—and that was only because I went to weaver classes, which took place in the main building. The rest of the shadow cadets came and went via the tunnel entrance.
I buzzed now and waited. Kash stood behind me. I could feel the residue of the million questions he wanted to ask me right now. Thank God he was perceptive enough to know he needed to wait, that shit would unfold in due course.
I had to respect him for his restraint.
I buzzed again, longer, holding my thumb on the button in desperation. “Come on, Larkin.”
“Who dares disturb my sleep?” Larkin’s voice drifted out of the intercom. He sounded as if he’d just woken up.
“Larkin, it’s me. Let me in.”
“Me? I don’t believe I know any me?”
Usually, I’d have played along, but not today. “Fuck, Larkin. This is urgent. Open the damn door.”
There was a pause, and then a click as the lock to the door disengaged.
I was through in a flash and took the stairs two at a time. Larkin was waiting for me in the foyer, complete with purple silk pajamas and an irate expression on his humanly feline face. His hair was tousled, but his orange eyes were wide with questions.
“Well? What in the world is so urgent?” he asked.
“Payne. They’ve banished him to another realm. Lunar Creek. I need you to take me there. I need you to help me get him back.”
Larkin’s mouth parted, and his eyes widened. “Motherfucker. Who told you?”
“My grandmother,” Kash said. “She’s on the weaver council.”
Larkin’s expression hardened. “Yes. The weaver council. Bastards, the lot of them. Every single generation, bastards.”
“Whoa!” Kash held up his hands. “I’m just as shocked as Justice.”
Larkin shook his head. “They banished Payne …” He gnawed on his bottom lip. “I was afraid that might happen. Hoped it wouldn’t but worried it might.”
“You know about the banishment? About Lunar Creek?”
He locked gazes with me. “Oh, I know. I fucking created the place.”
* * *
“You created Lunar Creek?” I stared at him in horror. “Why the fuck would you do that?”
He crossed his arms and glared at me. “Why are you here, at the Academy, huh? Why did you come here all those weeks ago?”
“Because I had no fucking choice … Oh.”
“Right.” Larkin crossed his arms. “No choice. But now you know about Lunar Creek, I can talk about it.” He smirked. “F
inally.” He looked Kash over. “Can he be trusted?”
I slipped my hand back into Kash’s. “He’s with me.”
Larkin nodded. “Fine, come with me.” He led the way to the empty lounge, all dark and gloomy, with no signs of life.
All the cadets were either in the mist or on portal leave.
“Sit,” Larkin said.
I wanted to go find Payne, not sit. “There’s no time.”
“Sit!”
I plopped down on the nearest sofa.
Larkin began to pace. “I’ve been in your world for a long time, Justice. Ever since the weavers first summoned me, tearing me out of my reality and pulling me from my blissful slumber to bring me here. They bound me, and they used me to create a pocket of reality that they could access. But Lunar Creek has become so much more than that over the centuries. It’s a world of its own, evolved and with its own challenges.” His eyes were lit with excitement. “My creation has blossomed and melded with a neighboring reality, so the people that inhabit it aren’t all from this world. Many were born there. The show is merely an enchanted window to that world. The weavers have a whole team recording and splicing the feed to create the show. But Lunar Creek is so much deeper than what we see on the screen. Unfortunately, the only way to get there is to be banished using the enchantment, and only the weavers have control over that. Also, once you’re there, there’s no way out.”
“Bullshit. You said you could travel to different realities. You said—”
“Yes. I have the ability.”
“Then why can’t you …” Wait a second …
“Yes, Justice, work it out.”
“Oh, shit. You’re trapped here. Of course, they bound you.” I wanted to kick something. “Shit!”
“I’d have returned home a long time ago if I could,” Larkin said with a heavy sigh. “The room I showed you is the total extent of what I can achieve now. I’m sorry. I want to help, but I can’t get you where you need to go.” He pulled up his pajama sleeve to reveal a toned, hairy arm, and there, on his bicep, was a thick silver cuff. “I’m stuck here. On this plane, at the Academy.”
Shadow Warrior: The Nightwatch Academy book 3 Page 7
