Finally reaching the sandy hill overlooking the entrance of the Cell, Kesi stopped on the peak and glanced back at me. “This is it, Layna. There’s no turning back now. Are you sure you want to do this?”
I had no idea what she meant. She made it sound as if this were some life-altering event instead of sneaking in the Cell to speak with a prisoner. This wouldn’t be the first time I’d been somewhere I wasn’t supposed to be. And I was pretty damn sure it wouldn’t be the last. “Yes, just get me inside.”
Kesi pulled her own hood over her head and descended down the hill toward the hole in the ground. “Stay close behind me and don’t say a word.”
Following her down the hill, we reached the entrance to the Cell. She knocked twice on the huge, steel door and then stepped back. When the door opened, two figures stepped outside, both wearing similar black cloaks.
In the beginning, when the Cell was transformed into a highly guarded prison, the original Regent thought it would be best for those Obligated to the Cell to conceal themselves in case one of the prisoners managed to escape. Of course, no prisoner had ever escaped the Cell, except for Seth.
At the age of eighteen, all Residents are Obligated to perform assigned tasks to keep our Capitol functioning and safe for everyone. The Regent and council take Obligation very seriously. If we abandon it for any reason, we could find ourselves in the Holding Room, which was located closer to the Capitol Temple. I was surprised Tiahna didn’t place me in the Holding Room for leaving the boundary unattended. Again, I wasn’t one who followed the rules.
Kesi lowered her hood so the two figures could see her. “I brought a new recruit. The Regent Obligated her this afternoon, and she asked me to show her around.” She lifted her hood back up to cover her head.
The two figures stepped aside and Kesi continued forward. I trailed behind her, following her down a set of narrow, stone steps which twisted between the ancient stone walls. “Once we get down here, make a left and the man you seek will be ten doors down on your right.”
“I thought you were coming with me?”
“No, I’m going to be your distraction. They will be preparing the prisoners morning meal. You will have fifteen minutes to get in and get out. Got it?”
I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Fifteen minutes? How was I going to find out everything in such a short period of time? I didn’t even know if this man would talk to me. “I might need more time.”
We stepped on a solid stone floor and she spun around to face me. “Not an option. Now go.” She placed her hands on either side of my arms and turned me around so I was facing a narrow hall. Then she pushed me.
I stumbled down the hall, fear creeping into my veins and plummeting into the pit of my stomach. What was I thinking? I didn’t know anything about this man. All I knew was the stories associated with him.
As I walked, my feet softly patted on the stone surface. Hopefully, I wouldn’t wake any of the prisoners. I couldn’t risk them making any noise and blowing my cover. When I reached the tenth door, I stopped in front of it and took a deep breath. Standing on my tippy-toes, I peered in through the small barred window. With the minimum light in the room, it was hard to make out the figure lying on the stone floor. But I had to trust Kesi was right, except she never gave me a key to get into the room.
Dammit! I didn’t have time to retrace my steps and find her. My only option was to use my power. I placed the palms of my hands to the door and closed my eyes, concentrating on the energy surrounding me, which there was plenty stored in the ancient stone walls.
The door clicked, and slowly swung inward. There was nothing between us now. Just me and him. I stepped into the room, a cold chill making its way up my spine. Anger. I sensed so much hate and hostility in here. What was with this guy? It was like I could feel him, feel what he was feeling. As far as I knew, my abilities didn’t extend that far.
“I don’t want your damn food.” His low, deep voice echoed in my ears as he continued to lie in the corner, his arms supporting his head. “Now get out!”
“I’m…I’m not Obligated to the Cell.” My words stumbled. That was another thing. I was a confident and strong person, but this guy seemed to drain me of that, causing me to feel weak and vulnerable.
He sat up in one swift movement, blue eyes glaring in my direction. “Who are you?”
I slowly lowered my hood and stepped forward.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” He rubbed the palms of his hands over his face. “Not you again.” He stood up and shook his head, and then he looked at me. “You’re the reason why I’m back in this hell hole. They would have never found me if you hadn’t come along. What the hell do you want?”
“Look, I apologize for that.” My arms fell to my sides. “I tried to get them to let you go. I even attempted to get answers from the Regent. She refused, so now I’m coming to you.”
He tilted his head back and laughed darkly. “Answers? Answers to what?”
I stretched out my fingers and tightened them again, thinking this may have been a mistake. “Amun said you were leading a group of Zane’s men over the boundary when he caught you. You called him a liar, remember? Well, I want to know where they really caught you at, and why they want you. You had to have heard something. If Amun slipped when he was talking to me, I’m sure he said something around you.”
“Why would any of this matter to you? You’re a Resident, right?”
“Yes—”
Seth walked forward, causing me to back into the wall. Placing his hands on the stone, he boxed me in. “Then I suggest you go back to your Residency and get into your cozy little bed and trust your high and mighty Regent and all her little pawns.”
Heat centered in my cheeks. This guy was starting to piss me off. One thing I couldn’t stand was being mocked. “No, I won’t go back to my Residency. And before you cut someone off and make your stupid, snide remarks,” I pushed away from the wall, causing him to back up, “maybe you should actually listen to them. I am the Regent’s sister, and she is hiding things from me, things that could risk the lives of everyone in this half of the sector.” Footsteps sounded down the hall, drawing my attention away from him and toward the door. How long had I been arguing with him?
Faint whispering bounced off the stone walls. “Door ten is open!” More footsteps. This time rushing in our direction.
Oh, shit. I stood there, unable to move and eyes focused on the door. They were coming and there was no way out. Tiahna wouldn’t let this one go. No, she’d have to take it to the council, and the council absolutely hated me. I’d broken so many of their rules. Too many.
Seven cloaked figures gathered in front of the door. Men and women. All of them armed with staffs infused with Tiahna’s spell. I glanced to my left and right, searching for a way to escape. Nothing. I had no way out. The figures in front shifted to the side, and Amun stepped forward, stopping just before entering the room.
He narrowed his eyes, eyebrows lowering and little indents appearing on his forehead. “Layna?”
My heart thumped wildly around in my chest and my breathing intensified. I was trapped! I was fucking trapped with no way out!
Two strong arms came out of nowhere, hugging me tightly and causing my breath to halt in my throat. “Close your eyes.” Seth’s voice was a soft whisper this time.
I closed my eyes.
Chapter 6
I gazed all around. The cloaked figures were gone. Amun was gone. I had found myself basically in the middle of nowhere, the sun beating down on me and the Capitol in the distance. “What did you do?” The words automatically slipped from my lips.
Seth spun me around until I faced him, my vision now level with the upper part of his chest. I failed to realize earlier how he towered over my tiny frame. He released me, and I stumbled backward, losing my footing in the sand and falling on my butt. I glanced up at him in surprise. “You’re…you’re a Natural.”
He walked past me, confidence in his stride, ignoring
everything I’d said. “We need to keep moving. It won’t take them long to track us down.”
“Us!” I stood up and glared at his back, unable to believe this was happening. One minute we were trapped in a small room inside the Cell, and now we were a distance away from the Capitol. And he was a Natural. He had to be. He never denied my accusation, and no normal witch would be able to teleport like that. “You kidnapped me!”
He laughed, but this time it was pure amusement. He turned to face me again, brows drawn in and vivid blue peeking through the narrow slits in his eyes. “Let’s get this straight. I didn’t kidnap you. You were looking for a way out, and I just happened to have it. You’re free to go back at any time.”
My insides ignited into flames. “Ugh!” The fire raged inside of me. “How can I go back now? You’re a Natural. They will kill me if I step foot back in the Capitol!” I drew my arm back, not caring if he was taller than me or not, and released my balled up fist toward his face, but he caught my hand in his before I could strike him. There was no denying his strength. If he wanted to take me down, it wouldn’t have been an issue. Hell, he could have even crushed my hand if he’d wanted to.
He shook his head. “Don’t blame me for this. You’re the one who snuck in the Cell to talk to me.”
He was right. I pulled my hand out of his grasp. All this was my fault. I sunk to the sand, angry tears rushing from my eyes. “What am I going to do? Where am I going to go?”
Seth leaned over and gently pulled me up off the ground. “We’ll have to figure that out later. They’re coming.” He grabbed my hand, and we started walking in the opposite direction of the Capitol.
This time I didn’t let go of him. For some reason, his touch awakened something inside of me. I wasn’t sure what that was since I’d never experienced it before. But I didn’t want him to let me go. “I don’t even know who you are. How do I know you’re not just going to turn me back over to them?”
“You saw it yourself. I’m a Natural, sworn enemy to Sector Twelve. I highly doubt you have to worry about me stepping foot near them. If anything, I need to get as far away from them as possible.”
He had a point there.
We remained silent as we continued over the barren land. At some point our hands slipped away from one another and I ended up trailing behind him. I knew somewhere out here there were still small villages, but even if we managed to locate one, Amun would still be able to track us down. The Specialized Hunting Division always found what they were looking for. And that worried me more than being alone with a man I didn’t even know.
As the sun reached the highest point in the sky, I had no choice but to rid myself of the hooded cape. I unhooked it from around my neck and it slid down into the sand. Sweat poured down my face, and my clothes underneath were completely saturated. I needed to find some water, anything that would give me some relief from the heat. As much as I wanted to use my powers, I knew I couldn’t. Not only was I too weak at this point, but I still didn’t trust this man.
He glanced over his shoulder, but never broke his stride. “You might want to keep that. It gets cold out here at night.”
I turned around and swiped the cape off the ground as I let out a deep sigh. How was it I was baking out here, and he just carried on like it was nothing? “I need to take a break.” I swung the cape over my arm.
“It’s too dangerous to stop right now.”
I glared at the muscles flexing in his back as he moved. “They’re probably not even looking for us. Besides, if they were, we had a head start. There is no way they can catch up with us.”
He let out a grumble. “Never underestimate the enemy. That will bring an army down faster than a ravager ripping out your throat.”
“We’re not an army.” I licked my dry, brittle lips, trying to get some moisture on them before they shriveled up and fell off. My pace slowed, and now there was a huge gap between me and Seth. How could he keep going like this in the heat? But it wasn’t just the heat getting to me, it was the cramps in my legs. It felt as if we had been walking for days instead of a few hours.
A low rumble sounded on the other side of the dune a short distance in front of us. Seth stopped in front of me, the muscles tensing in his back as he locked his gaze on the sandy hill.
No, not now. My attention was drawn to the dune as well. The rumble grew louder and louder, the air around us stilled. The sun now became a fireball in the sky, beating down on me with so much fury my skin should have been smoking and sizzling.
Above the dune the once blue sky had grown dirty brown in color, causing my heart to leap into my throat. Sandstorm. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. The sky continued to darken in front of our eyes. Seth spun around to face me, his ocean blue eyes flooded with fear.
In six hurried steps, my hand was in his. He pulled me along faster than I could keep up, heading toward the dune. The sand scorched my bare feet, and my muscles in my legs tensed, surrendering to everything they had endured. I tried as hard as I could to get them moving, but the sand wasn’t working in my favor. At last, my body finally gave up. I collapsed on my knees. Staring down at my hands, my vision faded in and out.
Seth crouched down beside me and lifted my chin with his hand. “Stay with me, Layna.” His words were getting lost in the tunnel.
Before I could even attempt to respond, the rest of my body was pushed to the sand, and a heaviness dropped down on top of me. The weight lifted, and I was able to open my eyes. Seth hovered over top of me, protecting me from the storm raging around us. It was like he had manifested an invisible shield similar to the one I had used to protect myself from the ravagers in the Oasis.
His ocean blue eyes stared down at me, his features along his face creased in heavy concentration. Moisture beaded up on his forehead, and the flames around his upper arms expanded. He was struggling to keep his shield in place.
I wanted to help him, protect the both of us, but it was no use. I was still too weak. As his magic began to slip, so did I. Seth’s arms were pushed down by an invisible force. A loud boom shook the ground, like the sound of thunder in the distance. He dropped on top of me and wrapped his arms around my body, holding me tight.
The darkness took over.
Chapter 7
“Are you insane?” A male voice entered the darkness surrounding me. Do you have any idea who she is?”
“Yes, I know exactly who she is, which is why we need to help her.” The blue-eyed man sounded agitated.
I slowly opened my eyes to find myself lying in a tiny bed in a room smaller than the one I had in the Residence. The walls surrounding me were constructed from a different material. A mud-like substance. And the air was humid and hot.
“No, absolutely not!” the other man argued back. “You have the Regent’s sister, a princess. They will be tracking you, Seth. Hell, you teleported here, which means you’ve left your magical imprint in the air. You have basically signed me over to death himself.”
“Stop being so dramatic, Arados. Besides, she has nowhere to go. If she goes back to the Capitol, they will kill her.”
“That’s not my problem!” A loud bang came from the other room. “I’ll give you one hour. That’s it. Enough time for you to regain your energy. Not a minute more.”
“Don’t worry, Arados, they won’t be able to come near here. I put a protection spell around the village.”
The sound of a chair gliding over a floor echoed into the room I was in. Then I heard footsteps approaching. I quickly closed my eyes again, feigning to be asleep. The door clicked, and the footsteps drew nearer. The presence of someone hovering close to me invaded my senses, causing my skin to tingle.
Something cool was placed on my forehead, and I opened my eyes. Seth was right there, gazing down at me. The expression on his face surprisingly soft.
He traced a cool rag over my forehead and down the side of my face. Placing the rag down beside me, he leaned forward, his warm breath blowing across my skin as he exha
led. I breathed all of him in this time, savoring his sweet scent. He reached forward, pushing a few loose strands of my hair away from my cheek with the tips of his fingers, and then he drifted back. “How are you feeling?”
“Better.” My voice came out scratchy and hoarse as I shifted on the bed.
“Good.” The hardness returned. “We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.” He stood up and walked out of the room. “There’s a fresh set of clothes in the corner on the table.”
That time I couldn’t pick up on his emotions. Maybe I was imagining everything that came to me earlier.
I slowly sat up and turned my body around, setting my feet on the floor. For some reason, I did feel much better. The dryness in my mouth was gone, and my lips were moist. Someone had to have given me fluids. But who? Was it Seth or was it this Arados guy? Whoever it was, I was eternally grateful for it.
I stood up and crossed the room until I reached the table. As Seth had said, there were clothes folded neatly on top. A white tank top and a pair of gray knit shorts. I stripped off my old clothes and realized how sore my arms and shoulders were. It was probably from being out in the hot sun. As much as I wanted to heal myself, I couldn’t with Seth around. Being a Natural, he’d surely pick up on the essence of my magic. I couldn’t afford for anyone to find out about my secret, including him.
I put on the new clothes and glanced down. Everything fit me snugly, but the material was comfortable. Satisfied, I walked through the room and opened the door. I stepped out of the small room and into a large one. Seth and another man, probably Arados, were seated at a round table in the center of the room. They both turned their heads toward me. The strange guy smiled as Seth’s gaze rolled over my body.
Forbidden: an Adult Paranormal Witch Romance: Othala Witch Collection (Sector 12) Page 3
