Staring at the same indentation in the ground where the rock had landed, I asked in irritation, “Why are you telling me all this?”
Slowly, he turned to look at me. Dark hair tumbled around his shoulders, and the moonlight hit his eyes, adding richness to their deep color. “We have something mutual to offer each other. I have unfinished business in those mines. You need someone you can rely on given your limited powers. And you can’t depend on me when you think I’m hiding something.”
I narrowed my gaze. “What kind of unfinished business do you have?”
He shook his head. “It’s personal. I only need a few minutes to tend to it. I’ll make sure you’re safe before I see to other things. The journey down will be hard on Kale. It’s hard on him now.”
Hard because the jerk hadn’t anticipated Marcus would come along and reveal his dirty laundry. I mumbled an oath beneath my breath and let out a disparaging snort. “He made his own bed.”
“Maybe,” Marcus offered thoughtfully. “But he’s right about something else, and I expect it will come up. When it does, I don’t want you doubting me.”
I chuckled. “I doubt you already.”
“And I mean for you to stop.”
“Not likely.”
He brought a knee up partway and rested a forearm on it. For the first time I noted the strength in his arms. He was lean, and at a glance, rangy. But now I realized that assumption was false. Quite like his words, there was more to him than he deliberately revealed.
“I’m responsible for his kidnapping.”
Oh, joy. Like that was supposed to make me trust he wouldn’t turn on me as well. My frown deepened.
“He was my best friend years ago. Had been as long as I can remember. I spent a lot of my youth with the camarilla.”
“You’re not helping to convince me.”
“I know.” He switched position and rested his chin on his drawn-up knees. While he talked, he idly played with the pebbles at his feet. “I didn’t realize it was a trap. I had no idea what would happen once the Yaksini had him. His mother asked me to retrieve some herbs she needed and to take Kale with me as he could recognize them better.”
“It’s fairly convenient to blame it on his mother.”
He gave a slow nod. “You’re right. It is. But what happened is my fault. I know these woods like the back of my hand. It’s part of the Noita ways; we’re sensitive to the wilderness. I knew we were being followed. I could have warned him.”
I arched an eyebrow as my heart twisted for Kale. “Why didn’t you?”
His shoulders heaved with his heavy sigh. “It’s complicated.”
“I have all night.”
A frown tugged at his brow once more, and he leaned back on his hands, his legs stretched before him. “The Yaksini hired a band of Jadukara and Noita mercenaries to take Kale. I had an alliance of sorts with their leader. If I had interfered, I would have brought their wrath on my people. Suffice it to say I thought I could negotiate Kale’s freedom with the band’s leader after the fact. I expected they’d release him in a day, at most.”
My gaze strayed to where Kale sat, a wave of empathy washing over me. “Does he know?” I whispered.
“From what I hear, he thinks I was part of it. My negotiations failed miserably. I would have been better served all the way around by thwarting their mission and killing them all when they intercepted us in the glade. Kale hasn’t spoken to me since, and I can’t say I blame him.”
Nor could I. In fact, if I’d been Kale, I’d have been hard-pressed not to want to kill Marcus. But in Marcus’ voice I heard regret and sincerity I hadn’t expected. Yet the hard set to his jaw didn’t match the self-depreciating tone of his voice. Nor did it explain why Marcus had been just as intent on breaking Kale’s nose as Kale had been.
“If you accept the fault, why do you hate him then?”
One corner of his mouth twisted, and he tipped his head back so far his long hair dusted his elbows. He pitched his voice loud enough Kale couldn’t possibly miss his words. “Because he should have goddamn well known I wouldn’t willingly turn my best friend into a Yaksini science experiment.”
I cringed, anticipating the inevitable fallout. Waited for Kale to bolt to his feet, charge over to where we sat, and take up the conversation with his fists again. To my surprise, Kale remained facing the fire. He stiffened, the fork he held frozen halfway toward his mouth. But as time dragged out like cold molasses, he merely set the utensil down, set his plate aside, and stared at the flames.
Marcus threw one last rock into the bushes, then rose and dusted off his pants. “I’m going for a walk.”
He didn’t give me time for any parting remarks before he disappeared into the shadows.
For a long while, I played with the overcooked meat on my plate. Best friends torn apart—Kale knew betrayal first hand. Yet he didn’t hesitate to do me the same injustice he believed Marcus committed against him. How was that possible?
And Marcus—he did a fantastic job at hiding his true pain behind a barricade of anger. Not that I could blame him. I’d expect my best friend to believe in me as well. Still, no one deserved to carry around that much guilt and be denied a resolution. I didn’t know if he wanted me to side with him, or if he had been truthful with his claim he didn’t want surprises cropping up.
“Halle?” Kale’s quiet voice intruded on my thoughts.
I closed my eyes, searching for fortitude. I couldn’t deal with him now. Couldn’t even sort through my feelings enough to name them.
“We need to talk,” he called across the distance that separated us.
I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. Too much of me wanted to instantly forgive. And I couldn’t forgive, because I’d be right back where I was, vulnerable to anything he said. It was easier to stay angry. “Leave me alone, Kale.”
Shutting him out as best I could, I lay down on my side, rested my head on my arm, and closed my eyes.
Thirty
Morning was even more difficult. I woke with a blanket that smelled like Kale tucked around me and the sturdy length of his back pressed against mine. As my brain slogged into full awareness and his body heat soaked into me, everything inside me cried out in agony. I caught myself turning to him subconsciously, seeking the heavenly bliss that came with his strong arms wrapping around me. I wanted to feel the pull of his morning stubble against my hair as he nuzzled the crown of my head.
I wanted him. The way things had been when I’d left the camarilla.
And yet, the man I remembered was a false reality.
I couldn’t summon my anger—the urge to cry threatened to possess me. To stop what would be a pitiful display, I crawled from beneath the cover and rushed, blindly, into the nearby trees. With luck, my abrupt departure would look like an immediate call to nature and Marcus wouldn’t come chasing after.
Kale had wounded me in a way that made losing my mother feel small and insignificant. In all my adult life, I’d never known the pain another human being could cause. And I didn’t know how to make it go away, how to make myself numb. How to stop the despicable feeling.
I stayed tucked behind a veil of interwoven scrub, choking down silent sobs, until I managed to get my traitorous emotions under control. When I emerged, Kale had packed his belongings and sat on a large rock near the path. Marcus kicked dirt into what remained of a fire. Smoke clung to the air, and sunlight roused the birds. Kale watched my approach, his expression unreadable save for the troubled pull around his eyes.
Marcus glanced my way as I bent for my pillowcase of meager belongings. “If we keep moving today, we’ll hit the edge of Yaksini territory this evening and make camp just outside. We can enter the mines at first light.”
I slung my satchel over my shoulder. “Let’s enter tonight.” The sooner I collected my mother, the sooner I could get out of this hell.
“It’s not…smart,” Kale countered. There was something rusty
about his voice. Like his prolonged silence stole his confident timbre.
To my surprise, Marcus nodded in agreement. “Your uncle comes and goes after sundown, when he can escape his human façade. Those who serve him directly, like your mother, will be more alert when he’s there. To get to her, we’re better served by waiting until he leaves for Applegate again.”
I cut my gaze to Kale. He’d told Marcus my intention? Something significant must have happened after I dozed off.
Kale cleared his throat, but still his words rang unsteady. “We’ll need his help. There’s no reason to keep him in the dark.”
Whatever. I shrugged and took a purposeful stride toward the path.
“Halle, be on guard,” Marcus warned behind me. “We’re close enough we could run into all kinds of trouble. Don’t get too far ahead.”
“I’m not a fool, thank you.” Not anymore at least. I’d had one too many reality checks in the last forty-eight hours to think this was going to be simple. It was a far cry from sneaking past grocery store employees to lift some food. My world had changed, and I was all too aware of the darker things surrounding me.
I struck off down the path, careful to watch my speed until both Marcus and Kale followed. A sense of companionability stretched between them, tense as it may be. They’d definitely worked through something last night. Enough so they no longer sought each other’s blood. Or maybe it was just necessary, as Kale claimed, the need for all of us to work together.
I didn’t really care. Whether they put the past behind them or not didn’t affect me. Once I had my mom out of the mines, I was out of here. I’d take her…
I stumbled as reality once again clanged over my head. Where exactly did I intend to take her? According to Kale, she was some magically enslaved being. I certainly didn’t know how to undo a spell like that, and I couldn’t exactly just drag her back home with me like a stray kitten. I needed her to help rescue Faye, but getting to that point was out of my league.
Crap. I couldn’t just wash my hands of Kale and Marcus after all.
“Hey.” Marcus fell into stride beside me, jerking me out of my thoughts. “You need so much more than we have time for. But your magic—don’t think on it too much. It lives inside you and knows what it needs. Don’t try to control it.”
I snapped my mouth shut, trapping the smart remark that had surfaced with his sudden intrusion, and eyed him uncertainly. “What do you know about my magic?”
His gaze narrowed. “If you can’t recognize our powers are similar, you have no business going into the mines.”
Okay, so I sort of asked for the condescension. But the whole learning my magic thing struck a sensitive nerve. I pursed my lips and kept walking. He had a point though—I had recognized the similarities. And while I didn’t want to admit it, I knew his advice held wisdom. Of anyone, he was most apt to understand.
And damn it, part of me wanted Kale to possess that knowledge.
“I told you, the Noita protect the secrets of the ancients,” Marcus continued, unaffected by my determined march. “Who do you think helped Rafini?”
That was enough to bring me to an abrupt halt. I stopped so quickly it took Marcus a moment to realize he’d passed me. He turned to look back, and a grin tugged at his mouth.
“You know Ashryn?” I asked in disbelief.
“Her granddaughter, Tasmina is our High Reverent. I suspect you’re more familiar with Nelwin, our King.”
Nelwin. The name sent chills sliding down my spine. Rafini had never seen his own son. He’d been seriously injured in another plane by things I had yet to fully understand, and Nelwin hadn’t been born when the journal abruptly stopped. Rafini’s bloody fingerprints still stained the last several pages.
I glanced back at where Kale braced an arm against a tree, presumably catching his breath. Another lance of pain tore at my heart. Certainly he knew Nelwin was the king. Had he kept it from me because of his feud with Marcus? Had he known all along the Noita could help me? Not so long ago I would have never believed he’d hold me back. But now…too many lies stretched between us.
“There’s too much to teach you, and I’m not qualified to even scratch the surface.” Marcus continued on ahead as if he hadn’t just made the world shift beneath my feet. “Just remember to give it freedom. Ask it to cooperate. Accept the solution it provides.”
So similar to what Maude had advised. My brow furrowed as I tried to digest and make sense of the two advisements. They’d both made it sound simple. Did they have any idea how hard I tried?
“Damn,” Marcus muttered beneath his breath as he looked behind me.
I turned to find Kale standing in the path, seemingly lost in thought. Was he debating returning to the camarilla? Seeing me talking with Marcus couldn’t be easy on him. To him, it must look like I’d chose a side, and obviously not his. But a part of me, a petty part of me, wanted to hurt him the way he’d hurt me. So I turned away, pretending I didn’t care what he chose to do, while Marcus dropped back. Their hushed voices carried to me, but I couldn’t make out the words. In a few moments, their mutual footfalls fell back into pace with mine. Marcus remained with Kale, our conversation set aside.
* * *
Mid-afternoon sun beat down on us. Though it was autumn, the temperature did a one-eighty, and the day was unseasonably warm. My long-sleeves were stifling, and I would have gladly killed for some cold water, not the warm blech in Marcus’s jug. I turned from my point position on the path to address my two companions. “Is there a creek around here? Anything?”
Marcus gestured to my right. Where Kale and I were obviously withered, sweat soaking the front of our shirts and dripping off our brows, Marcus seemed unaffected by the heat. “There’s a little spring up there. About thirty feet off the path.”
Thirty feet I could do, particularly if it meant cold water. I veered right.
Kale’s silence had begun to gnaw at me. The man I’d left in the camarilla would have brought the fight to me. He never would have let this silence drag on or accept my shutting him out. In ways, it was like he was lost in his own world, reduced to a shell of himself, and I simply couldn’t accept I was the cause of his behavior. Kale Norwood wasn’t that weak.
The way Marcus hovered around him too made me wonder more about what happened while I was sleeping. Had their conversation impacted Kale as well?
Every now and then, I caught snippets of their conversation. Enough to clue me in that Kale had a concise strategy worked out for what we’d do when we reached the mines. In those moments, I expected him to pull himself together, demand I pull my head out of my ass, and get over myself. Because that was the sort of challenge he’d issue to drag me into a confrontation and force me to let go of my feelings.
But he didn’t. And that left me edgy and preoccupied. I kept waiting for the inevitable explosion. Turning the delay over and over in my mind.
“Hal-le!” Marcus bellowed.
I stopped and looked up from the ground. Lost in my own thoughts, my simmering anger must have fueled my speed. I stood in the middle of a dense copse of trees, and I couldn’t see Marcus or Kale anywhere.
“I’m here!” I hollered, scanning the trees for some sign of movement that would clue me in on their location.
Slowly, I turned to investigate my surroundings. How in the world had I lost them? And…where was I? This didn’t look anything like the brightly lit patch of green I’d spotted after I stepped off the obvious trail. The trees hung gloomily overhead, skeleton branches reaching down to snag my hair and clothes. Dry, barren ground rested beneath my feet, not the cushy pad of moldering leaves. And it was so…dark. Like the sun never set foot here.
“Where are you?” Marcus yelled again.
“Right here. I hear you!” I turned back in the direction of his voice and squinted into the shadows.
“Don’t move!”
My heart drummed to a slow stop. I wasn’t going anywhere. Three shadowy
creatures coalesced at the edge of the trees. Panicked, I whipped around the way I’d been headed. Three more blocked that direction as well.
Holy fuck.
A low, haunting moan echoed through the gloom. Marcus swore in the distance. Kale shouted. Something exploded. Another masculine bellow followed—I couldn’t make out who it belonged to.
The creatures surrounding me moved closer as a coordinated unit, tightening my circle. Their figures took on more substance, morphing into a grotesque humanoid representation. Where boots should have made prints in the bare earth, the things hovered, barely touching the ground. Long arms hung unnaturally from narrow shoulders. Three-fingered, claw-like hands lumbered near their knees, twice as large as they should be.
Overwhelming foreboding pressed around my shoulders. My chest tightened. I fought the erratic stumble of my heart.
I had to get out of here. No way could I take on six of these things. Maybe one or two…if my magic cooperated.
In a desperate measure, I flung my pack off and snatched out the dagger. Brandishing it in front of my chest, I turned back and forth. If one of them broke the circle and leapt at me, I didn’t intend to be caught from behind.
God help me.
Marcus answered my silent prayer. Our earlier conversation drummed through my mind. Ask for cooperation. Accept the solution. Don’t try to control the magic.
If there was ever a time for my power to cooperate, now would be ideal.
I closed my eyes on the creatures and focused on the ever-present tingle deep inside my soul. The air around me chilled so suddenly, I almost lost my focus. But despite the shiver that rolled down my spine and the constriction in my chest, that power answered.
It flared to life like kindling struck with a match. I opened my eyes, exhaling a breath that quickly turned to frost. Three feet away—if those things lifted their claws in unison, they’d shred me to pieces.
Before the Storm Page 23
