I straightened myself and rounded the corner to the front of the couch. This would be okay. Regardless of whom this vessel was, Owen and I would find a way to make it through. It’s what we did. Deciding to take the offensive, I stuck my hand out to the vessel. “Cresta Karr. Nice to meet you.”
As I caught sight of the woman though, the breath caught in my throat. It took all I could do not to cry out as the vessel stood, meeting me with familiar eyes. With a familiar voice, she said, “I know who you are.”
Of course she did, and I knew her. I knew that perfect hair. I knew those perfect lips and eyes. I knew that killer body. I swallowed hard and replied,” Hello Merrin.”
Chapter 3
Offending Marks
Echo and Dahlia’s chambers seemed to heat up at least twenty degrees instantaneously; of course, that might have just been all the blood rushing to my face. As if having to hide the truth about who I was (or more aptly, who I was going to become) from a council of overly evolved busybodies with super powers wasn’t hard enough, they would have to pick my secret boyfriend’s irritatingly perfect ‘perfect’ as their personal investigator.
Merrin had never liked me. I mean, she had never come out and said it, but I could tell from the way she looked at me, the way she moved when she was around me. Oh, and there was that one time she threatened to stab me in the gut. Though I couldn’t prove it, I always felt like there was a part of Merrin that knew the truth about Owen and me. And, while under normal circumstances, being the other woman would make me feel seedy and wrong, I couldn’t really apply normal to Merrin and Owen’s relationship.
Yes, technically they were engaged to be married, and they had been for years. But they weren’t in love. They had never kissed or had sex. They had never even been on a date. They were thrown together after the results of their genetic testing were revealed. What kind of relationship is that?
Still, if she did know what was going on with Owen and me, even subconsciously, then that made her even more dangerous as an agent of the Council.
A vessel with a vendetta. Lucky me.
“It can’t be you,” I muttered, staring at her disgustingly symmetrical features.
“It is,” she answered flatly.
“But it can’t be,” I countered.
“But it is,” she assured me. “I’ve been chosen as a vessel for the Council. It’s a great honor.”
I stood there, dumbstruck for a second. Honor? Honor?!
“You did the same garbage we did, the exact same thing,” I said sharply. “How come we’re being punished while you get honored?”
“Cresta!” Dahlia shot me a withering look that reminded me that Merrin wasn’t just Merrin. She was also, for all intents and purposes, every single member of the Council.
“They were happy with the way I conducted myself,” Merrin said coolly. “And I promise you Cresta, you won’t be punished unless it’s found that you’ve done something wrong. The Council is under the impression that your crimes were committed under justifiable duress. Now I have to ask you, are they mistaken, Cresta? Have you done something worthy of punishment?”
“You should know. You were there,” I answered. I regretted my sharp tone as soon as the words came out, but I couldn’t help myself. Regardless of who many eyes were looking out of it, it was still Merrin’s face, and I couldn’t resist being snippy with it.
“Another reason the Council thought I would be a good choice to conduct the investigation. What can I say? They like to be thorough.” Her hands tugged at her shirt. “Though, I can tell you that, in a future, a simple yes or no will work better.” Her tone was different, softer. Was she trying to be genuine?
Slowly, Merrin began walking around me in a circle, tracing me up and down with her eyes. I followed her, turning my head as she circled. “Face forward!” She snapped. “I’m sorry, but this is a necessary part of the investigation.
I straightened up. When she was done, and had settled back in front of me, I said, “No. No, I haven’t done anything worthy of being punished.”
She looked at me, as though she was trying to read inside my head, and maybe she was. But it wasn’t a lie. I hadn’t done anything wrong, at least not purposely. And maybe that would be enough to convince her.
“I haven’t,” I repeated. She didn’t answer, just kept staring into me. “Merrin…”
“Okay,” she said, and turned away. She started toward the others, who literally flinched as she neared. This couldn’t be happening. This was Merrin. Four months ago the Council sent her to be Dahlia’s lackey, and now Dahlia tensed up at the sight of her. What sort of sense did that make?
But it didn’t have to make sense. I could see it in their eyes, in the way they stood a little straighter as she settled in front of them. Merrin was a force now, someone to be afraid of.
“Hello Owen,” Merrin said in a tone that was a lifetime away from the one she used with me. It was soft and familiar, almost regretful.
“Hey Merrin. It’s good to see you,” he said, and smiled that smile that, for two years now, had almost singlehandedly made the world a livable place.
“It’s good to see you too,” she answered. And there, in the way she lit up, was proof that I wasn’t the only person that Owen’s smile affected. The vice grip tightened around my heart again. Maybe she did love him. Yes, they had never actually been in a real relationship, but not too long ago the same could have been said about Owen and me. And, after all, she was his fiancée.
Owen’s eyes flickered past her, onto me. As quickly as it tightened, the vice grip loosened. She might love Owen, but Owen loved me, and that was the important part. Wasn’t it?
“Take your shirt off,” Merrin told him.
“What did you just say?” My eyebrows shot up so high that I was sure they’d burn up on reentry.
“I need to see it,” Merrin said without looking at me.
“You need to see what?” I asked.
“The tattoo, she needs to see the tattoo,” Owen clarified. He was already undressing. Pulling his shirt up over his head, it crumpled into a nervous ball in his hands. At this point in our relationship, I had seen Owen shirtless more than a few times. So the sheer perfection of his body; the perfect rise of his torso, the way his hips curved into the covered mystery under his jeans, the faint line of dark hair that ran down from his naval, was familiar to me. It was so familiar, in fact, that I must have held some sort of unconscious ownership over it. Because the sight of Merrin standing there, drinking in Owen’s shirtless frame with her greedy Council ridden eyes lit me up like someone had thrown a torch into my gut.
“Turn around,” Merrin said softly, and the torch in my gut caught fire. Owen turned, revealing the black dragon tattoo covering his back. Time was that the dragon, with its spread wings, sharp fangs, and forked tongue, was nothing more than a blurred orb staining Owen’s otherwise perfect skin. His father made sure it was unreadable by anyone who happened to see it; the best way to keep the Breakers from finding out what he had done to save his son’s life. And it would have stayed that way if not for Allister Leeman’s machinations and my weird shade shaping abilities.
There it was; the thing that, in theory, kept Owen from succumbing to the fatal fate the seers had proclaimed for him, that the Council of Masons assured his family could not be avoided. But it was also the thing that made the Dragon; the person who Casper thought was “the absolute worst person in the entire world that you could ever think about considering going out with. Like, ever”.
I could see Casper now, his red hair blowing in the wind, his eyes full of hurt; asking me-no, begging me not to take his memories away. But did I listen? No. And I didn’t listen to him about Owen either.
Merrin stared at the ink on Owen’s bare back for a long time; so long that it took all I could do not to punch her in her stupid, gorgeous face.
She’s just perving on you,” I communicated to Owen.
She is not, he replied.
Shows wh
at you know, I answered. She’s probably waited years for a chance to see you without your shirt on.
She’s seen me in a lot less than that, he replied.
Excuse me, I blustered. My face got hot again and the lit torch in my gut exploded. What do you mean ‘a lot less’?
Owen’s face stoned up. It’s part of the Unification ceremony. After we’re paired genetically- You know what, now’s not really a good time to talk about this.
Before I could answer, Merrin moved toward Owen. She touched him, running her stupidly lithe fingers along his back, tracing the tattoo.
Owen… I gritted my teeth.
It’s just an examination, Cresta. It’s for the Council, he told me.
Her hands ran down, and then further down, resting on the small of his back; the bottom of the small of his back.
Examination, my ass, I answered. “Don’t you think that’s enough?” I asked before I could stop myself. Dahlia shot me a look that could cut glass and Echo seemed equally horrified, but I didn’t care. Merrin had always rubbed me the wrong way, and I wasn’t about to let her feel up my boyfriend while I watched…even if my boyfriend happened to be her fiancé.
“I have to get a full report of the offending marks,” she answered flatly, and didn’t move her hand.
“Offending marks?” Owen muttered. “They’re planning a trail?” Owen spun around, grabbing Merrin’s shoulders and pulling her close to him. “My parents did what they thought they had to do.” A pleading colored his voice that instantly ripped my heart to shreds.
“Owen. Stop this!” Echo warned.
“They meant no harm,” he continued, ignoring Echo completely. “They thought they had no other choice.”
“Owen!” Echo yelled. “Listen to me, son! This is unacceptable!”
Merrin seemed horrified; at once afraid and completely heartbroken. It took me a minute to realize that the words Owen was speaking weren’t meant for Merrin, but for the Council who would be watching this through her eyes.
“They did it to save their child, to save their son. Surely some of you can understand that.”
“Owen, you can’t do this,” Merrin said so softly that I almost didn’t make out the words.
“Have mercy on them,” he said, as tears welled up within the electric blue pools of his eyes.
“Owen,” Merrin said, still soft as a whisper.
“Have mercy!” He yelled. She lifted her hand and, without even touching him, sent him flying backward. He slammed hard against the wall and crumpled to the floor.
“Owen!” I yelled, and rushed over to him. Dahlia and Echo met me there, crouching around to check his vital signs and make sure he was still conscious.
“I’m sorry,” Merrin said, and didn’t walk toward us. “Discussing ongoing investigations is completely forbidden, as is addressing the Council directly. I had to put a stop to it.” Her eyes flickered to Owen, still on the floor. “I-I hope you understand.”
“Let’s just get this over with,” I hissed. “Ask whatever questions you’ve been sent to ask, so that you can get the hell out of here.” I had scooped Owen’s head into my hands. While he wasn’t unconscious, he did look dazed. So, I wanted this to be done as quickly as possible so that I could tend to him.
“I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood,” Merrin answered. “This isn’t an inquisitive investigation; at least not in terms of you two,” she pointed to Owen and me. “The Council isn’t so much concerned with what you’ve done as it is with what you’re going to do, what you’re capable of. Cresta, you’re an unknown Breaker with an ability so rare and powerful that it hasn’t been seen in over a hundred years. It should come as no surprise that, had you not been disproven as the Bloomoon, the Counciil would have had to handle things quite differently.”
A shiver ran down my spine. I knew what the Council’s idea of ‘differently’ was, and it involved me not breathing anymore. “Then it’s a good thing I was disproven,” I muttered and looked to the floor.
“And Owen, you’re quite possibly the Dragon; one of the most influential and important figures in all of the Seers’ Scrolls. But if you are the Dragon, it means the Bloodmoon most likely walks the earth. And that’s not something that can be ignored.”
“What are you saying?” I asked, with Owen’s head still in my arms.
“I wasn’t sent here to ask you questions; at least not exclusively. Over the course of the next few weeks I’ll be observing you. I’ll watch the way you interact with each other and the other Breakers here at Weathersby. I’ll sit in on your classes, with a special interest in how each of you uses your abilities. And each day, everything I’ve observed will be transmitted to the Council for examination. By the end of my tenure here, they’ll have a complete picture of your abilities, your physical attributes and, perhaps most importantly, your mental capacity, personality, and day to day activities.” She sighed, as though she didn’t want to say the next part. “Nothing is off limits. Nothing is sacred. If it’s in the Council’s best interest for me to watch you shower, then I’ll do that, and you’ll have no authority to stop me. I can go anywhere and, more than likely, I will be everywhere. To sum it up, if you have any secrets, it’s probably best you confess them now. Because, by the end of this thing, all will be revealed.”
A few minutes later, once Merrin had decided that enough had been done for the day and sent us back to our regularly scheduled insanity, I marched toward my room. Owen said he could walk just fine, but I figured it was best if he leaned on me. His arm lay across my shoulder, and I braced his waist with my hand; though honestly, he was doing a pretty good job of keeping himself standing.
“Can you believe this?” I muttered. “I mean, as if things weren’t complicated enough, the stupid Council sends Merrin. Merrin?! It’s like they’re going out of their way to piss me off; which I bet is exactly what they’re doing.”
“We can’t talk about this here. It’s too open.”
“Not for long,” I said, kicked the door of my room open, and drug Owen inside with me. Once, I was sure the room was completely ‘Flora free’ and that the door was shut behind us, I plopped down on the bed. “This is a nightmare,” I said with my hands over my face.
“It’ll be okay,” Owen said. My eyes were covered, but I could feel him sit down beside me. The warmth of him made me feel a little better, but that was no good. Things were awful, and they looked to get even worse. I didn’t need to feel better; not right now.
“Stop telling me that,” I answered. “I’m not a frigging child. I’m the Bloodmoon for God’s sake. I think I can handle the truth without it being sugarcoated.
Owen grabbed my arm and jerked me forward. I sat up beside him now, looking into eyes full of fervor. “Don’t you ever say that out loud!”
“Relax,”” I pulled away from him. “There’s no one here. How are we going to get through this if you won’t even be frank with me?”
“Don’t you see how this is a good thing?” He asked with narrowed eyes.
“You mean your fiancé- who has always been out to get me, by the way- watching our every move for the next two weeks? No. Forgive me if I can’t find the silver lining in that.”
“It could be the Council themselves,” Owen said. “We already know that Merrin can’t see inside your mind. If she could-“
“Then she’d know that I killed my father, and that I am the Bloodmoon,” I finished.
“You were driving the car when your father died. That’s not the same as killing him. And even if it was, that doesn’t mean you have to be the Bloodmoon; even if you are the product of a Luna/Blut union.”
“Tell that to your girlfriend,” I scoffed bitterly.
Owen took my face in his hands and, turning it toward him so that we were eye to eye, said, “I am telling my girlfriend. You are not evil. You are not a killer. The only way you could make this world any worse, would be if you weren’t in it anymore.”
Okay, he loved me. He really loved me, but th
at didn’t change our predicament. And, as much as I wanted to kiss him, let him hold me, and believe him when he told me everything would be okay; an ever growing piece of me knew better than that.
“What if she can read my mind?” I asked.
“She can’t,” Owen assured me. “I’ve known Merrin since we were younglings. If she had that ability, it would have surfaced long before now.”
“And how about the way she threw you across the room without lifting a finger? I might be mistaken, but the last time we saw her, she couldn’t do that either. The Council is obviously giving her powerups. What if they add telepathy to the buffet line?”
“They won’t,” Owen squeezed my hand.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Because we won’t give them a reason to. We’ve gotten this far, and no one has been the wiser. So Merrin is here for the Council. So they want to ferret out everything we’ve tried to hide. We won’t let them.”
“I don’t know how we’ll stop them,” I admitted. My hand, like my spirit, was limp in Owen’s grasp. But he held me up. He gave me support, and maybe that would be enough.
“We’ll be careful; so careful that we’re perfect,” he whispered into my ear.
I leaned into him, letting the warmth of his breath caress my neck. He smelled of heat and copper, and I wanted nothing more than to disappear within him and never let myself be found. “If you wanted perfect, I think you picked the wrong girl.”
He kissed my cheek and slid over to the corner of my mouth, warming it with his own. “Let me be the judge of that,” he said. “I’d never treat you like a child.” He kissed me again. “I’ll always be honest with you.” Again. “I would never let anything happen to you; no matter what.” Again. “Everything will be okay.”
The Breaker's Promise (YA Urban Fantasy) (Fixed Points Book 2) Page 3
