Destiny's Dark Fantasy Boxed Set (Eight Book Bundle)

by Tamara Rose Blodgett

  Clarence and he counted five horses. When they stopped to look closely at the prints there was one set which left a deeper impression and Charles said, “This must be the horse that carried two riders.”

  Clarence looked up at him, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand. The open meadow allowed the heat and brightness of the sun to permeate into every pore. And they had thought that the heat of the sphere unbearable! This was altogether as hot but a different type of heat.

  Clara was alive. These prints were fresh, causing hope to swell inside Charles.

  Clarence grinned as hope flared. They would be able to retrieve the Princess after all.

  They bedded down for the night at the meadow's edge. The stars began to appear in the twilight which enveloped the day, winking at them from a dressing of inky velvet.

  It was a view Charles had never seen, one he wished he could have shared with Clara.

  ****

  Clara awoke, completely disoriented and slowly her memories assaulted her: the aborted escape, the attempted rape, her “rescue” by the Band, her new place here amongst the clan-dwellers. She opened her eyes, unsure of what time it was but the light that filtered into the room spoke of twilight. Mayhap she had slept four or five hours. Her stomach told her she had missed lunch entirely with a low rumble.

  Suddenly, Clara thought of the oysters: she would never eat oysters again. Another wave of homesickness washed over Clara and her eyes stung with tears. She reminded herself that living was better than the alternative which awaited her in the sphere.

  It was a mantra that she tired of.

  She swung her feet over to the floor, touching it immediately, the bed not high like the one inside the sphere. Clara gulped back her weak feelings of isolation. Spying a wash basin with a pitcher, she walked over to it using the water on her hands and splashing some upon her face.

  She dressed quickly, again wishing she could have her grooming implements, she knew she looked a fright. With that lovely assessment, she quietly stole out of the room and came upon the remainder of the Band sitting about the eating table, their long legs splayed out before them. Lillian was not to be seen or Bracus.

  She schooled her expression of unease. Unknown males were not something that instilled confidence and trust. And, she had seen them kill the remainder of the Prince’s guard.

  The guard looked at the Princess and thought how interesting it was that she was a master of her expression. One so young, she should show everything on her face. Yet she was self-contained in a way that was fascinating to him. No matter, he was sure, as their acquaintance progressed he could elicit emotions. Oh yes, he was positive of that.

  The Band stood as she came into the room and she fought not to react to the sheer size of them. They were so huge, their stature filling the room. Instead, she bit the inside of her lip to a point of pain which filled her with the wakefulness necessary to be sharp-witted. She repeated to herself if they had meant to harm her they had ample opportunity and she could have done naught to defend herself against them.

  She took a deep breath. “Good evening.”

  “Princess,” they nodded at her. The guard smiled in a way that would have made a lesser woman squirm.

  Lillian came in and relief took residence in her breast like a welcome friend.

  “Oh! Clara, you are awake.”

  “Yes, I feel much more myself.” she smiled gratefully.

  Lillian said, “Please, let us find the community dining area and we will have some food. I am sure you are starving.”

  Actually, Clara was.

  “That would be wonderful,” she answered.

  Joseph smiled at her and another woman came in, her simple clothing the same for all the females of the clan. But it was her demeanor that was so unique; she had a caution that was completely absent in Lillian, and she looked a bit different than the people of this clan.

  The other two guards, Matthew and Stephen followed her out. She could feel one of their eyes boring into her back and wished that Bracus was here so she could but mention her feeling about the guard. that he had visited her while she stood at her window inside her chamber when she lived therein. Clara felt a trifle foolish...after all, had she been of such sound mind prior, would she now be in this emergent situation? Her shoulders slumped a little thinking of her future. A future unknown.

  When they had all exited the cottage, Joseph turned and introduced the woman to Clara, her name was Anna.

  She looked at Clara with ancient eyes in a young face, a mirror of her own.

  “Anna is from a sea clan, far east of here,” Joseph said.

  Clara looked at her with interest, her large brown eyes regarded Clara in an intense way, equal parts caution and curiosity.

  “It is very good to make your acquaintance,” Clara said.

  To which Anna replied, “And I, yours.” She gave a small curtsey.

  Clara knew not how long she would remain here but it would be very good to have a bit of female companionship amongst all the males.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a most fragrant smell.

  “What is that?” she asked.

  “What?” Lillian responded over her shoulder.

  Clara opened her mouth to elaborate when the guard stepped up beside her and said, “Meat.”

  She was so engrossed by his nearness that she did not watch where she walked, stumbling. She would have fallen if it had not been for him grabbing her elbow and it was as it had been with Philip, but more. A charge of intense heat climbed up her arm at the point of contact, surging into her head and making the small hairs on her nape stand on end. She saw his eyes widen in shock and he snatched his hand away, rubbing it where it had touched her. But she knew although he acted as if shocked by lightning, it had felt good.

  They stood facing each other and the group stopped, staring at the two of them. “What has happened?” Lillian asked.

  Clara shook her head, she did not know. However, this reaction seemed to be something between her and the Band. But not all she noticed. Why did it not occur with all of them?

  Joseph walked over, looking down at her. She explained as best she could, “I stumbled and he caught my elbow to arrest my fall,” she said, pointing to the guard, “and I felt a heat...”

  “Akin to a burn?” Joseph asked.

  Clara nodded. “Not precisely, there was no pain... but a...”

  Stephen said, “We do not need to discuss the possibilities of all this right now.” His face and stance gruff, legs apart and planted on the ground, his arms crossed on his chest.

  Joseph's cheeks colored and he turned to the first and second in command. “I will address this potential with Clara later this evening.”

  Matthew said, “Let us do it before much longer as she and Lillian wish to bathe at the springs.”

  “Yes, a critical plan, that,” Joseph said, walking toward the building where they would dine on meat for the first time in Clara's life. She should have been sickened by the prospect of something that had been butchered and cooked for her. But hunger is a strange thing, a needy thing that does not have a conscience.

  Her interaction with the guard obviously meant something to them that she was not aware of. She had certainly never felt that with the males of the sphere. This was a new thing entirely. Clara walked toward the dining hall.

  Holding her elbow as if it were on fire.

  ****

  Bracus slowed Briar Rose about one half mile away from the area where Evelyn's father had met his end, signaling with his high-pitched call to the Band.

  They dismounted, Bracus leading his steed to the creek and letting her drink her fill, using an additional tether so she could reach the water should she thirst while he was gone and tied to one of the stout trees that stood near.

  Jack approached sure-footed down the steep ravine to find Bracus tying secure knots.

  Bracus looked at the big man, his massive arms stretched out, maintaining his balance as he reached him
“Captain...”

  Bracus raised his brows. There, a perfect knot, she would not escape it. He looked up. “Yes?”

  “I cannot shake a feeling of unease about leaving the clan...”

  Bracus frowned, it was usually not Jack Blythe that had intuitive leaps, it was he. However, his mate was with child, it was surely that which caused a greater need to be back at her side.

  He told him so.

  Jack shook his head stubbornly. “It is more than that. And, I must say, that I feel I have erred greatly in not telling you. I felt I could not share those things which I had been told in confidence.”

  Bracus studied Jack, this was not helping his focus. It was bad enough that thoughts of Clara crowded his mind. He hoped there was not some other calamity that would wrest attention away from the coming turmoil of rescuing Evelyn from the fragment.

  Bracus turned slowly to Jack, his face full of puzzlement. “And you tell me this now?

  Jack sighed as Jacob and James joined them. “What say you, Jack?”

  Jack looked back at the tall warriors, their expressions serious. For once, James was not making a joke at someone's expense. “It is Matthew. I fear that he is not of sound mind.”

  Bracus' disquiet increased, his puzzlement deepening. Many things plagued his mind but that which stood out was the absolute absence of lack of propensity. When had Matthew ever given him pause?

  “You remember when Matthew came to us?”

  Bracus nodded, he would never forget. He had been rescued; starved and mistreated far from their clan by the fragment. It was only the clan's hunting such a distance away that allowed them to stumble upon him.

  James steadied himself on the rough trunk of an evergreen. “What of it? He was ten and two years, it has been a decade since,” he said, shrugging it off.

  “He is Band, that was clear when he was found,” Jacob said, indicating his throat slits with a casual wave of his hand, his bicep bunching with the movement.

  “Out with it,” Bracus said, silencing the others with a look.

  Bracus was acutely aware of the rushing stream at his right. Sunlight filtered through the canopy of the trees, the breeze rustling the branches.

  He waited in the silence that was the forest.

  “He does not like females,” Jack said quietly.

  “What did you say?” Bracus stepped forward into Jack's space and he held his ground.

  “We were reconnaissance for the acquisition of the Princess, you do remember?”

  Bracus nodded.

  “And he fell away from me, leaving to go closer to the sphere... to get a look at her.”

  Bracus said low and with feeling, “And you did not tell me this?”

  “I thought nothing of it. I stayed behind and he said he was just curious about what the importance of the female was.”

  “That is ridiculous! Of course the importance is because we don't have enough females!” James said, stomping off to another tree.

  Bracus looked after him for a moment then swung his gaze back to Jack.

  “He went to the sphere and showed himself to Clara, saying nothing to the rest of us,” Bracus looked at James and Jacob, who shook their heads, they had known nothing. “He returns to your mutual post and he says...” Bracus held out his arms away from his body, what?

  “That you did not deserve to have her. That all females needed to be brought to heel.”

  “And we have left him at the clan with your mate and Clara?”

  Jack shook his head. “I make too much of this, he meant it as a joke, I am certain. But his background, his mistreatment by the fragment...”

  “He has never spoken of his time with the fragment,” Bracus said.

  James, Jacob and Jack shook their heads.

  “How do you know of his time there, he has not divulged it to us.”

  “You but need to watch how he behaves around females,” Jack said.

  A thousand kaleidoscope pieces came together at that moment. For all Matthew's skill in battle, he had shown nary an ounce of interest in the few females of the clan, making a wide berth.

  Far more disturbing was the incidences of Clara looking frightened of the Band. But it had not been all the Band but Matthew.

  He must return to her. If Matthew had ill intent she was but a lamb being led to slaughter.

  His guts churned with it, he had left her and there was no protection. His first in command was compromised and he had been unaware. But he must ask:

  “Why does he think I am deserving or not?”

  “We all know that you have feelings for the Princess, Captain. Whether or not it will come to pass... we do not know, but they are there.”

  Philip exited the shadows, badly startling Bracus. That he would be so unaware of his surroundings spoke of how badly he had been shaken. “Yes, my brother, we all knew. But, we have bigger problems than his possible treason of the Band,” Phillip said.

  “What could possibly be worse?” Bracus asked. His mind turned the facts and different reactions of a thousand days spent in the company of Matthew and found disturbing images start to connect like magnets to one another.

  “I think that she is a select.”

  The other Band member's faces fell and Bracus' throat slits opened fully when he gulped in a lungful of air and roared out, “No!” his bellow causing the birds to evacuate the tree cover in a noisy rush.

  He wanted to collapse on his knees but that would not get him to her sooner.

  “How do you know?” Bracus asked, his voice fierce, his mind in turmoil.

  “She pricked her finger on the rose that grows outside Jack's dwelling. I went to assist her... I touched her hand...” he looked down, almost ashamed.

  “Did you feel it?” Bracus asked.

  He looked up suddenly, his eyes a glittering intensity in the darkness. “I did.”

  A select. Only rumored about during his lifetime, the hope that a Band member would have a chance with a select. They had given up hope. There had been females which possessed the trait that appealed so much to the Band and was the promised freedom from the dwindling population. But if that were the case, Clara alone was much more than just a female. She was The Female.

  “Why did you not tell me?” Bracus asked incredulously.

  “I thought there time enough after we get the girl to explore this,” Philip said.

  He walked toward Bracus and put his hand on his shoulder. “It does no good to talk of it. It is but a feeling on Jack's part. That Matthew would harm a female... is unthinkable. We have known our brother how long, ten years?”

  “Besides, you know what the history of the Evil Ones say. That if a Band member chooses from the select... it is a biological imperative. There is no choice. The male would not harm her. He would be unable to,” Jacob said, lifting his hands up in placation.

  But nothing said could make Bracus feel safer but having her near him. Maybe it was nothing but Jack felt it odd enough to mention and Matthew had revealed himself to her. And now she was a select.

  It was a horrible set of circumstances. He was honor-bound to rescue Evelyn. Of course he wished to, but a rare female of the select lay in possible danger and he could do nothing. His teeth clenched in frustration.

  Jacob said, “Joseph and Stephen are there as well. They will not let harm befall the Princess.”

  “I should have said nothing. My mate is there, and with child. If I had felt there was a present danger, I would have not come on this errand,” Jack said.

  Bracus cursed. “I wish you had said something earlier. We will rescue Evelyn, then make haste to the clan. And Clara had better be in pristine condition,” he said, staring Jack in the eye.

  ****

  Clara pushed the heavy crockery plate away and was so full she could not take another bite. In her bones she knew that after a bath in the hot springs and another night's sleep she would feel human once again.

  She chanced a look at the guard which had inadvertently touched
her but his eyes eluded hers. He had been strained since the incident and the whole group was treating her differently. She was not sure that she liked the new treatment. It felt a little like when everyone in the sphere were keenly aware that she was royal. She had enjoyed being just Clara to these people. Now, because of the odd reaction, they were all looking at her and at each other in the strangest way. Later, when she and Lillian had privacy, she would ask her what it all was.

  They stood in an awkward pool of silence and finally Clara broke it. “I do not know what is wrong, presently, but tomorrow, when I am better rested, I do wish to be advised of this strange occurrence.”

  She could feel his eyes on her and that strange heat she had felt earlier flared up. Her eyes met his and he stared at her and she could think of nothing else but him. That she had been nervous or scared of him earlier now struck her as odd. What was happening? What were the Band to her?

  Matthew looked at her and was angry. She had done something to him and he knew not what. It did not alter his plans in the slightest. It did not matter that she was a select, as all the others must be thinking now. It was a myth that he did not ascribe to. No female had power over men unless they told themselves thus. It was ridiculous, an excuse for weakness. He thought on his earliest memories with the fragment:

  *

  He groveled at her feet touching her skirt, his belly burning with acute hunger. If she would but give him some of the delicious food that she prepared, even a small amount he would be so grateful.

  Instead, with a leather-clad foot she kicked at him and he moved swiftly before her foot found purchase. He knew he was different amongst these people: faster, stronger. He had strange airways which caused a constant onslaught of teasing. But he persevered, he would escape this terrible place with these people that hated him. The males around him beat the females. All the females hated all the males, save one. There was one small female that showed him mercy, sneaking food to him when no one was aware. Margaret alone kept him alive. And he had been too young to save her when she was savaged by one of the males, but they had forced him to watch. Yes, indeed they had. He could never erase it from his mind.