Moon-Kissed

by Amelia Hutchins

  “You can’t die. You can’t leave us, Lexia. We need you,” Amo sobbed, standing to move away from me.

  “Amo, get me on my horse and move out,” I demanded, and she turned.

  “We’re not leaving you!”

  “Well, you can’t take me with you unless I’m on my fucking horse.”

  She laughed soundlessly, peering up at the cliff. “Torrin has the tonic.”

  “And we don’t,” I whispered, turning to cough violently.

  “You can’t die. You promised me you wouldn’t die! Everyone leaves me. You can’t do that too! Do you hear me? You’re the leader. We follow you!”

  “I’m not the leader anymore. You are. I trained you well, Amo. You’re ready even if you don’t think you are.”

  Amo shook her head, anger and denial filling her eyes. She snarled, screaming in frustration as she and Tabitha moved to pick me up. Once on my feet, I exhaled, coughing and sputtering as black blood leaked from my lips. They tied me to Chivalry, and he neighed, whining as he brought his head back to nudge me. Consciousness slipped from me the moment he moved forward, with Amo leading his reins.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I awoke to someone slapping my cheek. My eyes focused, and I saw Amo hovered over me, her wide green eyes filling with relief. Apparently, I wasn’t dead yet. She gripped my chin, prying my stiff jaw open, forcing water down my throat. I coughed violently, watching her.

  “Why the hell did you stop?” I demanded, but it was barely even a whisper.

  “Because you’re my fucking family,” she hissed, her eyes holding mine. “We also have no idea where we’re going.”

  I nodded, reaching for the map. Amo’s hand touched mine, and she shook her head slowly. I studied her eyes as she lifted a small vial between her fingers.

  “A large bird delivered this a couple of minutes ago. There was a note with it,” she explained, producing it with a look of unease.

  I blinked, dropping my eyes to the note she held in one hand and the bottle that sat between her fingers. Sitting up, I held my hand out for the message. Unrolling it, I laughed at what Torrin decreed.

  “He says I don’t get to die unless it is by his hand. Arrogant prick. Do you think that means he likes me?” I asked seriously.

  Amo stared at me, holding in her laughter until it burst from her, half-sobs, half-laughter. Her green eyes held mine, and her hand with the tonic moved forward.

  “It could be poison,” she warned.

  “Hmm, maybe. It would be a really shitty thing to give someone dying of poison more poison, wouldn’t it?” I asked, using my teeth to remove the stopper. I downed it while she watched, sitting back on her haunches with worry in her gaze.

  “I think he likes you, but then he’s a male. Maybe his endless hunting for us is his form of flirting?” she asked, and I sat back, smiling as the tonic entered my system. “Maybe even foreplay?” I laughed, coughing until I almost threw up the antidote.

  “Chivalry?” I asked, and he neighed, nudging my head.

  “He won’t let us feed or water his stubborn ass. He hasn’t left your side since we stopped.” Amo’s eyes slid to the horse that neighed in complaint.

  “Go eat and drink, Chivy. We need to move soon,” I ordered, moving my head before his tail slapped where it had been lying. “How far behind are Torrin and his men?” I asked, and Amo looked away. “Amo, how far?”

  “Maybe an hour, maybe less now,” she admitted, handing me dried meat and water. “Eat, and then we will move. You need your strength. You should also check the map; see how far we are from the place they’re holding Landon.”

  “The place we hope they’re holding him? There are over sixteen prisons with the symbol of the moon. We’re merely nearing the first one.” Granted, it sucked, but the possibility of Landon being at the first one was slim.

  I chewed the tasteless meat, gnawing at it while the others moved in around me. My stomach roiled, and I gagged, leaning over to vomit. Amo handed me a water skin, and I washed my mouth out as Tabitha kneeled, offering me a mint that I accepted to ease the nausea.

  “Send Scout out to see if he can find Torrin and his men, Amo. I need a moment,” I admitted, knowing that I had to give my body time to accept the tonic, which was working to nullify the poison. “Five minutes for it to kick in, and another if I have to throw up more poison,” I explained, watching as Tabitha held up fingers to the others, who were tending the horses.

  Torrin had saved me, but I was certain there was a more sinister reason for him doing so. One, he needed someone to help him find the library because if the rumors and lore were right, you needed darkness and light to open the doors.

  Only light could read from the Book of Life, while darkness read from the Book of Death. He needed me alive, and after having exposed my powers to save my team, he knew I was more than just one of the women from the Sun Clan. I was the heir to the fallen kingdom, one led by a long line of women.

  Furrowing my brow, I blinked past the splotches that lined my sight. Heat surged through me, making me sway as I sat up. My body felt strange, fueled with adrenaline, which meant it hadn’t just been a tonic. There’d been some serious healing herbs and something else mixed with it. I unrolled the map, placing it on the ground before peering up at the multitude of stars and then back down at the map.

  “We’re less than two hours from the first prison,” I admitted.

  “It’s going to be protected,” Tabitha stated.

  “It’s going to have guards, but they will be cocky since they’re within their territory. They don’t think anyone is stupid or suicidal enough to try to take it from them.” I nodded at Amo’s words.

  “We’ll go in silently and stealthily. Remember when we were told to figure out how to take control of the temple without being seen?” I asked and watched the huddled heads nodding as smiles tipped their mouths. “We do that, and then we go in through the front door. By the time we gain entrance, the army chasing us will have caught up. If that happens, you’re going to run. I can get myself out of Torrin’s grasp a lot easier than it will be to get everyone out again.”

  “Alexandria, not a fucking chance,” Tabitha argued. “We will die without you. Amo got us lost, moving in a straight line.”

  “There were trees!” she argued as I laughed.

  “You never were great with navigation. Remember the time you ended us up in the town filled with—”

  “Wraiths!” someone shouted, and my blood turned to ice.

  I peered at the girls, turning my head to watch the few wraiths trudging slowly through the path they’d diverted onto to give me the tonic. Gasping, I waited for the bone-chilling ice to come, yet it didn’t. I stared at the others, noting none of the other girls had responded to the chill or the freezing fear the wraiths usually sent through us.

  I stood, slowly moving toward them with shaking hands. I stepped directly into their path and waited for them to attack as my blades slid free and I palmed them. The wraiths shouldered past me, moaning, and didn’t even acknowledge me or our presence. My eyes widened, and I turned, staring at Amo and Tabitha, who stared back like I’d grown another head.

  Turning, I watched the wraiths continue down the path while worry and apprehension slithered through me. What the hell had just happened? Walking back to the girls, I fought down the uneasiness rocking through me.

  “Maybe the bites made us immune?” I asked, and they shook their heads. “Let’s go before they change their mind and decide we’re dinner.”

  After an hour of moving through the thick terrain, we left the horses in the woods. Placing the heavy cloaks over our heads and with our face-coverings in place, we observed the target site before heading out. I examined the prison layout, marking the entrances and few guards I could see before sliding through the wide-open entry gate. Two guards stood, sleepily guarding it.

  “For Glory of the Moon Goddess,” I whispered.

  “No,
” Amo groaned. “For those of us left behind to light the way. For us, and whatever is to come. For family, and because it isn’t our end,” she smirked. “I’m too young to die without it ending on some really good dick, anyway.”

  “For those that we lost on our way here. For the sisters who sleep within the embrace of the moon and continue to protect us from afar,” Tabitha injected.

  “Because being captured isn’t an option and being the pet to an obtuse man isn’t in my future.” I chuckled soundlessly. “Okay, so we suck at the whole charge shit, but we’re better together. I’m glad it wasn’t my end because Amo would have gotten you assholes so fucking lost without me.”

  “Amen,” Tabitha whispered.

  “There were trees! It wasn’t a straightforward map, either. It’s literally based on the stars, and stars burn out!” Amo growled, giving each of us a pointed look.

  “Yeah, they actually do,” I stated, smiling at her as she sniffled.

  “I’m glad you didn’t die, bitch.”

  “Me too. Let’s go find Landon. I need a nap and something stronger than water to drink,” I stated, as Amo sent Scout into the air, and we started through the thick foliage.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  My heart thundered, beating painfully against my ribs while approaching the front gate. Blood rushed through my veins, filling them with the high octane that had been within the tonic. I could feel my body responding to it and wasn’t so sure it wasn’t an aphrodisiac or something close to one. At our approach, the guards turned, checking out the delicate forms on display.

  “About time they sent us some entertainment,” one guard muttered to the other.

  “Hopefully, they’re not as hideous as the last batch,” his companion complained.

  Amo unwrapped her headdress, smiling at the look of lust that entered their gazes while they took in her delicate, ethereal perfection. She was lust in the rawest form, perfectly curved while being fierce and all toned muscles. Her robe dropped to the ground, and she swayed her hips while moving toward them.

  Her baton came up as they lurched forward in a rush to claim her. One pulled back at the last moment, but not before she spun, clapping both over the head with her short club.

  After they went down, we retrieved the guards, placing them against the immense columns that would conceal their drooping bodies. Tabitha bound their hands while I ripped part of my robe to gag them. Once Amo was redressed, and we secured the men, we entered the gates, quietly closing them behind us.

  “You know where to go to take down your assigned guard. No bloodshed. Keep it clean unless you have no other choice but to defend yourself. We’ve already drawn blood; let’s not add to it,” I ordered as we separated to take down the guards in our way.

  “Listen,” Amo whispered, stopping me. “You’re still wounded, Lexia. If you find Landon and he’s—changed, you must be careful.”

  I exhaled slowly, jerking my head in reply since words failed me at the idea of finding Landon turned or mindless with the need to kill. I had known he was sick because he’d been rambling things off that made little sense. I’d argued his coming out to find the library’s location with the clan members, but it had fallen on deaf ears.

  The Sacred Library could hide from anyone it thought or found unworthy. My brother had spouted on and on about what I thought was nonsense, which no longer sounded so crazy. He’d spoken of the nightwalkers as coherent beings, and now I knew they were. He’d told me the legends pertaining to our family, which I’d laughed in his face about, but I wasn’t confident he’d been off about those either.

  It was of paramount importance now that I find Landon and ask him what he knew of our bloodline. What if the legends were true, and the reason why I hadn’t been born male was because the true mate of the King of Night was within me? Aragon was a man-whore. He wasn’t a warrior worth mating. According to the legends, only a true mating of dark and light could remove the plague of darkness.

  My hand moved to my belly as I slowly pushed further into the darkness of the massive prison. All around me, silence prevailed, and my skin pebbled with the feeling of being watched as a foreboding sensation slithered over me, sending my hackles up in warning.

  Easing open the first door, I found the guard missing. Moving in deeper yet, I slipped into the shadows, palming my blades while strolling into what looked like bare walls covered in smears of something written on them. Unfortunately, the lettering changed to appear like smear marks.

  It looked almost as if someone had dragged bloody fingers over the wall, trailing them further into the darkness. Entering the next room, I shivered. The little light from the torches wafted with the breeze, and my eyes slowly took in the layers of cells that stretched up the walls.

  The entire place was a network of cells, accessed by little weight-driven elevators attached to a pulley system. Gazing up, I frowned at just how many cells were within the place. It would take hours to explore them all. We didn’t have that much time since there was an armed warlord on my heels, nipping at them.

  Struggling past the nervousness that filled me within the looming silence, I peeked into the first cell, finding it empty. It was the same story for the next and the next. I moved across the aisle and came face to face with moon-touched warriors, caged.

  “Landon Helios? Is he with you?” I asked in a hushed tone.

  A man hissed, tilting his head before he lunged at the bars. I jerked back, steeling myself against the darkness that burned in his silver eyes, spreading over his face. Moon sickness, which meant the king, was collecting them, but why? The man’s face smashed against the bars again, forcing me further back as his arms reached for me.

  I pushed down the worry that all the cells were filled with people suffering from moon sickness and soon to be a pile of rocks. Closing my eyes, I exhaled slowly, listening to the mindless beings moaning inside the cells.

  Turning to stare down the length of the cell-lined corridor, I slid to the side, checking each one until a dark form huddled in the corner of one caught my eye. My heart sank as he turned into the torch’s soothing light, cocking his head to the side before he stood.

  “Landon,” I whispered as tears burned my eyes.

  He moved forward, exposing his silver hair before his hands wrapped around the bars, and he breathed out a worried exhale. I moved closer, touching his hands before my lips lowered, peppering his hands with kisses.

  “You’re alive,” I gasped softly. “I knew you would be.”

  “You shouldn’t be here, Alexa.” His voice was weak and dry, as if dehydrated. “They pulled the guards an hour ago,” he stated, forcing the blood to leave my face.

  If they’d pulled the guards, then Torrin was already here. He’d known where we were heading and must have known a shortcut. That explained the lack of guards and how easy it had been to gain access to the cells.

  “It’s okay. I’m here to get you out of here,” I argued, putting my arms through the bars to pull Landon closer. Neither one of us was leaving; that much was a given.

  “You can’t, Alexa. I am sick. We’re all sick,” he grunted, pushing me away. “Leave.”

  “I’m not leaving you, Landon! It’s okay if you’re sick. We will get you better together. We can find the library and figure out how to cure this sickness. Some nightwalkers can speak, and those that could didn’t try to murder us. You weren’t crazy, and I can’t apologize enough for telling you that you were.”

  “Go, now,” Landon snapped harshly.

  “I’m not leaving without you!” I snarled back, watching the lines of blackness running through his face. “We’re family, Landon. You’re the only blood relation I have left. You know that everyone else is dead. It’s just you and me now. We stick together, remember? You promised me, and we promised our parents.”

  “Until the king catches you too,” he snapped as the blackness began spreading through the veins on his cheek. “You’re not supposed to b
e here! You’re the promised one,” he groaned, placing his back against the bars to look away from me, dropping his head back. “You’re the only female born in the last two hundred and fifty years. Don’t you see? You were born to fulfill a prophecy. You’re the key to raising the sun, and you can’t do that if he catches you, Alexa.”

  “I don’t care about the prophecy. I care about you! I care about getting you out of here. I can’t leave you!”

  “But you will, sister. You will leave now and find the library to save the other Moon Clan people from meeting my fate. The Order of the Moon depends on you being successful in discovering the location of the library. You’re pure and untainted by darkness. It will let you in to read from the Book of Life. It’s your destiny to read from the pages and right the wrongs of our ancestors. You’re the light in the darkness, don’t you see it? Why do you think your light is so much brighter than the others? Why do you think grandmother had to die for you to be born?” he asked, turning to look at me with obsidian eyes. “Because her soul was reincarnated through you, as is her light. You house the light of the Royal House of Sun, Alexandria Cira Helios. You’re the king’s promised mate in a new body, reborn to be the light to his darkness. If he catches you, and you create life, the moon loses its hold over the lands. He will kill you to protect the darkness. He’s the most powerful creature in the world because the darkness feeds its power to him.”

  “That’s insane, Landon. I’ve met the King of Night. He’s a lazy, pompous weakling who probably hasn’t ever held a steel blade in his hands! He spends his days and nights with women, choosing pleasure over anything else! He couldn’t be my mate. The fates of legend wouldn’t be so cruel.”

  “The king isn’t weak. If he was weak, he couldn’t house the darkness and control the creatures who feed upon us. You have not met him if you think him weak, sister. He often comes to see us, checking on our progress through the change. I’ve felt his power when he heals us from the sickness as it becomes too much. You’re wasting time, Alexa. You need to go before he comes,” Landon begged.