Noble Lies

by Lyneal Jenkins

  ‘Gabriel,’ he said.

  ‘And you.’ Gabriel threw his arm around Adam's shoulder, drawing him close. ‘You are a friend that all would be envious of. You kept her safe for me when I couldn’t. I owe you a debt.’

  ‘Stop.’ I couldn’t bear it. His happiness and excitement tore shreds in my heart. ‘Gabriel. Please, you don’t understand.’

  Gabriel winked at Adam. ‘Are the pregnancy hormones already getting to her?’ He brushed away a tear I hadn’t noticed travelled my cheek. ‘I know about the prophecy. Don’t worry about it. We will face it together, you and me, how it should be.’

  ‘Gabriel.’ Adam shifted Gabriel's arm from his shoulder. ‘You need to listen.’

  ‘I am.’ Gabriel grinned. ‘Okay, no I'm not. I apologise. I feel so happy right now, as if I could soar away in this form.’ He dropped to his knees with his hands on my waist. ‘Let me see our child.’

  I looked at Adam, panicked. Why hadn’t I listened and remained back at camp? What on earth had been going through my mind for me to think this was a good idea? Maybe Eris was right, and I had completely lost my mind. Maybe it was only time before someone found me in a corner, rocking and screaming as I pulled my own hair out.

  ‘Gabriel,’ Adam said again, his own worry evident in his tense frame and the shadow in his eyes. He looked like a man sentenced to the gallows.

  Gabriel stiffened. His happiness drained away, leaving confusion in its place as he looked up at me. ‘The child is small.’ He looked to Adam, to my stomach, and back to me. ‘The child is too small. Ana, the child is small!’

  ‘I know,’ I whispered. ‘Gabriel—’

  Gabriel stumbled to his feet and backed away from me, shaking his head. ‘No! No, this isn’t right. Eris said—’

  ‘Eris lied,’ Adam said.

  Gabriel put his hands up, palms facing me as if he could ward off the truth. ‘No. I don’t believe it.’ He took a deep breath. ‘It was the human soldiers!’ The words were filled with so much venom, I stumbled back from him. ‘They hurt you worse than I realised. I will kill every single one of them. I will rip their hearts—’

  ‘It wasn’t them.’ My stomach rolled at the thought. ‘I wasn’t raped.’

  ‘Then who?’

  I shrank under the venom in his voice. Yep, I definitely should have stayed with the Damiq.

  ‘Which human did you defile yourself with?’ He glared at Adam. ‘Why did you not tell me she had slept with someone? Who is it?’ He looked back at me. ‘Is it someone from your work? Your boss, Carl?’

  ‘What?’ I stared at him stunned, my head spinning as I tried to make sense of his words. ‘How could you think that I would sleep with Carl?’

  He towered above me, his eyes blazing. ‘I never believed that you would do it with anyone!’ He shoved me away. I stumbled but managed to keep my footing. ‘Katar me’sh!’

  I didn’t need to understand the language to understand the meaning. It seeped from him like a poisonous gas, and rage erupted in me, leaving no room for remorse or fear. I slammed my hands into his chest, forcing him back a couple of steps. ‘Don’t you dare call me a whore!’ I slammed him again. ‘You have no claim to me. I am not your property. I am not even your girlfriend. I could sleep with the whole of England, and you would still have no right to judge me!’ I stared at him with my chest heaving, willing my glare to cause him harm.

  He sneered at me. ‘You are right. I have no need to protect you anymore. You have a human to do it now.’

  ‘Protect me? Are you insane? You have done nothing but put me in danger. Not only did you allow me to draw in your shi, but you sent me off with your psychopath of a daughter, and then, you tried to kill me. But did it stop there? No, it damn well didn’t. You were willing to hand me over to the council, ready for them to take my life, all to save your own ass!’ The Siis was deluded and was just begging for me to hurt him.

  Gabriel flicked his fingers at me as if flapping away a pestering fly. ‘Run away, katar me’sh. Run to your burrowing rats the Damiq. Maybe they will protect you.’

  ‘Gabriel!’ Adam gripped his shoulders, demanding his attention. ‘Stop this!’

  Gabriel glared at him, anger and hurt filling his eyes in equal measures. ‘You should have prevented this. You should have contacted me when it became evident what was happening.’

  Adam glanced at me, the action a mere moment in time but Gabriel caught it like a dog with a bone. His eyes widened and he stepped back with his hands up as if he could ward off the truth. ‘No. Don’t you dare tell me that it was you.’ He pointed at Adam. ‘It wasn’t you. It couldn’t have been you.’ Gabriel glowered at me, and I looked down. I couldn’t bear the anger and pain in his eyes. It was enough to feel it. He backed away further. ‘No.’ His voice cracked. ‘Not you. Not my oldest friend.’

  ‘Let me explain,’ I said. ‘Suraya—’

  ‘You betray me, and you blame it on my daughter?’ He glared at me, his eyes bright with hate. ‘She was right about you. Everything you said was a lie! Everything you did was false!’

  Anger exploded in my chest. ‘Go to hell! You did this!’

  ‘What? I forced you into his arms, did I? Did I hold you down while he raped you? Did I laugh while you screamed your protest?’ He gripped my top and lifted me off the ground. ‘Did I?’ he roared, spraying spittle onto my face.

  Adam launched at Gabriel, knocking me from his hold. I rolled across the ground as Adam pinned him against the tree by his throat. ‘Stop this now!’

  Gabriel struggled, kicking and hitting Adam. It made no difference, and Gabriel screamed in rage. ‘You have no honour!’

  Eris laughed from behind me. ‘This is definitely a sight worth waking for.’

  Gabriel froze in Adam’s grip and glared at her. ‘You did this!’

  She laughed again. ‘Even I don’t have that much power. Though, Adam is preferable to you. You are a weak person, Gabriel. You always have been. I know it. Ana and Adam know it. Deonti knew it. I never understood what she loved about you.’

  Gabriel snarled. ‘You speak of yourself. You are the one who hides behind cruel acts.’

  ‘No, I am not weak, and unlike you, I don’t lie about who I am.’ She winked at me. ‘Well, unless I have a purpose in mind.’

  I glared at her, wishing I could shove my fist down her throat. ‘Stay out of this, Eris.’

  ‘I could, but where would be the fun in that?’ She stepped towards Gabriel. ‘I have waited so long to see you fall. Who could have known that it would be caused by a human and your closest comrade?’ She laughed with smarmy pleasure. ‘It couldn’t have been more perfect if I’d planned it myself.’

  ‘Eris,’ Adam growled. ‘Leave us now.’

  ‘You speak of honour,’ she said, ignoring Adam, ‘but tell them what you did after the trial. Tell them how you visited a whorehouse, desperate to be held in a woman’s arms, desperate for someone to tell you that you are a man worthy of love.’

  Gabriel pushed Adam’s hands away and confronted Eris. ‘You know not what you speak of.’

  ‘What was her name again?’ Eris asked. ‘Candy? Cinnamon? I’m sure it was something food related, a made-up name to help her pretend that she admired you. Did she tell you that you were all man, Gabriel, that you did things to her that no other ever had?’

  ‘Stop!’ I glared at them both, my chest heaving. ‘Stop it now, all of you.’

  ‘You claim to live by high morals,’ Eris said, ‘but you are no better than Ana or any other human.’

  Gabriel glared at her and me before turning to Adam. ‘I invoke Ta Mar, Santea.’

  ‘Do not do this,’ Adam said. ‘You will not win.’

  Gabriel held his hand out to me. ‘Give me your dagger.’

  I shook my head. ‘You are not fighting. I won’t allow it.’

  Eris threw a dagger at his feet ‘Here. Do as you will, Gabriel. I have no care for your life.’

  Gabriel picked the dagger off the ground and slic
ed it across his palm, drawing blood. He rubbed his hand down Adam’s cheek, leaving a red streak, and held the dagger out. ‘Meet my challenge, Santea.’

  Adam stared at him, unmoving.

  ‘Meet my challenge, coward!’

  Adam took the dagger, sliced it across his palm, and transferred his blood onto Gabriel's cheek. ‘I meet your challenge.’ His voice was soft yet filled with aching sadness, a man resigned to complete a task he felt couldn’t be avoided.

  As if I didn’t have enough crap going on. Did they no realise that we were about to go to war? ‘No!’ I forced myself between them. ‘I won’t let this happen.’

  Eris gripped my arm, pulling me back. ‘You have no choice. A challenge has been issued and met. Gabriel, do you understand that it is to the death?’

  Gabriel nodded. ‘I would have it no other way.’

  I whirled on her. She had created this situation. If she had told Gabriel the truth from the start, he would have had time to calm, or at the very least, stayed away. ‘You can stop this.’

  She shook her head. ‘If I do, it will be presented to the council. You really don’t want that, Ana. You are already getting enough attention.’

  ‘Ta Mar will commence at sunset,’ Gabriel said. He glared at me. ‘Remember this, Ana. His blood is on you.’ He stalked away without a backwards glance.

  I looked at Adam, pleading. ‘You can't do this.’

  He refused to look at me. ‘I have no choice.’

  ‘Of course, you have a choice.’

  ‘He doesn’t,’ Eris said. ‘Adam, you need to be ready to do what is needed.’

  He nodded and walked to the Damiq camp, leaving us alone. Was he worried about having to hurt his oldest friend? Did he wish he had never met me?

  I glared at Eris. ‘You provoked this.’

  She merely grinned, her eyes bright with amusement.

  The full impact of what had happened hit me. Nausea bubbled in my stomach and my mouth filled with fluid. I turned to the tree and vomited. By the time I finished, Eris was gone.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The weak sun slid lower in the sky and the shadows deepened, but my grainy eyes itched and watered as if I stared into a high-noon sun. I observed the Damiq gather in the small clearing, unable to shed my despair. Verity squealed and ran out of the trees with Matty in tow. Kacie hushed them, explaining that we wanted to remain hidden, that they had to be quiet until we found a new place to live.

  ‘When was the last time you slept?’ Bill asked.

  I shrugged. ‘I got a couple of hours during the journey to London, and a couple more today.’ I yawned, not willing to mention that the two hours sleep had been scattered ten-minute dozes throughout the day. No point worrying him. ‘Don’t bother telling me I need more. I have already heard it off Nicolai. I never thought I would miss that damn cavern, but after dozing on the damp ground, my body aches for those hard stone beds.’

  ‘We will stay here tonight. The doc has given permission for the injured to be moved, and Nicolai said we will be heading towards one of the other Damiq camps tomorrow.’

  I nodded as I scanned the area, looking for Gabriel. I found him stood watching the Damiq, with his body tense and his eyes narrow, anger pulsing from him like heat during a fever.

  ‘Bet they wish they could miss this crap,’ I muttered.

  Bill looked over the Gabriel, frowning. ‘What exactly is happening? All we know is that we are to witness something called a Ta Mar. What is that?’

  ‘A pissing match between Adam and Gabriel.’

  His eyes widened in surprise. ‘The father and your ex?’

  I nodded as I rotated my jaw, trying to ease the tension that clamped my teeth together. ‘Gabriel feels betrayed and thinks he is going to fight Adam to the death.’

  Bill gave me a sceptical look.

  ‘I know. It’s pathetic. They claim to be the evolved race, yet they act like someone from a Dicken’s novel.’

  He looked a Gabriel, frowning with doubt. ‘They are really going to kill each other over a woman?’

  I hugged my knees to my chest. The tree bark dug into my back, catching on one of my fresher cuts causing it to hurt again. I didn’t move. I couldn’t be bothered. In the big scheme of things, the discomfort it caused was nothing compared to the other pains plaguing me. It was also the most comfortable I’d felt since leaving the cavern. ‘Not if I can help it.’

  ‘The priestess collected daggers off the Damiq and has made them into swords.’

  I groaned. ‘Of course they would use those.’

  Bill shook his head, still amazed that the Siis would worry about a stupid fight when the world crumbled around them. ‘Why can't they have a good old punch up like everyone else?’

  I rolled my eyes. Because they are both idiots who need to have their heads bashed together. ‘Because that wouldn’t be dramatic enough.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’

  I sighed. ‘Whatever I have to.’ My head pounded with tiredness, and my injuries stung and throbbed. I touched my fingers to the fresh cut on my cheek received during my fight in the warehouse and winced. If only Eris would heal me like she had the Damiq.

  Bill opened his mouth but slammed it closed, unsure whether to speak.

  ‘Just say it.’ I watched Verity as she played with her rag doll, Annabel. She tossed the soft toy into the air and scurried to catch it, only to cry out when it fell into the bucket of drinking water.

  ‘I know you don’t want to talk about what happened in the cavern with the Siis-witch thing, but do you think—’

  ‘It could help here?’

  He nodded.

  ‘I could probably stop them, but what then? I can’t watch them all the time. And, on top of that, do I really want Eris to see what I can do? Knowing is one thing, but if she actually witnesses it, she might decide to stop me once and for all.’

  Gabriel approached, and I stiffened. I sighed with relief as he veered off, helping himself to some of the collected water.

  ‘You think Eris will become a threat?’ Bill asked.

  ‘She is already a threat. To be honest, I'm beginning to think that the baby is the only reason I am still alive. Anyway, if I drag on their shi, it will only bond them to me further.’ Exhaustion dragged on me, making it hard to think clearly. ‘The constant feel of Gabriel is already quite enough to deal with.’

  ‘Are you not bonded with the father?’ He watched me, his stare direct as he waited for my answer.

  I shrugged. ‘Maybe. It would explain a few things but…’ I sighed. ‘I don’t know. We haven’t actually talked about it.’

  He snorted and shook his head, with an expression that said he wouldn’t want to be me. ‘That’s gotta be difficult.’

  I grunted. This wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have, not right now, not with everything pressing down on me. ‘It’s not the worst thing going on right now.’

  ‘I s’pose not.’

  Gabriel splashed his face and stopped to glare at Bill and me. I looked at my knees, unable to meet his condemning stare. Great. Now he would accuse me of having an affair with Bill.

  ‘Kacie?’ Nicolai called. ‘Can you get the little ones out of here for a while?’

  ‘Of course,’ she shouted back. ‘I’ll take them to the stream to look for pebbles.’

  Nicolai watched Kacie collect the younger Damiq before he turned on the spot, making sure he had everyone’s attention. ‘The Siis have requested you bear witness to a Ta Mar, a battle between the two Siis. However, we have all been through much in the last few days, and anyone who does not wish to witness it can leave.’

  The Damiq murmured amongst themselves. Vanessa stood first and held her hand out to her sister. ‘We don’t want to witness murder. There has already been too much death.’

  Eight more Damiq followed suit, echoing her words, and followed her to the stream. If only I could join them. If only the drama was someone else’s. I sighed. If I was going to dwell in self-pity,
I might as well wish I were at home, never having met the Siis. Hell, if I wanted to wish for the unbelievable, I might as well wish that my parents were still alive, and we were all millionaires.

  ‘Anyone else?’ Nicolai said. ‘There is no shame in wanting peace.’ He glanced at Gabriel, who stared ahead, his expression set, uncaring of the heartache his actions caused.

  Three more Damiq hurried out of the clearing. Bill helped me to my feet as Adam exited the woods with a sword. As with Gabriel, he stared ahead, preparing for the upcoming fight, focused but with an edge of sadness. I felt sorry for myself and Adam was being forced to harm a life-long friend. I needed to get a grip.

  I hurried to Adam, each anxious breath an exhaled plume of mist. The cold bit through my skin to my bones, freezing any remaining warmth until I felt like a frozen corpse. I didn’t think I would ever be warm again. ‘Please stop this.’

  He held the sword out checking the balance and nodded with satisfaction. ‘I have no choice.’

  ‘Of course, you do. There is always a choice.’

  He met my gaze steadily, no room for compromise in them. ‘You wish for me to be a coward?’

  No, but—’

  ‘Then you wish for me to disregard our laws?’

  ‘No, but—’

  ‘There is no but here. If I refuse, the matter will be brought before the council. If they determine that there is a case, I will be forced to fight.’ He gave me a grim smile. ‘This way, you and the child remain out of it.’

  ‘How can you say that?’ I touched his arm, forcing him to meet my eyes. ‘This is all about me.’

  He brushed me off, slamming a wall down over his emotions, cutting me out. ‘No. This is about honour.’

  I wanted to scream but forced my tone gentle. ‘There is no honour in being killed.’

  One eyebrow raised in question. ‘You believe that I will lose?’

  I shook my head. ‘I think that Gabriel is angry, and you feel guilty.’

  He took a slow, deep breath that forced his shoulders back. ‘I will do what is needed.’

  God, save me from idiot men. ‘That’s the point. This whole thing isn’t needed. Gabriel doesn’t need to die just because he is an ass.’