A Soul for Vengeance, page 2
Now she stood inches away from the man she’d set out to find. His head was bowed, and his arms bound in chains to the ship’s wall. He was cachectic and disheveled from his months on board the prison ship, a thin resemblance to the carefree prince she’d known. The Thallians hadn’t killed him, but had they broken his spirit? She whispered his name to see if he responded. “Kell?”
A glimmer of recognition sparked in his eyes. She repeated his name, and he lifted his head. “Yes?” he croaked.
Joy surged through her being, leaking out from her eyes. “We found you! You’re alive.”
The other men rushed toward her, the keys in Parros’s hands clanging as joyfully as the bells of the grandest temple to the Lady Moon. They’d all risked their lives to find Prince Kell, and now they would be rewarded for their weeks of patience and planning.
Parros unlocked the chains that bound him, and Zara caught him as he fell forward. He was still so weak, so malnourished that if they weren’t careful, they might lose him to illness once they got him back to the shore. “Let’s get him to the boat,” she ordered.
The other prisoners cried out in protest as they passed, each demanding to be freed, too. But if she released them now, they’d stampede their way to the boat and ruin the rescue operation. She’d keep her promise, though, but only once Kell was safely on board the boat they’d bought.
Kell’s eyes were half-closed when they reached the top deck, his feet dragging behind him.
Parros frowned. “There’s no way he’ll be able to climb down, m’lady.”
“Then I’ll go down first to catch him while you and the others find a way to lower him to the boat.”
“And the others?” He glanced over his shoulder to the stairs leading to the prison cells, the keys still in his hand, his expression unreadable.
She flung her crossbow’s strap over her shoulder and stepped out onto the rope ladder. “Once we get him on board, you can give the keys to the prisoners. But make sure they don’t sabotage our mission. The last thing we need is to alert the other prison ships and have one of their cannons blow us out the water.”
The men wrapped a rope around Kell’s chest and used it to lower him into the boat. Zara caught him and dragged him to the bow of the small boat. His eyes remained half-closed, his mind drifting in and out of consciousness. She cradled him in her lap and brushed the hair out of his eyes, her heart wavering between hopeful and wary. They’d rescued the only remaining heir to the throne, but would he be the leader they needed?
Parros was the last one on board. He leveled his gaze with Zara, his mouth set in a firm line. “I did as you asked, m’lady. I just pray the prisoners will follow my command.”
Shouts rose from the other side of the hull, and her throat tightened. “Let’s get out of here now before they alert the Thallians.”
“I warned them not to,” Parros said as he pushed off. “I explained the ship was theirs, and they’d be far better off sailing away on it than trying to reach Boznac.”
“What if one of the other ships gives chase?”
Parros laughed and took his place at the rudder. “Even the Thallians know it’s suicidal to sail in winter. One good storm will sink an entire armada.”
“Then why did you send our people on such a journey?”
“I told them about the cove. If the weather holds, they’ll make it safely there by dawn.”
Zara offered yet another quick prayer to the Lady Moon for the prisoners’ safety. If the Thallians caught them, there’d be no mercy.
She pulled the tarp over their heads and gave the command to go, her stomach knotting up. At this rate, they’d barely miss the changing of the guards. The paddles under the boat whirled to life under the power of her men’s foot pedals, and the boat moved back to shore. Although she spent most of the trip keeping watch and telling Parros which way to steer, she lost count of how many times she checked Kell to make sure he was still breathing.
Once they reached their hiding spot on the edge of Boznac, they pulled him ashore and carried him inside the warehouse they used as their base of operations. Thao greeted them with a lantern and opened the floorboards that hid the entrance to the secret cellar he’d built for the rebels. A grin appeared under his extravagant moustache. “Successful, Lady Zara?”
“Very much so.” She grinned at him, savoring the first stirrings of joy in months. “Ranello finally has its king.”
Chapter 3
Arden inched closer to the ledge that served as Sazi’s balcony and looked down. Her cousin, Empress Marist, was coming through the main gates of the Conclave, followed by at least two dozen riders dressed in finery. “Is the Empress holding court here?”
“No,” Sazi replied without looking up from her scroll, “she is here on business.”
“Who are the men with her?”
“Knights.” Sazi stretched her ebony wings high above her head in the same synchronized movement as her arms before standing. The Ornathian mage towered everyone in the Conclave, but once she allowed Arden to see inside the gentleness of her soul, Arden no longer feared her. She joined her on the ledge. “They are here to be evaluated by the Mage’s Council.”
“For what?” This was the most excitement she’d had since being transferred into the Conclave’s walls two months ago.
Sazi’s brows drew together, and a furrow formed in the dark skin of her forehead. “Didn’t Dev tell you?”
“Dev never tells me anything.”
“That’s because he fears being near you,” Loku whispered. The chaos god’s soul resided in her body, his words always invading her mind. All of his previous Soulbearers had been driven mad by his antics. Arden always wondered when he’d manage to push her over the edge next. “That’s what you get for being honest with him, though. One little kiss, and you have him running scared.”
Arden didn’t try to hold back the heavy sigh that rose from her chest. She’d fallen in love with Dev, had even turned down a prince to be with him, but he kept claiming that nothing could ever happen between them as long as he was bound to protect her. She’d even been bold enough to try to convince him otherwise with a passionate kiss, but that resulted with him avoiding her every chance he could. “I suppose I made a mistake kissing him.”
“No, you made a mistake by stopping the kiss. What you should have done was tear his clothes off, thrown him on the bed, and had your wicked way with him. Then the two of you would both be post-orgasmically content, and I wouldn’t have to deal with your constant moping.”
Arden’s cheeks burned, but the images Loku supplied tempted her more than she cared to admit.
“Is something troubling your soul?” Sazi asked.
“More like your heart—am I right, my little Soulbearer?”
Arden shook her head. “I’m just getting frustrated. No one ever gives me a straight answer here.”
“Perhaps because there are things you are meant to know now, and things you are meant to learn in the future.” Sazi’s accent, normally so musical, now grated upon Arden’s ears with its smug condescendence as she returned to her desk.
“Are you going to allow her to talk to you like that?” Loku hissed. “Perhaps we should remind her who we are.”
Divine magic exploded from her core, wrapping her body in its power. A blast of wind soared in from the snow-covered mountains beyond the Conclave, flickering the magic-lit lamps and flipping the pages of the open books. When Arden spoke, she heard Loku’s voice echoing her words. “Tell us now.”
Sazi pursed her lips together. “Are you trying to intimidate me, Arden Soulbearer?”
“You know what we’re capable of doing.”
But instead of cowering in fear, the tall Ornathian reached out and closed her fingers together as though she was pinching the air. Even though Sazi stood halfway across the room, her spell ripped through any shields Arden scrambled to raise and cut off her air like a hand was on her neck.
Stars bloomed on the edges of Arden’s vision, bleeding together to form a dark tunnel that grew narrower with each passing second. She fell to her knees. Loku’s magic faded as the invisible vise tightened around her throat. She clawed at the air, desperate to free herself before she lost consciousness. Another blast of wind assaulted the room, but it lacked the strength of the first one.
“Release her, Loku,” Sazi ordered, her tone as dark as her skin, “before you are forced to have me as your jailor.”
“Another time, my little Soulbearer,” he whispered in her mind before withdrawing completely.
As soon as he did, Sazi released her from the spell. A series of hoarse coughs rattled Arden’s chest while she gulped in the delicious air. She pressed her pounding forehead against the cool stone floor and waited for her pulse to return to normal.
Sazi knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. Warm magic flowed from her touch, driving away the chill of near-death and the pain lingering in her throat. “I am sorry I had to resort to such measures, but I knew of no other way to make him release you.”
Arden lifted her head and stared into the Ornathian’s unreadable dark eyes. How many secrets did they hold? “You could have just told me what I wanted to know.”
“You are letting him influence your actions too much.” She placed a finger under Arden’s chin. “Remember why you are here. It is to learn how to control him, not to let him control you.”
She recounted the last few minutes in her mind. Loku had seized control of her so quickly, she’d hardly realized what he was doing. In the past, he’d always asked her permission. But this time, he grabbed control of her body, her mind, her voice in less than a second. She shuddered, anger filling the void left as her fear faded. What else was he capable of doing? “And how do you suggest I do that, should this happen again?”
The Ornathian replied by offering Arden one of her rare smiles. She lowered her finger to Arden’s chest and pressed it into the place right above her heart. “By looking inside here. Only you can control him. Remember who you were before he entered your life, and draw on that for your power.”
Arden almost laughed. Before Loku’s soul entered her body, she was a nobody. A skinny, yellow-haired witch who constantly lived in fear of being burned at the stake. An outsider who reminded her mother every day of the man who’d abandoned them. A girl who wanted nothing more than to disappear completely. “And what if I want to forget that person?”
“Then you will succumb to the madness as quickly as the others.” Sazi stood and walked away.
Arden wrapped her arms around her stomach to drive away the chill forming deep inside her gut. Sazi had managed to hit upon the one thing she feared the most—losing her mind to the chaos god just like the prior Soulbearers had. Memories of the prior Soulbearer, with his wild eyes and incessant muttering, filled her mind and added a chill to her blood. “Is that what you’re trying to do, Loku? Turn me into Robb?”
“Of course not, my little Soulbearer.” A pair of invisible arms wrapped around her. Normally, Loku’s embrace comforted her, but now she only wished to shake it off. Loku seemed to sense her thoughts and retreated. “They are the ones who wish to control you. You are the closest thing to a goddess they will ever encounter. Remember that.”
Her mind swirled as she rose to her feet, throwing her off balance for the first few steps. Who should she believe? Sazi? Loku? It wasn’t until she was halfway down the tower’s spiraling stairs that she decided she needed to be wary of both of them. Gravaria was a land seeped in both magic and secrets. It made her wish for the simple hostility of Ranello. At least there, she knew where she stood.
When she reached the bottom, she went straight for the wing where the Mage’s Council met. These men and women were considered the ten most powerful mages in Gravaria, although she questioned their power after seeing what Sazi was capable of doing a few moments before. Since Nelos’s priest had killed the Mage Sextus in an attempt to get to Arden, a new mage had been elected to the council. She only hoped the new Mage Decius would be willing to divulge some information about the Empress’s entourage.
Unfortunately, her path intersected with Empress Marist instead. The two women stopped a few feet apart and eyed each other warily. Arden had only recently learned that she and the Empress were cousins, although there was no denying the strong family resemblance. They were the same height, the same build, possessed the same golden hair and blue eyes. If her mother hadn’t clipped the tips when she was a baby, perhaps Arden’s ears would’ve formed the same elegant points as Marist’s.
But instead of welcoming her to the family, the Empress seemed to view Arden as a threat to her power. She lifted her chin ever so slightly and regarded her with cold blue eyes.
Arden mirrored her stance, the only person in the room who dared not bow before the Empress. “Your Imperial Majesty.”
“Soulbearer.” Her eyes glittered silver for a moment, heightening the Empress’s icy nature.
“To what do we owe the honor of your presence?” She secretly hoped Marist was here to lift the spell that kept Arden captive behind the Conclave’s walls. The Empress had arrested her after she and Loku defeated Nelos. The Tribunal of the Gods feared what would happen if she actually killed a god, but since the order of the world didn’t fall out of balance, Loku had reassured her that Nelos’s soul had survived. It was crippled, perhaps, but not destroyed. Hopefully, enough time had passed to convince the Empress of that.
Marist arched one golden brow. “I’m here to oversee the selection of your new Protector.”
Her supply of spit doubled, forcing her to swallow faster. “I already have a Protector.”
“Yes, but he’s asked the Mage’s Council to be relieved of his duty.”
The blood drained from her face so quickly, her head swam. She took a step back. “Dev no longer wants to be my Protector?”
“Didn’t he tell you?” A slight smirk adorned the Marist’s lips.
“I was hoping to wait until we’d found a suitable replacement before telling her, Your Imperial Majesty,” Dev said from behind Arden.
She turned around, scarcely believing what she was hearing. Dev’s face remained unreadable, as always, but a glint of some unrecognizable emotion glowed from his dark green eyes. Yet, despite the news that he was planning to abandon her, her heart quickened, and she was drawn to him as though he’d looped a rope around her waist and was pulling her toward him. “Why?”
He winced and tightened his jaw, his gaze stripping through all her defenses until he came to the raw pain of her soul. “You know why,” he replied in a hoarse whisper.
She drew in a sharp breath, the air burning her nostrils and making her eyes water. Her hands trembled. Yes, she knew why. She’d crossed the line by letting him know she wanted something more. She’d risked her heart by showing him that she loved him. And this was his answer.
Her feet backpedaled, stumbling over themselves as she placed some much needed distance between her and the man who was breaking her heart all over again. But she refused to let him see her cry. She fought to keep her emotions concealed, her face as hard as her cousin’s and her voice as cold. “Then so be it.”
She kept her steps slow and deliberate until the shadows of the narrow hallway consumed her. Then she ran back to her room, the sound of Cinder’s padded feet following her through the twisted paths of Conclave. Once she was behind closed doors, she sank to the floor and let the tears fall. The fire wolf nudged her with his muzzle, inviting her to run her hands through his coarse fur and cling to it while she cried.
“Forget about Dev,” Loku said. “You’ll always have me, and I promise never to hurt you.”
“So you say.” After his little demonstration in Sazi’s tower today, she doubted his sincerity.
Loku replied with a snort of disdain. “If you wish for me to abandon you like Dev—”
“Just shut up and let me mourn.”
“No, I refuse to let you cry over a man who obviously is too stupid to know what he has. He’s not worth your tears.” He paused, filling her mind with an image of a man with long black hair whipping in the wind, glowing yellow-green eyes, and lines that chaotically danced across his skin like lightning bolts. It was the same form he’d revealed to her in a dream many months ago, a glimpse of what he’d looked like before his body had been destroyed. “If I still had my body, I’d prove to you that you didn’t need any other man but me.”
The seductive tone of his words snapped her from her world of self-pity and halted her tears. Over the last year, she’d come to view Loku as a confidant, a friend, but never a lover. She could only imagine the trouble she’d be in if she accepted his invitation. “Thankfully, you don’t have a body.”
“But imagine what you’ve been missing.” A breeze bathed the back of her neck as though Loku was standing right behind her. “I’d make Kell look like an inexperienced boy.”
More images flooded her mind—scenes of tangled bodies and tangled sheets, of two people caught in the throes of passion. A rebellious spark of desire ignited deep inside, flushing her skin. A whimper rose from her throat. She closed her eyes and surrendered to the world Loku painted for her, only to realize that she was the woman in the scenes. Her mouth went dry, and her pulse quickened as the man’s face came into view. She knew that dark auburn hair, as soft as silk, and the eyes the color of evergreens.
Dev.
Fury replaced her lust. She jumped to her feet so quickly, Cinder tumbled back on his haunches. “That wasn’t funny, Loku.”
“You did that,” he replied, his voice laced with acid, “not me. If I was in control, it would have been my face you saw as you came, my body giving you pleasure.”
Arden pressed her hands against her flaming cheeks. Her legs twitched, forcing her to move from one end of the room to the other. “I can’t stay here. I can’t be near him any longer, not after he made very clear he wants nothing to do with me.”
“Then leave.”
