by Jenn Vakey
Tainted Rescue
Book two of the
Tainted World Series
Jenn Vakey
Tainted Rescue
Copyright © 2019 by Jenn Vakey
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
ASIN B07PJSNDFD
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Other Books by Jenn Vakey
Bonus Chapters – Loving Danger
CHAPTER ONE
LEEYA
The dull clacking of wood on wood filled the air, mixed with heavy breaths and grunts. The bastons in my hands, narrow wooden fighting sticks that were almost the length of my arms, felt like they were a part of me now. Like when you wore a piece of jewelry for so long that you felt naked without it.
Though it hadn’t even been a month since the first time I had held them, even I could admit that I was getting better. Faster, stronger. My movements were smoother, and I had control not only of the location they landed, but of the speed and force of the hits. But it still wasn’t good enough. Part of me hoped that if I kept hitting harder, eventually I would reach the point where it would take away all of my pain. Take away everything I felt.
I had just stopped to get something to drink when I saw him walk around the corner of the dorm and move toward me. Though I hated it, my heart gave one of those stupid little jumps that it liked so much when it came to him.
Rhydian, also apparently known as Prince Evran Behrer, just had that effect on me. It wasn’t even a reaction based on his looks, although that definitely added to things. He was tall with a body that made it very clear that he worked it hard on the training field. His blonde hair was long, which he kept tucked behind his ears. And those eyes. They were so green that they looked like someone had painted them the color of the richest leaves on the trees. Deep and beautiful.
It was everything about him that had drawn me in. He was a warrior with a heart of gold. Vastly protective. Strong, yet gentle. Perfect. And that only made it harder to be around him. Made it hurt.
“What did they say?” I asked, then dropped my bastons down and moved to the punching bag. I couldn’t stand there facing him. Seeing the way he looked back at me. The tenseness that was even stronger than it had been when I had first arrived in Alkwin. When I knew he didn’t trust or like me.
“It’s still up for debate,” he said coolly.
I gritted my teeth, squaring off and punching the bag hard. Again, and again. Two weeks I had been forced to sit here and wait. Wait for the leadership of Alkwin to talk and plan, and to make decisions about what to do about this. I was tired of waiting.
“Relax,” Rhydian said. “No one is willing to leave them there. Not Orson’s own daughter.”
I stopped short and shot a glare at him.
He rolled his eyes. “That’s beside the point. The debate right now is what to do. And when.”
I bit down on my tongue so hard that I started to taste blood. I was angry, furious. I always was these days. It wasn’t a feeling that ever really seemed to leave me. It just rotated through with the other things I had been dealing with. But I couldn’t take it out on him. Anyone but him.
It didn’t take me long at all after Adler, brother to the late King Phineas, sent me to Alkwin before I knew I was in over my head. He had lied and told me that Rhydian had murdered the prince, then later the king. Even believing that, I had fallen for him. Hard. And those feelings hadn’t been one sided.
I had decided pretty early that I wasn’t going to give Adler what he wanted. I couldn’t give him Rhydian, even though he promised to give me my sister back if I did. Changing my mind and trying to keep Rhydian out of his hands didn’t change the facts, though. I had betrayed him, and it almost got both of us killed. I still didn’t know why he refused to let me tell anyone else what really happened. The only reason I could come up with was that I had killed Adler to save his life. That it was his way of making us even. I didn’t want to be even, though. I wanted him to hate me, to yell at me. To send me away. Then maybe it wouldn’t feel like my insides were being ripped to shreds every time I had to see him around.
“Aarys said you’ve been out here whenever you weren’t working,” he said, his tone still so tight. Like he was forcing himself to talk. To be polite. I just nodded. I couldn’t blame him for not knowing without having to be told. He had been keeping his distance from me since that night. Well, since the conversation we had had in the woods after the meeting the following day.
All of our trainings had been cancelled. He hadn’t joined the dorm residence for a meal once, if he was even in the dining hall at all. Even when I happened to be in the same place as him, like when he brought someone into the clinic when I was there, very few words were actually exchanged. No pleasantries. Nothing that wasn’t absolutely essential.
“I want to be ready,” I said, looking back at the bag. I rolled my shoulders, then threw another punch. Vibrations moved up my arm from the impact. I hit harder, hoping that twinge of pain would move deeper. Overshadow everything else. “Have you heard anything from Dallin?”
“Not yet,” he answered. “It’s supposed to be later today.”
I nodded, the air around us feeling so thick that it was difficult to feel like I was getting enough air. I hated it so much. “Thanks for letting me know.”
Rhydian turned and walked away without another word. I watched and waited until he was out of sight, then dropped down to the ground and tried to pull myself together. I could feel the tears coming, and I didn’t want to let them. I had cried far too much those first few days. After that, I had told myself I wouldn’t do it anymore. I would just focus on my sister and doing absolutely everything I could to get her back. Then I would deal with Rhydian.
For now, I was just going to channel that pain into my training.
CHAPTER TWO
RHYDIAN
I walked back into the meeting hall after leaving Leeya on the training field. After the scene she made at the last meeting, or rather the very heated argument she had with Orson Blaker, our leader and her birth father, Orson thought it best that she sit this one out. I would be lying if I said that the reason I volunteered to be the one to break the news to
her that morning had nothing to do with the fact that I knew she wouldn’t argue with me. Her guilt over what had happened with my late uncle was still so strong that she would do anything I asked of her, little pushback if any. It wasn’t something that I took advantage of, but it was useful in this case. We wouldn’t accomplish anything if all of the time was spent trying to keep them from coming to blows. This was her sister, though, so I told her that I would tell her what was decided after.
People were still talking when I walked back into the room. It had been like this for weeks. We’d get a little bit of information in, then the group sat around and argued about the best thing for us to do.
I couldn’t blame Leeya for being upset with the whole thing. She blamed herself. Killing Adler meant giving up a way to find her sister. A way to find all of them. And she had done it for me.
I didn’t know what to think when she went out that night. I had actually smiled when I heard her leave her room. It had become this thing with us. She would go out and lie down on one of the tables outside, then I would follow and we would just talk. That’s where I thought she was going when she left.
When she wasn’t there, I checked the clearing with the log in the woods. I even went out to the river, to the place where I planned to build my house. The house I foolishly wanted to share with her. She wasn’t anywhere, though. So I checked the security, a magical tracking system that showed dots where everyone within the border was. That’s when I saw someone moving toward the archway. I hadn’t even questioned that it was her.
The only thing I could think was that she was panicking about what we had done. The fact that we had slept together just hours before. That I had basically confessed how I felt about her and it had made her run. I certainly didn’t expect her to say what she did.
“We should move a team into Eden,” Faida said. “Have them start watching the council. One of them is certain to lead us to where they have them.”
“Doing that runs the risk that they find out,” Orson responded. “They could cut their losses and kill them all. We have no idea how many they have. It could be enough for us to raise an army. They wouldn’t take that chance.”
“Maybe we should wait until we have another Tainted ready to leave,” Prestyn offered. “Watch them and put them in a position to be caught. Then we could follow them back to where they’re keeping them.”
“That still only gets us a location,” Jaron interjected. “Hopefully something our people on the inside find can get that for us. There are only so many places they could be holding them.”
I dug my fingers into the back of my neck, feeling a headache coming on. I couldn’t listen to this right now. I knew it was stupid to feel guilty about any of this. Even if Leeya had given me to Adler, he wouldn’t have given Lillith back to her. I couldn’t really help it, though. If she hadn’t killed him, we could have used him to get to them. If I had just seen her for what she really was, I could have used her just like she had used me.
Biting back a frustrated groan, I stood back up and walked out. I needed a break. I needed a reason to actually smile. There was really only one place I was going to get that.
The clinic was empty when I walked in. Noella was in the meeting, and Leeya was probably still training. It really was the only thing she did anymore. I turned down the hall and pulled open the first door on the left.
Joury looked up at me from the chair she was sitting in and smiled. “We were just talking about you,” she said.
I nodded, turning to the little girl sitting on the bed. She was just staring out the window, not even bothering to acknowledge that I was there. That wasn’t anything new. “Thanks for watching her.”
“Anytime,” Joury said, then I heard her leave.
I sighed, then hopped up onto the bed next to my little sister. “I have good news for you,” I told her.
Her little eyebrow raised, but she still didn’t turn to face me. “You’re finally in a better mood?”
It was impossible to keep from smiling at the sass in her little voice. Eight years old, and I swear she could stand up to just about anyone when it came to dishing it out. She hadn’t even held back when Orson had come in to meet her after his return, telling him almost sardonically that her accommodations could rival the dungeon in the palace. Not that the palace in Eden that we had both grown up in actually had a dungeon.
“Why do you think I’m in a bad mood?”
Her head turned toward me, blonde curls bobbing as she shot me a look that told me she thought I was being ridiculous. “Are you talking to her again?”
Myrah didn’t know what had happened two weeks ago, but I couldn’t get away with not telling her something. I had already told her about Leeya during that first week she was in Alkwin. She had even been there to hear me trying to sooth Leeya after Aarys had injured her during training. I had told her all about that stubborn girl who challenged me in ways most people didn’t. Who pushed herself even when I could see she was uncomfortable. Who, despite her own grief, still thought about others. The girl who actually made me want to smile.
My sweet sister was far too observant not to give her some explanation after that night with Adler. So I told her a little. Nothing in detail, but still more than I had told anyone else in Alkwin.
“I’ll talk to her when I’m ready, Myrah,” I said, pulling my knees up and resting my arms on them. “You’ll learn when you get older that some things take time to work through.”
“Are you still mad about Leeya lying to you?”
I stared back at her in lieu of an answer. Of course I was mad. I was still so angry about all of it. Confused, hurt. God, so many things that it made it hard to even focus on things sometimes. The fact that she was always on the training field didn’t help anything either. It meant less time for me to try to work my way through some of this. To hit something until I felt numb.
“To be fair, you did lie to her too,” she told me. “So maybe she should be mad at you.”
I shook my head. “Leeya can’t be lied to without knowing. It’s one of her abilities.”
“You still lied,” she said pointedly. “You didn’t tell her who you were. That’s a pretty big lie.”
Okay, she had me there. As much as I wanted to put all of the blame on Leeya, I still had guilt for that part. Not everyone in camp knew who I really was. That I was the prince of Eden. It was only something talked about with a few people. The people who had been here longer than me knew, and everyone in the dorm. But that wasn’t an excuse. Leeya hadn’t been just anyone else around camp. I kissed her. I slept with her. All without her actually knowing who I was.
“That’s not the same,” I insisted. “And it’s not something you can understand without knowing what actually happened. Before you ask, no, I’m not going to tell you.”
“Fine,” she said, turning back to the window with a huff. “Then just go on being grumpy. She can go on being sad. And the both of you can be sad, grumpy, lonely people because you can’t just get over it.”
I growled at her, but I didn’t respond. She was such a stubborn little thing. It didn’t surprise me one bit. She had only been four when I left Alkwin, and that streak had been strong even then. That was the last time I had seen her before the night I snuck into the palace to take her. The night I learned that my father had discovered weeks before that I wasn’t dead, although he had simply thought that I just ran away with a girl he didn’t approve of.
Before that night with Adler in the woods, I don’t think I had ever been as scared as when I stood before my father and showed him what I could do. Told him that I left because his own laws would have killed me. Put our whole family at risk. Then told him about Myrah. He looked so broken in that moment, but he told me I could take her to keep her safe. That he would change the laws and make it so that Tainted people would be safe in the city. That was the day before Adler killed him.
I woke up before Leeya did that night in the woods. I had to listen to Adler brag, telli
ng me exactly what he had done to her. How he tricked her into getting me out of the city. He had told her that I killed my father, brother, and sister. He said he had chosen her because of how she looked more than anything else. Because he knew she could seduce me, could earn my trust. And it broke me.
In that moment, I wanted to hate her. I think I might have actually accomplished it to some degree. Part of me wanted to say that he was wrong, because a lot of her actions didn’t make sense. She didn’t try to take me to him. In fact, she had tried desperately to get me to go back to Alkwin. But I was too mad, too hurt to listen to that. All I could see was a girl who lied to me. Who did nothing more than play a part in an attempt to earn my trust.
But then she woke up, and the first thing she did was cry out for me. I listened to her pleading for Adler to let me go. I saw the terror on her face when he told her that the only way to get her sister back was to kill me. Leeya didn’t try to hide it, didn’t try to be tough. Instead, she turned the gun on him instead. She was even willing to sacrifice herself by stepping in front of me when he tried to shoot me. And she killed him to save my life.
A large part of me knew even then that Adler’s plan had backfired. That a part of her actually did care about me, even though I was certain it was driven more by guilt than anything else. The conclusion I finally came to was that everything that had happened between us had been nothing more than her attempt to get her sister back. That it hadn’t really meant anything to her.
I had no idea what I was going to do about the entire situation when I picked her up from the ground, and for the second time since we met, carried her through the archway and into Alkwin. I struggled with the decision that I knew I had to make. Whether or not to tell the others about what she had done. If I did, the only option for her would be banishment. I told myself that I owed her for saving my life. Even now, that was what I kept telling myself when I thought about it. Not because banishment would mean that I wouldn’t get to see her again. I was too mad for that. Too hurt.