Savage Reign

by Melody Locklear

“Not smart. This guy is unhinged. Years of seeing prophecies, seeing things that aren’t there.” Daxon shakes his head, almost like he feels bad for him.

  “We’ve got you surrounded, prophet. There’s nowhere to run so why don’t you just let the girl go and we’ll be on our way.” Keenan says patiently.

  We come up a few feet behind where Talvinder is holding a blade to Haven’s throat. Their backs are turned to us, but I can see Keenan at the door with two guards hovering behind him, prepared to use their magic when necessary. They’re all air users except for me and Daxon. It’s fairly easy for ether users to double as air users given their shared powers of telekinesis. Once Keenan realizes the lapse in memory in his guards he’s going to know about Daxon too.

  “Bring me the Volterra girl and I will.”

  “You mean the princess of Vakrov?” Keenan challenges him. “You’re not just threatening one princess, old man. You’re threatening two.”

  “The Volterra girl must die. She cannot live or we are all doomed.”

  “Did you guys get anything out of him before he took Haven hostage?” I whisper to Daxon.

  “Oh, we got plenty.”

  “So if we kill him…”

  “We no longer need him alive.”

  “That’s all I needed to know.” I hold my hands out toward Talvinder, calling to my magic. My magic welcomes me like an old friend. I haven’t used it much lately and we’re glad to be back together again. It pulses through me, taking on a life of its own. I reach for Talvinder. I have to touch him in order to kill him with my death magic. Instead he goes flying into the wall opposite the one Daxon and I are hunkered down by. “Did I do that?” I whisper to Daxon.

  “I think you did. I think it was a nether blast. It seems your powers are growing.”

  We come out of our hiding spot and Daxon runs to Haven who is on the floor, gasping for air. I move toward Talvinder. Keenan steps up to me protectively, but I ignore him. “Hold him down.” I say to the guards.

  The guards all swarm around, but only two move behind Talvinder. Each of them grab an arm and hold him against the wall. He cringes as I near him. I grab him by the nape of his neck, letting my death magic push into him. Usually it kills right away, but somehow it only bleeds a little into him, like a shock of death, not fully killing him. Either anger and frustration is making my magic take on new forms or connecting with Kara magically is doing it. Either way, I like the power it gives me.

  “Tell me what you know and I’ll kill you quickly.” I say to him.

  “I told the girl everything I know.” The old man cringes, whimpering as my death magic works through him.

  “You’re lying to me, old man. You don’t want to lie to me.”

  “Amara, I told you—”

  “I know what you told me.” I snap at Daxon. “But I’ve been around enough snakes to know that there is always something they’re not telling me.” Out of the corner of my eye I see Keenan flinch. “What is it, Talvinder? What is it about this prophecy that’s got everyone on edge? It can’t just be about the arcane magic. What is it?”

  “Haydan Kasanoff.” he seethes.

  “Who the hell is Haydan Kasanoff?”

  “She knows.” Talvinder says, those ghostly gray eyes peering down at me knowingly.

  “Kara.” I say.

  “Yes, Kara Volterra. Kill her, girl, or he’ll come for you too.”

  “Well, I’ve heard enough. How about you boys?”

  “Yes, Your Highness.” The guards all say.

  I conjure up all my magic and the old man screams under my touch of death. The magic works through him, eating away at his very essence until his skin discolors into a moldy gray and the guards drop his dead body to the floor.

  I stare at his body for a moment, filing away the name for later use. Haydan Kasanoff. I don’t know who that is, but he shares the same last name as Kol and if I’ve learned anything from this world it’s that a coincidence is never just a coincidence.

  I turn around, looking at Haven where she stands beside Grayson, his hands holding her up by the shoulders. “You okay?” I ask her. She just nods, looking spent. I look over at Keenan who can’t even look me in the eye. “Keenan—”

  “It’s time to go home.” he says quietly.

  “But Keenan, you can’t—”

  “Do not tell me what I can and cannot do. Now get your ass back to that transit before I throw you over my shoulder and carry you there myself.”

  Haven slowly walks over to my side. I link my arm with hers and press a kiss to her temple to try and comfort her. Tears stream down her face. “You’re okay.” I whisper to her, squeezing her arm gently. She squeezes back and together we walk out of the shop and pray going home doesn’t land us in a cell.

  —CHAPTER TWENTY NINE—

  AARIC

  TATTOO

  My stomach sloshes to the side, like everything else in the small room I’m sharing with the guys. Malia and Niykee have managed to score a cabin of their own.

  The ship is a large one, at least a quarter of the size of the Limacoran palace as I remember it. It’s so big the waves don’t rock it often, but when they do my stomach threatens to spill its contents.

  When I stand I damn near stumble over Bay on the floor beside the cot I’ve failed to fall asleep on. He groans and I resist the urge to kick him on purpose. My anger with him is still fresh. I’ve found it best to avoid him lest I take my anger with Keenan out on my little brother.

  I can’t close my eyes because every time I do a ghastly sight appears. Amara, crying and half naked, pressed down in a bed while my best friend…

  Well, even in the confines of my nightmares I can’t bring myself to say it aloud.

  Finding my way to the edge of the ship is not exactly the wisest thing to do since I am clearly seasick, but I need some fresh air, to clear my mind.

  The wind whips through my hair the moment I step out onto the deck. I breathe it in in the stillness of the night. I am alone out here and I walk to the railing, clamping both hands tightly around the bars. The waves smack into the sides of the boat, but they’re weak and they bounce off the hard oak harmlessly.

  Someone comes up behind me and I feel a set of fingers push through my wayward blond hair. “I think someone needs a haircut.” Malia giggles. I think it’s the first time I’ve heard her laugh. It reminds me of Haven and a fresh surge of pain whips through my chest like an electric shock.

  I feel badly, looking at Malia with any desire when it’s Haven that I want here with me. When I know she’s suffering back in Vakrov, in the arms of that king killer. Malia doesn’t tug at my heart strings like Haven, but the attraction I feel for her is a welcome distraction from the pain I feel for Haven.

  “I can cut it you know.” Malia presses on when I don’t say anything. “I cut my dad’s hair all the time.”

  I don’t respond. We haven’t yet had the chance for her to explain to me how it is she has the abilities of an ether user and a nether user both and until she explains herself I have no desire to discuss anything else.

  “It’s freeing, isn’t it?” she asks, leaning both arms over the railing and breathing in the sea air. The wind whips her dark hair all around. She looks beautiful. No one would know how deadly she is. “Just being out here, even for a little while, can make you forget the chaos back on land.” Again I say nothing and Malia throws her hands up. “Come on, Aaric. I’m graspin’ at straws here.”

  “Tell me how you can do both.”

  Malia rolls her eyes and groans. “Aaric, it—”

  “Tell me how you can do both.” I repeat.

  She sighs, shifting so that she’s facing me. “Sometimes when a mother conceives twins she can miscarry and the dead fetal tissue gets absorbed by the remaining twin. My father thinks that when that happened I absorbed my twin’s powers as well.”

  “How is that possible?” I scoff in disbelief. “Zodiac powers aren’t determined until they’re born.”

 
; “We don’t know that for sure. Who knows what really goes on inside the womb? Besides, what other explanation is there, huh? Nether only occurs in twins and I’m a nether user.”

  “But you’re also an ether user.” I counter.

  “Correct. So doesn’t my father’s theory make the most sense?”

  “I have never heard of such a thing. Absorbing a twin? It sounds like something a mother would make up to get her children to be nice to each other.”

  “Oh yeah? No crazier than a mother of triplets giving birth to one in August and the other two in December.”

  I have no answer for that. She’s right. I had trouble wrapping my head around that, even now it still sounds made up. But if anyone were to look at me and my brother Aaren side by side there’s no doubt that we’re triplets, even if we aren’t actually identical.

  “That’s what I thought.” Malia says cockily. But it fades quickly into something like guilt. “I should have told you.” she adds.

  “Yes, you should have. I’ve told you everything. This isn’t going to work if we’re not honest with each other.”

  “You’re right. And I’m sorry.”

  I just nod and grumble. “Fine. You can cut my hair, but if we get sloshed to the side while you’re cutting it and you chop off a whole chunk, I’m throwing you overboard.”

  Malia giggles. “Come on. There are some scissors back in my cabin.”

  Below deck the air is suffocating. I don’t realize it until I’ve spent some time out in the open air. Malia enters her cabin and starts rummaging through her things to find her scissors when we both notice Niykee is missing.

  Panic ceases us both and we rush across the hall to my cabin with the boys only to find her curled up on the floor between Bay and Felix.

  I breathe a sigh of relief. “She’s been clingy ever since she got hurt in the Underworld.” Malia says.

  “Not a lot scares Niykee. But that…” I shake my head, the image of her disintegrating black hand swimming before my eyes. “That scared her.”

  “Come on.” She slaps my arm and heads back into her empty cabin.

  While I settle into a chair across the room next to a table of weapons Malia lights a few of the lanterns to give herself some light to work with.

  She comes over with a bowl of water and her scissors, setting them both down next to two different-sized firearms. “Turn.” she orders me.

  I twist around on the chair and Malia dunks her hands into the water, then in my hair, repeating the process until it’s wet enough to trim. Then she takes up the scissors, trimming along my neckline. Her fingers in my hair soothes me like nothing else has been able to and I know I could fall asleep right here if she let me.

  “What do you suppose we’ll have to do when we get to Llìria?” I ask while she works.

  “Well, my brother wasn’t specific, but he says that the Nexus is in the capital. The hope is that Dariella Aguillon is someone important in Llìria. If she is then finding her should be easy. If not we scour that entire city until the ebony my brother gave you leads us to the location of the Nexus.”

  “I get that the Nexus can draw in all six elemental powers at once. I understand how something like that could be instrumental in winning a war, but how does my sister factor into it?”

  “Honestly Aaric, I don’t know, but let’s just add that to the list of things we have to figure out once we actually have the thing, yeah?”

  “Our list is growing longer and longer.” I admit.

  “It is, but luckily we’re somewhat immortal and we have all the time in the world.”

  Before I know it Malia is finished cutting my hair and she shoves a small handheld mirror in my hand so that I can get a look at it. I tug at the wet strands, impressed. “You’re not half bad. I…” I lose my breath when I turn around to find Malia stripping out of her clothes, slowly. “Malia,” I choke, making her giggle at the very non-manly way it sounds. “Malia, what are you doing?”

  She doesn’t move from me until she’s in nothing, but her undergarments. I shift backward, but she presses her hands down on my shoulders. “Aaric, I know you’re in love with the princess.” Starting with the easy stuff I see. “And maybe you’ll free your girl and maybe she’ll marry you instead of that king killer of hers, but right now we’re here and I know you’re attracted to me. I’m attracted to you too. Perhaps what happens on the road can stay there.”

  “Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?” It’s hard to focus on what she’s saying while she’s flaunting her chest in my face. And what a beautiful chest it is. I can’t seem to pull my eyes from it. I’d never felt that way with Haven. She was beautiful, of course. Painfully beautiful, but it was always her eyes I got lost in, not her body. That’s how I know with her it’s real. With Malia, it’s carnal desire. Nothing more. So maybe what she is suggesting could work.

  “A distraction. That’s all I’m suggesting. Do you think you can handle that?”

  “Mhm.” I barely get the word out before her lips seal over mine. Her cool fingers grip me at the nape of my neck, drawing our bodies together like desperate magnets. Suddenly I am very grateful for Niykee’s room change when Malia tugs me down to the pile of blankets and pillows where Niykee’s bed had been.

  The night passes in a blur of limbs and heated kisses and eventually the two of us fall asleep, wrapped in each other’s arms. Before Malia I’d only ever been with Braylie and while I miss her sometimes, Malia is a nice change of pace. With Braylie it had always been an outlet for frustration. With Malia it feels more like an oasis, where we can forget, for a time, the troubles that lie ahead.

  I wake the next morning to a very angry set of blue eyes. I blink my eyes some, waiting for them to adjust to the light pouring in through the cabin window. When I peer up I see Niykee standing with her hands on her hips.

  “You didn’t.” she hisses at me.

  I glance at a sleeping Malia in my arms and then back at my sister, “I did.” She whips me in the shoulder with her jacket and I can’t help, but laugh. “What?”

  “You’re such a pig.” She grumbles as she makes her way over to her bag, fishing out a clean outfit for the day. “I’m going to have a bath. Your ass better be gone when I come back or it’s mine.” She steps over me and Malia’s clothes strewn over the floor and mumbles a few choice words as she flees the room.

  I just rest my head back on the pillows, laughing. My laughter makes Malia stir and she glances up at me, smiling. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning.” I smile back. “I hope you didn’t want this to be a secret because Niykee just found us. And she’s not happy.”

  Malia giggles adorably. “Hah, oops. Why wasn’t she happy?”

  “Probably because she’s a virgin.”

  “What?” Malia sits up, leaning her weight on one hand, covering herself with a sheet with the other. “No. Not Niykee.”

  “Sorry. I don’t make a habit of asking my sisters about their sex lives, gorgeous.” I press a kiss to her lips and jump to my feet, dressing in last night’s clothes. “Are you hungry? I’m starving.” I say, heading toward the door. Malia just settles back into the blankets, laughing out loud.

  The others are already in the dining hall when Malia and I get down there after taking showers and dressing in clean clothes. Niykee glances up from the table they’re sitting at and sends a daggered glare my way. To respond I reach down and pull Malia’s hand into mine, pressing a kiss to her lips. Malia sees Niykee and giggles, kissing me back. “You’re bad.” she purrs against my ear.

  “Oh you haven’t seen nothing yet, sweetheart.” I tug her along by the waist, moving us into the line for the buffet.

  We haven’t eaten decent food in a while so Malia and I fill our plates to the brim. I am pleased to see that the girl can eat. Malia is nothing like the court women I’ve come to know. She sees what she wants and she goes for it, consequences be damned. If I hadn’t let Haven Novak wiggle her way into my heart, I could
see a real future with Malia.

  We sit by ourselves in a small table right up next to the large, open window overlooking the beautiful sea surrounding us. “What’s it called?” I ask Malia.

  “What’s what called?” She gives me a soft smile while biting into a piece of bacon.

  I nod toward the water. “The ocean. I never finished school, or paid any attention to the parts I did complete.”

  Malia giggles. “It’s called the Khandraki sea.”

  “The Khandraki sea.”

  “See, many years ago there was a group of people, called the Khandrakians. Beautiful men and women who possessed the ability to live on land and sea.”

  “Mermaids?” I ask, chuckling.

  “Don’t laugh. They were a very powerful people, though they preferred to be called Sirens. They could command the waves and lure men and women to their death just by the sound of their voice. They ruled the sea, but once every year the girls were allowed to walk amongst the humans, or Zodiacs.” She smirks. “After they hit puberty of course. To sire a new generation of Khandraki, to continue their family line.”

  “To have sex. They came to land to have sex.” I say bluntly and Malia shoves my arm, though she can’t help, but laugh with me.

  “You’re ruining the story.”

  I sigh. “Alright, go on.”

  “What the Khandraki later found out is that the blood of a Siren could grant immortality. Soon the secret spread and humans started to hunt them down one by one, killing them for their blood, so that they could live forever.”

  “And did they, live forever?”

  “No.” Malia shakes her head at me. “At least, not for the humans. It did the opposite. Instead of giving them extra time it slowly reversed the time that they had. Eventually it killed them.”

  I smile. “That’s one hell of a story.”

  Malia shrugs. “It helped us though. Some say it’s Siren blood running through our veins that’s the reason we age so slowly and live on past our years.” Malia goes back to eating and I just laugh. “What?”

  “Nothing. You’re just…you’re kind of incredible.”

  She just shrugs again. “You’re not the first to tell me that.”