The Other Side of Truth (The Marked Ones Trilogy Book 3)

by Alicia Kat Vancil

  I stared at her, unable to find the right words. Nikki looked at me a moment longer before she let out a huff and turned to walk away.

  And I just couldn’t lose one more person. I just couldn’t.

  “Because I needed someone who would understand,” I blurted out.

  Nikki stopped, and turned back around slowly.

  “Someone who would understand without…” Without me having to speak all those horrors aloud. Even if I could find the words to tell her what had happened, I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to do that to her. To explain what it was like to watch someone die of titanium poisoning. To see the frantic, desperate hope in someone’s eyes in the last seconds of their life. To feel the black hands of death seeping in around you like black ink.

  “Nualla?” Nikki asked uncertainly. “You’re shaking.”

  I looked down at my hands, and sure enough my whole body was trembling.

  Nikki touched my shoulder, and I looked back up into her face. She searched my eyes, concern tinting her own. “What is it that wakes you up every night?”

  I opened my mouth, but the only thing that escaped was a choking sob.

  Nikki wrapped her arms around me, and I cried into her shoulder, not caring if anyone saw.

  TRAVIS

  I stared at the screens in my office as KARA ran through a series of possible requests she might be asked by visitors to The Embassy. Assessing the code for any potential errors or malfunctions.

  “Travis, I found that—” Akiko started, but then stopped mid-sentence.

  I turned around to face her, and arched my eyebrows in question. “What?”

  “Are those the same clothes you were wearing yesterday?”

  I jerked back, and my mouth dropped open in disbelief. “How the fuck—?”

  “What? I am a girl, you know. I do notice these things,” Akiko said defensively.

  “Yes, they are,” I admitted with a scowl as I turned back to my screens. “And since I know you’re going to ask, I didn’t go home last night because I was comforting a friend.”

  “Does your ‘friend’ happen to be the future ruler of Karalia?”

  “If you already know the answer, why are you even asking?” I said flatly without turning around to look at her. Akiko didn’t answer, just shifted her weight to her other foot. I sighed, and leaned my cheek on my palm as I rested it on the table. Akiko still didn’t say anything, just continued to stand there silently. “Before you ask, yes, I know I have a meeting with Central Six in twenty minutes.”

  “Well that’s good to know, but it isn’t about that,” she replied and I swear I could hear her rolling her eyes at me behind my back.

  “Then what is it?” I asked as I swiveled my chair to look at her.

  “I found the information on that girl.”

  I rushed into the room, and dropped into the seat at the end of the meeting table. I had spent far too long pouring over the info Akiko had found about the woman I was pretty sure had been Parker’s mother.

  “Sorry I’m late, I—” The chair opposite mine at the table wasn’t empty, and it wasn’t occupied by Alex either. “Nualla?”

  “As I was just saying, Arius Nualla will be taking her father’s seat as the head of the Central Six in the Chancellarius’ absence,” Roy Vallen stated with a slightly exasperated huff.

  I just blinked at him as comprehension slid over me. And then I looked at Nualla. She wasn’t looking at me, but at the Central Six as a whole. She looked up at Roy and after a quick nod from him, she looked at the tablet in front of her. “Let’s begin with the status of the collection of genetic profiles…”

  I watched Nualla with unwavering fascination. There wasn’t a trace of the scared little girl from last night in her eyes. No, these eyes were as hard and serious as anything. And that’s when it finally hit me for the very first time. That she wasn’t just Nualla. That she had never been just Nualla. That she was the future Chancellarius of Karalia.

  The Central Six continued to discuss a wide range of things, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Nualla. It was almost like she wasn’t herself—like she was someone else. Like the girl I had always known was melting away, burning into oblivion, and being replaced with this person. Like that day in the wedding dress shop. Like she was performing some strange type of magic.

  The moments slipped by, but I never stopped watching her. Like I had lost the ability to move my head—my eyes—somewhere else. Eventually something changed in her eyes though, and they flicked to me.

  Nualla stared pointedly at me, and then made a tiny jerk of her head toward Ashley Hutchenson. And as if a spell had been broken, the conversation around me suddenly flooded in like rushing water.

  “…if this girl, Chan-rin, is such a potential danger, why is she still residing in The Embassy? Perhaps we should move her to one of the less populated embassies or—”

  “You’re not moving Chan-rin anywhere,” I blurted out, cutting off Ashley’s suggestion.

  “I wasn’t aware that was your decision to make, Mr. Centrina,” Ashley said coldly, purposefully leaving off my new title.

  “You’re not taking her away from the only family she has ever known,” I stated firmly, trying not to let the growl bubbling up my throat creep into my voice.

  “The girl has no family that we are aware of, though someone apparently changed her school records recently,” Ashley said as she glared at me pointedly.

  “Family has nothing to do with blood,” I said flatly, my eyes narrowing at her.

  “Just because you have the ability, doesn’t give you the right—”

  “If I have to trace Alex down myself and petition him for custody of Chan-rin, I will. But the only way you’re moving her is over my dead—”

  “Will you both stop it!” Nualla shouted over us as she slammed her palms on the table in front of her, and stood. “We have bigger problems than where a little girl lives!”

  When the meeting concluded, Nualla looked down at the tablet in front of her. “Director Centrina Viliyata, please stay behind,” she said in a firm, clear voice. “I’d like to speak with you.”

  I clenched my hands into fists at my sides, and bit back the words threatening to claw their way free from my mouth. I had never been so angry with her in my entire life.

  The rest of the Central Six continued toward the door, only giving me and Nualla a quick look. Roy was the last to leave the room, giving Nualla one last long look before sighing and closing the doors behind him.

  After the doors shut, Nualla waited a few heartbeats and then she slumped against the table, putting her head in her hands. “I can’t do this, I’m no good at it,” she groaned in a defeated tone.

  And just like that all my anger at her evaporated. It was all a front. She was scared and alone and she couldn’t let anyone see how vulnerable she was—anyone but me.

  I let out a heavy breath, and walked over to lean against the table next to her. “Hey, you’re doing just fine. Brilliant, even.”

  She gave me the most dubious look I think I had ever seen her give anyone.

  “I’m serious, Nualla. Really,” I said reassuringly. “And I’m not sure I told you, but your speech at the award ceremony was really beautiful.”

  “It wasn’t, you’re just saying that,” she said, looking away from me.

  “No, really,” I countered as I put a finger under her chin, and raised her head so she was looking into my eyes. “It was one of the most moving speeches I’ve ever heard.”

  Her bottom lip trembled and she threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around me as she stood.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked, more than a little startled.

  She shook her head against my chest. “I don’t want to talk about it, not here, not now.”

  I sig
hed as I wrapped my arms around her. “Okay, I’ll let you off just this once.”

  The Few, the Proud, the Dysfunctional

  Saturday, November 10th

  PATRICK

  “Geez, excited much?” I said with a crooked smirk as Shawn fidgeted impatiently, rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet as I turned my key in the lock of the gate to the Temple of Kalona.

  “Hey, how would you feel if you woke up one day, and someone told you that you got to be a Jedi, or Batman? Because basically, that’s what just happened.”

  I smiled at him to hide my true feelings as I pushed the door open. I was still uncertain about my decision to join the Amurai, but well…Kiskei had had a point. Even if I did want to punch him for it.

  As we entered the practice room, Shawn stopped short, and I nearly ran into him. Peering around him, I saw why. Even though we were nearly a half hour early, there was already a group of six people standing in the practice room. Three guys, a woman, Kiskei and… Parker?

  My eyebrows shot up in astonishment. If Travis ever did get close to Parker, he was going to be in for a very interesting surprise, that’s for sure. ‘Course she’d only be able to tell him if they got married, because I sure as hell wasn’t going to. Kiskei had made it perfectly clear we weren’t allowed to tell a soul about being Amurai, and I had gotten the distinct impression he wasn’t bluffing with his threats, either.

  “We were starting at nine, right?” Shawn asked uncertainly and the group of them turned toward us.

  “Yes, yes, we were just catching up. Aside from three of you, the rest are already sworn Amurai.”

  “Oh,” Shawn replied with a tone that could have been nervousness or something closer to disappointment.

  “Gods, Kiskei, don’t make the poor boys just stand there all alone. Introduce us already,” the woman scolded Kiskei playfully as she nudged him with her shoulder. She was a curvy woman of exotic—probably Indian—descent, with skin the color of warm cinnamon, and wavy black hair pulled back into a ponytail.

  Kiskei smiled at her in a way I had never seen him do before. The comfortable friendly smile you gave your best friend whom you hadn’t seen in awhile, but felt like you had never been apart.

  “Very well, this—” Kiskei said as he nudged her back, “—is Isha Kadakia.”

  She grinned at us warmly, with a hint of mischievousness in her eyes.

  And this—” Kiskei said as he gestured to us, “—is Shawn Vallen and Patrick Galathea.”

  “Galathea?” a tall guy with ear-length, honey-colored hair, gunmetal-blue eyes, and a slight British accent, said as he turned to Kiskei. “Since when were the Galatheas allowed to join the ranks?”

  “He was a Centrina before he married the Arius,” Kiskei informed him with a slight smirk to his lips.

  “Oh, really?” the guy replied as he looked at me with a bit more interest.

  A full blown grin spread across Isha’s lips as she realized something. “Can’t you tell, Simon? He’s got Misaki’s eyes,” Isha pointed out as she looked me over appraisingly. Then she turned to Kiskei. “But he’s practically still a baby, Kiskei. When did we start recruiting kids?”

  “I’ll be nineteen in February,” I said flatly as I folded my arms across my chest. I knew I looked young. As far as I knew, I had always looked young. But a guy really didn’t want to have it pointed out that he still looked like a child.

  “Don’t let his looks fool you Isha, Patrick is already a skilled warrior,” Kiskei said with a hint of a smile.

  “So you’re the one whose head they messed with?” Simon blurted out. “Bad deal, sahavi.”

  I had no idea what sahavi meant, but he said the statement with a slight grimace that wasn’t too reassuring.

  “Yeah…” I agreed, because I really couldn’t think of anything else to say to that.

  “Well since Kiskei bloody skipped over me, I’m Simon Cowens,” Simon said as he hooked his thumbs through the belt loops of his dark jeans. The light glinted off the many zippers and buttons on his black leather motorcycle jacket.

  “I didn’t skip over you,” Kiskei countered with mock indignance. “You two just can’t shut your damn mouths long enough for me to finish.”

  “You were going too slow, Kaptaya,” Isha admonished Kiskei playfully.

  “Ha, Kiskei slow? That’s rich,” Simon snorted.

  “You two, mouths shut. Or this is going to take all damn day!” Kiskei shouted at them.

  Simon and Isha both held their hands up in surrender, and clamped their mouths shut.

  “Good. Moving along,” Kiskei said as he rolled his eyes, and looked back at us. “Well I’m sure you both already know Parker,” Kiskei said as he indicated his daughter. “So that just leaves these two here,” he said as he indicated the other two guys, “Damian and James Corkoran.”

  The two guys were the youngest of the six members aside from Parker, looking no older than us or Travis. One was roughly 5'11" and about as broad chested as Shawn, with thick black hair cut similarly to Travis’, and lapis-blue eyes. And the other was slight, a few inches shorter than his brother, with honey-colored hair and cornflower-blue eyes.

  “They’re on loan to us from the Kaigan Midorain Embassy, but if we play nice, we might get to keep them,” Kiskei continued.

  “I’m James,” the slight blond guy said with a stunned, breathy voice as he looked directly at me. He stared at me with such a wide-eyed expression it kinda reminded me of the girls at the coffee shop fiasco from my first trip out of The Embassy after being shot.

  The taller, dark-haired guy just raised his eyebrows at us, an amused smirk tugging at his lips. “Damian,” he called out as his head jerked up a fraction of an inch.

  James opened his mouth to say something more, but was cut off by the banging of a door. There was a shuffling of feet in the hallway and a stocky Polynesian guy with a short ponytail of thick, black, curly hair walked into the practice room. He was wrapped in so much coat he looked like an Eskimo…or a blackened marshmallow.

  “And this would be Kale Yusada,” Kiskei said as he gestured toward the guy that looked to be about his age that had just walked into the room. “Have a hard time finding the building, Kale?” Kiskei asked with an amused smile as if he was sharing a private joke.

  “You said nine and it’s nine. So what do you want?” Kale replied gruffly.

  Kiskei rolled his eyes, and continued to call over his shoulder. “We’re doing introductions.”

  “I’m Kale,” the blackened marshmallow stated without looking at us as he walked into the locker room.

  Isha caught my expression at Kale’s excess of winter clothing, and smiled conspiratorially. “He thinks it’s too cold here.”

  “Which was probably why we never convinced him to come with us to Kaigan Kirian,” Simon added with a snort, which made Isha’s grin spread even wider. I had no idea what ‘Kaigan Kirian’ meant or where it was, but I was fairly certain it probably wasn’t warm there.

  There was some banging around, and the hollow sound of a wooden locker slamming closed, and then Kale reemerged from the locker room. His jacket and scarf were gone, leaving only a navy t-shirt stretched tightly over his frame, and a black, tribal style tattoo creeping out from under one sleeve.

  Shawn extended a hand toward Kale as he approached us. “Shawn Vallen.”

  “Ah, Michelle’s boy,” Kale said, shaking Shawn’s hand. “Gods, you’re tall,” he stated bluntly as he looked up at Shawn. “What are you, like 6'2"?”

  “I’m 6'4" actually,” Shawn corrected with a shy smile as he returned his hands to his jeans pockets.

  “Well you didn’t get it from her, that’s for sure. Shelle was 5'6" at best.”

  Kale looked to be about 5'6" “at best” himself.

  “You know, if sh
e heard you calling her small, she’d punch you, Kale,” Isha pointed out with a snort as she leaned against Simon.

  It was just a little weird to hear them joking about someone who had been dead for over sixteen years. But at the same time there was something strangely comforting about it.

  I stepped up next to Shawn, and held my hand out toward Kale. “I’m Patrick—”

  His eyes shifted from Shawn to me as he extended his hand in my direction. But the second his eyes focused on mine he stopped abruptly. “You!”

  Without warning, his hand shot out to strike me and I dodged, easily avoiding it. A heartbeat later I sprung away on reflex, completing a perfect back layout like a freakin’ gymnast—or a ninja.

  As I looked down at my body for a stunned second, Kale advanced on me, his fist shooting out to strike me again. I caught his arm, and flipped him over my body so he landed with a loud thump on the mat-covered floor. But even though he landed on the flat of his back, he was up in a fraction of a second, ready to strike again, despite breathing heavy from having the air knocked out of him. From the look on his face, I wasn’t sure which of us was more surprised that he had landed on his back.

  Kale tried to fake me out with a quick jab followed by another, but I dropped down and swept my leg under him. He landed on his back again, harder this time, but still sprung back to his feet again as if it was nothing. He took a step toward me and I crouched low, ready to strike back.

  “STOP!” Kiskei shouted as he stepped between us.

  “Aww, but it was just getting good, Kaptaya,” Simon groaned.

  Kiskei ignored Simon, and turned furious eyes on Kale. “What on earth do you think you’re doing?”

  “Taking out the trash,” Kale spat as he jerked his head toward me. “You let a ‘Demoss agent into the temple.”