Tatyanna
Page 34
Emmett nodded his head at Marek, showing his respect. They were no longer friends. The time had come for them to be leader and follower. Emmett vaulted out of the window and jumped into the air, transforming into a large raven and flapping his wings, flying away.
“He does that so effortlessly,” Tatyanna commented, watching as Emmett became a small dot in the sky before disappearing completely.
“I’ve heard from other shifters it is painful to transform in the beginning. After a while, you no longer feel the pain, and it becomes second nature to them.”
“Have you met many shifters?” she asked, turning away from the window when she could no longer see anything.
He gave her a little smile. “I’ve met pretty much every one of every race and family line here. There isn’t much I haven’t seen.” He glanced out the window behind Tatyanna. “I’ll walk you back to your cabin. It is getting late.”
Tatyanna didn’t want the night to end, but she knew he had prisoners to deal with. They walked in silence, neither one saying anything. They had skipped over a lot of steps in their relationship, but it felt like they had always known the other. Tatyanna figured it was because of what few memories she had about him and the warm acceptance of her friends. She could see it in his own people. They loved and respected him, and valued his opinion. If he asked, they would follow him to the ends of the earth, and she had a sinking suspicion that things might come to that point soon.
“Here we are,” he stated the obvious, as they both stared at her door.
“Here we are.” Tatyanna mentally slapped herself for resisting something so obvious.
Marek still wore a small smile, and she wondered if he ever stopped smiling when he was around her. They were standing so close she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. Tatyanna wrapped her hands in his shirt and pulled him to her, lifting her chin up automatically to meet his. The kiss started out gentle enough, but she didn’t want too gentle. She just witnessed her first war, even if it was just a game. She had an arrow shot at her and she saw her first demon. She knew there was a great evil in this world, but up to now, everything Tatyanna saw and experienced didn’t really mean much to her. She could lose the one man who made her believe in the impossible, and she could lose him before they even made it to the wedding altar. Now was not the time for gentle. Now was the time to throw all her cards in.
Tatyanna didn’t know what to do, and relied on the sappy romance novels Lilah used to force her to read so she would know what to do if she ever got this close to a guy. Tatyanna poked her tongue out and tentatively touched his lips a few times before he figured out what she was trying to do. Marek grabbed her face between his hands and kissed her with such force, with such intensity, she thought she was going to explode. His tongue collided with hers, and she could feel the heat between them growing, on the verge of being combustible.
She saw clouds of dust and gas exploding in her mind, striking to form stars. The night became day, and the day became night, and still they stood there, passionate in their embrace. She felt Marek pull away twice only to forcefully bring his lips back to hers, as if he needed to kiss her to survive.
Their fervor slowed down, but both of them didn’t want the kiss to end. Tatyanna knew Marek had to deal with his duties, but she didn’t want to let him go. Marek knew he had people waiting on him, and for once in his life, he didn’t care. He didn’t want to deal with the demons and hags. He didn’t want to deal with finding out who else in his camp was a spy. He didn’t want to find the ass that shot at Tatyanna earlier. He wanted to stay here, with her in his arms, and protect her himself, instead of relying on other people to do it for him. There was no one he trusted more than himself. But, as much as he wanted to turn his back on his duties, he knew he couldn’t. It wasn’t him.
They kissed one final time, and with great difficulty, he pulled himself away and stepped out of her embrace. He could see that Tatyanna’s lips were swollen from their kissing. Her hair was a mess from his hands running through it, but she looked beautiful as always to him. “I…I…I have to go,” he said shakily, surprised he felt so unsteady.
Tatyanna grinned and stumbled backwards a few times, as she grappled for the side of the cabin to steady herself on her shaky legs. Using both hands, she was able to keep herself standing and walk herself to her door. She opened it, and was almost inside when she called back to him.
“Why are your kisses so full of heat? I feel like there is a fire inside of me every time our lips meet.”
“It is the Phoenix in me. The Phoenix is reborn from its ashes. It is the fire you feel. I’m sorry if it hurts you.”
“No, no,” she clarified quickly, “I like it. It makes me feel safe.”
Chapter Forty-Two
A Traitor in the Mist
Marek made it to the war room a half hour later than when he was supposed to be there. When he entered the room, he heard catcalls and clapping. “Knock it off, I’m not that late.”
“Not that late?” mocked Terran. “You are over an hour late.”
“What? No. Can’t be.” He turned and saw all of his friends nodding his head. “Shit, sorry. I didn’t think we were outside for that long.”
“You were outside? You mean you didn’t get lucky?” Gavin asked, as if not getting laid was unheard of.
Lilly socked Gavin in the arm before Marek could. “Thanks,” he said to her, receiving a silent nod. “Watch what you say, Gavin. Tatyanna is a princess; she isn’t like the women you are used to. You need to treat her with respect when she is here, and when she isn’t. Anything you could say could tarnish her reputation, and right now, she needs everyone to be on her side, not against her.”
Gavin rubbed his arm from where Lilly hit him, but wisely kept his mouth shut.
“Speaking of being late, where’s that signal you were supposed to send?” Emmett asked, coming out from the shadows. “Do you know how hard it was convincing everyone the game was over when you were nowhere in sight? Yeah. Thanks for nothing, man,” he said, but he didn’t sound like he was hurt, more amused by it all.
Marek flashed him a glare and walked to the center of the room, signaling the fun was over and it was time to get down to business. “I’m assuming everyone is on point, with me being so late and all. Am I correct?” he asked, roaming his eyes over everyone’s faces to see they did know what had happened. “Good, then let’s discuss what we are going to do about this.”
Tatyanna closed the door behind her and leaned against it, revisiting the kiss she just shared with Marek. Her smile grew until she was sure she looked pretty silly, but she couldn’t help herself. He made her feel giddy and smart and beautiful, and like she could take on the world. She pushed herself off the door and made her way to her bed, but she wasn’t tired. Tatyanna laid down anyway, and thought of Marek. She felt a nagging tingle in the back of her mind, as if she were missing something, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.
Tatyanna thought back over the evening and seeing her friends take part in the battle. There was one person she hadn’t seen, since right before the game started. It was Cale. He never took part in the game. There was no reason for him not to get involved. She thought back over the entire time she knew Cale. When she first met him, he was okay but then turned into an arrogant ass, and then, worse when he tricked her into using her power, and acknowledging it truly existed.
They had gotten off to a rocky start, but it felt like there was something between him. It all started when she healed him, and lost control of her powers. After that, she felt a connection to him and even when they kissed, but it nowhere compared to the kisses she shared with Marek. Then it hit her. Their kisses were the same.
Marek said his kisses were warm, because of the Phoenix’s connection to fire. There was no reason Cale’s kisses should be so hot, because he was a human and didn’t have any power. Yet, there it was. It had been staring her in the face this whole time. Her losing control of her power, his hot burning kisses, a
nd then the fact she threw fireballs at Marek. Tatyanna had pulled fire out of Cale when she healed him, and had consumed it inside of her. The fire made her lose control so many times until she finally did.
Cale even tried to turn her against Marek by spreading lies, and his anger toward her meant he had failed. The only person who could give the gift of fire was Grandfather, or Larik, and she knew it was Larik who gifted him both times. Grandfather would never have done it. He may have known, but he wouldn’t have tried to cause so much turmoil in her life.
Tatyanna sat up in bed, her heart beating wildly in her chest. She had to tell Marek. He had to know he was right. There had been a traitor among them this entire time. She swung her legs over the side of the bed and ran to the door, flinging it open and running out, never taking the time to close it.
Tatyanna burst through the door and startled everyone that was in the meeting hall. She instantly saw Dimitri, Emmett, and Terran lounging against a wall, with Althea at their feet chewing on an unrecognizable bloody bone. She shivered, not wanting to dwell on what the wolf was chewing on. Her gaze flittered from her friends over to the two dwarves, Gavin, and Griffin before they rested on Marek. Her heart rate increased at the sight of him, looking powerful in his natural form as a leader. He still wore the same clothes, but his hair was hanging loosely around his shoulders, and he appeared to be tireless even though she knew he had been up since dawn, and it was well past midnight. She wondered if he ever slept more than a few hours a night.
The room looked familiar to her with the bareness of it, and she knew this room from Emmett’s shared memory at the beginning of the battle. The room really was stark and lacking in personality. If it had white walls instead of the wooden ones, she would feel like she was in an institution of some sort.
“Tatyanna, what is it?” Marek asked, pulling her from her thoughts and walking toward her, gathering her hands in his. His eyes scanning over her body, making sure she wasn’t injured.
“I realized something after you left, and it was too important to wait until morning.”
“Okay,” he said confused. “What is it?”
Tatyanna glanced at everyone around the room. She knew she could trust her friends, she was still holding out on what to think of Medo, and she didn’t know the other two men.
“Whatever it is you need to tell me, it will be safe in this room. It will not leave this room without my permission,” Marek said, bending down slightly to meet her gaze, reading her uncertainty.
She chided herself silently, took a deep breath and just said what needed to be said. “Caleisatraitor,” she blurted out all in one word.
“What?” Marek asked, thinking she was mistaken.
“Cale is a traitor,” she said again, making sure to say each word slowly so there was no mistaking it.
“I knew it!” Dimitri yelled.
“I told you so,” Emmett said at the same time as Dimitri.
“What? No,” Dimitri said appalled. “I was the one who told you first, that he couldn’t be trusted.”
The two bickered back and forth like children, each one saying they were the first one to know Cale was a traitor. Tatyanna followed the argument back and forth like a ping pong ball, and then threw up her hands in frustration. “What the hell? You both knew? And you never told me?”
That silenced both men. Marek changed his stance to a defensive one, standing directly behind Tatyanna. She could feel his masculine chest brushing against her back. Emmett and Dimitri saw the change, and they knew they had to be careful in their next words.
They looked at each other, as if silently begging the other person to speak first. “Fine,” Emmett said under his breath. “We suspected he couldn’t be trusted. There was so much going on, and the Elders wouldn’t do anything when we brought our suspicions to them. They kept saying Grandfather gave him his power. They wouldn’t even consider he got his power from Larik, because they swore they’ve had eyes on him the whole time he has been with us.”
Marek toed his shoe into the floor in concentration. “Start at the beginning. I want to hear it all. When did you know Cale had magic?”
Tatyanna was the one to speak up. “I was working at the hospital one night, and a major accident came in during my shift. Cale was there, and he was dying. He grabbed on to my hand, and wouldn’t let me go. At the time, I was just starting to suspect I could heal, but I was still very much in denial. As he held my hand, I could feel my life draining out of me, and he screamed at me, telling me I was selfish, standing there and letting him die. It was enough to cause me to run away. Later, he was at the bar, and I don’t know how I was able to pull the magic out of him.”
“Did you get a trace on it?”
“A trace?” she asked Marek, unsure of what he meant.
“When someone is given power, it can be traced back to the person it originally came from. Did you feel anything when you pulled it out of him? Was it hot to the touch? Did you feel like you were as light as a feather? Anything that could pinpoint where it came from?”
Her expression changed, as she looked off into the distance, replaying those memories in her mind. Tatyanna remembered the day at the bar and pulling the power out of him, but it was such a shock to her she wasn’t sure what she was doing. Her eyes cleared, and she looked back at Marek. “I’m sorry. I don’t remember anything specific. I was more in shock to really be paying attention to something like that.” Marek looked disappointed even though he tried not to show it. It was just a fleeting expression, but not fast enough for Tatyanna to miss.
“Tatyanna healed him a second time, for real this time, and she started acting different after that point,” Emmett spoke up. Tatyanna turned to face him, and remembered that day they were about to leave for Marek’s camp, only to find Cale unconscious on the ground. That was the day she lost control of her powers, and faith in herself.
Dimitri spoke up next, explaining to Marek what had happened, “It was weird, man. She went from healing him, to losing control of herself. When Emmett tried to pull her off Cale, he ended up flying backwards. Looking back, I don’t think she lost control of her power. I think she was absorbing Larik’s power, and she was unable to handle it. Since then, her attitude has been different, and she’s been quick to get angry.”
“What do you mean?” Tatyanna asked, turning around to look at him.
“Take Medo for instance. We all thought you were going to blow a gasket when you realized he made you, Cale, and Terran take the long way up the side of the mountain when everyone else went up the cleared trail.”
Marek rounded on his friend and instantly got in his face. “What the hell, Medo!” he shouted. “When I asked you to escort her back here, you knew what she meant to me. Why the hell would you treat her that way?”
Medo didn’t back down from his friend and stood up taller, his chest out and shoulders back. “You remembered a child. You have been in love with a memory. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t some prissy girl. You deserve someone with a backbone, and who can stand up for herself.” He broke eye contact with his friend, and looked over at Tatyanna, a smile growing on his face. “I think she is perfect for you.”
Marek shoved his friend backward, causing him to lose his footing and fall into Griffin. “I could have told you she was perfect for me. I knew it then, and I know it now. I don’t need you looking out for me.”
“Whatever. I did what I felt was right. No way was I going to put my life on the line for someone who needed to have her hand held the entire way.”
Tatyanna walked toward Marek and tugged at his arm, pulling him away from Medo. “Look, you can be all macho later. What’s done is done, and we have more important things to talk about.”
Marek allowed Tatyanna to pull him away, but not before giving Medo a hard stare, letting him know he wasn’t over his actions. Tatyanna continued to pull at his arm until they were standing against the opposite wall from Medo. Griffin had silently taken a few steps to stand in front of the
dwarf, in case something else came to light and they would need to restrain Marek. The move did not go unnoticed by anyone in the room.
Marek rubbed his hands over his eyes, and felt like the day would never end. “Okay, so we know Tatyanna had trouble dealing with her anger. That still doesn’t prove Cale is a spy. What is it that you aren’t telling me?” he said, directing the last part at Tatyanna.
She took a few steps away from the wall. “Ever since we arrived, Cale has been trying to turn me against you. He is the one who told me lies about you, trying to get me to hate you.” She paused for a second, looking down at the ground. “It was more than that. At first, I felt a closeness to him that I couldn’t explain. And then, we shared a few kisses—”
“What!” Marek yelled, whirling on her. “You kissed that scumbag?”
“Hey!” she shouted. “I didn’t know who you were. I vaguely remembered you as a boy, and then I would dream about your eyes, but I didn’t know who you were. All anyone would tell me was you would help protect me. Not one word was mentioned about being betrothed to you.”
Marek turned toward Dimitri and Emmett, who had known about the betrothal, because they were at the castle the night it took place. He didn’t have a chance to yell at them, before Tatyanna brought the attention back to her.
“Look, I don’t need my boyfriend to become all caveman on me. We have a problem here and we need to fix it.”
“Boyfriend?” he asked. “Caveman?”
Tatyanna snapped her fingers in his face. “Whatever you want to call us. What’s done is done. Now focus, so I can explain my point.”
“Boyfriend,” he stated, this time a small smile tugging at the sides of his mouth.
“Marek,” she gave a low growl. “Focus.” Tatyanna could still see he was stuck on the word, and truthfully, she was, too. “Anyway, the few times that we kissed, I always noticed how warm his kisses were. They reminded me of a warmth from a fire. But when you and I kissed, it felt like fireworks were exploding in my mouth, but I recognized the warmth again. It was tonight when you explained it was the fire magic in you that made your kisses so warm. I realized Cale possessed the fire magic in him. I wasn’t attracted to him. It was you who I wanted, before I even knew you. A part of me must have remembered you, and it was trying to reconnect with that side of me. Cale is a human. The only way he could have been given the ability to have fire magic was from Larik. I don’t know how, or when, but it’s the only way.”