by S. E. Akers
“Oh,” I mumbled dazedly, unable to quell the heavy stretch of my mouth, nor the hollow feeling left in my stomach.
“My restlessness has become unbearable,” Kiera professed and then pointed to a patch of stones on the wall where a cluster of scratchy lines had been etched. “There is a mark for every day that I have smelled the scent of desire wafting in the air around me. It reminds me of how I used to feel when I was human, and I do not wish to brush with it any longer.” She breathed out a whimpering sigh. “It is almost as bad as my true reflection that I cannot see.”
I tallied up the marks quickly. Sure enough, they equaled the length of my stay to date. I honestly wanted to crawl under the table now that it was so cringingly obvious how my feelings had been radiating, both to her and Tanner. Who knew the damn things carried such a pungent scent?
Kiera sensed my uneasiness. “I’m afraid your eyes have given you away again, child,” she smiled. “I know that look painfully well.”
I shied away from her stare sheepishly, knowing she was right.
“Promise me something, Shiloh . . . Promise me that my story has affected your own heart in some way. Allow my final words to bear some meaning in your life. Don’t make the same mistakes I made. Finding love should never be a soul’s only focus. It is only meant to complement your path, not to serve as its stones or mark your direction. Your soul was charged with a specific duty. Stay true to its purpose and let it be what lights your way.”
I wedged a lump out of my throat as all the failures I’d amassed over the past several weeks barreled through my head. “That was never my intention,” I muttered.
Kiera extended a gracious smile. “Child, we all have our own visions of how we want things in our lives to be . . . but sometimes those same wants muddle our reality. The heart can fool the mind into anything. It can make us think an act means more than what it does or that people care more than what they actually do . . . Guard your heart, not only from others but yourself as well. That is the most important lesson. Fantasies can be a person’s ultimate undoing if given enough time. Your heart can be just as deadly or as sparing as your blade. My curse is the physical embodiment of my own delusions. Take the tragedy of my tale with you at the very least.” With her words bouncing around my head, Kiera unwrapped her bun and let down her long white hair. She ran her fingers through the sparse strands. “It is time.”
With the oculus clutched firmly in my hand, I slipped the chain over my head and then rose from my chair. Kiera’s breaths remained as steady as the track of my approaching footsteps. With one hand placed tenderly on her shoulder, I began moving what amounted to her bittersweet salvation into place.
“Ready?” I asked.
Kiera nodded and laid her hand over mine, gripping it with as much strength as her frail muscles would permit.
The platinum veil peeled away on my command, revealing the mystical mirrored portal. I caught a glimpse of her true reflection within the glass as her essence started to fade.
“See how beautiful I was,” Keira gushed tearfully.
All of her earthly regrets rushed through my mind in rippling waves. “You still are . . . and always will be,” I whispered in her ear. Then within seconds, Kiera’s soul was gone. All that remained was a pristine corpse of her youthful human existence slumped in the chair. I knelt down beside Kiera’s frame and gave her long and lush brunette mane several gentle strokes. Her comeliness simply mirrored what I already knew; her human soul was beautiful at its core, despite all the wrongs she’d committed at the hands of her captor.
I headed towards the door in a mood that seemed more melancholy than conquering. I wasn’t sure if it was because my first successful transfer had come without any resistance or because of the surprising amount of grace I never expected to find within this creature. What traces of jubilation I felt only stemmed from knowing she was finally at peace. Not a single drop of them came from my achievement.
Silas jumped away from the door when it opened. I’m sure his closer proximity had everything to do with the two of them wondering what the heck was taking so long.
Tanner charged up the hall. “Did you—”
“Yes,” I replied, cutting him off. I didn’t feel like discussing any details. It would feel too much like bragging. I pointed over to her body. “Kiera is history.”
A feeling of genuine sadness washed over me after officially acknowledging it out loud. Silas strolled into the room with his torch leading the way and then robotically set her human remains ablaze like the most diligent soldier. I hurried out of the room. Watching her go up in smoke like a pile of burning trash seemed so heartless, regardless of her crimes.
“She didn’t put forth a struggle?” Tanner asked.
“No,” I answered. “She surrendered without the first slice.” I studied his expression. He didn’t seem disappointed by any means, but he sure wasn’t waving any victory flags. In fact, I kind of felt like this was one of those everyone-gets-a-trophy moments. A check for just showin’ up. Honestly? Why should my feat boost his confidence? It certainly didn’t bump up mine.
“Maybe I should have started with her?” I posed. Though I’d kept my snark at a minimum, I wanted a hint of it to come through, for more reasons than I could count. Maybe hearing her words sooner would have set me straight from the get-go? But then again, I probably would have ignored them all together, just like I’d disregarded Silas’ repeated warnings.
“The finish is all that matters,” Tanner stated.
I think he was aiming for encouraging, considering what he was working with, but I fell shy of being in the mood.
“Well maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll find more suicidal monsters lining destiny’s path?” I popped off. Just think of all the time and trouble you’ll save training me. Yep. Sometimes that pissy-dial had a mind of its own.
Tanner simply stared at me. His look may have appeared blank, but I knew he was fielding my emotions. He was going to have to dive pretty deep as empty as what I felt right now. I sure hoped the water elemental had packed a long enough snorkel.
Silas joined us in the hall. “For such an effortless task, it took long enough,” he interjected.
“She was locked in there for a long time,” I defended. “She wanted a little company, so we talked.”
Tanner looked intrigued. “About what?”
Kiera’s tale began to resonate with my current situation. It didn’t matter the degree: a head stuck even a couple inches up your ass had the same outcome as one shoved all the way — a sightless, struggling idiot. My head started whirling. Between Kiera’s words, Adamas’ past warning, and everyone else who’d thrown their two-cents into the mix, a girl had to eventually wake up to the fact that someone out there was trying to tell her something. And after having my hopes crushed earlier, I needed to take a serious step back and acknowledge this fated intervention for what it clearly was: a sign—a big one at that—and it didn’t have a thing to do with the potential of contracting any supernatural Sexually Transmitted Diseases either. I stared into his eyes, trying to muffle as much of the Eau de Desire I sensed wafting around me as I could. Just standing here thinking about all those telling scratches Kiera had carved into the wall made me feel as stout as a day old trout. The pathetic mental image alone made me want to crawl into a shower.
I quickly summoned some composure, scrounging for enough self-respect that would get my butt in gear. “Girl stuff,” I replied with an evasive shrug and then headed off down the hall.
My brain needed some time to process what my heart had been trying to tell it for weeks. I had to find some way to cope with my unreturned feelings. Anything to center me back with my destiny, forge ahead without any more failures, and stop me from obsessing about someone who was clearly focused on other more important things.
Too bad there’s no one who can zap my brain!
Conscious of my present mood, my restless steps beat a path straight to the weapons vault. Shooting a run of pop cans out on t
he ridge seemed to work wonders for Daddy. There wasn’t a time I couldn’t remember when his blue-green eyes didn’t look clearer after unloading a good hour’s worth of rounds. I’d always assumed he did it strictly for fun, no different than Chloe and I would pounce on our backyard trampoline for hours of jumping. The real reason behind his frequent outings eventually came to light, just as soon as the big-girl had connected all the dots. “Target practice” usually fell on days whenever Daddy’s eyes seemed a touch grayer or as soon as Charlotte’s credit card bills hit our mailbox. Focusing your attention on something that exacting sure could halt a whole mess of whirling thoughts. After all, very few things stop something as quick as a bullet. But I never dreamed I would resort to this same coping strategy. Maybe it was just one of those “it’s in the genes” things?
Though there were plenty of Veil-crafted pistols lying around at my disposal, I opted for something different — something that would strive to center my thoughts, something not so loud, but most of all, something that would punish my guilt for having mixed feelings about banishing a half-demon. Yeah…I felt that bad. I’d been to Death’s backyard and knew what lay on Kiera’s remorseful horizon. She wouldn’t be sending out any postcards from paradise, you could bet your sweet butt on that — not from where her one-way, magical bus ride had dumped her off.
It didn’t take long for me to unload my first quiver of arrows. I scored a few more hits than misses this go-around, though I wouldn’t say my average had picked up. More than a few of the ones that had found their way inside the circle had only done so because of a helpful last-minute gust — most likely prompted by my mentor’s earlier remark. “The finish” may very well be all that matters in the end, but after such an effortless Veil-banishment and now having resorted to nudging arrows in mid-flight, I couldn’t help feeling like such an undeserving cheater and would absolutely kill for a little merit to go with my so-called “victory” right now.
Silas strolled into the chamber roughly an hour later. I was kind of glad to see him and not Tanner, especially after being enlightened to his magical ulterior motives from last night. I wasn’t sure what I felt more…humiliated or disappointed? Either way, I still had a lot more wounds left to lick.
I fired the arrow, hoping he would see that I was too busy to be bothered. Though as soon as I noticed my shot had landed just to the left of the target, I knew there wasn’t a fat chance in hell of that happening.
Silas nodded to my miss. “I see you’ve had no trouble picking up right where you left off.”
I knew it. I pulled another arrow out of the quiver with a testy jerk. “Nor you,” I assured.
“Some things never change,” Silas smirked. “Attitudes included.”
I kept mum, adjusted my stance, and pulled the bowstring back to my cheek. Yet again, my next shot came shy of hitting its mark. Now I really regretted having an audience.
I returned the longbow back to its slot in the rack. “So why are you here?” I probed, glaring. “My daily pounding isn’t for several more hours. But if you’re that eager to get started, I’m sure Tanner wouldn’t mind flipping my schedule around.”
“I’ll admit the notion is rather tempting, but no. I was instructed to inform you that we have a guest upstairs and—”
My palm flew up automatically. “You’re here to make sure I stay out of sight,” I interrupted, well aware of the drill.
Silas clapped his hands together lightly. “What a bright young lady you are.”
“I try,” I sang as I went to round up all the arrows.
The house steward cleared his throat. “Don’t you want to know who it is?”
I tightened my grip on the shaft and yanked the arrow out of the wall, never looking his way. “Nope.”
“You’re not even a little curious?” he continued.
Baiting bastard… “Not at all,” I replied, knowing it was a total lie. “They’re most likely a Talisman.” I glanced over my shoulder, noting his expression. “And judging from the way your eyes are dancing with delight, I’m guessing that they’re female.”
“I must say, Ms. Wallace, in less than a minute you’ve managed to shatter all of my misconceived stereotypes about blondes being dumb. Congratulations,” he bragged.
I muzzled as much of my grumble as I could. “I’m honored,” I scoffed and went straight back to plucking arrows.
“Maria Benoit is upstairs,” Silas revealed, halting my next pull immediately. “The Iolite Talisman.”
My hands tightened around the shaft while my thoughts carried me back to Lucca and his mother from the park. I had Rebecca’s address tucked in my phone and access to every other stone that was needed to permanently heal her son, except for one — the iolite. But Kamya’s disclosure had me debating whether or not I could actually get my hands on one. I needed to know exactly how much friction I was dealing with.
I pulled out the arrow and commenced with a casual turn to kick off my interrogation. “So what’s Tanner’s and Maria’s story? Why don’t they get along?”
Silas crossed his arms. “My, my. You are in the know.”
My glare intensified the longer he stayed quiet. “Well, don’t stop the train before it reaches the station.” I dropped the arrow into the quiver. “I’ve never known that engine of yours to ever run out of steam.”
The house steward shrugged his shoulders. “I thought you weren’t interested?”
I directed my attention back to the remaining arrows dotting the wall. “I simply find her stone intriguing.”
Silas let out a sigh. “He has something she wants, and he won’t trade it to her.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“A painting,” Silas revealed.
A painting? I’d honestly expected something more magical, like a stone or some weapon. I shot him a glance. “That’s it?”
Silas’ brow furrowed defensively. “It is a very sentimental painting,” he lectured, “ . . . for both parties.”
“Gotcha,” I assured, noting his defensive tone. My lesson detailing the blue-violet water stone from several weeks ago rolled through my mind. Iolites were stones highly regarded for their ability to inspire one’s imagination. They were adored by innovators and anyone in search of more inspiration and creativity within their respected fields—artists, writers, inventors, and designers—all because of the power it held to birth fantastical ideas into the most infertile minds. And according to Kamya, I needed a touch of its magic for the “creative spark” component required to cure Lucca of his autism. All Tanner had shown me that day was a picture in a journal and its corresponding totem lying on the wall. So knowing that had been the extent of his Show-and-Tell, I had a sneaky suspicion about what the answer to my next question would be.
But it never hurts to ask. “Does Tanner have any iolites?”
“No,” Silas remarked dryly. “And seeing how the two of them are at a stalemate, he probably never will.”
I was wrong. Sometimes it does hurt to ask. “So how hard would it be for someone else to get one?” I posed.
Silas postured his head pensively. “With her aware of the fact that Tanner is the Diamond Talisman’s mentor, I would wager the odds to be about a billion to none.”
My heart actually beat my bottom lip to the floor. That didn’t sound the least bit promising.
“Why do you need an iolite?” Silas questioned.
I turned my attention back to collecting arrows. “No reason.”
“Are you looking to expand the breadth of your creativity or could it be that you’re still reeling with the harsh sting of the one that got away the other day?”
A blast of red-hot rage rocketed through me, straight to the tips of my trembling fingers. Pickpocketing my secret thoughts was one thing, but I’d reached my limit of them being shoved in my face. I yanked another arrow out of the wall and shook it at him. “I’m warning you — STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!”