House of Leights (Secret Keepers series Book 3)

by Jaymin Eve

  No more searching endlessly. I was finally home.

  She nudged her son out of the way and wrapped her arms around me. “I always wanted a daughter,” she said, her low accented voice soothing. “You are perfect. The Galinta would never choose someone unworthy.”

  My heart felt like it would burst, and I had to bite my lip not to cry when she pulled away. She stepped back to her husband’s side, and Chase drew me closer to him. I could practically feel his happiness.

  “You have done well, son,” his father said. “Your mother is right, Maya is worthy.”

  Cue a raging blush from me and more emotions threatening to send tears down my cheeks.

  “We need to go,” Chase said, looking between his parents. “Lexen is waiting on us to try and find the fourth keeper. We have to get to her before Laous does.”

  Everything turned a little more serious then. Chila straightened and gave a low nod. “I am amassing our warriors. We will not stand on the sideline for this fight. Not any longer.”

  I wanted to freak out about the word “warriors,” because it made me think of war, but Chase, grim-faced, just returned his father’s nod. “Yes, this is a good idea. We might have to call on them quickly. I will be in touch as soon as we know something.”

  Jasmin looked upset but didn’t say anything more. We exchanged farewells and they stepped back into the trees again, their path closing behind them.

  I let out a long, deep breath. Between Chase and his parents, I’d barely been able to get my lungs to work.

  “So,” I said, swallowing hard, “your parents are so lovely … and kind of intimidating.”

  Chase just laughed before he wrapped an arm around me. “You have nothing to worry about. They already adore you. I promise.”

  Maybe it was better I didn’t have time to build the meeting up. The randomness of the last few minutes had meant it was an authentic first introduction, and it did feel like it went well.

  “Ready to go now?” he asked, gesturing to the other path he’d opened. It was still there, waiting for us.

  I nodded, and Chase kept his arm around me as we stepped out. I felt more than capable of walking on my own, but there was no way I was telling him that. He was touching me. I liked the touching.

  “Do you and your father have short hair because of the overlord thing?” I asked him. The few other House of Leights members I’d seen all had long hair, which had me wondering.

  Chase nodded. “Yes, overlord major and minor have their hair short to display our marks. Otherwise it’s customary for our people to grow their hair long. It’s a sign of age, which is a sign of wisdom.”

  I got the feeling wisdom was something our people respected a great deal.

  “Tell me about your life,” he said as he held a branch back for me. He was so much taller that everything hit him first. “I want to know who you are, the life you’ve lived.”

  I paused, trying to think of something fun and interesting to say. After a few moments, I realized there was nothing. “I’ve been kind of lonely, really.” Pathetic, but it was the truth. “My parents love me, don’t get me wrong, but their jobs have dominated their time. So, I just drifted along. If it wasn’t for Brad, I’m not sure if I’d be as well-adjusted as I am. His parents also work for the government, so we kept each other company.”

  “Brad…” He let the name trail off, and I worried we were about to have our first moment of jealousy and male dominance. I wouldn’t give up Brad, not even for Chase, so I really hoped he wouldn’t ask that of me.

  “I’m very glad he was around.” His words took me by surprise. “It’s nice to see the bond you two have. It reminds me of my friendship with Lexen, Daniel, and Xander. The four of us have been through a lot together. We had to hide our friendship for many years because of bad blood between our houses, but we’re connected on a level which I don’t believe can be broken.”

  In some ways, I felt like Chase might have been as lonely as I was. Moving nomadically all the time would have been really tough. I doubted he would have seen his friends much, especially if they were hiding their bond.

  “I’m really happy you had the other guys,” I said, echoing his sentiment. “I believe humans … and Daelighters, I would guess … thrive in a close community. We need love and support. No person should be an island, you know.”

  We’d had to move apart as we got further into the trees, so I reached out and took his hand. He automatically laced our fingers together. I loved the way he did that. “You won’t be lonely anymore,” he said, his voice sounding a little rougher than usual. “You have me. Our bond is from the fates, and you have the other secret keepers and their mates. The eight of us … it’s soul deep.”

  He was philosophical. Never how I would have described myself, but I was starting to come around to his way of thinking. “Already marrying Xander and the last girl off,” I teased, needing to lessen the emotion for a beat. “Don’t you think he might want a say?”

  Chase chuckled. “Xander is going to be the hardest to crack. He’s adamant that he’ll never settle down. He moves through women … not disrespecting them, but always making sure they know he’s not the serious kind. Not now. Maybe not ever.”

  “Do they normally have marriages, or bonds and mates in House of Royale?”

  “The caramina – tailed folk – are much more isolated in nature than most of the other houses. They live in pods that move together beneath the legreto. Honestly, no one knows that much about their families and relationships, but from the little I have learned from Xander, I think it’s possible that they do not have any traditional bonds. They tend to just switch and change partners whenever they get sick of each other. If a child results, that’s no problem, because they are raised in a collective, pretty much.”

  “So, no one knows who the father is?” That kind of weirded me out. “Do they make sure not to get into relationships with someone younger? Just in case it’s their kid?”

  Chase nodded. “Yes, that is generally the rule. Also, most young are sent to other pods. Like exchanges. It would be very rare for that sort of situation to arise.”

  Still kind of creepy. I hadn’t met Xander yet, but I had some mental images of him that weren’t very flattering.

  “You said tailed folk…” I blurted suddenly as I remembered that. “Like … literally? They have tails and swim under the water?”

  Mermaids. My mental image of Xander changed completely, and now he was a hot, buff mermaid. God I was shallow.

  “They can choose to have tails or legs. Under the water, I believe they mostly have tails, for the speed.”

  “How long can they stay under water for?”

  His smile grew and I had to shake my head to focus again. “Forever. They have a dual breathing system that allows them to filter the oxygen in the legreto. Again, they can choose which to utilize.”

  That was so unfairly cool. “I’d love to see their world. It’s a bit annoying that I need oxygen out of water to breathe.”

  Chase laughed, the sort of full-on laugh that transformed his face – beautiful to breathtaking. How was it even remotely possible this man was bonded to me?

  “There is a way you can visit,” he told me, leaning down closer. I had no idea if he had been planning on kissing me, but I wasn’t missing that opportunity. I launched myself forward, pressing our lips together. He wore an odd expression as I pulled back, and I was about to get all embarrassed and stuff because I was not one to usually take the initiative like that, but then he wrapped his free arm around me and pulled me closer. My feet left the branches so that he could reach my mouth easily.

  The mark on my stomach tingled, sending trills of sensation down my body into all the other parts that really liked Chase. “I wish Laous was dead,” Chase growled as he pulled back. “The fact that I can’t just keep kissing you right now makes me very unhappy.”

  “The world has picked a very inconvenient time to need saving,” I agreed, my lips barely moving away
from his.

  His look was regretful as he lowered me back down, holding on until I was finally steady on my feet. “You’d better never die,” I warned him. “If you make me addicted and then leave, I’m going to be super annoyed.”

  He didn’t laugh as I expected he might. He lowered his head to drop a kiss against my forehead. “You’re stuck with me, sayana, for now and always.”

  “Sayana?”

  “There is no literal translation to English,” he said, after seeming to think for a moment. “It’s more of a feeling. Something akin to ‘adore.’”

  My tear ducts felt very sensitive all of a sudden, and I wondered why that one word suddenly felt like so much – like everything. It wasn’t even the normal four-letter word that most people aspired to hear.

  Adore.

  This was so very new for us both, and I knew how strong my feelings already were, but in that moment, adore was perfect.

  Further conversation was cut off by a loud rustling in the trees. I ducked low; the noise was close and it sounded like there was more than one creature coming at me.

  My heart stopped racing when my new friend flew into sight, the bear-owl. “Oh my God!” I exclaimed. “You’re okay. I wondered where you’d gotten to. I’m really glad you didn’t get squished.”

  Chase wore a look of confusion, and when the bear-owl tried to fly closer, he stepped around me, blocking its path.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, tapping him on the shoulder. “That’s my friend, it helped me find you.” Or at least tagged along for the ride.

  The confusion he wore morphed into something like astonishment. “Maya,” he started slowly. “This is an oliconda. They’re one of the deadliest creatures in House of Leights. They’re strong, vicious, and can rip a Daelighter apart with their claws. Claws that secrete a very lethal poison.”

  At first, I thought he was screwing with me, especially since he hadn’t thought twice about stepping between me and the oliconda. “Are you sure?” I finally asked. “I carried it on my shoulder for quite a while.”

  He looked between me and the creature multiple times, then shook his head. Using this to my advantage, I slipped around him, and this time he let me. Holding out my arm to the oliconda, I smiled. It didn’t hesitate, spreading those broad wings and soaring across to me again. As the heavy weight landed, I let out a relieved sigh. “Thanks for coming back to me, Oli. You don’t mind if I call you Oli, right?” Oliconda was too much of a mouthful.

  It squawked lightly, and then we both turned in Chase’s direction as he let out a rumbling sound, shaking his head. “I cannot believe what I’m seeing. Not in all of our history has anyone tied themselves to an Oliconda. In fact, usually the ones to see them do not live to tell the tale. Luckily, they tend to remain hidden, in the shadows. Otherwise, we’d be down a lot of members of my house.”

  I shrugged. “This one seems okay. Maybe it’s different to the others?”

  You’re different.

  That voice in my head was not like the Galinta. It was a single feminine tone, and it took me more than a moment to realize it had come from Oli. It had to have; there was no one else it could be.

  “You talked to me,” I said out loud. “You can talk!”

  Yes, and I don’t mind if you call me Oli … I will also answer to Flet. If you ever need me, just call and I will come.

  With that, Flet’s wings spread again, and then she took off.

  Once it was gone, Chase wrapped his arms tightly around me, his breathing fast and ragged. “Don’t ever do that to me again,” he grumbled. “I was afraid to try and interfere, in case that upset the oliconda and it attacked. But allowing it that close to you went against every one of my protective instincts.”

  Patting his shoulder, I had to chuckle. “You definitely don’t have to worry about that particular oli. She spoke in my mind, said her name was Flet, and that I could call on her if I ever needed.”

  He shook his head a few times. “I don’t know what you are, Maya, but you seem to fit into this world better than most Daelighters. Your energy feels ancient … like the original overlords. You were meant to call this world home.”

  He set me gently to my feet and I regarded him for a moment. “Why would that be?” I had a thought then. “Do you think the last secret keepers had the same sort of balance and energy with each other?” We already knew none of them bonded to overlords.

  Chase lifted his broad shoulders in a shrug. “I have no idea. If we get a chance, it wouldn’t hurt to speak with one of the three still alive. Maybe they’ll have information for us. Something they have learned in the last hundred plus years.”

  That was a good idea, but I doubted we’d have the time to do that. Our pace picked up then for the rest of the journey, and I mentally thanked the Galinta more than once for their water. My ankle barely even smarted at all, and that was solely because of their healing. Still, by the time we reached the end of the trees, I was exhausted. It felt like a million years ago that we had set out from the house in the forest. Two million years since I first saw Chase at the party. How could so much have happened in such a short amount of time? How could I have changed to the point where I barely felt like the same person anymore? It was impossible, and yet here we were.

  “You need food and water,” Chase said, pressing his hands to the branches blocking our path. “You’re tired.”

  He was observant; it made me feel cared about. “I’m ready to do whatever needs to be done,” I replied, “but if I can get food before we start, that would be great.”

  As we stepped out onto the platform, we found everyone gathered and waiting. I ran straight to my best friend and he growled at me. “Can you please stop disappearing on me! Star and I did everything we could to find you. Thank God Lexen got a message through the network to her, because I was about to panic.”

  I hugged him as hard as I could, so happy to see he was okay. “Sorry,” I said as I pulled back. “You weren’t here when I got back, but my parents said you were okay, so I went after Chase.”

  I knew Chase was standing close to my back. That feeling in my tummy was almost permanent now, especially with the tethering between us.

  “We’re bonded,” I told my parents and Brad, who were all looking at me. “It’s something that was chosen for us by the Galinta, and … fate.” The three wore expressions that told me they didn’t know if they were supposed to be happy or concerned. I let my happiness free, smiling broadly. “Chase fills that restless part of my soul which has always searched for its home.”

  “Maya is my home,” Chase agreed.

  Yeah, we were the cliché couple who had known each other for mere days and were already declaring our everlasting love for each other. But when you looked at it another way, there was nothing cliché or normal about us. We were born to greater things than just a regular life, and I was going to embrace every second of it.

  Smiles broke out across my parents’ faces. My dad stepped forward to shake Chase’s hand, his welcome to the family. I expected Brad to make some sort of disparaging remark, but he just stared off into the main group of Daelighters and murmured, “I think I understand what you’re saying.”

  I followed his line of sight to a flash of dark hair and laughter. Star. I knew I’d seen something between those two. I really hoped Brad wasn’t setting himself up for heartache. For all we knew, Star was in love with someone else. Or at least betrothed.

  I’d have to talk to him about it later. Maybe Chase would have some insider knowledge, so I could feel less concerned that my friend was about to suffer his first heartbreak. Not that he didn’t deserve to know how it felt all the times he’d crushed women with his lack of caring, but he was my best friend. I didn’t want him to hurt.

  “Now that everyone is back, let’s move out.” Lexen’s voice was loud enough to be heard by all. “If we get the tracking just right in the network, we should be able to find the fourth. I’ve also called in Jero, my brother, to assist us, beca
use I’m not sure how easily we could lose control.”

  Turning to where he pointed, I found a somber, gorgeous, dark-haired male. He looked like Lexen, just a little shorter, with fuller lips and a faded scar on the side of his face. He gave us all a nod but didn’t join in with any discussion. Emma crossed over and wrapped her arms around him, and Jero squeezed his eyes shut tightly for a moment while they hugged, before he pulled back and re-crossed his arms over his broad chest.

  I wondered if he was naturally reticent, or if maybe he’d shut the world out since his brother’s death. I knew all of the Darken siblings were suffering. I could see the pain in their eyes. But Jero looked broken.

  “It’s so unfair that they haven’t had time to grieve,” I whispered to Chase.

  The skin around his eyes tightened, and while I had no idea what he was thinking, there was definitely something stormy brewing in those green depths. “Laous needs to suffer for that, more than anything else he’s done. Marsil was a good guy. He didn’t deserve what happened. His family is so close as well. This will devastate them forever.”

  “I heard their mom hasn’t left her room since it happened,” Callie murmured. She’d drifted closer. “I keep picturing the moment in my head … when he died … all of the blood. I can’t bury the images…” She broke off in a rough sob, and Daniel enclosed her tightly in his arms.

  She buried her face in his chest, taking a few moments to pull herself together. When she finally lifted her head, her eyes were red and her cheeks flushed, but she had stopped sobbing. I wanted to comfort her, but I didn’t know what to do, so I just stood there like a moron, trying not to cry myself in sympathy.

  Before it turned into a huge tear-fest, Lexen ushered us toward the transporter and I actually flinched as I realized I’d have to travel through it again. Chase noticed. “I will not let you go,” he promised, taking my hand. “There’s more than enough of us to get everyone to House of Darken safely.”

  I believed him, and I had faith that if I got lost, I’d find my way out again. So, with a few deep breaths for confidence, I placed my hand in his, and then we were stepping back into the world of darkness.