He tried mentally rehearsing various speeches to appease her, but none of them sounded right. He’d chewed over her words outside the ice cream shop, trying to figure out why she’d defended him to Galen, but he’d come up blank. Finally, he’d fallen asleep brooding about the fact that it would all be so much simpler if all she wanted from him was a damn unicorn.
He dreamed of Hope.
Of course he did. The woman was every dream he’d ever had.
She was small in this dream; just a child. She ran towards him, through a menacing Gothic hallway, Shirley Temple blonde ringlets bouncing. She wore a tiny martial arts outfit, accessorized with a glittery tutu and a rhinestone tiara. Kingu’s mouth twitched. Even in his imagination Hope sparkled.
He glanced around trying to figure out where they were. It looked like the set from a horror film. The walls were black igneous rock, accented with blood red tapestries. Gargoyles scowled down from the ceiling. Large spikes jutted out from edges of the floor, two of which sported skulls on their lethal points.
Kingu loved it.
His subconscious had designed a space even more forbidding than his fortress.
The stylish surroundings actually distracted him from the fact that Hope was carrying a gigantic knife. As she drew closer to him, he saw it clutched in her hand and his brows shot up. For some reason, the tiny little girl was armed with a serrated hunting blade as long as her arm. Her fingers didn’t even go all the way around the hilt. Kingu frowned as Hope darted into a nearby room. What the hell…?
And that’s when Kingu saw the man chasing her.
His heartbeat sped into overdrive.
A sinister looking bastard stalked after her like a predator. The guy was huge, by Elemental standards, and dressed like the personification of death. Whatever he came from, it had to be a warrior House that trained its members to be merciless killers. It was impossible to tell which one, though, because he had a bandana cinched around his head, obscuring the colored marker at his temple. A black trench coat swung around the tops of his massive boots. Chains and weapons jangled from his belt. He swung a double-bladed ax around in his palm, his oddly opaque blue eyes scanning.
It was just a nightmare.
Kingu tried to tell himself that, but he still couldn’t suppress his panic. Hope was so small and helpless… and she was being tracked by an assassin.
Instinct drove him forward, trying to intercept the man, even though he seemed to be invisible to them. “Stay the fuck away from her.”
The guy couldn’t hear him, but he obviously heard Hope. His head tilted, listening. Then, his unnatural gaze slowly swiveled and fixed on the door that she’d vanished through.
Kingu’s stomach dropped. He tried to use his powers to stop the man, but it was no use. He couldn’t do anything in this dream. The maniac killer headed after Hope, the ax gleaming, and Kingu just had to watch.
The man tested the doorknob and found it locked. Backing up a step, he raised a foot and he kicked the door open. It careened into the wall with a sickening crash.
“Son-of-a-bitch.”
Kingu rushed into the bizarre bedroom, desperately trying to spot Hope. It only took him half a second to know that she was hiding under the bed. The car sized piece of furniture was the only thing in the room. Well, except for the arsenal. Swords, guns and implements of death covered every inch of the stone walls.
The man headed straight for the bed.
Kingu couldn’t think past his rage and fear. Through the pounding of blood in his head, he heard Hope scurrying further under the mattress and what sounded like…
…Giggling?
Wait, was that laugher?
The assassin’s expressionless face didn’t change at the noise. He moved forward, grabbed the edge of the mattress, and flipped the whole thing onto its side.
Hope shrieked and scampered to the left as the bed flew from over top of her. The man slammed the ax down right into her path, the blade sinking three inches into the floor.
Kingu gave roar of fury, even though it missed her by at foot.
Her way blocked, Hope tried going the other direction and end up backing right into the assassin’s baseball glove sized hands. He seized hold of her leg and lifted her into the air.
“Stop!” Kingu’s lungs froze in his chest expecting to see Hope slaughtered right before his eyes.
Gods, why couldn’t he wake-up?
“Unfair!” Hope gave a squeal of laughter as the vicious killer suspended her upside down. She waved her knife at his torso, missing by a mile. “Qadesh, you’re too big!”
Kingu’s frantic thoughts skidded to a halt at her cheerful complaint.
Wait a minute… What was happening?
Was this was some kind of game?
Tiny limbs pinwheeled around as Hope dangled by her left ankle. The assassin called Qadesh didn’t seem to notice. He hefted her up higher so he could stare into her eyes. “What’s rule number fifteen?” He asked flatly.
“When you can’t win fair, ambush your enemies and pick them off one at a time.” The answer was immediate, as if she’d memorized it. Hope squiggled some more, trying to crane her neck and look at him right-side-up. “And I did that!”
One black brow rose skeptically.
“I did! I lured you in here and you came over to the bed like I planned… But, then I was having fun and forgot to stab you when you got close.” Her nose wrinkled. “Sorry.”
“We’ll do it, again.” He flipped her around so she was upright and held her at arms’ length. “Be serious and really try to kill me this time. We train like every situation is real, because one day it will be.”
Kingu blinked at the bizarreness of this dream.
The man was so much bigger than Hope that he could have snapped any bone in her body between two of her fingers. But, she wasn’t scared of him, at all.
In a weird way, Kingu didn’t blame her. Her shiny, girly outfit stood out against his “kill-everybody-and-eat-their-eyes” chic, but there was nothing menacing about the guy’s body language. In fact, he shifted her against his chest like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Like she was his baby sister.
Hope trustingly laid her head against his shoulder as he carried her towards the door. “After I kill you, can we play tea party?”
Mr. Cruelest-Looking-Bastard-Kingu-Had-Ever-Seen glanced down at her sharply. “We don’t have tea parties.” He intoned, his voice like cold steel.
“Sorry. I forgot. I mean, can we play tavern-except-we-drink-tea-instead-of-bourbon?”
He grunted. “Better. Yeah, alright. We can do that.”
“Can we still use my tea cups?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I wear a feathered hat?”
“Yeah.”
“Will you wear a feathered hat?”
“Don’t push it.”
Kingu had no clue what kind of Freudian bullshit this was supposed to symbolize, but he suddenly liked this strange dream. He liked that Hope was happy and cared for, even if it was by a serial killer. He liked that the man loved her enough to teach her how to defend herself. He liked that he was so comfortable here surrounded by all the grotesque décor and preparations for war. Wherever he was, it felt like a spot where monsters of all descriptions and the sparkly little blondes they treasured could have a tea parties and knife fights and thrive in the wonderful gloom.
Kingu looked around the scary, violent, crazy dream and realized this was the only place that had ever seemed like…
Home.
All too soon the dream shifted and Kingu stood in another kingdom he’d never seen. It was unnaturally dark as if this land had no sun, at all. And all around in every direction, even twinkling inside the ground beneath his feet, there was a stars. Millions and billions of stars.
More stars than could ever have names. More stars than he’d imagined could even exist. Stars of so many sizes and colors that gazing at them was like standing inside a slowly shifting kal
eidoscope. They drifted by in their magical overlapping constellations and it was beautiful.
Really beautiful.
Kingu made a face and wished he was back in that homey dungeon fortress. This place wasn’t nearly so suited to monsters. More importantly, he couldn’t see that miniature version of Hope here. Even when he was asleep, he longed to see that woman.
Something moved in his peripheral vision and Kingu automatically glanced towards it. A Phase with sunshine blonde hair and a midnight blue streak at her temple moved in the darkness. What House had midnight blue as their marker? It didn’t seem familiar. The woman looked like she’d been crying and she was carrying a large wicker basket on her hip.
As Kingu watched, the woman jumped out of the starry kingdom and into the Agora. He recognized the Elementals’ free space, although he’d personally never been there. The Classical buildings and statues of miscellaneous dead Phases limited the possible places they could be. Kingu squinted around in confusion. Why would he be dreaming of this place?
The blonde woman moved quickly through the early morning light, finally stopping by the steps of the Council Hall. “I’m sorry.” She whispered. “But, how could I ever explain you? How could I tell anyone that your father is a human? How could I tell him that I’m not?”
Kingu’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, I know you’re not about to do what I think you’re going to do.”
The woman set down her basket and looped a very familiar silver star charm over the handle. It dangled there by a black cord. “You’ll be fine.” She reached into the basket to touch whatever was inside and then stepped back. “It’s written in the Stars that you’ll bring hope to whoever finds you. I wish I could see it, but this is where our paths diverge. Don’t worry. Your destiny will be beautiful.”
“Don’t you dare leave her…” Kingu cursed as the Elemental jumped away, again, leaving the basket sitting forsaken on the steps. He inched closer and peered inside, already knowing what he’d find.
Hope.
She couldn’t have been more than a day old. She watched the silver star charm twirl above her head and didn’t seem overly concerned about being left for dead by her bitch of a mother. That was okay. Kingu was pissed enough for the both of them.
“Fucking hell.”
He sat down beside the basket, no longer sure this was just a dream. It felt an awful lot like he was reliving something that had actually happened and that was just infuriating. Hope’s mother had abandoned her because she was part human? Did that stupid woman not see that this girl was a treasure?
He sat there, staring at the baby for a few moments. Against his will, he found himself smiling down at her.
God she was cute.
A big man with a red streak in his beard wandered over, interrupting Kingu’s mushy thoughts. It appeared that the guy was a Phase and that he was stealing the house numbers off of the buildings in the square. There was a screwdriver in his hand and his overall pockets overflowed with random ones, sevens, and threes.
“Hot damn! A free basket!” He said cheerily and headed over to pilfer that, too.
Kingu’s eyes widened, afraid that Hope was about to get kidnapped by this lunatic. “Don’t touch her.” He warned.
As the lunatic drew closer, he spotted the infant curled up in the basket and his maniacal grin grew wider. “Hot damn! Free baby!”
Kingu cursed as the Phase casually picked Hope up and held her at arms’ length. The man didn’t seem dangerous, but he also didn’t seem sane. Why were all these memories filled with gigantic lunatics? “You’re going to break her, you idiot. Be careful.”
The Phase couldn’t hear him. Of course, he also couldn’t possibly hear Hope, but that didn’t stop him from listening to her. “Where do you belong, girly?” The man tilted his head, studying Hope for a long moment. “Uh-huh.” He said as if he was really listening to her. “Okay, we’ll find you a new home, then.”
Hope made a happy sound and kicked her little legs.
“Yep.” The Phase beamed at her. “I know just where you belong, then.”
“She belongs with me.” Kingu muttered. Was that what these dreams were trying to tell him? That no matter where she came from, or who her parents were, the woman was his.
He already knew that, so it had to be something else…
Kingu awoke with a start, breathing hard and still sitting in his chair. The dreams had been trying to help him. It had to be some kind of bizarre new manifestation of his powers. But, if those memories had really happened, why hadn’t he seen Hope’s mother as a Color Phase?
Why had she come from a kingdom filled with stars?
Kingu snapped his fingers and a giant stack of books appeared. His powers let him recreate pretty much anything he wanted and right now he wanted to know everything there was to know about Elemental history.
Although, of everything he’d ever imagined wanting, that was dead last on the list.
He grabbed the tome on the top of the pile, which was entitled A Complete Lineage of the Elemental Houses. God only knew why, but the idiot Phases had printed it in English. Kingu rolled his eyes and flipped to the index in the back. His finger ran down the lists of names and kingdoms: Radiation House, Reflection House, Shadow House, Smoke House, Sound House…
Star House.
Kingu turned to the designated page number and found that the whole entry was only four paragraphs long. It didn’t matter, though. Kingu didn’t need the hundreds of chapters the other Houses got to know the truth.
Right in the center of the nearly blank page was a pen and ink sketch of one of the charms from Hope’s bracelet. The small silver star. The image looked old, even by Kingu’s standards, and beneath it was a blunt description:
The rarest of the Elementals, the Star House has not been considered an official House since the Second War of the Tyrees, when the Star Phases left the Elemental realm. Most stories of them are apocryphal, but it is known that the House designation at their temple was midnight blue. This was also the most usual color for their eyes. Many accounts of their powers refer to their ability to influence fortune or luck. This is said to be the origin of phrases such as, “luck of a Star Phase” and “born under a lucky star.”
Although the Star House was small, the Star Phases were seen as some of the most powerful Elementals and valued for their skills. The Star Kingdom was sealed when they left the Elemental realm and no Star Phase has been identified for six thousand years. Countless explorations have searched the uncharted realms for their new homeland, but their whereabouts remain a mystery. Some Star Phases must continue to survive though, as the stars, their Element, still remain in sky.
The Star Phases were said to be fearsome opponents in battle. Purportedly, their energy could aid them in creating advantageous circumstances for themselves and disaster for their foes. It is said that the most powerful Star Phases often seemed to have “bad” luck. Their energy was always directing them to their greater purpose and, the worse the circumstances seemed, the more important the destiny they were bound for. These powerful Star Phases were especially revered and often called “the treasures of their House.”
Various prophesies about the return of the Star Phases exist in our myths. The most popular being the legend of a seemingly forsaken man who prays to Gaia for salvation and is eventually granted a Star Phase as his Match. This story relates to older anecdotes that say the Star Phases usually find Matches within their own House, so any outsider to Phaze with one
must first be blessed by the gods. In the tales, these Matches must usually endure some great trial to prove their soul is worthy of the gift being given to them.
Kingu read every word of the entry twice, his eyes constantly going back to the drawing of the star. The small caption under the picture read:
Ancient Symbol of the Star House.
Shit.
Hope might have been raised in the Color House, but she wasn’t a Color Phase. She was one of the rarest and most valuable beings i
n the universe. Something so damn special that creatures from every realm would covet and search for her. Her human DNA hid the midnight blue marker at her temple, but the strength of her “jinx” was enough to prove that her powers were real and vast.
Shit.
Kingu closed the book and stared broodingly into the fireplace.
He starred in enough myths of his own to know most legends grew from a kernel of truth. Apparently, Hope was fated to be a Divine blessing for some worthy man. The higher gods weren’t going to be happy that Kingu had derailed that plan and claimed her for his own. Not to mention how pissed her asshole soul mate would be. Kingu had stolen some other male’s destiny. Gaia would surely do something to punish him for it and get Hope back.
…Or, at least, She’d try.
Kingu’s jaw tightened. Hope was his now and he’d battle every god in the heavens before he parted with her. He’d known from the first moment he saw her that she belonged to him and no Phase or god or fucking soul mate would change that. Going back to his empty eternity without her would be worse than death. He’d do anything necessary to keep her.
Obviously, step one was never, ever tell anyone she was a Star Phase.
Hope clearly didn’t know and that was good for Kingu. If she knew the truth, she’d leave him for someone far more deserving. Strange that she’d never looked for her biological parents, though. Her overprotective family must never have bothered to look into her origins, either. Kingu couldn’t really blame them.
What if her idiot mother had been discovered and wanted her back? Her adopted family wouldn’t have risked that. Once you held Hope, you would never want to let her go. Even if her grandfather had suspected the truth, why would he share it and weaken his claim on her? Why wouldn’t he ignore her birth House and keep her for his own? It was dishonest, but it was also exactly what Kingu planned to do, so he felt an odd kinship with that old man.
How unnerving to have so much in common with Oberon the Color Phase.
“So, are you ready to apologize?”
Kingu’s mind was racing so fast, it actually took him a moment to notice that Hope had finally left her bedroom. She stood in the doorway of his room, wearing the most colorful piece of clothing he’d created for her. The piece of clothing closest to his heart.
Treasure of the Fire Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 4) Page 20