by Bonnie Lamer
“I am still up for it. Perhaps you and I can go on ahead and give my dear cousin here time to recover his temper. Though, that may take days. His tempers are quite persistent.” I’m tempted to say I know, but that wouldn’t be a good idea.
“Do you want to go?” I ask Kallen.
“Yes.” Wow, I didn’t know it was possible to speak through a jaw clenched so tightly that it might as well be wired shut.
Putting my hands on my hips, I say, “I already said I was sorry; so could you please stop being a jerk about it? It’s not like I actually hurt you this time.”
Kegan has another laugh/cough moment before he says, “An injury to a man’s pride is sometimes more painful than an injury to his body. Shall we go now and let Kallen follow when he is ready?”
Well, at least Kallen’s anger has shifted. He’s not glowering at me anymore. “I believe it would be more pleasant for Xandra to swim with the man she loves, not his cousin.”
Not if he keeps being such a jerk, I grumble to myself.
“Well said,” Kegan grins. Oh, crap. Apparently, I said it out loud. I really have to stop doing that.
“Look, I’m going swimming. If either of you want to come with me, fine. If not, that’s fine, too.”
Kegan’s face sobers. “It is not safe to swim alone in the ocean. You do need to have someone with you.”
I shrug. “Right now, I’m willing to risk it.” Turning my back on them both, I walk out of my bedroom. In the hall, I turn right hoping that I’m going in the right direction. This house is huge, and if I end up getting lost, it will seriously diminish the effect of my dramatic exit.
Fortunately, I find my way through the house and make it out to the beach with only one wrong turn. As I step out onto the warm sand, the tension of the last few minutes slowly recedes and I can savor the feeling of the warm morning sun as I walk down to the water. I hear footsteps behind me, but I don’t bother to turn around to see who it is.
I don’t have to wonder for long. Suddenly, my feet are no longer touching the sand as I’m thrown over Kallen’s shoulder and he sets off at a run towards the water. “Kallen, what are you doing?” I shout over the noise of the waves.
“Exacting my revenge,” he says and the next thing I know, I’m flying through the air and then quickly submerging into the ocean. I don’t even have time to close my eyes.
Rising to the surface, sputtering to get the water out of my nose and eyes, I glare at Kallen and his smug smile. He’s only waist deep in the water and he has his arms crossed over his now bare chest. “You’re going to pay for that,” I tell him, but he doesn’t look worried.
“I believe you are too small to throw me in the water,” he gloats.
Fine, then I’ll bring the water to him. Quickly pulling magic, I douse him with a tidal wave at least twice as tall as he is. Now it’s his turn to come out of the water sputtering. He doesn’t look mad anymore but I still think I’m in trouble. The situation definitely calls for a hasty retreat.
Instead of dousing me with a tidal wave in return, he uses his greater strength in his leg muscles to catch up with me, grabs me by the waist, and drags us both under water. I probably wouldn’t have gulped in half the water that I did if I hadn’t been laughing so hard. Breaking out of his hold, I push up to the surface but I only have a second to catch a breath before I find myself being swung over his shoulder again.
“Put me down,” I laugh, gently pounding my fists against his back.
“Certainly,” he says and I find myself underwater again.
Before I have a chance to push up, Kallen is in front of me and he pulls me close, firmly planting his lips on mine. I wrap my arms around his neck as he brings us to the surface. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I deepen the kiss, which elicits a groan from low in his throat, and he crushes my body even tighter against his.
“Are you trying to drown her or seduce her?” a familiar voice calls over the waves.
“Ignore him,” Kallen says against my lips. “He will go away eventually.”
I can’t help a giggle. “That’s not very nice.”
He shrugs. “I never claimed to be nice.”
“True, but it would still be rude to ignore him.”
“Go away!” Kallen calls to Kegan. To me, he says, “There, I am not ignoring him. Happy?”
I swat at his shoulder. “You’re terrible. Stop acting jealous of your cousin.”
He gives me a sour look. “And I suppose you would have no problem with a beautiful cousin of yours joining us?”
“I don’t have any cousins,” I grin.
That earns me another dunking into the warm salt water. I come up laughing and wiping the water out of my eyes. “Will you please stop doing that?”
“Doubtful.”
I try glaring at him but I’m having too much fun to pull it off. Instead, I turn to Kegan and say in my sweetest voice, “Come on in, the water’s great.” And then I’m being dragged under water again. At least this time I was ready for him and my mouth and eyes are closed.
Instead of rising to the surface right away, I hold my breath and swim away from Kallen. I’m not a strong swimmer, but I get at least twenty feet before I have to come up for air. What I didn’t realize, is that I was swimming towards Kegan. I come up for air about five feet away from him.
“I believe you were right, it may have been safer for you to swim alone,” he says with a wicked grin. “Come to me for protection?”
Awkward. “Um, actually, I thought I was going in the opposite direction.” By this time, Kallen has swum over to me. He comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist in what is unmistakable as a possessive move. I’m not sure if I should be flattered or annoyed. So, I decide to be both.
Moving out of Kallen’s arms, I say to both of them, “I’m starved. We didn’t have breakfast back home; do you think we could have brunch?”
In the corner of Kallen’s eyes, I can see his irritation at me pulling away from him, but he’s recovering quickly. “Of course, we can see if Tabitha will let us raid the kitchen.”
“Yes, I could use some food myself.” Obviously, Kegan is going to be our shadow for the day. I can’t help but wonder if Isla put him up to it to make sure Kallen and I behave. I don’t know why else he would stick around with Kallen being so rude.
“Great, let’s go.” I start wading towards the shore and my mind is barely able to think, wow, the sun must be behind a cloud, before something wet, heavy and black hits me. I’m knocked underwater and several areas on my calves and thighs feel as if they have been pierced by something sharp and extremely painful. I feel my back hit the sandy floor of the ocean and whatever is on top of me holds me there. I struggle against it, but it’s too smooth and slippery, and I can’t seem to find the edges of it.
I start to panic before I remember I’m a magical being. Pulling magic from deep below the ocean floor, I push it upwards towards whatever is on top of me. In a rush of water, it explodes off from me as my magic turns the water around me into a rising whirlpool that bursts upwards at what looks like a million miles an hour, removing both the object and the water from on top of me. I’m lying in a little circle of sand that should be covered by the ocean, but it’s not anymore.
My lungs painfully fill with oxygen as I gasp for air. When I am finally able to stand up in my unnaturally cleared spot of the ocean, I see what attacked me swirling inside the whirlpool that is now several feet above my head. I’m pretty sure it’s a stingray. Urged on as more magic spills from my angry mind, the swirling water looks like a tornado that hasn’t decided to touch ground yet. The large black thing keeps swirling inside of it. A black thing that pierced my body several times. Did I mention how much that hurt? And that I’m bleeding? Which explains my anger as I thrust my magic forward and the whirlpool spits out what it has and with a loud thud, the stingray lands on the sandy beach. And then it’s a naked woman. She looks like she’s only a couple of years older than me, and I have no idea
who she is or why she would attack me. Well, except for the fact that half the Fairies here want me dead.
My legs are burning, my eyes are stinging, and I’m pissed. Not a great combination for someone who’s really powerful, because all I want to do right now, is to send her floundering back to the sea. As a human, not whatever the hell she was in the water. In fact, I think I will. She can easily change back into whatever she was, right?
“Xandra,” Kallen says from about twenty feet away. “She’s not the one you should be angry with.”
Whirling around, I direct my anger towards him. “She attacked me, tried to drown me and made me bleed. Why, exactly, shouldn’t I be mad at her?” I ask. “Who is she? A friend of yours?” He had better say no.
“She is a girl who had the misfortune of growing up with a cruel sister.”
“That clears things right up, thanks.” Was that sarcasm? How unusual for me.
“Xandra,” Kegan says from his shorter distance from me, “truly, she is but a child who has been led astray by a sister who feels scorned. Let her go, please.”
There’s a lot of feeling in his voice. So much so that it makes me look again at the girl on the beach. Apparently, she’s important to both of them. Turning to Kegan, I say, “Tell me who she is.”
“She is Xeniaa’s sister.”
Because again, that clears things right up for me. I glare at Kallen as I say, “Who is Xeniaa?”
Kallen looks kind of sheepish but Kegan looks amazed. “You do not know who Xeniaa is?”
“No.” Something about his voice tells me that I’m going to be really mad when I hear the answer.
Kegan looks at Kallen and I have rarely seen such a fierce look on another person. “You have not told her?”
Kallen also looks fierce. And, he looks look he’s seriously planning Kegan’s death; he just hasn’t come up with the cruelest possible way to do it yet. That’s probably the only thing keeping him from doing it right this minute.
I let the noisy whirlpool go because I might need that magic to use against the two guys standing in front of me if I don’t get some answers soon. And on the woman on the beach, of course. The water comes crashing back down into the ocean, dousing both Kallen and Kegan. After they sputter back to the surface, I put my hands on my hips as, I say, “You had better start talking. Otherwise, I’m tearing another hole in the realm walls and going home. You and Isla can deal with the Fairies who want to jump realms all by yourselves.”
“What?” Kegan asks. “What are you talking about? And what do you mean, tear holes in the realms.” Obviously, Kegan’s out of the loop of what’s going on. That’s strange.
“Later,” Kallen growls. To me, he says, “I will explain, but first, I need you to let the girl go.”
I look back at the beach where the limp body of the girl lies. My magic has her firmly planted on the beach. I’m not hurting her, just holding her. I think about letting her go, but keeping her like this might get the story out of Kallen faster.
Really? I just thought that? I just thought about keeping another person hostage to extract information out of my boyfriend. Someone who should tell me everything up front because we shouldn’t have to have secrets from each other? Not someone who I should have to torture strangers to get him to talk to me. He’s right. I am taking my anger out on the wrong person.
“You’re always going to keep secrets from me, aren’t you?” I ask him, and he hesitates just long enough to confirm that’s true. The pain that stabs me in the heart is much worse than the pain in my legs. I don’t know much about relationships, but I do know they require honesty to survive. What secret could be so big that Kallen won’t trust me with it after all we’ve been through? “I am so sick of this.” I pound on my chest with my index finger as I practically shout, “I can’t keep myself, or anyone else, safe if I don’t know what I’m up against. Your little secrets just got me attacked. But I’m supposed to sit back and say, okay, he’ll tell me when he’s ready? You know what? I’ll do what I came here to do because I gave my word, and I don’t do that unless I intend to follow through. But from now on, I’ll use my magic anyway I see fit to keep my realm safe. If that means collateral damage resulting in innocent Fairies getting hurt, or even it means blowing up your whole damn realm, because I don’t have the right information about who’s my enemy and who’s not, then let that rest on your conscience, not mine. I’m also not going to be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t have enough faith or trust in me to tell me the truth. So, you need to keep your distance from me. If you can’t be honest with me about whatever is going on here, or everything else, then our relationship is a complete fraud. As soon as I take care of these Fairies, I’m out of here. The sooner that happens, the better.” Pulling my magic back inside of me, I don’t even register the shocked look on both guys’ faces. I stalk out of the water on my stinging and bleeding legs that are getting sorer as the sea water soaks into them. Maybe not the most graceful exit ever, but I manage. I walk past the body gasping for breath on the beach without even acknowledging her presence. I walk towards the stairs that lead back to the house, and, without looking back towards any of them, I walk to the house.
I can’t believe this. I get attacked and Kallen still doesn’t want to give me all the information I need. How can I protect myself if I don’t know who or what I should be protecting myself from? If Kallen follows me right now, he’ll be sorry.
After a couple of wrong turns, I finally find my room. Why does this stupid house have to be so big? Slamming the door after me, I stomp across the room, push back the netting and flop onto my bed, not caring what my bloody legs and the salt water on me will do to the yellow comforter. I thought I would calm down once I got here, but magic is still swirling inside of me at lightning speed. I try to force it down, but it won’t go. It’s attached to my agitation. Who is this Xeniaa person? She has to be someone important to Kallen. Otherwise, he’d be a bit more forthcoming with the information. Is she someone he cares about? Do I really want to know if she is? Growling out loud, I sit up and throw one of the frilly pillows from the bed as hard as I can out onto the terrace.
“Was that really necessary?” Kegan asks as he walks through the silk curtains holding the pillow. “These pillows are supposed to be for decoration, not used as weapons.”
Why is he here? And how did he get here? “Go away.”
“And have both my grandmother and Kallen angry with me for leaving you alone? That is something even I will not risk.”
I glare at him. “Trust me; you have more to fear from me than you do them.”
Kegan spends several heartbeats staring at me with furrowed brows. Why doesn’t he leave already? “You are serious,” he finally says.
I cock my head and sigh in frustration. “Yes, I am. Will you please go away now?”
“Who are you?”
What kind of stupid question is that? “We’ve already been introduced. I’m Xandra, your Kegan. Now will you go away?” He’s too much like Kallen, both in looks and personality, to be around me right now. I’m just getting more and more annoyed.
“I know your name. But, who are you?”
Hmm. He honestly looks like he doesn’t know. Interesting. “Who do you think I am?”
“I had assumed that you were from the northern territory since I had never met you before. Someone brought here to be Kallen’s wife.”
What is it with everyone wanting to marry me off at seventeen? “No, I am definitely not here to be anyone’s wife. But, I would like to be alone right now.” Does the guy not take a hint? Maybe Isla didn’t ask him to spy on me and Kallen. Maybe, he just gets a kick out of following people around and annoying the crap out of them. “Kegan, look. You can leave or I can make you leave. Since I don’t have the greatest control over my magic at the moment, that could turn out very badly for you. Please leave.”
Holding his hands up in front of him, he says, “Okay, I can take a hint.” No, he can’t. “But, will y
ou at least let me bring you some food? You said you were hungry.”
I’m about to shout at him, or eject him by magic, when my stomach growls loudly. Fine, I’m hungry. That doesn’t mean I need company. “I’m sure I can find something on my own, thanks.”
With a last assessing stare, Kegan give me a curt nod and finally leaves the room. Through the door, not the terrace. Good lord, it’s about time. Lying back on my bed, I try not to think about how simple my life was just a few short weeks ago.
It doesn’t take long for the exhaustion I have felt building up inside of me to pull me down into sleep, despite the pain in my legs.
Chapter 8
Something touches my face, which wakes me from the pleasant dream I was having in which no one wanted to kill me. My mind hasn’t quite surfaced to consciousness as I wipe at my face to get whatever it is away from me. What seems like half a second later, it’s on my face again. At this point, my brain has figured out it might as well wake up, because whatever this is, it isn’t going away.