“I helped Alex with some chores and then we watched the horses play in the pastures.” I stopped and then asked, “Do you think it’s wrong of me to keep Fire from belonging to a herd?”
Father’s amused look faded a little at my serious question. “I think Ice and she have their own little herd of two when you are out on missions.”
“What would you do if it were wrong? Would you not use a horse?” Sebastian asked.
“I honestly do not know,” I admitted. “I just worry that I should be doing something differently with her sometimes.”
“Dinner is served,” the chef said as he wheeled in a cart with our trays on it.
We ate in silence and despite my better judgment I asked, “Have you heard from Favian or Kato?”
Father shook his head. “Not yet, but I’m sure they are alright.”
I hoped they were and knew that I should trust Kato to keep his word. Besides, if Kato couldn’t protect Favian, then there was no way that I could.
After dinner Sebastian escorted me to my room and we resumed making paper animals. This time we made the opposing army and Sebastian learned the new animals quickly.
“You seem distracted,” Sebastian whispered after a few minutes of silent paper folding.
“I’m sorry,” I said sincerely, “I’m being rude.”
He shrugged. “I’m just enjoying spending time with you, but if you would like to talk about whatever it is that is bothering you, I’m all ears.”
“Have you ever met a demon?” I asked softly.
He stopped folding his jumping frog and met my eyes. “I met a demon once, when I was about six. Why?”
I folded my crane a couple more times and then asked, “Do I resemble one to you?” I had wanted to ask him since the day at the arena, but until now had been too embarrassed to.
“No. Why would you ask me that?”
“When you saw me fighting you…”
He interrupted me and picked my hands up in his. “I was a fool and said a cruel thing only because I was impressed by your skill.”
Despite my attempts not to like it, I enjoyed him holding my hands in his and having his undivided attention on me. “Could it be possible that I am part demon?”
He studied me for several seconds and then released my hands to sit back. I resisted the urge to rub my now cold hands together and waited for his response. “It is possible for people to be possessed by demons, but I do not believe that you are possessed.”
“What if my father was a demon and impregnated my mother?” I asked.
He shook his head. “You are a good person, Marin. Why would you think that you could be part demon?”
“I do not know what I am! That is the problem. I know that I am human and something else. My father is a mystery that I must unravel, but I have no idea where to start and no clue what to expect. What if my father is something evil and what if that makes me…”
“You could never be evil, Marin. Besides, it does not matter what your birth father is, but how your Father, Cesar, raised you. It does not matter what you are, but who you are.”
He was right, but I was still worried. I was tired of worrying about it so I decided to change the topic. “Why didn’t you ever come to the Elven Kingdom before? You obviously knew you were an elf, why not come here and find your parents?”
He resumed folding our paper army and said, “I thought about it a lot as a kid. I even planned out a trip to come here when I was ten.”
“Why didn’t you?” I asked softly.
“Generally males try to hide their weaknesses from females.”
“It helps if we know your weaknesses so that we can help you and try to assist you in your moments of weakness.”
He set down his finished jumping frog and sighed. “I was afraid that they had sent me away because they did not want me. I did not want to return and be turned away instead of welcomed.”
I was incredibly shocked by his confession. “How do you feel now?” I asked because I knew he had indeed been welcomed by Mother and Father.
He laughed. “Now I wish I had come years ago. Perhaps then I could have attended Macon Academy with you and Favian and been able to grow with you and know you. Now I must take as much time as you will give me to learn as much as I can about you.”
“Why would you care to know about me?” I asked him with my heart in my throat.
He leaned closer to me and whispered, “I want to know about your past, your present and what you want for your future. I want to know you.”
I found myself mesmerized by his lips which were closer to me now. “Why me when you can have your choice of any female in these lands? Why do you care to know me?”
“Because you are beautiful, smart, funny and one of the most intriguing beings I have ever met,” he whispered as he moved even closer to me.
We were so close together now that I could feel his body heat as though I were next to a fire. I could not come to a decision about whether to kiss him or not despite the overwhelming urge to kiss him. Luckily I was saved from making the decision when someone knocked on my door and pushed it open. I sprang away from Sebastian as though he were a poisonous snake and pretended that I was getting more paper for us to fold and trying my hardest to ignore my now throbbing broken foot which I had landed on.
“Marin, have you seen… Oh there you are,” Mother said with a pleasant smile on her face. “Could you come with me Sebastian?”
He gathered his jumping frogs and set them on my dresser beside the rest of the paper army. “Of course.” He stopped between me and the door and turned to me. “Good night, Marin.”
“Night,” I managed to say in a whisper before my throat constricted again. I could tell he wanted to say something, but with Mother there he had no option to.
“Good night, daughter.”
“Good night, Mother,” I said as she closed the door behind her.
I threw myself onto my bed and screamed into the comforter. What was I doing?! I had almost kissed him! How could I be stupid enough to do this?! I screamed again into my comforter and mentally kicked myself. I could not hurt Sebastian by making him think we could be together. I loved Favian and since I could not have him I could not have anyone. It was possible that the only reason I was even falling for him was because he looked like Favian. I tried my hardest to ignore the nagging voice in my head telling me that I knew that wasn’t true since I knew very well that he was Sebastian and not Favian. I still could not take that chance. I refused to hurt him.
I really wanted to go kill something, but with the broken foot I wasn’t able to do much, so that idea was out. I needed to do something productive though. I closed my eyes and focused on the flame within me that was my magic. Favian had taught me how to increase my power and I hoped that maybe if I did so now I could speed up my healing, or at least increase my magic. I concentrated on the flame, pulling it into my palms and then back into myself, picturing it as an even bigger flame. Unfortunately, I had not calculated for the newly opened power that lived within me or the possibility that both would mix together and as they did I felt power like never before. I screamed in both pleasure and pain as the magic filled me up and instantly healed my body. I craved the death of ogres and before I had even consciously thought about it, I was dressed with my weapons strapped on and out in the stables.
Alex spoke to me, but I couldn’t hear him with all of the power swirling around me and propelling me to find ogres. He must have felt it or seen it because he stayed away from me as I saddled Fire and rode out of the barn. The gates opened at my approach and I rode off into the night, searching for the twitchy feeling I got when ogres were near.
Time seemed to pass faster and yet there were moments missing from my memory. I tried as hard as I could to hold on to my consciousness and to stay who I was while this power filled me, but it was very difficult. After what must have been half a day I felt a pull to the east and as I turned in that direction my body became taught with unspen
t energy and I knew I was heading the right way. Fire obeyed my every command as though she could sense my urgency and we maneuvered through the countryside easily.
I dismounted as we entered a cliffy area and ground tied her so that she wouldn’t follow me. I didn’t need her getting hurt because of my negligence. The night was dark and the moon was high above, allowing very little light to shine down so I had to use my senses to carefully sneak down the cliff towards the cave where I could see fire and smell blood.
“That girl must die,” one of the ogres said.
“She is too strong. She killed over two hundred of us at once,” another said.
I stopped moving so I could listen to their conversation, which was apparently about me. Not that I was conceited and thought everything was about me, but I hadn’t heard of any other girls killing over a hundred ogres.
“We must gather all ogres together,” the first one said.
“That will only help her and let her kill us all in one night,’ the second said angrily. “You must be smart about this.”
“You should listen to me,” a third man’s voice said, “I can help you defeat her.”
“We do not want your help in ogre matters, shapeshifter,” the first ogre said.
I felt a smile lift the corners of my mouth and I ran into the cave, decapitating the two ogres before they even knew I was there. I met the shapeshifter’s eyes and asked, “What have I done to earn your hate?”
He stayed where he was, casually leaning back against the wall of the cave carving a piece of wood with a claw from one of his hands that was now a lion’s paw, seemingly unperturbed by my presence and the fact that I had just killed both of his ogre companions. He said, “I have nothing personally against you, but I do have an issue with your elf boyfriend.”
“First of all he is not my boyfriend,” I said irritably, “Now it seems that your issue with Favian has created an issue between you and I. How shall we resolve it?”
“You think you can beat me, girl?” he asked with a laugh as he dropped the carving on the ground. “You’re a human.”
“I might surprise you.” Although as I said the words I felt the energy dissipating within me.
“I know you are skilled at killing ogres, but you have no idea what you are up against when it comes to shapeshifters. We are stronger, faster and able to shift into forms that can tear your skin apart in seconds,” he said with a sneer.
“Then why are you still cowering in the back of this cave if you are so strong?” I asked as I pulled my throwing daggers from my belt.
He snarled, sounding like a lion and leapt towards me. I threw my daggers into his throat and chest, but he simply yanked them out and dropped them as though they had been nothing more than mosquitoes. Maybe he was right, maybe I was outmatched by him. His other hand changed into the paw of a lion and I jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the long claws. I pulled my swords and opened up several large wounds on his body, but he wasn’t slowing down or even acting as if the wounds caused him pain. What kinds of beast were shapeshifters?!
I swung both swords at his head at the same time, but he caught the swords with one paw and yanked them from my hands. I backed away, trying not to get frightened and trying to keep my cool. I still had my other power opened up; I just had to figure out how to use it.
“It is going to bring a smile to my face when I hear his grieving wail across the valley when he finds your mutilated body on the front gate of the Elven Kingdom,” the shapeshifter said with a smile. “I’ll make your death quick so you don’t have to suffer needlessly.”
“You’re very cocky. Is that a common shapeshifter trait?” I asked him as I tensed my body in preparation of attacking him. I was bound to get cuts from his claws, but I needed to get in close to him so that I could disable him. I lunged forward and punched him and kicked him as quickly as I could and in as many damaging areas as I could. His claws opened several large wounds and the power I had was draining from me. Why couldn’t I use it? Why couldn’t I harness this energy now against the shapeshifter when it was so easy to use against ogres?
“I can see why Favian likes you,” he said as he grabbed me around the throat. “You are very feisty. It’s very sexy.” He stabbed his claws into my stomach and I screamed in pain despite my attempt not to. He growled happily at my scream and sliced downwards, opening the cuts deeper and further.
“Marin!” Sebastian yelled as he charged inside. I wanted to yell at him to stay back, but I could hardly breathe with the shapeshifter’s hand clenching my throat.
The shapeshifter hissed and said, “If you want her to live you’ll stop right there.”
Sebastian stopped moving and glared at him. “I’ll spare your life if you release her now. If you continue to harm her, I will kill you.”
“I’m making the rules around here!” the shapeshifter yelled. “Take off your weapons, slowly, and toss them out of the cave.
“No,” I gasped out, “Run.”
“Stop choking her and I will do as you ask,” Sebastian said.
The shapeshifter set me down on my feet, but kept his claws against my neck. “There.”
Sebastian tossed his belt with weapons out of the cave and spread his arms. “Now I’m unarmed. Release her.”
“Run,” I whispered as I drew in long draughts of air against my sore throat.
“Why do you smell differently?” the shapeshifter asked. “You look like Favian, but you do not smell like him.”
“That’s because I’m Sebastian, his twin,” he said angrily. “Now release her or I’ll kill you.”
The shapeshifter tightened his claws into my neck, drawing blood. I grunted in pain and then the shapeshifter licked the blood from my neck. “She tastes incredible,” he whispered around a growl, “What are you girl? Your blood tastes different than any I’ve ever tasted before.”
Sebastian charged forward as the shapeshifter drew his head back to let it change into a lion’s so that he could bite me. I spun out of his hold, but his claws still tore into my throat as I did so. I stumbled out of the cave and dropped to my knees on the ground. The blood was pumping out over my hand and if I didn’t put a compress on it soon I would not live. I tore a piece of material from my shirt and pressed it against my neck as hard as I could and then tore another piece to tie around my neck to hold it in place. Sebastian and the shapeshifter were fighting in a battle that truly frightened me, but I couldn’t move much. I had to do something though. I had to help Sebastian somehow.
Sebastian groaned in pain as the shapeshifter opened a cut on his arm. I looked around for something to throw at the shapeshifter and saw Sebastian’s sword just a foot away from me on my left. I grabbed the sword and tossed it towards Sebastian when he stepped back for a breather from the fight. He caught it and in a spinning motion that I envied, sliced the shapeshifter’s head off.
I was trying to breathe shallow breaths so as not to aggravate my neck wound, but it wasn’t helping. I needed a healer and fast.
“Marin!” Favian’s voice yelled from behind me.
“Favian,” I whispered as I turned and found him and Kato running down the cliff side towards me.
“What have you done?!” Favian accused Sebastian. Favian pulled his sword and moved towards him. “What did you do to her?!”
“I saved her life!” Sebastian yelled back.
“Shape. Shifter,” I whispered to Kato, “Cave.”
Favian looked in the cave and cursed. “Why are you two out here?” he asked Sebastian.
“She ran off and I followed her,” he said. “I wasn’t sure where she was going, but she looked like she was going through bloodlust. I wanted to make sure that she was alright.”
“She’s obviously not alright!” Favian yelled.
“Princes, we must get her to the castle and to a healer immediately,” Kato said as he inspected my injury. “If we do not she will die.”
“You say the sweetest things,” I whispered slowly.
Favian sheathed his sword, but glared at Sebastian again, obviously still not believing him. “Kato, I want a full investigation and I want him questioned thoroughly. I want to know exactly what happened.”
“You could just ask her after she’s better,” Sebastian said bitterly.
Favian picked me up and walked away. “I will.” I opened my mouth to speak, but Favian gave me the look so I stopped talking. He mounted Ice as easily as if he weren’t carrying me and called Fire’s name to follow. The two horses set off at a fast gallop back towards the castle. “Why can’t you stay out of trouble for one week?” he asked trying to sound angry, but sounding more worried than anything else. “If he had something to do with your injury I’ll kill him,” he whispered. I gripped his arm and looked up into his eyes. I wanted to say something, but if I talked the blood pumped faster. He looked down into my eyes and whispered, “He had better pray he wasn’t lying.”
I had never seen him so fierce before. It was incredibly sexy and yet frightening since his anger was aimed at Sebastian who was innocent. We made it to the castle and he carried me while he ran into the healer’s room.
“You again?” she asked, “Wasn’t a broken foot enough to deal with?”
“Broken foot?” Favian asked. “How’d she get a broken foot?”
The healer ignored him as she examined my throat and stomach wounds. “These are bad, but I’ll be able to stitch them up easily. Favian, grab the brown bottle with the liquid to knock her out. She is not going to want to be awake for this.”
I tried to protest, but Favian pressed the rag over my face and whispered into my ear, “I’ll be right beside you.”
I groaned and then the vapors of the liquid put me to sleep.
Chapter Six
I woke up feeling warm and my throat feeling very sore and stiff. I reached up to touch it, but a hand grabbed mine before I could reach it.
“You shouldn’t touch the stitches yet,” Favian’s voice said quietly.
Protector (Little Death Bringer, #2) Page 7