He arched a brow. “And you think I’ll consciously do that?”
“Maybe.”
“Fear is rarely rational, but it usually has a cause.” He took a deep breath before continuing, “Did Dev hurt you that badly?”
“This goes beyond him.” She played with her necklace as images of her mother crying flashed through her mind. “My mother—”
Her voice broke. She’d never told Kell about her past, afraid he’d want nothing to do with her when he learned of her origins. She was the illegitimate daughter of a woman who’d been cast aside, the lowest of the low in society. What chance did someone like her have with the Third Prince of Ranello?
She drew in a shaky breath. It was time to test him. “My mother was cast aside by my father when she was pregnant.”
There. She’d told him. Now all she had to do was wait for him to wrinkle his nose in disgust and put an end to his amorous advances.
Kell’s expression sobered, but he didn’t move. “Do you know who your father was?”
“My mother never spoke of him. I know I must look like him since I barely resemble her.” She paused and added, “And I know how he broke her heart.”
“Then perhaps it’s best that you can’t claim him as your blood. He’s a man without honor.”
Her fingers tightened around the small pendant, refusing to let go of it. Kell made it sound so simple, so easy to forget the man who ruined her mother’s life and made Arden an outsider in her own homeland. If only it were. “But doesn’t it bother you to know this?”
“Are you expecting me to judge you based on the actions of your parents?”
“Most people in the kingdom do, or have you not noticed the way most of the people in the palace pretend I don’t exist? Or worse, shrink back in fear because I’m a witch.”
Kell threw his head back and laughed. “People shrink back in fear when my father passes, but that doesn’t mean they don’t respect him.” He inched closer to her. “I’m more concerned about the woman I see before me.”
“And what do you see in me, Kell?” Besides a yellow-haired witch with an insane chaos god living inside her.
“I resent being called insane,” Loku chuffed.
Arden ignored him and waited for Kell’s response. When he didn’t answer right away, an ache formed deep in her chest.
He cleared his throat and brushed a stray hair out of her eyes. “I see a beautiful woman with a good heart. A woman who possesses great power, but uses it to help others rather than enslave them.” His voice took on a husky note as he added, “A woman who’s far above any woman I’ve known.”
The ache intensified from the fluttering of her heart. “Do you really mean that?”
“What do I need to do to convince you of that?” He pulled her closer, his hand on her hip.
“I’m not the one who needs to be convinced.”
He snuggled closer to her until their foreheads touched. “Who do I need to work my charms on then?”
“Your father, for one. He seemed quite intent on keeping us apart this winter.”
He frowned. “I’m a Prince of Ranello. It’s my duty to carry out my father’s business in the realm.”
“Including going into the northern mountains in the dead of winter? Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”
“Not where there are reports of Thallian troops gathering along the border.” Kell the lover vanished, and in his place stood the man she’d known from the moment she first met him, the man who sought to protect his kingdom at all costs. “Besides, if anyone seems intent on keeping us apart, it’s your protector. He’s determined to whisk you away to Gravaria as soon as he can find a ship.”
“You don’t understand.” She pulled away. “I have to go to Gravaria.”
“Why?”
The last thing she wanted to explain was the never-ending conversations she had with the voice inside her mind. The thought of turning into Robb, the prior Soulbearer, still terrified her.
“Funny how you can tell him about your slut of a mother, but you don’t want to tell him about me. I don’t know if I should be honored or offended.”
A ripple of magic flowed along her arms as Loku tried to gain control of her. She clamped down on the flow as Dev had taught her and pushed the chaos god back. “Do you want me to be burned at the stake?”
“There’s little danger of that. Kell already knows you’re a witch.”
“If you take control of me, you might change his mind.”
“Arden?”
Kell jerked her from her conversation with Loku. Like most people in Ranello, Kell only believed in the Lady Moon. The concept of other deities was as foreign as the elves that lived in Gravaria—Ranellians might know they exist, but refused to acknowledge them. Even if she tried to explain what it meant to be a Soulbearer, she doubted he would believe her. “It’s complicated,” she said at last.
“I don’t see what’s so complicated about it. Dev is your protector, not your blood. You can choose to stay here, and he’ll have to live with your decision.”
She played out the scenario in her mind and chuckled. Dev would probably drag her Boznac bound and tied if she refused to leave, and for good reason. If she wanted to keep her sanity, she needed to learn how to control Loku before he drove her to madness.
“Are you laughing at me?” Kell leaned over her, blocking her view of the eclipse and wearing the seductive grin that had cost more than one young lady her virtue. “I stand by my prior statement—the one I should be convincing is you.”
Her body grew warm, and her arms rebelliously wrapped around him. “And how do you intend on doing that?”
“By being completely irresistible.” He kissed her again, pressing his body against hers in a way that did nothing to hide his desire.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she scrambled to resist, but the longer the kiss went on, the fainter that urge became. In its place rose a more primal urge, one that—as Loku so eloquently put it—made her wish she wasn’t wearing the tightly-laced woolen gown.
“Enjoy it while you can. It won’t be long before Dev takes you away from him.”
Loku’s reminder lingered in the back of her mind, weighing in on the struggle that always warred inside her whenever she was in Kell’s arms. It would be so easy to live in the moment, to indulge in the pleasures Kell offered, to let herself fall in love with him.
Her eyes flew open as his lips traveled lower along her neck. The moon was entirely concealed now, letting the stars around it twinkle brighter than they normally did without its glow. She lay still, inhaling his familiar scent of bay leaf and soap, scared to move for fear she’d ruin this moment. But the fire in her veins grew too intense, and her body rolled in response to his touch. A moan broke free from her throat, signaling the fall of her resistance.
Emboldened by her reaction, Kell traced a path along her body with his hands, moving from her hips to her breasts. While his lips blazed along her bare skin, his fingers worked at the knot that held her dress together. The way he murmured her name between kisses sent delicious tingles through her chest.
Then something changed. The tingles grew more intense, shooting up her spine like a bolt of lightning. Her breath caught, and her fingers dug into his flesh. The earth shook underneath them, ending Kell’s seduction as quickly as a sudden rainstorm.
He jerked back. “Arden, are you doing this?”
She shook her head. This magic was strange even to her. The metallic taste of panic filled her mouth. “Loku?”
The guard tower beside the orangery swayed, moving side to side before toppling toward them. She grabbed Kell and rolled to the side, gathering her magic to raise a shield. The glass ceiling shattered, and Arden screamed.
Chapter 3
Cinder’s whining pulled Dev’s attention from the stack of scrolls in front of him. The fire wolf sniffed the air and whined again.
Dev reached down and patted him on the head, noticing how Cinder’s hackles remained
raised. “What’s wrong?”
The fire wolf jumped to his feet and scratched at the closed door.
“I’ll let you out after I’m finished.” Dev resumed reading the transcript from the last Gravarian diplomatic envoy to Ranello. Knowing some of the players involved—including his own father—he doubted the pleasantries recorded were said as civilly as they were written. But it mattered little to him what was said—only who said it.
As far as he could tell, only two members of the Milorian family were part of the envoy.
And one of them had to be Arden’s father.
Unfortunately, neither one of them seemed like the sort that would be enamored enough to call a palace maid “the brightest star in the sky.” Caz was far too conceited and ambitious to even consider a dalliance with Arden’s mother. Varrik was far too studious and aloof to even notice a woman. If it wasn’t for the Milorian rose on the pendant, Dev would’ve been able to name ten other more likely Gravarians as the man who sired Arden. But as it was, he needed to determine which man was her father before she was thrown into the mess of Gravarian politics.
Cinder’s whining rose an octave higher, followed by a yip. His claws tore into the door, leaving scars behind in the wood.
Dev banged his fist against the table and stood, grumbling about what a pest Cinder was being. His mood changed as sweat prickled his skin. The air crackled with magic, and the ground rolled under his feet. A scream rang through his mind.
Arden!
He flung the door open and raced Cinder up the stairs. Fragments of plaster showered down on him, stinging his eyes from their dust. His heart pounded, and he offered a quick prayer to Lady Luck that he’d find Arden safe.
Cinder led him through the main hallways of the palace. The earthquake had stopped by now, and the residents were left pale-faced from the force of nature they’d just witnessed. Dev made a note to ask Arden if this region was prone to such tremors once he found her. Everything in his being, though, told him this was the work of powerful magic. The question was, why?
A growl from Cinder parted the crowd of guards clustered around the entrance to the orangery. The tower next to it had collapsed on the delicate glass ceiling. Dev halted when he saw the rubble piled up inside, his heart in his throat. Images of Arden crushed under the massive stones flashed in front of him. But as the guards stepped aside, he caught a glimpse of her golden hair.
He pushed his way through the guards to her. “Are you hurt?”
Dust caked her face, and her dress was torn at the sleeves, but she shook her head. Like the others he’d passed, her expression was wide-eyed, and her face was ashen.
He wrapped his arm around her, leading her to a boulder where she could sit while he looked for any hidden injuries. “What happened?”
“Kell and I were watching the eclipse when the ground starting shaking.”
Dev’s gaze lingered on her hastily tied bodice, and an unwelcome emotion seethed inside him. “Watching the eclipse, huh?”
Arden’s cheeks flooded with color, and she yanked her hand back. “Yes, or did you fail to notice it because you were too busy assuming I was doing something else.”
Above, the moon was beginning to peek out from behind the shadow, signaling the end of the eclipse. That still didn’t mean Kell had kept his hands—or his lips—off of her. He took a step back and crossed his arms. “How did you escape injury?”
“I managed to raise a shield around us.” Her eyelids hung heavy. “I never realized how draining it could be.”
Dev finally managed to push his unwanted emotions aside. As much as he hated the idea of her being in Kell’s arms, he couldn’t let jealousy guide his actions, especially after what just happened. “Did you feel the blow?”
She nodded. “Even though I didn’t physically feel it, my head is still swimming like I’d knocked it against the wall.”
“It takes strong magic to maintain a shield under such forces.” He placed his hands on either side of her head and let a stream of healing magic flow into her. “Better?”
“Yes.” She stood, her color back to normal now, and tagged along as he surveyed the damage. “Do you know what happened?”
“I take it earthquakes are not normal here.”
“No, they’re not.” Kell came alongside them, his normally immaculate clothes wrinkled and dirty. But like Arden, he appeared unharmed. “I’ve never felt such a force in my life.”
“And hopefully, you never will again.” Dev continued to walk around the ruined orangery, stepping around the remnants of the guard tower strewn across the floor. The stark scent of magic still hung in the air. “You didn’t have anything to do with this, did you?”
He asked more to Loku rather than Arden, and based on the way the green ring in her eyes brightened, the chaos god answered. “You should know the answer to that,” she replied, her tone flat.
In the center of the room sat the largest piece of the tower. A blanket peeked out from underneath it. “You were sitting there?”
Arden nodded, and the hairs on the back of his neck rose. He glanced back to where the tower once stood, trying to calculate the trajectory of the falling rock. Had this been a normal earthquake, the tower should have imploded on itself. Only a precise wave of the earth could have thrown the chunk directly onto the blanket.
He knelt on the ground, but the magic had faded. There was no way to tell where it came from now.
“What are you thinking?” Arden crouched next to him, the press of her lips telling him she was coming to the same conclusions he was.
He turned to her so he could gauge her reaction. “I think you’ve made some powerful enemies, Trouble.”
Her eyes widened, but she said nothing. Another flash of green in her eyes told him Loku was sharing his opinion with her. He’d have to ask her more about it when they were alone. “Let’s get out of the cold,” he said, ushering her back into the palace. “You’re going to need some sleep before we leave for Boznac tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” She jerked to a stop. “What do you mean, tomorrow?”
Kell came to her side and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Are you planning on leaving so soon?”
Dev bit back the urge to pull her away from Kell. “Yes. She needs to get to Gravaria as quickly as possible.”
Kell took a step toward him, his eyes narrowed. “Why? So you can turn her into some weapon for your Empress? Or because you know she’ll want to stay here if you let her.”
Dev’s fingers curled into a fist. What he wouldn’t give to beat the Third Prince of Ranello into a bloody pulp. Instead, he focused on keeping his voice quiet and level. “In case you failed to notice, what happened tonight was not natural. And if she hadn’t raised a shield in time, you would both be dead.”
The challenge melted from Kell’s stance, allowing Dev the opportunity to whisk Arden away. As they came closer to her room, she stopped and asked, “Do you really think someone was trying to kill me?”
“Either you or Kell.”
“Then perhaps we need to stay here and figure out which one of us they’re after.”
Dev grabbed her wrist and pulled her the rest of the way to her room with Cinder tight on their heels. “I’m your protector, not his, and I’m not going to hang around here and wait for the next assassination attempt to sort this out. I need to get you safely inside the walls of the Mage’s Conclave.”
“And what if I don’t want to go?” Her chin rose to a stubborn angle when he turned around. The last time he saw this look, she ran out to take on an army of undead.
Dev closed his eyes and forced himself to count to ten. She was his fifth Soulbearer, and none of them had vexed him like she did. She was stubborn to a fault, but her courage and loyalty earned his admiration. The way she awakened his long-suppressed desires with a mere glance was an entirely different matter. “I’m not ready to lose another Soulbearer, and I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe, even if it means taking you to Gravaria aga
inst your will.”
He waited long enough for Cinder to slip past them before shoving Arden into her room with the fire wolf and sealing the door shut.
***
“His Majesty wishes to speak to you.”
Kell watched Arden disappear with Dev around the corner. They’d both been shaken by the earthquake, but at least they were unharmed thanks to her magic. He turned to the guard that delivered the summons. “I’m coming.”
He was pretty sure his father wanted a damage report, almost certain he’d try to point a finger at Arden for causing it, and knew without a doubt he’d rejoice in knowing she’d be leaving for Gravaria in the morning. If Kell hadn’t seen the increased number of Thallan troops along the border, he might have believed there was some truth in Arden’s accusation that his father was trying to keep them apart.
The door to his father’s study was open, allowing the messengers to flow freely back and forth with their reports. King Heodis stood behind his desk, bent over a map. He didn’t even look up when Kell entered. “Tell me what happened.”
“Don’t tell me your spies haven’t already told you every detail of what happened, Father.” He stopped a few feet in front of the desk and crossed his arms. “What more can I add?”
“You can start with your account of the events.” Heodis finally met his gaze. “I understand you were with the witch when this happened.”
Kell rolled his eyes. “Father, you’ve made Arden a member of our titled nobility—why do you continue to call her a witch?”
“Because she is what she is.” Heodis banged his hand against the table to drive the point home. “Did she cause this?”
“No. What makes you think she did?”
“I’m still repairing the city walls she destroyed months ago. She’s done this kind of magic before.”
A messenger slipped into the room, interrupting the conversation. “Your Majesty, there are no signs of any other damage to the palace or city walls.” He bowed and ran out as quickly as he’d entered.
A Soul For Chaos (The Soulbearer Trilogy) Page 2