Unveiled (Raven Daughter Book 1)

by A. D. Trosper

  “What’s wrong, babe?” James came into the room and pulled me into a hug.

  I shook my head. “Nothing. Just something Zane said. I’m fine.”

  “Jo, you’re crying,” he pointed out. “You never cry.”

  “S’okay,” I mumbled into the shoulder of his newly cleaned cloak.

  “No, it’s not.” He stepped away from me, anger blooming on his face. “What did Zane say?”

  I shrugged, unwilling to go into it with him. “Nothing, don’t worry about it. He was right anyway.”

  He spun on his heel and marched out the door. I followed behind him. “It isn’t a big deal, I’m just tired.”

  James glanced over his shoulder at me, but he didn’t stop. “I’ve seen you exhausted and wounded from eaters and never cry. I’ve seen you pulled out of nearly dying in a watery grave and you didn’t cry.”

  As we neared the living room, voices floated up the stairs.

  “—was guarding the arch. I guess the Sentinels decided that was the best way to catch us.”

  “How did you manage to kill a Sentinel?” I heard Bethany ask.

  Whatever Caius’s answer was going to be, he never got a chance to say it. James stormed into the room full of righteous indignation and planted himself right in front of Zane. “What did you say to Jo?”

  Irritated, I hung back. Why would I want to confront Zane when I felt he was right? Aaron moved to stand near James as if worried about his safety.

  Zane merely glanced in my direction before returning his attention to James. “The truth. What I’m sure everyone is thinking, but no one wants to say.”

  Zane held everyone’s attention. Caius asked, “What truth?”

  I slipped into the kitchen. My boots were still lined up by the back door along with everyone else’s. I pulled them on and stepped out the back door while Zane answered.

  The shutting door cut off the sound of a bunch of voices raised in argument. The fact I could easily pick out my friends defending me before it fully closed only raised my irritation to a slow-burning anger. I would never be able to make them see sense.

  Whether Caius continued the bond or not, I couldn’t allow them to traipse all over who-knows-where with me. I couldn’t let them keep putting themselves in danger to help me. This mess wasn’t their making. It wasn’t my making either. Regardless, I was at the center of it whether I wanted to be or not.

  Though there wasn’t any breeze, it was still freezing cold. The weak sunshine did nothing to offset the air temperature or the icy chill of the piled snow. I pulled the hood of my cloak up and moved away from the door since I could still hear everyone’s voices filtering through it. Listening to the argument would only irritate me more and anger seemed to come too easily to me since the heavy infusion of Caius’s blood.

  Maybe the cold would cool off my emotions. I walked through the snow until I stood at the edge of the forest that stood thick around the perimeter of the yard. Taking deep, slow breaths I tried to calm my inner turmoil. My heart still ached from what Zane had said about my mother. Anger at the truth of everything else battled with the hurt.

  Lifting the neck of my cloak and shirt, I peered at my shoulder; markings that matched Caius’s glowed as they prickled over my shoulder and made their way down my upper arms. They were brighter since he’d given me his blood.

  I let the fabric fall back and glared at the forest. I really was a mashup of it all. And dangerous because of it. There were too many lies, too many unknown players, too much I didn’t know.

  Shifting into the raven, I took to the sky. The arch must have been near the clearing since it seemed a Sentinel was standing guard there. I couldn’t find the other key without Caius. That would have to be figured out later. Right now, I needed to lose my friends. Caius too. Between seemed the ideal place to do it since no one went there. It wasn’t familiar to me, but it wouldn’t be to any of them either. All the easier to get lost in it.

  Fueled by the negative emotions I still hadn’t gotten a handle on, I flew faster than I ever had before. The forest practically streaked by below me. I was so intent on watching for the clearing, I nearly missed the massive shadow skating across the snow just behind me. I glanced over my back. The sunlight reflected off the familiar black and crimson feathers.

  Damn it! I dove into the forest, using the trees for cover as I swerved in and out of them. The shadow shifted as Caius matched my every move. Being followed by him only stoked my anger. Why couldn’t he just leave me alone?

  The clearing flashed by. I made a sharp turn, scanning the ground frantically. There it was. The arch of ancient-looking stone stood in a thick grove of pines. I darted among them, thankful for my smaller wing span. The close-packed pines would make it difficult for Caius to follow with any speed.

  A shrill, whistling cry made me glance back. Apparently, he was as agile in the trees as he was above them. The arch loomed in front of me. It would be easier if I shifted back to my human form and stepped through it, but I didn’t have time. Only a few more feet and I would be in the portal.

  A blow from the side and slightly above sent me cartwheeling wing over wing into the snow. I shifted as I rolled and came up coated in white and seething mad. How dare he knock me out of the sky! It was hard to storm back to the arch while wading through knee-deep snow, but I managed.

  Caius stood in front of it with vivid golden-red markings slowly climbing his neck, his eyes glowing, and a dark storm of fury on his face. His cloak hung open and I could see the markings, overlaying the tattoos that ran down the sides of his body, flaring through his black t-shirt.

  Not even a hint of fear coiled through me at the sight him on the verge of losing it to the point of his demon half taking over. My fury matched his and I could feel the reflected markings prickle across my skin as I stalked toward him.

  He glowered at me, his face a stony mask of rage. “Do you truly wish to die?”

  Was he offering? The thought only whipped my anger into a frenzy. “You should have let me go.”

  “Do you have any idea what trying fly through a portal at that speed would have done?” His voice was a low growl.

  I didn’t have any idea because I’d never tried it, but that wasn’t the point.

  It seemed Caius thought it was the point because he continued, “You might as well have been flying straight into the front of a semi going highway speeds.”

  Okay, so trying to fly through the portal like that hadn’t been a good idea. So what? I wasn’t in the mood to discuss the pros and cons of my attempted escape. “Get out of my way.”

  “No.” He planted his feet. “You want to get yourself killed because of what Zane said? Then go ahead and try to move me.”

  “Zane was right!” I spat, furious that he wouldn’t move and more so over the fact that I didn’t have the strength to make him. “I bring destruction wherever I go and endanger everyone. Let me pass.”

  He folded his arms. “No.”

  The word bound up my frustration and fury into a white-hot brand and fire exploded around me in a swirling storm. It roiled in an expanding ball of flames. Out of control, it scorched the trees and melted the snow.

  It built like a pressure inside me, threatening to overwhelm me. I couldn’t squelch the anger feeding it any more than I could halt the flames. My skin felt too tight. Through the sphere of fire, I saw Caius blur and then he stood inside it with me.

  “Let it go.” He shouted over the roar of the flames. “You can’t handle this much yet.” His next words came out as snarl, “Let it go before you kill yourself.”

  His order only made the blaze more intense as I glared at him, the pressure inside my head made it hard to keep anything under control. Things I hadn’t meant to say spilled out when I yelled, “Why does it matter? It’s just a broken bond. It’s better for everyone. I don’t matter!”

  His hands shot out. Grabbing the sides of my face, he dragged me against his body, his voice rough as he said, “You matter.”
>
  I felt some of the pressure drain off me and into him the second before his mouth crushed down on mine. Shock flooded my system as his tongue teased my lips open and swept inside. His lips, hard and soft at the same time, ignited a whole different kind of fire that had nothing to do with the real flames that raged around us.

  My eyes closed. I leaned into Caius, my hands gripping the front of his shirt as my own tongue mimicked the movements of his. Timidly at first, and then with growing confidence as he led the seductive dance between our mouths.

  Beneath my hands, a tremor ran through the hard muscles of his abdomen. My pulse quickened and my stomach fluttered, my knees growing weak. Our breathing grew ragged. One of his hands dug into my hair, holding my face to his as the kiss deepened further. Heat flared off Caius’s skin as his other arm pulled me tight against him.

  And then as abruptly as the kiss began, it ended. I staggered forward a step into the place he’d been, my eyes flashing open. The flames were gone. Only blackened trees, scorched earth, and a wide ring of melted snow remained as evidence. Confusion, shock, and a whole host of other feelings had doused the anger inside me as I stared at Caius who now stood several feet away.

  My lips tingled. “What was that for?”

  “You needed to calm down before the power got out of hand any further.” Though he sounded calm, his eyes were molten and stormy and he stood absolutely still, as if he forced himself to remain in that spot.

  “And you decided kissing me was the best way to achieve that?” I wrapped my arms around my middle. My insides were so muddled and tangled up I hadn’t even begun to process how I felt about his tactic. His words, “you matter,” echoed in my thoughts.

  “It worked, didn’t it?”

  Without the anger to sustain me, despair attempted to crawl into the space left behind. “Please, let me go. There are too many things going wrong. Too many lies. Only you, me, and the Heads were ever supposed to know about this. We barely left Midtween the first time and already your mother knew. A few days later, everyone knew. Outside of those at Lilly’s, we don’t even know who we can or can’t trust, who’s with us and who isn’t. We don’t know what to prepare for. What I do know is that I have a giant target painted on me and I can’t endanger my friends anymore.”

  He glanced around at the destruction I’d wrought, the tension easing from him a bit. “I’m not disagreeing with you about the lies and unknowns, but we could use having at least Malik and Lilly along.”

  I shook my head unable to endanger even them. I looked away from him. “You should stay too. I’m the one everyone wants dead.”

  “Not a chance.”

  When I didn’t respond, I heard him move through the muck the melted snow left behind. He hooked a finger under my chin and tipped my face up. “We share a partial bond, everyone knows that too. The target is painted on both of us.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  Caius sighed, dropping his hand away from my face. “We’ll keep trying to find the keys to the dagger. Whatever else is going on, we still have to try and stop the Lost. And, once we get done hunting for keys in the Between, we come back and try to find out who decided to get us killed by talking when they shouldn’t have been.”

  What? Come back? No, that wouldn’t keep anyone safe. When I started to protest, he interrupted and said, “I’m not the only one who was searching for you. If you truly want to keep your friends out of this for now, get through the portal.”

  I looked at the woods around us, still reeling inside from the kiss. It wouldn’t take them too long to find the evidence of my being here. Arguing wouldn’t do much good anyway, it’s not like I could force him to stay. I walked toward the arch. “Fine.”

  Caius joined me beneath it and I was surprised when he took my hand just before the scenery started to waver. Then I remembered we needed to be holding hands in order to end up in the same place in Between. Confusion over his kiss tumbled through my mind. At the same time, guilt for just disappearing without a word to my friends filled me, even though I knew it was the best thing I could do. I’d been told how dangerous Between was, I couldn’t drag them into that. And I couldn’t make them targets alongside me either.

  As the snowy forest faded from view and gave me my first look at Between, I could only hope they would forgive me someday.

  ***

  “Words may be powerful, but actions speak far louder. As we set foot on the path that put us back to traveling alone, I hoped I could remember we don’t always get what we want.” ~Caius

  Betrayed

  Don’t miss this preview of the second book of the Raven Daughter series!

  The path widened enough the next day we were able to walk next to each other. Although neither of us said anything, the moodiness seemed to have left Caius and it was a comfortable kind of silence.

  It was late afternoon when Caius stopped abruptly, his entire being almost humming with tension. I froze; all of my senses on high alert as I scanned our surroundings for whatever it was that had tattoos starting to glow on the half-demon at my side

  A man leaned against a tree not far ahead. The contrast between the sunlight and the deep shade made it difficult to make out his features. Something about him dried my throat as fear knotted my stomach.

  Caius took a step forward and in doing so placed himself partially in front of me. Now, I could say that I’m a strong female and don’t need a man to defend me, but nope. Not even going there. I hadn’t even gotten a clear look at the guy and it was enough to make me happy to let Caius take the lead on this.

  One day, when I got a handle on things, I would supposedly be formidable. This was not that day and I wasn’t too proud to admit it nor stupid enough choose this moment to get all woman-hear-me-roar.

  The man stepped from the shadows and walked toward us. Or maybe he glided, it was so graceful. Black hair hung to his waist in a straight, shiny fall. Though Caius had always seemed perfection of the human form to me, this man could almost make Caius seem average. Almost.

  When he came to stop in front of is, his height held my attention. He had to be head and shoulders taller than Caius, which made me feel absolutely shrimpy. Caius inclined his head slightly. “Hades.”

  I nearly choked and my heart rate jumped into a gallop. Hades? As in the Greek god, Hades? I couldn’t help the tremble that started in my knees and worked its way up my body. Sentinels and demons wanting me dead weren’t enough? Now I had a god after me too? If he wanted me dead, I was screwed. Not even Caius could defeat a god. Without realizing it, I had reached out and snagged a handful of the back of Caius’s shirt. I didn’t know why, only that I needed some connection to keep the sudden terror at bay.

  In my fear, I had missed part of the conversation.

  “…relax, Caius. I’m not here to kill you.”

  “Maybe not, but there are very few I trust these days.” Caius shifted, putting me behind his back a little more.

  “Now, Caius, is that any way to behave with an old friend?” Hades said smoothly and moved to where he could see me better. My trembling increased under the weight of his black eyes. “I merely wanted to get a look at the one who has everything in chaos. Shame on you for hiding her heritage.”

  I glanced up at Caius’s face. I could only see the side, but if the tension in his jaw was any indication, he wasn’t pleased to see Hades. I couldn’t blame him. I did envy his calm as he faced someone who could obliterate him. Or maybe he wasn’t completely calm, but he seemed more pissed than scared. I would take that, too. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any anger in myself to latch on to. Only quivering fear. Then again, I was facing a kind of devil.

  Hades’s expression became one of affront. “I am not a devil.”

  I stared at him in shock. Could he read my mind?

  “Yes, I can.” He glanced at Caius. “Does she really believe all of that forked tail and pitchfork stuff?”

  “She was raised in the mortal world, with all of their stories.
” Caius’s voice was still guarded as he moved his arm back to block me a little more. I placed my other hand on the rock-hard muscle of his forearm.

  “Oh yes,” irritation flashed across Hades’s face, “those.”

  He took in Caius’s stance and me tucked behind him and raised a perfect eyebrow. “Protective aren’t we?”

  “We share a partial bond, what happens to her happens to me.”

  “Except death.” Hades held up a finger. “That you would survive.”

  A growl rumbled low in Caius’s chest and I could feel the vibration in his arm.

  “Just a correction of your statement, nothing more.” Hades smirked and turned his attention back to me. “Such a little thing to cause so much trouble.”

  Heat flared on Caius’s skin when Hades walked around him, reached toward me and hooked one of his long, perfectly manicured, nails under my chin, forcing me to look into his black eyes. I fell into them, drowning in their dark depths as they filled the world around me. My hand tightened on Caius’s arm until my nails dug into his skin.

  “Enough.” Caius’s command was sharp.

  Hades chuckled and suddenly the world was normal again. He gazed down at me with interest. “She’s fantastic. I can’t wait to see her grow into her powers.” He placed his finger against his lips as he regarded me. “I won’t even have to wait that long. Your blood is maturing her faster.”

  Okay, terrified I may have been, but the way he continued to talk about me like I was a show dog was starting to irritate me. I welcomed the spark of anger that welled inside. It helped to balance the fear.

  Hades smiled down at me. “And she has some spunk. If you two finish the bond, you will be unstoppable. And it would have to be you, Caius. Though I suppose Malik, or even Lilly, could do it.”

  If I had thought Caius was tense before it was nothing to now. Heat rolled off him as the tattoos glowed bright and I knew he was close to becoming his demon half. I dug my nails in harder, feeling the crescent marks form on my own skin as blood welled in them. I couldn’t worry about that now. I needed to remind him he was facing a god.