In some distant part of my mind, I knew that I was about to cross a bridge that was burning behind the heels of my shoes with each step I took. It didn’t matter. None of it mattered. Now that I had bitten the apple, I would keep eating. I felt as Eve probably had when she had eaten from the fruit of knowledge in the Garden of Eden. I understood it all now. Knowledge surely is power, but too much of it is also destruction. I wouldn’t realize the latter until it was too late. Much too late.
“Don’t be sssscared,” I heard myself say, “I don’t have to hurt you to find out what you know.”
But that wasn’t entirely true. I was hurting the King. I could see it in his soul, which took on the shape of a crouched demon, horns and claws and all. It was powerful, fueled by the Lamia blood he had paid for with blood of his own people. Oh, yes, I saw his soul. I saw his plans and desires and motivations, and now I was the one who shivered.
I grabbed his dark soul and squeezed, wrenching every drop of everything from it. And with it, came a prediction that was so terrible, so abrupt and ugly, that I almost lost my hold on him. Almost.
The future was shown to me then. Flashes of images that I tried to keep out and could not. I saw King William dead, and next to him, holding the silver sword that had relieved him from his existence, was Alexa, silver vines sprouting silver lilies crossing her chest, running down both of her arms, crawling over her shoulders. And she was dead, too.
“No!” I screamed, and my energy exploded throughout the room once more, flinging all souls within against the walls, which vibrated with the force of it. Bethany’s head struck the Queen’s desk, and her mind slipped out of consciousness right along with the Warrior’s, who had not so much as stirred at the impact. Queen Camillia sat up from her newly acquired position on the floor, her horror and confusion radiating toward me in harsh waves. King William was struggling to regain control, his soul squirming and thrashing in my grasp. I concentrated my energy on him. He was harder to command than I would have expected. But I would find out what I wanted to know. No more secrets.
“Nelly!” the Queen gasped, drawing my attention away from the King momentarily. Her voice sounded far off, small.
I continued to drink at King William’s soul. Equal parts horror and curiosity had taken hold of me. Images and desires and dark dreams flashed behind my eyes, like the carts on a runaway train. I had thought that I knew evil. Nothing could have prepared me for this Search.
“Nelly, we must leave! Now!” Queen Camillia said, and her voice was strained, agonized. “Let me up. Let me go. I can help you!”
After only a moment’s hesitation, I released her. I could trust her. I knew that more than even she did.
She found her feet and made her way over to the door with some effort. I was still focused on the King, whose resistance to me seemed to be growing stronger by the second. A chill with icy boots on its feet walked its way up my spine. The Queen was right. My window of escape was growing smaller by the moment. The image of my sister’s dead body was diverting my thoughts, breaking my concentration slowly, but surely.
I felt myself move to join the Queen who was now bracing herself at the door. She took my hand when I reached her, and I felt it in my soul more than I did on my skin. “We won’t make it out of here alive if you don’t do something,” she said. “You have to put him to sleep like the others. Can you do that?”
I wasn’t sure. I felt more lost than I ever had in my entire life. Drifting in a void of darkness.
“Traitor!” King William roared. I watched as his demon of a soul tried to gain its feet, and I shoved it back down, hard. If the Queen had not been holding onto me, I may have collapsed with the effort.
She opened the door and nodded slightly. I could see that she was afraid of me, and it hurt my heart a little. Through her soul’s eyes I also saw that my own eyes had gone completely black, orbs of onyx that only belonged to one other creature, and I could hardly recognize myself. I realized that this was how Alexa must feel when others looked at her, all the time. That hurt my heart more.
I took a deep breath that seemed to offer no air, and focused again on the King. “Ssssleep,” I whispered, and it was like pushing a giant into a hole. He struggled and screamed silently all the way into the dreamlands. I knew that he would not stay there long.
More words, the last I would speak for some time, sounding nothing like my own, fell from my lips at the same time King William fell flatly down to the floor.
“Now you know who you sssshould be afraid of,” I whispered.
And I shut the door to the office behind me.
Then we ran.
Alexa
I stood beside the Mercedes my friend Tommy had lent me, my hands clenched into fists at my sides, watching the numbers on the gas pump roll up. We were still two hours away from our destination – from Nelly. We had pushed on as far as we dared before stopping to fill up the empty tank. As anxious as I was, I might just rip the nozzle out of the tank without letting it fill. Time was ticking and ticking.
Kayden had gotten out with me, even though I had jumped out before the car had come to a complete stop and rushed to get this inconvenient task accomplished. He had probably needed a break from my Mother. I knew I did. I didn’t disagree with anything she was saying, but that didn’t mean I wanted to hear it right now.
I watched the numbers on the pump roll and roll. I could feel Kayden’s eyes studying me.
He was leaning back against the Mercedes, his left arm slightly raised because of the bullet wound he’d received back at Dangeon. A slight sheen covered his handsome face, his arms and neck. He should be resting right now, recovering. He hadn’t uttered a word of complaint.
When he took my hand I sighed at the comfort he gave me, releasing a tense breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding. I did my best to keep a neutral face, to not let all of the emotions I was feeling leak out there. Not that it made any difference. Kayden knew I was afraid, terrified even. Of course he did. He could see it as surely as I could see the tension in his muscles and the perfect lines of his face.
“She’s going to be fine,” Kayden said, his deep voice softened to a rumbled whisper. I pulled my gaze away from the rolling pump numbers and looked up into his golden eyes. I found a bit of peace there, but only a bit.
“She’s probably asleep in her dorm room right now,” he continued, speaking gently. “Safe and sound. We have only been gone a couple days. Nelly’s a smart girl. She wouldn’t get in any trouble. She’s probably just as worried about you right now.”
Kayden pulled me to him with his good hand, and I laid my head against his chest. I listened to his heartbeat. Slow and steady. “I know,” I said, releasing another heavy breath. “So why do I have the awful feeling that something’s happened? That we’re going to be…too late? I could barely bring myself to say those two words. They came out sounding the same as they felt: choked.
Kayden said nothing to that. I felt my heart drop, took a step back, my eyes returning to the rolling gas pump numbers. Kayden reached into the pocket of his jeans and produced a tiny leather box. He held it out to me. I stared at it. “I never gave you your birthday present,” he said, and his voice sounded strange… apprehensive, almost.
I looked up at him and found that he could not look back at me. For just a tiny moment, my worries melted away and a small smile touched my lips. My big, strong Kayden looked…nervous. It took me a moment to recognize it. It was an expression I had never seen him wear.
I took the box and pulled back the lid. My breath caught in my throat. Inside, set in black velvet was the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. Rose gold, topped with a sphere of diamonds so brilliant that the stones caught bits of light even on this dark night and threw rose-gold tinted light every which way. I was not a person who wore a lot of jewelry, but even the simplest folks would pause to admire this ring. Now I was the one who could not look up. If I so much as tilted my head, a tear or two might just spring from my eyes. I’m no
t so fond of crying.
Finally, I choked them back and cleared my throat. My words still came out a little rusty. “Thank you,” I said. “It’s beautiful…like a tiny sun.”
Kayden took the ring from the box and took my hand. I felt my knees loosen. “Well,” he said, his slight Scottish accent seeming to caress the word. I stared into his eyes, the color of a lion’s, and wondered at how such a fearsome creature could purr so sweetly. “I’m partial to silver myself,” he continued, running those lion’s eyes over the silver on my skin. I shivered. “But it has been in my family for over two hundred years. My father gave it to my mother, my grandfather to my grandmother.”
He slipped the ring on the third finger of my left hand. It fit so perfectly on my finger, and somehow, even amidst all the jagged and discolored scars that my hand had picked up over the years, it managed to look…right. Just right. I choked back more tears. I have no idea why I felt like crying.
My monster, quiet for once in what seemed like an eternally long time, either had nothing to say, or was graciously allowing me this moment. Either way, I was grateful.
I stared down at my hand. Took a deep breath, opened my mouth. I had no idea what was going to come out. “I-I…belong to you,” I whispered, and the words were a slow thought, processed as they were spoken. They held no question.
Kayden’s hand came up and tilted my chin back. I stared at my lion; his golden skin, his carved muscles, the strong line of his jaw, and those eyes. A tear escaped my own. It rolled down my cheek, warm and wet.
Kayden’s rough but gentle thumb brushed it away. “Yes, my Warrior,” he said, “and I you.”
More tears joined the first. Kayden pulled me into his arms again, and I sank into the strength of them. I lay my head on his chest, drying my eyes on the soft fabric of his gray t-shirt. I felt him rest his chin on the top of my head, the short hair of his beard pleasantly prickling me. For a moment, all was okay. Right with the world. Just right.
But of course, because it was my world we were talking about here, it was only a moment.
Then I remembered something that sent a pang of guilt through my stomach. I remembered Jackson.
I didn’t want to hurt him. Jackson had always been good to me, had saved my ass more than a couple times. He loved me. And I loved him. But…
Not in the way I love Kayden. I don’t love anyone the way I love Kayden. I love him as much as I love Nelly. Well…almost.
I would have to tell Jackson about us. He deserved to know. That made my heart hurt.
I took a step back from Kayden, who studied my face as I did so. “Kayden,” I began, then realized I didn’t know what to say.
A small, rare smile played at his lips. “You’re worried about him,” he said. It was not a question.
I hesitated, then gave a small nod. “He’s my friend,” I said lamely.
Kayden nodded once in return. “Which is why I haven’t killed him,” he said, his golden eyes never leaving mine. His brow furrowed for a moment, and those lion’s eyes went distant, hard. “I came close once,” he admitted.
I raised a brow at that. Kayden chuckled, a soft, deep rumble that vibrated in his chest. “That night I saw you two outside of your dorm room. He had his arms around you, and you were…it took a lot of self-control to keep myself from ripping him away from you and snapping his neck.”
A small laugh bubbled up from my throat, and it sounded odd. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed. “How romantic,” I said. I tried for a grin, and succeeded only partly. I remembered that night. It seemed like it had been ages ago now.
“So you were waiting for me,” I said, “I knew it.”
Kayden’s hand came up and rested on my cheek. “Alexa, I have been waiting for you for a very long time.”
I leaned forward. I didn’t care if my Mother was probably watching us through the car window. Kayden drew me to him like a magnet. I was through resisting the pull. Just before our lips touched, the gas pump beside us clicked off.
In a blur of motion and slammed car doors, we were back in the Mercedes and peeling out of the gas station lot. I removed a cigarette from my pack and placed it between my lips once we were back on the highway. The fact that Kayden had moved the same way I had, so quickly and uncaring of witnesses, to get back in the car, not even taking a tiny moment to let our lips meet told me one thing: he was as worried as I was. He had the same bad feeling I had. I didn’t want to believe it. I had no reason to believe it. But Kayden felt it, too.
Nelly was in trouble.
Let’s hope we’re not too late, Warrior.
I cringed. Lit the cigarette, crushed it between my teeth. My monster felt it, too.
Nelly
My knees went slack. I stumbled. The foyer of the Council building seemed to swim before my eyes; the blood-red carpet atop the marble floors smearing like wet paint, the walls losing their solidity and congealing like melted candy. Vertigo swept over me. My legs gave out completely.
I felt no pain when my knees struck the hard floor, no pain as I knelt there gasping for air. My mental being was separated completely from my physical being, and it was a strange thing, to say the least. I could sense every soul in the Council building, could see their existences, – kaleidoscopes of color and indistinguishable, ever-changing shapes. I knew the distance and proximity of each. I knew that the tendrils of light that only I could see, tinged with that shadowy dark around the edges, were my soul’s extremities, beaming from me like scattered rays of sun, touching everything in its path. I knew all.
And I couldn’t move. And time was ticking.
Queen Camillia knelt down and gripped my shoulders, hauling me to my feet. When our skin met, I felt a jolt of energy and was able to lock my legs straight. I watched as the light of her soul mingled with my own, and then was sort of swallowed up by it, my being taking hers in like a small child out the rain, as if she now belonged to me, was my…responsibility. Queen Camillia’s eyes widened in wonder, and I saw through her soul the reasons why. She felt as though I had removed a thick blindfold from her eyes, one that she never known existed, and only now could see the world as it truly was. I also saw that my fangs were bared, my eyes orbs of glimmering onyx. But Queen Camillia was not afraid. She could feel my soul, as surely as I was holding hers, and she would be content to stay here forever, seeing all as only I could see it, being part of the ungodly power that dwelled within me.
Go, I commanded, and Queen Camillia tossed my right arm over her shoulder, wrapped her left arm around my waist. She would not leave me here, even if that meant we both be caught and killed. Agonized thoughts about her unconscious niece, Bethany, lying crumbled on the floor of her office, radiated from Queen Camillia to me. She was willing to leave her own kin behind to get me out of here, and neither she nor I was completely sure why this was. I knew then that we were going to need help, and it was up to me to obtain it. We began stumbling toward the exit. Around us, the souls in the building continued their silent dance.
Behind me, shut in the Queen’s office, I could still feel King William’s soul. His body was in a state of sleep, but his mind was fighting ferociously to break out of it. If we expected to get out of Two Rivers alive, I was going to have to keep the King sedated, keep my mental grasp on him firm. It was sort of like holding someone’s head under water; he kept trying to swim up, I kept pushing him back down. Angry bursts of energy, red and ugly, emanated from him, sweeping over me in nauseous waves, growing only slightly fainter with each slow step I took in the opposite direction.
And we weren’t moving fast enough.
Simon, one of the Queen’s Warriors, emerged from a hallway off the foyer. I’d known he was coming. I’d known it before he did. When he saw me and the Queen, he came to a stop.
His allegiance is to King William. Every Warrior here is bound to him. If he goes into my office and sees who’s there, he will sound the alarm.
This thought came from Queen Camillia, and I knew she was
right. But I had plans for Simon. We needed help. But, in hindsight, I think it was more so just that I had gotten a taste of power, and there was no turning back now. It was as though by freeing my mind and soul so completely I had awakened that dark side of me that I had always known existed, had always felt waiting and watching from within, like a prisoner patiently waiting for escape so it could enact its revenge on the world. It was just another step down a road that led to darkness, and it was far too late to worry about it now. Now, I had only to survive.
Keep quiet now, Simon. Come.
Simon went stone-still, rigid, his crisp all-black Warrior’s uniform straightening like a soldier’s. Then he moved stiffly and jerkily, like a puppet on strings, toward me.
Good, good. Retrieve Bethany from the Queen’s office and meet us outside. Go! Without question, without resistance Simon went off to complete his task. A bit of sweet satisfaction went through me, like butterfly kisses in my belly. I commanded Queen Camillia onward, and we began making our trek to the doors that led outside, some twenty feet ahead.
The Rise (The Alexa Montgomery Saga) Page 3