Altered Destiny

by Shawna Thomas

  After the second time Selia rolled hard to one side to unbalance the Svistra, he threw her to the forest floor. She had no way to soften the fall, and pain radiated from her shoulder down her arm.

  He reached for her metal-linked shirt and grabbed it in his fist like it was cloth, to pull her close to his face. “Orders were to deliver you whole, but a lot of things can happen in the heat of battle.” He examined the surrounding forest. It was dark and silent.

  She got the message. They were alone.

  “I’d give up a lot of gold but, um.” He tilted his head and his eyes glanced down then back up her body. “If you want to make this interesting, I don’t mind, really.”

  Selia fought a shudder. His gazed brushed her body like something unclean. She could die now or die later. Her self-preservation instinct kicked in. “I prefer the mundane.”

  The Svistra snorted and took a drink out of a water skin then wiped it and offered it to her.

  She stared. Was he attempting to be nice? She remembered the Svistra’s strange behavior when they brought her and Jaden into the camp. Was it a twisted form of hospitality? She almost laughed but knew it would sound more like desperate croak, were it to leave her lips. One look at the Svistra and all thought of laughing fled. Now she knew what the mouse saw before the owl swooped.

  She nodded.

  He held the skin to her mouth. The water cooled her parched throat.

  Without a word he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder like she was a piece of meat. To him, I am. He continued through the forest at a slow steady run.

  Nausea rolled through her gut. “I can walk.”

  He grunted.

  The image of Oren plowing through the fight flashed across her vision. Was he still alive? And Nathan? She’d heard him call her name. My fault. The Svistra formation, the ladder. The terror in Oren’s voice. She couldn’t bear to think about it. There was nothing she could do for them anyway. She was on her way back to the Svistra camp, back to Jaden. No. Back to the commander. But why?

  “So the attack was a ruse to get to me?” she tried. “Your commander must really like his virgins.”

  Another grunt. “You, a human female, defied him. You don’t defy the commander.”

  Okay, so it was personal. Jaden’s father must really be a piece of…but then, she wasn’t dealing with human emotion. “I…” She trailed off. What could she say?

  “Silence, woman. You won’t beguile me like you did Jaden.”

  Jaden’s name from the Svistra’s throat sent a jolt through her. She ground her jaws so she wouldn’t ask if he was okay.

  Beguile? She wouldn’t know how. In any other situation she might have laughed. She wasn’t exactly the beguiling type. Selia closed her eyes in an attempt to curb her thoughts, which seemed to be running a little faster than normal. But then what was normal when you were about to become a disposable gift to the Svistra high commander? Appetizer? Main course? Dessert? Did it matter?

  She opened her eyes to the swaying motion of the forest receding behind her. She was definitely losing her mind.

  Selia tried to focus. She still lay over the Svistra’s shoulder but they’d stopped moving. Had she passed out? A sour taste filled her mouth. He drugged me.

  The eastern sky promised a sunrise. How long? The next day? The day after? She wondered if she’d live to see another sunset. Or if she’d even want to.

  “Very good, Sovas. Any problems?”

  Selia closed her eyes.

  “No, Commander.”

  She felt a slight bowing of his head.

  “It was as you said it would be. You were right, the inner defenses did not go all the way around the wall. We were able to slip between the guards and at night, the humans have no accuracy with the bow. They paid a heavy price. We did not need to enter the fortress. She fought alongside the men.”

  “How many Svistra were wounded?”

  “A few.”

  “And the humans?”

  “Taken by surprise.”

  “She is undamaged?”

  “I did not trust her to rope. I used rethorim. She’s coming around now.”

  “Good. I owe you a reward.”

  “I did not work alone, Commander. The others kept the humans busy so I could bring her here.”

  Selia almost groaned. Honor among Svistra? Then his words replayed in her ears. Kept the humans busy. Was it possible they didn’t plan to slaughter everyone?

  “Well done. The reward will be divided accordingly. Put her in the tent over there.”

  Another nod and then motion. She strained to get a look at the commander without appearing to do so and failed.

  The Svistra ducked then pitched her to the ground. With her hands tied she wasn’t able to break her fall and landed on the side of her face and shoulder. She struggled to an upright position, the metallic taste of blood in her mouth, knowing she was lucky not to have broken her neck.

  Without a word, her captor turned and left.

  A heap of pillows occupied one corner, several baskets in another. Nothing that would serve as a weapon. She scooted closer to the baskets but with her hands behind her back, she couldn’t get the lids off. She tried to push one over; it was heavy.

  “It’s rice. Hungry?”

  Selia turned toward the voice. A Svistra, bearing a sarcastic expression perfectly matching the voice, stood in the entrance of the tent. It was the voice she’d heard earlier. This was the commander? She didn’t know how Svistra aged, but this one couldn’t be Jaden’s father.

  He walked forward. Every instinct screamed he was dangerous, but there was something familiar about him. Fear iced her limbs. She was going to die, and it wouldn’t be an easy death.

  “It’s better when it’s cooked, but help yourself.” With apparent ease, he kicked over one of the baskets, and a shower of golden grain caught the faint light as it poured out onto the dirt floor. She flinched, and the Svistra smiled. That’s what he had wanted. Anger replaced her fear.

  “Interesting.” He approached and took her jaw in his hands, turning it first one way and then another as he would inspect a horse. He brought his face close to her neck, still holding her jaw in a steel grip. She braced herself. She wouldn’t give him the benefit of crying out. But he sniffed then sighed.

  He pushed her away. “Virgin. He didn’t lie about that, but then it would have been obvious, and Jaden is seldom obvious.”

  “Who are you?”

  “She speaks.” The Svistra moved to the pile of cushions, drew one aside, threw it in her direction and settled himself on one of his choosing. “Sit.”

  Selia hesitated. But her head ached, and she felt dizzy.

  “It’s the rethorim, a mixture of herbs to help you…relax. It’ll wear off soon.” He waited, his eyes not leaving her face. His gaze sharpened, but his voice remained soft. “I don’t make suggestions or repeat myself.”

  As best as she could, Selia rose and scooted onto the cushion. One wall of the tent now glowed with the emerging sun. She feasted on the sight. She’d never seen anything so beautiful as that golden hue. It’s the color of Jaden’s eyes. She blinked. If she got the chance, she’d never take another sunrise for granted.

  She forced her gaze back toward the Svistra. He sat with the watchful ease of a predator sure of his prey. All the old warnings pounded into her head. Never look a Svistra in the eye; never turn your back on one. She swallowed and focused somewhere above the Svistra’s left shoulder. But as the light increased, her gaze was drawn toward his face. He looked like Jaden. His eyes were darker, definitely brown but with golden lights playing in their depths. In anyone else, she would have said they were beautiful. Could this be Jaden’s father?

  He smiled. “He is my brother.”

  “Jaden?” she said, before she could snap her mouth shut.

  “We have a fraternal resemblance, I’m told.”

  The silence lengthened as Jaden’s brother continued to observer her. “You’re bleeding.”r />
  Selia swallowed.

  “Did you ever bleed in my brother’s presence?”

  Confusion tinged her thoughts. “Yes.”

  “Interesting.” Like a cat, Jaden’s brother moved toward her. “You now know who I am, but I’ve waited too long to find out who you are.”

  She stared, mesmerized by the dark golden lights in his eyes.

  “Who are you?” He ran a finger down her face and neck stopping at her mail shirt. He paused as though listening. “Do you know where a human woman smells the best?” He tore open the metal like it had been woven of dandelion stems and then ripped aside her tunic, exposing her chest. He laid a hand between her breasts. “Here, near the heart blood.”

  Selia tried and failed to still the shudder that ran through her body. She took a breath and remained still. Her heart beat a staccato against her ribs.

  “You haven’t answered me.”

  “I’m no one.”

  “A mystery. I don’t like mysteries.” He licked the blood from her lips. “Very nice.”

  Bile surged in Selia’s throat.

  “Normally we open you here.” He skimmed the flesh under her jaw with his teeth. “That’s where blood surges, like a river of life.” His thumb continued to stroke her pulse. “But do you know where the blood flows the freest with no danger of the human expiring?”

  Blood welled from her upper arm before she felt the pain.

  “Small shallow cuts. If you know what you’re doing, one human can last a long time.”

  She watched the blood flow down her arm feeling removed from her body. Keldar’s hand squeezed her breast until she gasped in pain.

  “You could last a very long time.”

  “Be careful, Keldar.”

  In slow motion, Selia turned to the new voice. A female stood at the entrance of the tent. The men who joked you couldn’t tell a female Svistra from a male had obviously never seen one, or at least this one. Tall and lean, the woman moved into the tent as if she were part liquid, her eyes focused on the commander. Her golden hair fell down her back in waves that caught the rays of the newborn sun. Selia had the feeling that in the woman’s eyes, she wouldn’t exist until the woman wanted her to.

  “Remember the plan.”

  Keldar tore his gaze away from Selia and settled it on the newcomer. For several heartbeats the two stared at each other, and somehow Selia knew her fate was being decided.

  Keldar stood. “Remember your place, Noe,” he said, his voice ragged, but he stepped several paces away from Selia.

  “I do,” Noe almost purred. “Have you found out anything?”

  “She says she’s nobody.”

  The woman turned to Selia. “And she’s right. Look at her. Perhaps Jaden told the truth.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Yes. We will.” Noe didn’t take her gaze away from Selia’s. There was hatred in her gaze.

  “Perhaps I don’t want to give away my virgin offering,” Keldar said with a growl.

  The woman’s green eyes narrowed to tiny slits, but her voice was soft. “Do you risk it? There will be more, and undeniably yours, after this day.”

  The silence felt like the air before a thunderstorm.

  “Get up!” Keldar yelled.

  Selia struggled but couldn’t get her feet under her with her hands tied behind her back.

  The woman laughed. “I thought you were at least good at getting out of your bonds.” With a quick flick, a knife appeared in the woman’s hand. She lifted Selia with one hand and cut the rope that held her hands together with the other. “Move.”

  Selia turned toward Keldar. If he scared her, this woman terrified her.

  Keldar smiled. “A very hungry Svistra is waiting.”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Noe walked a few steps behind Keldar and the human female. He’d almost ruined everything, and she wasn’t taking any more chances. Keldar had brought her to these godforsaken lands for more than warmth in his bed at night. Any of the female warriors or a captive human would have sufficed for that. He’d wanted to humiliate her and taunt Jaden. Well, she’d play along while it suited her to do so. Though she had to admit a fascination for his ruthlessness, Noe had never liked Keldar.

  The human female flinched under the bright light of the midday sun and then appeared to relax as if the rays gave her strength. She turned her head and stared at the northern forest. Noe smirked. The fortress. Could she have a man there? It was possible, even though the female had never coupled. She’d heard some female humans bartered their virginity for a union. If the woman did have a man, Noe hoped she’d seen him die.

  Keldar pushed the female to go faster. He too had followed the woman’s gaze. Was he afraid she’d try to escape? She wouldn’t. There had been intelligence in the dark brown eyes.

  Noe sneered at the back of the woman’s head. The human woman was taller than she imagined when Noe first saw her on the tent floor, reaching almost to Keldar’s shoulder. And Keldar was not a small Svistra. Perhaps humans considered her pretty; it was hard to tell. Tight dark curls escaped from her long braid and her skin, though several shades lighter than her hair, was still dark by Svistra standards. Noe couldn’t imagine Jaden had found this one attractive. Had he desired her? No. But she wasn’t naive enough to think the woman had been intended as a gift for Tinlor. The human was a mystery, and Noe hated mysteries.

  They would move camp in the morning. Keldar had told his warriors to keep the humans busy for two days and no Svistra, save Sovas, had returned. If the humans attempted a rescue, they’d be far too late.

  Her gaze settled on Keldar. It was a good thing she’d been listening. If Keldar had damaged the woman or taken her virginity, the human wouldn’t be as attractive a lure, and Noe knew Jaden’s hesitancy to kill. Even more than Keldar, Noe needed this woman to test Jaden’s loyalty. Of course Keldar assumed his half-brother was a traitor.

  She admitted a grudging admiration for Keldar’s cleverness. If Jaden refused the virgin gift, not only would he die, he’d die in dishonor. If he accepted, then Keldar would have proved to Jaden he was no better than any other Svistra.

  Was Keldar afraid to challenge his brother in a fair fight? Noe pondered the idea for a while. It was possible. Though Keldar was the stronger of the two, Jaden was fast and deadly with a blade. Keldar had been trying to best Jaden since he was old enough to hold a weapon. Jaden had paid him the ultimate insult by not even noticing the attempts.

  The woman stumbled. Keldar murmured something in the human’s ear Noe didn’t quite catch, but the woman paled.

  They neared the tent; it would be over soon, one way or another. If Jaden killed her, she was nothing to him and Noe would do her best to see Jaden challenge Keldar and succeed. If he died to save her…well, the human bitch wouldn’t have long to savor her victory.

  Keldar jerked Selia to a stop near a tent. She gazed at the white cloth as it fluttered under a slight breeze, only partially aware he had relaxed his grasp on her arm. Inside she’d meet her death. Her eyes drifted closed. She forced them open. She’d meet her fate head on.

  She glanced at Keldar then to the woman, jerked her arm out of Keldar’s grasp and walked of her own accord into the tent.

  After the glare from the sun, Selia couldn’t see anything in the gloom. Her heart beat in her throat. Attempting a dry swallow, she braced herself but nothing happened. Her legs trembled. As her eyes adjusted, a huddled form materialized to a side of the tent.

  “Jaden.” The word left her mouth before she could stop it. She rushed to him and knelt, her hands hovering over his body, almost afraid to touch him. She didn’t know what she expected, but this wasn’t it.

  Jaden moaned and then jerked away when she touched him. His eyes glowed like candle flames in the dim light.

  “Selia? Oh…no. How? No.” His voice was weak, barely reaching her ears.

  She bent over, hesitated then stroked his dark hair away from his face. “What happened t
o you?”

  “He hurt you.”

  She looked down at the tattered remains of her shirt, sleeves torn and bloodied, and pulled the remnants closed to cover her breasts.

  “I’m all right.”

  “I was. I—”

  “Shh, I know. The knot. I found the knife,” she stammered. “I have the knife in my boot.” The Svistra hadn’t checked her for hidden weapons. Although she didn’t know what good a weapon could do now.

  His skin was pale, even for Jaden, but she couldn’t see any wounds or bruises. “What’s wrong with you? How can I help?” she asked.

  Something that might have passed for a laugh escaped Jaden’s lips. He raised his head a fraction. “There is nothing you can do. But then…” The effort must have wearied him because his head fell back.

  She glanced around in desperation. Aside from a crumpled shape in the corner that she recognized as Jaden’s pack, the tent was empty. Just her and Jaden and a camp full of Svistra waiting outside.

  His lips moved. Selia bent closer.

  “You have to find a way to escape.” Panic tinted his golden eyes.

  “Not without you.” A sob built in her throat.

  “Don’t you understand?” he swallowed. “I haven’t hunted. You asked what…what happens when we don’t feed.” His breathing grew ragged. “He threw you in here to feed me.”

  Horror replaced her confusion. The hungry Svistra was Jaden, and she was bleeding. “Why, that mother fucker.” The anger faded as she acknowledged it as useless. Jaden’s brother had done this to him. She’d kill the smug bastard herself.

  “I must choose. Your life or mine.” He closed his eyes.

  “You’re starving?” She felt numb.

  Jaden remained silent. His eyelids flickered but didn’t re-open.

  “You need blood?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “Damn you, don’t you give up on me now,” Selia demanded.

  “What? Give in to the temptation to kill you?” He didn’t move a muscle. Only his lips fluttered. “Satisfy my lust for your blood and live? I have just enough strength left to do that.” He took several breaths. “I’m tempted but I couldn’t. I would never harm you. If you don’t understand that, you still don’t understand me at all.”