Tempt (Terraway Book 4)

by Mary E. Twomey

  I gasped, letting Finn know he’d hit me with his words instead of cutting Mason. His conscience tore him from his fight with Mason to cast me an apologetic look.

  Mason was not amused. He stood, towering over me. “October’s free to warm any bed she likes. What she’s not free to do is run off and jeopardize the kingdom on a whim.” He looked down on me with the hardness of barely controlled anger. “Pack up your things. Kabayo needs to see you, and then we’re leaving. We’re falling behind on the quota of souls.”

  “You know she’s more than ahead on the quota after the mass reaping at the carnival,” Finn argued.

  Mason was furious at being corrected, his fists clenching. “Omen work takes precedence over everything else. You know that, Finn. The only reason you’ve been keeping her here after the work was done was so that you could cozy up to her and manipulate her into bed. Well done, old friend, but the fun’s over now.”

  I couldn’t believe what a jerk Mason was being. “Get out!” I ordered, pointing to the door.

  Mason was temporarily startled that I raised my voice, but recovered quickly. “You don’t leave my sight. Pack up, and I’ll take you to Kabayo.” When I opened my mouth to argue, Mason shook his head. “Four days, October! You’ve been gone four days! We’ve been out of our minds for four days trying to find you! If you die or go missing, it falls on Von and me. All the blame, all the lost lives if our Omen goes down. You can’t do that! We’re giving up just as much as you, so stop being a baby about it!” His fingers straightened. “I can’t even pull from you right now because I’m so mad!”

  With my scowl fixed on my face, I shoved the few things back into my pack, angry at the life sentence I’d been given. I shoved on a pair of socks and my shoes with jerking movements. I took the apple Finn handed me from a platter of food on the table, then I stomped behind the partition and changed into one of my shirts, so Finn could have his back.

  I couldn’t look at either one of them as we made our way down the stairs. Finn paid for the room we rented, and I could feel Mason’s eyes on me with every movement I made. He walked behind us, ensuring I didn’t breathe without him witnessing the event. I had never felt the desire to run more than I did when Mason watched me like the attack dog he was.

  Finn tried to hold my hand, though for what purpose, I couldn’t tell you. I batted his advance away, angry that he’d let Mason think we were hooking up, when just kissing was at the furthest edge of my capabilities. “I guess I deserved that.”

  “Don’t talk to me,” I seethed. “I’m not some slave girl you can pimp out when it’s good for a laugh. You don’t get to make me feel like your whore for sleeping in the same bed as you instead of sleeping on the floor.”

  That was the extent of the conversation I shared with either one of them as we made our way to the castle. The unspoken tension between the three of us only built with every step we took as we walked together through the pouring rain.

  18

  Boys, Bullies and Braids

  For all the “King Kabayo” talk that was tossed around, I’d never pictured Kabayo on an actual throne. The stone palace was simple but ominous on the inside, with many horse-shaped helmets lining the walls that led up to the oversized metal-hewn throne. Kabayo’s grand chair had a bearskin thrown over it, sealing the look of luxury without bedecking everything in blinged-out gold and diamonds. It was gritty and precise, which suited the surly horseman perfectly.

  There were four guards at attention flanking the throne when the three of us were let in. Mason pushed ahead, his shoulders forward as he geared up to start yet another fight. “How long did you know she was here? How many days without reporting it to the council?”

  Kabayo didn’t bother standing at Mason’s verbal assault. His smug smile couldn’t be contained, and he refused to be ruffled by Mason’s accusations. “For all I knew, she’d only made better time than we all thought she would. Why would I assume you and Von couldn’t keep track of one small girl?”

  “You assumed we sent her down into Terraway without us? That’s how you’re playing this?”

  “Children play, men plan. I think I’ll take my piece of the stone and concentrate on rebuilding my kingdom. We’ll be off of Sama’s rations in no time with the rain falling on our land again.” When Mason cast a venomous look at Kabayo, the king responded with a brazen, “If you can’t keep track of your charge, it’s nothing to do with me.”

  “You let her stay here knowing she didn’t have her Reapers. There was a battle not half a mile from here! What if she’d been near the battlefield? What if you’d lost and they came after her here? What then? What comes of Terraway if the Omen goes down? Or don’t you care, now that you’ve got your bit of the stone?”

  I cringed, hoping Mason wouldn’t find out I’d been fighting. He was already so angry.

  Instead of arguing back, Kabayo turned to look at me with a teasing smile drawing up the sides of his elongated mouth. “Have you been keeping secrets from your Puller?” He tsked me as if I was five.

  Mason’s head whipped to me, and I could practically see steam billowing out of his ears. “What kind of secrets?”

  “This is who you are?” I cocked my head to the side, my arms akimbo, daring Kabayo to mention that I’d been in the battle. “Seriously? You want to start a fight with me after everything I just did for you?”

  Kabayo was too pleased with himself to hold back. “Now, now. I’m sure Captain Finn made certain to keep her far from the battlefield, tucked safely in his bed.”

  “Shut up,” Finn murmured to Kabayo, the tips of his ears turning pink.

  Mason looked on the verge of either vomiting or Hulked-out raging. His voice was low and gravelly when he addressed Kabayo. “Have all the laughs you want. You’ve got two minutes before I port her back to the mansion so Ezra can deal with her. I fear if I deal with her, we’ll be short an Omen, a Kataw captain and a Tikbalang king.”

  “Well, since you asked so nicely.” Kabayo was enjoying his upper hand, finally on top instead of begging from other countries for food and water. “I need a moment with October first, and then you and Finn can take her back to Ezra.”

  “I’ll be staying here,” Finn said, his hands behind his back as he stood at attention.

  “If Ezra needs you, I won’t risk his wrath. I had no idea the girl snuck away without Daddy’s permission,” Kabayo taunted me. “Now that the situation’s been brought to my attention, I’ll act as a member of the council and send you on back to the mansion to answer for your crime. It’s my duty, you understand.”

  Finn’s jaw clenched. “Oh, I understand. Now that you’ve got rain, all the service my men have done you is forgotten. We risked everything for your kingdom to bring you the stone. I won’t be returning to the council if you’re on it.”

  “Now that I have rain, I don’t have a need for the council,” Kabayo ruled.

  “You’re a bastard!” I raged, breaking out from the background and stomping up to the throne. “How dare you treat what we did like you don’t owe us the world! I could’ve died for this, and we’re both gonna get it from Ezra. Get off your stupid throne and come stand down here like you’re one of us.” I looked to the soldiers I could tell Kabayo was posturing for like an insecure freshman. “Tell your men to give us a minute so you can stop talking like a fool.”

  When Kabayo hesitated, Mason roared, “You know the Omen is above you! You know she can command your army whether or not you’re fit to rule!”

  Well, that was sure news to me.

  “Give us a minute,” Kabayo said to his men, his bravado falling slowly, like a feather losing its flight midway to greatness. When the soldiers left us with wary expressions, Kabayo’s voice lowered to a humbler tone. “I have a score to settle with you, Omen.”

  My upper lip curled as I readied for whatever ridiculous bone Kabayo wanted to pick with me. “Settle it, then. I friggin’ dare you.”

  Mason’s fists were clenched. “Then we leave af
ter this. Ezra can deal with Finn and the Omen.”

  My head snapped to glare at Mason and his no-name address of me. “So that’s how it is?”

  “That’s how you made it. You treated Von and me like strangers, running out on us. You wanted to go rogue? Then I’m the guard, and you’re the charge. My only duty to you is keeping you fit for your post.”

  “Fine!” I spouted with too much attitude.

  “Fine!”

  Finn rolled his eyes, relaxing his perfect posture. “Oh, will the both of you just shut up?”

  Kabayo stepped off the raised platform his throne was on and stalked toward us, his glassy bulging eyes on me. He stopped directly in front of me and spoke as if there was no one else in the room. “You ignored the council, ignored the schedule we all agreed on, stole the stone and went on the mission without your Pullers and without proper supervision.”

  “Hey!” Finn argued, but Kabayo ignored him.

  I kept my chin high in defiance. “I did. All except the stealing part. It’s my stone. I don’t need permission to move my own belongings from one place to another. So, you know, suck it.”

  Okay, maybe that was crass, but I knew Von would’ve laughed if he was still talking to me.

  Kabayo was not amused. He squared his shoulders to mine. “You misunderstand me. I didn’t list those as marks against you. Those are the reasons I respect you. You did all that for my people, for my land that you’d never even seen before this week. You saw our land at our worst, and me at mine, and you still sacrificed yourself for us. I can’t repay you for that, but I can try.”

  “Oh, um, thanks. Sorry about the ‘suck it’ comment, then. And it’s cool. It was good timing all the way around. I wanted to get out of my situation for a little bit anyway, so it’s no big deal.”

  Finn took a step forward to stand next to me as Mason grumbled under his breath about my AWOL status. “It is a big deal, and no matter what she says, you’ll treat her like the queen who just saved your land.”

  I sighed, letting the men broker whatever needed to be postured about so we could be done with this already. Kabayo waved Finn off and placed both his hands on my arms, gearing up for the business. “I owe you something equal to the redemption of my land, but I don’t know what that would be. So instead, I’ll give you the next best thing.” He reached up behind his head, running his hand through his mane. He looked like an odd half-horse half-man caught mid-lather in the shower or something. Mason gasped and Finn took a step back when Kabayo yanked one of the three braids from his head out by the root. It was about as thick as a rope. He held it out between his hands, long and black, presenting it like a glorious sword.

  I didn’t know what to say. I mean, it was a braid of his hair. I tried to be respectful of what I’m sure was a nice gesture, judging by the identical “holy crap” looks Mason and Finn wore. “Um, thanks. I don’t own any horse hair, so this will be my first.”

  Mason forgot about his anger toward me, consumed with wonder at the braid. “This isn’t just a piece of hair. This is his token. Every Tikbalang king has three tokens in their hair, and whoever they give one to gets special protection.”

  Finn had equal rapture in his voice. “Some people used to try to steal the tokens, and they got a severe curse. This… this is a grand gift, October.”

  I’d been jerked around enough with not being told anything about anything and being forced into it. I knew better than to accept a horse hair I wasn’t totally educated on just yet. “Wait. What kind of protection?”

  Kabayo was patient with my questions, which was a rare show of kindness from him. “You’ll be able to contact me without going through Ezra because I’ll be able to feel your stronger emotions, the danger around you. That would unite my kingdom with yours. So if you’re in trouble, I can feel that and act on it.”

  “Sort of like extra insurance?”

  “Yes. It also might give you certain enhancements. Time will tell on that front.”

  I didn’t know what to say. “This is a gift? It doesn’t make things more complicated?”

  Kabayo smiled down at me. “I can’t imagine anything making your life more complicated. No, this would help.”

  “Well, thank you. That’s right nice of you.” I tightened my fist. “But I won’t take it if you turn on the council. Don’t you dare turn on Ezra just because you’re the coolest kid in school again. You were with us when you were in need, so you should be with us when you have. Anything in between’s just plain cowardly, and I won’t accept gifts from a coward.”

  Kabayo’s eyes glinted with anger at me. “Cowardly?”

  I ignored Finn’s hiss that I was skating on very thin and oh-so-breakable ice. “You couldn’t risk yourself to help the other kingdoms before, but now you can. Now you have something to give. If you don’t help now, it’s because you’re afraid to get your hands dirty. Either that or you’re a child. I can’t decide which one’s worse to have on a throne – a child or a coward.”

  We glared at each other for several long beats in which neither Finn nor Mason breathed. “You’re treading on dangerous ground, Omen.”

  “And you’re running headfirst into quicksand if you think you can disrespect the council my dad sits on and expect me to take presents from you. You turn your back on my family, and you can forget any sort of alliance with me.” I couldn’t pinpoint when exactly a fierce protectiveness toward Ezra seared my heart, but somewhere along the road, Ezra Manaul had become my father.

  Kabayo glared at me, weighing his limited options. “Fine. I’ll remain on the council and help how I can.”

  “Glad to hear you’ll do the bare minimum. I didn’t have to come here, you know. If I hadn’t, you’d be dead by now. You and everything you worked for. Be better than this. You got a second chance at serving Terraway. Be a good man, Kabayo.”

  “Are you quite finished lecturing me?”

  “For now. Unless you piss me off more. Then I’ve got a whole riot act I can read you with plenty of this.” I mimed shaking my fists in the air and throwing a fit.

  “Give me your arm then.” Kabayo took his braid that was easily two feet long and wrapped it around my forearm in a crisscross that made X’s on both the inside and the outside of my forearm from wrist to elbow. Then he tied it off around my wrist like a bracelet. He picked up my hand, examining the back of it with dismay. “These scrapes, you’re still doing it? I thought your Pullers would’ve put a stop to this.”

  Mason grumbled, “She’s been without Pullers for four days, and she was resisting me before that.”

  “I wonder why that is,” Finn mused with a touch of evil to his smile. “Sounds like it was one bad kiss you gave her.”

  Mason pointed his hand aggressively at Finn. “You’ll shut your mouth about it! You don’t know anything about her or me.”

  “Oh, I know enough about her. I think I know exactly what you know about her.”

  The cockiness Finn exuded made me lash out. “Both of you, get out! I mean it. I don’t need you two barking in my ear about stupid stuff that should never have happened. Had I known you’d both devolve into such jackholes, it wouldn’t have gone down like it did. Neither of you actually love me or want me; you’re just using me as something to fight over. Fight over sports teams, like normal men! Get a hobby and get out!”

  They both narrowed their eyes at me with varying degrees of scoffing and anger. Kabayo took in their lack of movement toward the door and raised his voice to enforce my rule. “The Omen told you to leave. If you don’t obey, I’ll send in my guards to make it happen as she wishes.”

  Mason and Finn grumbled, shoving each other like petulant children as they left.

  19

  Scarred and Scared

  The second the heavy doors closed behind them, I breathed out the heaviness that never seemed to completely go away. “Thanks for that.”

  Kabayo surprised me by wrapping his arm around my waist, holding me in a way that confused me and made me bl
ush before I started squirming. When this seemed to be the extent of the touch, I relaxed, resting my head on Kabayo’s firm chest as he spoke quietly to me. “It’s a different level we’re on. It’s hard to know when to rule and when to let your guard down.” After I put him in his place, Kabayo seemed to take a shine to me more than usual.

  Men are weird.

  I closed my eyes and tried to center myself. “Does it get easier? I don’t want to rule. I just want my life back.”

  “I know, hani.” Kabayo held me tenderly to his chest. It was a sweet gesture I wasn’t expecting, but surprisingly needed. “Hold still. The transfer stings a little.”

  “The what?” was all I worked out before my arm started tingling. He held me still even as I tried to jerk away to itch the bite of the braid as it traveled up my arm and began to trickle through my whole body. The irritation turned from a nuisance to a slow-building fire I couldn’t extinguish. “It’s supposed to feel like my arm’s burning? Ow!” I began to understand why he’d initiated the hug – he needed to hold me in place and keep me from thrashing around.

  “Squeeze my hand. It’ll pass.” The fire built up in me, feeling like white and blue flickering through my veins. I gritted my teeth and closed my mouth through the scream that welled up in me. I buried it in Kabayo’s shoulder while he held me tight.

  Then just as quick as it built, the invisible flames began to diminish. He held me as my body deflated, looping his long horse head over my good shoulder. I tried not to worry about barn germs, but I knew they were there, crawling all over me now. I went to take the lock of hair from my arm, but it had vanished. In place of the hair was a red burn mark in the exact loopy X pattern. “Is… Is that permanent?” I asked, trying to keep my panic at bay.

  “It’ll fade a little in time, but it’ll turn black when I’m in danger, and mine will turn black when you’re in danger.” He displayed his forearm to me, revealing an exact match of my burn on his arm.