I opened my eyes with a gasp. Where was I? What had happened? Fighting to sit up, my lungs thirstily gulped for air. My eyes burned against the light, and my head throbbed painfully. My throat felt raw as if I had been screaming for hours. And my chest—my chest felt so sore.
“Easy, my lady. Easy. Please, you must not injure yourself again,” Grayson said as he gripped my shoulders to ease me back down onto the hard surface.
“Wh . . . Wha . . .”
Grayson lifted my head and placed a straw to my lips. My raw throat objected to each swallow, but the cool liquid felt good as it went to work quenching my thirst.
“Slowly, my lady,” he cautioned and pulled the cup away when I finished.
My eyes closed against the pain as I struggled to take a full breath. Systematically, I flexed my muscles to work the blood back into my stiff extremities as I tried to remember what had happened.
I had crossed the frozen pond and the finish line was in sight. Then agony unlike anything I had ever experienced exploded through my chest. The chariot wall had caught me as the strength left my body. Blood had flowed from around the arrow imbedded in my chest with an ominous slowness like the world had been shifted into slow motion. It had dripped onto the snow, soaking into each ice crystal to create a vivid Rorschach painting. Frantically, I patted my chest, still expecting to find an arrow lodged in my lung.
Grayson grabbed my hands. “You are still healing. By the gods, I thought we had lost you, my lady!” His hazel eyes glistened wetly as he squeezed my hands against his chest. “Never worry me so again.”
“Don’t worry.” I squeezed his hands in return, my voice a raspy whisper. “No more chariots or arrows for me. Thank you for taking care of me.”
“It was my honor, my lady. But I fear our friendship may cause my hair to gray. Perhaps I will appear sophisticated enough to capture the ladies’ hearts.” His smile was strained as he tried to lighten the mood.
“The ladies would love you even if you were bald, Grayson.”
“Never jest about the hair, my lady.” An exaggerated look of horror crossed his face. “Women prefer men with hair they can run their fingers through. I would never disappoint them.”
Fresh waves of pain ripped through my chest when I chuckled. “Ouch! Ok, no laughing.”
Grayson placed a kiss upon the back of each hand. “Please rest. I will be but a moment.”
When he disappeared, I traced the hole where the arrow had pierced my clothes and probed the tender skin beneath. I whispered a prayer of thanks that I was still alive. A shiver shook me bringing me back to the present. Light rippled across the low rock ceiling above me, and the sound of running water filled the air. Goosebumps peppered my skin as the cold rock floor I was laying on stole what little warmth I had. My clothes felt welded to my skin with grime and dried blood. All I wanted was to strip every piece of clothing from my body and soak in a hot bath until warmth replaced the cold ache. As weak as I felt, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
Grayson knelt beside me again, assessing me with a concerned look.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“The hot springs. It is part of the training floor, but inaccessible to the Potentials. This place is sacred to our people. We will not be disturbed. We thought you dead, my lady.” Grayson looked as if he still wasn’t sure if I was a figment of his imagination. “Ordinarily, women are selected to care for our dead. They bring the loved one here to be cleansed and anointed for proper burial. Molly would have seen to you, but she grieves so for her mother. I was granted permission to perform the honor in her stead.”
Holy schnikes, I had died! Fear and anxiety rolled in my belly. “Wait, are you saying Molly’s adoptive mother died?”
“Sadly, yes. Grace adopted Molly when she was found as a young child.” Grayson hesitated a moment. “I am sorry, my lady. I have sad news that I am sure will burden your heart, but I feel you should know.” He wrapped his long fingers around my hand and stared into my eyes sadly as he explained what had happened after I died.
Poor Molly. I knew the pain of losing a parent all too well. “Molly shouldn’t be alone right now. Please take me to her,” I said.
“I do not think it wise, my lady,” Grayson replied. “There is much unknown about those who wished you harm. Kyrion Eros is with her.” He pulled a large vase near and withdrew a wet cloth. “For now, let me help you refresh.”
Too bone weary to be stubborn, I didn’t argue. “Grayson, I don’t understand. Why would anyone want to kill me?”
Grayson wiped the warm cloth across my forehead slowing removing the dirt and grim. He worked his way down my cheeks and to my neck, his brow furrowed in thought. I sighed and closed my eyes in bliss.
Then his soft voice broke the silence. “The Games are more than contests to my people. The Potentials are necessary.” He worked the cloth over my arms. “Do you remember the invitation for the Games?” At my hummed response, he continued. “What is seen when holding the card is different for every person. Most will see nothing. Others—special people like you—see the invitation.”
That explained the changing messages on the card. What made them—me—so special? “Potentials are important to us,” Grayson explained. “They are protected, always. To harm a Potential is to harm our families. The rules that govern the Kyrion have never before been broken. Now that they have, I fear what the consequences will be for my people.”
He dipped the cloth back into the vase with a trouble expression. “We have enemies that would see us wiped from the earth. There are rumors that you are one of the Chosen we have been searching for and that our enemies know this. That Grace was working with them. I only know that you are special. I felt it the moment we met.” His fierce expression pinned me. “I have bound myself to your service, and I would die to protect you.”
They had the wrong girl if they were looking for a savior. I couldn’t even save myself. “Grayson, I’m not—”
He balled the cloth tightly in his fist. “Do you understand who we are as a people, my lady?”
There was something that tugged at the back of my mind, something important. I focused on that thought for a moment, but every time I tried to bring it into focus, it slipped farther away. Giving up, I fumbled my way through a response. “As crazy as this sounds, I think . . . there is some kind of power that your people possess. It’s insane, but the things I’ve seen . . .” I shifted, feeling self-conscious about the crazy pouring from my mouth, but I couldn’t deny what I had experienced here. “Each House seems to have their own power. Like the House of Seasons has power over earthy stuff.”
“You are not crazy, my lady.” Grayson gifted me with his boyish smile. “Yes, it is true that we all have a degree of power. But who we are is not only what we can do. You have met Kyrion, guides, and servants from all of our Houses. What do you see when you look at us?”
Words rolled off my tongue before my brain engaged, “Tradition. Inequality. Arrogance.” I blushed when I realized what I had said. “Uh, sorry, that was rude. I was never good at pop quizzes.”
He laughed. “You may always be truthful with me, my lady. Yes, those things exist. Your time here has been short, and we are good at hiding what we do not admit even to ourselves. I will tell you something of our history so that you may understand.”
He dipped the cloth in the vase once more and picked up my hand. “A very long time ago our people were once called Chaonians. We were a proud and powerful people who thought ourselves invincible. Superior. Over time civilizations rose and fell. Sometimes the Chaonians played a guiding hand, sometimes they simply watched from afar. They did not fear for themselves, for who would ever dare oppose them?
“When I was a young boy my abuela would tell me stories of our ancestors.” A fond smile spread across his lips. “Her favorite tale was what she called the Dawning. She said it was an end for our people and a beginning. A beginning that I would one day play a part in defining. She would recite this
old proverb when she spoke of it: ‘Faces we can see, hearts we cannot know.’ She would say, love and hate are two sides of the same coin and somewhere between the two lies treachery.”
When I looked at him strangely, he laughed. “It was not a fairy tale kind of story, my lady. It began with a great celebration that is held by my people during the winter solstice each year. For those days of celebration, all Houses are welcome, and everyone is treated as equal.” Grayson dipped the cloth angrily into the vase. “It was during one of those times that our ancestors were betrayed. Many died that day. Whole families were lost. Our leader saved those he could by hiding them away here on this island. Now our people call ourselves Paldimori. It is a name for what we have become—descendants of power who have hidden so long that we have become the shadows.
“You are an artist?” Grayson asked abruptly, looking up from his task.
“I like to think so. Although I haven’t created much myself since I opened my gallery,” I admitted.
“What type of art do you create?”
“I do charcoals, but my real love is glass work. I’ve always wanted to create glass that shows the depth and breadth of life. I’m drawn to realism.” The window in my gallery was symbolic of the paths in life, but it was a realistic representation of the divergence of my own life. “I’ve always thought that there is beauty enough in the real world without having to create the abstract.”
“The Paldimori are like your abstract art. We have been remolded until we barely resemble our heritage. That is who we have become, shadows who live in shadow. Fear is our cloak, and we wear it well. Yet there is promise buried beneath the surface, my lady.” Grayson gave me an imploring look. “It is there, waiting to be shaped by the right hands. We could be a powerful people once more.”
His boyish face was so full of hope. My heart hurt that I would be the one to extinguish that light. This person they were looking for wasn’t me. Inside, I was still that scared young girl who had tried to outrun her problems. It had taken actually dying to finally understand that you can’t outrun yourself.
Looking back now, I could admit that I had panicked. The threat of losing the gallery—of losing something else I loved—had dredged up the pain of losing my parents and weakened the pavement of my lonely highway. That pain and loss, which had never been dealt with, combined with everything going on in Port Lawson had sent me spiraling. I’d run again, in a way. Winning these Games wasn’t going to stop the rumors or give me back my reputation. It wouldn’t stop the person who started the rumors or heal the gaping wounds I’d tried to pave over. Nothing and no one could do that but me.
My journey of healing had begun the night I opened up to Bennett. There was still a long way to go, but I had shined a light on that darkness revealed by the cracks in my highway. Now the landscape was changing. Where once there had barren wasteland, grass now dotted the landscape. My mother’s screams and the roaring of the water that the highway had concealed had quieted. The pain and grief were still there, but they weren’t a debilitating force driving me to self-destruction. I doubted I would ever stop missing my parents, but now there was something else. Hope and the realization that my path in life didn’t have to be lonely.
I realized now that I’d never stopped running. From my past, from relationships, and from myself. It was time to let things go. To stop locking myself away from life and those who were important to me. Especially Dia, who deserved so much better. She had let me set boundaries on our friendship these last few years, but she deserved a friend who was as vested as she was.
I knew now what I had to do when the Games were over. It was time to face my past. It was time to live instead of keeping myself locked away like a ghost in an empty estate where I was too afraid to open the door. Whatever waited for me when I got home, I would handle, because life gave you hope. Only death was final.
“I’m sorry, Grayson. I’m not sure who you think I could be, but you’ve got the wrong person,” I said regretfully. “I’m no crusader. I have a life and a terrific friend waiting for me back home. I have a lot to make up for. I’ve been a coward. But I’ve got a second chance at life. I plan to make the most of it.”
My heart ached to see the hope in those bright hazel eyes die out. “We are a resilient people, my lady. Do not worry for us.” A tear slipped down my cheek as he pasted on a fake smile. “Whatever life has in store for you, I wish you much luck and happiness. I am grateful to have been able to serve you while you have been here. Now, I will go and secure your clothing. I am sure you would like to change.”
He dropped the cloth back in the vase then stood abruptly, putting distance between us as if he couldn’t stand to be near me one second longer. His forced smile made me want to be what he needed if only to not disappoint him. “Do you need assistance into the water?” he asked.
“Grayson, I—” I started awkwardly, but I wouldn’t make him false promises. Sighing, I gingerly pulled myself into a sitting position. “I think I’ve got it. Thank you for everything.” Looking up at him through teary eyes I asked, “Is this goodbye?”
His expression softened. “My people do not believe in saying goodbye, my lady. We say, ‘Until we meet again may the gods guide you and look favorably upon your House.’”
Shakily, I got to my feet to give him a hug, but my stiff legs couldn’t get the hang of walking again so quickly. I started falling, and overcompensated plowing right into Grayson. He hadn’t expected to be tackled by a wild woman and lost his balance.
Tangled together, we hit the water and sank. My muscles seemed to be turning liquid with the warmth of the water, making me a useless weight that was pinning Grayson to the bottom of the well-lit pool. He grinned in amusement at our predicament. I nodded sharply toward the surface and he placed my arms around his neck to help me to my feet. I thunked my forehead onto his chest, breathing heavily in the chill air. Grayson pulled my limp body closer, securing me to him as I mumbled against his chest.
“What was that, my lady?”
The water level was right around my collarbone. Right now, it was looking pretty inviting. Maybe I could sink back underwater and stay there. Forever. Or at least until I was sure I wouldn’t die of humiliation. “I’m so sorry! I’m a walking hazard. You should probably escape now before I manage to drown you.”
Grayson laughed. “My lady, there is no need to apologize. I do believe you gave me exactly what I needed. A dip in the water to wash away my bad manners.” He brushed my hair back over my shoulders. “I am sorry for the way I acted. You have been through much. I had no right to ask you to give up your life for people who have shown you little kindness and much pain.” I looked up into those kind eyes. That wasn’t true, I had found a few friends among the Paldimori. “Here, let me help you to the ledge so you may sit.”
Grayson scooped me up and carried me across the pool to sit on a sunken ledge that brought the water line down to my navel. I was relieved to see those beautiful eyes shining once more. “We are already wet,” he said with a grin. “Would you like me to help you bathe, my lady?”
My skin tingled in awareness that we were no longer alone. “That will not be necessary, Grayson,” Bennett’s said softly, sending my pulse spiking. “I will assist Potential Davies with whatever she may require.”
So much for being my dedicated servant—Grayson fled without a backward glance.
26
Bennett stood before me, bare chest gleaming with droplets of water. I refused to let my eyes follow those droplets to see what the crystal clear water would reveal as they headed south. He plowed across the cave pool with purposeful intent and came to a stop, mere feet in front of me. Dark eyes scanned me from head to toe, leaving a trail of heat in their wake. His face was a blank mask, but an almost tangible river of emotions churned in the air around him. There was so much tangled together that I couldn’t decipher one emotion from another. His hand lifted as if he would touch me. But his fingers curled into a fist, and he let his hand fall back
to his side.
Caution was required here until I could figure out which side of this complicated man was standing in front of me right now: the lover who had held me while I cried or the condescending asshat who expected everyone to bow to him. “So, I’m Potential Davies again?” I said. It hurt to hear him call me that after everything we had shared.
His jaw hardened, and his eyes narrowed. A blast of emotion almost knocked me over. It was almost like I was tuned into his radio frequency. Right now, it was blaring.
“You do realize Grayson is several years younger than me, right? You have nothing to be jealous about.”
Bennett crossed his arms over his chest, staring at me intently. “Then why was he going to bathe you?”
His reply was sharp and clear although he never opened his mouth. I notched my chin into the air and glared back my own response. “Because he’s a friend. Some people actually have friends. The kind that will help you out when you’re too weak to even bathe yourself. I’m sure you wouldn’t know anything about that.”
Bennett’s eyes widened in surprise a moment, and then his scowl deepened. “You are mine. No one else may touch you in such a fashion. Tell me.”
“Stubborn, pig-headed man.” Mockingly, I crossed my arms. Outrage was refueling my energy. Bennett’s lips twitched as if he had heard my thought. “I’m not property. You can’t go around saying I’m yours. I decide who I let touch me and how.”
“You are mine.” His rumbling voice floated through my mind.
“Did . . . did you just speak in my head?” Call me slow. Blame all those wet muscles on display. What woman’s brain wouldn’t be fried?
Bennett stilled, his expression carefully blank. That roiling ball of emotions swirling around him suddenly cut out of existence. “Yes.”
“Cryptic much?” I would have missed his reaction if I hadn’t been looking for it. His jaw flexed, and those sexy pecs twitched. “You heard that too, didn’t you? What have you done to me? How is this possible?”
Paldimori Gods Rising Box Set Page 22