Paldimori Gods Rising Box Set

by T. L. Callahan

  “Yes, well,” Selene waved her hand as if it were no big deal. “Thank the God of Chaos for your healing powers.”

  Bennett took my hand and placed it on top of his, turning us toward the house before I could argue with Selene. “I believe you had the cooks hold dinner for us?” he asked her.

  “Of course. I sent a message on to have another place set for Lia,” Selene replied, falling into step beside us. Since I hadn’t seen anyone else around, she must have meant she sent them a telepathic message.

  “Good.” Bennett smiled down at me. “I sent Grayson to get Click for you and to take care of a few things in Sotirìa. I would not expect him until tomorrow.”

  “I think I’ll live without my shadow for a night,” I said, grateful the boy who had pledged himself to me was there to watch over the adolescence ink pen I had brought to life. Click could be a handful sometimes. Although the two of them together were likely to give whoever was in charge while Bennett was away a massive headache.

  “I’ll have another room prepared for him,” Selene stated. “Would you like to change first, or should I tell them you’re ready for dinner now?”

  Bennett turned to me. “I’m starving,” I admitted, “and if I get anywhere near a bed I won’t be eating tonight.”

  “We will make our way to the dining hall now. Thank you, Selene.”

  Selene bowed to him, then walked quickly ahead and through the front door. Bennett wrapped his arms around me before I could follow and pulled my chest flush against his. “There has been so little time for us to truly get to know one another.” His lips brushed against my temple, and he sighed as if there was a great weight settling on his shoulders. “These last couple of weeks with you were some of the best days of my life. I do not want to lose sight of us in the midst of all my duties.”

  I laid my head against his chest and hugged him tightly. Why did it feel as if we were saying goodbye?

  “You owe me lots more dates, wizard boy. I’ll make sure you keep up your end of the bargain.” I looked up into that handsome face noting the shadows that now filled his eyes and the solemn demeanor that was stealing over his features as the heavy mantle of Kyrion settled around him. I resolved in that moment to make sure that there would be more times away from all of this.

  I needed to see him smile one more time before we walked into the home of the Kyrion and whatever commitments awaited us there. “Just make sure you wash really good before you bring that mouth anywhere near mine. I think I still see some doggy drool.”

  I soaked in his smile, memorizing every detail. No matter what happened, we were in this together.

  3

  I stopped dead in my tracks as we stepped through the entrance door to Bennett’s home. A stone bridge stretched from the entrance doors across a wide bed of hot coals to an open archway with a grand staircase beyond. Benches were placed every few feet apart near the edges of the wide bridge. Statues of the six Paldimori gods stood, three to a side, in recesses along the walls. Overhead, tendrils of flames of various sizes floated near the vaulted ceiling like the aurora borealis.

  “Uh, did we just enter a really weird sauna?” The heat was almost too much after the freezing cold outside.

  “Each House has an affinity with something that they incorporate into their homes. It was once a law for all Paldimori to live as closely entwined with their affinity power as possible. Ours is fire,” Bennett answered and used his telekinesis to float a hot coal into the palm of his hand. “The stronger the power, the more immunity to fire descendants of the House of Chaos are gifted with. Thermal energy—heat—is the catalyst for fire. We are naturally drawn to it for the strength it bolsters in our powers. Children are gifted a hot coal at the age of two as a sort of primer to begin working their fire powers.” Bennett tumbled the hot coal around in his hand as if it was a worry stone. “The heat is also soothing to us. You will find that most homes here have a fireplace, at least, or hot-coal bed. This entranceway was my mother’s design. She wanted our people to feel welcome and comfortable in her home. To father’s great annoyance she would often settle grievances here rather than in the formal throne room.”

  Wow! Hot coals were like power-boosting security blankets to these people. Shopping for Christmas presents here was going to be a breeze. Wait, did they even celebrate Christmas? If not, that was going on my list of changes to make.

  Bennett tossed the coal back into the pit below as two men approached us. They each wore sleek uniforms covered in black scales from the high collar to the tops of their black boots. Black swords were strapped to their waists. Black metal star-like symbols of the House of Chaos ran down the back of each arm looking like throwing stars. They bowed low to Bennett. Then to me. The heat that stung my cheeks wasn’t only from the hot coals. Having people bow to me was a brand-new experience and not one I could ever see myself being comfortable with.

  “Talos Moore. Talos Gavril.” Bennett greeted them with a swooping hand motion and the men rose from their bowed positions. “It is good to see you. The Archai has kept me appraised of the tower attacks. However, I would like to hear your own impressions. Come to the control room tomorrow morning and bring any others that have been to the towers.”

  “It will be done, Kyrion Bennett,” the men answered in unison, their respect for their leader plain to see. The man on the left said, “It’s good to have you home, sir. And we welcome you, my lady.”

  “Thank you,” I said, shifting uneasily at the “my lady” part. I had grown used to Grayson saying those words, but it was almost like a form of affection from him. These men had only just met me.

  “It is good to be home, Talos Gavril.” Bennett’s tone was polite yet distant. It was as if all emotion had bled from him the moment we stepped through the door. “You may return to your posts now and if there are any more attacks report them at once.”

  The men bowed again and walked out the door.

  “Why are they ‘my ladying’ me? And why do your people name everything the same?” I asked thinking of every leader passing on the name Kyrion Chaos and how confusing that might get. “Although, I could see where naming every guy ‘Talos’ would be easier than picking up a baby-name book all the way out here on mount-nowhere. I’m not sure even Amazon could find this place.”

  The shadows lifted a bit from Bennett’s eyes as he swept an errant strand of hair from my cheek. “They are showing respect for your position as my intended bond-mate,” Bennett said. “And Talos is not their name, but their title. The guides for each House—some of whom you met at the Games—are similar to your Secret Service. Their job is to protect the Kyrion and other crucial members of our society, such as the contestants in the Games—” A shiver raced down my spine when he mentioned the Games, and everything that had happened to me there flashed through my mind. There had been too many near-death experiences for me in the Games to ever think fondly of Sotirìa, no matter how amazing the island was. I pushed the memories aside before they could overwhelm me and trigger my powers. “—the Talosi protect the House bases.”

  It took me a moment to understand what he’d been saying. “Guides are like bodyguards and the Talosi are like your army, right?”

  “Yes, asteràki. One more lesson for tonight, then we eat.” Bennett flattened his hand with the palm facing down and held it out toward me. Then placed my hand on top of his. “This is the way unrelated men and woman who have reached bonding age are permitted to touch. Until we go through the Bonding Ceremony, this is how I will escort you.”

  “Of course, there’s another ceremony,” I said. “Should I not show my ankles either for fear of sending men into a lustful frenzy?” Considering what we had been doing on every flat surface of my parents’ house, this was ridiculous. Weren’t we already “married” according to their traditions? “You may need to adjust your teleporting compass because I think we went back in time.” My sarcasm made the corner of Bennett’s lips twitch. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but why is there a bond
ing age limit?”

  “The age limit is now sixteen and is in place to protect our youth. Mother wanted young men and women to have a chance to enjoy their childhoods free from the courting traditions. Arranged bondings at the time of birth—like my mother’s—were very popular in the past. Father was seven at the time and the most powerful suitor.” There was a mixture of sadness and anger in his voice. Bennett’s hand tensed beneath mine before he forced himself to relax once more.

  “Thankfully, Mother changed the laws, or I would have been bonded long before we met. We may bond with anyone but finding a true bond-mate—the one person the God of Chaos intended to be the other part of our soul—is difficult. For many, it will never happen.” Bennett brushed the back of his fingers down my cheek, and I finally understood how special our bond was. No wonder he was fiercely protective of me and so damn insistent that I learn to protect myself. “Arranged bondings are still popular in families that want to produce more powerful children, but the couple must consent to it now.”

  “How progressive of you guys to allow people to say no to their parents’ pick on who they’ll spend the rest of their lives with.” My sarcasm was sharp enough to cut. “And don’t get me started on the pairing up people to ‘produce more powerful children,’” I mockingly air quoted in a manly sounding voice. “That’s some doctor Frankenstein kinda messed up. Seriously, Bennett, how far back in time did we travel?”

  “Change is slow to come to our world, Lia. My mother was the most progressive Kyrion we have had, and she faced a lot of opposition from our people and my father.” He sighed and gripped my shoulders. “I did not say that I approved of those things, but I cannot change thousands of years of tradition overnight.”

  “Sorry. I know you’re doing your best.” I hugged him tight, then pulled back to give him a teasing smile. “I make no promises on keeping my opinion to myself, but I’ll at least try to not to burn bras in protest.”

  My stomach picked that moment to give a loud rumble. Bennett’s lips lifted in a semi-smile that gave me hope that he wasn’t lost to the role of Kyrion completely—at least with me. “Come. We are keeping you from dinner, and I would hate for the servant’s first impressions of their future Kyrion to be a hangry Lia.”

  I wanted to tell him he was being a butthead, but it was the truth. My stomach sounded like I was ready to eat someone, and my temper would match if I didn’t get food soon.

  The intense heat of the entranceway diminished as soon as we stepped through the archway on the other side of the room. I gawked in awe as we passed the grand staircase that branched off twice to second and third floor balconies. We turned right down a sconce-lined hallway with the occasional painting hanging on the walls. One of the largest was a family portrait. The woman was beautiful with light brown hair and pale brown eyes. She smiled with the glow of new motherhood as she glanced down into the face of the baby in her arms. At her shoulder stood a stern-looking man staring straight ahead. His dark brown eyes seemed to bore into me, leaching the lingering heat from my bones. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I could swear I knew him from somewhere.

  “I don’t think they’ve been apart this long since the Kyrion brought him home,” Selene was saying as we approached an open doorway. “It was good to see the Kyrion happy.”

  “The pup has missed him,” an elderly woman replied as we entered the room. The woman standing next to Selene had white hair trapped in a bun on top of her head and wore the typical long black dress of the women servants. They stood on the left side of the room at the end of a long rectangular table covered in a cream tablecloth. Light from lantern-shaped sconces that lined the walls and hung from the ceiling reflected off metal dishes of various sizes spread across the end of the table. The elderly woman leaned over to lift the lid of one of the dishes and gave the steaming soup a stir. “It’s unlike the Kyrion to not take Axol—”

  “Ann, something smells divine,” Bennett called out, interrupting the elderly woman. Selene had noticed us right away but hadn’t clued the other woman in on our presence. It was almost as if she wanted us to overhear that conversation. Selene ignored my questioning look her way and nodded approvingly toward our stacked hands as we neared the table. I wiped the assessing look from my face when Bennett glanced at me with a quick reassuring tilt of his lips.

  Bennett may have brushed it off, but the women’s conversation bothered me. I hadn’t thought about why Axol might not have come with us to stay at my parents’ house. Training and combing through my father’s study for more clues that might help me find a starting place for my quest had consumed my time. Now I felt like an ass for being the high-maintenance girlfriend who needed her man to be by her side constantly, keeping him away from his friends. My eyes narrowed on Selene. Had she been trying to make a point to let me know that Bennett had left Axol behind because of me?

  Ann dipped into a deep bow that I wouldn’t have thought possible for her age. “Dinner is served, Kyrion Bennett. I’ve made both your favorites.” Bennett moved to help her rise, and they spoke quietly, the affection between them was clear even though their interaction was all very formal. My stomach rumbled again, and I turned away to give them their privacy. I walked alongside the long rectangular table lifting the heavy metal lids. There was a roast, mashed potatoes, candied yams, corn, some type of bisque, apple pie, lemon tarts, and more. I snatched a lemon tart and popped it in my mouth. The tangy-sweet taste hit my palette, and I groaned in pleasure. A gasp sounded, and I looked up.

  My cheeks, full of pastry, heated beneath three pairs of eyes staring at me. Bennett was wearing his Kyrion face, but I was starting to pick up little tells. The light in his eyes said he was amused, but the set of his mouth said I had fucked up. Ann was much easier to read: she was shocked and outraged. I swallowed down the tart, and it hit my stomach like a rock as my nerves jittered wondering what I had done wrong.

  “The blessing must be said before a meal. None eat before the Kyrion is served and has taken the first bite,” Selene advised, with a barb in her tone that said I had committed an unforgivable sin. Those golden eyes flared with something that looked a lot like contempt before the emotionless wall went back up. The moment had been so quick that I wondered if maybe I had imagined it. I was tired and hungry, after all. I wouldn’t admit it to Bennett, but that was definitely a combination that brought out my grouch.

  Selene got that faraway look as if she were speaking telepathically, and I had an idea who she was talking to. I eased open the door on my side of our connection just enough to hear what she was saying. “Bear, are you sure?”

  Bennett appraised me as if searching for something, fully aware that I was eavesdropping. There was a tickle along our connection as his mind brushed briefly against mine. “Yes, the Desmòs—the true bond blessed by the gods—has formed. I feel Lia in my soul, her presence is like the sun lighting up my days. She is my true bond-mate,” he responded, his eyes soft and filled with love as he watched me. If there had been anything more than friendship between them in the past, he had made it clear who he was with now. It took everything I had not to throw myself into his arms and kiss him senseless. He smirked. “There will be time for that later when I get you alone, asteràki.”

  Selene’s voice was unexpectedly soft as she said, “I am happy for you, my friend. May the gods bless your union.” Then her emotions were wiped away as if it was a momentary lapse as she continued, “The guides and Talosi have already been told that she is your intended bond-mate. It will be best to appear to uphold the traditions and let all of our people think you are not yet bonded. I’ll make the Bonding Ceremony arrangements two days from now. With those kinds of looks being shared between you, I doubt this ruse would last any longer than that.”

  Bennett’s chuckle filled my head as he answered her. “You are always so practical, little rabbit. And always right.” His humor died away to be replaced by a nostalgic sigh. “I miss the days of your enthusiastic bouncing about and asking a million quest
ions. I have learned many things from my bonding, but mostly that my mother was right: there is more to life than duties. I hope you realize that for yourself someday, my friend.”

  “You and my position are all I have left,” Selene stated firmly. “It is enough,” she added and turned towards the servant. “Now introduce your wife to Ann, and let’s eat. My lemon tarts are waiting.”

  I wondered what had happened to Selene, but I would never ask. Her story was her own to tell, and I felt guilty for overhearing what she had thought was a private conversation. She and I had this one thing in common, though. I knew all too well about burying your past and locking your emotions away. Hopefully one day she would find her way back from that lonely existence too.

  Bennett came to me and placed my hand over his once more before escorting me over to join the women. “This is Jillian Nova Davies, my intended bond-mate,” he said introducing me to Ann. The older woman gasped, her weathered hand coming up to press to her wrinkled lips as her eyes filled with tears. “She was raised in the human world and is still learning our customs.”

  Ann bowed deeply again. “My lady, I’m so pleased to meet you.” She beamed a wrinkled smile at Bennett. “In all the years I have served your family I never thought I would see this day. I only wish that your mother was here to see this.” A heavy sadness filled the room for a moment as they all seemed lost in their own memories. Then Ann clapped her hands, breaking the pall. “Today is a day of celebration. I’m sorry, my lady, if I had known you were coming, I could have made something special for you as well.”