Paldimori Gods Rising Box Set

by T. L. Callahan

  “What should we believe, Lia? That you—who can barely control your powers or defend yourself— ‘accidentally’ killed one of our oldest and most skilled guides?”

  “I’m so sorry.” I choked down the tears clogging my throat and swallowed thickly against the sick feeling churning in my stomach. “Trust me, I know it sou—”

  “Trust,” Bennett scoffed, “We seem to keep coming back to that point.”

  “Like you’ve been the poster boy for trust?” I said sarcastically. Everything I had been holding back since setting foot in Prometheus came flying out of my mouth. “You brought me to your home without any warning that I was going to be put through Kyrion boot camp and forced into becoming just like your mother. You turned back into the asshat I first met and tormented me with my most painful memories during training. How could you do that to me?”

  Selene pushed in front of Bennett. “You have no idea what he has done for you,” she stated, her cheeks flushed with anger. “Bennett is the only reason you aren’t still in a jail cell and your precious art gallery being sold off piece-by-piece to pay off your loan.”

  “Sele—,” Bennett tried to interrupt, but she was on a roll.

  “Bennett may have used his power and influence to help ruin you, but he has more than made up for it.” Selene’s hands balled into fists as if it was taking all of her willpower to keep from punching me. “Yet, you are still punishing him.”

  My shocked gaze met Bennett’s, and I felt the blood drain from my face. That haunted and guilty look I had been seeing on his face more recently confirmed everything. The police had never been able to find evidence that Natalie had been behind the embezzlement part of my charges. The harassing phone calls to local artists and the supposed additional bill of lading fees added when I shipped art to other galleries, that would take someone with a lot more connections than Natalie to pull off.

  “It was you that framed me for embezzlement.” Pain ripped through me at Bennett’s betrayal.

  Selene turned to Bennett, the anger bleeding away into a contrite look as she realized what she had done. “I’m sorry, Bear. That wasn’t my truth to tell.”

  The tic in Bennett’s jaw beat madly as he watched me intently as if trying to read my thoughts even though our connection was closed. “No, Selene, do not apologize for saying what needed to be said.”

  My voice was no more than an anguished whisper when I asked, “Why?”

  Bennett reached out for me, but I stepped back, sure if he touched me I would break apart. He dropped his hand, those dark eyes full of misery that I tried to ignore. “I have protected Natalie and Jaxon since my mother defied our laws and welcomed in refugees from another House. Nat was my little sister. She was mine to protect. When she came to me about the monster abusing her and the inept human laws that did nothing, I wanted to kill you. It was Nat that spared your life and convinced me you needed to suffer.” He grimaced. “Jaxon was right. I should have checked my source to determine the truth for myself.”

  My trembling hands gripped my elbows as I tried to hold the shredded pieces of myself together. All this time, and he never said a thing. “Would you have ever told me?”

  “I do not know.” Regret was stamped into the haggard lines of his face as he ran his fingers through his spiky hair. “I have made many decisions as Kyrion and have never looked back. Yet, I question myself constantly when it comes to you. Did I feel guilt and remorse for my actions? Yes. I have almost told you a million times before now, but I had too many sins to atone for already. If I had told you this that day we talked while sitting in the yard behind your condo, would you have ever given me another chance?” Bennett asked quietly. I stared at him while the tears slipped silently down my cheeks, unable to answer. He nodded. “That is what I thought.”

  Selene made a strangled noise of frustration, “Bennett has suffered for what he did to you and has more than made up for his mistakes. He sent Jaxon to investigate the accusations against you and got you out of jail. Then he bought that pitiful excuse for a bank in your human town to keep you from losing your business. You’ve been given the luxuries of a Kyrion”—her expression said that they were clearly not deserved—“without taking on a fraction of the duties because he didn’t want to overburden you. And you have no idea what our people are suffering at the hands of our enemies while you insult the greatest woman I have ever known. The only parent I have ever known,” she finished in a lost-little-girl voice.

  Bennett had bought the bank to pay off my business loan saving me from losing my gallery. Why had he kept all of this from me? Was there no end to the secrets he kept? Everything we had built together crumbled before me. I couldn’t bear to look at him and turned my attention to Selene.

  “You clearly loved Calidora deeply. I’m sorry that she’s gone, but I can’t be her. Don’t set me on a pedestal because I’m doomed to fall off and disappoint you.” My gaze finally landed back on Bennett and it was like the air was sucked from the room. “I’ve tried so hard, but the lies—”

  A loud agonizing sob issued from my throat. My lonely highway erupted with a burst of visions and feelings that threatened to overwhelm me. I walked into the eye of the hurricane raging inside me and images from my past fluttered through my mind—pieces ripped from my blood-stained life. Pale, lifeless blue eyes of the man I had killed on the streets stared up at me. Christos’s blood-splattered face cringed in agony. A hooded figure pressed me down onto a dirty mattress and tore at my clothes while I fought to get away. My father was pulled over the side of the boat to his death. The images poured into me—some real and some I had never experienced before—all threatening to drag me down into that dark place of despair that had led to the construction of my highway in the first place.

  Never again.

  Instead of trying to contain the storm, I let it rage. My power built until the concealing bubble around us burst, making my ears pop. My powers surged forward so quickly I didn’t have time to stop the ball of fire that ripped from my chest, like all of the heartache had taken form. What looked like a burning ball of seaweed hit Bennett directly in the chest burning a large hole in his shirt. A ring of trees broke through the ground, imprisoning him in their circle. Burning boulders pushed up around him creating another circle to his cage. The water in the lagoon started to churn, creating waves that slapped against the shore. Vines grew from my palms and slithered through the boulders and trees creating a tightly woven web over Bennett.

  For once I wasn’t trying to deny my powers or snuff them out. Finally, it was like a couple of pieces of me clicked into place. It felt good.

  I teleported over to the egg-like rock as shouts rang out behind me. Hopefully it would take a while for them to dig Bennett out and buy me some time to help Dia. Dia’s grandmother stepped in front of me, blocking my way. Desperation to see my best friend alive rode me hard. I ignored the old woman and tested my newly formed earth powers on the rock. Nothing happened. “That’s it, I’m roasting this thing.”

  “You will do no such thing, young lady.” Dia’s grandmother, Elder Rosella, elbowed me back. “The servants are still cleaning up the mess you made of your bond-mate.”

  I glanced behind me where Selene was hacking at the vines with her sword and busting through the rocks with balls of fire. Servants were sweeping up the debris as soon as it gathered on the ground. My control had slipped its leash, and this was the result. An apology was poised on the tip of my tongue, but I pressed my lips together locking it in. No, this was Bennett’s fault.

  “He deserved it,” I snarled.

  “Men usually do,” Elder Rosella huffed, “but you cannot set fire to everything that gets in your way.”

  “Oh, I definitely can,” I said as fire played over my knuckles. “My best friend is stuck inside this lava rock like some deranged chicken. We’re getting her out. Now step aside.”

  The old woman narrowed her faded blue eyes. Her dark skin creased even more with the scowl she aimed my way. The met
al discs and beads woven into her white braids vibrated, sounding like a rattlesnake. Words spilled from her mouth in a language I didn’t understand. Then she switched to English. “Insolent. Rash. Disrespectful—”

  “Give it a rest Prune-Elda.” I dodged to her left but winced in pain when her cane rapped against my shin. “Motherfucker! That hurt.”

  “What language.” A satisfied grin spread across her wrinkled lips before she hid it behind a disapproving look. “My granddaughter should have better taste in friends.”

  Before I could respond, shards of rock flew through the air. Over the top of Elder Rosella’s head, I could see a slender but well-muscled arm had punched through the lava rock. Then the rock melted away revealing an unfamiliar naked woman. She floated up from the remains of the egg and dropped to the floor in a crouch. If it weren’t for the vivid blue eyes that I knew so well, I would never have guessed the woman sporting buns and abs of steel was Dia. What had the gods done to her?

  I gasped, “Good god, she’s like the Terminator.”

  I rushed to Dia’s side, taking in the three symbols on her back with anger. Dia stood up, and I could tell she was several inches taller than she had been before. I took off the robe that Titan had given me and wrapped it around her naked body. It turned a green color with little swirls of lotus flowers. Dia seemed to be in a daze, but when Jaxon nudged me aside to kiss her, I realized they must have been talking telepathically. Jaxon bundled up his bond-mate and carted her off before I could do more than whisper an apology and promise we would talk later.

  I turned to find myself facing one extremely pissed off bond-mate and a line of grim-faced Kyrion. “Do not move,” Bennett stated. The air around us vibrated with the power of his command, and I found myself unable to move.

  “Bennett, let me go. I need time to figure out where we go from here. You can’t force me to talk to you,” I stated, still feeling raw from everything I had learned today. “I’ve never pledged myself to a House. You aren’t my Kyrion. Now release me.”

  “You changed the outcast law. You are living in Prometheus at the moment, which makes you a refugee in my House. You may be Chosen and my bond-mate, but you are not beyond my rule,” Bennett gritted out, every harsh word a lash against my already battered heart. “I have been far too lenient with you. Did my Archai not warn you that if you disobeyed me—if you violated our laws—you would be punished? You killed a member of your House and openly attacked your Kyrion.”

  “I already told you Christos’s death was an accident. Why won’t you believe me?” This wasn’t Bennett trying to force me to talk to him so we could try to mend everything broken between us. A feeling of apprehension stirred as the other five Kyrion stood shoulder to shoulder, presenting a united front. “I kicked your ass for being a manipulative prick. What are you accusing me of?”

  “Jillian Nova Davies, refugee of the House of Chaos, you are accused of the murder of Guide Christos Athan and treason against your Kyrion,” Bennett declared. His voice in my head was like an ice shard driving into me as he said, “I warned you that there are repercussions for every action we take. You made your choices, and now I am forced to make mine.”

  Bennett’s door to our connection closed with a click that reverberated through me like a shotgun blast. In all these months he had never once closed the door on his side. It felt as if he had taken all the warmth with him, and I wrapped my arms around myself trying to generate some heat. I was truly alone now. The lump in my throat grew to a boulder that no more words would fit past. I nodded and dug my nails into my palms to keep the tears at bay. Here was everything I had feared. That the Bennett I had come to love was the lie, and the cold and ruthless Kyrion I had first met all those months ago was the real man under all those complex layers.

  I couldn’t move if I tried as Selene came forward and slipped the kóvo cuff over my bicep.

  “Come,” she said, her voice filled with hate and triumph. “You will stand trial for your crimes, prisoner.”

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  About the Author

  T.L. Callahan is the author of the fantasy romance adventure series Paldimori Gods Rising. She has always been a book lover; devouring romance, fantasy, and poetry since she was a young girl growing up in Kentucky. Her love for the outdoors inspired hours of wandering the woods pretending to be on adventures discovering magical creatures and being the heroine of her own stories. That hasn’t changed much these days. Never knowing what you can find around the next corner keeps her seeking out new adventures from backpacking in the Wind River Range of Wyoming to piloting a sailboat down the Tagus River in Portugal. T.L. lives in Ohio with her husband, son, and a cat that thinks he’s a dog.

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