Victor’s mouth snapped shut. Closing her eyes, Kahjoul focused all her energy in on Victor and extracting the information she sought. Within moments she came up gasping and eyes wide. “What have you done?” she breathed, staring into the eyes of her terrified captive.
“I’m telling you, I have done noth…” a twist of his neck silenced Victor permanently.
Shaking in anger and barely able to grasp what she had seen, Kahjoul turned her attention to the light shining out over the garden from the balcony. Unknown members of the Council had lied to and convinced Mallok’s people that she had used her gifts to bewitch him and gain control of their kingdom. Feeding their already deep rooted fear and hatred of her, they persuaded the Elementals that their beloved leader was in desperate need of their help and that the only way they could save him was to get rid of her.
However, what the Elementals didn’t know was that the ones claiming to be on their side, wanting to help them in their time of need, were actually the ones plotting to overthrow their king. They intended to not only get rid of her, but the Elemental’s beloved king as well, which of course would also be conveniently blamed on her. And once the two of them were entombed and out of the way, these conniving members of the Council would benevolently step in to take over rule of both Lanoria and Vanteria; enslaving the people and ravaging the land of its resources.
K remained silently sitting, watching a troubled Kahjoul try to figure out how to change the course of both of their fates. She knew it could be done, no future was for certain until it was completed, the problem was, this one was nearly complete. In less than a week’s time the full-moon would rise and seal their doom. Pacing back and forth, Kahjoul hurriedly ran through her options. Telling Mallok would be useless, he already thought her paranoid and if she even mentioned the Council he would dismiss her immediately. She could run away like she had already planned, but that would leave Mallok vulnerable to a hostile take-over. Unable to come up with any sensible solutions, Kahjoul balled her fists and released a frustrated scream into the empty night, before once again turning her attention to the balcony window. She needed more information. She needed to find out what the alternate paths for their future were and what she had to do to change their current course, and there was only one way to get that kind of information… she needed Mallok’s blood.
Determination set in her features as Kahjoul took off back toward the castle and leapt back onto the balcony, there she took a moment to straighten herself before returning inside. Much to her dismay, K found herself dragged back into the bedroom after her past self. Materializing inside, she spotted Mallok sitting at a small table, still looking very disgruntled as he picked around at his evening meal.
“Let it stop here! Wake me up, please.” K pleaded loudly, as Kahjoul stalked across the room toward her target. Lowering her voice, K buried her face in her hands, “Offer me this one act of mercy.”
But she should have known better than to even ask, much less expect any mercy. Instead the stars dragged her deeper into the nightmare that was about to unfold. As if on cue, she began to grow increasingly transparent, fading into the air and helpless to stop the fate that she knew to be hers. And just as it had happened each time before, K had now become an unwilling passenger in her own doomed destiny, forced not only to watch, but also to take part in and feel everything that was about to play out through Kahjoul’s own eyes… her own eyes.
“Did you miss me?” Kahjoul purred, turning on that sultry part of her that made men fall on their knees begging to do her will.
Mallok, doing his best to ignore her advances, continued eating. “What do you want Kahjoul? I don’t feel like playing games with you.”
Kahjoul smirked, “Oh, I think you will enjoy this game, in it we both win.”
His attention snagged, Mallok locked his gaze with hers as he wiped his hands and mouth on a napkin. “And what fun is there in a game where there is no risk?”
Remaining silent, Kahjoul followed Mallok’s movements as he rose to approach her, never once batting an eye. She waited until he was only a few steps away, then reached behind her and unzipped her dress, allowing its flowing layers to fall to the floor below. Mallok, undeterred by her brazen move, stopped directly before her, not even bothering to hide his wandering eyes as they devoured her almost bare frame. “We both win?” He asked quizzically, after taking a moment to appreciate what he was seeing.
Tilting her head slightly, Kahjoul took a deep breath and released her mask. In the time it took him to blink an eye, Kahjoul’s once mahogany ringlets had turned the color of fresh fallen snow, tan skin faded into porcelain perfection, and hazel colored eyes turned an icy blue. Mallok furrowed his brow, seeing for the first time a few of the scars she had received since he had last had the privilege of seeing her this way. But much to his relief, there were not many. It seemed her doomed existence had taken it easy on her the last few decades. Smiling, he met her gaze, taking her into his arms, “You are as beautiful as you ever were, if not more so. Now do tell, what do you win in this game?”
Kahjoul smiled sweetly, “Nothing you haven’t given me before.”
Running his hands softly through the white curly locks that framed her face, Mallok frowned, “You don’t have to do this to feed. You know me better than that, anything you need is yours, you need but ask.” Stepping away, Mallok released her from his grasp and reached to pull free the small blade he kept in his coat pocket. Kahjoul, swiftly intervened.
“Not like that,” she soothed, pushing her nearly naked body up against his. Threading her fingers through his hair, she gently pulled his head to the side and laid a subtle kiss on the sensitive skin at the base of his neck, a spot that already bore her mark. “I want to do it the old way, like we used to do back when we didn’t have to worry about anyone else and we were free to be what we are.”
Slowly running her free hand beneath his shirt, Kahjoul caressed the taught muscles of his abdomen and chest, teasing him with slow seductive movements. His whole body responded immediately to her touch, tensing beneath her fingertips, and after a few more moments of her gentle attention, Mallok couldn’t resist his body’s urges any longer. Pulling free of her grasp, he crushed his lips ferociously against hers, while wrapping his hands under her smooth thighs. In one fluid motion he had lifted her off the floor, and in three large strides made it across the room, tossing her onto the bed.
In a frenzied fit of lust the pair went after each other, both of them ripping at Mallok’s clothes before removing the one article of clothing Kahjoul had left. However, once they had freed themselves of the confines of civility, Mallok paused and studied her suspiciously. “Why the sudden change of heart?”
Kahjoul, frustrated by his hesitation, rose up on her knees and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. “Because I thought about what you said, and you were right. We need to trust each other, and if all you need from me to prove my faith in you is a little change in appearance, then you shall have it.” Needing to get him back on task, Kahjoul crashed her lips against his before he could counter her argument. Tho he was not so easily pacified. Fisting her hair, he roughly pulled her head back making her gasp. “Don’t lie to me Kahjoul, I know you too well. There is something you are keeping from me.”
“Ahhhh, now which of us is the paranoid one?” she cooed. Unraveling her arms from around his neck, she moved her hands to grasp his fingers entwined in her hair. “I offer you myself in my most vulnerable state and this is the thanks I get? Perhaps it would be better if I just returned home and never came back.”
Pushing her backwards, Mallok pinned her hands above her head and eased his lean frame between her legs. “I don’t think so,” he growled.
In a single movement, their two bodies united, twisting in the familiar dance of love and hate they had performed so many times before. And as her past-self took her position astride her lover, ready to take her prize, deep within her K wept begging them to stop. Deaf to K’s pleas and glistening with sweat, Mallok til
ted his head to the side, trusting his long-time love to feed off him directly without worry or concern. Taking advantage of the opening he offered, Kahjoul sunk her teeth deep into his neck, sending a wave of endorphins surging into both their blood streams. Mallok moaned, the sound a mixture of pleasure and pain, as he gripped her hips hard enough to leave a bruise. Meanwhile, deep inside Kahjoul, K continued to weep, knowing this one bite had sealed both their fates and would bring about the end to a love that had lasted centuries.
As she continued to drain the life force from his body, Kahjoul emerged herself in the visions his blood contained; visions of what their futures held and could hold. Only after she had obtained all the information she needed did Kahjoul release Mallok, and allow him to take over. And though her face remained a mask of pleasure and contentment, deep down Kajhoul was struggling to suppress the pain and tears that so desperately wanted to escape. The visions she had seen in his blood had left her no options. In order for them both to survive what was coming, one of them would have to be sacrificed.
Well into the night, after Mallok had fallen asleep, Kahjoul crawled from the bed and made her way to the vanity. Opening a side drawer, she pushed aside the various toiletries and pulled out an item hidden deep in the back. Unraveling the cloth that wrapped it, she held the star shaped Hypnos dagger so that the engraved edges of its blade gleamed in the pale moonlight.
For over five centuries she had guarded this blade, waiting for the instant when she felt she couldn’t handle her immortality any longer. Only then would she use it on herself to take advantage of the twenty years of sleep it promised. But for whatever reason, no matter how horrific the circumstances, she had never elected to use it. And now with this impending prophecy looming over them, she couldn’t help but wonder if the stars had been watching out for her after all.
With labored steps she returned to the bed, savoring the sight of Mallok’s peaceful breaths as he slept off his exhaustion and blood loss in a nearly comatose like slumber. She probably could have packed up all her belongings and returned home and he would never have been the wiser. Unfortunately, that was not what fate had in store for them. The vision had been clear, to change their fate one of them had to be downed, while the other remained behind to pay the heavy toll of changing the future.
Grimacing under the pain of her own heart breaking, Kahjoul held the blade flat on her open palms in front of her, and recited the spell that would alter everything that happened from this point forward.
“Blade of Hypnos hear my plea, change the fate that I have seen. Take us from this path we walk, where hatred and betrayal stalks. For twenty years let him sleep, for twenty years I will weep. And when it’s time for him to wake, vengeance then is mine to take.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as Kahjoul then flipped the glowing blade, grasping the hilt tightly in both hands. “Kahjoul?” Mallok murmured from his slumber, his mind seeming to sense something was amiss. Flipping over onto his back, he threw an arm out to the side searching for her and when his arm hit nothing but the mattress, he called for her again.
“Kahjoul?” His green eyes opened and furrowed with confusion as he watched his lover bring the knife down and shove it hard into the center of his chest.
“I’m so sorry,” Kahjoul whispered, struggling under the intense pain radiating back to her from the link. Mallok’s widened eyes glanced from her then to the dagger protruding from his chest, just before the last signs of life slipped from their depths. And as her vision faded away, taking with it the horrific scene, the last thing K heard was Kahjoul’s heart wrenching scream as she collapsed onto the sleeping form of the only man she had ever dared to love.
With a gasp, K shot upright clutching her chest, still reeling from the effects of the vision. It took her several moments of deep breathing to finally calm her racing heart enough to look around and realize where she was. And once she had, K regretted it immediately. For in some cruel, twist of fate, she was lying in the exact room, on the exact bed, that she had just escaped from in her nightmares.
“Ahhh, nice to see you’ve finally awakened.” A voice called from beside her. Cringing at the familiar sound, K suddenly longed to return to sleep and the misery of the memory. Knowing she couldn’t avoid him forever, K swallowed hard and turned, coming face to face with embodiment of so many of her regrets, looking no different than the last time she had seen him. Strikingly handsome, he grinned as his dark green eyes met with hers for the first time in over fifty years. “Welcome back my love, I believe we have a lot of catching up to do.”
Chapter 1
Jarod stood in the center of the great grassy plain that marked the outskirts of the borderlands, and stared at the looming forest before him. Surveying first one way then the other of the seemingly never ending line of towering pines, Jarod ran a hand through his coal black hair and took a moment to consider their options.
His first instinct was to push forward, to continue on until they reached Jaron’s camp, despite the danger the forest posed in the enclosing darkness. However, a deeper, much louder part of him knew he needed to let Maya rest. He had been pushing her hard for weeks, desperate to get as much distance between them and the Tower as he could before the Shadows finally realized they had gone missing. And despite the fact neither of them had fed or slept since leaving Vicaris, Maya had managed surprisingly well so far. But despite the strong front she continued to put forward, Jarod could already see the effects of starvation and exhaustion beginning to grip her small frame.
“I’m fine Jarod,” she soothed. Sensing his tenseness, Maya automatically assumed she was the cause, “we can keep going.”
Heaving a sigh, he cast his glance down upon her. She was trying to play off how tired she was to keep from being a burden, but her heavy lids and the dark circles that surrounded them, revealed her words for the lies that they were. “We will rest out here for the night,” he answered flatly, turning his attention back out to the darkening plains. “Soon it will be night, and I’m not too keen on the idea of traipsing around in that forest after the sun sets.”
Scanning the tree line once more, Jarod spotted a narrow dirt trail leading into the obscurity of the forest beyond. Certain this was the trail they needed to take to get to the camp, Jarod made a mental note of its location before turning his attention back out to the grassy plains and the setting sun just beyond.
He had no idea how long it would take them to find their way through the dark labyrinth of trees to Oasis once they were inside. The few times he had summoned Jaron to meet him in the nearby town, it never had taken him more than a day to get there, unfortunately, unlike his brother, Jarod had no idea where he was going beyond this point. Despite the fact that he had spent much of his life protecting the camp and saving as many as people as he could, he had not once in all that time, ever set foot within its grounds. Gritting his teeth, Jarod worked to subdue the bitterness that knotted his stomach at his own brother’s deception. Of how he lied to him and used him to protect the camp and himself, while allowing him to suffer at the hands of the Shadows for over fifty years. Breathing through his rage, Jarod forced himself to concentrate on other matters, like where they could rest for the night. There would be time enough to deal with Jaron once he found the camp, for now his primary focus needed to be on Maya and keeping her safe and healthy.
Maya frowned, as she followed his gaze out onto the sea of tall grass blowing gently in the breeze. “There is nowhere out here to take shelter, it is all too exposed.”
“We will just have to make do for the night.” Turning his attention off to the right, Jarod spotted a downed log and began walking in its direction. Maya quickly fell into step behind him. “You can bed down over there and I will keep watch until morning,” he continued, motioning to the log, “Unfortunately we won’t be able to start a fire, I don’t want to risk the attention it could draw.”
“It will be fine,” Maya grinned, “I’ll have you to keep me warm.”
Ignori
ng her last statement, Jarod continued over to the area he had chosen and took a seat on the log. There he watched silently as she pulled out her jacket and what few blankets they had brought with them and used them all to form a soft pallet on the hard ground nearby. Once she was satisfied with the bed she had created, Maya slid in next to him on the log and rested her head against his arm. The moment her body came into contact with his, every bit of tension in his frame immediately vanished. It was a response no one else but her could elicit from him, and as they sat in silence watching the last visible bit of sun disappear below the horizon, Jarod couldn’t help but recall the warning K had given him back at the clinic.
“Be careful that she doesn’t blind you so completely that you allow your enemies to get the upper hand.”
He had been thinking about those words a lot lately, especially after hearing what her mother had to say about their fates now being linked. Something about having Maya around did blind him. In the time since she had come to live with him in the Tower, Jarod had made more mistakes than he had since first being captured by the Shadows almost fifty years ago. Dangers he normally would have spotted a mile away, had snuck up on him and he had never seen them coming.
But even that didn’t concern him as much as the seemingly unconditional affection that Maya regularly exhibited for him. It was as if she too was somehow blinded by their being together. That for some reason she couldn’t see, or refused to see, him for what he really was. And as much as he hated to even consider it, sooner or later they were both going to have to face the fact that this relationship would not work. How could it possibly? They were two opposite ends of two completely different spectrums. And the longer she stayed around him, the more at risk she came to losing every beautiful part of her spirit that had drawn him to her in the first place.
A slight shift next to him snagged his attention back to the present. Glancing down, Jarod realized that Maya had fallen asleep leaning against him and was precariously close to toppling forward at any moment. Gently freeing his arm of her grasp, Jarod carefully wrapped it around behind her while threading the other underneath her legs. Lifting her slowly he cradled her sleeping form snug against his body before lowering her down onto the makeshift bed. Once she was comfortably nestled onto the soft cotton spreads, he removed his long black coat and laid it over the top of her to help stave off the chill that was beginning to form in the air.
Forsaken (The Shadow Chronicles Book 3) Page 2