A Soul For Atonement (The Soulbearer Series Book 4) (2 page)

Which unnerved him all the more. It was one thing to deal with unyielding Ornathians who saw the world as black and white, good and evil, and who sported talons that could rip a man’s flesh off his bones. It was an entirely different matter that Trouble was ready to meet them head on and possibly destroy the Conclave in the process. Either way he looked at the situation, he was screwed.

“Please, let’s try to slip away without confrontation,” he urged.

“Agreed.” She closed the space between them, peering over his shoulder just before they darted forward into the rotunda.

He heard the flap of wings before he saw them. A dozen Ornathians flew in from the upper levels of the room, circling them like a flock of vultures while they descended. The spit in his mouth dried as he recognized the insignia on their chests. Ordinary Ornathians were imposing creatures, many standing over seven feet tall with a wingspan that doubled that. But these were members of the king’s elite guard, skilled soldiers who carried out their leader’s commands without hesitation. And their presence meant two things.

The Ornathian king was nearby.

And it would be suicidal for Dev and Arden to take them on.

Arden’s magic shields doubled around him as the Ornathians landed and surrounded them. She clung to his shoulder, her gaze burning more with anger than fear. Beside him, Cinder had his ears pressed back, and a low growl rumbled through his throat.

If they can be brave facing them down, so can I
.

Dev pushed his fear into the pit of his stomach, raised his sword, and stared down the largest of the soldiers. “You’re not going to take her.”

“That is where you are mistaken, Sir Devarius,” a cold, calm voice said from the back of the room.

The soldiers parted to let the Ornathian king approach. Dev had met him only a handful of times, but nothing had dulled the intimidation radiating from the man. Although Ornathians came in every hue imaginable, King Adeyemi always reminded Dev of a raven. Strong. Cunning. Merciless. The only things on his body that weren’t midnight black were the whites of his eyes. He strode into the room with a haughty smile curling his lips as though he was presiding over his own palace instead of treading upon the neutral grounds of the Conclave.

“We haven’t come for the Soulbearer,” Adeyemi continued, his accented voice stilting the words. “We’ve come for you.”

Chapter 2

Arden’s heart skipped a beat, and she shook her head to make sure she hadn’t heard the Ornathian incorrectly.

“
No, my little Soulbearer, you didn’t dream it up
,” Loku replied, the usual levity missing from his voice. Instead, a hint of smirk reverberated through her mind.

“
This is more of a nightmare
.”

“
We can always turn the tables on them
.”

A rush of chaotic magic pumped through her body and gathered in her hands, waiting for her to release it. It was always like that when Loku offered his help to her. But instead of unleashing the power of a god on the men who surrounded them, she held back and moved beside Dev. She adopted the authoritative air of her cousin the empress and said, “I demand to know why you’ve come for my Protector.”

The leader arched one brow at her audacity, but his hand remained on the hilt of his sheathed sword. Light reflected off the golden loops that hung from his ears and the jeweled rings on his fingers, but his well-muscled arms and metal breastplate revealed he was more than just some arrogant nobleman. He was a seasoned warrior. “Lireal demands blood for the loss of her gift.”

“
Lireal always was a bloodthirsty bitch
,” Loku muttered.

A lump formed in Arden’s throat at the thought of them killing Dev, and the magic flowing inside her burned along her fingertips. “Find your sacrifice elsewhere.”

“Shut up, Trouble,” Dev whispered.

“No.” The magic pounded inside her skull, clouding her vision with red. “I won’t let him kill you.”

“Enough of this,” the Ornathian leader shouted. “Take him.”

The soldiers drew the weapons and attacked, only to collide with the invisible wall she’d cast before they’d entered the room moments ago. Arden sent a pulse of Loku’s magic into the shield. Green lightning danced along the surface before striking their attackers. Smoke rose from their wings, and their cries of pain encouraged her to release even more of Loku’s magic. She wanted them to suffer for trying to kill Dev, and she wouldn’t rest until she’d annihilated them all.

The god inside her laughed. “
I love the smell of chaos in the morning
.”

She slipped further and further under his control, the chaos god’s magic surging through her veins with each beat of her heart. The smell of singed feathers filled the air and swirled through the haze around her. The soldiers surrounding them fell back, leaving only one obstacle blocking their freedom. She leveled her gaze with the Ornathian leader, redirected her magic from her shields to her hands, and sent a bolt of lightning at him.

She knew from looking at him that he was skilled with his sword. What she didn’t expect was for him to be as equally skilled with magic. He stood, unmoving as the bolt zapped through the air toward him until the very last second. Then, with a flick of his hand, he rebounded the spell back toward her.

The spell rammed through Arden’s defenses and knocked her off her feet. Her head smacked against the stone wall behind her, and black stars exploded along the edges of her vision. The distant sounds of scuffling followed.

I have to get up. I have to protect Dev
. But her limbs refused to move. “
Loku?
”

Silence answered her.

Then her throat started closing.

She looked up into the cold obsidian eyes of the Ornathian leader. He stood over her, his fingers pinching closer and closer together. And with every fraction of an inch they moved, the tighter the invisible vise around her throat grew.

She’d fallen victim to this spell once before. Then, Sazi had used it on her when she’d threatened the Ornathian mage, but she’d released Arden as soon as she relented. There was no hint of such mercy in the Ornathian king. He watched her struggle to draw in a breath with a bemused smile on his lips.

Her lungs burned, and her pulse pounded in her head. A dark shroud fell over the world around her. She’d faced death more times than she’d cared to admit, but she never imagined her life would end this way.

“Enough!” a man’s voice roared, sending a shockwave of magic rippling through the rotunda.

The invisible noose around her neck vanished, and cool air rushed into her lungs.

“
You’d best be careful around King Adeyemi, my little Soulbearer,”
Loku whispered. “
He’s learned to contain me from a distance.
”

Irritation mingled with the lingering dizziness from her near asphyxiation. “
So that’s why you didn’t offer to help when he was strangling me
.”

“
I can’t help you if I’m contained—something you’d be wise to remember
.”

She sat up just in time to see Arano Tel’Brien, Dev’s father and the Mage Primus of Gravaria, move between her and the Ornathian king. “You should be more careful with the Soulbearer, Adeyemi. Remember that Loku’s soul will travel to the nearest person once it’s released.”

“
What he means to say is that if Adeyemi killed you, I’d be tormenting him for the rest of his days.
” The malice in the chaos god’s voice suggested that
torment
would be putting it mildly.

Disgust flared Adeyemi’s nostrils and curled his upper lip. “She is by far the most arrogant Soulbearer to tread upon this plane.”

“If anyone is arrogant, it’s you.” Although he was a good foot shorter than the Ornathian king, Arano showed no sign of fear facing him down. The elf’s shoulders squared, and his hands curled into fists. “You, who dared to invade the neutral grounds of the Conclave and attack its occupants.”

“I have what I came for.” Adeyemi moved aside to reveal his soldiers holding Dev prisoner.

Arden’s heart stumbled for a few beats when she saw him. Blood trickled from a wound above his left eye, and mithral chains bound his hands behind his back.

Fear flickered across Arano’s face a split second before he fixed a stern mask in place. “Do not trifle with me. You may rule the Ornathian lands, but I still rule the Conclave.”

As though to prove his point, another wave of magic slammed through the room, leaving Arden sick to her stomach.

“
Oh, very sly
,” Loku said with a chuckle. “
Arano has blocked all magic from being used in this room.
”

Arden tested her own magic, calling upon it and feeling nothing in response. The absence of the familiar power made her feel as though she’d been robbed of one of her senses. She struggled to her feet and stumbled toward Dev, only to be blocked by a wall of steel and feathers. The guards concealed him from her, so she turned back to the king. “What has Dev done to deserve this?”

The king glared down at her, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword once more. “It is not what he has done, but what he allowed to happen.”

“Stop speaking in riddles, Adeyemi, or I’ll make your treatment of the Soulbearer seem like child’s play.” Arano crossed his arms over his chest, but it did little to detract from the power he emanated. “Why did you come for my son?”

“Lireal demands blood,” the king replied, delivering each word like a punch to the gut.

Arano’s face turned a shade paler, but he didn’t move. “And you think Dev will appease her?”

“Yes.” The king started to turn, but halted when Arano spoke.

“The empress will be quite upset that you violated your treaty with her, especially after all the assistance she’s given your people over the years on holding back the blight.”

A mixture of anger and desperation laced the grimace on the king’s face. “The blight is the very reason we must extract retribution. Our goddess demands it.”

“So you say.”

“He speaks the truth, Arano,” Sazi interrupted. She entered the room, her normally graceful movements weighed down by some inner burden. “She has said that the only way to atone for the loss of her Blood is to punish those involved.”

Dev struggled against his chains, the clicking of the metal filling the room. “How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t know what Syd did with it.”

Syd had been the sixth Soulbearer, and from what Arden had been told, was nothing more than a common thief. She moved beside Sazi. “If anyone should be punished, it’s Syd.”

“He is dead.” Adeyemi pointed to Dev. “And if his Protector had been doing his duty, the Blood of Lireal would never have been stolen, and my people would not be suffering the wrath of our goddess.”

“
See? I told you Lireal was a bitch
,” Loku added.

Arden wished she had inherited her father’s keen logic, because none of this made any sense to her. They were turning Dev into a scapegoat instead of taking the proper course of action. “Then why don’t you just find this Blood of Lireal and return it?”

“It is not that simple, Soulbearer.” Sazi placed a hand on her shoulder, soothing the rage boiling inside Arden. “We have spent most of the last century trying to find it. By the time we found Syd, the madness had consumed him, and we could not discover its whereabouts from him. And without the protection of the sacred relic, our people have been attacked by the blight.”

“It has been torture for me to stand by and watch, unable to stop the progression of it.” The king’s jaw hardened, and the knob in his throat bobbed. “One by one, my people have sickened and died. The blight has made us infertile, unable to replace those we have lost, and unless we destroy it soon, it will destroy us. Many nights I have prayed to the goddess, and this is the answer she has given me.”

The pain in his voice awakened a spark of compassion in Arden’s heart, but with one glance at Dev, her own pain moved to the forefront. “There has to be another way.”

“The only other way is to find what is lost and return it, but that secret died with the sixth Soulbearer.”

“
Oh, but you should’ve seen how happy Syd was when he stole it right from under their noses
,” Loku said, the levity in his voice contrasting with the sorrow in the king’s. “
He truly was the most accomplished thief of his day. Of course, he did ask for a little assistance from me. Together, we managed to hide it in a place no one would ever think of looking for it.
”

Arden’s breath caught, and she rushed toward the king. “Please, Your Majesty, I beg to differ. There’s someone else who knows exactly where Syd hid it.”

Adeyemi arched one brow. “And who is this person?”

“Loku.”

Chapter 3

“
Don’t you try to bring me into this
,” Loku protested, but Arden ignored him.

“Loku was there with Syd when he stole your sacred relic, and he knows where it is.”