A Soul for Trouble (3 page)

Without waiting for his command, she began to remove her clothes and lay still as he climbed on top of her.

A few minutes later, a shudder tore through him as he came inside her. He tightened his grip around her throat and pressed harder, strangling her cries. Her eyes dulled in the moonlight, and her body grew limp underneath him. A wave of euphoria washed over him as he watched the life drain from her pretty face, heightening the pleasure of his orgasm while he consumed the last traces of her soul.

He buttoned his trousers in silence. She had served her purpose well, but now he was finished with her. His mentor, Oztom, always raved about the taste of innocent souls. Sulaino disagreed with him. Innocent souls tasted sweet, but they carried no substance. Thieves and whores were much more filling. Their transgressions supplied more than enough power to fuel his magic.

Now, back to work
. First order of business: animating the fresh dead waiting for him in the street below. Then to track down Arden and claim the divine soul residing in her.

***

The last of the three moons sank below the tree line before Dev finally climbed down from his horse and spread out his bedroll. His body ached and demanded sleep, but duty kept him from giving into it. She would have his bedroll tonight. He would stand guard.

Trouble slid from the saddle and landed in a small heap at the horse’s feet. If what he’d seen before held true, she would be out until midday. He scooped her up off the ground, arranging her gangly limbs on the soft blankets. His jaw tightened as he examined her and the way her bodice hung loosely on her lack of cleavage. Why had Loku chosen her?

And yet, as he studied her closer, his curiosity increased. He told her earlier that she didn’t look like a Ranellian. In the four months he’d travelled this kingdom, the monotony of its citizens blurred together. The same dark hair, dark eyes, dark complexions over and over again. Then this little barmaid collided with him. Her golden hair reminded him of a summer wheat field glowing under the sun. A breath of fresh air in the dreariness.

But more than her appearance caught his attention. In every town Robb visited, the people pointed and stared. A few even threatened to kill him. Yet she’d shown the old man compassion, treating him like a person rather than a raving lunatic.

“Is that why you chose her, Loku? Because she was kind to you?” Trouble’s brows furrowed together, but her eyes didn’t open. She rolled over onto her side and curled up into a ball.

More than just her coloring bothered him. His fingers brushed her hair back to reveal her ears. Scars covered the skin on top of them, but they didn’t form the distinct points he would’ve imagined finding. If she had elvan blood, then someone had deliberately tried to hide it.

He traced the length of her ear from the rough scars to the delicate lobes. She moaned in her sleep. He jerked his hand away. What secrets did she keep?

His blood chilled, and he backed away from her. Like the other human Soulbearers before her, Loku’s presence would slowly drive her insane. Humans were never meant to contain him.

They were too weak, too easily swayed into doing his bidding. No wonder Loku preferred them.

It was just a matter of time before she aged prematurely and started muttering responses to the voice in her head. For the first time in a century, a Soulbearer’s fate frightened him.

Chapter 3

The sound of humming interrupted Arden’s dreams. It was too early for the drunks to be singing, but the off-key notes continued to invade her thoughts. “
Shut up
,” she muttered in her mind.

“
But it’s time for you to get up
,” a deep voice replied. “
He grows impatient
.” Her heart rose into her throat. She bolted from her bed. That same strange voice came from the old man seconds before he died.

A warm hand grasped her shoulder, and she screamed.

“Quiet, or you’ll have the entire Ranellian Army after us.” The bright sunlight blinded her eyes, but she knew that voice, too. His musical accent was unmistakable. The stranger with the wolf. She swung her arms and knocked him away from her. Then the back of her hand connected with something hard, sending tremors of pain up her arm.

“
Oh, you should see the look on his face
,” the deep voice said with giddy amusement.

Arden stumbled to her feet and backed away until she felt the rough bark of a tree behind her. Where the hell was she? Colors swirled in front of her eyes, forming incoherent blobs.

“Trouble, relax. I’m not going to hurt you.”

“What did you do to me?”

“Besides save your life? Nothing much.”

Her fingers clawed at the tree trunk, and she wondered if she could climb high into the branches until her mind cleared. “Why can’t I see anything?”

“It takes a while for the transition to be complete.”

“Transition?” A cold tongue licked her hand. She yanked it away.

He sighed a few feet away from her. “Even Cinder’s trying to calm you down. Will you please just sit and be patient while I explain what happened?” The coarse fur prickled her skin through her thin skirt as the wolf leaned against her, effectively pinning her to the tree. The blobs of color began to solidify. She slid down the trunk and pulled her knees up to her chest. How did she get into this mess?

“Finally, you’re showing some common sense.”

“Where are we?” She looked up at the vibrant reds and yellows above her.

“In the woods, about four hours east of Wallus.”

“Why did you kidnap me?” Browns, blacks, and greens began to take the shape of a crouching man in front of her. She pulled her knees tighter to her chest. Until she could see clearly, she couldn’t even fathom an escape from her captor.

“Did you want me to leave you in a burning building full of undead?” Her breath hitched. Memories of the night flooded her consciousness. She’d joined the crazy old man at his table when he grabbed her hand and started speaking in a strange voice.

Then he fell over dead, a knife sticking out of his back. “You killed him,” she gasped.

“Nonsense. I was his protector.”

She tried to rise to her feet, but a low growl stopped her.
Perfect. I’m out in the middle of
the woods with a murderer and his wolf. What’s he going to do? Feed me to it when he’s done?

Laughter echoed in her mind. “
Cinder doesn’t like human flesh
.” Her muscles tensed, and she looked around for the source of the voice. “Who else is here?”

His face slowly came into focus. It could have been a handsome face if the frown hadn’t etched creases into his cheeks and forehead. Dark auburn hair framed it, providing stark contrast to eyes the color of evergreens. “It’s just me, you, and Cinder.”

“Liar. I hear another man’s voice.”

Her vision cleared just in time to see him quirk one brow. “You hear him already?”

“He won’t shut up. Where is he?”

The foreigner lowered his head and traced a symbol into the dirt. The pointed tips of his ears appeared through his hair.

Arden bit into her hand to keep from screaming. The Lady Moon preserve her, he wasn’t human.

He jerked his head back up, and a slow smile spread across his lips. “Your vision’s back to normal now?”

Words refused to serve her, so she merely nodded.

He chuckled. “You should see how wide your eyes are, Trouble.” His use of her nickname pulled her from her shock long enough to allow her fury to course through her veins. “My name is Arden, not Trouble.”

“Arden Soulbearer,” he replied. His words caressed her like they did last night. “It has a nice ring to it.”

“Soulbearer?”

He stood and offered his hand to her. “It seems I have a lot of explaining to do. If you’ll come with me, we can continue our conversation as we ride.”

“Why should I follow a man who hasn’t even given me his name?”

“I’m Devarius Tel’brien, Knight of Gravaria and sworn protector of the Soulbearer.”

“And that’s me?”

He nodded. “Of course, I still think you’re more aptly named ‘Trouble.’” She ignored his hand and brushed the dirt off her clothes once she stood. “I hate when people call me that.”

“But it fits you.”

She fiddled with the pendant around her neck, hoping to find some comfort in the familiar object and finding none. “Where are we going?”

“To Gravaria.”

Fear coiled in her stomach. He wanted to take her to another kingdom. “No, I want to go back to Wallus.”

“Why?”

“Because I have a job there.” Not to mention, it was familiar and comforting. Yes, they stared at her and called her a freak, but it was all she’d ever known. Hal had promised her mother he’d look out for her and, despite all his threats, he was bound by blood to his word.

“The inn is a pile of ash.”

Her knees wobbled, and she braced herself against another tree. “Sweet Lady Moon, they’re going to blame me.” Her voice trembled as she spoke. She blinked back the stars forming on the edge of her vision.

“Yes, I heard them calling you a witch as it burned down.” That sealed her fate. If she returned to Wallus, she was as good as dead. “Why didn’t you turn me over to them, then? Our laws forbid the use of magic.” He closed the distance between them in three long strides. He cupped her chin in his hand and forced her to look up at him. “I’m the one who set fire to the inn. It was the only way to deal with the undead that were trying to kill us.”

The horizon wavered. If he hadn’t wrapped his other arm around her waist, she would have passed out. This all sounded like something from a bedtime story mothers told their children to frighten them. She clung to Devarius, welcoming his solid warmth against her. The smell of campfires and spices wafted from his clothes.

“Come along, Arden. The sooner we start moving, the sooner we can get you to Gravaria.” She hesitated. She couldn’t go back home, but why should she blindly go along with an elf who’d probably drugged her?

“
You can trust Dev
,” the strange voice answered. “
He’s too honor-bound to lie to you
.” She weighed the voice’s words carefully, wondering if it was some manipulative magic he was casting over her. For now, it was the best option she had until they came to another town.

“It seems I might have to trust you.”

“You should.” He mounted his horse and helped her to the space behind him.

“Why Gravaria?”

“Do you always ask this many questions?” A smile played in his voice. “Gravaria hasn’t outlawed magic. You’ll be trained by the most skilled mages in the land.” She wrapped her arms around his waist as the horse started walking. “Why would they want to train me?”

“Because you are the new Soulbearer.”

“You keep saying that.” Annoyance crept into her words. Did he only speak in riddles?

“What exactly is a Soulbearer?”

“Do you want the whole story or a quick explanation?”

“How long are we going to ride?”

He remained silent for almost a minute, and she wished she could see his face. “Your body is now the home to the former god of chaos, Loku.”

Perhaps it was hunger, exhaustion, or sheer insanity, but Arden began laughing so hard, tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. “I have a god living inside me? You expect me to believe that?”

“Loku, will you please confirm your presence inside your Soulbearer?”

“
Hello, my dear sweet Soulbearer
,” the voice answered in her mind, sounding exactly like the old man did seconds before he died. “
I’m looking forward to getting to know all your
secrets.
”

She screamed and almost fell off the horse. If Dev hadn’t caught her hand, she would have landed in an undignified heap on the forest floor. Her breath flowed in and out in raspy shudders, her body shaking.

“You’re not going to have another seizure, are you?” Dev asked.

She wrapped her arms even tighter around his chest. “No,” she murmured into his back.

“Do you remember the green mist?”

She nodded and fought the urge to cry. At least she had an explanation for the voice inside her head now.

“That was Loku entering your body. I’ve seen it five times now, and every time, it’s the same.”

A few more minutes passed in silence before she finally gathered the courage to ask,

“Why does he need a Soulbearer?”

“Are you ready for the whole truth?”

She nodded again, wiping her nose on the back of his cloak. If he was trying to scare her, he deserved a little snot on his clothes.

“Loku is the god of chaos. About six hundred years ago, he decided to challenge the other gods and opened a portal from the plane of chaos to this realm. His careless actions almost wiped all life from the kingdoms of Gravaria, Ranello, and Thallus.”

“
He’s exaggerating. I never came close to destroying the world like he implies. I just
wanted to spice things up a bit
.”

“The other gods fought to destroy the creatures he unleashed, while the Master Mages of Gravaria devised a plan to contain Loku.”

“
Those arrogant pricks tried to kill a god. Ha!
”

“They managed to separate his soul from his body and imprison it inside a mage named Piramus. He became the first Soulbearer, and the other gods destroyed Loku’s body after they closed the portal.”

“
How’s that for an eviction notice? Murder and imprisonment. No chance to redeem
myself. Just, ‘Here’s you punishment—enjoy spending the rest of eternity trapped in mortal
bodies
.’”

“Since then, there have been nine other Soulbearers. Robb, the old man you met last night, was the previous one.”

“
And I freely admit it was a mistake choosing the poor guy, but it was either him or Dev.
”

“Whoa, hold on a minute. Give me a chance to digest all of this, both of you.” The two versions of the story seemed to flow together. She needed to figure out who was telling the truth.

“Ah, is Loku giving you his side of the story?”