Broken (39 page)

“Why?” Kira asked.

“There is . . .” Ussay glanced over the side of the bed. “There is blood.”

“What?” Kira sat up on the bed and looked down at the scattered remnants of what she’d assumed was a gift from Octavion. There, lying amid the pieces of the broken box was a heart shaped, tiger’s eye pendent hooked to a broken silver chain. The blood Ussay saw smeared all over the box’s white satin lining came from two canine teeth of a tiger.

Toran.

Every image, every memory of Shandira and what she had done to her, flooded Kira’s mind. She saw her face, felt her evil spirit and even heard the sadistic tone of her voice. Kira edged her way off the other side of the bed and backed into the far corner of the room. She slid to the floor, drew her knees up.
Not again. Not now.

The memories of her abuse at Shandira’s hand swirled and morphed until she saw the image of Arela twirling in her ruffles, her hair flowing out around her head as the breeze she created lifted it in the air.

Kira sprang to her feet and ran to Arela’s room, but it was empty. She heard laughter coming from the garden, and when she looked out Arela’s window, she saw her playing ball with Nestor while Mara sat holding Ethan.

Ussay stood in the doorway with a confused look on her face. “What is wrong? Who did this?”

“You need to leave. You can’t be around me, it’s too dangerous.” Kira walked past her and went back to her room.

“Kira, please. If you are in danger, we must tell someone. Perhaps Octavion could come back and . . .”

“NO!” Kira spun around and grabbed Ussay by the arms. “You can’t tell anyone. She put that in here for a reason, Ussay. She wants me dead and won’t stop ‘til she gets her way. If that means killing everyone in the castle, she will do it.”

Ussay’s face turned white and her eyes widened with fear. “She?”

Kira released her. “Shandira was in this room.” She hadn’t noticed until then that Ussay held something in her hand. “What is that?”

Ussay slowly brought it up between them—a piece of parchment. “She left a note, but its meaning is unclear to me.”

Kira snatched it from her and tried to decipher the letters and symbols. After a few seconds, it all made sense.

Where once it was mighty, now fallen it lays.

A fierce little young one stumbles and plays.

Your feet, they betrayed you where flowers bloom.

Blonde curls and ribbons will meet her doom.

Take heed to tell no one, her future is mine.

Her sweet disposition, I’ll sour in time.

Alone you must venture, beyond the main gate

Or all those who love you will regret their fate.

Make haste when shadows are made long by the sun,

Melt into the darkness, when night time has won.

Kira had to read it twice to take it all in. Shandira had been there. The whole time Kira played with the cubs, her falling in the water and perhaps even before when she’d been with Ussay and Cade, Shandira lurked in the shadows. What confused Kira even more was that she hadn’t felt Shandira arrive. That meant she knew where they would be and waited for them. Did she overhear their conversation in the garden? Did she stand only a few feet away? Or did her strong talent in reading other’s thoughts let her eavesdrop?

Kira’s fear quickly faded away, to be replaced with anger. This time, she wouldn’t let Shandira call the shots. She went to the other side of the bed and knelt to examine the objects, being very careful not to touch the pendent. She didn’t want Shandira in her head—at least not yet. Ussay sat on the window seat, still wearing a terrified look on her face.

Kira stood and went to sit next to her. “You need to go, Ussay.”

She slowly turned her head and focused on Kira’s eyes. “What will you do?”

Kira shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I can’t ask you to be a part of this. I won’t have you choosing between keeping my secrets and being loyal to Octavion—not this time.”

Ussay looked at her hands and picked at her bandage. “She will take your life. You know that.”

“Yeah, but maybe I can injure her in the process. If I have the element of surprise and it’s on my terms, maybe I can keep her from hurting anyone else.” Kira put her hand on Ussay’s. “I don’t belong here and I don’t want to go back to my world. There’s nothing for me there, either.”

Tears filled Ussay’s eyes. “We must tell someone. You cannot do this alone.”

Kira held the piece of paper so Ussay could see the words written there. “Do you see what this says?
Blonde curls and ribbons will meet her doom. Take heed to tell no one, her future is mine. Her sweet disposition, I’ll sour in time.
” Kira crushed the paper and threw it on the floor with the box. “She’s talking about Arela. Do you really want Arela looking over her shoulder for the rest of her life, hiding and afraid Shandira will magically appear in her room in the middle of the night and take her away?”

“No,” Ussay whispered.

“Then I have no choice.”

After a moment of silence, Ussay stood and faced Kira. She straightened her back, raised her chin and wiped away her tears. “Tell me what to do. I want to help.”

“You realize you would be deceiving Octavion. You of all people should know what he is capable of when he is angry.”

“And how angry do you think he will be when he finds out I knew what you were about to do and let you do it alone? I will do what I can to help you prepare, even go with you if you would permit it. But when he asks, I will be truthful. Will that do?”

“Yes.”

“Good, because I have an idea,” Ussay said. “Octavion mentioned once that you preferred a bow, is that true?”

Kira looked at her curiously. “Yeah, why?”

“Octavion’s lair is filled with different concoctions, some are extremely poisonous. If we coat the tips of your arrows with one of those, it would merely have to graze her flesh to have an effect. It may not kill her, but it would weaken her enough so you would have the advantage. It would even the odds.”

“Ussay, you’re a genius.”

Kira slid from the bench to the floor and picked the heart pendent up with the cuff of her sleeve, slipping it into her pocket. She’d use it to call Shandira once she was ready.

As they made their way through Octavion’s sleeping chambers and down the winding staircase that led to his lair, the gravity of the situation finally started to sink in. What was she thinking? She was no match for Shandira. Even when she possessed powers and strength from the Crystor she couldn’t compete with Shandira’s heightened senses and Royal strength. This time she would snap Kira like a twig. All Kira could do is postpone the inevitable. In the end Shandira would win—the King of Kazedon would have his revenge and so would Shandira. Maybe then she’d allow her family and Xantara to live in peace.

Ussay led Kira down into the darkness. She held a candle to guide their steps, but once they stepped into the vastness of his lair, it did little to illuminate the space. Kira stayed near the bottom of the stairs until Ussay found more candles to light. As each one took flame the room came alive, adding a warm glow to the stone walls.

Kira searched the room for familiar things, but avoided the chains that hung from one wall. Octavion’s lair seemed to be set up very similarly to the cave back home. Tables and shelves lined one wall, cluttered with books and bottles of every size, color and shape. Some had labels, but most were blank, concealing their mysterious contents.

Along another wall hung every weapon imaginable, some Kira had never seen before. Under those were large trunks. Most of them closed, but the few that lay open held what appeared to be leather straps and cases for weapons. One trunk held Octavion’s hunting clothes—she recognized them as the garments he’d worn when she’d first met him. She desperately tried to push away her memories of their time together. She had no time for them now.

She looked down at her dress. There was no way she’d be able to fight with a heavy skirt wrapped around her legs. What she wouldn’t give for a pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt.

“I’ll need something else to wear. Did Altaria ever dress in pants or maybe there’s something in one of those trunks from when Octavion was younger—something small enough to fit me?”

Ussay glanced at Kira and then at one of the closed trunks. “We were not supposed to know about it, but sometimes when the staff had a day off, the girls would dress differently. Octavion would spar with them in the garden. He taught them to fight.” She went to a small trunk in the corner of the room, opened it and, one by one, tossed the contents across the top of a larger trunk. “There should be something here to suit you.”

Finally, after trying on several vests and blouses, Kira settled for a long sleeved, loosely woven top that laced up the front. A black pair of leather pants fit her best, so she quickly pulled them over her bare legs and went in search of shoes. Once she’d found a pair of boots that fit, she sorted through the weapons.

Kira systematically donned herself with sheath and dagger as if she had done it many times. The process calmed her nerves—putting her in that warrior mode she’d seen so many times in Octavion. She realized the kick butt attitude was part of the costume.

There were three bows, but none like the one she’d had in her world. Two were long bows and the third, a crossbow. Since she lacked the experience and strength for the crossbow, she chose the shorter of the two long bows and a quiver of arrows. When she held the bow up and practiced notching an arrow, she realized she had a problem. One of the fingers she used to pull back the string was broken.

First she tried with the bandages on, but the string kept catching on the fabric, making it impossible to hold on to the shaft of the arrow. She unwrapped her finger and tested it again. This time a sharp pain ran up through her finger and into her wrist. She tossed the bow to the ground, grabbed her hand and cursed.

“Now what do I do? I can’t exactly
throw
the arrow at her.” Kira sat on the long bench and leaned her back against the wall. She was out of time. It was late afternoon and she needed to get to Pride Meadow long before Shandira in order to gain the advantage.

Ussay sat next to Kira. “Perhaps you could use another weapon—a sword or a spear.”

Kira shook her head. “I’d cut my own head off with one of those things. I only know how to use a bow.”

Ussay stood and began rummaging through the many bottles on one of the shelves, but without the strength in Kira’s fingers, the idea of poisoning the arrows seemed useless. Ussay continued to go through the bottles until she discovered she was too short to reach the top shelf. There was a small red jar sitting precariously atop a large book. She stood on her tip toes, grabbed the book and slid it carefully off the shelf. The jar teetered for an instant, but she grabbed it with her other hand, bringing both it and the book to the table. As she did, a leather pouch came with it. It tumbled onto the table and then to the floor, scattering its contents.

Ussay knelt to pick it up, but before her hand could touch it, Kira grabbed her arm and pushed her back onto the floor.

“What did you do that for?” Ussay asked.

“I’m sorry,” Kira said. “I didn’t want you getting cut.”

Kira couldn’t believe what she saw—the pouch Ussay pulled off the shelf was Kira’s own healing pack. Among the items sprawled across the floor were Lydia’s ruby necklace, a handful of broken glass from a bottle of Gyllrue and the metal vials filled with the mixture to give Octavion strength when he traveled. Octavion must have found it when he went back to kill Zerek and brought it back with him. Why hadn’t he said anything?

She slid the pack out from under the chards of glass and set it on the table. Ussay pulled a small piece of metal from under the shelf, helped Kira brush the glass fragments onto it, then discarded them into a wooden bucket. Kira picked up the metal vials and put them on the table, along with a crushed pack of healing herbs she hadn’t noticed before.

The only thing left lying on the floor was Lydia’s ruby. Seeing it felt like discovering an old friend you thought you would never lay eyes on again. She missed Lydia more than ever and wished she was there to tell Kira how crazy she was for doing this. She missed her spirit, the way she laughed and how she could change any situation around and make Kira smile.

Kira changed her focus to the Crystor where it lay dormant against her skin. It’s once shimmering beauty had faded. The silver seemed tarnished and dull. Even though she and Lydia were no longer connected, she couldn’t help crave the energy and strength the Crystor gave her when they were bound together as friends. She hungered for it like Octavion hungered for a fresh kill under the new moon. She could feel the desire flow through her veins—a familiar ice in her blood that made her eyes cool and the skin on her wrist itch.

“What’s wrong?” Ussay asked.

Kira had nearly forgotten Ussay was in the room. “It’s the Crystor. I miss its powers—and Lydia.”

“Powers?”

“It used to be charmed, but it doesn’t work anymore.”

“What about this?” Ussay reached for the ruby that still lay on the floor.