Dream of Me (22 page)

Scowling, his upper lip lifted revealing his sharp teeth with hostility. “I don’t. However it is a matter of your safety. I need to get you back to the stronghold where you are safe. Regardless what I think of him, I do know he will want to keep you alive.”

“Something isn’t right here. I can feel it. First Zyaid shows up demanding Cian turns me over to him and then these abominations suddenly are popping up everywhere? There is no way it is a coincidence.”

Reaching up into her pinned hair, his fingers lightly touched the femra speared through her thick locks. “Something tells me that you can handle yourself if you are right. Just get to the stronghold. If Cian did refuse Zyaid, these creatures could have been sent to kill you.”

“Why? I am of no use to either of you guys. Why would Zyaid want me?”

“You are of use to me and that is all you need to worry about. Get to safety and trust no one until you are safely within the walls.”

Knowing that he was going out to face several of these monsters that could skewer a man with little effort, she felt her fear for Kieran rising. What would happen to her if he was seriously injured or worse? As Sera had told her, it was Kieran’s life force that was keeping her on this side of their world. The idea of being separated from him suddenly brought an unimaginable pain to her heart. She couldn’t bare the idea of leaving him. What if something happened to him?

Opening her mouth to speak, Dajran’s voice interrupted before she could say anything, “Kieran we don’t have time. We need to move now.”

Nodding to his friend, Kieran hastily lowered his face over hers, his lips taking hers in an urgent kiss. All too soon, he ended the kiss and turned away, leaving her breathing heavily as he and Dajran disappeared into the darkness amongst the trees.

Turning toward Rurik, her lips flattened together with irritation. He simply stood there staring at her as though she were some anomaly to study. When he continued to stare at her, his eyes hardened. The flirtatious Rurik that she’d known just a day ago didn’t seem like the same one that stood a few feet from her. What was going on?

“Let’s get going,” she said coolly, walking past him.

“Why did you choose him?” his words had her freezing in her tracks. Slowly turning around, she narrowed her eyes at him.

“Really? You want to talk about that right now? Fine, let me make it easy for you to understand. Kieran is my
sou’tali
. I love him. End of discussion. Now let’s get going.”

“I could have given you so much more than him. Wealth, power and a way home to your world.”

Her nose curled in revulsion at his words. “That is no longer an option that I want.”

Slowly, he turned around to face her with a cold smile on his face. “You don’t have a choice I’m afraid.”

Rolling her eyes at his underhanded tactic, she threw her hand up with frustration. “Whatever. Stay here and nurse your stupid male pride. I’ll just walk back on my own.” Spinning away, she moved toward the worn path through the dark forest. Her steps froze as two men stepped out in front of her. Backing up, her eyes widened as she took in their features. With their golden hair and pale skin she knew instantly what they were. Neither of the muscular Kelithians approached her, but simply blocked her path.

“You see, little human, you don’t have a choice.” Sliding his short sword into its sheath at his hip, Rurik nodded in acknowledgement to the others as he approached her. “Your introduction to my master is long overdue.”

“Your master?… The Dihmas…” Her voice trailed off as it all became clear to her. Rurik wasn’t a rival against Kieran to win her. Rurik was the traitor. “It was you?”

“Yes, yes, now it all becomes clear,” he cooed sarcastically at her stunned expression. “The first one was meant to be a distraction so that Zyaid’s warriors could grab you while the Gu’an warriors were occupied.”

“Too bad you have such poor scheming skills,” she bit out while edging further away from the three of them. What she wouldn’t give for a pair of wings of her own.

His lip curled in hate as he continued on as if she hadn’t spoken. “These two today were meant to kill Kieran and leave you unprotected.”

“Let me guess; Dajran was patrolling the area and that plan went up in smoke. Once Kieran realizes that there are no more headed this way, they will figure out what you are up to. You’re a failure and will never measure any higher than the dirt you stand on.” Her jib had hit its mark as she found herself raised upon her toes as Rurik’s hand shot out to grip her throat in a punishing hold.

Taking a chance, she reached up for the femra coiled around her hair. Jerking it free, she slashed at Rurik’s rage filled eyes. The sharp jeweled knife swished through the air before it met its mark. She stumbled back on her feet, as Rurik roared in rage, his hands cupping his bloody face. Still holding her bloody weapon she turned to look at the two smirking Kelithians that simply stood there with folded arms. Neither even attempted to check Rurik, they simply didn’t care.

Lowering his hand from his face, Rurik snarled, “I will see you regret that!” She only smirked at his threat as she saw the damage that she’d done on his face. Though her aim had been a little off, she had sliced from the corner of his right eye down nearly to his jaw bone. The cut was deep and marred his once handsome features.

As she prepared for him to rush at her once more, one of the Kelithians stepped between them. “You will not receive your reward if Zyaid see’s one hair harmed on the human’s head.” Narrowing his eyes at the man that stood in his way, Rurik bared his fangs at him before taking a step back. The man between them turned around to stare coolly down at her and her puny weapon.

“Take a step closer and you will get what he got and more,” she hissed out threateningly.

His cold expression never changed as his eyes lifted above her head. “Save your threats, human.”

Hard hands suddenly gripped her arms from behind, restraining her arms crisscrossed over her chest. The one in front of her slowly drew closer. Raising his hand level to her face, her eyes widened with fear as a golden mist began flowing off his hand like steam. Without a word he blew the mist into her face.

She struggled within the strong hands that held her as the golden mist shot toward her. Her lungs seized up as the hot mist hit her face, her muscles locked up before all her strength drained out of her. As the last of her strength was sucked from her, her lips parted to call out for help, but nothing but her a gasp of air emerged.

Kneeling down to the rich earth, Kieran frowned deeply. Dajran paced a few feet away and seemed to take in the same oddity of their surrounding that he was. Whenever a Dihma was spawned by the Kelithians, it was a creation of earth and dark magic and as a result left burnt scaring on the ground from where it had been born. Everywhere he looked there was no burnt earth or a path of destruction. If Rurik was correct and the Kelithians had spawned more Dihmas to attack them, where were they?

Dajran’s eyes carefully scanned their surrounding before turning to walk back to Kieran. “Something isn’t right,” he growled out, still watching for danger around them.

Standing, he nodded in agreement. Something was definitely not adding up. But he wasn’t about to let down his guard if their enemy had decided to attack. Perhaps they had found a way to conceal the signs of the Dihmas rising?

“Let’s keep searching.” Ignoring his friend’s look of displeasure, Kieran strode past him continuing to listen and search for signs of their enemy. It wasn’t too long before his friend was walking along side him.

“How can you bear it?”

Not bothering to move his gaze from the ground as he passed by, Kieran shook his head. “We cannot let these creatures reach the stronghold again. The amount of lives they could take and the destruction they would cause would be too much for us to combat. Not to mention what would happen if they stumbled upon one of the small villages.”

“That’s not what I mean. I mean how can you bear to have Rurik be alone with your mate? The
Malrai Hin
is already taking its toll on you; I can see your strength is leaving you. This is a critical time, why would you risk your life like this?”

Coming to a stop, Kieran turned to look at his friend’s hard gaze. Dajran was right. Already he could feel the Malrai Hin draining his strength and life force after last joining with Elena. The bond formed between them by his dream seeking was dying. He had a day or two at most left before his time to have Elena accept him was gone. If she didn’t fully accept him and say the claiming words — he would die.

“I risk it because even though the need to claim my
sou’tali
is strong, the instinct to protect her is stronger. The last time one of these creatures where spawned it came upon her a short distance outside our walls and nearly killed her. Just as it nearly did tonight; if you hadn’t shown up when you did, I don’t know what I would have done. Rurik wants her; I know this. He would kill me if given the chance to possess her; I also know this. I can trust him at least to keep her safe until we make sure none of these creatures is at large.”

His words were filled with confidence that deep inside Kieran was running out of. Though Elena had chosen him, Kieran still worried about leaving her in the company of Rurik. He trusted his mate with everything he possessed, but he didn’t trust Rurik’s motivations. If he discovered that one hair was missing from Elena upon his return, there would be no place that Rurik could hide from him.

“I would never allow my mate to even breathe the same air as a rival, no matter the circumstances,” Dajran snarled out.

Wincing at the pulling of his burnt skin as he rolled his shoulders, Kieran resumed walking again. “What are you really trying to ask me, Dajran?” After a lengthy pause, he began to think that his friend wouldn’t respond until the sound of his hesitant words broke the silence.

“How did you get your
sou’tali
to accept you so easily?”

His curious words made Kieran’s feet to stumble nearly causing him to fall on his face. A choking laugh escaped his lips as he turned to face Dajran, “
Easily?
Have you met my
sou’tali
? I’m still fighting for her to accept me. Are you having trouble with your mate?”

Scoffing, Dajran rolled his eyes. “Yes. She is the most stubborn female I have ever met! I feel like I will lose my mind and kill someone soon if I don’t get her to cross over into our world soon.”

“When the time is right you will have your mate.”

“I know all about the will of Kalaya, my friend,” Dajran responded dryly.

Shaking his head, Kieran scoffed at his friend’s reply, “I’m not talking about the will of our great mother. A time will come when the intensity of the bond between you and the distance will become too much to bear. If you find a way to bring your mate across the veil, do it. We only get one chance, my friend. Don’t waste it.” Slapping a hand on his friend’s shoulder, he moved around him. Moving forward he continued to look for signs of disturbed earth. Suddenly he found himself driven to his knees as a bolt of pain exploded within his chest. Gasping for air his clawed hand clutched at his chest. The pain burned through him as waves of distress and fear flooded his mind.

“Kieran!” Dajran rushed to his friend’s side as he struggled to climb to his feet. “What is it?”

Elena…
her name whispered through his mind like a far off wind through the trees. “Something is wrong,” he whispered, his clawed hands digging deep into the bark of a tree as he pulled himself up. The pain still radiated through his chest with no sign it would let up. He knew then what the source was — Elena. He could feel her emotions as if they were his own and in that moment it was both a blessing and a curse.

Something had happened. This time the fear that sought to overwhelm him was his own. Had they come upon a Dihma? Rurik was no warrior and though he may attempt to protect her — he was no match for a Kelithians magical spawn.

Without wasting time to explain to Dajran he shoved his friend away as he took off running before leaping into the air. His wings flared out catching the air currents and shooting him above the trees. Vigorously his wings beat as he neared the familiar mountain side. Dropping to the ground, he allowed his senses to reach out for his mate. The scent of her fear still lingered in the air around him along with the earthy scent of Kelithians. Spinning in a circle he frantically searched for the sight of her.

Taking a step toward, his boot pressed down on something hard on the ground. Looking down with curiosity, he lifted his boot before going down on his knee. Lowering his hand into the turf of grass and loose dirt his hand found what it was searching for. Lifting it up for inspection, his breath froze in his lungs at the sight of Elena’s bloody femra. The sight of the shiny jewel stained with blood caused his heart to become like a stone in his chest.

Behind him, Dajran’s feet hit the ground before he quickly approached. Rising to his feet, Kieran watched as Dajran’s face scrunched up with disgust as he also took in the smell of Kelithians.

“Kelithians…” Dajran murmured as he slowly scanned the trees around them for the sight of their enemy.

“They’ve taken her,” Kieran whispered as his hand tightened around the sharp end of Elena’s femra.

“There doesn’t appear to be any signs of a struggle and I cannot smell blood anywhere. Perhaps they got away and she dropped it before the Kelithians got here,” Dajran suggested hopefully.

Shaking his head with denial, Kieran moved closer to Dajran, his hand holding out the blood stained femra. Carefully taking the sharp ornament from him, Dajran bent his head to inhale the fresh blood only to jerk back with surprise. “This is Garmorian blood, Kieran,” he uttered in a haunting voice.

Nodding with agreement, Kieran took back the femra with a grim expression. “Elena must have used it to attack Rurik, but why?”

“Do you think he turned on her?”

“No. I think he turned on all of us.” Tucking the femra against the waistband of his trousers, he turned his grim expression toward the east — to the Kelithian fortress. “They would have taken her to Zyaid. Come. We must return to the stronghold and gather more warriors. Zyaid will not let Elena go without a fight — and neither will I.

* ~ * ~ *

Giving the iron bars in front of her a final kick, Elena huffed out in rage as bars refused to give no matter what she did. Whatever magic had forged her prison, the only way out would be if someone opened the door for her. Shoving her tangled mass of hair away from her eyes, she began to pace the small confines of her cage. Her small prison was no bigger than a bathroom stall and offered her no place to hide from the watchful eyes of her guards just a few feet away.

Outside the bars she could see that she was in some type of throne room. The cage that she was presently in looked sorely out of place in her opinion amongst all the gold around her. A short distance from her cage she saw Rurik standing in a dark corner across the enormous room with a bloody rag held to his face. She smirked as he continued to glare at her. She silently hoped that he would require stitches with a rusty needle as big as a screwdriver. When she refused to back down from his hard glare, she wasn’t surprised when he moved toward her cage with threatening strides.

Coming to a stop a foot from her cage he pointed at her with his bloody cloth. “If I were you, I would wipe that smile off your face, human,” he sneered.

“If
I
were
you
—” she countered, throwing his words back at him, “I would put that rag back on your face before it rots off.” Even though his scowl darkened, she kept smirking at him as he did as she said. When he didn’t make another effort to say anything to her, she began moving around her cage as if she weren’t the tiniest bit interested in him. Much to her delight, this angered him.

“Smile while you can then,” he bit out. “You won’t be once Zyaid returns. I can only imagine what he wants a weak, human female for.”

Dragging her hands playfully along the bars, she shrugged her shoulders carelessly. “You mean Mr. Next-Top-Drag Queen? I’m not scared of him. If he wanted me dead I would be. No,” she paused, turning to grip the bars in front of Rurik was a knowing look. “Just like you — he wants something from me. That means he won’t do anything to me until he gets it. Tell me, Rurik, why would you betray your own people. Are you one of those idiots that were simply bought with the promise of riches and power? I’ve seen your type before and trust me on this — you guys don’t last long.”

“You know nothing!” he snarled. His face began to change as his beast rose up. Taking a step back from the cage, his face slowly melted back to normal. “I do this for my people!”

“Bullshit,” she snapped. “How could any of this be for your people? Kieran told me about all that Zyaid has done to your people over the last century. You did this for yourself. At least have to balls to admit to it.”

“Zyaid only seeks to give this world what it really needs: a true leader. With his rule our world and the next will be cleansed and will become greater than it could ever be. Our fight shouldn’t be with him and his kind, but with
yours
.”

“My kind?” she asked, perplexed as her hands fell from away from the bars.

Slowly his thin lips curved into a dark smile. “Something your warrior mate doesn’t realize about our history is just like my kind: the Kelithians once existed in your world as well. Your people called them witches and devil worshipers.” He scoffed after explaining. “You humans are all alike. Anything more powerful than yourselves you fear and seek to conquer. My family has always known the truth about how the Garmorians and Kelithians came to be here.”

“You know nothing about humans,” she whispered turning away to stalk to the other side of her cage. She may be stuck behind bars, but she refused to listen to this lunatic any further or his insane justifications.

Moving closer to the bars, Rurik snarled, “I know more than you do.”

Glaring over her shoulder at him, any retort she would have uttered was cut off as the heavy door at the across the room slammed open with a loud echo. Turning around, she watched as Zyaid strolled calmly across the throne room with two other guards towards her. His expression held a look of pride as well as hate. Nodding his head, he moved away from the cage to walk toward Rurik.

“You’ve done well. Finally we have the key; now we can finally destroy the veil that imprisons us.” Moving past Rurik toward his raised throne seat, Zyaid snatched up a jeweled goblet from a fearful servant. Waving the servant away, he raised his cup to his lips. Savoring his drink, Zyaid slowly lowered his goblet to glare accusingly at Rurik. “However, things have changed now.”

Elena watched as Rurik’s welcoming demeanor vanished with Zyaid’s cold tone. “We had a deal!” he snarled out, his free hand squeezing into a tight fist.

Looking down at his empty goblet, Zyaid suddenly flung it toward the cage. Gasping in surprise, Elena ducked and covered her head as the goblet shattered against the bars. Lowering her hands, she raised her eyes to study Zyaid’s averted face. If he was angry at Rurik, he didn’t show it. His face was completely blank as if he were in deep thought. Slowly his eyes began to glow red as they settled on her completely. Pressing his lips together, he slowly turned back to face Rurik.

“We had a deal,” Zyaid acknowledged. “However, now it has changed.”

Rushing forward in a fit of anger, Rurik shouted, “That’s not what you promised me!” Barely having let the words leave his lips, Zyaid rushed forward in a blur of movement. His hand wrapped around Rurik’s throat before slamming him onto his back against the stairs of the raised platform.

“You listen to me, you spoiled whelp. I. Am. King. Anything you were promised is a gift from me and I decide when you will receive it. For instance the air you breathe now is a gift of my mercy; remember who you are dealing with.”