The Phantom King (The Kings) (25 page)

She
stared
at them
, a phoenix
of
fiery
red
on one arm,
a
stone and silver
dragon
on the other
. She
marveled at the way the a
rt wrapped around the
curves of his
generous
biceps
.
She felt transfixed by them.

T
hen his hand was at her back and she was being gently nudged toward the light. She blushed again, furious with herself for he
r uncharacteristic lack of will
power, and followed him through the garage.

A warm breeze greeted her as she stepped out into the noon-bright glare of day. She blinked a few more times, adjusting to the difference. When her vision cleared, she
faced
a
n endlessly
vast expanse. Miles and miles of flat land, of desert and nothing else, stretched into the horizon. She turned, taking in the
view from every angle. It never changed; the desert went on forever in every direction.

Siobhan moved away from the garage and walked out several yards from the house. Then she turned back to face it.

Against the backdrop of a landscape almost dream-like in its stark solitude stood a lone single-story house of white painted wood and a one-car garage. Siobhan frowned. Where was the hangar
she’d just been in
?

Clearly, the image of the house she viewed now was not what was truly there. And should she be surprised? She turned in place, at awe with the unchanging landscape.
Nothing made sense that day, so this wasn’t anything new.

That day
…. She just realized it
had been night in Salem
when they’d left
. It was high noon here. The dry, desolate expanse baked beneath an unforgiving sun.

She shook her head, not knowing what to think. “Where are they?
” she asked, referring to the Anime she’d asked about.
Other than Thane, who was now walking toward her, his hands
thrust
into the front pockets of his jeans so that the muscles of his arms were clearly outlined, she didn’t see a single soul.

Thane
came to stand beside her and his gaze pierced the endless distance. “They’re out there,” he said.

Sio
bhan gawked at him. “What, just
out
there? Just – out in that nothingness?”

Thane looked down at her. The silver in his eyes was muted out
here, more a gun metal gray than
the glowing silver they sported in the darkness. He looked a little more humble, too. The wind rustled his hair, the dust of the desert settling into it. He looked tanned and troubled, like the “Desperado” of an Eagles ballad. He also
looked older. And profoundly
sad.

“This is where souls come to forget,” he told her. “The wounds are deep and it takes time. They’re given that here.”

Siobhan felt rocked to her core. She looked from Thane to the horizon and back again. “No,” she said. She closed her eyes, shook her head, and opened them. “No, that’s not right.” There was something so fundamentally wrong about what Thane was telling her, she could barely find the words to express it.

She turned to face him fully. “
’Life
isn’t fair
.’ That’s what they say.  T
hat’s
the thoughtless, regurgitated expression we’re always given
when things go pear shaped in life,” she said. Her tone was rising, her words coming faster and with more fury. “But this?” she said, gesturing to the parched land. “This is
death
. And goddamn it, at least in
death
things should be fair for once, don’t you think?” She exhaled a shaky breath and threw up her hands. “You mean to tell me that people who are murdered or who die in terrible ways are sent to this wasteland with no – no – no empathy? No kindness, no
comfort, no
nothing
? They suffer in life, suffer in death, and suffer again
here
?” She couldn’t hold it in. “That’s bullshit!”

“They don’t suffer here,” Thane said, his tone placating. “They just
are
.”

Siobhan found herself both glaring and open-mouthed. She started to say something, then stopped. Her mouth shut. She shook her head. “No,” she finally said. “That’s not good enough.” She looked away, her gaze traveling the horizontal line in the distance.

It was a while before either of them spoke. The wind filled the silence, the sound hollow and lonely.

“I don’t think it is either.”

Siobhan slowly straightened, frowning. She turned to face the Phantom King. He was watching her with soulful eyes now a dark gray, like stone. “I’ve never felt it was good enough,” he told her. “It’s just the way it is. And I was created to do what I do because I just
was
. I don’t have an explanation for any of it. I can’t make any excuses.” He stepped forward, closing the distance between them and shutting out the rest of Purgatory. “But I’ll tell you this,” he said. His voice had dropped to become more intimate. “In the brief time you’ve been here,
Siobhan,
you’ve helped more souls th
an I have during my entire reign
.”

Siobhan felt the ground shift beneath her feet as Thane reached out and brushed his fingertips across her upper arm and then gently took it in his hand. A buzz-like thrill passed throug
h her skin and into her blood, heating
her from the inside out. “
There might be something to that,” he said.

Like what?
she thought distractedly. Suddenly, all she could concentrate on was his touch.

It ended too soon. He lowered his hand and his expression changed. “I’m sorry Siobhan,” he told her. “I have to get back and help if I can.”

Siobhan frowned. “Help? With what?” He couldn’t mean the fight with Marius. They’d left hours ago. Surely it was over by now, good or bad. She wasn’t worried about Steven any longer; clearly magic had no untoward effect o
n him. And she didn’t even know
the blonde, green-eyed man who had appeared and claimed her as “one of his own
.” He was a charismatic figure,
that
much was certain. But he was neither
friend
n
or family. She had nothing to lose in the fight they’d left but material wealth, and because of her magical ability to repair any item, material things had never meant all that much to her. She could always get more.

“
When I will
it to
,
time moves differently in Purgatory
,” he said.
He took a deep breath and let it out.
“I
have to
return to your house, but you need to stay here.”

“Do you mean that Steven and the others are still fighting?”

“
I honestly don’t know
,” he said. “I won’t know until I get there. It’s
been
minutes in your realm, but I can’t keep up the time difference much longer.”

Siobhan looked from him to the small house in the middle of nowhere. “You can’t leave me here.”

“I can’t take you back with me. Marius is after you.” He was resolute in this; she could hear it in his voice.
But Steven had been right about her. She was a head-strong woman, and there was no way she was going to be left behind in this limbo indefinitely.

Her gaze narrowed and she could feel the magic within her
raise its head
and prick an ear as if it could sense
that i
t was
finally about to really come out and
play.
“You take me with yo
u, Phantom King, or I swear to G
od I will make you regret ever laying eyes on me.”

Chapter
Seventeen

Siobhan paced with restless fury back and forth across the large study. It was well appointed, furnished in things so old and yet so brand new, they might as well have been antiques she’d repaired herself. There were no windows in this room, only tapestries and book shelves and massive leather chairs adorned in throws so soft, she wanted to pick one up and carry it around with her.

And then there were the guards. Four of them, two on either side of the closed door inside the room, and two in the hall in the same position.
Seriously! Four men?
Each was the size of a tank, a
nd each had an aura about him that felt distinctly non-human.

W
hen she’d demanded that Thane
bring her back to the “real” world with him, he’d run his strong hand through his thick black hair, his eyes had flashed like lightning, and then he’d finally taken a deep breath and nodded. “Fine,” he said. “But you still need protection. And I know just where you’ll get it.”

With that,
he had taken hold of her wrist in
a grip that both thrilled her and made her distinctly nervous, and he’d waved his other hand to open another portal. She watched it grow and expand, an actual rip in every law of physics that existed, and then she
stumbled slightly as he quickly
pulled her on through.

The trip was
disorienting again, and this time a little draining.
She wanted to sit down, take in her surroundings, and get her bearings, but the Phantom King never gave her the chance.

Instead, she found herself in a room that was already occupied – by two men who were as ta
ll and as impressive as Thane
. One had lighter colored hair and was dressed in a butler’s clothes, which
somewhat surprised Siobhan
. She had no idea people even used butlers any more. He stood beside the door as if awaiting instruction.

The other occupant of the room, a dark haired man with pitch black eyes, was intimidating on sight. When the portal opened up in what appeared to be his study of all
places and Siobhan and Thane
stepped through, the man turned from where he’d been facing a bookshelf, a phone to his ear, and disconnected the call.

His eyes met Thane’s
and some kind of silent communica
tion went on between the two. M
eanwhile, Siobhan had simply stood there sagging beneath the weight of the portal transport and one mystery too many.

“She’s a warlock,” Thane said. “And she needs protection.” He looked down at her, his fully grown fangs showing clearly as he added, “Lots of it.”