Endless Magic (33 page)

“Seraphina, I’m so sorry,” I offered, not knowing what else to say.

“Don’t you dare feel sorry for me!” She gasped like I smacked her. “I can still walk around this castle without an army following me. And my senior year might be ruined, but I get to leave after this year and do whatever I want. We’re still different. I don’t have your life, and I don’t want it,” she pointed out, flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder.

She definitely did not get easier to like.

“That’s true,” Amelia agreed sympathetically. “You unquestionably have it the worst, Eden…. I mean, from my uncle. You still get to marry Kiran though, so it can’t be all that bad….” She recanted quickly and I had to stifle another eye roll.

“Amelia, where did you get this idea that I am so madly in love with your cousin?” I demanded, deciding to laugh instead.

“From everywhere!” she defended herself. “When I met you in India, it was so obvious you loved my cousin and he loved you! And then, Kiran convinced my uncle to let him marry you instead of Seraphina. I mean, he had to love you in order to do that, right? And then when you came to the London palace, I could tell how hurt you were, but you still loved him. You loved him enough to save him and then as soon as he was healthy he spent every moment of his life devoted to getting you back. And at the very last moment he did! You came here to marry him and he left Seraphina
again
for you!” Amelia made a convincing case, but she definitely did not have the full story.

“That last time had absolutely nothing to do with whether he loved me or Seraphina,” I explained quietly, looking at Seraphina guiltily. “We made a deal prior to that day, for my brother’s life. I waited until the last minute…. Until there wasn’t another option. I could have come at any time before the wedding day and his decision would have been the same,” I confessed, realizing how selfish I had been to wait so long. All of my planning, my plotting and scheming came to nothing in the end and I gave myself over to save my parents and Avalon. If I would have seen that months before, I don’t think I would have waited that long, but I couldn’t say that for sure either. If I came earlier, there would have been time to prepare for the wedding and I would be Mrs. Kiran Kendrick by now. “Sorry, Seraphina. I guess I didn’t think about your feelings at the time….”

“Obviously,” Seraphina grunted. “It all worked out though, I mean our magic would have made the marriage work, but I don’t want to end up like Analisa…. Nobody does,” she finished in a sad whisper. “He would never have been committed to me.”

“That’s not true,” I argued. “He didn’t want anything to do with me when I showed up. Trust me; he would have rather married you.”

“Oh, please!” Seraphina laughed. “I’m sure he was super disappointed you to see you!”

“He was! He even debated whether to kill me or make me his wife, for a
long
time! And honestly, I’m pretty sure he got very close to picking murder!” I confessed, trying to forget that I hoped for death in those moments. “Plus, then you came in all guns blazing trying to kill me and he totally took your side! He wanted nothing more to do with me. I ruined his life.” There I said it, everything I had been thinking since May. I laid it all out in the open and the truth wasn’t as scary as I thought it would be when they were just words.

“That might be true,” Seraphina agreed sarcastically, “but he never wanted to kill you. Trust me, as the ex-fiancé, I know who he wants to stand with him in holy matrimony and it was never me.”

“Can we move on?” I asked. I didn’t want to talk about Kiran for one more second, I was uncomfortable and doubting the wall I carefully built to protect me from this kind of stuff. Kiran didn’t love me anymore, he made that abundantly clear. And I didn’t love him anymore, that fact couldn’t be more obvious to anyone. I didn’t need to keep having these conversations over and over. I had a rebellion to worry about. A war to fight. An Immortal king to kill. There existed no time in my life for teenage romance.

Except Jericho.

The girls moved on to a discussion about the upcoming All Saints Festival. I sighed, already feeling exhausted from another busy weekend of balls and feasts. These Immortals were far too busy and involved in each other’s lives for me. I had never even been to a high school dance before Kingsley and now there seemed to be one every month. And not just a dance, actual galas with royalty and ballroom dancing and gowns.

And if this one didn’t carry enough bad memories for me from last year, we were supposedly paying tribute to my dead grandfather. The thought of Lucan organizing some kind of memorial for the same man that he killed in front of me in cold blood made my heart clench in panicked waves of rage. I wondered if he would stage a casket, or if the kingdom possessed the common courtesy to move beyond such disgusting pretense. My temples instantly began to pound and I closed my eyes in frustration.

The festival didn’t happen for two more months; maybe I could be out of here by then. How much more planning did we need before I could just kill Lucan. I had decided not to leave the castle; Avalon wasn’t trying to break me out anymore. What was the hold up?

The prisoners.
He responded instinctively, having heard my entire inner monologue.

How long have you been there?
I asked, feeling self-conscious.

Since you walked into the same room as Seraphina.
He admitted and I gagged on his thoughts about her.

You are so gross.
I accused.
Besides you have major competition with Sebastian if you are remotely serious about her.

Oh, no, I’m not serious about her at all. I mean, come on, she’s completely certifiable. But so damn hot!
He laughed at my revolted reaction.

Anyway.
I changed the subject forcefully in our thoughts.
What is the hold up here? Can’t you just storm the castle tomorrow? This needs to end!

Believe me; I have had these exact same thoughts, Ede. But here’s the thing, as confident as I am in our movement, there is still the chance of failure. And right now if we make an attempt at Lucan’s life and fail, the prisons are full of Immortals for him to take his revenge out on. Plus, you are still in his custody and I hate to think of what he could do to you-

Avalon don’t worry about me!
I interrupted him to assure him that I would be fine.
Just get the prisoner’s out. I can take care of myself.

Eden, you forget that I was where you are. I refuse to let you go through what I did. He will not hurt you like that.
He growled his response, his conviction resounding inside our heads and with it I felt the scars of those months he suffered near the brink of death as Lucan’s prisoner. He internally wore the wounds of a trauma I could never fully understand even with our twin connection.
And still, even if I take you out of the equation, there are still the prisoners. Besides, he has his men moving around the globe, hunting others down. And I’m afraid that if he doesn’t find more Shape-shifters he’s going to start collecting from the general population. He’s a monster, Eden. When we strike, we have to do it perfectly, without flaw and with a one hundred percent success rate, or everything is going to backfire in our face. Besides, it would help if you could recruit a few more Titans. We need them on our side.

A few more? Who do you have now?
I asked, shocked that he would credit me with recruiting anybody.

Well, all the ones that you saved from the King’s Curse. And then Talbott…. Uh… not Talbott, I mean Sebastian says the one that is in charge of you, what’s his name?
Avalon asked, and I could sense him feel flustered.

Jedrec?
I asked, shocked that Sebastian would know anything about him.

Yes, Jedrec is very close….
Avalon trailed off.

Huh….
I pondered internally, trying to repress my curiosity with Avalon’s slip and why he wanted to hide his mistake form me.

“Eden!” Seraphina shouted and I snapped my head up to look at her. “Hello! I’ve only been trying to get your attention for the last five minutes!”

“Oh, sorry….” I apologized, internally saying goodbye to Avalon.

“I swear, if you weren’t my only option for a friend here…..” she mumbled and I almost laughed at her. “Will you send one of your guards to go check on the pizzas? They are taking forever!”

“Yeah, sure,” I jumped up and rubbed my hands against my cold arms. “I want to grab a sweatshirt anyway.”

I stood up and walked out into the hallway where the Guard waited for me looking bored. Jedrec tried to smile at me, but I could see the exhaustion in his eyes. This was a perfectly good waste of a Titan’s time.

“Hey, will one of you check on the pizzas in the kitchen for us please?” I asked casually.

A Titan about my age stepped forward eagerly and looked to Jedrec with hopeful eyes. Jedrec nodded his approval and the Titan seemed about ready to run down the staircase just for something to do.

“I’m going to go with him,” I announced clearly, lest they confuse my statement with a question. “I’m just going to grab my sweatshirt quickly and I’ll be right back.”

“Alex, go with her, but you can wait outside of the room,” Jedrec instructed, ignoring my silent command for alone-time.

“Jedrec, seriously! I’m just going downstairs for a minute. I will be right back, nothing can keep me from that pizza, I promise you that,” I contended sincerely.

“I believe that, Eden, but we have our orders,” Jedrec nodded to Alex and I gave in with a sigh.

We walked down the flight of stairs quickly. Alex didn’t try to make any conversation but the walk didn’t take long, so I didn’t worry about it. When we got to Kiran’s bedroom we both stopped short, mutually feeling the flare of magic alerting us that another Immortal occupied Kiran’s bedroom.

Alex waved at me to wait for him to open the door and check it out. I obeyed, curious more than anything as to who would be on the other side of the door. He opened the door carefully and then looked back at me even more confused.

I understood why when Dmitri Terletov stepped out of the room and gave me a welcoming smile. My blood heated to a fast boil and my electricity screamed warnings at me, but I couldn’t just turn around and run. No, I wouldn’t turn around and run. He was a thug and nothing more. He couldn’t intimidate me.

“Eden, I was just coming to find you,” he purred, his gloved hands clasped together in front of him.

“Well…. You found me,” I mumbled dryly.

“Yes, I have,” he agreed, giggling with glee. I shivered uncontrollably with disgust. “Will you join me for a walk in the gardens? There is something I would like to discuss with you.”

“No, thank you for the offer though,” I smiled politely. “I have to get back.” I looked longingly upstairs and then back at the sinister eyes looking over me with new interest. Next to me, Alex flexed with carefully harnessed strength and took a step closer to me.

“They won’t miss you. I’ll just keep you a few minutes. Your Guard is welcome to join us,” Dmitri gestured toward the robust Titan whose jaw tightened and fists balled.

“You know what? I’m not supposed to go outside without
all
of my Guards,” I explained weakly.

“Well, why don’t we wait here while this one goes to fetch the others?” he suggested and the thought of being alone with him made my skin crawl.

“Uh, I don’t think so,” In alarm I lost my manners. I needed to get back upstairs and in the protective care of the rest of the Guards.

I turned on my heel and Alex followed after, the sweatshirt forgotten. We made it to the stairs when I heard a sound like the air had been sliced with a knife and Alex fell to his knees next to me. In a panic I turned to see what had caused him to fall and my eyes immediately fell on the bullet hole in his white polo and the blood seeping from it, staining his shirt and spreading across his back. The bullet was perfectly placed where his heart used to beat.

“A bullet?” I demanded, kneeling down next to Alex and pressing my hand against the wound drawing out the blue smoke to heal him. Slowly it dawned on me that Dmitri was responsible for the silenced gun shot. “But that won’t kill him!” I argued, pointlessly.

“No, but it will knock him unconscious until we get out of here,” he answered menacingly and I realized what he intended to do. He wounded my one Guard so he could kidnap me.

I opened my mouth to scream, but his finger moved to the trigger before a sound came out. The bullet hit me in the chest like a fireball of anger. I flinched violently backward from the force and my hand instantly found the hole. If I could heal the wound before I lost consciousness I could still call for help. I crumpled to the floor, my body giving out uselessly from the blinding pain that seared through my torso. The blackness closed around me faster than my mouth could move and the ringing in my ears swallowed the rest of the world, while the pain in my chest sucked the breath from my struggling lungs. Avalon’s internal shouts accompanied me to the blissful silence and then there was nothing.

Darkness.

I struggled from oblivion gasping for breath, clutching at the searing pain twisting at my chest and retching from violent nausea. I forced myself to sit up, and vomited again on the hard dirt floor. I reeled from the pain; the aching agony that spread across my chest like bars of a cage constricted my breathing and coaxed me toward the blackness, the deep void of unconsciousness again.

I sent the magic rushing through my blood in a ferocious attempt to regain my senses. The electricity heated my shivering body to a manageable temperature. My head stopped pounding and I inhaled a deep breath for what felt like the first time in a long time. My magic worked quickly against the fighting exhaustion and throbbing discomfort.

Finally, I came back to myself, back to reality. A puff of blue smoke exhaled from my body, wrapping me in its wispy healing powers and extracting the bullet from my heart. The smoke with finger-like tendrils reached into the bloody wound and pulled a small, iridescent pellet from my chest. The bullet dropped to the floor next to me.