Forged by Greed (16 page)
Authors: Angela Orlowski-Peart
“What do you want?” he asked
quietly. His heart started to pound in his chest.
“You will come back to me for
good, J.” Jasmira’s voice lowered, becoming seductive.
Jatred looked at her in disbelief.
Something was odd about her. He had never seen Jasmira act this way. His eyes
narrowed. But then all suspicions were gone, as if erased by some invisible
force.
Jatred tilted his head back, and a
slow smile spread on his face. Leisurely, he motioned for Jasmira to come
closer. Her eyes shone with anticipation, and her lips parted. Jatred watched her
float toward him. Her feet never touched the sand.
When she was near, he murmured, “I
want to see my real Jasmira, not an illusion.”
But she only smiled at him and sat
down next to him.
Jatred tried to caress
her arm, but his hands slid through the air.
“J, don’t tease me.” His voice was
raspy.
“You have to promise to stay with
me forever.” She sounded and acted strange, almost as if possessed.
“If it was only that simple. We can’t
hide this from my Goddess, remember?” His mind fought the numbness that was spreading
through his brain and almost wiped away all his awareness.
Jasmira pleaded, “Why? Maybe she
will understand, if she sees how much we love each other and—”
“J,” he interrupted, “The Winter
Goddess is not like your Summer Goddess. She won’t understand. She won’t even
attempt to understand. I tried to explain this to you before—”
“And I tried to live without you.
I can’t. And I don’t want to.” She stomped her foot like a little girl. Her
eyes welled with tears. “You’re the Winter Prince. You have the Royal blood
after all,” Jasmira said stubbornly.
“And
you
are the Summer Princess, J. So you know this Royal blood comes
with far more responsibilities than privileges.” He paused, letting his words
sink in. “You mean so much to me, but there is no way… nothing would convince
Crystal. She hates Amber and all the Summer Race. I belong with the Winter
people.” Jatred shut his eyes tight and held his head in his hands.
“Then spend just one day with me
here in Summer Realm,” whispered Jasmira. Tears were rolling down her smooth
brown cheeks.
“We are in the Summer Realm? How the hell did
you get me here? I’m a
Winter
Shifter.”
Jatred shot up to his feet.
“Relax. It’s only an illusion,
remember? The Amulet did this.” Jasmira looked at him, dazed.
“No, no and no! This is not
happening. Get me back to the Human World, J. Now! I’m serious. Get me
out!
” His eyes flicked around. “Get me
out before Crystal finds out. Don’t you understand?” he shouted, frantic. His
heart raced, and his blood pounded in his ears.
Jasmira felt like someone just
dumped icy water over her. She was confused, but fought to stay focused. She had
never seen Jatred panic before, and this sobered her. “Okay,” she whispered. Her
mouth was trembling. “But I don’t know if I can. The Amulet… the Goddess.”
She squeezed her eyes. Her breath was
shaky and shallow. Her body shimmered in and out, taking on an ethereal
appearance then becoming physical again.
“J, what are you doing?” Jatred whispered,
frightened. “Look.” His eyes slid to the Amulet dangling down from her fist.
The blue stone shone, lit from the inside by a pulsing source of light.
Jatred gripped Jasmira’s hand.
This time his fingers didn’t go through like they did before, when she appeared
as an illusion. Her body was solid again. She held onto the chain halfway
between the jewel and the clasp. The clasp flew open. One side of the chain
encircled his wrist. The other part snaked around Jasmira’s wrist. Unexpectedly,
it bound them in a vice-like grip. The metal felt as cold as a sheet of ice.
They both yelled and tried to pull free, but it wouldn’t budge.
A spiraled script became visible
on the jewel’s edge, the symbols shone like liquid gold. The teens frantically
tried again to yank their hands away. The runes kept crawling around the gem,
barely touching its surface.
“What’s going on? What is this?”
Jatred growled. A sudden gust of wind tousled his hair.
“I don’t know. What does it say?”
Jasmira shrieked. A storm broke around them. The wind became so strong, it made
them stagger. They struggled to stay on their feet, turning their faces away
from the wind to breathe.
“The letters look almost Arabic,
but that’s not it.” Jatred tugged on the chain once more, this time with both
hands.
Jasmira momentarily lost her
balance, but regained it quickly. She shouted over the storm, “Stop pulling.
It’s not working. Concentrate on getting back to the Human World!”
“What? How—”
“Just do it!” Her features twisted
with horror. Sweat trickled down her back, and she shook with panic.
They tore their eyes from the
lazily spiraling runes and looked at each other. Jatred saw the Summer Goddess
in his peripheral vision and turned his head. But she wasn’t there. A cold fear
crept on his sweat-covered skin. He swore and squeezed his eyes. His uncle’s smiling
face came to his mind. Jatred whispered hastily, “Imagine someone from the
Human World.”
Jasmira concentrated on Penelope’s
features, and felt a rush of hot air over her face and body. She heard Jatred
grunt in pain, and everything went still.
Human World, November 16,
evening.
Jatred clumsily stroked
Jasmira’s hair. She lay sleeping on the sofa, and her head was in his lap. Her tresses
were scattered in a shiny fan behind her head.
Her full lips were parted, and her long dark lashes cast shadows on her
cheeks. Jatred studied her face, thick eyebrows and smooth, dark honey-colored
skin.
He was careful not to wake her.
He also didn’t want to alert Penelope—who, most likely, was spending a night at
the mansion—about his and Jasmira’s return. Last time they saw Penelope was about
two hours ago, when she and the other Summer teens witnessed Jasmira’s flight to
the basement, and Jatred’s chase after her. Jatred didn’t feel like explaining
the situation to Penelope right now.
Jatred took Jasmira’s hand in
his. He lightly kissed each finger. He lingered over her palm, caressing it
with his lips. He recalled how wonderful Jasmira’s touch felt and how her half-closed
black eyes had locked with his. Jatred thought about their kisses—longing, deep,
and sensual. He pressed her hand to his chest. His heart skipped a beat, when
his thoughts wandered to the Winter Goddess.
Jatred picked up the Amulet
from the floor next to the sofa and, looking at Jasmira, whispered, “I love you.
No damn Goddess can change that.”
He held the Amulet up to his
face, staring
at the large blue jewel. Subtle blue rays irradiated
his skin. They danced in a lazy rhythm, commanded by the Amulet
swinging in his hand. Jatred felt something disturbingly heavy in his chest,
something slowly taking his breath away. He gasped for air, feeling his throat
tightening. The room spun in front of his eyes, and the darkness enveloped him.
The Winter Goddess had summoned him to her Realm.
***
Winter Realm.
Tall, snow-covered trees guarded
a wavy stream. Puffs of white snow piled up on either side of it. The water surface
was frozen. A pair of large silver fish swam under the ice. They playfully
chased one another, moving in circles, and then quickly darting away, only to
return after a moment, and continue their peaceful dance.
Jatred looked around. For a
moment he felt confused. But then he understood. Panic made a heavy mark on his
handsome face. Jatred’s boots started to crumble, like gigantic cookies and his
feet sunk deep into the snow. He wore only a thin shirt, jeans and socks, but
it didn’t matter. Jatred didn’t feel cold. He was burning hot with fear.
When he unsuccessfully tried
to shift, a velvety whisper broke the silence, “Prince Jatred,
son
of Luther and Queen Joselynn
.” Jatred knew that voice. “You have
done the unthinkable. You passed the Amulet to the Summer Princess before our
one thousand years’ time was over. And now you will pay the price.”
Jatred knew he was about to
get hurt, and maybe even die. He wasn’t even sure anymore if he was afraid to
die. But a simple, irrepressible fear of the Goddess made his heart pound and
his breath ragged.
“It was a simple
misunderstanding,” his raspy voice shivered, and his whole body shook, though
he tried to control it.
The Goddess was furious but she
let Jatred defend himself. He wanted to take it as a good sign, but he knew
better. She wasn’t merciful.
“My Goddess. I would never
betray you or my own Race,” Jatred stated, trying not to let a pleading note
into his voice. He straightened his spine, disregarding the fact that his legs
were about to buckle. “But I love Jasmira, despite our differences. And she
loves me—”
“Love doesn’t have anything to
do with it. She simply used you,” Crystal cut him off. Her voice boomed in the
air.
Jatred didn’t answer.
“I don’t doubt your own
intelligence and sense of responsibility, Prince Jatred. But you need to prove
your loyalty to me. You will fight one of my Garhanans.”
Jatred felt a trickle of hot
sweat running down his back. If his heart could pound any more fiercely after
this announcement, it would force its way out of his chest.
How could fighting the Garhanan prove my loyalty to her? This
doesn’t make any sense.
The Goddess’s shimmering
silhouette was barely visible in the bright air. She lifted her hand. The Amulet
hung from her fingers. Its blue stone glowed and pulsed.
A low, angry growl hit
Jatred’s ears like a hammer. He turned and saw a massive figure crashing its
way through the snow. Although he’d only seen the drawings of the Winter
monsters, he
knew it was a Garhanan
. There was
nothing pleasing in the way the creature looked, smelled, or sounded. Even its
movements were horrid.
A flat nose sat
in the middle of the meaty face. The Garhanan’s bushy white brows stuck out, shading
small beady eyes. Its arms were muscular and swung down past its strong knees. The
back, chest, and thighs were colossal too. The beast’s whole body was covered
in white, sparse, long fur.
“Great,” Jatred snarled, his jaws
clenching. He tried not to show how much the Garhanan scared him.
