Genesis (38 page)

When Heath disappeared, my heart
fractured in two.

I glanced at Tabitha who hovered near
the doorway. “I’m trusting you.”

She nodded. “All is not lost, even
though it probably feels that way right now. There may be a way for
you to be with him again, but you have to do what I say in all
things.”

“
I will only follow your
orders if I feel they are right.”

She took my hand. “In a few moments the
royal guard will come in here to arrest you.”

I gasped. My hands shook at the thought
and my first instinct was to run. Nikko was one thing, but a group
of terrifying men barging in here to take my freedom from me was a
completely different monster all together. Speaking of monsters, it
would be good if Creed showed up again.

Tabitha inched closer. “Remember that
no one can take from you that which is freely given. I will be in
touch.”

She vanished. What the heck?

The door blew apart. I shielded my eyes
from the threatening shards. They bit into my skin, but I didn’t
scream. A man I didn’t know marched up to me. Where was
Nicco?

One minute we were in the dark room I
had been married in and the next we were somewhere in the
borderlands. The man’s voice boomed. “By order of the council of
fae, I bind you to the realms.”

At once I was caught up in a flurry of
commotion. My body convulsed as if twisting into something smaller,
my bones aching as if they were splintering into dust. I screamed
out in horrible pain, reaching inside to stop this madness. A
barrier lay between me and my power, and I was sure it was the man
at my side. Somehow I was flung over this giant’s back and
something caught me around the middle, pressing me closer to him. I
pushed at the living vines of flesh, but they quickly strapped me
in.

My mouth held a scream that refused to
release. The sound echoed in my head, making my mind splinter.
Everything flashed to black then white then nothing.

I was sure I had died until I woke up.
My body ached from whatever that royal guard had done to me, and I
wasn’t likely to forget that…ever. No wonder everyone was afraid of
those guys. My fingers brushed over my face, just to make sure I
still had one. Phew.

I opened my eyes one at a time, trying
to adjust to the blinding light. I had to be back in the crystal
castle. No other place glimmered like this, as if the air was
infused with opal dust.

“
Good. You’re awake,” said a
woman.

I ached too much to really care who she
was or what she was going to do with me. When I glanced at her, I
realized I had seen her before. “Grindell?”

She made a cooing noise. “You
remembered.”

Shot in the dark, really. She could
have been one of the other two whose names had slipped my memory. I
nodded.

She beamed. “I’m afraid with all the
commotion going on in the castle today, I will have to do. My
sisters are assisting other Elementals.”

Okay? “What exactly is going
on?”

She stopped what she was doing, which,
by the way, I still didn’t know exactly what that was. She had
something in her hands that looked suspiciously like a needle and
thread. I lifted myself on to my elbows. No way. A swath of white
fabric pooled at her feet. She tied off and showed me what I could
only imagine was my bonding dress. My eyes got caught on the
intricate design of flowers and diamonds sewn into the pattern. She
stood and held it to her shoulders. “Do you like it?”

“
It’s beautiful.”

She moved closer, and it was all I
could do not to cringe away. Thoughts of Heath hit me in the chest.
I groaned, curling inward.

She rushed to my side. “Oh, my lady. I
am so sorry that you have to go through this so soon after your
ordeal.” She reached for a cup on the nightstand and brought it to
my lips.

I sniffed. “What is it?”

“
Only water,
mistress.”

Luke’s face flashed into my mind. The
way he used to be, not the monster he had become. I sat up. “Thank
you.” The liquid spilled easily down my parched throat, and I
wanted more. The cup filled back up faster than I could
ask.

I smiled at the woman sitting next to
me and tried to put real affection into it. She had only ever been
kind to me. “So when am I going to…” The word wouldn’t form.
Tabitha didn’t even tell me who she had chosen.

It didn’t really matter. The only thing
that did was it wasn’t Heath. The wound in my heart opened anew. I
turned toward the window and wiped my eyes. “Do you mind giving me
a minute?”

She cleared her throat and smoothed out
her skirt. “I would, my lady, but I am under strict orders not to
leave you unattended.”

“
Who’s guarding the
door?”

Her eyes widened. “I am unsure of his
name. We don’t usually address the Guard.”

I hoped it was Nicco instead of that
horrible man that brought me here. My ears heated just thinking
about how he had treated me.

Nicco was right. The fae didn’t think
of the Guard as people. Ridiculous. “Okay, thanks,” I said because
I didn’t want to get him into trouble for telling me his name. I
moved to the edge of the bed. “What now?”

“
We must hurry. Tabitha will
know that you are awake. Oh, I wish I had help.” She covered her
mouth, and looked at me with a startled embarrassment. “I shouldn’t
have said that.”

I laughed. “Why don’t you just blink it
on me?”

She seemed confused. “What?” Her blue
eyes went huge when she apparently caught my meaning. “No!” Her
head was going to come off if she didn’t stop shaking it so hard.
“I would never disrespect you in such a manner.”

I winked at her. “I won’t tell if you
don’t.”

A wary light flickered in her eyes.
“Truly?”

“
Sure.” I licked my lips and
shrugged. “What’s the big deal anyway?”

She lowered her gaze. “We do our best
to honor your customs.”

I laughed. “Trust me. Any red-blooded
American girl would die to have the ability to change clothes at a
moment’s notice. Strike that, they’d probably kill for it. I know I
would have. Sleep is hard to come by when you’re a teenager, not to
mention monthly curses that can ruin your life at school.” The one
time I chose to wear white jeans. Ugh.

She raised her brows at me as if I was
an alien species. I laughed. I guess I was. “Just kidding—about the
killing part, at least.”

“
Kidding?”

Oh brother, this chick didn’t get out
much. “Joking.”

She gave a nervous giggle, wringing her
hands. “Oh, I have never heard that term.”

I smiled. “No kidding?”

She laughed. “If you are sure, my
lady.”

“
I won’t hold it against
you. In fact, I might become angry with you if you insist on
manhandling me.”

Her furrowed brow told me she didn’t
understand me again. “I wish for you to blink that dress on
me.”

She did. My hair was swept up into the
usual and my body tingled as if I had just had a soothing bath. I
ran my hands over the amazingly smooth embroidery of my gown
wondering how many hours she had spent on it. “Thanks.”

Tabitha charged through the door,
giving Grindell a look. The woman hastily retreated.

I stared at Tabitha. “You could have at
least asked nicely.”

She let out an ornery sigh. “If you had
come from the meeting I just attended, you would have the right to
judge my actions. But seeing as how you didn’t, leave me
be.”

I swallowed hard. “What
happened?”

She shoved her hand in the air. “The
council is divided where you are concerned. Some think you should
not bond at all.”

That sounded like a good idea to me,
especially since I couldn’t have Heath.

“
Not so fast. The other side
wishes for you to be given to Lord Luthais.”

“
What!” I marched up to her,
my whole body tense with rage. “Don’t they know what he
did?”

She twisted away from me, but not fast
enough for me to miss her grimace. “In their eyes, he was in the
right to try to take you. They expected one of the lords to show
leadership and they think he has.”

“
She is controlling
him.”

“
That is another thing you
should know.
She
has come home.”

My breath came out in a rush. “Was she
arrested?”

Tabitha shook her head. “On the
contrary, she is here being readied to attend the
ceremony.”

“
I will not bond with
Luke.”

“
The council asked for time
to discuss matters.” She stared at me, her silvery eyes hollow.
“They insisted I attend to you.”

Something dark lay unsaid. “What does
that mean?”

“
I wish I knew. I pleaded
with them to choose Ammon.”

I couldn’t breathe. “Zach, but I
can’t—”

The look she shot me stopped
me midsentence. “He is the
only
lord you can bond with, Rayla.”

I doubled over, curling in on myself.
This was too much. Zach would expect a relationship with me. The
others might, as well, but I could bargain for time. Would Zach be
willing to give me time to get over Heath? Did I want such a
thing?

“
What about Jett? I think I
would be okay to bond with him.” He would be reasonable. I knew
this because he already had been.

I expected her to give me images again,
but she shook her head at me. “There are some things you would
rather not know. Trust me.” My mind whirled with the possibilities
that I was sure were worse than what she refused to
share.

“
Anything is possible,” she
said, and somehow, I believed her. I shivered in response to an
unknown enemy. “You may not have to worry about who you bond with.
If the council comes back with the wrong answer, we will
flee.”

“
Tabitha!” I couldn’t
believe what I was hearing.

She smiled at me, and it held a girlish
twist. “I have given in to their decrees at times, but this is one
area I will not yield. You must be bound to Ammon. They know the
reasons, but I dare not tell you what would happen if you were to
bond with another lord, especially considering your reaction in the
rebel base.”

I covered my face and took a long
breath. This was just fantastic. I should have been happy. If Heath
hadn’t been involved, I would have chosen Zach; yet now, oh, what
was I going to do?

A messenger came for us a few minutes
later. Somehow I had pictured the council deliberating for hours or
years even. My dress flowed behind me as we walked through the
corridors toward that strange room full of even stranger
people.

Tabitha explained how Ainessa had come
back, humble and pleading for her life. She’d claimed that she
realized her errors were great, but she had only been worried about
the future of her race. She also claimed Luke had only been acting
for the benefit of the fae.

I still couldn’t believe they condoned
what he had done. Tabitha stopped outside the heavy double doors
and clasped my fingers. Her cool skin sent shivers up my arms.
“Once inside, do not speak. Let me handle this. You must not come
across as arrogant.”

My back stiffened automatically. “It’s
okay for them, but not for me?”

There was no hesitation to her answer.
“Yes.”

I clenched my teeth. “I hope you know
what you’re doing.”

“
Trust me, Rayla. Trust in
your creator.”

I gave her a sharp look. Where had I
heard that before? Was it Styx? I took a deep breath and nodded.
Let them think they had won. “I’m ready.”

Our escort pulled the doors open and
ushered us inside the room, one side gleaming white, the other
deepest shadow. The first thing I noticed was there were more
ornate boxes filling the walls. They went as high up as I could
see. The worst part was all of them were occupied. If my count was
even close, there had to be a few hundred. Valen smiled as we
approached the dais. “How good to see you again, Rayla. We have
been worried about you.”

Me or my power?
I thought before I could stop myself. “Thank you,”
I said to try to cover up my blunder. He still frowned.

“
As I am sure Tabitha has
told you, we have not all agreed on what should be done at this
point. With Ainessa and Lord Luthais home once again, the threat
has been dealt with and now we must think to our future. “We have
watched your progress with interest.” His smile returned. “You are
a very talented young lady.”

“
Thank you,” I said again,
keeping my cringe from showing on my face or in my mind.

Suppressing thoughts was a skill I
needed to work on apparently because Valen snapped at me. “Yes, it
appears you do!”