Goddess of War (8 page)

HE DIDN’T FORGET
me, Raina thought with a grin.

Raina still held the hand of her prince. Her cheeks felt warm as they walked through the path made by the crowd of guests. They all stared at her with curiosity.

She’d barely had time to notice the incredible decorations and the gowns and masks of the other guests. She tried to take it all in, but her heart pounded in her chest as she glanced up at Aric’s face.

His blond hair was cut a little shorter, and his face was smooth and free of facial hair. He had grown older, but even more attractive.

Raina stared at him curiously.

Something had changed about him, now that she had a closer look without slamming her swords into his shield. A hardness that wasn’t there before.

He had seen things.

Done things.

Her heart went out to him. She wanted to hear about everything that had occurred while he was away.

She glanced back at her brother, her eyes catching on Prince Eryon’s face.

He watched her, his face stern.

Oh,
she thought, realization filling her.
He has feelings for me.

She swallowed, unsettled by that notion.

It didn’t matter at that time, Prince Aric was back. That was all that mattered. She’d smooth things over with Eryon at another time.

“You kept your promise,” Aric said, giving her hand a squeeze.

She beamed up at him. “I told you I would.”

“That you did.”

“How was your journey around the world?”

Prince Aric led her inside the banquet hall and up to the balcony. Inside servers handed them goblets of wine.

Raina peered into her cup, seeing the red liquid ripple with each step they took further into the hall. The strong aroma made her raise her eyebrows. She’d never had wine before. Allan warned her against it.

Excitement to try it filled her, making her grin as she took her first sip. It was strong, but had a pleasant flavor of blueberries and cherries.

She took another long sip before looking back up at Aric.

“Not as exciting as this moment with you,” he said.

Raina blushed. He was even more charming than she remembered. Three years hadn’t changed him too much. Perhaps there was hope for something to develop between them.

“You’re too kind.”

Raina stood on the golden crested balcony and gawked at the amount of food being set in the banquet hall. She was excited. Tonight she could dance, laugh, and drink wine.

Raina simply wanted to be a normal girl. Just for one night.

She gripped the gold railing and her jaw tensed when she saw the man from that day on the street outside Olia’s shop. He entered the room, walking slowly, his arms held out at his sides.

Her stomach dropped. She nudged Aric in the forearm.

“Have you seen that man before?”

She glanced at Aric and noticed a how his face went ashen at the sight of the man.

“Yes,” he sputtered, leaning forward to get a better look. When he looked back at Raina, his eyes were widened with terror.

“What is it?” Raina was almost too afraid to find out what could make Aric look that afraid.

“That’s the man I killed.”

Raina searched his eyes. He was serious. She swallowed, a shiver running up her spine.

A loud explosion gave Raina a start. One of the walls of the banquet hall was blasted through by a large stone.

Aric pulled Raina to him. She gasped when two servers tried to run from whatever had caused the damage.

It was him. The stranger did it.

The servers were lifted from the ground and thrown into the air by an unseen force.

Aric drew his sword. “Stay back,” he shouted to her. “It has to be magic. I
killed
that man!”

Raina heard the servers crash to the ground, their screams cut off the instant their bodies made impact. The blood drained from her face.

Her own scream was caught in her throat when she saw the stranger from earlier that evening fly pass the opening of the banquet hall.

It’s him. Desi! What do I do?

Silence.

“I have to do something,” Raina said.

Aric put an arm out, stopping her.

“No,” he said, drawing his sword with a ring of steel. “This is my fight.”

The black blade was covered in silver symbols, the language of the gods. He glanced at her, his green eyes glowing.

“Stay here,” he said.

Before Raina could protest, Aric vanished.

ARIC CREPT THROUGH
the broken hole in the wall, sword ready, eyes glowing with the god’s power of his father’s bloodline.

Completely unseen, he peered into the courtyard of panicking people hurrying to escape the attack. Now he could use his abilities for something other than fighting for sport in the coliseum.

If one looked closely, they’d see the ripple in the air around Aric as he stood there. His adrenaline rushed as he sought out the man that had caused such a commotion.

Was this another assassination attempt?

Aric was anything but an easy target.

He stood up straight when he saw the same man fly across the courtyard, his long hair flying behind him like a thick cloak.

Magic.

Odd
, Aric thought. Who was that man?

He made sure to keep the man in his sight as he held onto his sword, trying to figure out a way to strike the man from that high above him. The chill in the air seemed to cling to his flesh, eating at it like insects.

He clenched his jaw, feeling his hand grow colder and colder. It was difficult harnessing his power in more than one place at a time.

Clasping a black gauntlet on his wrist, Aric breathed out with relief. The sensations faded as the gauntlet charged, turning red as his power concentrated into the jewel embedded into the steel.

One blast of searing hot power shot through the air and into the flying man.

He stopped abruptly, his eyes shooting to glare at Aric as his power shifted from the going invisible to his gauntlets. Too bad that he couldn’t use both powers at the same time.

He didn’t need both. With his hands wrapped around the hilt of his sword, he prepared himself for a battle.

With lightning speed, his target swooped down and caught a girl by her hair.

Princess Arela.

Aric swallowed, lowering his sword.

“Just put her down,” Aric shouted, his heart pounding in his chest. His voice came out strained. Nothing frightened him more than losing someone he loved.

“Put down your sword, and all of your clever gadgets, boy.”

Boy?

The level of disrespect threatened to make Aric lash out with everything he had. Seeing his sister in distress, as she hung from her hair, a dagger placed at her white throat, forced him control his temper.

Arela’s life depended on it.

“Put it down now,” he shouted once again. “Or the princess joins the land of the dead.”

Aric nodded, lowering his sword to the ground.

What happened next mystified Aric.

Raina
.

She ran out of the banquet room like a cat of the jungles of Sabourn. Her face was still beautiful, but there was something more there.

Hate.

Rage.

Power.

In a funnel of wind and glowing tendrils of gold, she swept through the courtyard, knelt to one knee, and shot into the air.

Taken aback, Aric’s mouth parted as he watched her fly straight to the man that threatened the princess.

He blinked once. Raina had Arela and set her on the stone ground so quickly that Aric’s eyes widened.

Is this a dream?

Princess Arela was back on the ground, screaming with her shaking hands covering her mouth as she looked up at Raina who flew back into the air.

Blood sprayed everywhere as Raina used the man’s own dagger to stab him in the throat.

Aric caught his breath. His heart thumped as he watched her.

When she landed, she was covered in blood. She looked to him, her face unapologetic for what she had just done.

She was no ordinary Seer.

Witch?

Monster?

God?

He didn’t know what she was. But what she’d just done took his level of interest to heights no other girl had ever made him feel.

 

THE WORLD FELT
much different somehow.

Raina had never killed anyone before. Covered in blood, her hands shook as she looked down at them.

All sounds faded, yet her thumping heartbeat filled her ears.

When her eyes lifted, she saw that everyone in the courtyard stared at her in awe. The panic and frenzy had ended, but the aftermath was somehow scarier.

Raina was exposed.

Arela stopped screaming, but her eyes held something Raina never wanted to see directed at her.

Fear.

That terror in Arela’s eyes twisted Raina’s stomach. Raina took a step toward the girl that she had grown to love like a sister.

Arela scrambled away, her dress in tatters as she climbed to her feet.

“Don’t touch me,” Arela shouted as she ran into her brother's arms.

“But I saved you,” Raina said, breathlessly. Tears stung her eyes. Somehow she couldn't catch her breath as she clutched her chest.

“I did it for you.”

Allan took off his cloak, and then his gloves, revealing the tattoos that stretched across his fingers.

His eyes fixed on his sister in the center of the courtyard. Those that remained encircled her, gawking at what she had just done.

Even the guards stood back, unsure of what to do.

Were they safe?

No.

Raina had exposed them.

Everything was falling apart, before his eyes. He put a hand out to Olia when she reached for him.

“Please stay back, Olia. This is not your fight.”

Olia nodded. “Be careful, Allan.”

He leapt from their place at the other end of the courtyard. As he soared above what remained of the crowd, he looked to the sky.

It was night, and somehow it began to turn white.

Every hair stood on end as Allan landed beside his sister.

No use hiding who they were now.

Litha had already found them.