Island Shifters: Book 01 - An Oath of the Blood (50 page)

Kiernan looked in the mirror and almost did not recognize herself. Her long wavy blonde hair, pulled back into the severe braid preferred by the Gems, added years to her youthful features. Her cheeks had a hollow look from the constant combat training and her lack of appetite.

Beck was coming.

Bajan was coming.

She had known for almost two days now and still had not come up with the words she would use to tell them that she was not leaving Elloree. This was her home now. She was fairly confident that Bajan would agree to stay and live with her among the coven, and she would make that offer to the Draca Cat. But, Beck? How was she going to explain to him how she was feeling? It was hard enough for her to comprehend the emotional journey she had been on for the past month let alone adequately describe it to him. She was not even concerned any longer about the women she saw Beck with that evening so long ago. This was not about him. It was about her.

Bajan had been trying to reach her all morning, so she knew they were close.

There was a knock on her door, and she jumped with a start. “Come in,” she said. It was Diamond.

The beautiful sorceress wore a grim look. “A young man approaches. Yours?”

She nodded.

“Stay here. Sapphire and Citrine will deal with him.”

“No, Diamond, I must talk to him. I need to make him understand that I am staying here with all of my sisters of my own free will.”

Diamond’s eyes were as hard as her name. “Sapphire will make him understand.”

Kiernan reached out to grab the woman’s arm. “I do not want him harmed, Diamond!”

The witch raised a pale eyebrow. “Well, I guess that depends on how easy he takes no for an answer.”

Beck did not attempt to disguise his approach to the sorceresses’ castle, suspecting that a direct tactic was best. That, and the fact that he did not have time for anything else. He needed to find Kiernan and get out of there as quickly as possible.

As he drew closer with Bajan beside him, he observed several women standing on a wide staircase that led to the front entrance of a graceful and feminine castle with spires covered in a pink-hued tile and colorful pennants flapping in the breeze. The grounds were magnificent with freshly shorn green grasses and large oak trees lining a road peppered with colored stones. He did not see any guards or soldiers, just the women. And most of those, he noticed with more than a little concern, carried weapons. Surprisingly, all were formally attired with their hair in braids.

A raven-haired woman stepped off the stairs and approached. “May I help you?” she asked, cold blue eyes glaring at him suspiciously.

“I am looking for Kiernan Everard. She is…”

“Not available,” the woman finished for him.

Beck drew in a breath. “I came for Kiernan, and I am not leaving without her.”

“Oh, but you are. The only option that remains before you is whether you would like to leave on your own two feet or be carried?”

Beck stared at the woman for a moment and then made a decision. He put one leg out as if to depart, and then forcefully spun away from her and leapt into the air with super human ability, somersaulting over her head to land on the bottom step of the staircase in front of the other women. The raven-haired sorceress screamed out in fury behind him, and Bajan answered her with a mighty roar. The ferocity of his bellow caused all of the witches to hesitate in alarm, and that was all he needed to get past them and into the castle.

“Kiernan! Kiernan, where are you?” he shouted, running into the foyer and sliding along a white marble floor and past a highly wrought fountain.

Blue eyes blazing, the black-haired witch stalked in after him, her lips moving fast. Without warning, his arms flailed helplessly as his feet swept out from under him and he went down hard on the floor. Before he could recover, an invisible force lifted him into the air by his feet.

He saw the fist coming toward his face while suspended in mid-air but was powerless to avoid it after the sorceress cast another spell that pinned his arms to his sides. She struck him in the mouth, and he spit blood onto the marble floor as the room filled with more and more women. One with fiery red hair approached and began striking him in a series of, Beck was certain, magically-assisted punches in both sides of his body. His breath left his lungs and he grunted when one of his ribs broke.

The black haired sorceress grabbed his hair. “Let us try this again, shall we? Your own two feet or carried?” she demanded.

He looked up at her defiantly. “I will not…leave…without Kiernan.”

The women attacked then, and he never knew such pain in his life.

Princess! Are you going to stand by and let them kill Beck? I am shut outside of the castle, but I can hear them beating him. Princess Kiernan Everard! What has happened to you? Help Beck!

“Kiernan, are you all right?” asked Diamond, her voice filled with worry as she stepped back from her. “Highworld! What is wrong with your eyes?”

Kiernan broke her connection with Bajan and blinked, her eyes green once more. “I have to go. They are killing him!” She ran to the door and yanked it open, stumbling through and then righting herself to sprint down the hall to the front foyer.

“Kiernan!” yelled Diamond from behind her.

She ignored her and kept running, leg muscles straining with the effort. She arrived just as six of the witches opened the front doors and threw Beck bodily down the stairs to land face down in the dirt outside.

“Stop! What are you doing?” she screamed, pushing the women out of her way to run down the stairs to Beck, who let out a soft moan as she knelt beside him. She looked up at her new sisters sternly. “Leave us! I need to speak to him alone.”

“Kiernan, are you sure…?” began Citrine.

“Yes! Now, please leave. I will only be a few moments.”

The sorceresses reluctantly withdrew, respecting her wish for privacy.

“Beck, are you hurt badly?” she whispered urgently, slowly turning his body onto his back. His face was covered in dirt and blood from a split lip, but it was Beck. Her Beck. And, her body trembled as she resisted the urge to throw her arms around him.

He groaned again. “I will be fine…I think. Thank you for the warm welcome,” he said softly.

“Beck, I did not know that they would react like that. I think they are just trying to protect me.”

He sat up, holding an arm around his ribs. “That redhead really packs a punch.”

Kiernan gave him a sad smile. “She is a sorceress of magical combat.”

Beck looked at her for the first time in over a month. He took in her dress and braided hair. “You look different.”

She lowered her eyes. “I am different, and I do not know if I can help you understand,” she said, withdrawing from him.

“Try me.”

She looked into his eyes. “The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt you, Beck. You know that, don’t you?”

He nodded.

“But, this is my home now. I belong here with all of my sisters.”

Beck looked at her incredulously. “Kiernan, you cannot be serious? We have to go! Right now! Adrian Ravener is killing people all over the island. Demons walk the earth! We have to stop him.” He reached out to turn her face to him. “It is our duty to stop him.”

“No.” She stood up and removed the pendant from around her neck and held it out to him. “Take this. It is the pendant you will need in the upcoming battle, not me.”

Beck took the pendant and got to his feet with a wince. “To hell with the battle. I need you, Kiernan! I love you!”

She turned her back to him, unable to meet his eyes and whimpered. “It is for the best, Beck. You must go.”

He spun her around, and a tear dropped from his eye. “You promised me, Kiernan! In your mother’s dressing room in Nysa, you promised me that we would be together always.”

The reminder elicited her own tears that now streamed down her face unchecked. “Stop, Beck! Do not make this any harder than it has to be!”

“Just answer me one question, Kiernan,” he croaked. “Do you still love me? At all?”

She turned away again and fell to her knees. She could not look at him when she answered. “No. The answer is no, I do not love you anymore.”

The ground rumbled underneath her and Beck let out an agonized scream. She turned and watched as he threw his hands out and uprooted a massive oak tree on the grounds in front of the castle and sent it sailing through the air. Face etched in pain, he went down to one knee and wrapped an arm around his ribs.

“Beck…” she said softly.

Lurching upright, he did not look back as he staggered back down the road.

She put her hand in her mouth to keep from crying out. Out of nowhere, Bajan appeared in front of her. He did not say anything, but just stared at her. He did not have to. His blazing green eyes said it all.

Bajan, I am so sorry.

Why Princess?

I have my reasons, Bajan. Stay with me.

I cannot.

Please, Bajan. We have many things to discuss. Stay with me!

While you have strayed from your path, Princess, mine remains clear. I must help the Savitars. Good-bye.

The Draca Cat turned and began walking after the faltering Beck.

She cried out in her mind.
Bajan!

He did not respond.

She stayed outside until both Beck and Bajan were out of sight. When she did not have any tears left to shed, she stood to go back into the castle and, as if in response to her mood, the world turned dark.

Chapter 29

Q
UEEN
G
RACE

K
iernan numbly retraced her steps back to her chambers long after Beck and Bajan departed. None of her sisters could explain why the world had gone dark, and Diamond and her Divination Gems were determinedly absorbed in the task of trying to discover the source through the power of their stones.

The rest of the sorceresses left her alone. They knew she would not welcome the intrusion.

Now, she lay on her bed alone in a dark room, the tapers in the heavy bronze holder on her nightstand long since extinguished. Emotions warred in a heated battle inside her mind and body. She tossed and turned for hours before finally closing her eyes and falling into a fitful sleep, mentally exhausted. Her last conscious thought a prayer to the Highworld for guidance.