The Song of Eloh Saga (92 page)

My eyes searched the darkness, hoping for any sign of rescue. Nothing. I gasped, the tears choking my throat. I tried again to struggle against the bindings. Nothing.
I can’t let it happen this way. I can’t. CHASE!
I used my mind to scream every word I could think of that might draw him to me. Anything. Everything.

Then I saw him, his blond hair shining in the darkness like a beacon of hope. My heart surged. He was coming for me. He’d rescue me before that thing could take me away.

The screeching laugh interrupted my thoughts. My eyes flicked to the side. Finally, it fully materialized in front of me. Its sharp, jagged teeth glinted in the light of the portal.

“He’s too late, princesssssss.”

My gaze flipped back to Chase. He was still too far away. Even though the space between us closed with every step he took, I still knew deep down that he was too far away to reach me. I gave up, ceasing the mental struggle.

“Lianne!” His shout reverberated inside my magical cocoon, ripping at my heart. It was too late. He knew it. I knew it. “NO!”

I floated into the portal, with the kalli’s revolting bony fingers wrapped around my arm. It lead me to my doom, cackling the whole way. The portal winked and closed shut behind us. The cocoon dissolved. I fell to the floor, landing hard on my bottom.

“She’s here, master. The princesssssss is yours.”

I looked up through the mass of tears still leaking from my eyes. The kalli moved in and out of focus. For a moment, it reminded me of that little girl who’d brought my first meal at the tree house community. I blinked and it looked like the disgusting kalli again. A man, who couldn’t have been much older than Chase, stood with his feet apart and his arms folded on his chest. The kalli stood next to him.

“She’ll do just fine.”

Then the man kicked me on the forehead and everything went black.

Chapter Thirteen

I came to. At least I thought I did. Blackness enveloped me like the protective wing of a mother crow. I was the baby bird, wanting nothing more than to peek out at the light, but deathly afraid of what I might find. Even though I’d been unconscious, I hadn’t forgotten what happened the night before. Or day before. Or week.

I had no idea how long I’d been out.

The pounding sensation on my head where that man kicked me indicated maybe it had only been minutes.

No stranger to being thrown in a dark dungeon, I groped the floor with my hands searching for something, anything to tell me which way to venture. A hard floor. Clean. No straw scattered around like the last dungeon I’d been in. Alone in the darkness, I felt my bravery fail.

I sat back on my feet and sighed. I’d done nothing but fight since my birthday. Fought with Kellan and Bryden. Fought the king and Albree. Fought with Mags and Chase.

It was more than draining; it was downright soul-sucking.

I’d prepared my body to handle any situation I thought life would throw at me. Where did it get me? Stuck in another dungeon.

Bright light flooded into the room. I squinted, seeing a door far to the other side.

“Well, why are you crouched down on the floor like that? Like a scared little animal? That’s no way to conduct yourself. Get up, get up now.”

A round woman waddled into the room. Gowns piled up on her outstretched arms as she maneuvered herself around the furniture. My eyes focused. What I’d thought was a dungeon was really a beautifully appointed room. Damask tapestries hung from the windows. Darkly oiled, well-kept furniture dotted the floor. A table flanked by a few chairs near the window. It was just as beautiful as Mags’ queen quarters had been back in Fithia.

I glanced at what I’d thought was a rough dungeon floor, only to discover a woolen rug under my knees.

“We don’t usually sleep on the floor here,” the woman said. She draped the armful of dresses on a nearby chair.

I struggled to my feet, my legs stiff and sore.

“You must have been really tired to have fallen out of bed and not realized it. I’m Mayvis, by the way. Here to serve you.” She fussed around the room, straightening up things that weren’t even a mess. She clucked under her breath. “You need to get up and make yourself beautiful. You’ve been chosen for such an amazing honor.”

“Last I knew, some tiny beast stole me from the people who were protecting me. I have no idea where I am or what’s going on. Can you fill me in?”

She turned slowly, her sweet demeanor no longer comforting. Mayvis’ eyes narrowed and a small hint of a smirk mocked me. “You’re here to breed. We need your variety of magic and we need it as soon as possible. Not a day will go by that you won’t be expected to try to procreate with your new mate. We need to integrate your magic into our army.”

I gasped, stumbling backward onto the bed. Procreate for their army? It didn’t make any sense. Armies were built out of volunteers, or in times of war men joined to help their country.

“I won’t do it.”

“Doesn’t matter. If you won’t cooperate, we will force you. You’re our captive and you will do as we say. You can make this easy on yourself or it can be hard. The choice is yours. Not all the girls are willing. We’ve developed drugs to relax you, if that’s what you choose to do. Or your mate can beat you into submission. We don’t really care. As long as you produce offspring that pleases us, you will be cared for.”

“Other girls? How many are there like me?”

“Not as many as there were twenty years ago, before those damn Serenians defeated our army there.” Mayvis waved her hand in the air. “No matter, though. They may have won a battle on their soil, but we were prepared for that. The Malborn are always prepared.”

I shook my head. The Malborn. These were the people Chase had been warning me about. It wasn’t just his imagination. They really had been after me. “People know I’m here. They won’t let you get away with it. I will be rescued.”

Mayvis laughed. The wrinkles around her beady eyes crinkled. “Are you talking about Chase? How do you think we knew where you were and how to find you? Everything Chase knows, we know. Chase is an old friend of the Malborn. He won’t be coming to rescue you anytime soon. Don’t even bother wasting your time thinking about it.”

The puzzle pieces locked into place. Had Chase really been setting me up? If she was telling the truth, then he’d captured me, tricked me into trusting him, then let me be kidnapped when the time was right. Tears tried to push their way out, but I held them in. Once again, I’d been lied to. Was there anyone I could trust?

Rage coursed through my veins. It didn’t matter that Chase had been working with them. All that mattered now was finding a way out and back to Bryden.

She waddled over to me. Placing one small, fatty palm on my cheek, she patted my face. It wasn’t the hard slap I’d expected, but instead a sweet gesture. “Don’t worry, dearie. You’ll be happy here. Your mate is exceptional. You’ll find yourself interested in him quickly, I predict. Some of the other girls already requested him in their beds, but we saved him just for you.”

Mayvis winked, but instead of reassuring me, my stomach dropped to my toes. Her demeanor led me to believe she was masking her evil intentions with a sweet exterior. I didn’t buy it for a second and I wasn’t quite sure she wanted me to. Unsettling me might have been her goal, and if it was, she was succeeding.

“When will I meet him?” I asked, hoping I’d have enough time to figure out an escape plan. I had no intention of having sex with a guy I’d never met to help them build their army of darkness. I couldn’t even fathom giving in to a plan like this. The other girls who wanted this guy could have him.

“He’ll be in here soon. Within the hour, for sure. He said he wanted to get ready for you. Make the very best first impression on you. I’d suggest you do the same for him. You’ve both been chosen for a great honor. If we can get children off of you two, our army will have power beyond imagining.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “It takes almost a year to have a baby. Then it has to grow up. Your army will be nothing by the time this kid is ready to fight for you – if he or she will even agree to it.”

“We have all the time in the world, Lianne,” she said. “The Malborn have been working toward this goal for thousands of years. What’s another fifteen or sixteen years to wait for the ultimate weapon?”

“You’re sick.” I refused to play along with this ridiculous plan. If they thought I was willingly going to submit to some guy I’d never met in order to get pregnant with his evil spawn, they were fooling themselves. They obviously knew something about this power inside me, but maybe they didn’t know I could fight. Maybe they didn’t know I’d killed before. Even if it was an accident, I knew I was capable of killing someone else in defense. I’d do it again.

Mayvis laughed again as she poured a jug of water into a washing basin. “I’m not the one who’s sick, Lianne. You are. You must understand that we’re only trying to be the most powerful nation. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s what every nation wants. Sadly, most of them don’t have the forethought to make it happen. Those pathetic Fithians you grew up with? They couldn’t conquer an army of ants. And your Dalagans? Yes, perhaps they fooled the Fithians with their basic magic. But they didn’t think ahead of that conquest, did they? No, they were content to move into the Fithian land. Why? Because they’re lazy. Frankly, it astounds me they were even able to produce children whose magic was so powerful. They’re like children blowing on a pinwheel with puckered lips, lost in the moment. We Malborn plan for the future. We don’t want to be on top tomorrow – we will be on top forever.”

I wanted to make a clever retort back, tell her how they were doomed to fail, that someone would stop them. Maybe me. I held my thoughts inside, though. They would do no good right now. I was essentially trapped here. The only thing I had to worry about was this man who was coming to my room with the intent of taking me against my will and making me mother to a child who could potentially be the downfall of everyone.

Once I found a way to neutralize him, then maybe I could concentrate on finding a way out.

A hard knock at the door interrupted my thoughts.

Mayvis smiled again. Her teeth bared, in what could have been a kindly smile if it weren’t for the glimmer of malice lurking in her eyes, she scurried over to the door as fast as her short legs could propel her.

“He’s here. Oh, you’re going to like him. I promise. Why if I were twenty years younger, I might devour him myself.” Her laugh tinkled in the room, like that of a young girl in love. My stomach turned. Attractive or not, I’d never give in. Not willingly.

The door swung open. He stood there, taking up most of the doorway. His muscles bulged in all the right places. His fiery hair fell across his eyes, so like mine, a mess that begged to be swept aside. But it was his sideways smile that got me. No one else had it. Kellan.

Mayvis bowed and backed out of the doorway, leaving us alone.

“Hi, Lianne. How many years did you lust after me? Desire me? The last time we were together you were too much of a little girl to give in.” His eyes travelled up and down my body. I shivered, my stomach roiling. “Now’s your chance.”

I tried to hold my anger in. The fires burned hard inside me. Now that I was separate from Chase, there was nothing holding me back. “You tried to kill me and gravely injured my sister instead. What makes you think I’d go anywhere near you?”

Kellan tossed his head back and laughed. “You were always such a little girl until your magic took hold of you. I can see it now, how much you’ve changed. You’re a woman now, Lianne, a woman I’d be proud to hold in my arms.”

I stalked over to Kellan and placed my palm flat on his chest. “You think so? You really think you know me now?” I traced down his arm with a finger from my other hand. Goosebumps rose on his skin. I pressed against him, and felt his body respond to mine. Kellan’s arm circled around my waist, a low growl emanated from his throat. “I’m not a virgin anymore, Kellan. I know what it’s like to be with a man.”

He snorted. “Bryden isn’t a whole man. Once you experience what it’s like to be with someone like me, you’ll never want anyone else.”

“Really?” I purred. “Is that what Albree thought when she gave you up for the king? Weren’t you man enough for her?”

Kellan’s other hand wrapped itself around the back of my neck with a hard squeeze. It wasn’t a movement of lust, it was a warning. I wasn’t stupid enough to miss that.

“It was part of our plan. You know that. No woman would leave me for another man, particularly not someone fat and old like the king. I may have tried to kill you, Lianne, but I’ll never forget how you killed Albree. It enraged me almost as much as it turned me on.”

His hand slithered up my neck and ran through my hair. He yanked on my curls, pulling my head backward and exposing my neck. I concentrated on my breath, keeping it even. I almost had him where I wanted him.

His mouth dropped to my neck, kissing me, tenderly at first, and then, with a passion I might have returned a few short months ago. I pressed myself against him harder, hoping to convince him I was giving in to his advances. His hips grinded against me, and that’s when I knew he was convinced. I could feel his desire.

In one swift motion, I rammed my knee into his crotch. Kellan’s lips yanked away from my neck. He reeled backward. I raised a hand, concentrated hard, and pushed him into the mirror with my magic. It shattered in tiny shards all around him.

“You bitch! What do you think you’re doing?” he screamed. Blood poured from the back of his head, down onto his shirt.

“What else did you expect me to do? Give in to you? Are you really so conceited?”

I kept my hand up in the air, building an invisible wall between us. Kellan wasn’t in any condition to move, but I wouldn’t give him access to me at all. He had magic too, and unless something had changed in the time we’d been apart he didn’t know how to use it. I doubted anyone here would teach him. They wanted him for his breeding potential. I was sure they didn’t want him actually using any of it. No matter how convincing his swagger, he was a prisoner here as much as I was.