When Silver Moons Rise (Lost Immortals Saga #2) (14 page)

“Oh my, I should chain handsomely princes to bleeders more often. That is, if I knew I was going to get this kind of reaction.” She moves her body around the chair and sits down in my lap. “Whisper more of your…sweet nothings in my ear, Prince Indrail.”

I start laughing.
You’re screwing up, man. Remember, you’re supposed to make her think you’re whipped.

Olivia’s smile widens. She actually thinks I’m enjoying being toyed with like a dog. Her arms move around my neck, and her chest rises and falls harder. “I’m listening,” she says in a breathy voice and leans closer to me. “Why are you grateful to your Mistress? I want to hear you say it.” And I can no longer resist the temptation of putting this witch in her place.

I lean closer to her face. “I wanted to see the contours of your beautiful neck up close. It’s lovely. Perfect. I’ve memorized everything about it,” I say in the sexiest voice I can pull off considering the circumstances. My eyes travel to hers, and we lock gazes. “And when I go free, I’ll know…” I let her squirm in the grip of my charms for a moment.

“Yes, tell me,” she whispers, her face flushed, her eyes excited. “What will happen to us? Tell me what you know?”

“Whether I need one or two hands to snap that pretty little neck of yours.” This time, I’m the one who smiles wide.

The lust on her face turns into anger. Fire rages in her eyes. I don’t care. She deserves to be knocked down by a notch or two. “I will rip your seraph girl’s heart out with my bare hands! Do you understand me?”

“I do. But consider my immortality in your plans. Because I will find you. I’ll chase you down. When I catch you, let’s just say, you’ll be the one begging for mercy,” I threaten without breaking her gaze. She shoves away from me, stands up, and moves to her side of the table.

“Well. I guess we won’t be hearing the secret on how to save your lovely sister today, will we?” She sits down at her side of the table and unfolds her napkin.

Curse it. I’ve screwed up. I know. But it still felt good.

“You know, I could just make up a story on your girlfriend, and say she did something terrible. Give the human leaders a reason to bring their beloved champion and her brother here to me,” she says and takes a bite of the meat on her plate. She pretends to be calm, but I can tell by the way she stabs at the roast that she’s far from being over what I just did.

“Don’t bring Chela into our lover’s quarrel,” I warn. “Wait. I forgot. You’re not my lover, Chela is.”

She forces a smile on her pale lips. “Amazing how speaking her name always gets your attention.”

“That’s not all you’ll get if you threaten Chela again,” I say, my nails digging into the arms of my chair. The sharp pains in my stomach shoot through me again.

“Oh, you’re so frightening, Faris. Seriously, do you think you can scare me? It doesn’t matter what you do, you’ll still wind up being a prisoner in my dungeon,” she teases.

“What do you really want from me? This isn’t only about angel-blood. And you don’t need money. Tell me!”

She takes a sip of her drink, and gives me a bored look. “Since I arrived in the world of humans over a decade ago, it’s almost like I have become one of them. I’m wasting away more and more each day. Now, my physician says I have arthritis in my hands.” She holds up her thin hand up for me to see and leans toward me, locking her gaze on mine. “Why aren’t you growing old like me? You’ve barely aged at all. And you’ve been here three times as long as me. Explain.”

I’m amazed. She doesn’t know everything about the curse, and how Seth, my sister, and me don’t age because of it. I’m too weak to fight her any longer; but something tells me I need to hold on to that one last secret a little longer.

Sighing loudly, Olivia twists her mouth to the side, a look of disgust in her delicate features. “I see you need a little motivation. Fine. Asa is being held in the Cave of Dreams. To reach her, not only do you need the Cobias to get past the cursed souls guarding the waters surrounding the island, but you’ll also need to distract a rather mean spirited fire bull.” I’m the one who gets the double-sided smile this time.

She has told me something to thwart my plans. The fire bulls of Bardonia are immortal creatures, something even the Beast is going to have a hard time trying to defeat.
Curse it.

“Now, who’s the one squirming? Even if by some chance you manage to escape my lovely palace dungeons, there is no possible way for you to destroy this beast. You do know that, right? You’ll die trying to defeat it,” Olivia purrs, smiling.

“Let me worry about that part, with all due respect, Mistress.” What is she playing at? She almost makes me want to believe I’ll have a chance to leave this place.

“You’re truly ready to die for this girl? I want to meet this seraph who everyone calls a goddess,” Olivia says, her face sour. “Eat. I know you’re starving. Prison food sucks. Don’t be shy. Take a bite.”

“My appetite is gone. It’s the company I keep, I’m afraid,” I say, smirking.

She makes a light laugh. “No need to spare my feelings, Prince. I have my own secret lover,” she says, her eyes gleaming. I have to admit, I’m surprised by this news. Sure, Olivia runs a prison, and she was once promised to me. But I never really thought about her other needs, or cared.

A sinking feeling eases through my gut. There’s a reason I get to meet this guy. I’m fairly certain it has nothing to do with sharing a friendly moment with the new boyfriend.

Damn it, I hate when I’m right.

He strolls into the room as though he owns the place. Camden Atrauser. I’m out of my seat in a flash, ripping my bolted chair out of the floor, so it flails around behind me. I rush forward, my eyes focused, my mind hell bent on finishing what the two of us started in Oceania. That is, until something with an icy grip wraps around my waist. This can only be a thing Olivia has conjured, a rope made of ice. It tightens and sends paralyzing bolts through my body.

Now I’m both ticked off and suffocating.

She sucks her teeth and sighs loudly. “You promised to behave. I even shared my best dinner with you. So ungrateful,” Olivia says in a mocking sweet voice. But I don’t care about her words. I only know that the main reason my entire life has been turned upside down, now stands before me. I reach toward him, even though my lower body remains numb.

“Tank! Bring the pads!” Olivia shouts.

Camden Atrauser limps forward, an amused expression on his face. I enjoy feeling a small amount of satisfaction at seeing him use the cane. The damage I caused him when we fell off the cliff a few months back serves as a reminder for him and a badge for me. My medal ceremony doesn’t last long, though. The electricity in Olivia’s pads takes me down; and then the world around me goes dark.

* * *

I awaken and focus on the cell I’ve gotten used to living inside over these past few months.

“Good, you’re awake,” Camden greets. He stands a few feet away from me. Olivia lingers behind him, her arms crossed and her face looking disgusted. “My lovely Mistress tells me she filled you in on a fine secret. And you threw it back in her face. It’s a pity that both of Zanas Indrail’s sons are such ungrateful brats. Tell me, does your sister act this way?”

“What do you want?” I ask in measured words.

He shrugs. “Only to finish explaining what Olivia started during your dinner together. The way to break the curse is through a reunion of the last Royal Family members, the Indrails. All three of King Zanas Indrail’s children will need to stand together. That would be you, Asa, and yes, even Seth. Simple enough, right?”

“Why are you telling me all of this? We didn’t exactly kiss and say goodbye a few months back,” I say, feeling tired and heated.

“You should be thanking me for giving you this information, exiled prince,” Camden beams. “Actually, I tell you these things to give you a reason to fight.”

“You don’t make any sense,” I reply.

“Of course I do. Free the thing inside you. Stop keeping such a glorious thing locked away,” he challenges, holding my gaze with his wide-eyed one.

“I can’t do that. Hate to be a disappointment. It’s kind of hard to free anything with these galena cuffs on me,” I remind him. “Or did you forget about that?”

Olivia’s head snaps in our direction, a confused expression on her face. She has no idea what he’s talking about.

“What do you mean by ‘free the thing inside him?’” Olivia begins, easing her way over to where Camden stands. “What exactly is inside him?”

Camden gives me that evil warlord grin, and then turns to Olivia. “But it’s a secret, my dear. Didn’t he tell you, when he was whispering those sweet-nothings in your ear?”

“Funny. Forgive me for not laughing. How about filling me in on this secret. Frankly, I can’t stand anymore of those.” She crosses her arms and gives him a hard look. If he knows her the way I do—obviously he does, if they’re…um, yeah—then he should realize she’s not about to let this go.

“Lovely Livy, my dearest one,” Camden gushes and steps toward her. “Jealousy is one thing. But demands and petty girlish acts annoy me. Things that annoy me tend to disappear.” He kisses her forehead as gently as an insane man can.

Olivia jerks her head away, and says, “Are you threatening me?”

“Don’t be dramatic. Consider it advice, if you would. I would hate to lose you. Surely you realize that.” Camden caresses her face.

Olivia eases his hand away and narrows her eyes. “I’d like to know why you’ve ordered me to torture and mutilate someone for three months straight,” she says in a bland voice. “You’ve kept me in the dark for long enough, Camden. I deserve answers.”

“Don’t try to fool yourself, or me. This
someone
was the person you were assigned to marry. You loved him once. Maybe you love him still,” Camden suggests.

“No,” Olivia says too quickly. Under the influence of Camden’s stare, the hardest girl I’ve ever known squirms like a worm on a fisherman’s line. “That was a long time ago.”

“Was it really?” Camden mocks. He turns back to me, his hands cupped behind his back, reminding me of Mabry. “Tell her what’s inside you, son of Zanas Indrail.”

“That honor belongs to you. Don’t wanna do anything to possibly steal your girl again,” I tease. Behind him, Olivia suppresses a grin. Camden’s bi-colored eyed gaze locks on me. If I hadn’t just spent the last three months of my life getting tortured in every imaginable way invented, then I might’ve cowered a little.

“Make no mistake, Prince, I will get what I want. I always do. Ask your brother about how effectively thorough I can be. That is, if you ever see him again,” he says, a wide, but evil grin on his face.

“I don’t have a brother,” I snap.

“Whatever eases your mind’s delusions,” Camden says, and turns toward the door. “Come, Olivia.”

The hellacious duo walks out the door. I’m left stewing in thoughts of hatred and a ravenous hunger to be free. Now, I know the motivations behind my mutilation these last few months. Olivia and Camden had made some kind of crazy lover’s bargain with each other. For Olivia, having a chance to torture the guy who jilted her was like living in paradise. Camden’s goal was to reach the thing inside me, forcing it to come out. For him, this deal is about control of yet another one of Lord Zanas Indrail’s sons, some of the last remaining descendants of the Lost Immortals.

For me, holding the Beast inside is the closest thing to freedom I have at the moment. And I’m not willing to play that card just yet.

Chapter Seventeen

A Prince Darkly (Chela)

In the next Dim City, Seth and I camp out in an abandoned movie theatre. He hides the motorcycle in a group of bushes growing along the back of the building. We’ve traveled North for almost five days now.

“We’ll stay here tonight and move on in the morning,” he says and walks through the gaping opening. There’s no ceiling on over the lobby. Why did he choose this place?

“The prison isn’t that far away from here.” My heart flutters when he says this. I smile and follow him into a room located at the left side of what used to be the lobby.

The door actually closes and has a lock that works. Plus, the ceiling is still intact in this part of the building. We head up a flight of shaky stairs and walk into what used to be a projection room. I place my sleeping bag on the floor beside a rusted machine. Seth situates himself across from me, and continues giving me the silent treatment. He has been this way ever since I intruded on the dream where his mother was taken.

Sure, he provides food for me, and I’m grateful for his assistance; but it’s kind of like I’m traveling with a ghost. I find myself hoping he’ll eventually want to use more than three sentences a day with me.

When he leaves to go find food, I stay behind and take a moment to study some of the outdated machinery. Father is a Historian, a keeper of the Essential Archives, the historical records that contain information on places like this one. I wish there was a way I could talk to him about the sad, but intriguing lifestyle I’ve been living.

Later that night after Seth returns and we’ve settled in, I think about the dream I shared with Faris a week ago. I anxiously fall asleep, hoping we’ll find our way back to one another. A few hours pass by. I awaken only to find the ghost boy sleeping across the room from me.

Sighing, I ease my aching heart by thinking about my family and friends. What’s Lexa doing now that she doesn’t have me to confide in about her latest crush? Is Micah still acting like he can’t walk? I hope Father doesn’t get into too much trouble because of what we did back at the train station.

Mostly, I worry about Jalen and Desi. Did she find her brother?  Has she and my dark knight murdered each other, yet? I don’t think so. I saw the way Jalen watched her when he thought neither one of us was looking at him. He’s got it bad. I smile to myself, when I think about the idea of Jalen and Desi as a couple. Oh boy, the world will never be the same.

Finally, my thoughts come back around to the person I’m traveling with. I can’t forget seeing the way he was ripped from his mother’s arms and beaten by Camden. The scene touched me, and I’m afraid some kind of permanent damage has been done to my good sense indicator.