Children of the Gods - A Chosen Novel (17 page)

“Can you make it stay without touching the
console?” I asked without turning my head from the view.

“Think it, and it shall remain until you want
it no more.”

I turned in his arms until I was facing him.
His face was bathed in the light of a million stars. In that
moment, he was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

“Did you lock the entrance?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“I can do anything since my feet are touching
the skin of the ship?”

He nodded. The entrance made the whining
noise that indicated it was locked. He looked at me and his
question melted away.

I circled my arms around his neck. The stars
were reflected in them as if my skin was the night sky itself. It
took my breath away. The increased pressure of his hands against
the rise of my hips made it clear that the illusion was having the
same effect on him.

“You have no idea how long I have waited to
share this with you.” His emotions carried on the scent of his
breath, overwhelming me. I closed my eyes and savored the heat of
his lips on my neck, tracing lines that made me quiver.

“Are you cold?” he asked, his lips curving up
into a devilish smile.

~o~

Griff was leaning against the wall outside
the dining room. I could feel my stomach tighten the moment I saw
him. He was attempting to look casual, but nothing about the act
was casual. He reminded me of a cobra; muscles tensed, ready to
strike. He smiled and gave me a nod, not completely formal, but too
polite.

I watched as Griff leaned in and whispered
something to Jaxson. His posture did not change, but something
about him caused my heart to speed up and my stomach to do a little
flip of apprehension. I could not hear his response, but it was
curt. A few brief words, a shake of the head, then a nod, and Griff
was vanishing up the hall.

“What was that about?” I asked when I could
no longer see his retreating form.

“Nothing. Just a nuisance that needs
attending,” he responded with a shrug.

“Should I be concerned?”

“It is nothing that need crease this
beautiful face with worry.” He caressed my cheek and brushed his
lips against mine. I nearly forgot what we were discussing.

“Ugh.” Duester’s voice came from behind. She
walked by and rolled her eyes before disappearing into the dining
room. Even though she was gone, I could feel the warmth spreading
through my cheeks.

Jaxson took my hand, and with a look that
made me forget my embarrassment, he asked, “Would you like to eat
in tonight?”

“I think you might be a mind reader.”

Everyone looked up as we entered the kitchen.
No one moved, but every eye tracked our movements as we weaved
around the stations and headed to the cooler.

“Strawberries?” Jaxson asked holding up a
plump, juicy looking piece of fruit. I nodded and my mouth began to
water, the smell of it overwhelming my senses. He held up a pear
and I closed my eyes, taking in the sweet smell that was stronger
than normal. I wondered if being near him was heightening my sense
of smell as it did with my taste.

I moved closer to help select the fruit,
running a finger along his back as I walked around him. He gave a
little shiver and stopped holding up the fruit for inspection and
quickly filled a tray.

“What is on the menu tonight, Marcel?” he
asked after carefully shutting the cooler door.

“Are you looking for something specific,
Sir?” Marcel asked, wiping a hand across his forehead. Beads of
sweat reappeared instantly.

“Any finger food?”

He looked immediately relieved. “Oh yes. I
have just the thing.” He turned and bent over a small warming box,
balancing on his round belly as he pulled out a small tray and held
it out to Jaxson.

“Apparently, I am not the only mind reader
today,” Jaxson said, turning toward me.

Marcel gave a nervous little laugh.

“Thank you, Marcel. You have made our
evening.” I winked at him and he turned the color of an overcooked
turkey.

Jaxson gave him a nod of approval before
pressing a hand to the wall. He balanced the tray in one hand and
helped me through with the other.

Chapter
23

Duester let out a heavy sigh when I entered
the control room. I was too nervous to let her get to me today.

Jaxson looked up and smiled. “Ready,
Love?”

“I think so.”

Duester made a sound of disgust. I glanced
over just in time to catch her rolling her eyes.

“Come, we are making Duester uncomfortable
again, Dear.”

Jaxson took my outstretched hand leading me
into the hall. He remained close enough that our hips bumped with
each step.

“Are you sure you are up to this?” he asked,
his lips tickling the hairs next to my ear.

I leaned further toward him. He let go of my
hand and wrapped his arm around me. Though my stomach was still in
knots, the contact, the warmth of his skin, calmed me.

“Yes, it is Festival. How would it look if I
was not there?”

“That does not matter. You are the only thing
that matters. I will send Daniella and Finale. It is not the first
time they have gone in our stead. No one even notices.”

“You know that is not true. They are our
people. We have to be there. They need to know they are important.
Besides, Festival is in our honor.”

The first year, when the City was still a
village, the elders held a celebration in honor of the Halorans to
thank them for delivering their people from the brink of death. It
was a celebration full of food and life that became a yearly
tradition, honoring the Gods responsible for their salvation.

With the passage of time, Festival has
changed from a celebration of the Gods to a reminder of our place
in the relationship. Growing up in the City you learned early; it
was no longer the Gods we honored at Festival, but those who traded
their lives for ours, the Chosen. It was their sacrifice that would
be honored on this day.

I was not sure I was ready to face my people,
being on either side of the relationship, and Jaxson’s concern
whittled away at the little resolve I had. I squared my shoulders
and made the decision that I was strong enough.

Jaxson closed his eyes and leaned into my
hand as I touched his cheek. “If it gets to be too much, you will
tell me?”

I nodded and we joined Griff, Orson and a
small army of guards awaiting orders just outside the entrance of
the ship.

There would be no discreet entrance for us
today. Jaxson held my hand to steady me as I stepped onto the
pedestal. The last time I was on it, I was too frightened to notice
how lavish it was. The interior was the same pearlescent material
as the walls of the ship, but in the sunlight, the usually pale
purple was a brilliant, shimmering violet color.

I worked my fingers into the soft velvet of
the teal bench. The contrast of colors made them seem more vivid,
or maybe it was just being outdoors in natural light. Being on the
ship for such long stretches sapped the sharpness from life
sometimes, made things seem less real.

Jaxson finished giving orders to the guards
and turned to look at me. I could not help but wonder what he was
thinking as his cheeks pulled up with just a hint of a possible
smile.

I patted the bench next to me. “Come, sit.
Share your secrets with me.”

He laughed. “Then how would I keep you
interested?”

“Oh, you have your ways.”

My breath caught as he sat and placed his
hand on my thigh. Griff cleared his throat, and I found myself
studying the velvet bench.

Everyone was silent as we got underway. I
felt bad watching the guards beside the pedestal, keeping pace on
foot. They needed to be mobile in case of an attack, but it still
was not easy to accept that so many people should be put out for
the sake of my safety, or that there was reason to need such a
detail.

“What are you thinking?” Jaxson whispered in
my ear. His lips lingered close, brushing strands of my hair,
causing a tickle to run down my spine. He was trying to distract
me. His breath smelled of fear and Griff’s body was tense standing
next to me.

“I am wondering why that guard just broke
off?” I asked, turning toward him just in time to catch a glimpse
of a second guard disappearing into the trees. Every hair was now
on end. My skin felt alert, and at the same time, numb, like every
inch was simultaneously being over stimulated.

Jaxson reached for my hand. “Nothing escapes
you these days, does it?”

“Are we in danger?”

He shook his head then sighed. “I wish I
could tell you no, but you would know I am lying.”

Suddenly, worrying about pretending to be a
God in front of my people was more like a carefree indulgence that
seemed very childish. Jaxson squeezed my hand, reminding me to
breathe. I was overwhelmed with images of him lying dead in my
arms. I looked out the window to try and keep him from seeing the
tears already welling in my eyes.

“I will not let anything happen to you,” he
whispered as he drew me into his arms.

“Who will keep you safe?” I whimpered into
his chest.

“Get down!” Griff’s orders rang in my ear.
Before I had a chance to react, I was wrenched from Jaxson’s arms
and thrown to the floor. Both Jaxson’s and Griff’s bodies covered
me, almost blocking out the sounds coming from just outside the
pedestal. Too close.

There was a blast that even their bodies
pressed against my ears could not block out. The pedestal pitched
to the left causing us to tumble into the far bench. Jaxson and
Griff were on their feet before I could even comprehend what was
happening.

“Stay down!” they both barked as I tried to
lift myself up. Griff ripped something off the wall and I realized
it was a sword. Strange that I had not noticed any weapons before,
but now I could see there were several along the walls of the
pedestal.

Jaxson pulled his dagger from his pant leg
and followed Griff out a window.

I scrambled to my feet and peeked out the
window. It was chaos. There was a circle of guards around the
pedestal, but more of them were running into the woods. It should
have been hard to tell anyone apart, but my eyes found Jaxson as if
he were the only one there.

“Get her away from here,” he ordered the
circle of guards as a fire began spreading toward us.

“No, I will not leave you!” I screamed.

He looked up at me and seemed frozen for a
moment. “Go!” he yelled, slapping one of the guards on the back.
The guard hooked an arm around the edge of the pedestal and swung
up inside, restraining me.

“Let me go!”

He kept his grip tight and pulled me back
down to the floor as the pedestal began moving again.

“I am your Keln. You must obey me!” I
screamed, but he did not relent. “Please?”

He tucked my head under his chin as I stopped
fighting and the tears began to flow.

The pedestal stopped and his body tensed
around me. There was shouting coming from all around us. The
thought of Jaxson lying dead, or dying, just outside forced a burst
of strength to course through my muscles. I broke free of the
guards grasp and scrambled toward the entrance.

He tackled me to the ground, but the front
opening lay before me. I could see Nathaniel Cooper, a boy that was
two years older than me. I sat next to him at the big dinner the
night before his celebration last year. He had a nice smile. Now he
was running toward the pedestal with a torch in his hand. Guards
were running at him from every direction. Everyone was
screaming.

My eyes flickered from Nathaniel’s determined
face to Jaxson’s not far behind him. He raised an arm and released
his dagger. Nathaniel froze. He turned so that he was facing
Jaxson. Nathaniel raised the flaming torch and drew his arm back.
The whole world went silent as I realized it was not just a torch
he was aiming at Jaxson.

The sounds of my screams were enough to turn
Nathaniel’s attention back to me. I struggled to escape the guards
hold, but he tightened his grip and rolled so that he was covering
my body with his.

Something shiny and silver streaked through
the air and Nathaniel’s hand dropped to the ground, still holding
his fire bomb. Flames exploded around him, engulfing him. His
screams made every inch of my skin ache with the horror of what I
was witnessing.

I saw Jaxson through the orange glow of
flames. He raised a sword and mercifully ended Nathaniel’s torment.
Too late, the guard reached up and covered my eyes. My muscles all
went slack and I lay face down, motionless under the pressure of
his body, no fight left in me.

The guard lifted off of me and I looked up to
see Griff extending a hand to me.

“You are safe now,” Griff said.

“They are all dead?” I asked, feeling ill.
There could have been others I knew. People I cared about. There
were times I, myself, considered joining those who resisted. It
could have been me out there, if I had not been Chosen.

“Only the one, we never kill unless we
absolutely have no other choice.” His voice sounded mournful.

Jaxson launched himself up over the window
and was on the floor cradling me before I could take Griff’s hand.
My hands searched his body to confirm what I already knew, what I
could smell and taste. He was not harmed. I wanted to yell at him
for putting himself in danger, but all I could do was hold onto him
and cry.

“Are you injured?” He pulled away to look at
my face, an expression of panic on his. I shook my head.

“I was so afraid…” I choked out a sob.

“You know I will never let anything happen to
you.”

“I was afraid for you,” I said, pulling him
closer and pressing my face to his chest. He put his hand against
my head and rocked me silently, but I could sense something in his
emotions. Surprise maybe?