Haven (12 page)

“Kill.” The Kira said quietly. “Dark, dark
magic.”

Leo’s ripe curse made the male cringe.

“I’ll sweep away the magic, but I want to
get a better sense of the spell before I do.”

“Call me with updates.” He ordered.

The Kira nodded, turning his back to Leo.
Kira were never one for conversation. The introspective race kept a tight lid
on their thoughts. All at once the urge to get to his mate struck him. Rushing
back to the lift station, he cursed the slow transit the Eshu used.

LILY
CLOSED HER EYES wincing as she turned to her side. The healer Leo sent had checked
her over, and deemed her aches and pain small enough that healing was not
required. She should’ve insisted Leo called her family’s healer. The one from
the Amanda was used to dealing with soldiers, of course her bumps and bruises
were minor to him. She sighed once she found a comfortable position. Reaching
for the comms tablet on the bedside table, she perused through the news
stories. She groaned at the breaking news story, bearing a picture of Leo
running with her in his arms. His face was set in an intense expression, with
her cradled close to his chest. She ran her finger across the image. She barely
remembered the race back to her parents’ home. She certainly didn’t remember
this stricken face whoever had taken the photo captured. His worry for her was
there for the world to see. A small smile of pleasure ghosted across her face.

“Do
you know how I know you left the house, Liliana?” Her mother didn’t bother
knocking. She stood at the door of Lily’s room, all aggravated scowl and
pinched lips. A scarf covered her hair and hid her face in its shadows. It was
a strange look for her mother, who took exceptional pride in her hair.

Raising
an eyebrow, Lily said nothing. Feeding into her mother’s nastiness got her
nothing but hurt feelings. She’d learned not to take the bait. Though, it never
stopped her mother.

“There
are rumors flying around about you blowing up a market stand!” Her mother
snatched the scarf from her hair and balled it in her hands.

Lily
sat up straight, instantly regretting it. “That’s not fair, and it certainly
isn’t true.”

“Why
can’t you go somewhere without making a spectacle of yourself?” Arian took a step
into Lily’s room, her hands fisted at her sides.

“How
is this my fault?” Why she bothered, she’d never know.

Arian
ignored her question, pacing back and forth in front of her bed. “I can’t wait
until you leave this house, nay, this realm.”

Hurt
crystallized her blood, tears involuntarily springing to her eyes. “You can’t
mean that.”

“We
managed to go four years with no one mentioning an embarrassing thing you’d
done. No whispers behind my back about poor Arian and the daughter she was
stuck with. I’ll never understand why Kita was taken and not you.”

Lily’s
body trembled, the pain of her mother’s words had found their mark. Her mouth
opened but no words formed around the lump in her throat.

Arian’s
eyes widened as she realized what she’d said.

“Get
out.” Liliana’s strangled words were barely a whisper.

Her
mother backed from the room. “Lily, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone that far.”

Liliana
bit her tongue to keep from groaning in pain as she dragged her body from her
bed. She walked slowly to her mother and slammed the door over her stricken
face. She couldn’t stay here. Her promise to Leo was the only thing keeping her
from racing from her parent’s house and to the portal station. She conjured a
box and slowly made her way around the room packing only the things she
couldn’t conjure with magic. The necklace Bea had given her when she’d finished
school, pictures of her and her father, and of her sister. Small trinkets of
sentimental value all went in the box.

Leo
walked in on her a few minutes later confusion written all over his face.

“Baby
you’re injured, you can do this later.” He grabbed her elbow, guiding her away
from her closet. “Has the healer come to see you?”

She
nodded, pain tightening her lips as she sat on the edge of the bed.

“Then
why are you still in pain?” He brushed a hand across her hair.

She
waved off his question, breathing through the pain in her back.

“We’re
going to rush the
di êjê
, but it’ll still take at least a week. Why are
you packing so soon?” He looked around her room.

“I
can’t stay here.” She whispered.

“What
do you mean?”

“I
can’t stay here with that woman!” Her voice ended on a shrill scream as her
knees gave out she collapsed on the bed in pain.

Leo
gathered her onto his lap as he sat next to her. He pulled the phone out, but
she couldn’t hear what he said over her sobs. She hated crying, especially over
something her mother said. She should be used to the cutting remarks and
blatant disregard for her feelings. In the years on her own she’d grown to rely
and trust in herself. She’d gained a confidence her mother had spent previous
years undermining and within a day of being back home she’d been reduced to
this. Leo stood with her still in his arms and walked out of her parents’ house.
A lift was already waiting for them and she was thankful. She fell into an
exhausted sleep as the transport left the pod.

***

THE
NEXT MORNING LILIANA ROLLED OVER, in a giant, unfamiliar bed. Incredible smells
permeated the air, bringing her out of the fog of sleep. She tentatively sat up,
the aches in her body were gone. She twisted, testing her body further. Not
even a twinge. She sighed in relief, thankful for the healer Leo had had meet
her when they’d arrived last night.

The
whole trip to the officer’s quarters at the Legba Amanda station was done in a
fog of pain and sadness. Leo had arranged everything, for which she was
grateful. She peered around the elegant chambers, searching for signs of Leo.
Spotting none, she left the comfortable bed conjuring a robe to cover the
simple nightgown she’d slept in. Following the smell of breakfast, she spied
him sitting at the small table in the surprisingly spacious kitchen.

He
was focused on the comms pad in front of his eyes. As though he sensed her, his
eyes lifted and met hers. He motioned with his hand and she joined him at the
table. She pulled out a chair intending to sit, but he pulled her into his lap.

“How
do you feel?” He whispered the words against her cheek as he kissed her.

“So
much better.” She ran her hand through his short hair, marveling at the
difference between his forms. His hair was prickly as though freshly shorn. She
loved the dark mahogany of his skin in his human form. She turned his head and
kissed his lips softly.

“Your
father called to check in on you. I told him you were okay.”

She
groaned. Her father was probably in the market when it happened. He was
probably going out of his mind with worry despite Leo’s reassurances. She made
a mental note to call him. 

“I’m
glad this healer actually helped you. The guard I posted on you told me what
the first healer said.” He frowned and ran a hand over her hair.

She
scrunched up her face. “It’s fine, I’m sure the healer is used to dealing with
hard headed soldiers.”

“Yeah,
and it seems he had contradictory orders. No matter, he’ll not make the same
mistake again.”

She
rubbed a finger over the frown lines forming on his forehead. “Did you hurt
him?”

“Just
a little,” he smiled mischievously.

She
tried to hide her smile, not wanting to encourage him, but his over
protectiveness was very much a turn on. She looked down to find out what he’d
been studying so resolutely and her stomach plummeted. Images of the candy
stall where she’d been attacked were displayed on his comms tablet. She sucked
in a breath at the decimation. Scattered wood shards, and blackened earth were
all that was left of the stall.

“My
god.” she whispered.

“Yeah,
it was pretty bad. There wasn’t much to find out yesterday when I went down
there. It was definitely a spell. I received confirmation from the Kira that it
was specifically targeted towards you. I’m thinking he or she followed us
waiting on an opportunity.” He sighed, running a hand over her tangled hair. 
“Had any of the magic touched you, you would be dying.”

She
shuddered, her hands shaking as she flipped through the images. “Someone tried
to kill me?”

 His
grip tightened on her waist and he leaned down, his breathing harsh as he
pulled in her scent. “It won’t happen again. I’ll protect you.”

“You’ll
try.” She said absently, spotting the picture of the shopkeeper’s gruesome
injuries.

He
turned her to face him. “You don’t know my skillset.”

She
smiled at him using her words. Sobering she glanced back at the tablet. “How is
the shopkeeper?”

“Alive.
Just barely, but the healers have been working with him for hours and are
positive he’ll recover.”

Liliana’s
stomach lurched at how close she’d been to dying. Leo’s hands weaved a
complicated spell over the tablet making it go dark.

“That’s
enough of that.”

She
blinked up, breaking the trance the images held over her. “Yes, definitely
enough.”

“Tell
me what happened yesterday with your mother.”

She
sighed. “I don’t know how to describe the relationship between my mother and me
without sounding childish.”

“Childish
or not, tell me.”

“My
mother has always liked my sister better.” She held up her hand to stall any
argument. “I know people say that as hyperbole, but I mean it. She’s always
worshipped Kita, and tolerated me. If you don’t believe me, any number of our
servants can back me up.”

“I
wasn’t going to say anything.” He leaned back in his chair and rested his hand
on her back. “Finish telling me.”

Liliana
shrugged. “My whole life, I’ve never been able to do anything right for her. I
was too loud, too common, and too clumsy. She used every opportunity to tell me
how I was an embarrassment to her and our family. She takes everything I do as
a personal affront. Bottom line, she was mean to me and her friends encouraged
it. By the time I’d reached maturation I stopped going to social events with my
family. My life got a whole lot easier after that, let me tell you. If it
weren’t for Bea, I don’t how I would’ve made it through childhood.”

“And
yesterday?” He prompted.

“She
said it should be me missing instead of Kita. I mean, not a surprise, but it
hurt all the same. I’m done letting my mother talk to me like that. My years on
Adro have helped me find my self-confidence. No way am I letting her tear it
down again.”

“I’m
sorry I wasn’t there when she came in.”

“It’s
better that you weren’t. It was embarrassing as hell.”

Leo
sighed. “Don’t worry about your mother. As soon as we’re done with the
di êjê
,
we’re leaving and you won’t have to deal with her if you don’t want.”

She
smiled. “I can’t wait.”

“Are
you hungry?”

“Starving.”
She whispered, looking into his eyes.

He
cleared his throat, adjusting her on his lap. But, not before she felt his
hardness pressing into her hip.

“No
time for that. There are women here from the palace who want to go over plans
for the
di êjê
. They’ve been waiting for an hour now, so their mood
is…not nice. Since we’re moving it up, they’re a little peeved by the lack of
time for planning.”

She
groaned and looked down at her appearance. She’d had no plans to get dressed
for hours. She’d hoped to talk Leo back into bed for the rest of the morning.
Mistress Yoru was probably behind the brigade of women waiting for her. She
dreaded sitting through another etiquette lesson, but she didn’t have a choice.
According to her mother, gossip had her blowing up a market stall, no need to
add further fuel to the fire. She would pass her remaining days on Legba with
zero incident. Even if she had to suffer through the next few hours with the
archivist and whatever other servant she brought along to torture her.

“Let
me at least wash my face and change my clothes.”

“Also,
the stuff you bought while we were out was delivered.” He pointed at the bags
over in the corner of the sitting room.

She
scrunched up her face. “I’d forgotten about that stuff. Most of it was gifts
for my family. I’ll go through it later.” Much later.

He
shrugged. “I’ll take you to the conference room, I have plenty to do to keep me
busy. Do you need me to stay for the planning?” The grimace on his face said
he’d rather not.

She
was touched he volunteered. “I can handle it. Are you okay with simple?”

He
pulled her into his chest. “Were it up to me, we’d be bonded already somewhere
locked in a room.”

A
thrill of heat went through her body. Gods, but the man had a way about him.
She cupped his cheek and kissed him, moaning at his taste. He opened her robe,
his hands spanning her waist.

He
pulled back, nibbling on her lips. “Don’t start nothing.”

“Just
a little something,” she murmured, resuming her kiss.

Their
tongues danced, the heat building between them. A knock on the door interrupted
their play. Leo growled, the menacing sound its own turn on.

“Go.”
She stood, closing her robe. “I’ll get ready.”