Reckless Magic (30 page)

“
I doubt that,” Kiran gazed
into my eyes intently, his signature smirk flaring up. He took a
step towards me, and instinctively I took a step back until my
heels touched the ledge of the building once again. “What’s with
all the hard-to-get nonsense; I thought we were passed that,” his
fingers brushed my arm gently, sending butterflies and magic racing
inside of me.

“
That was before I learned
you were engaged,” I held my ground, despite the dizziness his
closeness was causing.

“
I’m not engaged,” He said
firmly. When I gave him a doubtful look he continued, “I’m
betrothed. And the two are very different things.”

“
Oh really? How so?” I
challenged.

“
An engagement would suggest
that I asked her to marry me; that it was my idea to get married or
that we had been in a relationship prior to the engagement. But a
betrothal is an arrangement made by parents; I had never even met
her before I came to this school.” He jutted his bottom lip out and
looked up at me from beneath his eye lashes. He reminded me of a
little boy, and I couldn’t help but melt at the sight of
him.

“
Oh,” I gave in a little,
leaning back against the building’s ledge and relaxing. “But you
are going to marry her?” I asked glumly.

“
Well that is what my father
expects,” I heard the sadness in his tone and felt sorry for
him.

“
When?” I sunk down against
the ledge and managed to sit down, legs stretched long without
ripping my dress.

“
If father had it his way we
would already be married, with little ones on the way,” he joined
me on the ground, and although our current position was not as
seductive, he still sat close enough so our bodies touching. “We
compromised; that’s why I’m here. I’m supposed to get to know
her.”

“
How is that a
compromise?”

“
The kingdom wants
stability; they want to see that their future king is steady and
responsible. It doesn’t matter that I will live forever, or that my
father will for that matter. They can be quite demanding,” he gave
me his smirk again. At least he could joke about it.

“
The kingdom… oh brother,” I
mimicked his expression.

“
Yes, the kingdom,” he gave
me a playful nudge with his elbow. “And how is it that you didn’t
know about our betrothal? This whole time I thought you were
defying royal law on purpose!”

“
Of course it wasn’t on
purpose! I’m new to this whole Immortal thing, remember?” It was my
turn to give him a nudge, I found his rib bones and he
squirmed.

“
How could I forget?” he
rolled his eyes teasingly and then laid his head on my shoulder.
The gesture was so unexpected, but so charming that I simply
allowed it. “So, I suppose I have no chance with you now?” he
picked up a rock and skipped it across the rooftop.

“
Nope, absolutely no
chance,” I blurted out defensively, although I was not sure if I
believed myself. “What kind of home wrecker do you think I
am?”

“
I was just hoping that we
could….” he lifted his head off of my shoulder and leaned in until
our faces were only millimeters apart. I knew he was about to kiss
me again and no matter what I just said I was powerless to stop
him.

Unfortunately, instead of butterflies
and lightning storms, the magic suddenly became overwhelmingly
alert and my senses focused sharply. I sat up straight before any
contact was made and noticed that Kiran had done the same. We
struggled to our feet just in time to meet five cloaked bodies
burst through the roof top door.

29.

The men surrounded us quickly with the
roofs’ edge to our backs and readied themselves for battle. Four of
the men were different from our first battle, I could tell that
because their magic felt different. But one man stood apart, but
familiar, the same man that escaped the forest before, and the same
man that was in my dream last night. He stood directly in front of
us clearly leading the attack.

Our bodies mimicked our attackers and
we awaited an assault at any moment. Kiran positioned his body in
front of mine as if protecting me; but the carnal instinct to fight
flooded my veins. I cursed my short, tight, expensive dress
underneath my breath.

“
It’s time for you to go
Eden. This fight doesn’t concern you,” the leader of the men
addressed me and I flinched when I heard him say my name. Murderous
intent mingled with magic and I was completely focused on the
looming battle; but something familiar about the leader forced me
to second guess myself.

“
I’ll stay, if you don’t
mind,” I growled through gritted teeth. I had no doubt that I would
win this battle, although I was unsure yet of how I would succeed.
Unlike the forest that was full of natural tools and props to use,
the roof top was bare and the fall to the ground below
long.

“
Get out of here,” the
leader growled back, surprisingly emotional. I wanted to believe
that he was asking me to leave because of the powerfulness of my
skills, but something deep inside told me it was for different
reasons.

“
Let her stay if she wants
to fight,” a different masked man, to my right taunted. “If she
wants to try and protect the spoiled brat, let her,” disgust filled
his voice, and there was no doubt in my mind that he meant to kill
Kiran.

“
Eden, go. If they are
willing to let you go unharmed, then go,” Kiran commanded me. His
magic was strong and I could feel the heat from his boiling blood
radiate off of his skin. He was not going to give up this fight
easily, but neither was I willing to let him. “What do you want
with him?” I deflected Kiran’s command and addressed the leader
once again. Nothing in my body was willing to settle this dispute
calmly; talking it out was only a decoy until I figured out what to
use to my advantage.

“
We want a new king,”
another cloaked figure to my left shouted. “A king who will give us
our magic freely.”

“
A king who will let all of
our people free,” Another man roared louder. Their response was
turning into their war cry.

“
We want to destroy this
bloodline and end the bloodshed and prejudice. We want what we were
promised,” the leader spoke softer, but equally as
menacing.

And then the battle began. One of the
men to my right let out a battle cry before shifting into a grizzly
bear, towering over the still human rest of us. He crossed the
distance between Kiran and himself in less than a second. I closed
my eyes expecting the fight to be over before it began, but I heard
the roar of the bear and opened my eyes to see that Kiran had
eluded him.

Kiran was fast, much faster than the
overly large bear; but he would not last long. Another man joined
his companion, shifting into a chocolate brown wolf. Kiran used his
skill and power, making it impossible for either attacker to touch
him, but there were three other men closing in.

I focused my magic, making it palpable
in my hand. The three men, who were apparently going to remain men,
were circling Kiran waiting for the opportunity to strike. The men
who chose to ignore me had made their first mistake. I threw the
magic at them with force, sending out a type of pulse, knocking
them off their feet and surprising them all.

Unfortunately for Kiran, I distracted
him just long enough for the wolf to get a hold of his arm and bite
down hard. He let out a shout of rage and threw the animal-man off
of him and into the wall with such force that he crushed the red
brick, sending shrapnel flying around him. He sunk to the ground
before shaking his head and rejoining the fight.

Blood dripped down Kiran’s arm as he
tried to keep the grizzly bear at bay. The three remaining men
stood to their feet undeterred by my weak attempt at disabling
them. I tried the pulse again, but this time they were ready for
it. The man, who had challenged me to stay, sent me his own version
of a pulse; it was not as strong as mine though and I was able to
block it with a defensive surge of magic. He continued on the path
to fight me, while the other two men did their best to out maneuver
Kiran.

I once again focused my magic, feeling
the electricity surge through my veins. This time when I centered
it in my hands I could see the white heat from the force of it.
Just as I was about to send my powerful blow, the man on his way
over, threw another one my way, knocking me off of my
feet.

My hands flew apart and the magic was
sent up uselessly into the sky, illuminating the dark clouds above.
I struggled quickly to my feet, ripping the seam of my dress at the
thigh. I sent quick pulses of magic his direction as rapidly as I
could. They were small since I was unable to take the time to focus
my magic firmly, but they did the trick in keeping him from
advancing farther.

Kiran, with four men surrounding him,
was struggling to stay ahead of them. Although he was super-humanly
fast, there were just too many of them to stay untouched. The bear
caught him by the back of the neck, shaking him roughly, before
Kiran was able to break free. Blood dripped down his back, covering
his torn tuxedo in thick crimson stains.

He fought on, defying all odds. He
continued to block pulse after pulse from the remaining humans,
while keeping the animals at a safe distance. My fight with my one
attacker intensified as he got a blow past me, punching me in the
stomach and knocking the wind out of me. I fell to one knee,
ripping my dress further and tearing the skin away from that leg. I
stood up quickly sending a stronger pulse in his direction throwing
him against the metal door, and denting it.

I turned to Kiran’s defense and
centered my magic quickly but effectively. I threw my arms their
way sending all men flying in different directions. The men
recovered quickly; but the quickest of all was their leader. He
stood to his feet, walking directly over to Kiran and surprisingly
punched him in the mouth and then again in the eye.

No one was expecting such a human
gesture, especially me. When the leader thrusted his fist into
Kiran’s face the sleeve of his cloak slid up the length of his arm
and I painfully realized why he was so familiar. Around his wrist
was a thick tattoo of a snake eating his tail and around his
forearm, the lower half of a phoenix rising from flames. They were
the unmistakable tattoos belonging to Avalon.

My mouth dropped open and I stood
dumbfounded amid the bloody battle. If I would have known how to
react or continue I would not have been given the chance. The
mouthy and vengeful attacker from before recovered from the last
blow I sent him and sent me one of his own. The electric pulse hit
me with such force that I was blindsided and unfortunately
unprepared.

The wave of magic threw me flailing
over the side of the building and towards the ground below. Time
slowed down and I felt as if I was watching the entire experience
in slow motion. All five of the attackers’ heads poked over the
ledge of the building as if to watch me fall to my death. But most
surprisingly was Kiran, who himself came flying over the edge,
diving in my direction.

Before I could realize how long the
deathly fall was taking, Kiran was diving towards me and gathering
me into his arms. Once in his arms we seemingly were going to float
to the ground. I relaxed, grateful to be wrapped in his protective
hold.

My reaction was premature; I heard a
guttural scream from the top of the building and witnessed the
electric wave of magic fall from the sky and on top of us. Our
descent was quickened to a sickening speed and we hit the ground
with such momentum that we indented the cement sidewalk that served
as a landing pad.

I closed my eyes expecting to open
them to severed or paralyzed limbs. The landing was painful, the
ground crumbling around us. Somehow Kiran managed to land on
bottom, giving me a softer landing via his body. I heard several
bones snap and wasn’t sure if they were mine or his.

I heard him groan underneath me and
forced myself to assess the damage to my body. Upon opening my eyes
and wiggling my toes and fingers, I realized that I was generally
unharmed, except for some bruising and the gash on my leg from
earlier. I awkwardly peeled myself off of Kiran and struggled out
of the hole we had created with the impact of our body.

By this time the students and teachers
from the dance had begun to exit the building, investigating what
must have sounded like a car crash to them inside. I looked down at
Kiran’s limp and unconscious body and let out a scream, I had not
realized I was capable of. I turned my head to be sick, and heard
other students around me gasp and let out cries of their
own.

Someone came to my aid and began
asking questions, but the only sound I could make was a throaty
sobbing noise. I watched the men teachers bend over and pick Kiran
up out of the hole formed around his body. They carefully carried
him inside and I was left on the sidewalk watching after him,
feeling more than helpless.

I knew he wasn’t dead, I could still
feel the small pulse of his magic; but I didn’t know what kind of
damage was done. He looked peaceful but mangled in his unconscious
state. For the first time I realized that I had no idea what the
word Immortal actually meant. What kind of destruction could we
actually withstand?