Saven Deception (33 page)

Logan pulls me up off the ground as Dante
spins around, clutching his forehead. A dense gash oozes blood and I bark out a
manic laugh.
“Sadie, stop!”

“When I get my hands on you, you will rue
the day you were born. I will crush each bone in your pathetic human body, one
at a time,” Dante threatens. “When that’s done, I’ll rip your organs from
beneath your skin with slow painful precision and gleefully watch you bleed to
death. While that’s happening, I’ll have my fun with what’s left of your body.
You will beg me for mercy and I’ll show you none.”

“You won’t harm her,” Logan says through
gritted teeth. “The king gave the order.”

“Screw that,” Dante says, spitting a
bloody, loose tooth from his mouth.

Neve and Haydn race into the room and
stare in startled amazement at the scene. “Did either of you hear my brother
threaten my Eterno intended?” Logan asks.

“I caught the tail end of it, Crown
Prince,” Haydn replies.

“Excellent.” Logan takes my hand and
slowly edges forward. “Then we are done here.”

Fury drains out of me in a shudder as soon
as Jenna starts crying. I’m instantly remorseful. Crouching down beside her, I
press my mouth to her ear. “I’m sorry, Jen, but I can’t stand by and watch him
hurt you like this. I’m going to try and fix this. You hang on in there, okay?”

Dante’s fists start to flex and he’s
seconds from erupting. “We need to move her back to our apartment,” I tell the
others, purposely ignoring Dante.

Dante steps toward me but Logan blocks
him. “She. Is. Mine. And she’s going nowhere.” His tone chills me to the core.

“Logan, please do something!”

Logan stiffens. “Haydn will guard Jenna
tonight.”

“The hell he will!” Dante explodes. “Get
out, the lot of you. This doesn’t concern you.”

“Are you ignoring another direct order
from your crown prince? Do I have to call the king this instant?” Neve pipes
up.

“Go ahead. I’d like an opportunity to tell
him how the
crown prince’s Eterno
”—he spits out the words as if they’re
poisonous—“assaulted me tonight. I’m sure he’ll also be interested in the
extent of her ability to deflect our will.”

Neve glances between us. “Look at her?”
she demands. “You expect anyone to believe that?” I try not to feel insulted. I
understand what she’s attempting to do.

Dante jerks his head at me, his inner Hulk
straining to be unleashed. Panic writhes in my chest. His intimidating look is
loaded with vengeful promise. “He won’t always be there to protect you. And
that’s when I’ll come for you. You can bet on it.”

An invasive shiver rocks my entire body.

Consider me suitably warned and
sufficiently terrified.

Logan steps up to his brother, putting his
face right in his. “I will kill you before you touch a hair on her head.”

“I look forward to it,
brother
.”
Dante enunciates the word with dripping condescension.

Logan faces Dante as he speaks. “Haydn,
watch over Jenna. If Dante interferes, please inform me.”

“As you wish,” Haydn agrees. Dante storms
out of the room and we collectively sigh in relief.

I place my hand in Logan’s. “Thank you.”

When I turn around, Jenna is sleeping.
Quietly, I kiss her on her cheek and then we leave.

***

The atmosphere is tense on the way to the cave. Logan makes
a pit stop at a nearby restaurant to organize some take-out, but with the
exception of placing our order, he doesn’t speak.

When we arrive at the cave, Logan
wordlessly hands me plates, and I dish up our meal. We eat in silence until I
can no longer stomach it. “I’m sorry. I know I’ve made things worse, but I’ve
been bottling everything up and it rushed to the surface, and I acted on it
without thinking. He’s killing my friend! I couldn’t contain myself any longer.
The urge to physically hurt him was too strong. Not sure what that says about
me, or what this place is doing to me, or …” My babbling dies out.

His expression hasn’t changed, and my
throat closes up. A few minutes pass in uncomfortable silence. “Say something.
Anything,” I plead.

Logan rubs the taut curve of his jaw.
“You’ve no idea what you’ve done. He won’t let this go!”

I lick my dry lips. “But he can’t hurt me.
You said so yourself. I’m your Eterno intended.”

He looks pained. Trepidation prickles
under the surface of my skin.

Logan sets my half-eaten plate on top of
his and stands. He empties the remains of our food into the trash and returns
with a large bottle of pink lemonade and two glasses. I hold the glasses while
he pours. Still he says nothing. Other girls might be intimidated by that. But
not me. I understand what it’s like to feel trapped in your head, trying to
unscramble thoughts, and emotions, and words, before releasing them into the
world.

Twisting around onto my belly, I lie
against the beanbag. I take a tiny sip of the sweet lemonade and wait for him
to speak. My eyes drift shut.

Logan’s fingers fiddle with my hair as he
lies down beside me. Slowly, I open my eyes. His features obscure mine. He
exudes tension and I hate that I’m the cause of that. I haven’t given any
consideration to the pressure he must be under. I should be helping him with
that, not adding to it. I reach out and cup his cheek. “I’m sorry for adding to
your burden.”

“I’m the one who should be saying sorry.”
His gaze dips to my lips for a fraction of a second. “I’ve brought all this on
you. If I’d left you alone, then you’d be safe.”

A soul-stealing pang hits me in the chest.
“If you’d left me alone, I would be utterly clueless and destined for a life
that I’d hate. You’ve spared me that.”

“But at what cost?”

“I feel properly alive for the first time
in my life. And for once, I have some degree of control over my future. You
have no idea how much that means to me. Whatever the price is, it’s worth it.”
I trail my finger over his lower lip, and a shudder works its way through his
body.

“Even if it means your death?” He presses
his knuckles against his forehead.

I swallow hard. “If it means I get to
truly live—even for a short period of time—then yes. It’s worth it.” I sound
far braver than I feel although I mean every word I’ve said.

Some unnamed emotion ghosts over his face
as he leans in and kisses me gently. “What you did back in that apartment was
the bravest and stupidest thing I’ve ever borne witness to.”

I suck in a sigh. As reprimands go, I’ve
been on the receiving end of far worse. “I’d do it all over again if I could,”
I reveal truthfully. “I’ll take whatever punishment is coming my way. It was so
worth it.” I refuse to demonstrate any remorse. I feel none, so why should I
lie?

He mutters incoherently. It sounds remarkably
like “death wish” to me. Remembering why we came here, I sit up and gesture for
him to do the same. “Enough about that. We can’t change what’s done. Tell me
about this Eterno thingy.”

Amusement spreads over his handsome face.
“I like that. It’s got a nice ring to it.” He winks and heat pools low in my
stomach. Cripes. One wink and I’m an embarrassing pool of simmering lust.

“Stop trying to distract me. Spill.” I
cross my legs in front of me and paste a serious look on my face.

He tweaks my nose before mirroring my
position. “Do you believe in soul mates?”

“You asked me that before. I do,” I
reiterate. “I believe that there’s truly only one other person for each of us
in the entire world and that each person is a half of one whole.” I hesitate,
conscious we are getting into the heavy stuff.

“Go, on,” Logan encourages.

“I also believe that only the precious few
locate their true soul mate and get to experience that type of epic love. Love
that nurtures and grows, changes and expands, that blends seamlessly to mold to
the other person’s needs and desires, wants and dreams. A love where everything
is possible and anything can be achieved.”

My eyes are glassy as I shyly refocus on
Logan. I think of how far I’ve come. Once I started articulating the stuff in
my head, it was as if I opened the floodgates, and now there’s no going back.
It’s an exquisite release. The stronger I get, the more I feel like I’m finding
myself.

Drawing my hand to his lips, he plants a
lingering kiss on my skin. His eyes look glassy too. “Beautifully stated.
That’s it. That’s the essence of the Eterno connection. Our forefathers
believed in it as their most sacred rule. No one was permitted to marry unless
they found their Eterno intended. Once the Saven started assuming different life
forms, things began to change. Our people were scattered, and fewer and fewer
Eterno connections were being made. There was discontent among those forced to
live out their existence in solitude, and calls for greater freedom in marriage
ultimately gave rise to a new decree. Our people were free to marry whom they
chose though the Elders continued to revere the Eterno connection and widely
encourage it. As our race developed and our reach expanded, less and less
Eterno connections were made until eventually it died out.”

He splays his fingers wide on my cheek. “I
think that’s part of the issue with the demise of our culture and the lack of
conscience. If more of our people were Eterno connected, I think there’d be
more compassion and less killing.” He looks reflective.

Taking my hands, he links our fingers.
“None of our people have Eterno connected for over two hundred years.” I don’t
hide my surprise. “As a boy, I used to dream that it happened to me. But that’s
all it was, a dream. Until I met you.”

“When did you first realize?” I rub tiny
circles across the back of his hand.

“I felt a pull toward you from the minute
I laid eyes on you, but it was only when we got to Thalassic City that I sensed
the Eterno connection. I couldn’t comprehend it.”

“Because I’m a human?”

“There’s that, yes,” he says, grinning,
“And also because it’s been so long since any of our people Eterno connected.
Most people don’t believe it exists anymore.”

“But you stayed away from me.”

“I had to. I was under huge pressure to
choose a preferred earthen, and when Dante noticed my interest in you, he
pressed the point with our father. Naturally, I didn’t want to choose you for
that purpose—for obvious reasons—but I also didn’t want to tell them the
truth—that I’d felt the Eterno connection.”

“Why not? Wouldn’t that have solved the
Dante issue?” I’m confused.

“Initially, it was because I wanted to be
sure that it was what I felt it to be.”

I open my mouth but he holds up a hand.

“I tried reaching out to your mind on
numerous occasions but nothing happened. I began to doubt myself, but then we
started spending more time together and I started to feel you, to sense you,
even when we weren’t together. When we kissed that first time, I knew then
without any doubt that you were mine as I am yours.”

I have a hard time not flinging myself
into his arms.

“My other concern is how people on our
planet will perceive it. Dante has amassed a considerable following, and he is
a master manipulator. I knew if he knew that, he’d use it to his advantage. I
tried to keep away from you so that he wouldn’t notice any bond between us. But
he must have sensed something because he wouldn’t leave you alone, and that
gravely concerned me. I was always intending to tell my father, but I’d hoped
to have more time to work out a strategy for garnering support before Dante
could try to use the knowledge to destroy me. My hand was forced the other
night. It was the only way to save you. You would have been killed otherwise.”

I clinch a hand over my mouth as the
nature of the exact danger I was in becomes crystal clear.

“No one is going to hurt you, Sadie.
They’ll have to get through me.” His voice is rigidly confident and I relax a
smidgeon.

“So what now?”

“Ideally we should accelerate the Eterno
connection. I can worry about my ascension after that.”

“Ideally?”

Air puffs out of his mouth, and in that
one gesture, I sense the weight of the burden he carries. Scooting into his
lap, I wrap my arms around him. He kisses the top of my head. “The fact you are
human complicates things.”

“I’m sure, but why exactly?”

“On the one hand, it removes the need for
a preferred earthen because where there is an Eterno connection, both parties
share the inherent traits of the other.”

“What? So, like, we actually do become
one? I’m not sure I like the sound of that.” Panic and fear almost choke me at
the prospect of losing my own identity. I’m not signing up for that.

“It’s not that you lose anything of
yourself, it’s more that you gain additional traits from me. We will remain our
own person, enhanced by the qualities of the other,” he says, as if he could
read my mind. I laugh inwardly. That actually is pretty much the point.