Soulless (Maiden of Time Book 2) (4 page)

He pushed her away, eyes a billowing sea of reprimand. “Alexia...”

She bowed her head, her cheeks burning. Shame spilled over her like a spring waterfall. How could she think such an idea—or suggest such an immoral act with the man who had only ever been the most considerate, upright gentleman?

Both his hands gripped at the back of his head, shoulders tense, elbows extended. His head shook, mouth working. He closed his eyes and exhaled a cleansing breath. “Our laws dictate that intimate relations outside of marriage are strictly forbidden. We are not like our human counterparts. We are forever.” Frustration leaked out of every word, a furious passion she yearned to know, yet so clearly forbidden her.

She folded her arms, unable to meet his scrutiny for her inappropriate suggestion.

Kiren’s arms dropped, his shoulders sagging. “The age-old tradition is enforced by our society as a whole. Those who break this rule are ostracized, banished, and occasionally put to death.”

“What about the Breeders?”

“Mostly they operate in secret, but any who have been discovered are no longer part of our society.”

She met his stare, startled. “But how could anyone know about the bond?”

He looped a finger through one of her loose curls. “It is reflected in their countenance.”

John had said as much, that two people who were bonded shared a glow. He had also accused her of already being bonded with Kiren, so she hadn’t known how much weight to give his declaration.

Kiren’s voice quieted. “The Breeders are at war with us.” An apologetic smile lifted his cheek. “They would like nothing more than a reason to remove me from power.”

“Could they?” she whispered back.

His mouth tightened. He gave a single nod and clasped her hand, pulling her toward the trees. “If I gave them reason. They, like the Soulless, will not falter to use every advantage against me.” He stroked her jaw, tenderness crinkling the corners of his eyes. “Our union will only place you in greater danger. Are you prepared for that?”

She huffed. “I survived Bellezza.”

“So you have.” He studied her a moment longer, then nodded, coming to a stop again. “Marry me today, Alexia?” The depths of his eyes blazed like the first azure touch of light in the morning sky. Darker flecks broke the color with aching need.

Tears stung at the backs of her eyes. “You know I will.”

His chin lowered, quickened breaths rolling across her lips. Her eyes fluttered closed, mouth reaching for his.

“You are my equal,” his lips grazed hers, “my better,” they skimmed across hers again, “my heart.”

She didn’t believe his words, but it didn’t stop her from sliding her hands into his hair and pulling his mouth to hers. He smiled against her lips before they parted. She pressed against his body, aching for greater contact as their minds connected. She stumbled across his cloud of worry—dark and billowing. He was afraid he’d lose her, but what could anyone do once she was his bond, forever?

Five

Into the Mist

The sky hung black like a vat of tar stretched thin. Like Alexia’s nerves. Starlight dappled the moss under foot as they hurried between the thickening branches of Father’s hunting grounds, haze curling between trunks as though a cloud had dropped to the earth for the purpose of concealing them. Late summer pollens soured the air, too sweet for even honey bees.

Alexia’s heart echoed in her ears, but the warmth of Kiren’s fingers filled her with assurance all would be well. His other hand gripped around his mysterious pendant, knuckles white.

She had seen him use the medallion twice before, always against the Soulless. She recalled the feel of heaven on her skin as the pendant enticed the suffering creatures free of their tortured bodies, a sensation she’d been desperate to keep.

A silhouette shifted against the vapor.

Alexia startled and Kiren squeezed her hand.

The person approached, frame bent with a hint of age, scraggly hair tucked in a tie. His dark eyes danced with youth that belied his physical presence while his hand tapped a rhythm on one leg, his bare feet silent.

“Lester.” She looked questioningly to Kiren. If he’d brought the elder, he anticipated trouble. She quivered. Lester had always been kind to her, but a brutishness hid behind his mask, a savor for suffering she could never wash from memory. She’d been told he ran faster than any Passionate had ever run, making him one of Kiren’s most trusted and reliable sources for information.

Kiren nodded at the elder.

Lester nodded back.

They moved past him into a small clearing. Bellezza’s golden curls glistened in the starlight, her glare narrowing as they neared. Kiren’s protective arm tightened around Alexia. She looked up into his face, questioning the wisdom of their display as he pressed straight ahead, features drawn in concentration.

A wheezing like a giant inhaling whooshed through the trees. Fog pulled toward them. It swirled into a hazy cyclone, and the specks condensed and solidified into a woman’s profile, catching starlight as she thickened into a tangible body.

Silky white strands swirled loosely about her radiant, smooth face. Her mouth turned upward naturally in full lips, nose curved and petite, thin brows arching. The fine roses stitched along her neckline and sleeves were so realistic, Alexia expected catch a whiff of their perfume.

“Ethel!” Alexia threw her arms around the woman. Last winter when she’d lost her way in the fog, dear Ethel found and nursed her back to health. Since that time she’d been a constant friend and guide, always ready with the words Alexia most needed. She felt more real than any mother she’d known.

“Have they successfully arrived?” Kiren questioned.

“They have, sir.” Ethel half bowed, her hair blending into the pastel material of her dress. “The baron and his servants are safe.”

“Father?” Alexia blinked. “You have moved Father?”

Lester stepped forward. “Yer Father be—”

A frigid gale blasted between them, a shriek on the wind. High soprano rent through Alexia’s ears, launching its power down her neck and into her pumping heart. The muscle seized.

She gasped. Pain launched outward as though a fist squeezed about her vulnerable organ. Her knees slammed into the earth, ice sizzling through her veins, the freeze of death.

The scream bit off.

Alexia’s knees shook as she lifted her head. Bellezza knelt atop Lester’s prostrate body, melanic skirts veiling all but his bare, kicking feet, her arms flailing as she raked at his face with her nails. 

“Bellezza!” Kiren’s fists balled, his lips twisted with rage.

The girl jumped.

Kiren’s glare bored into the vicious child. She snarled back.

In a blur of motion, Lester stood at the far end of the clearing. “You stay away from me, pigsty! Blasted banshee mongrel.”

Bellezza glowered at Kiren. His head shook. She growled and rose, vacillating forward with each intake of breath, fury furling her nostrils.

Alexia pressed off the ground and tottered. Kiren caught her, and Bellezza’s gaze shot to her, the rage melting out of her like butter against a heated skillet.

Alexia knew unlike anyone else why the girl had attacked Lester. She was justified. Months, Bellezza had occupied a lonely cell in a prison. The only light came when Lester brought her meals and taunted her with insults and threats. Purgatory she’d called it. Purgatory.

Bellezza roared and tumbled to her knees, clutching her head, eyes squeezed shut. A whimper escaped.

Alexia turned, searching for Bellezza’s attacker as Kiren crunched to the child’s side. Lester was gone. Ethel stood a couple steps away, scanning the woods, legs wide, elbows lifted as though seeking balance.

Bellezza cried out and dropped onto her side. Alexia reached for the girl as Kiren tilted her head back. Sweat glistened across Bellezza’s upper lip.

“What is happening to her?” Alexia asked.

He turned wide eyes on her. “
Breeders
. Go, now!”

Fingers rounded her arm, the tender grip of her mother-figure. Ethel nodded.

Movement tore Alexia’s gaze away. A short, barrel-chested man erupted from the trees behind Ethel, lifting a knotted club.

“Ethel!” Alexia screamed.

He swung.

Ethel shimmered.

The club sliced through mist as Alexia tumbled backwards.

Ethel reappeared on the other side of the clearing. The man lunged at her. She faded again, popping into existence near the tree line, an assured smirk on her face.

Ethel’s grin dropped. One hand flew to her temple and her eyes rolled back.

Like Bellezza.

Alexia reached to warn Kiren about a second attacker as the man leapt across the distance and grabbed Ethel’s long hair. She yelped.

Alexia stood. Black sparkles fired through her vision. She cursed her injured brain and teetered back, catching herself on Kiren’s shoulder.

Crack!

She blinked the darkness away. Ethel lay silent, her back bent around a tree, one leg flailed the wrong direction.

Alexia’s fists balled, nails digging into the flesh. She turned on the dwarf, aching to wreak havoc on him. The enemy’s gaze darted between Kiren and her. The attacker stepped forward, reaching for her with mammoth-sized fists.

Six

Blast

Alexia tensed, watching those giant fingers stretch toward her, panicking over what she could do without killing herself in overexertion, and by extension, Kiren.

The meaty hooks slipped across her loose curls.

Electricity crackled in the wind.

Decision made, she reached deep within to slow time. Her arm hairs stood straight, the air about her thickening as time stilled. Her brain wailed in protest. Liquid fire ate through her skull, every muscle seizing.

A burst of light launched from the sky, reaching in three different pronged directions, veins of luminescence. Lightning. One stream zipped toward her.

She tripped backwards on her iron-like skirts and the world lurched into real time. Whiteness blinded her.

Crash!

Energy sizzled through the ground as she flailed backward, smacking into someone. Her ears rang, nerves thrumming.

Alexia rubbed her eyes. She blinked. The world was white, nothing but white.

She turned, fingers exploring. They brushed over a man’s waist-coated chest, up to his collar as a heavy necklace dropped across her skin. The metal buzzed, vibrating into her bones.

He pulled her searching grasp away and a palm landed against her cheek. Heat surged through her skin. She gasped, shivered, and looked into Kiren’s brilliant face. He searched her gaze a second before nodding.

She swallowed and nodded back. She could not be too grateful for his healing gift.

The dwarf who’d attacked lay silently on the ground, blackened earth starring out around his prone form.

Had the lightning struck him? Who had called the lightning—another of the Passionate?

Bellezza clambered onto her knees, holding her head. Kiren’s arm rounded Alexia, dragging her toward the dark of the woods. The determined set of his jaw halted her questions.

He stopped over Ethel. She lay on her stomach, unmoving. He crouched down and touched both sides of her brow, focusing.

A shadow stepped from the trees, a woman with long, auburn hair and ghostly-pale skin. She smirked wickedly at Alexia before turning her attention to Kiren. She rubbed her temples.

Kiren shuddered. The woman glared at him. He grabbed his head with one hand, toppling onto an elbow.

Alexia stepped forward. The woman’s face slackened, hands dropping.

Bellezza leapt between them, her hideous snarl turned to the attacker. “Only a coward fights from the shadows. I
hate
cowards.” Her chin lifted toward Alexia. “Cover your ears!”

Alexia obeyed but the girl’s shriek pierced through her fingers. Her heart clenched and ceased beating. Red lines zipped across her vision. She landed on her hip, begging for Bellezza to stop. The sting of pollen haunted her nose, like the sick perfume of soon-to-be decay.

Silence.

Her heart thudded again. Alexia’s head snapped up.

The deadly child crouched, muscles tight, head turned—as if listening to something behind her. Their attacker was gone.

Alexia twisted.

The estate sat on the shoulders of thick blackness. At least a hundred red eyes pierced through the darkness, a blanket of ragged pitch writhing across the yard.

The Soulless.