Sovereign Hope (40 page)

I could feel,
though.

I was
connected to Daniel. His soul and mine were twisted together in a
way I couldn’t have ever imagined possible. He was burning, too. He
was exhausted, clinging onto consciousness, yet he kept going, and
I kept burning.

At the very
back of my mind, I could sense the presence of the others, knowing
that as the power passed through me and hit the Reavers, I was
somehow connected to them, too. They were weak compared to this
power. Their own energy was failing, their own light growing dimmer
and dimmer with every whispering spirit that charged through me and
fell upon them.

Through the
disordered chaos of my mind, a hazy memory came creeping back to
me. We were back in the silo and Daniel was showing me the
distributor again, explaining how it worked. It was obvious now.
That’s exactly what I was: a part of some greater machine, required
for it to work properly. My body was focusing and directing
Daniel’s energy, making it strong. Making it lethal.

The pain was
endless, but as the seconds ticked by I somehow managed to accept
it. It began to lessen, becoming a tangible part of me that I could
control. It was a strange sensation, and I reveled in it as my life
began to slip away. The light was washing me clean, and I wasn’t
sad anymore.

It was a
relief that this was the way I was going to die. I wasn’t going to
be turned into a whyte, and I wasn’t going to have my life pulled
out of me by my insane grandfather. I was just going to slowly slip
away into the bright light. I let go and stopped trying to breathe.
The power intensified and the pain picked up, but the rush of fear
I felt only lasted a moment. In its place, a bottomless calm
settled over me.

Daniel was
stronger than me. He somehow knew I’d given myself over to the
light, and I could feel his energy tugging at me, trying to pull me
back, but it was useless. It was too bright. It had already taken
hold. It was much easier to just stop fighting. The Reavers pinned
to the wall behind me were close to death, but that didn’t seem to
matter anymore.

Only Daniel
mattered. He was my last thought.

I just wish I
could feel his arms around me…

And then the
light went supernova.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Still Breathing

The first
faces I saw were those of strangers. People gathered around me,
confused and afraid, while Immundus guards pulled them back. The
men had me by the arms in seconds. They yanked me to my knees, and
one of them thrust a gun into my face.

“
Get away from her.”

The guards
dropped me the second Daniel spoke, running back towards the wooden
doors. I fell to the floor and then pushed myself up into a sitting
position as he rushed to my side.

“
It worked?” My voice was nothing more than a faint
whisper.

“
Yes. Well, kind of.”

What does that mean?
I frowned,
turning my throbbing body to look at the back wall. I saw Oliver
first. He was drenched in blood from head to toe and looked like he
was about to have a nervous breakdown.

“
What…. what happened?”

Oliver dropped
to his knees, his head in his hands. “Well, you two looked like you
were about to explode or something, so I… I cut off their heads.
That’s pretty much a kill shot, right?” he asked Daniel, wiping his
hand over his face to try and clean it. He just ended up smearing
more of the thick, sticky redness across his forehead.

“
Yeah. No coming back from that.”

I stared at
the two of them. The Reavers were dead. All this time, all of the
not knowing and panic, all of the pain and fear had culminated in
this moment, and now it was over.

I suddenly
felt very cold and tired. “Can we go? Can we leave?” I wanted to be
far, far away.

“
Sure,” Daniel replied softly, sliding my hand into his.
“Let’s get out of here.”

CHAPTER FORTY

Immortal

Tess put down
her glass of apple juice and then immediately picked it back up
again, surveying the room with a look filled with self-pity. She
drained the glass and handed it off to Oliver with a forced
smile.

“
You guys are bullies.”

I laughed at
her unwillingness to be a good patient and grabbed her feet through
the blanket at the end of the bed. Tess squealed and lashed out,
but then settled back into the bed to catch her breath. She still
wasn’t back to complete health. We all had to keep reminding her to
take things slowly.

That night,
when Daniel had carried me out of the fastness, the journey through
the winding, dark tunnels had gone by in a blur. When I’d woken up,
I was in the back of an SUV with Tess’ head in my lap, speeding
through the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Daniel and Oliver had
searched for Tess as we’d left the Tower, and had gotten us out
together. Tess had been getting sicker by the second and there was
nothing Daniel could do. He wasn’t like the Immortals. He wasn’t of
their line, and he didn’t have the same capabilities that they did.
He couldn’t take life or give like that.

But Oliver
could.

He hadn’t
listened at first, but Daniel kept telling him over and over that
it was too late: it was already done. He must feel it inside him.
He had taken life, and their energy had become his. It was the same
ritual his family would have forced him to undertake to become one
of them.

Oliver had
told him he was crazy and denied it until he was blue in the face,
but Tess kept getting sicker and sicker. In the end, he hadn’t been
able to pretend anymore.

Daniel had
told him what he needed to do and Oliver had done it, placing his
hand on her skin until he felt a sort of two-way connection. Daniel
had explained that all he had to do was concentrate on feeling the
energy leaving him and not the other way around, otherwise he would
take what little life was left in her. It was over in an instant,
and I had been secretly disappointed that the show hadn’t been more
spectacular. My feelings were assuaged by the fact that Tess had
sat bolt upright in bed and looked at us all like we were crazy for
huddling around her sick bed.

“
Back up, people.” Her typical remark had me laughing for the
first time in days, and the worry shed from my bones. She was going
to be okay.

It’d taken a
long time to explain what happened to Tess; our capture at the
hospital and the events of the Tower were not something you could
skip through lightly. By the time we were done telling the story, I
was drained all over again.

Oliver hadn’t
wanted to tell Tess how he’d saved her. He was terrified of what
had happened to him and what it meant. It was hard to find an
explanation as to why he was still the same as he had been before.
Every experience Daniel had with the Reavers told him Oliver should
be an entirely different person, a cold and brutal shadow of his
former self. He was totally thrown. He thought perhaps that,
because Oliver had killed to save his friends and not gain power
for himself, the Immortal’s hunger and greed wasn’t present to
taint his soul. It sounded plausible, and none of us had any other
ideas, so we took it on face value. Oliver felt like a monster, but
Tess just looked at him with love and admiration in her eyes.

It had been
like that for most of the day: her gazing starry-eyed up at him,
and him returning the favor. “I think it’s sweet that I have a part
of you inside me,” Tess told him, now, when she thought we couldn’t
hear. Daniel grinned with his back to the bed and gave me a sly
wink.

“
I very much doubt it’s him.”

I dug him in
the ribs with my elbow, and he feigned injury but soon wrapped his
arms around me, pulling me into a bear hug.

“
I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t made it,”
he murmured into my ear. He was still so shy when he whispered
things like that. My heart skipped a beat every time. His eyes were
ablaze with intensity as he held onto me like he had no plans of
ever letting go. I reached down to kiss the strong arm that
encircled me.

“
I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered.

“
Promise?” he whispered back.

“
Promise.”

“
Good.” He got his own back, digging his fingers in my sides.
I squirmed uselessly and then gave up, letting him tickle me until
I couldn’t breathe anymore. When he eventually stopped, he spun me
around to nestle his face into the back of my neck and nipped me
teasingly, making my head swim.

“
Hey, do you think Kayden’s okay?” I asked, quickly changing
the subject.

Daniel drew
back and sighed a heavy sigh. Kayden was a sore topic, but Daniel
did seem a little concerned, even if he didn’t want me to know it.
“I don’t know. It was a pretty reckless call, going against the
Quorum like that. It’s almost impossible to do. He must have broken
his ties with them in order to act alone.”

I stiffened.
“You mean he’s not with the Quorum anymore?”

Daniel shook
his head. “He essentially cast himself out.”

“
Sounds like the angels getting cast out of Heaven. It’s not
as bad as that, is it?”

Daniel kissed
the back of my neck gently, keeping his silence for a moment. When
he spoke, his voice was all business. “No. Nowhere near as bad.
Come on, let’s crash the invalid love-fest.”

“
When do you think she’ll be ready?”

“
In a few days,” he replied. He seemed to know how keen I was
to get moving, despite the fact that I did my best to hide it. Tess
needed to recover, after all.

“
Do you think we’ll find them?”

“
I don’t know. I hope so. I know a hundred places they could
be.”

I nodded,
clinging to the hope that there was a good reason why we hadn’t
heard from Agatha and the others since they disappeared. “So a few
days?”

He murmured,
inhaling the scent of my hair. “Yes.”

“
What about the Reavers? There’ll be more, won’t
there?”

“
Without a doubt. There’s always three Immortals in residency
at the Tower. More will be assigned now.”

My happiness
faltered. “And the Quorum think you broke your oath…”

“
Mmm.” Daniel drew back and twisted me around to face him. He
placed a slow, thoughtful kiss on my forehead and sighed. “Yes,
they do. We’ll just have to deal with them when the time
comes.”

It was a
terrifying prospect. Daniel pulled me tight to his body so that his
legs pressed against mine, his strong arms enveloped me like a
vice. “But we have other things to worry about right now. We have
to find our friends. We have to find Agatha.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledgements

This is one of
the hardest bits! Well, actually that’s not strictly true. It’s
very easy to be grateful to those who have helped and supported me
through writing this book. The hard part is finding the appropriate
words to let them know how much their tireless support has meant to
me.

First off, I
have to thank my husband. Some people leave the best until last but
I’m going to lead out with mine. Nick, without your help and
bewildering optimism I wouldn’t have had the nerve to do this! My
beta readers Gemma, Kellie, Alice, and Vicky—only one of you is my
sister by blood, and one of you by law, but I think of you all as
family. That you loved Farley and Daniel, and helped by making
suggestions or just by encouraging me, has made this process so
much fun. I have to thank my grandparents, Olive and Tony; you
brought me up to believe in myself and taught me I was capable of
anything I set my mind to. You never told me once I couldn’t do
it.

Big thanks to
Emma Michaels and Chelsea Starling, who worked so hard on the
beautiful first version of the cover for Sovereign Hope. Another
massive hug to Victoria Faye Alday for creating the stunning work
of art that adorns the front cover today.

Lastly, I
would like to thank everyone who has bought and enjoyed this book.
I wrote it for you, and I hope you’ve loved the ride. Look out for
book two, Eternal Hope, which is out now!

Lost Hope will be coming out March 20
^th
2014!

About the Author

Frankie Rose lives in Sydney, Australia, her borrowed
homeland. She writes in the paranormal romance, dystopian and
contemporary romance genres, and hopes to dip her toes in many
more. She is an avid reader, skier and snowboarder, and also loves
to climb and hike in the outdoors. You can reach Frankie at
[email protected]
or
visit her website at
www.frankierosewrites.com
for
further details of her upcoming projects.

And don’t
forget! If you enjoyed Sovereign Hope, please leave a review!