Blood Father (Blood Curse Series) (17 page)

“Then we will care for her as if she were. She will want for nothing—not ever—and, in time, she may have a better,
freer
, life, just as Kristina has now.”

“And as for her world back here? Her friends, the cause she believes in and fights for, her rebel
family
”—he made the last word in air quotes for emphasis, knowing that they were truly not her blood—“as for all she has ever known?”

Nachari sighed. “Whether Arielle is your
destiny
or not, she will live, whether on earth or in Mhier. The same cannot be said for you.” He leaned in close and growled his next words. “You are
not
going to die like Shelby in the sacrificial chamber, Kagen.
No
t on my watch
. Not when there is something we can all do to prevent it.” He stiffened and hardened his voice. “Your world is in Dark Moon Vale: your nephews, your
duty
, your family. My loyalty lies with my brother. My loyalty lies with my house.” He placed his clenched fist over the left side of his chest. “My loyalty lies with my heart—it lies with
you
,
Kagen. And
that
is the only world I’ve ever known. You asked me to be honest: Well, there it is.”

Kagen placed his hand over Nachari’s clenched fist and tightened his fingers around it. “Be at ease, brother. I will not fight you on this.”

And then he stood, just like that, unwilling to move…

Until, at last, Nachari stopped trembling.

Later that night, Kagen watched as Nathaniel and Nachari pitched two tents at the base of the Mystic Mountains in a shallow ravine, concealed by lush greenery, in the form of blackberry bushes and tall larch trees, their intermingled branches extended and interlocking with one another as if they were soldiers linking arms. The entire narrow gorge was a veritable sea of lavender as the poisonous perennial, the purple wolfsbane flower, carpeted the earthen floor like an absurd welcome mat, heralding the vampires’ arrival.

Tomorrow w
as
Saturday
.

One day away from the games in the arena.

And they were now less than twenty-file miles from the Royal District, the region where the games would be held.

Marquis believed they could traverse the space in about seven hours, that this would allow ample time for Arielle to rest, but if they had to fly, if they had to take turns carrying her through the air, then so be it. They might just have to take the risk.

They would do whatever it took.

The main thing was to get close enough to survey the layout, to go over their plan one last time
in intricate
detail
, to take advantage of the cover of nightfall in order to cement their strategy, once and for all.

There could be no room for error.

Keitaro’s life depended upon the Silivasi brothers getting this right.

Kagen hung back by a large, leaning larch tree about thirty yards from the camp. Arielle had retreated inside of her tent to partake of a late afternoon meal of rabbit, nuts, and berries; and she was now getting some much needed rest.

Or so Kagen thought.

When she rounded the bend of the ravine, her thick, coppery locks blowing gently in the wind, her stark, luminous eyes searching the landscape—
for him?
—he stepped away from the tree and practically held his breath, instantly coming to attention.

“It’s only me,” Arielle called amiably. She emerged from the shadows like a wild goddess, both fiercely beautiful and adorably disheveled at the same time.

Kagen relaxed his posture and leaned back, once again, against the brittle bark of the tree, trying to appear nonchalant.

Only me
.

Now that was the understatement of the century.

As she slowly approached him, her customary bow slung over her shoulder, the familiar quiver resting at her back, he couldn’t help but appraise her appreciatively: By all the gods, she was one of the most stunning women he had ever seen: so strong, so untamed, yet so clearly vulnerable, even as she tried to hide it. “Did you get enough to eat?” he called. It seemed like a safe enough question.

“I did.” She spoke kindly, and then she frowned. “But the rabbit was kind of tough.”

Kagen chuckled. “I could have gone hunting, brought you something else.”

Arielle flashed him a devilish grin. “We don’t share the same diet, vampire.”

“
Ha
. H
a
,” Kagen teased. “I would have found something appropriate for
you
.”

Arielle chuckled; apparently, she wasn’t feeling quite as apprehensive as earlier. “I know you would have—
thank you
—but I don’t want anyone else to do my hunting for me.” She tapped her bow and smiled. “It keeps me on my toes, sharpens my skills. I should really use my weapon every day.”

Kagen nodded with appreciation, wondering to himself just what her life had been like. Well, in a sense, he already knew, after all, he
had
viewed her memories, but that was not the same as knowing her intimately, sharing her feelings, or experiencing her life. He looked all around him at the looming night sky; the ever-present timber wolf moon; and the inexplicably vivid countryside. It was such a beautiful land, yet at the same time, it was so barren and harsh…so spiritually bereft. There was so little hope. So little freedom.

Arielle’s life had been one long exercise of stark endurance and desolate survival.

“What are you thinking about?” she asked, curiously. And then her eyes grew dim and her face grew impassive, as if she instantly regretted asking the question. Perhaps it was just too personal.

“Are we not even friends, that you can ask me my thoughts?” Kagen said. He wasn’t sure where the query had come from, but she was keeping such a safe distance between them, ever since he had kissed her on the mountain. She had walked for three straight hours beside Marquis—and that had to be one hell of a stilted conversation—and then she had chosen to follow Nathaniel, and then Nachari, anything, to avoid being close to Kagen.

The realization was infuriating.

Humiliating.

But what could he do? He had no rights to this woman.

So, why then, did he feel like he had every right to every part of her?

She appraised him thoughtfully. “We are friends.” A sly smile crossed her mouth. “You are like the brother I never had.”

“Brother?” Kagen said, appalled by the chaste terminology. “I am not at all like a brother to you, Arielle.”

“I only meant that—”

“You meant that we share the same father-figure, which technically makes us like brother and sister.” He shook his head, feeling like a scrawny teenager who had just been picked last for the team.
Hell’s bells
—e
nough was enough
. “I know what you meant, Arielle.” He pitched his voice lower, in a silken drawl. “But you forget that I am Vampyr: I can hear the beat of your heart, the way it races whenever you are in my presence. I can feel the catch in your throat, sense the chills that race up and down your spine. And I can still taste the honey on your lips.” He ran his tongue along the tips of his fangs, willing them to stay as they were. “You may not
want
me for your lover, but it
is
how you see me.” The words seemed unnecessarily bold, perhaps even a bit indecent, but he couldn’t help but speak them. They were true, and now that he knew she would be coming back to Dark Moon Vale—with or without her consent, with or without
his
consent—he dared to be just a tad more assertive, to explore their connection a little bit further.

She stopped about five feet in front of him and then abruptly gazed at the sky. “It is a beautiful night, don’t you think?” All things considered, she had handled it well.

“Come closer,” he beckoned, knowing he was no longer playing fair.

She shook her head and dug in her heels. “You know I can’t.”

“Why not?” he asked.

It was a stupid question, not to mention redundant. He already knew
why not
. Still, it didn’t hurt to ask, if only because it might make her reconsider her answer.

She huffed in exasperation. “I just…because…”—and then she appeared to pull an answer right out of the air—“because I have no way of knowing if my actions are my own or if they’re being forced…or coerced…you know, due to vampiric compulsion.”

He bit his lower lip.
Really?
So this was how she intended to sidestep the issue? He raised one brow: It was clever—he would definitely give her that—but it was also absolute nonsense, and that he could not abide. “What do you mean, Arielle?” He rolled her name off his tongue in a thick Romanian accent, and she almost swayed where she stood.

She swallowed hard, trying to collect her wits. “
I mean
…
” The woman had a bit of the devil in her, and it only made him like her more. “That if I simply do your bidding, like a servant, like a puppet”—she squared her jaw to him in an impressive display of defiance—“even in a matter as menial as coming to you when you call, then I will never know if I
obeyed
you out of coercion or came out of free will. And I am nobody’s lackey, Mr. Silivasi.” She smoothed out the front of her parka, although the gesture made no difference in the wrinkles, whatsoever. “I will never know if I did it because I wanted to or because I had to.” She plastered a congenial smile on her face and shrugged apologetically. “You said yourself—you’re Vampyr. You have the power to make things as you wish. And I am simply human. I don’t even have the ability to know whether or not you are compelling me: a lion and a lamb. Is that what you want?” She batted her long, curly eyelashes without even realizing she was doing it.
Oh, she was really, really good
.

Kagen frowned. “
Arielle
…”

She waved a delicate hand through the air in quaint dismissal. “It doesn’t matter, Kagen. I’m sure you’re a male of integrity.
I am.
It’s just…since I can’t be sure whether or not you’re compelling me, I don’t want to take any chances.”

Kagen nodded as if he truly understood. “I have never compelled you to do anything, sweeting,” he said softly. “And it troubles me
deeply
to think you might question my abuse of power.”

She shrugged and forced a smile. “Okay.”

Okay
?
If redirection, dismissing the subject, was an Olympic event, this woman would win a gold medal. “You don’t believe me?”

She sighed. “I don’t know what to believe. A lot has happened in a short amount of time.” She looked sincerely confused, and that’s when Kagen knew that, beneath all the tongue-and-cheek antics, she was genuinely concerned.

He lost the playful tone. “What has happened between us, this far, that leads you to believe I have countermanded your free will?”

“Countermanded?”

“Overruled, gone against it, ignored it, Arielle.”

She frowned. “You mean, other than that first night in the cave when Nachari tried to take my memories?”

Kagen felt like an utter heel. “I already apologized for my behavior, sweeting. But if you need to revisit it again, we can. One thing I will tell you,
with absolute certainty
, is this: There was no compulsion involved that night. However inappropriate my behavior may have been, it was unconscious, a reaction, instinct, pure and simple; it had nothing to do with manipulating your free will…or even my own. It just
happened
.”

Arielle nodded. “I know that. I do.” She appeared to be thinking it over, and then she surprised him with her next question. “And today,
earlier
, on the mountain? When…when you…” She bit the inside of her cheek, blushed a pale shade of pink, and stopped talking. Apparently, she couldn’t even speak the words…

“When I
kissed
you?”

“When I kissed you back,” she said boldly. “Was that forced? Was it a compulsion?”

Kagen had to suppress a chuckle. He didn’t know whether to be flattered or insulted. First, she hadn’t really kissed him back—she had pulled away so quickly. And second, her emotions had been so raw, so vulnerable, yet so clearly infused with genuine desire, whether she understood it or not. “That was me being me, and you being you. There was no compulsion.”

She nodded and retreated within her shell once more. “If you say so.”

If I say so
? He didn’t respond out loud, and apparently, he didn’t have to.

Arielle sighed in apology. “It’s not that I think you’re lying, Kagen.
Truly
. The point is: I just wouldn’t know the difference, either way. And I don’t want to take that chance.”

Now this bothered him.

If she did turn out to be his
destiny
, how could she ever trust any of her actions with him? How could she possibly trust her words, never knowing if they had been coerced or not? If they had been hers…
or his
?

And if she did not turn out to be his
destiny
, which was likely to be the case, how could she ever adjust to life in a different realm, come to know and depend upon the Silivasi family, if she believed vampires were nothing more than charlatans, supernatural magicians who imposed their will on others by playing constant mind games? In the blink of an eye, Kagen made a decision: He would show her very clearly what compulsion was. He would give her a standard by which to compare the two polarities: free will versus vampiric coercion. Then, whether she was his
destiny
or not, she would never doubt his psychic intrusion again.

“Why are you out here in the night with me, Arielle?” he asked dryly. “Wouldn’t you be much safer with my brothers?” Her eyes shot to his in immediate alarm, and that was all he needed. He locked his gaze with hers and infused it with preternatural power. “Come to me,” he drawled. He waved her forward with his hand, but the gesture was really unnecessary: His voice was a chilling command, darkly sensuous, and laced with the strength of his will.

She froze.

She looked at him with a passing flicker of understanding in her eyes; opened her mouth to refuse; and then began to march steadily in his direction, placing one foot in front of the other as if some unseen inertia compelled her forth.

Kagen leaned back against the tree and waited, guiding her forward with his eyes.

When, at last, she began to tremble, he knew she felt the full power of his coercion, the magnetic pull that was beyond attraction or mere acquiescence, the irresistible force that demanded submission. But she had feared him before. Compulsion was something much stronger. She stopped about two feet in front of him, and he slowly shook his head. “Closer,” he whispered, “until we are touching.”

Arielle shuffled forward.

She took two small steps, and then she inched her feet along the ground until her toes were touching his.

“Better,” he whispered, his voice still laced with imperious command. “Now, look at me.”

Her eyes locked indelibly with his, the soft, iridescent irises betraying the presence of alpha waves, a form of waking hallucination, in their depths. “Kiss me, Arielle.”

She rose up to her toes, as graceful as a gazelle, and pressed her mouth to his. Her eyes were so wide with terror that he almost released her, but then he saw something else in their depths: hunger, need, and longing.

Feelings he hadn’t commanded but simply revealed.

He kissed her with a passion he had no right to display, and she responded in kind, encircling his shoulders with her arms, clutching his hair in her hands. She moaned into his mouth, and he almost felt faint—he hadn’t compelled that either.

Forcing himself to pull away, lest he take advantage of something that started out as a lesson, he reined in his desire and released her from his hold. “Now that is compulsion,” he said firmly, feeling a bit like a lecherous jerk.