Chosen (The Warrior Chronicles, 1) (26 page)

They entered a spacious main room with candles hanging from large, shining metal and gem contraptions that looked like upside-down spiders. Candles on stands, like in the streets but more delicate, stood on tables and graced the walls. There
were flames everywhere. Apparently no one realized how dangerous fire was.

“This
mansion is a family heirloom,” Molly said conversationally, gesturing around them at the finery of the large mansion. “It has been in the family as long as the family has been in charge of running the city. Way back when they were called kings. Now they are Captains. That change came with our Captain’s great-great-grandfather, of course.”

“Uh huh.” Shanti didn’t care.
She also had no idea why she said she’d come.

“Oh look, there he is now.”

Cayan was standing across the room dressed in a black, long sleeved shirt that hugged his upper body. His cloth pants moved and sighed with his body, proving men’s fashion, unlike women’s, was reasonably comfortable. His features were straight and bold, softened by his blue eyes and luscious mouth, especially when he dared smile and reveal the dimples. The shadow of raven facial hair had been removed for the occasion.

He cleaned up well.

Which was an understatement.

He lounged next to a
willowy woman with slim shoulders, a long, delicate neck, and hair pulled up in weaves and twists accented with small flowers and buds. Her breasts heaved out of her cream colored dress in a display of cleavage most babies would reach for, and her waist cinched down in fashionable torture. Her skin was a hair darker than Cayan’s bronze, and her hair a touch lighter than Cayan’s wavy dark brown. She was distractingly beautiful.

“We’ll say hello to him later, dear. They are talking to a counselor.” Molly patted her arm and led her to a stand of drinks like a goat with a leash.

They
hadn’t been there two heartbeats before Shanti heard, “Hello.”

Sterling was standing to her right, straight faced and grim, as usual, this time with his hand held out, palm
up. He was a handsome man, if a girl didn’t have a sense of humor.

Shanti stared at his hand in confusion. He didn’t have the
Gift,
why would he request a mind link?

“Shake his hand, dear,” Molly whispered.

“It’s okay.” Sterling lowered his hand to his side. “That is just our custom. How do you greet someone in your land?” His stare was flat and intense, his complete focus on the conversation. Shanti tried not to squirm under the heavy gaze, strangely wanting to punch him.

“We offer a slight bow. If we are great fr
iends or feel so inclined, we’ll touch, as you just did, but that represents a deeper intimacy. However, since I’m in your city, I won’t be rude.” She extended her hand, palm up.

“The woman has palm down, dear,” Molly murmured.

Shanti flipped her hand. Without hesitation, gaze locked with hers in a flat stare, Sterling raised his hand, palm up, until it met Shanti’s. Warm and calloused—if her eyes were closed, she’d know he was good with a bow and decent with a sword. Which was strange, since he was excellent with a bow and more than decent with a sword. He must’ve taken pains to soften his hands. Interesting.

The touch lingered for a second, then he pulled away. “You know that I have been trying to find your trainings.”

“You know that I’ve been trying to evade.”

He smiled slightly. “Yes. Not at first—I thought I was unlucky. Then you started having them when it was most convenient for me.
Always a step ahead. It was not a subtle clue.”

Shanti laughed. “It was good training for us.
Is
good training, I should say.”

“They’
re getting better.”

“That’s funny,
I would’ve said the same about you.”

He laughed this time. “No. I’
m learning the signs. I thought I was learning faster than you could teach. Then you sent me on a ghost trail.”

“That was Leilius.”

Sterling glanced over Shanti’s shoulder then back to her. “I have left my date. I should get back to her. Before I do, I would just like to say… I wrongly judged you. I see that you’re not like… I see that you mean well, and are what you say.”

She couldn’t repay the sentiment. He was exactly how she’d judged.

“Have a good evening.” He gave her a deep bow, his interpretation of her custom, and walked away smoothly.

Without a moment for reflection, Molly took her by the arm and led her across the room. Why? Who could say.
They picked a new place to stand seemingly at random, that spot just as good as the first. The next spot was, too. If Molly wanted exercise, they could have walked to the ball in the first place.

“How long do we have to stay?” Shanti asked as they followed a slowly moving crowd around the room like cattle.

“At least until the dancing. Do you want something to drink besides water?”

“No. Thank you.”

For the next couple dozen minutes Molly chatted, introduced her to a handful of people who stared, and walked around the room slowly. It was boring and awful and Shanti just wanted to go home. Until she saw Jerrol. He was with a woman who had many gems on her neck, all different colors, and a bright purple dress. She was pretty and he was beautiful. Shanti wanted him if only to make love while looking into those earth brown eyes, so like Romie’s she got a tight feeling in her gut every time she saw him.

“Shanti.”

And that ruined it.

She turned to Cayan, standing tall and broad, no willowy woman in sight. In fact, Molly had w
andered away as well. Just great.

“Hi Cayan.”

His gaze connected with hers, giving her a similar stare as Sterling had, but not as strangely flat. He raised his hand slowly, palm up. It wasn’t a good idea, but then, people were watching—he probably wanted to look normal.

After a brief hesitation
she touched her palm to his, holding her mind in check and ready to battle. Instead of his torrent, though, she got a pleasant vibration of power, available but not used. In addition, that strange spicy feeling unfurled deep in her stomach, sizzling up her ribcage and fizzing through her limbs. She asked him about the latter.

“
The spicy feeling--yes. I like it. Is it not normal?”

“I don’t know. No one has ever me
ntioned it to me if it is. You’re doing well with your control.”

“I’
ve been practicing religiously.”

“Good.”

They broke contact, Cayan letting his focus flick to her dress and back. “Your dress is exquisite. It is
risque
but covers everything. Artistic but simple. Cut beautifully. I think the dressmakers are already trying to fabricate it. Many women are jealous.”

“Jealous of a
dress. Silly.”

“
Jealous of the enchanting woman, not the dress she is in.”

“Enchant
ing—spell casting?”

Cayan’s eyes twinkled.
“If you please.”

Shanti turned away to look at the crowd laughing and chatting, most of the party often
glancing toward her and the Captain. “I’ve never heard witches talked of in a positive way. I think the jealousy is of your date. She is the staple of beauty, is she not?”

Cayan
’s gaze was still on her. “She is, yes. How are your nightmares? Lucius tells me you have them every night.” To her scathing glance he said, “Your walls are thin and your screams loud.”

The Captain had stuck her in a tiny, one bedroom house, more aptly called a hut, attached to Lucius’ much larger house at the back of the city. She
had been given the illusion of privacy while Lucius’ duty of spying was made easy.

“Enough about me, l
et’s talk about me…” Shanti articulated in a voice so dry it was amazing one of the nearby candles didn’t light it on fire. She looked away.

“Sterling spoke to you earlier. What did he say?”
the Captain asked.

“Aren’t real nosey, are you?”

“Not
real
nosey, no.”

Her glare promised eternal pain.
He answered by smiling, his dimples transforming his face into something just shy of perfection. Why did she want to punch everyone she talked to tonight?

“My clothes are easy to move in, and yours aren
’t. There isn’t much you can do,” the Captain said easily, reading her mind. Or her face.

“Isn’t there?” Like a
needled child, wanting to get even, she gathered power and let it blossom, the air around them crackling with the electricity of it.

His smile disappeared immediately. He grabbed her arm with a quick hand, turning her body toward the wall, probably trying to hide her glowing eyes from onlookers. Her power leapt to him, mingled and spread, vibrating between his body and hers, traveling across the
ir skin like a fizzling plague, igniting little pulses that pooled into their bodies. The spicy feeling became a pleasing scent. His own power rose, unasked, calling to her, desperate to open out and join, barely kept at bay by his massive strength of will.

The seconds t
icked away, chaotic power surging around them, threatening to break free. Shanti desperately forced it down, trying to collapse it, using her life’s training to try and tuck it away. She struggled against Cayan’s answering attraction, the power so intense it seemed to draw from deep in the earth, quaking the air around them with his raw power.

“He informed me of his amendment to his previous judgments,” Shanti said in a strained voice, trying to control her breathing, jerking her arm away from his bare hand, then grabbing his arm, encased in fabric, to turn him to the wall, too. His eyes glowed more now than they ever had.

“I don’t know that I can ho
ld it, Shanti,” Cayan whispered in a tension-filled voice.

“Step outside. Look at the sky, and envision throwing your mind up to the nearest star. If that isn’t enough, envision roaring with the power. Just make sure to direct it up or we’ll all get a blast. I’ll find Lucius and send him out in case you throw all your life’s energy with it.”

He nodded, his whole body tight, and walked swiftly to the door. Their power ripped in half, fizzling in his wake. Shanti clutched her own power tightly, used to managing its surges, although struggling with the amount now battering against her. She spotted Lucius across the room, speaking to a pretty girl with lust-filled eyes. Still struggling for control, though grappling with less of a burden now that Cayan wasn’t coaxing her power higher, she walked gracefully, attempting to fit in. But when older men edged away warily, she realized her grace was another man’s nightmare. So she settled for a fast walk and a lazy hand on Lucius’ arm.

Lucius turned to
her with a question in his eyes.

“The Captain needs you outside. Quickly. Possibly Sterling, too.
But only you two. You might need to…
carry
the conversation…”

Lucius barely gave a parting word to the woman he
had been leaning into a moment before, leaving Shanti with the impression that they were either very close, or she wasn’t all that important to him. One would understand, and the other didn’t matter. And since she had nothing else to do, she figured she might as well meddle.

“Hello, I’m Shanti.”
She couldn’t hide the strain in her voice, wondering when this flux would die down.

The woman, sweet and delicate,
tore her gaze from Lucius’ back and met Shanti’s. She smiled in a practiced way. “Yes, hi. Lucius mentioned you. You are foreign.”

There was no movement toward hand touching. Possibly only men and women shook? A glance at Molly told Shanti that the older woman was irritated, but that didn’t help much.

“I am foreign, yes, that’s right. Did you come with Lucius?”

“No. We are friendly, but I am just getting to know him.”

“Ah. Well, he should be ba—“

A burst of power rocked her body, making
currents in her blood and wiring her jaw shut. She reached for the wall and just barely found it before toppling. Molly was there in a minute, straightening her. Asking if she was all right. Shanti heard a ripple of nervous laughter around the room, everyone having felt something bizarre with no explanation.

“I’m okay,” Shanti managed, her voice shaky and her body starting an answering growl. Power started to build on its own, reaching away from her body, thrashing against her ironclad self-c
ontrol. It was reaching toward Cayan. It was reaching toward its mate. The little mouse had been right.

Blood boiled
, bubbling up her spine and infusing her with an elation, the equal to which she had never before felt. She stumbled outside, Molly trying to cover for her. Once there she broke away and ran, not knowing what her body was doing, not understanding what this power was, or how to control it. Her dress tore down the sides, her hair flew from her back. She pushed faster, trying to run it off, feeling the night embrace her, feeling like a wild animal on the hunt.