Destiny Redeemed (26 page)

“Well,
the interesting part of his recall is that this Adams didn’t offer it up for a
vote with his fellow council members. It was all him.”

“So
something about Ryu Jansen makes him such a great bounty hunter that he needs
to be the one to bring me in? But he’s fired for not doing his job, and his
only power is that he can heal fast?”

Amon continued,
“Anything in his past that we can connect to Adams?”

Markku
shook his head. “Sorry, Amon. My guy couldn’t get anywhere near the head
councilman’s files. Security’s tighter than a drum on that.”

Amon
stood up from the table and patted Markku’s shoulder as he passed. “Thanks,
Markku. Don’t go anywhere. I’m going to need you to get Thea. None of my powers
work well inside Soren headquarters.”

“I’ll
do what I can, but I’m back to being the bastard at the family reunion as far
as they’re concerned. That’s what I don’t get. They wanted you out of Nil.
Fuck, I spent the last year on the outside looking in for what I did...”

Markku
realized what he’d said and stopped. “I’m sorry, Amon. I never intended for you
to go to Nil.”

Amon
nodded but said nothing. The truth was he was sent to Nil for the things he’d
done, not because of Markku or anyone else, and he knew it.

As
he silently sat thinking about this fact, Gethen returned from escorting Naomi
Cooper back to Nil. Pale and weak, he fell onto the couch immediately after
reappearing in the living room.

Struck
by how fragile he looked, Amon went to his side and knelt down next to him.
“Gethen, what happened? Were you captured?”

“No,”
he answered weakly. “I’m fine.”

After
a few minutes of rest, he began to speak again, but his voice was still
strained. “Naomi wants you to know the council members like her, who don’t like
how the head councilman is conducting the Council’s business, are mobilizing
behind her. She’s started an inquiry, but she warned that these bureaucratic
decisions can take a long time.”

“Once
more, you’ve been a lifesaver. Thank you.”

Amon
stood up and turned to Markku. “We can’t wait anymore. I need you to get me
into the Soren headquarters so I can get Thea the hell out of there. Adams will have to be the Council’s problem.”

Markku
got ready to leave. “What do you plan to do about Kiril and his men?”

A
vision of what he’d do to Kiril Gault when he got his hands on him flashed
through Amon’s mind. “Leave Kiril to me.”

Chapter Twenty

Thea
lifted her arm and the heavy chain that dangled from it and angrily slammed her
hand down on the floor. The sound of metal hitting concrete jarred her but
didn’t seem to faze her two fellow captives in the least. Numb from their
months in Kiril’s possession, they kept their eyes firmly fixed on the floor as
ordered. Their lack of defiance—of any resistance at all—saddened Thea.

She
stared at their deadened expressions and compared them to the memory of Suzanne’s
still vibrant face with her gentle eyes and sweet smile. She’d watched with
tears in her eyes as Kiril’s men had led her away. How long had passed since
then? An hour? Three? Thea couldn’t be sure. She imagined the torture Kiril was
inflicting on her, and her stomach tightened in knots at the thought of
Suzanne’s caring eyes wide in terror as she bore his attack. If it was the last
thing she did in this lifetime, she’d see Kiril punished for what he’d done to
Suzanne and every other human woman he’d harmed.

The
words ‘this lifetime’ rang in her head. This lifetime, in which she’d finally
been given a destined one. Thea began to fear that Amon’s absence wasn’t
because he was devising a way to save her. She began to think that just as
she’d been given him, he’d been taken away either back to Nil or to his next
lifetime after being murdered by Kiril.

The
thought of Amon gone from her world, perhaps forever if he was back in Nil,
broke her. Unable to muster up anger or resistance anymore, she lay down on the
hard floor and curled up in a ball. The cold wrist shackles pressed next to her
face as she rested her head on her hands. This would be how the rest of her
forty-fifth lifetime would be—an empty, hard existence at the hands of a
vicious psychopath.

Tears
rolled down her cheeks as sadness consumed her. Over and over, she sent the
same thought to Amon in the desperate hope that he was still coming for her.

Amon,
please don’t leave me.

Nothing—no
sense he was near came back to her. Closing her eyes, she let the memory of
their time together play in her mind as she struggled to hold on to some hope.
She didn’t know how long she lay there, but as the door opened now, she saw
Kiril beckon to her.

*

Kiril
Gault stepped into the main meeting room of the Soren headquarters and walked
to his seat on the dais, Thea trailing close behind him.

“Thea,
today is the day I finally become what I’ve wanted for so long. Today, I become
more than just the leader of the Soren, and like a ruler, I’ll have my queen
next to me.”

As
he spoke, Thea wondered if he had lost his mind. A ruler? A queen?  What was he
talking about? 

“Once
I hear the words that tell me Amon Kalins is back in Nil where he belongs, I’ll
be given the go ahead to claim you as mine. I’ll also be as powerful as the
Council.” 

“Amon
will never let you get away with this, Kiril. I’m his destined one. When he
finds me, he’s going to kill you.”

Thea
knew instantly that voicing those words had been a mistake. Kiril’s hand shot
out violently and came down on the side of her face. Pain radiated from her cheekbone
to her eyes, and she couldn’t stop the tears that began to flow over her
stinging cheek.

“I
thought a few hours in chains had showed you how preferable the alternative of
giving yourself willingly was to toying with me with endless questions and pleading
for a human’s safety. Now, instead of being more pliant, you’re just as
insistent on making me hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you, Thea. Won’t you be a
nice girl so I don’t have to?”

As
she stood silently staring up into his maniacal expression, Thea wondered if
she would ever make it out of there alive. Every moment that went by seemed to
make Kiril madder.

“I
had a destined one. Did you know that?”

Quietly,
she answered, “No.”

“I
did. I do still, but she didn’t believe in what the Soren was, so she refused
me. She said I had a traitorous nature, I think is how she put it.” Kiril fell
silent for a long time and then mumbled, “Puritanical bitch.”

The
idea of Kiril being given a destined one while she’d been basically alone for
every lifetime until this one hurt, and as Thea carefully kept her gaze focused
toward the floor, she thought that the fate of Aeveren like herself was even
crueler than she’d ever imagined. 

“Thea,
look at me,” Kiril ordered, his voice softer now.

As
she slowly drew her head up to look at him, he reached out to dry her
tear-stained face and spiky eyelashes still wet from crying. “I want you to
look far more content for this meeting. It wouldn’t do to have a sulking woman
standing next to me if I hope to get approval to claim another man’s destined
one, even if that man is Amon Kalins and is consigned to Nil for the rest of
his lifetimes.”

“Kiril,
please don’t do this. Please.  It’s not too late.”

Cupping
her aching cheek, he stroked her face. “Would it make you happier to know I
released Suzanne?” he asked in a sweet voice intended to convince her to
believe his lie.

Thea
knew she had to go along with this act and forced a tiny smile onto her face.
“That’s my Thea,” he cooed as he saw her mood improve. “Now come. I want you to
sit.”

He
guided her to his chair and unlocked the shackles and chains that bound her
wrists. Tossing them away from him in disgust, he gently massaged the skin on
her arms where the restraints had sat.

“Does
that feel better?”

Thea
nodded. It was futile to do anything other than acquiesce at this point. She
faked another small smile that seemed to thrill him.

“Thea,
you and I are meeting someone today. You may remain seated as he and I talk,
but I want you to promise you won’t speak. Do you understand me?”

Quietly,
she said, “Yes, Kiril. I understand.”

But
she didn’t understand at all. Why did he want her at one of his meetings? And
why did he care if she looked happy or not to this particular person? If he’d
ever met Kiril, he’d seen at least one unhappy woman in chains near him before.

Kiril
finished rubbing her wrists and stepped back away from her. Thea watched as he
seemed to enjoy looking at her in his chair. Unsure if he’d meant she couldn’t
speak while he met with the man or not at all, Thea hesitantly asked, “Why did
you take the chains off if I’m Suzanne’s replacement?”

She
instantly saw the anger grow in his face and feared his response.

“Thea,
you’re Aeveren. I would never enslave an Aeveren woman. And you aren’t the
replacement for any human. Do you understand me?”

Nodding,
Thea was thankful for the moment that she’d escaped his wrath. He moved behind
her, and she felt him rest one hand on her shoulder as he stroked her hair with
the other.

The
man he was to meet entered a few minutes later, and Thea wondered how such an
ordinary man could inspire such subservient behavior in one as brutal as Kiril.
As soon as she saw him, she felt Kiril’s hand tense up on her shoulder, not out
of cruelty but apprehension.

Who
was this average Aeveren?

She
watched him approach them confidently with a look of amusement on his face and decided
he must be someone far more powerful than Kiril to make him respond as he was.

“Kiril,”
he said in a voice as common as he looked. “Are you ready for our meeting?”

Thea
immediately felt like an intruder, but Kiril’s hand smoothed her shoulder as if
to reassure her.

“Councilman,
I’d like you to meet Thea.”

She
saw a flicker of recognition cross his face at the mention of her name, and she
worked to remember if she’d ever met this stranger. But what council did he
work for? London?

“Thea,
how nice to finally meet you. I’ve been curious to meet the healer who
disobeyed my edict and helped Amon Kalins.”

Recoiling
in horror, she realized the man in front of her was the most powerful Aeveren
in their world—the head of the Council at Nil, the ruling council above all
others. He was the man who’d imprisoned her destined one and had sent a bounty
hunter to kidnap her and give her to Kiril.

Smiling,
the man said, “No need to fear me, young lady. All will be rectified soon.”

Kiril
bent down and touched his lips to the side of her face he’d hit just minutes
ago. “Thea, stay here, and I’ll be back in a bit.”

As
she watched them walk to the opposite side of the room, she began to breathe
normally again. Her mind racing, she attempted to understand why the head of
the Council at Nil would be meeting with the head of the Soren, a group that
was the Council’s worst enemy. And then she realized the first sign of hope
since she’d been brought here—the councilman had said all would be rectified
soon.

Amon’s
alive and still free!

*

“Kiril,
I need to know everything is ready here. I don’t want Kalins escaping another
time.”

“I
know. He won’t. His powers won’t work here next time.”

“And
he’d better show like you think he will, Kiril.”

Looking
back at Thea sitting quietly as she waited for him, he said confidently, “He’ll
show. Even if she weren’t his destined one, he’d come for her.”

“Kiril,
you seem very attached to Kalins’ destined one. I’d hate to have to use my
influence with the Directorate and see you end up losing her.”

Turning
back toward the councilman, Kiril silently cursed the power he held over his
life. “I won’t let anything go wrong this time. When he comes to get her, my
men will capture him and he’ll be yours to take back to Nil or do whatever you
want. Fuck, I don’t care if you kill him.”

Kiril
saw the hatred that appeared on the councilman’s face any time Amon was
mentioned. He’d never explained what he’d done to him, but Kiril imagined it had
something to do with the man’s last lifetime in the outside world before he’d
accepted an offer to serve in Nil. Whatever had happened, his need for
vengeance was as raw as Kiril had ever seen in another.

“I
have your word you’ll help me with my claim for Thea when this is all over?”

“I
told you that would be your reward, if you choose it. Claiming another man’s
destined one is only allowed in very special cases. But as the head of the
Council at Nil, I’ll happily attest to the impossibility of him ever fulfilling
the role of destined one for her.”

“Something’s
concerned me about this, though. How will you get my claim approved knowing who
I am? I don’t see the Directorate approving anything for the leader of the
biggest outlaw group in our world.”

The
councilman brushed off Kiril’s fear with a wave of his hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll
take care of it. Now how are we doing with the humans?”

Kiril
remained concerned about how he’d get past the Directorate but was forced to
answer his question. “We’re fine. On track with what we planned. I just sent
another one to our place outside the city today. I’ve got my people working
around the globe, but they’re fucking stubborn creatures.”

“I’ve
only seen you with females, Kiril. Do you handle the males too?”

Kiril
couldn’t contain the look of disgust that crossed his face. “No. I’ve got
others who like it that way.”