Promises (Book One of The Syrenka Series) (24 page)

Carissa gazed up into his eyes,
although with her height, she didn’t have far to look. They were
glistening with tears and dread, but the way she looked at Kain
seemed to soften her anger. “You think this is what we need to
do?”

“
I do.” He pulled her into
an embrace but not before giving her a quick kiss on the lips. I
flinched without any type of effort to stop myself. Averting my
eyes to the floor, I saw Daniel’s hand reach over and rest on my
clenched ones. He squeezed tightly and I shut my eyes to stop the
tears. I shouldn’t care. I should be happy for Kain. And even for
Carissa who had been nothing but a friend to me. But still, the
sight of him kissing another girl only invoked feelings of jealousy
and rejection. Perhaps this is the way Kain had always felt about
Brendan and me. And if that was the case, I was sorrier than I
would ever be able to apologize for.

The door to our prison creaked open,
sending shards of light into the shadowed crevasses. Kain and
Carissa detached themselves as Daniel and I stood up to move next
to them. I was hoping that they were ready for all of us, but was
sadly disappointed when Julian walked in the door and pointed at
me.

“
Come with me,
Eviana.”

“
What about the rest of
them?”

“
They will join us
shortly.”

Daniel squeezed my arms. “Don’t go
with him,” he whispered into my ear.

“
She will be perfectly
safe,” Julian replied, apparently capable of hearing private
conversations. Kain stepped slightly ahead of me, effectively
blocking my view of the selkie.

“
What do you want with
her?”

Julian stared at Kain for a moment.
Then his gaze slid over to Carissa and back to me. The corner of
his mouth turned up and Kain straightened his shoulders; puffing up
for the fight. “My master wants to speak with her.” When none of us
moved, Julian continued. “You have my word that he is only going to
speak with her.”

“
Your word doesn’t hold
much stake with us,” Kain chided.

“
No, but it means something
to her.” He was pointing at me again. At once, all eyes were on me
but I just continued to stare at Julian. He hadn’t seemed cruel
when we had our conversation not too long ago and there was
something about him that made me want to believe him. It wasn’t
trust, exactly. Maybe it was more of a mutual respect?

“
I’ll be okay,” I promised
while moving away from my friends and towards the door. Pulling
down the back of my short robe, I walked through the opening before
turning to look at my friend’s faces. “Just sit tight and I’ll see
you soon.”

Daniel shuddered with emotion, terror
filled Carissa’s eyes, and Kain stood as still as a statue watching
me leave them behind. I followed Julian down the tunnel once he
closed, and locked, the door behind him. We didn’t speak but
somehow I didn’t have anything to say. I figured that I needed to
save my questions for whomever it was that I was going to see
now.

After another hundred yards or so, the
tunnel began to lighten and we entered a second large cavern. But
unlike the entrance into the pool, this one had been manipulated to
accommodate a number of guests. It was almost like a grand
ballroom, with hanging candelabras and archways breaking up the
open expanse of the space. The center was filled with large pieces
of rock, artfully placed together to create a tiled floor. Along
the edges, humans, selkies, and other mermaids watched in silence
as we passed by. It reminded me of Jeremiah’s home and I instantly
got chills down the back of my neck. I feared that I was witnessing
another sample of what I would one day be able to do; control my
own army.

We made our way to the opposite side,
where several thrones were placed. There were three of them; one in
the middle and one on each side but slightly behind. The two on the
sides were filled with one male and one female mermaid. I had never
seen them before even though I frantically searched my brain for
some memory of their faces. It wasn’t until I noticed the man
standing up next to the largest throne that my fear finally grasped
every last nerve. I would never forget those eyes. He was holding
his arms out wide, gesturing for me to come closer.

“
Eviana Dumahl. It is such
a pleasure to see you again. Welcome to my abode.”

“
Master Sunderland.” Lucian
Sunderland, the man from Cotillion and the one leading the charge
to reinstate the Legacy was standing ahead of me as pompous and
confident as he was before. It is typical to bow slightly out of
respect to other clan leaders, but I just couldn’t bring myself to
do it. Apparently, Lucian didn’t mind my lack of etiquette. Instead
he hustled up beside me and gave me a hug like we were best friends
reuniting after several years. I pulled away and looked at him in
disgust.

“
Why are we here?” I asked
forcefully.

“
Well, you are here because
I need to speak with you. The others are here due to an unforeseen
circumstance.” He twirled his fingers in the air like an eighteenth
century composer. In fact, his outfit kind of reminded me of that
era as well, with the long tail on his velvet jacket hanging down
past his knees and the white puffy shirt underneath reminiscent of
years past.

“
I don’t have anything to
say to you.”

“
Oh don’t be so hasty,
dear. You may very much have something to say after I’ve given you
my proposition.” He began to walk back towards his throne but when
I tried to follow, Julian grabbed my shoulder and held me in place.
Lucian’s theatrical display continued as he whirled around in front
of his chair, effectively pushing the long coat tails behind him
and out of the way so he could sit. Once settled, he waved his hand
at someone in the back of the room and I heard another door open
followed by some scuffling. Julian’s hand tightened on my shoulder
once the new guest was visible to us both. It was
Brendan.

He was still in bad shape despite
being forced through a transition earlier. In his human form, his
ribs were sticking out, his cheeks were sunken in, and his skin was
pale. The normally tall statuesque figure was gone, replaced
instead by a hunched gaunt one. It was completely heart wrenching
to see him like this. Julian allowed me to move towards Brendan,
but his two human guards stopped short. They were not going to let
me touch him.

“
Are you okay?” I whispered
to my love.

He tried to smile and for an instance
his green eyes lit up the room. “I’ve been better.” I smiled back
and felt the tears spill from my eyes. Lucian clapped loudly and
startled us both.

“
Ain’t love grand?” he
asked the room. No one responded except for the two mermaids in the
other thrones who snickered in our direction. “Now, Eviana I need
you to focus on me.” With great reluctance, I turned to face him,
wishing that I could hurt him somehow. “Now, it seems as if we have
a bit of problem to deal with. You see, I heard that you were able
to take control of some of my selkies, and that is something that
does not make me happy.”

I heard Brendan shift his stance,
uncomfortable with what was just revealed. “I don’t know what you
are talking about,” I denied.

“
Now don’t be coy, little
girl. I’ve heard it from two of my best. You controlled them and I
want to know how it felt.”

“
How it
felt
?”

“
Yes. How intoxicating was
that power? That total control over another creature.” He placed
his elbows on his thighs and leaned over. “It’s wonderful isn’t
it?”

“
No!” I
screamed.

“
No?”

“
I didn’t even know what
happened. But once Julian told me, I realized how wrong that was.
No one has the right to control another.”

Lucian slumped back in his chair like
he was bored and played with a piece of his blonde ponytail. “Well
that sure is a shame. I was hoping this conversation would go in a
much different direction.”

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
The Legacy, Eviana. For
too many years we’ve been suppressed and forced to live in a world
where we are not respected amongst both shifters and humans. The
time has come to end those ways.” He stood again and waved over two
selkies that replaced Brendan’s human guards. I recognized the
female as one of our original captors.

“
What are you doing?” I
asked with a shaky voice.

“
You’ll see,” he replied
coyly as he nodded towards the selkies. With one quick move, the
female jerked Brendan’s hands behind his back. Not hesitating for a
second, the young male pulled a knife from his belt and plunged it
into Brendan’s stomach.

“
No!” I screamed. Brendan’s
face was contorted in pain but the female would not let him fall. I
watched in slow motion as the male selkie raised his arm again,
preparing for another thrust. This time, I felt the power rise in
me without even thinking about it. I pushed it out from the center
of my core, through my limbs, and past my fingertips. “Stop now!” I
commanded.

The room seemed to take in a
collective breath as the selkies froze mid-motion before dropping
to their knees and giving me the lost puppy look again. All of the
humans followed suit, and much to my surprise, there must have been
at least thirty of them. Julian seemed to be somewhat unaffected
although he was shaking his head as if trying to get rid of my
command.

I took a brief moment to look back
behind me at Lucian who was smiling with the kind of pride a father
would have for his daughter. That just made me angrier and I knew
that we had to get out of here as soon as possible. But could we?
Did I have that strength? Now was my chance to test it. I pointed
to four humans kneeling along the back wall.

“
You. Come here and take
these selkies away.” I found an older looking female who I hoped
would have a strong maternal instinct. “And you help fix this
wound.”

Immediately, they sprang into action,
doing just what I told them to. The selkies didn’t fight, and
instead went willingly out of the room and out of my sight. I
watched as several people assisted the female human with Brendan.
They carried him out the room as well, although his eyes never left
mine the entire way. The green globes didn’t seem to represent the
pain he was feeling and my stomach dropped when I suddenly realized
that I had seized control of him as well. He had warned me about
this and it was one of the worst feelings in the world to control
someone I love like that. As quickly as it appeared, I dropped my
newfound power and marched towards Lucian and his arrogant
smile.

“
Why the angry face my
dear?”

“
This isn’t right! I don’t
want to have this kind of power over people. No one
should!”

He shot to his feet and closed the gap
between us in a few strides. “We should! It is our birthright,
given to us a long time ago by our creators. Being forced to live
like a human is cruel and condescending.” Those grey eyes bore into
mine. “You just saved your pet’s life. Doesn’t that mean something
to you?”

“
He is not my pet! I don’t
ever want to take over his mind again.” I was sobbing now but I
didn’t care how immature I looked. This was something that I just
could not accept.

“
You will when you need
him,” Lucian stated matter-of-factly.

I was shaking my head. “No, I won’t. I
can’t.”

“
You will be leader soon,
Eviana. And not only will you join me, but you will also bring
along the Matthew clan as well.” This caught me completely off
guard.

“
You people really don’t
have your facts straight do you? I walked away from all of that. My
mother shunned me and Kain hates me. I will never be a part of our
families again.” I noticed a hint of confusion pass over Lucian’s
features before he quickly hid it behind his leader facade. “You
didn’t know that did you? Perhaps living in a cave in the middle of
the Virginia mountains isn’t quite the best way to keep up to date
with the world.” Suddenly feeling a little more confident, I threw
back my shoulders and glared into his cold eyes. “That’s right. I
mean nothing to them which means that I mean nothing to
you.”

Without saying a word, Lucian
Sutherland turned on his heel and marched back up to his throne. He
sat down, resting his head in his hand like he was in deep thought.
Julian’s arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me away, back
towards the tunnel that led to my friends. As soon as we turned the
corner and were out of sight of everyone else, the adrenaline that
had flooded my body dissipated and left me trembling. They had
stabbed Brendan and I had stolen his mind.

“
I will make sure that he
is alright,” Julian said, surprising me for a moment. “Brendan. I
will go and check on him. One of the mermaids is a healer and I am
sure that Master Sutherland does not want him to die.”

“
Thank you,” I whispered. I
couldn’t even muster up the other questions that I wanted to ask.
So we walked to the room in silence, with the opening of the stone
door being the only sound in the tunnel. I didn’t want to face
anyone right now. All that I wanted to do was curl up into a ball
and cry. My world was falling apart, and I feared that I had just
lost our only chance for escape.