Protector (32 page)

I gritted my teeth, working my jaw from side to side.

How could Davio sell me out this way? I wouldn’t let him.

I slammed my forethought down and turned on Silvie. “Your family seriously sucks.” I stopped as abruptly as I’d begun. Jeez, I couldn’t speak of this with her. She would inform them of what I’d heard when I needed to sort this myself.

“It’s all right. Mates struggle when parted from each other. I understand that.” She got my angry comment wrong, and I didn’t correct her. “We only have PE after this and then we leave. You’ll see Davio soon enough.”

I would and we would be speaking. When I’d hid at my father’s apartment after first finding out about Silvie’s deceit and been gone for days before returning, he’d said in the future we needed to address our problems. That if we had an issue, we’d talk about it. Well, right now I had an issue. A very big one. There would be no capture.

No one would place me in any position of vulnerability, and I’d certainly never accept it from him. It wasn’t happening.

* * * *

“The boys are here.” Silvie slung her bag over her shoulder as we exited the girl’s changing room.

We were the last to leave, and I pulled the door shut behind me. “Perfect,” I said, taking a deep breath as I saw Davio.

“You two took your time in there.” He strode toward me, picking up my hand.

My mind thunked into his–so annoying.

“Did you have a good afternoon?” His thumb stroked my palm.

“No.” And because I couldn’t help myself, I swayed into him. Damn it. Where was my focus? He’d spoken of imprisonment.

“You want to talk about it?”

“Yes, but alone.”

“Faith, I’ll see you in the cavern once I’m changed,” Silvie called out as she took Silas’s arm. I lifted my hand in a wave, and the two flashed away.

Davio pulled me closer. “Let’s go.” And he zipped us there.

My feet sank into gray sand. The air was warm, the entire cavern filled with a light steam which rose from a large crystal clear pool of water a few feet away. Looking around I noted dark rocks lining every side and beyond, muted light tunneled in from an entrance above.

With a finger under my chin, he tipped it up. “You seem out of sorts. Did Belle tell you of the rumor?”

“No, what rumor is that?”

He sighed. “There was a serving maid in the communal dining hall who saw us together. She leaked word that I’ve found my mate.” He paused, his jaw ticking. “I had no choice. I had to confirm the news. People are referring to you as my Halfling–that you come from Earth.”

“You let them?” I gritted my teeth. “How many Halflings are there in Peacio? Because I know there’s only one in Dralion–and that’s me. You don’t think the next warrior spy sent here might check out this leaked news? You don’t think they’d be curious to see who Davio Loveria was mated to?”

I rubbed a hand to my forehead. So this was how it would be. There would be no delay for this sounded like a plan to lure my father out if ever I’d heard one.

I straightened my shoulders. “You were never to use me as a pawn, never to allow any warrior spies to see me. This might happen now, and what if Donaldo finds out?”

“Your father won’t permit that to happen. With his forewarning, he’ll come and that’s what we’re after. Spreading word of your mixed heritage is simply the draw-card to his–”

I scowled, slamming my hands to his chest. “Finally you’re telling me. This is what you and Carlisio planned. You wish to capture my father and you’ll go so far as to use me as bait by locking me up. I saw it all.”

He set his hands at his sides. “You need to stop spying and listening in on private conversations.”

“Carlisio would do the same if he could. It’s not my fault his forethought is weak, and he can’t hear.” I broke the mind-merge, feeling the sharp pain as I did. “I would never use you like this. Ever.”

He spread his legs. “You’ll never come to any harm when we’re only after Alexo’s capture.”

“Why must you capture him at all?” I held up my hands.

“Too many of your warriors are infiltrating our shores and taking what is not theirs. There was an attack at one of our largest diamond mines three days ago. Seven lives were lost and Alexo was behind it, as is Donaldo who pulls the strings.”

“You can’t assume that.”

“Yes, I can. It was a methodical attack by a team of eight. Donaldo hates all things Peacian, and this reeked of Alexo’s forethought in how well it was run. Your father and grandfather work together. They know exactly what they do when they send their bloodthirsty warriors out.”

Warriors–yes. Bloodthirsty? And then a memory–one I couldn’t forget that first day when the leading eight introduced themselves.

But no, my father had been with my mother at the time. I would not concede to laying the blame at his feet. “So where does this leave us? I won’t allow you to capture my father through me.”

“Alexo must be taken.”

My jaw opened. “And you must change your mind.”

“No. I will never side with the enemy.”

I met his intense gaze with one of my own. “You would do everything in your power to keep your family safe. You can’t expect any different from me.”

He narrowed his gaze. “What are you saying?”

“That I’ll never allow you to use me in the way you intend. My father goes out of his way to ensure I have free choice. He allows me to come to you, and you want to what? Lock him away? Kill him?”

A second. Two.

“His death would not be sought. His confinement would.”

I shook from head to feet. “I can’t allow that to happen. Don’t do this to us.”

“This is not about us, but my people. Their safety must come first, and yours will never be in question.”

“Of course it’s in question. You do this, and I can never roam freely on your land. You have to take back my Halfling status and let it be known it was only gossip. You have to insist I am from Peacio. Make something up, but you have to do it, and before word spreads too far.”

He shook his head. “Your warriors took seven lives this week. Two hundred and thirty-eight lives this year. They are killers with only one purpose. They take what they want.”

“So you’ve made your decision?”

“Yes.”

There was a rush of wind as he said that word, and I spun to look.

“No, Silas.”

A fierce, girly squeal pinged loudly from wall to wall in the underground chamber, making me jump when I recognized it was Silvie.

Silas bellowed with laughter as he threw her out into the deep water. There was a streak of red as she disappeared.

With a heaving mass of bubbles, she resurfaced, blowing out a fountain of water. “That does not get any funnier, no matter how many times you do it. You’re supposed to leave me on the edge of the pool, not throw me in it. You are such a pain in the neck.” She cupped her hand and sprayed water at him.

This was how I should be living. I should be free and having fun. I was eighteen, yet living the life of someone who had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

I couldn’t do this.

And it was too dangerous for me to stay here. I would never give Davio an opening to take me.

I examined the crystal clear water before me.

A water source.

My way out.

Chapter 15

Davio hadn’t seen it coming. I had dived in fully clothed and flashed back to Dralion before he’d even registered my intent. But it had been the only way.

From the quiet sanctuary of my room, I watched him. He was more agitated than I’d ever seen him. He hadn’t spoken to anyone after I left. He’d returned to his private quarters and that’s where he’d been holed up for the past four hours.

Silas entered the room, joining him. “You have to speak sooner or later. I realize your mate’s gone.” He sat opposite Davio.

Pressing his elbows to his knees, Davio stared at the wall. “She wants me to choose her, but there is no choice. All I can think of is the hundreds of families who’ve suffered a great loss this year, and I can lower those numbers if we eliminate Alexo. The only right decision is the one I’ve made.”

“Yes, but there will always be Peacian deaths at the hands of Dralion’s warriors,” Silas pointed out.

“Yet not that high. We need to be given a fighting chance to defend ourselves. You and I both know how fast and precise their attacks are.”

I touched a hand to my chest, for I felt his pain. I couldn’t deny the loss of lives, and I would never condone one killing another. But this war was not my doing, and I knew it would never end with the capture of one man. Not when that man was my father. I couldn’t lose him, not now.

Silas sighed. “What about you? This isn’t like you to use an innocent to gain the outcome you want. There must be a way to make this right.”

Davio scrubbed both hands over his face. “There is no other way.” He shot to his feet and stormed to his desk. “Faith will not leave Dralion now, not if she hopes to protect Alexo and herself.” He picked up a framed photograph from his desk and stared at it. “She is the one I want, and I cannot have her.”

Silas crossed the room to join him. “So how are we better off? She will be on her guard, as will Alexo. This will all have been for naught.”

I came around positioning myself to view the photograph he viewed. It was the one I kept on my bedside stand–the one of Silvie and me as we’d celebrated my last birthday at Pier’s Restaurant.

Davio set the frame back on his desk. “She will have alerted him. She left before I could prevent her, and before I was supposed to have taken her to the holding cell. I should have done as Carlisio bid and made it quick, only I wanted more time with her. This is my fault she escaped.”

I closed my eyes as tears slipped free. I missed him, no matter what he’d done. I rubbed at my temple, feeling the familiar ache of being denied our connection.

“Faith.”

My mother peered around the corner.

“Come in.”

She smiled, all blushy and pink and glowing, which had me recalling exactly what she’d been up to that day. “You and Dad are together again?” I rolled my shoulders.

“How did you–” She coughed, clearing her throat. “–ah, no, please don’t tell me how you know that. The things you and Alexo can do are criminal.”

“Trust me, I wish I didn’t know.” I patted the bed beside me. “Sit. We need to talk.”

“About?”

“My mind-merge.”

She eased in beside me, tilting her head. “Go for it.”

“Dad first said my mind-merge was an extension of my forethought, that I activated it because of my warring blood with Davio. What I do is merge my mind with his and with touch, skin-to-skin, we no longer experience pain. Yet if Dad had this ability to bed down in your mind, warring blood or not, he would discover there is no choice–he would have to mind-merge with you.” I looked at her intently. “I can go a few days without the merge, but when I’m not with Davio, my mind cries out for his. He’s not affected at all like I am, but then he can’t mind-merge. I’m the one who has the skill–not him. So, I’m certain this is a separate ability. Entirely.”

“Which means?”

I sighed, finally giving into the knowledge which sat deep in my heart. “I can’t go more than three days without him. I need to reconnect to his mind to restore the balance of the merge. I don’t know if anyone else has this skill. Everyone’s presumed it’s part of my forethought and we all know how rare that is.”

“I see.”

I shook my head. “No, you don’t see. A Magioling’s strength skills are passed down through their DNA. I did not receive this skill of mind-merge from my father or from the Wincrest family line. I had to have received this skill from you, from your family line. You are thirty-six and you could pass for my sister. You are an orphan with no known family. You are also mated to Alexo Wincrest when there has never been any other mating between an Earthling and one of theirs before. Now there is Davio and me. There are too many variables. You can’t be of Earth. Don’t you see it?”

“Faith, no. I don’t have any strength skills.” Her fingers twisted together.

“Not all Magiolings do.” I laid my hand over hers. “Please, you have to know something which could help me. This is so important. Already my head aches, and I cannot go to him.”

Her brow creased. “You fast-heal. Why can’t you go to him?”

“My fast-healing skill doesn’t aid me in this.”

It had not relieved the symptoms for me on the mountaintop when I’d needed it so desperately. Only reconnecting to Davio’s mind had completed the healing.

I heaved a sigh. “I cannot go to him now, not after he has chosen to use me as leverage to capture my father.” Her eyes widened, her hands shaking under mine. “It just happened today. I’m sorry to have to tell you like this.”

“Sol,” she stated. “You know my maiden name is Sol, and that I was just a baby, around three days old, when I was orphaned. What I haven’t told you is that the nuns who ran the home said my mother’s name was Katerin and that she came alone. My mother left me there.” The truth came tumbling out, and she grimaced. “It hurts to know she never returned. She promised the nuns she would, but she never did. Because of that there was no option for adoption.”