Shadow Reign (Shadow Puppeteer Book 2) (4 page)

I shrugged. “If you want to see how well I battle, give me a blade.”

She chuckled. “There is time for that, little daughter. Take heed. I will give you the best of teachers, but if you’re not really Hecate, nothing will protect you from the final test.”

That was clearly a threat. My appetite was gone. If the Daily Dark, a paper about the underground, was right, the Reincarta was responsible for tons of murders and disappearances. I had to kill her before she killed me. I had no desire to wait around this cave like a prisoner for her final test.

I picked the mug up, though I wasn’t thirsty. It felt good holding something I could throw, but I’d feel more confident with a blade. She didn’t trust me, which was a good call. I wasn’t going to have much of a future if I didn’t start carving a path.

“What was the man like that you mated with?” I asked.

“Innocent. Not like you or I,” her voice softened in memory. “He was young and so scared. Werewolves are a rare species. They aren’t as common as they use to be. Hunting and disease wiped out a lot of the packs. The ones still surviving are the ones that are near feral. The young man I mated with was a bit wild and so new to the world.”

My skin prickled. I didn’t really want to hear this. I knew what she did to him, but I couldn’t even say the word in my mind.

She smiled, knowing she hit a sore spot. “You like the wolves, don’t you? Your boyfriend is a werewolf and so protective of you. It took a great deal of effort prying your dead body from his hands.”

Nerves tightened in my stomach. “What did you do to Rex?”

“Rex? That’s what I’d name a pet dog if I had one. Was he your pet, Belen? That would be appropriate after what I did to your father,” she said.

“If I’m your daughter, than I’m half werewolf. Why treat them so badly?” It took a great deal of effort not to show how pissed I was. I wanted to hurt her so badly that it made my stomach hurt.

“The wolves worship Hecate, but they don’t agree with what I’ve done. I’ve saved their Goddess, but they’d have me dead for it.”

“So you stole a werewolf to mate with?”

“Hecate’s spirit would feel bonded with a werewolf.”

Was that logic? I wasn’t sure. Everything was still rather new to me. One thing was sure, the werewolf got away from her. I wasn’t going to run. I wasn’t going to be hunted, but doubt lingered. Did I have what it took to get rid of the problem? I put the mug down and squeezed my hands under the table, but that didn’t stop the shaking.

She wasn’t like the others. She wasn’t a victim.

“What’s this test?” I asked. Please tell me it involved a blade in my hand. I wasn’t going to fail.

“Hecate will not be complete without the Prism of Shadow. You’ll go to the mountain the gods are buried in and retrieve it.”

“No.”

“You don’t have a say in this. It would be a pity if something happened to your pet werewolf and his pack.”

The news hit me hard. I sat up and caught the table for balance. “Rex is alive?”

“For now,” she said.

The conversation ended with a cough in the doorway. Utan immediately bowed when he had Kelaino’s attention. “The room is ready. Would you like guards standing by her door?”

Kelaino leaned back in her chair and stroked her fingers under her jaw. “No guards. She’s useless until you’ve trained her.”

“Mistress, I must warn on the side of caution,” he started, but Kelaino waved him silent. “As you wish.”

Not even the will-o-wasp could lighten the dark depths of her eyes. I was very aware of my own breathing in the silence of the room. She flicked her fingers at me, and the gesture didn’t go unread. She was dismissing me.

I stood and the dizziness was back. The static energy made me nauseous.

“You’ll spend your days with Utan, learning to fight. You’ll spend your nights in the care of my necromancer to learn how to control your abilities. If you’re worth sending, I’ll know soon enough,” she said.

That sounded like a threat. It was me she wanted, but Rex would always be in danger if I allowed her to live. I turned away from the table, wondering if I’d ever see Rex and Ardent again.

I expected Utan to take me to my room, but a sith was waiting for me instead. The pink will-o-wasp followed.

T
he Baobhan sith was creepier than I gave credit. There wasn’t enough light in the hall for the fire that burned in her emerald eyes. She smiled at me and her teeth almost looked normal, if it weren’t for the sharp points. Up close, she was pretty. Her hair was clean and braided over her bare shoulder. She gave off an inviting air, which was as alluring as a Venus Fly Trap to a fly.

“What happened to her daughter?” I asked.

The sith rounded the corner and the distance I put us at had me quite a few steps behind her. Her bare feet didn’t make a sound, while my squishy boots filled the silence.

“Which one?”

Her voice sounded so normal, not at all what I expected. Bliss was a faerie and his voice was normal too. I guess I thought her sharp teeth would change her pronunciation.

“The daughter that matters so much to her,” I said.

“She’s tried this many times before and there were many failures.” The answer was heartless. It was obvious she cared very little for what was going on around here.

We passed so many caverns that opened to more tunnels that I knew I’d get lost if I were alone. The passages all looked the same, nothing was marked and nothing stood out. The only difference with this tunnel was that there were tons of doorways carved into the stone. Each doorway had beads blocking the entrance and orange light shined under some of them. If Rose was in one of these rooms, I’d better learn to sleep with one eye open.

“What do you mean she failed? Failed how in the past?”

“Her babies were always stillborn. This one wasn’t. It was healthy. She had the father trapped, the baby had to be baptized in his blood, but his pack came in at the last minute and stopped it. He ran off with the baby.”

She stopped in front of a doorway with warm light stretched out under the beaded strings. I guess this was our destination, but I still had questions. Before I could ask her anything else, she started walking back down the hall, but the little will-o-wasp stayed with me.

I wasn’t her daughter. I was positive about that, but neither was Rose, and for some reason Rose thought she was.

I pushed the beads back and the dime size balls rolled over my hands as I stepped into the alcove. It was bigger than I imagined with a decent fireplace. The modifications made it comfortable. A narrow bed was shoved up against the wall and a basin sat in the middle of the room. The water was so clear, I could see the bottom. I wasn’t sure what I expected. I just didn’t want to deal with any more dark water.

The basin was a clear invitation to wash. I leaned against the wall for support as I pulled my boots and socks off. They were so soggy that water spilled along the stone floor. I dropped the fur coat beside the wall. It wasn’t something I wanted to touch again once I was clean. The cut-off shorts were stuck to my skin, making it difficult to wiggle out of. My shirt was the real issue. The torn fabric stuck to my wounds. It stole my breath, peeling it off, but the pain subsided quickly enough.

The water was inviting, but I had no weapons and there was no security with the beaded curtain over the door. My grimy skin won out. I’d just make this quick and then I’d be back out in moments and dressed.

I dipped my foot in, not sure what to expect, but the water was pleasantly warm. It chased the cold from the surface of my skin all the way to my bone. I sunk in further, feeling the last of the stiffness give way. The warm water made the wolf bites sting, but it was better than leaving them unwashed. With the fire and the warm water, my worries shrank. The last thing I wanted to do was think about what had to be done.

The beaded curtains parted as a sith walked in with a vase in each hand, a towel over her shoulder and clothes folded over her arms. I immediately folded my arms over my chest, accidently hitting my cut shoulders. The pain was immediate and bone deep.

She didn’t tilt her head up and sniff the air, though my bloody shoulders were exposed. Instead, she sat the vases of water by the basin, then placed the towel and clothes on the bed. Once the clothes were laid out, she came back to me and knelt, grabbing one of the vases.

I jerked away from her touch. “I don’t need your help.”

“Of course,” she said, dumping the water over my head.

I gripped the sides of the basin, surprised by the force of my memories. In a split second, the doppelganger was over me with rancid water falling over my face. The gentle fingers massaging my scalp drew me from that nightmare. It was just a memory.

“I can do this myself,” I insisted. The minute I raised my hands to stop her, my shoulders ached, stealing my breath.

She dumped the second vase of water over my head and started in with the rag. I expected the fabric to push over my shoulders, but she was surprisingly tender around the wounds. The washcloth was too soft to peel my skin and I wanted the first couple of layers gone. I wanted her to scrub harder, but was also grateful that she didn’t. As tired as I was, I couldn’t relax. I needed to get out of here so I could check on Rex, Amber and D, but I couldn’t leave until Kelaino’s dead.

This time I caught her wrist and she wasn’t cold like Utan. Her skin was surprisingly warm and soft. She smelt like almond and vanilla. I twisted around to look at her. Her eyes were just as green as the last sith, but there was something in the lines around her eyes. She
felt
different to me.

“Do you know the Unseelie Court?” I asked.

She shrugged. “I’m familiar with it. A faerie is either ruled by the Seelie or the Unseelie. There are very few free faeries.”

I took it that she wasn’t free. Maybe the sith were trapped here like I was, but I couldn’t assume it. Anything I said now could get back to Kelaino. What would Kelaino do if she knew I was plotting to run? It wasn’t the worst of my goals.

“I have a message that needs to be sent to a member of the Unseelie court.”

The muscle in her arm tightened at the mention of the Unseelie. She didn’t ask so I continued.

“I need you to tell Bliss where I’m located,” I said.

“Bliss Blue?” Something in her tone spoke of nerves. I nodded and she frowned. “He’s the queen’s chief guard. No one approaches him.”

I had to convince her to go to him. He rescued me twice now. I didn’t know much about faeries, except their value on honor. If he rescued me again, I’d owe him another favor, but he was the second person I knew who could just pop in and out of places. Draken would be my first choice if I hadn’t seen him escort D into the Ardent Asylum. I wasn’t sure where Draken stood on loyalty, but I wasn’t convinced of Bliss’s intentions either.

“He knows me. If you tell him I’m here, he’ll come.”

I wanted to promise her safety, but I couldn’t even take care of myself. She looked unconvinced as she dropped the cloth in the water and picked up the vase of water. I stood at her command and the water felt colder this time as she dumped it over my shoulders, taking the last of the grime. I stepped out of the tub, feeling lighter without the grave dirt clinging to my body, but the wolf bites took some of my strength.

“I will give you anything I have if you will deliver the message,” I said. That was a dangerous offer and the minute it came from my mouth, I felt uncertain.

The sith grabbed the towel off the bed and tossed it to me. I was grateful for the fabric, though it was rough. I dotted my skin before wrapping it around my torso. When I looked back up, the sith was watching me closely. It was alien how the light played through the emerald of her eyes.

“I want your wolf.” Her aura brightened at the statement.

Disappointed hardened in my stomach. “Your price is too high. I don’t own the wolf and even if I did, I wouldn’t give you his life for a message.”

Her smirk was telling. I wasn’t going to like her resolution. “Then I’ll ask for something you can give, Belen McKnight, the daughter of Kelaino; the chosen one.”

“It’s not proven that I’m her daughter.”

Her hair fell over her shoulders, framing her face and drawing attention to her mouth. I couldn’t imagine those teeth going gracefully into skin.

I knew I was going to regret this, but I needed to speak with Bliss. “What did you want in exchange?”

Her pointed tongue darted over her lips. “Your blood.”

“My message is useless if I’m dead.” I didn’t want her teeth digging in my skin. The wolves already took a chuck of flesh.

“I won’t take much. I just want to taste the Moon Goddess, Hecate,” she said.

I wish she’d stop insisting that I was Kelaino’s daughter. “Fine, but give me a chance to get dressed.”

The sith shrugged and leaned against the wall, crossing her arms under her breasts. Her presence made me uncomfortable, so I pulled the clothes on with as much modesty as I could get from the towel. When I’m alone, I’ll doctor my cuts, but right now, I just wanted the cover. The burgundy, silk pants had draw-strings that I pulled tight. The top was formfitting with a high collar, but I felt naked with the high shoulders. The fabric didn’t cover the scars over my arms.

She kicked away from the wall, her grace uncanny. “There’s something dark in you and I find it pleasing. I want to taste it.”

“How can I trust you’ll deliver the message to Bliss?”

She frowned. “If you keep speaking his name, you might summon the queen. That would be bad for all of us. I’ve given you my word; I’ll go in search of him. He’s been on a fool’s mission for thirty-four years and counting.”

“Okay, fine,” I still wasn’t ready for this. “Do you have a name?”

“This isn’t a date. No need to get personal,” she growled.

Touchy. I tried to brace myself, but when she stepped within my circle of comfort, her energy rolled over me despite my shields. With the patch over my eye, I couldn’t see her aura and that bothered me. I stepped back, feeling the bed against the back of my legs and I stiffened further. I wasn’t going to lie down while this was happening, that would make me feel like a victim, and I was no one’s victim.