The Eden Series: The Complete Collection (120 page)

“What do you think?” Aziz’s voice echoed off the walls. Rain turned to see him enter through a hidden doorway.

Elex was still standing close to her, silently. She’d been aware of him watching her reaction the entire time, his face a blank mask. Something was bothering him. Keeping her focus on Aziz, she asked, “What is this place?”

Aziz smiled broadly as he approached, stopping only a short distance from where she stood. Elex had stepped back further when Aziz advanced. “This is our throne room,” he replied, emphasizing ‘our’. A growl rippled through her mind causing her to flinch slightly. She hoped Aziz hadn’t noticed as she tried to school her features.

“Why was I never told about it?” she inquired. “I didn’t even know it existed.”

Aziz chuckled. “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

Well surprise,
she thought, looking around again.

“We have company, so I thought it would be best I show you this room now.”

She turned back to him in surprise. “Company?” Could people just walk up and knock on their door? She wondered, amused by the thought.

Aziz nodded and moved to place his hand on her lower back, ushering her to where the thrones sat. “Someone important, so we must display our power here. We must show them what and who we are – the future King and Queen of Eden.” Rain turned and sat down obediently, looking up into his satisfied face. “Let no one question our rule.” He took the seat beside her, nodding to Elex. Elex strode toward a larger, visible doorway. He disappeared for only a second before returning, his expression stoic. He moved to stand beside and slightly behind Aziz’s chair, disappearing from Rain’s line of sight.

Rain thought about her appearance with a slight wince. Here they sat in a room fit for royalty, and she was dressed like a stable boy. Her hair matted and curled from sweat; her face still flushed from exertion. What a queen she must look to be.

You’re always stunning.

She was about to thank him when sounds and movement in the doorway drew her attention. Five guards ushered in a man, blindfolded and clearly being dragged against his will. Rain took in his manner of dress immediately. The man had bronze skin like Aziz. His snow white hair reached past his shoulder, while a beard of the same colour hung to mid-chest. His clothing was also white, a robe that flowed to the ground. His feet were covered in simple slippers of blue, while a wide belt was tied around his midriff in the same cobalt hue.

His hands were left unbound, but a guard held each arm firmly between them. They stopped just before the raised platform, forcing the man to his knees. Throughout this whole experience the man had remained completely silent. Three guards stood behind, swords drawn. The middle one stepped forward, pulling the blindfold off. The man blinked against the sudden light, his eyes eventually landing on Aziz. Rain watched the hatred fill them instantly. She was given barely a glance, his focus remaining on the man seated beside her.

“Welcome,” Aziz said warmly. Rain shivered. It was such a contradiction hearing the warmth in his voice, knowing beneath it laid enough venom to kill everyone in the room. He wore a mask, but no one was fooled. Danger hung in the air around them all, especially the man kneeling. Although not a threat, ‘welcome’ was not what this man was.

In answer the man spat on the floor, his defiance etched in every line on his face. “You offend the Gods with your actions, sorcerer,” the man spoke.

“Oh?” replied Aziz conversationally, as if they were all sitting around a table having a friendly conversation. It was deceptive, his tone. “And how do I offend the Gods, Bilal? Please, enlighten us.”

“You sit on your mighty thrones and look down as if you are one of them. No one is a God, Aziz. Not even you and all your powers.”

A slow smile stretched across Aziz’s face, his eyes remaining cold. “No one is a God?” he repeated. Elex stepped forward to stand beside Aziz, who tilted his head in Elex’s direction, signaling him. The man’s eyes looked between the two. “Are you sure about that, Bilal? Perhaps no one here is a God, but trust me when I say, I’m the closest to it. You had best remember that.”

The man did not look afraid when he replied, anger lacing every word. “I will remember nothing you say,” he spat. “You dare to take me, an anointed one, from the house of the God, and bring me to this place of disgrace? You sit there like a King, but you are
nothing,
Aziz! Only a foolish man with a child for his queen and an abomination for a child.”

Rain’s face burned as though someone had blasted it with flames. The room seemed to grow colder, a distinct change in the air. She shivered slightly, looking to Aziz for his reaction. She instantly wished she hadn’t. If looks could kill, the man, Bilal, would have been torn apart right then and there. His anger filled the room like a tangible force.

“Listen to me, you old fool. No one in Eden has the power to stop me. NO ONE!” His voice shot out across the entire space, echoing long after he was quiet. He breathed deeply, regaining control, before speaking again. “None of you or your holy men has the power to stop me, nor do your weak, pitiful sorcerers. Hakim can sit in Ramel, surrounded by his courtiers and swordsmen, and think he is the stronger of us two, because he rules there now. But know this; he will fall beneath my rule – just like the rest of you. No one there can save you. No one there will be able to stop me from reaching my destiny. You take that back to Hakim, and you let him know that as soon as the fool of a King in the Capital is gone, I’ll be coming for him next.”

Bilal’s face was smooth and unworried. Rain couldn’t understand why the old man was not terrified. Surely he didn’t doubt what Aziz was saying. The Sand People must realize just how powerful he really was. Their people excelled in the art of magic, but none so much as Aziz. Everyone knew that. And yet, sitting there, looking at the man from Aziz’s own homelands, it was as if Aziz were nothing but a petulant child making rash decrees of grandeur. As if it was nothing but the ramblings of a mad man. She looked to Aziz from the corner of her eyes and she began to wonder what the man before them knew that she did not. Something made him look at Aziz and see him as no more of a threat than a mouse next to a snake.

To Rain’s surprise, the man began to laugh. It was a genuine, hearty laugh that seemed so out of place in the room where tension filled every crevice. “You think us fools, Aziz? You forget, we all know the prophecy. No one can stop you? Are you so sure? Our teacher, Rashid, was right. You will be your own destruction. He said it all those years when you first left Ramel, and he still says it now. Your own creation will come back to kill you, and all we need to do it sit back and wait for it to happen.”

The silence stretched. Rain shifted uncomfortably in her seat, unable to look at Aziz again. Finally when he spoke, it was in a voice so soft she had to strain her ears to hear him. “You will deliver my message, but perhaps not as I had originally intended.” He looked up at the guards still standing around him and said, “Cut out his tongue and eyes then deliver him back to his temple. Let them make of it what they will.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

The King’s army filled the space outside of the city walls, preparing to leave for the east. The scene was identical to that of the morning they had left for the south. Except then he had Lily, and now…Aiden surveyed everything with a heavy heart. Nothing about going to war was exciting or fun, and yet adrenaline was pumping through his veins. It was not the fact that they were heading out to fight and kill another army, it was that he was finally taking steps to getting Lily back.

The night before had been rough. Once he had returned to his room at the dormitory, Aiden had found sleep impossible. Every part of his being shouted for him to race off and find her. There was a deep feeling in him that he couldn’t explain that told him
he
needed to be the one to stop Aziz. Was it just because everyone had been filling his head with prophecies since he’d arrived? He wasn’t sure. Whether it had been planted there or shaped naturally, being the one who would bring an end to all of this just felt right. Destiny wasn’t something he thought much about, prior to his adventures in Eden, but now he seemed to contemplate it often. Was this his destiny? Was there such a thing as a predetermined fate for someone? A path laid out for one to walk during their life, not to be veered from or altered?

Ty chomped on the grass beside him in obvious contentment.
Oh to be a horse
, he thought sardonically. What an easy life that would be. Aiden was interrupt from his musings by a hard push from behind.

“Snap out of it, warrior,” Moose said playfully. Aiden moved closer to Ty, resting his arm on the saddle. “No offence, but you look awful.”

“Thanks,” he replied dryly. “I didn’t get much sleep.”

Moose gave him a look of understanding. “We’re going to get her, Aiden. I promise.”

He didn’t want to point out that this wasn’t really something he could promise, so he simply nodded. His friend was trying to make him feel better and he appreciated it. Still, he wasn’t blind to the reality of the situation. Moose nudged him with his elbow, nodding his head in the other direction. Aiden turned to see what he was looking at and broke out into laughter. Logan walked over to them with a scathing look.

“It’s not funny,” he said when he reached them.

Both Aiden and Moose were laughing now. When he could catch his breath, Aiden replied, “Oh come on! Don’t be such a spoiled sport. If memory serves me right, you had a nice laugh at my expense for just the same reason.”

“It looks good on you,” Moose chirped in. “Makes you look like a real man.”

Logan growled. “I am a real man!” He shot forward, his shoulder hitting Moose in the stomach and sending them both crashing to the ground. Aiden watched in amusement as they wrestled with each other. He didn’t hear Wolf and Elisa approach until they stood beside him.

“What’s going on?” Elisa asked calmly.

“Moose said Logan looked like a real man now, insinuating he didn’t before. Logan is fighting for his honour,” Aiden explained.

Wolf grunted. “Why does he look like a man now?”

“I always look like a man!” Logan hollered, rolling off Moose. “You’re all going to pay, I swear.” When he stood up to face them Elisa started to chuckle as Wolf’s face broke out into a wide grin.

“I see the student has surpassed the teacher,” Wolf commented. Logan reached up to finger the black eye Aiden had given him the night before. “Don’t you feel stupid?”

“Not really,” he replied miserably. “I’d like to see you try and take him one-on-one and see if you don’t come out looking the same.”

“Aw, Wolf, you should have seen it,” Moose said excitedly. “I’ve never seen someone fight like Aiden. He just keeps getting better. Poor Logan couldn’t keep up.”

“Whatever,” Logan grumbled.

Wolf turned to give Aiden an approving look. “It’s about time someone put him in his place,” he said.

“Well I’m happy to have been the one,” Aiden replied happily. “Let’s move up to where the King and Captain are. I don’t want to be stuck in the back or the middle.”

They all mumbled their agreement as they moved to get their horses.

“I’m telling you, Wolf, he’s impossibly quick,” Logan was saying. Aiden could hear him as he grabbed Ty’s reins. “It’s almost unnatural. I’ve never experienced it before, not even with those cursed beasts.” Wolf was laughing, calling Logan a sore loser when Aiden turned to look at them. The smile on his face died instantly when he noticed Elisa. Her face was drained of colour, whiter than he had ever seen it. She watched Logan with a look of terror, eyes wide, teeth biting nervously on her lip. Her hands were clasped tightly together.

“Hey,” Aiden called out to her. Snapping out of whatever trance she was in, she turned to look at him with a weak smile. “You okay?”

She nodded, her voice weak when she replied. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Her cheeks were still drained of colour, eyes haunted.

“You sure?”

“Uh huh.” She turned and headed toward her horse, leaving them all watching in her wake.

“What’s wrong with her?” Moose asked.

“No idea?” Wolf replied pensively. His brows furrowed as he watched her, deep in thought. Slowly he turned to look at Aiden, their eyes meeting. Wolf stared at him searchingly for a second before looking back to Elisa, his face troubled. “I’ll figure it out,” he told them, making no move to follow her.

“Well, shall we boys?” Moose said breaking the weird haze that seemed to have surrounded them. “Let’s go get us a sorcerer!”

Elisa hurried, trying to create as much space as she could between herself and the boys. She was never good at hiding her emotions. Aiden’s face told her he knew something was up. She wasn’t fooling him. It had taken every ounce of strength in her to say she was fine and not burst out with the truth. There was something utterly trusting in Aiden’s face when he looked at her. It was as if there was nothing she could do that he would judge her for. Whatever was wrong, or whatever she had to say, he would listen and understand. She could see it all in his eyes when he looked at her; could hear it in the way he asked if she was okay. And what did she do? Lie. A sick feeling swelled in her stomach, pushing her further.