The P.J. Stone Gates Trilogy (#1-3) (67 page)

“Dad?” Bryn’s voice wavered in question. “I thought you were dead.”

The Senator spoke up. “Seers and Speakers are useless with one of us in them, but Gatekeepers and Guardians . . . oh yes . . . they work quite nicely. So, I decided to keep a few of them around . . . just in case I could use them for a rainy day.”

“Don’t worry, Bryn,” I whispered under my breath. “We’ll save him and Jenna both.”

“It’s time you found out Bryn, you’re not my son,” Bryn’s father said out of nowhere with malice. “Your mother couldn’t conceive, and then we were given a gift. At least we thought it was a gift at the time. I never thought you’d shame me the way that you did by taking up with P.J. when it’s against our laws. But I guess you’re not even fully human. No wonder whoever left you for us didn’t want you.”
What?
I immediately thought of when my birth mother had told me that Bryn, another dragon, at least part dragon, growing up so close to me hadn’t happened by chance. She told me that he was there for a reason. “I’ll enjoy taking you out myself just for the heartbreak you caused your mother. She was so ashamed of how you disregarded the most important law of being a Guardian. May she rest in peace. It’s your fault she’s dead after all. Yours and hers,” he hissed and his eyes briefly met mine.

Everything seemed to happen at once. It wasn’t like it is in the movies. I saw Bryn’s father launch himself at Bryn, but I couldn’t track anything else that was going on after Nala slammed into me, causing me to fall to the ground. She scrambled to get on top of me, and sat with all of her body weight on my chest and began to choke me. I desperately reached for my fire magic but was having difficulty pulling it up when black stars began to dance in front of my eyes. Not only that but I felt a slow trickle of water moving up to cover my face. Dazed, I registered that Nala must be using some kind of water power to try and suffocate me faster. I gasped for air and came back with a mouth full of water. My vision grew darker and my thoughts slower. I knew she was drowning me.

Then suddenly the pressure released and I sat up to gasp mouthful after mouthful of fresh air as I saw Khol push his fire magic into Nala. She let out an ear-shattering scream before all that was left of her was ashes.
Good
, I numbly thought. I stood and scanned the clearing for Bryn, who was currently rolling around on the ground with his father. Bryn was at a huge disadvantage because it was obvious he didn’t really want to hurt him. His father clearly didn’t feel the same way. “Help him!” I screeched at Khol.

“Enough!” Senator Bill Wexington’s voice rolled over everyone. “Hold him,” he ordered Bryn’s father, who stood with Bryn and brought him into a headlock. The Senator met my eyes, “Him for my son.”

I didn’t even hesitate. “Okay. Just don’t hurt him.” The Senator then nodded at one of the Riders standing beside him who walked slowly over to Cliff’s prone unconscious figure and picked him up. Khol came to stand behind him so he couldn’t make his way back to the Senator just yet. “Now release Bryn,” I said with false calmness. My insides were finding a new definition for panic.

Bryn’s father released him and Bryn walked steadily back towards me. Khol then gave the Rider holding Cliff a rough push to get him going. I reached my shaky hand out to Bryn, needing to feel his skin under my fingertips. He gave me a tight smile, and I knew he was thinking it was his fault we were losing Cliff as a bargaining chip—that he should have been able to best his father—that he couldn’t even protect himself—how would he protect me and my unborn child? I could read all of his tormented thoughts in his eyes but I didn’t care just as long as he was safe. As soon as my hand gripped his, I heaved a sigh of relief. “I love you,” I mouthed to him. None of the rest mattered. We might be down, but we weren’t out just yet. I would make him understand that eventually. We were finally bonded as
Anam Caras
and together we could take on the world.

Bryn’s father suddenly appeared directly behind him. The Rider inside of him shone so brightly it almost eclipsed his host’s features. He met my eyes and grinned down at me. It was in that instant I knew what he meant to do. “No!” I screamed, my whole body going ice cold instantaneously. I reached for my fire magic, but it was too late . . . all too late. I watched, completely helpless to stop it, as Bryn’s father, the man that had protected my mother and my family for as far back as I could remember, snapped the neck of his only son. The sickly cracking sound it made rang out in the clearing like thunder in my ears. “No!” I heard myself scream as I watched Bryn’s hand slip from my grasp as his body fell forward and slumped to the ground.
Life over. My Life is over.

“Like I said, he wasn’t really my son.”

Silence engulfed me
. I tried to go to Bryn but someone caught me around the waist and began to run towards the pulsating gate with me in tow. I struggled against my captor, wanting nothing more than to curl up with Bryn’s body and to die right alongside him. Sound came back to me in a rush. Someone’s hysteric screams pounded against my head. Was that me? I didn’t know and didn’t care.

When whoever was carrying me got me to the Gate, and jumped in without pausing. Ice ran over my skin and the air was sucked from my lungs. I didn’t stay conscious for much more than a moment as the magic of the Gate pulled me down into blackness.

My mind kept playing the same scene over and over in an endless loop.

Bryn’s father had suddenly appeared directly behind him. The Rider inside of him shone so brightly it almost eclipsed his host’s features. He met my eyes and grinned down at me. It was in that instant I knew what he meant to do. “No!” I screamed, my whole body going ice cold instantaneously. I reached for my fire magic, but it was too late … all too late. I watched, completely helpless to stop it, as Bryn’s father, the man who had protected my mother and my family for as far back as I could remember, snapped the neck of his only son. The sickly cracking sound it made rang out in the clearing like thunder in my ears. “No!” I heard myself scream as I watched Bryn’s hand slip from my grasp as his body fell forward then slumped to the ground. Life over. My Life was over.

“Life over. My life is over.” My small voice mumbled as if I had no control over it at all. I was too numb to cry, too numb for … anything.

“Your life isn’t over. You are still alive. Your heart did not stop beating when his did.” Khol’s deep voice barely registered within my subconscious. “Please my little Queen. We need you … I need you … just … please.”

“My life is over.” I mumbled again. I stared blankly ahead of me as Khol pulled me into his arms. I remained limp and impassive within his embrace.

The low drone of the local news station buzzed in the background. “President Wexington is minutes away from making some major announcements in regards to the current state of the union. There have been rumors that he has some radical new changes in mind to better keep the public safe. The President has never been shy about pushing his gun control platform, and it looks like now he is going to …”

“Shit. Things are getting worse. We need to do something!” Jeremy exclaimed in frustration.

But what could I do? I had just lost my reason for living and fighting … “Bryn.” I whispered. Even when we hadn’t been together, he had always been my reason for everything. I knew that now with the kind of certainty that only comes after having already lost something.

“Your child …” Khol said in a low voice as he pressed his cheek to the top of my head. “… it could be his.”

Those words pierced through my armor of numbness and I instinctively drew my hand up protectively to rest over the small bump that was now showing in my abdomen. Or maybe I was just imagining that I was finally showing a little?

Thoughts of Bryn as a child rose unbidden to the forefront of my mind … He smiled at me, his blue eyes dancing with mischief, as his black tousled hair fell across his forehead. If only I could go back in time … if only …

“You have to fight for your child, if nothing else matters, he should.” Khol pushed on, probably sensing that he had made a small amount of headway with me. “You’re our Queen.”

Those were the wrong choice of words. Anger almost instantly took the place of my numbness, racing through my system. I stood abruptly and faced Khol with fire burning at my fingertips. “I don’t wanna be anyone’s Queen, and I’m not … not anymore. That all died …  everything died … with Bryn.” My lower lip began to tremble and hot angry tears began to slide down my cheeks. I liked it better when I was feeling nothing. I dropped to my knees on the floor. “I can’t—I just can’t—it hurts too much.” I was angry, so angry that Bryn had been taken from me permanently this time, and there was nothing I could do about it.

Khol’s green eyes sparked with fire of their own as he looked at me. “So make them pay for what they’ve done. Make the Riders suffer. Don’t let them go unpunished for what they did to him—to you.”

My anger began to spiral down into a focal point of determination. “Yes. Every last one of them will suffer for what they’ve done.” I tilted my head back to the ceiling and roared my fury to the heavens. Khol was right. I would do whatever it took to avenge Bryn, because everything I’d ever done had been for him … and it always would be...
always
.

“What do you hope to find here?” Khol whispered close to my right ear, tickling the sensitive skin there and eliciting a small, unwanted shudder from me. Of course Khol already knew, he wasn’t fooling me. Despite not having a mental connection with me anymore, Khol probably figured out my motivations before I realized them myself. I suppose he just wanted me to admit them out loud to him.

“I want to find the Rider bastard who killed Bryn … and deliver him to the same fate.” My voice came out a low inhuman growl, which almost made me flinch … almost. I peered out from behind the shrubbery I was crouched behind to turn my full attention back to the office building across the street. I was attempting to go unseen, although I wasn’t really putting much effort into it.

“You mean Bryn’s father.” Khol asked with some unknown emotion in his voice. I blinked rapidly in an effort to stay focused on my target and ignore Khol’s question. “Do you think Bryn would want you to kill his father?”

I clenched my fists and barely held my fire magic at bay. “Well Bryn isn’t here to let me know what he would want, is he?” I ground my teeth together until my jaw started to ache.

“He’d want you to find a way to save his father. Or have you completely given up on finding a way to evict the Riders from their respective hosts?” He paused for dramatic effect. “What about Jenna? Have you already written her off as well?”

I let my eyes slide shut and I counted to ten before turning to meet Khol’s judgmental gaze. The calming tactic always failed to work for me. “I’ll save Jenna. I won’t lose her too. As for the rest— I stood and sprinted across the street towards the office building without finishing my sentence. I knew Khol would follow me regardless that he disagreed with what I was about to do. I knew he would follow me anywhere. I was his Queen and the woman he loved, and I wanted to be neither of those things.
Sucks for him.