The Silver Siren (13 page)

“
Hey,” Joss whispered
through the door. “I don’t know what just happened, but it was
unforgettable.”

“
That kiss, dear Joss, was
almost your undoing. I think we might both be safer with a solid
door between us for now.”

“
But that door will have
to be opened sometime, someday.”

“
If you knew what was good
for you, you would keep it closed.”
Permanently
,
I whispered under my breath. “I’ll see you in the morning,
Joss,” I called out, hoping to end the conversation and his
hovering by my door. It was a few minutes before the door to the
room next door opened and closed.

My head was starting to pound and I
knew how to read the signs. Kael was fast. Faster than I gave him
credit for.

I sighed and moved to ready myself for
bed. I cleaned the road dust off with the bowl of water and bar of
soap that was provided. I opened the window to let in a cool breeze
and then changed into a clean pair of pants and long over shirt. I
pulled out the extra knife I kept in my boot, extinguished the
candle, and lay in the cold bed, waiting. I listened to the hustle
and bustle of the inn as people came in, ate, drank, and either
left or went to a room.

Even though I was exhausted, I didn’t
sleep. It must have been after midnight. I shivered in the cold,
refusing to close the window and holding onto the knife under my
pillow. I made sure to face the wall so I could see the crack of
moonlight coming in. It was another hour after before my headache
receded.

I gripped the knife tighter in my
hand, noticing the slight change of shadow as the window shutter
opened from the outside. I watched as it was slowly closed all the
way and then heard him latch it from the inside. I turned silently
to lie on my back.

The room was now in complete darkness,
but I could see perfectly. Kael was moving closer to me, and I
smiled maliciously.

My hand shot out with the knife toward
his chest, but he caught it easily. With two swift moves, he
disarmed me and pinned my hands behind above my head. My knife lay
useless across the floor. I was trapped under his body.

“
You know there is such a
thing as a door,” I whispered. “You should try it
sometime.”

“
I like the challenge,”
was his reply back. My heart beat louder in my chest but I froze,
refusing to move. The same way he could always find me, I was able
to tell whenever he was near, especially if we’d been apart for any
long periods of time. Stupid headache.

“
I think you’re losing
your touch in your old age, Kael.” I looked down at the knife that
was on the floor. “Not as silent as you used to be.”

“
Maybe I wouldn’t have to
keep sneaking in windows and houses if you would just stay in one
place instead of running off,” he squeezed my wrists firmly in a
gentle warning, and rolled onto his back next to me on the bed
sinking comfortably into my pillow.

“
Well, I had worn out my
welcome in your village, and I was tired of being constantly tossed
into sheds and deep holes.”

“
None of them seemed like
much of a challenge for you. Why balk at a few tests?”

“
Tests! Tests.
Torture.”

“
So you went through a bit
of the Initiation, although it was altered because you were an
outsider. But you passed all of them and earned quite a bit of
respect. When I left, the Sanctuary was in upheaval with all the
diverse opinions. Let’s just say, Thalia, I don’t think the clan
will ever be the same.”

“
I, uh, didn’t mean to
upset everyone.”

“
Didn’t you though?” he
spoke softly. “You seem to have a habit of coming in like a storm
and leaving a path of destruction and confusion in your
wake.”

I pulled at the blanket to cover me
but it was now stuck under Kael’s heavy body. “I don’t.” I yanked
on the blanket again.

Kael conceded a foot by turning over
and releasing more of it. He handed me the pillow and put his hands
above his head.

“
You do, but I take it
back. It’s not really everyone that you affect that way. It’s just
me.” He turned his head and I was caught up in both his deep stormy
eyes and his confession. I could see the pain, the hurt. It was
like a two-edged knife, and we kept using it to hurt each other in
our anger.

“
I’m sorry, Kael.” The
pain and the guilt I had thought buried rose to the surface all
over again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know it was you that night. I lost
control and you paid the price. Please you must believe me.” Small
tears fell down my cheeks, and I fought against every one of
them.

Kael pulled me into his arms, my head
on his chest. He didn’t chastise me for crying, and I couldn’t have
stopped myself if I tried.

“
Shh,” he said, his heart
beating a steady rhythm. “Do you hear it? It beats for you, Thalia.
It beats because of you.”

I was afraid to move, afraid to wake
up from whatever dream we were in. “I still can’t believe you’re
alive,” I whispered.

“
You’re my reason for
living now. In fact, I don’t think my heart truly started to beat
until I met you.”

I lifted my head off of his chest, but
his right hand slid to my waist keeping me pressed close to his
side. His grip was firm. He wasn’t going to let me go.

“
You have to be careful. I
can’t control my power lately, and I might kill you
again.”

“
You won’t.” His voice
turned husky as he leaned forward.

I held my breath, waiting to see what
he would do.

Gently, he pushed me back against the
bed and sat up. My mouth went dry and my heart raced. Kael crawled
over me and, being very careful to not touch me anywhere else,
placed his head on my chest, over my heart—

Which was at this moment racing
frantically. I was afraid to move.

Kael spoke softly as he listened to
the rhythm. “As long as your heart beats, so does mine. I kind of
like that. It’s the ultimate bond between us.”

“
You didn’t use too. You
hated it. Hated the loss of your freedom. I remember how angry you
were—“

Kael chuckled and silenced my argument
with a deep kiss that left me breathless and excited. His lips were
soft and warm, but his kiss was intense. Demanding. Possessive.
Heat coursed through my body. My heart raced faster than a
hummingbird. I was falling off a cliff and, like all the other
times before, I knew Kael would save me. And with that kiss he did.
It felt more than good, it felt right. And I knew that I couldn’t
kill him with a kiss.

He pulled away, breaking the kiss, and
I groaned in disappointment. Kael breathed out softly, “What can I
say? You’ve started to grow on me.” His eyes said he meant those
words.

“
What? Like a wart?” I
whispered, and tried to hold back the laughter that swelled in me.
I was elated that he kissed me, not in challenge to anger or to get
back at Joss. Kael kissed me because he truly desired me. That
thought both exhilarated me and made me nervous. Was I betraying
Joss? Was I leading on two men? My mood shifted from
top-of-the-mountain-exuberant bliss to
bottom-of-a-rotten-barrel-of-fish depressed.

“
Thalia, you talk too
much.” His eyes danced with light, and I could see the heat
building behind them as he leaned forward and kissed me again. But
my own morals had me balking.

“
Kael, you shouldn’t kiss
me. Joss is…mmmfff” Kael interrupted me and kissed me again, and I
lost all thought of what I was going to say.

“
Don’t…talk…so…much.” His
lips pressed against my chin, my neck, my shoulder. It felt
good—too good—and I didn’t want him to stop.

“
I think—” I
started.

“
You think too much as
well,” he challenged, looking at me sternly.

“
You shouldn’t kiss me.” I
tried to pull away. At first he wasn’t going to let me go, but then
he did. I escaped from the intense heat of his body by scooting
over closer to the wall.

His eyes turned dark with frustration.
“I’m tired of waiting, Thalia. I’m not a patient person. You have
to know.”

“
What do you mean, Kael?
You know I like Joss.” I tried to move away again, but his hands on
either side of me pinned me in. Kael’s determination scared
me.

“
You know what we share is
infinitely more powerful than…that. And you feel this between us
too,” he growled. “You melt when I kiss you. You watch me when you
think I’m unaware. You can’t sleep unless I’m near you. Tell me
none of that is true.”

I swallowed nervously and licked my
lips. “No. That’s all true.”

“
I promised your father I
would give you time, but I’m tired of waiting. Tired of watching
Joss try and win your heart from me.”

“
Kael, I don’t understand.
How is Joss keeping you from me, when you and I don’t think of one
another that way?”

“
Don’t think of—Thalia!
You and I are life mates.”

Chapter 13

I
shoved away from Kael, banging my head. “Ouch! How can that be? You
aren’t making sense, Kael.” I brought my hand up to my head to make
sure a knot wasn’t forming.

I couldn’t breathe. My chest tightened
with anxiety and something else I couldn’t identify. Fear?
Excitement? Hope? In one sentence, my future had been decided for
me. The choice was never mine. It was foolish of me to think
otherwise, since I was willing to marry the winner of the Kragh
Aru. Now the prospect of being with the strong, deadly, passionate
SwordBrother for the rest of my life filled me with both panic and
elation.

Kael sat up on the edge of the bed,
turning his back to me. “It was the only reason your father allowed
you to go to Skyfell in the first place, Thalia, because I promised
my life for yours. That is not something a SwordBrother does
lightly. Yet I would do it again for you.”

All I could do was shake my head at
Kael. “How did you get my father to agree to it? You’re not
clan.”

Kael shot me a look over his shoulder
in disbelief. “I won the Kragh Aru, remember? The final battle was
rescheduled to take place the next day between your cousin and me.
Instead, our final match was a battle to the death beside a
waterfall—a small technicality, but one worth mentioning to your
father. And if you remember, it was you who determined the prize
for the winner of the Kragh Aru. You were to be his life
mate.”

“
But you said you weren’t
entering the Kragh Aru for the prize. You said you were competing
so I would be free to help find a way to break the bond. I
remember. You said it was a silly marriage game, and once our bond
was broken I could be free to make whatever stupid mistakes I
wanted.” I was filled with panic, but I wasn’t sure why.

Maybe I had thought so hard and so
long about how a future with Joss might be near impossible, that I
never bothered to think of a future with Kael.

“
I lied.” Kael turned to
face me and his eyes bored into mine. “I don’t want the bond broken
between us. It has become quite handy when you get in trouble,
which is often.” He reached forward and ran his calloused hand
gently over the top of my head and down my cheek.

Closing my eyes, I let his words sink
deep within my soul and anchor there.

“
Later that night, when
your cousin Bvork had kidnapped you, I felt like I lost you. And I
realized—bond or no bond—I needed you in my life.”

“
But you only came after
me because of the bond. If you hadn’t you would’ve died, right?
Your feelings are misplaced,” I implored.

“
Thalia, I followed you
to
Haven
because
of the bond and the fear of death. And I know what I
said
about following you
to Valdyrstal. I did try to stay away from you, but I couldn’t. Not
because of the pain but because I didn’t want to be away from you.
I can still feel you—here.” Kael touched his chest. “I can still
feel the magnetic pull of you. I’m drawn to you,
Thalia.”

Kael lowered his head and pressed his
forehead to mine.

“
You didn’t know this, but
since the first day I arrived in the dungeon, every time they
drugged you and brought you into the laboratory, I was there too. I
was chained to the wall, bound, and forced to watch helplessly as
they tortured you in the machine.”

“
No,” I whispered, my
doubt genuine. “I never saw you.”

“
But I saw you, Thalia.”
He stood. “I watched as they strapped you in and injected you with
a serum. I begged them to stop when they started the machine and
you screamed until you would pass out.” Kael’s knuckles clenched in
frustration and his voice deepened with hate. “I even offered
complete compliance, if they would just quit torturing
you.”

I blanched at Kael’s offer of utter
sacrifice for me.

“
They usually drugged me,
you know this already. But they promised to take it easier on you,
if I complied. They took my blood and did something to it. I felt
like they were tearing away a part of my soul, and I watched as
they gave it to you. Even then I wanted to rip them apart and kill
them. I wanted to protect you to save you. Something started in
those moments, and I began to fall for you.”