Treasure of the Fire Kingdom (The Elemental Phases Book 4) (23 page)

“Wait,
what do you mean that was the end, Alder?”  Teja demanded.  “What did you tell
Sullivan when he asked for my name?”

“Nothin’.” 
Alder blinked innocently.  “Why encourage him?  If you want to ruin your life
and renounce your Match,
I’m
not going to say anything to get his hopes
up. 
I’m
not that cruel.”

Teja’s
mouth thinned.  “I didn’t say I was going to renounce him.  I said I needed
some time to
think
.  I’m having a real bad day, so I need a little bit
of time, if that’s okay with everyone.”

“Sure. 
It’s fine with us.”  Pele nonchalantly agreed.  “Take your time.”  She glanced
over at Alder.  “So, Sebastian was all protective of Ty, huh?  I
heard
that he had a way with the ladies.  How many women are trying to Phaze with
him, again?  Like…
all of them,
right?”

Teja
stalked over to loom over her chair.  “Don’t start with me.  I mean it.”

Pele
contrived to look innocent.  “Hey, all I’m saying is that guy can have
anyone,
really.  All the Phases who want Matches figure he’s their Holy Grail. 
They follow him around like he’s a naked Elvis.”  She shrugged.  “Sebastian’s a
human.  Chances are he can pick his own Match, anyway.  Don’t worry about it.”

“His
name is Sullivan and
I
am his goddamn…”

“
Shit!
” 
Tessie suddenly doubled over, her hand going to her forehead.

The
Fire Phases all turned to frown at Frankie, thinking he had brained the
Quintessence while her back was turned.  Their training session was on an
eavesdropping break, but Frankie was all about a good ambush.

“Not
me this time.”  He held up his palms in a gesture of innocence.

“It’s
my sister.”  Tessie squeezed her eyes shut.  “Or at least her pendant.  Someone
just used Kay’s necklace for something and, whatever they did, it was
big
.”

He was looking
up at the sky,

as if he
were watching some visible descent of the elements.

Henry
James- “A Passionate Pilgrim and Other Tales”

Kingu
feel asleep waiting for Hope to talk to him, again.

The
woman had locked herself in her room with maps of the Cloud Kingdom she’d
stolen from his library and spent the past twelve hours ignoring him.  She’d
taken the tray of food he’d brought her for dinner and then slammed her bedroom
door in his face.

Did
other abductors have this problem?

It
didn’t seem likely, but Kingu was at a loss on how to deal with it.  He
couldn’t threaten her, because he didn’t want her frightened of him.  He
couldn’t go into the room after her, because he’d told her the space was hers
and he sworn to himself that he wouldn’t invade it.  He couldn’t wait for her
to come out by herself, because it was driving him crazy that he couldn’t see
her.  He couldn’t relent and tell her that he’d give her
anything
if
she’d just talk to him, because he refused to acquiesce on this.

When
it came to anything else, he would have let her have her own way.

Kingu
wanted Hope smiling at him and he was willing to do quite a bit to make it
happen.  Let her have what she wanted.  He didn’t care about anything except
her anyway, so why not just make the girl happy?  As long as she stayed with
him, what possible difference could it make what she requested?  He’d waited
thousands of years for his woman and, now that he had her, there was very
little Kingu couldn’t be convinced to provide.

But
he wasn’t going to tolerate her thinking of her fucking
soul mate
while
they kissed.

Kingu
wanted her to touch him out of desire, not because she was trying to manipulate
him.  Since no woman would
ever
desire him, Hope should just tell him
that and be done with it.  He couldn’t stand being lied to.  He couldn’t stand
her kissing him and pretending he was another man.

A
soon-to-be dead man at that, because Kingu was already planning to kill the
son-of-a-bitch who thought he could claim Hope’s soul.

If
you want my soul, you’re gonna have to find your own and give it to me return.

Why
had she said that to him?

Kingu
had explained that he didn’t possess a soul.  He’d been very clear.  It wasn’t
like he’d misplaced the damn thing; he’d never had one in the first place. 
Didn’t she understand that?  What did she want from him?

He
would have gladly given her whole planets if she asked, but creating a soul was
beyond his power.  If he could have attained one through his energy or prayers,
he would have gotten it long ago.  Back when he’d wanted so badly to believe he
had some place in the interconnected universe.  Back when he still had… hope.

He
tried mentally rehearsing various speeches to appease her, but none of them
sounded right.  He’d chewed over her words outside the ice cream shop, trying
to figure out why she’d defended him to Galen, but he’d come up blank. 
Finally, he’d fallen asleep brooding about the fact that it would all be so
much simpler if all she wanted from him was a damn unicorn.

He
dreamed of Hope.

Of
course he did.  The woman was every dream he’d ever had.

She
was small in this dream; just a child.  She ran towards him, through a menacing
Gothic hallway, Shirley Temple blonde ringlets bouncing.  She wore a tiny
martial arts outfit, accessorized with a glittery tutu and a rhinestone tiara. 
Kingu’s mouth twitched.  Even in his imagination Hope sparkled.

He
glanced around trying to figure out where they were.  It looked like the set
from a horror film.  The walls were black igneous rock, accented with blood red
tapestries.  Gargoyles scowled down from the ceiling.  Large spikes jutted out
from edges of the floor, two of which sported skulls on their lethal points.

Kingu
loved it.

His
subconscious had designed a space even more forbidding than his fortress.

The
stylish surroundings actually distracted him from the fact that Hope was
carrying a gigantic knife.  As she drew closer to him, he saw it clutched in
her hand and his brows shot up.  For some reason, the tiny little girl was
armed with a serrated hunting blade as long as her arm.  Her fingers didn’t
even go all the way around the hilt.  Kingu frowned as Hope darted into a
nearby room.  What the hell…?

And
that’s when Kingu saw the man chasing her.

His
heartbeat sped into overdrive.

A
sinister looking bastard stalked after her like a predator.  The guy was huge,
by Elemental standards, and dressed like the personification of death. 
Whatever he came from, it had to be a warrior House that trained its members to
be merciless killers.  It was impossible to tell which one, though, because he
had a bandana cinched around his head, obscuring the colored marker at his
temple.  A black trench coat swung around the tops of his massive boots. 
Chains and weapons jangled from his belt.  He swung a double-bladed ax around
in his palm, his oddly opaque blue eyes scanning.

It
was just a nightmare.

Kingu
tried to tell himself that, but he still couldn’t suppress his panic.  Hope was
so small and helpless… and she was being tracked by an assassin.

Instinct
drove him forward, trying to intercept the man, even though he seemed to be
invisible to them.  “Stay the fuck away from her.”

The
guy couldn’t hear him, but he obviously heard
Hope
.  His head tilted,
listening.  Then, his unnatural gaze slowly swiveled and fixed on the door that
she’d vanished through.

Kingu’s
stomach dropped.  He tried to use his powers to stop the man, but it was no
use.  He couldn’t do
anything
in this dream.  The maniac killer headed
after Hope, the ax gleaming, and Kingu just had to watch.

The
man tested the doorknob and found it locked.  Backing up a step, he raised a
foot and he kicked the door open.  It careened into the wall with a sickening
crash.

“
Son-of-a-bitch
.”

Kingu
rushed into the bizarre bedroom, desperately trying to spot Hope.  It only took
him half a second to know that she was hiding under the bed.  The car sized
piece of furniture was the only thing in the room.  Well, except for the
arsenal.  Swords, guns and implements of death covered every inch of the stone
walls.

The
man headed straight for the bed.

Kingu
couldn’t think past his rage and fear.  Through the pounding of blood in his
head, he heard Hope scurrying further under the mattress and what sounded like…

…Giggling?

Wait,
was that
laugher?

The
assassin’s expressionless face didn’t change at the noise.  He moved forward,
grabbed the edge of the mattress, and flipped the whole thing onto its side.

Hope
shrieked and scampered to the left as the bed flew from over top of her.  The
man slammed the ax down right into her path, the blade sinking three inches
into the floor.

Kingu
gave roar of fury, even though it missed her by at foot.

Her
way blocked, Hope tried going the other direction and end up backing right into
the assassin’s baseball glove sized hands.  He seized hold of her leg and
lifted her into the air.

“
Stop!
” 
Kingu’s lungs froze in his chest expecting to see Hope slaughtered right before
his eyes.

Gods,
why couldn’t he wake-up?

“Unfair!” 
Hope gave a squeal of laughter as the vicious killer suspended her upside
down.  She waved her knife at his torso, missing by a mile.  “Qadesh, you’re
too big!”

Kingu’s
frantic thoughts skidded to a halt at her cheerful complaint.

Wait
a minute… What was happening?

Was
this was some kind of
game
?

Tiny
limbs pinwheeled around as Hope dangled by her left ankle.  The assassin called
Qadesh didn’t seem to notice.  He hefted her up higher so he could stare into
her eyes.  “What’s rule number fifteen?”  He asked flatly.

“When
you can’t win fair, ambush your enemies and pick them off one at a time.”  The answer
was immediate, as if she’d memorized it.  Hope squiggled some more, trying to
crane her neck and look at him right-side-up.  “And I did that!”

One
black brow rose skeptically.

“I
did!
  I lured you in here and you came over to the bed like I planned… 
But, then I was having fun and forgot to stab you when you got close.”  Her
nose wrinkled.  “Sorry.”

“We’ll
do it, again.”  He flipped her around so she was upright and held her at arms’
length.  “Be serious and
really
try to kill me this time.  We train like
every situation is real, because one day it will be.”

Kingu
blinked at the bizarreness of this dream.

The
man was so much bigger than Hope that he could have snapped any bone in her
body between two of her fingers.  But, she wasn’t scared of him, at all.

In
a weird way, Kingu didn’t blame her.  Her shiny, girly outfit stood out against
his “kill-everybody-and-eat-their-eyes” chic, but there was nothing menacing
about the guy’s body language.  In fact, he shifted her against his chest like
it was the most natural thing in the world.

Like
she was his baby sister.

Hope
trustingly laid her head against his shoulder as he carried her towards the
door.  “After I kill you, can we play tea party?”

Mr.
Cruelest-Looking-Bastard-Kingu-Had-Ever-Seen glanced down at her sharply.  “We
don’t
have
tea parties.”  He intoned, his voice like cold steel.

“Sorry. 
I forgot.  I mean, can we play
tavern-
except-we-drink-tea-instead-of-bourbon?”

He
grunted.  “Better.  Yeah, alright.  We can do that.”

“Can
we still use my tea cups?”

“Yeah.”

“Can
I wear a feathered hat?”

“Yeah.”

“Will
you
wear a feathered hat?”

“Don’t
push it.”

Kingu
had no clue what kind of Freudian bullshit this was supposed to symbolize, but
he suddenly liked this strange dream.  He liked that Hope was happy and cared
for, even if it was by a serial killer.  He liked that the man loved her enough
to teach her how to defend herself.  He liked that he was so
comfortable
here surrounded by all the grotesque décor and preparations for war.  Wherever
he was, it felt like a spot where monsters of all descriptions and the sparkly
little blondes they treasured could have a tea parties and knife fights and thrive
in the wonderful gloom.

Kingu
looked around the scary, violent, crazy dream and realized this was the only
place that had ever seemed like…

Home.

All
too soon the dream shifted and Kingu stood in another kingdom he’d never seen. 
It was unnaturally dark as if this land had no sun, at all.  And all around in
every direction, even twinkling inside the ground beneath his
feet
,
there was a stars.  Millions and billions of stars.

More
stars than could ever have names.  More stars than he’d imagined could even
exist.  Stars of so many sizes and colors that gazing at them was like standing
inside a slowly shifting kaleidoscope.  They drifted by in their magical
overlapping constellations and it was beautiful.

Really
beautiful.

Kingu
made a face and wished he was back in that homey dungeon fortress.  This place
wasn’t nearly so suited to monsters.  More importantly, he couldn’t see that
miniature version of Hope here.  Even when he was asleep, he longed to see that
woman.

Something
moved in his peripheral vision and Kingu automatically glanced towards it.  A
Phase with sunshine blonde hair and a midnight blue streak at her temple moved
in the darkness. What House had midnight blue as their marker?  It didn’t seem
familiar.  The woman looked like she’d been crying and she was carrying a large
wicker basket on her hip.

As
Kingu watched, the woman jumped out of the starry kingdom and into the Agora. 
He recognized the Elementals’ free space, although he’d personally never been
there.  The Classical buildings and statues of miscellaneous dead Phases
limited the possible places they could be.  Kingu squinted around in confusion. 
Why would he be dreaming of this place?

The
blonde woman moved quickly through the early morning light, finally stopping by
the steps of the Council Hall.  “I’m sorry.”  She whispered.  “But, how could I
ever explain you?  How could I tell anyone that your father is a human?  How
could I tell him that I’m
not?
”

Kingu’s
eyes narrowed.  “Oh, I
know
you’re not about to do what I
think
you’re going to do.”

The
woman set down her basket and looped a very familiar silver star charm over the
handle.  It dangled there by a black cord.  “You’ll be fine.”  She reached into
the basket to touch whatever was inside and then stepped back.  “It’s written
in the Stars that you’ll bring hope to whoever finds you.  I wish I could see
it, but this is where our paths diverge.  Don’t worry.  Your destiny will be
beautiful.”