The Darkness of Shadoewynne: Book 3 of the Shadoewynne series Page 6

  “Exactly! Kait wants Evalia all to himself. Now that you’re gone, he will start working on getting rid of Travis. He turned Evalia against you. Why else would she not help you when you needed her?”

  I nodded against the ground. The voice made sense. I have to get Evalia away from them to save her. She isn’t safe.

  I fell asleep with the words echoing in my head.

  Chapter 7

  Evalia

  As we walked, I noticed the bond pulsing weirdly in my head. Unintentionally, I stopped walking as I focused on the feeling. It was like a slick, greasy spot that my mental fingers kept slipping off of. After a few minutes of examining it, I felt queasy and light-headed.

  Fingers snapped in front of my face. “Princess!”

  I blinked at them as I swayed away from the fingers. “What?”

  “What’s going on? I don’t understand what you are thinking.” Kait’s worried face came in to focus after I blinked a few more times.

  “The bond feels weird and I was attempting to figure out what is happening. It feels slick, like oil. Then I started getting sick to my stomach and lightheaded. I’m afraid there is something going on with David.”

  Kait’s eyes had unfocused as I spoke, and he frowned slightly. “He hasn’t moved since the last time I checked. I can’t read him yet, so I can’t tell what you’re feeling in the bond.”

  “We need to hurry, Kait. Can we pick up the pace?”

  “Do you want to run?” I thought about it for a minute. We have to get to him fast, but I need to be realistic. I don’t have the stamina to run far, even for my love. It will just end up taking longer if I try to run and can’t.

  “If we run, how much longer will it be? I want to get to him as fast as possible, but I can’t run for a long time.”

  “It’s at least an hour.”

  “I can’t do that. Let’s pick up the pace. We need to get to him as fast as possible, but it won’t do us any good if I die from running the whole way.”

  Kait chuckled as he swatted me lightly on the butt. “You’re the one slowing us down, Princess. Get moving!”

  I mockingly saluted him as I resumed walking, faster than our previous pace. As we walked, his words echoed in my head. I’m the one slowing us down. But I am just being realistic, aren’t I?

  Eir said that I was afraid of my potential.

  Maybe I am slowing us down, in more ways than one.

  I was still pondering that a little over an hour later when Kait interrupted my thoughts. “What do you think will happen when we find David?”

  After glancing at him out of the corner of my eye, I said, “I assumed we would assess the situation and make a plan going forward.”

  He nodded. “That was what I was thinking. You need to be aware, though, that there is a strong possibility that we will need to restrain him when we find him. Depending on where his head is, he may even attack us.”

  I scoffed. “That won’t happen. He loves us.”

  Kait just shook his head. I sped up more. We were definitely into speed walking territory now. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep it up but I would keep going until we found him. Since I was breathing hard, Kait didn’t continue the conversation.

  Eir caught up with us. She gave Kait a look, causing him to walk even faster to leave us as alone as we could be. She cleared her throat. “Your powers have come far in the day I have known you. I would like you to attend me while I diagnose and heal David. You will learn a lot and I may need your help.”

  “My help? Why would you need my help? I am just a newbie! You have so much more experience and…”

  She cut me off. “It’s not all about experience, Evalia, nor is it about power. The love you have for him will help heal him. His subconscious will recognize your love and allow more access than if it was me alone.”

  That made twisted sense. “I will help. I mean, I can’t say no, can I.” A small smile tugged at her lip. “How will it work? Do I just observe or what?”

  “You will join me in my mind so you can see what I am doing with my powers. It will allow us to communicate quicker than we could if speaking and give me access to your powers as well as make me feel like you to him.” I noticed Kait was shooting looks at me over his shoulder, so I reached out to him mentally.

  “What? Do you have a problem with this plan?”

  “Of course I do! You are allowing an ancient being with unknown motives access to your mind.” His inner voice was loud and angry.

  “You said you trusted me. I believe her and that this is the best option. I don’t want to be like this, but I don’t need your permission and I will do what I need to to save him.”

  “Even at the expense of your own life or your mental health?”

  “Yes, Kait!” His shoulders slumped ahead of me, so I added, “I would do the same for you or Travis.”

  “I know, Princess, but you are undervaluing yourself. It will kill Travis, David, and me if something happens to you. There will be no point to saving him if you aren’t here for him. Also, it will hurt us if something happens to David, but you are more important to us than anything or anyone else.”

  That thought disturbed me and I really didn’t know how to answer, so I didn’t. I went back to my conversation with Eir, who was watching me with a blank look. I had the distinct impression that she knew I was arguing with Kait. “How will I join you in your mind? And, to satisfy Kait, what are the dangers?”

  That small smile appeared again. “It will work similar to how you have had Kait and Sibhre in your mind in the past, but instead of someone joining you, you will join me. As for the dangers, there are many. Do you want me to go through them all?”

  I shook my head. “No, not really. Is there a way I can protect myself?”

  “Have your blocks up and be vigilant. My mind is a dangerous place. You will need to be on your guard.”

  Wonderful. This sounds better and better. Not. I sighed. It wasn’t a lie when I said I would do whatever it took to heal David. But I hate unknowns, and this was a huge unknown. On top of that, Kait advised, strongly, against it, and Eir wasn’t being very open. Glancing at Eir out of the corner of my eye didn’t help. She looked very alien at the moment; her face stoic yet grim.

  Eventually, I decided the best course was to address it directly. I took a deep breath and steeled myself before jumping in. “Eir, I am sorry if I cause offense, but I am feeling uneasy about this.”

  She nodded, and said easily, “As you should.”

  That startled me. “Excuse me? What do you mean?”

  “It is a big deal to go into someone’s mind or have someone join you in yours. However, you have done it several times already, with no ill effects.” She raised her voice a little as she continued. “I am not happy with your teachers; they allowed this to happen without at least warning you of the dangers.” Kait spun around and opened his mouth to speak, but she waved her hand and cut him off. “I know it was warranted, and I understand there was no time on at least one of those occasions, but you still should have explained.” Kait’s face darkened in anger, but he said nothing. I glared at her.

  “Eir, I think you are judging him too harshly. We made the decisions we had to and I can honestly say, I wouldn’t have done it any other way, even had I known. The last few weeks have been crazy, with us putting out fire after fire. I am sorry you don’t approve, but I will not allow you to talk to him that way. As far as I am aware, your opinion changes nothing.”

  Now Kait’s face was flushed, probably with embarrassment that I was haranguing an ancient being. I didn’t care; I was tired of her better than thou attitude. Her mouth was hanging open as she stared wide-eyed at me.

  Then she composed herself, standing up to her full height and looking down her nose at me. “You are an impertinent little thing, aren’t you? Never, in all my days, has someone spoken to me like that.”

  I wasn’t about to break eye contact. “Do not speak to my guys that way again. I will take your
advice and train with you if you will still allow it, but I will not stand by while you demean them.”

  Her eyes softened. “I did not mean to demean them. Your training has been out of the ordinary, and they have skipped much. I was merely pointing that out.”

  “That was not my impression. Now, please kindly stop calling out Kait for circumstances beyond our control. We did the best we could at the time. Back to my original comment. I am uneasy about entering your mind, and I have changed my mind. Please explain all the dangers to me.”

  She nodded. “The most extreme danger is that you will be caught within my mind. If that happens, your mind will cease to exist and will meld with my own. Your body will die, as it cannot live without the spirit. There are various other dangers, ranging from you absorbing parts of my personality, to my mind being pulled into your body when you leave. Simple blocks will suffice to ward against most of the dangers. To ensure you leave my mind intact, and without me, you will need to concentrate when it comes time to leave.”

  “I’ve done that before, but from my own mind. Is it a similar process?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Okay. Anything else?”

  “Not at this time. I will want to discuss the plan with you once we find David and I know more about his ailment.”

  “All right.” I bowed. “I will go talk to Kait before he has an aneurism, then.”

  She smiled. “Yes, please hurry.”

  I laughed softly as I hurried to catch up to Kait. He glared at me for a moment until I got tired of waiting. “I am sorry I yelled at her, but you were not to blame, and I couldn’t stand for her to continually blame you for any of the things that happened, or my lack of training. It was obvious to me that you would not stand up for yourself, so I did.”

  He shook his head. “You know she’s killed people for less than what you said?”

  “Maybe, but it needed to be said. We will be spending a bit of time around her and I am done with walking on eggshells. She claims she wants me as a friend. If that is the case, then she needs to be okay with me speaking my mind.”

  He stared at me for a minute before he shook his head and smiled wryly. “You amaze me. Anyone raised in Shadoewynne would not have done what you just did.”

  I beamed at him. “Good.” I laughed before thoughts of David sobered me. “How much farther, Kait?”

  “I’d say another hour or so. He still hasn’t moved. Hopefully, he stays there until we meet him.”

  I nodded absently as I met Travis’s eyes. He had been quiet all day, and now it was worrying me. Kait chuckled lightly. “Go to him, Princess. He’s been brooding all day.”

  My eyes shot up to Kait’s. He winked, then sped up to let Travis catch up to me, and give us a little privacy. I examined the bundle of feelings in my head to see if I could determine what he was thinking about.

  Giving up, I said, “What’s the matter, Travis? I can tell something is bothering you, but not what.”

  He shrugged uncomfortably with one shoulder. “Nothing.” It sounded sullen. I frowned at him.

  “Is something about last night upsetting you?” His eyes shot to mine, and I felt a rush of fear. It didn’t come from me, though; it was from his bundle of feelings. “Oh, Honey! What is it?”

  “It really has nothing to do with you, Babe.” He glanced away and muttered, “It’s more about Kait.”

  “Why? What’s going on?” Even though I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it, I kept pushing him. “If this is going to work, we need to be open about our feelings.”

  “I know, Babe. It’s just something I need to talk to him about, okay? I’m not comfortable talking about it with you.”

  That made me pause and hurt my feelings a little. I looked away, and he sighed. “Look, Evalia. I can tell you’re hurt that I won’t talk to you about it. I am just not comfortable discussing it with you and, like I said, it really has nothing to do with you or even with what happened last night. The gist, and all I’m willing to give you, is that it has to do with how I see Kait and my relationship with him.”

  I nodded as I spun my braid. “As long as you promise to talk to him about it, I will drop it. This relationship has to be built on communication or it won’t work.”

  He reached for me as he nodded and chuckled. “I suspect that Kait already knows and will not let me get away with not talking to him.” I twined my fingers into his as we walked.

  “You’re probably right. He can be an annoying bastard with things like that.” I chuckled, then changed the subject. “Before David went missing, we were discussing vacation plans. Have you thought of anymore places to put on our list?”

  He blinked at me for a second while he processed the abrupt change of topic. “Uh, no? I’ve been busy since we last talked.”

  “I’m thinking somewhere warm. Are there any tropical places in Shadoewynne? Or should we look at places on Earth?”

  “There are a few tropical places on Shadoewynne. I would want to discuss with Kait, though. Some of them are dangerous.”

  “They are on Earth, too, Travis.”

  “No, Babe, I mean some are dragon breeding grounds or are infested with other kinds of dangerous animals. Not dangerous because of humans.”

  “Oh!” I thought about it for a minute, before I made my voice as cute as possible. I would need all the feminine wiles I had to pull this off. “I would like to see more dragons.” I ran my finger up and down his arm as I tilted my head at him.

  He looked down on me, blushing as he chuckled. “Babe, that’s not gonna work. I would do anything to make you happy, but glance up at Kait for me.”

  I tried to look at Kait out of the corner of my eye, but he was glaring right at me, which made my feet falter for a second. I chuckled and blew him a kiss. It was worth a try.

  The glare faded to a bemused expression while he shook his head. I would make it my life’s work to keep him on his toes.

  Travis pulled me over and laced my arm through his. We walked like that for almost an hour, talking about inconsequential things. That was one thing I loved about the guys, I could talk about anything and everything with them. The time passed quickly, so when Kait shushed me, I jumped.

  “Princess!” He pitched his voice to carry to me, but not much farther. It sounded like a hiss. “David’s camp is just ahead. We need to go silently now. Be on your guard.”

  I scoffed. “It’s just David. I know he went a little bonkers but he’s not gonna hurt us.”

  Kait rolled his eyes and gestured at Travis, who nodded. Eir simply stopped where she was. This wasn’t what she was here for, so it didn’t seem she would take part. Travis went to the right, and Kait went to the left, circling the camp. I shrugged. Kait hadn’t given me instructions so I was just going to go up the middle.

  I had taken about two steps when a hand pressed over my mouth. What the fuck? The world went dark around me.

  ***********

  When I woke up, it was dark, and I was lying on the hard dirt by a fire. I pushed myself up with one hand to my head and the other to the cold ground. The world spun around me and my mouth felt like it was full of cotton balls. When I glanced around, there was no-one there. I reached out with my powers, attempting to tell if I was alone. There was an unfamiliar presence in the darkness beyond the fire. “Hello? Who’s there?” A dark form stepped out of the shadows on the other side of the fire. I straightened my back to stop myself from shrinking back. “What do you want with me?”

  Another step and the fire illuminated the dark form’s face. It was David, but he looked different. Harsher, somehow.

  “Sugar, I rescued you. Kait and Travis won’t keep us apart anymore.”

  Wait, what? “David, Honey, Kait and Travis weren’t keeping us apart. They want us all to be together. They love you, too.”

  “No!” He chopped his hand down as he stalked towards me. “They were trying to keep you for themselves and cut me out of the relationship.” He spun away and put his head in
his hands as he began muttering. “They don’t want me, just like my father didn’t want me. Evalia is the only one who cares about me.”

  I watched him as fear wound around my heart. This was bad. Internally, I felt the bond. David’s part of the bond felt tenuous and frayed, while Travis and Kait were far away. I was on my own for a while, but I could feel the tracking ring on my finger, so I knew Kait could find me. Just keep David occupied until they get here.

  Chapter 8

  He spun on me. “No, you don’t need to keep me occupied while we wait for them! They want to keep me from you, so we are going to stay as far away from them as we can!” He grabbed my hand roughly and squeezed my fingers until he found the tracker. As he pulled it off forcefully, he scratched my finger, leaving a bloody smear on the ring which was visible now that it left my finger. I watched in horror as he flung it away from us, into the dark undergrowth.

  He stared at the spot it disappeared for a moment, like he thought it would reappear, then pulled me violently to my feet and walked away.

  “Hey! I understand your rush, but we need to at least put out the fire! You can’t start a forest fire just to keep away from them!”

  He stared at me suspiciously for a minute before he let go of my hand. “Fine. Take care of it and hurry!” He crossed his arms over his chest while he watched me. While my excuse was true, it was more of a stall tactic, but I couldn’t let him know that. I bustled around the camp, gathering as much dirt as I could and flinging it into the fire, deliberately missing the center. After a few rounds of this, David sighed and took a step towards me.

  “Hurry up! We are leaving in less than a minute, whether or not that fire is out!”

  Stifling my sigh, I flung the last handfuls directly in the center, causing the fire to splutter and die.

  “Finally! Let’s go!” He grabbed my hand again and began to run, almost pulling me down.

  “If you want to run, I need both hands! I can barely run as it is. If I don’t have both hands for balance, I will fall on my face!”