Destiny Redeemed (25 page)

Gethen
let a small smile appear on his face, and he handed her the letter. “I’m here
on behalf of Amon Kalins.”

The
councilwoman raised her eyebrows in surprise but said nothing. Gethen waited
for her to alert her sentry, but she remained still.

“He
needs your help. He’s uncovered something going on between the head of the
Council here and the head of the Soren.”

“Amon
Kalins is an escaped prisoner from Nil. It’s my duty to inform you that I sit
on the council that convicted him and sentenced him to spend his remaining
lifetimes here in Nil as punishment for his many crimes. Why would I help him
against the head of my council? What proof does he have to substantiate these
wild claims?”

Gethen
handed her Amon’s letter and watched as she read it and folded it again.

“This
bounty hunter he refers to—Ryu Jansen. He’s been a loyal employee of this
council for years.”

“He
took Amon’s destined one. Why would a bounty hunter from your council kidnap a
woman instead of taking the man he’s supposed to bring back here?”

The
councilwoman appeared to consider Gethen’s question for a moment and then
turned to face him. “Thea? And he can prove this man took her to the Soren
headquarters?”

“Yes.”

“I
must admit I find it hard to believe any member of my council would associate
with anyone from that group, least of all Kiril Gault.”

Gethen
waited, hoping her next move wouldn’t now be to call the guard.

“However,
Gethen, your friend is correct when he writes that I have been an outspoken
opponent of some of the choices my council head has made. I believe in Aeveren
laws, and his decision to conduct a no-holds-barred mission to return Amon
Kalins to Nil by using his destined one’s past is one I believe to be very
wrong. It is, however, a great leap to say that this means the head of the
Council at Nil is in collusion with the head of the Soren.”

As
he waited for her to continue, Gethen knew he had to make his point stronger or
he’d fail Amon.

“I
know better than anyone else as Amon’s servant for the past seven lifetimes
what he’s done to belong here. But his destined one has done nothing, and your
leader has placed her in the hands of a man who possesses female slaves for the
sole purpose of his pleasure. Every moment Kiril Gault is free to do as he
pleases because of his association with the head of your council is another
moment Thea may be serving as his slave.”

As
she listened to the information Gethen gave her, Naomi’s face showed her sorrow
at the idea of Thea’s fate. When she’d said nothing for a few minutes, Gethen
rose to leave, saddened by his failure to help his friend this one last time.

“What
should I tell Amon?” he asked, hopeful she’d answer that she’d at least look
into the allegations made.

“Where
is your friend now, Gethen?”

When
she saw the look of suspicion in his face, she explained, “I won’t give him up
yet. You may trust me.”

Unsure
if he was signing Amon’s death warrant, he said slowly, “Ireland, at his house in County Cork.”

Standing,
she held her hand out to take his and smiled. “Then that’s where we’ll be
going.”

Gethen’s
look of surprise amused her, but quickly he remembered the trip back and became
concerned. “I can’t be sure you’ll handle the trip. Aeveren don’t travel well
between the worlds.”

“Not
to worry, my Sidhe friend. Now take me to him.”

Gethen
looked down at Naomi Cooper’s hand in his and focused his mind on Ireland as they both dissolved from her rooms in Nil.

*

Amon
stood in the room where just hours before he and Thea had made love and tried
to focus his mind on hers. Each time he felt a connection, it was broken just
seconds later. He felt relief as he received no clear sense that she’d come to
any harm, but he knew his words to Gethen earlier may have been merely wishful
thinking.

But
they were all he had for now.

Gethen’s
voice in his head called to him excitedly, and Amon quickly teleported to the
living room downstairs to find his friend standing with a woman. Stunned, he
silently asked Gethen if he’d taken her against her will, but quickly saw no
fear in her expression.

“Amon,
this is Councilwoman Naomi Cooper.”

Extending
his hand to greet her, Amon shook hers and offered her a seat. As he sat across
from her, he realized what he was seeing was supposed to be impossible.

“Ms.
Cooper, how is it that a council member is able to leave Nil?”

Smiling,
she explained, “We may leave when we choose. It is just assumed we can’t leave
because we do so infrequently. To spend time outside of Nil will only encourage
us to want what we left behind when we chose to accept a position on the
Council. I felt this was a situation that called for me to return to this world,
however.”

“Gethen
gave you my letter?”

“Yes,
your Sidhe friend gave me your letter and explained about your destined one’s
kidnapping. I admit, it’s more out of concern for her than belief in you that I
chose to come here.”

“I’m
grateful for whatever reason brought you here,” he replied as he looked over at
Gethen and silently thanked him.

Nodding,
Gethen excused himself and left Amon to speak to the councilwoman alone.

Naomi
watched him leave and turned to Amon. “You have been very fortunate, Mr.
Kalins. You’ve been blessed with the loyal friendship of a Sidhe and a fourth
destined one. A healer, no less. And yet I remember quite clearly the crimes
you were convicted of. You seemed to be favored by fate.”

“I
have. But the one who will suffer the most if the head of the Council at Nil
has his way is my destined one. I may not deserve Thea, but she doesn’t deserve
to be held by Kiril Gault.”

Amon
listened as she apologized, and then they sat quietly studying each other until
he broke the silence. “May I assume by the way you’re looking at me and the
slight tug I just felt in my mind that you possess the power of telepathy and
you’re using it on me?”

The
councilwoman folded her arms across her chest and sat back in her chair. “Yes
to both. You didn’t think I’d simply trust a convicted prisoner, did you?”

Amon
watched as Naomi’s skepticism faded with her look into his thoughts. Stroking
his chin, he said, “Then you know I’m telling the truth, or at least what I
believe to be the truth. If I may be frank, Ms. Cooper, I don’t have time to
pass any more of your tests. Every minute I spend here with you is another
minute Thea may be in danger. So if you don’t mind, let’s cut to the chase.”

“Fine.
I believe you’re telling the truth, and I do find the idea that one of our
bounty hunters has been to the Soren headquarters rather damning, but to him,
not the head of the Council. Are you sure it isn’t this bounty hunter that has
an ax to grind with you and wants to punish you through your destined one?”

“That
only makes sense if I’d ever met him, which I don’t think I have.”

“How
would you know? Unless one is your destined one, you can’t recognize them from
one life to the next.”

Amon
couldn’t disagree with her logic and preferred not to explain how easy it was
to bribe a Directorate worker for that information, but he was sure it wasn’t
Ryu Jansen who had the ax to grind.

“Don’t
you think if he wanted revenge on me he’d had said something about it to me?
No, your bounty hunter isn’t the person calling the shots. I know Kiril Gault.
He wouldn’t be bothered associating with one of your lapdogs.”

“Yes,
you know Kiril Gault, Mr. Kalins. Kiril Gault, the head of the main opposition
to all Aeveren hold dear—the laws of our world. A man who wants to subjugate
all humans and a man who’s behind much of the darker side of our world.”

Amon
was growing impatient with Naomi Cooper’s need to discuss his past. “Yes, I’ve
associated with Gault and hundreds like him over the lifetimes. Yes, I’ve done
some bad things in my past. If you came here to conduct your own personal
hearing and retry me, you’re wasting your time and mine. I’m every bit as bad
as you think I am and more. And if anything has happened to Thea because of the
head of your fucking council, I’ll make sure the rest of his time is full of
more pain than you could ever imagine. He’ll die by a thousand cuts as I slowly
drain the life from him drop by drop in as many lifetimes as I can.”

Silently,
he called to Gethen to take the councilwoman back to her quarters in Nil. When
he’d returned, Amon stood and said curtly, “The councilwoman needs to go back.
Take her.”

Dutifully,
Gethen approached Naomi to take her back to Nil. She stood and faced Amon, who
looked down at her warily.

“And
no matter what happens, I won’t be going back to Nil, and if that means I have
to kill every bounty hunter you send after me, then so be it.”

“You’ve
convinced me, Mr. Kalins. I’ll look into what you allege about Councilman
Adams.” Turning to Gethen, she asked, “May I rely on you to convey any
information, Sidhe?”

Gethen
nodded and Naomi turned back to face Amon. “Godspeed, Mr. Kalins. I’ll do what
I can to find the truth and help your destined one. I only pray that what you
believe isn’t true.”

*

Alone
again, Amon walked back upstairs and sat on the bed. His heart was filled with
regret for getting Thea involved in his life. While he knew Aeveren biology
would have eventually brought them together, he blamed himself for selfishly
not walking away when she’d run from him.

She’d
be safe now.

Even
that he couldn’t be sure of. If the head of the Council at Nil was willing to
break Aeveren law and give a bounty hunter details on her lifetimes, would he
have sent him to detain her hoping she’d provide the information he wanted? And
she’d disobeyed the council’s edict not to help him, from the head of the
council no doubt, so possibly she’d have been punished for that.

He
ran his hand over the pillow she’d rested her head on and thought of her blond
hair fanned out over it as she slept. Before he could stop himself, he thought
about Kiril’s sex slaves and how he’d seen him pull them around by their hair
as they wailed in pain. His hands curled into tight fists as his mind raced
with images of Thea being abused by Kiril—his hands tearing at her long hair as
she crawled across the floor behind him, tears streaming from her eyes as she
cried out in pain.

I’ll
kill him. So help me God, I’ll kill him.

Amon
knew he couldn’t think about what Kiril could be doing and still keep his
sanity. Just the idea of what he might do made murderous rage build inside him.
He’d take care of his former friend when the time came, but for now, he had to
believe Thea was unharmed.

To
distract his mind, he focused on the head of the council, replaying his trial
and the councilman’s words. At the time, he thought he’d been a bit too pleased
at his capture, but over time he’d decided it had probably been no different
with any other prisoner. But why did the head of the Council at Nil seem hell
bent on punishing him? Had they known one another in a previous lifetime?

Amon ran through
lifetimes of experiences cataloguing men and women he’d known, but he knew the
futility of this. No matter how many things he’d torture himself with, he’d
never be able to know for certain why this one man despised him so much.

While
he thought about this, he heard someone call his name from downstairs.
Recognizing Markku’s voice, he made his way down to the kitchen where he found
the magickian helping himself to something to eat. Amon wondered if the man
simply didn’t respect him or if he didn’t remember how angry he’d been just a
short time earlier.

Peaking
his head out from inside the refrigerator, Markku began rambling on about what
he’d found out. “Amon, it’s huge. Much bigger than we thought. I can’t even get
near the Soren headquarters. Fuck, they saw me coming! And I just got back in,
goddamnit!”

Before
Markku could get lost in self-pity, Amon closed the door and guided him to the
table.

“Slow down,
Markku. Tell me everything.”

Markku
sat down, took a deep breath, and began again. “I did just what you said to. I
went to my guy at the Directorate to find out who this head of the Council was
before but no dice. Council members’ information is impossible to retrieve. So
I asked him to check on any connection between you and the bounty hunter.”

“And?”

Shaking
his head, Markku continued. “Nothing. Fuck, you’ve never even been in the same
country at the same time until this lifetime.”

“I
knew it.”

Taking
a bite of an apple, Markku continued. “But here’s something interesting. Your
bounty hunter lost his job at Nil last year. They let him go after he failed to
bring someone in.”

“I
guess he’s become a dedicated civil servant again,” Amon said sarcastically.

“Well,
something like that. They brought him back specifically to get you.”

“Why?
Why him?”

“No
idea. My guy couldn’t find one reason why this particular bounty hunter would
be brought back at all. Fuck, they routinely fire hunters who fail to bring in
their assignment, but they don’t recall them after only one year.”

“Markku,
there must be something.”

“Amon,
I’m telling you. Nothing. He doesn’t even have any serious power. He can heal
faster than others. Every other power he needs to catch someone like you he has
to get from the goddamned council.”

“Any
idea who recalled him?”

Chewing
another bite of apple, he answered, “The head of the Council of Nil himself.”

“Mr.
Adams.”

“How’d
you know his name?”

Amon
leaned back on his chair. “I’ve been to Nil, Markku.”