Hearts of Darkness (30 page)

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Authors: Kira Brady

BOOK: Hearts of Darkness
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Corbette wrapped his hands around Norgard's neck and threw him to the ground. “Enough!” His fury caused the clouds above to bash into each other. Thunder filled the air. The waves crashed angrily into the cliff face. It was suddenly apparent why the man kept his temper so tightly leashed. His uncontrolled emotions sent the weather roiling. He could cause tsunamis and hurricanes without thinking.
Hart growled. Fur raised, he backed into Kayla's legs, pushing her away from the confrontation.
Norgard might have been thrown to the ground, but he quickly turned it to his advantage. Lying on his side, he propped his head up on one hand as if he was lounging on the wet dirt of his own accord. He was unself-conscious in his nudity. The power humming through the air excited him. He turned his head to Kayla and smirked. “Going so soon, my love?”
Hart snapped his teeth. Kayla dug her hands in his fur to try to keep him from lunging at the Dreki.
Norgard laughed softly. “I never thought I'd see the day. Mad dog, attaching himself to another weak woman. You'll get yourself killed that way, don't you know?” This he addressed to the Wolf. “Women can't be trusted. I've often thought they were gifted their capriciousness from the goddess herself.”
“Maybe if you weren't such a monster, you'd find women more interested in sticking around,” Kayla told him.
The muscles around his eyes tightened. “Your sister seemed to like me as I am. But perhaps you're right. She turned out to be just as much of a whore as you. Must run in the family.” He rolled to his feet with feline grace. “I propose a different trade. Your body is useless to me now, but you have something else that belongs to me. Return it—”
“Return what?” Kayla asked.
“Don't be coy. I want my necklace.”
Kayla felt her mouth fall open. Norgard didn't have the necklace anymore? She'd seen it around his neck. He had to be lying. All the facts pointed to his culpability. His history of violence, kidnap, and rape. His admission that he'd planned to use the necklace to open the Gate. Fear shivered over her skin. She wished she could curl up next to Hart's warm pelt and sleep through this nightmare. Nothing she had done since she stepped foot in Seattle had gone as planned. Where was Lucia?
No one spoke for a long moment. Norgard turned from her to Corbette to Hart and back again. His brows rose slowly as the silence lengthened. “Who, pray tell, has it now?”
Overhead, lightning flashed. “Where,” Corbette asked, his voice low and menacing as the thunder that shook the ground, “is Lucia?”
“How should I know?” Norgard snapped. “I don't have her. I never did.”
His admission clawed through Kayla, sudden and deep. He had to be lying, but Drekar couldn't lie. Lucia was gone. Kayla felt blindsided, just like she had with Desi. Though she hadn't known Lucia well, she had felt a connection to the young woman. Lucia reminded her in some ways of her sister: brash, beautiful, and wild. They both lit the room. They both leaped before they looked. Kayla hadn't made the connection before, but Lucia's disappearance drove it home. Kayla had failed her as sure as she had failed Desi. Was everyone who came in contact with her doomed? She looked at the Wolf in front of her, and her eyes teared up. Hart should run now while he still had a chance.
Yeah, real logical, Nurse Friday.
She shook her head. God, she was a mess.
Think, damn it!
It was the eve of the equinox. She had been so certain of Norgard's guilt, she had ignored everyone else. Who had the motivation to steal the necklace and open the Gate? Who had the opportunity? She searched her memory for clues she had missed. Sleep-deprivation and terror didn't make for brilliant deductions.
Hart turned his head to look up at her, worry plain in his eyes. If Norgard didn't have the necklace or Lucia, they were already too late.
Chapter 20
Lucia was underground, that much she knew for certain. Where and when escaped her. The walls were rough-hewn and crumbled around the edges. The small alcove was carved into the wall of a larger cave. Steel bars set into the mouth imprisoned her. In the main cavern, a large, rectangular, flat-topped boulder rose from the center of the floor. From each of the four corners dangled iron manacles. She tried not to stare at it, but she couldn't seem to drag her eyes away.
The smells of damp earth and rotten eggs permeated the stale air. There must be a hot springs somewhere nearby. It was warm enough that she didn't need her wool cape, but still she wrapped it tightly around herself and shivered. Her butt was falling asleep on the stony ground. Some Kivati lady she turned out to be—when the going got rough, she fell apart. Skirt wrinkled and torn. Blond hair a tangled bird's nest. Scrapes on her manicured hands. If only the Raven Lord could see her now, he wouldn't want her.
She tried not to rock. The sulfur might mask the scent of her fear, but she couldn't let
him
see it in her body language. “What the hell, Rudrick? Let me go.”
“How can I do that, princess?” Rudrick leaned against the bars, anticipation etched keenly on his face. “You are the salvation of our race. It's time to fulfill your destiny. Only a month sooner than you thought.”
“What are you talking about?” And where was Johnny? He had blindfolded her on the sailboat, right after shooting poor Charlie through the heart with his crossbow. She hadn't seen him since.
“You will fulfill your duty as gatekeeper,” Rudrick said, “allowing our people to recapture our rightful place on the earth. We shouldn't have to bow to humans any longer.”
A small gasp escaped her lips. “But the Raven Lord—”
“Is weak.”
Lucia laughed. She couldn't help it. She pictured Emory Corbette, his dark shining hair pulled back from those sharp cheekbones and high, royal forehead. Many unflattering words could be used to describe the Raven Lord—inflexible, heartless, cruel—but weak was not one of them. He might not be as tall or broad-shouldered as his Thunderbirds, but his aura took up every molecule of space. His tanned, coppery skin seemed to exude power. His dark, violet eyes were like looking at death itself. Calling him “weak” was like calling the Lady “barren.”
Rudrick didn't like being laughed at. He wrapped his hands around the bars to her cell and squeezed. “Uppity little bitch. I've noticed you aren't so snotty in his presence, are you? You hate him as much as the rest of us. You can't hide it.”
She didn't hate the Raven Lord; she was terrified of him.
“I'm saving you from him, princess. He would waste you. You, for whom prophesies are made. You, who have been given to us as the savior of our people.” Rudrick's knuckles turned white on the bars. “He is weak. Too weak to do what is needed to defeat the Drekar. Too weak to take back our rightful place as rulers of this world. Too weak to use you as you were meant to be used.”
Lucia flushed and turned her face away. Being talked about like a tool, not a person, was nothing new, but that didn't mean it hurt any less. She knew why the Raven Lord wanted to marry her. It wasn't because of
who
she was. It was because of
what
she was.
“Little Crane Wife.” Rudrick's voice developed a mocking edge. “He would keep you chained to the bed, on your back for his pleasure—”
“Shut up.”
“—as he ruts between your thighs and keeps you so full with child your body will die long before your little spark of a soul is ready to go. He thinks you could repopulate the Kivati, just the two of you. How can that be called anything but weak and shortsighted?”
“Shut up!” She glared at Rudrick, who only smiled knowingly. How could she defend her sovereign lord? Rudrick voiced what she had always feared in her heart. She couldn't repopulate the Kivati herself. She didn't want to. “He never said that,” she mumbled.
Rudrick only raised an eyebrow. Corbette might never have said that was his plan, but everyone guessed it. Why else did he want to marry her? He might have made a match with one of the other supernatural races and joined their people together, but he didn't. He might have chosen a powerful female warrior from among the Kivati. Elinor, perhaps. Their children would certainly be the strongest and smartest of the new generation. A much better, more powerful match. But he didn't.
Instead he'd chosen a thirteen-year-old child. Untried. Without any magical power besides turning into a Crane. Not even a predator. Prey. A timid, peaceful Totem. In the past five years nothing had changed. Lucia showed no value except what that stupid unintelligible prophecy had said about her.
Rudrick's eyes turned soft and sympathetic as he watched the emotion flickering over her face. He knew. When he spoke, his voice had lost the edge of mockery. “You see. The Raven Lord is jeopardizing the future of the race. You are not the only person who realized it. I've seen the growing burden you carry, knowing you injure all of us by going along with this mad plan of his. Don't keep it to yourself any longer. I'm here to help you, sweetheart.”
She bit her bottom lip. It was treason to listen to his silken words.
“You're not alone anymore. Many of us disagree with his choice. Many of us see it's time to emerge from the shadows and take back the power of the land. Corbette has sat back and watched our sacred powers wane. Fewer and fewer of our children find the power to Change at puberty. Fewer and fewer can master the wind, rain, and sun to nurture the earth as our Lady bade us. If we continue to neglect our steward duties, will She remove Her blessing entirely? If we continue to let the humans rape and pillage the land, how can She not? We have failed Her under Corbette's rule—”
“The decline started before Corbette came to power,” Lucia objected, but her traitorous heart wasn't in it.
Rudrick shook his head as if disappointed in her. “But he has done nothing to reverse it, and the Lady's blessings have continued to disappear. You do Her disservice by defending him.”
Lucia brushed her snarled hair back from her face and took a deep breath. No one spoke ill of the Raven Lord and lived to tell about it. She had grown up thinking all Kivati supported him. She had been raised to think of him as infallible. But what if she was wrong?
As shocking as it was to hear Rudrick speak of their lord with disrespect, deep down his words rang true. She didn't think the Raven Lord was willfully leading their people to destruction, but what could she think when all his plans seemed hinged on marrying her?
“Your people need you, Lucia. Your Lady needs you. Are you willing to help?”
She swallowed, and nodded. Her stomach turned over at the thought of the Raven Lord learning of her rebellion.
“Good choice.” Rudrick smiled. He stood and unlocked the gate. “Come out and let me get you something to drink. Hot tea, perhaps?”
She nodded again. Her mouth was too dry to speak. She stood and brushed the dirt off her skirt. She tried to put some of her usual spunk into her spine. The Lady knew she'd had enough practice pretending to be brazen when all she really wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry. She refused to be the downfall of her people.
 
 
A soft rain dampened the battlefield, washing the blood into the earth like some sacrificial offering. Slowly, the Kivati and Drekar Changed. Kayla helped collect the wounded from the battlefield. The dead were put to the flame, with a minimum of words spoken over the corpses. No one wanted wraiths to descend and possess the fallen bodies of their comrades.
The Thunderbird generals were in an uproar over the loss of one of their own. Jace hadn't survived the battle. He'd been gutted on the end of Norgard's own blade. Only the Raven Lord was able to keep Kai from killing the Drekar Regent. They needed Norgard alive, for now. The generals circled around Corbette, shutting Kayla out of their meeting. Angry voices lashed on the wind. Heightened tempers caused the clouds overhead to buckle and smash against each other, sounding like a drum circle of drunken giants.
Kayla watched Hart Change. Light collected at the ends of his fur, starting at his snout and rippling down over his body to the tip of his tail. It looked like a golden blanket that was shrugged off, revealing a very sexy, very naked man underneath.
“Hi,” she said, when he lay panting on the ground.
“Hi.” He pillowed his head on his hands and grinned wickedly up at her, reveling in his nudity. The slivers of rain didn't seem to bother him. They ran over his sculpted chest, trickled between the rocky muscles of his abs, and pooled in the soft hollows of his hips.
How could she still blush after all they'd done together? This intense attraction had to wear off eventually, didn't it? The sexual energy was only part of what drew her to him. He pretended not to care about anything, but he rushed into danger for her again and again. He was protective, possessive even, making her feel cherished. He didn't try to lock her away from the world, but trusted her to make her own decisions.
“What's buzzing around that beautiful brain of yours, huh?” Hart asked.
She gave a lopsided smile and turned to the urgent matter at hand. “Norgard had the necklace,” she said. “I saw it around his neck before I clobbered him with the bottle.”
“Johnny was in the lair too. He said he wanted to snoop around, remember?”
“You think he stole the necklace while Norgard was unconscious? What would he want with—” Suddenly the missing pieces fell into place. “Rudrick.” Desi had been bringing him the necklace. He'd told Kayla to find it, and not tell anyone but him. He'd kept news of its existence from Corbette. He'd sent Johnny to sneak into the lair with Hart. He'd tried to get rid of the witnesses by locking her and Hart together on the full moon. “But why? Why would Rudrick want to open the Gate?”
“Power.” Hart stood up and stretched the kinks out of his neck and back. She tried not to stare. “Rudrick has no love for the Raven Lord.”
“Do you think Corbette has figured it out?”
“Who cares?”
“I do.”
He rolled his eyes. “If it's important to you, then it's—”
“Werewolf!” Kai snapped from a few yards away. Grief ravaged his face, turning handsome planes into something pained and shadow-wrought. “You trying to blind us?”
The meeting had apparently ended. Generals ordered their troops and began to evacuate the field. In the distance Corbette argued with Norgard.
“I can only hope,” Hart called back. He raised his face to the falling rain and licked at the water falling in his mouth. A second later the air around him trembled and black battle clothes appeared on his body. His eyes widened in surprise. “I've gotta learn that trick,” he muttered.
“You're welcome,” Kai told him.
Hart gave him the bird. He turned back to Kayla as he adjusted the weapons that had also miraculously appeared on his person.
“Should we tell the Raven Lord that Rudrick is behind this?” she asked. Kivati moved around them as if they were invisible.
Hart shrugged, but turned to Kai. “Rudrick and Johnny have the necklace.”
“We know,” Kai said. “The deepest level of Hell has a place reserved for him, and I mean to send him there screaming.”
“What's happening now?” Kayla asked.
“We've narrowed it down to five potential targets where the ceremony would be most effective: Rainier, St. Helens, Adams, Baker, and Lassen Peak. Our forces are splitting, each taking one target. We'll hunt him down.”
“What about us?”
“You don't need us anymore,” Hart cut in quickly. “Isn't that right?”
“Rudrick won't use the key. He's posturing. But just in case, be ready to mobilize. You need to stay here in a central location. We'll send the crows.” With a shimmer of light, he turned one finger into a sharp talon, which he pointed at Hart. “Don't think of skipping out.”
“We'll be ready,” Kayla said. Hart grunted, but she knew he wouldn't leave her side. His body radiated warmth, and she wanted to curl into it, away from the cold and damp.
“Good,” Kai said. “May the Lady protect you.” He leveled a flat stare at Hart. “And
you
. I don't like you much, werewolf, but may She protect you anyway.”
“May She grant you justice,” Hart told him quietly.
Kai dipped his head in acknowledgment and marched off without a backward glance. He Changed to Thunderbird mid-stride and launched into the air.
Hart stepped in front of Kayla to block the harsh wind that ricocheted through the field in the Thunderbird's wake. “Let's go,” he said.
“Where?” It felt as if the rug had been pulled out from under her. The buildup and the battle had adrenaline rushing through her. They were being left behind, and it felt like giving up. She'd be anxiously waiting for the crows to come knocking this time around. She'd be ready, if the wait didn't kill her first.

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