Island Shifters: Book 03 - An Oath of the Children (5 page)

I understand.

Go then. Have your fun, but just for a few hours mind you. We must return to Bardot.

Maks and Jain, who were
younger and
far more
playful
than Baya, let out an excited howl as they
loped to the front
of the group
to cut a path through the people on the streets.

I remember when you used to be like that,
she reminded her friend.

Never.

Kenley
smiled at the outright lie.

Reilly
spoke up. “Now that we have a few hours of freedom, how about we go to
the lake?
My gills are starting to dry out.”

“You don’t have gills!” Jala scoffed.

“Not yet,”
Reilly
murmured in disappointment and, since
he was a Surface Dweller, it was unlikely that
he
ever
would develop the physical traits so predominant in the watershifters that lived below
ground
in Aquataine.

“Swimming with a watershifter! Count me
in,” Kellan shouted.

Jala and Izzy
quickly
agreed. Kane as usual was silent, following anywhere his
twin
brother wished to go.

“To the lake it
is,” Kenley confirmed, and the
party
continued to
maneuver through the
throng
toward the outer gates with most
people giving
wide berth to the enormous Draca Cats
padding
imperially
out in front.
Some shouted out their greetings
from afar, almost all dropped to a knee as they passed.

Sharing some of her father’s aversion to crowds, as soon as they
were through the gates,
Kenley shifted the air and rose a few feet off the ground. “I’ll meet you there!”

“Show off!” she heard Kellan shout.

The wind gathered beneath her, pushed her off the ground, and she
shot into the air
once again.
Now, this is freedom!
Fierce exultation
thudded through every nerve of her body
as the wind
sliced over her and
she climbed higher
into the sky. Nothing gave her as much joy as the
thrill of flight, of manipulating the elemental power to which she was bound to propel her
through the air.
Here,
in the rush of wind,
she did not have to worry about royal protocol. Here,
in the sanctuary of the clouds,
she did not have to worry about her every action scrutinized.

She felt a momentary pang of regret for deceiving Kirby, but quickly put it behind her. He just did not understand her need to be
on her own.
The protectors thought these forays mischievous
pranks, but each of the descendents of the
Savitars
felt different. To them,
it was a few hours of peaceful anonymity. A
rare opportunity to just be children for a change instead of prodigy shifters or royals in waiting.

Spotting the children and Dracas below her running swiftly toward Lake Tear just
west of the Sandori Sands,
she shook her thoughts away and descended to the ground in
front of them at
a run. Her companions were not far behind,
and
their laughter warned her.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an enormous stream of water shoot toward her in a torrent meant to knock her from her feet. She only
just managed to take to the air in time to avoid a soaking.

Reilly Radek!

With a
wolfish grin, she spun toward the five children below her and watched them stop in their tracks, realizing their mistake in getting so close to her.
This was a game they played
often, and one in which she
always won. But, the children were
becoming
more powerful and it was increasingly
difficult to defeat them all
at the same time.

With a
commanding
spin of her hand,
she unleashed
her magic
at Reilly and turned his own water stream back on him, pinning him to the
ground.

Next,
she went for the strongest of the group, Kellan, but she was not fast enough. He thrust out his hands and disappeared under a
protective
dome of earth. At the same time, Kane
multiplied
and she watched
five
images of her younger brother sprint
off
in different directions.
Which one was the real Kane? She could no longer tell.
She growled in frustration.

The whine of a shifted
fireball
caused her to turn toward the hurtling glow, but she
easily
snuffed it out with air and
sent Jala
reeling
back. Little Izzy had already summoned a Grayan wolf to her side and was climbing onto its back to make her escape, but
Kenley
swept them
both
aside with a
wind funnel.
Once the wolf regained
its
feet, it took one look at the Draca Cats and sprinted back into the forest. Izzy let him go.

That left her two brothers.

Zooming in close to Kellan’s
dome, she
peppered
it hard with air
until it
disintegrated. He erupted out of the ground and frantically called forth a coat of earthen armor. She
watched the dirt and stones on the ground roll up and over his body.
Realizing at the last second that she was floating too close to him, she
only just managed to avoid
one of his powerful
swings.

Laughing,
she
cast her arm out and sent him flying.

There was only Kane left
now,
and
he
was the tricky one.
She had always been able to
pick out her brother from his
replicas, but she could no longer do so. In the past
few months, her brother
had grown exponentially more
adept in his magic and his illusions
were
incredibly
realistic.

Still, she started to pick
off the Kane images
and
one by one,
they vanished in a puff of smoke.
She felt proud when she defeated
the first three
and
searched wildly for the
last two.
She
flinched
when she saw Kane standing directly below her with a satisfied smirk on his face. She landed on the ground, ran at him and spun,
launching a kick meant to take him off his feet.

To her surprise, her
foot sailed through
nothing but
air, and she fought to keep her balance.
A tap on her
shoulder
twisted her around awkwardly. The real Kane!
He
grabbed her around the neck and slammed her to the ground.

She
winced, but
smiled
up
at
her brother
in admiration.
With golden
eyes
glowing even in the afternoon sun,
he
reached out his hand to help her to her
feet.
He was too
polite
to gloat, but Kellan did not have any problem in that regard.

“Now, that is a first! Well done, Kane!
It seems our sister is getting a little slow in her old age.”

She grabbed Kane’s outstretched hand and got to her feet. “Not too slow to blow your measly defenses apart,” she
shot back.

The Radeks and Izzy laughed
when they joined them, and the Draca Cats watched
all of
the
activity
in a bored fashion,
but
Kenley knew that
green, blue and golden eyes missed
nothing.

“Come on,” said Reilly. “Let’s enjoy our last few hours of freedom before
the long trip
back
to Bardot.”

As they walked toward the lake, Kenley asked the others if any of them had seen the old woman standing
on
the dock in Northfort.

None had.

Kenley shrugged, still unnerved about the encounter, although she could not say why. Maybe it was
the woman’s critical gaze and the
way she seemed to be judging
Kenley
in some way.
Far more likely, it was the woman’s eerie, all white eyes.

C
HAPTER
3

A
P
ROPOSAL

The casual laughter around the table in the palace kitchens cut off abruptly when the doors banged open. Kirby Nash’s face was crimson with fury.

Eyes grew wide in fright and
utensils clanged to the floor as the cook and servants dropped what they were doing to
dart
into one of the back rooms.

Kirby’s
eyes
locked
directly
on Kenley.

“Out!” he thundered to the children
as he strode
angrily to their table.

“But—”

“Out, I said! Now!”

Chairs scraped back as the children
complied with his order.

Kellan bent down and whispered in
Kenley’s
ear, “Good luck, sister.”

Kenley nodded and sat calmly, waiting
for the storm she had been expecting for
three days.
Her face a mask of serenity, she set down her
teacup
and looked up at the Captain planted in front of her in his
red and black uniform
and
shiny saber hanging low on his hip. If she thought to escape, there was no chance
of
that now.

Baya peeked up at the commotion from her
place
by the back door, but then
closed her eyes again, obviously holding true to her word not to interfere with Kirby’s wrath.

Kenley rose
to her feet in the
modest
space offered between the wall of Kirby’s chest and her chair. “Captain.”

“Do I ask for that much, Kenley? Do I?”

“No, not really…”

“Why then? Why must you continue to torment me?”

“Do I torment you?” she asked innocently.

He turned
away
from her and ran
a
hand through his hair. “You know you do,” he whispered.

“It’s late, Captain.
I think he should continue this conversation in my chambers.
I do not wish to be overheard.”

He simply nodded.

Baya?

The cat
barked out a snort
that told Kenley she was on her own and
made no move to rise.

With a glint of victory in her eyes, Kenley made her way
along the palace
corridors
and
up the stairs
to the third floor, her heart thumping wildly in her chest. She had never seen Kirby this angry before.
As he strode silently behind, she could
almost feel the heat
rolling off him in waves
against her back, but she did not dare turn around.

When they
reached her suite of rooms,
he
stalked ahead and opened the door.
After she passed through, he entered and kicked the door shut.

“Kir—

She let out a
surprised
yelp when he
swung her up into his arms and lurched
toward
the side table. With one brutal swipe, he sent the wine decanter and glasses crashing to the floor and flung her on top.
A husky growl escaped his throat as he leaned into her and covered her mouth with his.
With a self-satisfied moan, she
laced
her hands
through his blonde curls
and
hungrily returned
the kiss, wrapping
her legs around his waist.