It was imperative Lachlan left this kingdom by the next day and returned to the Darkage. The very idea of Gidon being assassinated while Lachlan was not there knotted his gut into bands of rage. The Darkage could not lose another king so soon after the assassination of King Rajleigh, Gidon’s father.
The only way in which to find the dungeons was to become a captive. The Princess Shilah would be required to deceive the emperor. Her death was not imminent. How curious more relief filled him at that thought. He assured himself he needed the Serangite to testify before the emperor, and he would have to lower his barrier enough for her to read the thoughts he would project.
The emperor must be enticed to imprison him with the rest of his treasures. Lachlan faltered at the thought of even allowing his beast any freedom. It had been a little over four hundred years since he had used any of its vile chakra. His people fed their beasts from the dark negative energy others gave off, and he had suppressed the savagery of his beast by erecting a shield inside, separating their chakras, and never allowing it any freedom.
The notion of parting the veil once more to peek at the beast that lived within him, when a demon beast had slaughtered his family, had rage burning through his veins. It hardly mattered that the slaughter happened at the hands of a Darkan driven mad with power of his beast. Because that Darkan had been his father, and Lachlan had inherited that same beast and the shame of his father turning into a Senjis, becoming a ravaging monster who had killed indiscriminately. That same malevolence lived within him, and he had drawn upon its powers until he had seen the corruption caused from using its chakra. He’d seen it first-hand in the broken bodies of his mother and her lover.
Brushing aside the haunting memory, Lachlan moved in the shadows, plotting. He would lower his barrier enough so the Serangite could read the intentions he wanted to communicate to the emperor and afterward, he would kill her.
No. The denial snapped through him, and he stopped in the shadow space. Why? There was something about her he couldn’t quite grasp, something important, elusive, something that brushed against the sharp edges of his mind but refused to be caught. He shadow-stepped into her palatial chambers. She methodically packed a bag with clothes, daggers, and rolls of papers.
Why do I hesitate at the thought of ending your life?
Unexpectedly she whirled around, a hand pressing over her heart. She lifted her chin, displaying the soft skin of her neck, the pulse beating heavily at her throat. Lustrous silver-white hair rippled to her mid-back, and the beauty of her delicate face arrested his attention. Her eyes stared where he stood, and he smiled, wondering at her power. Somehow, she sensed a ripple in the shadows. Her eyes which had the brilliant diamond cast of a fractured star seemed to glow, and he felt the brush of her powers. He glided closer, drawn to the rare beauty of her eyes. He stared into them, and Lachlan felt like he was falling forward into an endless abyss somewhere beautiful and unfathomable.
Her hand went to her throat. She looked so young and defenselesss, he wanted to drag her into the protection of his arms. And Lachlan doubted then that he would be able to snap her neck. He stared at her, disbelief twisting through his soul. What madness was this? She was a weapon able to draw the demon from inside his kind and turn it against the people of Amagarie, a weapon the emperor could use to enslave his people, triggering the third great war of Amagarie, for their dark king would retaliate, and his heart was merciless. Their kind was almost impossible to defeat in battle, and she had armed the emperor with their powers. There should be no hesitation in his heart to remove her.
He didn’t like feeling uncertain; it was foreign to his nature. Her tongue darted to lick her bottom lip, a nervous gesture, yet fierce arousal burned through him, rocking Lachlan back on his heels. His reaction confounded him, for it was not the monster in him urging him to lay claim. That need was all him. The princess was a sudden inexplicable force of chaos in his well-ordered and emotionless existence. He burned, he hungered, and he wanted to lift her in his arms, split her wide, sinking his cock deep, and ride her until they were limp with completion and her voice hoarse from screaming his name. In the dark cage of his mind, his shield rippled and contracted, and a soft yet taunting laugh echoed.
Lachlan’s entire soul froze, and with infinite care, he slowly moved away from her, melting into the gray shadow space of the wall. He searched inside, unable to detect any chakra that was not purely his. He tunneled his mind deep inside of himself, to his center where he only saw light in his mind and the blue glow of chakra, his life force, running through his veins. And beyond that light, deep shadows wavered into an impenetrable wall of absolute darkness. He assessed the wall, and there were no cracks. Had it been in his imagination that he had heard his demon?
He prowled over to her, dipped his head close to her neck and inhaled deeply. She smelled like the rain. He could not explain why he was checking to see if her scent drove him to distraction and lust as others of their kind had described the sensations they endured upon finding their mates. Lachlan knew it to be impossible without the beast in him, but still, he had to check. And there was nothing but the sweet woman scent of her, the one that begged him to seduce, and take her. With a soft curse, he moved away. What would he have done, he wondered, if he’d had a visceral reaction to her scent?
There was no explanation for his enthrallment. She wasn’t in his mind, that he was confident of. The witch had cast no enchantment, and that led him to the realization it was simply the woman before him.
The anomaly of it tempted him then to step from the shadows, clasp her slender throat and snap her neck. He should not allow any opportunity for her to become a distraction or worse a weakness. Something dark and dangerous stirred deep inside of him, and unable to understand the needs rousing through his soul, Lachlan watched, and waited.
3
Unable to shake the feeling that something lingered in the dark, Shilah closed the small bag she had carefully packed. Several times she had probed her room with her telepathy, and no thoughts had rushed to her. She could sense no aura, yet her skin prickled with unfathomable awareness. Careful to not appear unduly alarmed, she moved around the palatial room, scanning the large four poster bed, and the gold inlay chaise lounge. Of course, no one was hidden, but she truly couldn’t shake the feeling someone or something more was within the chamber. It was at times like these she wished this world operated like hers where each household had a personal PSI system, for the sentient intelligence would not allow any stranger into her domain as it was the first line of defense.
The memory of the sleek, golden-eyed man taunted her, and she glanced around the chambers once more. Perhaps she was naturally anxious about the path she would traverse. Shilah would need to flee the empire of Mevia, tonight, with her sister. Where they would go, she had no notion, for they were without allies in Mevia. They would have to flee to another kingdom or perhaps the realm of Amagarie itself. The seven kingdoms were on the edge of war, and she could see now that she had chosen the wrong realm to escape to and seek aid from. Perhaps Earth, or Titan—the world of cyborg warriors beyond the Jupiter ring would have been a more prudent choice. It was foolish now to look back with regret, and she must plot a new path for her and Kala. They needed allies, and Shilah had no idea where to get them.
“Shilah!”
Her sister’s scream of fear slammed into her mind with such force her knees buckled. Catching herself, she rushed toward her door, flung it open, and headed toward the opposite end of the corridor. Fury and rage pushed Shilah to run along the mile-long hallway tiled with jade green marble at full speed. “Kala, I’m coming.”
The steady silent screams of her sister battered her mind. The emperor had assigned them to opposite chambers at the end of the hallway, and always, at least two guards manned the halls. Shilah and Kala communicated telepathically as much as possible, careful not to spill their powers in the air. The emperor had several witches in his service, and she had come to respect their cunning and strength, even as she hated them for their loyalty to such a vile man.
A wail of pain tore through her, and Shilah stumbled, her knees slamming into the ground. Pain radiated through her, but she pushed through it, launching to her feet, and hurrying faster to her sister’s chamber. How she wished she had been able to flash as the Amagarians did, but their ability to move at such speeds was born from their enormous chakra strength and control. A gift no Serangite possessed.
“Shilah!”
Blood rushed through her veins, adrenaline surged through her system, and she pumped her legs faster. “Kala, what is it? Control your fear and tell me. Are you
under attack?”
“A decision has been made.” The echo of her sister’s voice throbbed with distorted power, and Shilah ran faster. Kala was a foreseer, and her visions were never wrong. Shilah neared the door, and the two guards drew their swords from behind their backs. Thank kings they hadn’t thought to use sound waves to stop her progress.
Without thinking she blasted past their weak mental barriers and commanded them to sleep. They dropped, the thud of their bodies echoing in the hallway. She blasted the door open with her mind, and rushed in. Her sister was kneeling in the center of her bed, sobbing, her mass of red hair tangled around her face, her green eyes wide with fear and uncertainty. Mentally closing the door behind her, Shilah pressed her hands against it and pushed with the full force of her aura creating a kinetic barrier in the room. Then she rushed over to her sister.
“What is it, Kala?”
“Our future has changed.”
Shilah’s mouth dried. “I know. The emperor has no intention of letting me...us go. He wants me to stay for another year, but I fear he lies. Our powers are too much of a prize.”
Kala’s eyes snapped open, and the fear and pain in her gaze drove the air from Shilah’s lungs. She gripped her sister’s hand as a dark blue aura flickered around her. The vision had taken hold of her, and her body trembled.