Soulceress (The Mythean Arcana Series Book 2) (20 page)

Bright sunlight sparkled through the foyer windows, tempting her with freedom. A short walk wouldn’t hurt, and Warren was as likely to be outside as in.

“Outside it is, Chairman,” she said to the cat who trotted at her heels. She wasn’t avoiding Warren, since she might find him out there. And she needed to stretch her muscles.

As soon as she stepped out into the brisk Highland air, she was grateful for her jacket. The gift. But she wouldn’t think of that. A quick yank of the zipper closed out the biting wind.
 

The rolling mountains at her back kept her company while the sea shone before her. The Chairman chased bugs in the grass. Though the house sat on a small cliff with no beach that she could see, she could hear the waves crashing on the rocks below.

Within a few minutes of her glorious walk, she sighed. She was totally avoiding seeing Warren. “Damn it, Chairman. Let’s head inside.”

After a quick stop in the kitchen for a granola bar for her and chicken for the Chairman, she said, “Okay,
now
we’re going to go look.”
 

The Chairman followed her out of the kitchen, still licking his lips from the chicken and the last bite of her granola bar.
Weirdo cat.

She’d searched through a half dozen rooms on the first floor of the big house when she finally pulled up short at the door of the workout room. She stopped dead in her tracks and her heart stuttered its last. At least, it felt like it.
 

Within, Warren was beating the hell out of a punching bag in the corner, viciousness in every strike. Sweat dampened the back of his gray T-shirt, making it cling to the curves and planes of his muscles. He looked like a damned sex buffet.
 

She closed her eyes and told herself that she didn’t care at all. This was work and that was what she would focus on.

With a bracing breath, she opened her eyes and strode forward. Warren turned to face her. His broad chest rose and fell with his heaving breaths and his golden hair was mussed.

“I thought you didn’t fight,” she said.

Warren looked down at his hands, flexing them. “No’ to kill. But I do fight.”
Myself, the things I’ve done, the past I try to outrun
. “There’s violence in me, always has been. It’s better if I get it out. When there aren’t people around.”
 

“Oh.” She looked away.

“You’re feeling better.”
 

“I am.”

“Have you had breakfast?”

“Yes. I want to see the letter.”

Warren nodded, not surprised that she’d want to get to the point. “It’s in the library. I’ll get it.”

She followed him out of the room, and as Warren strode along next to her, the clean scent of her caught in his lungs and arrested his thoughts. He hadn’t expected to see her so soon, and when he’d caught sight of her standing in the doorway, his brain had overloaded with a dozen thoughts.

Memories of the taste of her, of her cries of pleasure echoing in his ears. The rage in her eyes as she propelled him out the door, the hurt that had edged in at the corners. The past days of working with her and realizing her cleverness and bravery. His confusion over what she wanted from him.
Why
she had ever wanted him.
 

“I’ll need to go somewhere populated with Mytheans to restore my power,” she said as they walked down the hall.

“All right. There’s a gathering of Mytheans near Loch Buie. A Mythean Highland Games, run by a local laird. It’s being held on his land today and tomorrow.”

“How do you know that?”

Because when he’d woken up this morning, he’d thought of her needing more power. Something that had bothered him before had become a priority. “I knew you’d need a boost.”

“So that I can find Aurora for you.” Her voice had a glass-sharp edge.

“No, for you.”

“Sure. Let’s go get the letter.”

Moments later, they walked into the big, book-filled room that served as the library. Warren had spent many an hour here over the last three centuries, poring through Cadan’s ancient collection. Most older Mytheans read a lot.

With a deep breath, he withdrew the letter from a secret compartment in the bottom drawer of Cadan’s desk. Esha snatched the letter from him as soon as she saw it. She turned from him and walked toward the window.

“Hey,” he said, following.

“My letter, Warren.” She raised it. “See? My name on the front.”

He nodded. He’d know the contents soon enough.

With her full lip bitten between her teeth, Esha squinted as she carefully peeled open the letter’s seal. The envelope fluttered to the floor as she opened the folded slip of paper. Her brows drew together as she read.

“What is it?” The tension was killing him, a boa constrictor that wrapped around his chest. As much as Esha could be the best kind of distraction, Aurora’s threat hung over his head like a guillotine’s blade. Time was running out, and Aurora had proved that she had the strength and the stone heart to make him truly suffer.

“Oh shit,” Esha breathed. “She wants us to go to Iceland.”

“What the hell? Why there?”

She turned to face him, surprise raising her brows. “There’s an abandoned soulceress settlement. I didn’t think it still existed, but I guess it does. Soulceresses used to live there before the Vikings came. All I know is that the ancients built a city as far from other Mytheans as they could get so they knew they would be safe. When they needed a power boost, they’d simply aetherwalk to a Mythean settlement, juice up, then return home. But when the Vikings came in the ninth century, they eventually had to leave. I guess the settlement is still there, probably hidden from mortal eyes by magic. But it makes sense that she would hide out there. She said she’s in the temple.”

“Do you know where it is?”

She shrugged. “Not enough to aetherwalk there, but I’ve heard it’s located in the middle of the biggest glacier. If I got close enough, I’m sure I’d sense the old magic.”

“Gods damn it. Why did she no’ just tell us to go there in the first place?”

Her eyes narrowed. “For the same reason the letter is addressed to me and hidden in a place that only a soulceress can enter. She wants me to come to her. Only me. But you never mentioned that she knew me. Were you ever planning to tell me?”

Shite.
Truth or lie? A lie would be easier. But she already mistrusted him. Another lie could be the one that permanently broke this fragile thing between them, if it hadn’t been destroyed already. And he didn’t want to lie to her, not anymore. He’d lied to so many. The praise he’d received for his work, his good deeds, was hollow from people who didn’t know who he truly was. What he’d done.

The idea of true honesty with anyone, but with her especially, was irresistible. “Aye, she wanted you specifically. And nay, I probably wasn’t going to tell you. I wasn’t even going to let you get near her, for fear of what she’d do to you.”

“So you didn’t mean it when you said you wouldn’t kill her?”

“She canna be allowed to live.”

“You don’t know that! Why did she ask for me specifically? Who is she to me?”

“Just another soulceress. She said she wanted a friend. It’s ridiculous.”

Something like pleasure shone in her eyes. It made him nervous. Esha liked the idea of being Aurora’s friend. Something dark and sick welled within him that had nothing to do with Aurora’s magic. Over his dead body.

“The witches think she’ll try to steal your power,” he told her.

She laughed. “Steal it? That’s not possible.”

“Aye, it is. The witches said so, and she’s more than capable of it.”

“I don’t believe you.”
 

“You doona have to. But it’s the reason she wants to meet you, and the reason she never will. I’ll no’ let her take your power from you.”

She shot him a skeptical look. “Whatever. You’d like me better without it. Why are you telling me the truth now?”

“Because I doona want to lie anymore. And I would no’ prefer you without it. No longer. It’s part of you.”

“I’m not even going to pretend I believe what you’re saying.” She leaned down to pick up the envelope. “We’re going to find her. You can’t do it without me, that’s clear. We’ll see who gets to her first, and who gets what they want. And you’re wrong.”
 

He’d made a giant fucking mess of this. A month ago, he’d pushed her away because of what she was and the vows that he’d made, all the while she’d been throwing herself at him. Now, as he realized how much she was starting to mean to him, he kept screwing things up and pushing her farther away.
 

If he could just get Aurora out of the way, everything would be fine.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Esha climbed out of the passenger seat of the Range Rover and onto a huge green field milling with hundreds of cheering Mytheans. The sun shone as brightly as it had at the house, sparkling on the saltwater loch she could see from the field. Someone had probably called in a favor from a weather witch to keep the rain away for the games.
 

It was still cold, though, and she yanked up the zipper of the jacket that Warren had repaired for her. She should have thanked him for the jacket, but her initial awkwardness this morning had been replaced by anger at his secrets.
 

Did knowing the reason for his lies—that he wanted to protect her—outweigh the sin of the lie? She had no idea. She just knew that she was tired of trying to figure it all out.

“Well, now what?” Warren asked as he joined her. They’d parked off to the side of the festivities with the other vehicles. They watched hundreds of Mytheans crowding food and beer stalls and gathered around a group of individuals tossing great logs through the air.

“Ten pounds that girl wins the caber toss.” Esha jerked her head toward a small blond woman about to heave a log.

“I won’t be taking that bet, lassie.”

“Figured I’d give it a try.” Taking his money might make her feel better, at least a little.
 

Esha watched Ana heave the caber nearly 100 meters down the field. She hadn’t expected her friend to be here, but Ana had always been competitive. It made sense for her to sneak out of Otherworld for the games. Since she was one of the more ancient goddesses, a normal Mythean would have a hard time beating her unnatural strength.

Esha turned from her friend and walked toward the far end of the field, where a group of spectators milled around a beer stall.

“Do you no’ want to head toward the strongest competitors?” Warren asked from her side.

Ouch.
“You really think I’d go steal another Mythean’s power right as they’re about to compete?”
 

“Of course you would no’.”
 

“Sure I would.” What was it about him that made her lie and say things to make him think the worst of her? Even back when she’d wanted him to like her, she’d done it occasionally. Anytime someone thought the worst of her, her porcupine quills went up and she said whatever they were most expecting to hear.

Now, with the mixed signals he kept throwing at her—nice gestures combined with lies and disgusted looks—she wanted to put him neatly into a box that wouldn’t hurt her. A closed box.

“You would no’. You’re just saying that to throw me off.”
 

She shrugged, but by then they had reached the group of spectators. The glorious rush of power soared through her, like sunlight melting the ice that had filled her body. She closed her eyes to enjoy it. There were so many people here that they wouldn’t even notice feeling a bit tired. If a witch tried to perform a huge spell, she might find that she didn’t have enough juice, but that was unlikely. And she’d get it back soon enough.
 

 
She looked down at the Chairman to find him rubbing himself against Warren’s leg. Apparently sometime during the last couple of days, while she’d been out, the Chairman had decided that he didn’t hate Warren.
 

“What the hell have you been feeding my cat?” Had he been nice to the Chairman? He hated the Chairman.
 

“Nothing.” But his face was too innocent.