The Binding (16 page)

Konalt continues to stare at me and then back at the gem in his palm. He let s the gem drop, but in a flash it shoots back into his palm, sitting there quietly. He begins to shake and beads of sweat appear on his brow , and that is how we left him.

Alorn steps from the back of the counter and I turn as he reaches me. We walk toward the door together , smug in the knowledge that Konalt won’t betray us . Konalt is a greedy one and fearful for his own life. The smugness of putting one over the fat troll instantly disappears when we step out of the office and walk right into Lily and Mellis in an embrace.

Any rational thinking on my part is gone. “Mellis, take your hands off her.”

I notice that Mellis drops his arms, but Lily continues to hold on to him. In fact, not only does she keep her arms around him, but she puts her head on his chest and then squeezes him tight before letting him go .
With a smile she thanks him sweetly before walking away. Mellis turns and looks at me with a shrug and his palms up. I watch Lily as she approaches the SUV asking Phoris for help. My large cousin smiles at her and moves to assist.

“Phoris,”
I mentally call, “we’re not staying. It’s not safe here.”

Phoris stops, then leans close to Lily relaying the message. She turns toward me, shrugs her shoulders and returns her backpack to the SUV. I continue to watch her as she walks over to Julia . I watch as Tolan step s aside giving them some privacy , but not without catching Julia’s eye before she turns her attention to Lily.

I turn back to Mellis as he walks my way .

“She was just thanking me, c ousin. I had no idea she was in love with my chest, although I must say it’s a pretty nice chest,”
he muses smiling broadly and easing me out of my ire.

Alorn muffles a laugh and then breaks out into a big smile as I give him the same hard look I g i ve Mellis. Both of them are taking advantage of the situation and I don’t feel like playing along, not that it matter s much to them. I sigh . I t’s not always that Alorn finds anything funny and smiling for him is like cracking the cemented head of an ogre.
Gradually, I feel the tension leave me. Saving myself from any more jokes, I change the subject and let Mellis in on what just happened inside the motel.
He’s instantly sober and remains quiet as Alorn finishes retelling the scene with Konalt.

“So, you think he’ll rat us out?” asks Mellis.

We all know that even though what I told Konalt about the gem is true, there is always a way around it. The troll himself wouldn’t know how to do it, but someone with more cunning, like Harlu, would figure a way to get the information from the troll . All the while without the troll realizing what was happening. It would n’t matter to Harlu if the troll died, just as long as Harlu got what he wanted.

Shaking my head I say, “Maybe without knowing it, he will.”

I call for Phoris to join us. Once he’s part of our group, we fill him in .

I face
Phoris and ask , “Can you find us a tree large enough to house us for a few hours? I know it will be difficult in this city, but do you think you can do it?”

“I’ll reach out to see what I can find. Then Alorn can use the streams to locate it. I saw many patches of green when we crested the valley on our way in. It’s only a matter of finding the right one ,” he answers, rubbing at his chin.

I look over at Lily and Julia saying, “
T
here’s one thing. The troll mistook Julia for Lily , so we need to be sure that Tolan is aware.”

As if knowing that he’s the subject of our conversation, Tolan walks over to us , and Mellis fill s him in. He’s quiet for a moment. T
hen he places a hand on my shoulder saying, “Then I have no choice but to keep Julia at my side at all times, b rother.”

I nod
. One by one we all smile as Tolan laughs pleased at his new situation with Julia. Even though my brother may think he has no worries in protecting Julia, we all know he doesn’t think straight when it comes to her. I send out a quick message to Mellis, Alorn and Phoris that at least one of them is to stay close to Tolan and Julia at all times. Even as Tolan turns to watch Julia, all three agreements come quickly from my cousins.

I look at my brother momentarily and wonder again how he can lose all his senses over a girl. I think of Kalis and find myself surprise that I haven’t thought much of her since meeting Lily. Kalis. Why am I finding that I don’t want to rush back to her as much as I did before?

I follow my brother’s gaze to Lily and Julia. Lily. Why did I want to snap Mellis’ head off when I saw them holding each other? It never matter ed as much when I had see n Kalis with the others. Whether they were speaking quietly, or sharing a laugh or even embracing each other as a greeting or a farewell. So why does it bother me when any of them do the same with Lily?
It’s because she’
s important to the treaty and she can’t be distracted from what needs to be done , comes that tiny voice in my head. I can’t have her falling for any of my cousins if she’s to sit as my queen, right? What would people say? Like I’ve given a damn what anyone h as said in the past . I need to get Lily back to Velesi, marry her and get this over and done with. Then I can go back to the way things were with Kalis. I think about that for a moment and the idea of not spending that time with Lily instead p uts me in a bad mood, again.
By the time this is all over with I’ll forget what being in a good mood is like.

*

“What’s going on ?
” ask s Julia.

“I don’t really know. Phoris just said we can’t stay here, it’s too dangerous.” I answer.

“Do you think the Ange is onto us?” she asks.

“Maybe,” I respond looking around us, “but I guess I’ll have to ask Tharin about it.” I turn to her and ask, “Maybe you can ask Tolan ? It s eems like you two are on good terms …
finally.”

We both smile at each other and I notice she’s blushing. She glances over to where Tolan is standing next to Tharin and says, “Lily, I know that I just met him yesterday, but I feel like, maybe he likes me.”

“Really, Julia? I think that he likes you a lot !” I respond earning a smile from my friend.

“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” She thinks for a moment then says, “I like him, too, Lily. But, I’m so scared that it could all be in my head.”

“No, he really does like you. He doesn’t stare after me the way he does with you, or get really quiet and shy when you’re around. Yeah, the guy likes you.”

“I don’t know,” she answers stubbornly, “guys like him don’t look at me.”

“Why, what’s wrong with you?” I ask a bit annoyed. She gives me an uncertain look as I continue, “I’ll tell you what’s wrong with you. You’re so use d to all the ver bal abuse Frank and Chris force—
fed you that you actually believe their lies. You know why ‘
other guys like Tolan’
didn’t talk to you? It’s because Chris made it a point t o bash your face in every night so no one would even look at you, as much as say anything to you.”

She’s
quiet and I remember how talking about Frank and Chris this way only makes her withdraw. I grab hold of her hands and say, “Can I ask you something?” She nods without looking at me. “I know that Tolan has offered to heal your wounds, why haven’t you let him?”

She shrugs a shoulder at me dejectedly. I shake her hands gently forcing her to look at me, “You can’t hide behind your bruises forever, Julia.”

“I know,” she answers quietly, “but it’s all I have, besides you of course.”

“You’ll always have me, but I won’t let you hide behind me either.
T
he bruising will go away . Y
ou’ll have no choice but to let him see you for who you really are. Look, even now your lip seems to be healing.”

She smile
s shyly before saying, “That’s because of his kiss.”

We both laugh at her remark.
It’s good to see Julia on the brink of happiness , whether or not she knows it. She doesn’t believe that Tolan is crazy about her .
I know that he’ll show her with time and patience …a lot of patience. A pang of jealousy hits me. Am I jealous of Tolan and Julia’s new relationship? Or am I just jealous that I still haven’t been kissed? I glance over at Tharin and my hopes of a first kiss vanish when I see the look on his face. Why is that guy always in a bad mood?

I
sigh as we turn to move toward the SUV. Julia is about to open the door on her side when Tolan runs up and stops her.

“You
wi ll be riding with me from now on , ”
h e says with a straight face, but his eyes give him away.

Julia looks over at me unsure and I smile back saying, “I’ll talk to you later.” I give Tolan a smile which he returns with one of his own before turning and leading Julia away. That pang hits me again. I stand for a moment watching them leave . I look over and watch as Tharin walks up to the driver ’s side, his face unreadable.

I release a patient sigh, thinking, it’s going to be a long night .

*

Mellis uses side streets to get us to our destination, whi ch I assume will be another rundown motel. We leave the downtown area and end up on a street call ed Pecos . Though the area is an improvement from Main Street , it’s no different from downtown San Diego . Finding the city to be similar to my own is a bit of a disappointment. When we reach another street call ed Sunset, we are in the middle of a busy area sur rounded by commercial buildings . B
ehind a ten—
foot concrete wall is a gated community well hidden from prying eyes. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you would dr ive right by it on a daily basis , not giving it another thought .

After taking a few more turns, Mellis pulls into a gated area.

“Tharin,
where are we?
”
I ask still looking at the tree tops unsuccessfully hiding the two—
storied homes behind the wall .

“Shenandoah,” he replies as he pulls close to the SUV in front of us.

“Do you know someone here?” I ask.

“We’re Sidhe, Lily, remember that. In our world, the trees are our guardian s , guide s and protectors.
Unfortunately , this world has polluted the trees and blackened their roots. To find one that’s able to help us will be a challenge, but with little risk if Phoris can help it,” he answers, still keeping his eyes on the SUV in front of us.

“So…do you know someone here or not? What do the trees have to do with anything?”

“You’ll see
.
”

“Tharin?”

“Yes Lily
?
”

Turning my full attention on him I ask, “Why are we in SUVs? Why can’t you just whisk us off like the Ange did on the clouds? Or use something less, you know, conspicuous?”

He nods
keeping his focus on the car ahead of us as Mellis pulls up to the entrance of the gated community. We pull to a stop directly behind them . We watch as Mellis gets out as the guard posted at the gate comes out of his booth to meet him .

Finally,
Tharin responds , “Mostly for tactical reasons. Using three vehicles instead of one gives us more mobility and a chance to confuse our pursuers if we have to. Fitting everyone in one car doesn’t make sense and would make escape almost impossible. As for the Ange, well, they had nothing to do with the way they were transported. Someone much more powerful did that.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know, Lily.”

He becomes
quiet again. I stare ahead and watch as Mellis continues talking with the guard.
He’s handing him a piece of paper that the guard takes and disappears into his booth.

“Tharin?”

This time he turns to look at me, “Yes, Lily.”

“Who was that guy? The one that looks like me, he seems to be the leader of their group. The Ange, I mean.”

He hesitates for moment before answering, “His name is Harlu. I want you to stay away from him, Lily.”

“Why?” I ask as he turns his attention back to Mellis and the guard.

“He’s dangerous, Lily , and h e wants to kill you, that’s why,” he replies, watching the guard closely.

I’m
not sure how to respond . It just seems so unreal to hear someone say there is someone out there who wants me dead . I know it has something to do with the royal line, but if that’s the case , all Lucas has to do is ask me for it. He knows that I’ll give him whatever he needs or wants. Then again, is that really what Lucas wants, to remain in Velesi and be king of some clan? For the first time since the night I saw him, I realize that he may not want to come home. I can’t seem to figure it out, but what if I’m right? What if he doesn’t really want me to find him and I’m better off staying with Tharin? No, I have to keep telling myself that the man who tried to kill me was not my brother.
If only for a moment, Lucas was there and whether he wants to go back to San Diego or stay in Velesi, I don’t care anymore. I just want to be a family again. Maybe once everything is settled between us I can call for Marilyn. She would love all of this. I suddenly miss her.