The Other Side of Truth (The Marked Ones Trilogy Book 3) (14 page)

And just like that all my anger at her evaporated. It was all a front. She was scared and alone and she couldn’t let anyone see how vulnerable she was—anyone but me.

I let out a heavy breath, and walked over to lean against the table next to her. “Hey, you’re doing just fine. Brilliant, even.”

She gave me the most dubious look I think I had ever seen her give anyone.

“I’m
serious
, Nualla. Really,” I said reassuringly. “And I’m not sure I told you, but your speech at the award ceremony was really beautiful.”

“It wasn’t, you’re just saying that,” she said, looking away from me.

“No, really,” I countered as I put a finger under her chin, and raised her head so she was looking into my eyes. “It was one of the most moving speeches I’ve ever heard.”

Her bottom lip trembled and she threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around me as she stood.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked, more than a little startled.

She shook her head against my chest. “I don’t want to talk about it, not here, not now.”

I sighed as I wrapped my arms around her. “Okay, I’ll let you off just this once.”

The Few, the Proud, the Dysfunctional

Saturday, November 10th

PATRICK

“G
eez, excited much?” I said
with a crooked smirk as Shawn fidgeted impatiently, rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet as I turned my key in the lock of the gate to the Temple of Kalona.

“Hey, how would
you
feel if you woke up one day, and someone told you that you got to be a Jedi, or Batman? Because
basically,
that’s what just happened.”

I smiled at him to hide my true feelings as I pushed the door open. I was still uncertain about my decision to join the Amurai, but well…Kiskei had had a point. Even if I
did
want to punch him for it.

As we entered the practice room, Shawn stopped short, and I nearly ran into him. Peering around him, I saw why. Even though we were nearly a half hour early, there was already a group of six people standing in the practice room. Three guys, a woman, Kiskei and…
Parker
?

My eyebrows shot up in astonishment. If Travis ever did get close to Parker, he was going to be in for a
very
interesting surprise, that’s for sure. ‘Course she’d only be able to tell him if they got married, because
I
sure as hell wasn’t going to. Kiskei had made it perfectly clear we weren’t allowed to tell a soul about being Amurai, and I had gotten the distinct impression he wasn’t bluffing with his threats, either.

“We
were
starting at nine, right?” Shawn asked uncertainly and the group of them turned toward us.

“Yes, yes, we were just catching up. Aside from three of you, the rest are already sworn Amurai.”

“Oh,” Shawn replied with a tone that could have been nervousness or something closer to disappointment.

“Gods, Kiskei, don’t make the poor boys just stand there all alone. Introduce us already,” the woman scolded Kiskei playfully as she nudged him with her shoulder. She was a curvy woman of exotic—probably Indian—descent, with skin the color of warm cinnamon, and wavy black hair pulled back into a ponytail.

Kiskei smiled at her in a way I had never seen him do before. The comfortable friendly smile you gave your best friend whom you hadn’t seen in awhile, but felt like you had never been apart.

“Very well, this—” Kiskei said as he nudged her back, “—is Isha Kadakia.”

She grinned at us warmly, with a hint of mischievousness in her eyes.

And this—” Kiskei said as he gestured to us, “—is Shawn Vallen and Patrick Galathea.”

“
Galathea
?” a tall guy with ear-length, honey-colored hair, gunmetal-blue eyes, and a slight British accent, said as he turned to Kiskei. “Since when were the Galatheas allowed to join the ranks?”

“He was a Centrina
before
he married the Arius,” Kiskei informed him with a slight smirk to his lips.

“Oh,
really
?” the guy replied as he looked at me with a bit more interest.

A full blown grin spread across Isha’s lips as she realized something. “Can’t you tell, Simon? He’s got Misaki’s eyes,” Isha pointed out as she looked me over appraisingly. Then she turned to Kiskei. “But he’s practically still a baby, Kiskei. When did we start recruiting kids?”

“I’ll be nineteen in February,” I said flatly as I folded my arms across my chest. I knew I looked young. As far as I knew, I had
always
looked young. But a guy really didn’t want to have it pointed out that he still looked like a child.

“Don’t let his looks fool you Isha, Patrick is already a skilled warrior,” Kiskei said with a hint of a smile.

“So
you’re
the one whose head they messed with?” Simon blurted out. “Bad deal,
sahavi
.”

I had no idea what
sahavi
meant, but he said the statement with a slight grimace that wasn’t too reassuring.

“Yeah…” I agreed, because I really couldn’t think of anything else to say to that.

“Well since Kiskei bloody skipped over me, I’m Simon Cowens,” Simon said as he hooked his thumbs through the belt loops of his dark jeans. The light glinted off the many zippers and buttons on his black leather motorcycle jacket.

“I didn’t
skip over
you,” Kiskei countered with mock indignance. “You two just can’t shut your damn mouths long enough for me to finish.”

“You were going too
slow
, Kaptaya,” Isha admonished Kiskei playfully.

“
Ha
, Kiskei slow? That’s rich,” Simon snorted.

“You two, mouths shut. Or this is going to take all damn day!” Kiskei shouted at them.

Simon and Isha both held their hands up in surrender, and clamped their mouths shut.

“
Good
. Moving along,” Kiskei said as he rolled his eyes, and looked back at us. “Well I’m sure you both already know Parker,” Kiskei said as he indicated his daughter. “So that just leaves these two here,” he said as he indicated the other two guys, “Damian and James Corkoran.”

The two guys were the youngest of the six members aside from Parker, looking no older than us or Travis. One was roughly 5'11" and about as broad chested as Shawn, with thick black hair cut similarly to Travis’, and lapis-blue eyes. And the other was slight, a few inches shorter than his brother, with honey-colored hair and cornflower-blue eyes.

“They’re on loan to us from the Kaigan Midorain Embassy, but if we play nice, we might get to keep them,” Kiskei continued.

“I’m James,” the slight blond guy said with a stunned, breathy voice as he looked directly at me. He stared at me with such a wide-eyed expression it kinda reminded me of the girls at the coffee shop fiasco from my first trip out of The Embassy after being shot.

The taller, dark-haired guy just raised his eyebrows at us, an amused smirk tugging at his lips. “Damian,” he called out as his head jerked up a fraction of an inch.

James opened his mouth to say something more, but was cut off by the banging of a door. There was a shuffling of feet in the hallway and a stocky Polynesian guy with a short ponytail of thick, black, curly hair walked into the practice room. He was wrapped in so much coat he looked like an Eskimo…or a blackened marshmallow.

“And this would be Kale Yusada,” Kiskei said as he gestured toward the guy that looked to be about his age that had just walked into the room. “Have a hard time finding the building, Kale?” Kiskei asked with an amused smile as if he was sharing a private joke.

“You said
nine
and it’s nine. So what do you want?” Kale replied gruffly.

Kiskei rolled his eyes, and continued to call over his shoulder. “We’re doing introductions.”

“I’m Kale,” the blackened marshmallow stated without looking at us as he walked into the locker room.

Isha caught my expression at Kale’s excess of winter clothing, and smiled conspiratorially. “He thinks it’s too cold here.”

“Which was probably why we never convinced him to come with us to Kaigan Kirian,” Simon added with a snort, which made Isha’s grin spread even wider. I had no idea what ‘Kaigan Kirian’ meant or where it was, but I was fairly certain it probably wasn’t warm there.

There was some banging around, and the hollow sound of a wooden locker slamming closed, and then Kale reemerged from the locker room. His jacket and scarf were gone, leaving only a navy t-shirt stretched tightly over his frame, and a black, tribal style tattoo creeping out from under one sleeve.

Shawn extended a hand toward Kale as he approached us. “Shawn Vallen.”

“Ah, Michelle’s boy,” Kale said, shaking Shawn’s hand. “
Gods,
you’re tall,” he stated bluntly as he looked up at Shawn. “What are you, like 6'2"?”

“I’m 6'4" actually,” Shawn corrected with a shy smile as he returned his hands to his jeans pockets.

“Well you didn’t get it from her,
that’s
for sure. Shelle was 5'6" at best.”

Kale looked to be about 5'6" “at best” himself.

“You know, if she heard you calling her small, she’d punch you, Kale,” Isha pointed out with a snort as she leaned against Simon.

It was just a little weird to hear them joking about someone who had been dead for over sixteen years. But at the same time there was something strangely comforting about it.

I stepped up next to Shawn, and held my hand out toward Kale. “I’m Patrick—”

His eyes shifted from Shawn to me as he extended his hand in my direction. But the second his eyes focused on mine he stopped abruptly. “
You
!”

Without warning, his hand shot out to strike me and I dodged, easily avoiding it. A heartbeat later I sprung away on reflex, completing a perfect back layout like a freakin’ gymnast—or a ninja.

As I looked down at my body for a stunned second, Kale advanced on me, his fist shooting out to strike me again. I caught his arm, and flipped him over my body so he landed with a loud thump on the mat-covered floor. But even though he landed on the flat of his back, he was up in a fraction of a second, ready to strike again, despite breathing heavy from having the air knocked out of him. From the look on his face, I wasn’t sure which of us was more surprised that he had landed on his back.

Kale tried to fake me out with a quick jab followed by another, but I dropped down and swept my leg under him. He landed on his back again, harder this time, but still sprung back to his feet again as if it was nothing. He took a step toward me and I crouched low, ready to strike back.

“STOP!” Kiskei shouted as he stepped between us.

“
Aww
, but it was just getting good, Kaptaya,” Simon groaned.

Kiskei ignored Simon, and turned furious eyes on Kale. “What on
earth
do you think you’re doing?”

“Taking out the trash,” Kale spat as he jerked his head toward me. “You let a ‘Demoss agent into the temple.”

“Patrick is
not
a Kakodemoss agent, I can assure you,” Kiskei said with a deadly calm.

Well, not anymore anyways
, a voice said derisively within my head.

“Bullshit! I was fighting him four years ago,” Kale snapped back. “I got him square in the back of the skull, and then that
other
one showed up.”

You
, the voice said with loathing.
I remember you. That hurt like a
—

Sudden clarity slammed into me like a tidal wave. The voice in my head—the one that had been whispering snide comments—was Aku.

And he
finally
gets it,
Aku stated condescendingly.
Gods, that took a really long time.

I jerked my eyes toward Kale, recognizing the savage glint in his eyes. Those eyes—the only feature that Aku had seen of Kale before the end. Before Aku had been damaged. Before he had been locked away. Before he had become me. And I couldn’t tell in that one moment who Aku hated more—me or Kale.

I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn’t seem to form the words. But the look on my face—in my eyes—must have been enough.

“So you
do
remember!” Kale growled as he lunged to take another swipe at me. “I lost some of my best friends to you bastards!”

“Kale, I believe you met
Aku.
This is
Patrick
,” Kiskei stated firmly as he put the flat of his palm against Kale’s chest.

“They’re the same person,” Kale said with a sneer, his lip curling up.

“That’s…debatable,” Isha said with a snort.

Kiskei let out a huff, and continued. He was still placing himself as a rather obvious barrier between Kale and me. “Kale, I’d like you to meet Patrick Centrina
Galathea
.”

“
What
?!” Kale sputtered, finally stunned enough to pull his eyes from me.

“The person you were just trying so
valiantly
to throttle to death is Josh and Misaki’s younger son, Patrick. Who also so happens to have just married Alex’s daughter Nualla,” Kiskei informed him calmly.

“You’re shitting me,” Kale said, his mouth hanging open in shock.

“Nope, you just walked into a whole mess of soap opera tripe,” Damian pointed out almost gleefully in what sounded like a heavy Irish accent.

“Yeah… So let’s try not to kill a member of the royal family the first day back, okay?” Kiskei said as he patted Kale on the shoulder.

Kiskei had tried to cover it with a grin, but I could hear the lie in his voice. Because I was fairly certain that he knew
exactly
which of us would win in a fight. And apparently Kale hadn’t missed the insinuation either.

“You don’t think I can take him,
do
you?” Kale asked as he folded his arms, the muscles so large that he could barely cross them.

“No, Kale, I don’t,” Kiskei stated, his stare unwavering. “Because all your strength doesn’t mean a
damn
if you can’t catch him in the first place. In fact, the only one who’s probably even
remotely
fast enough to take Patrick on is Parker.”

Kale huffed derisively. “That I would
love
to see.”

Which is how twenty minutes later, I ended up standing across from Parker wearing a set of practice gear, and holding a
bokken
.