The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series) Read online

  “And catching nothing,” he laughed in return. “It turns out I have terrible aim.” I had to wonder if that was for Amelia’s vegetarian-minded benefit.

  “Hey, Avalon? Can we go for a walk?” Eden asked sweetly.

  “Absolutely,” I answered, pushing my empty plate forward. I would never tell Eden no, but some quality time with her actually sounded really nice.

  We said goodbye to the table of our friends and left the dining room in search of some privacy. It took a lot of people to keep this castle running and different kinds of butlers and maids busied themselves all around us as we walked the spacious hallways quietly. Eden led me through the empty ball room that felt cavernous without anyone in it. Our footsteps echoed off the polished floor and I had no doubt even a whisper would reverberate against the vaulted ceiling. Eden pushed open the balcony sliding glass doors and stepped out on to the long terrace that wrapped around the stone castle and led down into the gardens.

  “I’ve missed you E,” I confessed before she could say anything. “I thought after we beat Lucan that you and I would get some quality time together. I mean, I’m happy for you and Kiran and all of that, but it’s been nice having you back.”

  “It’s been nice to be back,” She smiled at me. “And I missed you too. I wish I could say that we will get some quality time together now, but we both know you aren’t going to be able to sit still while there’s something threatening the Kingdom.” She shook her head at me, and I saw the strong flicker of anxiety in her black eyes.

  “Those days are over,” I grunted. “You know I can’t go off hunting bad guys and leave the throne open for whoever they are to just step in and take over.”

  “That’s why you have us,” she counter-argued. “We’re here now, so if you need to go Avalon, then go. You don’t have to feel tied so this place, because you’re not.”

  “I know that, I know I’m not stuck here. But if we’re going to be honest, in a weird way it’s started to feel like home.”

  Eden paused at my words, turning to look out over the gardens that were being bathed in morning sunlight. “I feel the same way. Which doesn’t make sense, I know, especially after everything we’ve been through here…. But there’s just something about this place that makes me comfortable, like everyone we lost isn’t so far away, like I can be close to them here.”

  We fell silent again for a few more moments as I quietly agreed with her. But then a thought occurred to me, “Maybe you want me to go? I mean, do you and Kiran want to stay here? Am I in the way?”

  “No!” She was quick to assure me. “Absolutely not! There’s more than enough room for all of us here. I just thought you might want to get in on the action is all.”

  “Oh, because I can leave if you want me to. I mean, Kiran seems more than happy to take over the responsibilities and duties here. So if you guys don’t need me….” I didn’t want to sound pathetic, but after being flooded with sudden insecurities I couldn’t help it.

  “Avalon, seriously,” Eden rolled her eyes at me, and I couldn’t help but love how she didn’t give into my whining. “Kiran’s only stepping in because it’s obvious how much you hate this part of the job. He thinks he’s doing it for your benefit. Believe me when I say, he doesn’t enjoy it any more than you do. But he grew up in it, so I think it comes naturally to him. Plus he’s really good at hiding his real emotions…. unlike us.” she laughed.

  “Ah,” I sighed, relieved. I hadn’t really been worried that he was going to push me out of my job; I didn’t want the crown anyway. Well, not really. But still, there was that warm flood of relief that argued with my reasoning.

  “Do you think it will be as bad as last time?” Eden asked in a quiet voice, referencing whatever was ahead of us.

  I wanted to lie to her. I wanted to promise her that it would all be fine and that not only would no one get hurt, but that we would stop the threat before it became anything substantial. But I couldn’t lie to Eden. I mean, literally I couldn’t. She would know if I tried to even soften the truth. Curse the twin bond.

  “I don’t know what to expect,” I answered honestly. “Ileana…. Ileana didn’t have any clear details to give me. But from how she talked about them we have legitimate reasons to be afraid, E. These bastards, whoever they are, are dangerous. They’re a real threat.”

  “I was afraid of that,” she admitted on a hoarse whisper.

  Identical, lasting fear pumped simultaneously through our blood. “It will be Ok, Eden,” I promised, knowing I had made this promise before. But last time, it did turn out Ok. Granted we went through hell before I could make that promise come true, but it did come true. And even if we went through hell again, I would make sure it came true again.

  “It’s not even me that I’m worried about, it’s you, Avalon. And Kiran, and Talbott and Lilly and every other single person I love that will put themselves right in the middle of all this fighting just to protect our people,” she grumbled like we would do it just to piss her off.

  “You know you can’t save everyone, Eden. We are all in this to protect the freedom of our people. Just because you and I wear a crown doesn’t mean that every other one of our friends doesn’t feel the same weight of responsibility. We built this thing together, we shed blood, sweat and tears…. together. And we’ve mourned together. Yes, we have to risk losing those we love, but at least we don’t have to go through this alone.”

  I watched her rub at her navy blue tattoo under her earlobe, it was a nervous habit of hers and it always reminded me that I didn’t have a tattoo that glowed. Not that I was short on tattoos…. But today it reminded me of the army we built together.

  “Just promise me you’ll be careful,” Eden demanded and her serious request made me smile.

  “You know I’m invincible, E,” I laughed.

  “No, I don’t know that,” she snapped, but the tears in her eyes betrayed what real emotions were surfacing. “And you’re not. I mean, you’re not completely invincible…. You and me, I mean…. there is a way. Amory died.”

  And the truth of her quiet words rang loudly in the still air.

  “Are you worried about Kiran?” I asked, wondering how she would be able to cope if he got pulled into this too. Which was probably inevitable. He wasn’t a stand on the sidelines kind of guy.

  “Yes,” she whimpered, her chin quivering from the effort not to cry. “I just don’t know…. I mean, I know with our combined magic and all, I know what his potential should be…. but nobody has gone through this before. Nobody has had to face this. You’ll watch out for him, right?”

  “Of course, are you kidding me? Nobody’s going to hurt him. I mean seriously, if it’s between the two of us, he gets to stay around. He’s better at the whole king thing anyway,” I laughed humorlessly, mainly because it was more truth than a joke.

  “Avalon, that’s not funny,” Eden pouted. “I couldn’t make it if something happened to either of you. I mean, I can’t lose any more family.”

  “I agree. And that includes you,” I pointed at her sternly. We weren’t usually all about the family affection, but facing this gigantic unknown whatever it was had clearly shaken us all up.

  We fell silent for a few minutes, just taking in the view and being in the same spot as each other. It seemed like it had been forever since we were even on the same side of the world. As corny as it was, Eden was my best friend, the other half of me and I had missed just being around her. And now we were suddenly facing this problem and I think we both knew that it would take us apart again.

  “Is it worth it, Eden?” I asked, surprising her as much as I surprised myself with the question.

  “Is what worth it Avalon?” Eden turned to face me, giving me all of her worried attention.

  “Caring about somebody during all of this? I mean, is it worth loving Kiran when you could just as easily lose him all over again? We’ve lost so much…. part of me really believes that I cannot watch someone else I care about die or I will lose
my f-ing mind. Is it worth it to fall in love with someone and then have to worry about them when it feels like we will never really have rest… we will never really have peace? And then what if Kiran dies? I couldn’t watch you suffer through that.”

  “Are you asking for me? Or for you?” she asked, her eyes narrowed in thought.

  “Just in general,” I mumbled, hoping she didn’t try to investigate too much further into why I was asking these questions.

  “Would you have rather not known Amory than to have loved him and lost him? Or our parents, even though you only knew them for a short time? Or what about me, Avalon? Will you regret knowing me if something happens to me?” Eden asked her questions gently, but they held a real power over me. She was right.

  “No….” I admitted reluctantly.

  “And when you fall in love with someone, it’s not just your feelings involved. But someone loves you too. They are just as worried and anxious about you. They care about your well-being and what happens to you. They are everything you want to be for them.” Eden promised and for the first time in my life that actually sounded good. “Do you want to tell me something?”

  I opened my mouth to explain and maybe even ask some advice but Kiran interrupted us from the ballroom doors.

  “Eden, Avalon, you need to come see this. This threat? It’s not so unidentified anymore.”

  Chapter Eleven

  “What is it, Kiran?” Eden gasped when we caught up to him in the hallway. “What’s wrong?”

  I felt Eden’s blood spark alive with concern, and it set my own into a frenzy of boiling electricity. Kiran walked quickly through the halls, his jaw clenched in anger. I struggled with demanding he just tell me what was going on, reminding myself I could be patient. Kiran looked over his shoulder at me, shaking his head in just the slightest way that let me know he couldn’t explain whatever it was in the hallway.

  Déjà vu hit me strongly from every direction and for a moment I felt completely disoriented. For a moment I was back almost four years ago, and imprisoned inside this very castle. Kiran and I were going through with our plan to sabotage his wedding to Seraphina. I was scheduled to die in a matter of hours and Kiran was determined to sacrifice himself for me. And then suddenly the castle was abuzz with the knowledge that Eden was on her way. Eden showing up last minute at the castle changed so much. But it was the look in Kiran’s eyes that reminded me of that moment. The look that said everything we had hoped and planned for had been hijacked and we would be the ones suffering the consequences.

  I swallowed against the impatience and walked through the throne room door that Kiran held open for me. Even though the room was not empty, it was completely silent, eerily so. Talbott and a handful of other Titans stood hovering over two individuals slumped into the chairs I usually reserved for my council. The blood had drained from Talbott’s face and he was a mixture of rigid attentiveness and careful concern.

  Eden gasped, her hand flew to her mouth to stop the torrent of questions I felt bubbling to the surface in her. I didn’t blame her. It wasn’t just the way Kiran and Talbott were handling the situation without an explanation but it was the individuals themselves. Because of how they were sitting and how awful they looked, I couldn’t be sure if they were men or women, or even how old they were. Their heads had been roughly shaved, revealing nicks and small gouges in their badly beaten scalps. They were gaunt and starved, their faces aged in a way that made you positive they were younger than what they looked. They huddled together as if afraid of even the light in the room. They wore ragged clothing that was ripped, torn and covered in blood. Their faces and exposed skin were marred with marks, bruises, cuts and scabs.

  These people hadn’t just been beaten. These people had been tortured.

  But they were Immortal.

  And because they were Immortal, if they had been tortured repeatedly, over and over for days, even weeks, their bodies should have healed. I knew this fact intimately because even though I was without magic while imprisoned and my body didn’t heal quickly, I witnessed plenty of other Immortals survive Lucan’s wrath and recover from it in a matter of hours.

  These Immortals were an enigma. They still held their magic, but it lay dormant in their blood. As soon as I was anywhere close enough to feel their electrical current, it felt off…. something felt really wrong. Something was terribly disturbing about them and it had so much more to do with what was running inside of them than their physical appearance, although that was unsettling enough.

  “Eden,” Kiran began but had to clear his throat before he continued, “Avalon, this is Henri Moreau and Sophie Clement.” Kiran introduced them in his flawless French accent and then paused as they lifted their heads to acknowledge his introduction.

  Eden gasped when the full damage done to their faces was revealed and I pushed down the bile that rose quickly in my throat. Looking past the swelling and disfigurement caused by torture I could see the softer lines and tilted eyes of Sophie accentuating her feminine features and distinguishing her from Henri’s more angular, masculine face. But in front of us were mere ghosts of Immortality.

  Kiran continued, “They claim to have escaped a research facility of sorts where they were held after being kidnapped from their homes in Paris.”

  “What kind of research facility would treat you like this?” Eden asked through thick emotion and watery eyes.

  “The kind that tortures and murders Immortals for the sake of an unexplained research project,” Kiran spat, completely disgusted. My mind struggled to catch up, to fit pieces of this puzzle together that I was certain I was missing.

  “They say it was run by a man who calls himself Terletov,” Talbott explained carefully. I watched his jaw tick as he waited for our reaction. “Dmitri Terletov.”

  “That’s not possible,” Eden gasped. “I still have his magic…. I watched the Titan Guard take him away. I still have his magic,” she repeated desperately.

  Kiran pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly to him while we all thought this over.

  “It was…. Terletov….” Henri lifted his head to confirm our fears. His voice was a whispered rasp as if it hurt to just breathe in the oxygen it would take to speak. “I met him once…. as a child. I remembered…. him.”

  I sucked in a short breath, trying not to be disgusted by the sound of the hoarse wheezing sounds that came with his effort to talk. I was not a compassionate person. I never had been even through everything we went through before. But these people demanded compassion and heartache. They were so broken, so…. haunted. Even as the effort to understand fell in large chunks of misinformation and was mostly still holes, I felt instinctively how this evil was worse than before…. how unprepared we were to face anything like this.

  “And was he…. did he have magic?” I asked gently.

  “Yes,” Henri rasped out.

  “How is that possible?” I asked more to myself than anyone else.

  The doors opened and several servants walked into the room. They gasped in unison at the sight of Henri and Sophie, all pausing, not sure what to do next.

  “Henri, Sophie,” Kiran began, giving the servants a look that said they better do exactly as he asked. I held my tongue, now was not the time to point out his habitual royal snobbishness. “We are going to take you to your rooms, where you will be well cared for. We will talk more later, when you feel up to it.”

  The two refugees nodded their agreement and struggled to stand, leaning heavily against each other. Titans were there immediately, slipping surprisingly gentle arms around them to aid in their exit. The flurry of servants followed them out and then the room was silent again.

  “Talbott, I want you to post two Titans outside each of their bedrooms. For their safety and ours,” Kiran ordered.

  Talbott gave quick instructions to the remaining Titans and then they too left to fulfill their orders with purpose glinting powerfully in their eyes.

  The door opened again and another man walked
through, a man I had only seen reflected in Eden’s memories. His magic was powerful and swirled around him like a vortex of power, if you got sucked into it you would fall into the unknown and never resurface. His flawless midnight skin reflected depthless eyes and the silky ivory turban wrapped around his head added to his mystery.

  “Thank you for coming,” Kiran greeted him and it became obvious he had summoned the mysterious man. “There are two Immortals that need serious care. I am not positive of the extent of their injuries, but they are very severe.”

  “Take me to them,” the man commanded and I suddenly realized who this man was. He was who they called “the Witch.” Lucan’s use of him was merely rumors and gossip until he oversaw the contract that Eden signed when she gave herself over to Kiran.

  I realized then that he lived somewhere in the castle and that over the last two and a half years I had not seen him once. Although I didn’t really understand his set of skills, so I didn’t know why I would have needed to use him, or what I would have used him for.

  “I’ll take you,” Eden offered. “Maybe we can work together. I’m positive this will be like no healing you’ve ever experienced before.”

  “Eden, I don’t want you anywhere near that magic,” Kiran growled in response to her compassion. “We don’t know what’s wrong with them, where they’ve actually come from or if they really are refugees or spies sent by Terletov himself.”

  “First of all, Terletov is dead,” Eden snapped back and I was surprised by her defensiveness. She was always so patient and loving with Kiran these days. Her flaring temper reminded me of the little firecracker she used to be, back when Kiran had to prove he loved her and that she loved him back. But I knew, because I could feel it, how responsible she felt for these Immortal’s suffering. She felt responsible for Terletov’s fate, whether he was dead or alive and if he was alive she felt like she was the one that released this evil against us. “Second of all, I have the power to heal other people. You can’t feel their magic. You can’t feel how…. unbearably miserable they are. They need my help.”