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ONE YEAR LATER
Kaylan pulled her coat tighter against the chill night air. Her cat, Iris, hissed as another gust of wind rolled over them. “Sorry, your highness,” she murmured, “but it’s not my fault the transpo broke down. At least you’re nice and cosy in a basket and not dragging a cat and a suitcase with you.”
She stopped on the bridge and looked up at the glowing city lights. It was strange being back here; she couldn’t help but feel the sense of coming home. Kaylan couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt that way. Towers of steel and stone loomed overhead with the lights burning like bright stars. I am home. Strange, but I thought the view would have changed somehow. Just like my life changed the last time I was here.
Iris meowed as a shadow lunged out of the darkness. The carrier flew from her arm and Iris screeched. Kaylan hit the ground, hard and saw a flash of gold eyes. What the hell is that? Her attacker grabbed her by the throat. In the semi-darkness, the silhouette of a man dressed in a black uniform studded with silver buttons loomed over her, as his golden eyes bored into hers. She caught the flash of fangs as talons dug into her throat.
Kaylan grappled with her assailant and yanked out one of her knives, drawing magic. At the edge of her mind, she felt another presence, and something hurtled towards the creature, dragging him away from her. She scrambled up, her knife flaring with power.
A huge black wolf now had its jaws locked around the man’s throat. Both beast and wolf slashed and clawed at each other.
She watched for a moment, dumbfounded, but quickly came to her senses. Words of power came to her lips, and she threw the knife at the creature. It embedded itself in the man’s shoulder. Her blade flashed with fire and rays of gold burst from the man’s body as he crumpled to the ground. Damn, she hadn’t meant to kill him, and felt a pang of guilt. Hell, it would’ve been nice to find out what the creature was.
The wolf turned to face her, its golden eyes glittering, and Kaylan gripped her other knife tighter. Its eyes reminded her of her attacker. It was a huge animal, all black fur and rippling muscle. She waited, preparing for another attack, but it only stared at her. It looked too big to be a normal wolf, and its eyes held power.
“What are you waiting for?” she demanded, and her breath caught. Her heart pounded in her ears as she prepared herself for the inevitable assault.
The wolf whined, and a loud thrashing sound came as Iris burst free from her carrier. The cat hissed, silver-blue fur standing on end as the wolf growled back.
She wouldn’t let any harm come to her cat. Fire formed in Kaylan’s palm, and she hurled it at the beast. It yelped as gold light flashed over its body, and shifted into the form of a man. His skin gleamed over rippling muscle as his golden eyes met hers. He stared at her for a moment before muttering something. The dead man’s body turned to ash before she had the chance to protest.
Kaylan gasped and her heart stopped. “Elijah?”
“Stop searching for me,” he told her. “Let me go.”
“But – what was that thing?” Those were the first words that came out of her mouth. She had so many questions, but felt too stunned to form coherent thoughts.
“Stay away from them and me.” Elijah stared at her for a moment before light shimmered over him once more and he shifted back into the wolf, turned and fled.
Kaylan’s heels pounded on the concrete as she ran along the road. By the time she had reached the end of the bridge, he’d vanished.
Iris gave one final hiss, then turned to look up at Kaylan with her silver eyes. Kaylan sheathed her blade, then scooped the feline up into her arms. “Well, that wasn’t the homecoming I expected.”
After retrieving her case and fallen carrier, Kaylan continued down the cobblestone streets until she came to a large terrace house that had once been the home she’d shared with Elijah. Light poured from the windows as she reached the door, it opened at her touch. She walked inside, left her things in the hallway, and carried Iris upstairs. She wanted to search for Elijah again, but knew it was pointless.
Part of her wondered if what she’d seen had been real, but she felt too stunned to think about it just then. Instead, she decided to focus on seeing her best friend again. “Sierra?” Kaylan called as she moved down the corridor and set the cat on the landing.
A door opened. “Kaylan?”
Sierra with her purple streaked blonde hair, green eyes and metallic chains looked just as Kaylan remembered, despite their not having seen each other for several months.
Kaylan smiled. “By the spirits, what happened?” Sierra asked as she hugged her.
She hesitated. Telling her what she’d seen would do little good since she wasn’t sure what had happened herself. “Oh, something attacked me on my way into the city — but I got rid of it.”
Sierra’s face grew concerned. “It’s just as bad as I thought,” she replied. “Come in. Was it a beast?”
Kaylan walked into her study, books lined the walls, along with crystals and other devices. The smell of fire and spices felt comforting. “That’s a good analogy.” She told her what had happened, missing out the part about Elijah and slumped into a chair.
“Have you heard from Freya?” Sierra asked, changing the subject.
Kaylan scowled at the mention of her younger sister. “No. No doubt she’s probably off chasing her latest conquest.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Something strange happened on my way here,” she admitted. “I know you called me here because you think there are problems...”
“There are problems, Kay. Serious ones.”
“What did you need to see me so urgently about?” She felt desperate to rush up to her room and start searching for some reasonable explanation as to what had happened to Elijah. Yes, she wanted to learn more about that strange creature too, but after months of searching, she’d finally found him.
“It’s Freya.”
She sighed. “What’s she done now?” The last thing Kaylan wanted to think about was her wayward sister and the havoc she normally caused.
“She’s missing.”
Kaylan’s heart skipped a beat when she saw the worry in Sierra’s eyes. “She’s just run off with her latest boy toy. Like she always does.”
Freya went through men like most people their changed clothes, and had always been careless with her magic. Kaylan had feared Freya would expose them all, and had been relieved when their uncle had stopped giving her assignments.
“She was seeing someone at the High Lord’s house. We’re not sure who – but we think it was Flynn Zegan,” Sierra explained. “She never came back, and no one has been able to contact her since.”
“Is this Cedric’s way of trying to get me to come back?” Her eyes narrowed.
“Kaylan, Freya mentioned seeing something up at the mansion,” her friend replied. “You need to stop searching for a dead man and help us find your sister.”
“Elijah isn’t dead. He–” She shook her head. “What did Freya see?”
“I don’t know much. She thought they were using dark magic up there.” Sierra reached out and took her hand. “Please, Kaylan. I know how much losing Elijah hurt you, but we need you now.”
Kaylan nodded. “Okay.”
“There have been five deaths in the past eight months and the Order says they were heart attacks, but I don’t believe it. From what Geth and I have found, the bodies were broken and mutilated. As if something tore them from the inside out,” Sierra went on. “Freya offered to look around when she heard. Kaylan, we need to find whoever is behind these attacks before they strike again. I have all my notes here for you. I know Freya’s disappearance is connected to somehow them.”
Typical Freya, always willing to help but always getting herself stuck in the middle of trouble.
Kaylan took the file from her. “I’ll take a look. I’ll be in my room.” She turned to go.
“Kaylan? I’m here if you want to talk,” Sierra added.
Her brow creased. Her first instinct was to feign ignorance. But they both knew better than that.
The thought of Elijah brought back a familiar ache in her chest. It had been months before she could even think of him without wanting to cry. Instead, she’d spent that time trying to find out what had happened.
“I’m fine,” Kaylan insisted. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
Her room was large with rustic red wallpaper and a worn oak floor with a four-poster bed, a lounge area and bathroom. She pulled the files out of her bag and laid them on the table. They contained everything she’d been able to gather so far on Norbert, the drug and anything related to what had happened to Elijah. But a scan of the intel told her nothing new.
She opened the patio doors, stepped out onto the balcony. The sounds and smells of the city greeted her as she closed her eyes. The drone and snarl of traffic, the smell of smoke and steam were all welcoming. It brought back memories of days long past.
Kaylan sighed, gripped the railing as memories of fire and death came flooding back. She bit her lip, tried to banish the memory of Elijah’s hand reaching for her and instead focus on the good memories. She and Elijah had spent hours sitting on the balcony while they worked or just enjoyed spending time together.
Now, Freya had disappeared, too. Kaylan knew it was time. She could no longer avoid the inevitable. Rummaging around in her suitcase, she pulled out a small crystal orb. She hadn’t used it in months, and kept hold of it just in case. It pulsed with light as she closed her eyes, and let herself be swept away.
She reappeared in the study. Books lined the walls, crystals and other precious stones glistened from other shelves as flames sent shadows dancing across the gleaming oak floor.
Cedric stood in front of the fireplace. Age lined his dark hair with scatters of white and wrinkled his sharp green eyes which looked like coal in the semi-darkness. “You’ve come home,” he remarked, without looking at her.
“No doubt Freya’s disappearance proved to be the perfect way to lure me back.” Kaylan folded her arms. “I told you I’m not part of the Amaranthine anymore.”
“Still blaming me after all this time?” He met her gaze then. “What happened to Elijah was tragic, but you gave up your entire life. You–”
“After my parents died, Elijah helped me carry on with my life. I can’t give up when I know he’s still out there. Not now.”
“You need to let go of this suicide quest. Your sister is missing.”
Kaylan’s fists clenched. As much as she wanted to see Elijah, to learn the truth, if something had happened to Freya, she’d never forgive herself for doing nothing. “What do you know?”
“Not much. Just that it is somehow connected to the High Lord,” he replied. “No one has been able to find out anything. That’s why I had Sierra call you. Our people within the Order can’t get close enough to gain any credible information.”
“How do you expect me to get close enough, then?”
The Amaranthine had spies within the Order’s ranks. Elijah had worked with them in the Guard and she’d been a healer, but that had all changed the night she lost him. She’d walked away from her old life to find out what had happened. What good could she do now? She had been away almost a year. Kaylan didn’t have the contacts or trust of anyone important anymore.
“Sierra got your job back at the hospice.”
Kaylan tried not to groan. “What good does that do?”
“Flynn — the High Lord’s grandson — is a frequent visitor there. You can talk to him. He might be the one Freya was seeing,” Cedric said. “Return to work tomorrow. Get close to him and discover what he knows.”
“Fine, but I’m only doing this for Freya. I’m not interested in coming back,” Kaylan told him. “And I’m not giving up on Elijah, either.”
