“No you’re not,” Kiran countered, pulling me into a hug. His hands, strong on my back, pressed me into his chest willing to hold me there for the rest of eternity. I shivered, thankful for his embrace that seemed to be the only thing keeping me from emotionally and physically combusting.

“I thought we were equal,” I mumbled, embarrassed to admit my weakness. “I thought I could stand against him.” I felt Kiran shake his head and hold me even tighter.

“You can stand against him,” he whispered into my ear, his words ringing with solid conviction.

I pulled back, to look up into his eyes. They were steely blue, fierce with determination and resolve. “Thank you,” I whispered, my voice catching in my throat.

He smiled down at me, our skin tingling from where we touched. He leaned down and kissed me on the cheek and as if that weren’t enough, he moved his lips over my skin to the corner of my mouth where he pressed them against my lips fighting the urge to kiss me passionately. I felt the fight in his touch, the struggle to follow through with his promise to let me come to him. And at any other time I would have been disappointed, but now was not the time to reciprocate his emotions, now was the time to figure out a way to defeat his evil father and rule the kingdom that belonged to me.

“Let’s get you inside,” Kiran opened the door behind me and ushered me inside. “But, don’t even try to get rid of me. I will not be leaving here today or maybe any day in the future.” His grin turned roguish and I smiled back, I didn’t have the slightest desire to make him leave.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

I watched from a castle terrace as more prisoners were unloaded. Titans moved them gruffly from place to place until they stood in a single file line. They were marched toward the dungeon entrance, without grace or patience.

My stomach churned as I realized I didn’t recognize any of them. Not one of them belonged in the Resistance. These were every day citizens that had been charged with some outrageous accusation worthy of an unfair prison sentence.

Lucan was turning into a mad man before my eyes. I clutched at my stomach as a dangerous foreboding feeling threatened to make me sick. He had always been evil, I knew that. But before my eyes he seemed to be becoming even more dangerous…. deranged. The sinister expression on his face was barely ever softened and his eyes seemed permanently marked with paranoia.

He challenged this kingdom to fight back with their actions, but even more it seemed he tested the Titans and their loyalty. The blood oath seemed to call to his doubts and bring out his inner demons. He couldn’t be any more confident of the original contracts meaning, than we could, but the ominous threat still hung over all our heads, and he had decided to make every one of us pay.

My heart broke for the innocents suffering for my cause. They deserved a better kingdom, a better life, but they did not deserve to be the victims of a war they weren’t even apart of until now.

“It’s time to go talk to Avalon, we have to do something about this,” Kiran whispered gently. I jumped, startled by his presence. I had been too caught up in my internal misery to notice him approach me.

“When?” I asked, not willing to take my eyes off the last of the new prisoners waiting their turn to enter the dungeon.

“Tonight,” he whispered. “The All Saint’s Festival is in three days. I have never seen my father like this before, and I’m afraid for the kingdom. With everyone gathered…. Something just isn’t sitting right with me.”

I turned toward him, laying a hand on his arm. “I have that same feeling,” I admitted, not able to meet his eyes.

“We’ll figure this out, Eden,” Kiran assured me, lifting my chin so that he could meet my eyes with confidence. “We have to.”

“Kiran,” I began, knowing how this would end. “I was thinking more about the prisons…. I know you think the magic is evil and all, and well, I’m not even sure if it would work like India…. But, maybe that would be enough magic to-“

“No, please don’t suggest it,” Kiran cut me off, pulling me into his arms afraid of losing me. “It’s not safe. Like you said, you have no idea what would happen…. There is another way, we just haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Ok,” I relented, falling into the fear of the unknown. It was only a thought, a fleeting thought that I had toyed with for weeks, but only that. The truth was, I didn’t even know if it was possible to get to the magic, and if I did get down into the caves, there was absolutely no way to tell what could happen. If by some miracle I was able to possess the magic without getting killed, or at the very least mangled beyond all recognition, I agreed with Kiran that the magic was evil. No good magic would cause Immortals’ to suffer the way those prisons did.

“We’ll know more after we talk to Avalon,” Kiran finished. I stayed in his arms, letting him protect me from the vile malevolence that surrounded me in every direction. The castle had come to feel like home, but the criminal residing within, the energy radiating from Lucan was a suffocating and foul evil.

----

“Pssst, Eden,” Avalon stepped from behind a tree as if our connection didn’t tell me his exact location.

I ran into his arms, throwing myself against him. The midnight sky, lit up by only a fingernail moon shed eerie shadows on tonight’s meeting. Other than the waning moon, the sky felt empty. The stars hid behind heavy autumn clouds. The fall trees had shed half their leaves, and the ground crunched beneath our feet with the sound of dead vegetation.

I shivered in Avalon’s arms against the darkness of the night and held him closer.

“Hey, are you Ok?” Avalon whispered, not letting go of me.

“Yes, I’m fine, I just…. I don’t know, I have a bad feeling,” I admitted, hoping he would brush off my vague premonition with his usual sarcasm.

“I know, me too,” he agreed, pulling away to look in my eyes. “That’s why we’re here. We have to find a way to stop the insanity!” He smiled at me, and even though he did nothing to dispel my fears, he did make me laugh, which at the moment was good enough.

“Avalon, did you get a new tattoo?” I gasped. I took another step away from him to pull up his short sleeve shirt. Avalon had been covered in tattoos long before I met him. A tree that represented immortality took over most of his body, snaking from his torso, front and back, down his arm and waist. Angel wings spread out across his thick neck and shoulder blades, with a snake in the center wrapped around eating its own tail; this had been Avalon’s play on his Titan traits and more immortality. The same snake wrapped around his wrist, and on the opposite arm from his tree, a phoenix rose from the flames up his bicep and spread its wings across his chest and back. But now, where the flames ended on his arm, a crown formed around the lower part of his bicep. The crowns peaks were made from the tops of the flames and the bottom intricately designed with lilies and jewels.

“Maybe,” he smiled, flexing his arm so I could take in the new tattoo in all its glory. “I’ve been jealous of your tattoo for so long that I finally had to do something about it!”

“You’re jealous of my tattoo?” I scoffed, unable to believe the tiny tattoo marking my neck was worthy of jealousy. If anything it had made my life infinitely more difficult.

“Uh, yeah! Are you kidding? We all want tattoos that glow! If I would have known it was possible, I would never have let Angelica do mine correctly,” he grinned, trying to play it off as a joke, but I could feel how sincere he was, so I just laughed.

“Yeah, Ok,” I punched him in the new tattoo, admiring his guts to actually print the crown on his body. It was one thing to think you were the rightful heir; it was another thing to bestow the label to yourself permanently.

I looked back for Kiran and realized he was off a little ways talking to Jericho. My chest clenched tightly at the sight of the two of them talking. They seemed to be getting along and laughing but I couldn’t even wrap my head around what the two of them could possibly have to say to each other.

“Is Jericho, Ok?” I asked Avalon, while I watched the two boys laugh together.

“I think so,” Avalon responded somberly, following my gaze. “I mean, I don’t think this is what he wanted to happen, but he’s coping.”

“Well, if he didn’t want it to happen, then why did he break up with me?” More curious than disappointed, I couldn’t stop my question.

“Because he wants what you and Kiran have, and he couldn’t have that with you,” Avalon explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Most people want that kind of love.”

I blushed at his comments, so I turned the attention to him, “Except you.”

“Ha!” Avalon grunted. “Damn right, except me. Bachelor for life, right here.” He pointed to himself and a smug grin spread across his face.

“That will never happen,” I argued. “Some poor girl is going to catch your eye one day and you won’t even know what to do with yourself. I actually, already feel sorry for her….” I bumped my shoulder against his bicep.

“Yes, but luckily I have you to warn her. Learn from my mistakes, Ede, don’t try to warn me, make sure you warn the other person!” He laughed at his own joke.

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“It means, I should have become Kiran’s friend a long time ago,” Avalon continued to laugh while the other boys walked over to meet us.

Talbott stood guard not far from where we convened and I had a feeling there were more of Avalon’s guys hiding in the trees. Jericho eyed me from across the circle in a friendly way that made me hope everything would be Ok between us. Although, Kiran did stand closer to me than I thought was necessary, but I decided now was not the best time to call him on his over-protectiveness.

“Avalon, things have gotten bad,” Kiran began. “I know you are up to speed because of Eden, but is everyone else in the house aware of how dangerous our situation has become?”

“Yes, they are,” Avalon confirmed. “I keep everyone up to date. The real question is what are we going to do about this? Your father can’t keep hunting down citizens and locking them all up, can he?”

“I don’t know,” Kiran replied gravely. “It certainly seems like that’s what he intends to do…. I’ve never seen him like this before…. I think something snapped and he has lost all semblance of sanity. There is not a single rational thought in his head anymore.”

I knew Kiran loathed his father and believed the only future for this kingdom is one in which Lucan did not exist, but the tone of sadness was unmistakable in his words and my heart broke for the sorrow Kiran had to live with.

“So, then it’s time to attack,” Jericho spoke up with conviction. “We can’t let this go on any longer.”

“I agree,” Kiran stated. “We have to stop him.”

“Yes, we do. Our numbers are strong enough, the Titans are wavering, I think it’s the perfect opportunity,” Avalon concurred. “But it will take a few days to gather everyone.”