Eden's Deliverance (The Eden Series Book 4) Read online

  “You don’t have to like it,” Ludan said. “One way or another, I’ll have his memories, even if I have to go through you to do it.”

  Their open link pulsed with tension, a palpable energy that crackled and snapped.

  Ludan glared at the back of Eryx’s head, willing him to understand. “I told you why I need this. Put yourself in my place. What would you do?”

  Eryx twisted and met Ludan’s stare. His jaw looked tight enough to snap, and the whites of his eyes glowed with thinly leashed fury. “Swear to me you’ll make it fast. In and out. Only what we need.”

  Ludan dipped his head, never breaking Eryx’s gaze.

  It took three more agonizing seconds before Eryx spoke. “Theodore, your role here has changed.”

  The ellan took an eager step forward. “However I can be of assistance, my malran.”

  Eryx stalked behind Angus. “You’ll serve as witness. Given the severity of the crimes committed, I’m exercising royal command and accessing his memories otherwise.” He pinned Angus’s shoulders and leaned in close to one ear. “You should brace.”

  Ludan prowled forward, the protector in him salivating at the chance to bring Serena to an end, even as his beleaguered mind demanded he abort. He shook the latter off and gritted his teeth. Any crumb of information was worth it for Eryx. For his race.

  For Brenna.

  “No.” Angus joggled his head and tried to push away, but the rope at his ankles only made the chair legs bob against the stone floor. “Please. Not him.”

  “It won’t hurt.” Ludan clamped his palm over Angus’s head, his thumb anchored at one temple and his pinky at the other. “Much.”

  Before he could overanalyze the action, he yanked the barrier on his gift and seized Angus’s mind.

  Fire blazed through the connection and seared all the way down his spine, the pain so agonizing he nearly dropped the link. The memories were all there, imprinting themselves in his head in crystal detail. Serena asking for the translations. Angus’s conversations with the solicitor. The strategos, Uther. Maxis and his cronies. The Rebellion camp and the warriors they’d recruited. It whizzed by in what was likely only a handful of seconds, but tick-tocked at the span of eons.

  More images swarmed, time so regressed it went beyond Ludan’s birth. To Angus’s childhood and the source of the pain. Lashes stung his back.

  No, not his back. Angus’s, the welts so deep blood blossomed and seeped down his young skin. Tortured screams filled his head. Screams and the merciless shouts of Angus’s father as he struck again.

  He couldn’t let go. He was stuck there, feeling what Angus felt, living the torture that had lasted for years.

  “Get out.”

  He knew that voice. Needed to listen to it, but it was so far away.

  “Ludan, let go and get the fuck out.”

  Angus’s bellows deepened, mingling with Ludan’s mother’s cries. The way she’d begged and pleaded for mercy. He’d failed her. Failed both his parents, putting his friends and personal pleasure first instead of being where he should’ve been.

  Brenna’s voice breezed through the hell that gripped him, her voice quiet and gentle as a cool breeze in the midst of a heat wave. You were gentle with me.

  His fingers unclenched, and he stumbled back. The world righted itself and drifted into hazy focus. He blinked over and over, but all he saw were generic outlines surrounded by the light piped in from above ground.

  “Now you know.” Angus’s voice trembled, so much fear and shame in the sound Ludan tasted its bitterness on his tongue.

  “What’s he talking about?” Eryx’s fuzzy image shifted.

  Ludan staggered to the side, trying to keep upright. A steady throb pounded at the back of his head. With every heartbeat it grew, each pulse stronger and more grueling than the last.

  “He told the truth.” The words came out even more jumbled than his vision, his tongue refusing to work right. He turned and stomped on shaky legs out the door. The rough stone walls scraped his palms as he staggered down the hallway. Surely he could make it outside. He knew this place by heart. All he needed was a portal and Brenna. She’d help him. The same way she’d pulled him from Angus’s memories.

  Heavy footsteps sounded behind him. “Ludan!”

  Eryx’s roar ricocheted down the corridor and nearly knocked Ludan to his knees. He didn’t dare stop. If he did, he wouldn’t get up again. His muscles groaned with every step, and his back shrieked as if he’d taken all of Angus’s pain in one strike.

  Sunshine blazed up ahead. The exit. Almost there.

  He turned and a big hand gripped his upper arm, yanking him to a stop. “What in histus is wrong with you?”

  “Brenna.” The world spun and darkness pushed the edges of what little light was left in his sight. “Need…” He pulled in a strangled breath. His head sagged with too much weight and one leg gave way. He listed to one side.

  Two arms caught him a second before the world went black.

  Chapter 21

  10:18 a.m.

  The clock glowed a soft neon blue at the top of the microwave like the gold stars Brenna’s parents used to make such a big deal out of in kindergarten. It should be a gold star. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten out of bed later than sunrise, but today she’d indulged, intimate daydreams of her and Ludan playing through her head.

  She fingered the scoop neckline of her pink nightshirt. It hadn’t looked like much when Lexi had recommended it the day before. Just a clingy tank design with two pearl buttons in the center and a length that hit her mid-thigh, but it felt amazing. The second she’d touched it, she’d snatched the shirt from Lexi’s hand and riffled through the racks until she’d found two more in other colors.

  “I told you it would look good.” Lexi shuffled into the kitchen, one side of her blue-black hair more mussed than the other. Somehow she still looked sexy. “You wear those babies around here and I’ll give it twenty-four hours before Ludan caves.”

  Heavier footsteps sounded in the living room.

  Brenna peeked behind Lexi in time to spy Jagger settling in one of the oversized chairs in the living room. “Maybe now’s not the best time to wear it though.”

  “Oh no. It’s the perfect time. If Ludan learns you paraded around like that in front of Jagger, I’ll cut my prediction to twelve hours.” Lexi slid onto a barstool and reached for a large white box Brenna hadn’t noticed. It had green and red lettering and lots of green polka dots on it.

  “What’s that?”

  Lexi reverently opened the lid. “I really need to talk Eryx into giving Wes and Troy a promotion.” She spun the box so Brenna could see inside. “Behold the mother of all breakfast delights.”

  Evenly placed along the bottom of the box were three rows of little round pastries with different colored tops. A memory from her childhood flared from out of nowhere. Her mom and dad stopping at a bakery before church. “Doughnuts.”

  “Damn right.” Lexi snatched one of the chocolate ones. Her hand had barely cleared the lid before she bit into the fluffy dough. Her eyes slid shut and she moaned. “I love Orla, and I don’t think I’ll ever get enough lastas, but holy schamoly, Krispy Kremes kick ass.”

  Brenna padded closer to the counter, silently playing eeny-meeny-miny-moe in her head. Her gaze locked on the one with red, white, and blue sprinkles, and her mouth watered. Then again, the chocolate ones like Lexi’s looked pretty good too.

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Lexi said. “Just pick one. If we run out, we’ll send the boys out for more.”

  Right. Gluttony and sloth, the two primary goals Lexi had set for the day. She couldn’t wait until Ludan got home so she could share her big accomplishments.

  “So.” Lexi licked her fingers and hopped off her seat, headed toward the coffeepot. “What time is your mom supposed to get off work?”

  Brenna bit into her doughnut and moaned the same way Lexi had. There had to be a pound of sugar in one bite. Her taste buds
weren’t complaining one little bit, but she’d bet her bloodstream rioted in another five minutes. “Five o’clock,” she managed around a mouthful. “She’s got an outing with the missing children’s group tonight, though. She tried to back out of it, but I told her she should go. I think she’s afraid I’ll disappear again.”

  “You don’t think she’ll say anything to anyone, do you? About you showing up out of nowhere?”

  “I don’t think so.” Brenna snagged one of the napkins stacked near the box. “The day we found her, I told her I didn’t want to talk about it. Not with her or anyone else. I just want to be home and start over without questions.”

  In a single blink, Lexi’s expression shifted. One second attentive and thoughtful, and the next hyper alert and focused inward.

  “Lexi? You okay?”

  Jagger shot to his feet and stormed toward the front door, tossing the remote to the coffee table as he went. It clattered across the glass surface and tumbled to the floor.

  Lexi’s gaze cut to hers, eyes wide and uncertain. “Brenna, there’s a problem.”

  Yanking the front door wide, Jagger disappeared down the hallway.

  “What? What problem?” Brenna started after Jagger, but Lexi gripped her arm and held her back.

  “It’s Ludan. Something happened when he scanned Angus’s memories. Eryx is on his way here with him now. Galena and Reese are on their way, too.”

  The sugary residue in Brenna’s mouth turned to acid, and the few airy bites she’d swallowed plummeted like lead weights in her stomach. “Galena’s a healer.”

  Lexi nodded, the intensity in her blue-gray gaze the only thing that kept Brenna on her feet. “He’s unconscious. Eryx doesn’t know what caused it, only that he wanted you, so he’s bringing him here. Jagger’s the only person outside family who knows. He’s running interference with Wes and Troy so we can keep this private.”

  He couldn’t be hurt. He’d said he’d be back. She had things to tell him. Things to show him. “Where are they?”

  The words had no sooner left her lips than a gust swept through the opening, slamming the door hard in its wake. Eryx shimmered into view, Ludan a complete deadweight across his shoulders in a fireman’s carry. Sweat painted a path down Ludan’s spine, and his wavy black hair hung loose so it hid his face.

  Her warrior. Her gentle giant, wounded. She hurried toward the bedrooms, pure instinct and possession shoving every other thought from her head. “Bring him in here. How far out is Galena?”

  Eryx followed, his breaths heavy as he spoke. “Five minutes. Maybe less.”

  She sped to her room and tossed the unmade covers aside. She’d barely cleared the way when Eryx levitated Ludan off his shoulders and eased him to the mattress. Kneeling beside him, she peeled the damp T-shirt up and over his head. His breath came in short, uneven pants as though he’d been running or fighting through a terrible dream.

  “Jesus.” Lexi crawled to the other side to help, glancing at Eryx behind Brenna. “What the hell happened?

  “I have no idea.”

  Galena powered into the room, Reese tight on her heels. “How long has he been out?”

  “Since a few minutes after the scan,” Eryx said, prowling closer to the bed. “One minute he clamped on Angus’s head, and the next he was stumbling out of the place. He said he’d only take what he needed, but the look on his face…” An angry wind that shouldn’t have been possible in the enclosed space snapped through the room. “He saw something. Something nasty. He wouldn’t let go.”

  Lexi scrambled out of the way to make room for Galena.

  “That doesn’t make any sense. He takes memories all the time.” She lifted each of Ludan’s eyelids and studied his pupils.

  “Yeah, but you haven’t heard what it costs him,” Lexi grumbled.

  Galena hesitated. “What does that mean?”

  “It means the memories hurt him,” Brenna snapped. She had no place in this conversation. No reason to be outspoken between people who’d known each other their whole lives, but she couldn’t have contained her anger if she tried. She glared at Eryx. “Did he tell you how every single memory he’s stored in his life plays nonstop in his head? How they never let him alone? Never let him sleep?”

  Eryx swallowed, guilt etching every line on his face. “He did.”

  “And you let him do it anyway?”

  His gaze cut to Ludan, then back to Brenna. “Some things one man can’t stop another from doing. I don’t expect you to understand. Not yet. But you will.”

  Galena straddled Ludan’s hips and gripped either side of his neck. “Whatever he saw must have pushed him over the limit.” She closed her eyes and let out a slow breath.

  The room around them stilled, only Ludan’s jagged breaths upsetting the quiet.

  Brenna smoothed Ludan’s sweat-dampened hair off his forehead. His cool, clammy skin felt all wrong, not at all the comforting warmth she’d grown accustomed to.

  With a gasp, Galena released her grip and nearly toppled sideways. “Praise the Great One.” Her focus shuttled around the room as though trying to ground herself.

  Reese steadied her with a hand at her shoulder. “What was it?”

  “Angus.” Galena covered her mate’s hand with her own and clenched it tight. “No wonder he’s the way he is. He’s cruel because that’s all he knows.” A shudder racked her torso, and she squeezed her eyes shut. “No one should be treated that way. Least of all a child.”

  “I don’t give a shit about Angus.” Eryx pulled Lexi against him and gripped her shoulder. “How do we help Ludan?”

  “I don’t know.” Galena shook her head and braced her hands on her thighs, scanning Ludan’s unconscious body. “He’s got a diffuse neural contusion like what I’d see with traumatic injury, but I can’t heal it. I can access his memories, but when I try to heal him, the energy refracts back at me. It’s like his mind has locked up as a self-defense mechanism.”

  A shield. It made sense if his body wanted to protect itself from further harm.

  But she was different. “Let me try.”

  Every gaze shot her direction.

  “When I touch him, the voices stop.” She tightened her grip on Ludan’s hand, the clasp so strong her fingertips pulsed in time with her frantic heart. It might be insane, but there was no way she’d sit here and watch him like this a second longer than necessary if she could help. “I mirrored Galena before. Maybe if you show me—”

  “She’s right.” Eryx rounded the bed, headed toward Brenna with a fierce scowl in place. “Galena, scoot over. Brenna, climb up and hold on to him like Galena did.”

  Brenna scrambled into place and wiped her hands on the tail of her nightshirt. When Eryx planted one knee on the bed beside her and splayed his big hand between her shoulder blades, she flinched. “What are you doing?”

  “You mirror our gifts, right?”

  She nodded, suddenly more self-conscious and way too uncomfortable with everyone’s focus squarely on her.

  “Then you’re about to get a big boost.” Eryx jerked his head toward Ludan. “Show her what to do, Lena.”

  Galena moved in beside her. “Just relax and press your hands against him.”

  Relax. Right. Like such a thing was possible under the circumstances. She splayed her hands across his chest.

  Up and down he heaved short, jagged rasps. Even his heartbeat felt labored and off.

  “Close your eyes.” Galena lowered her voice and placed one hand over Brenna’s. “Remember, you did this before.”

  “I healed a torn cuticle.”

  “That counts. Now close your eyes.”

  Brenna let her eyes drift shut.

  “Take a deep breath,” Galena said. “Think about how you felt that day and exhale. Focus on my touch and my energy.”

  How she’d felt? She scrambled for the memory and tried to tamp down the swirling panic in her stomach.

  Think, Brenna. Relax and focus.

  She’d been with Gale
na in her garden, planting little seedlings. The sun was warm against her shoulders. The freshly tilled soil soft beneath her knees and the rich, moist scent of earth all around her. She’d been peaceful.

  No, not peaceful. Curious. Light and free of everything except the moment. Something had stirred behind her sternum, warm with soft tingles like what she’d felt when her mother had tickled her back to help her fall asleep.

  “That’s it.” Galena squeezed her hand. “Feel your spirit and channel it through your palms.”

  Her spirit. That’s exactly what she’d felt. The same thing she’d wrapped around her at the worst of times with Maxis. What kept her safe and lulled her to sleep at night. She inhaled deeply, building the sensation until it glowed bright inside her mind’s eye, then visualized it flowing down her arms and through her hands.

  “Almost,” Galena whispered. “One more time.”

  Willing the muscles in her neck and shoulders to relax, she built the energy again, bolder and more powerful than before. It coursed through her veins, lifting the fine hairs along her arms and firing from her palms.

  The world fell away, and black surrounded her. Her body no longer existed, only darkness with a shimmering, pearlescent glow that undulated in front of her.

  Galena’s voice sounded nearby, the tenor of it filled with awe and resonating through Brenna’s incorporeal presence. “Oh, Brenna.”

  Wait. Was she still awake? Or was she in a dream? “Where am I?”

  “You’re with Ludan. You made it.” An emerald ribbon wound its way beside the ivory one, its motions lazy and elegant the way smoke coiled from a slow burning fire. “Do you see the pretty glow?”

  She imagined herself nodding, and the glow wiggled in response.

  Galena’s light laughter echoed all around her. “That’s you. Your energy. I’ve never seen one so beautiful.” The green light circled the ivory one again, and Brenna felt it like a physical tug on her heart. “Come on. Let’s go let you work your magic.”

  The darkness lightened, a radiant silver blossoming like a mystic flashlight from somewhere behind her. Her spirit resonated with a blast of power, and the pearl glow became a shimmering beacon, as striking in its depth as Galena’s. She tried to turn toward the silver presence.