Reckoning Read online

  Unable to turn away from the temptation, I kissed her then, savoring the soft fullness of her lips. She sank deeper against me, her hands sliding up to the back of my neck as she drew my head closer to gently nip my lip, nearly sending my senses into overdrive. “God, Juliet. I love you.”

  She switched her position to climb into my lap to face me. Cupping my face in her hands, she whispered, “I will always love you. Please don’t ever forget that.”

  The seriousness of her tone fanned a spark of unease in my gut. I leaned back. “Why would I forget it?”

  She smiled and her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. “This…us… It scares me because it’s beauty out of the madness we were both raised to believe. That I found you and you found me despite our families hating each other feels like a dream. I never want to wake up from it.”

  Taking her hand, I slipped it underneath my shirt and pressed it against my chest. “Can you feel that? My heart spells out your name with every beat. I was born to love you, and I’ll die doing that. Don’t worry.” The tears spilled down her face, and I wiped them away with my thumb. “You know you’re destined to be my queen, right?”

  She gave me a watery smile and arched her eyebrows. “Depends on how good you look in a crown.”

  “Oh, I’ll rock the crown.” I wagged my eyebrows suggestively.

  “King Riley,” she murmured and skimmed the top button of my jeans with her fingertips. “Or would you prefer Your Majesty?”

  I twisted my lips and sucked in a breath. “You can call me whatever you want.” I kissed her again, and when Mallen’s warning tried to intrude, I kissed her even harder. I trusted Juliet.

  “Stone,” she whispered against my lips.

  “I changed my mind. You can call me everything but that,” I said.

  She laughed. “I’m sorry. It hit me he’s been gone a while. Maybe we should look for him.”

  I groaned and taking her arms, shifted her from my lap to sit beside me. “I’ll go drag him back.” I waited a second for my body to calm down before I got to my feet. Kissing Juliet was an addiction that always left me hungry for more.

  “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re worried about him.”

  “I’m not worried.” I was being honest. I wasn’t worried about the guy, but I was sorry for what he was going through. I could imagine how I’d feel if Juliet died. I don’t know how I’d find the will to carry on. Walking backward, I said, “I’m sure his mind’s on other things, and there are a lot of places he could fall if he’s not paying attention.” I turned around, taking quick strides away from her before I gave in to the urge to kiss her again.

  As I walked away, I was smiling, then Mallen’s worried face popped into my mind’s eye. The blood pulsed in my ears. I’d known Mallen all my life. He’d never steered me wrong. Was it possible he knew something about Juliet? I shut down the thought. No. Whatever he knew or suspected could never be bad enough to make me stop loving her. Feeling better, I moved stealthily through the darkened corridor in search of Stone.

  Chapter 3

  JULIET

  I’d never had so much to lose until now. The future, my future with Riley, would be on shaky ground if he knew what I had to do. His reaction would be swift, I was sure of that. Riley would fall out of love. He would despise me.

  I didn’t know if I could blink, move, breathe if I lost Riley. Losing him was a definite possibility. There was no reasoning, nothing I could say that would make sense to him. He wouldn’t understand even if I were allowed to speak the words in the Untolds aloud. I could imagine what would happen when Riley discovered I was destined to betray him. I could almost hear the words he’d say. It wouldn’t matter the exact words because they would all traffic-jam onto a single road. The I-don’t-want-you-anymore one. The one with the barest, ugliest scenery, the dystopian landscape that devoured smiles, laughter, and hope.

  I’d been desperately working on a way to save us all. Because he wanted peace among our people, King Faulk had cast a curse on the bloodline of any Supernatural who took the throne through bloodshed. The only way to end the curse was for that bloodline to die out. Riley and Ide were the last connection to the curse. They both had to die or we all would. While I didn’t care about my death and would gladly hand over my life to save Riley and everyone else, it wasn’t that simple.

  You don’t get to put your blinker on and exit the freeway called Your Life when it’s all planned out for you. Otherwise, I would have done it the moment I knew how my life would crash into Riley’s. When the wreck happened and the smoke from my actions cleared, I hoped desperately to be a hero and not a harbinger of death. It would be easier if I could tell Riley the stops on the tour destiny prearranged for me. Not for the first time, I cursed the Untolds. I wished I could change the truth. Turn it into what I wanted it to be instead of what it actually was. But truth is an absolute. Valid regardless of the parameters we try to force it to fit into.

  Riley returned with Stone and I pasted on a smile, pretending I was okay. I’d gotten good at almost convincing myself of that.

  I walked over to Stone and let him fold me into his arms. Kissing the side of my ear, he whispered, “I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

  “You’re hurting. I understand.” When I held on longer than usual, he drew back to study my face. “That’s not a happy expression. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” I couldn’t share my destiny with Stone, either. I’d seen what happened to Supernaturals who tried to thwart the Untolds. I shuddered and glanced at Riley.

  Stone followed the direction of my gaze and clicked his tongue. “Trouble between Romeo and Juliet?”

  “Don’t call us that.” Irritated, I moved away from him. We weren’t those fictional characters. Unless I missed the part where Juliet had an ugly secret that would cost Romeo his life.

  “That is his middle name and your first name. You have to admit it has ominous foreshadowing.”

  “Like what?”

  He shrugged, eyes wide, taken aback by my vehemence. “Like a tragedy waiting to unfold.” He grinned, the light of teasing in his eyes, but his smile faltered when I shot him a dark look.

  I whipped my head around to see if Riley had overhead. By the expression on his face, he had. I moved to sit on the end of the rock beside him, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Stop worrying,” he said, misunderstanding my silence. “I’ll find a way to get us out of here.” He tapped the end of my nose. “I promise. I’ll be your hero or die trying.”

  I bit down hard on the inside of my lip to keep from crying out his name. To keep from spilling what I was forbidden to speak. If I did, the curse placed by the Untolds would kill me. My death would bring on the end of human and Supernatural life. Bowing my head, I twisted my hands together and tried to take a calming breath.

  Riley gave me a gentle shoulder bump. “Is there something you need to talk about?”

  Yes! I desperately want to talk to you, but I can’t. “No,” I could barely force the word through the tightness in my throat.

  Not satisfied with my answer, he took me by the shoulders to angle my body toward his. “I know you and I know something’s wrong.”

  “I want to get out of here and find Maisy. That’s all,” I lied, faking the best it’s-all-good smile that I could muster. I had to fight the urge to pull at my hair, to scream, to raise my fist upward and demand that fate give me another deal. In the depths of his eyes, a kernel of suspicion had sprouted. He glanced at Stone and I could almost read his mind.

  Putting my hand on his, I said, “Stone and I have always been friends and never anything more. I only see you.”

  He relaxed at that.

  “Look at this,” Stone said, calling our attention to the wall in front of us..

  The wall had a weird pattern I hadn’t noticed at first. I stared at it. “Are those steps? A rock ladder out of here?”

  “I doubt it.” Riley pulled at the wall. Pieces of it crumbled off in his
hand. “It’s a false hope.” He closed his fingers around the rock and crushed them, then opened his hand and let the pieces fall.

  “Who knows how we’ll find a way out,” Stone said.

  The despondency of his words settled on me for a second before I shook it off. I took the fire-rock from him. “I’m not waiting around. My sister needs me.”

  “More than you know,” Riley muttered.

  “What about it?” I asked.

  “Mallen said Ide went back on his word to keep the mixed-bloods safe. The Guards were ordered to round them up. There are reports some of them have been killed.”

  “You didn’t tell me that,” I said, and the push to get out of here quadrupled.

  Riley made soothing motions along the sides of my arms. “It’s not like you’re in a position to do anything about it, and I didn’t want to scare you.”

  Stone slammed his fist into the wall, cracking the skin on the back of his knuckles. “That son of a—”

  “Shh…” Riley held up his hand, craning his head to gaze into the darkness. “I heard a noise.”

  Before I had time to do more than take a quick glance around, Riley yelled, “A crocogon. Run!”

  The horror in his voice spooked me to flee as if a horde of demons wanted my head for their trophy case. I caught a whiff of the creature chasing me and fought not to gag. Crocogons were a cross between a crocodile and a dragon and emitted a pungent odor like rotting garbage. They had long, green bodies and short stubby legs as thick as sea pilings. Slimy, shimmering scales covered every inch of their bodies, glowing red when they were angered.

  Small, pointed rocks burrowed into the soles of my shoes as I ran blindly across the dirt. I pushed the pain aside and kept going even when I reached uneven ground and twisted my ankle. My lungs were on fire from the effort of running, and I started gasping to draw in enough oxygen. The ground shook as the creature gained on me.

  Don’t look back. Keep going. Faster. The stench of the creature covered me as he roared and leaped onto my back. His talons dug in and I fell face first, slamming my forehead into the side of a boulder on the way down. The double rows of his razor sharp teeth sank into my right leg, tearing my flesh, trying to pull my skin off. His fangs scraped bone.

  Desperate to live, I rotated the upper part of my body and kicked out with my other leg, trying to fight back, but at the angle I was at, I couldn’t make contact. The crocogon whipped its head around, slinging thick, poisonous mucus from its mouth as he moved his focus up my body toward my neck.

  With an outraged yell, Riley leaped onto the back of the beast, locking his hands around its throat as he dragged it off me. His muscles rippled with exertion as he clubbed its head with a rock. The creature went into the death roll, repeatedly rising up and slamming Riley against the ground, but Riley wouldn’t loosen his grip. Each death roll became shorter and shorter until finally, dazed, the creature wobbled and flopped over.

  When the creature stopped moving, Riley stood over it for a second, panting with exertion, then wiped his forehead and tossed aside the rock. He squatted next to me, placing one hand on my shoulder, holding me down when I tried to sit up. I pushed his hand away, wanting to see the damage done to my leg.

  “It’s bad. Don’t look.” He pulled his T-shirt over his head, balled it up, and pressed it against the wound. The blood soaked through in seconds and gushed across the sides of my leg to the ground.

  I watched the red seep into the dirt. My head swam with dizziness from the blood loss. “If I don’t make it, take care of Maisy and tell her—”

  “Quiet!” Riley ordered imperiously. He sounded like the king he’d one day become. His expression softened, and he smoothed the hair from my forehead. Curling his fingers under my chin, he gently tilted my head up. “Look at me. You’ll be able to take care of your sister yourself. I won’t let you die.” Still on his knees beside me, he glanced up and snapped his fingers. “Stone, give me the fire-rock.”

  Stone held the rock tighter. “Cauterizing a wound is an ancient human method. Infection will set in.”

  “I’m not going to do that.”

  “Then what?” Stone handed him the fire-rock, then peered down at my leg. His eyes went wide.

  I grabbed the hem of Stone’s jeans. “What did you see? Please. Not knowing is worse.”

  “The crocogon’s poison seeped into the edges of the wound. Burning the edges of your skin is the only way to keep it out of your bloodstream. It’s going to hurt like hell,” Riley answered. He held the blade of the knife over the flame. “Hold her down.”

  In the flickering flame, Riley’s mouth was pulled tight, his eyes full of determination and regret. Once the blade was heated, he nodded at Stone.

  Stone pressed his knees onto the front of my shoulders, trapping my head between his thighs. He looked down at me. “I couldn’t get to you fast enough with the knife. I’m sorry, Juliet. I’d give anything if it would have attacked me instead.”

  “It’s okay.” I clenched my teeth together and tried to focus my mind on anything but this. I pictured my little sister and how great it would be when the two of us were reunited. She loved chocolate chip ice cream. As soon as I was out of here we would—the heat touched the edges of the wound and I screamed.

  “You’re hurting me. Stop!” I tried to buck away from the knife. Riley straddled me and kept the searing heat against the skin.

  “Almost done,” he said in a tightly controlled voice.

  I tried to lift my hands to shove at Riley, but Stone wouldn’t let me. “Please,” I said.

  Riley tore his blood-soaked T-shirt into strips and tied it in the three places around the wound, forcing my skin to overlap and close off the bleeding.

  “I can’t take it,” I whispered again, louder this time.

  “Finished,” Riley said, his voice cracking.

  Stone let go of me, rolling off to one side. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand looking as exhausted as I was.

  RILEY

  I lifted Juliet up into my arms. I hadn’t cried since I was seven years old, but seeing her attack made me want to give in to the emotion slicing through my gut. I’d never felt the rage I’d felt the moment the crocogon leaped onto her. I could have torn it to shreds with my bare hands, and it wouldn’t quell the rage.

  My chest dampened with sweat and my heart thundered like a herd of wild mustangs running from a threat. I moved slowly, carefully placing one foot in front of the other lest I jostle her. When I stepped wrong and it caused me to jerk my arms, she winced and a small moan escaped her lips. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.

  Seeing the crocogon had shaken me to my core. The last time I’d seen that much blood had been the day I’d found the bodies of my mother and brothers. For a split second, when I’d seen Juliet’s injury, I’d thought I was too late again to save someone I loved. I carried Juliet into a smaller, enclosed area of the Void and lowered her to the ground. She arched when a pebble dug into her back. I shifted her away from the rock. “I’m sorry,” I said again.

  In a weakened voice, Juliet said, “What a welcome from the Void. Me getting almost eaten by an animal isn’t your fault. I guess he thought I would taste better than you would.”

  I knew she was trying to joke to keep from crying. I couldn’t imagine what kind of pain she was dealing with. I’d heard the animal’s teeth scrape bone. It was difficult to think about her hurting. I would have gladly traded places with her. She shivered and goose bumps dotted her arms.

  The air was cold in the belly of the Earth and carried a scent of decay and hopelessness. The chill easily seeped through my dirt-stained clothes. Though we hadn’t been in the Void long, already I couldn’t remember what it felt like to be completely warm.

  She started shaking, and her teeth clicked together.

  “What’s wrong?” I ran my gaze over her at the same time I searched her body with my hands, more afraid than I knew I was capable of feeling. Over and over in my head, the words pleas
e-don’t-take-her-from-me ran together. “Did I miss anything?”

  “Maybe shock is setting in.” Stone scooted closer and set the fire-rock beside her. Raising the end of his shirt, he leaned over to press it against her forehead. “She hit her head hard when she fell.”

  Juliet groaned as if his touch made her head ache worse, and she pushed his hand away. Stone glared at me. “This never would have happened if you hadn’t leaped into the Void with her.”

  “I did it to save her.” I stared him down. He hadn’t liked me before, but after our conversation his hatred had deepened.

  “Save her? Instead, you almost get her killed. Look at her. Good job.”

  “Do you have a problem, Stone?”

  He rose and I took a step closer, ready to deal with whatever issue he had toward me. We were both hopped up on adrenaline, and I wanted to put my fist through the rocks.

  Juliet made a noise, clearly agitated by the animosity between Stone and me. “Can you two give it a rest? We need to work together or we’ll never make it out. We have to concentrate on that and not on fighting each other,” she said wearily. It was easy to read the despair she was trying to hold back.

  The despair stemmed from knowing it could take weeks to search for a way out of here. The Void stretched for miles below the surface of the Earth with different levels, the way ant tunnels were laid out. Rumor had it the maze was full of endless corridors and many dead ends. All of which led occupants to constantly retrace their steps until in the end, they gave up and simply waited for death.

  Juliet squeezed her eyes shut, her voice small. “I want to hug my sister and read her a bedtime story. I want to be able to tell her she’s safe because I’m there to keep watch.” Her lower lip trembled. “Maisy needs me. Please help me get out of here.”

  “We’ll find a way out,” I said, knowing I’d do whatever it took to make it happen.

  “Exactly how are we going to do that with Juliet’s injury?” Stone asked.

  “He’s right. There are areas too hard to navigate with two good legs much less a bad one,” Juliet said.