Kings and Sirens (The Blood Falls Book 2)
Kings and Sirens: Chapter 23

Leena

No one was in a good mood at dinner. Everyone seemed to be lost in thought or fighting something uncomfortable. For Bo, my guess was that being the second son felt more like a disadvantage than normal. Like Dray, he was a natural leader. He usually relished the role of position with less responsibility, but now he twitched and flexed like a fighter about to dip into a ring.

Gigi sat ramrod straight beside Ryddyck, the being found in the Axl basement. He came here to find Gigi but without any memory as to why. He was fascinated by my sister. She, on the other hand, was completely freaked out by all of it.

I didn’t blame her. It had to be a lot to be the key to a mysterious world and the focus of a male who wasn’t even Samhain.

And then there was Kris. He was my favorite to watch. An excellent distraction from my own troubles. He sat like a statue, only moving to bring the wine to his lips or a forkful of food to his mouth. His eyes remained unfocused and his cheeks bright with color. Rhiannon sat beside him, speaking animatedly with Bridge, hands flying, eyes bright, smile wide. She was energy personified while Kris was the exact opposite. Every so often she turned back to her plate, her hand nearly brushing Kris’s. For a moment they both jolted, eyes blinking, frozen in time. Then Kris would withdraw even more and Rhiannon would pick up her conversation in earnest.

If I was a betting female, I’d bet that there was something metaphysical happening between them. Something more than attraction or lust or even friendship. A connection deeper than any of that.

I knew because I’d lived it. Briefly.

And now I was sad again.

Something that didn’t last long because a moment later there was a very loud knock at our door. Bo answered, along with Kris, confused as everyone else by the surprise visitor. Then I heard familiar voices and froze in a mix of panic, dread, and excitement.

Atsila.

A moment later my brothers returned with Atsila, Klah, and Kuruk in tow. The Heida men dwarfed the doorway and made the dining room seem to instantly shrink in size. My heart lodged itself somewhere in my throat, making it impossible to breathe.

His eyes landed on me almost immediately. Like a tractor beam locking on to its target. It was as if he sensed me before he saw me. I expected to see nothing, or perhaps maybe disdain.

Instead I saw desire.

And that made me very confused. We like to get back to loving. Maybe Kris was right…or maybe I was simply seeing what I hoped to see. Best to tread carefully until I was sure.

“There’s been a sighting,” Atsila said simply, drawing the full attention of everyone in the room. “Two hundred miles north. It was brief but verified. We’re taking an expedition and we’d like assistance.”

A few months ago a request like that would have cost him everything. Today it rolled off his tongue like the most natural thing in the world.

Shoshanna stood. “Of course. We’re happy to help.” She’d sent three different Gatlin on the previous expeditions, in addition to myself.

“How much help do you need?” I looked at Kuruk instead of Atsila when I spoke. It was just too hard to meet his gaze for more than a moment at a time.

“We’re taking three teams north and we’d appreciate a psychic for each team.” I felt his eyes boring into me. “Starting with you.”

The lump grew three sizes. I couldn’t speak.

“Of course,” Shoshanna answered for me. “She has the most experience. Of course you’ll want her help. I can send Malachi and Rever again as well.”

Malachi shook his head. “I’m sorry. I can’t. I’m scheduled to help the Elders get ready for the Solstice ceremony.”

“I’ll go!” Rhiannon’s hand shot up. “I can go.”

Shoshanna cocked her head to the side and frowned. “But you’re working on the archives. We need you there.”

“The Heida archives haven’t been searched yet. Not extensively. If I go north I can set up a system with Leena’s help to harvest what knowledge we can.”

Shoshanna shook her head. “Then we’ll send you to the archives instead. I’ll find another replacement for Malachi.”

“I can go,” Kris said with a nod. “I’ll take his place.”

“Then it’s settled.” Bo clapped his hands together. “Leena, Kris, and Rever will go. Rhiannon will make quick work of the archives.”

Rhysa raised her hand. “I’ll go to assist Rhiannon. I’m officially on winter break now and pretty good at research.”

And Dray wouldn’t be home for another two weeks, so she had nothing to do until the winter solstice.

“Join us for a meal.” Bo waved the giant males to take seats at the table. I helped Kris bring in extra chairs. Everyone moved a few inches this way or that. Rhysa set out three more plates and glasses of wine. Somehow Atsila wound up beside me.

That had to be a good sign, right?

Or an unfortunate happenstance.

“You look well,” he murmured low enough that no one would hear it but me.

“Thank you. How soon do we leave?”

“Morning would be good. The sooner the better.”

I nodded once, doing my best to ignore the shivers that raced over my skin whenever he was near. “Of course. After dinner we can debrief with the House of Gatlin. It’s less time than we planned, but it will work. Besides, the rest will stay behind to continue on without us.”

He leaned closer, dropped his voice even lower. “And what is this auspicious meeting about?”

“The archives. We’re all searching for any information about the Dark Times. Today we started comparing notes.”

“Ah. So that’s why the young one is so eager.”

The young one. It was a good thing Rhiannon and Bridge couldn’t hear him. “We’re all anxious about the things we don’t know.”

“Mmmm.” His voice was so low it was more vibration than anything else. Male. “You see that’s where we differ. The Heida do not worry over what we don’t know. We focus on what we do know and are confident in our ability to handle anything that comes our way.”

Then why had he resisted me so hard and for so long? If Atsila were so confident then I should have been nothing but an itch he needed scratched. Instead he kept me at arm’s length, fought my advances, and only reluctantly gave in to his attraction. I called bullshit on that pure confidence of his.

“That’s an interesting take.”

His gaze never left mine as he reached for the wine and took a long sip. “It’s why I’m here. We seem to have lost our way, you and I. If I weren’t so damn confident, I’d let you go. Let you have your time away. But instead I am here.”

“Here to ask for our help.”

“Yours. Specifically. I don’t give a fuck who else goes north.”

“We’re all perfectly capable.”

His eyes darkened. “But there’s only one of you I want in my bed.”

I admit his easy confidence shocked me. I’d hurt him. He should be angry with me…or at least contemplating his first instinct to ignore me. Besides, as the once and future King he would take a Heida bride. As much as I wanted Atsila, my heart was far too invested in this relationship. It would hurt too much to walk away when he became the king.

Better to keep our distance and let our old relationship die.

“We’ll have to find you beds for the night,” Aethel said, her voice slightly louder than before.

It drew our attention to a conversation that had been going on without us.

Kuruk shook his head. “We can sleep on the floor. We don’t need beds.”

This made Aethel smile. “I know you’re all very hardy, but I assure you we have the space. We just need a moment to take some inventory.”

While we had some lovely couches throughout the House of Wren, none of them would be large enough to accommodate a Heida male. We’d already allocated the empty room in the Princess tower, as well as Aunt Bethany’s old rooms, to the Gatlin. Rhiannon was staying in the loft at Dray and Rhysa’s house, and the rest of the Gatlin were given spare rooms throughout the property.

Except mine.

“They can have my house,” Bo said. “I’ll bunk up with Gigi tonight.”

“You only have two beds,” Aethel pointed out. “Seamus has two spare beds. So two of you can bunk with him and then one in Leena’s guest room?”

Everyone agreed to the solution except me. No one cared what I thought and it didn’t matter anyway. I knew exactly which Heida male was coming to stay at my house tonight…and he was sitting right next to me.

To the surprise of no one, the Heida male bunking with me was Atsila. Bo offered to swap beds with me for the night but I waved him off. I’d avoided Atsila for long enough. If he wanted to speak with me then the least I could do was give him that opportunity.

Alone.

We walked up the path so he could see the way there and back for himself. Come morning there’d be at least three inches of snow, making it easier to shift back to the house rather than walk. The moon was barely more than a sliver of light in the sky, giving the stars their turn to shine. The trees were bare.

“Here we are.” My humble abode was nestled into the forest much more than Dray’s, which loomed above. In summer it practically disappeared under full branches and shadows, but in winter it was easy to find. The cabin had a long, wide porch that wrapped all the way around and windows that could be opened in good weather. The stone fireplace was quiet.

“It’s a good home,” Atsila said with a nod.

He followed me up the steps and inside. The first thing I did was start the pellet stove to get some heat pumping through the rooms, then got to work building a fire in the main fireplace.

“Let me help,” Atsila said from behind me.

“I know you’re a big strong masculine male and all, but this is my home and I’m pretty good at this. Settle in. Guest room is right over there.” I pointed with the long match I was about to use to light the kindling.

He barely glanced at the spare room.

The hair on the back of my neck rose as I worked, feeling his attention. It made my skin sizzle with desire. I ignored it. “How long do you think it will take? To find the Salishan, I mean?” The kindling caught.

“The sighting was brief. But with three teams triangulating the area, we have high hopes of making contact within a week.”

A week with Atsila. At least. “How has your winter been?”

“Busy. Much busier than normal.”

“What’s normal?” I sat back and watched the logs begin to light up next, poked at one to shift it slightly.

A stool creaked as Atsila sat. “Quiet. I spend most of it in my den, resting.”

“Hibernating?”

“No. Not quite. Winter is a quiet time for us to recharge. Yes, there is more sleeping than usual, but there is also more contemplation, meditation, planning. I visit my brothers and sometimes they visit me. Occasionally I hunt.”

“Do females come to visit?” I winced as soon as I asked it. Stupid question. Stupid, stupid question.

“Not this year.”

I poked another log and kept my big mouth shut.

He came to sit on the hearth beside me. “Winter can be an excellent time for companionship. No one around to interrupt. Lot’s of time in bed. I have been lonely this winter, yes.”

“Why don’t you invite one of your potential King’s Consorts?”

His eyes stayed steady on me. “We need to talk.”

“I know.”

“I don’t think you do.”

“Let it out, Atsila. Tell me how you feel. I did a terrible thing and your friends died. I’m here tonight to listen to whatever you have to say. I promise I won’t interrupt.”

He stared at me for a very long time. “You are a frustrating female.”

The fire was roaring now so I sat back, pulling up my knees and resting my chin on top. “How so?”

“You don’t listen.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing!”

“No.” He stood up and paced across the small living space. “You say that you’re listening but you aren’t actually hearing anything at all.”

“What do you want me to hear?” I tried my best. All those excursions? I listened! Kept waiting for him to finally tell me how he really felt.

He never did. But tonight I would get it out of him if I had to scream and yell and stay up until dawn.

“I don’t blame you, Leena. I never have. But you blame yourself and carry this guilt. You don’t need to.”

“Of course I do! It was my fault those Heida died.”

Atsila pinched his nose and sighed. “Still not hearing anything but your own guilt.”

I genuinely didn’t understand where the breakdown was occurring. Clearly Atsila was frustrated with me, but I didn’t understand why. “Yes…I feel guilty. I feel horrible.”

“Please stop.”

I blinked at him, more confused than ever.

He took a few steps towards me. “No one blames you. No one is angry with you.”

“Tell that to the dead.”

Atsila roared.

I shrank back.

“Female! It was an accident! Death happens. It comes to us all. You did not order those salishan to attack us. They are twisted creatures acting out of instinct and in response to the cosmic alignment.”

“But it was my fault they found the camp. I led them straight there.” The guilt choked me all over again as images of the night, the screams, assaulted my senses.

“You think very highly of yourself,” he sneered, surprising me.

“What? No.”

“Yes.” He stalked even closer, coming right up and kneeling in front of me, his finger pointing in anger. “You think you alone are so powerful as to alter the course of Destiny. You alone commanded the salishan. You alone bare the weight of responsibility.” He paused, glaring at me. “But you aren’t that powerful, Leena. You are a simple samhain who happened to be part of an unfortunate set of circumstances. If you weren’t so full of yourself you could accept that you aren’t that important.”

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