Page 24 of Kingdom of Chaos
Tendrils of his dark hair brush the tip of my nose and a delicious scent, part spice, part unmistakably him, wafts over me, sending my pulse into overdrive. Without realizing it, I lean in slightly while he focuses on the pendant, inhaling his scent like I’ve lost all sense. My eyelids grow heavy, my fingers twitching with the urge to run through the strands of his hair. Just as I start to lift my hand, I snap back to reality.
What is wrong with me?
Becks is in another world, likely injured and alone, probably thinking no one is coming for him and believing I’ve betrayed him. And here I am acting like Talon’s some kind of scratch-and-sniff sticker I can’t get enough of.
I lean back and hold my breath until Talon releases the gem and steps away. If he thinks I’m acting strange, he doesn’t show it.
I press my lips together, waiting, hoping he’ll say something, that he’ll confess what he knows about the pendant. But he just stands there, holding my gaze.
Moments pass, the air between us thickening with unspoken tension, and eventually I can’t take it anymore.
“Talon,” I say, still locked on his blue-gray eyes. “What is the Arcane Society?”
He sighs, then turns without a word and starts back down the tunnel.
Seriously?
“Come on,” he calls over his shoulder, his voice echoing off the stone walls. “Let’s collect your friends. It’s time for that talk.”
Eight
The cold,windowless room looks more like a converted dungeon than a kitchen, except fully equipped with the latest appliances. Along one wall sits an eight-burner stovetop next to two sets of double ovens large enough for me to fit inside. Across from them are two glass-door fridges, loaded with food, and a long kitchen island stretches through the center of the space.
For the first time in days, the sight of food makes my stomach growl, but I’m too antsy to give in to my hunger. When my stomach growls again, I grab the closest thing I can—a banana,yuck—and peel it quickly. Shoving it into my mouth, doing my best to ignore the mushy texture, the goal is to get food in my stomach fast, not to savor a gourmet meal.
“Easy there, tiger,” Titus says with a wince as I take another giant bite, nearly finishing the banana in two mouthfuls.
“Where’s Imogen?” Ensley asks, sliding into a chair at the island.
Talon snorts a humorless half laugh. “She wants no part of this conversation.”
He leans back against the counter, arms crossed, and watches as I settle into a seat beside Ensley. Titus hoists himselfup onto the counter a little off to the side. Close enough to be part of the conversation, but just removed enough to say this is mine and Ensley’s show, and he’s just here for backup.
“So, what’s it going to be?” Ensley asks, a frown tugging at her lips, her hair streaked black to match her mood. “Are you going to help us or not?”
I swallow the last bit of my banana, wishing I had some water to wash the taste out of my mouth, but at least my stomach isn’t trying to eat itself anymore. Then I lean back in my seat, waiting to see what Talon’s going to do.
He looks at me with an unreadable expression, and I arch an eyebrow. He said he wanted us all together to explain. Well, here we are. It’s time to see if he’s going to be true to his word or not. No more stalling.
“The gates were discovered thousands of years ago,” he starts, and hearing mention of the gates gets my attention right away. “We don’t know how long they have existed, or how they got there, but they were believed to have been formed by the Creator to be a bridge between his two creations.”
I lean forward. Now we’re finally getting somewhere.
“Just so I’m clear,” Ensley says. “Are we talking about two different planets here? Like is this some sort of gate that takes us from one part of the universe to another?”
Talon shakes his head. “No. It’s believed that the worlds are not so much completely separate planets as they are different realities or different realms. It’s not understood why or how, but some things in our world affect theirs, and vice versa. So, in a lot of ways their world, their reality, mirrors ours, but with one big difference. The beings in their world, the humans, don’t have magic.”
He says the last line while he’s looking at me.
“How many other worlds, or realities or whatever, are out there?” Ensley asks, her eyes wide.
“Who’s to say?” Talon says with a shrug. “As far as we know, there are only two. Theirs and ours. I suppose there could be more, but for some reason it’s only our two realities that have been linked.”
“Okay, so where are these gates?” Titus asks.
“There are eight, spread across the globe. Some are warded by magic, others hidden in plain sight.”
It’s an answer. But also not.
