Destiny Redeemed Page 8

Thea stretched her body dreamily on the four poster bed, satisfied with her fantasy. Never before had she met anyone like Amon, and she was sure he was the one destined for her. However, she also knew she wouldn’t simply stay trapped at his home wishing he’d realize the gift he’d been given.

  She knew leaving would be dangerous, and he’d come find her. At least she hoped he would.

  Thea listened as someone climbed the steps, and she froze in panic that the brute who’d kidnapped her was coming to her room. She analyzed the footsteps and knew they weren’t Amon’s or Gethen’s. Neither man was so heavy on his feet. They had to be Markku’s. Terrified, she sat up on the bed and waited, ready to defend herself but hopeful that Amon would save her.

  Gradually, the sound passed her room and when she heard Amon’s door open, she breathed a deep sigh of relief. Her muscles relaxed, and she unclenched her hands from the fists she’d unconsciously made. She was safe, for the moment.

  Amon’s door closed, and she listened again, terrified for the man’s footsteps but heard none. Where had he gone? Thea’s mind raced to the only logical conclusion: he was in Amon’s room. Even more importantly, this meant no one was guarding the door downstairs because Gethen had been sent to run errands. Adrenaline pumped through her body. Now was her chance to escape!

  Knowing she had only seconds, she grabbed her shoes from where Amon had placed them earlier and tiptoed to the bedroom door. She listened closely but heard no one in the hallway. Praying whatever Amon was doing behind his door would keep him distracted, she slowly turned the doorknob and opened the door just a crack. As she peered out into the hallway, she squeezed her shoes in her hand. She was ready this time!

  Holding her breath, she stepped out into the hallway, fearful her next step might be on the squeaky floorboard but sure she had to take the chance. Each silent step to the stairs produced a rush of relief that coursed through her. She took the steps, careful to make no noise and felt such utter joy when she reached the main floor that she wanted to shout. Only a few more steps and she’d be free.

  The fear that Gethen would find her just as she was so close to freedom that she could taste it came over her as she opened the front door, but a quick look around told her she’d done it. She’d escaped!

  Thea barely had her shoes on before her feet were running down the road from Amon’s house. The November chill hit her through his dress shirt, but nothing could take away from the feeling she was experiencing. Her brain gave her body one command over and over. Run! She had no idea where she was; she had no way home. She didn’t even have money. But she was free.

  *

  Markku looked at Amon quizzically. “Are we talking about the spell broad? The one who cursed you to have to be nice to any woman you’re in love with?”

  Amon hated talking to Markku. Just the sound of the greasy man’s voice irritated him. He’d just spent ten minutes explaining exactly what he wanted him to do—a simple task really—and now he was forced to endure the usual inane series of questions that came with dealing with him.

  “Yes,” he said through gritted teeth.

  Markku scrunched up his face as if he’d just tasted a lemon for the first time. “And you want me to find her?”

  Amon wondered why anyone in the Soren kept this guy around. In utter frustration, he began to explain for the second time what he needed Markku to do.

  “Yeah, yeah. I know what you want me to do. I just don’t see why.”

  A flash of pure rage rose up in Amon, and he wanted to strangle the greasy man in front of him, but then he’d have no one to do what he needed. Reluctantly, he relaxed and worked to keep his tone calm.

  “I already told you. I want to know if I still have a destined one. I’ve recently had a sense that I may not.”

  Markku seemed placated by this answer and a thoughtful look passed over his face. He leaned up against the door and appeared to consider what he’d just heard as if any of it were negotiable.

  “Okay. I’m sure my guy in the Directorate can give us what we want, but I’m going to need some more information about her. And some cash. A lot of it because I have no doubt anyone checking into anyone even remotely connected to you now will be taking a huge risk.”

  “Fine. Have Gethen give you what you need. As for information, the last time I knew her she was Frederika Blake and lived in Hinwick in Bedfordshire, England in the late 1700s. She was my destined one for seventeen lifetimes at that point.”

  Amon thought for a moment of the description he’d just given. Seventeen lifetimes. When she’d come to him as Sevine all those lifetimes ago, they’d been so happy. Even now, as he thought about the memories they’d created, the children they’d brought into the world, a small smile crept onto his face.

  But somewhere along the way that happiness had turned into something hurtful and ugly, and he knew it had happened because of him. She hadn’t changed so much as grown tired of his ways. He’d been warned that his time with her would be a repeat of his lifetimes with his second destined one if he didn’t change.

  “Seventeen!” Markku exclaimed and then whistled. “God bless you and save me from a fate like that.”

  Markku’s insult brought Amon back to the present, and he sat up in his bed staring at the man and wondering in disgust why he hadn’t left yet.

  “Can I ask you something, Amon?”

  Sure he didn’t want to hear Markku’s question but just as sure he was too tired to scare the hell out of him so he’d leave, Amon simply stared back at him and Markku took the lack of any verbal threat as approval to ask his question.

  “Does this have anything to do with the girl?”

  Amon shrank his eyes into slits, letting Markku know he’d gone too far, so he hastily added, “Because I just wanted to say I was sorry for threatening her. And if I hurt her when I was bringing her here. I don’t know what she said, but I was just doing what Gethen told me to do so we didn’t lose you.”

  As he spoke, he fingered the bandage on his hand and looked down at the floor, and Amon knew he was at least somewhat sincere in what he said. Markku was a toady and any number of other repellent things, but he wasn’t truly a person who would harm a female intentionally.

  That didn’t mean he wanted to have a bonding session with the man, though, so Amon waved his hand and rolled over to avoid any more discussion with him. He was tired and wished to revisit Thea’s thoughts if he couldn’t see her.

  Closing his eyes, he realized he was even too tired to do that and drifted off to sleep thinking how much he hoped Markku would come back with the right answer.

  *

  Pain stabbed in Thea’s sides, and she slowed down to catch her breath next to a group of bushes. She’d run her fastest for fifteen minutes, but she knew she wasn’t safe yet. At any moment, they’d realize she was gone, if they hadn’t already, and would track her down.

  A twinge of sadness pinched at her when she thought of how Amon would feel when he found out she’d left. Their last conversation had been as kind as he’d been to her in her time there, and she knew he’d be hurt by her leaving. In truth, leaving hurt her too, but until he saw what they were meant to be, she couldn’t wait, a hostage in his home.

  What if he sent the same man to find her and bring her back? She believed Amon when he promised her she’d be safe as long as she was with him, and she knew that included keeping his henchman away from her.

  But I’m not with him anymore.

  Thea drew a deep breath and pushed away the sadness that had crept into her heart. She’d see Amon again. She just hoped he’d understand why she had to leave.

  She made her way to the nearest town and found a coffee shop on the first main road. The Cuppa Coffee Shop was empty, except for a waitress and one female sitting at the counter, and Thea hurriedly walked to the back of the restaurant just in case Gethen was still nearby running his errands.

  As she sat at the pale green Formica table, a heaviness settled inside her. He’d sent Gethen to get
her slippers.

  Stop it! You were being held against your will! Do not feel bad for saving yourself!

  What she did feel especially bad about was not performing as a healer. She knew he’d recover fully as she’d healed him sufficiently already, but it would take longer than if she were there for him. For that, she was truly sorry.

  “Honey, what can I get you?”

  Thea looked up and saw a top heavy older woman with teased white hair like cotton candy and pink stained lips. The waitress had a pen and order tablet and was ready to hear Thea’s choices from the combination paper menu and placemat placed on the table in front of her.

  In reality, she didn’t want anything, even though she hadn’t eaten in hours. Amon had sent Gethen to her room with food every few hours, and she’d finally given in when he brought the last tray and enjoyed a turkey sandwich and potato chips. What she really needed from the woman in front of her was information and a telephone.

  “Just a coffee, I guess. Can you tell me the name of this town?”

  “Cochecton, honey. Are you lost?”

  “No. Do you have a phone I can use?”

  “There’s a pay phone near the bathroom.”

  Thea ran her hands over her pants pockets hoping she’d left a spare dollar or two in them. Feeling something in the right one, she reached in to find a twenty-dollar bill. Thrilled, she looked up and smiled.

  “Can I get change?”

  “Sure, hon. Say, is that your boyfriend’s shirt? He must be a big, strappin’ man,” the waitress replied with a wink as she turned to get her coffee.

  Thea ran her hands down the sleeves and fingered the cuffs as she thought about the waitress’s word for Amon.

  Boyfriend.

  Returning with her coffee and change for the phone, the waitress smiled and went back to her discussion with the woman at the counter. Thea took a sip of lukewarm coffee that tasted like it had sat in the pot since the day before and pushed the cup and saucer away from her. Calling her sister was more important than a cup of coffee anyway.

  “Thea! Where are you? I’ve been worried sick!”

  As she listened to her sister’s fear coming through the phone loud and clear, Thea wished she could explain all that had happened in the past few days, but she knew she didn’t have the time. Every second she spent at the diner kept her in danger of being found.

  “Kat, I’ll explain everything, but I need you to come get me. How soon can you get to the town of Cochecton?”

  “Where?”

  Thea heard her sister tapping on her computer keyboard searching for directions.

  “Google maps say you’re seventy-five minutes away from me. I’m getting in my car right now.” Kat paused and the phone grew quiet. “Thea, are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, Kat. Just get to the Cuppa Coffee Shop in Cochecton as fast as you can. I’ll be inside.”

  “Okay. Don’t worry. I’ll drive fast,” her sister reassured her.

  Thea hurried into the ladies’ room and closed herself in one of the stalls. She knew Kat would make the trip in record time since she always drove fast. If Kat was behind the wheel, wherever you were going became a rollercoaster ride of thrills. For once, she was happy that her sister was a speed demon.

  Fifty minutes later Thea heard the bells on the door to the coffee shop jingle. Peaking out of the ladies’ room to see her sister standing near the counter, she motioned to Kat to come into the bathroom, hoping she’d noticed anyone outside.

  “Thea,” she said as she wrapped her arms around her. “What’s going on?” Looking her sister over, she continued, “And whose shirt is that?”

  “I’ll tell you later. Right now, I need to know if you saw anyone outside.”

  Kat knitted her eyebrows. “Thea, were you kidnapped?”

  “Kat!”

  “All right. No, I didn’t see anyone.”

  “Are you sure you didn’t see a man with black hair and a scar down the side of his face or a greasy man about five foot eight?”

  Thea watched as her sister shook her head. There was a chance she’d actually gotten away.

  “Okay. Then let’s get to your car and get out of here.”

  Thea closed her eyes not only to block out the usual fear she experienced in the passenger seat next to her sister but also to deter Kat from wanting to talk anymore about what she’d been through. Thea knew the vague explanation she’d offered wouldn’t suffice forever, but she truly hoped her closed eyes would convince her sister to let her curiosity rest for a while.

  As they rode over rural roads, Thea’s mind vaguely registered the sounds of the tires against the pitted pavement and the whirring sound of the wind whipping by the car. She wanted to shut her mind off from thinking, especially about Amon, but she could think of nothing else. She pictured the look on his face when he found she was gone, unsure of whether she should cast him as hurt or angry. Was she just flattering herself by thinking he’d be more hurt than anything else? Before their time together in her room, she’d have said yes, but the way he’d touched her, the things he’d said made her think otherwise.

  As she thought of Amon, the beginning notes of a song filtered out of the car’s stereo. Thea smiled at how it reminded her of Amon, not because he’d been what the song called a “devil” to her but because of what she knew her sister would say if she told her how she felt about him. A much younger Aeveren in just her tenth lifetime, Kat had no idea of the people Thea had met in her many lifetimes. Not everyone was as wonderful as Kat. In fact, not everyone was even as wonderful as the three men who’d held her captive for the past two days, Thea thought as she remembered another time in her history when she’d been forced to heal someone.

  “He must live! Heal him!” the Tsar’s guard bellowed next to her head, so loud her ears began to ring.

  “I cannot help him if you continue to berate me,” she said looking up at him. “I’ll do what I can, but yelling at me won’t help him.”

  “What is your name, healer?” the guard asked as he adjusted his hold on his gun.

  “Yevtsye Karevshenko, sir.”

  “And you are the local healer here?” he asked as his eyes scanned her small house in disgust.

  “I am. There isn’t another healer until you reach the border.”

  The guard seemed even more disgusted by this news and snorted before going outside to speak to the other guards.

  Turning to the man who lay across her table, she gently ran her hands over his head. He’d been rendered unconscious after a mysterious attack had thrown him from his horse and her Aeveren neighbors, seeing the Russian Tsar Nicholas I was a fellow Aeveren, directed his guards to bring him to her.

  For more than a half hour, he’d laid there unconscious while Yevtsye tried to revive him and dealt with his guard’s intimidation and impatience. She’d examined him but found nothing physically wrong, except for his inability to wake.

  Over and over, she touched his head hoping to sense some feeling of pain but felt nothing. She moved her hands to his torso, opening the top of his heavy military uniform coat. Carefully, she unbuttoned each shiny gold button until she was able to see his white uniform shirt underneath. As she moved to lift it, the guard returned and placed the end of the gun’s barrel in her back.

  “What are you doing?” he barked.

  Terrified, she slowly lifted her hands and began to explain. “I cannot find anything wrong with his head. I want to check his chest and stomach.” As she spoke, her voice wavered as the feel of the gun in her back began to hurt.

  The guard retreated to the other side of the table and watched her movements carefully. Slowly, she lifted her patient’s shirt to examine his skin for any evidence of illness or injury. Her hands moved over his rough skin sprinkled with thick black hair, and she noted each section of his body until she turned to the guard.

  “There is no reason for him to not wake. I’ve checked him thoroughly, and I can find nothing.”

  Enraged, the guard
lunged at her over the patient’s legs, pushing her back against the wall. As she pleaded for mercy, he slapped her face repeatedly, causing her to cry out in pain. Finally, he pulled her by the hair back toward the Tsar and held her there.

  “Heal him or die. It’s that simple.”

  Tears rolled down over her cheeks and fell onto the man’s chin and neck as she prayed for a miracle to save both the Tsar’s life and hers. Nothing in her abilities as a healer seemed to help her revive him.

  Beneath her, she saw the slight flutter of his eyelashes as he began to wake. Hoping to God he wasn’t about to die, she gently stroked his face as she whispered to him.

  “Tsar, please wake. Are you well?”

  The patient’s dark brown eyes opened slowly, and Yevtsye thanked God for hearing her prayers. Gruffly, he asked the guard, “Ivan, where am I?”

  “My lord, right outside the village where you were thrown from your horse.”

  Slowly, the Tsar raised himself to sit upright and looked at Yevtsye as if to study her. He turned to face his man and ordered, “Get the guard ready. I’m ready to travel.”

  Ivan bowed and left to alert his men of the plans, and the Tsar said, “Did he hurt you?”

  Silently, she nodded and touched her hand to her still stinging cheek.

  “I’m sorry, healer. Ivan isn’t Aeveren. He has no respect for what you do.”

  “He threatened to kill me if I couldn’t heal you, but I found no injuries or illness to heal.”

  Standing, he held his hand out to her and explained, “I have the shaking sickness my mother had. Nobody but my personal healer knows this, but I foolishly left him at home.”

  Bowing his head slightly, the Tsar apologized for inconveniencing her and left with his men without another word.

  What she’d gone through at Amon’s was nothing compared to having her life threatened by a Russian soldier. Thea thought about the time she’d spent at Amon’s house, wishing she could tell Kat the wonderful news that finally she’d been given a destined one. Unfortunately, even he didn’t believe that was true.