Fates Entwined: Halven Rising

I’m dying.

Reese’s thoughts came in fragments. The fraternity party. Angry men. Fae. She had never so much as broken a bone, but somehow she knew she was close to death.

Where were the flashbacks of good times? Where was the sense of peace she was supposed to feel?

Her body shook, but that was all it would do. She couldn’t get it to move, not even to open her eyelids. And a tight band of heat wrapped around her.

Uncomfortable. She whimpered.

“You will be all right,” a deep, melodic voice said, though the man’s tone appeared laced with fear.

That voice. She knew it, didn’t she? Was he one of the men who’d captured her? No. They were cruel. This man wasn’t.

“Open your eyes,” he said.

She wanted to, but they wouldn’t cooperate.

“Please, Reese.”

This time there was anguish in his tone. He worried for her.

She was going to die and she’d done nothing with her life, not really. She wasn’t ready.

She must have drifted off, because her next thought was that the tight band of heat around her was still suffocating, but she was beginning to feel sensation in her limbs. And someone was running a very large hand up and down her back.

Okay, maybe she wasn’t dying. She snuggled closer to the heat in front of her face and brushed her nose against—skin?

Reese blinked her eyes open. She squinted and waited for them to focus…on a man’s chest.

He was the warmth she’d sensed surrounding her. And he wasn’t wearing clothes.

What the…? Reese tried to move away. But even though she got her eyelids to cooperate, her body was more sluggish.

“It’s okay. You are safe, but you need to stay close to me. You were too cold,” he said. “The blankets weren’t working.”

Reese angled her head back and peered up, up…at the face of an angel. White-blond hair that brushed his shoulders, and the most beautiful masculine features she’d ever seen.

Oh, hell no. “You?” she croaked, her throat dry.

She wiggled until some much-needed inches separated her from the hot Fae guard who’d protected her roommate this past week—and frustrated Reese to no end with his pompous attitude. “Where’s Elena, Keen? And what am I doing here?”

He reached over and tucked blankets around her like a mother hen. She could see that he wasn’t as unclothed as she’d first thought; he’d only removed his shirt. And, of course, he had an amazing body underneath all the black he typically wore.

She frowned and slapped his hands away. “Knock it off!”

“You must stay warm. I didn’t think you’d…”

“I was dying.”

He lifted his emerald gaze to hers. “Yes.”

The jewel tone of Keen’s eyes had been alarming when she first met him. They still unnerved her. They were beautiful, there was no getting around that, but the way he looked at her now, with intensity and a confusing air of fear, set her mind whirling.

Reese drew in a steady breath and accepted the glass of water he handed her. She gulped down the liquid and choked.

“You have gone too long without food or water,” he said. “You must drink slowly.”

She took another sip and handed the glass back to him. “Why are you giving me water and keeping me warm? Aren’t you here to finish me off?”

Keen’s head notched back as if he were surprised.

Well, what did he expect after his people kidnapped her?

The arrogant look he normally wore replaced his worried expression.

This was more like it. This was the Keen she knew.

“I am here to help you,” he said. “Elena insisted on it. The Newlander queen who imprisoned you was…forgetful. She left you in the care of someone unfamiliar with the needs of humans. I pointed out your dire physical state, and she allowed me time to help you heal. You must relax. You are not well, and this excitement cannot be good for your body.” His gaze dipped.

Even though she was completely hidden beneath the ten inches of covers he’d packed over her, Reese’s legs shifted under his stare, her flesh slipping across cold sheets. All of her flesh, with the exception of the thin pair of panties she wore. She hadn’t bothered with a bra under her fitted dress. “You took my clothes off while I was unconscious? Goddammit, Keen!”

He let out a long-suffering sigh. “I assure you, it required little effort with the amount of apparel you wear, or lack thereof. That red bandage you call a dress barely covered your—”

“You arrogant—”

“Reese, I did not save your life only to argue with you.” He propped up on one elbow, his broad shoulders encroaching on the space between them, and cocked his head. “It is impressive that after all you’ve been through, you have the energy to yell at me.”

He made a good point. She felt like hell.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she was calm again, she opened them. “What is going on? Why did they leave me down there to die?”

Keen lay back and stared at the ceiling. “They didn’t intend to kill you. Most Fae have never spent time on Earth and don’t understand the needs of humans. Ulric didn’t realize you require food and warmth to survive. Fae are nearly immortal. We only die under extreme circumstances, and until recently, we’ve never known disease. We do not get sick, and injuries and malnourishment are not enough to kill us, unless the deprivation goes on for months.”

So they hadn’t meant to kill her. “What about the things they said? That woman—the one with the gray hair—she suggested I was Halven. I thought she was confused, but then she and that man, Marlon, mentioned my father. And they weren’t talking about my dad. They were talking about a Fae.”

Keen’s gaze snapped to Reese. “No.” His eyes were wide, intense again.

She snorted. “That’s what I said.”

He took in her body, as though he could see through the blankets. Then he reached out and tried to pull back the covers. “It cannot be.”

“Hey!” She slapped his hand away a second time.

She might wear the sexy dresses her mother bought her, but Reese’s body was hers and she didn’t give free looks. In fact, only one guy had seen what lay underneath her clothes, though everyone believed differently. Didn’t matter if they thought she slept around. And it didn’t matter what Keen thought either, because she knew the truth.

Keen grabbed her trembling hand, twisting it this way and that. “The signs: shaking, which happens when Halven come into their powers; surviving for days under extreme circumstances no human could have survived.” His bright gaze lifted to hers. “I sense it now.” He stared past her. “I try not to sense anything around you, but if I pay attention—I sense it. The energy level you give off…different from before. You are Halven.” A hint of fear touched his voice.

Reese swallowed and looked away. Her roommate Elena was Halven, and she had strange abilities. Reese didn’t want that. She wanted to be normal. Badass, but normal. “If it’s true, that would mean my mom slept with one of you. I don’t think my father could have slipped a newborn in under my mother’s nose.” She rolled to her back and covered her face with her hands.

What was happening? She was supposed to go to college and build a new life—far away from the deranged one her parents had subjected her to. And now she found herself in a world more complex and disturbing than the one she’d left behind?

Keen’s large palm covered her hands, and she realized her cheeks were damp with tears. He lifted her still trembling hand and twined their fingers. Sliding closer, he bridged the gap she’d created between them. And then his arm was surrounding her and pulling her close. “It will be all right.”

She breathed in his scent. He smelled of cedar and something masculine and good. Comforting. Dammit. “Why are you being so nice?”

She felt his heart skip a beat beneath her cheek. “Rest,” he said. “You need sleep in order to recover fully.”

That wasn’t an answer, but she was too tired to argue.

It seemed like seconds later when Reese woke again. She was wrapped in Keen’s arms. And her bare chest was flattened against his without the blankets separating them.

Reese sucked in a breath. Keen had a firm hold on her, but his breathing was even, a light vibration coming from his throat—not a snore, more like a deep purr. Kind of cute, but shit! At some point the blankets had fallen, and she was still nearly naked. She must have snuggled up to keep warm. How the heck was she supposed to get out of this without waking him?

She gingerly reached down for covers and slowly pulled a blanket higher.

Keen shifted, his breathing less modulated. He tightened his hold on her, and the precarious grasp she had on the blanket broke.

His head dipped into her hair and he seemed to breathe in, his nose nuzzling her ear.

She froze, her heart pounding in her chest.

A second later, the press of Keen’s fingers on her back stilled. “Reese?” His voice was groggy and deep.

“Yep, still me.”

He let out a harsh sigh, and one by one lifted his fingers from her back, until his hand was no longer on her at all. He rolled away and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He sat there for a moment, forearms on his black-clad thighs, staring straight ahead. “My apologies.”

Reese gathered the blanket and brought it up and around her. “Do you always snuggle with your prisoners?”

Another harsh breath escaped his chest and he stood. “You’re not my prisoner. But no, I do not.”

For a moment, her heart was jumping all over the place. At his words, and at the appearance of him without his shirt on, which had her belly somersaulting. The man had an amazingly broad, muscular back.

But this was Keen—the arrogant, aloof Fae who protected her roommate. Reese had never liked him, and it was best to remember that. Especially when he wasn’t wearing his shirt.

Her stomach rumbled loudly. Embarrassingly. “Would it be too much to ask for some food? I will take unseasoned broth at this point. Matter of fact, that sounds heavenly.”

He ran his hand through his hair, the breadth of his back and shoulders and the movement of muscles beneath his skin distracting her again. He shook his head and pulled a black long-sleeved shirt from a gold-upholstered chair, tugging it over his head. “Of course. I should have had something brought up.”

He strode to the door of the large bedroom and opened it no more than an inch, then mumbled something to someone outside. Without looking at her, Keen crossed the room to a wooden wardrobe. “You should dress.”

Actually, come to think of it, Keen hadn’t looked at her since he’d awakened. He’d been avoiding it entirely.

“Well, I would be dressed if someone hadn’t decided to take off my clothes,” she said saucily.

This time he glanced over, his expression stony. “You were dying. Removing that piece of fabric you used in place of a gown was the only way to save your life. You needed heat.”

Reese swallowed and plastered a sarcastic smile on her face. She didn’t want to remember the dungeon and the fear that had smothered her while she lay there unable to move, barely able to breathe—wanted to forget it entirely. “Heat? You mean your body?”

He growled. Actually growled. “You will dress.” He grabbed something from the wardrobe, seemingly without thought, and tossed it at her. “Then we will see about getting you out of here.”

Reese raised her hand and caught the gown in midair, the billowing skirt flouncing down around her arms.

She pulled it forward and stared at the pale blue monstrosity, scrunching her nose. “You can’t be serious. Don’t you have anything from this century?” Keen frowned, and she rolled her eyes. “Fine. Turn around so I can put this thing on.” She’d glimpsed other doors in the room—likely a bathroom among them—but she had no energy to stand.

He did as she asked—shocking—and faced the wall. The one with a green mural depicting winged warriors in a bloody battle. Not exactly the motif she’d go for in a bedroom, but it was luxury compared to the dank cell where they’d originally held her.

The stone dungeon, the four-poster bed she’d just slept in, and the rest of this ornate room—it was as though she’d entered another century. “We are in the same time dimension, right?” she asked. “I didn’t get sent back in history or anything, did I?”

He sighed in exasperation. “Time travel is a human fiction. The Tirnan timeline coincides with the Earth realm…for the most part.”

For the most part?

She shook her head. Did it matter? She was stuck here and had bigger things to worry about. Like why they wanted her. Where Elena was. And how she was going to get home.

Reese attempted to slip the puffy dress, which had enough fabric to cover three women, over her head. It took forever, but she managed to pull her arms through the proper holes and get it fastened with a bit of wiggling and stretching. At least Fae utilized modern conveniences like zippers.

She tried to lift her arms over her head, but only managed to get them halfway up. The cut of the gown prevented full mobility.

Whenever she’d seen Keen he was in a slim black uniform and military boots. This couldn’t be what his people wore on a regular basis.

“You can turn around now.” She tugged on the collar that covered her neck. “What’s with the double standards? I don’t see men walking around in frilly shirts.”

Keen’s mouth quirked as he took in the gown. “Finally, you wear clothing.”

“Why in the world would you prefer a woman in this?”

“It is proper. It is also what those at the palace don. Not everyone in this realm has such luxury. You should feel fortunate.” Keen tilted his head toward the door. “Your food has arrived.”

A knock sounded a second later, and Reese started. “How did you know someone was at the door? I didn’t hear anything until they knocked.”

He walked away, ignoring her.

Typical. Did he ever answer a straight question?

She craned her neck to see if her food had in fact arrived as Keen predicted.

He greeted the person at the door and accepted a large tray, deftly toeing the thick wooden door closed behind him. He strode to the bed and placed the tray on top of the mattress beside her.

Reese leaned over and lifted lids off plates. Pastries, there were pastries…and tea, butter…some kind of fruit thing shaped like a purple heart. She’d pass on the weird fruit, but yay for pastries.

Breaking off a hunk of croissant, she shoved it in her mouth and closed her eyes, moaning with pleasure. “How do you plan to get me out of here?” she said around a mouthful of food. Not exactly elegant, but given she was hungry enough to ingest her arm, manners went out the window. “They didn’t seem anxious to let me go.” She eyed a dish of jam and slathered it on her next bite. “Said they wanted to monitor me for powers.”

Keen shook his head. “Not all Halven acquire powers. It is extremely rare. Your roommate was one of the exceptions. A Halven must be of royal blood—the closest lineage to the angels—to have a chance of possessing abilities. Even then, it is not guaranteed.”

Reese stopped chewing and raised her eyebrow. “Angels? No wonder you’re all so high and mighty. In any case, that Marlon guy said he sensed powers in me, and the woman agreed.”

Keen strode to the window, staring out. “It is highly unlikely you will gain powers.”

“But they told me—”

“I will go to them and discuss your release,” he said. “They kidnapped you in order to get to Elena before she could create a cure for the disease. She managed to cure it anyway. They have no more use for you.” He leaned his wide palms against the frame of the window. “If they do not wish another war with Emain, they will negotiate your release.”

Reese shrugged and kept eating. Keen didn’t believe she had powers, and why should she care? It was a far-fetched notion.

She considered the bracelet Marlon had been interested in. She pulled up the sleeve of her dress, because the darn thing covered every inch of her skin. As though her body were shameful—which made her hate the dress even more. “While you’re down there, find out about this emblem. They said it’s my father’s. If nothing else, I’d like to know who he is.”

Keen turned, eyes narrowing on her arm. He walked over and went to one knee in front of her, lightly touching the bracelet.

Up close, Reese saw the smoothness of his pale skin and the light beard that had grown overnight along his square jaw that was a few shades darker than his hair. His lips were full, a light raspberry. She could believe Keen descended from angels. His beauty was otherworldly and annoyingly distracting. Fortunately, his irritating personality offset all the hotness.

Keen made a sound deep in his throat. One of frustration. He said something in a language she didn’t understand, but that she’d bet was a curse, given the vehemence behind it. He stood.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, preferring this side of Keen. Cuddly Keen had her going all gooey inside. Grumpy Keen was much easier to handle.

He strode toward the door. “Remain here until I return.”

Reese was about to argue with his order, but then she reconsidered. The food was in this room and she was starved; no need to get sassy now. But Keen could damn well expect a full interrogation once he returned.

Her bracelet had meant something to him; she could see it on his face. And she wanted to know what that was.