A Soul For Atonement (The Soulbearer Series Book 4) by Crista McHugh Read Free Book Online Page B

wasn’t alone.
    Near the window and looking rather uncomfortable in the confined quarters stood Sazi.
    Arden stopped short and glared at the Ornathian. “What are you doing here?”
    “Please sit down and have a cup of tea, daughter,” Varrik said without looking up.
    Cinder abandoned her for a bowl of roasted meat beside the fireplace, but Arden stayed where she was. “Not until she answers my question.”
    “ That’s it, Arden. Find out what she’s hiding, why she’s always interfering with your attempts to save Dev, ” Loku said. “ If I didn’t know better, I’d say she couldn’t wait to spill his blood .”
    The same image of Dev being led to the altar for execution flashed in front of her eyes, only this time, it was Sazi swinging the club.
    Arden’s throat choked, and she stumbled back a step. The violent images were nothing more than Loku trying to bend her to his will by using fear, and yet, no matter how many times she told herself that, it did little to ease the panic swirling in her gut.
    Sazi tilted her head to the side, her ebony brow creased with concern. “What is he telling you, Soulbearer?”
    “Nothing of your concern.” She turned to her father. “If she’s here, then you already know what happened to Dev.”
    “I do, and I’m terribly sorry to hear it.” He held out a cup.
    Arden sized up the two mages before her, wondering what her odds were in successfully learning the new location of Loku’s ashes. “ Great, I’m already thinking like Dev. If this keeps up, I’ll be praying to Lady Luck. ”
    “ Not as long as you have me .” Loku’s magic filled her veins. “ We’re wasting time, Arden. Time Dev doesn’t have. ”
    He was right. She should be finding what she came here for, not having tea with the man who held the information that could save Dev’s life. She succumbed in desperation and welcomed the power he offered her, but like a bursting dam, it overran her defenses and left her struggling for control.
    Her father set the cup aside, his blue eyes deadly serious. “Arden, I strongly recommend you sit down and hear us out.”
    Her mouth moved, but it was Loku’s voice that came out. “Where is it?”
    “Where is what, Loku?” Varrik asked, the countenance of his face reflecting the same calmness as his voice.
    Her muscles tightened like a tiger waiting to spring. “My body.”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Liar!” Before she could stop him, Loku lifted her arm and shot a ball of yellow-green magic from her palm toward Varrik.
    Her father barely blinked as the spell collided with the protective dome of his shield. “Arden, remember, it’s you who control him, not the other way around.”
    “Ah, but she let me take control.” Loku launched another spell, this time creating hundreds of tiny fissures in Varrik’s shield. “You’re no match for a god.”
    The third spell shattered Varrik’s defenses, and her father fell to his knees. Loku wasted no time invading his mind. Years of memories flew by in a haze, but one particular memory drove the breath from her lungs.
    Her mother’s face, staring up in love at her father.
    Guilt slammed into her like a knight’s jousting lance, and she scrambled to regain control. “ Stop it, Loku .”
    “No, Arden,” he said aloud, “not until I find what I want.” A fresh wave of power surged through her, raw and greedy and full of hatred. Varrik cried out, pressing the heels of his hands to his temples. “Where did you hide it?”
    Unshed tears gathered in the corners of her eyes as she watched her father suffer. She had to end this. She had to be the Soulbearer. Arden gathered her own magic and focused on the containment spells Dev and Varrik had taught her.
    Before she could cast the first spell, though, something smashed against the back of her head, and her world turned black.
    ***
    Callix’s chest heaved as he lifted the hilt of his sword to deliver another blow, if needed.
    But the Soulbearer didn’t move. A