Divine Destiny: Serendipity Saga Book Two

Chapter Thirty-One

I didn't want to contemplate the meaning of his words. What would I have been projecting?

Emotions churned within me and I knew what it was that I was trying so desperately to ignore. I knew what he had heard. I desired him. Like we were destined to be with one another, I felt an irresistible draw to him. I was doing all I could to fight that draw but it only seemed to get more alluring.

And he felt the same. That might've rocked me even more than the realization about how I felt. When we had met, I had been nothing to him except his ticket to power. But things were different between us now. I had forgiven him for what he had done and it seemed to have made us even more inseparable. Something had grown there and I was terrified to face it.

Carson was mine and I was his. We had a connection too. A different one but it was there. He felt like the person I wanted to be with. Anton felt like someone I needed to be with. I was fighting desperately to make that choice on my own. Want or need?

Kellic's peered up at me while I pondered, watching me with a shielded gaze. I turned to face her fully. She was underfed. Not in food, but in blood. Her skin was ashen, her eyes dull. Something in me twisted in pain at the sight. She looked like a shell of herself.

After several silent seconds, she swiveled her feet slowly from the bed to the floor and hunched forward, her elbows on her knees. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" she asked bitterly.

A fountain of dark and hateful thoughts erupted from her mind. I grimaced, the volume piercing my head.

Anton cleared his throat and as he did, a ripple of calming energy flowed over me and into the cell. The voices didn't silence entirely but they faded into obnoxious background noise. I could function over it.

I was about to speak when a tiny sound brushed me. I hesitated. It felt familiar yet...not. I focused more solely on it and clarity seized me.

I had found her. The real Kellic. Beneath the maddening screams was my best friend. She was sobbing. Well, not really. But the image the thing sent to me was it's equivalent.

Every part of my body froze, ice clenched in my chest. She was drowning beneath that hideous darkness.

"Why are you here?" she said softly.

I took a deep breath, washing the stiffness from me. "I wanted to see you," I replied, "to see how you were doing."

She laughed harshly. "The sights not the greatest is it?" She fanned herself with one hand like Vanna White.

I knelt down, sitting outside of the cell's wall. "You've looked better," I said with a small smile.

She softened at that. "I shouldn't have messed with that thing. And neither should you," she said sternly.

I couldn't help the warmth that filled my cheeks right then. "Why did you? When did you?" I asked, deflecting.

She sighed. "I found the amulet during the tour." She paused, watching me, then flicking her eyes to Anton before bringing them back to me. "I notified Damien who...told me to keep it away from you."

I stared at her blankly and for a moment felt that this being wasn't Kellic at all. My best friend would never keep something like that from me? Right?

"In the process of keeping it away from you," she continued, "I decided to start...playing with it."

Her fingers twitched while she spoke, as though needing to hold something but she didn't seem to notice.

"The gem amplified my abilities. Especially my healing ability. I...tested it a lot." Her eyes swung to the floor, refusing to meet either of our gazes. "At our return, I gave the amulet to Damien. It didn't get to bed until...", her eyes swiveled up to mine, "until you started using it."