“You chase me away from you, yet you find me in your dreams. What does that say about you, A-ya?”
“That is not my name! Not in this lifetime!”
“‘Not in this lifetime’ you say. That means you have accepted the truth. You know your soul is the reincarnation of the maiden fashioned by the Ani Yunwiya to love me. Perhaps that is why you keep coming to me in your dreams, because even though your waking mind resists, your soul, your spirit, your very essence yearns to be with me.”
He used the ancient word for the Cherokee people—my grand-ma’s people and mine. I knew the legend. A beautiful, winged immortal had come to live with the Cherokee, but instead of being a benevolent earthbound god, he was cruel. He abused the women and used the men. Finally, the Wise Women of the tribes, known as Ghigua Women, came together and created a maiden from the earth. They gave A-ya life, as well as special gifts. Her purpose was to use Kalona’s lust to lure him underground so that he could be trapped within the earth. Their plan worked. Kalona couldn’t resist A-ya and he was trapped within the earth—or at least he had been until Neferet had freed him.
And now that I’d shared a memory with A-ya, I knew only too well the truth of that legend.
Truth, my mind reminded me. Use the strength of the truth to fight him.
“Yes,” I admitted. “I know I am the reincarnation of A-ya.” I drew a deep, centering breath, turned around, and faced Kalona. “But I am today’s reincarnation of her, which means I make my own choices, and I will not choose to be with you.”
“And yet you continue to come to me in your dreams.”
I wanted to deny that I’d come to him—to say something smart and High Priestess—like, but all I could do was stare at him. He was so beautiful! As usual, he was underdressed. I guess the better description would be undressed. He had on jeans, and that was it. His skin was bronze and perfect. It covered his muscles with a smoothness that made me want to touch him. Kalona’s amber eyes were luminous. They met my gaze with a warmth and kindness that made my breath catch. He appeared about eighteen, but when he smiled he seemed even younger, more boyish, more accessible. Everything about him screamed super hot guy I should be going crazy over!
But that was a lie. Kalona was actually super-scary and super-dangerous, and I could never forget that—no matter what he appeared to be—no matter what the memories planted deep within my soul yearned for him to be.
“Ah, so you finally deign to look at me.”
“Well, you wouldn’t go away and leave me alone, so I figured I’d be polite,” I said with forced nonchalance.
Kalona threw back his head and laughed. The sound was infectious and warm and very seductive. It made me ache to move closer to him and join him in the freedom of his laughter. I wanted it so much that I’d almost taken a step toward him when his wings chose that moment to stir. They quivered and then spread partially open so that the sunlight glistened against their black depths, illuminating the indigo and purple that usually hid within their darkness.
The sight of them was like running into an invisible wall. I remembered again what he was—a dangerous fallen immortal who would like to steal my free will and, eventually, my soul.
“I don’t see why you’re laughing,” I said quickly. “I’m telling you the truth. I’m looking at you because I’m polite, even though I really wish you’d fly away and let me dream in peace.”
“Oh, my A-ya.” His expression sobered. “I can never leave you in peace. You and I are bound. We will be each other’s salvation, or each other’s doom.” He took a step closer to me and I mirrored his movement by taking a step backward. “Which shall it be? Salvation or doom?”
“I can only speak for myself.” I made my voice stay calm, and was even able to add a touch of sarcasm to it, though I could feel the cool stone of the balcony balustrade pressing like the walls of a prison cell against my back. “But both sound pretty bad. Salvation? Jeesh, you’re reminding me of the People of Faith, and since they’d consider you a fallen angel, that doesn’t make you much of an expert on salvation. Doom? Well, seriously, you’re still reminding me of the People of Faith. Since when did you become so boringly religious?”
In two steps he closed the space between us. His arms became bars, caging me between the stone balustrade and him. His wings shivered, opening around him so that he eclipsed the sun with his own dark brilliance. I could feel the terrible, wonderful chill that always emanated from him. It should have repelled me, but it didn’t. That awful coldness drew me at a soul-deep level. I wanted to press myself against him and be carried away by the sweet pain he could bring.
“Boring? Little A-ya, my lost love, for centuries mortals have been calling me many things, but boring is not one of them.”
Kalona towered over me. There was just so much of him! And there was all that naked skin… I wrenched my gaze from his chest and looked up into his eyes. He was smiling down at me, perfectly relaxed and completely in control. He was so darn hot I could hardly breathe. Sure, Stark and Heath and, yes, Erik, were cute guys—exceptionally cute guys, actually. But they were nothing compared to Kalona’s immortal beauty. He was a masterpiece, the statue of a god that personified physical perfection, only he was even more attractive because he was alive—he was here—he was here for me.
“I–I want you to step back.” I tried unsuccessfully to keep my voice from shaking.
“Is that truly what you want, Zoey?”
His use of my name jolted through me, affecting me much more than when he called me A-ya. My fingers pressed hard into the stone of the castle as I tried to ground myself and not fall under his spell. I drew a deep breath and got ready to lie and tell him yes, I sure as hell did want him to step away from me.
Use the power of truth. The words whispered through my mind.
What was the truth? That I had to fight myself not to leap into his arms? That I couldn’t stop thinking about A-ya’s surrender to him? Or that other truth—that I wished I was just a normal kid whose most stressful problems were homework and mean girls?
Tell the truth.
I blinked. I could tell the truth.
“Right now what I really want is sleep. I want to be normal. I want to worry about school and paying my car insurance and how stupidly expensive gas is right now. And I’d seriously appreciate it if you could do anything about those things.” I held his gaze with my own, letting that one sliver of truth lend me strength.
His smile was young and mischievous. “Why don’t you come to me, Zoey?”
“Well, see, that wouldn’t actually give me any of those things I just mentioned.”
“I could give you so much more than those mundane things.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you could, but none of it would be normal, and right now what I’d truly like more than anything is a very big dose of normal.”
He met my gaze, and I could tell that he was waiting for me to falter, for me to get all nervous and stuttery, or worse, to panic. But I had told him the truth, and that was a small, shining victory for me, one that lent me power. It was Kalona who finally looked away, Kalona whose voice was suddenly halting and unsure. “I don’t have to be like this. For you, I could be more.” His eyes met mine again. “I could choose a different path were you by my side.”
I tried not to show the flood of emotions his words had caused within me as he touched the part of me that A-ya had awakened.
Find the truth, my mind insisted; and, again, I found it and spoke it. “I wish I could believe you, but I don’t. You’re gorgeous and magical, but you’re also a liar. I don’t trust you.”
“But you could,” he said.