Redemption (The Chosen #4) Read online

“To you and to Alex, of course it does. But it means nothing to me. Emma will do anything to save her son. Her bonding to Will is an inconvenience, but the bottom line is she will have to choose. Will or Jake. We both know the choice she’ll make.”

  Raphael’s gaze pierced Jake. “Do we?”

  Anger bubbled in Jake’s chest. Mommy would always choose him. Wouldn’t she? Or would Will make her pick him?

  “You underestimate a mother’s love, Raphael.”

  “And you underestimate the strength of Will’s.”

  “Then we shall agree to disagree and see how it all plays out in the end.”

  “What about our arrangement?”

  “We have no arrangement. However, you have provided key information my men failed to report. If you find out something else, come to me with it and we’ll revisit the idea.”

  “You seriously think I’m going to just come back and hand you information without a guarantee that you’ll help me?”

  “Yes.”

  “You fucking—”

  “Language, Raphael. Need I remind you that there is a small child present?”

  “I know for a fact you’ve killed countless household staff in front of him, but you don’t want him to hear coarse language? That’s rich.”

  “Killing is a necessary evil. Bad language is not.”

  Raphael took several steps closer to Jake, bending over to look into his face. “I’m going to see your mother soon.” Raphael grinned. “Is there anything you’d like me to tell her?”

  Jake gritted his teeth to keep from crying. He wanted to talk to Mommy himself, not give a message to Raphael. Would Raphael try to hurt her again? “Tell her I tried to kill you for her.”

  Raphael laughed. “Anything else?”

  I love you. Don’t forget me. “No.”

  Raphael turned his back and looked over his shoulder. “I’ll be in touch.”

  Jake watched Raphael walk away, cringing with fear. Aiden had found him listening to their conversation, and he wasn’t about to let that go unpunished.

  Aiden sat in his chair and crossed his legs. “Jacob, come sit with me.”

  Head lowered, Jake moved to the chair next to Aiden, placing his hands on his knees.

  “Do you know what your mother has done?” Aiden’s voice had a softer tone than Jake expected, and he looked up in surprise.

  He shook his head.

  “Your mother has joined with Will. They have united their power and their souls forever. It’s an unbreakable bond. It’s like they were married, only permanent. There’s no way out of it.”

  Will loved Mommy and would try to protect her. That was probably a good thing if Raphael was going to find her.

  “Do you know what it means for you?”

  Jake was afraid of that part. What did it mean? Raphael thought it meant Mommy picked Will. He shook his head again.

  “Your mother will be forced to make a choice when the final battle occurs. Only two can survive, Jacob. Your mother will be forced to pick you or Will.”

  Was Aiden right? Would she be forced to choose?

  “Your mother loves you. She’s proved this many times to me. She’d do anything for you. You know that, don’t you?”

  Jake bit his lip to keep it from quivering, then nodded.

  “Your mother would never purposely pick Will over you, but Will forced her to make a choice that gives him an advantage. Will took advantage of your mother.”

  Jake doubted Will would take advantage of Mommy. He loved her.

  “He may love her, but he’s going to make sure that things work out in his favor.” Jake had let his guard down and Aiden was back in his head. “Will tricked her.”

  “Will loves Mommy. He would never trick her.”

  “I know your mother. She loves you with everything in her. If she knew that the joining could affect your survival, she would have never agreed.”

  “Is Will going to kill me?”

  Aiden tried to give Jake a reassuring smile but it looked wrong on his face. “All the rules have changed. Thanks to Will’s father, Marcus.”

  Aiden said that Marcus had been planning this for a long time. The night Marcus came to Jake’s room, Marcus knew. He knew it all. He knew Emma and Will would join. He knew Jake would be left with no one. Why had Marcus taught Jake how to hide his thoughts from Aiden? Why did he tell Jake that he was the most important player in the game? Will, Alex, and Raphael all wanted Emma. Mommy was the most important.

  “She will still choose you, Jake, of this I’m sure.”

  Jake looked up at Aiden in confusion. Why was he pretending to be nice? He was acting like the Aiden who he used to know, the Aiden who visited him in his dreams before the Bad Men took him.

  Aiden’s face softened and he smiled. “I’ve been too harsh with you, Jacob. With all of this end-of-the-world talk bandied around, it’s easy to forget that you’re only a little boy. A boy who’s lost his mother.”

  Tears sprang to Jake’s eyes, and he sniffed angrily.

  “You have nothing to worry about, Jake. Will’s tie to her will make the choice much harder on Emma, it’s true, but in the end she will choose you. I’m most worried that Will has added to her stress. She’ll need all of her concentration and focus. I’d hate to think that Will has distracted her and…”

  Aiden didn’t need to finish his sentence. Jake knew. And he knew what he had to do.

  Chapter Five

  Emma groaned in frustration. She’d been studying the book for several hours and so far she’d found little difference, or anything to help.

  “Maybe you should take a break. You look tired.”

  “I don’t have time to take a break.” She slammed her palm on the open pages. “Our lives depend on what’s in this damn thing.”

  Will reached over and rubbed her neck. “I know, but if you’re tired and frustrated, you might miss something. Just take a few minutes to clear your mind then go back to it.”

  “How the hell am I supposed to clear my mind? We’re going to die, Will, if I don’t figure out how to change this.” Even as the snide words left her mouth, she regretted them. Will was as stuck in this mess as she was. It was unfair to take her frustration out on him.

  She had no idea how they’d get out of this disaster. The math didn’t stand up. By her count there were seven players, seven of them who had elemental powers. That meant three wouldn’t participate in the final battle, a fact that Aiden was counting on. Aiden had planned all along to be one of those three. So who would be the four? There was no way Will would agree to stand on the sidelines if she were to battle for her life, but if there were some way to trick him into it, and some way to have Jake sit out as well…

  Perhaps joining with Will hadn’t been the best decision. Before they realized Will was the son of Water, she had to only get herself and Jake out the situation her father had created. But now that Will’s powers had been revealed, he could be forced into the ring. And they had to consider their mystical bond. They had no idea what it meant if one of them died. After Will’s demonstration last night, it was clear that her powers were weak, weaker than his. Aiden planned to force her to fight, to be one of the four. Even if she could figure out a way to get Will to stay on the sidelines, he still might die. Because of her.

  She had to come up with something within two weeks. It seemed totally hopeless, but she couldn’t watch them die. She’d spend every spare moment getting stronger and scouring the book for some answers.

  She leaned her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I’m just scared. We have no idea how much longer we have to figure this out before the end and we hope the answers are in this gibberish.”

  “We should have at least a couple of weeks. We’ll figure it out. Why don’t we look at what we do know?”

  “Yeah. Okay, that’s a good idea.” She took a deep breath and flipped to the page with the joining words, her biggest concern at the moment. “The joining words are here. I didn’t know them until I read t
hem in the coffee shop, but then it was like they were burned into my brain. When we joined last night, they were just there.”

  Will put his hand on the book. “Maybe there are some other kinds of oaths in there that can help us.”

  “I think we should study the joining words more. They may have a clue or insight to help us. Maybe they have another purpose.”

  “Their purpose was to bind us.”

  “But the words mean something, Will. They obviously have power.”

  “The power to bind us for eternity. They did their purpose.”

  Emma wasn’t ready to dismiss it.

  With echoes from the beginning of time

  To the last ray of light from the stars at the end

  I join my heart with yours

  onto an endless path that winds through infinity

  and sears our souls and power into an unbreakable bond

  Through life and death, and all that lies between

  I vow to be yours, forever

  The shadows on the seat darkened as she read aloud, creeping closer to her.

  “Did you see that?” She gripped the sides of the book with both hands.

  His shoulders straightened and he looked out the window. “See what?”

  “The shadows. They moved while I read the words. They also moved when I studied the book in Albuquerque.”

  “Maybe you’re imagining things.”

  “No, I’m not. Raphael said we ruled the shadow realm, so it makes sense that they might be affected by these words. And Raphael and Alex both claim that elementals—that we—don’t die but are instead exiled to the shadow world. I haven’t seen anything about that in the book yet.”

  “First, it’s hard to trust anything Raphael says. He would have promised you the moon to get you to join with him. But, we can’t dismiss it either, especially if you think the shadows moved.”

  She leaned over the book again. “‘With echoes of the beginning of time.’ What do you think that means?”

  “Maybe it’s power from the beginning of time. It has to be something powerful to bind us for eternity.”

  “It joins our hearts on an endless path through infinity.”

  “Another way of saying forever.”

  “‘Through life and death and all that lies between.’ That’s the part that scares me. What happens if one of us dies? Does it mean that we’re still bound or does it mean we die together?”

  “I don’t know. I’m in no hurry to find out.”

  “Me either.” Emma turned her head, positive that a shadow on the dashboard had moved. “Raphael had access to this book before but didn’t seem to know much. In fact, he suspected if we joined that we would know each other’s every thought, but he also said he wasn’t sure. So far that isn’t true with you and me.”

  Speak for yourself.

  She turned to him with a glare.

  “Don’t worry. I can’t read your thoughts. I purposely sent that thought to you.”

  So you can hear this?

  He grinned.

  “But can we read each other’s thoughts like Jake could?” She tried to push in to Will’s mind and met a wall. She tried not to let the relief show on her face. Even though she didn’t plan to keep secrets from Will, she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of being an open book.

  “No, apparently not, although you look relieved at that.”

  “You can’t say you welcomed it.”

  His eyes darkened. “There’s something to be said for privacy.”

  Emma turned a page. “There’s hardly anything in here about the final confrontation. Only this:

  “The battle shall end the fight

  When all four unite

  Four will fight, two will remain.

  And the end will restore

  The balance again.

  “I was reading that part right before Raphael showed up to get the book—I didn’t get to ‘the end would restore the balance’ then.” She read the section again. “Four will fight at the end and two will remain.”

  “It says remain, Emma. Not live. That means the two who don’t remain don’t necessarily die. There’s a possibility we could all survive.”

  “Not if Aiden has his way. That’s not his intention.”

  “Did you find anything else?”

  “Two things. The first is another type of oath, as you called it. It looks like the words give a transfer of power.”

  “What does it say?”

  With the shadows as my witness,

  I give to you an irrevocable gift

  Power and elemental control,

  And all that is mine.

  She looked up. “Do you think this is the oath Raphael and Alex took at the beginning of Aiden’s game?”

  Will shook his head. “It says irrevocable. They hope to get their full power back, and it seems like insanity for them to fight Aiden while their powers are partial. Not only does he have his own full power but part of theirs.”

  “But you told me, when I first started training, that energy can’t be created. It flows from one source to the next. Wouldn’t creating children weaken Aiden and Marcus’s power?”

  Tapping his thumb on the steering wheel, Will shook his head. “It makes sense. I think it would.” He turned to look at her. “But we have to take it a step further.”

  Her face rose to look into his eyes.

  “You. And Alex. You had Jake. If this theory is correct, your power would have been weakened. Alex’s, too, probably.”

  She leaned her head back into the seat. “I think you’re right. But Jake seems so powerful. More so than I am.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he is because both of his parents are elemental. It’s something to think about.”

  She suspected he was right. Which meant all the training in the world couldn’t help her. She’d have to outthink her father, rather than overpower him. Now she needed the book more than ever.

  “You said there was something else.”

  “Yeah.” She sat up and flipped the pages. “It’s more like a poem than an oath. Maybe even a prophecy. But I know it’s something because I have to use my power to read it.”

  “What does it say?”

  Earth and Air, Water and Fire,

  All are meant to rule apart and also as one

  The world suffers from imbalance until the end

  When one will be overcome

  By that which has no price.

  Will sat up, excited. “That last part. It’s in the prophecy. One will be overcome by that which has no price.”

  “One of us will save the world?”

  “It sounds like it.”

  Emma’s fingertips traced the words. “But which one of us? And what happens to the rest of us?”

  “I don’t know. The big question right now is who’s making the rules? Aiden or some supernatural force? Where did the prophecies come from? I suspect it wasn’t Aiden. He doesn’t want to restore a balance of power. If anything, he wants more.”

  She looked up at him. “Marcus said he wanted to restore a balance of power.”

  “Maybe so, but I still don’t trust him.”

  “I’m not saying we should trust him, but maybe he’s the one to restore the balance.”

  “At this point, it could be any of us.

  “So basically, we have a book with an oath and a pointless poem. Neither of which helps us very much.” Emma shut the book, nausea turning her stomach. “I can’t believe I destroyed half of Albuquerque for this. I killed countless people for nothing.”

  “Emma you didn’t know. And there still might be something in there you missed. Raphael and Alex were desperate to get it. You did the right thing.”

  “Did I, Will? It’s easy for you to say. There isn’t blood on your hands.”

  He turned her to face him. “Are you so sure? You forget my past, Emma.”

  Irritation burned through Emma, not at Will, but at herself for making him remember his time in Iraq and what he’d d
one since. He’d told her about a small portion of his time there, but she was sure there was so much more he kept to himself. “I’m sorry, Will. I’m worried I’m not strong enough.” She grabbed his hand and held tight. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not giving up, but we both know my power is weak. Probably the weakest of all of us.”

  “That’s not true. When it’s available to you, it’s just as strong as Raphael’s.”

  “When it’s available. When I’m scared, it’s almost completely gone.”

  “We’ll practice. The more confident you feel about using your power, the less scared you’ll be. Besides, you’ll do it to save Jake.”

  “And to save you.”

  Will brought her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I don’t need you to save me. I can take care of myself. I need you to focus on yourself, Emma. And Jake.” He rested their joined hands on his leg. “We’ll do the best we can with what we have. We have two advantages the others don’t. First, we’re joined, which we already know is a huge advantage since both Raphael and Alex were desperate to join with you. We’ll figure out how to use our joining to fight. But we have something else they don’t, Emma.” He paused and looked at her. “We’re fighting for something more than ourselves—we’re fighting for each other. That gives us greater power.”

  “Or becomes our greatest weakness.”

  “Only if we let it.”

  She wasn’t sure he was right, but she’d humor Will for now. She needed any scrap of hope she could get at this point.

  Hours later, she stood barefoot on the beach, sand squishing between her toes and the roar of ocean waves filling her ears. She stared at the expanse of water as the sun began to set.

  Will’s arm wrapped around her from behind and she leaned into his chest, releasing an exhausted sigh. Even though they’d taken turns driving and napped, she was still tired.

  Will brought his lips to her ear. “Is it what you thought it would be?”

  She wrapped her arms over his and clung to him. Her entire life she’d wanted to see the ocean and here it was in front of her, larger than she imagined. But the ocean’s beauty meant nothing now—all that mattered was that the ocean was a tool that Will could use to test his powers. And a reminder that Jake had been right all those years ago.