The Tangled Tree Read online

  Cursing under my breath, I sucked on my fingers for a moment until the heat faded a bit, and then double-checked to make sure that I hadn’t melted any of Elena’s handiwork but my nails looked perfect- gold flecked and encrusted with tiny diamantés. I sighed and stood up, and then looked at the sparkling diamonds in my hand, smiling gently. They really were lovely and despite how much I’d loathed them when Kohén had first strung them around my neck, I realised now that I no longer thought of them as a collar, but as a promise.

  I’ll put them on now… I thought, letting my robe slip off my arm as I put the earrings down on the edge of the warm pool, beside my soup. That way I can alternate hands with the bowl...

  I heard the main door open and the sudden heavy footfalls that followed it the moment I got the clasp of the necklace open around my neck, and though my heart immediately leapt into my throat in a fearful lunge, I concentrated on securing the clasp of the necklace first so I knew it would be safe, before reaching down to grab the robe. If an intruder had found their way in here, then covering the necklace with the robe before attempting to run was definitely the smartest thing I could do! And if I had to run anywhere, it wouldn’t be while wearing lingerie!

  But then Kohén rounded the corner looking wild-eyed and beautiful and carrying a big cardboard box, and I was so relieved to see him that I only shoved my arms into the sleeves of the robe before I teetered towards him, jubilant, parting the thin cloud of mist between us.

  ‘You’re here!’ I cried, throwing my arms around his neck and almost knocking the box out of his arms, which was light and easily knocked. I hugged him tightly before drawing back and asking: ‘Is Emmerly okay? What about the little girl? I’ve been so scared, I-’

  ‘All is being handled, and I was on my way back in to check on Emmerly again when one of the servants asked me to bring you your dress.’ Kohén dropped the box and wrapped his arms around me, wide-eyed as he searched my face. ‘Larkin, you look...’ he ran his hands through my curls and I didn’t care if he was messing them up, because he was the only person that I wanted dazzled and he looked nothing short of it. In fact, dressed the way he was in a white toga with a gold stripe and a crown of golden laurel leaves, he looked nothing short of dazzling himself and I felt those butterflies coming back.

  ‘You look amazing too,’ I whispered, touching his crown and then the golden filigree mask he was wearing over his eyes. ‘You look way better in this than I do, actually. Julius Caesar, yes?’

  ‘I thought you’d appreciate the irony of me wearing your uniform,’ Kohén whispered, smiling up at me for only a moment before his gaze drifted towards my ear. ‘But I’ll never compare. I… how do you do it?’

  ‘Do what?’ I asked, touched by how emotional he’d become though I suspected that he’d had a few drinks himself, probably dousing himself with artificial courage in order to get through the branding ritual.

  Kohén’s voice caught on emotion as he wet his lips, staring down at my own. ‘Every time I think you couldn’t possibly look more beautiful than the last time I saw you, you find some other way to…’ he glanced down at my lower body, and when his eyes saw what was beneath the open collar of the unbelted robe, his gaze darkened. ‘God almighty…’ he looked pained as he ran his hands down my sides, stepping back so that he could see me better, and I flushed in a good way when he groaned, stepped back into me and pushed my sleeve off my shoulder, letting it fall away so that he could gently kiss my collarbone. ‘You’ll be the death of me.’

  ‘I had an inkling that you’d approve of this…’ I whispered, closing my eyes and grasping his shoulders as his breath tickled my neck. ‘You know I’d never wear this for anyone but you, yes?’

  ‘Oh… Larkin… I have to go, but… I…’ he raked his eyes up to my face again, and I was amazed to see that they were blue again and misted over with tears. ‘I can’t do it,’ he caressed my cheek, pulling me in against him for a kiss. ‘I don’t know how to be in the same room with you without holding you!’

  ‘You can hold me whenever you want now,’ I reminded him sliding my hands down his chest and biting my lower lip as I ducked slightly to look up into his eyes. ‘And the ball hasn’t started yet… so why don’t you go check on everything and throw about another bolt of lightning or two for good measure while I get dressed, hmm? Then hurry back to me and help me with the fasteners on my stockings- that’s the gentlemanly thing to do, isn’t it? Helping a lady in need?’

  Kohén’s brow furrowed as he glanced down at my legs. ‘Your stockings are already fastened around those delicious thighs, Lark.’

  ‘I know,’ I purred, sliding my hand lower so that I could caress him through his toga and groaning gently when I felt him instantly stiffen in my hand. It was pretty bad timing but I hadn’t had him in days and I needed him, so badly! The mask was sexy too- it made him look so mysterious. ‘I meant you should come and undo them…’ I bit his lower lip now and finished: ‘We’ve got twenty minutes until the ball officially starts, and I know you’re more than capable of fucking me senseless at least twice in twenty minutes…’

  Kohén’s eyes flew open and darkened once more. ‘You want me to… to fuck you?’ he swallowed hard, and I almost smiled at the way he struggled with the word. He was all right crying it out in a fit of passion, but he always politely said ‘made love’ beforehand, and it was a bit cute. Deluded, but cute. ‘Now? Larkin… no… we can’t...’

  ‘But I’m almost completely better again,’ I insisted, wrapping my arms around his neck and feeling delighted by the way he was trembling. He really would thank Dulcie for his gift-wrapped apology! ‘I just have this awful, hollow feeling inside and you’re the only person in Arcadia that can fill it, aren’t you?’ I leaned back and pouted. ‘Or will you leave me to suffer until midnight?’

  That did it! Kohén’s eyes flashed and I made a mental note to turn a pout on him every time he resisted. ‘The world…’ Kohén roughly yanked me against him, one hand against my backside, the other around my back. ‘You hear me?’ his fingers raked across my flesh possessively through the cloth, and I longed for him to strip the robe off me so that I could feel his sparks against my back. ‘I am the only person in the world for you, Larkin, and I’m gonna remind you of that right now - just to clear up any confusion that there’s been of late!’

  ‘Please do!’ I whispered, and then Kohén groaned and pressed his mouth to mine in a kiss that was…

  Wrong! I thought, eyes springing open. This kiss is WRONG! I pulled back immediately, wrestling myself out of my lover’s grip, and gasped when I saw first the shock then the comprehension in his eyes. ‘You…’ I began as I wiped my mouth and the taste of arctic mint toothpaste instead of spearmint away, then looked at the box, back to Julius Caesar and then was struck by the fact that he’d referred to Dulcie as the healer. Maybe she’d healed me and Emmerly, but she wasn’t a healer and Kohén would know that!

  Kohén would… but Kohl might not!

  ‘No!’ I gasped, pressing my fingers to my mouth as I stumbled back from him, slapping at his hands as he reached for me. ‘Not again! Kohl Barachiel, don’t tell me that you just allowed me to believe that you were Kohén again?!’

  ‘Shit!’ Kohl ripped his mask off and threw it to the ground and I instantly knew that I was right. While he’d been wearing it, he’d looked as Kohén would look, but now that he wasn’t I could see all the little differences between them that I’d only really gotten to know in the past few days after spending so many moments pressed against my naked prince in my too-bright room. Kohén had a tiny freckle under the corner of one eye, whereas Kohl had a few across the bridge of his nose. Kohl was slightly broader and more muscular, but Kohén had gotten that little bit taller and because he stood taller too he came off as looking older and a lot more self-assured. Kohl’s skin was darker and his hair sun-kissed in several strands, but Kohén’s hair was darker and glossier and a little bit longer because Kohl’s haircut had been more recent…

&n
bsp; And Kohén looked at me with love and amusement in his eyes- whereas Kohl was now staring at me looking nothing but displaced.

  ‘Larkin…’ he held up his hands. ‘I’m sorry, I just lost myself and-’

  ‘Lost?’ I shrieked, and my voice rang off the marble arched ceiling. ‘You think being lost is bad? Try being dead, Kohl! And that’s what you’ll be if he finds out that you- that we-’ I cupped my face in horror. ‘I can’t believe this! Do you even know if Emmerly and the girl are all right, or was that a lie?’

  ‘No they’re fine, I saw Emmerly get healed with my own eyes and Karol handed the little girl over to that other new healer as soon as I arrived so he could pick up where Karol had left off, and then Karol went to wait for the ball to start in privacy while he could recover. Kohén’s joined father outside now, trying to manage the rebels but I’m sure-’

  ‘Good! Then get out of here before it’s too late and pray to God that I can lie to Kohén about this so he never finds out!’

  Kohl looked stricken. ‘You have to pray to lie to that bastard now? Larkin- HE HAS YOU HERE AGAINST YOUR WILL! The entire fucking kingdom can see that… why can’t you?’

  ‘I guess she’s been looking at things from a different perspective, you know?’ a cold voice stated from beside us, and we both whirled to see Kohén- the real Kohén- standing there next to Elijah, scowling at his brother hatefully through the light fog. He’d dressed as an Indian Brave and my knees went weak at the sight of him looking so much like Miguel Barachiel had been depicted in the paintings that had captured his first life- but while looking so utterly fatal. ‘But you don’t understand perspective do you, little brother? So here, let me give you some!’

  And before I could even scream, Kohén lifted his hand and shot a flash of blue light across the room, striking his lost, hapless, younger brother right in his golden sash and sending him flying back against the wall.

  20.

  ‘No!’ Constance’s scream rang out as the same time as mine had and we both raced across the room to Kohl’s aid. Seeing him hit the wall at least three feet off the ground before collapsing back down like a rag doll had came dangerously close to giving me another heart episode, but I saw that he was getting up before I’d closed in on him and so I pulled up short and allowed Constance to fling herself at him instead. After all, she was apparently the one with medical training, and I was once again the reason why he was in need of it.

  ‘Hey!’ Elijah barked at his spouse, watching her fly past with an outraged expression. ‘How did you-’

  ‘I slipped in behind you! I thought you were bringing Larkin out and I thought it would look good if we escorted her as a family! Are you all right?!’ Constance pulled Kohl up into a sitting position and I moaned when I saw the massive blistering sore covering his right shoulder. ‘Can you speak? Breathe?’

  ‘I’m functioning…’ Kohl groaned, pressing his hand to his wound and turning white when he saw the amount of blood and ooze on his hand. ‘He missed my heart.’

  ‘Because I wasn’t aiming for it!’ Kohén thundered, and I felt his hand latch around my bicep before I was yanked back. ‘But if I EVER see you stand within arm’s reach of her again-’

  ‘You’ll not look at him again unless you want a taste of your own medicine!’ Constance raged, and Kohén’s eyes bugged.

  ‘It was my doing!’ I spun around and whimpered when I saw the blue sparks of energy dancing and crackling around every part of my infuriated lover. I held out my arms, making it clear that he would have to go through me before he hurt Kohl again. ‘Kohén please, it was my fault, all right? Just like the last time, I thought he was you and I threw myself at him!’

  ‘Don’t even try to defend him Lark!’ Kohén spat, trembling with anger. ‘I wouldn’t want your loyalty called into question again, and neither would he!’

  I lowered my arms, understanding the implied threat. I wasn’t even supposed to be speaking with Kohl yet out of loyalty to Kohén, so defending him wasn’t going to help anyone.

  ‘The last time?’ Elijah demanded, stepping up beside us and look just as angry as Kohén, but without the light show. I’d heard he’d learned how to control the current generated by his temper in his late thirties, just after the twins had been born. In fact, I think he’d learned to do it intentionally because of the twin’s birth and because the proof that he’d failed his spouse and unborn child with that temper had been apparent in Kohl’s deformities. I was relieved to see him restraining his anger now, but it wouldn’t do us much good if Kohén could not do the same. ‘What last time?’

  ‘The first time we met, it was a case of mistaken identity on both parts before their birthday ball,’ I said quickly, stepping forward and rubbing Kohén’s bare, sweaty and buzzing shoulders briskly with my hands, trying to calm him down. He was wearing only buskin pants, a feathered headdress and war paint around his eyes as a mask and he looked nothing short of sinful. But the beaded, feathery necklace against his chest was shaking due to his rage, and everywhere I touched him sparked enough to sting my palms when the energy crackled and popped against them. ‘He thought I was someone else and I thought he was Kohén and it was an innocent mistake-’

  ‘Yes, innocent!’ Kohén pointed out, still glowering at Kohl over my shoulder. ‘He thought you were someone else that night when he kissed you, so it was an innocent mistake then, one that I let slide!’ Kohén caught my wrists and jerked them down as he stared into my eyes with his black ones so I’d understand that he wasn’t in the mood to be mollified. ‘But he knew otherwise tonight, Larkin! Perhaps you did not and you can’t be faulted for that, not while he’s in a wing he’s forbidden from entering while wearing a mask! But you…’ He stepped around me and this time it was Elijah that held to hold him back. ‘How did you even get in here?’

  Kohl groaned and got off the wall, and I didn’t know if he was minding his temper because he was in too much pain or because he understood that he’d made a major mistake. ‘Someone gave me the box with her gown asked me to take it to her and pass along a message. I walked up to the door to give it to the giant you have posted there but he must have assumed that I was you because he opened the door for me and ushered me in, no questions asked for once.’

  ‘A mistake that you did not bother to clarify because you just couldn’t resist the urge to get in here while you had the chance, isn’t that right?!’ Kohl grimaced and lowered his head, regarding his wound again and Kohén looked to his father, his expression looking even more lethal and his eyes even more blue in contrast to the black stripe he’d painted across his face. ‘Do you see what I’m dealing with here? Why I’ve been so goddamned paranoid-’

  ‘Don’t take the lord’s name in vain,’ Elijah said gruffly, standing taller and looking incredibly distinguished in a sea captain’s costume, another old-world fashion I’d never seen outside of a book illustration before. How strange it was that we paid homage to times that had been so troubled! ‘I understand your anger, but that doesn’t excuse you acting like a heathen.’ He then turned to me. ‘Did you honestly believe that was Kohén? He made no effort to clarify your mistake? Did he even have the opportunity to?’

  I looked over at Kohl but he waved his hand, signalling that I shouldn’t bother to defend him again, so I took a deep breath and turned back to Elijah. ‘Yes, he had the opportunity to, but I suppose he was overwhelmed so-’

  ‘Larkin!’ Kohén snapped. ‘You’re not helping anyone!’

  ‘I knew she thought I was Kohén!’ Kohl burst out, pushing off the wall and striding towards us. ‘I kissed her anyway, and I’ll do it again until I’ve kissed some sense into her!’

  I gasped as Kohén practically pulsed a bright blue. ‘You are very close to breaking our arrangement, little brother-’

  ‘Fuck you and your arrangement, okay?’ Kohl demanded, shoving Kohén back when he lunged at him. ‘You’re gonna tattle on me now? Don’t bother, I’ll do it myself!’ Kohl whirled on his father while Constance rushed
over with wide eyes that had been outlines with blue and green gems to match her deep green gown. She was a peacock- jade, feathers extended from her bustle down to the floor, and she’d never looked lovelier or more vexed. ‘I’m in love with Larkin, that you know! I’d fight to the death for her- that only Kohén knows! But the reason why I have not is because Kohén has been blackmailing me into holding my tongue all week, all right? And because Larkin would suffer as much as I have I have accepted the terms... but I won’t abide them anymore! Not when I know that she is suffering anyway!’

  ‘Blackmailing you?’ Constance demanded, looking to me and I moaned and stepped back towards the fountain, shaking my head. ‘With what?’

  ‘Kohl, please-’ I whispered, but he looked at me and shook his head, covering his wound with his hand before addressing his mother and father at once. ‘I unearthed a bible in Pacifica, a King James one.’ He swallowed hard and my legs went weak. Oh my God, he was doing this! I looked to Elijah and felt light-headed when I saw his eyes instantly flash an unearthly blue. ‘I gave it to Larkin to read and signed a greeting to her within the cover-’

  ‘That is a grievous sin!’ Elijah roared.

  ‘And yet it pales in comparison to the ones that have been committed since!’ Kohl roared back. ‘Kohén found it and a whole bunch of other letters that I wrote to her, expressing my feelings for her, and has threatened to show them to the two of you if I admit…’ he looked at me and swallowed hard, nodding, and I collapsed onto the edge of the fountain behind me, moaning into my hands. ‘If I admit that I know the truth of how she came to be in Kohén’s bed!’ He lifted his head. ‘She did not give herself to the twin that is now holding her captive- but to the twin that wrote to her and that has sealed her fate- a fact that she wasn’t aware of until her virginity had been taken already by the first twin while masquerading as the other! She thought she was sleeping with ME!’