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  The Soulseer Chronicles Book III

  Sue Tingey

  Bound

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Praise for The Soulseer Chronicles

  Also by Sue Tingey

  Dedication

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  Guide

  Copyright

  Cover Image

  Title page

  An imprint of Quercus

  New York • London

  © 2017 by Sue Tingey

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review. Scanning, uploading, and electronic distribution of this book or the facilitation of the same without the permission of the publisher is prohibited.

  Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Any member of educational institutions wishing to photocopy part or all of the work for classroom use or anthology should send inquiries to [email protected].

  e-ISBN 978-1-68144-189-4

  Distributed in the United States and Canada by

  Hachette Book Group

  1290 Avenue of the Americas

  New York, NY 10104

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, institutions, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons—living or dead—events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  www.quercus.com

  Praise for

  The Soulseer Chronicles

  ‘Powerfully creepy’

  Publishers Weekly

  ‘Cursed was amazing … This is a series I would recommend to pretty much anyone who’s into fantasy and mythology’

  Wayfaring Bibliomaniac

  ‘Gripping and tantalisingly sexy’

  Holdfast Magazine

  ‘A beautifully written, flowing Urban fantasy with a terrific story and some really great characters’

  Liz Loves Books

  ‘Instantly absorbing … will certainly leave a lasting impression’

  SciFiNow

  ‘I loved this book. The characters, the atmosphere, the humour, the romance, it all worked. Marked is a wonderful debut for Tingey’

  A Fantastical Librarian

  ‘A compelling debut … a brisk paranormal tale with outstanding world building, a large cast of well-drawn characters, and an intricate plot filled with intrigue and adventure. Reads like a PG-13 version of the Sookie Stackhouse series’

  Booklist

  ‘Great fun and a delight to read’

  Upcoming4.me

  ‘The kind of story that sucks readers in very quickly and you end up completely losing track of time while you’re reading … A fantastic start to this new series’

  Feeling Fictional

  ‘I was enthralled. A strong and interesting debut’

  Draumr Kópa Blog

  ‘A thrill ride to the very end. The intrigue and action began immediately, drawing the reader in and keeping their eyes glued to the pages … I cannot wait to see where it goes from here’

  Fangirls Read It First

  Also by Sue Tingey

  The Soulseer Chronicles

  Marked

  Cursed

  For Mum, Dad and Mike

  who always encouraged me in everything I ever wanted to do.

  One

  I left Jamie cooking supper. Jinx was off somewhere on Bob – getting wine I hoped; we were almost out.

  I loved this time of the evening when it was still light enough to walk along the crystal sand beach surrounding our lake. I had about half an hour before sunset, when the two suns would drop from the heavens and sink below the horizon, empurpling the sky before it changed to black.

  Pyrites gambolled along beside me chasing the crab-like creatures that scuttled here and there across the sand, sometimes flapping his wings to fly along by my shoulder. He was enjoying this holiday just as much as we were.

  Jamie, Jinx and I spent most afternoons making love, and just thinking about that made me shiver.

  Of the two, Jamie was the more serious lover – and I would have said the most conventional until a couple of days ago when he’d whisked me up into the sky while Jinx was still sleeping and we’d given the term ‘Mile High Club’ a whole new meaning.

  Jinx, on the other hand, was – as in most things – not serious at all. He loved to nip and suck and lick and kiss – he could turn the most ordinary patch of skin into a full-blown erogenous zone. Not a square inch of me was safe. He was my bad boy, and although he hadn’t said as much, if he thought he could get away with tying me up I think he’d be more than happy to give it a go.

  I couldn’t help but smile remembering earlier this morning, when I’d woken up to the sound of muffled male laughter and puffs of warm liquorice-breath on my face. As soon as I’d opened my eyes, I’d been rewarded with a swipe of Pyrites’ tongue: my drakon was more than a little excited to see me awake.

  ‘What is it, boy?’ I’d asked, and he’d scrambled off the bed and waited just inside the door puffing white smoke, clearly impatient for me to get up. After yawning and stretching, I’d wrapped a blanket around me before clambering off the bed and padding barefoot across the marble floor to join him, but as soon as I reached him, he’d shot into the next room and out through the open door onto the beach.

  The laughter had become louder as I’d followed him; my men were obviously enjoying themselves and I wondered what they were doing that was making Pyrites so eager for me to go outside.

  Jamie and Jinx were in the lake, leaving boots and trousers discarded on the jetty. I strolled across the sand and along the wooden walkway to crouch down at the edge. They were ducking and diving and acting more like little boys than daemons who were thousands of years old. But seeing Jinx and Jamie laughing and playing around and generally enjoying each other’s company made me happier than I could have possibly imagined. Over the weeks we’d spent together they had become friends, and I was hoping it was more than their love for me that bound them to each other.

  I sat down next to their clothes and Pyrites took to the air to dive-bomb them as they swam. All of my men being in playful moods had chased away the spectre of Amaliel Cheriour, the disgraced Court Enforcer and Corrector, if only for a short time.

  ‘Hey!’ Jamie shouted upon seeing me. ‘Come in!’

  I leaned forward and dangled my fingers in the water. ‘Brr, too cold,’ I told him.

  ‘Come on, it’ll be fun.’

  I shook my head.

  ‘We can always warm you up afterwards,’ Jinx said, and gave me an exaggerated wink which made my heart sing – and him hard to refuse.

  ‘All right,’ I said with a smile, ‘but no peeking.’

>   They both covered their faces with splayed fingers, their eyes glinting through the gaps, and I laughed and let the blanket slip to the deck, which earned a wolf-whistle from Jinx. I sat down on the jetty’s edge and slid into the water – I’d been right: it was bloody cold!

  They swam over to greet me, Jamie with his wings pulled up like a great dorsal fin and Jinx with his tail snaking out behind him, weaving from side to side across the water’s surface and steering him like a rudder. Then I was surrounded, and any thoughts of the cold water vanished, for there was nowhere else I’d rather have been.

  We swam and we played while Pyrites sped around us, creating waves for us to ride and puffing steam across the surface, which had the double effect of warming our upper bodies and surrounding us in thick white clouds, through which we had to fight to find each other. This started a rather bizarre game of hide and seek, with the finder demanding a forfeit from the one they’d found. Needless to say, neither of them bothered to find each other but ganged up on me. I didn’t mind – some of the forfeits were more than a little interesting.

  It was just one memorable morning out of many, and as I strolled along the sand I wondered what new joys tomorrow would bring.

  Then Pyrites and I rounded an outcrop and any happiness I’d been feeling drained away. A tight feeling of foreboding gripped my chest as I saw Bob plodding along the beach towards us – alone. Something was wrong; I’d never seen him without Jinx. He whinnied upon seeing us, a truly pathetic sound coming from such a huge, fearsome creature.

  Pyrites stayed beside me, puffing grey smoke; I clearly wasn’t the only one who thought something was amiss. As I began to run towards Bob, panic welled up inside me. Where was Jinx? Why wasn’t he with Bob? When we reached him, Bob snorted and stamped his hooves then hung his head, eyes half closed, his wings pressed back tight against his body.

  I laid my palm on his neck, struggling to keep the worry from my voice. ‘What’s the matter, boy?’

  He gave another whinny and his flanks quivered; his fear and dejection were almost palpable and I was getting really scared now. Bob was an infernal-eyed powerhouse of a flying machine – I’d always though he looked like he should be ridden by one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. To see him in such a bad way frightened me more than if he’d come storming down the beach with the aforesaid Horsemen in tow.

  ‘Come on,’ I said, leading him towards the villa. Jamie would know what to do. Jamie always knew what to do.

  When we reached the front step I called out, not wanting to leave the despondent horse. I waited a few moments and called again, ‘Jamie!’

  I glanced at Bob, and he pushed his snout against my shoulder, a gesture very similar to when Pyrites wanted comfort. My heart was pounding; my fear cranked up another notch. This was so unlike him – he never craved affection; an offhanded pat on the neck or rump from Jinx was about the sum of what he would tolerate.

  ‘What’s happened, Bob?’ I asked, stroking his silky black forehead. ‘What’s happened to Jinx?’ Because I was pretty sure something had happened – something really bad.

  I looked back up at the villa. ‘Jamie!’ I called again – where was he? ‘Jamie—!’

  —then a searing pain hit me, like something was skewering my brain with a red-hot iron, and with a groan I collapsed to my knees, clutching my head.

  ‘Lucky?’ I heard my name, but it sounded like I was being shouted at me through water – no; not water, blood. It felt like my ears were thick with blood.

  Then hands were on my shoulders and Jamie was on his knees in front of me. ‘Lucky – are you all right? What’s wrong? Are you hurt?’

  ‘I … I—’ Then the pain hit me again and I screamed.

  ‘What’s wrong? What’s happening to her?’ I could hear Kayla, but Jamie couldn’t; he couldn’t hear the dead, not like Jinx and me.

  They were both talking at once and although they probably weren’t shouting they might as well have been, because each word shot through my head like a bullet.

  ‘Be quiet,’ I managed to gasp, ‘please – be quiet. Please …’

  Jamie scooped me up into his arms and carried me inside, and every step sent a spike of pain across the front of my head, making my eyes feel like they were being pressed outwards and it was only my tightly-squeezed eyelids keeping them within their sockets. When he laid me down on the bed it was a blessed relief. I felt the bed shift as Pyrites hopped up beside me and snuggled down, his head against my hip. I tried to lift a hand to stroke him, but it felt so heavy, as though a brick was strapped to my wrist.

  ‘Lucky,’ Jamie whispered, ‘can you talk? Can you tell me what’s wrong?’

  ‘Something’s happened to Jinx,’ I mumbled through lips that felt like they belonged to someone else.

  Then another spike of pain shot through my right side just below the ribs, as though I’d been stabbed with something burning-hot. I screamed, and I could hear someone else’s screams reverberating inside my skull – Jinx’s.

  ‘They’re torturing him,’ I sobbed, and then whoever it was did something so incredibly awful that my body couldn’t stand it and everything turned red and then black.

  I was only unconscious for a moment or two, but when I woke I could no longer feel Jinx and I guessed he had passed out too. I still had an ache behind my eyes, but the rest of the pain had receded as if it had been washed away, leaving traces like a tidemark throughout my body.

  I struggled to sit up.

  ‘Lucky, are you all right?’ Kayla was sitting on the edge of the bed.

  I didn’t dare risk nodding. ‘Better,’ I mumbled.

  ‘What happened?’ Jamie asked. ‘You said something about Jinx—’

  ‘Bob was on the beach, alone – he looked so lost; so despondent.’ I flopped back against the pillows, too weak to stay upright. ‘Someone has Jinx and they’re hurting him. Really hurting him.’

  Kayla gasped, and Jamie’s brow crinkled into a puzzled frown. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes … No … I—’ I was finding it hard to think straight. ‘Yes. Yes, I don’t know how I know; I don’t know how I can feel what he’s feeling, but I know he’s in terrible pain.’

  Jamie sank down on the bed next to me, making Kayla shift to one side, otherwise he’d have been more or less sitting on her lap. He ran his hand through his blond curls in an agitated swipe.

  I looked up at him. ‘Do you think it’s—?’ I couldn’t bear to say his name, let alone believe he might have my Deathbringer in his clutches.

  ‘Amaliel?’ he said with a grimace. ‘I hope not. I truly hope not.’

  ‘It doesn’t bear thinking about,’ Kayla added.

  ‘Could he somehow have trapped Jinx?’ I forced myself to ask.

  ‘I would have said no,’ Jamie said. ‘Jinx is nigh-on fireproof – but if you’re sure it was Jinx you were feeling …’ He looked down at me. ‘Are you sure? I mean, how can it be?’

  ‘I heard him scream …’ The words caught in my throat. ‘It was awful.’

  ‘I think you need the rest of your guard. I’d better get Shenanigans and Kerfuffle.’

  ‘And Kubeck,’ I reminded him.

  He gave a distracted nod.

  ‘How will you get a message to them?’ If Jinx had been here he would have sent a raven – the Deathbringer had an affinity with the harbingers of death – but he was gone. If I’d been in my human form I’d have cried at the thought. But I wasn’t, I hadn’t been human for more than two weeks, since the first time the three of us had made love.

  ‘Maybe tomorrow, if you feel better, we should return to court and we can find them together. We should also go to Baltheza; if Amaliel has truly captured Jinx, then he should know.’

  ‘Rather you than me,’ Kayla said. ‘He is so not going to be happy about any of this.’

  I ignored her. ‘If it is Amaliel … but you and Jinx were both so sure he had no real power,’ I said, clutching at straws.

  Jamie’s expression
was grim. ‘Maybe we were wrong.’

  There was nothing we could do until the morning, so we both picked at the dinner Jamie had cooked, the empty seat at the table stealing away any appetite we may have had. Even Pyrites wasn’t interested in eating, and as for poor Bob, he just stood on the beach with his head hanging down, his huge muzzle almost scraping the sand.

  We went to bed, though neither of us really slept. Jamie held me in his arms, but that was the sum of it. Making love was the furthest thing from our minds. Without knowing Jinx was safe and well it would have felt wrong.

  A couple of times I almost dozed off, but each time I came to with a start and looked about me, hoping I’d find a maroon arm draped about my waist, but I knew in my heart it couldn’t be: Jinx was gone.

  *

  We set off at first light – Jamie and I were both awake and neither of us could face breakfast. Kayla had been unusually quiet, wafting around from room to room as I collected our things. Jamie had hardly said a word. Although he and Jinx were often at odds with each other – after all, Jinx was the daemon who brought death to my world and Jamie the Guardian who protected it from daemon activity – Jinx’s disappearance had hit my angel harder than I could have ever have imagined. I didn’t know if it was because he loved me and knew how much I was hurting, or because they were now truly friends, but he was definitely as troubled as I was.

  Jamie rode Bob – a first for both of them, but we needed him if Shenanigans, Kerfuffle and Kubeck were to join us. Kayla sat behind me on Pyrites, and even though she said very little throughout the journey, just having her close was comforting.

  The countryside below us passed in a blur; for the first time I barely noticed the forests of scarlet and burgundy pines and the lush fields of copper and bronze crops. Even the sight of amethyst rivers meandering below us and the ice-capped mountains shining like crystal in the sunshine didn’t fill me with my usual enthusiastic wonder.

  And every mile brought us a little closer to the royal palace.

  Returning to court was not at the top of my things-to-do list. Officially I was Lord Baltheza’s daughter and Kayla’s sister. The latter was true – Kayla and I shared the same mother – but I was not truly Baltheza’s child, and for this I was eternally grateful. Baltheza was a monster, as far as I was concerned, though his cruel and violent nature hadn’t been helped by Amaliel Cheriour feeding him a poison which had been slowly driving him mad – so mad that Amaliel had been able to turn Baltheza against my mother, the woman he allegedly loved and whose ring I now wore, even going so far as to have her tortured and executed. He was recovering now, but I wasn’t looking forward to spending even a short time in his company.