Choosing Fire: Book Two (The Bone Gatherers 2) Read online

~

  Several nights later, Tupack released the prison guards on duty. Tupack investigated the holding cells one by one. And at the back of the prison, he found the group. The children were all asleep on Atzi. She stared into the distance, grinding her teeth.

  Tupack made a muffled whistle. Atzi looked up and grabbed the children tighter. Tupack put his finger to his lips to hush her. She cocked her head.

  From behind him stepped Xi.

  “You piece of filth!” she whispered.

  Tupack’s eyes widened.

  “If I get out of here, I am going to split you open and wear your guts as gauntlets!”

  “I see what you liked about her.” Tupack smiled at his friend.

  Tupack unlocked the gate, and they entered the small cell. Tupack began scooping the sleeping children into his arms. Atzi launched at Tupack.

  “We are getting you out of here,” Xi said, taking her arm. “I’m sorry I wasn’t forthcoming with you. But I had nothing to do with this. My fiancée’s father...”

  “I remember you told me about him,” she whispered, picking a child up and bracing her on her hip. “I didn’t realize it was a high lord and his daughter was vying for the throne!”

  Xi hushed her. “We can talk about that later. Can the older kids help?”

  Atzi’s eyes searched his. She touched his cheek and nodded.

  Soon all the children and the three adults were tiptoeing through the prison. At the back entrance, a few people waited. Upon seeing the group, Atzi grabbed Xi’s hand, pulling him to a stop.

  “He will take you and the children safely out of the city.” Xi smiled, cupping her face. “I will find you when it is safe.”

  Atzi nodded, tears in her eyes. “Who are they?”

  Xi smiled. “Your kindness has made many friends, Atzi. I simply went to the people around your home and told them you needed help.”

  Atzi choked on her laugh. Grabbing his face, she kissed him deeply.

  “They will each take a few of you and vanish into the city then take you to the new home I have secured.”

  “Where do you think you are going?” a voice boomed.

  The group turned to see the guards of the high lord appear like smoke.

  “You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?”

  The high lord knew. He knew Xi would try to save them. The old bastard had bested him twice. Tupack set the children he was holding down and drew his sword. “Xi, run!”

  Xi’s eyes went wide as Tupack took up arms with the massive guard. “B-But—” Xi stuttered.

  “Go now!” Tupack roared.

  The group sped to the exit, and Xi glanced over his shoulder. Three more guards appeared. Yet, Tupack was still beating them back, protecting his friend. When a fourth guard appeared behind him, Tupack didn’t see the blow coming.

  “No!” Xi screamed, as the club came down on his best friend’s head.

  Atzi was shuffling children out into the night. “Xi,” she whispered. “Xi, you have to come with us!”

  He shook his head. “I’m going back for him.”

  Atzi’s eyes filled with tears as she leaned down to kiss him. “Be careful.”

  “Be happy,” Xi breathed into her lips. “Go!” he ordered.

  Xel had seen the amount Xi had paid the people to help save Atzi and the children. It was the income of two lifetimes. And it was in hopes that that would be enough to keep them quiet and provide safe travels to the new home he had secured for them.

  Running back into the prison, Xi felt his knees give. Tupack was lying on the ground, his eyes glassed. Lifeless. The guards were all smiles standing around him. “You will pay!” Xi screamed.

  Outnumbered, outmatched, and with his friend dead, Xi charged the guard.

  Tears fell down Xel’s cheeks. She was so glad Tupack didn’t include his death scene. Xel didn’t think she could have handled it. Her lips were bleeding from where she had chewed them. Coffee cold, Xel leaned in for the end of Xi’s story.

  “Father!” Xi yelled, running through the palace and into the king’s sleeping quarters.

  It was eerily silent.

  Normally, servants were standing by, waiting for any command given by the slumbering king. But tonight, the halls were empty. Xi saw the door of his father’s chamber cracked.

  Stepping inside, Xi’s body sagged. Blood was everywhere. The room had been completely destroyed. There had been a struggle. And in the center of the magnificent room, his father lay dead. He had been gutted from groin to throat. Gurgling noises came from Xi’s throat as he rushed to his side. Attempting to scoop his inners back into his body, he tried to scream, “Help!” But it came out in a whisper.

  “Help!” he managed to shout.

  Footsteps rang through the hall. Too close. Too soon. It hit Xel like a bolt of lightning. It was all a coup. Xi stepped back, clutching his hair. The door burst open, and the king’s guard and his brother, Zipactonal, filed in. The look of horror on their faces solidified it all.

  “What did you do?” Zipactonal yelled.

  ~

  The wind blew through Xi’s unbound hair. Behind him stood his brother, the new king of the empire. On his arm was the new queen, Chalchihuitlcue.

  He stood naked before a kingdom of people who had once chanted his name, and soon they all screamed and booed as they brought him to the alter. The son of a king would make a wonderful sacrifice to the gods. He didn’t seem scared. Xi was numb, Xel knew. He was high on all the drugs they force-fed him an hour prior.

  “No,” Xel breathed from the future, watching Xi’s past.

  He didn’t fight when they laid him on the rough stone table. And he watched, dazed, as they pulled his still-beating heart from his chest. Then they tossed his lifeless body down the steps of the temple.

  Xel watched the light go out in his eyes as the bodies stacked on top of him. It began to rain.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The slap came so fast, Tupack’s neck cracked in response.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Xel screamed.

  Tupack held his face, the red welt beneath peeking through his fingers. Jaw set, Tupack said, “You wanted to know why. So, I showed you.”

  “What’s going on?” Sofia asked, running around the corner, wiping sleep from her eyes.

  “Did you just hit Tupack?” Eztlie asked, confused, letting out a big yawn.

  Rage boiled from Xel’s body, and she felt her hands getting hot. Atla rushed into the room, ready for a fight. Seeing it was only her family arguing, she sighed, throwing her hands in the air. “I thought we were under attack!”

  Atla looked from Tupack to Xel then pinched the bridge of her nose. “Did you tell her or show her?”

  “She needed to see it for herself. I have grown tired of her attitude,” Tupack said, hands on his hips.

  “Showed her what?” Sofia asked, getting impatient.

  Xel was panting, the images of Xi’s murder still colored in her mind.

  Atla sighed. “Tupack showed her Xi’s death story. In a vision, like the one he showed you before.”

  “Oh.” Sofia frowned, looping an arm around Eztlie. “What’s the big deal? We all know each other’s death stories, right?”

  Hands shaking, Xel braced them on a nearby chair. Tupack reached out to her. “Don’t you dare,” she said, shooting daggers at him.

  “Xi’s death was a bit more macabre than the rest of ours,” Atla said carefully.

  Sofia’s eyes narrowed. “I mean, how bad could it be? I was crushed by a shelf!”

  Eztlie hushed his beloved as Xel charged from the room, pushing past them.

  ~

  She needed to see him. Touch him. Xel felt so bad for chiding him on his behavior. Anyone would be damaged by their past if they had experienced that type of trauma. And then to relive the New Fire celebration nineteen times through your afterlife? His beating heart in the hands of the priestess made her head swirl. His heart.

  Without thought, X
el burst into Xi’s room. He lay on the bed, eyes wide.

  “Xi,” Xel whispered.

  But suddenly she didn’t know what to say.

  “Tupack—”

  “I know,” he mumbled.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she said, fighting tears.

  “You never asked,” Xi said, voice thick.

  Sagging into his chaise, she put her head in her hands. “I don’t think I can ever stop seeing it,” she sobbed.

  “Please don’t cry,” he said, eyes shifting to her.

  “Is that why you came back? To avenge yourself?”

  Xi leaned up on his elbows. Xel realized he was naked. Only a thin sheet covered his waist. His firm chest rose and fell with his staggered breaths.

  “At first,” he admitted. “But when I became immortal...it became more complicated. They assigned me to a Gatherer family far away.”

  “Tupack was there?” Xel asked, playing with her sleeve, avoiding looking at the stunning man in front of her.

  He ran a hand over his face. “Surprisingly no,” he answered. “I didn’t know he chose the same path until the next New Fire ceremony. I went back to the city. I couldn’t help myself.”

  “What happened?”

  Xi’s head dipped, long dark curls falling into his shadowed face. Xel wanted so badly to comfort him.

  “My nephew was king. My brother and his bitch wife died shortly after she gave birth to the child. The boy had been king his entire life.”

  “How did they die?” Xel dared to ask.

  Xi took a deep breath. Voice cracking, he said. “Māpachs.”

  “You’re kidding me?” Xel gasped, and resisting the urge no longer, she went to his bed.

  Taking her hand, he looked at them intertwined.

  “No, sadly I am not,” he mumbled. “Though I hated that woman, she didn’t deserve to die that way. Neither of them did. But that’s where I found Tupack. Battling a few dozen māpach in the palace grounds. They almost got to my nephew, but Tupack stopped them. When we saw each other, we finished off the remaining enemy and then cried in each other’s arms until sunrise.”

  Xel shook her head, placing a hand on his cheek. His eyes were red and glassy, liquor still thick in his bloodstream. “This is your second chance, and you have used it well.”

  He nuzzled into her hand, like it was the only contact keeping him in this world. Xi took her hand and kissed the palm. Xel’s heart beat harder. Taking the hand from his grip, she placed it on his chest. She let out a choked sob. She felt his heart beating beneath her fingers. “How?” she cried.

  “Becoming a Gatherer was the only way they’d give it back,” he said, shaking his head.

  “They?” Xel sobbed.

  “The king and queen of the dead,” Xi slurred, dipping his head.

  With her delicate hand, Xel lifted his chin. “You didn’t deserve any of this.”

  Xi pursed his lips and shook his head from her hand. “Yes, dear Xel,” he whispered. “Yes, I did.”

  She began to argue when he raised a hand to her.

  “For years, I was a gluttonous, lazy fool. I have managed to rid myself of all those traits...but the latter,” he said with a smirk, tears brimming in his eyes. “Atzi gave her body to horrible men like me so she could care for the poor and the sick. I could have saved the city, but instead I sauntered about, a spoiled child. Perhaps if I had been more like my brother, things would not have ended the way they did.”

  “But then you wouldn’t have met me,” Xel dared.

  Something changed in his eyes. He looked down at their hands. Xel glanced at their intertwined fingers, seeing the strength in them, strong fingers linked. In a flash, she remembered the horror on his face when he had seen the fire in her hands. Xi had kept her secret. With everyone. Not only had he lied to Tupack about spilt tea, he had kept his silence.

  “You didn’t tell anyone about my fire, did you?” realized Xel.

  The oddest look crossed his face. “Why would you ever think I’d tell anyone? I would never betray your trust.”

  Throat tight, Xel bit her lip, and he ran a thumb over it. He leaned in and kissed her.

  Before she could stop herself, Xel crawled on top of him. The white curtains billowed in the breeze, the cool air making her skin pimple. “I shouldn’t do this,” she said, leaning in and pressing her lips to his.

  Clothed, she lay down on him, straddling his hips. She felt his hardness. Her hair fell around him, framing his face. She placed a hand on his cheek.

  Closing his eyes, he said. “Are you sure?”

  She didn’t speak her answer. Xel showed it by sliding the sheets down past his waist, revealing the length of him. He gasped as the sheet tugged at his head, slipping down to his thighs. Xel’s breath was ragged. She pressed her hands into his chest to feel his beating heart once more. It banged against her palms. Using her nails, she scraped downward. Xi opened his eyes and growled. Feeling her hands get warm, she willed them to sleep as Xel grabbed onto his shaft. He was massive and rock-hard. With one hand, she gripped his shaft, and with the other, she thumbed the spot beneath his head. Xi’s hips bucked beneath her. “Mmm, you like that,” she purred, bringing her mouth toward it.

  “Oh gods, yes,” he said, eyes wide, watching her.

  She stroked him with her thumb, hovering her mouth over his member. Deep guttural growls came from his throat. She squeezed him with her legs, keeping his hips steady, and plunged her mouth down on his hardened cock. But her slight weight was no match for his strength. Xel rode his leg, grinding her mound on him as she sucked. Her hand moved to his sack, feeling the tightness of it. In her mouth, she felt him growing, getting larger. Running her tongue up and down, she felt herself dampen, when strong hands lifted her from him, tossing her on her back. “I wasn’t done.” She grinned, sitting up.

  “Unless you want me to be,” he breathed. “Then you are.”

  Xel laughed.

  Though she was just getting started, he looped his arms around her legs and threw her back into the pillows. He tore her leggings from her body. She was certain they were in pieces on the floor. Hungrily, he kissed her, his tongue pressing. Xel felt his hand creeping up her thigh. “You want this?” he teased into her neck then kissed down her chest.

  “Yes!” she said, thrusting her hips into his hand. “A thousand times, yes!”

  Sliding a thumb inside, he rubbed her pearl slowly in circles with his fingers. Feeling her insides melt, Xel thought she’d explode. Xi rested his head on her chest, his hips inching closer to her petals.

  “I want all of you,” Xel gasped, grabbing his face and pulling his mouth to hers.

  Sliding her hands down his bare back, she felt every edge of his muscles. They tensed at her touch. When Xel was with him, she felt whole. Though for five hundred years, she had only touched him or kissed deeply. When their bodies neared, she felt her missing piece. Xel felt complete.

  Xi leaned up and looked at her. Curls fell into his angelic face. He gave a grin, dimples shadowed in the soft light. “You’re beautiful,” he whispered, dipping his head.

  Xel felt herself cry. Feeling wanted was all she had ever dreamed of. Men lusted for her, sure. But the fire in Xi’s eyes was different. Dipping his head, he kissed her slowly. She breathed in his scent, committing it to memory.

  He adjusted his hips; she felt his hard cock pressing against her opening. She opened further for him to slide inside. Her blood sang, her body quaked. Then her hands burned.

  “Oh!” Xel panted, looking at her hands gripping the sheets.

  Blue flames danced around her fingers. “No,” she whimpered. “Not again.”

  Xi’s eyes narrowed, watching her body language change in an instant. Launching backward, he saw her body beginning to glow. That had never happened before. Xel backed into the pillows. “No, no!” she cried.

  Xi’s eyes were wild with fear. “What did I do?” he murmured.

  Xel clambered to her knees. “Help me,”
she pleaded, her hands engulfed in flame.

  Xi looked around. “I don’t know what to do!” he yelled.

  Loud footsteps banged down the hall outside the closed bedroom door. “Xi? Are you okay?” Tupack’s voice echoed as he pounded on the door.

  “Please!” Xel begged.

  “What’s going on? Xel, are you okay?” Tupack yelled and began throwing a shoulder into the wood.

  Xi ran to the bathroom and came back with a wet towel. Quickly, he wrapped it around her hands. Steam rose from the fibers. Xel and Xi looked up from the hot towel at each other. Xi looked like he was going to throw up. Finally, the wooden door gave way, and Tupack burst through. He took one look at the scene and glared at Xi. “What happened?” said Tupack dangerously.

  It changed before her eyes, Xi’s demeanor. He went from full-on panic to smooth and debonair. “We knocked over my tea.” He smirked. “Guess we played a little too hard.”

  Xel’s face winced. There was no tea.

  Tupack looked at the naked man and then to Xel. “Can I get you anything?”

  Xel wagged her head no, attempting to scoot under the sheet to cover her naked lower half.

  The massive man knew they were lying. Something had happened. But he didn’t press. “Then I’ll leave you to...whatever this is.”

  “It’s nothing,” Xi said quickly.

  It broke. Xel’s heart broke. She felt it in her chest.

  Xi realized his words, and his façade failed him ever so briefly. Looking down at the ground, he fixed his face. And looked at Xel. “Just a little romp, per the usual.”

  Tupack looked at Xel, face tight with ire. “You’re a real piece of work, Xipilli,” he growled and walked out the room.

  He did it again.

  Xel was shaking. The towel had grown cold in her hands, water dripping on her bare skin. She felt so used. So gaslighted.

  She kept her eyes downcast. The mere sight of him made her stomach crawl. What had she done? Again.

  “Metxtli,” he said, voice different. “I don’t think it’s safe for us to do this.”

  Dragging herself from her shame, she picked up her leggings and wrapped the wet towel around her waist. Her body was shivering, and she could barely walk. Cold and dejected, Xel walked to his door.