Stained by Ella James

no escape. Just like his life.
Nathan allowed himself a moment to wonder why he had been summoned. Last time, it was because one of the Candidates had disappeared. Perhaps she had been found?
He reached the halfway point, when the last of the lake's mist receded and the hidden gods revealed themselves. Like each time he had appeared before them since the first, Nathan searched for changes in their appearance. He was both comforted and disappointed, as their features became visible, that he found none.
The right and left, or left and right, might have been twins. Both were old, impossibly old, with slick bald scalps that rumpled at the forehead, bushy gray caterpillars for eyebrows, and age-lined faces. They sat in thrones raised seven feet, yet their thick gray beards touched the floor.
They flanked the middle, who was even older. His eyes had sunken to slits in his face, his nose was no more than a gnarl above thin lips, his skin was crisscrossed with a millennium's scars, and his beard stretched 30 feet; 10 feet from his perch above the other two to the ground and another 20, to where Nathan bent to kiss it.
Here he would wait for them to speak.
He did not wait long.
"Our minds are turned toward hers," the right said. His voice was like thunder, and Nathan had to touch the floor to steady himself.
"We shall make contact soon," the left said, his voice like the hiss of steam.
Nathan nodded. "What do I need to do?"
"Make yourself ready," the right said.
"Ready for what?"
The right and left were silent. They were deliberating with the middle, Nathan knew. He, the oldest of The Three, who never spoke aloud. Only to two minds did he project his thoughts; they, the right and left, were his voice.
"The tracker we sent found another," the right said.
"He returned with news," the left said.
Nathan blinked in surprise. He was not aware that a tracker had been dispatched. That he had failed was alarming.
"We cannot lose her," the right thundered.
"We cannot allow him to have her," the left hissed.
The hairs on Nathan's arms stood up. Someone had her? "Who? Is she in danger? Do I--"
"We cannot determine his motives," the right declared.
"His mind blocks ours," the left whispered.
They lapsed into silence again, and Nathan turned his attention to the middle. He was still as stone. Nathan had wondered before if the tall, thin man who was more than man was even alive at all.
The voice of the right shook him out of his musings. "She is with a Hunter."
Nathan nearly choked on his tongue. The familiar fear and rage grabbed him inside, a cold burn that threatened to strip his control, to leave him bare before the gods. "A Hunter," he exclaimed. "Then what the hell are we waiting for? I've got to get her now! He could kill her!"
"He has been her companion for a week," the left said.
"What?" It didn't make any sense. Not unless-- "Does he know?"
"We cannot say," the right said.
"The time for action is approaching, regardless," the left said.
Nathan wanted to scream at them, to challenge them, to disobey them, but he stayed his temper. He was as a fly before them. He had to trust their judgment. "I am to prepare to destroy him?"
"Yes," the right said.
"And her, if need be," the left said.
Nathan nodded. "I will assemble my team."
He waited for them to dismiss him, but no word came. They were conferring again, and Nathan was not prepared for the bombshell they were about to drop.
"Child of the Light," the right said, "this Hunter is among their most accomplished."
"And," the left whispered, "he is one with whom you are acquainted."

Chapter 12

Julia spent the black a.m. hours with her eyes shut, listening to the purr of the wheels on the road and thinking about Cayne.
Losing her first and only real family could've put her in some awful new foster home, or even in a homeless shelter or hospital. But here she sat, comfy in the air-conditioning, reclining in a leather seat, wearing the sort of clothes she'd wanted in her closet for most of her life.