Chapter 1 - Kiema

"You could die. You realize that, yeah?" the low husky voice burbled through the phone. It reminded me of a lazy river in the woods. Not that I'd ever seen one in my life. Maybe that will go on the list of things to see when I escape.

I straightened my spine. I was going to die way too early either way. I might as well make it on my terms instead of my parents'.

"Still there?"

I shook the morose thoughts away. "Yes. And yes. But we have to hurry. I'll be summoned for the next ritual any day now. I don't have time to waste. I need this plan in place as soon as I get to the cabin. I also need your reassurance that I won't be found." I shuddered to think what my parents would do if they found me after running away. Imprisonment would seem like a luxury.

People moved outside my glass walls. Ordinary lives. They didn't know how lucky they were.

"I give you my personal promise of safety." I could hear the sincerity in his voice. "We're ready on this end. We just need final location and timing."

I could have sworn I heard something, or someone, in the background. I didn't bother asking anymore. A person didn't need to tell me no too many times before I stopped asking. Pushing the need to ask out of my mind, I focused my thoughts.

"I'll let you know as soon as I do."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar head of dark cherry red hair weaving its way through the maze of cubes towards my closet-sized glass prison.

Shit, shit, shit. She'll report the phone to my father.

"I've got to go." I stabbed the disconnect button. Lifting my left leg, I slid the small device into the slit I'd cut into the cushion of my chair.

Settling back down, I shook back my long black hair, raising my head to be seen clearly through the glass walls of my office. I sat back, letting the scene play out how it did every year. I was in no hurry to usher in my looming death with a warm smile and wave. Sitting as primly as a princess, I lifted my chin level with the floor, slowed my breathing, rested my hands in my lap, and waited.

Ms. Cartwright lifted her wrist to the lock. The PA displayed a harsh baring of teeth that passed for a smile on her pinched face. A low beep gave Ms. Cartwright entrance into my space.

"Come along, Kiema. It's time." Ms. Cartwright held the glass door open with her narrow hips.

She didn't even bother looking at me. I'm nothing more than a piece of office supplies. More useful than furniture, but that was about it. It's almost over, I chanted mentally. I'm going to be free. It doesn't matter what she thinks about me anymore.

I rose from my chair, skimming my hands down my hips, smoothing the wrinkles from my dark purple slim skirt. Tucked my soft white top into my skirt for a clean line.

"Of course." I gave her a polite smile as I stepped around the glass desk, my heels digging into the plush carpet, muffling the sound of my steps.

"Come along, child. We haven't all day. The clients are waiting," Ms. Cartwright snapped at me.

Child. I brushed the fantasy of smashing the other woman's face through the clear panels of glass from my mind. I had to stay focused. I hadn't been risking everything I'd ever known for the last three weeks for nothing. Nothing was going to keep me from escaping this hell. Especially not this bitter old woman.

We rode the elevator to the top floor in silence. I could feel my heart beginning to race. The dichotic mix of joy and sorrow rushed through me. I'd finally get to meet my Seeker today. It didn't really matter to me who it was, as long as they could get me to the cabin.

"Here she is," my mother, Ferria, announced as I strode across my parents' penthouse foyer.

Mother and Father were dressed to impress today. Which wasn't really unusual, considering the amount of money about to change hands.

Juan and Ferria Feuer, both shorter and darker than my own complexion, fit in perfectly with the décor of their family home. Wealth and privilege fairly sang from their clothes. Whispers of affluence drifted on the hushed currents of cooled air gently swirling around the gigantic space.

Walls of mirrored glass brought in views of the cityscape of North Cross along with the weak sunlight of the gloomy day. Standing almost at the epicenter of North Cross, my parents held a lordly view of the city they claimed as their home base. The spearing column of Feuer Tower didn't let anyone forget their importance either.

"Mother." I nodded my head, hands folded together at my waist. I turned to the others standing across from my parents.

I kept my surprise to myself. Even in my limited access to the world outside these four walls, I knew the family who had won the highest bid for my services. Odd, I didn't know they had a sick family member.

The Kolefni's domain was almost as expansive and far-reaching as my parents. Feuer Holdings was a huge company that provided just about every kind of personal or residential service imaginable. From custom design to trash disposal, intimate companionship to horse training, my parents ran the service industry on Iashira.

Kolefni Enterprises either owned or managed most industrial and commercial real estate in Iashira. They also oversaw most of the trades that went into those sectors. Claude and Charlotte stood ramrod straight in their finest clothes. Both blonde haired and blue-eyed, they towered over the figures of my own parents.

A man, who could only belong to the two Nordic gods opposite me, stood behind them. A few inches over six feet, his piercing blue eyes were darker in color and much more hateful in countenance than either of the statuesque individuals of his parents.

I bristled at the look of hatred the man sent me. It wasn't my fault he was here. To be perfectly honest, it was his fault I was here.

I kept my face even, my expression purposely blank. He's my ticket out of this Gaia-forsaken life. Giving him a professional nod and pushing him from my mind, I turned and looked to my mother and father.

They were such a beautiful couple. Why couldn't they have been happy? I didn't bother trying to come up with an answer to the plaguing question. I'd never found a good reason.

Soon. Soon, I would be away from here. Able to live how I wanted. To help those who needed it, instead of only those with the money to pay for it.

"Kiema, are you listening?" My father's thick brows lowered over his dark brown eyes.

"Of course, Father." I turned and nodded to the new family. "Welcome, Kolefni family. We are humbled and honored that you have chosen the Feuer family to aid you." I laid a hand over my heart as I spoke the familiar words.

In the last twenty-five years of the ritual, only the Seeking family's name had changed. My response was pro forma, professional, and practiced.

Claude and Charlotte looked pleased with my response. Their son still looked pissed off.

I shrugged mentally. His liking me had no bearing on my ability to help him. I'd do it.

And then I would be free.

"Their son, Ransom, is the one you will be healing," Father informed me.

Why else would the glaring idiot be here, Father? I dipped my head in acknowledgement. I didn't need to worry that my thoughts were broadcast across my face. I had far too much experience for such a slip.

The son's name is definitely fitting: His parents were certainly paying a king's ransom for my parents to have agreed to this.

"Background?" I asked.

Ransom flinched. The barest twitch of his dirty blond eyebrows over his dark blue eyes before they lost all emotion. He looked like a predator in the body of prey. The fierceness and ferocity shining from his eyes didn't match the tired and pallid body he came wrapped in.

Great. Another man with a wounded ego. I sighed internally. Why were they always butthurt about my questions?

I snickered mentally at the insult. Seeker 23 had taught it to me. It still made me laugh. And Gaia, was it appropriate for this guy.

I dipped my head in his direction. "I apologize, Mr. Kolefni, for my abruptness. What brings you to Feuer house today?" I bit back the sarcasm. I could do this. I would do this.

One last ritual.

Freedom.

Freedom.

Freedom.

The word pounded at me from the inside. My heart beat in tempo with the flashing word across my mind's eye.

When Ransom kept his silence, I looked to his parents. One eyebrow raised. "I need some background so I can tell you if this will even work. There are some illnesses I cannot heal."

Mommy and Daddy Kolefni looked horrified.

I bit back the glare I wanted to shoot in my parents' direction. Of course, they didn't tell the family.

All bad news was mine to deliver. While they took all the credit for my work.

I settled my shoulders and stepped into the empty space separating the families like battle lines.

I lifted my hand to Mrs. Kolefni, stopping just before contact could be made. "Please."

Ransom cleared his throat from behind his parents, drawing my attention. "I have a rare illness that current medicine cannot explain or cure." He bit the words out as if they cut his tongue and mouth as he spoke them.

"Have you visit - "

"Assume we've sought all possible answers for this condition. You are the last resort," Ransom scowled at me.

I bristled under the lash of his voice. "Do you have any magic of your own?"

He snorted. His weight shifted back as he crossed his arms over his chest.

My spine stiffened. "It's not an absurd question. With ten percent of the population categorized as magical, you could well be in that minority. I need to know before this goes any further."

His top lip curled. "None."

He wanted bitchy, I could give him bitchy. I nodded. "Your illness must be very frustrating. I'll do my best to help you." I bowed slightly and stepped back to my family's side of the room.

I don't belong on this side of the line either.

Ransom snorted loudly. "Frustrating? That's all you have to say?"

I opened my mouth to reply.

Before a single syllable could be uttered though, Claude turned and got in Ransom's face. Speaking lowly enough that I couldn't hear, I watched as the proud and angry son battled back the heat and rage.

After a few moments, with a single nod of his head, Ransom closed down all emotion and drew on a blank face. From what I could see, even his posture eased back, cooled down.

Interesting. His mask was so complete, that had I not seen the transformation, I wouldn't have believed anything was wrong. How had he learned to lie with his body?

I didn't know anyone able to draw on a mask quite so efficiently. Granted, I really don't know that many people. Okay, fine, I knew maybe seven people, not including the twenty-five I'd healed. But I don't have that kind of control. Not when my temper had already been let loose.

Beside me, Mother practically purred in her throat. Mother was drawn to power as surely as the hungry were drawn to food. Father shuffled his feet for a couple of seconds before going still once more.

I didn't bother keeping track of Mother's sexual conquests anymore. And I certainly didn't bother keeping track of Father's bad attitudes. That would be a full-time job of pure hell.

Not today, thanks.

I watched Ransom as my mother showed her interest. If I wasn't mistaken, derision and disgust colored his features. I almost laughed at the mental image of my thwarted mother. Ransom moved higher in my estimation.

All anyone would see when looking at me would be polite disinterest. Even my parents couldn't tell my real moods these days. Not that they bothered to realize I was a living, breathing human, anyways.

"The ritual takes one week," I began. "We -"

"Arrangements have been made for ten days," Mother cut across whatever else I was going to say.

My control slipped as I goggled at her before I got my facial expression under control. This was unheard of. In the twenty-five years of the ritual, it had never changed in duration. I turned to look at the Kolefnis.

Claude and Charlotte pleaded with me with their eyes.

The corners of Ransom's lips were pulled in, like he was biting back a smile. Like he was enjoying my distress.

The ass just lost whatever esteem he'd gained. I really didn't like this man.

I shook back my hair. "That's fine. Ten days. There will be no interruptions. No calls to see how things fare. No drop-ins. No outside contact initiated outside of the cabin. I will send updates as I am able. Ransom is free to contact whomever he would like to in order to discuss his thoughts and feelings about the ritual. No specifics about the ritual itself are to be shared. Failure to comply will result in the ritual ending, no healing, and no refunds." I looked each Kolefni in the eye.

Claude looked like he wanted to argue. He probably wasn't accustomed to being told the rules by a younger woman. My father certainly didn't like it when I tried to put restrictions on my abilities. Not that I was successful very often.

Charlotte's eyes were watering, and her lower lip quivered ever so slightly. All humor gone, Ransom's mouth was pinched. His dark blue eyes, they looked like cold sapphires, sharp enough to break skin.

I raised one dark eyebrow at the challenging man. Love it or leave it, Seeker. Those are your choices.

A slow, dark smile pulled at the corner of his mouth in response.