i couldn't find the humility in me to even pretend to feel guilty, so i met all three sets of eyes with determined pride. kiran glowered at me from the other side of lucan and i could feel the tension radiating off talbot in waves of annoyed anger. lucan looked me over with cool indifference, his eyes sweeping over my pink tank top and striped pajama pants, with furry slippers sticking out underneath in a sort of amused frustration.

"the kitchens?" lucan repeated, turning his stern gaze back to sebastian.

"yes, the kitchens," i snapped, "i'm starving."

"then you should have ordered something be brought up," kiran retorted back. "you can't just disappear, eden! how am i supposed to know where you are?"

i threw kiran a dangerous glance, frustrated with his accusation. for the last few days i had become a shining example of obedience. i followed kiran around, helped the sick titans he took me to visit and always hid my hatred for him whenever someone else was around. i knew that sneaking off to the kitchens was wrong, but it wasn't like i packed my bags, scaled the castle walls and they found me at the nearest bus station.

"i don't know! why don't you put a tracking collar on me like before!" i spat, buried hatred tumbling out my mouth.

"a tracking collar?" kiran asked, realizing too late i was referring to the onyx pendant he gave me that was infused with a tracking device made from magic and disguised as a meaningful gift.

"don't even pretend like you don't know what i'm talking about," my tone turned to venom. i crossed my arms on my chest, willing him to argue with me.

"that's actually a brilliant idea," lucan interrupted. he put a fatherly hand on kiran's shoulder. "we can hardly have her walking about the castle unsupervised."

"i wasn't unsupervised! i was with sebastian!" i defended myself adamantly.

"but we didn't know that!" kiran raised his voice at me. "you could have been anywhere, eden! you could have left, or worse, someone could have kidnapped you!"

i opened my mouth to give him a piece of my mind, something about how i wished i would get kidnapped, but lucan cut me off with a wave of his hand. "let her pick whatever she likes from the jewels and have one of the witches prepare it," lucan instructed of kiran. he turned to me, his eyes still hard and steely. "eden, i can see that you are making a concerted effort to follow my rules, but guests will begin arriving in two days and i don't have time for your incessant arguing. fall in line, child, i believe you understand perfectly what is at stake for you."

i closed my mouth abruptly, having forgotten that it was open. lucan swept passed sebastian and me with an irritated sigh and i was left facing a riled up talbott and an infuriated kiran. instead of indulging kiran with fake humility and hated obedience, i turned on my heel, storming back toward his bedroom with all three boys hurrying after me.

at his bedroom, i swung the door open and then slammed it shut on kiran's face. i heard him in a menacingly angry voice give the order for talbott and sebastian to leave us and i readied myself for battle. off the bed i grabbed a sweatshirt, which happened to be his, and threw it on over my tank top, feeling ill prepared to go to verbal-war with bear arms.

the door opened and i deliberately walked to the window. instinctive fear urged me to lock myself in the bathroom, but my pride wouldn't let me take the coward's escape. when the door closed behind kiran, i heard the click of the lock but nothing more. i felt his presence, leaning against the wall, watching me silently. i felt his silent brooding, his fuming ire and it sent a chill tingling down my spine.

"eden," kiran growled, "we need to talk." his voice was low and serious, threatening me carefully.

i turned to face him, careful to remove any unease from my expression. with my tangled hair falling wildly over my shoulders, i hoped i looked poised and unshaken. i walked forward slowly, acknowledging his command with only a slight lift of my chin and sat down in one of his leather chairs. he followed suit, walking from across the room to sit next to me in an adjacent and identical chair.

the magic between us waged its own war. our electricity swirled around the room in a violent storm of disagreement. i pulled my legs underneath me and then brushed at my knee casually, inwardly willing my magic into control.

"i owe you an apology," kiran began. i jumped at his words that broke the heavy silence between us and jarred me from the edge of fury.

"you think?" i laughed sarcastically.

"for not explaining things clearly before," he continued. i realized this was a different kind of apology than i had thought for a moment he was ready to give. "i know that i asked you to heal the titans and i am responsible for taking you house to house, but i left important information out that means a lot to your safety. my father doesn't know that i'm helping these titans, he doesn't know about your.... gift. he has his suspicions of course, but nothing concrete. and so, with each titan that you heal, i risk exposing this talent of yours to my father. i have weighed the consequences in my mind, and from what i know about lucan, even if he were to find out, i am not sure much would change. as of now, he views you as his own special trophy, and your healing ability would be more of a crowning jewel than anything else. although, i cannot be positive, those are my gut feelings."

kiran paused for a minute to let his words sink in and measure my reaction. i sat with cool indifference, deciding whether or not to believe him. his eyes had found a medium shade between his serious dark blue and the warm turquoise that shimmered like the ocean. i wondered why he was confiding in me, but decided to hold my tongue until he finished.

"while father would certainly complicate things, my real concern is in those that you are helping," kiran continued. "with each titan you cure, i have to trust that they can also keep your secret. if word got around too quickly about what you were capable of we'd have a line of immortals outside our door a mile long."

"so what? i would help them! in fact, why don't you tell everyone?" i demanded, realizing how much good i could do.

"yes, but you're not that strong yet. i've seen how you work. by the third sickness you're exhausted and when you push yourself to do one more you're almost delirious with the effort. if the general population knew about your gift, they would kill you in one day by demanding too much of you. and you would just give yourself away to them, without even thinking twice about the consequences." kiran finished by throwing his back against his chair and running his fingers through his tussled hair.

i thought over his warning for a few silent moments, deciding that his threat was not so scary after all. in fact, his idea of a life-ending scenario sounded pretty epic and i was carefully planning my argument in my head and how to get my way when he interrupted my thoughts.

"no, eden, there is more than just your life at stake here. i can see where your thoughts are headed and i know what that damned confident smile on your face means." i sat up straight and shifted my face back to stoic stillness, realizing i had been caught. kiran continued, "there are other things to worry about besides the kingdom demanding you to play god. we have to also consider those that you are healing as a potential risk. i was serious when i said you could have been kidnapped. you are very valuable to my father, and the resistance is not the only group of people out there that hate him. what if a group of disgruntled titans, recently healed from the king's curse, got together and decided to make an example out of you, or use your magic for worse purposes than even my father can think of?"

"then they would die because of the blood oath, we all know that," i argued, unwilling to believe that any of the people i helped would turn on me in their own greedy pursuit.

"we're not fools here, eden. once those titans saw what you were capable of, doubt was erased from their minds about who the real blood oath is in allegiance to." kiran stood up abruptly and walked over to the windows. the light from kiran's bedroom did not pierce the heavy darkness that lay just outside the cool glass and the window reacted like a mirror, reflecting kiran's pained and tired expression back at him.

"if they think i'm the rightful ruler, then why on earth would they kidnap me, kiran? your argument isn't making any sense." my arms crossed without my permission.

"eden, enough of this, i cannot save you from your own naivety. beckton knew who you were; he figured it out all by himself and did he bow down in reverent worship, singing your praise and clearing the way to your throne?" kiran paused, waiting for my rebuttal. it took me a moment to place beckton, and then i remembered his sneering presence, making himself known from the shadows of the buildings in downtown omaha. he stepped from the darkness and took my magic violently. if avalon and i weren't bonded together with an open flow of magic between us, he would have succeeded. i shuddered at the memory. "there are evil people in this world that simply want to possess the power that you hold and couldn't care less about consequences and blood oaths."

"and those are the people that i've been helping?" i countered in disbelief. all of the titans i had helped were gracious and thankful beyond belief.

"i hope not, but i can't be certain. and i'm not only worried about them; i'm worried about the people they will tell and the rumors that will spread. my father is not the only immortal you should be afraid of until you can secure your place on the throne." kiran flinched at his own words and quickly clarified, "if you can secure your place on the throne."

"either way, i can take care of myself." i stood up to challenge him.

"no, you can't," kiran answered solemnly, "you care too much about life and death. otherwise you would not be here."

his words rang in my ears, echoing down into the pit of my heart. i knew that he was right. my forced obedience in this very castle was given because i couldn't bear to see even one immortal die. and i was too easily a martyr.

"so your solution is to slap a tracking bracelet on me and monitor my every move!" i couldn't back down from this fight, the memory of the first onyx pendant he tricked me into wearing with tenderness and the pretense of love burned against my chest and i refused to be branded again.

"you've left me no choice!" he countered, raising his voice and taking a step forward. "because you cannot follow the very simple rules i've laid out for you, you are forcing my hand!"

"what are my other options?" i demanded facetiously. "to stay by your side, day and night, or locked away in your room until you've decided to grace me with your presence? is this your idea of-"

"protection!" he shouted back. "this is my idea of protection!"

"oh, right," i calmed down, taking on an icy demeanor that chilled the room. "i forgot how protective you are. i forgot that you always know what's best for me, even if that means the death of my grandfather!" i finished with a raised voice, unable to control the emotion thick in my throat.

"all i have ever tried to do is protect you," kiran snapped, his volume level under control. "that has been my only concern from the first day i met you. and it will continue to be my concern until the day you and your brother win this war or until you get yourself killed, whichever comes first." with that he stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind him.