Unbound Enchantment (Unbreakable Force Book 1) by Kara Jaynes Page A

at me, her eyes red rimmed and her face soaked with tears.
    “Why did you do it?” she said, her voice trembling. “You should have stayed away. Adaryn, I'm so sorry.”
    “What are you talking about?” I said, squeezing her hands in mine. She wasn't making any sense. “I came to free you, Ember. I'm getting you out of the city. Tonight.”
    Ember shook her head at me. “Don't you see, Adaryn? It's over. This is our life now. This is the way it should be. Our magic is . . . dangerous. We don't deserve to be free.”
    I frowned at her, my concern turning into anger. “You stop it right now! You're talking nonsense, Ember. Utter rubbish. You were born with the magic. It defines who you are—”
    “You're quite correct, Poppy. The magic does define who you are. Barbaric and uncivilized.”
    I felt my heart skip in horror, and I whirled around to face the man who had entered the room. Kingsley. He loomed in the doorway, cutting off my only exit to safety. The man continued speaking. “Your people roam the forests and fields, homeless and directionless. Without law and order. Without morals.”
    I gritted my teeth and balled my hands into fists, my fingernails cutting into my palms. “You need a lesson on morals, Kingsley, and you know nothing about my people.”
    “You obviously know nothing about mine.” Kingsley smiled lazily, but his eyes shone in the candlelight with an eagerness that formed a cold pit of fear in my stomach. He lifted his right hand; he held a collar.
    “I have given your master plenty of opportunity to properly train you,” he said, still speaking quietly, “But he wouldn't listen. I suspected he might be developing feelings for you, and that has no place in our society. We must keep the balance, and you are out of control—speaking disrespectfully to me, attempting to cast magic on me in the city, and now breaking into my house, not to mention trying to free my property. I didn't expect that last move, even from you.”
    “Ember is not property,” I snarled, backing away. I licked my lips nervously. I was almost against the wall.
    Kingsley laughed, clearly amused. “Oh, she's not? Ginger, tell Poppy here what you are.”
    I stood frozen, my eyes locked on Kingsley, but I heard the small sob behind me as Ember whispered, “Property. I am property.”
    Kingsley's smiled widened. “A slave is property, a fact your previous master should have taught you, Poppy.” He took another step forward. “It's time you had a new master. Oh, I'm sure Aaric will initially object, but after I tell him what you've done, he will have no choice but to oblige.”
    My back hit the wall, pressing up against it. I was as far away from him as I could get. Sweat trickled down my back, my breath coming in quick gasps. “Aaric cares for me,” I said without thinking. I felt a small shock of surprise voicing it, but I knew it was true.
    “Perhaps,” Kingsley mused, “but how strongly?” He stepped through the doorway. He was now only a few paces from me. “Will he risk everything he's worked for, his family's reputation, for you? For a slave?”
    Kingsley sneered at me, and I felt my gaze drop. He was right. Aaric wouldn't do that.
    “Aaric will give you up because he has no choice,” Kingsley continued. “Not unlike Ginger here, who, when she realized you had come, came and told me because she knew she had no choice.”
    My head snapped up, and I looked at Ember, who crouched, sobbing, on the floor. She looked like a frightened animal. “I-I'm sorry, Adaryn.” She could barely get the words out through her tears. “He would have hurt me terribly if I hadn't!”
    My gaze switched back to Kingsley, who was now looking down at Ember, a mixture of disgust and satisfaction in his expression. “She learned quickly,” he said quietly. His green eyes met mine, glowing in the candlelight. “And so will you.”
    He raised the collar and lunged toward me, moving at an incredible speed. My instinct for