Normally, his touch was almost greedy, like mine, wanting more. But now his lips were moving slowly, as if he knew the power behind his newfound energy would spin my mind out of control, as if he were savoring every gentle movement of my lips against his.
He pulled away just as the dizzying sensation caused my knees to buckle. I felt his arm tighten and brace around me.
“Always run to me, Charlie. I’ll take the fear away, fight your war. I love you.”
After finding my balance in his arms, I whispered, “Love you,” as a blush surfaced over every inch of my body. “I’m not complaining, trust me - but are you okay? Is this energy thing a good thing or a bad thing?”
His eyes cascaded over me, doing their best to hide the hunger I saw there - not for my light, but for me.
“I can hold you without my guard up once again. That makes it a good thing in my book.”
I watched as his eyes drifted into mine, pulling me closer. If my soul were not firmly attached to my body, I would be within him. I was craving that sensation, and it didn’t make any sense to me. Was that even possible? To mingle my energy with his – my soul with his? The thought of it alone was making my heart hammer in my chest.
I remember feeling something close to this the first time he kissed me, the first time he told me he loved me, but something told me that my imagination would not give that notion justice if I tried; the kiss that was still humming on my lips backed up that point.
His eyes grew curious. I knew that look. I’d shown him everything I did today, and now he was thinking back over it, taking it in at a slower rate. After what seemed like forever, he sighed.
“I knew that bastard would hurt her. Anna? Really? That was low.”
“Easy target,” I agreed.
“I’d rather starve,” he said as the jealousy that that girl had manifested in me was reflected in my tense composure. It wasn’t just her that was causing that feeling. I didn’t like the way he referred to the desire to pull energy to him, like he was feeding on it - which I guess he was – but the reference was too chilling for me to handle.
He pulled me closer to him and slowly let his hand caress my back.
“We’ll put that wall up, one way or the other. August offered to give Aden a drug to stop it, but he refused. I won’t offer. I’ll cram it down his throat.”
“A drug?”
He nodded slowly as he began to sway me to the soundless room. “It’s called Rhelm. Apparently, it’s natural and takes recent memory away. They use it here if someone sees them move between passages or if something is too traumatic to remember. They told him that they didn’t know how well it would work. Aden refused it anyway, told them that right now he needed to remember to help us.”
“Let’s just go there - the two of us, talk to him,” I pleaded.
“I’ll give him until tomorrow. We have plans tonight.”
“Do we?” I questioned, wondering how we could have plans if I were knocked out cold until a few hours ago.
He nodded once, reaching to caress a lock of my long dark hair out of my eyes. “Alamos was sure you would wake today.”
“How? Magic or something?”
A ghost of a smile echoed on his lips as his emerald green eyes filled with admiration. “Because deities rise after three days.”
“What?!” I asked, tensing.
His arms pulled me closer, removing my tension. “Yeah, apparently we are seen that way, at least thought of in that manner. It appears that some of our actions, the paths we have taken, mirror those that were taken by those who were thought to be deities in ancient times, across different dimensions. They think we are repeating some of those paths, growing stronger because of it.”
“I’m not a god, and I don’t want anyone to think of any of us in that manner,” I said shortly, appalled that anyone would think that way about me - us.
As always, he found my sarcasm inviting and grinned. “Agreed, but you’re awake – as it was predicted – so I’m going to go with it for now.”
“What plans do we have?” I asked, fearing the answer.
“Dinner with a king,” he said as if he were talking about the weather.
“I don’t want to go there – it’s dangerous,” I quickly countered.
“We’ll be safe. Those herbs we used to seal the school when we brought back the shadows were nothing compared to what Perodine and Alamos use. They have sealed several wings. They would have sealed more but they feared the power would be weakened if it was stretched to thin.”
“Why do we have to have dinner with him? Is he like your new best friend now?”
I could see my answers coming to me as my seeing ability produced an intense tingling sensation, but I was too impatient to analyze them. I wanted him to explain them to me.
He smiled slightly. “I’ve spent a lot of time with Drake over the last few days. I’ve looked deep into him, and I know I can trust his intentions. He recognized the energy I had instantly and has been working with me on how to use it, not let it seep too far from me.”
“Is that why you feel more intense?” I asked, letting my hand ease up his strong arms.
The desire in his eyes built. “I feel intense because this is yours, my soul. Others feel something around me, but not on this level. He taught me that first.”
The tingling sensation engulfed my mind, taking the image of him along with this room away and replacing them with flickering visions that showed Drake and Draven standing in a stone room with only torches lighting the way.
I watched as Drake lifted Draven into thin air with a glance, how Draven was taught not only to do that but also to use his energy as a weapon, one that was forceful enough to knock a grown man across the room, to start fires or put them out. I felt like I was watching a movie set in an ancient time. The lack of realism for what I was seeing made me lose that vision, forcing me back into the moment.
Knowing that I’d seen everything he was taught, Draven grinned then stepped back slightly. A second later, I was rising in the air. I braced my arms over my head so I wouldn’t hit the ceiling. He laughed a boyish laugh, one that I hadn’t heard in months as his hands clasped my waist and pulled me down again.
“Fun, huh?” he said, trying to stifle his joy.
“I could think of a few other words,” I said once I was sure my feet were on the ground again.
“It’s just like The Realm - only it’s here.”
“You sound like Madison.”
He nodded, pulling me against him again. “She was a fast learner. They think the time in The Realm allowed us not to be afraid of it, grasp it within minutes – whereas it took Willow and Landen days.”
“You think I can learn this?”
“Oh, dear, why are you so dense?” I heard Cashton say. “I already told you that you are currently not living up to your potential.”
Within that breath, Cashton was pinned to the opposite wall and Draven was taking dominant steps to him. When he reached him, he braced his forearm across Cashton’s chest.
“Draven!” I screamed, but he and Cashton were locked in a stare. Cashton was grinning as he appraised Draven.
I’d let Draven look into my thoughts, and he’d given me no indication that he could see Cashton – which in the back of mind told me that Cashton was just an illusion helping me through this trauma. Now I didn’t know what to think.
With matched strength, Cashton removed Draven’s arm and held his hand out.
“Welcome to the family, mate.”
Draven looked to me, then to Cashton.
“Um...if you can see him, then more than likely he is not the result of a psychotic break and he is my brother from a...um...I guess a different life.”
“This life. You just took a side road to the dark side,” Cashton said, glancing at me as if he were annoyed that I didn’t believe him.
Almost in shock, Draven reached to shake his hand.
“So you let Silas and Draven see you - but not Madis
on or Britain?”
“Silas will move on soon enough. And hey, if this boy is yours, then he is a brother of mine, right? You said Mum and Dad loved him. I can see the appeal. He’ll fit right in.”
Draven was desperately searching my thoughts for who this was. And I guess now that Cashton had decided to let Draven see him, what he had seen before was now different. I could see my dream, all the words that Cashton had said to me in Draven’s mind now.
“Cashton claims that Mom and Dad are gone, really gone - like moved on to another reality. That they left us both here to fulfill a charge or something. He claims that I should not linger so close to Madison because she has a different line or master to kill.”
“Excuse me?” Draven said, raising his brow.
“Shock,” Cashton said, pointing to Draven. “See what I mean?”
I moved my head from side to side.
Draven was focused on Cashton, his eyes as dark as coal.
“Let him see you,” I almost pleaded to Cashton, knowing that Draven would not trust Cashton unless he knew there was truth behind his every word.
“Not all of it, sweetheart,” Cashton said under his breath.
“Why not?” I protested.
“Because I’m not quite sure where he is on his path.”
I was watching Draven. Cashton was selective; he only showed Draven The Fall, my parents vanishing into it, and a few scattered memories of a life I had on the other side.
“The Selected?” Draven said, looking at me.
I shrugged my shoulders.
Cashton slowly circled Draven, breathing in. “Interesting.”
“What?” Draven and I said at the same time.
“Your scent is of another line, yet you are firmly attached to my sista. Is anger an issue for you?”
Draven smirked.
Cashton raised his chin. “Not going to count you out yet. My sista has an issue with anger; doubt she has ever really felt the real deal. So I suppose this is a good match, that you can be angry enough for the two of you and conquer shock in the end.”
“Why did you tell her to stay away from Madison?” Draven asked, knowing I would never do such a thing.
“If you cross paths with or stand too close to another that has your fate, you make an easy target.”
Draven glanced at me. The look in his eyes told me he already knew that.
“What do you know?” I asked aloud, trying to see it, but he answered before I had a chance to look through his mind.
“Landen kinda said the same thing.”
“What does Landen fight?” Cashton asked.
“Currently a web of spells.”
“In the past?” Cashton pressed.
“A ghost of a horrible king,” Draven said with a nod.
“Name.”
“Donalt.”
“Fear,” Cashton said as he closed his eyes for a second.
Draven nodded. “Yeah. The people in that dimension look pretty terrified.”
“How much fear does Landen have?” Cashton asked him.
Draven raised his brow. “Didn’t seem like much.”
“You can work with him – at a calculated distance,” Cashton said to me.
“Thanks for the permission. Why?” I bit out.
“The masters of shock and fear work together. Usually, right after you feel an emotion of shock, fear follows. More than likely, the one you must take on is next to or close to the one Landen will have to conquer.”
“And Madison has her own little master somewhere else,” I mocked.
“Madison isn’t going to get very far until she finds her balance,” Cashton said with a raised brow.
“Which is...?”
“Which is none of your business, little one. If I tell you, you will tell her and she may or may not seek it, therefore making it forced, not natural.”
“What would be forced?” I argued.
Cashton locked his jaw before he spoke. “Are you forced to love this boy?” he asked as he tilted his head toward Draven. “Did anyone ever suggest that you should? Don’t you dare say Mum and Dad did because they know better. The answer is no. You were pulled to him, and now you are fighting to hold on to him.”
“True.”
“See, don’t force your buddy, don’t push her down a road because only she knows what road to take.”
“You don’t get it. The four of us, Draven and his brother, Madison and me - we have common gifts and conflicts. First and foremost, we all came here together and we brought a girl here that needs us to keep her safe.”
“You said there was a web?” Cashton said, looking at Draven.
“Something like that. Landen is working on unraveling it.”
“Right, then. Well, that means that we are off track. That all of you have been pitted against each other.”
“We are not fighting each other,” I maintained.
“I’ll tell you right now, it is not good that Silas and Draven are against each other,” Cashton retorted.
“There’s a news flash,” I said under my breath.
“We are just going to have to move through what you have started and hope we make it out in time to get ourselves on the right path,” Cashton stated assertively.
I glanced at Draven, knowing that on top of everything else, he had already committed us to going back to that palace tonight.
“What is the dinner tonight about?” I asked him.
“Dinner. That’s civil,” Cashton teased.
Still not knowing how to take Cashton, Draven gave his attention to me.
“We’ve developed a battle plan. We need to draw out those against Drake.”
“So, Drake’s problems are now ours as well?” I said with wide eyes.
I couldn’t figure out why he was so attached to him if his brother was in obvious pain in some other dimension - if Grayson was hunting Winston in The Realm.
“Not just his. Willow and Landen’s, too. Drake is almost paralyzed by the threat of war in his kingdom, and that distraction is causing the darkness to gain ground. He needs our help to stifle the threat of war. Once that is done then he can help us. They think the vortex of the darkness is within that dimension, that if it’s under control then we can strike the darkness at its core.”
“That is not the core of it, though I can see how you may think that,” Cashton added.
I ignored him. “How can we stop a war?” I asked as I reached for my temples, thinking that if I massaged them, my head would stop tingling and bubbling up images of all that Draven had done while I was asleep, as well as the random images that were backing up what Cashton was saying.
Draven looked concerned and proud at the same time as he moved my fingers away and began to move his in small circles on my temples. The hum of his skin was having a far greater effect than what I was doing.
“Well, apparently Donalt was a master Escort, and he had several in his court. They were placed there as backups if this trial by planet didn’t pan out, or at the very least to make the trials more difficult. Drake has to assume control of the dimension, let the kingdom know that Donalt is dead and that he will rule. The only problem is that this day was prophesied, and it was said that he could not rule without Willow - or whatever body her soul was in. That was the heart of the plan. Donalt predicted this day for a reason: he had every intention of having Willow fall in love with Drake, then taking control of his body and her heart and ruling for another four million years without interruption.”
“That is not his intention,” Cashton threw in.
“You want to clue me in? That is what I was told,” Draven bit out at him.
“I’m sure you were, and I have no doubt that the people that clued you in were also the people that in part created this web.”
“So what - don’t help them?” I said as Draven let his fingers fall from my temple.
“You’re stuck now. I mean that you guys have got to rise out of today and see the real fate. Donalt is not of this wor
ld. He is role playing with you.”
Draven and I both locked gazes. We knew what that demon looked like and what he was capable of, also that his children were in our care. That was one hell of a role play if it were true.
“I may be meant to fight shock or whatever, but I can’t let the master of fear conquer anything. I have to protect his daughter.”
“His what?!” Cashton belted.
“You heard me. I brought Monroe here, and Mom and Dad knew that. I have to protect her, and if that means helping Landen and Willow then so be it.”
“All right, then. What have we signed my sista up for?” Cashton asked Draven.
“Drake has to play into the public. They are the power - not just in numbers, but in energy. Basically, he has to take what was predicted and act it out. The first step is to stop the powerful Escorts that are in the court. He’s not even entirely sure who they are.”
Cashton smirked as he looked over Draven once. “Ah, trust me – he is not aware.”
Neither one of us bothered to push Cashton to explain himself. He wasn’t showing it to us with his thoughts, so he surely wouldn’t tell us with his words. I was starting to think that he was only throwing lines like that at us to make us think – to lead us to find our own way of figuring this out.
“How?” I asked Draven.
“By replacing the court,” he answered casually, as if it were an obvious answer.
“Excuse me?”
“Yep, there is always a loophole. Having two people here that were there when they were established plays into our hands.”
Draven nodded to say yes as I saw flickering images of Perodine and Alamos in lives from so long ago. I saw Perodine as a young woman, I watched her witness the arrival of Donalt. He was a young man, fiercely attractive. At that time he looked harmless.
“Donalt was born on an island on the far side of the dimension. That island was thought to be sacred, the vortex to the heavens. Years later when the dimension went dark, the island remained in the sun. It was also forbidden to travel there. It was thought that if you did, you would perish - simply because you were unworthy.”