Vade crossed his arms as he casually leaned against the railing of the balcony. “No, I’m not Livingston. I’m not his Earthly father.”
Of all the times for me to lose half my insights, this was not a good one. I couldn’t see any auras around this guy, and I could detect no clear emotion beyond anger coming from him. And no matter how hard I tried, I could not see anything. Not even flashes of who or what he was.
“I’m blind here, man. You are going to have to be a little bit clearer. Are you trying to tell me you are a god or something?”
He smiled darkly. “I’m a sovereign.”
I nodded once as I pushed my hands into my jeans and furrowed my brow.
“No questions?” he said as those eyes angled in my direction. “The girl that is said to one day rule obsession has no questions?”
Well, if that wasn’t the oddest reputation to have built up, I didn’t know what was. Who was this guy, and how in the hell did he know anything about me?
“What do you rule, Vade?”
A wicked grin came to his stern image. “Anger.”
“Right,” I muttered, knowing that everyone had a baseline emotions and anger was his. I had only met a couple others in my life that carried the same signature—a couple meaning my cousin Draven, and Drake—and now come to think of it, Vade’s energy felt like them.
My eyes slowly moved over him. He smelled the same as Drake, had the same pull to his essence. So in some way, I believed Vade. Trusted him.
“If you came to see him, then why are you talking to me?”
“We must remain strangers at this moment in time.”
“And why is that?”
“Otherwise, it will place him in danger.” His grave stare backed up that statement.
“Um, yeah, he’s already there.”
The night air turned colder, and I knew that blast of arctic air was coming right off this warrior king before me; his expression filled with the anger he said he ruled. “He was stolen from me, along with others. They are only hurting him to bring me down.”
Now I had something in common with this sovereign: we were both robbed.
“Where is your kingdom?”
“Not of this world.”
“Figures.”
He grinned disdainfully. “Once I discovered how deeply my fellow sovereigns had betrayed me, I looked back over Drake’s existence.” His eyes fell into mine. “I am deeply sorry.”
My heart started to hammer against my chest. I wasn’t afraid; I was defensive. I thought that this boy right here was going to take me away from Drake. That the moment I spoke my intention to love and protect him, the universe saw fit to take him—just like I feared before.
“For?”
“It’s my fault. If I had known he was taken, if I had seen how deep the betrayal was around me, he never would have left your arms…in any life.”
See now, I’m a strong believer in the power of attraction. I know that what you think about, comes about. Apparently my brainpower was on steroids, and because it was, I managed to manifest the King of Anger. Not only did I do that, I managed to have him valiantly whisk away all my little insecurities. Either I was way jacked up at this point, or I was having one wicked dream.
I narrowed my eyes on him. “I seriously doubt it is your fault he hooked up with Willow in this life or any other.”
“By default, it is. I’m honored to meet you. I’m honored that a Selected was chosen to adore Drake…a fated soul that my essence has claimed.”
“A what?”
His diamond eyes rained down on me. “You are not from this reality. You are one of a few that traveled to this side to find and bring forth redemption.”
“Are you sure that you popped into the right bedroom?” Yep, my sarcasm was my instant defense.
“Your soul is marked. You are bound to have seen that.”
My breath seized. Days ago, Charlie and whatever ghost was following her around had placed fire against the skin on my back, and when they did, some kind of wicked symbol glowed through my flesh. Using my ability to see into Charlie’s thoughts showed me that she had one, too, but in some way the details in the center of our backs were different. Mine had marks, where hers didn’t.
“Recently.”
He nodded once. “I cannot read into your thoughts because you are not one of ours. Until you spoke those words to him,” he nodded to the door, “I wasn’t entirely sure where your devotion was resting.”
“You were eavesdropping on us?” I exhaled as I felt humiliation.
I heard a subtle laugh come from deep in his chest. “Even if I could, I would not witness your most private and sensual moments…his dreams have been calling me for a while. I was watching his thoughts when I heard your words.”
“He’s calling out to you? He knows about you?” How could I have missed that?
“Not entirely. He just knows he feels differently from the souls with which he dwells. He knows that he has a desire that is deeper than most to release turmoil in human existence. And he is prepared to sacrifice anything to fill that desire.”
“Truth,” I muttered.
The air grew tight as those eyes evaluated me very carefully. He was obviously judging who I was and what my intentions were. “What you need to know is that even though he comes from the line of anger, even though Donalt and Xavier are tormenting him, that is not his war. It is not yours.”
“Kinda figured that out.”
“Did you, now?” he murmured as he narrowed his gaze.
“Well, sort of. I feel like I’ve been distracted. I went through something wicked a few hours ago, and when that happened I came out of it lacking a few emotions.”
“Which are?” he asked, raising his brow as if he already knew the answer.
Something about him compelled me to be more forthcoming than I would have been with any other soul. “Fear, shock, grief.”
A proud grin came to the edges of his lips. “And why do you think those three negative emotions were taken?”
Oddly, I saw flashes of my friend Monroe fire all around him, and I could swear I felt pride. I knew saying it was because a fifteen-year-old girl had a temper tantrum was probably the wrong thing to throw out there, so I was honest with him and myself for the first time. “So I can focus on my demon: obsession.”
“And perhaps lose your fear to claim what has always been yours.”
“Perhaps,” I breathed as I glanced away. I was more than sure that was part of Monroe’s reasoning.
That made him smile. “You are so hard to read that I wasn’t expecting you to know as much as you do.”
“Call it intuition.”
He tilted his head once as if to agree. “You are fighting the sovereign of obsession … and you, my friend, have been fierce, calculated in that fight. He has swooned you more than once, and each time you are the one that plays him for a fool in the end. He is very aware that he is running out of time with you. You only have three remaining kills. You have made every blow count, even used others to do your bidding just to save your kills for the ones they are meant for.”
For some reason, I felt sick and proud of myself all at once. “I’m not a killer.”
“You are meant to strike the line of obsession, and in order to take out that sovereign you have to work your way up from the bottom. He knows what you are doing. He has even tempted your addiction to winning this war by placing his first in your path more than once.”
“His First?”
“The first with which soul his essence connected. If and when that soul is asunder, he will be weak enough for you to end him.” He glanced over me once. “He has affection for you, but do not let that fool you. His reign, his line, his life, mean far more to him than you do.”
Something about this seemed all too familiar to me; so familiar that I was rather bored with it, almost as if I could care less what the sovereign of obsession felt for me—those emotions would never be returned. I would dare say that my
soul knew I was furious with whomever this was, that in time I would deal with him, but at present I had other priorities.
I wanted to focus on that childhood fear right now. “Currently, I’m hunting a very ugly woman that hangs out with an octopus and loves saltwater.”
He nodded once. “That would be the First that is marking you for death, lacking a few details, meaning his essence is male and he was trying to kill an octopus in saltwater. But you see, salt is not really his friend—any of ours, for that matter—which is more than likely why you hid the weapon you need there.”
“A weapon?”
Vade glanced to the doors, then back to me. “I do not know that you did that intentionally, but karma did have its say that fateful night.” He let his words linger for a moment, then he spoke again. “At the very end, before you strike The King of Obsession you will need to be bound. You will have to be complete, which is more than likely why my fellow sovereigns have seen fit to mingle their desires together. Confuse each of you.”
“I’m not confused.”
“You’re furious, jealous, and vengeful.”
“I thought you couldn’t read into my mind?”
He grinned darkly. “I can read your eyes, dear one.”
“And you saw his past; therefore, you know I am justified within my emotions.”
His seemingly calm expression turned cold as stone. “Nothing can justify the wrong that was done to either of you.” He cleared his throat as he found his calm once more. “Know this: there has never been a point where he has not yearned for your very being. Each time he held another and felt empty, it was not her that broke his heart, but you. He could not understand why his devotion was not felt or returned.”
I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I wanted to forgive. I really did, but I was too mad to cross that line. “As far as I know, we cannot change the past, so what is done is done. I have to find my peace with this, and until I do, I will remain at arm’s length.”
“Then you are condemning not only yourself and him, but the souls you hold dear, to doom—for each of you must rise, and that cannot occur if you do not find forgiveness.”
“You heard me tell him that I love him,” I ground out, knowing without a doubt he was not only referring to me losing Drake, but my cousins, my best friend Charlie.
“I did. And your energy reflects the truth of that emotion. Right now, you need to forgive him and find vengeance, for your enemies were the ones that robbed you of the loyalty you demand.”
Exactly whom was he calling my enemy? Willow? No way. I knew where that girl’s devotion was. “If you have been watching any part of his life, then you know that Donalt guy is targeting his vessel. That Xavier and others like him are plotting to take over his kingdom. And as far as I am concerned, those two are already dead. I know who is fighting them, and they will win. Mark my words.”
“The wars against his kingdom…those are Earthly games.”
“You can call them games all you want, but they are real. Souls are in dire need of being saved. I have no doubt that I must find this woman—err, man—but Drake’s war will lead him in a different direction. Fighting at another girl’s side.”
“Willow.”
“You know her?” I forcefully exhaled. I was sure that he did. He seemed too at ease with the way he said her name.
“We’ve spoken. I know her sovereign dearly.”
“Do you, now?” What exactly was this guy trying to tell me? Willow was one of whatever he was?
That really made him smile. “You do realize that he gave up loving her long before you were, how do you say it, ‘found’?” He paused, letting those words settle, obviously sensing the relief they brought me. “His fight for her heart was not as it seems. In her eyes, he saw the freedom of his people. His dreams had already forecast a doomed devotion between the pair of them, and he assumed that was the sacrifice that was needed to set the souls he adores free at last.”
“And not because she loves Landen,” was my very dry comeback, even though I truly believed each word he was speaking.
“No…because you are his rush. A rush that ignited his soul the moment his eyes met yours. He knows that no other soul could ever make him feel that way.”
I wasn’t sure what a rush was, but hearing it roll off Vade’s lips made it seem absolutely divine.
“Reading his thoughts?” I uttered with hope.
“Intently.” Vade adjusted his lean on the rail as he crossed his arms and stared at the doorway that led to Drake. Knowing that the air around us was growing tight, I remained silent. “Drake is a wise leader. He knew that to save his people he must have the dimension of Chara on his side. And to do that, he must ensure that Landen and Willow both remained alive. He was, as he says, ‘on a stage performing.’”
“He has emotions that are true,” I grumbled.
He moved his head slowly from side to side as his stare seemed to find something familiar in my sharp words. “And that should be expected. You cannot fight and die next to souls without developing some form of bond…and if we are comparing sins, Drake did not fall into the arms of the one he must destroy.”
“Are you trying to tell me that while he was hooking up with Willow in a past life, I was arm in arm with a sovereign that I have to kill in order to survive?” Oh God, the guilt I felt was so strong that a wave of nausea washed over me.
The grave stare in those diamond eyes echoed a yes. “Drake’s life was charted to cross the path of a woman that looked just like his soul mate, a woman that shared similar tastes and outlooks on life as his rush…you were not plotted; you fell gracefully into the wrong arms.”
“Maybe it was for revenge. Maybe I was keeping my enemies close,” I stated in instant defense.
I had no idea where this guilt or defensiveness was coming from. It was like a little voice deep inside was waking up and hashing out old arguments that I was oblivious to.
“Perhaps. Nevertheless, as you say, the past cannot be undone, and the fault for both betrayals lies within your first life.”
Once again, I let the silence tighten the air around us. If this was a dream, I already knew what my subconscious was trying to tell me: not to point a finger unless one day I wanted to find that finger squarely pointed back at me.
Vade’s eyes moved slowly across my face, which had become frozen in an angry scowl. “If your mind is searching through his recent deeds, let me put your emotions at ease. He had doubts about Willow the first instant he saw her in his dreams, and then in real life. Of course, at that point he was too furious to care. Anger. That is my essence and what has brought him forth to this fated course. He will fight anger, along with the obsession you are set to rule.”
I tilted my head slightly, evaluating what he was saying, trying to see the larger image of all that was occurring not only to me, but also to my closest friends, as well as Willow and Landen.
“I know someone who struggles with anger,” I muttered, thinking of my cousins, mainly Draven, who conveniently in some way reminded me of Drake.
“That, you do,” he said with a nod as if my thoughts were on point.
I could not help wondering how deeply this guy was connected to us.
“I halfway think this is a dream. I don’t understand what you are wanting out of this conversation. Before you came, I already told him I loved him. I already told myself to stop talking about Willow.”
“He did not hear your words.”
“I’ve never told anyone that,” I said with a quiver, knowing that speaking those words while looking into Drake’s spellbinding eyes would take more courage than I had ever been known to have.
“Now, that is untrue. You have spoken it to one soul—although, as I said, he did not hear you speak them in this life.”
“We just met.”
“That is untrue.”
“Okay, fine. I can’t handle being hurt by anyone, and he has the power to crush me with the slightest rejection. Actions speak loud
er than words anyway, especially words that are overused, not to mention that they will put him in even more danger. We are both fighting evil, and we cannot afford to show even the slightest weakness at this point.”
“Actions do speak louder,” he said with a slight grin.
His stare then cascaded over me. “This will be a very distant dream, deep in your subconscious. You will not remember this conversation in detail, but I have no doubt you have overcome any insecurities about where his devotion lies.”
Did he just call me insecure? I didn’t care that it was the truth; I didn’t want to hear it, especially from a stranger. And did he honestly think that I didn’t have the brainpower to remember a night like this? I started to take in every sense I had: the scent of the air, the clothes I was wearing, the sound of nature in the fields around us. One way or another, I would remember this because like it or not, I did need to hear what he’d said. I did need to get over the past.
“What is the point then?”
“The point is that your mind is powerful and you will take what I have said tonight and pull from it. That intuition will lead you through what lies ahead and hopefully ease your worries about where my fated essence interests lie.”
“Fated essences,” I said under my breath as I tried to figure out exactly what Drake was to him.
“You do not need to go out to sea to find what you have feared before.”
“That helps. Where, then?”
“Now, you are a brilliant woman. Are you not curious as to why Donalt, a sovereign who could have built his kingdom anywhere, chose that dimension? Are you not curious as to where all the dark tunnels of that palace travel to?”
Of course I was, but that was merely one of a million curious thoughts I had. “I was a little terrified of anything that had to do with that palace, to be quite frank with you.”
“And now, conveniently, you’re not,” he said with a proud smirk.
“Did you have something to do with that? Why do you seem proud every time I mention that I lost fear?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Sometimes it is just beautiful to see how the universe works out our inner turmoil.”