A Life Unexpected: Holly Nather Book One (Holly Nather Series) (13 page)

“Have you had any visions?” I ask.

“No. For some reason, since I’ve been back; I haven’t had a single one.”

As we get closer to a side door on the castle, I’m getting more nervous. I’m about to meet his parents. I would bite my nails more, but there is nothing left. I am
so
nervous. The odds are against me. I have no magic to defend myself in case something goes wrong. And all I know about his parents is that his dad possibly sent the Poyen to do away with me.

We walk in the castle, and it’s everything I imagined a castle would be. The floors are white marble. The walls are painted with murals of different things that I assume happened in Terre’s past. The ceiling is so tall; it looks like it reaches all the way up to the sky. There are a ton of staircases that spiral all around the walls and up to the ceiling. There are doors everywhere.

“It is something isn’t it?” He asks while smiling at me. I nod my head as I take in everything around me.

All of a sudden, and shocking the crap out of me, he puts his hands on my waist and leads me to a door—opening it and shutting it behind him. Immediately, he pushes me up against the wall and starts kissing me with so much passion and hunger. I quickly return the kiss in the same manner. If this kiss gets any more intense, clothes are about to start coming off.

He breathlessly whispers against my lips, “I love you.”

“I know but I still don’t get why.”

He gently places his forehead against mine. “This is all going to work out. I promise.”

I force a smile on my face. “I trust you.”

He pulls away from me. “We should probably go find my parents.”

“How can you kiss me like that and then end it so quickly? That is so mean,” I say with a pouty face. He starts laughing and takes my hand, leading me out the door.
He is so unfair.

“I just wanted to steal a quick moment alone with you.” I roll my eyes at his cheesy response.

We walk into another large room, but this one is set up more like a living room. It has furniture and looks like a large waiting room you would sit in while waiting for someone to come out of surgery. Only, it is more elegant and pretty.

“Wait right here.” He kisses me on the cheek before walking through double doors.

I decide to explore the room while I wait. There isn’t much to look at, so I go to the large window on the other side of the room. The view is breathtaking. There is a large field with horses running free and a bunch of large trees. It’s gorgeous here. As I’m admiring the horses, I hear the sound of a door opening, which causes me to jump a little and turn around.

“Mom, Dad, this is Holly.” Luke looks so proud. It’s as if he is in kindergarten and showing the class a shiny new toy for show and tell.

I curtsy a little, not knowing what else I’m supposed to do. “Hello,” I say with a small smile. They laugh and shake their heads.

“My dear, curtsying is not necessary,” his mother says. “I am Queen Estella. I am Luke’s mother.” Pointing at Luke’s dad, she says, “This is my husband and Luke’s father, King Lucas.” So, Luke is named after his father? That’s cute.

His mother is absolutely beautiful. She is definitely older. She is a little taller than me, and has hazel eyes, and dark brown hair that goes to her shoulders in curls. Her skin is fair and slightly wrinkled. Luke favors his mom but most definitely looks like his dad. His dad has dark, almost black hair. His brown eyes are dark and mysterious.

“We have to put a stop to the wedding today. I love Holly, and I can’t marry Lana. Holly, tell them about what Brody told you.”
Oh, gee thanks, Luke
!

“Um…Maybe Brody is the best one to explain that,” I say, while giving Luke the evil eye for putting me on the spot.

“Is there a prophecy about me falling in love with a mortal I was never told about?” Luke looks pissed.

His parents both look at each other and then back at Luke. His dad calmly says, “Luke, maybe we should sit down and talk about this.” We sit down, and they explain everything Brody explained to me.

“Why did you never bother to tell me this!?” He asks with anger radiating from each word.

“We thought marrying Lana would be good. There are endless things you can do with your powers meshed together. It could be great, Luke.”

“But Mother, you did not answer my question! What is this prophecy about me marrying a mortal?”

His mother gives his father a serious look. Clearing his throat, he says, “Son, it is a prophecy, and we don’t know for sure whether it could happen or not. Who knows what marrying a mortal could do to our world and theirs! It has never been done. The prophecy was just words spoken.”

“Marrying Lana will only bring destruction to our world and to Holly’s world. They want power, and they want to take over. Haven’t you heard that her parents and the Poyen are conspiring together?” Luke asks in frustration.

“Luke, dear, there is a lot of hearsay, but Lana and her parents have been nothing but wonderful to us.” Luke’s mother keeps looking at me like I’m worthless. Like a door mat that someone needs to wipe their muddy shoes on.

I feel two inches tall while they talk back and forth about everything. I feel so out of place. I want to say something, but I don’t have the words to say. I would just sound stupid. Luke is holding my hand and keeps squeezing it really tight when his parents say something he doesn’t like. I squeeze back, letting him know this all
really
sucks.

Luke stands up after something his father said. I didn’t hear it because, honestly, I’m not paying attention. Luke lets go of my hand and yells, “I WILL NOT MARRY LANA!” He looks down at me as if he wants me to get up and protest with him. I shake my head no. I really don’t want to upset a king and queen. That doesn’t sound like a good plan at all.

“Luke, you will not speak to your mother and me in that manner!” His father firmly says.

“Can we at least postpone the wedding until we can do some searching to find out if it the rumors are true?!” He is pleading with his parents.

His parents look at each other, and his mother gives a small nod to his father. “Okay. Only one week,” his father says sternly.

Queen Estella and King Lucas quickly leave the room together, but not before giving me a disapproving look. Luke sits down and rests his elbow on his knee with his head in his hand. He is in deep thought. I wish I had words to comfort him, but I’ve got nothing.

“Holly, please forgive me. What you are going to witness today is going to crush you. But, remember that my heart belongs to you.”

I raise a brow. “What are you talking about?”

“You have to pretend to be a cousin here for the wedding. I am going to tell my parents about my plan so they and the others play along. I have to convince Lana to postpone the wedding for one week. To do that, I’m going to have to be
overly
nice to her.”

I’m really not going to like this. “Okay. What do you mean by overly nice?” I cross my arms over my chest. He smiles and kisses me on the cheek. He still hasn’t answered my question.

AFTER TELLING HIS
parents the plan, they agreed and gave me a room to stay in. He has Brody, Jett and Mason watching after me to make sure I’m safe, just in case someone finds out our secret.

“You guys can go now,” Luke says as he walks into the room.

“But, we like hanging out with Holly. And I am about to kick her ass at checkers,” Jett says while making his move on the checker board.

Brody rolls his eyes. “She has beat your ass ten times in the past hour. Give up, Jett.”

Mason laughs. “She didn’t beat me!”

Luke smiles. “Well, you can try to beat her later. Right now I want to be alone with her.” I laugh and roll my eyes as the guys leave the room.

“The wedding is postponed. Lana agreed. I invited her and her parents to come stay here for the week, though. That way they are here, and if they are doing any evil planning, they will be under our roof, and we will have a better chance at catching them.” He sits down next me on the bed. He keeps a safe distance, which bothers me. Being his fake cousin sucks.

I really don’t like the sound of this. “Are you sure they’re going to believe I’m your cousin? I don’t have anything magical about me. And I don’t talk all proper like you guys do here.”

Looking me up and down, he says, “Holly, everything about you is magical.” I’m about to tell him what he just said was cheesy, but he quickly closes the distance between us. He begins kissing me and lays me back on the bed. He kisses me from my neck all the way down to my stomach. I start to pull off his shirt, but he grabs my hand, to stop me.
Damnit.

I let out a deep, heavy sigh. “Sorry.”

“Do you love me yet?”

“No.”

“Then we aren’t going any further.” He is smiling his sexy smile that is making me want to get back to what we were doing—without him stopping. We both jump when we hear a loud knock at the door. He quickly kisses me then walks out of the door.

“Is that your cousin, Natalie, in there? I would love to meet her.” I hear a girl’s voice say from outside the door.
I guess my name is Natalie now.

“Yes it is. Let me see if she is ready for company. She had a long trip here and she may be tired,” I hear Luke say and then he knocks at the door.

“Come in,” I say. I am completely unprepared to act like his cousin.

In walk Luke and a girl who is about his age. She has long blonde hair that is pulled to the side with big curls in it. She has eyes that are as blue as the sky. She is wearing a dress that is pink, shiny and long. Damnit why does she have to be beautiful?!

“Natalie. This is my soon-to-be-wife, Lana.” He puts his arm around her waist and kisses her on the cheek.
Yuck
. She nudges him away and wipes the kiss off her cheek.

“Luke, don’t do that in front of your cousin!” She is obviously against PDA. I laugh out loud, which causes her to look annoyed with me.
Anyone else want to slap her in the face right now?
I don’t like Luke being this close to her.

“Well, hello, Natalie. It is nice to meet you.” She stretches her hand out to mine, and I hesitantly shake it. She steps back and looks shocked. “Luke, why can I not sense her magic?!” She asks with an extremely pissed look on her face. I hope he has an explanation for this one, because I sure don’t.

He shrugs his shoulders and tries to act like it is no big deal. “I don’t know. Everyone else has been able to.” He lies.

She looks back at me with intense, knowing eyes. “Odd,” she says tilting her head to the side. I feel like I’m going to puke from all my nerves.

“It was really nice meeting you. I should probably start getting cleaned up for dinner,” I say as I turn around and walk to the bathroom.
Okay. That is clearly not a bathroom.
It is a closet. I hear Luke laugh. I turn around and smile sweetly at them. I then find the “
correct”
door to the bathroom. I close the door and lean against it. I place my palm on my face and sigh. I feel like such an idiot right now.

After I am sure they have left the room, I start the bath water and sink down in the bathtub. Crap. I don’t have a change of clothes. All of a sudden, there is a knock at the bathroom door.

“Who is it?” I ask as I put soap in the water to make a bunch of bubbles.

“Me, can I come in? Are you decent?” Luke asks in a whisper.

I cover myself with bubbles and sink lower into the tub. “Ummm….I guess.” He comes in and stares at me. He can’t see anything except my bare shoulders because I am in a ton of bubbles. I turn the water off so I don’t cause a flood.

“I can come back later. I thought you said you were decent,” he says with strain in his voice. I didn’t think about this being a major turn on.
Oops.

I laugh. “You can’t see anything.” I blush a little. I’ve never been this comfortable with a guy.

“But my imagination is going crazy right now.” He hesitates before coming and sitting beside the bathtub. He smiles. “You are horrible.”