A Life Unexpected: Holly Nather Book One (Holly Nather Series) (29 page)

“This is Holly. Our new queen.” When Luke says Queen I almost faint right then and there but manage to remain upright somehow.

“I am so sorry about your son. I only knew him for a short time but in that time he was a great friend to me.” I say with a small, sad smile. I never know what to say in situations like this. I don’t think there is anything anyone could say to make them feel better right now.

“It is wonderful to meet you. He died for a good cause but will be forever missed.” Brody’s dad says. His mom doesn’t say anything she just smiles at me through all her tears. The exchange is over as quick as it had started. All the things that had needed to be said, that
could
have been said—had been. And now there was nothing left to do but part ways. So, they turn around and walk away. Luke walks them to the gate and hugs them, and then they are gone. I look over to the garden expecting to see Brody’s lifeless body, but it is gone.

“Luke we need to find Mallory’s parents. I promised.” Luke looks so exhausted but he nods in agreement and we all go inside. Jett and Mason must have left because I don’t see them anywhere.

We walk to where the prison is. It is locked, and the keys are gone. Luke breaks down the doors with his magic. I am unprepared for the sight I see. The prisoners are skin and bones. It looks like no one fed them or gave them water. The prison smells so bad that I assume they don’t get to use a real bathroom or get to take showers. I start gagging and Mallory follows suit. Luke keeps walking, however, so we follow.

Prisoners are cussing as Luke walks by. I am sure some of the prisoners deserve to be in here, but I bet most of them don’t. Luke goes to a desk and picks up a large book and starts flipping through it.

“They are still here, in cell 53b. It is that way.” Luke says while pointing in the direction of the cell. We follow him to where the cell is and when Mallory sees her parents she starts crying. They look terrible. I remember hearing her tell Luke they were ill and couldn’t work so they were brought to the prison. I am guessing they were never allowed to see a doctor.

“Mother! Father!” Mallory screams. Her parents look up at her and try to get up but can‘t.

“Mallory! Are you here to get us out?” Mallory’s mother says in a whisper.

“Yes, mother! We are free! All of us! ” As Mallory says this she smiles at Luke. Luke breaks the lock on the prison cell and lets them out. They can barely walk, but they do the best they can.

“Would you like your magic back?” He asks the both of them.

“Yes!” They both say.

Luke walks over to a door to a large room. He goes in and comes out with a book. He flips through several pages and says, “Here it is. I had to find the specific spell my parents used to take it from you.” Luke closes the book and turns to Mallory’s parents. He closes his eyes and from his hands appears a yellow bright light. He commands the light to split in two. Next he picks up both of Mallory’s parents hands and the yellow light soaks into their hands. Mallory’s parents smile and seem to have a little more life to them.

“Thank you.” Mallory’s father says.

Luke smiles. “You’re welcome. Go see the best doctor you can and just send the bill to me. I will take care of it.”

“Thank you!” Both Mallory’s parents say in unison.

“Mother, father… Luke is now king and this is Holly. She is the new Queen. We are truly free now.” Mallory says this with so much excitement.

“She is lovely.” Mallory’s mother says to Luke.

“She is, isn’t she?” Luke says and then smiles at me. “Now, go get to a doctor!” Mallory and her parents thank Luke again and then leave. Everyone else in the prison is asking to be freed, but Luke said he can’t free them until he found out what they were in there for. I know one thing for sure—I am going to make sure they are fed and given water and a proper place to use the bathroom and shower before the night is over! I don’t care how bad these people are. Everyone deserves food, water, a decent bath, and bathroom privileges that don’t involve releasing their bladders on themselves!

We leave the prison after appointing someone to take care of the prisoners needs. We head to the castle to go to our room to sleep. We make it through the front doors and find a group of men I have never seen before. They all look a lot alike with jet black hair and extremely green eyes that almost look like they glow. They look so flawless. They are wearing all black. Their shirts are form fitting as well as their black pants. They are not wearing any shoes.

“Who are they?” I ask Luke as we walk closer to them.

“I think they are Fae from Gaia.” He says with a very concerned look on his face.

As we approach them Luke says, “Can we help you?” Luke doesn’t seem afraid of them but looks kind of pissed off.

I remember Mallory telling me that Gaia is a world of peace. Maybe they are just here because they heard about everything that happened and want to congratulate us. I hope so, anyway. I am too worn out for more fighting.

“Is it true? Terre is now a world of peace and freedom?” One of the guys asks. His voice is so perfect and clear; it sounds almost animatronic
.

“We are in the process of making it that way, yes. May I ask who you are, and why you have come here?” Luke responds.

“We are Fae from Gaia. We wanted to come see for ourselves if it was true. Is she the new Queen? The mortal who turned into a Versipellis we have heard about?” The same guy that spoke before asks while pointing at me.

“Yes, this is Queen Holly.” Luke says with a skeptical look. None of the Fae says anything. Their expressions go blank and then they disappear.
That was weird.

“What was that all about?” I ask.

“Not sure, but I will find out.” Luke says while forcing a smile on his face.

“I don’t want any more fighting Luke.”

“Holly, everything is going to be ok. It was probably no big deal.” Luke says as he grabs my hand and starts walking towards our bedroom. I want to ask more questions but am honestly, just too tired. I will ask tomorrow.

When we get to our bedroom, we walk in and Luke closes the door behind us. He sits down on the edge of the bed and I sit in his lap. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him on the cheek.

With exhaustion in his voice, Luke looks at me and says, “I love you so much, Holly.”

I smile. “I love you too.”

“You got pretty banged up….” He says while looking at my arms and head. “We should probably go get cleaned up and call it a night.”

“I agree.”

After we get cleaned up, we get in bed, and Luke says, “Holly…”

I yawn. “Yes?”

I notice he is close to falling asleep and his voice is in a whisper. “I need to tell you something.”

“How about you just tell me tomorrow?” I snuggle up closer to him and he wraps his arms around me.

“Tomorrow.” He whispers and kisses me on the top of my head. It is not long and we are both fast asleep.

I WISH I
could refuse my eyes from opening and just sleep the rest of the day. I groan out loud because I don’t want to get out of bed. I roll over to see if Luke is awake but something doesn’t feel right. My eyes fly open and when I see an environment I have never seen before I jump out of bed and fling myself against the wall.
Where am I?

“Luke!” I yell as I hurry towards the door. I open it hoping that maybe,
just maybe,
I fell asleep in another room or my magic brought me here for some odd reason. I open the door and immediately start freaking out. It smells different here and the hallway is completely different. The hall is dark stained walls and concrete floor. This is
definitely
not my home in Terre. My hands are shaking and I start to get dizzy. I lean against a nearby wall and slide down until I’m sitting on the ground.

“LUKE!” I yell again. I would start running but I don’t know where to run to. I feel like I can’t breathe. I hear footsteps coming in my direction and quickly stand to my feet. “WHO IS THERE?” I yell.

“Holly?” I hear an unfamiliar female voice say. I don’t respond. Instead I wait to see who this could be. My heart feels like it is about to pound right out of my chest. First, I see bare feet round the corner of the hall and then I see a tall female with dark hair.

Smiling she says, “Holly! Everyone will be so happy you have awoken! I went to go get a drink. I am so sorry I left!”
What. The. Hell.

“WHO ARE YOU?” I yell and then I gasp as her green glowing eyes look into mine.

“Please calm down. You have been asleep for quite some time. We didn’t know if you would ever wake. Everyone will be so happy!”

Hyperventilating is not even a close description of what I’m experiencing right now. “CALM DOWN? YOU, WHAT ME TO CALM DOWN? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? WHERE IS LUKE?” I get up and start running to who knows where, but I don’t care. I am finding Luke.

I can hear mystery girl screaming for me to come back but I’m not going anywhere until I find my husband. I am running down a hallway that seems to go on forever when I finally see stairs. I go to run down them when I am forced to stop by a group of five barefoot, extremely tall, green-eyed guys.

One of them grabs my shoulders. “You’re awake?”

“LET ME GO! WHERE IS LUKE?” I yell as I try to free myself from his grip. Instead of easing his hold on me he wraps me in a hug. I pound my fist against his stone-like chest and scream, “LET ME GO!”

Calmly, with me still trying to fight him, the guy says, “Holly, calm down. This must be scary for you. You have been in a coma for a long time.” I stop fighting at the word
coma
. I must be dreaming.

Out of breath I say, “What?”

“Let’s go back to your room. You should be resting. I will explain everything in there.”

“Where is Luke?” I ask as tears fall down my cheeks.

“Luke? Who is Luke?” He asks.

“MY HUSBAND!” I scream.

He rubs the back of his neck and looks to the other guys with him for an answer. No one says anything. He turns back to me and says, “You don’t have a husband. Holly…where do you think you are?”

I swear my heart just stopped beating. I know I’m dead. Everything is black and I know I’ll be seeing the light soon. Ok—so I’m not dead. I must have passed out. I am now lying in the same unfamiliar bed I woke up in with a pair of green eyes staring at me. It is the same guy that stopped me at the stairs.

His expression full of worry, he asks, “Are you okay? You passed out.”

“Tell me where Luke is.” I demand.

“I have already told you I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“Where am I? Who are you?” I ask while nervously looking around the room trying to find something familiar to me. There is nothing.

“I am Harim. I’m your brother. You are at your house, in your room, in Gaia.” Looking to the girl from earlier he says, “Stella, she has lost her memory.”