A Life Unexpected: Holly Nather Book One (Holly Nather Series) (35 page)

She smiles. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. You need to eat better. You have become too thin.” She takes my plate and begins cleaning it in the sink. I get up and walk over to help her. She washes and hands them to me to dry. She turns off the water and lets the sink drain after the few dirty dishes are clean. I set the last dry dish on the drying rack and lean against the counter with my arms folded across my chest.

Turning to look at me, she says, “Before the accident, you used to come down here for a midnight snack with me almost every night. We both had trouble sleeping. We would stay up for hours talking—well me teaching you about life, and you asking millions of questions.” She laughs and then continues, “I miss those times. I will cherish them forever.”

“How old are you?” The question spills out of my mouth before I have time to realize it’s rude to ask that. You
never
ask a woman her age.

She laughs. “Too old I’m afraid.”

“Are Fae immortal?” When I ask that she smiles and shakes her head.

“No, we are not. We can live a very,
very
long time but we all die eventually. That is why you don’t see us use our abilities often. Using our abilities excessively causes us as well as others, to age faster. Using them a little each day doesn’t harm anything but using them too much is harmful to our health. A blessing and a curse our abilities are.” She smiles and pats me on the back.

“Well, I’m going to go out for a while. I need some fresh air.” After I say that, she smiles and kisses me on the forehead and leaves the kitchen.

I open the front door and literally trip over Cohen who is sitting on my front steps. He stands up and helps me stand back on my feet. With shock evident in my voice, I say, “I thought you left! What are you doing here at this time of the night, sitting on my steps?”

He runs his hands through his hair which causes an image of Luke to pass through my mind.
Luke always did that.
I quickly remind myself Luke isn’t real and focus on the words coming out of Cohen’s mouth. “I never left. I’ve been sitting here since I left your room.”

“Why?!”

“I just couldn’t leave. Damn it, Holly, it’s not fair! Why did this happen to you? Why wasn’t I strong enough to do something to stop them?” Cohen is on the verge of tears, and all I can think to do is wrap him in a hug.

“Cohen, it’s okay! Bad things happen to good people all the time. It never makes sense why things happen, but all we can do now is move forward and go on with life. Please don’t blame yourself.”

He moves my arms from around him and then wraps me in a hug. “You’re the one that needs the hug, not me. I just get so angry about what happened. I should have done more.”

I move my head that is rested comfortably on his chest to look at him. His eyes are so green; they almost glow. “Even though I don’t remember the past, I can honestly say you are the best friend I have ever had. I know you did everything you could. Please don’t blame yourself.”

He smiles and brushes loose strands of hair out of my face. I quickly pull myself out of his embrace when I feel like the affection we just shared went way too far for “best friends”. I sit down on the steps, and he sits down beside me. He smiles and then nudges me a little with his shoulder. I smile and push him back harder causing him to fall off the step. We both start laughing until the point that we are both struggling to breathe. After we are finally able to stop laughing he sits beside me again. He pats his shoulder with his hand and I take that as an invitation to lay my head on his shoulder. I hesitate.

Cohen smiles warmly at me. “There is no rule that says best friends of the opposite gender can’t lay their head on each other’s shoulders.” He scoots closer and pats his shoulder again.

“I guess not.” I lay my head comfortably on his shoulder, and he puts his arm tightly around me.

“Hey, Tuff?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

I pick my head up from his shoulder and look at him with a puzzled expression. “Thanks? For what?”

“For waking up.”

“That is a silly thing to thank someone for. I mean, I didn’t really have control over it.” He replies with a shrug of his shoulders and smiles. I lay my head back on his shoulder and before I know it, I’m asleep.

LUKE

I WAKE UP
and notice I fell asleep on Holly’s grave
again
. I have found it is the only way I can sleep. I grab the bottle that has a little bit of whiskey left in the bottom and drink the last of it. I finally mustered up enough courage to come here to her grave. I trace the outlines of her name that are etched in the grey stone with my finger.
Holly
. I whisper her name over and over. I roll over on my back and stare into the bright sun. My magic has become weak, because I’ve been too drunk to use it. I feel a shoe kick me hard in my side. I close my eyes, and the only acknowledgement I make to the shoe is mumbling, “Go away.”

I cock one eye open to confirm it is Jett, whom I have not talked to in weeks. He kicks me again. “Get your drunken ass off the ground, and come with me.”

“And why would I want to do that? I’m perfectly content here.”

Jett scoffs at my words and kicks me again. “I said get up.”

I grab his ankle and twist it enough to inflict pain. “And I said I was perfectly fine here.” He kicks me again.
Damn it all to hell and back
. I stumble as I make my way to my feet and through a clenched jaw I say, “What!”

“Everyone is ordered to go to the castle to discuss plans for the war.”

“I don’t give a damn about that war. We all deserve to die! We are a shitty world with shitty Versipellis. Why would we fight back when our kind almost killed a Fae for no reason! We should have offered our apologies, not accepted a damn war!” Jett is looking at me with a confused expression. I am sure it is because every word coming from my drunken mouth was slurred and unintelligible.

Jett grabs the empty bottle from my hand and smashes it against a nearby grave. “THAT’S ENOUGH! I WILL NOT SIT BACK AND ALLOW YOU TO DO THIS TO YOURSELF! YOU ARE THE ONLY FRIEND I HAVE LEFT! YOU HAVE BECOME A SELFISH JACK ASS!” Jett is in my face yelling, causing my anger, as well as my magic, to quickly ignite.

My voice somehow remains calm, although my emotions are raging with anger. “Yes. I am a selfish jack ass, and I am okay with that. Now—I will go to the castle with you, because it is an order, not because you told me to.” Man, I am so drunk. Things are spinning, and I feel sick. I lean over Holly’s grave and start throwing up. Once I’m done I stand up, wipe my mouth on the sleeve of my shirt and look at Jett who is staring un-approvingly at me. I roll my eyes and groan.

In a much calmer voice than before, he says, “Before we go you are getting yourself cleaned up.” He is right. I haven’t had a shower in weeks, and I’m sure I resemble something close to a mammoth with my unshaved and uncut hair. Not that I really care.

Jett and I teleport back to his house. I go to the bathroom and get my outer appearance decent. As for my inner self—that is unfixable. No amount of tampering can fix the disgusting mess my soul has become. I walk out of the bathroom and sit down next to Jett on the couch. I look at him and attempt an apologetic expression. “Jett… I’m sorry I’ve been an ass.”

Jett leans back on the couch and looks at me. “Whatever. You look better except for those dark circles under your eyes. Have you slept at all?”

“Maybe a total of five nights in three weeks.” Changing the subject of my appearance I ask, “When are we due at the castle?”

Jett looks at the clock on the wall. “Now.”

I nod, and we quickly teleport to the castle.

Standing in front of the palace that once was home, leaves me nothing but depressing memories. Horrible parents, my brother’s death, Brody’s death, Holly’s death… This place is a death trap. I cringe as we make our way in.

We have to sign a book before we can go into the large meeting room and are waiting in line for our turn. I haven’t been around others lately, and I’m a tad overwhelmed by all of the Versipellis that are here. We sign in, and I ignore the stares and whispers as I follow Jett.

We make it to the meeting room and have to stand, because all of the seats are taken. I lean against a wall and cross my arms over my chest. Everyone has serious expressions plastered on their faces and is speaking in hushed tones. I close my eyes as I battle a hangover from hell and wait for the meeting to commence.

I open my eyes and stand up straighter as King Avenir begins to speak.

“Thank you, all who have come here today. As you know, our kind attacked an innocent Fae four months ago. Gaia has declared war saying we need to pay for the wrong the Versipellis caused to their kind. I offered them an alternate solution this morning, and they accepted.”

Everyone starts whispering and guessing what it could be. I want to tell them all to shut up so the king can tell us, but instead I lean my aching head against the wall and wait for the king to silence them.

“Pay attention! What I am about to say could save our world from mass destruction and many deaths!” That quickly silences everyone. “I offered them a sacrifice. They said they would accept a Versipellis who would offer up their life in the place of the ones who caused harm to the Fae. As you all know, the Versipellis who did this have fled and can’t be found. We all know Gaia is a world who strives for peace, but they have grown impatient as we search for the ones who did this. I think this is very kind of them to have accepted my offer over war. One to die in the place of many is a very honorable thing to do. This brings me to my next question—who will be willing to step up and give their life? If no one is willing, we will have to engage in war.”

Jett places his hand firmly on my arm and says, “Don’t!” I shove his hand off my shoulder and make my way to the front of the room. The room has become enamored by my walk of courage, and I can feel the intense stares burning into my back.
This is it. I can finally die
. I owe this to Gaia for getting involved with Holly. Either she is dead in both worlds because of me, or she has made her choice causing her to be dead to me. Whatever it may be, I want to die. I can’t live without her. King Avenir is rendered speechless and can’t find the words to say as I stand before him.

He steps down and gets close to my face so only I can hear him. Whispering he says, “Luke, you do not have to do this.”

“I know I don’t.” After I speak the king nods his head and goes back to the podium.

Speaking loud and proud, he says, “Luke Denton will die to put us in right standing with the powerful world of Gaia. His sacrifice will save us from a war and from many dying—” Before he can finish, everyone is standing and applauding. I spot Jett, however, who is standing back in a corner staring at me trying to talk me out of it with the emotion in his eyes. I shake my head no indicating my mind is made up.

Before I realize what is happening two Fae are standing in front me of me with hand-cuffs. I start laughing and say, “Really? I am willingly giving my life, and you are going to cuff me?” I laugh some more, hold out my hands in front of me, and say, “Whatever; do what you have to.” For my smart ass remark, they make them uncomfortably tight. I could destroy everything in Terre if I unleashed my magic. These cuffs are nothing. I laugh again.

“King Avenir, we think it would be in the best interest for our safety that he is drained of his magical abilities.” One of the Fae says. A smart one he is. He must know how powerful I am. I would mention that I could rid myself of magic, those of royal blood can do that, but I keep my mouth shut. Soon, what I have been longing for since I woke up to this nightmare will be mine—death.

The King hesitates and makes eye contact with me before replying. “I am sorry Luke. I truly am thankful for your sacrifice. Terre would not be on the road to a better world if it were not for you and those who lost their lives.” I close my eyes as I feel tears start to burn my lids. I should have died that day. Not Holly or anyone else. The king rids me of my magic and bids me farewell. I am taken as Gaia’s prisoner, eagerly awaiting death.