Blakeshire (13 page)

“I’m okay,” Preston whispered as he leaned into me just as naturally as I had pulled him to me.

Drake glanced over his shoulder and smiled sweetly when he saw our embrace.

I held Preston against me until Drake set a plate before him and me. Daringly, I smiled at Drake as he pulled up a stool and set a plate in front of himself.

“Since when do you cook?”

He shrugged his shoulders slightly. “Call me paranoid.”

“Not of cooking,” I said after I let out a moan. This had to be the best omelet I had ever tasted. The flavors were so vibrant, managing to touch every single one of my taste buds at once.

“Good?” he asked as he watched me chew every bit with utter care. All I could do was nod. I didn’t realize how hungry I was until now, but even if I were full I would have devoured this. I could swear I could taste the care that went into every ingredient.

The three of us ate in silence. They never signed in front of me, but I could feel their stares and smirks speaking volumes.

“Where is everyone?” I asked when I had finished my feast.

“Who is everyone?” Drake asked just before he finished the last of his orange juice.

“Charlie and Draven, Olivia and Chrispin.”

“Not sure,” Drake supplied as he stood and gathered our dishes. So he cleans, too? I felt like a fool for the speech I had given him the other night, the one where I told him his world was not real, that it couldn’t be real if he was waited on hand and foot and people were forced to be nice to him simply because of his occupation.

“Are we going home now?”

He froze in place for an instant, then continued what he was doing. I looked at Preston and mouthed,
What is with him?
, which caused him to giggle and Drake to glance over his shoulder at me.

We both tried to hide our guilty expressions, but we failed and I joined in with Preston’s innocent laugh.

Drake playfully pointed his finger at Preston just as he finished cleaning up our mess. “How do I get you to Felicity?” he asked Preston.

“She’s right there,” Preston said, nodding to the window.

In the distance on a hilltop, I could see Libby, Willow’s baby sister. A second later, Felicity came up behind her. I didn’t know her that well. I knew her soul mate, Brady, simply because he was with Willow when she came to ask for our help.

Preston reached over and hugged me just before he hopped down from his stool and hugged Drake. He waved to me once more before he charged out the back door and ran toward Libby.

We both watched as he met them, then they disappeared over the hill.

“You never answered my question,” I said quietly as I glanced at him. I swear, I could stare at him all day long and never lose interest. There was just so much mystery in every gesture and movement of his body. So far, he had managed to surprise me every day that I had known him in this life.

Slowly, he turned to face me, carefully moving around the bar that was separating us and maneuvering his tall, lean body in front of me. “Tell me, why would you want to spend your birthday mucking around an old palace full of haunts when you could go anywhere in the universe you wanted?”

I furrowed my brow as I silently counted the days since I’d left my home. If I had managed to sleep through yesterday, then I guess he was right; it was my birthday.

“Because I want to be there.”

“Why?”

I glanced away.

“Madison Marie,” he breathed.

“I don’t know. I just know I want to be there. I feel like you are keeping me away for a reason.”

“A bad reason?” he pushed.

“I don’t know,” I said as I dared to look into those spellbinding eyes. “You just act weird when I ask you to take me there. I know it’s dangerous and that other stuff, but still.”

He leaned into me. Feeling th
e sensation of falling backward forced me to clasp my legs and arms around what was in front of me, which happened to be Drake. Before I could act like that was an accident, he moved even closer to me, allowing no room to separate us. Heat absorbed my skin as the scent of roses filled the room, and I felt his energy seductively caressing my skin.

“I act weird,” he repeated, angling his head down to where little to no space separated us.

“You tense,” I said under my breath as I struggled to hold myself back. I wanted to kiss him so bad.

“You call it home,” he murmured as his lips brushed against mine.

“Am I suffocating you?” I definitely didn’t mean to do that. I mean, that place was vast enough that I was sure that if we really wanted to, we could go weeks without crossing each other’s paths. I admit, I was a little heartbroken at the thought of that. I would have thought with how forward he was that commitment was not a fear of his. I could be wrong. I have been before.

His lips connected with mine. I quietly sighed, feeling how soft they were, how perfectly they moved with mine. Drake had the most insane way of kissing—you never knew where it would lead because no matter how subtle it was, passion was there; a gentle, yet all-consuming compassion.

That kiss was far too short. I was barely able to savor the sensation of mint on his warm tongue.

“You’re making me happy.” His lips met mine once again. “Very happy,” he murmured as his hands framed my face gently, as if he wanted to ensure that I would not pull away from his touch.

“Then what’s with the delay, Blakeshire?”

He smirked before stealing one more deep kiss. “It’s your birthday. You should not be lurking in the cold, damp corners of that palace or knee deep in old books.”

“Am I that obvious?” I asked with a bit of a blush.

“You talk in your sleep.”

I lifted a brow. I didn’t remember any words that I had said in that wicked dream. “What did I say?”

“Several ph
rases.”

“Enlighten me.”

He pursed his lips as his eyes fell into mine. “He was forced to fake love, and now with his true lover he will fake hate…something about fooling them all, going back to the beginning.”

I swayed slightly, hearing those words from another voice in my mind—a powerful voice that was connected to Drake in some sacred way.

Drake wrapped one of his arms around me as he saw my perplexed expression. “Tell me about the dream.”

I moved my head from side to side as I let out a deep breath. “I didn’t dream that. I remember hearing it, though. Understanding something.”

“You repeated that line at least fifty times. You dreamed it in some way.”

I swallowed nervously. “Take me to your father.”

He leaned away from me as he nearly turned white as a ghost. “No.”

“Why not?” I asked, reaching for him, but he swayed back, avoiding my touch.

“Why do you want to see him so badly?” he asked before he took a deep, exasperated breath.

I didn’t have an answer to that. “I just…I just want to know your roots. What is in your blood.”

“You don’t want to know that,” he said as the room grew colder and his expression turned to stone.

“Fine,” I said as I looked away from him. I had been around my cousin Draven long enough to know when to stop pushing a furious man. Drake’s emotion right now was more of grief than anger, but I knew he was only a breath away from drastically changing his mood.

He stepped forward and gently turned my chin so I would have to look him in the eye once more. “Not yet, Madison Marie. I can’t go to him like this.”

“Like what?” I asked as my eyes rushed over his addictive visage.

I could tell he wanted to answer me, but words had abandoned him. When I focused, tried to see him, I could see flashes of Donalt, the past king that was now trying to take over Drake.

“You don’t have to say it.”

“It’s hard,” he said as he leaned his forehead against mine and reached to trace my bottom lip. “You allow me to talk about him, and when you do I feel myself healing…thank you for that.”

For the first time ever, I kissed him first. Instantly, that grief in his emotion was gone and devotion and what I was currently calling love filled his soul.

Just as we started to lose ourselves, one of us—I’m not sure which one—managed to find control and end our embrace.

He grinned boyishly. “It’s cold where we are going. Olivia said there were several coats in her closet for you to choose from.”

“I have no say in this?” I pushed.

“I promise tonight when you lay your head down, it will be in Esterious, under the roof of my palace.”

“I’m kinda caught up on sleep,” I teased as I playfully tilted my head and raised one of my eyebrows. I would go on this adventure with him today, but I was going to find my saltwater one way or another.

“We don’t have to sleep,” he said under as his breath as he pushed away from me and a sinful grin spread over his lips, lips that I was craving to feel against mine again.

All I could do in response was smile slyly. I climbed down from my stool and made my way upstairs to steal one of Olivia’s coats.

With each step I climbed, I saw that dream, heard those words Drake said I spoke, and knew without a doubt the answers I was seeking were going to take me down a road that I would have painfully feared before this day.

One thing about me: when I have my mind set on something, I can’t move past it. It was going to drive me mad that I was off somewhere with Drake while a deep mystery was waiting for me to discover it.

I peeked into Aden’s room. He was still asleep, but I had no choice but to wake him.

I felt the air tighten with jealousy as I moved closer to him. I glanced around the room, looking for any sign of where that was coming from. One thing was for sure, Aden needed to figure out this violin thing soon. I was starting to question how innocent that anomaly was.

When I sat down on the edge of the bed, he flinched. When he slightly opened his eyes, he drew in a gasping breath and pushed away from me.

“Why, thank you. I know I’m a gorgeous sight to wake up to,” I teased.

Apparently, something didn’t find it funny because I felt the air sting my skin. Aden must have felt it, too; he glanced around the room, then back to me. “I was just dreaming of someone else,” he muttered, pulling himself up and rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hand.

I reached for his shirt and handed it to him. “Was a jealous violin involved?” I quipped.

“You feel that, too?” he asked as he pulled his shirt on.

“Like needles.”

“Misunderstood,” he said under his breath. “At least you’re awake now. I was getting worried.”

“Don’t let me sleep for days on end, not with everything that is going on around us.”

“You of all people needed your rest. Are you feeling better? Insights back on track?”

“No…I feel blind.”

“Not in pain?” he said as if he were trying to convince himself not to be worried about me.

“Where are Charlie and Draven?”

“Not sure. I saw them for a few minutes yesterday.”

“You don’t look happy,” I said as I tried to feel his emotion. It was pensive as usual.

“They’re fighting again.”

“What did he do?”

Aden playfully glared at me. We were the ambassadors for Charlie and Draven. I defended Charlie; he, of course, defended his twin. Most of the time, we found a way to see a common ground.

“I think it’s her this time. She keeps going into the veil, and he doesn’t want her there.”

“Veil...like the veil of death?”

“Apparently.”

“Maybe that is why she has ghosts lingering near her,” I mused.

He shrugged. “I’m not getting in the middle of it this time.”

“Me either.” I reached for his arm, ignoring the stabbing feeling in the air. “Do you have any free time today?”

“Whatever time you need, birthday girl.”

“Just another day. Listen. I have to go somewhere with Drake, but I wanted to know if you could do some digging for me so when we get back I would know which way to go.”

“Where are you going?” he asked harshly, not cool with my vague, ‘I’ve got plans’ statement.

“I don’t know; like, a date or something.”

A perplexed grin spread across his face as his deep green eyes gave me a once over. “A date. Maddie has a date.”

“Madison.”

“Fine. Your gift from me is not giving you hell about this.”

“You like him?” I questioned absentmindedly.

His smile faded. “It’s never mattered what I or anyone else thought, Maddie. You know what makes you happy.”

“Could have fooled me when it came to Britain, or anyone else for that matter.”

“We were just reacting to you. We can see the wall you put up and say what you can’t.”

I let out a deep breath. “Yeah, I do that.”

Out of habit, his pupils expanded, taking in what he could see around me. I was sure he saw my nightmare when I felt his emotion shift to panic, then submit to rage. “What the hell?”