Blakeshire (21 page)

“This one is taken,” I said with a carefree shrug of my shoulders.

“This one is in prison. An elegant one, I’m sure, but a prison nonetheless. He is locking you down so he can toy with your mind, so he can convince you he is broken and innocent. Once he does, I’m sure there will be some battle. You will think you are dying for him, but really you are the one dying. He will live on with Willow residing in your body. Fairy tale ending.”

“It’s all written out in that head of yours, isn’t it? You have the whole story.”

“That, I do. He’s killed you before.” He glanced around to the stone platform. “Here. Looks like history would have repeated itself if I didn’t show up and save the day.”

“You’re full of shit,” Aden bit out.

Britain sneered. “You want to watch that tone. You are one crack away from insanity.”

I stepped in front of Aden in a weak display of protecting Britain.

“I have nothing more to say to you. Do whatever you want. And for the record, I wasn’t in a committed, faithful relationship with Drake when he committed the sins you speak of. He didn’t have a girl named Ann
a in his bed when I popped in to say hi. So you are the bastard in this situation.”

“Are you committed now?” Britain asked as his eyes raked over me. At that moment, a wall of wrathful energy slammed into me.

“Never assume I am as low as you are,” I said with a sick glare on my face, hoping against all hope that he didn’t see the devotion I had for Drake in my emerald green eyes.

“I see…he’s just giving you the illusion that he adores you.”

“No, you taught me how to play that game. I’m a pro at spotting players now.”

“Never played you. I told you I adore you. If I didn’t, you’d be dead already.”

“Good thing I’ve got charm then, huh?”

“Listen to me,” he said with an uncharacteristic glare. “Stop asking questions you don’t want the answers to. If you were ever to see this room in reality, it would be because Drake is about to strip your soul and slide Willow’s right into that vessel. You need to leave with me now…the only way out of this alive is at my side.”

Nothing he was saying made any sense at all. I knew when I saved Monroe that my insights were jacked up; now I might have thought that something evil had stolen them from me that night if Monroe herself didn’t return all but a few emotions to me right after that. Obviously, Britain or whoever was informing him didn’t know that had happened. They thought I was an idiot. Shame on them. There may be a plot to drain me, but it wasn’t Drake’s, and he didn’t have anything to do with what happened to me that night—I would bet my life on it. Of course, I couldn’t say any of that to Britain. I wasn’t going to let him know what I knew—or tell him that betting my life was
exactly
what I was doing.

“Not happening,” I said as I raised one brow to emphasize my point.

“What? Do you want to spend a night in the room he made for Willow so you can pretend you are what he wants? Do that. I will forgive you, just as I have in your past lives.”

I grabbed the knife from Aden and charged forward. As I held the blade to Britain’s neck, I could see blood seeping out of from under the edge, sliding down his white collar. “You see, when he or whoever started to dwindle me down, as you say, they took my ability to grieve away. Hell, for all I know they took my humanity away—so if I slice you in two now, all I have to worry about is washing the blood off my hands. You think you know the game I’m playing? You’re not even on the right field. So back away, let me do my thing, or figure out how to live six feet under.”

He glanced down at the blade. “Sadly, precious, attempting to kill me would bring more harm to you than it would to me. Come with me.”

“Keep dreaming.”

“I’ve already seen the end, Madison. You are out of time to make the right decision.” And with that, he vanished.

“My knife,” Aden said as he took it from me. “If you want him dead, say the word.” I felt his rage as his eyes glanced over me.

“What?”

“Did you even bother to look into his mind?”

“Why would I bother with that? All I ever see is myself. It’s like looking in a warped mirror.”

“Not this time. In his thoughts, I saw him witness your death a hundred times over. The bastard was right about one thing.”

“Which was?”

“He was here when this happened the first time, Drake was. The only one that fought for your life was Britain.”

I tried to see it through Aden, but with my jacked up way of visualizing I could only glimpse fragments, pieces that did not tell me enough to take sides on this matter. But I trusted Aden. He would never defend Britain. What the hell happened here?

“He is right about the vessel, too. Britain witnessed a conversation between Alamos and Xavier. They are still focused on pairing Willow with Drake. You are a threat to some master plan they have.”

“Aden, I lack the ability to feel shock, grief, or fear. They can plot whatever they want. That is their business, not mine. I’m concerned with the mystery of my past at the current moment.”

Aden’s eyes were full of judgment. He was clearly wondering how much truth existed in my words.

I glanced down; the water was black now. The manifestation of this place had been damaged. The only way for me to see what was behind that octopus was by going for a swim, and I wasn’t doing that until I could see where I was going.

“Did you find what you needed?”
I asked Aden.

“Yeah, let’s go,” he said as his brooding green eyes cascaded over the dark water.

Within the next breath, we were back.

Chapter
Thirteen

~Madison~

I took in a deep breath. Once my soul found my body in the library Aden and I were sitting in, I let those nasty insecurities surface briefly. I could still hear Britain’s voice in my head telling me this wing, the room I was given, belonged to Willow. I hated having that boy in my head.

Truth be told, he had almost convinced me not to go with Charlie when Willow came for us. I listened to my heart then. I needed to do that now, but it was hard. I had every reason not to trust Drake…but right now…he was the only one I did trust to protect me from this curse I was born with.

I went to ask Aden what he found, but he held his hand up to stop me as his eyes soared to the doorway. I glanced over my shoulder to see Alamos standing in the threshold of the library, only now there was no stench of sulfur in the air and his aged face was clear—not a wave of ink in sight. Now if that wasn’t confusing, I didn’t know what was.

“May I?” Alamos said with a nod, asking for permission to come in.

I nodded weakly. Aden stood with me, moving his eyes between Alamos and me, trying to see what version of Alamos I was seeing now.

When Alamos reached us, his gaze echoed the warm pride I swore I could feel coming from him. “I know that we have opened Drake’s calendar to give everyone time to adjust to your arrival, but I am afraid that we are going to have to appease the court tonight.”

“Meaning?” Aden asked coldly, still not trusting Alamos.

“Meaning that they saw him pass through the palace before. They were under the impression that he was in deep mourning all this time. Now that he has made an appearance, we need to have a meal with the inner circle.”

“Have you spoken to Drake?” I asked as I saw flashes that, in part, revealed my question. Drake did go to his study. The conversation looked tense, but I could not hear the words they spoke. I watched as Alamos went to get something, leaving Drake to roam his study alone.

“I have. He asked me to remove something.”

“Something?” I muttered, wondering if it was that tattoo, if Drake had really flipped his switch that quickly.

“Yes,” Alamos said as he looked down. “I have wronged him in so many ways, but my intentions were meant to aid him, protect him from suffering my path. It has been made clear that I was in fact fooled by my former king.”

“What did you do to him?” I demanded.

“Dreams,” Aden answered me first. Alamos nodded to confirm.

“After he was born, we took a part of his umbilical cord. It is said in ancient times that the soul was also nourished from that point. It held great power—it was what we used to extract past moments of his soul, and later what we used to create the dreams we wanted him to live out.”

“Why would you do that to a child?” I breathed as I held back the urge to rip him into tiny shreds.

“He was no child. Never has been. Donalt had me convinced that evil forces were going to once again take his fated love from him. He urged me to enforce the bond Drake had, he told me Drake would have to fight, that his lover had been spelled at birth.”

“And what exactly did you do to him today?” I asked as I saw flashes that showed Drake around candles, a bowl of herbs before him.

“I removed the spell—the loop of dreams that we wanted him to experience. When he was a child, Donalt would monitor his thoughts, and more than once he asked me to remove a dream from the cycle that Drake was living through.”

“And what good does that do now?”

“Now, well now, his mind will dream without the scenes fragmenting. He will clearly hear his own soul. Honestly, I should have done this for him as soon as Donalt fell…but at the time I knew this dimension needed a queen to protect our king, so I left them in place.”

“There is more to it,” I muttered as I tried to gauge what I was seeing around Alamos and Drake’s discussion.

“Tell her what he said. Let her hear it from you,” Aden all but demanded.

Alamos cleared his throat. “Drake stated that he did
n’t want another woman beyond the one his soul belonged to in his mind.”

“And you complied?” I asked as I tilted my head and questioned exactly what he had done to Drake, as I questioned if Drake, after today, was still testing me.

On the inside, I scorned myself, told myself that Britain had planted that mistrust inside me, and I was not going to give him the pleasure of having me suffer through the painful suspecting thoughts.

“I never meant to hurt him. I was fooled, too. And like it or not, Willow did share a past with him. I did not fabricate that. I was very clear with him on that point.”

“Are you trying to make me mad?” I questioned, as if the last thing I would be jealous of was who was in Drake’s past. I didn’t trust Alamos. Not after what I saw before.

“No, I’m trying to honor my king. I only want him to be with the person that shares his soul.”

Aden and I glanced at one another. We knew for a fact that he and Xavier were plotting to take my vessel. The question became then, was Alamos on stage before us now?

“What dinner?” Aden asked dryly as he pulled his shoulders back. He wasn’t going to let either one of us walk into a trap. “Draven is busy. He is not going to pause his life every time you need to fabricate something for the bastards in the court.”

“We have you,” Alamos stated as he glanced at him. “Though your energy is vastly different, we are in mourning, so everyone’s should be altered. This is a silent meal. Words are still prohibited as we reflect. All you have to do is sit at a table and eat.” He grimaced. “Well, you may not eat.”

“Old man, speak clear,” Aden breathed out.

“You are a guest here. The king—or prince, rather—will sample the course. If he finds it unfitting, he will cross his dinner wear over his plate. Neither the pair of you nor he will eat or drink; however, the inner circle will.”

“Starving the company?” Aden bantered.

“No, saving them. It is an old tradition. The court eats to endure the suffering that was meant for the guest.”

Aden raised his hand to his firm stomach. I could only guess he was starving and not in the mood for Russian roulette with dinner.

“It should not take too much out of your night. Then we can discuss whatever you are researching,” Alamos said as he glanced to the ancient blueprints on the table.

“I’m good,” Aden answered flatly.

“If you have any questions, feel free to seek me out. I rarely come out of my study. My understudies didn’t realize who you were when you came before.”

“No worries.”

Alamos nodded. “I’ll wait in the hall while you dress. Simple black gown.”

“Do we not need Olivia and Chrispin, or even Charlie?” I questioned. Before, they were like our guards or ambassadors. I wasn’t sure why Aden and I were invited to this dinner and no one else.

“I mentioned this is a quaint dinner. Normally I would just need Aden, but I feel that if you are there it will solidify that our intentions are to proceed with the courting of you to our king. Of course, the royal guard will be lining the room.”

Good. That meant at least Chrispin would be there. Zander, too. I kinda owed him one. I never would have forgiven Drake for what I saw in that girl if he had not prepared me for it.

“Drake knows I am going to be there?” I pushed. I had the impression that he didn’t want anyone to know where his interests were—but then again, for all I knew Drake was playing me just as Britain had predicted.

“He was not pleased. But there are gambles we all must take if we are to win in the end.”

Aden glanced down at his jeans and band shirt. “I’m going to change.”

Alamos followed him out.

As I went to change, too, a thousand questions were cascading through my mind. Why would Drake send Alamos to tell me about this? He knew I had a problem with Alamos. Why was Britain there at my first death? Would they really want to steal my vessel? Is that what Drake wants? Is it my soul he is pulled to, or my image? Was this childhood trauma even worth chasing? Should I bail, run home to my normal life? I could deal with the dark whispers, the shadows; they were never this trying on my soul.

I found a dress that was a lot like that robe I had on before. It was a little bit thinner, but still too hot for my comfort. I was sure I was supposed to wear a slip or something under it, but I opted for fitted briefs and a tank top. I tucked the locket against my skin.

In the bathroom, I found combs to hold my hair in a French twist. I didn’t bother with more makeup than what was needed to highlight my features. There was a jewelry box on the vanity. Most of it was costume jewelry that I rarely wore but was usually lying all around my room at home. I found a chain that looked close enough to my locket and put it on in an attempt to hide the real one. There was a charm on there, but it was nothing more than a silver circle.

When I decided that I looked elegant enough for whatever this was, I left my room.

I found Aden and Alamos by the doors that lead out. Aden looked amazing; the black modern suit he was wearing made him look far older and reserved than I knew him to be. “My drummer boy in a suit,” I teased. Aden rolled his eyes as he smoothed out his tie.

“Suppose you have the keys to that?” I said dryly to Alamos.

He looked at me like I was insane. “I was not aware that it was sealed.”

“Did you pass through a cold ghost to get in here?”

His perplexed expression told me that he hadn’t. “Is Donalt targeting you now?”

“Does it matter if he is?”

“I suppose not,” Alamos said as he pushed the lever next to the steel bar, causing it to rise. The doors opened on their own in that instant.

Aden smirked at me, but I ignored him as I took his arm. He was now on stage with us, too. Days ago when I was brought here, Draven played the role of a distant king. I was his sister and Charlie was his counterpart. Draven was chosen to play that part because his energy mirrored Drake’s in some way—and well, at the time Aden was MIA.

When we reached the next set of double doors, we found Chrispin and Zander, along with seven other men; though their energy was peaceful, they each held the ‘you don’t want to cross me’ attitude in their stern expressions. Aden and I took our place in the center of them as Alamos led the way.

I was going to have to figure out how to ditch these guards later. I had to be covert if I was going to uncover anything in this vast palace.

I would swear to you that each time I walked through this palace, I was never taken the same way. It was like a enormous maze; too many rooms looked too similar to the others.

We must have walked close to a mile before we reached another massive double doorway. Men in black robes were guarding it; with a nod from Alamos, they bowed, then opened the doors for us to walk through.

The aroma of sulfur was so thick that it nearly made me gag.

Inside, just a few feet before us was a table no less than a hundred feet long. There were other guests already in place. I recognized Xavier at the other end of the table. He was seated near the throne at the head of the empty end of the table. The other guests were a mix of men and women. Of course, the only way I could tell they were women was by the cleavage they were displaying. All their faces were a wave of ink, much like the majority of the men.

Alamos escorted Aden and me to the end of the table closest to us. There, two chairs with high backs were placed. Once we approached, the other guests stood silently. Aden and I stood before our chairs as our guards lined up behind us.

I was at a loss at this point, not sure if I should sit or stand. I took Aden’s lead because I was still holding his arm. There was no way he could smell what I smelled and not be making some kind of face, or even tensing. What was up with the sensitivity of my nose lately?

A moment later, in the silence of the room an echo danced across the walls: footsteps. The doorway at the other end of the room opened.

My heart stopped. Drake was there in all of his decadence. His suit was black, but the collar was short, very modern and sleek. His hair was not waywardly tossed to the side, but combed perfectly into place making him look like the regal king he was destined to become.

With dominant grace, he walked to his throne. His dark eyes didn’t bother to connect with anyone. I could feel the coldness in his energy from where I stood. Yet, fire bloomed in my core as I remembered our day together. I was hoping that the addictive aroma of mint or even roses would help cover the stench in the air, but he was just too far away. Not breathing became my only option if I were going to avoid vomiting in front of all of these people.

Once Drake reached his throne and nodded once, everyone else took their seats allowing me to assess the people I was all but forced to dine with.

The chair next to Xavier was vacant, leading me to wonder if Drake had followed through on his word and asked that Horace man to leave the palace.

Alamos was in the seat across from Xavier, and the glares they passed would be hard to miss by anyone—which was confusing considering that I knew at some point the pair of them had plotted together. The question was, who was trying to fool whom? The idea that they were playing Drake made rage bellow in my soul.