Broken (The Immortal Coven Book 1) (23 page)

“Yeah, right before you came to pick me up, he walked in and talked to me. At first, I didn’t get why a complete stranger would attempt an interaction with me, being that I had only just moved to the school, but now it would make sense, especially if mom kept him away from me.”

“Celia, if your mother kept you away from George Harrison, she had a really good reason to do so.”

“Again, who is to say that Kalvati isn’t this George guy?”

When Olivia didn’t respond, I worried that Dmitri was right. Especially if she knows what Mr. Harrison looks like? To make the connection she would only need to see a picture of Kalvati to know for sure.

“We will be home tomorrow. Please don’t do anything until we get back. Don’t contact him or anything. I don’t want anything to happen to you too.” I begged her. She is after all everything I have left.

“I’m fine, sweetheart. But to make you more comfortable, I promise not to go anywhere.”

We said our goodbyes and I felt the emotions echoing through the phone receiver.

The little bit of sunlight beamed through the sliver of window.

“Will you take me for a walk through the gardens, Dmitri?” I asked him, knowing that being cooped up in the room wouldn’t help my current frame of mind.

CHAPTER Twelve

The sun was low in the sky, the pink and purple hues making a canvas for the whole region to awe over. Oh, what it must be like to live in this place.

“This garden was your favorite as a little girl.” Dmitri admitted, the statement forcing me to ask the obvious question.

“How old was I when you stopped being around?” the words came out as I snapped a flower from a nearby bush. The action made me wince for the poor little flower.

“You were about 4.” He started, “Your mother said she couldn’t raise you the way she had been raised. She wanted a different life for you and that meant I had to keep my distance.”

“That had to be harder on you to protect her.”

He nodded, following my movements, picking a flower from a different bush, bringing it up to his nose to smell.

“It was never easy.” He admitted, his eyes opening a little wider as he said it.

“You helped her with the store though, didn’t you?” We turned a corner and mazed through a different part of the garden.

“I tried to be there for her, always. Our thoughts were connected like yours and mine, but your mother learned early on how to block me, to keep me distant.”

My hand reached out towards his, taking it in my own, locking our fingers together.

“I miss the care free us of a few weeks ago.” I admitted heavily, thinking of the first time I kissed him.

He slowed me down and pulled me close to his side.

“You have changed everything for me, Celia. I don’t know how I have survived my whole life without you.”

“So you feel differently for me than you felt for Allura?” I noticed how he smiled when I asked.

“I could never choose this life knowing I wouldn’t be able to feel this way for you. That I wouldn’t be able to hold you like this. Secure in my arms.” He smiled, his features softening.

I leaned in, my lips softly caressing his. That was all it took. A kiss, and my senses were in overdrive. Each nerve ending electrified. His masculine scent filled my nostrils.

He opened his mouth and kissed me back, the fervor ignited the instant his tongue met mine.

But as quickly as our moment began, it ended. A noise further in the garden startled us.

Two figures stood, at the gate we were heading for. “I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to interrupt.” Desmond, Beatrice’s protector said softly.

I giggled, wondering what type of grief, if any, the other protectors give Dmitri regarding our relationship.

“Don’t worry about it.” I covered my mouth and giggled to myself.

“Do you remember this garden Celia?” He asked me, walking ahead of Beatrice towards me.

“Everyone asks me that and I don’t but it is very peaceful here.” I mused, looking out into the distance toward the rolling hills and the scenery.

“It is because we had never experienced such a joy as watching your fascination in this place. Your gift to us was in how you cried out in excitement as the butterflies fluttered around you.” His smile was natural, the memory clear on his expression.

“Would you like to visit the great tree again?” he asked in a manner I almost understood.

“The Great tree from the spells?”

“It was your favorite spot. One time, you got away from your mother, probably playing with the butterflies, and we spent the entire day searching for you.” Desmond, laughing turned to Dmitri who chimed in.

“Your mother, frantic, asked the entire coven to join in on a locator spell to find you.”

“It didn’t work, and she flipped out.”

“So how did you find me?” I asked Dmitri, confused because a locator spell, cast by the coven, should have been able to find a needle in a very large haystack if need be.

“I found you.” He mumbled, looking down as we walked the path.

We turned down a thin path, the sides filled with over grown bushes.

“Why didn’t the spell work?”

“No one knows. When I found you, you were sleeping so soundly, I wondered if someone had cast their own spell on you.” He admitted gravely.

“She held you so tight I thought she would squeeze you to death. But you were so tiny back in those days, with your precious dark eyes. They looked like dark chocolate morsels in a batter of cream skin.” Desmond recalled.

That was when we reached the end of the bushes and walked through a large stone archway into a field.

In the center of the field ahead of us stood an enormous oak tree that could easily be 400 years old.

I was struck with wonder, speechless, and overwhelmed all at once.

“I remember walking through the archway and seeing your little blue dress on the ground underneath the tree. I ran to you, feeling like my whole world would shatter if anything had happened to you. It was more than needing to keep you safe, like I was destined, in that moment, to love you forever.” Dmitri whispered as we crossed the field to reach the tree.

Looking up to the great branches, I wondered why it felt like this was the first time I was seeing this great sight. “Why don’t I remember being here, Dmitri?” my question came lined with worry.

“I’m not sure why you can’t recall that particular visit here as a child.”

We reached the tree and I looked up to the giant branches that stretched out like tired arms. There was a real need, I felt, to lay under it.

“Do you mind?” I asked, Dmitri.

Only if you let me lie down next to you.

Nodding, I found a soft patch of green to lie on.

I got myself comfortable first and watched as he followed suit. Looking up was the most nostalgic feeling I’d ever experienced, yet, the memory wasn’t there.

“Maybe something is blocking me from remembering.” I wondered out loud.

“It’s incredible how similar this tree is to the one in Safety Harbor.”

“Indeed it is.” I gave him a sideways glace, noticing how his sight was straight up the tree. 

“It is funny how easily soothed I am by it.” I mused.

“It was amazing how little it took to calm you down once you saw the tree as a child.”

“I feel at peace now.” I offered.

“That’s because I’m with you.” He teased, his grin making me laugh out loud.

“Mmhmm, I will give you that, you do have the power to make me smile.”

“As long as it’s not to cry, I will do anything to keep that from happening.”

“Then don’t ever break my heart.” I laughed, but my statement had him serious.

“It's you that will end up breaking my heart, I can almost guarantee it.”

I sat up, my eyes affixed to his body lying next to me. “That isn’t possible.”

He matched my movements, his face leaned into mine, “Anything is possible when you love someone.” He whispered soft enough for only me to hear. Then his lips covered mine and the kiss matched the one from earlier.

I let the feeling consume me, the power of being in his embrace, the wonder of kissing an immortal, and the perfection of timing.

All things aligned for once, and I finally felt what my mother had warned me about when it came to, ‘the one’.

She said,
‘The day will come when you kiss a boy who makes you feel like everything is perfect, but in the blink of that moment you will realize the gift is not forever, the gift is that particular moment you admit to yourself that you love him. You will never have a moment like that again. It is unique like no other moment in a girl’s life.’

When I opened my eyes to look into his, I felt what she meant. This was the moment I knew I would never feel again. My soul felt complete and my heart was full.

He smile, used his thumb and stroked my lower lip, “What are you smiling about?”

“I love you back, Dmitri.”

Taken back by my words, he shifted on his thigh, “I knew that already.”

“But I didn’t. I thought I did, but now I know I do.”

My cell phone rang, scaring the crap out of me. I quickly tugged it out of my pocket and realized it was Lisa.

“Hello?”

“Get back to the castle. Something’s happened to Gloria. Everyone is freaking out.” She cried into the cell phone.

Dmitri must have heard because he was already on his feet, reaching out to pull me up from the ground.

“I’m on my way.” I replied just before hanging up.

Looking around before grasping his hands, “Where are Desmond and Beatrice,” I asked cautiously?

Dmitri turned in all directions looking for them. “I don’t see them. They might have just gone back and we didn’t realize.”

I stopped Dmitri from moving, “I’m scared.” I said out loud.

He reached out and pulled me into a hug, “I’m right here. Nothing is going to happen to you.”

We ran back to the castle, as fast as we could. Everyone was in an upheaval. Gloria had gone up stairs to visit the library when they heard a loud crash. When Armand finally reached her, she was out cold.

“Is she going to be okay?” I asked Katerina who had been pacing the walkway into her room.

She paused, only long enough to respond with, “She has to be.”

Armand came out of the room, whispered something in Dmitri’s ear and they both turned, running off down the steps to the main hall.

Stay where you are, with Katerina
he commanded.

“Something is happening, Celia. I can feel it in the pit of my soul, and I’m shaking at what’s to come.” She took my arm, her eyes literally filled with fear.

“They will protect us. They have been doing it for centuries.” I offered, but a part of me felt ignorant.

“Let’s go sit with the rest inside.” She suggested, but then Toren, Kyle, and Desmond burst out of the room. They didn’t stop to apologize for almost knocking us down.

“I don’t like the look of this, Katerina.” I softly spoke to my coven sister.

“Something bad is happening.” As she said it, there was a break, a pain somewhere deep in my core. I buckled in pain. Katerina, too, mirrored my reaction.

The air escaped my lungs, and for a brief moment I feared this was the end.

I reached out to her, the air still cut from my system, like I was under water, then like a flood it all came back.

I gasped, Katerina gasped, and we could hear screaming from inside the room.

I burst into the room, eyeballing Lisa near her mother, gripping at their chest, as though they too had not had air.

The other witches all mirrored our reaction, now gasping for air that was once vacant in our lungs.

The terror on everyone’s faces was identical, confusion and fear.

Gloria began to cry, out of nowhere her face became distorted and a real anguish overtook her.

‘She’s gone!” she cried out. The rest of us, confused at her words.