Chrysalis: The Emergence of Emery (The Gifted Series Book 1) (25 page)

Elijah? You’re still here? I’m confused, I thought that you didn’t have much time?

I can’t break the connection.

What?
My question goes unanswered.

Em, I need you to know that I’m sorry I hurt you by leaving and that I’ll be back. I promise.

It’s okay, Elijah, I understand. I’ll be here waiting.
I realize my thoughts are pure. I truly mean it when I say I’m waiting for him.

Don’t let them trick you. These new people you’re with, trust is earned, remember that little sister. You might have to make a decision one day, a decision about who to trust. There are things going on over here that I can’t talk to you about now, but not everything is as black and white as it might first seem. You may have to make a choice between dark and light someday.

I take a moment to really think about what he’s saying, but I already know that I don’t trust easily. The things he’s just told me are both confusing and scary, but I can’t dwell on them, my brain will turn to mush if I try to work it all out. Anyway, right now I’m more worried about him.

What are they doing to you over there, Eli? Are you safe?

Don’t worry about me.

I’ll always worry about you.

Emery, the spell I’ve used on you… on us, it’s strong, it’s pulled us both under. Nobody from my end should suspect, for now, but I’m not strong enough to pull us free. You need to be the one who breaks the connection.

Elijah, I-I’m so confused. Everything that’s happened… I don’t know what’s real anymore and who to trust.

Trust Kade.

I always do.

Good. You only need to trust him, Em. He will keep you safe. He will protect you. He would die for you, and he will love you. He always has.

I miss you, brother.

I miss you too. Now listen, you need to think about something… something that you can focus on and let it free you, us. Remember to tell Kade, I said yes. Love you, little sister.

See you soon, Eli.
I whisper the thoughts in my head before trying to focus on something.

The only thing I know that can consume me completely is Kade. I think about his smile. I think about the way he looks at me like I’m his every answer. Then I think about his golden eyes, blazing, setting me on fire from the inside out. I listen to my heartbeat and let the love I feel for him take over.

Thump.

Thump, thump.

Thump, thump, thump.

My body jolts internally, and I know I’m awake. I also know that on the outside, my body didn’t move an inch. Now I just need my physical body to wake up too.

Kade

“She’s still asleep?” Katarina asks from behind me. My eyes are fixed on Emery, so I don’t even turn to acknowledge her. I also don’t answer, the question seems pointless. Kat can see that Emery is still out, and I could do without stupid questions. I’m holding onto my control just barely right now. I feel a hand touch my shoulder and I flinch. 

“Kade?” The word sounds like an accusation. 

“What is it Katarina? Is there some new intelligence?” It comes out harsher than intended and I catch her slight intake of breath. My shoulders slump and I feel like crap. “Sorry Kat, I’m not in the right headspace to be chatting with anyone at the moment,” I tell her. 

“I’m not just anyone.” Her words are whispered, and I can hear the hurt in her voice. 

Still, that doesn’t alter my reply. “You’re not her.” 

Saying nothing else she gets up and quietly walks out. I should feel bad, but I don’t. I just feel numb.
Emery brought all my feelings up from the dark recesses that I’d buried them in for so many years.
Now she’s sleeping, and I’m desperately waiting for her to wake. G
o
a
r
a
o
n spoke to a doctor on the phone, someone who they employ, he told us that she’s obviously under some kind of spell. There’s little he can do. Everything now is a waiting game. I know she isn’t dying, my brain tells me that she will be fine, she’s strong, so much more than she realizes. But it doesn’t help when all I can see is the person I love lying there vulnerable, and I’m helpless to stop it. I can’t control the growl that claws its way up my throat on that thought.

I let my eyes glide over her face. Her hair is such a light blonde that it shimmers, but her long eyelashes are brown, the same as her arched eyebrows. The normal pink tinge on her cheeks is missing. Instead, her skin is pale and if it weren’t for her plump lips, slightly parted and allowing little puffs of air to blow out, I would be in a totally different frame of mind. I look at the door where Kat just exited then I turn back to Emery. I’ll stay here until she wakes. No matter if the walls fall down around me. 

Closing my eyes I rest my forehead on the edge of her bed.

I’m scared.

I’ve heard things—things I believe are going on inside her head, conversations that she seems to be having. I have no idea if these conversations are real, or it’s a construct, something she’s dreaming. I can only hear one side, it’s like I’m blocked from the other, but the message is clear, she’s talking to Elijah, and I hope to God whatever he’s doing he realizes that it’s hurting her and lets her go soon. I need her back, I need her with me. I miss my family, but I miss her more. She’s the only person I can’t survive without.

Emery

After hours of lying here unmoving, the world on mute around me, suddenly everything changes. I feel a spark inside of me, she’s waking up, the Convergence. I can see green smoke behind my own eyes, and I know she’s helping me to take back the control. To break the spell fully.

With a huge intake of air, my lungs fill up, and before I realize what’s happening I’m sitting up and coughing the breath back out. My eyes open and immediately meet with Kade’s. The emotion working behind his eyes, the one that he instantly hides, trying to make me believe everything is fine, I ignore it. I know he doesn’t want me to dwell on it, and instinctively I know he’s fighting against it.

Fear.

An unknown and unwelcome emotion for Kade. And I’m fully aware—without being told—that just like every other time in his life Kade has felt that emotion, it’s always been for me. Only me.

“Princess…” His voice comes out raspy, but he ignores it. Instead, he leans over to place a tender kiss on my lips. My insides scream for more, but alternatively, I just push my fingers into his hair and kiss him back softly, lovingly, telling him with that one kiss, that I adore him.

“I’m okay. I saw Elijah.”

“I know.”

His reply stops me in my tracks, my mouth hanging open while my brain catches up.

Kade doesn’t wait for my unasked question. “I could hear some of your thoughts, you seemed to be talking to someone, and I figured when you said ‘brother’ that you were talking with Elijah. What I couldn’t work out, was whether you were dreaming it, or if you really w
ere
as
connected to him?”

“Oh, I was definitely connected. He told me to tell you, ‘yes.’ Actually, he said to tell you ‘a million times yes.’” I smile thinking about Elijah and Kade’s eyes soften on me.

“That’s good news,” he replies and kisses my forehead, his mind suddenly elsewhere.

“You can go, if you need to,” I tell him, and his eyes snap back to mine.

“Absolutely not. I will not leave you. Emery, remember, there is no one more important to me, dead or alive, than you. That means I’m right where I need to be, my thoughts may wander away sometimes, but that’s only because I’m thinking about another way to make you safer.”

I nod my response and he sits on the bed, lifting me and placing me in his lap. Kade r
a
e
ins kisses down my cheek before things become more heated and his lips move to my throat and then my collarbone.

“Okay lovebirds, we don’t all need to see that you’re hot for each other all the time,” Tristan says with a smirk as he breezes through the door.

Kade, as usual, announces how he feels with his trademark growl, and I can’t help the giggle that bubbles up inside me.

“The doc is on his way, but as you’re supposed to be resting, I’m here to chaperone the two of you,” he says pointing back and forth between us, a glint shimmering in his eyes.

Kade gently places me back on the bed and stalks to Tristan, telling him to shut up and get out, but there’s no heat behind his words, just brotherly love.

I sigh, and it’s a happy one as Kade and Tristan banter back and forth. I close my eyes thinking on today’s event. My stomach dips and swirls as my mind fights internally. I think about Elijah and about what he said.

One day I will have to make a decision, about whose side I’m fighting on. Right now it’s easy, but I know that if it happens, it will take everything within me to stay on this side—the side I want to be on.

I look over at Kade. He catches my gaze and stares back with his hazel eyes, brooding, menacing, then his whole face softens as he blinks and the gold alights, then he winks. The love I see, the playfulness he shows me, it’s just for me.

Yes. One day I will have to decide.

But today isn’t that day.