Daughter of a Monarch (11 page)

I grin evilly and close my eyes as I keep my abilities that are trying to spin out of control at bay. I rewind time back to the first moment Isaac caught me off guard. I run over and tackle him to the ground and hold him down with my magic. He isn’t going anywhere.

“I can’t move.”

I laugh, and a few strands of hair come loose from my ponytail and fall around my face.

“I kept control for the first time!” I squeal excitedly.

He smiles. “That’s great; can you please take the spell you bound me with off now?”

I laugh. “Yeah! Sorry!” I release him from the spell and go to move off of him, but he holds onto my thighs.

“I didn’t say get off me.” He smirks.

I can feel my cheeks redden. His hands are the first hands to ever touch me so intimately. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do.

“Oh, ummm,” I stammer.

His hands move to my lower back, and when his fingers lightly graze my skin where my shirt has raised up, it feels like bolts of electricity are coming from his fingertips. My breath catches in my throat, and I quickly move off of him and stand.

He stands and dusts his pants off. I bite my lip as I stare at my ring. I’d look at anything before looking at him. The feelings and urges I just felt were new. I had never craved someone like that before.

“Are you all right, A?”

“My dad told me I couldn’t get involved with you.” My eyes meet his, and I can’t look away.

“Do you always do what your dad tells you to?”

I shake my head slowly.

He moves toward me. I’m sure he can see the fear in my eyes. I’m not scared of him touching me again or even kissing me if he decides to. I’m scared of how vulnerable I am around him. I’m falling for him even though I know I shouldn’t be. Not with everything going on. It’d be selfish of me to pursue this.

His hand finds mine, and our fingers mesh together. My whole body feels hot and tingly. His touch overwhelms me. I close my eyes.

“I feel it too,” he whispers. “Don’t fight it. It’s impossible.”

I open my eyes slowly and look up at him. He smiles softly and touches my lips.

“What does it mean?”

“Whatever you want it to mean.”

“But how? We barely know each other.”

“We don’t have to know each other fully to have an unbelievably ridiculous attraction to one another. It’s kind of pathetic how you’re on my mind every damn second of every damn day.”

“So, what do we do now?”

“I wouldn’t be opposed to a make-out session,” he teases.

I shove his shoulder.

We both turn when my grandmother walks out of the back door.

“Lunch is ready.”

She smiles and winks at me. I turn beet red. I bet she was watching everything from the window.

After she goes back inside, Isaac looks at me. “I guess that means we should head in?”

I bite my bottom lip. “Yeah.” My cheeks are still heated with embarrassment.

We walk inside, holding hands.

I WALK ALONG
the shoreline at Paradise as a steady stream of tears fall down my cheeks. I miss my parents, cousins, Jett, Mason, and the few maids I consider family. But I couldn’t go back. Not until all of this was figured out.

A?

I sit down in the sand.

I’m fine, Daddy.

You’re mother and I aren’t. If something doesn’t happen soon, we’re coming to get you!

You can’t! You have to let me fix this!

Dad never responds. I don’t say anything to push him. I know there’s nothing I can say that will change a mind that is already made up.

I feel arms wrap around my waist. I scream and throw power from every inch of my body. Whoever grabbed me is surely dead. I turn to see Isaac getting off the ground.

“How are you still alive? Oh my god, Isaac! Don’t ever do that again!” I run over to him and help him all the way up.

He stays bent over, his hands on his knees. He holds up a finger to me as he catches his breath.

“Are you okay?” I ask worriedly.

He nods as he grits his teeth. He straightens his body and looks down at me. “I feel sorry for whoever pisses you off.”

I laugh and wrap my arms around him. I lay my head against his chest.

“I’m so sorry!”

His arms hold tightly to me. “I shouldn’t have snuck up on you like that. Not with everything going on.” He lifts my chin. My cheeks are still wet from tears.

“You’ve been crying.”

“It’s no big deal.” I take one of my hands from his back and wipe my cheeks.

“Want to talk about it?”

I do, but I don’t want to worry him with my problems. “I’ll be okay.”

“Damn right you will, because you’re going to tell me everything going on in that beautiful head of yours.”

I sigh in defeat. “All right, but feel free to tell me to shut up when you’re done listening.”

We sit in the sand. I pull my knees to my chest and rest my chin on them.

“I’m scared for my family. What if they die because of me? This is all so screwed up. Terre is in danger because of a hidden princess. A half-breed. And when, if, Terre finds out about me, can I honestly blame them for being pissed? I mean, if I felt that my family was in danger because of some kid that could destroy everything, I’d be highly upset too. I would want the threat destroyed.”

“But their predictions aren’t true. You’re learning control. With more time, I think we can prove them all wrong. Then maybe you can live freely and out in the open.”

“I don’t think you’re being realistic, Isaac. I have good days, but more bad days. If one thing sets me off, I cause a huge mess. God, I hate my parents! Why didn’t they just tell me? Why didn’t they help me from a young age?” I sit up and cover my mouth. I can’t believe the word ‘hate’ left my mouth. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

His forehead creases as he scrunches his eyes at me. “Yes, you should have. They were wrong for not being more careful. And then they hid your mom’s pregnancy. They hid you and took a childhood away from you that you will never get back. Instead of preparing you, they lied to you. You have every right to be pissed. I’m furious, A. I have no respect for them.”

I raise a brow. “Excuse me?”

“Come on. You have to realize that you’re not the only one who is mad at them.”

“Of course I’m not the only one, but that doesn’t make it okay for you to talk about them like they are trash!”

Isaac rubs his forehead and sighs. “I didn’t. I was just agreeing with you that what they did was wrong. They could’ve handled it better.”

I stand. “We all make poor decisions. They were just trying to protect me!”

He stands only inches from me. “Oh, yeah? And look where that got you! Now you’re contradicting your own words!”

I want to slap him and scream in frustration. “Don’t get me started on your dad!”

He scoffs and puts his hand to his chest. “My dad? My dad did nothing but love your mom! He could have interfered in your pretend perfect life and put a hell of a kink in your mom and dad’s fairytale, but he didn’t! Even after he found out your father knew the risks of what getting your mother pregnant could cause and didn’t even tell her! Your father is a selfish piece of shit! So, don’t you dare bring my father into this!”

My mouth falls open. I clutch my chest. It feels like my heart has stopped, and I think I forgot how to breathe.

“Aislin, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“My…My dad? He knew?”

“Your uncle Harim and my father did some research after they found out your mother was pregnant.”

I stumble backwards until I’m caught by a large rock. I sit down. “You’re lying. My parents said no one knew about me.”

“My dad and your family here are good at keeping secrets. And they didn’t do it to protect your father, that’s for sure. They wanted to protect your mother and you. Harim and my father have been researching this since the moment they found out about you.”

I start crying. I don’t know what to say or how to control the magic building inside me. This was the problem with my abilities. I lost control when I was upset beyond reason. It doesn’t matter how much progress I make. Until I can get a hold on my emotions, I’ll never be able to have control.

I need to release my frustration, and Isaac needs to move. The waves are getting larger, and the sky is turning dark.

“Shit,” Isaac mumbles under his breath. He touches my shoulder. “A, you have to calm down!”

I hear him, but everything is so out of control; I can’t focus to calm the storm.

“A!” He yells.

No use.

I close my eyes and feel large rain drops splattering against my body. Thunder crashes, and Isaac yells louder.

Isaac’s lips press shockingly against mine. I almost shove him away from me, but to my surprise, it’s a good distraction from my mayhem. My hands grip tightly to the front of his shirt as I kiss him back. He starts to pull away when things start to calm a little, but I don’t let him. “Please, don’t stop,” I beg in a whisper against his lips. “Please.”

He kisses me fiercely. I concentrate fully on his mouth against mine, instead of the anger I feel. As cliché as it may be, Isaac is calming the storm inside of me just from a kiss. Maybe I need him after all. Maybe he’s the control, the balance, I’ve been looking for.

I WAKE UP
and notice I’m in dry clothes. I touch my lips, remembering how it felt when Isaac kissed me. If it weren’t for him, there’s no telling what I would’ve destroyed. I roll over, and my eyes widen when I see Dad sitting in a chair across from my bed.

My bed. Oh my god, I’m in my bed in Terre!

“Dad?” I yell as I sit up. The room starts to spin. I try to get out of bed, but Dad comes over and holds me down.

“Calm down.”

I wish people would give up on telling me to calm down. I can’t, dammit. Well, unless I’m in a hot make-out session with a green-eyed boy.

I can feel my magic build as my emotions go crazy, remembering what Isaac told me about my dad. “You knew!”

“A—”

“No!” I wiggle from Dad’s grip and stand. “You knew that getting mom pregnant would risk you having a half-breed! Why would you risk that?”

“A—”

“And you can’t just take me from Gaia! I was doing better there, and we were figuring things out!”

Fear fills me like never before. What will the Regime do if, when, they find out I’ve been taken? What will happen if they tell Terre about my existence?

Mom comes running in and tries to put a cup to my lips. I refuse it, sending the liquid and Mom flying across the room.

I look around and see Jett, Mason, Cohen, Isaac, Uncle Harim, and my grandmother. Their magic builds before mine can hone in and kill them. They thrust magic at me, paralyzing me. All I can do is blink and breathe.

“Isaac, stay away from her! She needs to calm down!” I hear Dad yell.

“She deserves to know what happened last night!” Isaac snaps back.

Isaac comes into view. I think I’m lying down again, but I’m not completely sure.