Deciding Skies (Fate's Intent Book 2) (10 page)

“It’s not really—”

“I don’t care. Just tell me.”

Adele sighed and gave in. “All right but you have to close your eyes so you can try to imagine it. You see things from my point-of-view.”

“Okay.” I rested my head against the wall and closed my eyes with my arm still around her. “I’m a strong, beautiful woman. And—go.”

She laughed from my planned sarcastic expression. “Can you not do that?”

“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to be? Seeing it through your eyes?”

“You don’t have to pretend to be a woman. You’re just seeing it the way I saw it. That’s all.”

“Okay. I’m me again and ready.”

“It’s mostly visual so there’s not much sound.”

“If there’s not much sound, how do you know he’s yours?”

“I didn’t say there was no sound at all. At one point he calls me mother.”

“Okay. I’m still ready.”

“All right. It starts out in a mountainous place. I couldn’t pinpoint where because I’ve never seen it before this. Vegetation around the area is quite limited. Sounds of rushing water is everywhere like waterfalls and I’m sitting at the top of one of the highest cliffs facing the sun. I can’t tell if it’s rising or setting without knowing which direction I’m facing but my eyes direct away from it to my left slightly in front of me. There’s a child. I’m going to guess about the age of nine/ten range. I don’t see in good detail with the sun hitting his face but I can tell his hair is blonde. He’s looking straight in front of him not at me so I never get a good look at the exact color of his eyes from this angle.

“We’re sitting there talking about something I can’t hear until he looks to his left and stands up. I stand up with him and we can see a large stone structure built right out of the mountains with waterfalls around it but there was nothing else around. That’s when he turns his head fully to me and I see the black eyes very clearly. He smiled and his voice was full of excitement when he says something I can’t hear but the word mother comes out very clear and clearly directed towards me.

“Just hearing his voice makes my whole reply too muffled to hear but I call him Seth. That’s my grandfather’s name on my mother’s side. Then he starts running down this winding path towards the structure like he was too excited to hear what I said or something and that ends my strongest vision.”

“Your strongest? Are there more?”

“That was the main one that I’ve seen a lot. I have seen two more that are more like flashes but I didn’t know if they were real because I only saw them once so far more recently so I never told anyone about those.”

“Well, tell me. I’m listening.”

“You’re really getting into this, aren’t you?”

“If it’s really the future then it’s part of mine. I want to know.”

“Zayden—”

“Just tell me.”

“Okay. Like I said, they’re quick but he’s around the same age, I’m guessing anyway.” She paused and closed her eyes but I kept mine open and watched her. “There’s one where I see him sleeping. If I think back hard enough, it’s in better detail and he does look a lot like you but in a boyish way because he’s so young.”

“It’s in our blood to have that heavy resemblance. I told you.”

“Yes, I’ve seen that and the second one, I see him in the exact training ring we have back home but it’s much prettier because of the waterfalls behind it instead of the bricks of the north wall blocking any views.”

I was intrigued. “Training ring, really? What is he doing?”

“If I was going to guess, I would say he’s training but he’s not alone. There are two others with him.”

“Who are they? Kids?”

“Yeah, about his age but I don’t know who they are. I’m more so focused on seeing him. They’re kind of in a light blur when I had that dream.”

I could hear my heart beat suddenly in my ears and this strange but wonderful thought came over me. “Can you think back? Try focusing on them. What do they look like?”

“Why do you want to know so badly?”

“Just curious.” I lied but only briefly. I wanted her to tell me first to see if I was right then I would tell her.

“Okay, I can try. It’s kind of from a distance but the one that’s actually in the ring with Seth has brown hair, kind of curly, kind of not. I can’t see his eyes, he’s not facing me well enough.”

“What about the other one?”

“He’s standing to the side, leaned up against a stone pillar with his arms crossed, watching. His hair—” Adele paused and I wanted to know what she was seeing. “Whoa, he actually turns his head to me. I’ve never noticed that before.”

“Is that a sign? Do you know something?”

She opened her eyes and looked at me with this awed maybe even horrified expression. “I don’t even what to think about that.”

“What?”

She seemed hesitant as I watched her swallow. “He looked like—Darius but—”

“Okay, that’s freaky enough. Darius with a kid but there’s something else you’re not telling me.”

Adele looked directly in my eyes and her words came out with a slow shock. “He had Ruby’s eyes.”

I laughed. “What?!”

“We cannot say a thing to them!” Adele said as she started to get up.

“Wait, you don’t think they should know?” I got up after her and really thought this was something they should hear.

“I don’t know if that was real. I mean, I don’t even want to think that it could have been.” Adele was taking quick breaths. She couldn’t seem to hold still and it only seemed to make things worse.

“All right. Come on.” I led her out of the bathhouse. “I think you’ve had enough drama for one night. It’s time you relaxed.” Adele was breathing more slowly but heavily and just nodded as I brought her out into the room and got her back in bed. “Better?”

She was just had that look still plastered on her face and turned her head to me. “We have to stop them.”

“Stop them from having sex? Are you kidding me?! We won’t be able to do that but it does mean that they have to have sex first if your vision is true and that would mean Darius could survive her.”

“We don’t know that. I didn’t see him either.”

“Well, who do you think the other kid belongs to, hmm?” Just to get her worry all out at once.

She immediately gasped. “Zayden, we can’t let that happen! It’d be—it’d be—”

“Look, Love. Did you ever think that you were in that place away from everything because you were hiding?”

“Hiding from what?”

“The world. It’d be a place where we could be together. Away from war.”

“Zayden, no. I wouldn’t want it to come to that. Hiding from everyone? It just seems—no. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“But you’re fine with having my son and never letting me see him?”

“Of course not but I can’t just walk away from my life and neither can you.”

“Are you going to worry about this the whole time you’re here?”

“I’d rather not.” She turned over and faced the edge of the bed.

I smiled while I moved in behind her and put my arm around her. “Then you won’t. I’ll be here to help to make sure of it.”

“Thanks.” Words were still between us and we were finally getting the rest we both needed or so I thought. She seemed restless and proved it by saying my name in that worried way. “Zayden?”

I let out a long breath just wanting to go to sleep but her voice seemed troubled again. “Yes, Love? What is it?”

“I think maybe I shouldn’t stay in here tonight.”

I sat up a little and rubbed my eyes, trying to focus them better for the conversation. “Why? I thought you said you would.”

“I know that but what if—”

“Don’t worry about it, Love. If my father finds out, I’ll handle it. You’re not going to get in trouble.”

“Yeah, I seriously doubt that.”

“This isn’t really about everything else, is it?”

“No, of course not. I’m trying to forget about that.”

“All right. Good but aren’t we together?”

She sighed and turned more so she was facing me. “It’s not going to be for that long.”

“Aren’t we together?”

She sighed again. “For now.”

“Then you’ll stay—for now and I’ll deal with my father if it becomes a problem.”

“Are you sure?”

I kept the smile on my face and stroked my fingers down her arm. “I’ll always be sure about this.”

Adele didn’t get the chance to smile back. There was a knock on the door. She sucked a quick breath in and turned her eyes towards it.

“Relax. I’ll get it this time. You just stay right there and don’t even think about moving.”

Adele shrank herself down in the bed so the blankets were covering all views of her face. It probably made her nervous that maybe it was my father checking up on us and she laid completely still, trying not to even breathe too loud.

I smiled to her worried reaction but walked over to the door and opened it anyway.

“Good evening, your majesty.”

I saw the smile of a familiar face and lost mine, stepping out of the room quickly and held the door closed behind me. “Crysta. Hi—ah—this is a little awkward. I must have forgotten to send you the message.”

“You not of any need of me tonight?”

“No, actually. I apologize that you had to come all this way to find out like this. I’ve had a pretty busy day from just getting back.”

“It’s no problem at all, your majesty. Another time, perhaps?”

“Perhaps and I’ll be sure to be the one to contact you when that is.”

“All right, I guess I’ll just—”

“I feel so bad for this.” I truly felt like I had to do something. “Let me make it up to you. You can pick up your payment on your way out.”

“Your majesty—”

“It’s the least I can do. You came all this way.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“Of course. Have a nice evening.”

“Ah, I will.” She started to turn slowly and I just waved and went back inside the room, taking a deep breath.

“What was it?”

Adele popped herself up on the bed and I jumped my words. “It was nothing.”

She laughed like she didn’t believe me. “Nothing? You had to leave the room.”

I got back in bed next to her and was still being very vague about who it was. I knew she didn’t want to hear about it even if she thought she did. “Everything’s fine. Nothing like I said.”

She watched me avoiding her eyes and laughed. “Oh, I see. You forgot to tell your favorite whore not to come.”

I looked to her and tried fighting a smile just to make things happy. I didn’t want her getting mad over it. “Yeah, I kind of did forget a little but she’s not my favorite. You are.”

Adele huffed through a fake laugh and laid down, facing away from me. I guess trying not to make her mad didn’t work. “Thanks for comparing me to a whore, Zayden.”

“That’s not what I meant.” I came up behind her and tried looking over her so I could see her face. “You’re much more important to me than she’ll ever be. It was never anything more than a simple sex for money trade.”

“You mean she’s never just done it out of loyalty to her Prince?”

“Of course not! Those in the business really only have one goal and it’s okay. I paid her anyway.”

“That’s smart.”

“Well, it was my fault. I didn’t tell her otherwise like I was going to. Sorry if being with you made me forget all about her.”

“I wasn’t saying that but I’m glad it did.”

“Well, good. Can we finally forget about this and get some sleep? It’s not going to happen again.”

“Am I still staying?”

“How is that even a question?” I wrapped my arms around her tightly so she couldn’t get away. “You know you wouldn’t be able to sleep without me.”

Her body relaxed in my arms. “Something like that.”

“Well, we’re going to need sleep. I have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

“Great.”

“Goodnight, Love. You won’t have to worry about a thing.”

“Okay. Goodnight.”

I didn’t want her to be worried though I wasn’t even sure what our first day would look like but I hoped it would turn out well—for her sake mostly. She didn’t need to be thinking about anything else negatively. She has already done enough of that but she at least felt peaceful while she laid in my arms. It’s been a long day but I already miss holding her like this. She wasn’t the only one that found peace in it and sleep found me quickly.

Chapter 14

Jaylyn

“No excuses?”

I could see the worry on his face while Troy was looking in my eyes but he touched my cheek and kept his stance close in front of me. “Promise.”

I smiled, knowing he was all about keeping his promises and slowly leaned towards his lips. They met and I took a step into him, holding the back of his head with both hands so he wouldn’t decide to back away. Troy’s grip around me was making his muscles tense but he was barely touching me as he grazed his fingertips down my exposed back.