Deciding Skies (Fate's Intent Book 2) (13 page)

“Why not?”

“He wouldn’t want her to know especially when he’s trying to change it. It’s a personal thing and if he found out you knew, he’d kill me.”

“Kill you? Yeah right!” Jaylyn laughed. “I thought no one could kill you guys.”

“No outsider but with the right amount of spite, we could easily become deadly towards each other like what you saw before we even got here. We always taken that kind of stuff very seriously as is why we’ve never trained with a real weapon.”

“Neither do we.” I replied. “Mostly because of Ruby. She’s pretty accident prone.”

“Hey, sorry that took so long.” Zayden unexpectedly walked in on our conversation and I tensed. “I’m still waiting on one thing but who knows how long that could take. I thought I’d come down here and wait.”

I tried fighting passed it and smiled as Zayden sat down next to me. “Good.”

His eyes shifted around. “What?”

“Nothing.” I quickly answered, maybe a little too quickly.

“Were you talking about me?”

I tried laughing but it sounded a little obvious even to me. “What?! No!”

“I don’t know what that was.” Jaylyn laughed realistically. “We really weren’t.”

“Okay. So—where’s the others?”

“Still upstairs. We haven’t seen them yet.” Troy answered. “They’re probably still sleeping.”

“Yeah, probably and I’m shocked. He can be pretty lazy sometimes.”

“Who are you calling lazy?”

“You.” Zayden turned and Darius walked in with Ruby laying in his arms.

“I’m not being lazy. Just because we haven’t been down here as long as you, doesn’t mean I was being lazy.”

“All right. Then what’s wrong with her?”

He paused for a moment and looked down at Ruby in his arms with her eyes closed. “Oh, she’s being lazy but it’s because she’s ah—still recovering. We had a late night.” He walked over with Ruby and laid himself down, keeping Ruby on top of him.

“I never thought Ruby was capable of being worn out!” Jaylyn smiled. “What did you do?”

Darius laughed. “I hope that question was directed towards me because she didn’t do a damn thing.”

“Oh! So it must have been fun for you, huh, Ruby?”

She opened her eyes and propped herself up on Darius’s chest. “You want to know the best part?”

“No. Not really.” I answered for her.

“Well, there were many best parts but I meant this.” Ruby completely ignored me and grabbed a handful of Darius’s hair.

I rolled my eyes and looked away. I didn’t want to hear about that. What they do in private should be kept to them but Ruby always had this problem about sharing. The bad kind of sharing that is.

“Finally someone with hair, right?” Jaylyn laughed.

“He has the best hair.”

“Be lucky it’s still there.” Darius said. “But after a while I did have to tie your hands up.”

Ruby laughed and kissed him. “Also a great part.”

That got a laugh out of everyone even me but I tried stopping it nevertheless. “Okay, I think that’s enough.”

Ruby laid back down on him to regain her comfort. “So, start the baby making last night, Adele?”

I looked at Jaylyn and she pressed her lips together so she wouldn’t say anything or worse, laugh but my brow flattened over my eyes and I shared a look with Zayden so he would answer. “We’re going to skip that conversation.”

“No way!” Darius laughed. “You totally did! That’s great but Silas is going to flip his lid when he hears about this, Zayden. You know how he gets.”

“He won’t hear about this, per-say. He’s just never like the idea of us getting attached to someone.”

“Who’s Silas?” Jaylyn wondered.

“Ooh, you spoke too soon.” Troy muttered.

I looked up to where Troy’s eyes were directed and saw someone walking to us from the long hall.

It was a man, lean, medium height. He walked swiftly towards us with papers in his hands. “Well, well, well. For once the rumors are true. Your majesty. My lords.” There was a pause and we were just looking at him, waiting for him to say something else but probably not in the manner he did. “Have you completely lost your mind?!” He heightening the level of his voice and it echoed in the open lounge. “Your father is raving around the palace looking for you because of your dishonorable act of selfishness you portrayed last night!”

“My what?!” Zayden laughed.

“Oh, yeah, that’s real funny. Go ahead and laugh it up but just remember who’s charged to clean up after you. You know there are protocols that must be taken for this sort of thing, guidelines, precautions against the worst and you did it by bringing them here!”

“Silas, relax.” Troy said. “You really do take your job too seriously.”

“What, Troy? You’ve never complained before.”

“Who said I was complaining?”

“I’m sorry but who exactly are you?” I asked. Just sitting here without knowing was getting a little annoying.

“What’s it to you?”

I looked over at Zayden with eyebrows raised. How dare he talk to me that way? I wanted to say something but kept my comment to myself and left it up to him to answer. “Ah, this is Silas. He’s our social coordinator.”

“Social coordinator?”

“Yes.” Silas took a step forward, proud of his job. “I screen and coordinate, if you will, all the young eligible maidens of Seni, specifically in Randal, to make sure they meet the appropriate level of stature specifications for the future leaders of Seni.”

Jaylyn laughed. “Really? I really didn’t think you’d need help with that subject.” I tried not laughing just thinking that position actually existed.

“They don’t need help.” Silas cut in before Troy could respond. “Maybe you’re unaware because you weren’t formally invited nor are you on the waiting list but you’re sitting within the presence of Seni’s most desired and admired pleasure specialists. Perhaps they left that part out?”

“It’s just a theatrical title.” Zayden explained. “We don’t really go by that.”

“Oh, please.” Silas replied. “Everyone knows that you are and the master of them all, laying just there with a girl on him who is neither naked nor giving him some kind of sensual enjoyment which still evades me. Darius, what are you doing?”

Darius didn’t even look over. He kept his position comfortable and voice just the same. “Just laying here. What’s it look like?”

“Yes, I see but you’ve been gone for six months. Do you even realize how many hot young virgins turned sixteen and have been waiting for you to get back? If you start now, I’d say you can break all their hearts with time to spare before the year is out. It should be easy for you so you should get started.”

“Do I look in the mood for any of that?”

Silas took out a tiny sack from his pocket and tossed it over to him. “Well, here, take this. It’ll help change your mind.”

I almost jumped when Darius’s reflexes reacted quickly and he caught the sack as it got to him, only to toss it right back. “Thanks but I don’t need your drugs, Silas. I’m fine.”

“You’re clearly not fine. You haven’t even slept with her yet.”

“How do you know that?”

“Well, I don’t know if I have to point out the obvious but she’s still here. You don’t do that. So, just get it over with and I’ll come up with a good lie for you and clean up the tears you’ll leave behind just like old times.”

“That won’t be necessary, thank you.”

Silas laughed and I honestly couldn’t believe that I was still sitting here through this. He was talking like we were incapable of hearing him. “Really? Are you actually going to do it right this time? Take her out for a nice dinner then maybe a show at The Grand, I hear there playing tonight.”

“You know? Maybe I will.”

“What, are you fucking kidding me? Have you gone completely insane?”

This was something I truly haven’t seen. Darius, somehow, was able to instantly change his emotion and got angry while moving Ruby off him to sit up. His eyes were focused straight on Silas and never moved. “Do I have to pull rank?”

I looked to Silas and he gulped and took a step back. “No, sir. You’re just freaking me out, is all. Should I ask what happened on your mission?”

The Great Seni Fighters looked at each other in the lingering silence. Surely they wouldn’t have said anything.

“No.” Darius finally answered. “You know that’s not your business. I think we’re done here.”

“But—”

“We’re done here, Silas.” Zayden said. “And you never saw us.”

“Of course, your majesty.” Silas bowed his head and left through the way he came.

“Well, I really don’t know what to say after that.” I said, breaking the silence as I brought my knees up close to my chest.

Jaylyn laughed. “Yeah, it’s still a little funny.”

“What’s so funny? That we have morals to live up to? Well, except for him.” Troy replied, pointing over at Darius.

“No. It’s just an unusual concept to have someone do that stuff for you.”

“It’s really a time saver when you’re on the go as much as we are.” Zayden explained. “He just makes our lives a little bit easier.”

I laughed. “On the go? Oh, yeah, like right now?”

“Well, no. We just got back. We like to take a break sometimes and it’s not always sitting around here like this. We throw in an occasional guy’s night outside the walls.”

“Guys night?” Ruby smiled. “What’s that like?”

“Well, usually, we go to our favorite tavern, drink to the point of almost passing out followed by doing some incredibly stupid things, fall asleep—somewhere, wake up not remembering a damn thing and get lectured for the said stupid things we’ve done when we come home.”

“Good times.” Darius smiled.

“Wow, sounds like fun. You should take us.”

“Ooh, sorry.” Troy replied. “No women on guy’s night.”

“Well, no decent, respectable women such as yourselves.” Darius added.

“Oh, how charming.” I joked.

“Maybe we could do something else, if you’d like.”

“Silas says they’re playing at The Grand tonight.” Troy said. “We could go there.”

“Why?” Darius sighed. “We could just nap here.”

Troy rolled his eyes and pulled a pillow from beside him and threw it at him. “It’s a better alternative, don’t you think?” He was basically just trying to get around from taking us on a guy’s night. I knew I wouldn’t have gone anyway. That’s the last thing I would want to see, a bunch of women hanging over them in a drunken state.

“All right.” Zayden cut in before they started a fight. “We’ll go. Okay?”

“Fine.” Darius muttered, still not seeming happy about it.

“Your majesty, my lords.”

Now someone else interrupted our morning.

“Captain Willis!” Darius said loudly, making his tone of joy echo. “How’s it going?!”

I snatched my head up and saw an all too familiar face, holding a stack of papers. I tried not to even breathe.

“Just fine, sir. Your majesty, the deed for the southern colonies just arrived.”

“Do I ever get five minutes of nothing?” Zayden sighed to himself as he took the papers and a quill pen. “Thank you for at least doing this for me. I just got back and I’m not ready to leave again just yet.”

The Captain laughed a familiar laugh. “Of course not. It’s no trouble at all. As long as they’re signed by you, I don’t think they give a damn about who delivers it.”

Zayden was flipping through the pages, signing each one but I had my stare on the man standing on the other side of him. He was tall with short brown hair and deep blue eyes. The white of his uniform shown off the sandy color in his skin and I have yet to look away. It was almost as if I couldn’t.

I found myself getting to my feet with my eyes still on him. He stood firm, waiting for Zayden to finish and I began looking him over. His eyes finally moved to me when I was walking around him and he looked a little strange to see my behavior like I was inspecting him. “Can I help you with something?”

“You all right, Love?”

“Wow.” I came back around to the front of the Captain and I seemed a lot more delighted than I really was to see him. “Deven. You’re all—grown up.”

His look became even stranger but he didn’t move his eyes from mine. “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”

“Do you?”

The longer he looked at me, the less happy he seemed but there was also some panic in there. He grabbed me and pulled me behind him as if to shade me from all the other eyes. “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be here.”

I made him let go of me and kept my distance. “Relax. They know who I am.”

“I doubt it.”

“Don’t act like you know me either.”

“I know enough that you shouldn’t have come back.”

I tried holding my emotion back, knowing the others were around me and I slowly lowered myself down on the edge of the couch while bringing up our horrible past. “It wasn’t my fault.”

“Of course you’d say that.”