Never Let You Fall (The Prophecy of Tyalbrook) (17 page)

Xander continued, “I think my parents and your mom were twenty three or so at the time, and your dad was just a few years older. My parents had only been at the castle for a year. I was told that when your parents married, your father let your mother choose my parents as her personal Guardians, because she said she felt safest with her childhood friends.”

“So when did your parents marry?”

“Not long after yours. Your mother was able to convince your father that it should be allowed. He agreed, because he had become so fond of them as well.”

“Why would that not be allowed?” I asked naively. “I mean, two Guardians marrying?” I asked, trying to understand how everything worked in Tyalbrook.

“Well, many Guardians don’t marry because their job just keeps them so busy. It’s hard to have a family when you’re always away, protecting someone else’s. My parents were even more rare, because they guarded the same person. The worry was that if a crisis arose, they would be more concerned with saving each other instead of your mother.”

“However, their long relationship with your mom proved to be an asset. No one could argue the depth of their love for her, or the importance she held in their lives. When I was born, your parents were named my godparents; solidifying their relationship even more.”

“I still can’t believe that my parents were royalty…and that I’m supposed to be a princess!” I laughed lightly. A vision suddenly popped into my head of me sitting on top of some flowery float, waving and smiling.

“You
are
a princess, Skye,” Xander reminded me gently.

I shook my head and stretched my legs on the floor. I didn’t feel like discussing my supposed bloodline right then, so I told Xander to continue the story.

“Well, I told you before that I really don’t know a lot of this stuff. You have to remember that I was only four when we came here. I don’t recall much.” He shifted in his chair and hesitated.

“Xander, can you at least tell me about how you came to be here with me and my parents? I know that you know that much, at least. When did your parents die?”

“Fine. I came here with you and we lived in the same house. We were raised as brother and sister to the outside world, but I knew that we weren’t. It kept us safer to pretend.”

“What? So your parents died in Tyalbrook, and my parents brought you with us when they fled?”

“No, Skye – my parents died ten years ago.” He sighed heavily and cradled his head with his hands.

“Oh, Xander! I’m so sorry.” I crawled over to him and pulled myself into a crouching position; shifting myself in between his knees, and placing my hands on his arms.

“It’s not that I don’t have sympathy for you or your parents. It’s just - I’m trying hard to understand it all.”

I knew that I must have sounded cold-hearted. Here I was drilling him about my past, without a shred of thought about how he must have felt.

“I know,” he whispered, and lifted his face from his hands. His fingers were balled into fists. The very dim glow of the fireplace was the only light in the room, and it threw his face into shadows.

“I haven’t told you everything, Skye. I don’t want you to hate me when I’m done.”

I slid his hands into mine, squeezed his fingers tightly and narrowed my eyes on his.

“I won’t hate you, Xander. I couldn’t,” I whispered, my voice barely audible.

“When we - you and I, that is - came through the portal, we didn’t come with your parents,” he confessed, as his blue eyes burned into mine. “We came here with mine.”

Xander must have clearly seen the complete look of confusion on my face, because he actually leaned forward onto his knees in front of me. The chair he had been sitting in made a scraping noise as he pushed it back.

“Skye, it was
my
parents who raised you. My parents that died in that house ten years ago.”

It wasn’t
my
parents who had died? Were they still out there looking for me? Hope swelled in my chest at this thought.

But then a low moan escaped my throat, as the enormity of what he’d said hit me. His parents were dead…because of me. Me! How could he still care for me?

“No!” I gasped, and tried to pull away.

“Skye, stop – it wasn’t your fault!” Xander insisted, as he pulled me closer to him. He was so intuitive when it came to me. He knew what I was thinking, sometimes even before I did.

“They died protecting us. It was their job.”

“So that makes it better?! Hell, Xander! How can you even
stand
me?” I spat; yanking away as I scrambled to my feet.

“I’m the cause of a war in your home country, the cause of you, your parents, even your
uncle
being forced to leave that country to live in a foreign world, and then the cause…” I stumbled, not wanting to put into words the actions I was indirectly responsible for. “…the cause of their deaths.”

How was I supposed to deal with this? I turned my back so that I was no longer facing him, and tried to come to terms with what I had learned. Xander started to step forward, and I heard the floor board creak as he moved. I quickly held my hand up to stop him.

“Don’t! Please just don’t come any closer at the moment. I need to deal with this.”

His parents were killed because of me. He was here because of me. How did I…how did I get here with his family? What had happened to
mine
?

“Why did my parents send me with your family?” I finally asked, still not able to face him.

“They wanted to protect you. They knew that my parents would give their lives for you, so they sent you away with them. I believe they thought that by the time the enemies figured out you were missing, and without knowing who you might have left with, they wouldn't know how to find you.”

I wanted more. What little explanation I’d heard made a kind of murky sense in my heart, but I
needed
more. I could tell that it was still dark outside, judging by the lack of light in the room. In a few hours Selene would be able to fill us in. I just prayed that she would know what Xander didn’t.

I didn’t have the energy or desire to get mad at him or continue to drill him. He’d already lost his parents over me, and I couldn’t act like it didn’t matter and that only my questions were important. I felt tears start to roll down my face as I turned back towards Xander.

He was so…
amazing
…as he stood there in front of the fire and waited for me to address him. He was gorgeous, brave, and a steadfast protector. He was my Guardian and my brother of sorts.

Brother? He’d said that he knew growing up that we weren't related, but I speculated about just how brotherly his feelings were towards me. I couldn't help but wonder if he’d been confusing his sense of duty and brotherly affection towards me for something more.

“Skye?” He held out a hand as he stepped towards me. He always tried to make sure that I knew he was there for me.

“I’m so tired, Xander. I’m scared, and confused, and… Just. So. Tired.”

“I know. I promise - I have no other secrets to keep. You need to understand that I’ve been living with that information all my life. It was important to your safety that you never find out that they weren’t your real parents.” His eyes pleaded with mine. He was asking for
my
forgiveness, when it was me who should be begging for it from
him
.

“I wanted to let you know ages ago, and especially when you started to ask about them. I wanted you to know who had really raised you, but I just couldn’t tell you.”

“It’s alright. I understand. Can we just go to bed?”

He nodded his head yes, but the sad look on his face lingered as he moved to place another log on the fire.

“Yeah, get back in bed. I’ll get this built back up.”

Nodding numbly, I crawled back onto the large bed and placed my head on the pillow; closing my eyes. I tried to think of any memories I had of his parents. About the people I had known as my own parents. Nothing.

I listened as the sparks flared when the heavy log hit the burnt embers of the earlier fire, and then I heard the scrape of the chair again. I opened my eyes and leaned up on my elbows, spotting Xander across the room. He had settled back onto the stuffed chair again.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll just stay here by the fire. You know, keep watch.”

I slumped back down and tried to block out the questions that were running around in my head. My mom and dad had sent me to another dimension to hide out with their best friends. Why hadn’t they just come with me? Realizing that Xander didn’t have the answers, I attempted to give up the endless circle of thoughts as far as they were concerned.

I decided to place my hopes in Selene. Hopefully she would be able to provide more details around my parents and why I came here in the first place.

However, there were a few things that Selene wouldn’t be able to answer for me. Those were the ones I found myself obsessing about, once I’d put my parents out of my mind.

Keeping my eyes closed and my head turned to the shadows, I found the courage to ask Xander what was on my mind.

“Xander?”

“Hmm?”

“Did you ever think of me as your sister? When we were growing up?”

FOURTEEN - I TRUST YOU

Xander

I was silent for a moment as I thought about her question. The truth was, I’m sure that as a young child I probably thought of her as my sister. But I would have been really young, and I couldn’t recall that feeling anymore.

“That feels like a trick question,” I replied lightly, teasing her.

“No, not a trick. Did you think of me as your sister?”

“My Dad taught me from around the age of five who you were and who I was, Skye. I knew about my duty. I knew I had to protect you.”

“So I was a duty to you?” There was a slight catch in her voice.

“No…” I started, but she interrupted me.

“Am I still a duty to you?”

“Skye! No! You were never just a duty. My parents, your parents too, knew from very early on how connected we were. When we were kids I always knew what you were doing, even how you were feeling before they did. Way before I had any Guardian training at all, we were still connected. Our parents knew that our bond was inseparable.”

Her eyes darted to my face.

“Then why can’t I remember any of it, Xander? If everything was so wonderful until that last day, why can’t I remember?”

Sighing again, I gave her the only answer I had. “I don’t know.”

“In my dream, the one of the day my parents - I mean, your parents - died. In that dream, I remembered you and me racing.”

“Yeah, we were racing each other back home from the park. We stopped by the park every day on our way home after school to play. You always challenged me to a race, and I always let you win,” I added with a chuckle.

“The happiness I saw in my face - the joy! - I could tell, even in my sleep, that I felt it. Xander, I’ve never felt that before. I’ve never known a happiness like that. Not that I can remember, anyway.”

“God, Skye, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry we didn’t find you after the fire.”

“I’m not trying to make you apologize. I’m…” She sat up and clutched her small hands to her chest as she spoke. “I’m trying to tell you that the only memories I have of feeling happy - of feeling loved! - are because of you. I don’t
want
you to think of me as a sister…”

While she spoke, I stood up and moved towards the bed. Her voice trailed off and she stiffened as I leaned in and hauled her up by the arms. I saw her sharp intake of breath when I pulled her to her knees. Pinning her body to mine, I corrected her, almost angrily.

“I’m going to say this ONE more time and you are going to believe me! You are
not
my sister. Got it? I do
not
have brotherly feelings towards you. Hell, my feelings are way more intense than anything a brother should ever feel for his sister, Skye!