Opulent (The Opalescent Collection Book 1) (19 page)

“Phases? What are phases?”

“A phase is a time when an Eternal Mate goes through emotional stages. The first one is love. The second is protection and the third is trust. The love phase is the shortest. You will know it is present right away. Protection is huge since you will be vulnerable during the time of the Ceremony. He will guard you and kill anyone who comes too close, no matter who it is. That phase could last weeks. And the trust phase is the most dangerous. Your Eternal Mate will prove he can be trusted, but that will vary upon the individual. If you watch for the phases, you shouldn’t be alarmed if something you don’t expect happens.”

“Thank you. I will be in the library if anyone needs me.”

              I rushed from the room to the palace library and tried to take in everything, tried to make up my mind. I stayed there for hours until it was nearly midnight and I had made up my mind. I walked up to my room to find Pete was not there.

             
Perhaps he forgot.
I thought and hoped that was true.

             
After waiting for what seemed like forever, I turned to the burning candle on the bedside table and just as I was about to blow it out, a shadow flashed across the wall and I turned hastily. By turning too fast, I had ended up in Pete’s grasp and had kissed him even before I realized it happened. He stepped back, almost shocked, and then smiled.

              I knew he thought my answer to the Ceremony was yes, but he was wrong. I shook my head, but before I could contradict what I knew he was thinking, my eyes were heavy and I was propped up against a pillow on the bed. His poison already set in and I felt weak.

“I knew you would see to it,” Pete whispered.

I
needed to come up with something, needed to stop this, but it wasn’t easy when I felt weak. It was like trying to devise a plan half-asleep. I did not even know the Ceremony even started, all I knew was that I wanted to close my eyes and disregard the whole thing. I was asleep within only minutes. The heavy poison had quite an affect. But there was a pain that woke me in an instant.

“You have to end it,” Pete whispered.

“End what? We didn’t even say any words.”

“I already said what needed to be said. You don’t have to say a word, my sweet.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“You follow your instinct.”

“No…no!” I stood up, shaky on my legs and he was on his feet before I could stumble away. “This is all a misunderstanding…all a mistake.”

“Oh,” he whispered quietly, “I know you are just nervous, but it’s going to be ok. You will be ok, love.”

             
The love phase has already started. There is no way I am going to get out of it now.

              I backed up to the wall and slid down against it, falling to my knees. He sat before me.

“Don’t make me perform the Ceremony, please.”

“I’m not. It has already started.”

“This was all just a mistake.”

“But just get it all over with. Just have a taste of blood. Have the blood of a king!”

“It tasted horrible last time. How could I ever forgive you for what you’ve done? How could you ever deserve the right to be King?”

“I was a horrid creature in the past. I wanted you to myself-,”

“You had me to yourself when you created that planet. You were still horrid.”

“But I knew there would be someone willing to take you back. And it did happen. You knew how I wanted you to myself and Lucian captured you and brought you back to Catastrophe. Imagine how I felt when I saw you, only months later, holding my cousin’s child. You don’t understand. I am your Eternal Mate. No one else should have had you, but I let you slip through my fingers twice.” His voice rose in sudden anger. “The least you owe me is a Ceremony. I could have killed them both easily, but I decided not to. Now is the time I have been waiting for. With all of my anger came regret. And now,” he breathed, “I will not let you slip again.”

“It was never about being King?”

“It was
about
getting back what was rightfully mine and refraining myself for failing again.”

              I rested my head on his shoulder, clutching his cape in my hands.

“I do love you,” he said, “and if you love me you will understand what I am asking. With a Ceremony I can never lose you again.”

“No. You won’t be like the others…I can’t do that again. You can’t make me. You haven’t changed.”

“You are going to have a very angry vampire on your hands after this phase is over.”

“So? What if we
said
we performed the Ceremony? Would it make a difference?”

“For me it would,” Pete grumbled.

“But for now…at least until I am ready, if I ever will be ready, can you respect my wishes?”

“I’ll go easy on you now, but just because I’m still at ease with this phase. If I lash out at you later, you know why.”

* * * * *

              The clock on the bedside table read twelve o’ clock midnight. I felt the weight of a cape on my arm, nothing out of the ordinary.

“You awake?” I was startled to hear Pete’s voice behind me.

“What happened?”

“What
didn’t
happen?”

              I sat up. “We slept through a whole day?”

“I guess so.”

              I got up and walked over to the French doors that led to the balcony.

“Where are you going?” He was immediately behind me.

“I’m getting some fresh air.”

“I will come with you.”

              The crisp winter air filled my nose as I turned my gaze toward the night sky. I shook my head in astonishment. A huge blue moon lit up the sky. Pete smiled beside me. It looked as though Clesta had been glued back together. Cracks covered the new moon’s surface.

“What’s all this?”

              Pete laughed. “You wanted a moon, didn’t you?” I could still tell he was being nice because his first phase was not over.

“It’s beautiful.”

“Let’s go have a closer look.”

              Together we went outside and began our walk through the calm, silent streets.

“What should we call our moon?”

“I don’t know. I have never named a moon before.”

“Verneil was the name of the planet I created.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“No one knew it but me.”

“It would make a good name for a moon,” I offered.

“Yes, it would.”

              Silence hung in the crisp air between us for a moment and I turned to look down at the lake that led to the reservoir.

“This Ceremony may not have been completed but it was started. The phases are going to continue you know.”

              I stopped in my tracks recalling the last phase – trust. I knew that was what he was implying.

              I wanted to run. I did not want to stick around to find out what trust game he would play. However, I did not run. I simply stayed a step or so ahead of him while we walked. His footsteps stopped short and he put a hand to my shoulder.

“You seem uneasy about something,” he mumbled. “But don’t worry. You will trust me completely by the end of tonight.”

              Before I realized my feet no longer touched the ground, I was already in water. My head shot up through the surface and, in panic, I yelled, hearing no reply. There was a rumble of thunder and a flash. Cold rain started to fall. I swam, hoping to find the edge of the lake, but each time it seemed I did not swim far enough. The light flashed again and I swam faster. I swam beneath the water, in complete darkness and it suddenly became light. The water was clear as if sunlight had cast its rays over it. I felt an energy run through me, a prickling to my skin. There was a rumble and then nothing.

              There was warmth where I sat before the fireplace. A cold voice hissed to me. “I told you so.”

              I laughed to myself. “You’re just like your brother, saving me from the cold depths of water.”

              I could hear there was an edge coming back to his voice. “So why didn’t you want to perform the Ceremony with me again?”

T
he snow and ice mercilessly bombarded the window in an icy blast. The storm continued on, with black clouds hiding the blue of the sky as though it were late night. I stood to warm my hands near the fireplace when I heard the soft clopping of Versailles’s small silver hooves on the wood floor. She lay at my feet and looked at me with wild blue eyes, waiting for me to say something.

“Has Pete left already?” I asked the unicorn, my fingers running through her mane for a moment.

             
Today Pete will be leaving to meet up with Taj’ and some werewolf allies. They have to figure out something. There has to be a way to get to Earth to save our vampires, there just has to be.

              I heard chatter coming from the sitting room.
They must be leaving. Prusaious is going too. I almost forgot.

              Citrus, who let out a small flame for my attention, sparked a nearby book, setting it up in flames. I grabbed anything I could and began to suffocate the fire that burned at the edges of the book.

“Oh, Pete is going to kill me,” I said aloud.

              Versailles hid behind my legs and peered at Citrus as I flipped through the book. “This is his journal.” I said, glancing angrily at Citrus.

              Some of the pages were partially burned, others were only faded at their edges. Even the silver lettering on the cover seemed to have lost its metallic glow.

“Bad girl Citrus!”

              I tapped her lightly on her nose to show my disapproval and placed the book down on the nightstand. The dragon lowered her head and curled up like a dog before the fire. Her scales reflected the flames and glowed dark orange. They reminded me of Clesta.

“That’s it!” I ran from the room down the stairs and snatched a cape from a coat rack near the large mahogany doors.

“The weather is horrible outside Mistress.” I turned to see Minx. He walked to my side and swiveled his head in front of the doors.

“I need to say goodbye to Pete,” I protested.

“I can’t let you go out there.”

“I will only be a second.” I scurried behind him and grabbed the handle, swinging myself into the storm.

              I strained my eyes through the fast moving snow and saw a large black shape sticking out from the blurry mess. Pete was there with Prusaious, putting heavy equipment on Mullein’s head and wings to help him fly against the storm.

“Pete!” I called. He looked my way, and Meleve, his snowy owl, flew to me and perched on my arm. I trudged through the snow to him and held onto Mullein for support against the wind.

“What are you doing here? Get back inside before you freeze!”

“Pete, I know how to get to Earth!”

“How?” Prusaious cut in while tying a heavy blanket over Mullein’s back.

“We build another Bridge.”

“It will take too long.” Prusaious shouted over the wind.

“Besides, what do we make a bridge with?”

              I buried my foot through the layers of snow and at last picked up what looked like a piece of orange glass.

“Do you know what this is?”

“One of the shattered remains of Clesta.” Pete said simply.

“Yes, one of billions of pieces. We can make the bridge with Clesta’s fallen pieces.”

“It will take years.”

“But what other choice do you have? You can’t ride dragons-,”

“We will figure out what we can do by consulting with our allies. I will figure out what is best.
Trust
me.”

“Goodbye Pete. Bye Prusaious.”

“I will only be a couple days.” He said leaning toward my ear. “Watch Meleve for me while I’m gone.”

              I adjusted his fur-lined cape and looked back to Minx who called me. When he turned to kiss me, I turned away, pretending I had not noticed and walked off to the palace. Mullein let out a roar and they were gone, swallowed up by the icy monster.

              I walked casually inside, the color returning to my face. Minx looked at me impatiently, but I did not pay him any attention. I walked up to the library and sat in the large chair positioned before four large windows, overlooking the woodlands behind the palace. Today there was nothing but swirling white, so the heavy red curtains were not pulled over with a tassel as usual; instead they hid the snowy landscape from view. I heard a heavy wing flap and soft tapping. Minx rounded the corner of the hallway and stepped into the dark library.

“Something is wrong. What is the matter?”

“I almost performed the Ceremony with him. I made up my mind that it would be best if it wasn’t done, but somehow I feel it’s still haunting me, like it should’ve been done.”

“But Mistress, you looked so happy these past couple of days-,”

“It’s all because of the poison, Minx. Because of the strong poison I once loved, I feel weakened to it. I feel weak now in so many ways. I did not want this to happen. I don’t want to feel weak and powerless to
him
!” I began to pick at the arm of the old, fraying chair. “Ceremony or not, I feel guilty.”

“You are not powerless.” The dragon walked up to me and rested his heavy head in my lap.

“But he is in charge…it’s up to him to decide what is best and how we can get to Earth. All of those vampires, including Fitzray’s life now depend on him, not me…all because we pretended that this Ceremony really happened and he’s
King
now.”

“Surely you have some power left. You are a queen, remember?”

              I shook my head. “If I am so much of a queen, why couldn’t I go with them?”

“It’s dangerous enough for them to go and if anything happens-,” Minx began.

“I am too weak to go, that’s why.”

“No.” Minx raised his head, flicking out his tongue.

“His poison weakened me to an advantage.”

“You may only be weak, but physically weak. You can still make decisions.”

“Yes, but it’s up to Pete to tell whether my decisions are considerable or not. I recommended we build a new bridge from Clesta’s pieces. He said he would think about it, but he said
he
will figure out what’s best.”

“And he will.” Minx said. “He
is
King
of Catastrophe now. He is not just making decisions for you. Mind that, it is about what is best for all of us as a whole.”

              I looked to the snowy owl at my side whose eyes half-closed gazed over us in deep amber. I looked back at Minx, fingered his light scales and placed the palm of my hand to the notch-like horn on his nose.

             
Minx is right. I shouldn’t worry. After all, Pete promised me he would fix everything.

              I opened my eyes slowly. My dragon was still as stone, his great head before my face. “Do you remember when you were young? Do you remember everything that happened on the Bridge of Secrecy and in the tallest building of the City?”

“I do remember. I remember all that you remember.”

“I don’t understand Minx. Why did you choose me over Fitzray? After all, he
was
the one that took care of you as an egg.”

“Have you forgotten that he gave me to you?”

“No, I know, but that was after the fact. Weren’t you supposed to be his dragon?”

“He had Moonscale before my egg was given to him by my father. And when he did have me, he could have given me to anyone.”

“And when you hatched, you peeped when I spoke.”

“He had made the decision that I was yours before I hatched.”

“How did you know?”

“I sensed it. I heard him talking to Moonscale through my shell. He had said so himself.”

“You mean a lot to me Minx.”

“And you to me, Mistress. A dragon will always be at the side of their Master.”

“How is that possible? I mean, what if we are separated like when I was going to Nalani or the Star Pool?”

              He stood, arching his neck to look down at me. “I will show you. Stay here, I will return.”

              When he came back, he looked at me, calmly placing something into one of my hands. It was a necklace of a silver dragon holding onto a copper marble. The dragon looked exactly like Minx. I took the silver chain and clasped it around my neck.

“This is beautiful Minx.”

“It is not just for beauty, Mistress. If you rub it when you are feeling doubt and weakness falls upon you, I shall give you strength when you need it. It is a pure gift of heart. You mustn’t lose it, for it is one of a kind.”

“Why haven’t I seen other dragon owners wear a necklace like this?”

“A Dragon’s Soul necklace is invisible to all but the Master of the dragon. If it were there for all to see, it would be stolen. You see, in the copper marble a small fire burns, and the dragon around it consists of my own scales. That is a part of me. It contains a part of my soul to connect to you. That is why they call the necklace a Dragon’s Soul. If someone were to hold the necklace and it did not belong to him or her, or if it was destroyed, the dragon would suffer. The dragon would become savage and cruel and may even kill its Master.”

“What if something happens?”

“No one can see it. And if someone could, you would probably be under threat and I would be there.”

“If it’s invisible can someone still feel it around your neck?”

              The dragon nodded his head slowly.

“The chain Pete always wears…could that be his Dragon’s Soul?”

“It could be, but the silver dragon will always be invisible to a stranger’s eyes.”

              I sat back and held onto the silver dragon. “You must have made this when I was gone.”

“That’s when I missed you most.” My dragon replied humbly.