Promise (29 page)

"
You might not be here otherwise
," she
said in my head. I recoiled, startled.

They would have killed me.

"
Quite possibly
," she answered
silently. I stared at her, not realizing she could
hear
my
thoughts, and she nodded. That put things into perspective. If I
was evil, I would've been a threat to them, but they didn't feel
that. In fact, they expected me to lead them in some distant
future.

I fell back into the loveseat and dropped my
head into my hands. Tristan rubbed my back.
Why isn't he
mortified?
Then I remembered he'd already known and still loved
me, even came looking for me. I realized why he'd been so adamant
about telling me he loved me no matter what.
Of course, he
was
Daemoni.
I turned my head toward him.

"Ha!" I barked hysterically. "I guess we
really are perfect for each other."

He rolled his eyes.

I tried to tell myself I was physically no
different than I'd been twenty minutes ago, just more
knowledgeable. I closed my eyes, focused on that thought and tried
to control my breathing and pulse.

"
There you go
," Rina's voice soothed
in my head.

"Can we take another break?" I finally asked
when I felt control.

I refilled my glass with ice water and
chugged the entire glass, though the cold made my head hurt, then I
escaped to the bathroom. I splashed cold water on my face and
caught my reflection in the mirror.
Do I look any different?
I couldn't help but wonder. I stared into my brown eyes, looking so
much like Mom's and Rina's, but wondering if they really were. As I
studied myself in the mirror, looking for signs of Daemoni, my
stomach heaved and I barely caught the toilet as I vomited. The
water mixed with the red wine looked like blood swirling in the
white porcelain bowl. I wished it was the Daemoni blood pouring out
of me.

I sat on the floor, breathing deeply. I
really wanted to take a hot shower, thinking soap, scalding water
and a lot of scrubbing would remove any evil from my system.
I'm
being irrational. I'm no different than I was. I just need to get
over this.
Someone knocked on the door and before I could
answer, it opened and closed as Mom squeezed into the bathroom with
me. I scooted against the bathtub and she slid down to the floor
next to me.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"I think so," I whispered, a half-truth.

She put her arms around me. "I would say I'm
sorry, but I'm really not, because I have you."

I didn't know what to say, so I just hugged
her back and we cried on each other's shoulders for several
minutes, until there was another knock on the door. It opened
slightly, catching against Mom's foot, and Rina slipped in. She
closed the door behind her and leaned against it. She studied our
tear-soaked faces.

"You two have a very close relationship. I am
glad to see that," Rina said. She smiled sadly at Mom. "I am sorry
we never had that."

"Me, too," Mom said, but she waved her hand
in dismissal. "It was a different time then. We had different
challenges to deal with."

"Well, we all face the same obstacles now."
Rina eyed us appreciatively. "Together we can overcome them.
Nothing
can thwart the power of the three of us
together."

She held her hands out to us and we each took
one. She was surprisingly strong—it shouldn't have startled me but
it did—and she lifted both of us to our feet. She put her arms
around us. "We are
Amadis
!
All
of us."

An unusual, powerful sensation charged
through her arm into me. I instinctively knew at once it was Amadis
power. And my body reacted positively to it, absorbing the warm and
potent feeling into every cell.
Yes, I AM Amadis.
Rina
smiled at me with that thought.

We stood there, three generations arm-in-arm,
until someone else knocked on the door.

"We still have a lot to discuss," Stefan said
from the other side.

We all sighed, our moment over. Mom and Rina
stepped out while I quickly rinsed my mouth with water and gargled
with mouthwash. When I caught my reflection in the mirror again, I
saw a new strength in my eyes. The same strength as in the eyes of
my kin—Mom and Rina. Amadis power.

Chapter
20

Tristan caught me in the hallway when I came
out of the bathroom. He took my face in his hands and searched my
eyes. I smiled.

"You're okay." It wasn't a question.

"I'm perfect. You?"

"Perfect." He brushed his lips against mine.
I hoped the mouthwash did its job. "I told you. I love you no
matter what."

"I know. I love you, too."

Solomon studied my face and Stefan briefly
looked at me as I sat down again. I smiled at them both and their
expressions relaxed. Solomon, especially, intimidated me, but I
knew he was good. And Stefan emanated power, a good power, nearly
as appealing as Rina's. It still bugged me, though, how he felt
familiar. And, even more, how he had a hard time bringing his eyes
to mine.

He picked up where we left off…before I got
punched in the stomach.

"As I was saying, the Daemoni believe it
would be useful to have both Alexis and Tristan under their power.
With Lucas's blood and Amadis royalty, Alexis will be nearly—if not
equally—as powerful as Tristan. They believe there is a chance
Alexis could come to their side and Tristan would follow her."

"Which I would do," Tristan muttered.

"No, we will not let that happen," Rina said.
"Tristan, what do you see as the best solution?"

He stiffened and his jaw clamped audibly.
Repeating what he'd told me earlier, he said through gritted teeth,
"It is
not
an option."

"If it is the best, then we must know it so
we can all consider it," Solomon said.

Tristan glared at him. His voice held that
steely undertone as he spoke. "The best solution for Alexis's
safety and long-time survival of the Amadis is for me to go back to
the Daemoni. They'll leave you all alone for a long time. Alexis
will have to find another mate."

"
NO!
" I cried.

"Absolutely not!" Rina said.

"Not an option," Solomon agreed. "What is the
next one?"

Tristan chuckled grimly. "Definitely not an
option. Alexis and I both go to them. They leave the Amadis alone.
There's a chance we can still be together, have a child and
possibly escape."

Mom and Rina gasped.

"Not an option," Solomon repeated harshly.
"Give us something we can actually
do
."

"You wanted to know." Tristan took a deep
breath. "Besides those two, I really can't come up with anything
except protect Alexis and fight if and when necessary. If they go
with any of their options, I believe it'll be the last one. That
one serves their purpose the most."

"I agree," Stefan said. "We need to ensure
they cannot even get close to Alexis. It will be much easier to
abduct her than to kill her."

"Then that is what we will do," Rina said
decisively. "We have Tristan, Sophia and Owen here. Solomon, make
arrangements for at least one more protector at all times. Stefan,
continue your recognizance and stay on top of their plans. And keep
watch on everything here."

"I do not think they will act immediately,"
Stefan said. "It will be a difficult maneuver, very risky for them.
They may never follow through on it."

"There are always rogues," Tristan said.

"And Vanessa," Mom added. The name ringed in
my head as if I should know it, but I couldn't place it.

"Vanessa could become a problem," Tristan
said, "but the rogues are a bigger threat. It's their nature to
disobey and do their own thing. And
they
may take one of the
other options."

"You need more protection, too, Tristan, in
case they do take another path," Rina responded. "You are planning
on marrying Alexis, no?"

"Yes," Tristan answered.

"You should do it soon," Solomon said.
"Marrying royalty will bind you closer to the Amadis. You will
become a member of the royal family and they cannot attack
royalty."

"That will be done on
our
terms,"
Tristan said firmly, squeezing my hand.

Solomon narrowed his eyes at Tristan. "The
sooner the better."

"It just needs to be done under Amadis
power," Rina said. "You can delay your legal wedding if you need
time to prepare, but marriage vows should be exchanged before the
Amadis sooner rather than later to strengthen that bond."

"Let's do it now. I'm ready," I said.

"Alexis!" Mom gasped.

Tristan glared at me. "We'll discuss this
later."

"Yes, we'll discuss it first," Mom said.

"If it helps you…," I said to Tristan.

"That is
not
the reason we'll be
getting married," he growled. I knew that tone and decided we
wouldn't argue this in front of everyone.

"We
will
discuss this," I promised and
added, "sooner, not later."

"Alexis, you need to thoroughly understand
this," Rina said, changing the subject. She didn't have to hear
Tristan's thoughts to know he wouldn't budge at the moment—his body
language made it clear. "I know it will not be easy, but you must
not ever be alone. You are their primary target and you are also
our most vulnerable. Until the
Ang'dora
, you will not be
able to defend yourself. Do not worry about Sophia or Tristan or
any of the others. We can all protect ourselves
and
you. You
focus on keeping yourself safe, which means staying with one of us
at all times."

"I understand." I swallowed hard when I
thought about the only activity I did alone—write. I mumbled it
under my breath…I thought. "I guess my book is out of the question
now."

"That's absurd!" Mom said. "You will finish
that book and we
will
get it published."

"Yes, you need to move forward with that,"
Rina agreed. I stared at her in disbelief. "Your writing and
story-telling ability is one of your special gifts, Alexis, and we
would never ask you not to use a gift. We know it will be used for
good."

"She should use a nom-de-plume," Tristan
said. "It probably wouldn't do any good, but it could divert
attention from her."

"No, we want the Daemoni to know," Solomon
said. "They will feel threatened by the boldness."

I felt uncomfortable with the way they spoke.
I felt a layer of meaning that I wasn't grasping hovering under the
surface. Tristan didn't help.

"I don't like it," he said. "It's too
risky."

"It is necessary," Rina said with finality.
She spoke in my head, "
Your purpose, for now, is to write your
stories. They will help us. That is all you need to know right
now.
"

I nodded. Although completely confused, I
could easily accept that writing was my purpose. In fact, I'd
always felt it in my heart. And I was glad I had a way to serve
them, even if I didn't understand how—that I could do something
besides sit around with a babysitter.

"She will continue with school, too," Mom
said firmly.

"Whatever is a part of her normal life, yes,"
Rina agreed. "We cannot show any fear."

"So we can stay here?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes, you are safe here, at least for now,"
Stefan answered. "Tristan, keep your house. It is built for
protection from the elements and it will be a safe place should we
need it. We would prefer you kept Alexis there with you."

"We'll work that out," Tristan said. "We
shouldn't push anything too soon. She'll be safe here with Sophia
and protectors keeping watch."

"Nonetheless…the sooner, the better," Solomon
said pointedly.

"If we act too quickly, they'll only assume
we're pushing forward with the plan and they'll feel threatened by
that," Tristan said. "The more natural we are about it, the more
time we take, the more time they think they have."

"You should proceed in secrecy," Solomon
said. "The sooner there is a child…"

"Solomon, she's too young!" Mom interrupted.
"At least allow her to finish college."

Solomon grunted.

"It is only a couple of years, darling," Rina
soothed, reaching back to pat his hand. "That is nothing to
us."

I squirmed in discomfort as they discussed
plans for
my
future—
my
marriage,
my
child—as
if I weren't there. Though nearly everything about the Amadis was
still as murky as the Everglades swamps, I saw a few things with
perfect clarity. A future I didn't like flashed before me, showing
me as a puppet. I decided I better speak up now or I would be
handing them the strings forever.

"Tristan and I will know when it's time to
take each next step.
We
will determine that," I said clearly
and firmly. "On
our
terms."

Everyone stared at me in mild shock. Except
Tristan. He grinned widely. A smile eventually spread across Rina's
face, too.

"
Yes, you will be magnificent
," she
said in my head.

And that was it. We said our good-byes, then
Solomon hooked Rina's arm in his and they disappeared into the
night—early morning, actually—returning to wherever they came from.
I wondered where that was and I wondered if they were mates.
Despite how much I'd learned tonight, I still knew so little.

"Stay together tonight?" Tristan asked me
when we had a moment alone. I nodded. "Here or my place?"

I felt physically and emotionally exhausted
and didn't want to go anywhere, but I remembered my broken bed and
frowned. "Your place, definitely."

As we pulled out of the driveway, I watched
Stefan and Mom on the front porch as they turned to go inside,
still discussing plans for my protection, I assumed. Stefan stroked
his square jaw and chin thoughtfully. In a strangely familiar way.
In a matter of two seconds, it all came back to me.