Queen of Jastain (32 page)

Avant's voice was soft and strained, “Abigail, do you understand what this means?”

The final pieces of her destiny fitted into place with a resounding clank. The spiritual weight of her people rested solely on her shoulders. “Uhh, yeah…I think I do.”

* * * *

The next morning Avant was gone from bed when Abby woke. She stretched under the soft sheets. A flush of heat spread over her as the events of the previous evening replayed in her mind. She could still feel him inside her as she got up and headed to the shower.

Once Avant decided on something, there was no turning back. Exhaling heavily, her body quivered at the thought of his touch. Places she didn’t even know she had were tender and sore. She’d never experienced so many climaxes in one night, not even with battery powered equipment. Turning on the water, she stepped into the steaming flow.

After reading the letter and finding the missing prophecy, they'd not spoken. Avant had climbed back into bed, and she'd curled up next to him.

She knew he'd expected the prophecy to name him the king, but so what? He was still going to be king.
Like she could rule a freaking kingdom by herself.
They would do it together. She smiled. They made a good team. Warmth pooled in her lower regions at the memory of just how good.

After her shower, she went to the kitchen for breakfast, where Avant was eating bacon and eggs prepared by a doting Susan.

A nonchalant smile curved his lips.

Rolling her eyes, she knew the drill by now—pretend nothing happened—so she smiled back. “Did you sleep well?”

“Well enough. And you?” His eyes twinkled but underlying concern dimmed their shine.

“I must've, because I don’t remember
anything
after we ate dinner.” She sighed in teasing innocence.

Avant narrowed his eyes. “Indeed?”

“Indeed.” She, bent, and hovered over his lips before she kissed him.

He swept an arm around her and pulled her into his lap. His mouth captured hers and drew her into a kiss that tasted like bacon. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed into him as if their bodies could blend into a single being.

They stopped by the bank where she withdrew seven thousand dollars from her trust fund. Avant had insisted on driving but otherwise hadn’t said a word. When they got back to the house, Abby told Susan they were leaving. She just couldn't bring herself to think Susan would do anything to hurt her. She hugged the stout woman and promised to check in once in a while.

As they entered her room, she turned to face him. “Are you okay? Something seems not quite right.”

“We need to go.” His eyes wouldn't meet hers.

She raised her eyebrows and wagged her index finger at him. “No way, mister. You're not pulling that caveman bullshit on me this morning. Not after what happened last night. Out with it. I can handle anything you have to say, but I can’t handle silence.”

He looked at her as if she had grown a third eye. “I'm concerned about our trip…and our meeting.”

Abby pursed lips and nodded. She sauntered toward him and pulled his face to hers. “You have nothing to be concerned about.” Kissing him, she ran her fingers down the zipper of his pants.

He groaned, halted her hands, and kissed her back. After a way too short kiss, Avant pulled away. “Abigail, we need to go.”

She growled and frowned. That got her at least a half-smile.

“There will be time for this later.” Avant wrapped his arms around her from behind as she held the luggage. She could hardly think of anything other than his hard body against her, and she quivered with the memory of the previous night. When she melted back, he bent and brushed her neck with his lips.

Reluctantly, she thought of Chad. A light flashed, and they stood in a deserted corridor of the MIT Nuclear Science Building. Following a short hallway, they made their way to the reception area. Chad would be in the lab.

Already in a mood, Avant waited by the front door, scaring people as they entered. Abby rolled her eyes. They hadn’t even found Chad yet.

She approached the security desk. “Can you let Chad Smyth know there's someone waiting to see him?”

She tapped her foot on the linoleum. A few minutes later the door to the lab buzzed open and Chad came out. His mouth opened in surprise, and she smiled.

“God, Abby…what are you doing here? Is something wrong? Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I really need your help. Is there a time and a place we could meet to talk?”

 He nodded, his gaze never leaving her. “I can be done with this lab in forty-five minutes. Where would you like to meet?”

“I don’t know. Someplace…private?” She searched his face for any inkling that he already knew the reason for her visit.

“I live about two miles from here. Would you like to meet there?”

Abby furrowed her brow and shook her head. “I don’t really want to see Lyndsea.”

“What? Lyndsea…no…Abby, we haven’t been together in over six months.”

“Oh, I didn’t know. Well, okay…your place…what’s the address?”

He gave her the address, which she entered it in her phone.

“We need to check into our hotel. I’ll meet you there in a couple of hours. Do you mind if I bring a friend?” Abby asked, not daring a glance back.

“I don’t mind.” He opened his arms wide and hugged her. “I’ve missed you, Abby.”

She smiled and watched him go back through the lab door. The shock of seeing him struck her harder than she thought. He’d changed. His hair was shorter and his glasses different. He looked…older, and there was something else different about him too, but Abby couldn’t put her finger on it.

She turned to find Avant glaring at her.

Clearly, Chad wasn’t the only one who would be dealing with a nuclear reaction in the next forty-five minutes.

Abby debated whether to take Avant with her to meet Chad. The commander needed to calm down, but would probably be worse if she left him. If he’d even agree to that.

They found a hotel less than five blocks away and checked into the room. Then they took the hotel shuttle to Chad’s place.

The high-rise apartment complex sat right off the edge of campus. Chad most likely walked to the lab or rode his bike if the weather permitted.

“I am astounded at his resemblance to Petra, which will make it more difficult to run him through with the blade of my sword.”

Abby squinted up at him. “Ha. Ha. Very funny. You have to control your temper. We need Chad’s help. If I can forgive him, then you should be able to.”

“Abigail, this man betrayed you with your best friend. I will attempt to be civil, but that is the best I can offer.”

She sighed. At least he was speaking to her again. She knocked on the door.

Chad opened it quickly, his eyes widening. “Uhh. Hi, Abby.”

He seemed taken aback by Avant, who stood almost a head taller.

“Hey Chad…this is Avant.” Abby elbowed Avant hard in the ribs, and he smiled…sort of.

They entered the simple apartment with a scenic view of the city. She and Avant sat on the sofa while Chad sat in his favorite armchair across from them. She gazed around the room. “I can’t believe you kept that chair.”

 “Yeah, I got rid of most things but couldn’t part with the old chair. I still have my same bed, too.”

The sound of every knuckle cracking punctuated the awkward silence, but she didn't dare glace over at Avant.

“Abby, I know why you’re here. Your mother found me a few months ago and said you'd come looking for me.”

 She explained to Chad the things that had happened in the past year, as best she could. She told him about her Gift and her purpose. Chad, as she suspected, took it all in stride, never indicating even a hint of disbelief. He listened, but she knew the wheels of his analytical mind spun in multiple directions.

When she finished, he simply asked, “Can you show me what you can do?”

She nodded then focused her mind, opened his refrigerator door and made a Diet Coke fly to her. As it floated by, she grabbed it and popped the top.

“That's impressive. Avant, can you do this as well?” Chad focused his gaze on Avant.

“Yes.” She answered for him, looking out of the corner of her eye.

His jaw clenched, and he drummed his finger on the arm of the sofa.
“This Chad is still in love with you, Abigail.”

“You’re wrong, Avant.”

Then Chad spoke into her mind, “
No, he isn’t. I am still in love with you, Abby.”

Oh my God.
Her mind swirled. She wasn’t sure what stunned her more, the fact that he still loved her or that he'd heard the unspoken conversation and responded in kind.

Rising to his feet, Avant demanded,
“Did he just say he was in love with you, Abigail?” Avant stormed toward the man. “He used the Implanting, Abigail!”

Abby stared wide-eyed at Chad, who shrank like cotton in a dryer. She stood and placed herself between the men.
“Avant, you need to calm down or leave…Which do you prefer?”

 “To leave…with you now!”

Bringing him had been a mistake. “Chad, I’m sorry, but Avant needs to go…
do something.
” She turned to glare at him. “I’ll meet you in the lobby after I’m through.”

Chad watched with eyes the size of saucers but never said a word.

She walked Avant to the door and pushed him out.
“Please, I won’t be long.”
She shut the door and turned. “I'm sorry, Chad. He’s a little overprotective.”

“Is he your…boyfriend?”

Boyfriend? Lover? What the hell was Avant?
Abby had to laugh but it held only irony. “No…Yes…I don’t know. It gets a little confusing sometimes, or so he tells me.”

Chad stood and took her hands. “Abby, why did you break up with me? I thought you loved me.”

Her heart cringed with the memory of that horrible night. “I did love you… I was scared. Daddy had died. You were coming to Boston, but he wanted me to finish school. I couldn’t stand the prospect of slowly losing you over a long distance relationship so I pushed you away.”

 “Why didn’t you agree to marry me? You could've stayed in school. I would've agreed to anything to be with you. I love you, Abby.”

 “If you loved me, why did you get engaged to Lyndsea?”

“Abby, you were my life. I was living in your house. When you kicked me out, I had nowhere to go. Lyndsea offered her couch, and one thing led to another…. I felt horrible afterward, and she ended up pregnant. She lost the baby shortly after we left for Boston, and she moved back to Dallas. It’s been the worst time of my life.”

She dropped her head to her hands. Abby had driven him away out of fear and had broken his heart. How could she have blamed him for trying to find some happiness? He hadn’t betrayed her. She had betrayed him.

“I thought there was no chance I would see you again, but then your mother showed up. She said you would come looking for me, and I hoped…Abby, if you still love me…”

She wanted to comfort him, make his hurt go away, but she couldn’t make it worse by leading him on. “Chad, I’m so sorry. I’m in love with someone else. It’s so complicated, I can’t begin to explain, but my heart isn’t my own anymore. Any help you can give us I would appreciate but understand if you can’t.”

“Of course, I’ll help you.” He went to his bedroom came back and handed her an envelope. “Your mother left this for you. You'll find the way to contact her in there. Abby, she said this might be dangerous. Please be careful.” He glanced down at his hands. “Do many people from the other world have this kind of ability?”

“They don’t, and I am surprised that you do.”

He nodded in understanding. “Raieda said my father was able to do something like this.”

“Really? I never knew…I guess I didn’t know a lot of things. How does my mother know your family?”

“Raieda brought me here as a child. My real mother, who is from Jastain, was in some trouble and had to protect me.”

“Jastain? What?”
Oh My God!
She'd forgotten Chad was adopted. Chad was Sentieve’s son! Raieda hadn’t chosen Chad because he loved Abby. She’d chosen him because he was a part of this. “Chad, how much do you know about your biological parents?”

“Not much really. I have a couple of pieces of jewelry. Apparently my father was killed before I was born.”

Abby tried to keep her breathing even but hysteria knocked at the door of her muddled brain. Chad had the emeralds. And was possibly Avant’s son! She couldn’t work this through her mind right now. Avant was waiting downstairs, and he would need some time to absorb this.
She
needed some time to absorb this.

“I'll do whatever I can to help you, Abby. Give me your cell phone number, and I’ll call you in a day or so.”

“Good. We definitely need to talk…later, but now I have to go.”

Holy crap.
She called the hotel shuttle on her way to the lobby, where she found Avant pacing in the foyer like a caged tiger. Still too furious to talk, he said nothing, although, he might’ve growled.

They caught the shuttle to the hotel, and then rode up the elevator in complete silence. She couldn’t speak. Hell, she could barely think. How was she going to tell him?

Avant unlocked the door to the suite and allowed her to enter. She plopped down on the bed.
In love with my ex-boyfriend’s father
. In her whole life, she'd had two lovers. Two. And they were a father/son combo! It was all so…
wrong
.

Avant walked to the end of the bed and stared at her. She covered her eyes with her hand. Couldn’t he see she was having a Jerry Springer moment?

She pulled the envelope from her purse and opened it. Another letter.

Avant continued to stare at her. “What did he say to you, Abigail?”

He wasn’t ready to hear the answer to that question, and she wasn’t ready to tell him. Taking a deep breath to quell the nausea, she ignored him and tried to read the letter.

Abigail,

If you are reading this, you are close to finding me. I am longing to see you, my darling. Many are looking for you. You must be diligent. Tell no one. Chad will help you. Bring him with you, so you won’t be alone. You have been—