Rush (Roam Series, Book Four) (12 page)

The door was opened, and I was shoved forward.

Blinking, I wondered if I was truly awake, or inside of another nightmare.

Roam
lay in a giant, black canopy bed. The carvings on the headboard made me think of horned demons and Exorcist movies. She almost disappeared into the pillows, her wilted, frail body staring, unblinking.

Her eyes were no longer spring-time green, now more the color of dying grass. Her face was bruised, and fingertip-sized dark s
pots lined her neck. Once thick enough to tangle my fingers in, her hair spread across the pillow in limp, dull sections.

“
Cam
,” I tried to clear my throat. With sunken eyes, her cheek bones stuck out like jagged stones. “Please eat. Don’t do this to me, or to West… or
Eva
. You’ll hold her again, I promise you,” I managed, pleading.

She looked through me, as though I was not even there. Finally, she turned her face away.

“You are brave,” I insisted, coughing and tasting blood. “Your dad was a hero… and so was your mom… you owe them more than that,” I tried, feeling lightheaded from standing for so long.

When she remained unmoving, I felt the guards pulling me toward the door. “
Don’t lose yourself, Roam,
” I choked, finally allowing them to shove me away.

Later that evening, I lifted my eyes to the cell door. Troy walked in, flanked by two guards.

I lowered my eyes to the floor.

“It is time for you to accept
who you are, Logan. Roam has submitted to me.”

Focused on a single link in the metal chain on my foot, I swallowed back burning puke.

He moved toward the center of the cell. “Long ago, when Roam- Mina- came to this kingdom, I loved her. I adored her. I’ll admit that to you, brother, so you can understand that I have no intention of killing her.”

I forced words through my dry throat as I raised my eyes to his. “But you plan to kill the baby. Eva.”

He cringed, squatting to my level as I sat on the cot. “It is best if you think of her not as a baby, but rather as a product of a curse. A means to end my world, and millions of innocent people, not only in my kingdom, but in every part of my world. You’ve told me of your plans to fight in your military, and of the group you fight- the Taliban…,” His eyes bored into me. “
All
people of that country are not evil. There are only certain ones who bring devastation and cause wars. It is they- and their followers- that must be destroyed.”

I scoffed. “Are you comparing Bin Laden to a newborn baby?”

“
In my world, she is the devil. Just allowing her to live will send my kingdom into flames.”

“But you did allow her to live. You let her go.”

He rolled back on his heels, smiling gently. “Yes, I did. For Roam. As you can see, I am not a monster. I will allow her to live for as long as possible, hunting her down only when absolutely necessary. Only when there is no other choice.”

“Or when you’re bored with Roam.”

He leaned in, and I stiffened at his proximity. “That will not happen.”

Exhaling slowly, I finally shifted my eyes to his. “So should I make myself comfortable down here, or are you going to kill me?”

After a moment, he laughed, shaking his head. “Brother, I have no plans to kill you, either. Your public attack on my life only proved how strong willed and heroic you are. I have, in turn, pardoned you, and you will rejoin my army.”

“You trust me enough to give me weapons and put me in your army,” I smirked, despite the pain in my jaw. “Sounds like you’re setting me up for failure.”

He leaned even closer.

“
Imagine what I will do to your pretty Violet… if you ever challenge me again.
”

Spit sprayed over my cheek at his ferocious whisper
. I froze, panic constricting my ability to breathe.

Violet. How could I think she was safe?

Troy leaned back and laughed again, standing before me. “Excellent. Complete fealty. Welcome, brother. Guards, see that he has proper medical attention and his needs are met. Logan, I’ll speak with you when you’re stronger.”

He turned and swept from the cell.

Three months later

“Roam is… enchanting.”

Will leaned backed in the oversized couch, nodding politely at the serving girl as she handed him a mug of beer. I watched Troy’s eyes follow
her around the room; the girl couldn’t have been more than sixteen or seventeen.

“She’s spirited,” Troy acknowledged,
teeth flashing in a scumbag grin. “Brother, has she always been so… clever?”

Brother
. I drew my thumb over the handle of the silver mug, staring into its foamy contents.
This is like some kind of endless fraternity hazing.

Kill him
and him, fuck her and her, and you’re in.

I looked down, trying to block out the last skanky whore he sent to my chambers
the night before.
At least that one was over eighteen.
“Clever? Roam has always been smart. Even when we were kids, she made it a point to learn about everything.”

“
The solar energy, the benefits… perhaps we have been without the sun for so long, we have lost our ability to consider it more than warmth and light.” Will raised his mug, tipping his head back to finish the last of the beer (which tasted like a shitty version of
Budweiser
) and standing. “Goodnight, Father. Uncle.” He bowed once, and Troy waved his hand in dismissal.

The servant girl returned, this time with a red-haired friend, and Troy gestured to the girl with red curls. “You’ll see to my brother this evening,” he ordered
the terrified teenager, and she bowed slowly, turning to me.

“No,” I tried not to cringe, her fiery red hair immediately drawing my mind to the baby that Roam was missing so much. “I’m just going to bed. But thanks.”

Troy focused on me, finally waving that goddamn hand in the air again to shoo away the girls. “Before you go, I’d like to tell you about the beginning. About my Roamina.”

I froze, gripping the steel mug even tighter.

“You’ve done everything I’ve asked of you, brother, and have shown your loyalty. It is time you learn of your origin.”

“Okay,” I said, hesitating before sitting back against the chair.

Troy’s cold blue eyes were unfocused, probably due to the equivalent of the case of beer he’d downed in only a few hours. “I was your age when our first meeting was arranged. So young,” he sat back, licking his lips once before staring up at the ceiling. “She was even more beautiful than she is now, if you can imagine that. Bewitching.” He sighed, lowering his eyes back to me. “She was different. Not at all coy; openly showing her enthusiasm for our marriage. On the second night of her visit to this castle, I met with her in the gardens. The sun had warmed the air all day, and in the perfect, humid weather she wore only a long, white nightgown.”

“I’d never seen anything so… perfect. Those eyes, like jewels I had yet to possess, reflected the moon as she allowed me to kiss her.”

He stopped talking for a minute, and I waited for his slurring words to begin again. “She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to stay and marry me, right then and there. I loved her from the moment she set those captivating eyes on me.”

His eyes clouded as he stared down at his mug. “She was to return in one month’s time to become my wife. We wrote to each other,” he added eagerly, bursting to his feet and moving to the cabinet in his private chambers. After turning a combination, he reached in to remove a windowed shadowbox. “I destroyed all letters but one in my anger. This is all the remains,” he handled the box as though it were a newborn baby, carefully placing it in my arms.

I stared down at the old parchment paper, the pretty, cursive handwriting easy to read.

I almost dropped the box when my eyes scanned her signature. The ‘R’ of
Roamina was looped in the same way that Roam made her own cursive Rs.

My mind jumped to Mrs. Wood’s third grade classroom.
“Roam, please don’t drag your R down past the bottom line like that. Stop at the line and connect right to the O.”

“But that’s my signature. Signatures are supposed to be original.”

The letters were blotted with ink here and there, and as I read her words, my mouth fell open.

Troy, my
love,

The fall was fast,
the impact sudden.

Since the night in the garden, I have lost myself in your eyes and have yet to return.
I do not wish to continue this life without you. With each breath, your name is left on my lips… as is the memory of your kiss.

Our kingdoms shall unite in peace, and our children shall carry the legacy of our love throughout lifetimes.

Wait for me, my love. I long for the moment that you shall hold me in your arms.

Your everlasting
and faithful servant,

Roamina

The air around me grew thin, and I found it hard to breathe.

She really loved him.
Holy fucking shit.
How?

“
She returned to me… a completely different person.” He set the box to its place in the cabinet, meeting my eyes. “Cold. Unfeeling.
Disgusted by my presence.
Just sixteen years old, but centuries of vengeance in her eyes.” He shook his head once. “She hurt me deeply.”

The silence in the room unnerved me. I was fully aware of
the severity of his outbursts, and waited for him to start throwing shit. Instead, his eyes watered. “In every other lifetime, she looked nothing like my Mina. The French girl, the Spanish girl, the Moroccan… you helped me kill them all. But this time…,” he exhaled with a laugh, “when I first saw her, in that pool…
killing
her, exacting revenge on the same face that has haunted my dreams for centuries, was my greatest vindication. When she lived, I knew then that she was different. There was a reason she looked so much like my Mina… and when she offered herself in exchange for the baby, I finally knew that reason.”

Carefully, I cleared my throat. “
So she… cheated on you?”

He leaned forward, his face falling. I froze, waiting.

“I welcomed you into my kingdom. As my brother. As second to the throne.
You repaid me by fucking my queen.
”

And now we’re moving on to
batshit crazy again.
I swallowed the gigantic knot in my throat. “The
other
me.
This
me also got screwed over, remember?”

His cheeks twitched for a moment before the grin returned to his face. “Yes. Our common enemy.” He sat back, and I relaxed- a little. “West will pay for what he’s done to both of us.”

I remembered the look on her face, in the Russian hotel, when I finally asked her if she was screwing West. Her inability to lie, combined with her innate kindness, left her standing there crying, unable to form words.

When she had all but admitted being with West, I’d actually felt like crying for about ten seconds before the anger flooded in.

“So she wrote you these love letters, and then showed up for the wedding and acted like she hated you?”

“I blamed myself. What could I have done to change her? I tried to shower her with gifts, with tokens of my love, and she accepted them all with that same cunning smile.” He slammed
the mug down on the table, a cue for the servant girl to come rushing in to refill it. When she did, Troy caught her around the waist, dragging her into his lap. “When I knew that it was
his
bastard growing inside her, like a cancer, I put her to death. I sentenced you all to death. But Asher managed to save
him
… and both of your souls.”

“
He sounds like a powerful wizard.” I looked down as he began shoving his hands in the servant’s dress.
Pig.

“
I don’t even want you,” he said to the girl as he shoved her off of his lap, and she fell to the floor, scurrying away. Tipping his head back in staccato, villainous laughter, he shook his head. “I only want Roam. I
burn
for her. And after our recent journey, she has finally come back to me. It is
my
name she calls in the night… and when I’m buried deep inside of her…,”

I stopped
listening, trying to imagine that it was anyone else in the whole fucking universe that he describing, and not my best friend.

“...pleasure that she gives me.”

I nodded, desperate to change the subject.
Maybe he’s just drunk enough to answer my questions.
“What was my name? Back then?”

He spit the name across his lips. “Leo.”

Leo?
“And I just… showed up, claiming to be your half-brother and you accepted me?”