Yield (3 page)

I was working myself up thinking about all she wanted to still know and I wasn’t ready for her to find out.  Keeping facts straight and sharing them a little at a time was exhausting.  She was so frustrated Joshlin was capable of healing from the scar she gave him.  Her wrath was as venomous as mine when she wanted it to be. She said she hoped to make him ugly so that no female would see his outward beauty that contrasted with his inner evil. 
Her
words, not
mine
.

She told me at least once a day that she just wanted to know all of the history so she could move on with what was to come.  I wish it was that easy.

Right now, I wanted her to have a piece of her mother to hold that was alive and as beautiful as her.  Maybe taking her there would make the fruit start producing again.

I parked the Jeep and took her less than a mile up the dirt path that would lead through the orchard on the skirts of her realm.  I could manage to be invisible going this way in and knew without a doubt from my own surveillance that no one went this way anymore since the orchard was barren. 

Emma was beyond curious.  She wanted to dive into the orchard by the way her eyes were sparkling at the wildflowers growing just outside the archway.  I knew she would favor this place.  It was just a guess that she would inherit her love for the earth, but it was probably a good shot in the dark.

After her little question and answer session I was worn out.  Again with the smart chick situation.  In the past, I know now why I centered on the ditzy and dumb.  But this was Emma.  And I couldn
’t stop my brain from the constant need to see what else might come out of her mouth.  I just never knew.

“What is this place?”

“Where your mother spent most of her days.”

Her body shifted and faced my way, then back to the wretchedly green trees missing their true colors.   They needed the light to find their way back and I couldn
’t help but wonder if Emma was that light. Oh, man.  I sound like a pathetic poem.  I seriously was too wound up in this girl, but...I couldn’t stop it.  I wanted to see her face when she saw the significance of this place and what it might mean to her.  She didn’t smile as much as I like and I wanted her to smile more.

“My mother...stayed in here?” she asked in disbelief.

“She was every day that my father brought me to see this realm.  She would come greet us with a basket full of apples for good will.  I remember the apples well.”  She didn’t even see the significance of me eating the apple in front of her at her human school that day.  It was my own inside, private joke to myself to prove I knew more than her.
              Not turning back to me, she palmed several leaves and branches off the nearest tree.  “Why doesn’t it bear fruit?”

“
We don’t know.  Just that it stopped completely with you and your mother absent.”

“Has anyone thought to fertilize them?” she asked unassumingly. 

“I don’t really know.  This is not my realm.”

Gaining her attention again, she glanced half-heartedly at my face as if trying to read more meaning behind my words.  I found it harder and harder to not succumb to her unrelenting gaze.  The words came flowing out.

“In answer to the look you just gave me, no.  I can’t just waltz into your realm and demand allegiance.  Our balance is delicate at the moment and the hope is that it will be remedied.  As far as the apples, everyone likes to believe the apples stopped because you were born and it meant something huge would happen. When your mother died, the orchard just stopped growing.  It leafed out, but nothing more.  Maybe it was a sign.  Who knows?”

“Why can
’t my realm just apologize for attacking so many years ago and move on?”

She doesn
’t get politics completely.  I would set an elder on her about the human and goblin’s world mistakes.  That was the best place to start.

“It
’s not that simple.   There are certain walls that hinder us from speaking so freely.”

“How do we break down those walls?”

Was she thinking of visiting them and asking for a shake of the hands in her own mind?  “There is a way, but the way is painful for one person or another.”

She wasn
’t dumb.  She was reading between some of the lines, just not the right ones.  I would never sacrifice her to
him
just to gain power for myself.

“And you know how?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” 

Allusive and broody.  Gorgeous and angered.  But I couldn’t stay away from him for any length of time.  I have come to rely on Ames Cahn in the time I’ve known him.   I have watched people die, buildings fall and then rebuilt, lives torn apart and slowly being remade, and a governing body of goblin people who remain hidden below the earth grow to be strong again.  I really feel that Ames can make his people, our people, see reason and be at peace again.

This is how I came to the conclusion standing under the seemingly lifeless apple trees that I can and will help him get back what he thinks he lost.  My family took what was his.  I WILL get it back.

“I think we should go meet them.”

“What the friggin
’ he—

“Language
, mister.  I’m not one of your man cussin’ friends.”

On instinct, I threw my hands on my hips. It
’s been happening for years when anyone would fly off the handle with a temper thanks to being friends with Rick long before we were an item.

“Uh, sorry.  No way are we going in there, Emma.  I can
’t even begin to tell you what cataclysmic size events that may induce.”

“You
’re just being paranoid.  You said they are my family.  I’m going in there.” I was determined to make this all better. Somewhere deep inside, I knew I should have my alarm button on for the way Ames was acting, but it was being shut out by the itch to meet someone I might actually get to call family.

“Please, Emma.  Just wait a little longer before we meet them.”

“Meet who?”

His voice was all it took to rip her from my grasp and do a 360° from the lined path to where he decidedly leaned against one of the trees.  So focused on her, I didn’t see him get by me.  Caydon would not have her no matter how deceptively clever he might be.

Her little gasp didn
’t escape my attention.   Nor his.

“Hello.  Are you from here?” she asked leaning back into me after her initial reaction.  Her eyes said one thing, while her emotions went haywire.  She flushed and went into a state of fear at the same time.  She patted her hair down like she could possibly not look as amazing as she did all the time.  If it was for him, it was all kinds of jacked up that she would do that then.

“Yes, this is my realm.”

With this, she glanced sideways for my appraisal of what to do next.  About time. 

“This is Caydon.”  His arrogance wasn’t hidden in the way he smiled at her knowingly.

“And—

“Oh, I know who you are Emma, or rather Jem Loggin, high princess of the realm for which I am honored to belong to.”

He friggin
’ bowed and walk forward enough he was directly in front of her.  Out of the shadows, I had two inches height on him and could lift double.  He was a pansy and he knew I could make him feel pain.  I've managed to avoid him for months now.

She did her little gasp again when Caydon knew who she was. 

“Are we...related?” she asked him.

He bellowed a laugh.  “Ames wishes it beyond anything, but no.  You are one of a kind, Jem.”

“I prefer to be called Emma.”  I saw her switch her feet back and forth.

“Emma.”  He took her hand and pulled it to his mouth.  He pulled some kind of Rico Suave moves on her and she ate it up.  “I would be honored if you
’d accompany me into the realm to meet some others.”

She flipped her whole body back in my direction. Finally. 

“Should we go with him?” Her bottom lip disappeared under her top teeth.

That
’s a huge dang NO!  “I’m not sure we can avoid it any longer.”

“Oh, Cahn.  Surely you haven
’t gone back on a prior promise.  You seemed to have changed your mind on what you want.  A life out there in the cold hard world is no longer your dream.”

I ignored him and grabbed hold of Emma
’s hip to calm me.  Inching my fingers right under the hem of her shirt, her skin cooled my fury.  At the same time, it sent just the message I wanted to him.  His eyes watched my hand until it disappeared.             

This fair haired giant of a man stood before me telling either lies or revealing truths about the life I never knew until I met Ames.  Well, met isn
’t exactly the description for it.  Directed.  Possibly into my doom.  But it didn’t turn out that way.

I knew his face, but I couldn
’t place it yet.  Angular jaw, thin lips.  Piercing blue eyes.  He was beyond hot and he knew it.

I got the distinct feeling Ames was not happy with my eagerness to go with Caydon, the mountain high hunk of a man whose slow smile spread across his gorgeous lips every time I flashed a look back at him.  In fact, I really actually sensed his nervous energy floating around him like this was some kind of ticking time bomb that would explode any second.

Caydon stepped out of the framed doorway and held his hand out for me to lead.  I peeked once more at a jittery Ames who noticeably moved a couple feet farther from me than his usual.

Cold air hit me rather fast after the first step in making me look back at the guys.  Caydon was barring off Ames like he might not let him in.  I don
’t know what came over me, but I reached my hand to Ames in some form of guarding motion that was very unlike me. 

“I will go nowhere without him.”

Guessing my animal-like scream in his face did the trick, Caydon proceeded to let him through.

“Got a bit of tiger in her like her mother I see.”

Maybe that should have been an “Awww...that’s sweet” kind of moment, but it didn’t hit me well considering I was already worked up from two seconds ago.  Instead, I leashed an awful split second attack with my uncontrolled magical enhancements.  Yes, my hands. 

Caydon was five feet from me now wedged into the dirt with his jeans covered in earth.  He was knocked against the trunk of the tree and well...sitting crooked like the little birdies might be flying above his head.

“That was one slamming piece of work, Princess.  You can use me as your conductor anytime.”

What the—

“She doesn’t mean for it to happen.  If you hags hadn’t kept her in the dark for eighteen years, she would be a little better controlled.”  Ames barked over to Caydon while he rubbed my hands.

“And has she heard your impressive resume
, Cahn?  Does she know you’re far from sainthood history of knowing where she was all this time while parading around with the humans?”

I wasn
’t sure I ever wanted to know all of it.  I didn’t want Ames or me to be haunted by it.  Ames already had to live with it and seemed pained any time he had to admit to his mistakes. 

Ames
’ quick lean into my hair and whispered words of his standard gesture of assurance, “Are you okay?” reminding me he was always thinking of me rather than himself.

Noises behind me forced my attention back to Caydon.  He was coming towards me and squeezing his left temple.  His sudden vile look caught me off guard.  Was he mad?

“I’m sorry,” I stuttered out.

The crazed look of anger must have been a mistake on my part, because it was quickly replaced with an adorable smile making me feel bad again for not controlling myself.

“Not a problem.  I should’ve known you would knock me off my feet at the first sight of you in our realm.  And here I thought we were the ones keeping you safe.”

“If that were the case,” Ames said vehemently behind me placing a hand on the middle of my back.

I didn’t know why he just said what he did or what it meant, but Caydon for sure did.  And the way Caydon words made me feel a certain déjà vu.  After the vile look had returned to his face being aimed at Ames and then disappeared coming back to me, I decided I might better cool the sarcasm for a bit.  I said
might
, I didn’t promise.

“Let
’s get this done,” Ames gently pushed me forward letting Caydon follow. 

“I promised you I
’d leave her till you could train her, but I think you got a little carried away,” Caydon said to Ames thinking I was far enough in the doorway and wouldn’t hear.  Yet another promise concerning me.   “I will keep her safe,” Caydon reassured Ames though Ames looked like he believed anything but.

Safe.  That meant something coming from him.  The familiarity of his words made me shake my head and search for answers.  A memory played on the edge of my brain, but I couldn
’t find what it was.

Inside, because that
’s the only way to describe it, the grassy area beyond the orchard was an unbelievably gigantic courtyard full of bodies and animals.  Everything in this area was well thought out and put in its place right where it belonged.  Even the flowers.  I knew they were because they were not being eaten by the animals.

Goats, dogs, cats, birds, and I even saw a small rodent sized creature scurry across one girl
’s shoes.  Several looked up eyeing Caydon and waved.  I felt the urge to wave wondering if some might be cousins or other relatives.  They all seemed relatively young from the quick glances I shot before they started staring our way.  I was glad they were watching Caydon.

“You must be something special if they all notice you without a dramatic entrance.”  Just as I said it, flying paper stars in the prettiest blue flew across the room and landed at my feet.  More and more of them kept coming.  All this goblin magic was mesmerizing.

His smile turned up as he purposely leaned over close, “Oh, that’s not for me. Princess.  I’m old news.”

I swallowed and leaned away quickly feeling odd that I could be nervous with him too close to me.  It made me think of Joshlin and his overactive flirtatious side at trying to appeal to me.  I did think this guy was beyond good looking, but he was overdoing it a bit with Ames standing this close and obviously touching me where no other would be allowed. 

“Well, that’s a little over the top.  It’s not like I chose to come here.”  I wanted him to be sure I wasn’t fishing for attention.

“
And we’ve waited for a long time for your return.  Let’s not disappoint them with a snotty attitude.”

Ohh!  I whipped around on him, reaching out with my hands to give him some more of what he had before.  Somehow, I knew what to throw out even if I hadn
’t had much control before.  I just wanted to give him a small zap.  My fingers tingled.  Ames’ hand shot my way and before he could taper the effect I wrapped my fingers around Mr. High and Mighty’s forearm.  Pure muscle greeted me, but static sliced through him like a knife.  I yanked back proud of my successfully managed urge turned “little ole reminder”.

Caydon and Ames seemed just as surprised.  Caydon rubbed his arm.  I sheepishly smiled on the inside thanking my lucky stars I didn
’t flatten him on his butt in front of this crowd.  I wasn’t thinking as clearly when I plotted revenge, but it worked out in my favor...this time.

“Keep this up and we will never make it in,” Caydon laughed.  He was definitely easy going.  A flash of a killer smile and he was your best friend. He still didn
’t have the dimples Ames could throw around like dangerous weapons.