“Not since you went all dark on me.”
“I want the kingdom. That’s all. Had to find a way to take it. I just might have succeeded.”
Now he fucking well had my attention. “What did you do?”
As Caleb stepped closer to me his hair took on the dark blonde color it used to be and his eyes became the same color green as mine. We weren’t identical, but we did look similar. We looked like mother.
“What. Did. You. Do.” I repeated stepping to him now.
The normal appearance he showed me was supposed to appeal to me in some way. It was bullshit for all I cared.
I saw him for what he was centuries ago.
“You know what brother?” He smiled then laughed, shimmering back into his dark self. That was how he looked when I last saw him. Like a wraith demon in the form of a man. “It’ll be so much more fun for you to find out what I’m up to.”
“Tell me now!” I demanded.
“Oh Prince Eric, I can’t wait to see how this plays out.” He glanced over my shoulder toward the bedroom. “Pretty girl, very pretty girl. I can definitely see how it was so easy to fall in love with her. I’ll keep that in mind.”
I growled and lunged for him but just like that he disappeared. Disappeared like he was never there.
Shit. This was bad. It was really bad. I needed to get Jupe here. Fast.
***
“I was trying to call you.” Jupe snapped the minute he came through the door.
“Keep your voice down Jupe,” I cautioned.
It was barely six. Ariyah was still asleep.
It had taken Jupe half an hour to get here and I didn’t know how I kept my sanity.
“Keep my voice down? Are you kidding. I told you we should have looked a little deeper into the Elken but no you had to go run off being Romeo Casanova to some woman.”
“She’s not some woman Jupe. I love her.” The words fell from my lips before I could think about what I was saying.
His mouth dropped and blue flames hazed around him from the shock.
“What did you just say to me?” He narrowed his eyes at me.
“You heard me. I love her.”
His flames subsided and he cocked his head to the side. “You’re serious. Wow.”
“What does this mean?”
“I don’t know. He knows. Caleb knows.” Fucking Caleb. The bastard knew I was in love long before I did.
“Eric you sure he didn’t give any clue as to what he’s up to?”
“No, I thought once you got here you could try to see his plan.” That was my plan. Jupe.
Jupe was my starting point. He could use his abilities to see what was going on. I just hoped like hell he wasn’t going to tell me something like Ariyah was in danger. Why else would Caleb taunt me like that? And use her?
“Where was he? Let’s start there.”
“Come on.” I led him upstairs to the hall.
Jupe started walking around. “I don’t feel anything.” He frowned.
“He stood here.” I moved to the spot where Caleb stood.
Jupe bent down and touched the carpet running his hands over the fibers. He shook his head. “I’m not getting anything Eric. Not even a jingle.”
This was complete shit.
“Try harder.” My stomach tensed.
“I’ll search the ether plane for –” as soon as he said it and tried to push his hand between the veil a blast knocked him back sending him flying across the room and into the wall.
I rushed to him as he landed. Blood ran down his nose.
“Holy shit Eric.”
“What happened?”
“It knocked me back. I don’t think I can get through the ether.”
The ether was the path that led through the veil. It was the path that led back to Pandir. Something occurred to me. Something about the way Caleb said something. How he teased me.
It would be so much more fun to see me find out what he was up to. That was what he’d said.
I stood, and did something I hadn’t done in two centuries.
I stuck my hand through the ether. Unlike Jupe it didn’t blast me back, although if I didn’t have the power I possessed it would have.
Stepping through the veil was like going through a curtain. Just like going backstage at a show, but this held a passageway that led to over a hundred different realms and planes of existence. Routes to different worlds, passages to different times. All through one sphere. The Eden Stone. To get to wherever you wanted to go you had to think of the place and it would take you there.
As soon as I stepped through the veil I didn’t need to think of the place I needed to go to. It called to me. My home called to me with anguish.
All I had to do was walk up to the Eden Stone and it would let me through. I’d done it before. So many times. That last time though was the hardest, because I vowed to never go back.
I stepped forward, anticipation of what I’d see gripping at my insides. But the Eden Stone remained as it was.
I thought of Pandir harder and moved to touch it but my hands came into contact with the rough stone surface.
“Pandir,” I said.
“Pandir!” I cried.
Nothing happened.
Nothing happened and I understood straight away that this was part of the plan. Caleb’s plan.
This was what he wanted me to find out. This was what he thought would be fun.
I couldn’t go home. He’d stopped me from getting back. Jupe and me. None of us could get in.
He must have used some powerful magic to do that. Some powerful magic not even I could conceive.
He’d always wanted the kingdom.
It took both father and me to defeat him last time. Me mostly. With me out of the picture. He stood a chance.
I vowed never to go back, but this changed things in a big way. They were in trouble. My home was in trouble. My sister was there and father.
I couldn’t let them suffer, but with my passage blocked to the realm how would I get back?
Chapter 9
Ariyah
Eric was completely impossible.
I already woke up late and the man wanted me to stay with him the whole day. I would have absolutely said yes but I had to get to work. I had to put on my big girl hat and get myself up and out of love’s nest.
That was me being grown up and treading softly. To some extent.
I headed home and I was thinking of all the things I was going to pack in my bag.
That was me being crazy and allowing myself to fall for this amazing man that had changed my life in the space of two and a half days. I would however add the three weeks prior to us getting together for good measure.
Maybe I really was crazy, I didn’t care though about how long I’d known him. It was completely irrelevant when I knew how I felt.
This was what love must feel like and he said something I’d never heard before. He talked about forever.
Not just last night. Or the night before, he spoke of forever.
And, maybe I was crazy, but it felt good. it felt good and I decided to push Stephan and all the shit from the last few years to the back of my mind.
That was the new plan. To live in this fantasy, and learn more about Eric.
I really wanted to know more, and what he meant about there being more to him. It was the way he said it that piqued my interest. It piqued my interest and I wanted more. More of him, more of everything.
I opened Gabrielle’s front door and head to the living room where she kept all her note paper. I thought I’d write her a really nice note rather than text. That was what we did back in college. Write each other notes.
A sound in the sitting room caught my attention and I headed there instead.
I looked in and saw Gabrielle inside walking around the coffee table hands at her head. She was crying.
“Gabrielle.”
She jumped at the sound of my voice. “Is it you? Are you really there?” she asked in a h
urried, panicked voice.
More tears streamed down her cheeks.
“What happened?” She was shaking now.
“Ariyah, I think I’m going crazy. Something weird happened. Freaky shit. I don’t know.” She stuttered.
“Come sit with me.”
“No, I ... I don’t want to sit. I can’t calm down. Ariyah you would believe me if I told you something weird right?”
I nodded quickly. I might joke around with her about her witch stuff but she was my friend and she’d been there for me. I didn’t start to feel like I had anyone in this world until I met her. Ten years ago. We’d been friends for ten years.
She was my family and if she told me the sun wouldn’t come up tomorrow I would believe her.
“Tell me, what happened.”
“I had a dream. Except it wasn’t a dream. There was darkness everywhere and a figure. It was trying to steal my soul and kill me. Then these dragons came. Two of them. They were, big, massive, and stopped the darkness from taking me. I woke up and went to my spirit board because I thought maybe someone from the other side was trying to contact me. Then... Ariyah it started moving by itself.”
Okay...
Jesus Christ. This was a hard ask to believe.
I was willing to bet the long hours at work were making her exhausted.
“Gabrielle, don’t take this the wrong way. I’m simply asking. Did you really sleep last night?”
“Yes,” she winced. “Ariyah, I’m not talking crazy here. I’m not. Look at the spirit board.”
Oh God, that thing freaked the fucking shit out of me. I would rather not look at it. But this was Gabrielle. My best friend so I would do it.
“Okay, let’s look at the spirit board.” My voice rose a pitch higher than normal.
We walked over to the board and there it was on the floor by the long French windows.
Shivers instantly ran down my spine at the sight. It just had that horror movie feel that didn’t sit well with me. Gabrielle walked straight up to it, kneeled down and touched it, putting both hands on the large pointer.
“Show me, like before.” She said to it, and fuck it started to move.
My mouth dropped. Dropped right open. Gabrielle shrieked and jumped backward. I couldn’t move. I was stuck on watching the damned thing moving.
At least Gabrielle had better sense than me. She rushed over to the desk near the shelf to grab a piece of paper and a pen.
“It’s spelling something.” She gasped.
I could see that. It was moving like crazy toward the letter G.
It wasn’t until she started writing that it moved to the next letter. E.
Then, T.
GET.
God, if the next words were OUT, I was going to grab Gabrielle and run straight through the door.
The next letter was E again then RIC.
Eric.
Like my Eric?
What the hell?
It then spelled NOW.
Gabrielle held up the paper and read it out:
GET ERIC NOW
“What does Eric have to do with this?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
I opened my mouth to talk again but noticed all the letters on the board started jumbling. Jumbling together all in one and suddenly a green shimmer popped from the disarray and expanded taking over the surface of the board.
“Ariyah are you seeing that?”
I couldn’t answer and I nearly fainted when two little dragons that looked exactly like the tattoos Eric had flew out and headed straight to Gabrielle.
She screamed as they both slammed into her arms that she’d flung up to protect herself. They slammed into her arms and bonded with her skin, sealing with the flesh on her arms. She screamed as they wriggled against her skin looking like insects. Then they stopped and turned gold, looking like she’d had them tattooed on her arms.
“Ariyah, please. Get Eric Now!” Gabrielle cried.
Her voice broke through my fear and made me dive into my bag for my phone.
Eric answered on the first ring.
***
I figured I’d seen enough to send me straight to the asylum.
However, when I spoke to Eric and asked him to get here I was shocked to hear the doorbell ring not even a minute later.
He would have had to be outside the whole time to get here so fast right?
It didn’t make sense, but neither did anything else.
I was still trying to process what I’d seen. Still trying to allow it to sink into my brain.
When I opened the door for him another man was with him. Just as tall and handsome with the high cheekbones. Like Eric.
Eric rushed in and pulled me into his arms.
“Are you hurt?” he asked looking me over with complete panic.
“I’m okay.”
“Ariyah, this is Jupe. My best friend.” He introduced the guy. “He’s here to help me.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Jupe said.
“And you.” I wasn’t sure of exactly how Jupe would be able to help. He’d probably run away after he heard the tall tale I had for the both of them.
I told Eric that something terrible had happened to Gabrielle and I needed him.
“Where’s Gabrielle?”
“She’s ...” I needed to at least prep him for what he was about to see. I could only imagine how crazy I was going to sound when I explained. “Eric, I realize this is going to sound quite ridiculous. I know it will. I didn’t mean to drag you into this craziness but...” My voice trailed off. How was I supposed to tell him the spirit board told me to get him?
A tear ran down my cheek. He leaned forward and put both hands on my shoulders. When he looked at me I saw the soft flame glowing in his eyes.
“Your eyes... they’re doing that thing again.” More tears streamed down my cheeks. What if I was crazy? Maybe it was me and none of this actually happened.
“You know what’s cool?”
“What?”
“It’s only you who can see that.” He smiled.
“Me? How come? Am I going crazy?”
“No, not at all.” He smiled and held my gaze. “You can see it because you’re special. To me. Just me.”
I didn’t know what it was but somehow I felt this comfort flow through me and warm my heart. It soothed my soul. I reached up and touched his face. “Oh Eric did we really happen?”
“We did Goddess. We did,” he nodded with conviction.
“It doesn’t feel real.”
He took my hand and placed it on his heart. “Trust this.”
His heart was beating so fast. Fast and powerful. “I trust it. I trust you.”
“Good girl, now tell me what happened here.”
I pulled in a deep breath. “Maybe I should show you.” I nodded and motioned toward the sitting room. He released me and followed me in there where Gabrielle stood by the window shaking. The golden pattern of the dragons all up her forearms.
Next to her was the board, still green but shimmering now.
“Oh my God.” Jupe sighed when he saw the board.
Eric however was looking at the golden dragons on her arms.
“Eric, help me please,” Gabrielle cried.
“Jupe. Look at her arms.”
When Jupe saw he stilled and I didn’t know how they could be more shocked at that than the extremely paranormal puddle of whatever it was on the ground. Also, considering the fact that they hadn’t seen what I saw. They didn’t see the dragons fly out of the puddle and merge with Gabrielle’s arms.
They however seemed to be taken with it.
“Eric, is that what I think it is?” Jupe asked him.
“What is it?” I tugged on Eric’s arm.
He looked back to me and the flames in his eyes brightened. They brightened past the soft amber I’d previously seen. This whole setting. Gabrielle, the spirit board, him. It was all weird. All of it.
Fantasy.
He placed hi
s hands on my shoulders and gave me that piercing stare again.
“Ariyah, do you remember when I told you there was more to me that’s different to what I seem?”
I nodded, slowly and from the weirdness of the day I could honestly say my mind was damn open.
“Yes, I remember. What is it? What’s different?”
“You’re about to see a few things that will surprise you, but know that this is real.” He touched his heart. “Everything’s real that we have, and I’m still a man.”
“A man?” I didn’t know why he would say that.
“Yes. Ariyah tell me, did the dragons on Gabrielle’s arm come through the green puddle?”
“How do you know that? How would you know?” More tears threatened to come.
“I just know. Did they come from the puddle?”
“Yes. She was using the spirit board and it told us to get you. Then everything changed and they came out of the puddle and flew on to her arms.”
“Thank you.”
“Eric, what is happening?”
“I will show you.” He released me and despite the craziness I noted the change between us. Something shifted in our bubble of attraction. It shifted in a noticeable way.
He looked to Gabrielle again who was still shaking and stood taller.
“My lady,” he bowed his head in reverence. “The dragons are your guardians. They came to protect you when you needed them the most. They protect you now as the portal opened to Pandir. It’s the only route of passage to the Realm.”
I didn’t know what he was saying. And, he called Gabrielle My Lady again. This time it didn’t sound as endearing as it did yesterday. This time it sounded more respectful.
“What are you talking about Eric? I don’t know what you mean.” Gabrielle answered.
“My lady, there are only two types of people who can command those dragons. A high witch from the Coven of Shadows and a dragon shifter from the royal bloodline. Both of these people stand in this room.”
Gabrielle just stared at him. I still didn’t know what any of this meant.
Eric looked to Jupe now and Jupe nodded. “Jupe protect my girl.”
His True Love Page 7