by Lola Gabriel
“You don’t know him like I do, Liv,” Asher said with a shake of his head. “I mean, you somehow saw something in him that I didn’t, but… I don’t know. For the first time tonight, I saw my father without the veil of love and loyalty. I could see just how insane he has become in recent centuries… Not much scares me, but tonight, he certainly did. I think he would kill anyone he thought could potentially threaten his place on the throne. Myself included.” He shook his head again, squeezing Olive’s hand. “You had only met him a handful of times, and you saw what I couldn’t.”
“Well,” Olive began with an uneasy sigh. “He gave off that… vibe to me. I didn’t think too much of it, just that he did intimidate me. Once I was pregnant, I started having these awful nightmares about him nearly every night, where he was looking for me and wanted the baby. It felt so real, and I guess, in a way, it was.”
“I only wish there was a way for me to have never dragged you into this,” Asher grumbled.
“It’s not ideal, but it’s worth it. I don’t want to picture my life without you, and now without Henry.”
Asher’s head cocked at that, his face brightening and a smile widening across his face. “Henry, huh?”
Olive shrugged modestly. “I liked the name. Esme and I started calling him that.”
“I’m flattered,” Asher chuckled softly, a warmth coming to his eyes. “I like it, too.” Removing his hand from hers, he rested it on her stomach. Just moments ago, it looked as if he could have combusted from all the pressure and fear building up inside of him. Now he was back to his usual self. His eyes fixated on the road ahead of them while his hand remained on Olive’s stomach. “Thank you for that,” he said lowly, recognizing her effort to calm his woes. “Try to get some sleep, okay? We’ll be driving for a while, and at least one of us will need to be well rested.”
“I’m okay for now,” Olive assured him, gently touching her fingertips to the back of his hand and drawing shapes across his skin.
They continued to talk for a while. Talking about a future together as a family kept Asher happily distracted, abiding by the law of the roads. After some time, however, the conversation began to fade away, as did Olive’s consciousness. She became slightly slumped in her seat, with her forehead against the door as she drifted to sleep, lulled by the car ride and Asher’s gentle back and forth rubbing of her stomach.
The next thing Olive knew, she was lunging forward. Brakes were squealing, and the sound of metal hitting metal nearly deafened her. Her eyes popped open and wildly flew about, trying to understand what was going on.
“Someone just rammed into us,” Asher informed her, his arm protectively going in front of her to act as a safety bar. He didn’t have to speak to say what was on his mind; it was written all over his face.
Olive’s heart pounded in her ears as he started to pull the car over. “Asher—”
“Stay in the car,” he instructed firmly, already unfastening his seatbelt and opening his door.
“Asher, please!” she begged, snatching his hand before he could get away from her completely. It was only then that Olive glanced back to see the other car pulling over as well. She blinked rapidly, confused by the sight. It was Esme’s red Toyota. “What in the hell…” she murmured.
Asher was standing by his door, his eyes narrowing as Esme stepped out of her car. Olive was in shock to see her leveling a gun at Asher. Dropping Asher’s hand, she hurriedly got out of the car. Esme’s gaze flickered to her, relief flooding her face, yet she didn’t lower the gun.
“What in the world do you think you’re doing?” Olive called to her.
“What do you think? Saving your ass,” Esme scoffed before cocking the pistol. “Now, get in the car, Olive.”
“Stop pointing that gun at him!” Olive cried.
“Do you really think that’s going to do anything?” Asher cockily inserted.
“Do you really think it’s lead bullets?” Esme mocked him. “Olive, get in my car. Right now.”
“She isn’t going with you,” Asher said, the smugness still lingering in his voice.
“Like hell she isn’t.”
“I’m not!” Olive confirmed. “I’m staying with Asher.”
“Did you not listen to a damn thing I said?” Esme groaned. “I don’t care what kind of nonsense he filled your head with, he’s just fooling you! You’re playing right into his trap, and it’s not just endangering you, but your son as well. Think for a minute, Oli! Really think about everything we talked about and all of his inconsistencies.”
“My inconsistencies?” Asher laughed. “Mine had reasoning, and she now knows all that.”
“Oh, I’m sure you gave her your diluted reasoning. Doesn’t mean it’s the truth, and she deserves the truth.”
“Like how you were so honest with her about being a witch?”
Esme’s eyes widened and went back and forth between Asher and Olive. “Shut up,” she hissed.
“You are, aren’t you?” Olive asked meekly.
There was a long silence. Esme continuously opened her mouth to say something before snapping it shut. “It… it wasn’t relevant at the time, Olive. Okay? I would have told you if it had been.”
“But it became relevant to give me a ‘good luck’ charm?” Olive questioned. Her heart thumped painfully, beginning to feel the full gravity of Esme’s betrayal. “You spent months and months lying to me about who you were and what your intentions were, all the while fueling my anxiety about Asher. How could you do that to me? After all we went through together…”
“Like I told you, Liv, she had her own motives,” Asher chimed in.
“I was nothing but truthful with my motives!” Esme hissed. “The reason it wasn’t relevant was that I don’t agree with what the coven does. I’m positive you won’t believe me, but it’s true,” she told Asher with a glare. Then she addressed Olive. “Honestly, I knew both sides would be hostile toward you, and the best thing would be to get you away from all of it. To try and live with some kind of normalcy, even though it never would be.”
“Don’t let her deceive you again, Olive,” Asher called over to her in an earnest voice.
“I would say don’t let him again, either, but I see that’s already happened,” Esme growled. “I really have no idea what to say to make you trust or believe me, but I’ve never ever wanted anything but the best for you. I’m sorry I wasn’t fully honest, but you weren’t with me, either. You never even tried to tell me he was a dragon-shifter until a few days ago. How was I supposed to know what he had or hadn’t told you about witches?”
The regret and hurt were plain in Esme’s voice and expression. She even lowered the gun and turned away to compose herself. She had always been tough as nails, and it was out of character to see her so vulnerable. She looked back to Olive with fat tears in her big silver eyes.
“You’re my best friend. My only real friend. I can’t express to you how sick I was when I woke up to that note you left and couldn’t find you anywhere in town.”
Olive’s heart plummeted to the pit of her stomach, and she had to fight the urge to run over to her friend and embrace her. She looked to Asher with pleading eyes. He motioned for her to come to him, and Olive immediately went around the car. Putting his arm around her shoulders, Asher protectively drew her into his side.
“If you’re being sincere, will you help me with something?” he asked Esme.
“What is it?” she mumbled, distracted by wiping away tears that hadn’t fallen yet. Reaching into the car momentarily, Asher pulled out Olive’s file.
“I was going to go to my brother with this, but I couldn’t. Since you’re such a historian,” he said with a jab, “maybe you’ll know.” Taking a piece of paper out of the file, he extended it toward her. Hesitantly, Esme paced over while tucking the pistol behind her. Taking the piece of paper, her eyes scanned over its contents.
“This is… her parents?” Esme questioned. Both girls looked to Asher as he confirmed with a no
d. Esme then shook her head in disbelief. “I… I… I didn’t even know this.”
“Know what?” Asher and Olive asked in unison.
“If this information is right…” Esme paused for a second. “Mariella Edevane is the descendant of a First.”
“First?” Olive repeated, her face screwing up in confusion as she peered up to Asher to see total shock settling over him. What was she missing?
“A First is a first witch, as in one of the women who made deals with supernatural beings to get our powers.”
“Wait, I’m sorry, what?” Olive scoffed.
“I knew that name was familiar!” Asher muttered, clearly upset with himself.
“Isn’t it just possible it’s the same surname with no correlation?” Olive poked.
“Not to my knowledge,” Esme said. “Edevane is an almost extinct name. Besides, I know of Mariella Edevane. She’s still alive.”
“I don’t want to hear this,” Olive said, vehemently shaking her head. “This is nonsense. Asher, can we go?”
“I’m not lying to you!” Esme insisted.
Asher’s arm grew tighter around Olive, attempting to comfort her. “I’m having a hard time believing it myself, but now that she’s said it, it rings a bell. I’m just… I’m at a loss for words.”
“I’m not a witch, and I really didn’t care to learn my birth mother’s name or status, thanks,” Olive mumbled, her cheeks growing hot as her anger continued to grow. It was one thing to be surrounded by a mystical world, but to be dragged into it herself was something her mind wouldn’t even entertain. It rejected the premise completely. Ripping herself away from Asher’s side, she rounded the car and got back inside of it, slamming her door shut. Rubbing her temples, she attempted to calm herself, but she could already tell it was going to be a fruitless effort.
She guessed Asher and Esme were giving her a few minutes to calm down, seeing as how no one disturbed her. She could hear them talking lowly, which for some reason pissed her off; even in her current emotional state, she knew she was deflecting her emotions onto them. She had the right to do so. After all, they had both lied through omission. Her head was so loud from her thoughts that Olive felt like she could snap completely. Her head was in her hands, pleading with any higher power that there may be to please make it stop.
Her car door opened, and she didn’t bother to lift her head. Asher’s hands were on her, checking her all over to make sure she was okay. He then tugged her into his chest as he awkwardly hunched down to be at her level.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. I know this is a lot for you, and I could have handled giving her the information better, more discretely. No one is going to make you meet your biological parents or find anything else out about them, I promise. I’ll handle all of that, and you can decide for yourself whether or not you want to know,” he told her.
Olive nodded and buried her face in the fabric of his shirt. They stayed like that as she did her best to draw in deep breaths and completely calm herself.
“I know it sounds weird after everything we’ve talked about, but I do trust her,” Asher continued. “She is different from the other witches I know. While I will still be guarded around her, I think she’s going to be an ally in all this.”
That comforted Olive. For the past several days, she had been criticizing her ability to judge others’ character since Esme and Asher had given conflicting information about one another. However, it was all from misunderstanding and lack of communication. Esme was a good friend, and Asher was her lover, and he would never purposefully hurt her. She wasn’t exactly sure if she should have been trusting one over the other, but that felt insignificant to her. Perhaps they were there to give her balance, so that she didn’t put her full self into either and could find a way to stand on her own two feet.
“It all makes sense,” Esme’s voice called from the near distance. Olive and Asher looked up from their embrace and took in the expression on Esme’s face. A light bulb should have been lit up above her head. “I can’t believe this hasn’t happened before now, but you two were able to conceive because Olive is technically a witch.”
“What makes you so sure?” Asher challenged.
“The curse that Imogen placed on the dragons. Her exact wording was, ‘never to breed with dragon or human alike.’ Witches aren’t in that list. Guess it’s hard to think about semantics when you’re burning alive,” Esme explained, unable to help but add in her dash of dark humor.
“That… actually makes sense,” Asher murmured, looking back to Olive. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I think you really are from witch descent.”
Olive sat back in her seat and looked up to the fabric ceiling of the car. Would the surprises ever stop coming? “I don’t get it,” she mumbled. “I mean, this is already a lot to process on the surface without diving deeper, but why did they give me up like that? They knew I would be left alone, not knowing what I was, and that I would run into problems with it sooner or later.”
“That explains your dreams, too. They were more than likely premonitions,” Esme added.
“Right…” Olive grimaced. She didn’t want to think they were true, not with how horrific they had been. The entire time, she had figured it was her mind festering in her fear and projecting it into something larger than herself. “Well, then, we really need to get back on the road.”
15
The next several days were nothing but driving and stopping to rest. They had long talks about Olive’s apparent past and what it meant for the baby and their future. Esme hypothesized that her being given away could have been as simple as her parents fearing being tracked by the government, since they had been forced into the hospital due to a car accident. Or because Mariella and George had apparently been having a secret affair. Arranged marriages were commonplace in the coven, and the two of them had not been paired together by the elders.
That had been trivial to know, but it had given Olive some weird sense of comfort, knowing that she hadn’t necessarily been unwanted. Beyond that, it had brought them closer to understanding how in the world she had gotten pregnant. With that knowledge, and the several states between them and the Tallant family, the three of them found peace for the first time in months.
Asher had purchased them a new car, ditched the rental, and withdrew as much cash as he could from his personal accounts so that there wasn’t a paper trail for his family to follow if they did seek him out. He was certain that he still had enough personal wealth from his collection of artifacts, antiques, and actual gold that they wouldn’t have to stress about money--ever. Now they just had to get to Asher’s brother, Sebastian.
When they finally reached the West Coast, they settled into a resort on the water. Olive had tried to protest. Even though money wouldn’t be an issue, they should still be frugal until they knew he could retrieve his wealth. However, Asher was adamant in the fact they all needed to relax and have a breather from the insanity they had been enduring day to day. That, she could not argue with.
They all sat together in the resort’s restaurant for dinner, Asher’s arm around Olive and her head leaned on his shoulder while Esme sat across from them. Esme entertained herself with countless cocktails and flirting with the waiter. After the initial tension between the two of them, Asher and Esme had started getting along surprisingly well.
“Wait, so you picked ‘Henry’ after Asher?” Esme asked as she plucked the olive from her cocktail sword with her teeth. Olive nodded, a blush coming to her cheeks. Esme laughed. “I’m not sure if I think that’s sweet or annoying.”
“You can find it to be both, doesn’t change anything,” Olive chuckled.
“Still, Esme is a lovely middle name.”
“Uh-huh.”
Esme’s attention went to Asher. “So, tell me, what exactly is it like living thousands of years, suppressed by rules and a crazed leader?”
“Come on, we’re supposed to be relaxing,” Olive groaned. She didn’t want to talk about it anymore
. Even though nothing about them was normal, she would like to have gone a day without it being a topic of discussion.
“Probably about the same as living with insane women in charge with their own doctrine of expectations. Like arranged marriages,” Asher breezily shot back.
“Alright, alright, touché.” Esme laughed and held up her hands in surrender. “There was a good reason for me to leave the coven.”
“As there is for me leaving mine,” Asher breathed. Olive could feel his eyes on her. She met his dewy gaze, love and admiration swimming in his brown eyes. Her lips curled in a smile as he leaned down to kiss her. His lips were tender, and they lingered on hers. Olive’s body was consumed by bliss at his passionate yet gentle kiss.
“Get a room, you two,” Esme groaned, tossing a straw wrapper at them, bouncing off Asher’s cheek.
“We have one,” Asher shot back at her with a wiggle of his brows, causing Esme’s face to sour.
“Ugh, gross. I’m aware you two conceived a child. Don’t need the imagery.”
“You brought it up!” Asher laughed. Olive was all smiles, her heart brimming with love for the two people she was with.
Their food eventually came, and they enjoyed their meals over light conversation, with laughter and smiles being plentiful. Once done, Esme, a little too tipsy, insisted on taking a walk on the beach. It was nighttime, and no one would be out there. It didn’t take much convincing at all before Asher was paying the bill and they were exiting the building, walking right onto the beach. Olive awkwardly bent over to take her shoes off, and Asher wrapped an arm around her to support her as she did so. Esme ran ahead like an excited child. She tended to be more adventurous and excitable when drunk, always making Olive roll her eyes.
“I’ve never been in the Pacific Ocean!” Esme exclaimed as she walked directly into the waves, not bothering to take her shoes off or roll up her pants.