“Marshall!”
He takes off for the hall, disregarding my blatant worry over the psychological effects a gift like that can give a child.
“And Skyla?” He turns abruptly. There’s a wicked gleam in his eyes and I can practically feel the zinger coming. “You’ll take it like a champ, too.”
“Nice,” I mutter just as another knock erupts at the door and I head over and swing it wide open, only to reveal a couple of faces I never wish to see again.
“Chloe and Gage,” I say their names in an effort to show I really don’t care if they’re a couple—of idiots.
Chloe scoffs as if I had smeared it with sarcasm, and come to think of it, I might have.
“Nice to see you’re growing up, Skyla.” She secures her growing belly with her hand as she strides past me. Honestly, there is hardly anything there, but with that tent she’s donned and the way she seems to be struggling to walk, it’s a believable act.
Gage comes in and I don’t wait to shut the door behind him. I figure if he can kidnap over two dozen of my people, he can figure out the basic mechanics of a door hinge.
“Skyla.” His sad eyes rake over me, up and down as if he had the right. “I wanted to talk about the boys. I think we need to get them in beds, here at the house.”
“My translator is in the other room. I can’t understand you. Anything that has to do with anything goes through Logan.” I’m about to take off when Brody and Brielle’s sister, Brookelynn, and their mother, Darla, hop in, whooping and hollering as if it were midnight New Year’s Eve. Brody, however, is doing none of the above.
Brody shuts the door behind him and glares from Gage to me. “I was just briefed by one of our contacts on where those thirty Celestra ended up.” Brody glares at Gage a good long while. I had asked him to figure it out, and apparently, he’s made quick work of it.
“Where, Brody?” At this point I couldn’t care less that the enemy was standing in my presence.
“Raven’s Eye.” He gives Gage a hard shove to the chest before making his way down the hall.
“Messenger!” Bree shouts from the family room. “Get your ass over here. You’re holding up my wedding!”
“Raven’s Eye,” I whisper the horror to myself as I struggle to keep from passing out. Raven’s Eye is an island just past our own that the government runs as a testing facility for paranormal activity. I don’t know what their cover is, but I know what the truth is.
I glance to Gage and my eyes meet up with his and I’m far more horrified than I’ve ever been before. But Gage doesn’t say a word. He expels a breath, his eyes flitting to the wall behind me. So cold, so very unlike the boy I fell in love with.
“It’s true.,” I hiss. “You are a monster. When you came back from the dead, the very first thing you said to me was that you came back to kill, steal, and destroy. And that was the last truth you ever told me.”
I stagger down the hall, only to meet with Logan’s wild eyes as he grabs ahold of my hand.
I heard. He squeezes his eyes shut.
We enter the family room, peppered with every Landon present and accounted for, the kids all running wild while Bree curses at Beau to stand between her and Drake. Marshall gives a curt nod my way as if he, too, were apprised of the malfeasance and I want to scream. I want to grab that overgrown crystal vase filled with long stem blood red roses sitting on the table and smash it over Gage and Chloe.
Bree yanks me forward and lands me next to the beast herself. “My two besties in the whole entire world are standing up for me today.”
Drake grunts, “Yo, Ethan. Get your ass over here and stand next to me. I don’t like looking like a loser.”
Ethan belches so loud the windows vibrate. “You are a loser.”
Tad stands next to my mother and I can’t help but note how odd his hair looks. His face and exposed arms look unnaturally tan and he’s donned some strange holey mess as if he forgot to get dressed properly this morning, but I don’t give a flying anything about Tad’s accoutrements at the moment. Instead, I take up Chloe’s hand and her eyes move my way, silent in one fell swoop like a ventriloquist’s dummy.
You little bitch—I start easy—you are a Celestra. How dare you let Gage get away with the shit he’s doing. Somewhere deep down in that dark, bitter, twisted briar patch of a heart, I thought you still cared for our people.
Chloe flinches, but I tighten my grip over her hand and note that both Gage and Logan’s eyes are glued to our conjoined fingers.
Yes, Skyla. I am a Celestra and I will be until the day I die. But I am also Gage Oliver’s wife. We have an understanding to leave Faction business at the door.
Now it’s me flinching as I shoot a quick look to Gage. That’s what we were supposed to do, and look where it got us.
It didn’t work out so well for me, Chloe, I say. Don’t deceive yourself into thinking it will for you either. He’s using you. I don’t know why or how, but you are a pawn. This is not real. It cannot be. Something far more nefarious is afoot, Chloe. Take a good look at those boys wrestling it out on the sofa. I nod to Nathan and Barron, and even Gage and Logan turn to look. Logan goes over and settles them a moment for me. Gage left them. He left me. He gave it all up for you? No offense, but I think maybe it’s time you did a reality check. Nothing good is going to come of your union with him. It is all a lie.
Chloe’s hand grips mine with an insurmountable crushing strength and I moan as I yank myself free.
She snatches it right back up again, softer this time as if she were through teaching me a lesson.
Don’t you ever tell me that this child I’m growing in my body is a lie. I will defend both my marriage and my baby to the death, Skyla.
I bury a laugh in my chest. Funny, Gage used to say the same about our family. And believe me, he did it with a lot more zest. Think about your people, Chloe. I’m not asking you to leave Gage or work with me. I’m asking you to dig deep and decide for yourself if you care at all for Celestra anymore. And if the answer is no, just keep doing what you’re doing. It’s working beautifully for Gage.
I let go just as Marshall pronounces them husband and wife and they share an awkward kiss, much to the whooping approval of Darla.
Tad claps as if he’s witnessed the second coming. “That’s my boy. And now I’d like to shower my son and my beautiful daughter-in-law with gifts.” He swipes a few small boxes off the mantel and shoves the first one at Drake. “A lock of Elvis Presley’s hair I purchased off eBay just for you. It cost me a mint. Hang on to it, kid. It will only go up in value.”
I glance to Gage in horror, mostly out of habit. I’m sure Gage couldn’t care less about Tad Landon’s bad spending habits. Instead, I step between Logan and Marshall.
“How much do you think he spent on that?” I whisper as Darla and Brookelynn gather around the lucky couple to see their new follicular loot.
Marshall’s chest bucks with the idea of a laugh. “More than it’s worth.”
Tad looks over and sneers our way. “One hundred cool grand. And it was a steal. I’ve researched it, and it could be worth millions.”
Could be being the operative words.
I pick up Logan’s hand. He didn’t win that much combined. This is a disaster.
Gage sighs over at him. “Why don’t you hire a good accountant? Or better yet, let me manage your winnings for you. The government—”
Tad chokes audibly. “Ah! Neither you nor the government is a part of this family, so you can take your advice and shove it up your brand new father-in-law’s pants. I don’t need it.”
For once I agree with Tad. Sort of. A horrible sadness washes over me at the thought of Gage having a whole new set of in-laws. I hate this.
Logan gives my hand a squeeze. I hate this, too.
“Mommy!” Barron tackles my legs and gives my sweater a hard tug. “Natey is stucks.” His little dimples dip in and out and my heart melts at the sight of him. And how I love that he wants me to help his brother
. Normally, he’d kick him and laugh, but ultimately he’d help his Natey himself.
“Okay, let’s help get Natey unstuck.” I give a quick wink to Logan. “I’ll be right back.”
Chloe steps up with a bored concern and I shake my head at her. “Don’t even think about it,” I say.
Chloe’s mouth falls open. “What if he’s dangling from the butterfly room?”
Leave it to Chloe to out the butterfly room.
I take Barron’s hand and he leads me down the hall, and soon enough Gage is by my side.
“He’s probably trying to climb into his crib,” I say. “He gets stuck on the top and will freeze for an eternity,” I say as we hurry up the stairs.
Gage huffs a dull laugh. “Another reason we’re getting rid of the cribs.”
“I will get rid of them. I don’t need your help with anything,” I say as we crest the top of the stairs. In an odd way it all feels so normal to be going through these motions with him. So many nights we climbed those stairs to get to bed. My waist craves for him to take ahold of me the way he was prone to do. My lips miss his kisses. But those are a thing of the past, just like us.
We head into the bedroom and there’s no sign of Nathan on the crib rails. No sign of him on the bed. Both Gage and I start chiming his name in unison until Barron calls out from the closet.
On the floor lies Nathan, facedown, his hand in a bag of white powder. The wolfsbane Melissa gave me the night of the dance.
“Oh my God.” I fall on my knees and the walls give a dizzying spin.
The next thing I know, Logan is on him, his cheek to Nathan’s nose. My baby’s face is turning blue.
“Chloe, call 911!” he barks as he gives Nathan mouth to mouth and pumps his chest.
Gage is shouting as his body hovers over Nathan’s. I can’t catch my breath as I struggle to send up a stream of spastic prayers to God Himself.
The howl of the ambulance saws through the air, and Logan picks up Nathan and races downstairs.
I hop to my feet, my entire body numb with shock as Gage snatches the bag off the floor.
“Give that to me.” I try to snatch it back and he holds it over his head.
“What is this shit?” he riots so loud my eardrums beg to burst.
“It’s not mine. It was given to me. It’s poison.” I can hardly get the words out as I struggle to make my way past him, but Chloe steps in.
“It was for me, wasn’t it?” Her hand creeps up her throat and a breath escapes my mouth as I try to take a step to the door.
Gage snatches me up by the shoulders, his fingers digging in hard as he gives me a few aggressive shakes.
“You brought poison into this house? Into the room you share with my children?” he thunders right in my face, his rage washing over me in waves.
I lift my knee over his body and push him the hell away from me.
“You brought the poison into our life, Gage,” I say as I race outside.
I snatch Marshall up by the hand and lead him to the gurney where my sweet baby lies motionless. I can’t see through the tears as I beg Marshall to make everything okay.
“Heal my baby, Marshall. I will never ask for a thing. Just do this for me. Heal Nathan for me, I beg of you.” I look up to the black sky and howl for my mother, but all I get in response is a prickling of rain.
Marshall lays his hand over Nathan’s forehead and openly prays for him, but Nathan isn’t responding, the oxygen mask over his little face breaks my heart as the EMTs thrust him into the open mouth of the ambulance. I hop in, as do Gage and Logan, and the door seals shut.
“Call Demetri,” I say and I fall next to Nathan. I’ll take help from the devil himself.
And I weep over my sweet son all the way to the hospital.
The white box known as Paragon Hospital is a place I have a love-hate relationship with. For one, I cannot stand hospitals—Tad had me incarcerated on the psych unit once—a horrible memory. But this is the place where I birthed my beautiful babies—the best memory. And I pray it’s the place that makes my sweet angel Nathan whole and healthy again.
They whisk him in through the emergency room entrance and the three of us dash right along, but they don’t grant us access to the room they take him to. Instead, we’re left in the hall like a trio of abandoned orphans.
“What the hell happened?” Logan pulls me into a warm embrace, his mouth over my ear in a spastic heated kiss.
My lips part, my throat clawing for words as I look to Gage.
“She wanted to poison Chloe.” Gage doesn’t mind answering for me. “She said it was wolfsbane. I’m assuming it came from Dominique.”
Logan pulls back, studying me, worried for me. “It’s going to be okay, Skyla. Nathan will be just fine. He was breathing on his own once I got him started. He had good color by the time we got here.”
He brushes back the hair from sticking to my face. I sweated buckets on the ride over. My body is still numb with shock. And this horrific feeling shouldn’t go away. I’m a terrible mother and I need to be reminded of it.
Logan shakes his head. “You’re not a terrible mother. It was a terrible accident.”
“It was.” I glance to Gage. “I should never have taken it. It was the night of the dance and—”
Gage grunts, “And you were too busy fucking Logan to think about what could happen if you dragged a bag of rat poison to the bedroom.”
Before Logan or I can respond, the hall floods with bodies, my mother, Chloe, Bree, Mia—and on their tail runs in Emma, and is that Olivia Harrison? Oh God.
My eyes flit to Chloe, terrified of what she’s done. Of what I’ve done to cause this demonic domino effect.
They all start speaking at once and a nurse comes by and shuttles us to the waiting room across the way.
Olivia is speaking softly to the nurse. They both pause a moment to look my way before the nurse nods and leaves the room.
“What’s going on?” I hop over to Olivia, not wanting to miss a beat. “Why are you here?”
Olivia’s lips tighten as she looks to my former mother-in-law. “Emma pulled me into her car as she was leaving. I just came home from getting a manicure.” She holds her nails out a moment absentmindedly. “Skyla, whenever a child has been severely harmed in the home, social services has to be notified. I informed the nurse I’d be speaking with them on behalf of the family.”
Gage steps in close. “We don’t want any problems with social services.”
“No, you don’t,” Olivia is quick to agree. “That’s a cat with its tail on fire, and it could do some serious damage.”
Emma strides up, arms folded defiantly, that angry look on her face letting me know she’s pissed.
“The boys aren’t safe at the Landon house. Perhaps no house with Skyla in it. I demand Gage be given all rights immediately. We can’t have another episode like this. I refuse to gamble with the lives of my grandchildren in an effort to be kind to their mother.”
“Please”—I can’t help but huff—“the last time you were kind to me, I was dating Logan.”
Emma pulls a tight smile. “Which I understand is happening again. You’re lucky I approve of him, or you’d have another fight entirely on your hands.”
“I’m lucky you approve?” A part of me feels like running out and finding the exact person Emma here would most definitely not approve of, like some rebellious teenager, but I know better. Emma simply doesn’t approve of me.
“That’s right,” Emma smarts before turning back to Olivia. “Kresley Fisher and her son, Eli, live under my roof. I take excellent care of the both of them. If need be, the boys can be placed in my care in the event the social worker feels ambivalent about placing the children with their father.”
“No.” I shake my head in disbelief as my worst nightmare plays out before me. “That’s not going to happen. Nathan is coming home with me. That’s where the boys live, and that’s where they belong.”
Olivia sighs as Logan rubs my b
ack from behind.
“That’s most likely not going to happen, Skyla.” She looks forlorn at me. “Look, I know you love your children, and from what I can see you are a very good mother. But aside from the fact Nathan will most likely be kept for observation in the least, the social worker might insist they come and observe the home environment, and if they feel it’s not adequate, they will look to the father’s living situation. It’s highly unlikely the boys will be given to Emma, but stranger things have happened. But as for you, Skyla, this might be a hard road.”
“If Gage gets them, how long would I have to wait to get them back? A week? Two?”
Olivia shrugs a moment. “Honestly, I haven’t seen anything move quicker than six months. The typical turnaround time is a year at least.”
“Oh my God.” The room sways beneath my feet and Logan steadies me.
The doctor comes in, pulls down his dark blue mask, and asks for the parents. Both Gage and I are front and center, with Logan faithfully by my side.
“He’s going to be just fine.”
And with those words, every cell in my body sighs with relief. “Oh, thank God.” I latch onto Logan and hold my breath for what might come next.
The doctor, a younger man with a five o’clock shadow and intense dark eyes, looks right at me. “He’s not out of the woods just yet, but we’ll be monitoring him through the night, replenishing his fluids. We were able to drain his stomach pretty well, but the drug is still showing in his bloodstream. Scans all look good. You caught it just in time. Five more minutes and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” He nods and turns to leave.
“How long will he be here?” I couldn’t help but ask. I want nothing more than to take my baby home with me.
“Three days at maximum, if all goes well. We’ll recheck liver levels again tonight, but we expect those to look better and better. He’s sedated, but they’re moving him to a room where you can be with him.”
Soon enough, we’re all shuttled to a different floor and I hold Nathan’s listless hand all the way up there, standing next to the gurney, as that monstrous sight penetrates deep into my mind. I never want to forget this horrible moment. I never want to put either of my children through this again.
All Hail the King (Celestra Forever After Book 6) Page 30