by Owen Oakley
I wasn’t supposed to come here, but Demetri wanted me here, not to help me discover myself but to see if I’m the Nymph from the prophecy.
However, admirable to want to protect his people and others, but very misguided.
“Sabine, wait!” Aiden’s voice brings me to a standstill. I don’t face him because I can’t, and if I don’t see his face, it’s like nothing has changed.
God, I don’t want to cry, but I can’t stop the water work from happening.
“Sabine please!” All right, he asked for this. I turn, rounding on him.
“I never had a family, and for eight years you were that for me! You taught me how to feel and showed me what love and affection was, even if it was on a friend level. You did that! But You lied to me Aiden. You lied! How can I trust you after something like that? I don’t even know who you are!”
His face softens and reaches for my hand, and I don’t pull away.
He tip my chin with his finger as he always did when my shoulders sagged, bearing the weight of my issues. Its familiarity makes me cry even harder.
“I’m the same Sabine the only difference is the way I look. Our friendship was real and still is.”
“Did you tell her you’re a prince?” Roman shouts out. For fuck’s sake! Aiden jaw grinds together, and I pull away from him.
“I don’t know you,” I say with my lower lip quivering. “Any of you!” Roman and Demetri watch as the scene unfold. “I thought I lost you Aiden. I was scared, kidnapped, almost killed by alligators and some fucked up mist.”
As though I said something wrong, Aiden turns around and glare at Demetri and Roman.
“You took her through the mist? We didn’t know if she was fucking human or not! Idiots, you could have killed her.”
“Dial it back your majesty the situation was under control,” Roman announces from the table slouched in his seat.
“The mist was the only way to determine if she was something else or human. A necessity that had to be done,” Demetri chimes in. Aiden isn’t ready to let it go as he stalk closer to the guys.
“Oh yeah? And if you killed her? Hmmm? What then?”
“One less thing we’d have to worry about.” Damn. If I didn’t know his feelings before, it was clear now. No second guessing. Boom. I could care less about you.
Even Roman look as though he could go through his brother and Aiden’s pale face was now cherry red.
I say nothing because Demetri has said enough for us all.
13
D emetri and I travel through a portal he created to get to Traci’s place. I was beyond happy because I didn’t have to ride a dragon behind a man that hates me. I’m trying not to let his comment bother me because he’s been an asshat since the moment we met. But the way he said that I’d be one less thing to worry about was harsh. Thing. Like I’m something other than a woman regardless of a Nymph or not. More reason for me to keep my secrets close to me. I want to trust Aiden, but I can’t. I won’t. They’ve all lied to me in some form.
I immediately feel better after stepping into Traci’s shop. She’s the Realm’s botanist and one of many Nymphs that live in Ardam. Her greenhouse is phenomenal. Every flower and plant that I can and can’t name is here.
The place seem empty. I explore all while under Demetri’s watchful eye as he calls for Traci.
I don’t give him the satisfaction of looking his way. After a few minutes, a voice floats in our direction.
“My Lord! I’m so happy I can assist you,” I hear a bubbly voice say. I can’t see over the massive plant that’s in front of me, so I step to the side to find Traci.
Ah ha. No wonder Aiden and Roman were swooning and smitten at the mention of the woman’s name she is stunning and damn near naked. She had ropes of vines going down her olive-green skin; that cover her arms, hands, and legs. Tattoos but they appear 3-D. Her pointed ears had piercings down to her earlobe.
Her skin had a bright sheen that was entrancing.
I could see her breasts through her sheer mesh dress. I turn away before she or Demetri catch me staring.
“Is this our girl?” She asks Demetri.
“It is. Sabine allow me to introduce you to Traci.”
I meet the two halfway and stick out my hand for her to shake it. She ignores it and pulls me in for a hug. Perky breasts smashed against mine and all.
“Nonsense! We’re sisters.” Oh, Lord. Maybe she feels that way because we’re both Nymphs. Ugh, why does she have to be so friendly? It’s making it hard for me to hate her. Then again, why would I want to?
“Has her powers been unlocked?” She looks to Demetri next to her.
“No, and that’s why I brought her to you,” he smiles. Wait! The bastard gives her a complete smile, and I get nothing but scowls and ugliness. Oh, hell, no!
“Yes,” I smile at Traci. “I’m glad you could help me, or it could’ve been one less thing you’d have to worry about. Hopefully I want waste your time.” I give Demetri a pointed gaze.
He lets out a low growl and I smile with triumphant .
Poor Traci look confused as ever. “Why don’t you give us girls a moment to get to know each other, my Lord.”
“That sounds nice, but can I talk to you alone for a moment, Traci?”
I move away to give them their privacy and that feeling that I hate pops up again. Jealousy. Why, though? This man has been nothing but irritating, mean, and hateful to me. Why should I care if he has a girlfriend or wife? Because you want him. For my sake, I hope not.
A bright light engulfs Demetri, and he’s gone without saying goodbye to me, and I’m left with the curly redhead and her perky tits that I can’t turn away from because well, they’re right in my face.
Traci is beautiful, and I can see why Demetri would go for someone like her. A slender waistline and long legs. I shake away the insecurity and get ready for whatever’s next.
“Now that he’s gone, we can chat a bit. Have you been here long?” I shake my head. “You must know all about being a Nymph though, given your lineage. I can’t wait to unlock your abilities.”
I stare at her uncertain what Demetri told her and by her comment nothing at all. Why am I not surprised?
“I just discovered I’m a Nymph and when I mean just discovered I mean an hour ago.”
She frowns and purses her pouty lips together. “I see. I’m sorry. He didn’t tell me you didn’t know until a few moments ago.”
“Not at all surprising,” I retort back.
She shakes her head and guides me to a set of decorative flower chairs by the front window. “Well, don’t fret I’ll take care of you,” she says with warmth in her words that somehow soothes me.
“Will it hurt for you to unlock my abilities?”
“No. I’ll perform a spell, and the icon of your ability or abilities will appear on your arm just here.” She points at my left inner area by my armpit. “The standard for a Nymph is three abilities, but there are more extraordinary ones with four, like your mother, the goddess Forest Nymph.”
“Have you ever seen anymore possess over four? How many do you have?” I must sound annoying like a kid intrigued with something for the first time.
“I have two abilities; spell casting and plant communication.” Now that’s cool. “I can talk to plants, trees, flowers, and even grass. The fun part is they communicate back to me. That’s why I’ve gotten to be so good with plants,” she says, gesturing to the many flowers behind her. “It’s a rare power that many Nymphs don’t care to possess.”
I am Alice, and this is my wonderland. My expression must be comical because she giggles.
“Does the awakening tell what my abilities are?” The last thing I want is this woman finding out that I can destroy things with a single touch of my hand and other body parts. She’ll freak out tell Demetri, and it’ll be downhill from there.
“Yes, but I’ll need help for that part. Outside of the Nymph community, no one knows what they mean.”
At least that’s not much for me to worry about right now.
“When do we get started?”
“It will take a couple weeks. I have to get certain herbs and other things for the spell, and I’m sure other Nymphs would like to be there. We don’t have awakening ceremonies that often. The last one was a century or two ago.” I nod with a smile.
She makes it sound like two years ago or even two months ago. Oh, it was two hundred years ago no big deal.
It sounds awesome, though, a ceremony that I was supposed to have years ago. Not at twenty-five.
“Can you tell me more about our history?” This time her smile brightens to its full potential.
“Sabine. You are one of us, my sister. I’ll tell you everything I know, but just not today.”
My face falls with disappointment etched everywhere. “Why not today?”
“We have to go shopping.”
“I don’t have any money!” I counter quickly. I haven’t spoken those words since I was eighteen.
After I left the group home and got into college, the first thing I did was get a job, two actually. One was proofreading and edits for students’ papers at Xavier U and another at a local newspaper company. It was enough to provide me with my wants and needs, not to mention Aiden helped out even though I told him not to. My chest tightens at the thought of him, but Traci’s voice forces me back to the room.
“Don’t worry about it, it’s taken care of,” she says, pulling my hand. I wrench my wrist away from her.
“How is it taken care of?” My intuition tells me I won’t like her answer no matter how much she gives me pleading eyes.
I’m sure she’s figured out that Demetri and I are at each other’s throats. I refuse to take any charity from the likes of him. But do I have a choice?
I’ve been self-sufficient since I was eighteen and the thought of having to rely on someone else, someone like Demetri, I’ll pass.
“Don’t be mad. Demetri said he’d take care of it.” I cross my arms over my chest, considering my options, which weren’t many. “I can see you, and him aren’t getting alone. He means well, and he’s kind.” Great, another person is campaigning for him. “If it makes you feel better, we can go ridiculous.” Now that was promising and made me reconsider.
“Okay,” I say after a beat. “Lead the way.”
She jumps up and down, including me in the effort. “So, how will we get there? By a dragon?” Her eyes widen.
“Realms no. Dragons are a luxury and very expensive here. We’ll travel by port.” Luxury? I guess they’re equivalent to Mercedes or Cadillac. I laugh to myself. Even in another realm, they’re still social classes.
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to traveling by port or sigil. Traci led me to a circle just as Demetri did this morning.
Her symbols within the circle contain a variety of plant and flower symbols. I don’t bother asking what any of it means because I’m sure it’d be included in my lesson soon enough.
I ease in tight against her suddenly aware just how close we are. Heat rise into my cheeks, but she doesn’t seem concerned and grab my waist.
“Demetri’s travel is cool, and he goes upward as if you’re floating on a cloud.” I anxiously nod. If she’s explaining this means every supe travels differently. I swallow hard wondering how her travel works.
“You’ve traveled with Demetri before?” I don’t know why I should even care. There goes that shy smile again. Oh my God, they’re together. “I have,” she replies. “Several times.” I sigh. Why the hell does it matter Sabine? You have secrets to hide, and you need to protect yourself, not worry about your greedy vagina and feelings.
“Since we’re Nymphs and connected to the earth and nature, we will go downward. I’ll teach you everything, and you can custom your travel as you see fit, but regardless, we must go down.”
Okay, that shouldn’t be too bad. She mutters two strange words and an earthy scent tingles in my nose and warmth caresses me.
A light pressure starts at the base of my feet and moves upwards, and that’s when I panic.
We’re both intertwine with roots. Slowly they make their way up, pressing us closer together, at the very last moment our cheeks press together, engulfing us completely, and then we take a stomach-lurching drop.
As quickly as we dropped, we sprung back up. I open my eyes; I closed on the way down. The old brown roots release us instantly. If I thought I was shell-shocked on my way into this realm, I’m blown away at the sight of their shopping center.
All around us supes were bristling about to get to their destinations. Assorted color and sized dragons fly over our heads. While others were springing and falling into existence.
My mouth hangs open and Traci laughs. There’s no wonder anyone was paying us any attention. Traci pulls me into the crowd and eyes lock onto me. A twinge ripples over my skin.
“Why’s everyone looking at me?”
“Because of your clothes and everything else about you that screams mortal.” Well, that’s not judgmental at all. I dart my eyes back and forth, most are normal which means they can either be shifters, witches, mages, have a glamour in place, or other supes that don’t display prominent features of what they are. Either way, each one hummed with magic, whether faint or downright noticeable, it was clear.
I allow my curiosity and amazement to get the better of me and glancing away for one second too long only to run right into a brick wall, or so I thought.
The impact causes me to fall back onto my ass, although cushiony, the cement sends a flare of pain down my tailbone. I grimace at the pain and when I look up a pair of hazel brown eyes stare down at me.
His tall, broad body blotted out the sun so I could take in all of his stunning features, with a shiny and thick coat of fur and his tail swishing around. He’s beautiful and hypnotizing. His hair was thick and course, the kind my fingers begged to be in.
He’s a damn Centaur?! Oh, the size of his cock! How does that even fit? My insides hurt looking at it. Why was I staring? Maybe because I had no choice and was eye level with it.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to; um are you okay?” The man ask with a deep and sensual voice, bringing me out of my thoughts.
I push myself back, slightly frighten by his massive size that’s bigger than any horse I’ve ever seen.
“Oh, my Sabine are you okay?” Traci rush over to help me to my feet, but her question doesn’t even register to me. She follows my gaze to the centaur in front of us. “I see you’ve met Cairo.” Traci’s lips curl into a smile. Even his name is beautiful.
“Cairo, this is Sabine the Realm’s newest Nymph. You must excuse her; she’s lived life as a human and is a little overwhelmed by everything and everyone.” I’m going to kill her.
Cairo chuckle as he extends his hand out to me. I shyly accept it. An electric ping zipped up my arm. My eyes widen as I snatch my hand back. Did he feel it too?
His smile deepens. “Nice to meet you Sabine. I hope you’re enjoying Ardam.”
Come on, Sabine say something you communicate for a living even if it is in written form. “So far, so good.”
Really? Idiot.
Traci whips her head between the two of us and clear her throat, breaking our stare off. “Well, not to be rude Cairo but we have a lot to do,” she says while catching my hand. “But Sabine will have her awakening ceremony soon and we’d love for you to attend.”
I shoot her a nice glare that she ignores. I know what she’s up to and that’s a negative; I have enough of crazy men in my life for one lifetime. He beams at the prospect.
“I’d be honored. We haven’t had a Nymph ceremony in centuries, and I’ve grown rather tired of the shifters’ rite of passage ceremonies.” He throws me a wink. I’m happy my hair is down covering up my flushed neck and ears.
What the hell? “Well, I’ll send you an invitation. See you then.” Traci drags me on, and I stumble to keep up. I wave over my shoulder and yell that it was nice to meet hi
m. Daring to turn around, not only was he staring, but he had turned all the way around to do so.
“Seriously,” I say after we’ve gotten out of earshot. “I don’t even know him and you’re inviting him to a ceremony that I’m not sure what will happen. I’m nervous enough.”
She waves my rants off. “I’m sorry. You seemed enthralled by him and I thought you would like to meet new people.” The giddiness she had before leaves and her face falls.
I sigh running my hands through my hair. “It’s not you. That was very thoughtful, and I appreciate it. I haven’t spent a lot of time with other people other than Aiden, so I’m not too good with interactions as you can see.”
Traci pipes up at the admission, pasting that bright gorgeous smile back into place. “No problem. Next time I’ll leave you to your own.” That was enough to warrant a smile from me and I pull her along to explore the enchanted mall.
14
“W hy does everything have to be so revealing Traci?” I’ve been pouting for the last hour or two, my inner child bubbling out. Everything Traci has chosen or shown me has been too revealing. I don’t know why I attempt to rationalize with a woman dressed in sheer from head to toe. “We’re not succubus,” I complain with a huff.
“We’re worse.” She sighs. I put a leaf outfit I’m holding back in its original place on the stand. Moving closer to her so no ears can hear this embarrassing conversation.
“Succubus are known for being sexual creatures and feeds off the act to survive to steal a man’s power. We are one with nature and are natural creatures. For those of us who wish to be conservative,” she eyes me, “but still want that freedom we dress the way we do. Most of us wear nothing.”
I mouth the word “wow.” Traci just nods and continues to move further down searching for more clothes if that’s what I can even call it.
I palm my head, trying to get myself together. If I want to find myself, I have to step out of my comfort zone.
For years I struggled with piecing together the missing parts of my life and now that I have them, I’m fighting it every step of the way. I have to reinvent myself to become better.