Jaylyn paused there for a moment while looking down at his arm and her glowing eyes faded away. “What if it was me?”
“What?” We asked it at the same time, shooting our looks to her. I knew what she was asking but just couldn’t believe that she did.
“What if I was that person? Could you kill me?”
“I don’t know, Jaylyn and I wouldn’t want to test it either.”
“Well, how else do you plan to do it? By biting yourself?”
“I could never ask you to even consider it.”
“Well, you’re not asking. I’m offering. There’s a difference.”
“I don’t know, Jaylyn.” I said. “Maybe we need to look into it first. He doesn’t know much about this part of the gift.”
“But Trever does. We could ask him.”
“You’d really be willing to let me do that to you?” Zayden asked.
“If it helps. You’ve had this gift your whole life. You should have had control over it by now. How else are you going to do it? Really?”
Zayden seemed unsure but when he looked at me, I knew what he would ask. “Would you have a problem with that if I could?”
“I want you to get control over it, Zayden so you don’t feel nervous to be with me. I shouldn’t be allowed to care how that happens so no. I’ll be fine with it.”
“All right. Go get Trever. We’ll see what he thinks.”
“On it.” Jaylyn turned with a smile and left us to wait.
“You sure about this?” Zayden asked.
“We don’t need to talk about it. I just want something to work because I’m not leaving you.”
“All right. What’s going on exactly?”
Jaylyn came back with Trever and it had to be explained again.
“You know about this gift apparently better than I do.” Zayden said. “So, we need your advice.”
“Oh, so this isn’t about us all waking up to seeing Adele sleeping in Ryon’s bed instead of in yours?”
“No. We’re passed that as long as people stop mentioning it.”
“All right. What kind of advice do you seek?”
“Would I die if he bit me?” Jaylyn asked.
Trever’s look became a little confused and he looked between all of us. “Why would you want to know that?”
“It’s about controlling it. You said it was addicting. Wouldn’t that mean that he would have to learn how to stop on his own, knowing when was enough.”
“I suppose, not that I’ve experienced it but you don’t have to bite a human to learn how to do that.” There was a pause and we looked at each other. Trever figured it out through reading our thoughts because he looked at all of us again. “Oh, no. You’ve actually tasted it with blood.”
“Is that bad?” I asked. “He did it to himself to keep from hurting me at the lodge then again just now.”
Trever let out a long breath and he started pacing. “Okay, then the problem just made itself worse.”
“How do you mean?”
“Doing it with getting a taste makes it more of an addiction like you’ll do anything to have that again, only this time it won’t just be for the feeling that gets released but for the pleasured taste that comes along with it. You’ll start to think that you need to have it when just the slightest bit of stress comes on but it will more likely be a chronic want for now.”
“But would it be possible to control like turning it off whenever I felt like it?” Zayden wondered.
“Currently now? Probably not. You haven’t done it that much so you’re more like on an uncontrollable path right now.”
“So, doing it a lot more could get him used to it so he can gain the control.” I figured.
“In theory. Yes.”
“And since he’s already tasted blood, he’d have to do it with a person.” Jaylyn said. “So, would he be able to kill me?”
“I don’t see how that can really be a question, Jay. You already know what can kill you. Poisons are ineffective and I’m just going to guess that you volunteered to be the person so it wouldn’t result in a death.”
“It seems logical to me.”
“And Adele is okay with this?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I want him to control it.”
“Well, I don’t know. You’ll be seeing him physically latched to another person. Now, I’m not a complete expert with a situation like this since there hasn’t been one but I feel that they’re going to have a bond between them that no one else will be able to understand. Not even you.”
I looked at both Jaylyn and Zayden. I knew how Zayden felt about me and knew how attached Jaylyn was to Troy. Neither of them would ever advance their relationship to more than what it was about to become and I knew that; I trusted in it. “It’s fine. I want him to get the control so he stops worrying and it can’t be me so he should just do what he has to and I’ll let him.”
“All right and you two are equally good with this as well?”
Jaylyn and Zayden nodded to each other.
“Of course we are.” Jaylyn said.
“Okay, then by all means, go for it but let me warn you of one thing. Whether he understands that it doesn’t hurt you or not, Troy is not going to be as comfortable with this as Adele is. She has a reason to be. He’s going to see it a little differently than she does.”
“So are you advising that we not tell him?”
“I would say just for now. You don’t know how long this will have to last until control is found and I’m sure you don’t want him being distant because of it.”
“Okay. We won’t for now. I don’t think I’d know where to begin in explaining that anyway.”
We shared in a quiet laugh because it was true.
“Okay.” Trever said. “Are we done here? I’m sure everyone else is wondering what is going on.”
“Ah, yeah.” Jaylyn turned with him and we slowly started to go back. “Just let me know when you get the urge, Zayden.”
Trever laughed. “I give it about three seconds when we walk around this corner.”
Zayden started getting tense just from knowing what he spoke of and I gripped his arm tightly.
“It’s all right, Love. I won’t.” I kept my hold tight anyway as we rounded the corner and everyone looked.
“Great.” Ruby said. “Going to involve us now?”
“In what?” Jaylyn wondered. “It’s nothing.”
Her tone was a little obvious and Ruby knew it. “Please. Then why didn’t you invite any of us?”
“I think the real question should be when are we leaving?” Trever said.
“Right now.” Zayden cut in, walking to his armor to put on. “We’ll resume the same line up. Darius. Troy. Same tasks.”
They looked at each other and didn’t say a word further about what happened while we got our gear back on and prepared to leave.
Darius rode the left flank like the previous day and Troy trailed in the rear, keeping his eyes focused around us. We knew we were bound to run into something today before reaching the city but we didn’t know what.
Chapter 29
Darius
We traveled for several hours into the afternoon and were just a few short miles from reaching the sights of the city. It seemed too easy and I was right. Troy started to become more alert and I just knew he saw movement among the trees to the north. It was about time. He sped up on his horse, close behind us and whistled. Zayden looked back and he pointed to his eye then pointed north.
Zayden lightly nodded and started to slow us down. “Hey, Love, the moment we stop, I’m going to need you to cover us. Can you do that?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Good. Get ready to do it—right—now.”
When we stopped completely, Adele immediately enclosed us in a protective stone barrier.
“What are we going to do?” Jaylyn asked.
“We’re going out there to take care of the problem while the rest of you get to stay in here so you don’t die.”
“Well, that doesn’t necessarily seem fair.” Ryon said. “Why do you get to have all the fun?”
“Because we won’t get killed like the rest of you.” I answered slightly aggravated.
“What makes you so sure?” Ruby asked. I think she was worried for me but she didn’t have to be.
“Yeah.” Trever added smugly. “Kole’s not here to stand in the way.” Silence hit and Trever had made it obvious that he wasn’t over it. I would have liked to hit him but he wasn’t close enough to me for that.
“My father will want us alive.” Zayden said. “The most they can do is defend. We’ll take our chances.”
“There’s that amusing confidence I admire so much. Why don’t you prove it?”
“Oh, please.” I muttered. “Adele, door before I end up killing someone in here.”
“Adele door, what?”
“Now?”
“Ask me nicely and maybe I will.”
“Forget it. I’ll do it myself.” I took a step back from the wall and kicked it. A hole broke open and a single piece of thick earth fell to the ground.
“Impressive.” Aleksander said.
I smiled proudly without looking at him. “Maybe a little.”
“All right.” Zayden said. “Let’s go and Love, could you please close up the door as soon as we leave?”
“Of course I will.”
Zayden smiled while we walked out and Adele re-closed the door.
There was still movement to the north and we stood in a line and waited and waited.
“Sometime today would be nice.” I muttered.
Zayden smiled while we stood comfortable and we finally watched about a dozen raiders and two of Seni’s finest spies show themselves. The wait for them to reach us was still time consuming and unnecessary.
“So, at last you return.” The commander said. “Your father has been—”
“Expecting us?”
“Precisely. He requests that you return to the city.”
“I’m sure he does.”
“Don’t make this hard, Prince. Come quietly and it will ensure your stature for all of you.”
“And by quietly you mean—?”
“As free men.”
“And if we refuse?”
“Then we’ll take you by force.”
“I see. Well, I don’t see any need for that. We were already on our way back or else we wouldn’t be here.”
“Very well.” The commander was pleased with Zayden’s so-called decision but I already knew what was to come of this. “But there is one other thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re companions.” He pointed to the four walls keeping the others safe. “The King requires them to be vanquished.”
I tightened. No way was I about to let that happen.
“They have nothing to do with this.” Zayden said. “Don’t make us change our minds.”
“All right.” He didn’t push the matter, knowing how badly father probably wanted to see us and what we could really do if we did change our minds. “But before we go, we’ll need your weapons. Just a precaution to ensure our safety.”
Zayden looked over at us at his sides and nodded. I was ready. This was going to turn out to be a fun game. We both took out our swords and held them out by the blade.
“Well? Come and take them.” Zayden said, fighting his smile.
“Slide them over to us.”
Zayden looked to his sides again and nodded a second time. We both put our swords on the ground and slid them over to the company.
The commander looked to his sides with a nod of his own. Two raiders stepped forward and picked up the swords. “And yours?”
Zayden slowly reached down and took out his short staffs. He held onto one end and tossed them over. The moment he let go, the spikes came out and he used his speed to catch up and caught them just before a raider did. He killed him instantly and fear set in. The feeling was something I’ve been waiting for.
The rest of the raiders were disoriented to see this change in Zayden that they backed away, starting to move off to the sides in our direction. The two spies, not functional with a sword, got out of there as fast as they could, running back into the trees. They would have been no match for us but that was okay. We still got to have a little fun. I kept reminding myself that it was to keep Ruby safe and at this point, I didn’t care who I had to kill to achieve that.
Zayden looked up at the commander and used his speed again to go after and kill the one holding my sword then threw it to me.
I watched it spin through the air and I jumped up, pushing off of a rock and caught it. I landed with earth rumbling under my feet and the raiders around me didn’t have time to react before I swung hard and knocked down four of them at once, killing them instantly from the strength behind the blow. They nearly cracked in half and the sound of it was all the sweeter. It was too sudden for them to feel it so at least they were able to die peacefully.
Zayden used his speed for a third time and ran back toward the commander, killing him as he watched how I reacted to taking out a group of his men. Once he fell dead, Zayden went after the raider holding Troy’s sword and killed him with a simple swing of his staff before he even knew it was coming. He tossed Troy his sword and he caught it, putting it away without having to look.
The last four remaining raiders stood by when he had it back but he did nothing. They were getting a little nervous, I could feel it but for some reason they couldn’t move to run away. Troy turned to his left and paced back and forth in front of them with his hands held together behind his back, waiting. Still, they didn’t make a move; they must have surely knew they were not supposed to fight us but it was still funny how he was teasing them with his presence.
“Troy! Stop playing!” Zayden shouted.
He stopped pacing and turned to the group of terrified raiders with a smile. He took a step forward as they remained still as ever, most likely knowing their end was near. “If you fight back, I might be willing to spare your life.”
“We can’t fight back, sir.” One of them replied. “We’re ordered not to.”
“Very well, then at least give me a little bit of a challenge and defend.” He quickly pulled out his sword and killed the first one with a simple swing of his blade. The other three all backed away and pulled out their swords. “That’s more like it.”
He stepped forward and one of the raiders tried defending himself but failed as Troy swung his blade up passed the block. He fell dead and Troy stepped closer and swung his sword around in the air, spinning the handle in his hand and sliced it across two of them at the same time.
One was instantly killed while the other was merely wounded in the arm and as he held it, Troy spun his sword around again and stuck it through his chest. He was killed while still standing and Troy lifted up his right leg, chest high and pushed the dead body off his sword.
He was such a great fighter. I’ve almost forgotten. I never really just stood by and watched it before or at least not since our coming of age ceremony when we had to first prove ourselves as men. This was just a good reminder to the future of our success. No one would be able to deny us of anything, at least not without regretting it.
Now we could relax.
Chapter 30
Ryon
The moment the last raider fell to the ground, Adele took down the walls.
“That went well.” Troy smiled as he turned to us.
I’ll admit that it was good to watch. It made me feel a bit more comfortable to see who I was going to trust Adele’s safety with when I’m gone.
“We should be clear the rest of the way.” Zayden said.
“And you’re sure?” Aleks asked.
“Pretty sure.”
I had verbally distanced myself from the group mostly because I didn’t want to be a part of it and I kneeled down with my hand on the ground. Something still felt wrong to me and I looked only seconds into the past. What I saw wo
uld change everything. The two spies that ran off had dug out a bow and an arrow from the brush. They aimed and were pointing them towards our direction. By turning my sights, I saw from their eyes and they were both focused on Zayden.
I quickly looked up to see him standing with Adele in light conversation and thought of what it meant. It wouldn’t have been her but this was it; my easy exit. I looked at Rift next to me and he whined like he knew what I was going to do but I couldn’t stop this now.
I stood up completely and started in a sprint towards Zayden. Every step felt like the pounding of a steady heart and the wind against my face seemed as fast as the speed of the incoming arrows. No one even saw it coming except for me and I warned no one about it. I kept my thoughts steady on what I had to do.
I came up to the front of Zayden, grabbing both of his shoulders. “Move!”
Instead of reacting to it, Zayden was more confused and I was able to turn him out of the way easily and took his place with my back to the trees. I didn’t even have time to let go of him before both arrows got me in the back and the tips shown through the front of my breastplate.
Zayden looked dumbfounded when he realized what happened but I stood normal with a sigh, dropping my hands down. “You have no idea how long this will be over my head.”
“Ryon!” Adele quickly put up a wall between us and the trees and raced to my side but I still remained on my feet. I knew she thought something was wrong at this point because I wasn’t bleeding and I didn’t act hurt. “What—”
“You seriously had to do it now?” Trever asked. “Couldn’t wait just a few more hours?”
“You know I couldn’t.” I ripped the arrows clean from my chest and threw them towards the ground. “I’m done!”
Trever stood quiet but didn’t stray his eyes from me for a second. “Then name your price.”
I stepped through everyone to get in front of him and dropped to my knees. “Send me home.”
Trever stood stiff and managed to completely ignore everyone’s confusion. “You choose this and I can never bring you back this way.”
Raining Light (Fate's Intent Book 5) Page 16