Regali (A Walker Saga)

by Jaymin Eve

  “Don’t wait up,” Lucy all but shrieked.

  They were just turning to leave when Samuel stepped out of the shadows to stand before them.

  Oh, eff. This was not good.

  Samuel and Francesca had decided at the last minute not to attend the fair. They were still recovering from their months of imprisonment. So what the hell was he doing here now, ruining Lucy’s moment?

  “Sammy.” Lucy wiggled until Colton set her down before him. “What are you doing here?”

  “We need to talk, Luce. Before you make any choices, I need you to know my side of the story.”

  Colton stepped in front of Lucy then. His eyes had shifted color and his words came out in low growls.

  “She’s mine.” His presence went from jovial to menacing in a heartbeat. “You didn’t treasure her, and now I claim her as my mate.”

  Lucy’s face softened as she threaded her fingers through Colton’s, pulling him back to her side. He visibly calmed under her touch.

  “I don’t need to hear your words, Sammy,” Lucy said, without taking her eyes from Colton. “I already forgive you, but my life is with Colt. I have no doubts what a true bond is now.”

  Samuel features, so much like Lallielle’s, hardened and he didn’t back down from the threatening aura Colton was throwing his way.

  “It’s not over. I’ll wait for you, Lucy. I told you once I was the guy for you and that’s still true. This animal is nothing more than a passing fancy.”

  Brace got to Colton before he reached Samuel. “Calm, old friend.” He spoke in a low soothing voice. “Walk away now, Sammy. Colt will rip your god-damned head off.”

  Samuel hesitated, throwing one last look at Lucy before gritting his teeth and storming off.

  It took Lucy and Brace a few minutes to bring Colton back. He was half-shifting into a wolf as we watched. He never took his eyes off Lucy the entire time.

  “I told you my wolf is unstable,” he finally said when his eyes were back to their light blue.

  Brace was the one doing the growling now. “You never hurt anyone, Colt. If anything you reacted as any mate would. Less than me.”

  “Word,” I said to that.

  Brace shook his head at me.

  “She’s my mate,” Colton said as he hauled Lucy into his arms. “And I’m afraid I’ll kill anyone who takes her from me.”

  He got serious then as he stared down at her. “But if you choose to walk away, I will let you.”

  She laughed. “If Abbs and Brace’s lovefest has taught me anything, it’s that you can’t fight fate or a true mate. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

  He kissed her then, and it was everything a first kiss should be. The moment almost stood still for them and I knew I wasn’t the only one holding my breath.

  When they finally pulled apart, Colton snuggled her under his arm. She met my gaze and I saw so much happiness there, but also a bit of pain. She mouthed ‘sorry’ to me.

  I shook my head. I knew she felt as if she’d made things a lot worse. Her tie to Colton would be an obstacle to breaking my melding bond, but life could be short for us all and we needed to take happiness wherever we could find it.

  Chapter 16

  I stood on the sand, ocean water washing over my toes. I was avoiding the fact that I had to pull myself together and focus on the two tasks that were next on my list. I needed to speak with Jedi, because I was definitely questioning why now. And I needed to break the melding bond with Brace. Both were urgent and both could spell the difference in our battle against the Seventine.

  “Baby?” Brace strode across the sand toward me.

  Upon returning from the fair we had all gathered on the front lawn for a nightcap. I’d only just strolled down to the water, needing a few minutes.

  “I need to head back to Abernath for a couple of days. Do you want to come with me?”

  More than anything in this or the seven worlds.

  I gave him a half-smile. “I’d love to, but I have to get back to my mission. Josian and I need to discuss some strategies for the next world, and the four of us girls have to practice with our powers. We don’t even know what Ria can really do yet.”

  He nodded. “Keep me updated on where you’re at, and don’t go to Nephilius without me.”

  I laughed and saluted him. “Yes, sir.”

  He kissed me on the lips. “Smartass.” His words were soft, and with one last gentle touch he left me on the beach.

  Last kiss. I reached up and touched my fingertips to my tingling lips. Our last kiss.

  I didn’t have time to fall apart now so I traced into my bedroom to change my clothes to jeans and a shirt. Dresses were not ideal for most of my adventures.

  Striding downstairs, I found Josian. He was standing with Lallielle, just holding her. His eyes met mine over my mother’s shoulder, and he must have seen the resignation there.

  It was time.

  He nodded once and then flicked his head toward the door. He wanted me to wait out there for him.

  I stayed in the shadows, not wanting to draw the attention of my friends. This needed to stay a secret for many reasons.

  “What are you doing, Abigail?” a voice drawled.

  I jumped about a foot in the air.

  “Goddamn sneaky soothsayers,” I said, one hand on my chest as I stared at Lucy. “How did you know I was here?”

  “Don’t think for one second that you’re doing this without me,” she said, her hands on her hips. “You’ll need someone to lean on. Someone to cry with. I’m your girl.”

  “I would never have left without you. We’ve been in this together since the beginning.” I reached out and captured her hand. “Where’s Colt?” I was surprised he’d let her out of his sight.

  “I convinced him that he needed to watch Brace’s back for a while. You know, newly crowned Princeps and all. I said we’d come to Abernath later.” Her eyes fell. “I know now why you’ve objected so strongly to keeping this from Brace. Even a small lie has my heart aching and my mind rebelling the concept.”

  I sighed as tears pricked my eyes. “Yes, just wait until you perform the mating ceremony and Colton is in your mind. When you lie to him it’ll feel as if you’re lying to yourself. It’s wrong on so many levels.”

  “Colt wants to do it straight away,” she said in a low voice. “I feel I can’t do that to you, Abbs, but I’m not sure how to hold him off.”

  I forced a smile. “Your happiness is my happiness. Don’t delay anything for me.”

  Lucy was my sister and always had been. Obviously our ties to First World had drawn us together all of those years ago. For all I knew she’d been put in the same compound as me for a reason.

  She grimaced. “The way things are going for us, I won’t have to delay. This damn mission will delay for us.”

  On the grassed area Fury was now running around, covered in her flames. I shook my head as Talina followed suit, sending jets of water in her direction. The flames sizzled but re-flared after each geyser.

  “At least some are enjoying the night,” Josian said, becoming the second person to almost give me a heart attack that night. “Are you sure you want to do this, baby girl?”

  “I’d rather have my finger nails pulled out one by one than break the melding bond.” I grimaced. “But the world needs to be saved, yada yada.”

  I wasn’t really that uncaring about the worlds, but right then their neediness didn’t make me happy. Take, take, take is all they did. It was starting to feel like a one-sided relationship. Of the abusive kind.

  “Okay, then let’s go speak to someone who may be able to help you.” Josian opened a doorway and, with Lucy between us, we stepped in.

  As we moved through I recognized the stone room at the end. Josian’s planet.

  He had opened it into the garden area and straight away I knew where he was taking me. The lalunas. And, judging by Lucy’s wide eyes, she’d also realized.

  “Now, it’s better if I deal
with them. They can be a little strange. Their minds are ancient and don’t always think the same way as you and I,” he warned as we moved across the rocks and around to the hidden alcove.

  I had to hide my smile. I wasn’t sure Josian thought like us either.

  As we stood before the little fairy world, they emerged, one by one, their ethereal, almost wispy bodies draped in sheer silk. The female that had spoken to us before stepped forward and onto Josian’s hand.

  “We missed you,” she said, cuddling into his palm. “You’ve been gone forever.”

  He smiled gently at the crazy little fairy. One look at her face left me with no doubt that she was bonkers.

  “Ahh, Tenni, I visit as often as I can. Do you need anything?”

  She shook her head, wings fluttering. “No, we have all of the worlds here.”

  That was a weird thing to say.

  “I need you to do something for me,” Josian said, carefully picking over his words. “Can you break a melding bond?”

  Her tinkling laughter echoed around the cavernous garden area. “You know that there is very little we can’t do.” She rose off his hand. “It is for you?” She addressed the last words to me.

  I nodded, not moving closer.

  “Because you are our bonded one’s beloved daughter. We will help you.”

  Josian placed her back down in the garden where a hundred faces watched us.

  “Do you understand what you are asking, though?”

  I swallowed. This didn’t sound good.

  “There is no way to truly break something as ancient as a melding bond. It is the same as the birth of yin and yang. Two sides of the same coin. I can sever the cord, but there will be remnants of the connection.”

  “Will my power no longer be merged with his?”

  “Your power will be your own, but the heart is another matter.”

  I nodded. This was my best chance.

  “What will the side-effects be?” Lucy said, ignoring Josian’s initial request to let him do the speaking.

  “When we sever the cord we will remove the memories of Aribella and Brace from all except you three. You must make sure that there is no chance to reform the melding bond.”

  “Brace won’t remember me?” Tears pricked at my eyes.

  All of our perfect memories just stolen from him. I thought I’d have the chance to explain after it was done, when he could no longer stop me. Explain why I had to do this, but that couldn’t happen now.

  “So how do we stop them reforming the bond?” Lucy spoke again.

  “They must never touch under the light of our precious moonstale,” she trilled. “And be warned, if you decide to reform the melding bond it may never be as it is now. What is broken does not always be fixed.”

  Crazy-ass fairy.

  Josian met my gaze. I smiled, albeit in a wavering manner.

  “No choice, remember.”

  He turned to his lalunas. “Let’s do this.”

  She nodded, fluttering closer. The rest of the lalunas gathered around her. “Do you agree to the terms? You will owe us a future favor?”

  Josian cleared his throat. “I agree to take this debt.”

  She shook her head. “No, it must be Aribella, for this is her debt to incur.”

  I waved my hands at them. “Yes, yes, that’s fine. Let’s get this done before I change my mind.” I clenched my hands into fists at my side.

  “Excellent.” Tenni’s little eyes glittered, reminding me of Brace’s warning never to trust them.

  I could feel their buildup of power. The cavern started to shake as the lalunas joined hands.

  I opened my bond for the last time.

  Red?

  Brace sounded confused. I hadn’t opened the bond fully for a long time.

  I love you and I will find a way to be with you again, in this life or the next.

  I could feel his horror as he sifted through my thoughts. I knew it was okay because very soon he would have no memories of us.

  I wanted to tell you, every day, but Lucy said everyone would die. I couldn’t risk it.

  His horror flooded my mind. Stop them, Abigail. They can’t be trusted and you can’t break our bond.

  It’s too late. The fate of millions of lives don’t trump our love.

  He exploded with a string of curses. Nothing trumps our love. Why did you not trust me with this? We could have figured something out.

  Energy was shooting off in visible ricochets from the laluna and I knew our time was up.

  Love you for every eternity. I said my farewell, my heart screaming, tears streaming down my cheeks.

  I will come for you, Red. I will not give up without a fight. You are everything.

  His voice broke.

  Red …

  A roar was the last thing I heard as the energy of the lalunas struck me hard. I fell to my knees and in that moment my entire world unraveled.

  Chapter 17

  I was close to comatose for days. Josian and Lucy kept me on his world, secluded from everyone, and since no one remembered Brace and my melding, they had to make up something about extra training to explain my absence. Apparently Josian had to be very convincing to stop Lallielle from coming to find me. So while Lucy never left my side, Josian went back and forward between the worlds. In this time he continued to train the half-Walker females.

  During those few days I’d been present in my head, but it took me awhile to piece myself back together. For some reason after Lucy’s vision I expected to feel stronger in my power without Brace, once I stopped sharing with him, but to be honest I’d never felt weaker. It had to be the pain in my heart and soul that was draining my strength.

  “Are you ever going to say anything, Abbs?” Lucy was holding my hand.

  I’d properly awoken that morning, managed to eat some food but hadn’t spoken yet. I just didn’t have anything to say. Well, that wasn’t completely true.

  “Did Dad speak with Brace?” My voice was hoarse.

  Lucy gripped my hand tighter. “Yes, he went to congratulate him as the new Princeps of Abernath.”

  “Did he remember?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “Jos said it was weird. He remembered you and he knew everything about our mission. But it was as if the romantic moments between you and him had been removed.” She cleared her throat. “Apparently he did seem confused on occasion, but that’s to be expected.”

  “What about Colt? Does he remember you?” I wasn’t sure to what extent the memories had been taken.

  “Oh, yeah, he remembers.” She snorted. “He hasn’t been very understanding about where I am and why he can’t know what happened to you.”

  Her sympathetic gaze met mine. “And you might have another problem.”

  I pulled myself up to sit. I was starting to get used to the roaring pain that was char-grilling me from the inside out. And nothing was changing soon so I might as well pull myself together.

  “Hit me with it.” It could be added to my list of problems a mile long.

  “Lucas is demanding you return and take your place as Empress.”

  I shook my head. “Uh, what? Haven’t I made my position on that clear to him?”

  “Yes, but he’s forgotten much of that, Abbs. All the memories of your bond to Brace have been removed. So Lucas doesn’t know of any reason why you’re not the chosen Empress, and apparently it’s time to take your throne.”

  “Holy freaking eff.”

  “Word,” Lucy said. “Josian has started working on him, explaining that your mission comes first. He may have bought you a little time.” She shrugged. “But I’ve never seen Lucas so determined.”

  “Should have asked the lalunas to remove Lucas’ memories too,” I joked as I stood up.

  Lucy threw me a clean set of clothes, which had been folded on the end of the bed. “Speaking of crazy little fairies,” she said, “your stone has been next to you since the bond was broken.”

  I’d already known it was the
re. Its warmth and strength had been one of the things which helped me open my eyes. Picking it up, I cradled it gently in my hands.

  “Thank you,” I whispered as I kissed it.

  It must have sensed that I was okay right then and it disappeared.

  I felt Josian’s power enter the cavern.

  “Lucy.” He strode into the room. “How’s our girl doin …?”

  He trailed off as he noticed me standing there. “Baby girl.” His shout echoed around.

  He scooped me up into his arms.

  In the last ten minutes I felt as if I’d become an expert at holding the pain inside. I could smile now despite the complete void of hope and joy inside.

  “I need to speak with Jedi,” I said, wasting no time on other pleasantries.

  If I didn’t stay busy I would go nuts.

  Josian regarded me carefully. “Are you sure you don’t need a few more days to deal with these emotions?”

  I shook my head. “No, less time to think is what I need. And the sooner I can save these worlds, the sooner I can see if there’s any way to repair my relationship with Brace.”

  “You’re strong, and I’m very proud of you. Eighteen years of life is so short to be so brave and smart.” He hugged me again.

  In that moment I didn’t feel strong, I was like brittle glass set to shatter with a hard tap. But as long as I knew what I had to do next and took one step after another, I’d make it through the day.

  “The Princeps are meeting at our place tomorrow,” Josian said. “I never expected you would be awake, otherwise I would have suggested a different location. But that’s going to be a good opportunity to speak with Jedi.”

  “But Brace will be there.” Lucy’s voice was tinged with horror. “Don’t you think that’s going to be a bit difficult?”

  “Brace declined the invitation. He said he can’t get away from Abernath at the moment. There’s too much with becoming a new Princeps,” Josian said. “I encouraged that and said I’ll let him know anything that’s discussed.”

  I straightened. “That’s fine, and even if he was there, I can’t avoid him forever. It’ll be like ripping off a bandage: better to get it over with.”