“I remembered your dream.” I could not tell her about my father leading me.
“I would be dead without you. Thank you.”
“Thank you for making my life worth living.” There was no exaggeration in my words. She was truly my everything.
“It was worth living before. You were already a Guardian.” Her face darkened. “Wait. That sucks. That really, really sucks.”
“What does?”
“That you can’t just stay away from her. You are bound to protect Charlotte even though she turned her back on you.”
I was no longer bound. The darkness had wiped that clear away, but I could not admit that. “I will do my duty.” I would. Just not a duty to Charlotte.
“Do you think she refused her help because of your Dad? She made such a big deal about you being a different kind of man, but maybe...” Then she looked down. “I am such a bitch. Sorry. Why am I saying all this? I am never like this.” She rubbed her forehead. “Don’t hate me.”
“I could never hate you.” I crushed my lips into hers, uninterested in continuing our conversation but very interested in tasting more of her. I needed her, and suddenly the tower seemed impossibly far away. I pulled her flush against me, letting her feel my hardness so she would know exactly what she did to my body. I cupped her breast through her shirt, warring with myself to stop short of ripping the fabric. There were other men around. I had to control myself. She returned the kiss just as intensely, burying her fingers in my hair as she moaned into my mouth. I squeezed her breast, and she moaned again nearly undoing me. I picked her up, reluctantly breaking the kiss. I was desperate to continue without clothing in our way.
“James, I can walk,” she protested.
I gave no answer. That would only slow me down. Instead I moved into a run toward the tower.
We reached the clearing, and I reached for the door of the tower, but another hand blocked me.
“Ainsley, how nice to see you again.” Gregor grinned as he stepped in front of the door, completely blocking our way.
“Leave us, Gregor.” I resisted the urge to use force against him. That might upset Ainsley.
“Are you unable to walk?” Gregor ignored me and addressed Ainsley where she rested in my arms.
“I can walk.” Ainsley lifted her head. “But James swept me off my feet.”
“Swept you off your feet?” Gregor laughed. “I was unaware you were the type of girl who needed that sort of courting.”
“Courting?” Ainsley raised an eyebrow. “We have moved past any definition of courting I know.”
I grinned. She could be as open about our relationship as she wanted to be.
Gregor appeared taken aback. “Women of your world are far less modest than those I am used to.”
“I have no interest in hearing about your notions of modesty. You tried to kill me.” Ainsley scowled.
“I did no such thing.”
Ainsley shifted in my arms. “Please put me down.”
I did as she asked, but I still kept her close.
“You threw me in a frozen lake.”
“I explained to you it was in your best interest.”
“Being thrown in icy water will never be in my interest.” She put a hand on her hip.
Gregor smiled. “It would have been if James had refrained from pulling you out.”
“We have no time or interest in your theatrics.” I glared at him. “I suggest you step out of the way.”
“Wait.” Ainsley put a hand on my arm. “What do you mean? James saved me.”
“Is that how he explains it?”
“It is the truth.” We still had no idea how well her body would have tolerated the ice.
“You were not facing death. You would have been strengthened. Do you remember nothing of what I told you? About you becoming our queen?”
“I thought that part was from the dream.” She rubbed her forehead.
“It was real.” Gregor locked eyes with her.
“Yeah, I’m not going to be a queen. Nice try though.”
I laughed despite the situation. Ainsley had a sense of humor all her own.
“Why not?” Gregor appeared taken aback. “Does not every woman dream of that?”
“Dream of being a queen? Yeah, not exactly. I never even got into the whole princess phase some girls do. It was never my thing.”
Gregor wrinkled his brow. “Princess phase?”
“I forget. You know absolutely nothing about where I come from.” She looked out toward the woods.
“I plan to learn a lot more.” He smirked.
“What do you mean?” Ainsley turned her attention back to him.
“Gregor…” I warned.
“James has not told you yet?” He appeared pleased.
“Told me what?” Ainsley wrapped her arms around herself.
“Nothing.” I glared at Gregor. This was not how we were going to have the discussion.
“Tell me.” Ainsley turned to me. “And no saying it is not important for me.”
“I already apologized for that.” I was furious at Gregor. He had no right to get involved.
“Tell me. What is Gregor talking about?” She tapped her toe.
“Do not say another word.” I warned Gregor. I could not allow her to find out this way.
“She deserves to know.” Gregor narrowed his eyes.
“Know what? Tell me now!” Ainsley demanded.
“We are going to—” Gregor stared.
I lunged for him and knocked him to the ground. I wrapped my hands around his neck and started to squeeze until the color began to drain from his face. .
“Stop!” Ainsley screamed, pulling me off of Gregor seconds before I took his life.
6
Ainsley
James almost killed him. He almost killed Gregor right before my eyes. And the worst part was it appeared to be over Gregor telling me something I wasn’t supposed to know. My head spun. The haze was still there, and I was exhausted; however, the exhaustion and haze was nothing compared to my dismay.
“You almost killed him.” I stared at James in disbelief. My heart rate was out of control, and I struggled to pull in enough air.
“Ainsley.” He watched me with wide, fearful eyes.
Why was he fearful? He was the one who almost killed a man. I still couldn’t quite believe what had happened.
“What?” I watched him. “Are you going to kill me if I try to say something you don’t want to hear?” The words sounded false to my own ears. I couldn’t accept a reality where James could hurt me, but could I accept one where James tried to kill another?
“How can you say that?” James strode toward me. “How can you think I would ever lay a hand on you?”
I backed away and knelt down beside where Gregor lay on the ground. I touched the thick red rings around his neck. “Are you okay?”
He croaked out a few words. “Not thanks to your lover.”
My stomach turned. I was sleeping with a man capable of murder. And I’d been just about to have sex with him again. The worst part is I wanted him. Not my conscious mind, but my body. It still craved him even though the rest of me wanted to run.
“Ainsley. Step away from him.” James’ voice was firm. “Please step away.”
“No. I am not going anywhere or doing anything until you fill me in. I’d ask Gregor to tell me, but that would probably lead to his death. What was he going to tell me?” I knew it wasn’t going to be something I wanted to hear.
“I do not think you can handle it right now. You are too shaken up.”
“Too shaken up!” I jumped to my feet. “Are you kidding me? That’s your fault, you know that?”
“I was only protecting—”
“You had better not have been about to say you were protecting me.” I was careful to make myself seem more in control than I really was. I was dizzy and nauseated and feeling anything but strong.
“But I was. Everything I have done is to protect yo
u.” James’ shoulders slumped.
“Everything you have done? What have you done?” I wrapped my arms over my chest.
“What he was born to do.” Gregor sat up.
I backed away from both of them. I didn’t trust James, but that didn’t mean I trusted Gregor either. “What does that even mean? What he was born to do?”
“We will have this conversation alone.” James reached out for me.
“Like hell we will.” I backed further away. “I am not going anywhere with you. I have already made myself clear.”
“Ainsley, calm down.” James eyes appeared glassy.
“Calm down?” Was he kidding with me? “You almost killed a man. Killed him. And you’ve been keeping more secrets.”
“We are going to our room.” James grabbed my hand.
I tried to pull it away. “Let go of me.”
“Tell her the truth, James. Tell her,” Gregor demanded.
“I care nothing of what you say.” James glared at Gregor. “Stay out of this.”
“She needs to know. I warned you about locking her away.”
“Yet this is what happens when I let her out!” James yelled.
“Let me out?” It took a moment for his words to sink in. “Are you kidding me?”
“Ainsley. There is more at play here than you could possibly imagine.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
“Try me. I’ve been told I have a fantastic imagination. It’s so great in fact I imagined you cared about me,” I spat out. “My mistake.”
“I do care for you. I love you. Nothing happening here changes anything.” James stepped toward me.
“It changes everything.” I turned to Gregor. “Tell me. If he won’t tell me, you need to.”
“Ainsley…” James spoke my name softly. “I will tell you once we are alone.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“You should.” He tightened his hold on my hand and pulled me so I was in his arms. “You know you can trust me. You know you are mine.”
“Yours? Yeah… don’t bet on that.” I struggled to move out of his arms, but he held me too tight.
“You are my kindred.” His eyes bore into mine.
“Maybe, but that doesn’t mean I have to be with you.”
“You are willing to turn your back on everything that exists between us because of him?” James pointed to Gregor.
“Not because of him. Because you almost killed him.” I would never get that image out of my mind.
“I was protecting you.”
“From what?” I shouted. “All he was doing was trying to tell me the truth.”
“The truth can be dangerous,” James calmly replied.
“Not any more dangerous than not knowing.”
“He is right.” Gregor returned to his feet. “As much as I do not want to agree with him. But that changes nothing. You need to know.”
“Someone tell me.” I closed my eyes in an attempt to regain my composure, but it wasn’t going to work. Too much had happened.
James cleared his throat. “I am not sure where I should begin.”
“Where to begin?” I struggled to respond. “This is that kind of story?”
“It is a hard story to tell.”
“Start telling it.” I was out of patience.
“I needed to save you. I was willing to do anything.” James hung his head.
He seemed so upset I longed to comfort him, but I couldn’t. Not after what I’d seen him do to Gregor.
“I had no choice after Charlotte refused her help.”
“So that was true?” I needed to believe at least some of his words had been. “She refused to help you?” His hold had loosened, so I stepped back from him.
“She did not trust me. She had me locked up.”
“Locked up?” I startled.
“She refused to listen to reason even after I explained your need for me. After I explained you would die without me.”
“Why?” I fought through the haze to listen. I needed to understand.
“She thought she could do it herself, but she could not. She did not understand the power we are dealing with.”
“What kind of power?” I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know, but I needed to.
“The poison was made by my father.”
“I am well aware.” I hated his father even though I’d never met him.
“Charlotte is strong, but not that strong.” James sighed.
“So what happened? If you were locked up, how did you get to me?”
Gregor laughed.
I turned to him. “What are you laughing at?”
“This is going to be rather entertaining.”
“There is nothing entertaining about this situation.” I wasn’t sure who I was more annoyed with at that moment. They were both on my bad list. I closed my eyes and worked once again to regain a sense of calm. I opened them. “Ok, continue.”
James met my eyes. “I reached out for help, and someone else answered.”
My chest clenched, and I got chills as the realization of what he was implying set in. “You didn’t.”
James nodded. “I did.”
“Your father?” I started to shake. “You. No. I don’t believe it.”
James reached out for me, and I shook my head. “Stay away.”
“It is still me, Ainsley. There is no reason to be afraid.”
“Tell her the rest, James. Get it over with,” Gregor pressed.
“She cannot handle more yet.” James face was filled with panic.
“I want to hear it. Everything.” What had he promised his father in return? I glanced around me. Should I run? Where could I go? And who could help me get rid of the poison?
James’ eyes were wide with anguish. “He helped me. He gave me the power to get to you.”
“Wait. The power? Explain that.” I tried to calm my rapidly beating heart.
“I cannot explain it.”
“Yes you can. And you will. I need to know. Now.” I used every ounce of strength I had to keep myself standing.
“You do not truly want to know. It will not be easy to hear.”
“Easy or not I need to hear it.” I braced myself for what was coming, and I already knew it was going to change things completely. This sort of revelation was becoming all too common now. I had an idle thought of how nice it would be to wake up in my old life—but that couldn’t happen, and there was still a part of me that wouldn’t want to go back to my life before James.
“He is part of me now.” James’s eyes locked on mine.
“Uh, what?” I was hit by a wave of disgust and fear.
He reached out for me again. I stepped away.
“Ainsley. Please do not make this any harder than it already is.”
“Harder than it already is?” My body shook.
“I did it to save you. Surely that must mean something to you.” His eyes pleaded with me.
“It does mean something.” Maybe it shouldn’t have. Maybe I should have been the martyr who told him I’d have rather died, but I couldn’t. Not with the look on his face. But it didn’t mean it was okay. “Your motivations are beside the point. You have to get rid of him. I don’t know what you promised, but you can’t do it if it hurts others.”
“And it hurts others.” Gregor grinned.
His grin seemed far more frightening than the last one had been.
James nodded. “It is not as simple as you make it sound.”
“I never said it was simple,” I explained. All I said was you had to do it no matter what.” I tried to fight off the haze, but it was getting worse.
James smiled sadly. “If only it could work that way.”
“It has to work that way.”
“Are you even a little curious what he is supposed to do?” Gregor’s voice was full of excitement. He was as cold-hearted as I’d originally assumed.
“You said it would hurt people. That’s all I need to know.”
“Don’t
you want to know what people?” Gregor’s entire face was animated.
“It doesn’t matter. Anyone getting hurt is bad.”
“But it is worse when it is people you may know.” Gregor grinned even bigger.
“Just say it, Gregor. Obviously you are bubbling over with excitement.” I tried to hide my fear at what was coming but my entire body was shaking.
“Ainsley, this will be too much. You need to take time to process what I have told you already.” James reached for me again.
“No, I want it all over with. I can’t wait.” I was barely standing up as is, and the anticipation of hearing things that were worse made it that much harder to stay in control.
“At least let me near you.”
“No.” I shook my head.
“I need you. You are what keeps the darkness at bay,” James pleaded. “I cannot fight it without you.”
His eyes were still his, warm and caring, and I found I believed him. I believed him about his reasons, and the role I could play.
“This doesn’t mean I am accepting what you did, or that I am changing my mind. You are not doing what your father asked of you.” I held out my hand tentatively.
James took my hand in his, surprising me by not taking advantage by pulling me even closer. Instead he looked directly into my eyes. “My father lost Energo. He was robbed of the chance to rule it.”
“Robbed of the chance?”
“Yes. Robbed. But he has plans to find another kingdom for us.”
“Wait.” I wasn’t ready for what I knew was coming. “First explain yourself. How was he robbed of anything?”
“The story we were told was all wrong. Even my father perpetuated a myth that had no basis in truth.”
“That makes absolutely no sense.” And my confusion wasn’t coming from the haze.
“I wish I could share these memories with you.”
“Memories?” I raised an eyebrow. “What are you remembering?”
“They are not my memories precisely.” He looked past me.
“Whose are they?” I asked even though I already knew and feared the answer.
“My father’s.”
“Maybe I’d rather know the plan than this memory.”
“The memory is not bad. Painful maybe.” James blinked a few times as if trying to clear his vision. “It has made me understand my father more than I thought possible.”
Forged in Fire (The Forged Chronicles Book 3) Page 4