The Sweet Series Box Set: Books 1-4

by Bailey Ardisone

  Slowly, I began to drift into slumber thinking, my dear Rydan, how I yearn to meet you face-to-face.

  But suddenly, my pleasant thoughts were quickly replaced with ones forced by Dae’Sûl that were so horrendous and vile, I vomited right in my sleep.

  All I was left with was Dae’Sûl’s insurmountable desire for justice.

  Justice against Remycah.

  Chapter Seventeen

  ~Nari~

  “I...I—” I tried to choke out. “What just happened?!” No matter what I did I could not move from the spot where I stood as I had watched Mycah disappear. I could not rip my eyes away; they were intent on making him reappear in that very spot he had left from.

  I fell to my knees, still boring my gaze into that spot. Silent tears spilled from my frozen eyes. I did not make a sound. I did not cry out. I couldn’t. I was too consumed by grief and regret to do anything else but stare.

  I felt Rydan drop to his knees next to me and pull me into his muscular chest. My eyes still did not leave that spot. I did not blink. My lungs began to close up, making it impossible to breathe.

  “Shhh, Nariella. You’re scaring me,” Rydan said against the top of my head.

  “No,” I croaked. “No,” I repeated over and over as I shook my head back and forth. This couldn’t be happening. I could no longer feel his presence. My soul mourned the loss of a reunion it had only received a tiny taste of before it was sliced away again.

  I balled Rydan’s grey shirt in my fists and squeezed so tightly that my knuckles must've been white. I bit down on the cotton fabric to channel the pain and to keep from screaming.

  The look on Mycah’s face before he was gone etched itself into my brain and would now forever haunt me. It made me sick. I wanted to lean over and vomit.

  He had to know that Rydan was only my best friend. I had just been so relieved and happy to see that he was still alive and unharmed; it had been like seeing my brother again.

  I should have run to Mycah—I should have let him know how much he meant to me.

  But Rydan was my family. He was all I'd had for so long.

  “Nari, look at me,” Rydan interrupted the guilt-trip I had ensuing inside me. “Hey, look at me.”

  I only half-heard his voice. He finally grasped my chin and forced me to rip my eyes away and blink up into his mercury eyes.

  I jumped back away from him and fell onto the palms of my hands and butt.

  “Your eyes...they’re glowing,” I cried as I scooted across the grass to get far away from Rydan.

  “They’re what?” he asked with fear and disbelief. He pulled his eyebrows together and stared at me like I was crazy—a look I so often see from him

  “Glowing,” I answered firmly. He looked away and turned his head to the side out of frustration. This time I let out a scream. He whipped his eyes back into mine in question.

  “What?!” he asked with worry as he stood up. His mercury eyes swirled with fiery orange streaks and glowed even brighter. But that wasn’t why I screamed.

  “Rydan! Why...why are your—” I could barely get the words out. I tried to swallow. “Your ears. They’re different. The ends are slightly...peaked? I mean...they’re not round like they used to be.”

  His eyes immediately dimmed to their normal silver as he exhaled a sigh of relief. I slightly shook my head to clear my eyes, as if they were the problem.

  “I know. Don’t scare me like that,” he said gruffly as he bent down again and tucked my hair behind my ear. He moved his thumb over it saying, “Your ears are different, too. Didn’t you notice?”

  “No, they’re not!” I screeched as my hands flew up to both of my ears.

  Oh god.

  He was right. Now that I felt them, the ends were just...different. They were a tiny bit cornered. I felt the blood fall from my face and settle into the pit of my stomach.

  How have I not noticed anyone’s ears until now? Okay, granted, I didn’t spend much time staring at people’s ears. Plus, everyone in this dang land had long hair that covered them. So it couldn’t be completely my fault! Either way, I tried to slow my heart down.

  “What does this mean? Are we changing?” I didn’t want to panic, but this seriously freaked me out.

  “No. I'm told that we're in our true forms here. The tree concealed any attributes that don’t appear completely human and is why back home our eyes and ears looked normal,” he explained nonchalantly.

  “Normal?! I’ve had bright purple eyes for eighteen years, for Pete sake!” I retaliated. That logic didn’t make sense.

  “I mean—the glowing thing. Just wait until you see your boyfriend’s eyes,” he scoffed. I blushed at his use of the term ‘boyfriend’ and dropped my gaze downward.

  “So wait—when we go back, my ears will be normal again?” I asked in wonderment.

  “Like I said, that’s what I’m told. It’s like an enchantment to protect you.” He clenched his jaw and waved his hand in the air at the words, like it was too crazy for even him to believe. “What in the world are you doing here, anyway? You’re supposed to be in Kennebunkport where you’re safe. How did you even get here?”

  I slapped Rydan over the shoulder as hard as I could.

  “Ow! What the heck was that for?!” he hollered.

  “Do you have any idea what you put me through?! How could you just leave me like that? You didn’t even say goodbye! Did you for one second think what your leaving did to me? I didn’t think I would ever recover!” I yelled through broken sobs. It all came back to me in a rush. “The pain from being without you was unbearable! Don’t ever do that to me again!”

  He pulled me against his body and wrapped his arms around me completely, keeping silent. I drew in his smoky scent and shivered with pure relief.

  “I don’t know how I got here. I mean, I fell through the tree. Backwards. Then all sorts of crazy happened. But I finally found you. That’s all that matters.” I sniffed against his hard chest. He lightly chuckled in response but still said nothing. Typical.

  “Rydan, what happened to Mycah? Is he okay? What was that? We need to go after him. We need to find him,” my voice turned very high pitched as my fear spiked through the roof.

  “I have no idea what that was. A Shape-shifter or something, I don’t know. How the hell do you expect to find him? Where would we even start?” he replied shakily.

  “I don’t know! But we have to try! I can’t bear the thought of him hurt or suffering. Please!” I begged, staring straight into his bright eyes.

  “Fine. But we have to help someone else first. I have to do this, Nari. This comes first. Mycah would want it this way,” he responded cryptically.

  “Who do you want to help?” I asked, not understanding.

  “Do you remember before I went through the tree, Mycah mentioned a...Dream Weaver?” he countered my question with one of his own. I nodded yes in reply.

  “Her. I need to help her. She is in trouble,” he confessed solemnly.

  “Where is she?” I inquired, pain filling my heart that Mycah had to wait.

  “The castle,” was his only response.

  I pulled out my map and pointed to the spot marked ‘Edhel-N’dor’ below a sketch of a castle. “This castle?” I asked.

  He nodded yes and then took the map. “Where did you get this?” he questioned, amazement painting his deep voice.

  “A friend. He helped me. He saved my life a few times, but oh, Rydan! I even saved his once, too,” I gushed, proud of myself.

  “No way. You?” He laughed.

  “Yes!” I stood up and brushed myself off.

  “Looks like we have our entertainment for the road trip then. Start spilling,” he said as he hung an arm around my shoulders and pulled me along.

  I happily obliged. I launched into my story by first explaining what Mycah had told me before he left about me being a Wood Elf and that I was in fact Rydan’s enemy. He full out laughed when I told him that, which in turn made me smile. I went on to explai
n what happened in front of Zaylie at the tree, my astonishment upon finding myself in Luïnil, the beauty of Lassaira, my grandfather Döron, the handsome Wood Elf that helped me. I told him about the Night Elves that had chased us, the waterfall that I almost fell from, and the strawberry bread. I showed him my awesome water canteen as he chewed on some of the food Cathar gave me.

  Then, I told him about what happened when I saw my new friend impaled by the Night Elf. I dove head first into the icy pool of guilt I knew I’d feel once I recalled the story. I told him how strange it had felt, like someone else’s power had fueled my actions, but in a comforting way. I couldn’t stop the tear that rolled down my face when the words ‘killed’ exited my tongue. It was hard to tell him. But I needed his forgiveness. I needed his support and for him to tell me I did the right thing. Which he did.

  He explained that he had to watch Mycah kill a few monstrous looking creatures right before his eyes, and even though it had been hard to take in, he had known it would have meant both their lives had he not done it. My heart fluttered in response to hearing Mycah’s name and about him single-handedly taking out ferocious beings. I tried not to let my face blush—not that I really had a choice. I kept my eyes to the ground and listened to Rydan’s voice. It killed me to not know if Mycah was okay or what he was doing. Did he suffer? I shook my head and tried not to focus on the unknown.

  Rydan asked me what happened next, so I continued to tell him about the dragons, which he barely believed I was telling the truth about, and then the huge wolf-like creatures that almost ate me.

  Again, he laughed.

  I punched him in the chest and crossed my arms.

  Boys.

  What good were they? Especially when I asked him what he had been doing this whole time and he responded with “nothing”—I almost punched him again. I restrained myself, knowing he wouldn’t care if I did.

  “Are we going the right way?” I asked, while I looked around at the amazing scenery. Rolling green hills stretched for miles around us, while a tiny stream babbled over sparkling stones. It was wide-open land, no trees for miles, which made it easy to see the rocky mountains in the distance.

  “If the map is correct, this stream should take us to the castle if we keep following it. Only time will tell,” Rydan answered. I kept silent as I pulled out the extra water flask Cathar packed for me. This one was brown leather and extremely soft and flexible, shaped like a teardrop.

  Rydan snatched it from my hand after I barely finished my sip and took a big gulp himself before tossing it back to me.

  Ugh. I felt the need to repeat myself—Boys. I rolled my eyes at his back and worked to keep up with his long-legged pace.

  After what felt like all stinkin’ day, we finally breached a large hill, and there it was. The most awe-inspiring castle that I was sure could ever exist. It turned my legs to jelly and stopped me right in my tracks. The enormous stone castle was literally carved out of the giant mountain and jutted over a ragged cliff with a crashing ocean below. The water was as blue as Mycah’s eyes. I stared wide-eyed at the medieval towers and gothic details that were clearly visible even from our long distance.

  I turned to Rydan and noticed that he, too, stood stunned in pure awe and wonder. He had his arms up with his fingers woven together, cradling the back of his neck.

  Rydan had always been insanely good-looking, but something about the way he was now made me smile and feel proud that he was my best friend. The way his dark jeans hung loose around his hips in that very guy-way, and the cut of his muscular but lean arms as they stretched up. The sun peeked out from behind a cloud and stroked his black hair, setting off the red streaks I didn’t get to see often.

  Dang, yo. Rydan was hot. I laughed at myself and reached up on my tippy-toes to give him a peck on the cheek.

  “Let’s go,” I offered, dispelling the thoughts immediately from my head as we trudged down the grassy hill. He was like a brother to me. I couldn’t notice his attractiveness for very long before it completely freaked me out. No one wanted to think of their brother in that way. Of course, I could recognize his looks without feeling anything else from it. It was easy.

  My heart had already been spoken for. Rydan in no way gave me the same feelings that Mycah did every time my eyes lay upon him. No one would ever make me feel the way Mycah did.

  Rydan mussed up my hair on the top of my head like I was a dog.

  Ugh.

  Eventually, we drew closer and closer to the ginormous castle. There were a few barns and what looked to be farmland at the base of the mountain. The stone village cascaded down from the wall of the castle all the way to the farms below.

  A few people stopped what they were doing once they noticed Rydan and me approach. They eyed us up and down in question, as if noticing our foreign clothes. Oops.

  I checked their ears this time, those I could see, and sure enough—they looked like Rydan’s. And mine—but we won’t go there since I technically had yet to see them. I looked around and recognized they all had beautiful silky dark hair. Most black, some dark brown, with a few dark reds also. Several even had a mixture of the dark colors.

  “Um, Rydan? Are you sure it’s okay we came here like this? Isn’t your uncle hunting you?” I suddenly remembered Rydan’s uncle wanted to kill not just Mycah, but Rydan also! I felt like an idiot for forgetting that Rydan was a part of all that, too.

  “Shh, they’ll hear you. They have better hearing than humans,” Rydan softly whispered in my ear. I snapped my eyes up to his and opened my mouth to speak, but didn’t. How did he suddenly have all this knowledge? Shouldn’t that mean I had better hearing, too? Or maybe I did and just didn’t realize it yet.

  It wasn’t as elegant and stunning here as it was in Lassaira. The people looked downhearted and gritty. They weren’t glowing and ethereal. They were...suffering. It was something I could tell right away just by their outside appearance, and my heart immediately sunk.

  We kept walking without interference from anyone. I was surprised at this; a part of me expected to be stopped and thrown into a dungeon. As we ascended the cliff that led up to the gate of the castle, it grew nicer and nicer. Cleaner and regal, as if this was high society up here and down below were the nobodies.

  Everyone appeared to be incredibly busy, moving to and fro all in a tizzy. I listened to what a few young female elves chatted about. Two of them spoke of what sounded like a huge elegant feast. I stopped subtly and perused at some hanging clothes, trying to eavesdrop.

  “Yes, it is most certain they will be there. All the neighboring Kingdoms have been invited, I am sure of it. Tonight is bound to be magical. I know not how I shall ever choose which dress to wear,” one girl sighed.

  “I have chosen mine. I only have yet to arrange my hair. Make haste; let us begin practice,” the other instructed before pulling her friend after her.

  “Rydan!” I called as I grabbed him by the neck and pulled him down to me. “There’s a fancy feast happening tonight, I think. This could be our in!” I whispered in his ear.

  “The cat food?” he asked with a grin.

  “No, moron. A dinner party,” I replied, unable to hold back a smile.

  “Oh, great,” he scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Fine. But I’m not dressing up.”

  “You’re kidding, right? Look at us! We stick out like a tall glass of water in the middle of a desert. Don’t you see these people eyeballing our clothes?” I kept my voice quiet and looked around.

  “Nari. I’m not changing. Here, wear this,” he said gruffly as he shoved a gown into my face.

  “Eeww! I’m not wearing this. It’s totally ugly,” I retaliated, offended by his complete lack of girl know-how. Did he seriously think I’d wear a baby-puke-green dress? Yuck! I put it back and craned my neck at the other shops. There were quite a few choices, no doubt in preparation for tonight.

  “I love this one!” I said, too loudly, as I bounded toward a gorgeous violet gown on the other side. I held it up ag
ainst my body and just knew it was the one. I spotted silver slippers and grabbed those too.

  “It’ll match your eyes,” Rydan offered with a smile. “Now how are we going to get in?”

  “And pay for the dress and shoes—” I replied as a female with long, red hair came up to me. She was beautiful.

  “Tad glor,” she said sweetly.

  “Excuse me? Umm...sorry,” I shook my head not understanding. She gave me a questioning look.

  “Two gold pieces,” she answered in English. Thank god. Except I didn’t have any gold.

  “Ummm...is this worth anything?” I asked, pulling out the Isil’Elda sword Cathar gave me. I doubted I would have been able to bring it with me into the castle, anyway.

  “Nari, what are you doing?” Rydan interrupted me. The redheaded elf gasped.

  “How have you acquired that?” she asked skeptically.

  “Uhhh...It’s his?” I stated, pointing to Rydan, but it came out sounding more like a question. I didn’t know what else to say. She eyed us both quizzically for a moment before taking it out of my hands.

  “A soldier does not give up his sword so easily,” her voice was low and cautious, not believing us.

  “He has a new one. A better one,” I fibbed.

  Rydan pinched me and then whispered in my ear just barely, “Why are you giving away our only weapon?” I ignored him and let the lady-elf take it after she nodded with approval and handed me a tiny pouch of coins. I guessed that was my change. I left with the gown, shoes, and extra money.

  “Do you really think we would have been able to get by those guards at the gate of the castle with that thing, anyway? At least this way we’ll fit in. Or at least, I’ll fit in,” I explained, smoothing away the invisible wrinkles from my jeans.

  “And do you really think we would have tried to go in that way?” Rydan countered just as firmly. My head jerked up to stare into his eyes with confusion. I quickly turned and looked at the gigantic castle that had a just as gigantic stone wall encircling all around it, then shook my head.