The Sweet Series Box Set: Books 1-4

by Bailey Ardisone

  He began playing a slow, simple melody formed by a few chords. But the richness contained in the rhythm of how he strummed evoked a wave of emotions I could hardly contain inside. I inhaled calmly and deliberately—absorbing each enchanting note into my memory for later.

  Mycah was suddenly there next to me and touched my cheek gingerly. He wasn’t smiling or frowning—his face stayed stoic and still. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking or why he was here. This was mine and Rydan’s time. This was our secret escape that we clung to and lived for, day after day.

  If Mycah was here, then that meant…danger. He brought danger to our favorite hideaway…and…destroyed it.

  Horrified, I turned to see the magnificent tree up in a smoking blaze. It was once again on fire—a plume of black smoke bellowed out of the top and ascended far into the darkening sky. I was already yards away from it, unsure of how I got here. Wasn’t I just sitting under it with Rydan?

  Rydan!

  I looked for him but he was nowhere to be seen. I could still hear his song playing from underneath the canopy, and panic resonated throughout my extremities. I took off running for him, but Mycah stopped me before I could reach my best friend.

  My eyes flew open and reality came crashing down on me like a ton of bricks—it was only a dream. Thank God, it was only a stupid dream.

  But even if I didn’t want to admit it, there was truth hidden in the meaning somewhere. My relationship with Mycah would ultimately damage my relationship with Rydan, because they were brothers. If by some miracle Mycah and I had been able to be together, I knew the way Rydan and I behaved would not bode well for us.

  But the really sad part was that with the ties between Mycah and me now severed, my relationship with Rydan would still suffer—because by leaving Mycah and all of Aselaira behind, I would have to leave Rydan, too.

  Wait—What the heck was I doing dwelling on all that nonsense now of all times? Like when I was kidnapped for the billionth time? My word, I belonged in a mental institution—I was sure of it.

  I tried to sit up, but still couldn’t move. Behind iron bars, my body lay motionless on the ground as I stared out at one of the most horrendous scenes I had ever witnessed.

  Men covered a large expanse of Luïnil like ants crawling over their anthill. In and out of the portal between Luïnil and the Earthly realm they roved, carrying items and tools. Dozens of erected tents spread from one end to another, mimicking a growing village—or perhaps barracks. Huge machine guns on turrets surrounded a half-complete fenced-in area that was almost finished being built, and on the other side of them—outside the circle of men—were bodies upon bodies of fallen creatures native to this realm.

  Dead.

  All dead. I had to assume they were killed on sight—a result of the men defending their newly claimed land as their own. I gagged, but couldn’t even cover my mouth with my hand, because I couldn’t move. That right there infuriated me, but not nearly enough as what I was forced to watch next.

  A group of these stupid, uncaring humans were cutting down a tree. One of MY beautiful, majestic trees! It was like watching one of my children being killed. These grandiose plants that stood tall into the sky—their fingers and souls implanted deep into the rich soil below—had become a part of me once I stepped foot into Luïnil and connected with its lifeblood, but especially now that I was a queen. They gave me aid and comfort when I most needed it—they were like my friends. I depended on them and drew strength from them.

  How dare these uninvited humans charge into this clean, untainted world and disrupt the land with their pollutants and destruction? I was furious.

  I just wished I could show it somehow.

  Lissë popped into my mind, and I reached out to her through our connection. She, too, was paralyzed. She wasn’t harmed or caged, only immobile. I tried to see where she was and discovered she remained exactly where I had left her. Thank the lord—she was safe and free. I wanted to look around but my head was stuck in one place. Did they even know I was awake? Was anyone going to notice me? Or try talking to me? Hello?! I grew kind of bored here.

  It seemed like hours passed by before I was able to feel a tingle in my pinkies and baby toes. Gradually, the sensation extended through my limbs and neck, until finally, I was able to sit up, albeit sluggishly. I probably moved slower than a sloth, but hey—I’d take it.

  My arms hung to the ground at my sides like limp noodles, and my head sloshed to my shoulder. But I could continue peering at the surreal motions of unwelcome guests hurrying about as they stayed busy tending to who knows what.

  I growled at them in my head. Like, really growled. I was way louder than any lion could ever dream of being. I didn’t know how they found the portal in England, but I was determined to find out.

  At the top of my lungs, and without physical movement, I screamed, “Nikolai!”

  I gave him a few seconds before adding, “Where are you?! I know your creepy butt is out there somewhere…probably watching me like a perverted hawk. Get over here where I can see you!”

  Still nothing. No one seemed to be paying any sort of attention at all. Was I invisible? Or were they actually ignoring me? How rude. Once I got my mobility back, I’d break out of here and make them pay for that. It’d be the first thing I did.

  My stomach grumbled and I cursed it for reminding me that I was starving, and of course, incredibly thirsty. That was when I noticed the rows and rows of planted crops. Though they were green, the soil and terrain encompassed around them were very much not. In fact, it was the opposite. In a twisting, sickening depravation, cracked lines in the ground spread out like stretches of web. The center where the greenery flourished were the crops, but like a ripple effect, everything spanning outward was dead, dying, and dryer than bone. As if…as if the plants were sucking every ounce of life from all beautiful things near them.

  My attention flicked to a couple of men each carrying small, clear glasses that must’ve been filled with deep crimson liquid at some point. The red stain was leftover, slightly coating along the edges of the glass, but their cups were running low. Was that blood? Others who stood next to them were sucking the stuff up into a syringe and then injecting it into something they held in their hands, but I couldn’t see what from here.

  In the middle of the crops where the land hadn’t started dying yet, another group ripped the plants out one after the other and threw them into a burning fire, followed by planting what I assumed to be a seed. I didn’t get it…why were they destroying a thriving plant, only to replace it and start the process over again? I sat mesmerized by their actions as I tried to discern what exactly the whole process was. None of this made sense.

  Why isn’t anyone over here talking to me?! What am I even doing here?

  I was at my wits’ end and growing angrier by the second. Nikolai was like a dirty cockroach that refused to crawl into a hole and die. He was unrelenting and backhanded. What I wouldn’t give to be face-to-face with him now. I’d do to him what should’ve been done the first time he had kidnapped me.

  The very thing I had begged Mycah not to do. If only then I had known how truly wicked this man was. But it was a horrible thing, dealing out death. It wasn’t something that should be done lightly or on a whim. It had to be truly deserved—and even then it was still hard for me to dish out. It would probably always be that way, too. And even despite not having the ability to heal anymore, I was still a Healer inside. It would always be who I was for the rest of eternity—which meant I would forever find death difficult to bear.

  A man all of a sudden appeared at my cage and took my arm. He pulled it through the bars and jabbed a needle into a vein with no attempt at gentleness. I shouted at him to stop and tried to pull away, but it was pointless. I hadn’t gained enough strength to do anything but watch him steal my blood one vial after another.

  “What the heck are you doing?” I kept asking, which he kept ignoring.

  Nikolai’s voice flitted into my ear like a
hissing snake, “Ah, Nari. Such a pleasure seeing you again. We found you at the perfect time.”

  “You,” I bit out, my skin growing hotter than the seventh circle of Hades. I felt my temples throbbing with pure rage. “What are you doing here? I swear, when I get out of this damn cage, you’re dead. Do you hear me? Dead!”

  He laughed the way he usually did when I tried to be serious and threatening, which always made me want to become violent with him in a snap-second. And he knew this. It had to be the reason why he did it in the first place. I wasn’t dumb…and so I didn’t let it show just how much the action bothered me.

  “I don’t think so, Nari. Not this time. Do you see those big metal things stationed around the parameter?” He mocked me like I was a three-year-old child. “Those are maxim anti-aircraft machine guns. There won’t be any of your boyfriends, friends, or other skulking creatures you like to call family breaching the line beyond those bullets that will shred open their skulls like cabbage.”

  He smiled at me. Like, really, truly smiled with a disgusting, satisfied expression that I couldn’t wait to punch off when I got the chance to. “No, no. You won’t be going anywhere. So sit tight, and enjoy the show. Alright?”

  “What show?” My attention got stuck on the guy who had finished taking several vials of my blood. I watched as he walked them over to the other men, then poured each one into the cups they were holding. It hit me then. Please don’t tell me that they were using my blood for some sick, cruel reason that is sure to harm this realm. My chest caved in and it became hard to breathe. I didn’t like this…I didn’t like this one bit.

  Nikolai left without another word being said from him. Only that sickening smirk was left sitting on his ugly face. I felt violated and dirty.

  I was left to stew alone in my anger. In a cage that looked exactly like Zaylie’s did, no less. Even that had me angry—just remembering what she had to go through because of these heinous people.

  More hours ticked brutally by, and though it did offer me the chance to be on the verge of gaining more and more movement that might have meant my release, it never came to fruition once a new guy came into my view and pointed a gun at me.

  “Hey! Come on, that’s not needed. I’m just one person, what chance do I have against all of you? I’m no threat; I’m like one of you! I grew up in the Earthly realm,” I threw my words around carelessly, not even really noticing what I was saying. I only wished to get him to not kill me.

  “Relax,” he mumbled. “This is just your next tranquilizing dose.”

  “Oh, is that all? Great. Carry on then.” I rolled my eyes. How pathetic! I was now their unofficial blood donor, apparently. “What am I even doing here? Why are you doing this to me?”

  “Can’t have you mangling us with rocks and branches again, now can we?”

  That wasn’t even an answer, and especially not what I meant in the first place. Then in the next second he was bashed in the back of the head with a thick tree branch. He crumpled to his knees, the gun falling to his side. I laughed at the irony.

  “Umm, what was that?” I whispered to the unconscious man. “Something about branches?” I slid my eyes up to take in my apparent rescuer only to be floored in an instant.

  What…the hell?!

  I knew this guy…from somewhere. I knew I did, but I couldn’t place a name to his face. Then it freakin’ hit me. I whisper-screeched, “Lachlan?!”

  Did I fall into another episode of the Twilight Zone? This was so far past bizarre that I wanted to scream. And kick. And stomp my feet like a little kid throwing a temper-tantrum.

  “Shhh!” he demanded, as if he had any right telling me what to do. Okay, maybe he did a little bit, since he did kind of save me from getting a tranquilizer dart shot to my butt like King Kong.

  “Okay, but what are you doing here?” I did my very best to keep my voice controlled and as low as possible. But there was no denying that I was freaking out over this insanity. He was the last person I would’ve ever expected to see today.

  “I could tell you all ‘bout it right here, maybe even grab a few bikkies, set up a quaint little table and chairs with some doilies and what not…and then we can gush and gush about all the little details over a nice up of tea. Sure. But don’t you think you should start running right about now instead?” He held the cage door open for me, his eyes roving the area on lookout for whoever would be the one to catch this craziness in action.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. He had no idea how hard it was for me to dash out of there while my curiosity burned a hole in my head. I had to know what was going on! I was literally tempted to trade in my freedom for answers, just so that I could know. “Fine. But I better find out what all this is about. And you better believe this little oasis you guys got going on here will not be lasting long. I can assure you that.” I started to leave, but paused, my eyebrows furrowed. “By the way, what’s a bikkie?”

  “Will you just go? Hurry! Get out of here!” He pulled me out of the cage and pushed me toward the woods. I stumbled on numb legs and fell to my knees. “I could be killed over this. And I will be if you don’t disappear in zero-point-five-seconds.”

  The tranquilizer wore off by this point, but it was still difficult to move faster than a snail. I looked at the forest waiting for my return, and then gazed back at the camp destroying my true home. There wasn’t anything I could do in this condition, so I gave in and relinquished my right to instant gratification and zoomed into the cover of plant-life and foliage.

  No one noticed my escape, thank goodness, but it killed me to leave like that and not stop them from doing whatever the heck they were doing. I knew it had to be bad news. I could feel it deep within my bones that those crops were something horrible to this land, because let’s face it. Nothing the humans could do here would be for the betterment of the realm.

  I fought with myself to stay or leave and finally turned away with reluctance gnawing at my heart. What could I do, anyway? Kill them all? They weren’t going to listen to me if I ordered them to leave. I was only Queen of Lassaira—not President of the United States of America. Or…wait. They were Austrian…so…did they have presidents in Austria, or what? I didn’t know. But a “pssst” sound from the corner of the forest interrupted my scattered thoughts and brought me up short.

  Someone was trying to get my attention. I couldn’t tell if this mysterious, concealed person was friend or foe. Knowing Luïnil, I would have guessed foe. They made the sound again, and then a dainty, sun-kissed arm flashed out of the shadows and gestured for me to come closer. I trained my ears to the sounds of the forest and peered every which way with my eyebrows knitted together, trying to decide what to do.

  Did I risk it and see who it was? Or should I get the hell out of dodge like Lachlan suggested? I needed to find Rydan and everyone. It should be a no-brainer. I felt Lissë’s tranquilizer wore off also. She was finally up moving about and on her way to me, but I stopped her and made her go get help instead. She was a lot closer to Rydan than I was, and if this stranger turned out to be foe, I would need his help more than hers.

  “Nari!” My name—no louder than a whisper—rang out as if it were screamed in my ear and hit me like a strike of lightning to my heart. I would’ve run. I would’ve run straight to Ender and Rydan, probably even Mycah, if it weren’t for that voice.

  The voice I would know anywhere—even in my dying state, I would know this beautiful, bell-like voice. I broke out in a sprint with all caution getting dashed to the wind and zeroed in on that sound.

  My eyes took her in, and I reached out and gripped her biceps with a force stronger than a troll’s. I demanded, “Zaylie, what in God’s name are you doing here?”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  ~Naminé~

  The playful wind sifted lovingly through the threads of my long, golden hair. My mother inserted her fingers through the sides of it and began braiding repetitiously. Oh, how I had missed this one small thing between us. It was my favorite,
for she always crafted the best, most beautiful weaves.

  “Have you ended what should not have been started?” she inquired cryptically.

  “Yes, Mother. It is done.” I exhaled slowly and then inhaled even slower, letting the oxygen fill my lungs to the brim.

  “That is good.” She roughly kissed the back of my head. “Yes, very good.”

  I did not speak anything further and kept my gaze on Cathar as he practiced swordsmanship with Rydan. I refused to let my gaze drift to him.

  Even if I did happen to fail at it miserably.

  I smiled as they laughed together, enjoying both the sounds and the scene before me. I remained grateful even in this moment that Remycah’s ability to heal had finally returned to him. He had not hesitated to repair all damage that any had been suffering from. Cathar could not remain still but for a moment ever since. He had too much energy.

  “He is quite kind for a Zafriel prince,” my mother admitted, keeping her voice low so that only I might hear. My heart throbbed at her words. Not to mention she was being quite contradictory.

  “Yes, he most certainly is. But I do not wish to speak of him, all right, Mother?” I wanted to change the subject, for my mind had enough trouble keeping my every thought of him at bay all on its own. I did not need my own mother, who had basically demanded our disconnection, encouraging more of what I could not contain.

  “If you insist,” she agreed. “You did well, Naminé. I am most proud of you.”

  “Thank you,” I replied, though I did not feel the genuineness in my heart. I was far too resentful for that now. Not at my mother, specifically, but at the whole of our species and traditions. And that was it—the cause of our predicament. Nothing more than traditions. For they would never change or falter, not even with the passing of time.

  Once Cathar and Rydan had their full of sword fighting, Rydan sauntered to our location and asked, “Is there anything I can help with? I mean, with the food?”