by Willa Alders
“Why? You both knew we would be ok!” I smiled at them.
“I was not worried I was just simply concerned. Can’t I just be concerned for my daughter?” Carmina laughed as she hit Caleb in the arm. “I’m so glad to have you back safe Ara.”
“I’m glad too.” I whispered as I stepped away from Carmina.
Sam was standing beside Vida who had Archer wrapped up in her tiny arms just like Carmina had just had me. I laughed as I stepped closer to them. Vida’s bond for Archer was the same as Carmina’s was with me. It was an inseparable bond between a parent and child. I could tell that Vida was never going to lose Archer again. Sam pried her arms away from Archer as he high fived her. Then her tiny arms embraced me now. She kissed my cheek as she let me go. It was Sam’s turn now.
His arms gripped me tight as he kissed my cheek. “Glad you’re back.”
Archer was talking with his Caleb and Carmina as I walked over to the person I was sure was the most relieved to see I came back. At least I hoped he was. I wasn’t sure if Avery was going to make this awkward or not. I crossed my arms over my chest as I approached him his arms balled in fists. His face was expressionless.
“Avery.” I said his name my words shaky.
Just like that his balled up fists disappeared as his arms pulled me into a massive bear hug. He held me there for what felt like forever. I could hear his breathing slowing down as he hugged me. He was gaining his control back. So I allowed him to hold me there longer than what I should have.
“I’m so happy that your back. I was in agony the whole time worrying about if you didn’t return. I know I can’t have you how I want but still nonetheless I’m happy to have you back in some way.” Avery whispered in my ear as he kissed forehead letting me go.
I didn’t say anything at first because he obviously wanted to stay just between him and me. Which I was more than happy with. I caught my breath as I smiled at him choosing my next words to lighten up the mood again.
“I believe you owe me a race Avery.” I smiled.
“I do. You name the time and the place and I’ll be there!” Avery laughed.
“The day after I return from my honeymoon we will race.” I nudged his arm.
“That works. I hope you’re ready for an ass whooping!” Avery said with a mischievous grin.
“On one condition ...we up it to $20 grand.” I replied.
“You’ve got yourself a deal. I say we take it one step further to sweetest this deal. Let’s add a new car to the mix.” Avery said sticking his hand out toward me.
“Deal.” I shook on it.
I took my place next to Archer now staring at our family again. Caleb and Carmina kissed each other and so did Sam and Vida. Both Archer and I cringed at that. I don’t think I would ever get used to thinking of Vida kissing my brother who was now my father in law kind of. Definitely was a little weird. Despite the weirdness of it I was happy. There were no more threats coming at me or Archer or our family. We were safe; we were whole, and best of all we were together. Nohelani came up to us as we were watching our family.
“I hate to break up a perfect moment, but I have something that may make this even better. I hope you two are ready to be dubbed king and queen now.” Her voice was sweet.
She blinked once as we all appeared to be in the church hall in the palace where special events would take place. She was right in front of the altar. Her dress was replaced with a robe, and beside her on the table were two pillows. On top of the pillows were two crowns. One big crown with rubies mounted in the center for Archer. On the other pillow was a smaller crown for me. It was breathtakingly beautiful as it sat there. It matched my ring perfectly. Pink sapphires were embedded all along the gold. The white sapphires were surrounding each pink sapphire accenting the biggest, glistening pink sapphire in the center of them all. How Nohelani had got a crown that matched my ring I didn’t know.
Archer and I kneeled down before her as she spoke. “I am retiring as your ruler, and with the power vested in me I choose Aralynn and Archer as my successors. Together these two will be king and queen our people and will rule the Kintana. May they always use their best judgment of and for our people and may be they rule with success. I wish you both nothing but happiness.” She said placing the sword in her hand on each of our shoulders. Then she placed our crowns on our head. We rose up together holding hands as we turned to face our family.
In unison our families greeted us with our new title. “Our majesties.”
“I kind of like the sound of that.” I laughed as our family laughed with us. “Archer and I love you but this king and queen wishes to cut the party short. We would like to head to our chambers and rest now we’re really quite exhausted after today.” I said smiling at them as he we headed toward the door as they all shook their heads.
I knew they didn’t really think we were going to sleep and they were right. How could we just fall asleep after everything that had happened over the past few days. Our relationship had changed so much in a matter of days. We went from simply being together to being a husband and wife. We hadn’t even really had a chance to celebrate that. Not to mention we had just defeated the utmost evil known to our kind and we were king and queen. It was a lot to take in. Even though we both should be exhausted and should want to sleep that was the last thing on either of our minds when we stopped inside our room. His arms were around me instantly as he touched my cheek with his fingers.
“Did this really happen?” I murmured into his lips.
“It did beautiful, all of it.” Archer whispered.
“It doesn’t seem real…it all seems like a dream.” I kissed his lips once more.
“It wasn’t a dream. It was all very real trust me I felt it.” Archer grimaced. “On the plus side though we’re finally free and we’re together.”
“We are together!” I threw my arms around his neck.
“Yes we are my queen.” He said kissing me again.
“My queen…I think I like the sound of that my king! Doesn’t it have a nice ring to it?” I asked leaning into him.
“Yes it does, and the best part is now I get to be together with you for eternity. Which means I get to kiss you whenever I want.” Archer said wrapping his arms around my waist.
“It never stopped you before…” I flirted with him.
“No it didn’t.” He paused as he picked me up spinning me around the room.
“I love you Aralynn.” He said as held me above him just enough to where I had to bend down to kiss him.
“I love you too Archer. Let’s start our honeymoon now.” I said as he lowered me down closer to him.
“Why now? Why not wait until tomorrow when we get to the beach?” Archer asked as he leaned in closer to me. “Not that I object.”
“Why not now? That’s a better question my king. We have the rest of eternity to spend together I know but it only seems right to start it now. We got married in the most romantic country in the world. So I think it’s only fair to begin our honeymoon here too. Don’t you agree?” I asked him leaning up to him.
“Is that what you want beautiful?” Archer asked me gazing into my eyes.
“Yes it is.” I replied.
“Then that is what you shall get my love. Your dreams and desires is what makes you happy and making you happy is my oath to you. I will make everything you want within my power to come true. So anything you desire you tell me and you will have it. I promise you will never want for anything beautiful. So if what you want is to start our honeymoon now than that is what you will get. So I agree let’s start the honeymoon right here and right now.” Archer said dazzling me with his eyes.
“I love you Archer!” I said looking at him.
“I love you too my beautiful for Aralynn for all of eternity!” Archer replied pulling me closer to him. Archer bent his head to mine as he cradled my face gently in his hands. He leaned in slowly bending his head down to mine. He put his lips to mine delicately—his lips were soft and moist
. I kissed him back pressing myself closer to him. One of his hands wrapped around my waist pulling me even closer to him as his other hand tangled in my hair. This kiss was as it always was when Archer kissed me –soft, gentle, and electrifying. Yet at the same time as much as it was the same it was also very different. His lips moved the same except this time there was no movie reel horrifying me. This time he wasn’t guarded; he was free and this kiss proved it.
My heart was fluttering like a butterfly’s wings. The way Archer was kissing me now was the same as always and yet so completely different. I got totally lost in it as I always did, except this time no movie reel happened. I was completely engulfed in the moment.
“I love you Archer.” I said looking at him.
“I love you too my beautiful Aralynn for all of eternity!” Archer replied pulling me closer to him.
Archer bent his head to mine as he cradled my face gently in his hands. He leaned in slowly bending his head down to mine. He put his lips to mine delicately –his lips were soft and moist. I kissed him back pressing myself closer to him. One of his hands wrapped around my waist pulling me even closer to him than what I was as his other hand tangled in my hair. This kiss was as it always was when Archer kissed me –soft, gentle, and electrifying. Yet at the same time as much as it was the same it was also very different. His lips moved the same except this time there was no movie reel horrifying me. This time he wasn’t guarded; he was free and this kiss proved it. My heart was fluttering like a butterfly’s wings as I began feeling weak everywhere. I was allowing myself to get completely engulfed and lost in him as I always did. Archer was completely consuming every part of me.
I was complete now! I had everything I could ever want. I was the queen and Archer was the king. Together we would be the best rulers for our kind. I knew whatever path eternity took us on we were going to be happy together.. Every part of my life was beyond perfect for words. I parted my lips allowing the kiss to get deeper as I closed my eyes seeing what my future held….
IT WAS HIM.........
EPILOGUE
ARALYNN TWO MONTHS LATER
“You ready to lose?” I asked Avery as I stepped into the garage at the palace.
“I don’t intend on losing Ara.” Avery smirked as threw his leather coat on.
“You’re confident.” I smiled at him as I tightened the straps on my helmet.
“I am. You see while you were off on your honeymoon I was here doing some tuning on my bike to make sure there’s no way I can lose.” He laughed as he started the bike.
His Ducati Monster hummed to life as Avery put his gloves on. I got on my bike and revved my Ducati Monster to life too. I was ready to go and so was Avery. I flipped my shield down smiling as I kicked the kickstand up. I nodded at him that I was ready and that the race started. Avery took off moving like the speed of light. I followed behind him staying just far enough back to make him think he had the upper hand.
I knew he had been working on his bike to make it faster and while he thought I had been just on my honeymoon I had tricks up my sleeve too. Caleb had been working on my bike in secret. He didn’t think it was fair that Avery had an advantage so he turned my bike to match whatever Avery had done to his. I didn’t know what he had done but whatever he had done made my bike…WICKEDLY PISSED OFF! It took everything I had to keep it behind Avery.
We approached a red light in town as I stopped right beside Avery. I looked over at him and he smiled. He was enjoying this race as much as I was, if not more. I looked down noticing an extra button on my handlebar. That wasn’t there when I last rode it. I definitely wanted to push it and see what it did. The light changed green and we were off again. I passed Avery as we wounded a curve on the outskirts of town.
I stayed ahead of him for a few miles as we raced through France’s countryside. He caught up shooting past me in a blink of an eye. I looked at my speedometer I was going 120 mph, and he had gone past me so quick that it made me look slow. He had to have been going 180 at least. I could no longer see him. I wasn’t going to lose so it was time to find out what the button my handlebar did.
I hit it once and my bike shot off so quickly that my head jerked back with the wind crashing into me. I squeeze the handlebars tighter as lowered myself down on my bike making the wind glide off of me instead of it crashing me. I leaned on my bike as I went around a curve. I hit the button again as I looked down at the speedometer I was now going 225 on my bike. This was beyond crazy. Whatever Caleb had done to my bike was borderline insane.
I was nearing the finish line in the town of Etretat and I still didn’t see Avery. I slowed down knowing that I had lost but mainly wanting to know where and why he had disappeared so quickly. People were walking in the street as my bike barely sputtered down the road. I kept looking everywhere for him as I drove up a few streets. I spotted his bike parked off to the side by a bed and breakfast so I parked mine next to his. After I locked my helmet up I started looking for him.
It was dusk now and it would be dark soon. I didn’t know what type of game Avery was playing and why he was playing it. He won the race I thought for sure he’d be so ecstatic that he’d be his normal sarcastic self rubbing it in my face that he beat me. I definitely didn’t expect him to be hiding. I mean after all he was getting twenty grand, and a new Lamborghini Aventador. So none of this made any sense.
I was beginning to give up hope and was about ready to check into the B & B for night when a hand reached out grabbing me from an alley. I knew the hand that pulled me into the alley. It was Avery. This seemed familiar as he had me pushed back up the brick wall of the building.
“Avery.” Was all I could get out of my mouth.
“Mmm…” His voice dragged.
“You won. Why were you hiding?” I asked my voice high pitched.
“Just needed a moment by myself.” He said as he dropped his arms.
“Why?” I asked confused.
“I just needed to think. I’ll tell you later. Come on.” Avery said lighting up as he took off out of the alley.
I walked beside him not sure what to say. I didn’t know why he was acting this way. Something was getting to him and I wanted to know what. This was not his typical self. I continued thinking in silence as he walked into a restaurant requesting a table. I sat down across from him searching his face for anything that would help me figure out what was going on with him. I came up empty until he smiled. His sarcastic smile returned no his face as he winked at me.
“I believe you owe me that Aventador and some money.” He said sarcastically.
“That I do. I’ll have it delivered to the palace tomorrow for you. Avery I’ve got to ask you something.” I said biting into my food.
“What?” He said raising his eyebrows.
“You didn’t answer my question earlier in the alley. Why did you need a moment to yourself?” I asked finishing my food.
“I just did Ara, that’s it. No reason.” He said irritated.
“Avery I know when you’re lying and you are right now. I know there’s more to it than you just needing a moment.” I said as I handed the waiter the check.
“So what if I am! What does it matter Ara?” He yelled as he stalked off out of the restaurant.
I ran off after him trying to keep up. He was acting more like an ass than normal. His mood swings today were giving me whiplash. He went from cool and arrogant like normal to freezing cold, anguished and confused to friendly then back to completely irritated again. I couldn’t keep up. I needed to know why he was acting like this to me. This went beyond his normal behavior. I suspected it had something to do with him trying to mind speak to me on my honeymoon.
I followed him into the B & B where we had parked our bikes. The lady behind the desk wasn’t going to tell me what room he was in. I knew Avery paid her. So I simply paid her double the amount he did and the key slid across the counter to me. I took the stairs giving him enough time to get in the room. I wanted to give him a moment to cool off b
efore I went in demanding answers again. I unlocked the door quietly with the key as I tiptoed inside the room. The bathroom door was shut so I knocked on it.
“Avery come on....talk to me please….” I said leaning my ear against the door with no response. “I’m not leaving this room until you tell me what’s bothering you.” I said backing up from the door.
The door swung open slamming against the wall. Avery growled a furious hiss from his chest as he stepped out of the bathroom. His eyes smoldered with rage masking what was really bothering him. I stood there waiting for him to make his move. Within seconds he slammed me against the wall both his arms planted on each side of me. The intensity coming from his eyes was hard to look at.
“You really want to know!” He screamed and I nodded at him. “You asked for it. You want the truth. You want me to tell you why I needed a moment really? How can you not know why Ara?” His voice softened and lowered.
“Yes Avery. I want to know. I can’t take any more of this whiplash today. One minute your fine being you and the next you’re a crazed maniac. What did I do?” I asked confused.
“You did nothing…..that’s just it.” Avery said his voice full of pain.
“If I did nothing Avery then why are you acting this way? Does any of this have to do with you mind speaking to me on my honeymoon? About us needing to talk, does it?” I said matching his gaze.
I struck a nerve when I said it because his eyes dropped. The intensity of his rage was completely gone. Nothing remained except sadness. I knew whatever he told me was going to be undeniably painful for him and I didn’t know what I could do to solve whatever was wrong with him. I pushed his chin up with my fingers making him look at me.