“But… you’re immortal,” I argued.
His thin lips curved into a distant smile as he gazed at me. “I have you to thank for that, my dear.”
“Me?” I turned to Will, confused.
“I shalln’t speak of that subject more, for fear of setting into motion… an unfathomable chain of events. Rather,” he leaned close to me, reaching for me hand. I let him gather my hand in his. “Be sure that you follow your heart, Granddaughter. Always.”
“Okay,” I agreed softly, and I felt Will’s hand brush the back of my neck in an affectionate caress.
“I was imprisoned and tortured.” He rested his eyes on the floor. “My magic became… unpredictable. During the inquisition, I cast several spells… which you now know as the prophecy. Seven lives, seven chances for my son to find his love and conceive their lost child. That child would bring an end to Troy’s world, burning the kingdom in two years time.”
“Why seven?” I asked, the unspoken words from my grandfather echoing in my ears.
“I shall teach you, Granddaughter, that your magic is ruled by emotion. Casting a spell when impassioned… will create severe consequences.” He gripped his cane. “I was racked seven times. Each time, in my agony, I cast a spell.”
“Jesus Christ,” I buried my face in my hands, struggling with nausea.
“Eva,” Will scolded softly.
“It was my intention, Eva, that your birth would make Troy burn in hell.”
“And now Troy is gone, and they’re all burning,” I pointed to the glass in Will’s office. The sun was darkened through the insulation over the window.
“Again, as I have told you… magic comes with consequence. If Troy destroyed you… or your mother, before you are born, in all seven lives… your world would then burn.”
“My world…,” I blinked, staring at him. “Earth? Would burn?”
“Yes. Your climate scientists have evidence of this. For centuries, with every life that your father failed to keep you alive, the atmosphere of Earth slowly disintegrated.”
“Are you talking about global warming?” I managed, glancing at Will. He listened intently.
My grandfather nodded once. “Evidence of the prophecy.”
I felt my nostrils flare in my rising anger. “And my father had no memory of the prophecy- no way of knowing any of this.”
“I escaped. I left this world to find my son, casting one last spell before I left. A location spell, if you will… a way for my son to find his true love, wherever she may be. When he finally met her, she would remember him through her subconscious. Dreams.”
“The coordinates,” I realized, thinking back to one of my earliest memories as a child. I was four years old, and Logan had left for Afghanistan. In the car, leaving Camp Lejuene, my mother had screamed into my father’s shoulder, gripping her arm painfully. I’d watched in horror from the back seat, with Violet, as the coordinates on her arm changed.
Later, I found out that my dad’s would change every time my mother made a significant move, but he’d learned to control the pain and hide it from me.
“The spell carried over to the Alters… Troy and Leo would also be able to find her.”
“No…,” I looked at him. “But Logan doesn’t have those numbers…?”
“He did. Just as your mother must touch your father to receive the coordinates, Leo must touch Troy. And in this eighth life, they never had the chance to meet. Your mother and father ended Troy’s existence on the Titanic… in 1912.”
“I know about that… the fountains, a way to travel to the past.”
“To their past lives,” Grandfather corrected. “Once I found your father, as an orphaned infant, I began raising him to study science. In your world, magic is very different… elements and time are unbalanced on Earth. I studied alchemy, astronomy… and finally was able to open doors to the past through an elemental spell. Man-made objects, allowing my son a chance in the seventh life… if he failed in six.”
“What is an ‘elemental spell’?”
“I will teach you.” He leaned back against the chair. “When I allowed myself to travel through the portal between worlds, using my magic, I failed to realize the alter consequence.”
“Troy could travel, too.” I stood, unable to keep from pacing across the rug in Will’s office. “Troy could travel through the inclined planes, but my dad, or Logan, or my mom can’t.”
“But you can,” Will acknowledged, turning to my grandfather. “Is there an ‘alter consequence’ for her ability to travel?”
Grandfather climbed unsteadily to his feet, and Will rushed to help him. “Yes.” He cleared his throat, sliding his feet towards me. “The first born child of Roam… and the first born child of Troy.”
“Will can’t go through without me though,” I argued.
“Meredith was born first.” Will turned to me, and stared at him in horror.
“She can travel to my world?!”
“There is no way for her to know that,” he disputed. “All doors have been sealed with magic except the one to Johnstown. Guards protect that door, day and night.”
I turned to Will, glaring. “You suspected this all along! You knew Christopher could be in danger- that’s why you wanted my parents to stay with him, and Logan to protect him!”
“Eva…,”
“I have to go back… I have to protect my family!”
“They are safe.” Grandfather reached for me, and with every ounce or respect and self-control that I possessed, I allowed him to take my hand. “I will teach you to grow your magic, Eva. You are a witch; you have more power than I have ever possessed.”
“Hey,” I cringed at the term, and he shook his head gently.
“A witch should not bear evil connotation. There are good witches, and there are bad witches.”
“I’m feeling more like Dorothy right now.” They both looked at me in confusion, and I ignored them with a wave of my hand. “Never mind. Yes, teach me, please. But first, I need to go home and check on Christopher.”
“I can give you his location. You must choose if you’ll accept them.”
“What?”
“Your arm,” he reached for my left arm, and I recoiled, shaking my head.
“What, the fire-tattoo? No way. How about a magic mirror? Or… I don’t know… Skype?”
“Child, we are in another world. Physical elements are your only ties to your birth world… mind, body, soul.”
“And I’ll know where Christopher is, at all times?”
“If the coordinates disappear, he is no longer of your world.”
“Do it.”
“Wait,” Will reached for me, blocking Grandfather from my arm. “Absolutely not. If there is an ‘alter consequence,’ Meredith may be able to locate Christopher.”
My grandfather became morose, raising his eyes to me expectantly. “Indeed. That, my dear, was a test. And you failed. Better listening skills; that shall be lesson one.”
I stared at him, my jaw dropping. “That’s not fair! You offered me a way to watch out for my brother-…,”
“Emotions muddle magic. You must learn to control your emotions before we begin the lessons.”
“In Eva’s defense,” Will tried to reach for me, but I was too enraged to let him touch me. “She is a seventeen-year-old girl. Biology is working… against her right now.”
“I’ll be eighteen in, like, five minutes,” I mumbled, irritated at his constant reference to my age.
Asher ignored me. “Magic requires vast responsibility. When you are ready, I shall teach you.”
My grandfather is kind of an asshole. I straightened my back, my chin quivering beneath the force of my self-control. I backed toward the door. “Okay, then. Thanks for the chat, Grandfather.”
Turning on my heel, I marched to the door.
“Follow your heart,” he called once more.
“But don’t be emotional,” I responded sarcastically, lifting my eyes to Will as he placed hi
s hand on my lower back.
“Let’s allow your grandfather to rest. I’d like to walk with you in the castle.” His warm smile extinguished my anger, and I nodded, letting him take my hand in his.
Sighing, I turned back to the old man. “Thank you, Grandfather, for telling me all of this. And I look forward to your lessons.”
“My love to you, lass.”
Once we were in the hall and the door closed behind us, I wrenched away from Will and broke into a run. “We need to go. Now. We’ll check on Christopher, let my parents know I’m okay, and-…,”
“No one has passed through the door, Eva. My guards won’t allow it, as I said. Eric reports to me on the hour.”
“Do you trust Eric?” I demanded, stopping at the stone stairwell. Is this the right one? “How do you know that he is… wait… I’m lost,” I turned around, staring at a mirroring set of stone steps across the hall.
“He is loyal,” Will responded, stepping in front of me. “Christopher is safe. We shall travel on Saturday, as I told you.”
His soothing tone stilled my restless nerves. He caught me suddenly, sliding his hands up my sides to my underarms.
Breathing laughter, I gripped his forearms as he lifted me to match his height. My feet dangled above the floor.
“You move too quickly. Stand still. We have a conversation to finish,” he spoke so close to my lips. “Privately.”
“Yes my lord,” I agreed, disappointed as he lowered me back to the ground.
“Come, my beautiful little witch.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Enchantress?”
“Better.”
“Queen?”
“Better,” I echoed, grinning. We passed a room in the queen’s chambers, and I noticed that the door had been closed since I arrived. “What’s in that room?”
Will continued toward my quarters. “It is sealed. It was your mother’s chamber.”
“Why is it sealed?”
“Do not go in there. Your mother suffered. The ghosts in that room will not depart.”
“There are ghosts now, too?”
“Just a figure of speech, Eva.”
Mom gave up everything… so that I would live. His expression told me that he thought of that often, and I remembered my behavior the night I fell from my balcony at home. I must have sounded like a spoiled, selfish brat.
“Do we know any more about the shooter last night?” I asked quietly. He nodded, moving to my bed to sit. He patted the space next to him, and I lowered to the mattress.
“He was aiming for you. He carried this,” he reached into his pocket and removed a dirty scrap of fabric. A black sun was crudely painted on the rough material. “Eric believes he is part of an organized rebellion.”
“You’re carrying that thing around in your pocket? Nasty.” I shrunk back with a disgusted grimace.
“Eva, we must take this very seriously.”
I fell backwards to the soft bed, not caring that my hair would be mussed in the impact. “I can protect myself. It’s protecting everyone else that exhausts me.”
“You are… extraordinary.” He grinned, nodding toward the window. His word made me think of Logan, and I smiled. “And it is ten degrees cooler today… for the first time in a year.”
He turned, propping one arm to my side and leaning over me. I sighed, gazing up at his perfect features. “It looks like an artist sculpted your face. Like the assignment was ‘create the perfect looking man.’”
A slow smile spread over his lips, and the sudden color in his face only added to his charm. “Flattering child.”
“I am not a child,” I repeated, exhaustion setting in. “And I need a nap.”
“Then have a nap,” he agreed, tugging the bedding over me. “Your maids will wake you when it is time.”
“Will?”
He lifted my head gently, pushing a pillow beneath my curls. “Hmn?”
“Thank you.” I yawned, trying not to think about his lips on my throat. “You’re the nicest king in all the worlds... so far.”
He grinned, standing and humbly bowing to me. “I shall see you at our wedding.”
“Yes, my lord.”
I heard him chuckle before the door closed.
Chapter Nine
The ceremony was brief, with only my grandfather, Eric, and a priest present. We exchanged rings, and when we were declared to be husband and wife, he pressed a G-rated kiss to the corner of my mouth.
I wasn’t expecting white doves or the fairy tale, but I was admittedly let down. Will led me to the great hall; elaborate decoration adorned the space, with the floor cleared for celebratory dancing. The cheers that erupted from the people as we entered lifted my spirits some, but as the music began, I felt the depression weighing on my chest.
I wish my parents were here.
“Are you well?” Will leaned toward me, speaking into my ear to be heard over the music.
I stiffened, forcing a nod. “I’m fine.”
“Our first dance, very soon,” he promised with a reassuring smile, though I could tell the expression was half-hearted.
Will excused himself after dinner, and I waited patiently for five whole minutes before scraping my chair back and getting up from the table. As I walked through the hall, I noticed two guards flanking me on either side. I stopped, turning to one. “Are you my bodyguards?”
The soldier nodded once. “We protect and serve the queen.”
“Okay, then. You, please go find me a Glock 19. The Beretta is too heavy for my taste. Holster too. You,” I turned to the other guard, ignoring the first’s shaken expression, “Please go order a group to sweep every level of the castle hourly. I want every soldier armed.”
“My queen…,”
“Do it, I’ll be right here. Look, I’ll stay right here with Eric until you get back.”
Eric turned to me, offering me a surprised smile. “Your majesty?”
“I asked them to go organize an hourly sweep of the grounds. Tell them.”
Eric took a long, amused look at me, and then turned at the two helpless guards. “Do as your queen commands.”
“Yes, sir.”
I nodded imperially. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure.”
“Where is Will?” I moved toward the stone arches that led out to the hall, but Eric hurried ahead of me.
“He’ll return momentarily. Do you need refreshment, your majesty?”
I watched a servant pass by with a golden tray of champagne flutes. Ignoring them, I caught movement from behind a pillar. “No thanks…,”
I saw her golden hair, freezing in midstride. Backing against the wall, I watched as Will held Gabrielle very close, speaking rapidly to her. She was sobbing, pressing her face to his chest.
“Your majesty-…,”
“Stop calling me that,” I growled, my throat burning. Eric moved in front of my vision, his brown eyes earnest.
“Eva, you will allow them a farewell.”
“I thought they already had a farewell,” I scorned, betrayal knotting in the pit of my stomach.
“Will has told me that your requirements have changed. You call for monogamy.”
“He told you that? And he’s telling her that?”
“He will respect your wishes.”
Guilt… resentment, anger… the torrent of emotions ran through me so quickly, I nearly screamed. Eric reached for my hand, forcefully pulling me out into the hall. I tried to yank my arm away, but he jerked me into the men’s restroom, slamming and locking the door. His touch instantly weakened me, and the vertigo caught me off guard. Wrenching away, I glared.
“Take your fucking hands off of me.”
“Eva.” His stern voice, combined with his emotionless tone, silenced me. “I won’t let you create a scene. Don’t embarrass yourself.”
“Shut your goddamn mouth!”
“What you lack in maturity, you can compensate for in control. I know you possess the ability to co
ntrol yourself. Do it.”
I fumed, grinding my teeth. If I was ten years younger, I would have stomped my foot.
“He will not betray you.”
“You mean screw his ex-girlfriend on our wedding night?”
“That is exactly what I mean.” Eric continued to block the door, despite the incessant knocking. “He speaks of your sacrifice, and he feels he must carry the burden himself.”
“Oh, what an enormous burden, keeping his pants up,” I sneered, reaching for the door. He blocked it again, lifting one eyebrow.
“I hope that I haven’t underestimated you, your majesty.” He stared me down. “He feels very much for you.”
Ignoring him, I pushed past. He allowed me to leave, and I stormed past the few men outside, holding my chin up proudly as Eric followed behind me. Great. Start some rumors.
Back in the hall, Will watched me enter through the door, smiling broadly. “There she is.”
“Will,” I replied stiffly, shooting Eric an aggravated look.
“May I have this dance?” His smiling, crystal blue eyes softened my rigid mood- a little.
I let him take my hand, guiding me to the dance floor. The cerulean wedding gown fit snugly in all the right places, and I insisted on my push-up bra from home while the Hens helped me dress. Though Mother-Hen muttered under her breath about me being indecent, I ignored her.
The orchestra played something romantic that I didn’t recognize. “I thought there was music from my world here?”
“Up through the year of your birth- 2012.”
I scanned the room for Gabrielle, and when I couldn’t see her, I turned to him. “Do you like my gown?” Moving easily, I remembered the ballroom dancing lessons I’d taken two years ago. My hair, piled high in tendrils, shimmered with diamonds in the soft chandelier light.
“Every woman in this room is envious of your beauty. You dance extraordinarily well,” he added, sweeping me across the floor.
“You do, too.” I tilted my face up to his, my eyes closing with purposeful, heavy lids. “That’s not all I do well, my lord.”
He released my left arm and sent me into a twirl before snapping me back into his hold. His cool, blue eyes stared me down. “When you speak as such, you shame yourself. Respect your innocence.”
Rule (Roam Series, Book Five) Page 8