“She’s trying to get to Christopher.” I turned toward the mountain, sensing the spell that Eric had cast over the inclined plane. “Take me to her, now,” I hissed, shrugging at my wet gown. “She fucked with the wrong queen.”
“Her demands do not stop at your surrender.” Eric bowed his head. “She wishes to use your magic to open a portal to the past. Her intent is to use your parents and Logan to bring her father back here… to reign.”
“Troy? What the fuck.” I kicked at the table in my way, knowing my nostrils flared unattractively but not caring. “I will kill her.”
“Eva,” Will turned me toward him, giving a sad shake of his head. “Do not underestimate her.”
“She’s just another crazy bitch,” I argued, turning to Eric. “What do you suggest we do?”
Eric looked to Will, and then back to me. “Meredith rules an army of miscreants. Criminals. They are greater in number and strength. She knows the castle; she uses its secrets to her advantage.”
“Let’s just attack,” I said, watching Eric’s eyes flash black.
He turned to Will, as if I no longer existed. “Eva is too petulant. She will not be reliable in battle. We need help, Will.”
“Hey!” I balled my fists, knowing my eyes now matched his.
Will held his hand up, silencing me. “Logan?”
“The immortal, yes. But also Roam and West. They are invested in this battle. They will protect their children at all costs.”
I felt my heart drop out of my chest and roll across the deck of the ship. “No! I won’t let them get hurt-…,”
“I am your king. You will do as I command.”
Closing my mouth, I stared at Will, the hurt evident in my eyes.
“I can get you both through the water, and protect you from the sirens. But you must control the portal, Eva. You must open it.”
“Fine.” I knew I could convince Will to leave my parents alone, I just needed time. “Now?”
Eric gestured to the ocean. “Now.”
Chapter Twenty
I had no time to watch Eric shift into whatever a selkie was; Will and I kept moving without looking back. When we finally surfaced, I gasped, spitting out salt water. Air filled my relieved lungs.
We were in the Atlantic Ocean, not a half mile from the shore of my house.
“Swim, Eva,” Will prompted, and we moved closer to the shore through the freezing water.
How long were we gone, in England? In Icepond?
I’m so confused.
“Almost there,” he called, and as we waded into shallow water, people turned to look at us in dismay. Fully clothed and in medieval England attire, we drew the attention of the handful of people at the shore.
“What is the date?” I fired at a fisherman, and he squinted through his sunglasses.
“The date? February twelfth.”
“…and the year!” I demanded, hearing Will groan inwardly at my impatience.
“2032.”
“What? Over two years?” I broke into a run, and Will caught my arm by the time I reached the dunes.
“Eva, we don’t know that they live here…,”
“Of course they do! I disappear in the night, am gone for two years, and you think they’d move?” I took two steps at a time over the steps on the dunes, nearly tripping over my long, sodden dress.
“You must slow down-…,”
“Eva?”
I froze at the man’s voice in front of me. I knew it was Christopher; from his sandy-blonde hair to his blue eyes, I knew my brother. Now only days from turning seventeen, he was so tall, broad shouldered, and looked very much like my dad.
“Chris?” I held my arms out, and he lowered his duffle bag to the ground, staring at me in awe. Finally, he staggered to me, folding me in his arms.
“What in the hell happened to you? It’s been over two years, Eva!” He pulled me away from him, holding me steady. “Is there a war? Is that why you came back?”
I watched a glimmer of excitement flicker in his eyes.
“War? Christopher, where are Mom and-…,”
“Eva.” My father’s reverent voice drew my attention to the house.
I backed away from Christopher as my dad took slow steps to me. “Dad?”
He was holding me before I could take another breath. I blinked at the saltwater running down my eyelids from my hairline as my feet, inches from the ground, dangled. He smothered me in his arms.
“We thought you were gone,” he spoke into my wet hair, his grip on my head so firm that I had to gasp for breath.
“I fell asleep… and had the water dream… but it took us both to the castle… and then I got angry for a stupid reason and took all of your memories of Icepond, the prophecy, and everything away… and Grandfather sent me back into time to find you… and…,”
“I know, Eva... I know. This dress, you… I remember,” he lowered me to my feet, gesturing to my gown. “It was you. I believe that now… that day on the forest road. No wonder you were so restless… and spoke so differently…,”
“Thank you for listening that day,” I straightened my shoulders, wiping away the stubborn tear that burned my cheek. “And I’m so, so sorry for what I said in the living room, about this all being your fault, and that I hate you, I could never hate you Daddy… and I hope you can forgive me and still love me, I-…,”
“Eva Anastasia Perry,” he silenced me with one look, capturing my chin in his fingers lovingly. “There is nothing you could say- or do- that would ever make me stop loving you.”
My resolve collapsed, and I could only nod. My father lifted his eyes over my head, and I felt Will’s arms around me.
“Only a short time has passed for us, while we were in England, but we are exhausted and hungry.” He said ‘we’ but I know he meant me.
“Hungry and tired… not a good combination for my sister,” Chris teased gently, and I scoffed a breathy laugh, near tears as I turned into Will’s chest.
“Our kingdom has been taken over by my sister, Meredith. She has imprisoned my army, and means to lure us back to the castle. Asher is presumed dead.”
“Al-right,” Chris grinned, gesturing to his duffle bag. “Dad and I were just going shooting. Change of plans.”
“Chris,” West warned, turning back to Will. “What are her intentions?”
“Though the portal to Pennsylvania has been sealed, the magic is weak. She means to break the seal and collect Christopher and Eva. She intends to kill Christopher.”
“She can try.” He muttered.
“And Eva?” My father brushed his hand over my hair.
Will’s grip tightened on my shoulders. “Eva’s magic has grown very powerful… but is still quite unpredictable. Meredith wants to use her to open a portal to the past, and she wishes to bring our father through to rule.”
“The only thing that I can imagine that would be worse than Troy… would be the Troy from the past.” My mother’s voice drowned my turbulent thoughts, and I pulled from Will’s grasp, running toward her.
She held me, weaving comforting words through kisses. I pressed my face into her delicate shoulder, flattening my hands over her back.
“This is different. Time travel is different from the enchanted fountains… the past lives.” West turned to Will. “If she were to succeed, she would ultimately break off a new timeline in which Troy disappeared. We could… cease to exist.”
I threw my hands upwards. “If Troy held Meredith captive and abused her, beat her and raped her, why would she want to bring him back?” I demanded, anger finally drying my moistened eyes.
“What? His own daughter?” My mother’s words shook with disgusted wrath.
“I can only imagine that she has completely lost her mind.” Will’s uneven voice told me that he still cared for his sister.
“He has that effect on people.” Roam gathered the base of her shirt in her hand, twisting the material repetitively. “How much time passed in Icepond while you were
in England?”
“About three months.” Will said.
“And Eva, you can open a portal to the past?” My mother asked me.
“I have no idea, Mom. I can open one between worlds.” I shivered as a cold drop of water slid from the base of my hairline and down my neck.
“Can you create a door… to that life? Like the fountains?”
I narrowed my eyes, shrugging. “I… don’t know. Maybe?”
“Call Logan,” West ordered to Christopher, and he nodded.
Roam turned to West. “If we can convince Meredith that we are going through… to the past, to get Troy and return with him, she will expect months to pass.”
“Because so much time passed while we were in England,” I concluded, following my mother’s logic.
She nodded. “Instead, if we succeed, Eva can send us to the past life, when all of this started- and not truly time travel. We could carry inanimate objects through the other fountains- clothing, money- and weapons.”
“But we were only gone for a few minutes,” my father agreed, nodding.
“That will give us the precious minutes that we will need to obtain weapons, come back through, and attack.”
My father listened to her. Finally, after a long minute, he shook his head. “No, Roam. I won’t do that to you. I won’t put you near Troy again, not for any length of time.”
“Then think of something else,” she snapped, gesturing both of her hands to Christopher and me. “Think of some other way to protect our children, West.”
He met her eyes, and I watched the silent conversation between the two of them. Will reached for my hand. “First, we must attend to basic needs, love. Food, clothing. We have very little time,” he reminded West, and my father nodded.
I walked straight to my bedroom, Will following. Nothing in the room had been touched since the night we disappeared.
Moving to the bathroom, I turned on the hot water, peeling away the sopping gown.
He climbed into the luxurious heat behind me, and I turned into his arms. The water cleared my mind, drummed on my muscles, and I refused to back away from my husband.
“There, now. Let them fall,” he murmured against my forehead, kissing at my salted cheeks. I forced the tears away again, shaking my head adamantly.
“All of my life, I’ve trained to protect myself, and the ones that I love. How am I supposed to do that now? You know she’ll separate us,” I growled at the waiting sob in my chest, irritated with my lack of control.
“She will not harm me.” He promised. “She will threaten, but my sister loved me very much.”
“And she hated your father, but now wants to bring him back. I don’t need a Rorschach test to tell me she’s lost her shit and can’t be trusted.”
He sighed, reaching for the shampoo still sitting on the shelf. “Your brother will fight.”
“I won’t let him.”
“Eva,” he lathered my curls with the frizz-free formula, and I watched the water trail over his face. “This war is not yours. It is ours.”
I considered his words, taking over with my hair. We washed in silence, and as I pulled the soap over my flat abdomen, I met his eyes. “You were so… resolved. You didn’t want to bring a baby into a burning world. What now?” I asked, gesturing to my naked torso. “What if Vadoma was right, and I am pregnant?”
He gazed down at me through the water. “You were completely unexpected. This love… has quite broken my resolve, and obliterated my sense of reason.”
“Reason?”
“There is no certainty in our brief life together. I will do as I please… come what may,” he caught my lips in his. “I am through fighting for everyone else. Now, I will fight for you, and for our future, my love.”
I reached for him, pulling his mouth to mine. “I don’t deserve you,” I whispered. “I’ve been a selfish, immature brat, and I only think about myself first, everyone else second, and-…,”
He dove for my lips, eager, forceful, and I cried out into his kiss. Over and over, his hands slid over my upper arms, and I closed my eyes, sighing. “Hush. You are exactly right. The only thing meant to be in any of these worlds, Eva, is you.”
Pressing my face into his chest, I sighed shakily. At that moment, there was no doubt in my mind that I absolutely loved him.
“This is older than we are. This fate. Your parents, Logan, my father… we are players in this prophecy. But ultimately, it is you who will save this world. Not Icepond. Earth.” He slid his fingers over my hips, lowering his mouth to my stomach. I threaded my fingers through his hair, pressing my back against the cold shower wall. “I will not forsake my people. If we are separated, you will care for and protect our child. Understood?”
I nodded, the heat of both his lips on my skin and the anger in my soul making the lights flicker and hiss in the bathroom ceiling. “Don’t talk about that, Will. I won’t lose you. I just found you,” I pushed him away, glaring at him. “I want to rule by your side. Forever.”
“Your forever is not as long as my forever,” his ice blue eyes locked with mine. “I will mourn you, Eva, someday, and already my heart breaks for that day.”
I watched him leave the shower, sliding down the wall to stare after him.
How could I not have realized? I may not appear to age, but I will grow old in Icepond…
And now here.
I am no longer immortal, not in any realm. And someday, I will die.
I finally had what I always wanted… and couldn’t regret it more.
The evening was spent with me answering questions, and my mother and father discussing alternatives to my mother’s original plan with Will. After trying, and failing, to interject into their discussion for the third time, I slid my chair back, threw my fork on the table, and stalked to the balcony.
The Carolina moon, my old accomplice, beckoned me to the shore. I almost made it to the stairs before Christopher’s voice sounded behind me.
“Come on- drive over to the Plantation with me. I told Mom we’d be right back.”
“Sure, why not. They don’t care what I say in there, anyway.”
He grinned, tossing his car keys into the air and catching them with a laugh. “The Mustang is mine now. But- I’m guessing you’ll want to drive.”
I snatched the keys from his hand, raising my eyebrows. “Um, yeah.”
Not halfway to the shopping center, Chris turned to me from the passenger seat. “You know we have to do something. Before they go in there and get themselves killed.”
“I know.” I punched the steering wheel, swinging into a parking space outside the cinema.
“And now one little look from that king, and you’re a big, melted pile of girl. So, I guess it’s up to me to figure this out.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Damn. Even Mom controls herself better than that.”
“You have no idea what I’ve been through over the past week!”
He ignored me, stopping in the back of the darkened plaza outside of the restaurant. “Well, here we are. Do your thing.”
I stared in the direction that he pointed to. The large, square fountain, copper-green and illuminated by spotlights, reflected from below with hundreds of shiny pennies.
“It’s the wishing fountain.”
“Yes- it’s a fountain. So, make it a door.”
Scoffing, I tugged at my now slightly-larger jeans. “A door.”
“Yes, a door. Snap your fingers, wiggle your nose, whatever you do to make magic, do it. Make it a door, and we’ll go back to the beginning ourselves.”
“What, just march into ancient Icepond and do what?”
“We’ll kill Troy. Before he has a chance to kill mom.”
“Chris, you have no idea what you’re talking about. That will change everything. You and I will no longer exist.”
“It’s not time travel, it’s the past life, like Mom and Dad said. The present has always stayed the same when they traveled. The
only thing that will happen is that Troy will cease to exist. If he doesn’t exist, Meredith can’t get him.”
“Your Doc Brown impression is amusing, but I’m still not convinced that we wouldn’t cease to exist.” I covered my stomach, regretting haven eaten my dinner so quickly.
He watched me, stepping back and crossing his arms over his chest. “You love him.”
I glared at him. “Yes, I love Will! It doesn’t matter-…,”
“It does matter, Eva! What did Dad teach you? No liabilities. No connections. That is a warrior. That is a fighter-…,”
“That’s easy for him to say! He loves Mom and gets to spend his life with her! I love Will, and I won’t let anything- or anyone- take him away from me.”
He rolled his eyes to the moon and back. “I’ll go, then. Turn it into a door.”
“You can’t make me.”
“Wow, mature.”
“Fuck off.”
“Well, that order had to have come from my delicate, feminine sister-in-law.”
I turned sharply as Logan walked to us, and I tried to frown before turning into his arms. “Logan.”
He hugged me, taking a deep, calming breath. “You worried us, Red.”
“It was out of my control.”
“How’d you know we’d be here?” Chris asked, and Logan shrugged.
“Your Dad said you went to the Plantation. Given that you’re a Perry, I eliminated the possibility of a routine grocery shopping trip or that you’d gone to see a movie and guessed you came for another reason.”
“So they told you their plan.”
“Listen.” He gripped my shoulders, his dark brown eyes meeting mine. “We can handle this. We’ve been… waiting… for this fight for seventeen years.”
I nodded, focusing on the ground.
“We’re going back to the castle. You’ll convince this woman that we can get Troy and bring him back. We will go just long enough to gather weapons for an attack, since we are sure to be stripped of ours in the castle. I understand there is a small army left on a ship who can help, and one man can use magic.”
“Eric, yes,” I agreed, nodding. Logan lowered his face, searching for my eyes.
Rule (Roam Series, Book Five) Page 19