I couldn’t let that happen when I knew that there was someone else who truly loved her.
I needed to find Aerden.
Already Too Late
I found him by the water at the edge of the Black Cliffs.
Some days, the surface of the water looked like glass, black and shining and so smooth it looked as if you could walk across it.
But today, the waves were wild and stormy. Any demon who went into the water today would be dragged under, never to be seen again. He would spend an eternity being tossed around at the bottom of the sea, every second a struggle.
I have known since I was a small child that I was meant to marry Princess Lazalea. Back then, I didn’t care one way or another. I knew nothing of love or hope or freedom. All I knew was loyalty and obligation.
Marrying her was my duty, and I was ready to do as I was told.
But now, as the day of our engagement ceremony approached, I felt as restless as the sea.
Seeing my brother there beside the stormy shore, his face shrouded in dark hurt, I suddenly wondered if going through with the engagement would condemn us both to a life fighting the waves. A life of darkness and struggle under a sea of glass.
I made my way to him slowly, unsure what I should say.
The solution was complicated, because there was more than just my feelings or Aerden’s to consider.
Lea was my friend, but where I didn’t feel a passionate love for her, I knew she felt something much deeper for me. I could feel it in the soft touch of her hand against mine. It was there every time she looked into my eyes. She loved me. She wanted to spend eternity by my side.
Even if I didn’t feel the same way for her, I thought I could make a life with her. I could be a good mate for her, never revealing to her that my feelings weren’t as strong. But now?
Now she would know.
The truth would bring her a pain I wasn’t prepared to inflict.
Seeing the love and sorrow in my brother’s eyes only made things worse for all of us.
If he loved her, how would he ever forgive me for marrying her? My engagement to Lea would create an impossible distance between us. Our relationship would never be the same, and I wasn’t sure I could survive that. My brother was a part of me in a way no one else could understand.
I couldn’t live the rest of my life knowing I’d brought so much pain to them both.
I approached Aerden with a heavy heart.
He tensed at my presence, not even bothering to turn around and meet my eyes. Instead, he continued to look out over the rough seas.
“Leave me alone,” he said.
I sat down next to him on the edge of the cliff.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
He closed his eyes briefly, then sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
‘Bullshit,” I said. “This is it, Aerden. We’re out of time. You either start being honest with me—with yourself—or you’re going to regret this for the rest of your life.”
He let his head fall into his hands and I placed my palm flat and sure against his shoulder.
“You have to tell her how you feel before it’s too late,” I said.
“It’s already too late, can’t you see that?” he said. “I’m not the one she loves.”
I swallowed a thick lump in my throat. “If you don’t speak now, then you’ll have to live the rest of your days wondering what might have happened if you’d told her the truth.”
“If I tell her the truth, I’ll have to live all my days knowing that even though she knew how I felt, she still chose you,” he said. He looked up, his blue eyes filled with tears.
“You don’t know that,” I said. “Maybe she only loves me because she feels she has to.”
He pressed his lips together, anger evident in the sharp inhale.
“Everyone knows,” he said. “It’s obvious in the way she looks at you. The way she touches you.”
I wanted to tell him it wasn’t true, but how could I?
“I can’t let this come between us,” I said. “I won’t.”
Aerden snorted and straightened his shoulders.”What will you do, then, brother? Refuse to marry her?”
“Maybe,” I said, lifting my chin. “I would do that if you asked me to.”
“And shame our parents? Defy the King of the North?” He laughed. “You don’t have the nerve. Besides, you’d break her heart.”
His eyes darkened again and he went back to staring at the ocean.
“I’m going to break her heart, anyway,” I said. I held the golden locket out for him to see.
“What’s that?” he asked.
I explained the secret of the heart stones and his eyes filled with shadows.
“We have to tell her the truth before it’s too late,” I said. “If we both go to her and explain our feelings now, we can leave it for her to decide. It’s the only way.”
“No,” he said, standing. “She would still choose you, can’t you see that?”
“You don’t know that.” I stood and put my hand on his arm, but he pulled away from me.
“I do,” he said, “and if you don’t, then you’re blind. I’d rather carry this secret inside me until the day of my passing then have to go through that. If you can’t understand that, then you don’t know me at all.”
“I know you better than anyone in this world or the next,” I said. “And what I saw in your eyes this morning when you looked at her nearly broke my own heart. Why can’t you just put aside your pride and tell her how you feel?”
“You can’t even begin to understand how difficult this has been for me,” Aerden said, his voice echoing against the rocky cliffs. “Every single time I’m with her, I struggle not to tell her how I feel. I fight against my own heart, begging not to feel this way for someone who is promised to another. Then, when I see the way she looks at you…”
He walked three or four steps along the jagged edge of the cliff. The look of longing in his eyes when he stared down at the water sent a ripple of fear through my spine.
“I can’t do this to you,” I said. “I can’t see this sorrow in your eyes for the rest of my days, knowing I was the cause of it.”
“You won’t have to,” he said.
The slight tremble in his voice unnerved me. “What do you mean?”
He clenched his teeth and his jaw rippled with tension. “Nothing,” he said.
My stomach twisted tight. “Tell me,” I said.
“I’ve been thinking about going away for a while,” he said.
I shook my head, not wanting to believe this could be true. “Where?” I asked. “For how long?”
Aerden picked up a stone and tossed it into the raging waves below. “As long as it takes,” he said. “Maybe forever.”
The world fell out from under my feet. “Aerden—”
“Don’t try to talk me out of it,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. It’s what I need to do. Maybe if I spent some time traveling, I would find something more to live for. Maybe I could forget about her.”
“There has to be another way,” I said. “I’ll tell her the truth. I’ll tell her I don’t love her, but that you do. I’ll tell her I can’t marry her, but that you’ll marry her in my place. In time, she will learn to love you.”
“No,” Aerden said. “It’s not your place to tell her how I feel.”
“This can’t be the way our lives go,” I said. “You’re a part of me. You’re my other half.”
He hardened his expression. “No,” he said. “We are separate. We’re not children anymore and the time has come for us to stand up and accept the choices that have been made for us. They chose you, Denaer, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.”
“Where will you go?” I asked. “How will I reach you?”
“I met a woman who said she knows of a place where my magic will be appreciated,” he said. “It sounded amazing. I t
hink it’s what I need right now.”
“What woman?” I asked, panic flowing through me. “Where did you meet her?”
He sighed. “Let’s talk about this another time,” he said. “I’d really like to be alone for a while.”
“Promise me you won’t go anywhere before I’ve had a chance to say goodbye,” I said. “Promise me you’ll be there tomorrow for the ceremony.”
Aerden placed his hand firmly against my arm. “I’ll be there. I promise,” he said. “But I want you to promise me something, too.”
“Anything,” I said.
“Promise me you will try to love her,” he said, his eyes filling with tears. “She deserves that.”
“I will,” I said.
He pulled me into a hug, then turned away.
I left him there at the edge of the Black Cliffs, a dark feeling swirling in my stomach.
She Will Never Have To Know
I tossed and turned throughout the night.
When I finally fell asleep, I dreamed of the sea. And when I woke, I felt restless.
I knew I didn’t have much time until the preparations for today’s ceremonies would begin, and I still hadn’t put my feelings into the heart stone.
I had left the golden locket on the table beside the window, but when I went to retrieve it, it was gone.
I searched every corner of my room, and when I realized it was nowhere to be found, I collapsed onto my bed.
Where could I have left it?
I’d been so sure it was there by the window.
Then, a thought tugged at my brain and I stood.
Aerden.
I shifted and flew through my rooms as fast as I could, traveling through the long corridor that connected our two towers.
His room was a twin of my own, situated up a long staircase and at the top of a tower. We each had a suite of rooms including a bedroom, bathroom, closet and small welcoming room.
He usually kept his outer door closed, but as I reached the top of the stairs, his door stood wide open. An uneasy feeling knotted in my stomach.
With heavy steps, I entered his room, praying this was all in my head. I told myself I’d see him sitting at his breakfast table, fully dressed and ready to face the day.
But I already knew he was gone.
I could feel his absence.
We’d always had an incredibly strong bond. Even when we weren’t together, I was always connected to him, as if he were simply an extension of myself.
Sometimes when we sparred, I could sense his movements before he made them. I could anticipate his thoughts.
But when I focused in on his energy now, I couldn’t sense him anywhere.
A cold vine wrapped around my spine, and I shivered. I walked through the entryway and into his bedroom.
There, on the table near his bed, was the golden locket. Underneath, he’d left a note. My eyes filled with tears as I sat down, the note clutched in my trembling hand.
Dear brother,
I have broken my promise to you, and I hope that you will find it in your heart to forgive me.
I cannot stay in this city and watch the kingdom celebrate your happiness while my own heart is breaking. I’m not sure I could survive the pain.
But I also couldn’t live with the pain of knowing Lea’s heart had also been broken.
You said telling her the truth was the only way to make things right, but I found another way. A better way that will give her great joy and allow you to both be happy together.
When she opens the heart stone inside this locket, Lea will see that she is loved. She will understand how much she means in this world, and it won’t matter that it was my love instead of yours. She will never have to know.
All she needs to know is that the love inside the stone is pure and true.
Please let me do this for her. For both of you.
I don’t know how long I’ll be gone or where I’m going, but I will reach out to you when I can. Someday, if my heart can heal, I will come home and stand by your side.
I love you, brother.
Aerden.
I Didn’t Deserve Her
The Human World – Present Day
A knock on the door startled me out of my memories of the distant past, bringing me back to my bedroom at Brighton Manor. I let the memory stone fall back into my pocket and took a deep breath as the images of that day so long ago faded away.
It was exactly one hundred and one years ago today that Aerden was taken from me and the agony of that day still felt fresh in my mind.
The door cracked open slightly and Harper stuck her head just inside the door. The smile on her face radiated warmth and happiness, dispersing some of the cold anger and regret in my heart.
“Hey sexy,” she said. “Can I come in?”
My hand absently brushed the stone in my pocket and I nodded. “Of course.”
She opened the door and slipped inside, then shut it behind her.
The sight of her took my breath away. Her blond hair had grown longer over the past few months, but tonight she was wearing it up in beautiful, thick braids that coiled around her head. A beautiful white rose was placed near her temple and she wore band of beads around her forehead like a crown.
We’d decided not to completely abandon Peachville’s tradition of an annual Halloween Ball. This year, though, no one from the Order of Shadows was invited.
Harper and I had decided to go as a couple from a silent film we’d watched together. My costume was easy. All I’d needed was a tuxedo.
But Harper had gone all out. Her dress was a shiny satin that hugged all of her curves. She wore several long layers of pearls that draped perfectly across her body and swayed as she walked toward me. Nestled between the pearls, she still wore her mother’s locket, too, even though the magic inside it had been extinguished along with all of the blue portals.
“You look incredible,” I said, reaching for her and pulling her into my arms.
“And you look half-dressed,” she said with a laugh as she snuggled against my cheek. “What have you been doing up here all this time?”
I shrugged and look down at the discarded bow tie on my dresser. “I couldn’t figure out how to tie this stupid thing,” I said. I felt slightly guilty lying to her, but I couldn’t tell her the real thoughts that had occupied my mind for the past half hour. I wanted to have all of the memories inside the stone before I told her about it.
“Here, let me,” she said.
She picked up the tie and moved her arms around my neck, lifting my collar and placing the bow tie in the right position.
“Since when did you learn how to tie a bow tie?” I asked.
She smiled and the sight of her cherry red lips made my neck flush with warmth.
“I didn’t,” she said.
Then, she stepped back and closed her eyes. With a simple wave of her hand, my tie moved on its own, twisting around until it was tied into the perfect bow.
I smiled and studied it in the mirror.
“A glamour?” I asked.
“Not exactly,” she said. “Just something I’ve been working on.”
She studied me, her lips curling down into a frown.
“Is everything okay?”
I nodded. “I was just thinking about how far we’ve come,” I said. “How much we’ve been through just to get here.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist. Her dress dipped low in the back and I placed my palm flat against her bare skin, so grateful for the warmth of her body against mine.
I lowered my lips toward hers, but at the last moment, she placed a finger against my lips and shook her head.
“This lipstick is real, I’ll have you know,” she said. “No glamours tonight. If you kiss me now, you’re going to look like a clown instead of a handsome movie star.”
“It’s worth it,” I said.
I lowered my lips to hers and she wrapped her arms around me, tilting her head up. I lost myself in the love that passed between
us in that moment. Every sorrow I’d ever experienced had led me here, and I knew that I would go through it all again for her.
When we parted, she smiled up at me, then rubbed her thumb across my lips. She held it up so I could see the streak of red.
“I told you,” she said.
I laughed and watched her practically float away. She placed her hand on the heavy wooden door and turned back toward me before she left.
“Don’t be long,” she said. “Almost everyone’s here already.”
I blew her a kiss and she pretended to catch it before she disappeared into the hallway.
I touched my hand to the stone in my pocket, thinking how I never dreamed I would ever love someone as much as I love her.
And how I was certain I didn’t deserve her.
The Beginning Of The Terror
I wanted nothing more than to join her and our friends downstairs, but there was still work to be done. I reached in my pocket and took out the stone again.
All my memories of the days leading up to the engagement ceremony were just the very beginning of the story.
When I found Aerden’s note and the golden case that held the heart stone, I mourned his absence, but at the same time, a part of me understood why he did what he did. He was willing to sacrifice his own happiness so that Lea and I could find happiness, but he didn’t want to stay behind and watch us together every single day.
I understood why he had to go.
But knowing he was gone was only the beginning of the terror that was to come.
I closed my hand around the stone and let my memories drift back to that day just over a hundred years ago.
It Cannot Be Undone
The Shadow World – 101 Years Ago
I crumbled Aerden’s note between my fingers, then slammed my fist against the table.
How could I have let this happen? Yesterday, I felt that something was wrong. I knew he was acting distant. I should have kept an eye on him. I should have demanded he talk to Lea himself.
I let my head fall against the table.
A Demon's Wrath: Part I (Peachville High Demons) Page 2