She laughs. “Would there be a problem if someone chopped off his head? He would be out of your way with Rosalyn.”
It has never been a secret how much those two dislike each other. Ever since the incident with Benjamin a couple of hundred years ago.
“Lawrence,” she snaps, to gain my attention. “You should know she’s going to send him. He is the strongest Witch besides Rosalyn and her. The only thing we can do is hope that she sends us as well. The last thing we need is the two of them off together for days or weeks. That’s a disaster waiting to happen.”
My mind goes through all the scenarios that could happen, and they all end with me being pissed because I am the one being hurt. Alizon and I need to get on that mission.
“You do realize your sister is going to flip out when she finds out about this. Where is your mother sending her, anyway?” I ask, knowing in my gut that I’m not going to like the answer by the look on Alizon’s face.
She flips her red hair to the side of her face and purses her lips. “Mother is sending her to the Wildlands. She’s using her to figure out what’s going on with the wolves coming onto our lands.”
All I can think about is Rosalyn’s reaction when her mother tells her, and my chest tightens. In a rush, I say, “I’ve got to warn Rosalyn.” Running past Alizon, I make my way toward the castle, but Alizon yells at me.
“Wait, Lawrence!” Stopping for a brief second, I let her catch up. “You can’t tell her about the mission. My mother will be going through our heads. You have to keep your mouth shut.”
My teeth clench. “I won’t tell her about the mission, but I’m going to warn her about her behavior. Now, let me go.”
She gently nods her head at me. “I’ll cover for you while you go.” As I turn around, she gently touches my arm. “All of us going together is her best bet.”
Laughing in her face, I turn away and say over my shoulder, “Xavier and I would kill each other before we even made it there.”
Running around the corners of the corridors, I meet Rosalyn a few corridors over from the throne room and pull her into an empty room. It’s dark because the curtains are drawn, but I only need to talk to her for a few seconds.
Pulling her to me, I hold her for a second. We don’t have much time, so I drop a brief kiss on her forehead.
She pulls away from me and her eyebrows pull together in a questioning look. “What are you doing here? I thought you had guard duty.”
Doing the only thing I can do, I give her advice. My hands gently grasp her shoulders, and I look into her eyes. “When you see your mother, I need you to be present, no matter what. Be respectful and try not to mouth off to her.” She gives me a weird look, but I keep going. “If she does something to upset you, don’t say anything, no matter what. This one time, I need you to be strong for me.”
Her eyes are wide as she looks at me. “You’re scaring me, Lawrence. What’s going on?”
Kissing her forehead, I crush her to me. My voice is thick as I say, “If I could tell you, I would. Be that strong girl I know you are.” Pulling her away from me, I say, “I love you.”
Getting on her tiptoes, she puts her lips on mine. “I love you, too.”
She lets go of me and steps away, and I watch in amazement as she squares her shoulders. She gives me a tremulous smile, but that’s only the nerves showing. “Follow me down there?”
My gaze softens. “Anything for you.”
She’s the first one to walk out of the room, and I follow close behind her. When we hit the last corner before the throne room, I stop and watch. She takes a deep breath and opens the door. Now all I can do is wait for the aftermath.
When I turn around to leave, footsteps echo in the corridor by the throne room, so I look around the corner again. A quiet growl escapes my lips when Xavier’s eyes meet mine, and he smirks. He only stands there for a second before he opens the door and walks in.
Chapter Twenty-One
Rosalyn
Confidently, I enter the throne room, meeting my mother’s eyes. My boots hit the floor, and my footsteps echo. By the smug look on her face, I can tell something’s up. When the door crashes open again, I look behind me and see Xavier’s blond hair. Stumbling back a step, gratitude fills me because the last time I saw him was a vision where he was bleeding in a bed. Then my mind flashes to our last interaction. My fists clench. My mother is up to something, and I don’t like it.
He catches up to me quickly and, as we get closer to my mother, he grabs my hand. The nerve of this man! I’m in another relationship, and does he really think all is forgiven? Pulling my hand from his, I send him a message. Don’t touch me. Better yet, leave me alone. I thought I made myself clear when you decided to invade my head.
Plastering a fake smile on my face, I speak to my mother in a self-assured voice. “You wanted to speak to me, Mother?”
She drums her fingers together and looks between Xavier and me, examining us like we’re a puzzle she needs to figure out. When she smiles, I see she’s figured something out.
Her lips turn up and she says triumphantly, “Yes, Rosalyn, we need to discuss your first mission.”
Out of everything to be discussed, I didn’t expect this. Usually, this doesn’t happen until we have our immortality, but of course, my mother has other ideas.
Taking a second to think, I blow out a breath. “Okay, I’m ready for it.” My mind races and I try to calm down. I need more information. “Where am I going?”
Xavier chuckles quietly next to me. Biting the inside of my cheek, I turn my attention to him. In a cold voice, I add, “Is there something you’d like to add?”
My mother leans forward in her seat and furiously barks, “Xavier, you better keep your mouth shut. Do not distract my daughter.”
Xavier gulps and says nothing. This must be a completely different kingdom. He never stays quiet.
My mother focuses on me again and says something that stops my heart. “Rosalyn, as you know, when we send you on a mission it’s to test the strength of your powers. You’ve displayed some of the strongest powers we’ve seen in a long time. It’s because of that, that I’m sending you on an important mission to gather intelligence for me, which so happens to be in the Wildlands of the Lycanthrope kingdom.”
Everything around me caves in. My breathing stops, Alaric fills my head. She’s asking me to do the impossible. When I feel a hand grab mine, I take a breath and feel myself calm down.
On autopilot, I ask, “Are you sending me alone?”
She laughs at me. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she spits out. “I wouldn’t send the crown princess alone on a mission like this. You’ll have a team of your choice, except for the two I’ve already chosen. Xavier will be going with you, and so will Alizon. Those two are the strongest in defensive and offensive powers.”
After she says that, I realize Xavier is holding my hand, and I rip it out of his grasp, wringing my hands behind my back while I think. In my mind, I go over my choices, and realize I know exactly who I want.
My head dips in a quick nod as I give it a minute before saying anything. “Mother, I’m ready to tell you my choices.” Her posture stiffens but she tells me to proceed. “Lawrence and Scarlett. Unlike Xavier, I trust Lawrence with my life.”
When I’m finished speaking, Xavier’s breathing hard through his nostrils and mutters under his breath. Did he really expect me not to choose Lawrence?
Tipping her head to the side, my mother chuckles. “Do you have a problem with her choices, Xavier?”
“Your Majesty, Lawrence shouldn’t come. There’s no way Rosalyn would focus on the danger around her.”
I scoff. “Considering you were the one who tried to kill him, of course you have a problem with him coming along.” Pursing my lips, I question, “Is Xavier helping you make the decision, Mother?”
She cackles. “No, Rosalyn, he’s not. You can have your choices. I’m surprised you want Scarlett after she tried to kill you. But since the weakest wil
l probably die, she can go.”
All I care about is giving Scarlett a chance to escape. This mission is a disaster waiting to happen. With Lawrence and Xavier having to work together, I’ll have to keep them from killing each other.
A rotten taste fills my mouth at the next words that leave my mouth. “Thank you for allowing them to go, Mother.”
She steeples her fingers as she crosses her legs. “Rosalyn,” she says, “it will be your responsibility to inform them and make sure you’re all prepared to go. If you can’t work as a team, there will be deaths. I’d hate to see anything happen to Lawrence.”
A chill goes through me at her last words. All I want to do is talk to Lawrence. It’s time to get out of this room. “I’ll take care of it, Mother. Alizon and Lawrence both had to do one. They’ll help me.”
Xavier clears his throat to get my attention, and I turn my head to look at him. “You aren’t going to ask me for help?”
A sweet smile graces my face. “Xavier, this isn’t the time or the place to have this discussion. We can have it some other time.” Under my breath, I mutter, “Like never.” Turning to my mother, I ask, “Is there anything else you need from me, Mother?”
She motions toward the doors and regally tells me, “No, Rosalyn, you’re free to go.”
Xavier turns to go at the same time as me, and I narrow my eyes at him. “Why are you following me? Don’t you still have to talk to my mother?”
He chuckles and answers, “No, I was there so your mother could tell you about your mission.”
When the door to the throne room closes, I turn to face him in anger. “Let me guess. You knew about the mission as soon as she woke you up?”
He puts his hands up and tries to calm me down. “Addy, I’d never keep something of this magnitude from you. We found out at the same time.”
Putting my hands on my thighs, I laugh. “I don’t believe anything coming out of your mouth, so save your words for someone who might actually believe you.”
When I look up, he visibly swallows and lifts his chin. “Since you were a child, you never thought I was lying to you.”
Waving dismissively at him, I sneer, “That’s before I found out you’ve lied to me about everything. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have somewhere to be.”
I turn to go find Lawrence but am stopped by Xavier’s voice. “Rosalyn, please,” he pleads. “Talk to me.”
An ugly laugh escapes my mouth when I turn to face him. My tone is cold and emotionless, “If you think that you deserve my time, you are sadly mistaken. I have so many grievances against you I can barely stand to look at you.” I cross my arms over my chest as I continue. “There was a time when I wanted to grab your blond hair and kiss you, when I wanted to be with you. That time has passed. You aren’t a good person, Xavier.” My eyes are hard as stone. “I gave you so many chances to talk, and you threw those away. You invaded my dreams so you could talk to me, and then still tried to demand things of me. So, I’m sorry, but I don’t want to talk to you.” Motioning between us, I say, “The two of us are over. The faster you accept that, the easier life will be for you.”
Waving dismissively at him, I make quick work of walking away again, but he grabs me and slams his lips into mine, shoving his tongue into my mouth. Before I can do anything, I’m ripped from him, and a fist comes out of nowhere and punches him in the jaw.
“How many times are you going to put your hands on her without her permission?” Lawrence’s angry voice asks. Lawrence is breathing hard, barely holding onto his temper. Alizon is right next to him, and I know they have my back. Xavier still has hold of my arm, and I wrench it free.
After I walk to the two of them, we all leave together. When our backs are to Xavier, he decides he needs to open his mouth again. “She’ll never be yours. She’s mine, and she’ll always be mine. Have your fun with her because eventually she’ll come back to me. We’re meant to be together, and you can’t break up soul mates.”
I put my hand on Lawrence’s arm, and shake my head lightly. He’s trying to get a rise out of us.
“Just keep walking, Lawrence,” I beg.
Alizon has a cloak for both of us, so I grab Lawrence’s hand, and we head outside. As soon as we clear the doorway, I whip around on the two of them in fury. “What was that? You could have warned me.”
They look at each other and then back at me with a questioning look. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. You sent me in there blind.” Pointing my finger at Alizon, I bite out, “Out of anyone besides Mother, you would have known he was awake. You have a lot to explain.”
Lawrence puts his finger to his mouth and pulls us both away from the castle and prying eyes. His eyes widen when I wrench my arm away from his hand, not caring whether I upset him or not. Looking up, I notice Xavier watching us. I briskly walk away from the scene. When I don’t hear footsteps behind me, I switch over to my telepathy to tell them, Xavier is watching. We need to go somewhere we won’t be overheard.
Lawrence grabs my hand gently and leads us away from the castle toward one of the guard cabins. When we go to walk around it, I mouth to Lawrence, “What are you doing?”
He shakes his head at me and continues to walk around, and on the back side of the cabin is a completely undisturbed part of the forest. It’s peaceful, and there are trees of varying sizes everywhere, their pine needles covered with crisp white snow. The snow back here hasn’t been disturbed, so I don’t know how we would be able to go in the cabin without someone following us.
Stopping, I whisper to Lawrence, “Where are we going?”
He puts his finger to his lip again, goes to the door at the back of the cabin, and then opens it. Alizon walks in first, and then he motions for me to follow her while he brings up the rear, closing the door. When I look around the cabin, I see it has a simple bed with a small kitchen and bathroom. There’s a wood-burning stove running to keep the heat, but there’s no one there.
Lawrence moves to the bed and moves it to reveal a staircase. Giving him a stunned look, I start to say something, but he motions for me to be silent again, pointing down.
Allie goes down first with no fear, almost like she’s done this before. He motions for me to follow, and that’s when the sound of heavy boots crunching on snow are heard close to the door. My heart rate spikes, and I race down after her. Lawrence brings up our rear, puts the bed back in place, and secures the bolt when the door opens. We all freeze and hold our breath, hoping we aren’t caught.
Lawrence leans down and urgently whispers in my ear, “We need to go down the steps, amare.”
My heart feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest, and I look around everywhere. It’s dark, and I see and smell dirt. I meet Allie at the bottom of the stairs and jump when Lawrence puts his hand on my shoulder. Someone messes with the door at the top.
“Follow me,” Lawrence whispers.
He runs, and my sister and I stay close behind him. There are lights intermittently along the path, but there are so many paths to choose from, it’s like a maze. We turn the first bend when we hear the door to the hidden passage splinter and fall down the stairs. My legs move faster, and my breathing is so fast I feel like I’m hyperventilating. I’ve never run so fast in my entire life. Every time we pass a corner and I think we’ve gotten away from them, the footsteps behind us get closer.
My legs feel shaky and I can barely breathe. Lawrence leads us to another staircase on the other side of the crazy maze, this one stone. Gathering the last bit of my strength, I quickly run up it with Alizon following close behind. We all burst through the door and close it fast. Lawrence motions us forward, and, taking a quick glance around, I see we’re back in the castle where all the guards have their rooms. He picks up his pace until we reach his chamber, and we all file in before he closes the door behind us.
Putting my hands on my knees, I take long deep breaths. “What the hell was that? I wanted to talk, not be chased.” Looking up at him, I sarcastically say, “Let me gu
ess, we weren’t supposed to be there?”
From off to my left, Alizon answers me instead of Lawrence. “No, sis, you weren’t supposed to be there. I’m allowed to be there, but you haven’t done your mission yet. That’s why we were running. If anyone knew Lawrence took you there, he could be killed.”
I take my hands off my thighs and walk over and slap Lawrence. The shocked expression on his face means I’ve done my job.
“Have you completely lost your mind?!” I scream. “Am I the only one who knows how to follow the damn rules in this castle?” Looking at them, I run my hands through my hair. “Are you both trying to get me killed on my mission? I need every single person on my team to survive. We all need each other.”
Alizon chuckles until I grab her dress and pull her down so that we’re staring at each other eye-to-eye. Through clenched teeth I threaten her. “After what you pulled the night I got hurt, we barely have a relationship. If something happens to Lawrence, I’ll kill you.”
She gulps and looks down at her feet. “You do realize I can’t guarantee anything won’t happen to him on the mission.”
Trying to stop the anger that is so close to boiling over, I take a deep breath and quietly say, “Well, for your sake, you better hope nothing happens to him.”
Lawrence pulls me away from her and looks at Alizon. “You should probably go now before things get more out of control.”
She quickly nods and then glances at me. “I just have one quick question. Who is going on the mission?”
“Us, Xavier, and Scarlett.”
Alizon roars with laughter, to the point where she can’t catch her breath.
Lawrence and I look at each other and I ask, “What’s your problem?”
She wipes the tears from her eyes and looks at me. “It looks like I’m the only one coming home from this mission alive. Xavier and Lawrence want each other dead, and you and Scarlett want each other dead. If the rabid werewolves don’t kill us, you’ll kill each other.” She laughs again.
Decadence (Tree of Life Series Book 1) Page 16