by C. R. Jane
"I think we should stay in my palace for the rest of the year," He says randomly one night during a dinner that is usually silent. I look up at Him, momentarily panicking at the thought of leaving Beckham, of leaving my home. That lapse of keeping my emotion hidden must have been what He was looking for.
"You promised you would be my wife," He tells me angrily. "Yet I know you've held onto those feelings for that ass. I've heard the palace gossip, how he's been seen around you no matter where you are. You might not be letting me into your bed, but I'll be damned if you will be letting anyone else into it."
"Leaving the palace was not part of our deal," I tell Him sharply.
"I'm making it part of the deal," He says with a smirk, snapping His fingers abruptly. He must have had some kind of signal set up because the doors to the dining room fly open and no less than five guards come dragging someone who looks to have been severely beaten. I gasp in horror and rise from my seat when I see that the badly beaten man is Beckham.
"Sit down," He says sharply before I can run over. I glare at Him in rebellion. "Madoc has an iron sword against your lover's neck right now, if you take another step I'll make sure that the sword gives him an eternal death."
I'm shaking with anger and horror, desperately wishing that it wouldn't damn the entire kingdom if I used my powers right now. Beckham makes an anguished sound that is cut off by the heel of Madoc's boot connecting with his stomach.
"What do you want?" I ask Him, still trembling with rage. I've already lost everything, I can't lose Beckham as well. I can feel the power swelling up within me and I have to tamper it, not sure what will happen to everyone in the room if I don't.
"You know what I want. We'll go to my palace for the rest of the year, you will devote yourself to me, and I will let him live."
I feel my heart shatter into more pieces than I thought it had left.
"I'll go, just don't harm him anymore or I'll go back on everything," I tell Him, my voice breaking with tears. He knows it's a hollow threat. I care about our world too much to risk His plague spreading more by reneging on our deal.
He seems to consider it seriously though.
"Let him go," he announces to the guards, who immediately drop Beckham to the floor with a thud.
My hands twitch wanting to reach out and hold Beckham, but I throttle the feeling.
"Thank you," I say, as strong as I'm able. I hate that I've been reduced to this withering puppet who must bend to His every whim. If I ever master my powers, I will make Him pay.
I wake up quickly when someone pulls on my shoulder. Opening my eyes in a panic I see that I'm back in my bedroom, laying in bed. I'm wearing the same blood and dirt stained dress, but the residual blood seems to have been cleaned off the rest of my body. Gwenny is standing by my bed, looking chagrined.
"I'm sorry to wake you My Queen, but King Aiden felt like you needed some food and that you would probably want to change and get a bath."
I nod my head in agreement, my body still bearing the exhaustion from our magic session, and my mind still burdened by my dream. Who is He? And who was everyone else? I shake my head, convinced that the magic zapped my brain as well as the rest of me.
Gwenny fills the huge tub for me that takes up half of my bathroom, it could easily fit at least four people. Four people? I wonder why I chose that number. I soak into the warm water, the smell of lavender wafting around me. I go over the day and feel a small sense of satisfaction remembering how it felt when I released the energy. I've felt powerless for almost all of my life, stuck dealing with the whims of whoever was around me. With that thought I realize that I'm not sure how I ended up with the Reverend. Was he one of my foster parents? Did he steal me from the Andersons? It's strange how my dream seemed to go in order from memory to memory but I can't remember how I ended up with him.
When I can't come up with an answer besides the fact that I still must have more memories to recover I decide it's time to get out. The water has a slight pink tinge when I finally get out and wrap a warm towel around myself. I lost a lot of blood today.
After dressing and eating the sandwich that Gwenny has put out for me, I go to get in bed.
"My Queen, I have another sleeping tonic for you. Prince Aiden said this would help you to recover from the day."
I give her an inquiring look and she bows her head in shame.
"I didn't know what it would do, My Queen. You must believe me. I am not skilled in this sort of thing. "
I can't be mad at her. I needed to get my memories back to have any shot at fully moving on in this life. I take the drink, only feeling comfortable about drinking it after I smell it and notice that it smells the same as the drops Aiden gave me the night before. Just like the night before, it works almost instantly and I almost don't make it to the bed in time before I'm fast asleep.
Chapter 6
Mason
The sun is just peeking out over the water as my plane descends into New York City. I'm exhausted from not sleeping for over 24 hours. I tried to get some sleep on the plane but the thought of finally finding Eva was like a shot of adrenaline through my system, keeping me from getting any rest.
I impatiently click on the button that leads up to the penthouse I share with Damon, as if that can make the elevator start to move faster. The doors open, and I'm surprised to see Lexi sitting at the dining room table with Beckham and Damon, a large map in front of them. All three look as exhausted as I feel.
"Get over here," mutters Damon, ever the asshole. I walk over and stare blankly at the map of China they're looking at. Lexi has her nose almost pressed to the paper, she's whispering something under her breath and holding a large gemstone in her hand. It looks like…a witch's rosette. What would Lexi have to do with witchcraft, and why is she here at all?
I'm just about to ask when she starts pointing frantically at the map and hopping up and down.
"This is it, this is it," she cries. I peer down at the map and see that she's pointing to Zhangiajie, China. Is that where Eva is?
"Are you sure this time?" Damon says sarcastically. Lexi glares up at him.
"I was sure last time, but he's moving her. I'm sure to keep us off track."
Damon nods and then turns and starts walking towards the hallway where his bedroom is.
"Where are you going?" I ask.
"To pack. I'm going to China," he responds simply before disappearing from view.
I look at Beckham to see what he thinks, and I notice that he's sitting at the table, his head in his hands. Doesn't look like I'll be getting answers from him.
"Can someone please fill me in?" I ask. "What are you doing here?" I say, looking at Lexi.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" she says scornfully. "I'm Eva's best friend."
"Only because you attached yourself to her like a leech," mutters Beckham, his head now face-down in the table.
"Like you three haven't?" she says darkly. "Eva and I have a connection that none of you will ever understand. I suggest you get used to me always being around because once we find her, I'm not leaving her side."
"Over my dead body," mutters Beckham.
"That can be arranged," she responds as she begins to raise her hands, which are starting to glow.
Well that's surprising. Eva's little airhead sidekick is a witch, a somewhat powerful one it appears. I quickly try to distract her before she kills my best friend.
"Hate to break up the party but I'm going to need a little bit more detail before we leave for middle of nowhere China." I tell her, crossing my arms.
Lexi goes to open her mouth, but Beckham beats her to the punch, finally pulling his head off the table. He has dark shadows under his eyes and looks like a man who has lost everything.
"Well let's see…Eva's actually some kind of queen who has been kid
napped by her crazy husband," he says, his voice rising in pitch as what appears to be anger and frustration drips out of his voice.
I look at him incredulously while Lexi rolls her eyes.
"Don't listen to Debbie Downer over there. It's far more complicated than that, I just can't tell you very much because of the spell Eva cast to save Tir Na Nog," she says wryly, as if she and Beckham are a comedy duo and she's just playing off his joke.
I'm not sure which thing to tackle first of what they both just said. Of course, what catches my attention the most is the word "husband." Eva's only 18, how does she have a husband?
Of course, Lexi looks at me incredulously when I ask that question, as if I'm the biggest idiot she's ever seen…which possibly could be true.
"Eva's only 18 in this life. She's lived who knows how many other lives. He and I have only just caught up with her in this one."
She emphasizes He, and I know she's talking about Eva's alleged husband. She points to Beckham.
"He was in her first one as well."
I feel irrationally jealous. I've felt like she had something different with Beckham…something special, this whole time and to hear that it's because he fucking knew her kills me.
Just then Damon enters the room, a large black duffel thrown over his shoulder.
"Hate to break up the tea party ladies, but our plane leaves in an hour and we still have to get through traffic.
Lexi voices what the rest of us must be thinking. "Don't we need to come up with some kind of plan. He's freaking powerful, more formidable than you are obviously understanding or that I'm capable of explaining properly. Eva had to freaking sacrifice herself to stop him, and she was the most incredible queen that I had ever seen."
"We can plan there," he responds sharply. "I just…I just need to be near her. I need to at least be close by just in case…" he trails off.
I can't argue with that logic. I feel the same burning desire to be near her…to save her…to have her back in my arms.
"Give me five," I tell him, jogging back to where my bedroom is in the penthouse to collect my stuff. I don't have much in the way of items needed for roughing it, my life the last couple of centuries or so has been very comfortable. I grab my workout gear and whatever other clothes look like they could be taken camping. We can always arrange to have supplies waiting for us when we get to China.
Feeling like I'm pretty unprepared, I grab my bag, and rush out to the living area where Damon and Beckham are glaring at each other hatefully.
"Guys?" I ask.
"Don't worry about them, they're just having a premature little testosterone battle because Beckham was Eva's fated mate in her first life."
My heart clenches big time. Lexi sure has a way of delivering news. I want to fucking punch something, or maybe just kill Beckham. Fated mate. There's no way that's true. I wouldn't feel this way if that was true. Eva owns me. Surely fate couldn't be so cruel to dangle something so perfect in front of me that I couldn't actually have. And Eva loves me. She couldn't love me as much as she does, as much as I see every time I look in her eyes if she couldn't be mine. Fated mates don't fall in love with other people. Right?
I file that information with the rest of the stuff I've learned today to hash out later on, perhaps on the long ass flight we're about to embark on.
Damon and Beckham finally both stop shooting each other glares and we head to the door.
"I need to stop by my apartment to pick up some stuff," says Beckham.
"We don't have time. What part of "one hour" didn't you understand when I said what time the flight left? We'll order what we need on the plane," says Damon annoyed.
Beckham muttered something under his breath and Damon rounds on him.
"Do you want to just stay here, oh fated one?" Damon asks sarcastically. "Or is getting your hair gel more important than getting to Eva?"
With that comment, Beckham flies off the handle, moving towards Damon in a blur, sending them both crashing into the wall. Lexi gives an exasperated sigh and continues walking out the door, but I can't do anything but watch my brothers knock the shit out of each other. I've had my share of disagreements with the two of them…especially Damon because he's an ass most of the time and I've known him longer than Beckham, but there's never been this level of malice between us. I march over to where Damon has Beckham in a chokehold and rip them away from each other.
"Get a grip," I roar, frustrated that this fight is distracting us from what's most important. "You're fighting over Eva like you have any say at all. Ultimately, she's the one who picks. We aren't going to have any chance of saving her from a supposedly "all-powerful" being if you two can't get your shit together. Obviously fated mate or not, she has more feelings for us than is normal for the situation. Nothing is going to be figured out until she's back."
The three of us stare angrily at each other for a moment before Damon gives a sharp nod, grabbing his bag and scattering more sheetrock everywhere. Looking around the room, the penthouse looks almost unrecognizable. I guess we will be redecorating when we get back, if we get back... I give an inquiring glance at Beckham and he lets out a breath of frustration, but also nods and follows Damon out the door. I take one last look at the room, hoping that I'll be bringing my girl…our girl, back here when we return, before leaving and closing the door firmly behind me.
Chapter 7
Damon
The flight from New York City to Beijing is twelve hours long and I'm more than ready to get off the plane when we land. The first couple of hours are spent in silence, each of us lost in our own thoughts with the exception of Lexi who's busy doing who knows what on the other side of the plane. She's been muttering to herself for hours and I've pretty much concluded that we've brought a madwoman with us.
We spend the next few hours filling Mason in. He has a million questions, as do I still, and is equally frustrated with Lexi's inability to give them to us. I'm surprised with Mason's ability to stay relatively calm through all of this. I've always been a hothead, but Mason's always been not far behind me with Beckham filling the role of peacemaker. Now that Beckham's abandoned his role, Mason has seemed to step in, keeping his head in the game while Beckham and I lose it. I know Mason's got to be famished. He's never gone more than a day or so without sex in his life and we're going on months now. Hopefully he will have enough energy to keep up when we have to start backpacking. I'm certainly not going to offer myself up as tribute for him to feed off me.
After Mason feels like he has gotten everything he can out of Lexi, we start to plan for what happens when we get to Zhangiajie. Lexi has apparently been doing research over the area and she says that there's a rumor in some of the supernatural backchannels she has been searching in of an ancient fortress that lies hidden somewhere in the miles of sandstone rock that make up much of Zhangiajie.
Basically, we are going to be doing a lot of hiking, or flying in my case, looking for this supposed fortress where Lexi thinks He is hiding Eva. I've called in for supplies to be waiting for us when we arrive, but I'm unfamiliar with the area and the tactician in me is frustrated with our lack of knowledge. For example, it sure would be nice to know who "He" actually is. Eva's powerful ex-husband doesn't give us much to go off of.
After we go over our initial plans…which basically are to hike around trying to use Lexi's tether spell until we find Eva and have to fight off whatever He has set up, we all grab one of the many couches on the plane and try to get some rest. As I try to get comfortable, I look over and see Beckham staring at the ceiling, looking so depressed that he looks almost like a caricature. The jealousy I've been feeling since I found out that he was her fated mate, or at least that Lexi and Beckham both claim he is, builds up inside of me again, threatening to burst out.
I wonder what he saw though that has put him into such a state. Beckham's never been one to be mo
rose, if anything he's usually the clown of the group, never letting anything get him down for long. Something in his memory has to be pretty big to have gotten him like this. An evil part of me is happy for his pain, maybe it captures a little bit of what I will feel when Eva ultimately picks him, because how could she go against her fated mate? Another crack seems to form in my heart at the very real prospect. I put up a small wall around my heart, hoping that it will protect me from the agony of the near future.
We all eventually are able to get some sleep for a few hours. Thanks to the ludicrous amount of money we all have, we are able to avoid the ridiculously busy Beijing airport and jump on a small prop plane that can get us to the outskirts of the Zhangjiajie National Park where we will start to hike in. There's a guide waiting for us with backpacks full of equipment. His name is Liu Wei and he came highly recommended from my contacts in Beijing.
He's a tiny, happy looking man who seems to never stop smiling. He's going to find us a tough crowd if he's looking for a fun trip. We make introductions and then set off, I'm sure surprising him with our quick pace considering he was told this was a leisure backpacking trip. Beckham's going to have to use his persuasion quite a bit on this trip to convince poor Liu that he hasn't actually seen a being sprout wings. Hopefully he can just get us semi close to the area where the rumors say the fortress is and then he can leave.
Haunting. That's the word that keeps on cycling through my mind as we walk through the sandstone formations. Although Mason is the one that can sense energy, I can still sense some types of magic. There's an ancient magic in this land, something that may exceed even my time on earth. It's a heavy magic that feels almost suffocating. My senses are on high alert, just waiting for something, or someone to pop out from behind one of the towering formations.
As we walk, Liu tells us about the land. The area we are in stretches over twenty-six thousand ha and holds over three thousand of the majestic sandstone pillars that we're walking through. There's also streams, pools, waterfalls, and over forty caves Liu explains. Basically, unless Lexi's witchy GPS starts working more precisely, searching for this fortress will be a little like looking for a needle in a haystack as the saying goes. To make matters more difficult, there's a heavy fog that has descended over the whole area since we started walking, shrouding us, and everything else in grey. I've tried to fly above the fog, but I haven't been able to see anything on the ground.