“No, the other one is for our father.”
“Is he here?” I ask excitedly. “I would love to meet him. He sounds like a great man.”
He stares at me, a storm brewing behind his now troubled eyes. “My father is an amazing man, and there’s nothing that I wouldn’t do for him. But no, he isn’t here right now. You’ll have to meet him at another time.” He walks up the stairs and I’m left wondering where their dad is.
I stand up and walk over to Zavid’s recently vacated seat and curl up on the sofa. My eyelids drag close and I can’t gather the energy to think about Zavid’s words any longer.
It is much later when I’m awakened by the smell of something delicious. I open my eyes and I’m met with a dark living room and an empty couch. I must have really been out of it for me not to hear Caylen leave the room.
I rise from the couch and I follow my nose through the dark house until I walk into a lit kitchen with a shirtless Zavid at the stove. My mouth waters slightly and it’s not because of the delicious aroma wafting in the air. No, it’s because of the wall of muscle standing in front of me.
Zavid’s back holds not an ounce of fat, and I’m sure I could climb him like a rock wall with the amount of cuts in his muscles. He’s wearing a weird pair of shorts, and I can’t tell what it’s made from, but it doesn’t matter because they’re hanging so low on his hips that they could be made of plastic and shoe strings and he’d still look fine as hell. His dark brown skin glows in the lights placed throughout the kitchen, and I can’t help but want to run my fingers over it.
“How long are you going to stand there ogling me,” he says without turning around.
“I wasn’t ogling you,” I say indignantly.
“You were definitely ogling him. But who could blame you? He’s damn near naked,” Sheya chimes in.
“Not naked enough,” I respond.
“Didn’t we just talk about you having sex with people you don’t really know?”
“Yeah yeah yeah. Permanent mating bonds and all of that.”
“Come here,” he says. And fuck me if I didn’t instantly oblige. I don't know if it was the commanding way he said it, or the deep sensuality in his voice, but I found myself standing next to him at the stove. The stove is pretty old school, the kind that’s fueled by wood and nothing else. The heat is pretty contained, so it’s not uncomfortable. The heat emanating from Zavid’s large form is another thing altogether.
I focus on what he’s cooking, and my stomach growls as I get an up-close look at the stew he’s making. Or, at least, I think it’s stew.
“My father used to make it for us when he first found us,” he says. “We were just teenagers, tossed away by the only family we’ve ever known, and we were scared.” He stares into the pot and continues stirring without making eye contact with me. “This was the only meal that Titus would eat for a very long time. Really, it’s the only meal any of us wanted. There were no memories attached to this stew besides the new ones we made. Our father cooked this meal every single day for a year. He ate it with us when I know he was tired of it. But he didn’t complain. He never did.”
“Did you guys know each other before your dad found you?” I ask.
“No, but we all knew of each other. You’ll see why we didn’t really interact with each other when we get to the second, first and center ring. The Blessed keep to themselves while also flaunting their power. It’s nothing too wild, just enough to say ‘Hey, we’re just slightly more Blessed than you’. My family is weaker than Caylen’s and Titus’ family. So we stayed in the third ring. My parents had just enough power to be considered Blessed, but not enough to be allowed to stay in the inner rings. Caylen’s family is in the second ring, so he hasn’t really seen them since that day. Same with Titus, only, his family is in the first ring. They’re extremely powerful and could live in the center ring if they wanted to. Titus said that they never did because they didn’t want to be the third most powerful family in a ring.”
“Who’s the first two?”
“The King and then your family,” he says, finally taking his eyes off the stew and looking at me. I gasp as my eyes widen, not really knowing what to say. If my family is so strong, would they disown me for not being as strong?
“Wow, we’re not weak,” Sheya snaps.
“No, we’re not. But we’re definitely not super powerful. You can do things when you’re in control, but I can’t do shit unless I’m riled up. And even then it was just bending a few trees.”
“They’ve had their whole lives to soak up the power of this realm. We’ve only had a few days. Cut us some slack.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“So, what does that mean? For me?” I finally ask.
“That means that you’re very important.”
“How important?”
He’s silent for a second as he stares into my eyes. Finally, he breaks eye contact and focuses back on stirring the stew.
“How close are you and your parents, back on Earth,” he asks instead. The abrupt change in topic throws me for a loop, but I quickly answer anyway.
“My dad and I are like best friends, when he’s home. He works a lot and I barely see him, but I love him and I can tell him anything. My mom… we weren’t really close, and after I found out she was sleeping with some other guy, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive her.”
“But if they were in danger, would you do anything to save them?” he asks.
I don’t even have to think about the answer to that. “Yes, of course I would. They’re my parents and I love them.”
He nods his head as if I just answered a super profound question for him. I find this whole conversation to be bizarre since Zavid hates me. Which brings me to a question of my own.
“Why do you hate me?” I ask. “You didn’t hate me when we first met, but now it’s like you can’t stand to be in the same room as me. Why?”
“It’s because I can’t get close to you when I know what you are.”
I won’t lie and say that that didn’t hurt my feelings. So, he’s been treating me like shit because I’m a Blessed and that’s the way they’ve always treated him? It’s not fair. I place my hand on the one that’s stirring the stew until he looks at me again.
“I’m not like the other Blessed. I know they’ve treated you unfairly, hell, even your family did, too. But I’m not them. Even though we haven’t gotten along, I don’t think of you as inferior to me. When you’re not being a raging dick, which is few and far between, I look up to you.”
His bare shoulders rise as he deeply inhales and I force my eyes to remain on his face. “That’s not it. We all have a role to play in a story, Renee. Roles we’re unaware of and roles we’re not happy to play.”
“Well, why don’t we rewrite our roles? Ones where we’re not enemies, but friends?” He narrows his eyes at me. “Ok, acquaintances? Neutral, at least. Our trip is about to come to an end, right? I’m going to meet my family, and then I’m going to go home. I’ve already missed more days of school than I was willing, so let’s make this trip worth it.”
“You haven’t,” he says.
“I haven’t what?”
“You haven’t missed that many days. Time here is different. For every three days here, it’s only one there. We have plenty of time.”
“Ok, great. I want my mom to worry, but not too much, you know? I still have Cymone and everyone waiting on me. Hopefully I can come back here and visit you guys. Meet your dad and such.”
“Yeah,” he says. “Hopefully you’ll be able to meet him soon.”
“Really?” I say, my voice rising with excitement.
He closes his eyes and I can see the tension threading through him once again. It’s like every time he brings up me meeting his dad, he gets stressed.
“Hey,” I say. “It can wait. Whenever you’re ready. I’m sure he’s a great guy.”
“He is.” He clears his throat. “Can you grab some bowls for the tab
le? Titus and Caylen will be down when they smell the food.”
I stare at him for a moment longer, but I quickly walk over to the doorless cabinet and grab four blue stone bowls. I place them on the table that’s placed in the corner of the room while stealing glances at Zavid every other second. It doesn’t feel like we made much ground just now, but it’s something.
Sure enough, like Zavid predicted, I hear heavy stomping falling down the steps and, shortly after, Caylen and Titus appear in the kitchen. They both freeze when they see me sitting at the table, but Titus recovers first by sitting in the chair to the left of me. Caylen comes around the table and takes the seat at my right. Zavid turns around from the stove and freezes when he sees us seated at the table, but he stares at me the longest.
“Ok, guys. What the fuck? Is there something on my face?” I finally say.
It’s silent as everyone looks everywhere but at me. Caylen looks up from the table and glances at his brothers. Getting no support from either of them, he finally takes a deep breath and looks at me. “It’s because that’s our father’s seat,” he says.
“O...kay? You think he’d mind me sitting here?”
“No. Not at all. He’d probably offer you the seat himself if he was here.”
“Ok, so what’s the problem?” I ask.
“It’s nothing. We’re just not used to seeing anyone sitting there but him, that’s all. Sorry, Ren. We’re being weird.”
“You can say that again,” Sheya says.
“Yeah, no kidding. Can we eat now?” I direct that question to Zavid since he’s the one with the pot in his hand.
He answers by bringing the pot to the middle of the table and setting it on a mat. Caylen and Titus hold their bowls up, so I mimic the action and hold mine up as well. Zavid begins scooping stew into our bowls. He fills up the guys bowls and then takes a seat without filling up mine. I narrow my eyes at him, but Caylen stands up and fills up my bowl and then Zavid’s. Oh, makes sense.
Being able to sit here and witness their dynamic as a family, in their own home, forms a tender spot in my heart for all of them. They all work together so well, it only makes me wish I could see them with their father.
We eat in silence, and honestly, that’s fine by me. This stew is the best thing I’ve had since coming to this realm and it’s probably the best thing I’ve had in my entire life. The flavor is so complex and layered, it’s almost as if I’m finding something new with each bite. In the name of starting anew, I decide to break the silence and compliment him on his culinary skills.
“Wow, Zavid, this is probably the best thing I’ve ever eaten,” I say to him. He catches my eyes from his end of the table and the most beautiful smile breaks across his face. I feel like this is the first time I’ve ever really seen him smile.
“Thank you, Renee,” he says in the deepest voice ever.
“Down girl,” Sheya says.
They’re right. It’s like my hormones just caused me to swoon. I quickly focus back on my stew instead of the fine man smiling across from me.
“So,” I clear my throat. “When do we head out?”
“After you shower,” Caylen says from his place to the right of me. “We’ve all been up for a while now.”
“What? Really? Why didn’t you guys wake me up?” I ask incredulously.
“Because you need more rest than we do. Yeah, the trip kicked our ass, but we can bounce back quicker than you. You still haven’t been on Relvaria long enough to get the benefits of the realm.”
I nod my head and begin eating my food with a renewed vigor. The guys chuckle at my behavior, but no one comments. After I finish my stew, Titus directs me to their bathroom upstairs and I take a quick shower. This bath isn’t much different from the one Caylen and I shared, and I try not to dwell on that time together. I don’t know what happened to cause him to become suddenly distant, and I don’t think I want to know.
After being rejected by Titus after our time together, I’m afraid that I’m in for the same thing with Caylen; and I don’t think that I can handle that again.
No. I’ll just let him do what he wants to do and I’ll focus on getting us to my family. As I leave out the bathroom, I hear the guys having a heated hushed discussion.
“Sneak down the stairs,” Sheya instructs.
“I’m clumsy! You do it!”
“For the love of… fine.”
Sheya and I merge together and then we slowly creep down the steps. Our hearing is more enhanced in this state, and we don’t have to go too far down in order for us to clearly hear what’s being said.
“We need to get to the center ring today. We’ve taken long enough,” Zavid says.
“You can’t still feel like doing this is ok? Do you really hate her so much?” Caylen asks.
“No, I never hated her. But you know why we shouldn’t get close to her. Even though you two have forgotten everything, I haven’t.”
“So, if you don’t hate her, how do you feel about her?”
“I think she’s amazing, but that’s neither here nor there. We know she’s great, but that changes nothing.”
“The water has stopped,” Titus says, quickly ending their conversation. We stand on the steps for another minute, waiting to see if they’re going to continue their conversation, but no one utters a single word for the entire time. Fine by us.
Sheya and I separate and I walk into the kitchen. The guys are all sitting in the same place where I left them, but their bowls and the pot is completely empty. I can’t see Titus’ face because his back is turned to me, but Zavid and Caylen’s faces are completely neutral. Except for their eyes. They heatedly rake their eyes up my bare legs, pausing on the small amount of exposed skin on my stomach.
I feel my body flush, but I don’t show any outer indication that their attention is getting to me in any way. I decided to wear a green spaghetti strap shirt and black shorts, because I don’t want to be sweating and burning up when we trek into the center ring.
I just forgot to pack a bra that goes with this shirt, so I decided not to wear one. I mean, I’m young. Why not let them be free while they’re still up for the job?
But I didn’t take into account them staring at my chest as if they can see through the material. Their gazes causes my nipples to pebble, and now I’m more than positive that they can see something.
“So, uh, are you guys ready to go?” I ask, trying to break the thick tension. Titus turns around and I swear I see his grey eyes melt and become steal as he stares at my erect nipples. So many fantasies start to flow through my head as I stand in front of these three men with their molten gazes fixated on me. What would it be like to be the center of their attention when there wasn’t so many secrets lying between us? When the “leader” of the group didn’t hate me? It’d be hot.
“And fucking stupid,” Sheya interrupts.
Yeah, and fucking stupid.
“I’m… yeah, I’m going to grab my bag.” I escape from the kitchen like the coward that I am. I dash back into the living room where my bag is and begin to take all of my hoodies out of it. I fold them up and place them in the corner of the sofa as neat as possible. If the weather is going to remain like this, there’s no need for me to carry them around with me.
Caylen comes into the living room as I finish folding up the last one, and he just watches me until I face him.
“Is it ok for me to leave these here? I’ll grab them before we leave, I just don’t want to carry these around if I don’t have to, you know?”
Something flashes across his face, but it was there and gone so fast, I’m not too sure what it was.
“Shit, looked like guilt to me,” Sheya says.
“How could you be so sure?”
“Because I know exactly what guilt looks like.”
“Yeah, it’s cool. Look, Ren, I’m sorry. I know I’ve been acting exactly like Titus did, and that’s not what I planned on doing.” He runs his hand through his hair and down to the back of his nec
k. I try to hold his eyes, but he keeps casting them down to the floor. “Things are so complicated right now. I just want you to know that I don’t regret a thing, and I hope that you don’t as well. It was…,” he chuckles nervously. “I’ve had my fair share of girls in my bed, ok? But none have felt as right as you did.” He finally looks at me, a shy smile pulling at his lips. I kept help but return that smile.
Yeah, it stung when he began to ignore me like Titus did, but hearing that I was the best that he ever had, even though I’m severely unskilled, warms me in ways that I never thought such simple words would.
“Can we just enjoy the rest of this trip? It’d be nice to ask all of my questions and have someone who doesn’t hate me answer,” I say.
“Yeah, we’ll make a day of it,” he says. He opens his arms and I run into them, exhaling as he envelops me. He smells like freshly fallen rain and I can’t help but breathe him in. “Come on, let’s go.”
32
Renee
The trip through the many rings were the most fun I’ve had since being in this realm. Caylen did as he promised, and he made the experience amazing. The further we got into the kingdom, the more spectacular the architecture became.
Throughout our journey, Caylen stopped and bought snacks and clothes from kiosks on the side of the road and gave them to me. I started to feel like I belonged here with each new piece of clothing. Even Zavid joined in with explaining the history of Kor. Apparently, this isn’t the only kingdom, but it is the most advanced. There are two other known kingdoms: The kingdom of Drof, named aptly after the mountains that it is located on, and the kingdom of Botki. The kingdom of Botki is known for their brutality, not their diplomacy. According to Zavid, we’re lucky that they’re so far away, otherwise we would have nonstop war with their King.
Drof is going through a terrible famine, and a lot of the commoners are confused as to why Kor isn’t helping them in their time of need. Surely the Ancestors aren’t only looking over Kor, so why shouldn’t we extend a hand when things are going bad for our neighboring kingdoms? Apparently, the King has decided to keep all of our materials to ourselves, in case we are hit with the same famine that they are going through.
The Inner Self: The Prophecy Page 25