The more I hear about this King, the more I’m sure that I never want to meet him.
As warned, the closer we got to the center ring, the more the guys started to be welcomed less with warm smiles and more with empty gazes. It was as if the Blessed didn’t even want to acknowledge them, and thus, they didn’t acknowledge me. I asked Zavid how they were able to tell who was what, since everyone didn’t walk around merged with their Inner Self, and he said it was the feel of their aura. Blessed give off a strong vibration, while Unblessed gave off an almost nonexistent vibration.
Why I couldn’t feel shit beats the hell out of me.
“It’s because we’re still too weak,” Sheya informs. “Also, it may have something to do with us not fully being bonded. Once you reach eighteen, it should be completely different.”
“You think we’re going to come back here often?”
“I hope so. This is our true home.”
“Earth is our true home. This place belongs to Ren, not us.”
“Do you really believe that?” they skeptically asks.
“Yeah? No? I don’t know. Our family is back on Earth. Our real family. We can’t just abandon them for trips to another realm. Trips I’m not even sure they’ll survive making.”
“I guess we’ll cross that bridge with someone we don’t care about.”
“What, you mean like a guinea pig?”
“Sure, we can call them that. What’s the name of that girl you don’t like? Crystal? Yeah, Crystal. We can cross with her. If she makes it, good. If she doesn’t make it, also good. Win/win.”
“That’s not a win/win! I’m not trying to kill her! Or anybody, for that matter.”
“See,” they begin. “That’s your problem now. Not willing to do the things that’s going to make you happy.”
“Killing her won’t make me happy!”
“But bringing your family here would. And killing them would definitely not make you happy.”
“I’m not having this discussion with you anymore.”
“Good, it was pointless anyway.”
“We’re coming up to the final wall, Renee. Remember, we work for you. Show dominance. If you need to, let Sheya lead the way. Do not mention your family’s name.”
“Won’t they recognize me? If they were old enough to be around when Ren was alive? From my dreams, she and I look identical.”
The guys all halt and turn to stare at me with alarming eyes.
“What do you mean, you look identical?” Zavid asks with forced calmness.
“Yeah, didn’t you guys know? If my family sent you to find me, surely they would have given you a picture of sorts to go by?” I ask, confused by the sudden rise in tension with the guys.
“No, they didn’t. We can also feel the energy vibration of the Blessed. We knew we had found you when we felt your aura on a planet where there are no Blessed.”
“Why wouldn’t there be any Blessed? Surely they can travel there just like you guys did.”
“Yes, they could,” he agrees. “But they wouldn’t last very long. Whereas Relvaria strengthens and restore them, Earth would do the opposite. It would drain them until there was nothing there. Their Inner Self would turn on them and cause insanity.”
“Wait,” I choke out. “Are you saying that that’s what’s going to happen to me? I live there! My entire life is there. Would I be forced to move here after I turn eighteen?”
Zavid looks away, turning toward the goliath of a wall that sits about a hundred yards away from us. “No,” he finally says. “You won’t be forced to make that decision.” He turns back to me, a strange look on his handsome face. “You were born there, after all. From two parents who belong there. I’m sure your DNA is a lot different from the average Blessed.”
Relief pours out of me at his conclusion, and I hope with everything in me that he’s right. I don’t want to have to choose between living here and living on Earth. Especially when the best choice is for me to live here.
“Ok, good. So, back to the original problem. What do we do if they recognize me?”
“We’ll just have to deal with that if it arises. There’s nothing we can do about your appearance now,” Caylen interjects.
“Ugh, if only I had shapeshifting abilities. It would make this so much easier.”
“Some Blessed have the ability to create strong illusions. So, even though they aren’t physically changing, they can make themselves appear as something else. Maybe when you and Sheya get stronger, you’ll have that ability. It’s very rare, though, so don’t get your hopes too high.”
I huff out an annoyed breath, mad that everything comes down to how strong Sheya and I are and always ending with “not strong enough”. One of these days, we’ll be so strong, that people will question when our growth will stop.
“You got that right,” Sheya chimes.
“Ok, so since I don’t have that, I just have to be bossy as hell and walk up there like I own the whole kingdom. I can do that.”
“Let’s merge,” Sheya says.
“Ok, let’s do this.”
We easily meld together and, I’ll never admit this to Sheya, but the more we do this, the more at home I feel.
“I can hear you,” Sheya says.
Huh. It seems as though we’re able to have separate thoughts now.
“We’re not fully merged together, dumbass.”
“We’re not?” I ask, puzzled.
“Duh. And we’re standing here, staring off into nothing like a lunatic. If you’d stop worrying about how right it feels, maybe we can continue with what we’re supposed to do.”
I blink my dry eyes towards the guys, and they’re all staring at me as if I lost my damn mind. Which, at this point, I’m starting to think that I did. I could’ve sworn that Sheya and I completed the merging.
“Nope, and we still won’t if you don’t snap out of whatever you’re going through.”
“My bad. Let’s do this.”
We finally merge together, and the world snaps into such clarity, we’re almost dizzy by the sudden change. We glance over to the guys, a smirk gracing our lips, and nod towards the wall.
“Let’s get this show on the road,” we say to them. Our voice echoes with power, and we can’t help but notice the strength of the realm pouring into us. Our hair lifts at the ends, and a euphoric feeling surges through our body. We try to tone it down a little bit as we walk over to the gate with the guys trailing us.
There are two guards standing at attention next to the entrance of the gate, with two large doors shielding us from the view of the center ring. Giant rings hang in the center, and even though we know that they’re meant to open the doors, we’re not too sure how those two men are supposed to do that. The doors have to weigh hundreds of pounds each, and they don’t look like they lift a lot.
Both guards stand about a little over six foot, wearing a gold and blue uniform with a plant on their chest, but that’s where the similarities end. The guard standing in front of the left door looks as if he was born from the night. His bright green eyes shine from his face and he grips his spear in his hands as if he’s ready to kill us on sight.
The guard standing in front of the right door looks as if he was born from the day. His skin is golden in color, but it’s his eyes that causes us to falter in our confident strides. They’re black. And no, not “oh, look how dark brown his eyes are” black. But black. Run into the wall in front of you because you can’t see, black.
“We are strong as well.”
Yes. We are. We resume our confident stride until we’re stop directly in between the two guards. They stare at us, eyes piercing and devouring all at the same time.
“Let us through,” we say.
“And who are you?” they say at the same time.
“I am a Blessed. Unless you want to see me upset, I suggest you let me and my workers through. Now.” The last part echoed with power, causing the guards to stiffen. They take a step back, look at each other, a
nd begin opening the gate. Since it was just us and the guys, they opened them enough for us to easily walk through. Caylen was the last through when they called out to us.
“Welcome home, Priestess,” they say, before slamming the gate doors in our stunned faces.
33
Renee
The shock of having the guards recognize me was still ringing through our little group. It took a moment for me to be able to experience the beauty that is the capital. But once I was able to focus my eyes on my surroundings, a small gasp escaped from my parted lips.
“Home,” Sheya says softly.
For once, I can’t help but to agree with them. Something about all of this brings forth such a strong feeling of belonging that I can’t quite stop the tears from leaking from my eyes. The people of Kor walk around with more pride in their shoulders than any of the other rings that we’ve traveled through. The buildings tower up to almost the same height of the great wall.
And it’s busy. Like super fucking busy.
We’re getting toppled around left and right and I can’t even marvel at the amazing architecture. What I also noticed was the utter disrespect the boys are immediately subjugated to.
Blessed are walking right through them as if they’re not even there. And the guys are allowing it. What shocked me the most, was Zavid dropping his eyes and muttering his apologies to any Blessed that he may accidentally brush against.
I immediately saw red. I call the energy of Relvaria to me and construct a shield around us four. Now every time a Blessed try and knock into the guys, they fly in the opposite direction. The confused and angry glares that one particular Blessed shot at Caylen caused me to smirk. Until she jumped up, eyes flashing red, and stormed towards him. I intercepted her path with my own burgundy eyes, determined to tear her to pieces.
“Think twice before you touch what belongs to us, sister,” we say as violent energy thrums through our body. “We would hate to have to make an example out of you.” There was a crowd growing around us, but we don’t take our eyes off of the angry Blessed standing before us.
“You wish to fight with us over these mongrels?” she screeches. We notice that her voice does not echo as ours do. We feel out her aura, and it brings a wicked smile to our face when she comes back considerably less powerful than us.
“We wish to fight anyone who wishes to disrespect what’s ours. Would that be you, sister?”
She narrows her eyes at our guys, gathers her basket of goods that spilled across the cobblestone road, and walks away. We look around at the crowd and practically beg someone to step forward so we could show them that we meant business. When no one took a step forward, we sighed, separated, and continued on with our journey.
“That was incredible,” Caylen says from my right. I look over at him and his blue eyes were shining with gratitude.
“It’s nothing, Cay. I just don’t like you guys being treated like that. I also don’t like you guys castrating yourselves for these small minded assholes,” I say loud enough for anyone within a ten foot range to hear. I receive some nasty stares, but I don’t give a damn. They can get beat up if they’re really upset over this.
“My, my, my, Ren. You’ve never been the one for violence,” Sheya says.
“Yeah, well, I might be open to a little change if these assholes keep acting like this towards the guys.”
I feel a hand slip into my left, and I look up, expecting to see Titus, but instead there stands Zavid. He doesn’t look at me, instead, deciding to focus ahead. I continue to stare at him, waiting for him to acknowledge this new development between us. He threads his fingers with mine and squeezes tight before releasing them.
“We are almost to where your family lives. It’s almost a little like they have their own little village,” Zavid says, as if nothing special happened between us just now. I ignore the fluttery feeling in my stomach and focus ahead as well. I immediately stumble over my own feet as the castle comes into view. How I missed it as soon as I walked through the gates beats me, but now it has my full attention. It looms over the entire center ring as if it were a sentient being all on its own.
There are towers upon towers poking through the sky, but the main body of the castle isn’t fully visible to me from where we stand. The top half of it makes me feel insignificant as it is. I can’t imagine how the castle will look in its entirety.
“Great,” I finally say. “As long as we stay clear of the castle and the King, I’ll be happy.”
The guys all look at me with a strange look on their collective faces, but none of them bother to say anything. My heart is thumping as we continue to trek through the amazing center ring. The colors are so bright, and the people are all so different. Here, it’s not about the color of your skin, but about the power in your blood. So, to see the many different races mingling together in, somewhat, harmony, brings a small smile to my face.
There are children running around, some playing with what looks like a soccer ball. Some are kicking around a hackysack. It’s just a lively place and the smells of the many foods causes my mouth to water.
People give us a wide berth, probably because I still have my shield erected. Which is fine by me. Gives me a chance to continue my sight seeing without having to worry about any Blessed disrespecting my guys.
We’re walking down a small alleyway, when my life decides that it can stand to take another sharp turn.
“Ren?” I hear a soft voice gasp from up ahead. I squint my eyes, focusing on the little woman that’s rushing towards me. She’s only ten feet away when I see who it is.
“Aunt Ariese?” I get out right before she slams into my shield and flies against the brick wall. “Aunt Ariese!” I yell out as I drop my shield and run to where she’s sprawled out on the ground. “Aunt Ariese? Are you ok? Please say something!”
Aunt Ariese hasn’t aged a single day since I’ve seen her last. Well… Since Ren was alive. I still don’t know how long ago that was. Aunt Ariese’s hair was pulled back into a single braid that drops all the way to the cold ground. She opens her light brown eyes and stares at me with a look of pure hope and fear.
“Ren? Is that really you?” she asks.
“Um… kind of? My name is Renee. I was born on Earth.”
“Renee? Oh, I am so sorry. I thought you were my… you know who I am,” she states.
“Yeah, um. Can I help you up?” I ask. This conversation is starting to get really weird and I don’t know how to tell her that I’m her dead niece even though I’m not dead.
“How about you start at the beginning?” Sheya says.
“Maybe we should do that when we get back to her house or something.”
“That makes sense.”
“You’re Blessed,” she whispers from her place on the ground.
“Uh, yeah. How do you know?”
For the first time since we’ve come into contact, a small smile graces her brown skin, lighting up her brown eyes until I find myself smiling back. “Because, you have yet to master talking to your Inner Self without making a face,” she finally answers. “You… the person you remind me of had that same problem.”
I look back at the guys, but Caylen is the only one that nods with a shrug. They’re all looking at us with a shadow over their faces, and I’m not understanding why. We were heading to see my family anyway, so this is just what we wanted.
“We’re missing something glaringly obvious,” Sheya states.
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Like if your family hired the boys to look for you, why is she so shocked to see you?”
My body stiffens up and I glance back at the guys. My face must have given away my realization, because they all avert their eyes.
“If they weren’t sent to bring me back to my family. What were they sent for?” I ask.
“The more important question is, who sent them?”
I don’t want to admit that their deception causes a hitch in my heartbeat, but it definitely hurts. I opened
myself up, literally, to them. What is their true purpose?
“Hello, Earth to Renee,” she grins at her little play on words, and I grab the hand she has outstretched towards me.
“Sorry, Aunt Ariese. Please, my friends and family call me Ren.”
“So uncanny,” she says. She dusts off her butt before grabbing me in a tight hug. “I know you are not my Ren, but you know who I am. You must be her, born again.”
I wrap my arms around her smaller frame, inhaling her familiar scent. Tears sprang unbidden from eyes as I grip her tighter. I’ve missed her so much.
34
Titus
She knows. There’s no way she doesn’t know. Even if she overlooked the obvious, there’s no way that Sheya wouldn’t notice. We were screwed from the moment we came into contact with Renee’s Aunt.
Zavid was leading us the back way to the castle under the guise of taking a shortcut to Renee’s family home. We had to endure her happily looking around at the surrounding buildings and people.
The moment I realized that I was in love with Renee was the moment she decided to take on all of Kor for me and my brothers.
I have always enjoyed silence. Living with Caylen completely destroyed any silence I could have ever basked in. But one thing I love more than silence is the sound of Renee’s voice. I thought that if I were to ignore her altogether, then maybe the beginnings of the mating bond will dissipate, but that’s not the case at all.
It’s like I can feel her heart breaking from where she stands. Or maybe it’s mine, and I don’t want to accept that we’ve really fucked up. Her brown eyes turn to us as her body stiffens up, and I know that we’ve been found out. I glance away, not able to see the pain in her eyes.
Her aunt reaches out for a hand and they embrace almost immediately. It’s a beautiful moment, one I wish that we could have truly orchestrated without any nefarious intentions. But, sadly, we weren’t here to bring a dead girl back to her still grieving family. We were here to save our own.
The Inner Self: The Prophecy Page 26