Black Ruins Falls

by Karen DuBose

  I leave them and seek out Vada. My dragon is getting antsy with her, not in sight. If I’m being honest with myself, I can’t stand her being out of my sight either. She has a deep hold on me and most days I’m ok with that, others it drives me mad.

  I step on the back porch of the cabin just as the door opens. Vade rushes to me and wraps herself into my arms. Taking a deep breath, the tension in my body relaxes. I grab her ass and hoist her up so she can wrap her legs around me. I sit down on the top step and just hold her.

  She doesn’t even raise her head when she speaks. “We need to mate soon. I don’t like this feeling like I’m losing you.”

  I pull away so I can see her face. “Why do you feel like you’re going to lose me?”

  “It’s just a feeling I have. I don’t know where It’s coming from. I don’t even know what it means.”

  Her words hit hard. Why would she feel like she is going to lose me? Am I going to die or does she think that I would find someone else? I know the answer to the second one and that is a hell no. She is all I want and ever will.

  I wrap her back up in my arms and just hold her. I will ask Eimear if she can do the ceremony soon. If it helps Vada I will do anything to take that feeling away from her. I don’t want her to fear anything.

  I mummer in her ear. “I will do my best to stay with you. I can’t promise any more than that. Not until this is all over and it sucks that I can’t. I love you so much.”

  I can feel her crying silently into my chest. It breaks my heart and pisses me off. This needs to be over and soon. I can’t take the unknown. I want to be able to plan my future with Vada. I want babies and to watch them grow.

  “Come on. Let’s go talk to Eimear about the ceremony. I want you to be happy and I will do anything to make sure that happens for as long as I have air in my lungs.”

  She looks up at me with tears still in her eyes. The smile that grows on her face is the perfect answer to me.

  “Are you serious? You want to do the ceremony now?”

  I smile down at her. “Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

  “I just thought you wanted to wait until after everything.” She trails off.

  I bring her hand to my lips and place a small kiss on the back of her hand and bring her closer to me. “I will do whatever you want to do. I would rather have this time with you just in case something does happen. I don’t want to lose the opportunity to spend as much time with you and get to know you.”

  Her eyes well up again as the tears spill from them. “I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want this to be it for us.”

  I hold her tight wishing I could tell her that I will be there forever. “Let’s just take one day at a time. Ok?”

  I feel her nod. I close my eyes and pray up to the Source that I make it out alive after all this. “Are you ready to go?”

  I feel her nod again. I take her hand and we go looking for Eimear with a heavy heart. This isn’t how I wanted this to happen. But for her, I will do anything.

  Chapter Twenty

  Brice

  As I sit here, I wonder where my life went. How could I have been so angry for so long? It was a waste of life if you ask me now. There was so much I could have done with it. I will never get those years back.

  The only thing I can do now is make the best of it. I will love with everything I have. Don’t get me wrong, I will protect my family. There’s no doubt about that. They are the first family I really had or will ever have. I thank Dariya for giving me a chance to better myself.

  “You look like you’re thinking way too hard over there. What’s on your mind?” I look up to see Clover walking toward me. A smile slowly spreads across my face.

  “You know the same old, same old. I guess I need to find something better to think about.” Like her, but I don’t dare say that out loud.

  She sits next to me on the couch. “Like what?”

  I can’t stop smiling at her. She brings it out in me. “Maybe like you.” Ok, so my brain is just going to throw that out there. What the hell is wrong with me?

  I see the blush start from her cheeks and work its way down to her neck. Just looking at her neck makes me want to kiss it.

  “Stop making me blush.”

  “I can’t help it, you’re so beautiful when you blush.” I scoot closer to her. I get brave and take a piece of her golden blonde hair between my fingers. It feels like silk. I watch as she turns redder.

  “Want to go do something?”

  She looks at me with a weirded look. “Like what?”

  I don’t take my eyes off her. “I don’t know, maybe go to the forest and find something to do.”

  She clears her throat. “Brice, I’m not that kind of girl. I want to wait until I’m mated before I do the deed.”

  That got me to stop staring at her. “That wasn’t even on my mind Clover.”

  She looks like she is going to be sick. “I’m so sorry. I thought… you know what never mind what I thought.”

  I wasn’t letting her get away that easily. “Did you really think that is what I was thinking?”

  She turns her head away from me. “Yes.”

  I couldn’t believe this. Nope, not going to get mad. This is just a misunderstanding. This can be fixed. “I’m sorry if you thought that was on my mind. I would never make you think that is all I want.”

  She turns back toward me. “Wow! You really have changed. I’m so proud of you.”

  I wasn’t expecting her compliment and it takes me for a loop. “Thank….you?”

  The smile returns to her lips. “You aren’t the same person I grew up with. If it was six months ago you would have blown up on me.”

  I chuckle and not in a good way. “Six months ago, I was an idiot who didn’t care about life. I didn’t care about much really.”

  She drops her head. “I’m sorry for thinking the worst. Will you forgive me?”

  I don’t answer her right away. I had to take a deep breath and find my center before I do. I want to forgive her and I will. I turn back to her. “Yes, I forgive you. Please don’t do that to me again. Like you said I am different and I want to move forward with my progress.”

  She turns fully in my direction. “You want to play a game here instead? I’m kind of on baby duties today.”

  Why didn’t I think of that? “Sure, what do you want to play?”

  She gets up and heads over to the cupboard where we found the games when we first got here. I watch her pull out Disturbed Shifter. I really don’t like that game. It brings the worst out in everyone. You basically have to decide on how you would survive a certain situation. It’s horrible. The answers I’ve heard while playing this game was disturbing, to say the least.

  She comes back over and set the game down. “Is this ok?”

  I don’t want to be rude, but I really don’t want to play this game. “Can we play something else. This isn’t my game.” I give her a questionable look.

  “Oh. Yeah sure. You want to play tallies instead?”

  “Sure, why not?” What little does she know, I really don’t know how to play tallies. She will soon find out how much I suck soon enough.

  “What game do you want to play?”

  “Surprise me.”

  She shuffles the deck and deals out five tallies each and lay one face up on the bench in front of us. She then lays the rest of the deck next to it.

  “Have you ever played Geneva?”

  I gaze at her and look at my cards in my hand. “Nope, never played before.”

  She giggles at me and proceeds to tell me the object of the game. You have to have three cards that are for example one, two, three, or ten, cadet, regent. In order to win you have to play all the cards in your hand including a dis tally.

  I know the confusion is written all over my face. She giggles at me again. “Here let’s play a hand and I will help you. Lay your cards down so I can teach you what to do.”

  I do as she says and lay them down. “Ok, you got a
n eight, six, ten, regent, and a master.” She looks down at the card that is face up and reaches for it. “Here this Baron will give you three cards to lay down. Master, Baron, and Regent. I would lay the six down.”

  She takes it and picks her tallies up and lays them face up so I can see them. “I have a three, five, nine, and two cadets. Which means I can’t play anything. You can’t pick up from the dis pile unless you are going to use it on your current turn. So, I will get rid of one of my cadets.”

  It’s starting to make sense now. We play for a little while longer as she teaches me. Turns out I’m pretty good at this game. I won the first one only because I think she let me. After that, we are pretty even.

  “How do you like it so far?”

  I look up from my tallies and smile at her. “I never knew playing tallies was this much fun. All the other games I watched others play they always ended up bickering.”

  “I’m not your typical player,” she laughs. “I play for the fun, not the competition it brings out in other people.”

  “Thank you for teaching me how to play. I need to get back to see Bruno soon. He had something for me to do. Can we play again another time?”

  “Of course, I need to go check on Runes anyway. Have fun and be careful.”

  She stands up and leaves the room. I feel butterflies in my stomach just thinking about spending more time with her. Ever since they healed me of my memories, I’ve been cautious around others. I still can’t figure out who messed with my mind. That part just won’t return to me. Come to find out it was me, Marcel and Tobin, who got our minds messed with.

  I just wish I knew who it was. No point in dwelling on it. I have things I need to do. Hopefully, I never run into that person again. I doubt any of us will since they got who they came after.

  Getting up, I head upstairs. I want to see Dariya and Runes before Bruno sends me on errands. I haven’t got to spend that much time with them. Making my way upstairs I can hear Runes. She’s babbling her baby nonsense. I, for one, think it’s cute as hell.

  Reaching the bedroom door, I knock on it. After a few seconds, Kiernan opens the door. He sees me and smiles. “Come on in. You have perfect timing she just got done feeding the baby. You want to hold her?”

  I glance in his direction with a cheesy grin on my face. “Now what kind of question is that. Of course, I want to hold her.” I walk over to Dariya. “Hey Dariya, you’re looking a lot better since the last time I was here.” I give her a hug.

  Looking down at Runes, all my pent-up restlessness stops. She has a way to give us what we need at the time. Reaching down to pick her up, she starts to cry. I quickly take my hands away from her.

  I look between Dariya and Kiernan. “I swear I didn’t do anything.”

  They’re both looking at Runes. Dariya looks back at me. “Try again.”

  I do and again Runes starts to cry, almost making me want to cry. What did I do wrong? My chest starts to hurt from the refusal of Runes. I knew deep down I was a nobody and I was just fooling myself. I hear her dragon growl from his spot on the floor by her crib. I look at him and back away.

  He hasn’t attacked any of us as of yet. I don’t want to give him a reason to.

  “Brice, go sit down and Kiernan will bring her to you.”

  I shake my head. “No, I don’t want to stress her out even more. I will just leave.”

  Kiernan takes ahold of my shoulder. “Do as she asks. She wouldn’t have said anything if Runes didn’t tell her to do so.”

  Again, I look between the both of them. I take a sit in the chair that is pushed up against the wall and wait for more instructions. Kiernan lifts Runes out of Dariya’s arm and walks over to me. I brace myself for her to cry again.

  “Hold your arms out.” I do and he places Runes in my arms. I’m waiting for her to scream again, but this time it didn’t come. This time when she looks at me I almost black out. If Kiernan wasn’t there to grab Runes I would have dropped her.

  Memories come flooding back to me. Everything from those two days I couldn’t remember are flashing before my eyes. I know who messed with my head. I can say I’m beyond pissed.

  Once the flashes of memory leaves, I jump out of the chair shaking. “I know who messed with our minds. Kelso did it. He was the one to mess with our minds. He said these weird words and after that, he told us how to get him out of there without anyone knowing. When we did as he said he told each of us the reason why we weren’t there.”

  Kiernan looks like he is about to tear someone’s head off. I just hope it isn’t mine.

  “Are you sure it was him?”

  I look him straight in the eyes. “I’m more than sure. Bring the others in here and let Runes do what she did to me. How did she do that anyway?”

  Kiernan and Dariya look at each other. I can tell they are talking to each other. I just hope they believe me.

  Dariya is the first to look back at me. “We don’t know what she does yet. I believe you and I will see about the others. Please tell them to come to see me.”

  I bow my head at her and leave the room in search of Marcel and Tobin. I hope it works on them as it did on me. I can’t be the only one to remember. This is also great news in a way. We now know he can wield magic and is a half breed. Ok, so maybe not great news, but at least he won’t catch us by surprise by it again.

  Heading downstairs, I go to the kitchen. More than likely they’re there with the delicious aroma hanging in the air. Eimear has made lunch. Walking into the kitchen my mouth starts to water. I don’t even look to see who’s in the kitchen. I head straight for the food. Once I get my plate loaded up with meats, veggies, and cheese. I turn around to watch Marcel waking out.

  “Hey! Marcel! Dariya and Kiernan want to see you asap.” I notice Tobin eating in the corner. “They want to see you too, Tobin.”

  He pauses mid-bite. “Why?”

  I tell them what happened to me. They don’t waste any time leaving after that. I had the kitchen to myself and am loving every minute of it. I start eating in peace when Clover walks in.

  “Oh, Hey. How did your meeting with Bruno go?”

  Crap I forgot to go see him. “I haven’t been yet. I was with Dariya and Runes.”

  “Isn’t she the best baby ever. If I ever have kids, I hope they are as good as she is.”

  I don’t know if I should tell her what happened or not. I don’t want to start a panic. So, I agreed with her. Not that Runes is a bad baby, she is far from it. Different? Very.

  “Do you want kids?”

  I snap my head up from my plate to look at her. I swallowed hard. “I never really thought about it. If I do have kids one day, I want them to be proud of me. I’m working hard on that now. I know I’m not ready anytime soon.”

  “I know they will be proud of you. You’ve come a long way from who you used to be. That’s something to be very proud of.”

  I think it’s my turn to blush. I’m not used to getting compliments. “Thank you.”

  I go back to eating so I can hide it from her. My attention was drawn to the ruckus outside. I stand up and rush through the back door. Skidding to a stop right before the stairs. I look between Idella and Davina. They are fighting with their power. I’m about to go down there and stop them when they laugh at each other. “How do you like the new spell?” Davina asks Idella.

  “It’s pretty cool. If you didn’t tell me the counter-attack on it. I wouldn’t be here. It’s one powerful spell.”

  “Thanks. I’ve been working on it for months.”

  I stand there looking between these two not knowing what to do with them. I clear my throat to get their attention. They both look at me, waiting for me to say something.

  “Do us all a favor and tell us when you guys plan on practicing. I thought you two were at each other’s necks.”

  They both giggle at me and rush off. I turn to find Clover. She is leaning against the door trying to hold back her laughter. “You knew about this?” I ask, pointing to where
the women were.

  “Of course, silly. They practice about the same time every day.”

  “How come I am just now seeing it?”

  She pulls herself up and walks over to me. She leans into me, wrapping her arms around my neck. I freeze wondering what she is doing. She stands on her tippy toes and whispers in my ear.

  “They are usually invisible when they practice.”

  With a quickness, she kisses my cheek and goes back into the cabin. While I stand there like a stunned fool.

  I quickly gather myself and rush into the cabin. I don’t even give her time to see me. I turn her around and pull her to me. I claim her lips soaking her in. Her moan against them almost makes me come undone.

  Releasing her lips, I smile down at her. Both of our breathing is ragged. She slowly opens her eyes. “Why did you stop?”

  I chuckle at her and claim her lips again.

  For once I can say I am happy. Something I never knew was possible.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Dariya

  It’s been almost two weeks. I feel fine. I’m ready to get out of this bed and enjoy being a mother. There are things going on that I know they aren’t telling me. Bruno hasn’t come to me to tell me he has found a way to find Alums and Saffron. He has until tomorrow to figure it out.

  I wasn’t playing when I said I will find them myself. Those demons have gone too far. They better not even hurt either of them. Alums has been blocking me. He won’t like what I’m about to do to break his wall down.

  I will give him one more day. Bruno says they are fine and they haven’t been hurt. I want to know from Alums himself.

  “Love, they won’t hurt them. It’s their only leverage right now.”

  I look at him giving him my don’t mess with me look. “Sometimes you being in my head gets on my nerves, but I wouldn’t change a thing. What if Alums or Saffron do something to piss them off? What then? They will harm them or worse. You know I am not a patient person. I want them here safe.”

  He walks over to me with Runes in his arms. She has grown so much since she was born. Each day she grows a half inch. It scares me.