Entwined

by A. J. Rosen

  “Uh-huh, so what’s my parents’ hope then?”

  “Zosime means ‘likely to survive.’ Your parents must have hope for you to survive through any hard times in your life. Actually, I don’t think either of your names is that bad.”

  “Okay, fine, the middle one is not that bad, but Avery’s meaning, seriously? How is being named after a silly creature with pointy ears not that bad?”

  “Some names have worse meaning than yours. Like Portia.”

  “How’s Portia a bad name?” I protested.

  Vlad said, “Portia is a Latin name that was derived from the word porcus or porcius, which,”—he leaned forward and smirked—“you can probably guess means pig.”

  “Okay,” I said between peals of laughter. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to strangle my parents after all. But I will definitely be careful when naming my future child. They certainly won’t be Portia.”

  Vlad watched me with an odd expression, his head tilted at the slightest of angles. “Maybe you should name them Oliver.”

  “Why?”

  Vlad looked pleased that I had asked. “Oliver comes from the Germanic name Alfihar, which breaks down into alf, meaning elf, and hari, meaning . . .” He trailed off as I saw a cheeky gleam in his smiling eyes.

  “Meaning?” I refused to have an incomplete sentence.

  “Meaning army. Elf army.” He finished the sentence without hurry, clearly trying to wind me up.

  “Yes, very funny. Thanks for the suggestion,” I replied, sarcasm escaping my lips. “How do you know all this stuff, anyway?”

  “When you grow up with Vladimir as your first name and Eneas as your middle name, you tend to do some research to reassure yourself that your name isn’t that bad.”

  “Eneas?!” I laughed for a few seconds before abruptly pausing as I realized something. “But how’d you know about my name?”

  He dropped his gaze to the white linen tablecloth, a slight pink warming his cheeks. “I looked it up.”

  Just in time, Lilly came back with our food.

  I sank my fork and knife into the tender meat and stuffed my mouth with the delicious lamb steak. I was never the type to eat slowly, so within minutes, I stabbed the last piece on my plate and raised it to my mouth. I put the utensils down, and as I looked up, I caught Vlad staring at me. “What?” I asked curiously.

  Whether I liked it or not, Kris’s words came to mind.

  You were looking at him and when you weren’t, he was looking at you.

  Not giving me an answer, Vlad pushed his chair back and stood.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I am not going anywhere.” Standing to his full height of six foot two, he let his eyes bore into mine. “I’m going to show you what I usually do when I come here.”

  “Which is?”

  Bending forward, he leaned in, his face inches away from mine, taking up too much of my personal space. The last time we had been this close, our lips were against each other’s. My skin tingled and I could feel my heart beating, low and insistent in my chest. I was afraid he could hear the thumping—afraid that he could guess what was on my mind. I could feel his warm breath against my skin. The smell of soap and mint filled my senses with anticipation. Then he spoke, his lips intoxicatingly close to my ear, “So I could do this.”

  For a second I thought he was going to kiss me, right there in the middle of the restaurant, but he straightened up and walked away, leaving me puzzled.

  Sitting here right now, I realized how much had changed between Vlad and me. The meal had been delicious, but more surprisingly, the company was enjoyable. We were getting along. He was caring, patient, and he could even crack a joke. I watched him saunter to the front of the restaurant to the piano.

  At some point, Lilly and Jake had come out of the kitchen and were now sitting at the table in front of the Christmas tree. The expressions of anticipation on their faces made me curious. Vlad took a seat on the piano stool and carefully placed his fingers on the black and white keys. He nodded at Lilly and Jake before turning his attention to the instrument. A moment later, the music effortlessly filled the air, like waves filling holes in the sand.

  It should not have come as a surprise to me that Vlad could play, considering all Royals and Pure Royals had to learn at least one musical instrument so that they could sing praises for the gods and goddesses, but I had never seen him do it before. Somehow this felt intimate, almost as if he was showing me a piece of himself that he usually concealed.

  Closing my eyes, I let myself get lost in the melody, and only opened them when I heard cheers and claps from Lilly and Jake. Vlad rose to his feet and walked back to our table, not breaking our eye contact. He had a way of looking at a person, his dark-green eyes so focused and intent that you felt as if you must be the only two people in the entire world. I had used to flick that look away dismissively, immune to whatever charm he had, but right now, I could not find a way to detach my eyes from his.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  He moved his hand and grabbed the glass I was holding to refill it with water, his fingers brushing mine ever so lightly but enough to send an electric shot through my entire body. If he had not been holding the glass, I was sure it would have dropped on the table. “Are you feeling all right?” he reiterated. “You look kind of dazed all of a sudden.”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” If by fine I meant that my head suddenly felt like it was full of boiling water. He did not look convinced. “What was that you played?”

  “Piano Concerto No. 5 in D Major, K. 175 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.”

  I needed to google that once I got back to the suite. Something about what he said tickled my brain. Then it finally dawned on me. “Wait. Is that why this restaurant is called No. 5?”

  “You’re quick.” Vlad brought his glass to his lips and took a large mouthful of water. “Lilly’s husband, Rikkard, used to play this piece every Christmas. He played it better than I do.” He continued, “Everyone would be on their feet, dancing with their partners, kids would be running around and crowding the Christmas tree. The whole village would come here every Christmas to celebrate, and I would escape from the Court to join them. He died three years ago. I offered to come here and play the piece in December whenever I am free.” The way his jaw clenched told me that he had been close to Rikkard, and to Lilly and Jake as well.

  “That is very kind of you,” I commented.

  Vlad shook his head. “It’s just a little thing I could do for them.” He turned his head toward Lilly, who was holding Jake in her arms. The boy’s shoulders were shaking as he sobbed against his mother’s chest. Losing someone was hard. I could only imagine how life shattering their sorrow and sadness were. Sure, I had lost Bryan and Carlo, and losing them was utterly heartbreaking, but I knew it was different than losing a family member.

  My eyes wandered around the room as I tried to visualize what it would have been like during one of those Christmases. My heart pinched, realizing how those days could never return for them. At last, my gaze landed on the guy sitting across the table. I had learned so much about him tonight. He was not the snotty Pure Royal who majored in asshattery that I had once thought him to be. I started to see him in a new light . . . and it terrified the hell out of me.

  This afternoon when Kris had asked me if I had feelings for her brother, I had told her that I didn’t know. Because only a few days ago, there was one person in this entire universe I was sure I would never fall in love with: Vladimir Ambrosia. Now, I wasn’t so sure.

  Chapter Seventeen

  When I closed my eyes at night I usually drifted in and out of sleep, but tonight I was afraid I would fall into a sleep so deep that I’d never wake.

  Everything was dark except for the torch at the end of a long, narrow hallway. I grabbed it from the hard, stone wall. I stumbled to the ground a
few times but kept getting up. A figure walked toward me as my knees buckled once more, and I leaned against the damp wall to keep from dropping to the ground again. With each step the person took, my heart beat faster.

  Only when I could see a familiar face did my heart beat steadily again. Bryan. I smiled, forcing myself to walk toward him. As soon as I was close to him, I realized that he was not alone. There was a taller, more muscular figure behind him.

  “Carlo.”

  The two people I had lost were right in front of me, and the feeling was overwhelming. There were so many things that I wanted to tell them—things that I wished I had told them before they were gone. “Bryan.” I continued to move toward him. When he was within reach, I hugged him tightly. “I’m so sorry. I know I didn’t get a chance to say it before, but I do love you. I just wish we could’ve had the time to figure everything out. Maybe things would’ve been different.”

  He looked exactly like I remembered him. My cheeks were wet, and wiping the tears with the back of my hand, I continued, “I miss you so much. I’ve been so lost without you here. We would be on our way to New York, away from all this mess.” I thought about all the nights we spent planning our escape from our first Gathering—tallying our savings and mapping out our options. All the good memories kept him alive in my heart. Being here suddenly felt like a betrayal. “I’m sorry, Bryan. You know me—I guess curiosity got the better of me.”

  I kissed his cheek then went over to Carlo. “Carlo. You have no idea how sorry I am for what happened to you. You deserved to find your soul mate, and I had hoped that it would have been me.” He put a finger under my chin to lift my head back up to meet his gaze. The look on his face was the same look Domenico gave Kris. This was my chance to ask him about the odd voice mail that he had left me that had been plaguing my mind. “What did you mean when you said that the Faction is looking for me? What Faction—”

  But before I could form another word, the two of them started screaming. Their eyes rolled to the back of their sockets and all that was left were the white, eerie sclera. With looks of utter terror on their faces, they continued screaming with all their might. At first, startled by their sudden change of expression and how loud their screams were, I could not grasp what they were saying.

  Then I understood. They were asking for help. My help. Soon my skin looked like the surface of a boiling stew. Beneath the thin skin bubbled toxins, the pains of my past leaving my blood, seeking release. Then fog came out of nowhere, engulfing me, suffocating me. It felt as if I might die. I was desperately trying to free myself, screaming for help, yet nobody came. Then, just as quickly as it had come, the fog disappeared.

  Suddenly, I was sitting in the passenger seat of a car—similar to the one Bryan and I had stolen from his parents that one time when he had tried teaching me how to drive. From the surroundings, I knew Bryan was the one driving without even having to check. I somehow could feel that this was it—this was the moment before he died.

  “Bryan, please.” He didn’t seem to hear me. “Bryan, pull over! Slow down!”

  As if he had not heard my warning, as if he had to follow the script fate had prepared for him, he continued driving, a steely look of determination on his face.

  “Stop!”

  No matter what I said, the car was still moving, getting faster with every second. My hand grabbed the seat tightly until my knuckles turned white.

  Still speeding, he finally seemed to be aware of my presence as he turned to face me. A scary smile that I had never seen before formed on his face. “This is all your fault, Avery. You deserve this.”

  The fog came for the second time, like a dark void. A never-ending darkness that consumed me and left me with nothing. I was so empty that I couldn’t even feel the pain as the fog continued to suffocate me. When the fog finally cleared, I was still in the dark, only this time, I could hear voices.

  “Where is she?” The voice somehow felt familiar.

  “I don’t know,” Carlo whimpered.

  “Bullshit! You’re supposed to meet her here. Where the fuck is she?” Again, the same domineering, rough voice asked.

  Regardless of how many times Carlo expressed that he did not know, the other guy seemed to think he was lying. As he failed to answer their questions, all I could hear was Carlo screaming in agony. They must have been torturing him.

  I screamed inside my head, frustrated that I couldn’t do anything to help him. I couldn’t see anything. I could only hear. Another scream from him and I felt my whole body go taut. “No, leave him alone,” I cried to myself.

  I felt so helpless. So useless, unable to save him. Them. The feeling of despair was a heady blackness. The weight of everything pressed down on my shoulders, and I struggled to take even a single step forward. Yet somehow, I kept moving. But every step cost me. The darkness grew darker; the pain became sharper; I began to wonder if things would get better. If things could ever get better.

  And once again, I was pulled down and down, drowning in the feeling of helplessness and nothingness. I no longer struggled or tried to get back to the surface. I simply let myself sink deeper and deeper. I had caused them pain. I had cost them their lives. This suffering was nothing compared to theirs. Just like Bryan had said, I deserved this.

  A loud sound shook me, and only when my eyes fluttered open did I realize it was only a dream. A terrifying dream, but it felt more real than my waking hours.

  “For Hades’s sake, stop it!” An alarm was ringing incessantly, so I reached my hand out to the nightstand, finding the alarm clock and throwing it across the room without opening my eyes. One loud thump and the noise died.

  Peace and quiet.

  “Touchdown!”

  “Shut up!” I yelled. Wait. I quickly sat up and there, sitting on the chair in the corner of the room, was Adrian.

  “How did you get in here?”

  “You should know by now that we all have your passcode.” He lifted his leg and placed his ankle on top of his other thigh. “A Pure Royal privilege: ask and you shall receive.”

  I made a mental note to request a change the next time I passed those creepy ladies at the reception. Of course, I would have to tell my parents, but I’d basically been orphaned since arriving here, and I doubted that they even remembered the current password. I was convinced my parents had forgotten that they even had a child.

  I threw a pillow at Adrian, which he successfully dodged. “What are you doing here?” He doubled over laughing and I threw another pillow at him. This time, it hit him straight in the face. “Ha! Take that!”

  Adrian took both pillows with one hand and threw them back on the bed. “I let you have that one,” he said. “I figured it would make you smile.” He snapped his fingers then pointed at my grin. “See, it worked.”

  “You just won’t admit that you lost.”

  “Pfft, I’ve never lost anything, unless it was on purpose.” Adrian stood and with long, easy strides, made his way to my bed, a charming yet sly smile on his handsome face.

  My mouth went dry, and I was not sure whether my heart had sped up double-time, or if it had stopped. “Adrian?” My throat made an uncomfortable, awkward sort of sound. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m hardly doing anything.” A few seconds of utter silence passed as we stared at each other, me sitting on the bed, still half-asleep, and him standing at the edge of the bed looking down at me. Then he grabbed the nearest pillow and smacked the side of my body with it.

  “Oh, the fight is on, Ambrosia!” I drawled, grabbing one pillow and hitting him.

  He jumped on the bed and tackled me, angling his body to pin me down, my back flat on the bed, rustling the unmade bed into a messier state. My hands went to his sides and tickled his waist. Adrian wriggled and his grip on my wrists loosened. I took the moment of his lapse as a chance to turn the tables. Hooking my legs around his back, I roll
ed over and he ended up being the one looking up at me with me sitting on top of him. He tried to get up, but I grabbed both of his shoulders and pushed him down again. “Oh no, you don’t.” I grinned in victory when he, likely realizing that there was no point of struggling, relaxed.

  “Okay, okay.” Adrian’s voice was low and his breath was uneven as he said, “I’m all yours, Montgomery.”

  I was excruciatingly aware of his nearness. The top button of his shirt was undone; only one small movement of my thumb and it would graze his collarbone. With a sweep of one hand, I could touch the little lock of his messy light-brown hair and figure out if it was as soft as it looked.

  A tingling sensation shot through me, and I nearly gasped, my abdomen clenching. I suddenly felt hungry, but not for food. The secret place between my legs tightened with desire. I desired him. Adrian freaking Ambrosia. Even at the height of my crush on him years ago, I’d never felt this strongly for him. I was starting to understand what everyone said about how emotions and desires were heightened after being Awakened.

  I let go of his shoulders and swung my legs to the side of the bed to get up. I couldn’t stay in bed with his body pressed against mine like that. I grabbed fresh clothes from the drawer, making sure to stick my underwear between items so Adrian couldn’t see it.

  Walking to the bathroom, I tossed my crazy bedhead hair over one shoulder. “You haven’t answered my question,” I reminded Adrian. I stopped at the doorway and turned. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in bed at this early hour?” Without waiting for his reply, I turned around and faced the sink. I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. As suspected. I looked like shit.

  Adrian leaned against the door frame. He lifted one hand and pointed to my head before stating the obvious. “Your hair is a mess. What were you doing last night?”

  “I’m not you, Adrian.” I gave him a deadpan stare.