Aligning Stars (Fate's Intent Book 1)

by Bowles, April

  “Well? Have you?”

  “Of course I have. Everyone knows she’s not fit to rule.”

  “See? Now you have motive.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying, Zayden. This wouldn’t benefit you in any way.”

  “But it will keep you alive. At least for a time.”

  “No. It will keep us alive for a lot longer but it’ll be bad for you.”

  “How if I’ll never see you again? That sounds a little redundant.”

  “Arianna doesn’t have any living relatives. Who do you think would take her place? For Kalu, next in line would be their General.”

  I paused and started to figure it out on my own. “Your father.”

  “Exactly. You shouldn’t be encouraging this. He hates you and what you did to him would give him means for revenge. You don’t want that.”

  “If it keeps you alive then you should do it.”

  She looked away again while she spoke. “There are always reasons not to do something.”

  I didn’t mean to but I smiled with this easy opportunity to change the mood. “You’re worrying about me, aren’t you, Love?”

  She looked back, smiling in defense. “No! That’s not it at all!”

  “It’s okay. It’s just us.”

  “How do you know they’re not listening? You know that isn’t an actual door. It’s just an open space.”

  “Don’t worry. They’re not. Their attention is on their girls.”

  “Their girls?”

  “Yeah. You had to of noticed that’s already been established. They share in that happiness you spoke of. They didn’t listen to our first private conversation because they were too focused on each other.”

  She sighed and I knew she probably didn’t want to hear that but it was true. “Well, you’re wrong for once, about me worrying about you. I’m not.”

  “Who’s the one lying now?”

  “Okay, I’m done with you.” She got up and started walking around the bed. “You can go.”

  “Go? I don’t want to go.”

  “Then what do you want?”

  I tilted my head to look back and gave her my classic smirk I knew she couldn’t resist. “You want the truth?”

  “Obviously.”

  I got up and was still looking in her eyes as I stepped closer to her and brought my hand up to her face but stayed an inch away from touching her. “Then honestly, I want to kiss you—badly.”

  I could almost feel the heat rush to her cheek as my hand hovered over it but she looked away to stop it. “Ah, no. I don’t think that’s something I want anyone catching me doing and think that it changes anything because it wouldn’t.”

  “No one’s watching. They can’t see us in here.”

  “I think that makes it worse. They’re probably already thinking it or hoping.”

  “You mean because they’re all together so we should be?”

  “It doesn’t mean we should. It’s just how they are.”

  “Well, maybe they’re right. I bet I could change your whole outlook on this.”

  Adele laughed more loudly and looked at me again. “Through one kiss?! You’re serious?!”

  “Don’t make me steal it from you. That’s not how I want to get it.”

  “Oh, thought about it, did you?”

  “You should already know that but so have you.”

  She walked around me back to the other side of the room with a joking way about her voice. “Oh, yeah! You’re the highlight of my deepest fantasies.”

  “See? Just let it happen.”

  She shook her head and turned around to look at me and my determination. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

  “No. I’ve thought about it too much.”

  “Well, if that’s how it’s going to be then just stop mentioning it and maybe you’ll get your chance—much later.”

  “Really?” I was a bit surprised.

  “I said maybe.”

  “Oh. Maybe means no, doesn’t it?”

  She laughed. “You’ll have to wait and see. Now get out. I don’t want them to get their hopes up.”

  “Will you come?”

  “I kind of planned on it. It was going to rain, right? Then that means I can shower.”

  “Shower?” My voice was a little stuttered and I was already picturing her body naked and soaking wet.

  “Yes. My gift allows me many luxuries.”

  She turned without another word and I followed her out of the room. Now I was imagining me with her and my hands getting the chance to feel her smooth wet skin while we bathed. Things so far have definitely changed. I fell. Being Prince and doing what was right for my country didn’t seem to matter anymore. Adele’s beauty was more important and I wanted her, willing to be open about it if I had to.

  Chapter 32

  Ruby

  We waited anxiously to see if this would even work. I would have liked it to because Adele seriously needed to chill but I knew her. It would have been too hard for Zayden to break passed her pride or so I thought.

  The second I saw movement from back there, I looked to see something completely unimaginable. Adele had changed her outfit to significantly less and walked out with Zayden right behind her.

  I wanted to scream with some excitement and little dismay but instead, I asked what everyone was thinking. “Well—what have you been doing?”

  “Shut up. Nothing.” She still seemed like her usual self.

  “So, you’re not going to lock yourself away from us anymore?” Jaylyn asked.

  “I have other priorities.”

  “Have a nice talk then?”

  Zayden took a seat in one of the empty chairs and smiled. “Nice? Ah—” Adele quickly hit him in the shoulder while she was standing and I badly wanted to know what that meant. “There was no yelling. So, obviously, I was doing all the talking while she just sat there and looked as if she wanted to kill me. You know, the usual.”

  Adele crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one side while sighing again; a famous reply to most things. “Why do you do that?”

  “What? Is that not what you wanted me to say? You should be more specific. I can’t read your mind. Ooh—that’d be a scary place.”

  We laughed but Adele didn’t. She leaned down to Zayden, whispering something to him and he sucked in a breath and sat stiff. I’ve never seen her have that effect on him before. It only made things much more interesting. “Sorry. Maybe if you stop standing there being so beautiful, I’ll stop spitting out stupid things.”

  Muscles and Troy laughed but I looked at Jaylyn and we froze, shifting just our eyes back to Adele. The word beautiful put a confused yet hated look on her face and she turned away.

  “What’d I say?”

  “You used the word beautiful in a sentence directed towards her.” Jaylyn said. “It’s funny and completely untrue but Adele doesn’t think she’s any such thing.”

  “Don’t start.” Adele said as she started walking passed us. “And I never said that. Apparently, I just don’t see what you think everyone else does.”

  “Oh, you mean that you’re perfect?” I said.

  She huffed; another usual reaction. “How could you say that? You know as well as I do that I’m not the one people think is perfect.”

  I quickly glanced towards Jaylyn with a smile, being very vague about who Adele was actually talking about. “Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about her.”

  “Who?” Zayden asked.

  Adele actually smiled and was about to answer but Jaylyn quickly cut her off. “Adele, no. Don’t say that.”

  “Why? It’s true.”

  “It isn’t. I’m not―I mean―”

  “Jaylyn, we weren’t chosen for this life mainly because we wanted it. Assassins have always been images of seduction. Hence the phase ‘fatal attraction.’ Our looks are usually the main cause to all of our successes and yours has always been key.”

  “Are you done?” She asked, feeling embar
rassed.

  “Oh, now you want to stop talking? Really? Why do you think you’re the only one protesting? Troy surely isn’t even after you almost killed him.”

  “But I didn’t!”

  The conversation was getting a little heated now and it didn’t much help that Adele went on with it in front of everyone whereas I just tried to stay out of it. “I know exactly what you did or didn’t do I should say so unless you really want to discuss it right now, you should just be quiet.”

  I couldn’t help myself after seeing the look on Jaylyn’s face. Adele was still clearly pissed about what she did and I needed to break this horrible tension before someone said the wrong thing. “Adele, would you at least just admit we’re all perfect in our own way. It’s what makes us so amazing.”

  Adele took her cold stare off Jaylyn to look at me and laugh. “You mean aside from the personality aspect which isn’t perfect?”

  “And what’s wrong with my personality?” I felt the insult almost immediately and protested.

  “Should I even go there? We kill people, okay. Our tolerance for others only goes so high when we’re trained to hate. We’re our own breed of something the world has yet to accept.” She reached up to her head and pulled out the metal things holding her hair up and her brown hair cascaded down the entire length of her back in one straight motion while she turned. “Appearances are deceiving, especially when it comes to us.”

  It was like she planned that. Appearances are deceiving? Right. She has the most perfect hair I’ve ever seen. It’s so manageable and she only proved it by doing that. It was one of the reasons she was perfect.

  “Not from what I’ve already seen.” Zayden said.

  Adele looked over her shoulder without turning. “You haven’t seen everything.” She turned her head back and pulled her little shirt off, letting it drop to the floor.

  “Not yet.” Zayden muttered.

  I wanted to laugh but I knew Adele wouldn’t have liked that and I mainly kept my watch on Zayden. He couldn’t turn his eyes away now that Adele had taken off even more and I was just waiting for him to act. She needed it more than anyone else in the room and that even included me.

  Adele easily ignored the stares though and raised her hand towards the ceiling to open a hole above her. The rain drizzled through and she formed a moving wall of water, shoulder high around her. She took off her skirt next, placing it out of the way then moved her hand again and the rain water started to pick up and fall down on her.

  She wiped water back off her face and looked towards us. “Anyone else want to shower before I turn it off?”

  Something was seriously wrong. Adele would have never asked that and I looked at Jaylyn. She was just as curious and asked what I wanted to. “Are you really asking anyone or was that directed towards us?”

  “Anyone.”

  I was still unconvinced that’s what she meant. “You must be joking, right?”

  “Do you see me laughing? It’s not going to rain forever. So, is that a no?”

  “Really? Like in there—with you?”

  Zayden obviously stuttered and Adele laughed. “If you’re uncomfortable with that, I’m not going to make you.”

  Zayden still seemed unsure about it and looked to me like he needed a real answer. I didn’t know what to say. I just shrugged. This didn’t seem like Adele but maybe she was more relaxed than I thought.

  “Well, I will.” Jaylyn stood up ready to go.

  What was I to do but join her? The thought of being clean again was a turn-on alone. “Me too.”

  We walked through the water to get on the other side and didn’t take a glance back before we started removing our clothes.

  I stuck my hand in the water coming down on Adele and sighed in relief. “Good. It’s warm.”

  “That’s just how it feels because it’s so cold outside right now.”

  “Yeah, not like last time.” Jaylyn said. “That was freezing.”

  I closed my eyes and stepped under my own stream of water. Another groan of pleasure eased through my lips and I took down my hair. “Don’t remind me. You’ll ruin it.”

  I let the water drench me and run down my body. It was so invigorating that I may have seemed like I liked it too much with my ongoing noises of stating so.

  “Ruby.” Adele stopped me. “Please stop.”

  I laughed. “What?! It’s nice!”

  “Just stop.”

  I sealed my lips, not wanting her mood to go in the wrong direction and she ignored me by helping Jaylyn take out her hair from its high bun atop her head.

  I looked beyond the water and saw three pairs of gorgeous eyes on us. “Are you guys coming in?”

  They remained to sit silently.

  “What’s the matter? Not comfortable around each other?”

  Their eyes traced to each other and Muscles smiled with a slight chuckle. “No, it’s not that.”

  “Must have never seen a naked woman before.” Adele joked.

  “Of course we have.” Zayden said in defense. “It’s just been a really long time and we’d rather protect your safety and stick to our no rape agreement.”

  I laughed and set my stare at Muscles, speaking what I was thinking. “It wouldn’t be called rape when we’re willing.”

  “Speak for yourself.” Adele muttered.

  “Oh, I was.”

  He smiled but Zayden held his arm out to him to stay put. I was a little disappointed. “Even still. We’re not ready to risk that. It’s been a long time for us and we are stronger than we look. We could easily kill you by mistake if we weren’t careful. So, please. It’s for your own safety that we don’t.”

  “You say that like it’s happened before.” Adele said. “Are we seriously in the presence of three rapists?”

  Troy laughed and I was definitely drawn into this conversation. “If you only knew his initial intentions of you.”

  “Of me?”

  “Oh, no.” Zayden muttered.

  “Well, you are the General’s daughter.” Muscles smiled. “He said you’d come and Zayden encouraged it.”

  “Really?”

  “Mmm hmm. You wouldn’t have been killed. You’d just be sent back.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Not exactly.” Troy explained. “You’d be sent back pregnant.”

  I immediately looked at Adele but she didn’t look back. Her eyes were still fixed fiercely on Zayden. “Is that so?”

  “I didn’t specify by who. At the time, he said nothing about others being with you so it surely would have been one of us because we all would have done it.”

  “How nice of you.”

  “But things changed. When we confirmed there was three of you—”

  Adele’s mouth instantly hung open, only making this more fun for me to watch. “You picked?!”

  I laughed. “Troy picked, actually. We got assigned to who was left.”

  I thought it was funny but it didn’t make Adele look any happier.

  “But that changed too when we made our terms.” Zayden tried explaining.

  “And the whole ‘letting me go’ thing? When was that going to happen?”

  “Well, we weren’t getting anything out of the deal so why would we let you leave?”

  “Wow. The charm just floats around you three. Should we just assume this is the real you?”

  “Of course not. The point in not joining you is because we don’t want you to get hurt. I’m actually getting paranoid with talking about it right now. Troy even thinks of flinching and we’ll have to pounce.”

  “Me! Why single me out?!”

  Muscles laughed. “You’re an intimate danger.”

  “I’m not going to kill her!”

  “Can’t be too sure!”

  Muscles was making a joke of whatever this was but Troy was taking it personal.

  “You don’t have to worry about me, Zayden. You know that. Worry about him.”

  “I’m equally worried about both of y
ou. Fair?”

  “No.”

  “You’ve killed with sex before?” I was curious, not only for Jaylyn’s sake but I’ve killed that way before and didn’t want to feel so alone.

  “It’s complicated.” Troy said. “Long periods of time away cause us to have a certain temperament. Ask Darius. He kills girls on a regular basis.”

  I tried not to be surprised because I already knew of his taste for women but he had a different reaction. His eyes darted right over to Troy and it was almost scary like he wanted to set him on fire. “It’s not on a regular basis. It happens occasionally.”

  “Why?” Adele asked, letting out a quiet laugh with her question. “Get too rough?”

  Muscles lost his threatening stare when he turned his head and he just had this proud smile growing on his face. “Nah. They just couldn’t handle me. I could have shown you but Zayden was just teasing me.”

  “Awe. What a moronic coincidence. Ruby doesn’t have a gag reflex.”

  Jaylyn bursts out laughing and I didn’t want to get myself thinking about it right now but it was too late. Now I wanted to try him out more than ever. “Who’s encouraging it now?”

  “Joke.” Adele’s eyes narrowed and she wouldn’t let me go on.

  “Please don’t make this any worse on me.” Muscles said. “You wouldn’t want me to lose control.”

  My knees almost buckled. I was feeling this sudden tension between my legs and just wanted him to come in here and touch me. I didn’t know how much longer I could stand here while it was being talked about.

  “Understand that we just don’t want things to get out of hand.” Zayden said. “Like you accidently getting your neck broken or a cracked spine.” He chuckled.

  “Don’t get the wrong idea.” Muscles said. “It’s not exactly something we’re proud of and father doesn’t exactly see it as that either. He was pretty pissed when he found out.”

  Troy laughed. “He was not. That’s such an exaggeration.”

  “He was so. He’s usually pretty proud of me but that time it was hard to—”

  “Escape that look in his eye? Oh, yeah, father can get the point across when he wants to.”

  “It’s kind of like Zayden. It freaks me out sometimes.”