by Jaymin Eve
“And you stay with Xander when he’s here?”
He nodded. “Yes, I look after Xander when he visits. Which has been a lot in the last year or so, but before that was very rare.” He held out a cup to me. I almost dove on the glass of water. I greedily gulped it down, water spilling all over me. When the glass was empty, Tommy handed it off to one of the men nearby.
I hadn’t noticed, but we were surrounded by armed men and women. At least a dozen or more were spanning out from the perimeter. One of them spoke into an earpiece; I heard them say “They’re here,” and I almost panicked until I felt the familiar flip of my stomach and twang of the bond at my center.
Chase stormed through and it almost looked as if dark clouds followed him. The trees that lined the pool area moved, crowding closer, as if offering their support. I was up and in his arms in a heartbeat, his face carved into lines of absolute fury, his skin swirling with gold, lighting the dark tone. I wanted to say something, but I had no idea what would help. Chase was so beyond human right then, almost god-like, and it was making me unsure.
He turned, holding me close, and strode toward the house. We passed Emma and Lexen – she gave me a wave, her face blotchy like she’d been crying. Inside, cool air washed over us.
Chase seemed to know where he was going, climbing up a set of stairs and entering a nearby bedroom. He didn’t stop there, though, moving us into the bathroom, where he placed me gently on the bench near the sink. Then, with a ragged breath, he took a step back.
His eyes, when I finally met them, were the sea during a storm, dark green and gray, swirling and churning, jaw so rigid I could have probably cut myself on the edges if I touched them. Before I could say a word, he reached out and hit the lever to turn the water on in the sink, letting it run while he grabbed a fluffy white towel, which had been neatly folded in an open set of shelves.
He tested the water a few times, finally soaking one side of the towel in it, before reaching out and rubbing the warm end across my skin. He did this over and over, rinsing off the blood. It felt so good, and at the same time so painful, and I could see Chase cataloguing each wound as he came across it. This was making him even angrier, and I was starting to hate the silence between us.
“I’m okay,” I finally said, stupidly.
His hand stilled, the one that had been washing sand off my arm. Straightening, he dropped the towel, brushing some of my hair back, pushing it behind my ear. “What happened?” His voice was hoarse. “I need to know everything.”
My head was finally clear now. I had no trouble telling him as quickly as possible everything that had happened, finishing up with the girl in the water. I gasped then when I remembered something. With frantic movements, I scrambled to feel around my neck. In my dazed state, I’d completely forgotten that I got the stone from Laous.
As my fingers brushed across the metal I actually smiled, lifting it over my head. The stone that had been lodged between my breasts sprang free. Chase shot his attention to it.
“I got the starslight,” I said with a huge grin. “You need to take it to Lexen or whoever, so they can see if they can find the girl.”
Noise from the doorway had me realizing that everyone else had been waiting for me in the bedroom. “My necklace,” Emma said, her eyes watery. “How did you get it back?”
Chase leveled hard eyes on Lexen, who shrugged. “This was the longest I could keep her away. She needed to make sure Maya was okay.”
Emma wiggled her way forward, wrapping her arms around me. I shushed Chase’s protests. He kept trying to tell her I was injured and to be careful. “I’m fine,” I said. “It could have been so much worse if that girl with the shimmery hair didn’t find me.”
Xander, who was near the back of the group, stepped forward. “Shimmery how?” he asked, and I thought his intensity was kind of weird, until he turned on the shower in the stall nearby and dropped his blond hair under. My eyes went very wide as that same iridescent sheen moved through his hair.
It all made sense now. She was the fourth secret keeper. “Laous said she was nearby,” I murmured. “She must have been in the water the entire time.”
Xander nodded. “And clearly she got more than a little of the Royale energy when she was born. That hair thing is unique to my house.”
She definitely got more than a little. “She’s amazing in the water, too. Held her breath for, like, ever, and was strong enough to power both of us through the waves.”
My mind kept flashing back to the girl. She was beautiful, and I had a feeling on dry land she would be breathtaking. Xander was in so much trouble.
Tommy appeared in the doorway. “We’re surrounded by Gonzo troops. The helicopter is ready and waiting on the roof. We need to get to a safe house.”
No one argued. They all fell into formation, like this was a normal event. “Why don’t you just stay and defend your territory?” Callie asked. “If they’re humans, they don’t stand a chance against the power of four overlords.”
Daniel swept an arm around her, trying to hurry her along. “We don’t know what Laous might have set them up with, weapon-wise. I won’t risk you. Any of you.”
“He doesn’t have the stone now, at least,” I said, breathing a sigh of relief. “One good thing came from Fraizer and his stupid plan.”
“Are you sure he’s dead?” Daniel asked me. “There was no body when we got to the sanctuary.”
Turning in his direction, I tried not to let my sympathy show. “I don’t know for sure. I saw him get shot, and he fell, but then I was dragged away, so I don’t actually know if he got back up.” There was an extended pause, and I decided to add, “I think Rao saved me. He was definitely thrown off by Fraizer telling him that he was his brother, and then he tripped really obviously, which gave me a chance to escape.”
Daniel’s eyes, which were the lightest of browns with gold rings, had so much sadness in them that I almost burst into tears. I felt the heat and pressure behind my eyes but managed to keep it together while we moved into the hall and took an elevator up to the top floor. Chase stayed at my side the entire time. I couldn’t help but touch him over and over, to reassure myself that I was back with him.
“You should tell them what Laous told you,” Chase urged, when we were close to the helicopter. “About his father.”
Even though it disgusted me, I quickly relayed the details to the group. Daniel, again, was the one to react. “That must have been what he did with my father,” he said slowly. “When he killed him, he absorbed his energy, and that allowed the network to find him worthy to be overlord.”
“Did you know your uncle suffered like that?” Callie asked. “When he was a child?”
Daniel shook his head with force. “I had no idea. It would have been before I was born, and I knew my dad and Laous were never close, but I had no idea of his past.”
He looked both disturbed and upset, and I wondered what was worrying him the most. Fraizer? Rao? Or the possibility that Laous had suffered worse than any of us?
Before any more could be said, we were filing into the helicopter. Tommy handed Chase a familiar red kit. I knew my guy wouldn’t be able to relax until he had patched me up.
“Buckle in,” Tommy said. He was manning the chopper as well. He was very useful in these situations. “They have some manpower.”
Lexen, who was near the open door, leaned out and said, “I’m going to make it a little harder for them.”
Dark clouds burst across the sky, drifting in from way out at sea. It took him seconds, maybe less, to fill the air around us. As Tommy lifted the chopper up, blades loud, we took off with the dark clouds around us. Bullets fired, but thankfully none of them hit their mark, except one that lodged in a side panel.
Chase wasted no time disinfecting and bandaging me up, and by the time we arrived at the safe house, I was a walking mummy. The new place was not on Lanai, but instead on the bigger island of … O’ahu, I was pretty sure. Tommy set the helicopter down on a b
asketball court, which was at the back of an estate of about twenty beach shacks. When we all filed out, he took off into the air again.
“He’ll stash it somewhere so we can’t be easily traced,” Xander told us as he strode toward one of the generic white Hamptons homes. I expected him to lead us to the front door, but instead, he moved to some bushes off to the side and pried open a double door that led down into a basement.
It was dark inside. Really dark. And as the doors closed behind Daniel, who was the last through, I could barely see anything. Chase kept a steadying hand on me as we made our way down the stairs. When we reached the ground level, Daniel lit a flame in his hand and a room came into view. “Come on,” Xander said, waving a hand. “This is just the decoy.”
“How do you have houses like this everywhere?” Emma sounded as confused as I felt. “I mean, you four have only been on Earth for a year.”
Lexen answered: “Our families have been here for years, and we have safe houses for Daelighters scattered around. This is a Royale one. They tend to dominate the island areas.”
We came to what looked like a wall, until Xander pressed a button and it swung out. Stepping inside, we were suddenly in a very high-tech looking elevator. The wall shut again, and then we were moving. I’d expected it to move down, but instead it went sideways. When it finally stopped, Xander was the first out, and I followed him into what looked like a state of the art control center. Wow. I had not expected that.
“This is where we are going to rest tonight,” Xander said, taking a seat in front of a set of twelve or more monitors. “Tomorrow, we’re going to find that girl and end this all.” He flicked a switch and images appeared across all of them. Many different images.
“This is how we’ll keep an eye on Laous and his army,” Daniel said, sitting next to Xander. “We’re hooked into the most powerful government satellites. It can’t track Daelighters, but it can track those armed assholes Laous has teamed up with.”
Emma held up the necklace, which she had not let go of. “And this is how we’ll find our last secret keeper and join the four of our energies together.”
As Chase wrapped his arm around me, and I sank back into his warm embrace, I realized I was ready for this. Having the starslight stone back put us in the dominant position to end this war. Laous picked the wrong humans to go up against. The clock was counting down now, and he was about to find out his days were numbered.
House of Royale
Secret Keepers Series
Book Four
Jaymin Eve
Copyright
House of Royale: Secret Keepers Series
Copyright © Jaymin Eve 2018
All rights reserved
First published in 2018
Eve, Jaymin
House of Royale: Secret Keepers Series
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. All characters in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious, and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover: Tamara Kokic
Editing: Liv from Hot Tree Editing and Lee from Ocean’s Edits
Chapter 1
“Avalon! Are you okay?”
I could have cried at the sound of Dr. Spinner’s concerned voice. It was such a welcome relief after walking almost ten miles to get across the island. Doc was seventy-eight years old, retired, and living alone on the edge of Lanai. He was also one of the only friends I had, and I really needed a friend right now. And a medical practitioner, apparently.
Pulling himself up from the rocker he sat in for most of the day, he waited for me to hobble up the three front steps to the small porch. “I had a bit of a run-in with some … rocks,” I told him. The bleeding had mostly stopped at this point, but red lines still trailed along my skin.
He squinted at where I was holding my arm, his expression giving away nothing. I couldn’t tell if he believed my story or not, but I was really hoping it wouldn’t be obvious that it was actually a stream of bullets that had cut me up. “Could you have a look and stitch me if needed?”
Doc didn’t ask any more questions. He was very good at minding his own business, and somehow still getting all the information from me. Psychology—or more accurately, reverse psychology—would have been a good career option for him if he hadn’t gone into medicine.
I followed him into his home, which looked exactly the same as the last time I was there. It was an old plantation house that had seen better days, simply furnished, but had an amazing view—ocean as far as the eye could see from every room. Doc never spoke much about his past, but I knew he’d lost his wife and daughter in a boating accident and now he just sought peace and quiet, waiting out his days until he’d be reunited with them.
I wasn’t sure why he’d taken a liking to me, but he’d patched up my hand years ago when a shark had mistaken me for the fish dinner it had been aiming for, and ever since then it’d felt like he was looking out for me.
“Come into the back room, that’s where my kit is,” he told me, shuffling forward.
The worn wood floors creaked as we crossed them. Doc waited until I was seated before he started to prod at my left bicep. I was almost certain the bullets had just grazed me, but I was already trying to think of what I was going to say if he discovered one buried in there. “This doesn’t look like rocks,” he murmured.
“I was in the water,” I explained. “Figured it was rocks, but it could have been anything.”
Like a stream of bullets.
“Right,” he murmured again, still prodding me.
It hurt like a bitch, but I didn’t complain. I was used to pain, always getting scraped up and knocked around by the ocean. That’s the price I paid for getting to ride the tides and waves of the beautiful sea. I would literally rather be dead than not glide with the ocean creatures. Of course, this injury could not be attributed to anything except wrong place, wrong time. They’d been shooting at that girl I’d found hiding under the rock ledge, and I’d gotten hit in the process.
No regrets in saving her though. I had special abilities in the water, far beyond anyone else I’d ever seen; it was my duty to help when I could. I’d saved more people from the ocean than I could count.
“You will need some stitches,” he finally said after prodding, cleaning, and muttering over my injury some more. “Hold still, I’ll give you a shot to numb it.”
I shook my head. “No. No drugs. You know I react badly to man-made pharmaceuticals. I’m just going to have to tough it out.”
His brow furrowed, just slightly, which was the only indication that he was unhappy. The thing I loved the most about this old guy was the way he took everything in his stride. All the weird, fucked-up happenings in the world … he just kept on trucking.
I closed my eyes as he inserted the small curved needle, mentally going to the ocean. It helped keep the pain at bay, and by the time he’d made the four or five precise stitches, rubbed some cream over the top, and bandaged me up, I was feeling much better.
“So…” Doc leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his slightly rounded belly. “How have you been, Ava? Do you need a place to stay?”
The answers to those questions were always the same: I’ve been existing, and Yes, I need a place to stay. But I was afraid to be a burden, so I would never force my company on him.
“I’ve been fine,” I said. “Working at the sanctuary, and lifeguard duties. You know how it is.”
Deflection and avoidance often worked, but not this time. Apparently my “rock” graze had worried him. “I’d really like you to stay here for a few nights … just so I can keep an eye on you. There is always a possibility of i
nfection.”
Swallowing hard, I tried not to let my relief reach my face. If he knew how badly I wanted to stay, he’d feel obligated to make it happen—as a permanent arrangement. But I knew Doc liked his privacy, his alone time. I would never want to take that small peace away from him. A few nights was okay, though, especially if he insisted.
“I guess that’s a good idea,” I conceded. “Just until we know there won’t be any complications.” We were acting like I’d just had open heart surgery rather than a small cut, but I was too worn-out right now to put my big girl pants on and walk out the door.
He bustled off to make up the sofa, which was under the huge bay windows that lined the front of his house. He wouldn’t let me help, so I just hovered close by, staring out at the blue sea. I’d get to sleep with the view of my favorite place in the world.
“Can I shower?” I asked him after a few minutes. “I’ll just leave this arm out.”
He nodded, his almost bald head shiny in the afternoon light through the window. “Yes. A bit of water won’t hurt it.”
I’d showered here before; I knew the bathroom well. “There are new razors and toothbrushes in the same place,” he called when I was about to close the door. “Feel free to use them while I grab you some clothes.”
“Thanks, Doc,” I returned, shutting the door.
I actually didn’t have much body hair … probably because I had so much hair on my head that it had to balance out somewhere. But a toothbrush would definitely help. Mine was in my bag, which was, again, at the lifeguard tower. I hadn’t had a chance to go back for it yet, which meant I was going to be in these clothes for a while.
Worse things have happened, Avalon. My motto for the past six months, ever since my parents had basically packed up their lives here, leaving on a yearlong cruise around the world. They’d sold our house, left me with enough money for a rental, and waved goodbye. Apparently I’d been holding them back all this time, and it was bon voyage, see you never.
