“Okay, you are not fine.” Trent slipped his arms around my waist and turned me to face him. “You’ve been weird for days now. Lost in your thoughts. Distant. Barely speaking to me.” He narrowed his eyes, concern blanketing his expression. “What’s going on?”
Where did I even start? Between the whole Ivy thing and planning his surprise birthday party…
I took a deep breath and twisted out of his hold. “I was talking to Isach the other day, and he told me that when I change, his coven will feel the shift in the magical balance.” I hugged myself. “They’ll come after me, Trent, and you too, probably.”
“That’s what you’ve been worried about?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Sean thought that might be the case.”
My eyes widened. “And you didn’t tell me?” My voice was bordering on hysterical. Why did everyone think I didn’t need to know about this?
“No.” He crossed his arms.
I glared at him. “Why? Because you were worried if I knew the truth I might change my mind about becoming a vampire?” I crossed my arms, mimicking his stance.
“A little, yeah, but—”
“You are unbelievable!” I threw my hands in the air with frustration, then spun toward the door, but before I could take a single step, Trent was in front of me, blocking the only way out of his room.
“Let me finish,” he said calmly. “The thought had crossed my mind, but that’s not the reason I didn’t tell you.”
I stood a few feet away from him, waiting for him to explain. There really wasn’t any justification for hiding this from me, though.
“Once the curse is broken, the magical balance will be restored, which means the Zoya won’t be anywhere near as powerful as they are right now. There are a lot of covens who aren’t happy with the Zoya, and Sean believes we can use that to our advantage.” Trent pushed away from the door and took a few steps toward me.
“I talked to Ivy again,” I said, and Trent stopped in his tracks.
“You talked to Ivy?” Despite how level his voice was, his tone was jam packed with anger and hatred and disbelief.
I nodded.
“When?” he bit out.
“Monday.” I chewed nervously on the inside of my cheek.
Did I tell him everything about the potion and the potential to have a child? He was already very clearly upset I’d even spoken to her so I doubted he’d be receptive to anything regarding her.
He nodded slowly. “You spoke to her a few days ago. Alone. And—”
“I wasn’t alone. Isach went with me.”
“What?” he shouted. Eyes bordering on black, the muscle in his jaw twitched with barely contained rage. “You went to see her with Isach? Why?”
I took a deep breath and swallowed hard. What was I supposed to tell him now? He was downright livid, and nothing I said would make it any better.
“I’m gonna kill him,” Trent grumbled as he paced his room like a caged animal ready to spring free and attack.
“No, you’re not. He didn’t force me to go see her. I wanted to talk to her, too.” My heart thundered loudly in my ears, making it difficult to hear my own thoughts.
He shook his head, anger pouring from him with every move he made. “Why would you want to talk to her again, Chloe? We got what we wanted. We already made our deal with her.”
“Because…”
Now was the moment of truth—did I tell him why I really went to see Ivy? I studied Trent, my heart aching to tell him everything, but what if he didn’t want to accept her offer? What if he didn’t want to have a baby with me?
I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle it if he crushed my dreams. But I couldn’t not tell him, either. This affected him, too.
“Chloe?” he snapped.
“Before we made our deal with Ivy, she caught me coming out of the diner one night, and she said she could sweeten the deal she already made us.” My voice dropped to a whisper, and I averted my gaze, unable to face Trent’s reaction because deep down, I knew it wasn’t going to be good. “I didn’t think anything of it at the time because we hadn’t agreed to take her deal, and I honestly thought she was lying to me just to get me to break the curse. But she wasn’t.”
Several long moments of silence ensued, and I risked a glance at Trent. He stood frozen in the middle of the room as if in some sort of trance. He didn’t so much as blink. I refused to say anything else until he said something first. I needed to know what he was thinking.
“What did she offer you?” he finally asked.
I couldn’t avoid this anymore. I had to tell him. I took a deep breath and twisted my hands in front of me.
“She said there was a way for us to conceive a child. So, I asked Isach about it, and he said it is possible. That’s why we went to talk to her, and she offered us another deal,” I said.
“What’s the deal?” he asked.
My heart dropped to my feet and shattered. That was what he wanted to know? He didn’t care that I’d just told him there was a way we could have a child of our own? I shuffled to the bed and sank down onto the mattress, defeated.
“I didn’t make a deal. Not yet anyway. But we don’t have long to decide.” I picked at my fingernails, my body slouched.
“What’re the terms of this deal?” He spit the word deal as if it were poison on his tongue.
“She’d do the spell to help us conceive, and in turn, Isach will do what he can to ensure his coven doesn’t come after her or her coven again, and if the Zoya are planning anything, he’ll warn her.” My words were thick with emotion, and my bottom lip trembled as tears pooled in my eyes.
“Isach is in on this deal, too?”
I nodded, and the first tear blazed a hot, painful trail down my cheek. “He wants out of his coven. Ivy offered to let him align with hers. She offered me—us—protection from the Zoya. Sean and Jax, too. That’s the price for this deal.”
“Jesus Christ, Chloe.” Trent laced his hands on top of his head and began to pace again. “Do you have any idea what you’re dealing with?” He stopped to face me, gaze hard and unflinching.
I wiped my tears. “I’m not stupid, Trent.” I stood, anger and adrenaline propelling me forward until I was chest to chest with him. “I know how risky this is, okay? I don’t trust Ivy, either, but we’ve already made a deal with her. Besides, I do trust Isach, and if he’s willing to consider this, why shouldn’t we?”
“And what’s Isach getting out of this, huh?” Trent crossed his arms and stared down at me.
If I didn’t know him and love him like I did, I’d be scared witless right now. “Freedom from his coven,” I said.
I refused to tell him that what Isach wanted the most was immortality for Abby. No reason to add more fuel to this already out of control fire raging between us.
“Ivy’s already getting what she wants from us,” I said. “Now, she wants something from Isach, and he wants something in return. So, why not take her offer? We’ll all get what we want.”
“Yeah, right.” He laughed incredulously and shook his head. “Sean and Jax will never agree to anything like this.”
“What about you?” I asked, surprised by how steady my voice was.
“I will do anything to protect you, Chloe. Anything,” he said fiercely and gripped my arms, his touch as gentle as always. “You know that, but there has to be a better way.”
Maybe there was a better way to protect me from the Zoya, but this was the only way if I wanted the potion that would allow me and Trent to have a baby.
Through tear-filled eyes, I stared up into his face. I loved him so much, more than I could ever express, and I would do anything to spend an eternity with him. Everything else I wanted was within reach, but the longer I stood there with him, the farther away my dreams drifted. He hadn’t even acknowledged the baby thing.
He moved his hands up to my face, catching my tears with his thumbs. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the Zoya coming for you once you change. But you reall
y can’t be mad when you’re going behind my back trying to make deals with Ivy.”
I laughed despite myself. “I didn’t make a deal. I simply talked to her.” I sniffled. “You’re probably right, though. It was stupid.”
He brushed his lips over mine, eliciting an unexpected sob from me. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face against his chest. His body heaved with a sigh as he held me to him, his hands stroking up and down my back. We stood like that for a long while, and eventually, my tears subsided.
I pulled back, took a shaky breath, and wiped at my cheeks.
Trent frowned. “Well, there goes my promise.”
“What promise?”
“To only make you cry happy tears.”
“You didn’t make me cry,” I said with a shrug. “I’m just frustrated. Why does everything always have to be so hard? Why can’t anything—just one thing—be easy for us?” I grabbed a tissue from the box he kept on his nightstand, a box he’d put there just for me, and wiped my nose.
“It’s one of the downfalls of being in love with a vampire. We complicate everything.” His lips twitched with an almost smile, but there was too much left unsaid hanging between us, and I wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up again.
“Great, so it’s going to be twice as complicated when I become a vampire.” I grabbed another tissue and dabbed at my eyes.
Trent forced a laugh, but there was no real humor in it. He approached and once again wrapped his arms around me. “Promise me you won’t do anything… impulsive. Just give me a day to think about this and talk to Sean and Jax.”
I nodded, my heart splintering. “I won’t make the deal,” I whispered, and with those words, every last ounce of hope I possessed disappeared.
I would never have Trent’s child. I would never experience pregnancy and childbirth. He would never father a child. I clung to him tighter and squeezed my eyes shut, forcing my tears to stay locked away.
He kissed the top of my head, the gesture effectively sealing our fate as parents. I only wished he would’ve said something about the possibility, but he’d completely ignored it.
Loud voices and laughter filtered in from the living. My friends had finally arrived, and I was a blubbering mess. What a way to start planning my wedding.
I eased away from Trent and wiped my face, but then he yanked me back into his arms and slanted his mouth over mine.
Sighing, I leaned into his kiss, taking comfort in the way he tasted and how his lips felt against mine, so perfect and familiar and safe. Trent was everything I’d ever wanted, and I wouldn’t ever do anything to risk losing him. If that meant I needed to let go of my dreams of motherhood, then so be it.
“I love you, Chloe,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with emotion.
“I love you, too.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I’m sorry I went behind your back.”
He nodded. “No more secrets, okay? We’re in this together, so let’s be together. Always.”
I smiled. “No more secrets.” A little of the stress I’d been carrying around the past few days vanished, and I felt slightly better. With Trent by my side, I could face anything thrown at me.
“Hey.” Whitney barged into the room without knocking.
Trent rolled his eyes, annoyed.
“Oh, sorry,” she said, her gaze bouncing from me to Trent. “I didn’t mean to interrupt…”
“No, it’s fine. We’re done anyway.” I rose up on my tiptoes and placed a soft kiss to Trent’s cheek. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
He shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded, his expression sad, as if there was more that we needed to say. But there wasn’t. There would be no deal with Ivy.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR:
Wedding Plans
I SAT AT A TABLE INSIDE the Noon Mark Diner with Whitney, Abby, and Ellie, but my thoughts were elsewhere. Why hadn’t Trent said anything about the possibility of having a baby? Even if he’d said no, at least he would have acknowledged it. But all he’d done was insist we didn’t need Ivy’s help to fight the Zoya when they eventually came to kill me.
“So, what do you think?” Whitney nudged me with her shoulder.
“Huh?” Dozens of bridal magazines were scattered across the table.
Whitney sighed. “What’s going on with you?”
“Nothing.” I shook my head. If I told her what was going on, would she be on my side? Would she help me convince Trent that we should take Ivy’s deal?
“We’re planning your wedding, Chloe, to the guy you’re head over heels in love with, and you’re a million miles away,” Abby said, gently kicking my foot under the table. “Why aren’t you more excited?”
I shrugged. “I am excited, but I’m tired, too. It’s been a long day.”
My three friends stared at me with accusatory looks. I leaned forward and snatched one of the magazines and began flipping through it.
They were right—this was my wedding, a day I’d dreamed of since I was a little girl, and I was marrying a guy I loved more than anything. A guy who was incredibly perfect. I dropped the magazine and reached for a menu.
“Maybe food will help,” I said.
“Okay, so, you’re definitely settled on August eighth?” Ellie asked, and I nodded. She wrote the date in a notebook. She’d designated herself as the official “secretary” of this little planning session.
“Indoor or outdoor wedding?” Abby asked.
“Ugh. Don’t do a boring old indoor wedding.” Whitney scrunched up her face. “Have an outdoor ceremony. There are so many beautiful places around here.”
“Yeah, definitely an outdoor wedding. But nowhere too sunny,” I added quickly. “The August heat can be brutal, and I don’t want to sweat through my dress.”
“Good point.” Ellie nodded and then jotted down another note. “Oh, know what would be so romantic?” She sighed dreamily. “Having the ceremony at sunset.”
I glanced up from the menu, my interest piqued. “That’s a great idea, Ellie.”
Her face brightened. “Yeah?” She let out a small squeal and wrote the idea in her notebook.
“On top of that mountain behind Trent’s house,” Abby added. “The view will be incredible.”
“Yes,” Whitney agreed enthusiastically, then tapped on the notebook in Ellie’s hand. “Write that down.”
I laughed. Maybe planning this wedding wouldn’t be so difficult after all, not when I had such awesome friends who had amazing ideas.
So far, I’d asked Abby to be my maid of honor, and Whitney and Ellie were my bridesmaids. I hadn’t decided if I was going to ask Gina and Tonya, too. I mean, I liked both of them a lot, but I didn’t want a huge, lavish wedding.
Trent had asked Jax to be his best man, and to my surprise, Jax had agreed. Wyatt and Isach were going to be Trent’s groomsmen. Considering how Trent still didn’t trust Isach, I was shocked he’d asked him to be in the wedding. Maybe he’d done it for Abby’s sake.
“Can I get you anything?” the waitress asked, snapping me from my thoughts.
“Yeah, can I have the chicken tenders with fries, please,” I said.
“Sure thing.” She smiled, then walked away.
I set the menu down and picked up the magazine I’d been looking through. “So, I was thinking about calling my stepmom and asking if she’d walk Little Frank down the aisle so he could be the ring bearer. Is that dumb?”
“No,” Abby said quickly. “It’s adorable.”
I laughed. “Okay then.”
I’d call Larissa tonight and ask her. I was sure she’d be thrilled. If only I could find something equally as meaningful for Aunt Beth and Uncle Dean to do. Though, neither of them were exactly excited about this wedding. Aunt Beth had stopped trying to convince me it was a bad idea, and Uncle Dean simply avoided talking about it.
We spent the next two hours talking about color schemes and decorations and dresses and details for the reception—music, food, table settings. I had no idea th
ere was so much that went into planning a wedding. Whitney, however, was a pro at all of this. She really should be an event planner.
“My house tomorrow night, right?” Whitney asked as we filed out of the diner. “For Trent and Jax’s birthday party?”
Everyone promised to be there, and then we all left.
Abby and I climbed into my SUV, and I headed home. “I’m thinking about asking Uncle Dean to walk me down the aisle with my dad. What do you think?” I chewed on my bottom lip. Nerves waged a war in my stomach. “I mean, he’s not exactly thrilled I’m getting married, but he’s been like a dad to me.”
“I think it’s a great idea,” Abby said sincerely. “And I think he’s going to be honored.”
“Yeah?” I glanced at her, wishing I was as sure about that as she was.
She nodded. “Yes. Just ask him.”
I wanted to talk to Dad first, make sure he was okay with it, too. I doubted he’d have an issue. He’d been rather agreeable lately, especially when it concerned Trent. I turned into our driveway, and my eyes widened at the sight of Trent’s pickup truck. What was he doing here?
Abby gave me a similarly confused look.
Parking, I climbed out of my car and rushed inside. Abby was right behind me, and when I came to an abrupt stop, she nearly ran into me. Trent was in the living room with Aunt Beth and Uncle Dean, and they were smiling.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“Oh, good, you’re home.” Aunt Beth smiled. “Trent came over to apologize.”
“He did? For what?” I asked, confusion swirling my thoughts into a jumbled mess.
“I’ll let him explain.” Aunt Beth stood. “I should get started on those dinner dishes anyway.” She turned to Trent, who had also stood. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure.” Trent gave her a quick, light kiss on the cheek, and my jaw dropped. What on earth had he said to them?
“Abby, come help me with the dishes.” Aunt Beth grabbed Abby’s arm as she walked by, dragging her into the kitchen.
Eternal Love: (The Cursed Series, Book 4) Page 34
