Betrayed: The Chronicles of Luxor Everstone Book Two

by Jacklyn Daher

  Hunter kneeled before her, and silently urged for her to believe him. "Yes, a promise, which will never be fulfilled. I would kill anybody if they as much as laid a finger on you.”

  Luxor’s stomach clenched. She believed him but she also believed if it wasn't Melita it would be somebody else. They could never be together in a way a couple should. For some reason one of the stipulations of the loophole to avoid purgatory popped into her mind.

  To have a pure body you cannot lose your virtue to a soul who isn’t completely pure.

  Ayla had vehemently expressed this sentiment as well. But in the end Hunter was a male, and males loved sex, and with resignation Luxor wondered if she was enough.

  Stupid idiot, he likes you for you.

  "It hurt more than I'd ever think possible," she confessed, feeling vulnerable.

  Hunter pulled her in closer and she leaned in. It felt good for him to be close by. "I'm sorry, believe me I had to trick her. Do you believe me?”

  “I don’t know what to believe or who to trust anymore. Everything is so messed up.”

  “Betrayal is like a snake; either it slithers and blindsides you, or the attack will be so swift, you’ll be struck before you can blink.”

  “That’s reassuring,” she deadpanned.

  “The trick is to be alert at all times, and trust your intuition, as the heart can be the biggest snake of them all.”

  “You have my heart, should I not trust you?” she asked, not shielding her confession.

  “Trust yourself, and then you’ll know.”

  “That wasn’t an answer.”

  “Yes, it was,” he said.

  Luxor’s intuition screamed to trust him, that despite his unorthodox measures, he has, and would continuously have her back.” She wrapped an arm around his waist, careful not to let the towel slip. She wordlessly changed into her pyjamas in the bathroom, and returned back to the comfort of his presence. She intertwined her fingers through his. "I don't know whether to kiss or kill you."

  "Hmmm I wonder what you'll choose." He smirked. She looped her hands around his neck swiping his hair out of his eyes but make no attempt to kiss him. "I basically scrubbed my skin raw just to get her mere touch off me, so you better kiss me before I go crazy Angel."

  Luxor sat on the edge on the bed and brought him too, before leaning over and pecked him on the cheek. She released a heavy breath and lay her head on his shoulder, and yawned.

  “Come on sleepy head it’s been a long, adventurous night.” Hunter unravelled the bed, and she snuggled in. "I’ll see you tomorrow Angel.” He kissed her forehead.

  “Keep Castor and Melita away from me.”

  “That’s a no-brainer. But I need to know something. Your reaction is different with Castor now, the same as the Habiti."

  Luxor recalled all the recent altercations with Castor and how there was a difference from previous times. He was like rancid nicotine that lingered long after. "Every time he's around I receive a burning stitch right here.” She kicked the blanket off and lifted her pyjama top, thumbing her star shaped birthmark on her hip. "I don't get it though. Xavier is…well less than Celestial, but with him it's all warm like I have constant butterflies."

  Hunter rolled his eyes. "He's influencing normal butterfly sensations." He paused and then his eyes widened, slapping his thighs. "Stay home where I know you're safe. Fake being sick I don't care, just until I get Castor and Melita under control," he said, his expression dark and expression.

  "But—"

  Hunter placed a finger against her lips to hush her and lovingly caressed her cheek. "This time try to listen sweet Angel, we have to stick together." Kissing her forehead, he climbed onto the balcony, holding onto a tree branch and quickly ran down to his Ducati.

  There was more to the story than he was telling her, and again she was being kept out of the loop. It would have been beneficial for her to know everything but she was being protected.

  The danger was closer than she'd ever imagined, the problem was who would Hunter ultimately choose?

  Her or his family

  Black clouds coloured the skies, transforming the days into perennial darkness mirroring the angst that choked Luxor inside. Thunder loomed on the horizon, ready to strike at any moment as rain continued to fall heavily, yet the atmosphere was muggy and sticky as if it couldn't decide what temperature it wanted to be.

  For two days, Luxor was housebound and deserted as Pandora had upped her security measures, and being cooped up in the house was becoming unbearable. There was only so much faking to be sick act she could continue.

  For the entire time, it was spent calling Evie only to be informed rudely by her mother she was sick and unavailable. On one occasion Evie picked up only for Luxor to hang up, there was only one reason she would be ignoring her—Castor and Theo didn't alter her memory. Was it a relief? Maybe it was. If it meant Evie's mind wouldn't be subjected to their gifts, and the demise of their friendship was the result of what she'd given up, she'd have to deal with it. Perhaps being alone would be best for everybody involved.

  "You're a child of a demon." The venomous words and the repulsion in her eyes had hurt the most. It had poked at her mind managing to question her self-worth.

  Since the Twilight festival Ayla had also flown off the grid, and despite an insane amount of time to get in contact with her, there had not been a word from her. To be honest she didn’t blame Ayla, after all she had abandoned her. Hunter hadn't called, and apart from the vague responses and emojis, he was unreachable.

  Abandoned in her solitary existence, she wore out the floorboards of her bedroom going from the door to the balcony and back again. She was in the throes of insanity—by being mentally exhausted and physically wired up—and spent the majority of the time in her pyjamas going over the events of the last few days.

  Pandora entered, carrying a bowl of spaghetti bolognaise. “Luxor, you need to eat,” she said, her expression one of pure concern.

  “Can’t,” she said and chewed on her thumbnail. Her stomached was twisted into knots, and the heady smell of the meat made her heave.

  “I’ll keep an eye out in case Hunter or Ayla come, please, you need sleep.”

  “I have your word?”

  “On one of my many limited lives.” She gave a small smile, and assisted her to bed. “Let me take care of you.”

  Luxor held onto her necklace, her head tumbling hard and fast upon the pillow. She snuggled in and in her time of need she evoked Astrid to give her a sign, to help her defeat Cane. Montages had reeled and it had taken a long while before a solid memory of Astrid's projected.

  A whoosh of air sucked Luxor into an environment she was mildly familiar with. Perched back on a kitchen chair, her body was heavy and every bone ached.

  Orion whispered, lifting one of her legs and propping it on his knee. He began to massage her feet, her body becoming lax. He had her sandals in her grasp, slipping them onto her feet.

  Like father like son, Luxor thought smiling at her own memory. She watched the tentative way he treated Astrid with the utmost fragility.

  "Astrid, you need to escape, please, I'll help you, it's not safe here." When Astrid looked up, it was Luxor who gasped. Black hair with auburn streaks, but the eyes, warm toffee eyes.

  "Orion, I love him. Cane will never hurt me or the baby." She smiled. "She will be loved."

  That’s why Cane hated him so much, he helped Astrid to escape.

  "Astrid, it's time to go."

  Astrid tilted her head back and sighed, she tendering stroked her belly. "I don't think I can leave."

  Luxor experienced the conflicted emotions; the need to stay with the one she loved or flee to save her baby.

  "Didn't you see what he just did?" Orion tried to reason with her, his voice gentle and without condemnation.

  Astrid nodded, and let out a yelp. Arching her back she breathed through a contraction. Orion immediately came to her back rubbing her lower spine. She doubted she'd ever fo
rgotten the gleam of the knife as William wanted to rip her baby from the safety of her womb. Leaving him was the best choice. "I need to keep her safe."

  "Are you sure it's a girl?" It was a question Orion repeatedly asked and every time she answered yes, he looked on the way of devastation.

  "For the last three months, I've dreamt of her. Oh, Orion, she is beautiful." Astrid kissed her forefinger and middle and placed it where the baby had turned into position.

  Luxor felt the love her mother showed her, something Meredith never did. There was a warmth in her voice. An unbridled determination to fight for somebody she'd never met yet made up her whole existence.

  Orion swallowed hard and looked disheartened. "Then it's all the more reason to go."

  "Why would he kill a child? Especially if it was a boy?"

  Most men craved a son, somebody to teach them how to play sport, to become a man, to pass on the family name. But not Cane. Astrid had come to realise he despised them.

  Orion helped her off the chair, and Astrid held her back. The simple action of movement caused her agony. "I don't need you to stress."

  "Please Orion, if you were truly my friend you wouldn't keep things from me." Everything was a mess. She was about to walk away and she didn't know the full story.

  Inside Luxor's head spun experiencing her mother's turmoil, she was left in the dark just as she was. What might have been good intentions was damaging in the end. Unlike the previous times, she didn't want to leave, there was a purpose to her visions and she was adamant to hang on as long as she could.

  "He's not a good person Astrid, he's hurt people and I refuse for him to hurt you and the baby. If it's a girl, he must never know. He needs a girl. Come, we don't have much time, it's time to leave."

  Tears trailed down Astrid's cheeks. "I'm scared, I wish on all the stars in the universe she would have somebody to look out for her. I wish you had a son. Even a daughter so she wouldn’t feel so alone." Astrid wistfully said her eyes widening at the absurd thought.

  Luxor could feel her mother was a dreamer, she was wild and impulsive but she believed in the extraordinary. She believed everything had a happily ever after. She truly was innocent and sweet.

  "Imagine your son protecting my daughter just like you are protecting me. What would you name him if you had a son?"

  "Hunter," he said longingly into the distance, clutching his chest.

  "Hunter. Such a sweet name, and strong. Oh, I wish you had one," she breathed out.

  Orion turned towards her, tears in his eyes. "Astrid, I do." His voice broke.

  Astrid knitted her eyebrows together. "I don't understand. Where is he? How old is he? What does he look like?”

  Orion laughed. "You're so inquisitive. He's safe. He was twelve when I left him, I had to protect him from Cane, that's the only reason I'm with him. Sometimes the biggest sacrifice is needed for the greater good. Not a day goes by without me thinking of my sweet boy." His eyes glazed over.

  Astrid pulled him in for a hug, inhaling his sweet scent. He felt like home, a place full of trees and nature. "I don't understand." It was the words she had told him so he could elaborate, but Luxor could feel what she was truly thinking. Astrid nodded understanding him perfectly.

  "You don't need to. Just know sometimes things don't need to make sense, there are people and places out there we've been told not to believe in."

  Being pregnant for three months had her believing Cane was no ordinary man. He exuded a majestic grace which at first, she thought was part of his charismatic persona but nobody could be that perfect. She was right. He had a darkness inside of him so deep that it had rotted away his soul.

  "Is he that wicked?" Internally her mother prayed to hear no, just as Luxor did when she didn't want to believe in something.

  "You cannot fathom the magnitude. Do you trust me, Astrid?" Orion stroked the side of her face and she leaned in.

  It was bizarre to be experiencing it, Hunter resembled his father a great deal and Luxor apart from her eyes looked like her mother.

  Were they in love?

  Luxor shuddered at the thought and pushed it way down. Loving someone romantically and as a friend felt different, and Luxor could distinguish it even though she had yet to experience any of those emotions. Her mother loved Cane, he was her first everything, and leaving him was destroying her inside.

  "With my life," she whispered.

  Orion had been nothing but nice to her tending to her insane cravings of apples, and when the pain would strike from her pregnancy.

  He kneeled and placed his hands-on Astrid's belly and whispered too low for her to hear. "Hey, there little Angel. I wish I could have met you under better circumstances. You are special, not like the others and I fear that's why you'd be wanted. I want you to know once you're Unveiled, Hunter will come to find you. Don't be scared of him, he'll only want the best for you."

  Luxor gasped, what she'd recovered was unimaginable. Astrid and Orion had written it in the stars before they'd met.

  A kicking within Astrid's stomach and she winced. "She's a feisty one. Hunter and Luxor, it has a nice ring to it."

  A melodious voice boomed from the other room. Even when he was angry, he had the magnetic power to draw you in.

  They exchanged glances knowing that their time had come to a close.

  Orion slipped a purple satchel over her head. "Go now. Make sure when the time is right, she is given the satchel, she needs to wear the necklace, it'll keep her safe." He filled the satchel with the silver necklace with the three gems, and the gladius domini paradisum.

  Astrid fumbled around the bench and found an envelope and pen, and began to write. Luxor reached out in her vision, and wipe the tears from Astrid’s cheeks. Even in the direst time, she had needed to give one last thing to her daughter.

  Cane's voice became louder, he was so close if she didn't go in the next ten seconds, she'd never been able to escape. "He's going to hurt you, isn't he?"

  Astrid had never seen Cane physically hurt Orion but his intimidation tactics were enough to know he was a man not to be reckoned with.

  "He's taken away my sole reason for living so I don't care, but you must save her. Go." Orion held Astrid's face, pain etched in his eyes. He bit his lip and scrunched his nose to hold back tears.

  “Astrid, listen to me. Your sister lives in the next town over,” he had said and gave her the instructions. “Whatever happens, make sure the baby gets the gems and the sword, it’s the only way to end him.”

  “I can’t bear to imagine what he’d do to you,” she cried.

  “He’s taken everything from me, I’ll suffer the repercussions.”

  “I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

  Orion gently enclosed her in a hug as Astrid buried her face in his chest. “I will see you in the afterlife, Hunter will find and look after her.”

  Astrid hugged onto Orion for dear life, she loved him and would never be able to repay the favour. She looked back for the last time at her friend. She wanted to tell him for them to run away together.

  There wasn't a doubt Meredith would look after her angel but what if she found out she was different? Meredith and Steven were straight-laced and not at all open-minded. To them things needed calm and order whilst Astrid lived in the chaos that was called life.

  Would they still accept her angel and treat her properly?

  Orion would have taken care of her angel, but she'd also be more in danger. Astrid swallowed the words, he wouldn't be the only thing she'd lose tonight.

  She would make the ultimate sacrifice to save her special child.

  As a new dawn arrived and Luxor awoke with a broken heart, and in a sea of tears. For once she wanted to stay in the vision, one made of deep seeded love between friends who if the circumstances were different would have been more. The strong connection with Hunter made sense, there had always been a magnetic pull which gravitated her to him even in times where she spited him. Her heart sank at the realisation her e
xistence was not only possible because of her mothers’ death, but Orion’s sacrifice which altered and the course of Hunter’s whole life.

  How am I going to tell him?

  Meredith padded in, her footsteps light as she placed a steaming hot chocolate beside Luxor’s bed and unravelled the covers, ruffling her hair awake. She groaned and pulled the covers over her head and huddled, but the damage had already been done and she was wide awake. She flicked the covers off, and lifted the now tepid drink to her lips, swallowing the gooey melted marshmallows in one gulp. She slid into her fluffy bunny slippers and opened the balcony doors anticipating a chill, but surprisingly the fickle weather had turned into a beacon of heat, the sky cloudless with a never-ending stretch of blue.

  Underneath her feet, the white lilies spread out and engulfed the sigil of the chalice. She placed the mug down on the bannister, and scooped up a handful, bringing them to her nose and breathed in the sweet aroma, nostalgia hitting her.

  A lone lily was secured to the bannister with a note attached. Luxor flipped it open and read the neat writing in the slanted script:

  Meet me in the school field at 12pm

  -X-

  She stared at the note, wishing it was from Hunter. It could have been a simple heart with the first letter of his name and it would have been enough. Although sweet, Xavier had returned with his usual grand gestures, but the note seemed off. It was straight to the point, so unlike him. Then again things didn't end on the best of terms last time.

  “What’s that?” Pandora slunk in from behind.

  “Xavier is back, and he wants to meet.” Luxor removed the phone from under her pillow and pressed the home button, the time notifying her she had forty-six minutes and counting to get properly ready. She didn't want to seem too eager, yet didn't want to risk being late either and missing him altogether. He was her only chance of finding out more information on why he and Ayla did what they did.

  “Do you want me to come with?”

  “I think I need to do this alone,” she said. “But don’t worry I’m in a better headspace and won’t hesitate to unleash my fury if he pisses me off.”