“There’s a way to make them wrong?” How could you make it wrong?
“No, but the marshmallows are best when they’re lightly toasted on the outside and melted on the inside. You have to put them in the fire just right.”
“You need to light them on fire for a minute to get them crispy,” Rhys said and sat on my other side.
“I’m surprised that you this fire and not your own,” I teased.
“He has used his fire when he was craving them and we weren’t camping,” Deryn told me.
“That was one time and I was hammered,” Rhys argued.
“You still did it,” Deryn said and pointed at him.
I laughed as the guys made the marshmallows. The first time I tried to roast mine, it melted right off my stick and fell on the ground. They laughed at my pout and told me more stories about times they had gone camping.
S’more in hand, they all watched me with bated breath as I took a bite. The cracker crumbled, but I was able to catch most of the crumbs in my hand as I chewed on the s’more. It was divine!
“It’s amazing,” I said with a full mouth of smore.
They all beamed proudly, like they had made it for me personally.
“I know you’d like it,” Fox said and ate his in two bites before reaching and grabbing another marshmallow to make a second one.
“What’s your favorite color?” Rhys asked me.
“Teal.”
“Favorite flower?” Deryn asked.
“Cherry blossoms and hibiscus.”
“Favorite holiday?” Fox asked.
“Halloween!”
“Favorite drink?” Nico asked.
“That’s hard,” I admitted. “I love cocoa, margaritas, and iced tea with a lemon wedge.”
“Favorite male?” Rhys asked.
I rolled my eyes. Nice try. “It’s so hard to pick,” I replied with a groan. “I have so many to choose from.”
“So many?” Deryn asked.
“Who is your favorite female?” I asked them.
“You,” they said at the same time.
“Do you want to sleep outside or in a tent?” Nico asked me.
“Tent,” I replied instantly.
They looked at each other and then back at me.
“What?” I grumbled.
“Why did you say it like that?” Fox asked.
“I don’t like bugs,” I admitted to them. “I’ve always been creeped out by bugs.”
“Are you scared of certain bugs or animals?” Rhys asked.
“Yes,” I mumbled, not wanting to reply.
“And those are?” Deryn prompted.
“Why does it matter?” I asked grumpily. Every girl I knew was scared of bugs.
“If we know what you’re afraid of, we can make sure to keep it away from you,” Fox explained.
“I’m afraid of losing you four,” I mumbled, staring at the last half of my s’more in my hands.
“Why would you lose us?” Rhys asked and squatted down in front of me. He set his hands on top of mine, where I was twisting my s’more around.
“If you wise up and realize I’m not a queen. Or you try to make me choose. Or you find someone better suited to being a match for a prince. Or if you get hurt or worse, killed, trying to protect me. Or…damn this alcohol. I wasn’t supposed to say any of this out loud.”
Quickly, I stood up and stumbled away from the fire and them. Away from the fire and their eyes, I felt cold and rubbed my arms while looking up at the stars overhead. We were such small creatures in the universe. None of us truly mattered in the grand scheme of life.
“You aren’t going to lose us,” Rhys whispered from behind me.
I turned around and all four of them stood side by side just behind me.
“You can’t say that for sure. You don’t know what will happen in the future,” I argued.
“We know that we all love you,” said Fox.
“We all know that you are our queen,” said Deryn.
“We all know that we will do whatever we must to keep you safe,” Nico said.
“And we all know that we will do whatever we have to, to keep you in our lives,” Rhys said.
“You love me?” I asked softly, feeling like I was flying and falling at the same time.
“We do,” Deryn replied and the other three nodded their heads in agreement.
“And you won’t make me choose between you?” I asked softly.
“Never,” Nico promised.
“I love you, too,” I said as I looked at each of them.
They moved forward and surrounded me in a group hug.
“You’re stuck with us forever, now,” Deryn whispered against my neck.
“Now that you’ve admitted you love us, we won’t let you go,” Rhys murmured from my right side.
“Together forever,” Fox whispered as he stood in front of me with a wide smile.
I smiled back at him and said, “Sounds like a great plan.”
Chapter 10
What do you mean they’ve summoned me?” I asked Rhys and looked at the other three who were wearing identically blank expressions. They only used blank expressions when they were hiding their true emotions from me.
“The Elders want to meet and talk with you,” Fox explained.
“We’ll be with you the entire time,” Nico assured me.
“Will they hurt me?”
“No,” Deryn said adamantly and picked up one of my hands, squeezing it in reassurance. “We won’t let them hurt you.”
It had been over a week since they had visited the Elders without me. In that time, I’d gotten used to staying in Rhys’s apartment, where I was safe and together with all my boys. Even though the room was warm, I felt a chill.
“But, they’re the Elders and they can tell you what to do, right? They could order you to kill me?” I’d seen it in a few anime shows and I did not want to end up like those poor women.
“They could order us, but we have free will and none of us would ever harm you,” Deryn promised.
“Then you’ll get killed for not obeying them,” I said and threw my hands up in the air.
Rhys chuckled and took my face in his hands, forcing me to meet his eyes. “They won’t do anything like that. They just want to talk to you and meet you. They said they may be able to help you learn to use the bond, which I know is something you want help with.”
I looked at them, standing together in front of me. They always dressed like they were going to go out. I had gotten a little dressed up earlier on a whim, even though we hadn’t left the apartment since our camping trip. Now I was glad I had.
“Okay,” I agreed. “As long as you’ll be by my side the entire time.”
They nodded in agreement and I reluctantly followed them out to the car. Martin smiled at me as we approached, but when he saw my face, his smile wilted.
“What’s going on?” he asked me after getting into the driver’s seat.
“She’s nervous about going to meet the Elders,” Deryn informed him.
“They’ll love you. Everyone who meets you loves you. The Alpha can’t stop talking about you,” Martin said with a smile.
“Will the kings be there?” I asked and turned to face my Guards.
They all nodded.
“Great. Not only do I have to meet the Elders, but the other fathers too,” I grumbled, folded my arms, and slumped in my seat.
“They met you once already, remember?” Fox reminded me.
“Oh yes, when I was hammered and interrupted your meeting,” I said, my scowl deepening.
We drove in silence, my mind supplying all kinds of situations which ended with me dead. Martin rested his hand on my knee, where the guys couldn’t see it. Even his touch wasn’t enough to reassure me.
I envisioned us driving to a dark and gloomy castle, but it was the furthest from the truth. Martin stopped the SUV in front of a gorgeous country estate with perfectly trimmed hedges and a beautiful rose garden.
Martin squeezed my knee for reassurance and I climbed out. No point in delaying the inevitable. My guards took their places. Rhys in front of me, Deryn on my left, Fox on my right, and Nico behind me. I touched each of their hands briefly and then we walked inside.
Inside, paintings by famous artists lined the walls, each worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The guys seemed to know where they were going, making a few turns, going down two flights of stairs, and then stopped before two metal doors. So far, we hadn’t seen a single person. Where were they?
“We’re with you,” Rhys reminded me without turning around.
“We love you,” Deryn whispered.
“I love you all, too,” I replied, surprised that my voice did not wobble with emotion.
Rhys pushed open the door, and we walked inside. The room was humongous, large enough to hold a concert in, easily. At the moment, there were seven people at the end, all males. I recognized the four kings from the park, but the other three were definitely no one I had met before. They were old, bent with age, but their eyes held an intelligence and authority that made it clear they were the Elders.
We stopped before them and all bowed. The guys had worked with me on this move a few days ago, for the purpose of meeting the alphas, but we hadn’t gotten a chance to do so before today.
When we stood up, I glanced at the alphas and Dan winked at me. That helped me loosen a bit and I faced the Elders with no tremors.
The Elders were all different races. The one in the middle had the telltale pointed ears of an elf. The one on the right was the tallest, with a full head of grey hair, and a matching beard. His eyes were golden, a werewolf. The Elder on the left was the shortest, but most muscular, with forearms of a much younger male. He smiled at me and his eyes shifted to a bright green with a slit down the center. A dragon.
“Great Elders,” Rhys began, “we present to you our queen, Jolie.” He stepped to the side, taking a place beside Deryn and exposing me to them.
“You are human?” the elf Elder asked.
“Yes, sir,” I replied. “I do have a thirty second Gorgon in me, but no powers or anything.”
“Your father is the vampire king, correct?” the dragon Elder asked.
I nodded.
“When was he changed?” The wolf Elder asked.
“A few months after my birth,” I answered and then quickly added, “Sir.”
All three Elders smiled and the wolf Elder said, “we appreciate your respect, but you need only answer, not add ‘sir’ at the end.”
“Yes, sir,” I agreed and then cleared my throat. “Okay.”
“The princes indicated that you discovered the vampire king had stolen the artifact to start the war,” wolf Elder said. “Yet, it came to be in your possession without his knowledge. How?”
“My grandmother gave it to me. I’m…” I paused, unsure how to describe myself. “…I say I’m cursed, but I’m not literally cursed, I don’t think. So, unlucky might be better. I’ve been attacked on multiple occasions by Others. One attack was by vampires who captured me and…hurt me. I escaped and when I told my grandmother what happened, she provided me with the artifact. She said it would keep the vampires from finding me.”
“Did it?” elf Elder asked.
“Yes. The vampires hadn’t been able to locate me, until I removed it and relinquished it to the kings.”
“Not without a bit of a fight,” the mage king commented.
“And your guards protected you and killed the vampires, correct?” dragon Elder asked, ignoring the comment.
“Correct,” I agreed.
“And that is when you believe you created the bond?” wolf Elder asked and looked at my guards.
“Yes, Elder,” Deryn replied.
“Yet, it wasn’t a completely conscious decision, correct?” Dragon Elder asked.
“Yes, Elder,” Rhys replied.
“Do you feel the bond, Jolie?” elf Elder asked.
I shook my head. “No. I’ve tried, but can’t sense it.”
“Jolie, please come forward,” elf Elder ordered me.
Determined not to upset them, I didn’t glance back at my guards. Despite really really wanting to. I stepped forward and my guards moved with me.
“Only Jolie,” elf Elder ordered them.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Deryn’s hand curl into a fist.
They didn’t seem like they would appreciate being made to wait, so I walked to them and wondered if I should bow again or drop to one knee.
The three Elders’ eyes shifted and began to glow. They covered me in glowing magic of three different colors. Red for the dragon, white for the elf, and green for the wolf. The colors highlighted a rope that went from my chest to the four guards behind me. There was no doubt about the bond now.
“We can remove the bond without hurting you,” dragon Elder offered me. “It won’t harm your guards either, but you will be removed and unable to develop a bond with any of them in the future, should you desire to, aside from a mate bond.”
“I-”
Did I want to remove the bond now?
“Jolie,” the four said at the same time.
“You could be free,” I whispered to them. “Free to find a princess worthy of you. Free of my curse.”
“You are cursed,” elf Elder agreed and waved at my chest. “A witch’s curse.”
“We don’t want anyone else. We told you this on our trip,” Fox reminded me.
“You are more than worthy,” Deryn told me. “Right, Father?”
All eyes turned towards Dan who had been scowling. He looked at me and said, “You are worthy.”
The other kings’ eyes widened and they turned away from Dan to focus on me. No doubt, trying to understand what he saw in me.
“What’s your decision?” dragon Elder asked.
I chewed on my bottom lip and looked at my four guards. What to do? Free them, or keep them? Was it selfish to keep them?
Definitely. They had said that they wanted to keep the bond, though. If I freed them from me, they could return to their normal lives. They could be free of the chaos that I brought with me. And I would be miserable. Even though I couldn’t feel the bond, just knowing it was there made me happier and safer than I had in years. Plus, I truly loved them. I didn’t want to be without them.
“I’ll keep my bond,” I replied.
All four exhaled and their bodies relaxed, tension leaving them in a rush.
“Would you like us to teach you how to use the bond?” wolf Elder asked.
“Please,” I begged.
Then, I decided to ask for something else, since they were offering to help me.
“Can you remove the curse?”
The three Elders looked at each other, some type of silent communication going on.
“We can,” elf Elder finally said.
“But it will hurt you, a lot,” dragon Elder explained.
“What is the curse?” Dan asked.
“Curse of Antalia,” elf Elder replied.
Dan said something under his breath and looked away. When I looked at the guys, they were all scowling and whispering to each other.
“Breaking that curse will have repercussions,” The dragon King said. “She may not be able to handle them.”
Dragon Elder shrugged. “True.”
“Don’t do it,” Rhys ordered me.
“What? Why not?” I demanded, spinning to face him.
“You might die from the backlash. It’s not worth it,” Deryn explained.
“Listen to them, girl,” the dragon King said.
“Let us show you how to use your bond,” wolf Elder said. “Our offer will remain open and you can return, should you want to remove the curse.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling irritated to be so close to being able to remove it and yet being told not to.
The Elders took an hour to show me how to find the bond. Finally, I could sense the bond and with it, feel the
guys and their presences. Even a slight sense of their feelings.
“The more you practice, the easier it will become and the stronger your sense of them will be,” elf Elder told me.
I bowed. “Thank you.”
“What will your father do, now that his secret has been exposed?” dragon Elder asked me.
“He is power hungry. I have no doubt that he will still grow his army and attack at some point.”
“Vampires can’t defeat dragons,” the dragon king replied confidently.
“He never said his army was vampires,” I pointed out.
That had every one of them focused on me again.
“Do you have information you haven’t shared with us yet?” wolf Elder asked.
“This isn’t a certainty, I just know how he works. He has worked with other races before. I could see him doing so again. To defeat mages and dragons, he would need more than vampires, and he knows that.”
“You five are dismissed,” dragon Elder ordered us. “You may return if you change your mind about the curse, or your bond,” he told me.
I bowed and the guys did the same. “Thank you, Great Elders,” I said.
Dan grabbed my arm gently before I turned to leave. “Come see me tomorrow,” he ordered me.
“As you wish, Alpha,” I replied and dipped my head in submission.
He bent close to me and whispered, “Stay close to your guards. I want you to stay safe.”
I nodded once and he released me to return to my guards who immediately herded me out of the building and into the SUV.
Martin drove us out and waited until we were off the grounds to ask, “How’d it go?”
“Good,” I replied softly, my brain spinning with everything that had happened. Most of all, Dan’s warning words. Did he know something? Or was he just worried?
And I knew I was cursed!
“What’s the Curse of Antalia?” I asked out loud, hoping one of them would respond.
Martin looked at me and then had to swerve back into his lane on the road before running into another car.
“How’d you hear about that curse?” he asked, his words tumbling out almost on top of each other.
“It’s what I’m cursed with,” I said and turned to smirk at him. “I told you I was cursed.”
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