“Leave it alone, Adele.” Aleksander said.
“But why did he—”
“Leave it alone I said!”
Adele sat back in her chair with her food, not to say another word. It was a good idea not to get anyone worked up right now but I wanted to know his behavior as much as she did.
“Should I talk to him again?” I asked.
“That won’t be necessary, Jay.” Trever said. “Stay. Kole will give him what he needs.
“A good kick in the ass? On it.” Kole got up with his bread bowl and took it with him into the brush beyond the fire after Ryon.
“Do we even want to know?” I asked.
Trever glanced at Adele for a moment then shook his head. “No. No, you don’t. He’s just—”
“Stubborn? Rude? Pig-headed?” Ruby said. “Want more? I’ve got them.”
“No. They’re all good but I was just going to say—himself. Don’t worry about him.”
Ruby took another bite of her bread bowl since she finished the soup and no one seemed to want to continue it.
“Well, isn’t this great?” Aleksander asked, breaking the awkward pause.
“Are you looking for a real answer?” Darius replied under his breath.
Trever laughed and kept looking in between them. “He says no and he also says that he hates you and really hates me and wishes that I’d stop doing that. Ooh! I don’t even what to repeat that. There are ladies present.”
“Oh my! Where?” I asked sarcastically while looking around then lost my tone while I glared over at Trever specifically. “You don’t have to protect us. There isn’t a thing we wouldn’t be surprised to hear.”
“Trever! Did you know we forgot to pack his leash?”
“Besides that!” Ruby laughed. “But that’s more hilarious!”
“A metaphorical one.” Trever replied before he tilted his head back towards Kole. “And you know it wouldn’t work on him anymore. Did you at least do it?”
“Yeah. Painfully. He’ll be over it in a second when he comes back.”
“Kole! You’re bleeding!” I gasped, seeing the scarlet ribbons running down his hand.
“Oh, would you look at that? How very observant of you, Jay? Relax. I’m fine. It’s not life threatening and even if it was, there’s nothing you could do.”
“And it just helps that you keep reminding me.”
“Just preparing you for the future.”
“Kole!” Aleksander snatched, making him shut right up. “Not a word further.”
Kole sighed as he sat back down in his chair and wrapped the small wound on his arm. I didn’t want to believe him. Nothing was going to happen to him.
“What happened anyway?” Adele asked.
“He bit me.”
“Really?” Ruby asked a little disgusted by the thought.
“No. Wrong place, wrong time kind of thing. No big deal. It always seems to be me. Disaster follows me wherever I go and sets anchor when I stop.”
“Doesn’t help that you usually instigate it.” Trever replied.
Kole laughed. “Life’s too short. One day you wake up and oh shit, you’re old!”
“You are not old!” I said, openly defending him.
“And you say that just to make yourself feel better. Did you know just fifty years ago, the life expectancy of Kaluian men was only twenty-three? According to that, I am old!”
“Then I must already be a rotting corpse.” Aleksander replied.
“Nah. You’ve got a young heart for your age. Besides, we could only hope to be as lucky as you if we made it that far.”
“What do you mean?” Adele asked.
“I seriously doubt you want to know.” Ryon appeared, almost out of nowhere and retook his seat. I didn’t even feel him approach.
Adele’s eyes narrowed and she looked to her father. “Then I sadly already do.”
Aleksander laughed and went on in a way that was clearly ignoring his daughter sitting just a foot away. “Now that you mention it. I did bring extra.” He took a heavy pouch out of his coat and shook it so we could hear the coins inside. “I thought we could always spoil ourselves with it.”
Ryon and Kole looked at each other and simultaneously got up from their chairs. “We’re in! When do we leave?”
They laughed from saying it at the same time and Aleksander stood up from his chair, putting away the pouch. “Now, I suppose.”
“Please tell me you’re kidding?” Adele said, irritated by their plans.
“It’s all right, Adele. The crossroads are only an hour away. It won’t take us very long.”
“This is a joke right?” Adele jumped to her feet, her voice loud with annoyance while they were about to approach their horses. “So we’re just going to sit here while you go off for some—some late night venture to the local whore house!”
“Shit, Aleks.” Kole sighed. “Did you have to bring your mother along? She’s such a judgmental shrew.”
They laughed but it was just getting Adele angrier which was not helping. “That’s just great! You go right ahead and laugh about it! You’re just being a bunch of selfish children! You should have prepared for this trip properly, knowing that you’d be out here for days!”
I could see that Kole was getting annoyed by her constant nagging but he tried laughing it off. “You know, you’re right. I was preparing for this properly but I was kind of having trouble fitting her in my saddle bag right next to the ashes of my dead friend so why don’t you just take your—”
“Kole!” Trever immediately got up and stopped him from getting any closer to her, trying to calm his anger. “That’s enough!” He pushed him away towards Aleksander. “Get him out of here.”
Aleksander led Kole away towards the horses and there was a silence around the fire. Ryon looked to Trever and he gave him the go-ahead with a nod.
Adele was standing stiff, motionless, not knowing what he meant but still couldn’t move by it. We watched them ready their horses and ride off into the dark without a glance back at anyone. Things only seemed stranger the longer we were out here. I was almost worried about what would be next.
Chapter 8
Troy
A whistle echoed and Rift ran off through the trees to follow Ryon.
“It’s all right, Adele.” Trever said while sitting back down in his chair. “Let the bachelors have their fun. We’ll leave when they get back.”
“Why aren’t you going?” Jaylyn asked, narrowing her eyes to the fact that he stayed behind.
“Who ever said I was a bachelor?”
“You have a woman?”
“End it, Jay, okay? I’m not getting into it here.”
If her eyes could narrow more, they would have but she didn’t go on, probably because she was stopped.
“What did he mean?”
Jaylyn turned her head to Adele finally move and look at Trever. Her eyes shown real curiosity to her question but Trever answered it with little detail. “Please forgive him. Kole’s just been frustrated lately. We try to keep him on a fix but sometimes it wears off before we get to it again.”
“My father’s coronation—he looked at me like—like I did something for him to hate me and you—you knew why. You sent him away. Something happened that you’re not telling me. Something bad.”
Trever exhaled a long breath through his nose. “It was nothing you did, I assure you. Kole’s just—some things are hard for him to accept.”
“Trever, can we once get a straight answer from you? You’re just trying to get away from telling me.” He looked down at some papers in his hand and acted as if he started to ignore her to stop the conversation. “Trever!”
“Don’t bother, Adele.” Jaylyn said. “He’s not going to tell you. He has a real problem giving anyone a straight answer. Believe me.”
“There are a time for things to be said and a time for them to not be. This just happens to be one of those times. None of you are ready to understand what it is you want to
know.”
“You know, you think that a lot about us.” Jaylyn said. “You never think we’re ready to hear anything.”
“Actually, that’s untrue. I didn’t go with them, not just because I don’t care to join in their activities but rather I have something to show you. If you’ll let me.”
“What?” I asked.
“You might recall the last time we were all alone like this, except for Jay, and I showed you something.”
“The blood thing.” Jaylyn said. “You told me, remember?”
“Yes but since then I figured out a way to induce a vision that shows people with certain blood traits.”
Jaylyn tensed next to me. “You’ve seen them.”
“Why haven’t you mentioned this sooner?” Adele asked or more demanded to know.
“It’s your father, actually. He likes to think the future is solely for his eyes but I disagree. We’re all part of it and I can show you but there’s one catch.” No one even asked what. He just let the silence linger before telling us like he likes to do. “You all have to want me to.”
We looked around at each other, wondering who wouldn’t want to see then my eyes turned to Darius. He wasn’t looking at anyone or anything though Ruby was right next to him, staring for his approval but he wasn’t giving it.
“It’s okay.” She said. “We’ll just go for a walk or something while they see it.”
He barely nodded but he got up with her and they started to walk away.
“Red, really?”
“This isn’t your concern, Trever. Just show them. We’ll be back.”
Trever sighed loudly while they disappeared.
“Did you say that just so he’d agree?” Zayden asked.
“I was maybe hoping he would. He can’t fight it. It’s going to happen. It’ll be better for Red if he just learns to accept that now.”
“Better for Ruby?” I asked. “How?”
Trever sighed again. “Forget it. What’s your answer?”
I looked at Jaylyn’s hopeful eyes and answered quickly so Trever wouldn’t bring up anything about my past again. “I won’t mind seeing. Can you still show us his?”
“I can. Usually they’re together so it would probably happen even if I chose not to. Adele, could you get me a clean surface?”
She nodded and formed a table in front of him and he got up to go to his horse. He came back over with the same box he used before that had all those little bottles in it.
“Is it a good idea to bring that stone back into Seni?” Adele asked.
She was obviously looking at the stone in the lion’s mouth on the top of the box and Trever only glanced at it before continuing to set up everything he needed. “No need to worry. You’re fearing the outcome too soon. Now, do you mind offering up some more of your blood? I used it all when I tested this. Yours is needed most to get a clear vision of all of them.”
“Fine.” She got up with a sigh and went next to him. “How much?”
“You make it sound like a chore. It’s really not much.” He took her hand and stuck a syringe into a vein on top of it.
“Ouch.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m going to stick you with this. Hold still.” He pulled back and extracted some of her blood. “That should be enough. Apply pressure.”
Adele put her finger over the needle hole and pressed down. “Anything else?”
“No. Just yours.”
We waited by while he set up the rest but I still watched. Adele’s blood was placed on the stone surface in a circle with drops of our blood being applied within it in pairs. That herb was placed around all of it and he looked at us.
“Before I do it, let’s be clear about one thing. I’m not going to know what is truly going on in any given situation shown so don’t ask me about it when this is done. I know just as much as you. Okay? Ready?”
I only nodded and Jaylyn took my hand with her own anxious nod.
Trever set fire to the herb and the smoke rose into the air like last time. I could hear the voices first.
“Where are you?!”
“Running for my life!”
We began to see Seth crouching behind a rock in some outdoor environment. He was, I would say, around twelve in age based on when I’ve seen Zayden that old and someone else was running by. Seth grabbed him and shoved him against the rock so he was hidden.
Jaylyn gripped my hand.
“Ouch.”
“You’re fine.” Seth said. “Where is he?”
The boy opened his eyes to peer around the rock and I was stunned to see he had his mother’s eyes. They were beautiful but he still looked like me. “Looking. We can’t stay here.”
“I know. You break west, I’ll go east. It’s time to put him down. Don’t get burned.”
“You don’t get burned. I’ll heal.”
“Then don’t get your head ripped off.”
“Is he really that mad?”
“Isn’t that the point of this exercise? On my mark. Three. Two. One.” Seth signaled to move and as they did, fire engulfed the stone; a curious fire. I looked around and no one seemed to know what that was but it didn’t exactly look natural.
“Seth! Stairs!”
Fire burned at the heels of my son as he ran but Seth helped him out. Stairs were formed in front of him and taken away after he touched them until he reached a much more familiar place. It was Izin’s private arena in Seni. He was breathing fiercely while on his back and a pair of large feet stepped next to him.
“How’s it coming?”
“Hot.”
It was Darius and he helped my son to his feet but he was different somehow, not like how I’m used to seeing him. He was older and more—refine.
“And the progress?”
“Improving.” Seth climbed over the rail and joined them in looking down.
“Well done. You deserve a rest.”
They were still looking down and I was hoping we’d get to see him; his son but I could never have prepared myself. He climbed onto one of the rocks, allowing us to see his feet first then the image moved up over his tattered clothes that smoked from fire to his face that began to show a confident smile.
“Whoa!” Zayden said loudly.
It seemed everyone reacted in some way to the view of this boy. He was Darius’s son all right but his eyes lit up like gold; like his mother’s and his hair was hers too.
The image faded and all we could do for the first few seconds was stare at where the smoke had formed.
“Did you see him?” Adele asked, plainly in shock. “That was incredible.”
“How could he not want to see that?” Jaylyn asked.
“It’s not about the boy.” Trever said. “It’s just the concept in general but he’ll have to eventually.”
“On his own time.” I said. “So we probably shouldn’t tell him about this.”
“And what about yours?” Adele asked with a growing grin. “He was adorable.”
“I know!” Jaylyn cheered. “I knew he’d look like you.”
I tried to be as happy as she was but I knew this wasn’t going to happen for a while. “Except with one difference.”
“Yeah. That was weird.” Trever said.
“It was cute.” Adele corrected him.
“I was actually a bit disappointed you didn’t learn his name. I wanted to see your faces.”
“You know?” Zayden asked.
“I can’t tell them. I wouldn’t want them to pick something else because of the unusualness of hearing it these days.”
“We won’t.” Jaylyn said.
“I can’t be certain of that.”
“Do you know the other name?” I asked.
“No. I didn’t learn that one yet. Seeing him was enough. Red is going to die when she learns of his hair color.”
“No kidding she will.” Adele agreed. “She’s always been so proud of it.”
“Well, this was fun.” Trever began to pack up everything like he was ready to
go. “I don’t know about you but I need a strong drink after that.”
“You’re leaving?” I asked.
“Yeah, why have them come all the way back when we’ll just be going in that direction anyway?”
I guess he had a good point when considering what it would do to the horses.
“We’ll stay here for a little while longer.” Adele said.
“You mean so you can talk while I’m not here?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“It’s okay. You’re more open around each other as a group. I get it. I’m not a part of this. My group is—well, I don’t need to go into detail, do I?”
“Please don’t.”
“Okay but catch up in a timely manner and if I see your other two, I’ll send them your way.”
“Thank you.”
He took the box with him to his horse and rode off through the trees.
“Oh, it’s going to be really hard not to say anything.” Jaylyn groaned.
“Well, we can’t.” Zayden said. “I think I actually sent them into a fight because I mentioned it one time. We can’t risk that again when we’re on this trip in search for peace.”
“I know but—”
“How about we just say that we didn’t even see him?” Adele suggested. “You know, in case Ruby’s curious nature asks.”
“Yeah. I could tell she wanted to.” I said. “But then saw that he didn’t.”
“He’s never going to be open for it and to be honest, I don’t want to make it a regular thing.”
“You don’t?” Zayden asked.
“Of course not. I like seeing him, yes but it’s never for really that long and it’s always so random that I’d just rather wait and see it all when it actually happens. The future can always change. We don’t know that what we see is going to be real or not.”
“As of now, the path we’re on, that’s what it was going to be.” Zayden said.
“I know but even the slightest thing can change it.”
“We saw Trever leaving.” Ruby and Darius came from nowhere behind me. “I guess that means you’re done?”
We didn’t quite know what to say but we were very vague about it.
“Yeah.” Adele said. “He wanted a drink anyway.”
“Are we seriously going to wait until they get back?” Ruby groaned. She was acting as if they’ve been sitting here the whole time and no one saw a vision of any kind like she was trying to ignore the fact that it happened at all for Darius’s sake. “If we are, we might as well sleep because they’re going to make it into an all-night thing if he’s going to drink.”
Raining Light (Fate's Intent Book 5) Page 4
