by Jamie Magee
I furrowed my brow.
“Swim south.”
“What did you dream?” I asked as I moved my hands across his shoulder and arms, ensuring that his skin was now warm.
“I don’t remember. It was just flashes of a good past at first, but then I felt the cold come back. I fought it with everything I had, then...” He let out a breath. “Peppermints.”
“You smell it now?”
“I don’t know,” he said as he pulled me closer. “I remember the smell. And heard ‘south.’ It was loud and clear. Your image,” he said as his hand cupped my face. “It was under water.”
“Maybe your mind is just processing your day. Where did you tell Landen to take those people? Was it south?”
“Here.”
“Donalt said whoever set that up would know if you did that.”
“They are not here yet. They should be in the string. If or when something happens, they will be pushed through here.”
“Okay, well maybe that means the next threat is to the south.”
He rapidly moved his head from side to side as both his hands caressed my face. “South. Promise. If I can’t stop whatever this is, swim south.”
“Promise,” I said vaguely as I felt his fear, which was laced in grief.
He caught his breath a few seconds later. “I’m a violent sleeper. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
I moved my head from side to side to tell him I was wide awake during that episode. “I saw the ice.”
He swallowed nervously. “Yet, you’re still in my arms.”
He fell back on the bed and covered his eyes with the fists of his hands before he slugged the headboard with his fist.
I reached for his hands as I saw him prepare for another strike. “Drake—what the hell?”
His eyes were cold as he stared up at me. “Now you know. That evil bastard is inside me.”
“No one is inside you, and even if they were I wouldn’t care,” I said as I pulled his hands closer to me so I could see the busted knuckles. I was almost sure he needed stitches.
“When your fear comes back, you’ll care,” he said in the most self-loathing tone he could manage.
“You want to fight with me? You really want to go there?”
He moved his stare from me as he locked his jaw. I dropped his hand and slammed my hands into his chest. “You listen to me, Blakeshire. I don’t go around telling people I love them for the hell of it. And I surely do not forfeit that emotion because I find out something less than appealing is lurking. If you think my emotion has limits or circumstance, then clearly we are not as far over this wall as we thought.”
His stare moved back to me. “I’m telling you that it’s okay to run from this.”
“I’m not running from anything,” I snapped back as my eyes rushed across his image, as my mind thought over what I witnessed. I was able to make that coldness go away with a touch. What would I be able to do if I were able to go deeper? Could my energy heal him?
My heart thundered in my chest as I felt the yearning to figure that out.
He tilted his head to the side as he reached his hand that now had rivulets of blood rushing down it to my arm, to cradle my face. “Where are you? What are you thinking?”
I knew from his emotions that he thought I was about to run, that I had just put up a front before, that I really didn’t want anything to do with his damaged soul. He was about to get the shock of a lifetime.
“Let me in,” I said to him as I started to calm my beating heart. If I was moving my soul anywhere, I was going to have to find a peaceful mindset.
“In?”
“Let me in, Drake.” I moved my hands up his chest. “I’m going to bring the fire. You’re never going to be cold again.”
His eyes grew wide with the shock I felt jolt through him. He sat up slowly, holding my gaze and reaching his arms around my hips. “Madison Marie…there is no going back after that…we will never be the same.”
I thought over my insecurities, my dark emotions and thoughts before I spoke. “Is that a promise?”
His chest started to rise and fall rapidly. “I could hurt you.”
“Doubt it.”
“I don’t know what this is.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“You need to be strong right now, Madison Marie.”
“Well, then stop standing in my way. Tell me no once more, and I might take it personally.”
Right then, the palace rumbled and through the sides of the drapes a flaming glow lit up the room. Then all at once, the violent shaking stopped—yet, the ray of orange light stayed.
“What was that?” I exclaimed as I went to move off him.
His arms clasped around me. “I’m sure it was the holy city exploding.”
“It hasn’t been twelve hours!”
“No, but it’s been six.”
“You have to go. You have to make sure your people are okay,” I said, pushing his shoulder so he would snap out of the gaze he had locked on me.
“I stopped time. No one is suffering right now.”
“You did what?”
He didn’t bother to smirk or smile as he reached to trace my bottom lip. “My father taught me that long ago.”
“How are they stopped and we are not?”
He tilted his head as I felt his emotions shift to awe. “It should have stopped you, too. It has before.”
“You’ve stopped time around me?” He was blowing my mind, and why in the hell did he do that in the first place?
“When I came back from The Realm…you froze then. But today you didn’t.”
“Obviously. I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”
“No. Today, or yesterday in the willow tree. I stopped time. I wanted to hold you longer, and I didn’t want the world to call us back. I didn’t let it go until right before we walked back to the car.”
I remembered how instantly dusk seemed to come as we left that beautiful place, as my eyes grew wide with shock. “That’s why this day has seemed to go on forever?”
“Some of that is because of the move between the dimensions, but yeah, I turned one day with you into nearly three, and I would turn it into an eternity if I didn’t fear karma.”
I definitely feared karma. Was he saying that we were alone in the world right now? That every soul had halted in order to give us this moment? Was he really that powerful? “Is this bad?”
He gripped my hips as he rolled me to my back. His hand gently caressed the side of my face as he spoke. “My queen told me if I told her no once more that she would take it as a personal insult…I am at her command…” His hand slowly moved down my side. “The hell of this world can wait until her wish is granted. Until she understands that I would move heaven and hell to grant any demand she had.”
I reached to trace his strong jawline. “I’m not sure I know how to do this…”
“Trust me. You do,” he said with a boyish smile.
“What do you know?” I asked as I playfully glared at him.
“I’m as strong as I am because of the memories I have of this act. I pull from them.”
Before I said something smart or made him prove where those memories came from, I smiled. “Lead the way, Blakeshire.”
He gently reached to close my eyes. I had seen this act in his thoughts before; I had seen it in the memories that were now mine. I knew I had to be calm. That I had to rise out of my body, and from that point natural desire would take over.
It took everything I had, but I found that peace. I found that balance, and I felt myself leave my vessel.
I never bothered to open my eyes to find him, to see if he was in or out of his body; I could sense him, feel the heat of his essence holding me. I was sure that we were lying beside our bodies, mocking the embrace that our corporeal forms had.
With a graceful ease, I pulled him to me, knowing instantly that our flesh was absent. We were soul to soul and breaths away from truly becoming one, from forming a bond that
could not be broken with mere actions or words.
I felt his commanding energy sliding into mine. Fervor was birthed then. It was so hot that it was vibrating; a deep hum resonated in my soul and sent an electric sensation radiating throughout every part of me.
He moved slightly, and that one move completely submerged our essence into one. Explosions erupted with us. They were so powerful that I questioned at first if time had resumed, if the very palace itself were erupting.
As one explosion would find its end, another was created. Our souls were pulsing with a raw power that was indescribable. I could swear that I felt chains breaking away, freedom being born. I felt alive—truly alive—for the first time ever in my life.
Once the initial shock of this connection had settled, I felt our essences healing each other. The dark corners of my soul that held my negative thoughts were flooded with reassurance, and at the same time my energy swarmed through every dark corner of his soul. I felt the coldness he fought with; it was dense and deep, so deep that it would take far more time than we had on this night to repair—but I was going to make damn sure that coldness was well aware that its demise was imminent.
I would have sworn days had gone by before we pulled ourselves out of that intoxicating bliss.
Dazedly, I opened my eyes slowly to see his pensive gaze falling over me.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked gently.
I let a guilty smile absorb my face. “Are you serious right now?”
“Very,” he said as he reached to trace my bottom lip.
“You stopped the aching starvation that I have endured for far too long…”
A smile that matched the relief I felt coming from him nearly took my breath away. “Madison Marie…I’ve missed you.”
I leaned up to let my lips meet his, silently telling him that I could not agree more. We started to lose control in each other’s arms, but somehow I managed to get ahold of my senses. There was a tragedy that was frozen just outside my window. This world needed its king, and if I held him any longer tonight karma would surely have its say.
I pulled away with a gasp. “You have to go,” I said as I pushed him away.
“What’s wrong?” he breathed, clearly thinking I was pushing him away out of fear.
I pointed to the window. “How many days has this night lasted at this point?” I couldn’t hold in the sly smile that surfaced.
He grimaced playfully as a moan bellowed from his chest. “A while.”
“Blakeshire,” I said as I moved my head from side to side.
“You come first.”
“Your people need their king.”
He let out a sigh before he stole one more deep kiss from my lips. As he moved away, I playfully reached for his hand to kiss his flesh once more, but before my lips found that appeasement I noticed that his wounds were gone.
“What the hell?” I murmured.
He pulled his hand to him so he could see the lack of damage. “Where have you been, Madison Marie…?”
“I think they call it Infante. Salem, specifically.”
He laughed as he leaned in for another kiss before disappearing into the closet.
Once I caught my breath, I rose from the bed and made my way toward the window.
After willing the drapes open in the distance, I saw that the sky was a vibrant orange. The explosion was so new that black smoke had yet to join the fire. Instead, you could see white racing through the fire, the birth of the conflagration in progress. I let out a little prayer that every soul in its path had been moved.
A frantic pounding on my door caught me so off guard that I jumped forward.
I was right before: whatever vacation I had from dark emotions was ending. An insane sense of urgency absorbed me as I turned to face my closed door.
Chapter Nineteen
Drake emerged from the closet, staring at the door as he fastened the cuff on his wrist. He reached back and grabbed a robe for me. I met him in the center of the room. He waited until I had my robe pulled closed before he willed the door open with a glance.
Standing there was my cousin—not Aden, but Draven. I held in a breath as I saw the colors of his aura halo around him. I was seeing him the way I always had before my insights had gone on hiatus. On instinct, my mind asked where he had been, how he was still moving if time was halted.
My answers came back to me just as smoothly as they had in the past: this time freeze no longer affected him or Charlie. They had been tested by Landen. Apparently, he and Willow were also immune to this power. Around Draven I saw The Realm, what could only be the Veil of death. It was clear he and Charlie had been fighting their own battles recently.
Draven took one look at me. “You all right?”
I nodded once. “Apparently, better than ever.”
Draven’s eyes met Drake’s. “They need you to let it go now.”
“Everyone is in place,” Drake said as he adjusted his tie.
“Apparently not, but we can’t make what is wrong right until time moves,” Draven said as he gazed over me and raised one brow and gave me a nod of approval. That said a lot. Aden was my nice twin cousin; Draven was harder to convince. He was condoning mine and Drake’s relationship. This would be the first time Draven had ever approved of anyone I was dating or considering dating.
“Is he going to be okay?” Drake asked Draven.
He? What was going on? Who was hurt?
“It was told to me. I haven’t seen it happen, and if it does I will never be right again,” Draven said. He tilted his head “Are you seeing now? Do you own that insight?” Draven asked, stepping closer to Drake. It wouldn’t matter how close he came to him; Drake’s eyes were too dark to see his pupils expand.
An uncharacteristic blush surfaced on Drake’s skin as his eyes moved to me. “I suppose I am.”
I felt the relief in Draven, but the emotions coming from Drake were nearing rage which was odd because he was staring at me.
“In the dimension the rest of us are in, we are far ahead of you in time now. Phoenix said time here would surge forward. I’m not sure all of us are going to line up now. I have to go back to the Veil. We are building our charge against the lords of death at this moment. Are you letting time go now?” Draven asked him.
Lords of death? Phoenix? What the hell had been going on in their lives? Holy crap, I thought Draven and Charlie were writing music somewhere, maybe picking a fight just so they could have fun making up. Now this? I was so lost and worried about Charlie and Draven, but at the same time I knew I needed to be here. I felt like I was late for something.
“In a minute,” Drake said, holding his stare on me.
Draven glanced between the two of us, and suddenly I felt the same rage Drake had within Draven. “Where’s Aden?” he asked me.
“Asleep.”
“Don’t leave him, Maddie. You stay safe. You hear me?” Draven said in his familiar stubborn tone.
“Yes, sir,” I responded mockingly.
Draven rolled his eyes before he vanished.
~Drake~
Why does my life always work out like this? Why is every moment of bliss followed by hell?
She broke the bonds of the cold that were in my soul. It wasn’t all gone, but I had more control now than I ever had. She shared her soul with me, made a mystical vow that we were now one.
Apparently, that vow shared our insights. That should make me happy, give me peace that she would have the same strength in her energy that I had in mine. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was now I could ‘see’ as clear as day. I saw the time she was away from me today. I saw him. I saw the doubt in her eyes. Right now, I felt played.
I willed the door closed with a glance before turning to face her. “You said he just touched your knee.”
She looked at me like I was insane, but then darkness flooded her emerald green eyes. She saw my thoughts centered around Britain.
“You were already mad enough. It doesn’t matter.”
“Not to me.”
Britain was as good as dead. “Treason. Penalty. Death.”
“What has gotten into you?”
“Gotten into me? Nothing. Now I understand why this was so hard for you: he is in your head.”
“No one is in my head,” she snapped back.
I pointed to the bed. “How many times did you question whose bed that was? And remember that I can read your eyes better than any book, with or without the ability to see.”
“A few.”
This could not be happening. Not now. If she truly doubted me, I didn’t think I wanted to know the truth. But rage had taken over. “So minutes after you told me you loved me, he was in your head. As you walked across this room with me, you were hearing him? Testing me?”
“We are past this.”
“Are we? He is still in the palace.”
“And whose side are you leaving our bed to fight alongside?”
She did not just go there. “So this is a war of exes?”
“That is what you are making it out to be. I didn’t hide anything from you. If you can see as clearly as you are saying that you can, then evidently you heard what I said to him.”
“I heard you tell him that you are with me because he cheated on you. What if he hadn’t? What then, Madison Marie?” The anger was gone from my voice. I was using the judgmental royal tone I was taught to use.
“I came here,” she bit out. “I left him and came here to save your ass.”
“And you begged to leave seconds after you did.”
“As any sane woman would do!” she said as she threw her hands in the air.
“Willow was not the only one between you and me. Britain is right beside her.”
All she could do was glare at first. “Willow is not between us any longer, and Britain never was. I am nothing more than food to him.”
I smirked. “Doubt that.”
“And why is that?”
“Because I saw how he looked at you. I saw him feel you up when I was feet away. I saw him bring you food that was no doubt laced with something that would have impaired you beyond reason.” Xavier was behind this. I knew he was. He knew all along that Madison was mine. He sent his minion to her world to seduce her. There would not be a death that would ever match what he deserved.
