Genesis

by Christie Rich

  She yanked me into a hug. “I’ve been so worried about you.”

  I nodded, resisting the tears that threatened to spill over. “I’m just glad you made it. Where’s Finn?”

  A shadow fell over her. “Taking care of unpleasantries.”

  “Care to explain that?”

  She gave me her later smile and pushed me out the door. Hushed voices filtered into the hallway.

  “Take that off,” she ordered.

  I pulled my shirt over my head then stepped out of my sweats. “What’s going on, Cassie?”

  “The word is Tabitha is looking for you herself.”

  “So?”

  “She’s the only one who has the capability to find you besides the guard. Finn’s trying to take care of them, but no one can stop Tabitha.” She held the frilly white dress for me while I stepped in.

  “Does she know what we’re doing?”

  “Jett contacted Finn with the news. He said you would only have minutes by the time I got here.”

  “What?” Jett knew what I was going to do, and he wasn’t trying to stop me? He really was my friend. I turned and raced into the room with Cassie on my heels trying to zip up the dress.

  I stood in front of the archway. “Okay. I’m ready.”

  Heath chuckled. “That eager to be my wife, eh?”

  “We don’t have time for this. Get over here.” I motioned for John to come too. I looked up at his ruddy face and said, “We’d like the short version.”

  Heath stared at me, and I shared what Cassie had told me with him. He should have been paying better attention. His face went white. “We must leave.”

  “Not until I am your wife.”

  His eyelids fell closed and he nodded. We faced Uncle John who, after his initial shock, got right to the point. “These two people come before these witnesses to be joined as husband and wife. If any person has reason to keep Rayla and Heath from being joined, speak now…”

  Crickets.

  Thank heaven.

  “Well then, I have the great privilege of pronouncing Rayla Tate joined to Lord Heath as husband and wife.”

  I chuckled. Heath sounded like his last name, but I sure as heck wasn’t ever going to call him Lord, at least not and mean it.

  Uncle John said, “You may kiss.”

  A hush fell over the room, and I could feel every eye upon me. Heath took my hands and pulled me against him. “Thank you.”

  I didn’t have time to answer him because he crushed his lips to mine; however, I did have time to be embarrassed when he tried to deepen the kiss. I pulled back and smiled at my mom as she came toward us.

  She patted Heath’s hand. “Thanks for looking out for her.”

  He gave her a sharp nod. “I would like to say I am sorry she did not pick Jett, but that would be a lie.”

  Mom smiled bigger. “Sometimes the best way to get the outcome one desires is to do nothing at all.”

  I was about to ask her what she meant, but Heath beat me too it. “Your implication is not lost on me, your majesty; however, I have to wonder at your words.”

  She patted his cheek. “Keep wondering, lord of fire.”

  She gave me a sweeping glance and took my hand. “Seeing you like this is hard for a mother to bear. I’ve missed so much time with you, but I hope you will come visit once you are settled.”

  “Promise,” I said.

  After giving me a brief hug, she drifted away from me and out the door. Congratulations came from all around me, but I couldn’t help wondering why my mom had risked coming here given how controlling Theran was. Was she a spy for Ainessa, or could it be she was acting?

  Cassie threw her arms around me. “I can’t believe we pulled it off. I thought for sure Tabitha would barge in here with twenty royal guards to take you to Lombarda.”

  Maybe she knew there was no point in fighting. I’d made my decision, and she would have to live with it.

  “Think again,” said Tabitha from the doorway.

  Heath pushed me protectively behind his back, but I got away before he could clamp his hand around my wrist.

  I walked up to Tabitha and stared. “Why are you here?”

  “This cannot be, Rayla.”

  I shook my head. “I’ve made my decision. Isn’t that what you’ve been trying to get me to do since the first moment I saw you?”

  Her expression remained calm, but I couldn’t help but notice the tension in her hands. “Do you want to be the cause of the end of your world? If you continue with this course, that will be the outcome.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t believe you.” How could she do this to me? I’d finally admitted my feelings for Heath were real and now she wanted to take him away from me? Not very long ago she was angry at me for not bonding with this man.

  “I am sorry, young one. Things have changed since then. If there was any other way, I would encourage your union with Heath. Since you were taken out of Faeresia, my visions for you have been different than those of the past, changing from one minute to the next; but since I learned you had been captured by the borderland creatures, only one picture lingers in my mind. Her hand snaked out and grabbed mine in that unyielding grip. “See what your decision will create.”

  In one second my mind filled with horrible visions of destruction and grief. Human families lined up in streets begging for food while fae stepped past without acknowledging the people crying out around them. Abandoned cities. Death pits where landfills used to be. Empty oceans. Where had all the fish gone? Our world was dying. I could feel it pulling on my bones.

  The vision shifted. Heath stood before the council. His face was contorted with rage, yet no one else in the room betrayed emotion. Valen approached him from the dais steps. “For crimes committed against your people, we banish you to the dark realms. For treason you will lose your soul—”

  I yanked away from her. “That cannot be!”

  She swallowed hard. “I have never asked for this sight, Rayla, but now more than ever, I wish I were sharing a happier vision.”

  Heath stepped up to me. “Don’t listen to her. The council controls her every move.”

  She leveled her eyes to his and he cringed. “Think you the only pretender amongst the fae? I could share stories that would blind you, boy.”

  “You promised me,” he whispered.

  “I wish there was a way, Lord Heath.” She touched his face. “Sometimes love is not enough.”

  I shoved my hands at my hips, tears streaming down my cheeks. “It damned well should be!”

  She inched closer to us. “The Guard is coming. I have no control of them anymore. She motioned at my family. “I suggest you get them out of here.”

  I shouted at her. “How can we possibly have enough time to evacuate now?”

  “If you agree to my terms, I will send them somewhere safe.”

  “What about everyone else?” I hissed.

  “I will take care of everything here. This will appear as an abandoned fortress, nothing more. I promise.”

  A sob escaped my lips. What other way was there? Heath and I couldn’t possibly fight against an entire race.

  Heath stiffened in front of me, his fists balling at his sides. The tears in his eyes made my gut clench with rage. “You can’t listen to her. We will figure this out. Don’t you see she is manipulating you?”

  I shook my head. How was I supposed to see anything beyond the agony in my soul at the thought of losing him, of letting the world crumble around us? “If there is even the slightest possibility of those things happening, I can’t do it. I love you, but I love my family too. Don’t you see? I will not trade my happiness for a dying world. I will not allow that to happen to you!”

  He stared at me, unblinking, and his mouth hardened. A part of me died in that moment. I leaned against him and brushed my lips against his. “I love you. Don’t you ever forget that.”

  I turned to Tabitha. “Do it.”

  She took my hands. “I can give you a fe
w minutes alone, but that is all.”

  I nodded. “He’s my husband, and I want you to promise me I can have him when I am returned to the mortal realm.”

  Tabitha hissed in a breath. “I am not able to grant your request. Only your creator can do such a thing.”

  “But you will make sure the council doesn’t harm him, and that he will be allowed to leave?”

  Heath just stared at me, disbelief written all over him. “You cannot bond with someone else and love me. It will not work.”

  Tabitha gave him a disapproving look. “That is no longer your concern, lord of fire. Take what I am giving you. We are almost out of time.”

  My family disappeared, and I was left with Heath in the candlelit room.

  He stepped forward and pulled me into his arms. “If I had access to any amount of power right now, I would take you with me.”

  I cupped his cheek. “I know. I would too, but you have to understand.”

  He shook his head. “Her visions change. You’ve seen that yourself. This is supposed to be your choice, Rayla.”

  “Shut up,” I said. “Kiss me before it’s too—”

  He crushed our lips together, molding my body to his, giving me his soul in the process. Our bodies shook, and our hands devoured. I took everything from him I could get in that insanely short moment.

  When Heath disappeared, my heart fractured in two.

  I glanced at Tabitha who hovered near the doorway. “I’m trusting you.”

  She nodded. “All is not lost, even though it probably feels that way right now. There may be a way for you to be with him again, but you have to do what I say in all things.”

  “I will only follow your orders if I feel they are right.”

  She took my hand. “In a few moments the royal guard will come in here to arrest you.”

  I gasped. My hands shook at the thought and my first instinct was to run. Nikko was one thing, but a group of terrifying men barging in here to take my freedom from me was a completely different monster all together. Speaking of monsters, it would be good if Creed showed up again.

  Tabitha inched closer. “Remember that no one can take from you that which is freely given. I will be in touch.”

  She vanished. What the heck?

  The door blew apart. I shielded my eyes from the threatening shards. They bit into my skin, but I didn’t scream. A man I didn’t know marched up to me. Where was Nicco?

  One minute we were in the dark room I had been married in and the next we were somewhere in the borderlands. The man’s voice boomed. “By order of the council of fae, I bind you to the realms.”

  At once I was caught up in a flurry of commotion. My body convulsed as if twisting into something smaller, my bones aching as if they were splintering into dust. I screamed out in horrible pain, reaching inside to stop this madness. A barrier lay between me and my power, and I was sure it was the man at my side. Somehow I was flung over this giant’s back and something caught me around the middle, pressing me closer to him. I pushed at the living vines of flesh, but they quickly strapped me in.

  My mouth held a scream that refused to release. The sound echoed in my head, making my mind splinter. Everything flashed to black then white then nothing.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I was sure I had died until I woke up. My body ached from whatever that royal guard had done to me, and I wasn’t likely to forget that…ever. No wonder everyone was afraid of those guys. My fingers brushed over my face, just to make sure I still had one. Phew.

  I opened my eyes one at a time, trying to adjust to the blinding light. I had to be back in the crystal castle. No other place glimmered like this, as if the air was infused with opal dust.

  “Good. You’re awake,” said a woman.

  I ached too much to really care who she was or what she was going to do with me. When I glanced at her, I realized I had seen her before. “Grindell?”

  She made a cooing noise. “You remembered.”

  Shot in the dark, really. She could have been one of the other two whose names had slipped my memory. I nodded.

  She beamed. “I’m afraid with all the commotion going on in the castle today, I will have to do. My sisters are assisting other Elementals.”

  Okay? “What exactly is going on?”

  She stopped what she was doing, which, by the way, I still didn’t know exactly what that was. She had something in her hands that looked suspiciously like a needle and thread. I lifted myself on to my elbows. No way. A swath of white fabric pooled at her feet. She tied off and showed me what I could only imagine was my bonding dress. My eyes got caught on the intricate design of flowers and diamonds sewn into the pattern. She stood and held it to her shoulders. “Do you like it?”

  “It’s beautiful.”

  She moved closer, and it was all I could do not to cringe away. Thoughts of Heath hit me in the chest. I groaned, curling inward.

  She rushed to my side. “Oh, my lady. I am so sorry that you have to go through this so soon after your ordeal.” She reached for a cup on the nightstand and brought it to my lips.

  I sniffed. “What is it?”

  “Only water, mistress.”

  Luke’s face flashed into my mind. The way he used to be, not the monster he had become. I sat up. “Thank you.” The liquid spilled easily down my parched throat, and I wanted more. The cup filled back up faster than I could ask.

  I smiled at the woman sitting next to me and tried to put real affection into it. She had only ever been kind to me. “So when am I going to…” The word wouldn’t form. Tabitha didn’t even tell me who she had chosen.

  It didn’t really matter. The only thing that did was it wasn’t Heath. The wound in my heart opened anew. I turned toward the window and wiped my eyes. “Do you mind giving me a minute?”

  She cleared her throat and smoothed out her skirt. “I would, my lady, but I am under strict orders not to leave you unattended.”

  “Who’s guarding the door?”

  Her eyes widened. “I am unsure of his name. We don’t usually address the Guard.”

  I hoped it was Nicco instead of that horrible man that brought me here. My ears heated just thinking about how he had treated me.

  Nicco was right. The fae didn’t think of the Guard as people. Ridiculous. “Okay, thanks,” I said because I didn’t want to get him into trouble for telling me his name. I moved to the edge of the bed. “What now?”

  “We must hurry. Tabitha will know that you are awake. Oh, I wish I had help.” She covered her mouth, and looked at me with a startled embarrassment. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  I laughed. “Why don’t you just blink it on me?”

  She seemed confused. “What?” Her blue eyes went huge when she apparently caught my meaning. “No!” Her head was going to come off if she didn’t stop shaking it so hard. “I would never disrespect you in such a manner.”

  I winked at her. “I won’t tell if you don’t.”

  A wary light flickered in her eyes. “Truly?”

  “Sure.” I licked my lips and shrugged. “What’s the big deal anyway?”

  She lowered her gaze. “We do our best to honor your customs.”

  I laughed. “Trust me. Any red-blooded American girl would die to have the ability to change clothes at a moment’s notice. Strike that, they’d probably kill for it. I know I would have. Sleep is hard to come by when you’re a teenager, not to mention monthly curses that can ruin your life at school.” The one time I chose to wear white jeans. Ugh.

  She raised her brows at me as if I was an alien species. I laughed. I guess I was. “Just kidding—about the killing part, at least.”

  “Kidding?”

  Oh brother, this chick didn’t get out much. “Joking.”

  She gave a nervous giggle, wringing her hands. “Oh, I have never heard that term.”

  I smiled. “No kidding?”

  She laughed. “If you are sure, my lady.”

  “I won’t hold it against you.
In fact, I might become angry with you if you insist on manhandling me.”

  Her furrowed brow told me she didn’t understand me again. “I wish for you to blink that dress on me.”

  She did. My hair was swept up into the usual and my body tingled as if I had just had a soothing bath. I ran my hands over the amazingly smooth embroidery of my gown wondering how many hours she had spent on it. “Thanks.”

  Tabitha charged through the door, giving Grindell a look. The woman hastily retreated.

  I stared at Tabitha. “You could have at least asked nicely.”

  She let out an ornery sigh. “If you had come from the meeting I just attended, you would have the right to judge my actions. But seeing as how you didn’t, leave me be.”

  I swallowed hard. “What happened?”

  She shoved her hand in the air. “The council is divided where you are concerned. Some think you should not bond at all.”

  That sounded like a good idea to me, especially since I couldn’t have Heath.

  “Not so fast. The other side wishes for you to be given to Lord Luthais.”

  “What!” I marched up to her, my whole body tense with rage. “Don’t they know what he did?”

  She twisted away from me, but not fast enough for me to miss her grimace. “In their eyes, he was in the right to try to take you. They expected one of the lords to show leadership and they think he has.”

  “She is controlling him.”

  “That is another thing you should know. She has come home.”

  My breath came out in a rush. “Was she arrested?”

  Tabitha shook her head. “On the contrary, she is here being readied to attend the ceremony.”

  “I will not bond with Luke.”

  “The council asked for time to discuss matters.” She stared at me, her silvery eyes hollow. “They insisted I attend to you.”

  Something dark lay unsaid. “What does that mean?”

  “I wish I knew. I pleaded with them to choose Ammon.”

  I couldn’t breathe. “Zach, but I can’t—”

  The look she shot me stopped me midsentence. “He is the only lord you can bond with, Rayla.”

  I doubled over, curling in on myself. This was too much. Zach would expect a relationship with me. The others might, as well, but I could bargain for time. Would Zach be willing to give me time to get over Heath? Did I want such a thing?