Des shook his head, refusing to believe her. “We interfered. It was something I strove to ensure did not happen. I am sorry.”
She withdrew her hand. Now, she was angry. “Yeah? And how did that go, Des? You worked so hard to make me believe you despised me–that there was no way I was anything to you. There may have never even been a me and Kevin if I had you as an option.”
Darcie didn’t know where those thoughts had come from, but she knew they were true. Her attraction to Des at the club in Maine was instantaneous. She was drawn to him, feeling like she’d been waiting her whole life to know him. It wasn’t until he revealed his indifference that she shut down any and all feelings that may have been developing for the immortal.
Des cringed. “You cannot know that. I heard some of the conversations between you. You had feelings for Kevin.”
“And they all would have disappeared if you would have just given me the time of day!” she shouted. It was true. The way she felt about Des… she knew now that nothing could compare. It was odd because they were still in the midst of getting to know one another, but Darcie knew their feelings were beyond anything she could have found with anyone else. The acknowledgement should have been terrifying, but it wasn’t.
Des stood from the bed. “It was a mistake to bring up this conversation. I’m sorry.”
He’s just going to leave now? After what I just told him?
Darcie clenched her fists in the comforter. “So, I am supposed to be totally cool with your previous soulmates, but you can’t handle the fact I had a boyfriend for a month?” She clenched her teeth. “That’s dumb, Des.”
He looked down on her with sad eyes. “No, I struggle to accept the fact that my interference has had a negative impact in your life.”
“You aren’t even listening to me.” She knew she sounded like a child, but she couldn’t help it. His constant self-inflicted isolation and boy scout routine was grating on her nerves. “You kiss me, say you have feelings for me, and then you pick a fight about an ex-boyfriend who I told you didn’t stand a chance against you!”
How could he still stand there and look unaffected? I’m basically throwing myself at him.
“I did not intend to pick a fight.”
She ignored him. “How would you feel if I got mad about your exes? If I said I interfered in your happiness by being here? You said you didn’t want a soulmate. Remember that?” She certainly hadn’t forgotten.
Des only dignified the first and second questions with a response. “That would be ridiculous. You cannot interfere with yourself.”
“Those women were not me,” she threw her hands in the air. “I don’t care what you think, I am my own person. And I don’t freak out at the idea that you should have been one of them already before you met me.”
Much.
I don’t freak out about it too much.
Des just shook his head, like he argued with a cranky child. “You are tired. I should not have brought up this topic. Once again, I apologize.” He turned and began walking to the door.
Darcie couldn’t believe it. Why did things always manage to go south? Their relationship… agreement… whatever the hell they had was characterized by small steps forward – sometimes big steps forward – followed my monumental falls back to square one.
She wanted him to stop. She did not want him to leave the conversation in such a way, but she couldn’t think of anything to say. If she were being honest, she’d already revealed so much to him during the short time, and he did not even dignify them with a response. She couldn’t stomach making herself any more vulnerable just to have him ignore it.
So, instead of calling out and asking Des to stay, Darcie watched as her newfound happiness slinked out of the room, looking like he carried the burden of her future on his shoulders.
17
Darcie sat in the oversized leather chair, curled in a beige blanket as the room waited for the remaining individuals to arrive. As in the past, the private meeting was scheduled to take place in Thane’s personal study. Des stood in the far corner, speaking with Alexander. Neither of the men tried to speak to her when she entered the room. Her glare must have been award-worthy to keep them both at bay.
“Are you certain you are warm enough?” Gregory asked from behind her shoulder. He had returned to her room minutes after Des had left, and informed her he would be acting as her bodyguard/manservant as all of the immortals were otherwise engaged. Darcie found herself grateful for the company, glad to have someone to help keep her mind off of the disaster that just destroyed her heart.
“I’m good. Thank you, though.” She gave the vampire a warm smile. Her argument and healing had left the teenager chilled. The moment Gregory had seen the slightest shiver, Darcie found herself wrapped tightly in a blanket. He wouldn’t hear of it when she said she could attend the meeting without the cover, insisting she needed to keep her body temperature elevated to speed up her recovery.
His red lips turned down, and his eyes bore into her own. “You will tell me if you need anything during the meeting. Right?”
“Right,” she repeated. “I promise.”
Satisfied, Gregory donned his stoic mask and resumed his solid stance. His neck turned as he examined the room. Even though it would be a gathering of allies, he looked ready to take down anyone who so much as looked at Darcie the wrong way.
She turned back around just in time to see Lome and Eshe enter the room. The couple crossed the room and sat on the couch next to Darcie. She managed to give them each a small grin before returning her attention to the immortal behind the immense oak desk.
She heard Thane clear his throat. “Now that we are all here, let us begin.” He lifted a hand and gestured to the door. Des moved and closed it. Darcie forced her eyes to remain on Thane, even when she felt a pair of eyes land on her.
“The first item to discuss is, of course, Darcie.”
She stiffened, not expecting to hear her name. Now, multiple pairs of eyes turned to her. “Me?” she asked.
Thane nodded. “Yes. I am pleased to see the clan’s work has paid off. You look remarkably better than before.”
“Uh…” What did she say to that? “Thanks. I feel much better.”
Another nod. “How are you coping with all the information. Did you suspect your mother was Jennifer Bane?”
“Um, no.” Her forehead creased. “I knew my mother as Jennifer Abernathy.”
“You had no inkling of her true identity?”
She wanted to roll her eyes. Obviously, she had no idea. Why was Thane wasting his breath with the dumb questions?
Before she could voice her frustration, Alexander said, “Darcie had no knowledge of her mother’s true identity. To her, Jennifer was your typical, suburban mother.”
She resisted the urge to disagree with his statement. Normal moms didn’t abandon their families, after all. But she held it in.
“How do you know this?” Lome questioned from her left.
Alex did not hesitate. “Because I helped Jennifer place the mental mask on Darcie.”
Mental mask?
The childhood memory of Alex replayed with more clarity:
Darcie hid behind a slender leg. She didn’t know the strange man standing in front of them, but her mom was talking to him so he must be nice. Still, she wasn’t brave enough to step out from behind her mom.
Alexander knelt in front of her, “She’s a beauty, Jen. She looks just like you.”
Darcie tightened her grip on her mom’s leg. He seemed nice, but her parents told her to never talk to strangers.
“And she’s sweet,” her mom replied, running a gentle hand over her daughter’s blonde head. “Just like John.”
After spending a few more seconds looking at her, the stranger’s eyes left Darcie and traveled up to her mom. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
The hand on her head stilled. “Yes,” Jennifer replied. “I want a normal life for her. For our family.”
“So, this is his doing?” Alexander’s tone grew cold. The change made Darcie hold tighter to the leg in front of her. “He doesn’t approve of what you are.”
“He doesn’t know.” Darcie looked up and saw her mom’s twisted expression. “I never told him.”
“God, Jennifer. Are you serious? How could you marry him without telling him?”
“Don’t lecture me, Alex. I don’t want any ties to that life and telling him would only open up old wounds and stories that I do not wish to revisit. We’re happy. He makes me happy.”
All the fight left Alexander’s shoulders. He looked back at Darcie. The young child met his gaze, tilting her head as she observed his clear blue eyes. They were pretty. “Do you like jokes, Darcie?”
Shyly, she nodded her head.
“Which flowers talk the most?”
Her brows furrowed and her face scrunched together as she tried to answer his question. When she drew a blank, she whispered, “I don’t know.”
“Tulips,” he replied with a serious face. “Because they have two lips.”
It took a second for Darcie to understand. Her mom had recently started teaching her names of flowers in their garden, and she thought tulips were pretty. She laughed and stepped out an inch from behind her mom. “Flowers don’t have lips,” she told him with a bright grin.
Alexander’s mouth turned up as he watched Darcie. “You’re right. I do not believe they do.” He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.
She continued chuckling and watched as he stood up and faced her mom. “I will help you with the mask,” he told her. “I sincerely hope you know what you are doing.”
Jennifer stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Alex. Thank you so much.”
Alexander placed his long, pale fingers against her mom’s back. Darcie watched him close his eyes and say, “You’re welcome, Jenny.”
The childhood memory faded, and Darcie returned to the present. She stared at the vampire, unable to believe the man she considered a friend would choose to hide such important information from her. She thought she could trust him.
“Why?” Her voice was small. “Why would you do it?” She finally allowed her gaze to travel to the vampire. “Why would you leave me in the dark?"
Alex’s eyes softened as he looked at her. “Because Jennifer is my friend. She asked me for help, and I couldn’t say no.”
Darcie’s fingers gripped the blanket around her shoulders until they turned white. “You agreed to help her make me clueless? To leave me at the mercy of my abilities when I turned eighteen?”
“You were monitored as you grew up,” he replied, unaffected by her obvious anger. “Just in case you needed help, but you never did. Besides, Jennifer did not expect you to show abilities.”
“Why?” Darcie’s tone was harder. “How would she even know that?”
This time, Alex was decent enough to tilt his head down. “We didn’t just contain your memories. Your mother also put a dampening spell on your powers. She thought it would keep them contained, but it seemed the spell had no chance once you were exposed to the immortals and our world. Your powers demanded to come to the surface.”
Lome cursed, momentarily distracting everyone from the incredible information. “So being around us did have an impact.” It was the only idea he and Des had when they first learned about Darcie’s visions. As it turned out, his first assumption was right.
Alex nodded. “It seems so.”
Lome released a low whistle. Darcie had a more intense reaction.
She glared at the vampire, wishing she could slap him with her eyes. He had plenty of time to share this information with her before her mom showed up. Or even before he had to let everyone else know. It was cruel that he withheld the information.
“I know your mother well,” he began, able to detect exactly where Darcie’s mind had gone. “She would have wanted to tell you everything herself.”
“Sounds like a convenient excuse,” she countered coldly.
She wanted to know why her mother would have stolen her memories and masked her powers in the first place, but she wouldn’t waste her time asking Alex. No doubt, he would say “that is a story for your mom to tell” or some other nonsense.
Without giving him the chance of a rebuttal, Darcie faced Thane. “So, we know my mom is a powerful witch. I have powers, and I am working on controlling them. What else do we need to talk about here?” She wanted to get the meeting over with so she could leave and process everything without having Des staring at her. She knew his emerald gaze hadn’t shifted from her face once during the entire conversation. She could feel them.
Thane took the rudeness in stride. “Another item to discuss is your training. Three of the clan’s strongest members will be helping you while also assisting in the search for Bella.”
“I know. I was there, remember?”
“Yes,” Thane nodded with an assessing stare. “A remarkable talent. I look forward to you honing your abilities. Perhaps you could help assist the alliance with them.”
It’s always about what I can do for him.
“So, three witches are helping me with my training while also keeping tabs on me,” she brought him back to the subject at hand. “What about it?”
Des cleared his throat. Regardless, Darcie kept her eyes on Thane.
“I have organized multiple task forces to scour possible locations of rebel bases. Some have been successful, but not one of them has found a lead on Adir or Bella,” said Des from across the room.
“Okay?” Darcie waited for more of an explanation.
Des obliged her. “It has come to our attention that Adir might be using a cloaking spell to keep his location hidden. It has to be a powerful one for my teams to not detect it. We need equally powerful witches and warlocks to detect and override such a spell.”
“You need the Nightsbane clan,” she stated. “My three trainers.”
“Exactly.”
“Fine then,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “My training can wait. Use them for the search. I don’t care.”
“But they would,” Alexander spoke up. Unlike Des, Darcie allowed her eyes to travel to the vampire as he continued.
“The Nightsbane clan will not leave you unsupervised. If only for the fact that they want to witness your abilities to determine how much of an asset you might be.”
The information stung. “I’m not property.”
“I didn’t say you were. But they consider you an unofficial member of their clan. Now that they know about you, they are not going to let you out of their sight.”
Her head was beginning to hurt. She rubbed her eyes and released an aggravated sigh. “So, what’s the plan? How do we get them to help search for Bella while also keeping me close by?”
No one said anything.
Darcie opened her eyes and scanned the room’s occupants. Only Des met her gaze.
“Can’t they detect the spells from here?” she asked. “While they are training me?”
He shook his head. “They would need to be with the search teams. Only when they stumble upon the spell could they know it exists. Adir’s cloak is very well made.”
“So, let them go,” she said like the answer was obvious. “And I’ll go with them.”
“Absolutely not,” Thane said. “You are not leaving this mansion.”
She balked. “What? Why? If the clan won’t leave me alone, let me go with them. They can keep tabs on me while also searching for Bella. It’s a win-win.”
“It most certainly is not a win-win,” Thane countered. “You will be putting yourself in grave danger the moment you step off our property. Not only do the rebels believe you are Des’ One, but now they are also aware of your abilities.”
Darcie couldn’t stop her body from shivering. Adir knew there was something different about her when they were down in the dungeon. He had tried to hurt her when she got too close to his cell, but had been shocked
when his attack didn’t work. Whatever he realized about her, it made Darcie no longer a target in his mind. At least, that is what she deduced from his half-crazed rambling.
“I can have bodyguards,” Darcie said, gesturing backwards to Gregory. She refused to let their fear keep her from helping in the search for her friend. “As many people as you want can come. You’ve been searching for Bella for weeks. Whatever you’re doing isn’t enough. You need the Nightsbane clan.”
“She’s right, Thane.” Her eyes landed on Lome as he spoke. She did a double take, blinking at how close he sat to Eshe. Their legs rested against each other. “We can take precautions to conceal her. No one but those in the task force would know she isn’t in Greece.”
“It is out of the question,” Thane did not relent. He sat down heavily in his chair.
“I say it isn’t.” All eyes swung towards Des. His back was ramrod straight, and his arms were crossed.
“We will not take the risk,” Thane told him. “We already lost Bella. We will not risk Darcie.”
“I say we will,” Des countered. “But it will not be a risk. We will send her with a strong entourage, including the clan. She will be protected.”
“You have no say.”
“If Darcie is who you believe she is, I am the only one with any say.”
The room instantly quieted. No one dared to move. Darcie’s eyes bulged. Her ears struggled to process what she just heard.
“Is there something you wish to reveal, Des?” Thane’s tone was wary, but there was a trace of hope wedged in between the words.
“Let her join the task force, and we shall see.”
Darcie couldn’t believe the game Des played. Didn’t he stress to her how important it was for Thane not to know about their feelings… about the connection?
Yet, there he was, practically selling the information in exchange for letting her join the search party. It was a risky move, and one that might only further motivate Thane to keep her locked up in the mansion. She held her breath, waiting for the eldest brother’s response.
Envisioned (Immortal Chronicles Book 3) Page 12
