The Breaker's Resolution: (YA Paranormal Romance) (Fixed Points Book 4)

by Conner Kressley

  “I’m not going to kill her Merrin,” I answered, figuring that particular piece of the prophecy was what she was alluding to. “No matter what happens, no matter what the prophecies say, I’ll never do that to her.”

  “Fair enough,” she sighed, but I knew she didn’t really believe me. Merrin had always been a proponent of fate. We all were. And besides, she had seen enough of it come to pass, especially lately, that it seemed unlikely that anything I said could change her mind. So I didn’t try. “Whatever happens, I can’t have it destroying you. Not that I’ve been able to tell from the way we’ve acted, but you’re my husband. And if I sit back and let some horrible thing happen to her, if I don’t even help you try to stop it, then you won’t forgive me for that.”

  “This isn’t your fight,” I answered instinctively.

  Raising her arm, tattooed like mine, she disagreed. “This makes it my fight. The fact that you’re in it makes it my fight.” She swallowed hard. “I can handle you loving her. I can handle you always loving her. But I can’t handle what you’ll do to us if you blame me. I don’t know if you and I are ever going to have a happy life. A smart man would bet against it. But I do know that if we’re ever going to have even a sliver of a chance, I’m going to have to prove to you-beyond a shadow of a doubt-that we’re on the same side.”

  I searched her mind, looking for any hint of betrayal, and came up empty. She meant this, every word of it.

  “And what if my side isn’t the Council’s side?” I asked.

  “If they wanted me to choose them over you, then they shouldn’t have joined us the way they did,” she answered, coughing again. “Now tell me what’s going on.”

  “Royce,” I said flatly. “He dosed Sevie with something while he was unconscious. He’s the reason Sevie didn’t wake up naturally after the moon went red.”

  I watched Merrin’s face tense up, and felt the anger and apprehension creep up in the back of her mind. It was met with a twinge of curiosity. “Which one is Royce?”

  “The cowboy. The Raven,” I answered.

  “Right,” she nodded. “I watched him kill the man who killed Allister Leeman while in Cresta’s head. “ She shook her head. “His eyes were strange, and he wasted no time in doing what needed to be done. The Raven is a player in all of this, no doubt. But why would he want to harm Sevie?”

  “Maybe because Sevie is Cresta’s perfect?” I suggested. “Maybe he wanted to get him out of the way.’

  “I doubt it,” Merrin answered. “The Raven doesn’t hold true to any of our laws. That much is clear. The idea that he’d go through that trouble and risk being exposed to get rid of someone who was nothing more than a figurehead in his, and more importantly Cresta’s viewpoint, doesn’t make any sense.”

  Her words stung a little, though I couldn’t tell whether that sensation was coming from her mind or my own. Is that what Sevie had been to Cresta? Is that what Merrin and I were to each other? Figureheads that only mattered in some ancient and obsolete perspective?

  “He knew Cresta was going to bring about the bloodmoon. For all we knew, he convinced her it was the only way out. And he also knew that Sevie would react the way he did. Which means he knows why. It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

  My heart fell. Letting Merrin in on Sevie’s secret, the fact that he died at birth and that Mother made a deal with some strange blond apparition to use the shade to bring him back to life, was one thing. She was in my head. It was only a matter of time before all my secrets were hers. I trusted her. Royce was another story. I didn’t trust that son of a bitch as far as I could throw him, and the idea that he knew something as sensitive as this about my brother sickened me.

  “We have to warn her,” I said. “There’s no telling what he’s actually up to, and he’s obviously lying to her.”

  “You don’t know that,” Merrin coughed out, nearly bowling over.

  “I do,” I said, helping back upright. “Cresta would never do anything that would hurt Sevie. Even if it meant hurting herself. I…I know it.” And I did. She was faced with just that decision the day she broke through the Great Wall, and she chose to protect Sevie. That was who she was.

  “And that’s not all,” I continued. “The things she’s doing, the destruction she’s caused; she doesn’t know about any of it. We have to warn her. Maybe she can find a way to stop it.”

  “Alright. Then how do you suggest we get the message to her? I doubt a flare gun will do the job.”

  “Sevie,” I answered. “His powers; he can get to her in his dreams. We send him back in and get him to warn her about everything.”

  “And bring the Council right to her,” Merrin warned, rolling her eyes. “Do you really think your brother will go unobserved after this? Your family is less than trustworthy and, given the reaction Sevie had to the moon, I’d be very surprised if the Council didn’t have eyes on him at all times. Any transmissions would be piggybacked. If he so much as thought about Cresta, the Council would be aware of it. Be smarter. You know these things, Owen.”

  “Right,” I said, taking Merrin’s hand. “Which is why I need you.”

  “I don’t understand,” her eyes narrowed.

  “You said it yourself. The symbioses is more powerful than any bond the Council could have with us. Not only does it make our minds one thing, but it also effectively cuts the rest of the world out, assuming we want it to.” I swallowed hard. “All we have to do is get Sevie to run his frequency through our minds. It’ll link us to the dream and make it impossible for the Council to gleam what we’re doing.”

  “But as soon as he leaves our mindscape-”

  “Which is why he won’t,” I interrupted. He’ll stay here, with us, and send us along with the message.”

  “Don’t you mean one of us?” She asked with raised brows.

  “If this has a chance of working, then we need to keep the bond intact. It has to be both of us. I need you to go back into Cresta’s head with me, Merrin. I know it’s a lot to ask, and I know what you went through last time, what I put you through. But I wouldn’t ask if-”

  “If your girlfriend wasn’t at stake. I know,” she sighed. “I suppose I asked for it.” She sighed. “Listen, it’s a lot of-”

  A loud shriek came from inside the house, then a crashing sound big and loud enough that I was afraid it would shake the house. I turned, looking back toward the source of the noise.

  “Come back here!” A woman’s voice-Mother’s voice- cut into me like a dagger piercing my ears. What was happening? What else could possibly be happening now?

  I started toward the house, my heart in my throat.

  Sevie came bounding out. His face was pale. His eyes darted back and forth, moving from me to Merrin and back again. Sweat plastered his blond hair to his head, and he panted loudly as his hands balled into fists.

  “Sevie…” Merrin coughed. “Sweetie, are you-“

  “Who?” He screamed, throwing himself back against the side of the house. Tears formed in his eyes as he finished. His voice cracked weakly. “Who are you people?”

  Chapter 12

  Idea Girl

  Cresta

  “What just happened?!” My voice sounded shrill even to me as it rang through my ears. I tried to calm myself down, but how could I? I had just woken up next to a very naked and very pleased looking Royce. Had my memory conked out again? Had I just blacked out losing my virginity to the man I was supposedly supposed to spend the rest of my life with?

  No. I wouldn’t do that, certainly not in some seedy motel room and-regardless of what the prophecy said- not with Royce. I still loved Owen. I belonged with him. That was my choice. That was my free will talking. I wouldn’t have given that up for a roll in the metaphorical hay with Royce. Even if he did look extra delicious laying here beside me.

  “That depends on what you mean by ‘happen’,” he grinned devilishly.

  My cheeks lit up like the fireworks the Crestview Methodist Gentlemen’s A
ssociation set off every 4th of July. “I don’t…” I stammered, trying to make sense of all this. “I can’t…” What had happened? How much time had passed? And, if what Jiqui did to me actually worked, then why weren’t my damn memories back already?

  Royce threw the covers off of himself, revealing a tight fitting pair of gray boxer briefs. So he wasn’t actually naked, but he was still closer to it than I cared for (regardless of what my lingering eyes had to say about it). It also revealed that, in contrast to my initial thoughts, we weren’t under the same covers. He had left a sheet buffer between us.

  “We didn’t sleep together?” I asked, sighing loudly in relief.

  He didn’t look hurt as he took me in. Instead, a slim smirk danced across his smug (if tempting) lips. “Sweetheart, if we’d have had sex, there wouldn’t be enough shade in the whole damn world to make you forget it.”

  I looked him up and down. His chest was hard and hairless. His stomach was flat. Still, I could see the scar of where the knife had gone in, and it sent pangs of guilt through me.

  “Then why are you naked??” I asked.

  “Not totally,” he said, his shielded eyes dancing down toward his underwear. “Though if it would make you feel more comfortable-”

  “No!” I said, raising my hand to stop him.

  “I’m doing my laundry, Sweetheart. We all are. Or, I suppose it’s more accurate to say that Casper is; seeing as how he lost the coin toss and all. In case you forgot, we didn’t have a lot of time to pack when we up and left the Hourglass, and I guess we were sick of smelling each other.”

  “Charming,” I murmured, shuffling uncomfortably in the bed.

  “As charming as reality, I suppose,” he smirked and leaned against the wall, which totally showcased his almost naked form in the best possible way. Judging by the looks he was giving me, I doubted that was an accident.

  “Why don’t you put something on?” I asked, my eyes flickering away from him and resting on the bedspread.

  “The only clothes in here are the ones you’re wearing Sweetheart. Though, if you’re offering, I’d be more than happy to relieve you of a garment or two.” He winked.

  “How long have I been out?” I asked, shaking my head.

  “Couple of days. Feels like three,” he answered, biting his bottom lip. “We thought you were a goner. I swear, I came as close as man could to knocking a couple of your uncle’s teeth out that first night. But he kept telling us you were gonna be fine, that this was how it always happened. I suppose he was telling the truth, seeing as how you’re awake now.”

  An idea flashed across my mind and I instinctively looked under the covers, at what I myself was wearing. To my surprise, I found that I was dressed in a set of the ugliest pajamas I had ever seen; white with multicolored cupcakes dotting the pants and shirt.

  “Casper had six dollars. It was the best we could do,” Royce explained. “Don’t worry. Dahlia was the one who changed you. Not that I didn’t offer, seeing as it was the gentlemanly thing to do and all.”

  “How did we get the room?” I asked, flattening my hair with my palms.

  “Dahlia threw a little shade at the innkeeper. Not that she’d have needed to. That bastard was hornier than a brand new bull in a cow pasture. I bet she could have just batted her eyelashes a time or two and he’d have given her whatever she wanted.” His eyes narrowed. “Though it did seem like the entirety of his world possessions consisted of a No Fear keychain and a half eaten bag of Cheetos.”

  “And I suppose she could ‘shade’ me up a decent pair of pajamas?” I asked.

  “Never thought of that,” he chuckled. “See, this is why we need you, Sweetheart. You’re the idea girl.”

  Rolling my eyes, I stood. Stretching, I found that my body ached and my head was foggy and uneven. It felt like I had been in space or underwater, and this was me getting used to gravity again.

  “So, are you gonna do it?” Royce asked, striding over toward me with all the confidence of the aforementioned horny bull.

  “Do what?” I asked, very aware that he was approaching me in just his underwear.

  “Come on now. We both know you’ve been wanting to do a package check since the second I jumped out of bed. It’s all right. Sneak a peek. I don’t mind. I ain’t got nothing to be ashamed of.” A smile spread across his lips. “I promise, I won’t blush.”

  “You’re disgusting,” I said, pulling a sheet off the bed, handing it to him, and making sure to keep my eyes squarely on his own.

  Wrapping it around his waist, he answered. “And you’re a hell of a lot more fun than you let on. One of these days, I’m gonna dig it out of ya.”

  “This is serious, Royce,” I said, shaking my head.

  “You’re damn right. I wouldn’t joke about it if it wasn’t,” he said.

  “The end of world is-”

  “Right,” he cut me off, biting his lip again. “You know, for a second I thought you were talking about you and me.”

  My heart slowed down and sped up all at the same time. It was like someone had sucked all the air out of my body and I couldn’t tell whether I liked it or not. “Royce, the thing about you and me is-”

  “Don’t,” he shook his head. Moving closer, he placed a finger on my lips, as it to silence me. “Don’t call me that, not tonight. Not right now.”

  ‘What am I supposed to call you then?” I asked, my lips brushing up and down his finger with every word.

  “I wasn’t Royce until I lost you,” he said, staring so intently into my eyes that I thought the weight of it would break me in half. “When we were kids, like in the picture in your locket, I was someone else. I was Poe and you were Crescent. And we were together, like we were always meant to be.” His jaw set. “I like to think that somewhere, on some level, there’s a me and you that never left each other. We grew up together. We fell in love like we were supposed to; easy and natural. And there ain’t a Dragon in sight. Not here.” He said, looking around the room we now stood in. “And damn sure not in here,” he said, placing a finger over my heart. “I bet they’re happy Sweetheart,” he said, clearing his throat. “Those two kids, I bet they’re real, real happy.”

  I stood there for a moment, looking into his eyes and trying to make sense of all he had just said. Was he right? And, if he was, did it even matter? We had already lived the lives he was lamenting. And for my part, I wasn’t sure I thought that was a bad thing.

  Sure, I had had pain. But who got this far in life without pain? The way I had lived, the forced separation he had alluded to, afforded me a life with my mother and father. It gave me Casper and a childhood that had way more good times than bad. And, regardless of the way Royce felt about it, it gave me Owen too.

  But what did I know about Royce’s life? He considered Renner to be his uncle, he thought of Laurel Luna as a hero, and-at least back in the Hourglass when I caught him on the phone- he had at least a speaking relationship with his mother. Perhaps life had been hard for him. Perhaps things had been lacking, and Royce had spent his entire existence yearning for something more, for the something only I could give him.

  It was strange, to feel this close to him and yet know next to nothing about who he was and where he came from.

  “Royce,” I breathed. “Poe,” I amended. “I just want to-”

  He moved even closer to me, his fingers dancing across my flushed cheek. “Tell me Sweetheart,” his breath fell soft against my lips. “Tell me what you want.”

  And the thing was, I didn’t know. For so long, I had wanted Owen, only Owen. He had been the sun in my sky. He was everything to me, and that was how I wanted it. But Owen was gone now; married and forcibly kept away from me. And Royce was here. He was strong and assertive. He pushed me in ways I never considered before, and believed in me without whitewashing who I was or what I might become.

  And God, he was sexy.

  His eyes peering into me, and I saw them for what they were. Quicksand. I was dangerously close to fallin
g into them. And if I did that, if I let myself drift into the comfort that came with his touch, then I knew I might never recover.

  But was that what I wanted?

  The door flew open and I jumped backward. Frustration flashed through Royce’s eyes as he huffed. “What do you want?!” He growled, turning to the door.

  “To give you your clothes, flat butt,” Casper answered. There was a small pile of fabric folded in Casper’s hands, which he promptly tossed at Royce.

  “It’s not flat…” Royce muttered, looking back to make sure.

  But Casper didn’t care too much about that. He had already caught sight of me. A huge smile spread across his goofy, beautiful face, and he darted toward.

  “Cress! I thought you were gonna pull a Van Winkle. It’s been forever,” he said, scooping me off the floor and giving me a giant bear hug. “I had already prepared my overly emotional yet appropriately masculine goodbye. I guess I’ll have to save it for next time.”

  “How many times are we going to have to say goodbye to each other?” I answered, much more seriously than he was probably looking for.

  “Never again,” he answered, plopping my back on the floor and matching my tone. “From now on, you don’t go anywhere unless I’m right beside you. Even if that place is in your own head. Cars and roads, me and you. You jump, I jump. And we’ll share that big ass wooden door.”

  “There really was plenty of room,” I chuckled, brushing moisture off my cheek.

  “Don’t look so down, Charlie Brown. Don’t you know where we are?” He asked, smiling widely.

  I blanched a bit because, as it turned out, I didn’t know where we were. For all the questions that had jumped to the forefront of my mind as I woke-how long I had been out, why Royce was lying near naked next to me- the very pertinent question of where I had woken up never crossed my mind.