“Awe.” Adele smiled. “Listen to you. Haven’t been a father a whole day and you’re already laying down the rules.”
“Well, follow them. It’s important that children have a solid structure.”
Adele raised her eyebrows at me like she was impressed and looked at Ruby.
Ruby smiled. “Like I said, better start getting used to it.”
“I guess we’ll have to.”
“I thought I might find you here.” Zayden appeared standing in the room next with Rift chasing in after.
“And what made you think that?” Adele smiled.
“Good guess but I hope you don’t plan on staying in here all night.”
“Me too.” Ruby agreed.
Jaylyn laughed. “We’re not. We just wanted to see him one more time. People have been holding him all night. Not us.”
“Well, it looks like he’s busy.” Zayden said, taking notice to Dirk still feeding. “It can wait till morning. You’ll have all day. No one else will be here.”
Adele sighed and started to turn away. “All right. I guess this is a quick goodnight instead.”
“That’s okay.” Ruby said. “We should all be getting some sleep. He’s starting to right now then I need to right after him.”
“Okay.” Jaylyn nodded. “But I want to hold him the most tomorrow.”
Ruby tried putting a smile on her face. “As long as you just leave now.”
“Oh, but he’s so cute!”
“Come on, Jaylyn.” Adele said, pulling her with them towards the door. “Let them get some sleep. Troy is probably looking for you so you can get some. We all know how early you’re going to get up.”
“Yes and please don’t come in here.” I said. “On the off chance that we’re still sleeping, Ruby shouldn’t be disturbed. We’ll come to you.”
Jaylyn let out a long sigh and turned away. “Okay. Goodnight.”
They finally left and it was our turn to sleep.
Chapter 44
Adele
We walked out the door and Zayden laughed to seeing Jaylyn’s saddened behavior. “It’s all right, Jaylyn. They need time to be together as a family.”
“I know that. I just—love babies.”
“I’ve noticed. Just go get some sleep. We’re going to do the same thing. Morning will come faster that way.”
Jaylyn nodded and parted from us to walk down to Troy’s room.
“She’s going to hate this wait.” I muttered, watching how slowly she was walking.
“She’ll be okay. Now come on, let’s get to bed.”
I turned my eyes away from Jaylyn and went with Zayden into our room for the night.
Rift went right to his chair to sleep and Zayden sat himself on the edge of the bed to take his boots off. “It’s been a long day.”
“Tell me about it. I’m at least glad everything turned out okay.”
“Of course it did. We wouldn’t have let anything happen to them.”
“Well, I guess I’m going to take a quick bath. I’ve been moving around too much today.”
“Okay. Should I have someone sent up to draw it for you?”
I laughed and looked back at him. “Have you ever tried, I don’t know, doing that for yourself?”
“I’ve never had to. Father always said that it was never a Prince’s way to have to do anything and nor is it for his pregnant Princess. He never said that. I just added that second part.”
“Well, as sweet as that is, I think I can do it myself this one time. I’m not exactly used to living like you, remember? We had maids at the manor but only because it was so big. Our wing of it was ours to take care of. They never went there unless we asked them to while we were away.”
“But perhaps it’s time you get used to it because you are a Princess now and you deserve it.”
“I have gotten help with things while you were gone but the nursemaids are no longer here. While they’re trying to find someone we can trust to replace them, I can do things myself. I’m not that immobile yet.”
Zayden got off the bed and approached me with a smile. “All right since you’re fighting to be so persistent but at least this time, let me do it for you.”
I smiled to the thought. “You know how?”
He walked passed me and started going into the bathhouse. “Don’t insult me.”
“I wasn’t. I just didn’t think you’ve ever done it for yourself before.”
“I have sometimes. You should know by now that I never fully take my father’s advice. He’s the one that doesn’t do a thing.” He approached the tub and turned both knobs to make it warm and put the plug in the drain.
“Well, thank you. I appreciate it.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Love. I’m happy to. Is there anything in particular you like in it?”
I smiled and walked over to the cabinets, taking out a glass bottle filled with a clear liquid. “This is my favorite.”
Zayden took it in his hand and read the label of the rose scented oil. “So you know, this was not mine.”
I laughed. “I know. They brought it here for me. I requested it. It’s my favorite scent.”
“Good to know. See, we’re still learning stuff about each other.” He poured some of it into the warm water and the scent filled the room. “Well, I guess I’ll let you do the rest yourself. You can shut it off when you think it’s full enough.”
“Thank you but maybe you could—stay?”
“You want me to?”
“Yeah. I’ve missed having you around here. I decided I want to get used to it again.”
“Okay. Go ahead and get in. I’ll stay.”
I smiled and turned from him shyly. I began to get out of my clothes and I tried not to make it seem like a big deal but I still felt flushed because I knew he was watching though he never came over to me.
Once I was completely undressed and I turned towards the tub, seeing Zayden’s still stare. “Are you sure you’re okay with staying?”
“You know I am and you look beautiful just like I said you would.” I smiled and carefully lifted me leg to step in the tub. Zayden quickly came to me and took my arm for some stability. “Careful.”
“You don’t have to worry about me, Zayden.”
“Of course I do. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
I lowered myself down into the water and rested my head back while taking a relaxing breath.
“Just what you needed?”
“Definitely is.”
Zayden sat himself beside the tub and put his arm around the front of me in the water while resting his head close to mine. “Then take all the time you need.”
“That couldn’t be comfortable for you.”
“I’m okay. I can stay here as long as you want.”
“I don’t want you to stay there. You should—join me.”
“Join you? You really want me to?”
I laughed. “Don’t sound so nervous about it. You don’t have to.”
“No. It’s okay.” He got right up. “If you want me to then I will.”
I just smiled and kept my head rested back with my eyes closed but could hear Zayden getting out of his clothes behind me. The water moved and I opened my eyes, seeing him sit at the other end and bring my legs on his.
“Oh, no.” Zayden sighed.
“What?”
“Now I’m going to smell like a woman.”
I laughed. “It’s not like you’ll be around anyone else. You can change it in the morning. I just want you with me right now.”
Zayden let out a long breath and tried to relax. “Okay. I smell like a woman but it’s okay.”
“You don’t sound very relaxed. Let me help take your mind off it.”
I lifted my right leg and put my foot against his chest. Zayden took it with a smile and gently rubbed his thumbs on the bottom of it in constant long strokes. “Okay. That did it. Now I’m thinking about how weird feet are.”
I huffed and pulled my foot awa
y.
“No, not yours!” He laughed, reaching for my foot and taking it so I couldn’t pull it back. “I meant feet in general. I’m not really a foot guy.”
“No? What kind of guy are you?”
“We’ve been married how long and you’re asking me what kind of a guy I am?”
“Still learning about each other, remember?”
“All right. Looking for traits in a woman, I like—”
“Wait. Let me guess. Breasts?”
“Of course I like breasts but I wouldn’t call myself a breast guy. If I were, I would have been with Jaylyn.”
“Oh, so you’ve noticed?” I crossed my arms over my own chest to hide them.
“How can one not notice? Don’t get jealous. I love your breasts the most because those are the ones I can touch.”
“Unless Ruby asks you to again.”
“Now that was only to make Darius pissed because she wasn’t letting him touch her. It was for fun not my benefit.”
“Okay, then you must be an ass guy?”
“What did I do to make you think that I’m the dirty one? Troy likes curls, Darius likes Ruby’s legs and you assume that I have to be the one to fixate over something sexual?”
“Well, it’s a guy trait. One out of three seems like an accurate statistic.”
“Then it must be wrong, not that you don’t have a nice one of those too but I would say I’d favor the eyes the most. It’s what I look at when engaging in conversation like right now.”
“Says the guy with the best eyes. No one can compare to you.”
He smiled charmingly. “I know but I don’t see my own eyes that much. I’d rather take hours of the day to stare into yours.”
“Think you’ll be able to see into my soul? Well, you can’t. It’s a dark place. Visibility would be poor.”
“What makes you think your soul is dark?”
“I’ve spent most of my life doing Arianna’s dirty work, killing people that probably didn’t do anything to deserve it. It was wrong. I was wrong.”
“It was your job. You didn’t have much of a choice. You’ve redeemed yourself through me.”
“You mean by not killing you?”
“And going all the way to create peace then married me. Your soul is not dark. It’s bright like my eyes because I’m all you think about.”
I smiled and rested my hand on my stomach under the water. “You’re not all I think of. Not anymore.”
Zayden smiled back and leaned forward, touching my hand with his. “I know and it’s okay. He’s a good reason.” I sat up with my smile and moved myself over Zayden so he could take me in his arms. “Over the awkwardness of being touched?”
“Now I’m feeling like I want to be.”
Zayden smiled and we kissed again. It was lucky that this tub was so big or else we wouldn’t have been able to fit this way. I proved that I wanted to be touched again by straddling him and bringing my hand towards him under the water. He moaned instantly and to my surprise, he was ready to have me. It just made everything perfect.
Zayden was finally home and the love we made proved how strong our bond really was. He knew just what I wanted and was even more amazing while performing it. I didn’t realize how much I missed this until it was happening and felt as though I never wanted it to end.
Chapter 45
Ruby
I woke with heavy eyes from an almost sleepless night. I was up every couple hours with Dirk but he wasn’t the one to wake me up this time. It was morning from seeing the light from the windows and I looked around the room. It wasn’t the one I fell asleep in and I was alone.
My curiosity overwhelmed me until a baby cried and I looked over. The same bassinet was sitting next to the bed and I slowly got up with my eyes on it, afraid of what I might see. Something was moving around under the blankets and I reached for it, carefully pulling it off.
I sighed a bit in relief when I saw it was Dirk with our red hair and I picked him up. I smiled as I held him up but then he opened his eyes.
All I saw was green.
I sprung up in bed, panting heavily with my eyes shifting all around the room. I didn’t know what happened but I was back in Darius’s room and he was next to me with Dirk still sleeping. It was just a dream or more of a nightmare really and I tried to calm my breaths.
Dirk cried and I didn’t hesitate to get out of bed and go over to him. I picked him right up and had my eyes focused on his. When he began to calm down from being held, he batted his eyes open and I smiled to see a light amber and brought him into my body. “There you are. Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
“What happened?”
I turned around quickly and Darius was awake. “Oh, it’s nothing. Just a bad dream.”
“Yours?”
I was hesitant as I sat back down on the bed with Dirk cradled in my arms to feed him again. “Yeah, mine. You wouldn’t care to hear it though.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because you’d overreact even if it was just a dream.”
“You know, saying that is only going to make me want to know more.”
I sighed. “If I tell you, you have to keep in mind that it was just a dream. I’m not Adele. They don’t mean anything.”
“Okay.”
I took a long breath and kept my eyes down on Dirk. “I remember waking up, not from him but on my own then he woke up. I went to him and he opened his eyes. They were—green.” I turned my head for some kind of immediate response out of Darius but he sat still. He wasn’t even blinking. “Darius, say something.”
He laughed, breaking his straight face. “Your fantasies are amusing! We should tell Troy.”
I was confused at first but understood what he thought I was suggesting. “Oh, no. Darius, not that green. They were—brighter.”
His smile faded. “Brighter? As in—”
“Jaylyn’s.” I said, not wanting to say his name.
“Trever, you mean.”
“It was only a dream.”
“But it scared you.”
“Only because it seemed so real.”
“Are you worried that they lied to you and you’re holding his child, not mine?” I looked down at Dirk for a moment but couldn’t come to say anything. “Ruby?”
“Of course not!” I snatched. “How could you say that?”
“Well, don’t you find it weird at all that he happens to show up the day you have him?”
“Why would it be weird?”
“It’s like he had to check for himself that the baby didn’t turn out blonde.”
There was a knock at the door.
I looked towards the door then to Darius. “You’re wrong.”
He got up and went towards the door. He opened it and greeted whoever it was with an amused laugh. “You just can’t stay out of my life, can you?”
That’s when I knew it was Trever. Perfect timing.
“Excuse me?”
He said nothing but I was fearing it because I knew Trever was probably reading his mind about the things we just talked about.
I was right. Trever walked right in passed him and fixed his eyes on me. “Please tell me you’re not even considering it?”
“It was just a stupid dream. I’m not the one that is.”
Trever looked back and Darius had already closed the door and was right behind him. “Your doubts are typical of you and the size of your jealous rage but I can assure you that it was not me. You have to realize that over the years we were resourceful not to let that happen.”
“We?” I asked.
“Well, we—you were involved in depth whether you knew about it or not. It was Kole—stopping you from getting pregnant by me.”
My mouth dropped with a huff. “Thanks for telling me about this now.”
“Well, what did you expect? Recall how long we were together?”
“Thanks.” I said, shifting my eyes towards Darius, knowing he wasn’t liking the conversation. “
Best not to mention it.”
“Who cares? It’s not like you were the only one. I made sure he did it to Jay too.”
“What about Adele?”
Trever laughed and started to take small steps around where he was standing, acting unusually vague. “Yeah. See, we were going to but then—she was already—and he was—but I couldn’t—so I had him—and they just thought—so we—yeah. That’s the gist of it.”
I sat there with the most dumbfounded look on my face. “I didn’t get a word you just said.”
“I can’t tell you exactly.”
“Why not?”
“Don’t waste your breath, Ruby.” Darius said. “I speak stupid.”
“Yes.” Trever smiled. “I believe you’re quite fluent.”
Darius took a step towards him in anger but I just help up my free hand. “Wait! Not now. Go on. I want to hear what you think.”
“All right.” Darius turned and sat down on the bed at an angle so he could see us both. “He was saying, they were going to make it so Adele couldn’t get pregnant by Ryon but when they tried, she already was.” My eyes widened and I moved them to Trever. “The bad part was, Ryon already knew but Trever wasn’t going to let it happen so he had Kole do it anyway which killed the child, making Adele and Ryon think she lost it naturally. It seemed to work in their favor and everyone got on with their lives.”
I was still staring at Trever while I was listening. “Is any of that even true?”
“Well, I must admit, Darius. I’m impressed.”
“Is it true?” I asked again.
“It’s the gist of it.”
“She never told me about that.”
“She never told anyone. Only Ryon. Neither of them ever knew what we did. That’s why it worked out so well.”
“So, she’s really been pregnant before and you just killed it?”
“Red, come on. A child with Ryon? What do you really think that would have done when she met Zayden?”
“Oh, no! Zayden! Does he know?”
“Of course. She told him the same time he found out about the one she’s having now.”
I sighed in relief. “Don’t scare me like that. I’d hate to have to keep something like that from him.”
New Roots (Fate's Intent Book 8) Page 19
