The Genesis of Evangeline (The Lost Royals Saga Book 1)

by Rachel Jonas

  I wished he hadn’t.

  His smile made things happen inside me, things I couldn’t control.

  “Have a seat,” he said sweetly, motioning toward a stool pulled up to the counter.

  There were only two and no table at all. From what I’d seen, he lived a life of solitude, only bothering to have the bare minimum in his home and I always got the impression he was lonely. At that thought, imagining him alone, a pang of sadness hit me out of nowhere. I pushed it aside and tried to straighten my messy hair as I took a seat.

  “You like eggs?” he asked. His back was to me as the gas stove clicked and then finally hummed when the flame lit.

  “I do.”

  Liam nodded, placing a pan on the stove. “Bacon?”

  I chewed my bottom lip as he turned, thinking I’d been caught as my eyes lingered on him.

  I only mumbled a quiet, “Mmm hmm,” in response. When he didn’t turn back to the pan right away, when the corner of his mouth tugged up again, I was actually positive he caught me.

  Clearing my throat, I looked away, instead taking in the details of his home. Being here was like seeing a television show in high-definition for the first time. I’d seen it all before, but not like this. Not in person. There was nothing spectacular about it, but I always thought of his space as being incredibly clean. Especially seeing as how a guy lived here alone. There weren’t any dishes in the sink, no mystery odors coming from the trashcan, and now I could attest to his laundry smelling great, too. The scent of his t-shirt beneath my nose kept bringing me out of my thoughts. I vaguely recalled inhaling his pillowcase as I slept, too. Everything was fresh and soft, with a hint of him mingling in the threads.

  I hadn’t come up with an excuse to justify how I knew that—how I knew the mystery scent that blended with the others was his—but I did.

  “Ready to talk?” he asked.

  The question caught me by surprise because I’d nearly forgotten the conversation we started in his bedroom. I felt all foggy still. Foggy and insecure. Things were happening to me that I didn’t understand, things I couldn’t explain. And now I was here, and watching him move about the kitchen only made the fog thicker.

  My elbow rested on the cool tile of the countertop and I held my head, taking a deep breath when I answered. “I suppose I would if I knew where to start.”

  The sounds of him preparing breakfast filled in some of the silence, giving life to the dead moments where our conversation lulled.

  “Well, we can start with the question you asked in the room, about how I found you,” Liam suggested.

  “I thought that was one of those ‘off limits’ questions,” I scoffed, swinging my bare feet back and forth beneath the counter.

  When I didn’t get an immediate response, I looked up, staring at Liam’s back as he moved a spatula through runny eggs. “It isn’t hard to answer,” he finally said. “But it might be hard to accept.”

  My brow quirked. While I believed he was probably right, I also knew it was time that I stopped pretending I was normal; stopped pretending things between us were normal.

  A soft, “Tell me,” fell from my mouth and there was no taking it back.

  I watched him, let my eyes roam over his details, from head to toe, and let myself feel for the first time. There was a floodgate of emotions that tried to seep into my bones whenever my thoughts shifted to him. I fought them off because nothing made sense. We were strangers. Two people who had never met before recently, but I dreamed of him for years. It was impossible to imagine, but even more impossible to deny. So now, for the sake of being openminded, I stopped fighting, stopped trying to think logically, and just took what Liam said as fact.

  “We’re tethered to one another,” he answered. “Our souls.”

  I blinked several times, finally forcing a question. “How? How is that possible?” It was no longer a matter of if it was possible; I’d begun to accept that the evidence mounting in favor of this being the truth was too great for me to refute.

  The dreams.

  Him finding me.

  The connection.

  Green eyes with a splash of brown at their centers passed over Liam’s shoulder and landed on me for just a second.

  “You,” he said, turning away again. “It was your doing.”

  Air surged into my lungs as I listened, full of questions, but lost in his words.

  “It was… a very, very long time ago,” he sighed. The air of sadness wrapped within the explanation wasn’t lost on me. “You’ll probably never remember any of it, but… we were close once.”

  My heart squeezed inside my chest. “You speak of time so… strangely. I wish I understood.”

  Liam nodded and it took him a moment to speak again. “I try to keep in mind that, to you, this all feels new, but sometimes it’s hard to stop myself from just… telling you everything, reminding you of everything you’ve forgotten… everything that’s been lost.”

  “How long ago,” I blurted. “How long ago did we… know each other.”

  His body went still for a moment and then his head lowered. “Let’s just say the number of years you’ve been back are only a fraction of the life you’ve lived.”

  “Answer the question.” The words came out harsh, strong; like a command, but maybe I meant for them to. If I was ever going to understand what was happening, Liam, the link to everything, would have to stop handling me with kid gloves. Granted, it was kind of my fault he was skittish about having this conversation, but I was starting to realize I couldn’t outrun this.

  Breathing deep, I touched the side of my neck, changing my approach. Liam needed to know I was ready. Whatever he had to say, he could say it. I wouldn’t run this time.

  The rough texture of aged wood met the soles of my feet when I eased the stool back. Liam turned as I stood, watching me every step of the way as I rounded the counter until I stopped before him. His large body blocked out the sunlight from the window on the far wall and, standing in his shadow, I breathed deep, feeling that tug stronger than ever. The walls I’d built to contain all the things I couldn’t explain came tumbling down, falling at his feet as I stared into his eyes.

  “I’m ready to listen,” I breathed.

  His lashes fluttered before his lids closed. They stayed that way, intentionally blocking me out and I guessed it was to hide whatever emotion stirred within him. However, it didn’t work. I felt them anyway. Way deep down in my soul, making me even more certain that this tether he spoke of existed.

  Breakfast was fully cooked, but it sat in the pan when Liam turned the stove off. He wouldn’t look at me and I think our reason for avoiding one another’s gazes was the same—we felt too much.

  I repeated the question he last tried to maneuver around, but gentler this time. “How long ago?”

  A heavy stare preceded his answer and then he gave in. “…Centuries.”

  I blinked. I breathed. But didn’t speak.

  “And… we loved each other,” he added.

  My hip touched the counter when I leaned into it, needing something solid to steady me on my feet. You could have heard a pin dropped.

  “We loved each other.” I aimlessly repeated Liam’s words as I zoned out, focusing on a fleeting glimpse of standing beneath a waterfall. One that dwarfed Seaton Falls’ main attraction. I could practically feel the heat of day burning my skin, in contrast to the cool water that rushed over me. And then, in this vision, a hand reached for me through the curtain of water and I took it, allowing the strength behind the grip to pull me closer, into an embrace. Even without seeing his face, I knew the one who held me in this sudden flash, this memory, was Liam.

  Breathing rapidly, the question, “How is this possible?” came out of nowhere as a tear slipped down my cheek. It was spurred by sadness, confusion, fear. All of which were sparked by the fact that I remembered him—at least some deep, primitive part of me did—and I didn’t understand why.

  My eyes locked with his as I explained my rea
son for asking such a direct question. “People don’t live for centuries. People can’t visit others in their dreams. People don’t catch fire and… and wake up to talk about it.”

  I admitted it; fully acknowledged that what I remembered of last night was real. I didn’t need Liam to confirm it because, when I stopped denying everything else, that truth became undeniably clear as well.

  I stared at him as one tear became many, heaving as air filled my lungs and left them too quickly to catch it.

  He lowered his gaze as if seeing me cry was too much. “You’re absolutely right,” he replied, staring at the floor. “People can’t do that.”

  There was a long bout of silence and I was desperate.

  I watched him with such intensity, he must have felt it. Then the words finally left his mouth and I hung on them. “You’re a shifter. We’re… shifters.”

  I had no idea what to think, what to make of this. “…Shifters?”

  What did that even mean?

  “I’m confused.”

  Liam took a deep breath and tried to explain. “You’re somewhat human, but more than that. You’re…” He struggled to find the words, but I needed him to. Quickly. “You have abilities; things you’re capable of that you haven’t even begun to tap into yet. It’s in your blood,” he added. “Just like it’s in mine. Only… different.”

  My mind snagged on that word. Different.

  “Different how?”

  Bright, white teeth clamped down on Liam’s lip as he thought to himself. I had the feeling he was getting ready to say things I might not understand, might not readily accept, but I’d try.

  “There’s somewhat of a hierarchy within the shifter races,” he explained. “An order based on purity. Those who are born shifters—whether to a shifter and a human, like I was, or born to two shifters—are purebreds, warrior-class. Then, each race has what they not-so-affectionately refer to as their mutts, or slave class—those transformed by bite, by curse, or magic, depending on which shifter race you’re dealing with.”

  I did my best to listen and grasp what he said, but it was difficult.

  “And then there’s you.” My eyes lifted to Liam’s when he said more. “A descendant of an Original. Or, in your case, two Originals.” His tone suggested that this should have all made sense to me now. As if that one statement should have made things clear, but it didn’t.

  “You’re a first-generation descendant, born to Originals of two shifter races and, somehow, the only female descendant of either. Period. All others before you were male.”

  I searched Liam’s expression. “What does… what does that mean?”

  A gentle smile touched his lips and my heart staggered at the sight of it. “It means, in more ways than one, you’re one of a kind, Evangeline.” One final word left his mouth. “Royalty.”

  I needed to sit or walk or… something. Right away.

  Scrambling toward the hall, I wasn’t quite sure where I was going, but I was headed there fast. Liam was right behind me. It wasn’t until I made it to the living room that I realized this was my intended destination all along—the couch I’d seen several times before.

  “I just… I need to wrap my head around all this.”

  He took the seat beside me and the couch dipped beneath his weight. Gravity brought my body closer to his; so close, a sudden burst of heat spread over my skin where our arms and thighs touched. With such long legs, Liam’s knees jutted out far beyond mine and I observed how much space he took up in this room, making me, and everything else, look so small.

  His size brought something he said back to mind. Warrior-class. That description fit him well. But me being royalty of some sort, didn’t settle with me quite as easily.

  I was an average, awkward teenager at best. Royals were regal and noble—things I was not. My eyes shifted down to the oversized pants covering my legs, my bare feet with chipped polish on my toes after my run through the woods last night.

  Royalty…

  Liam was quiet. When I abruptly walked out on our conversation a moment ago, I was sure I’d given him the impression I was too overwhelmed to continue, but that wasn’t the case. I wanted—no, needed—to know more.

  “So, you were a warrior,” I breathed, turning to face him again.

  Sunlight seeped in through spaces between the blinds, bringing out those lighter strands among his dark ones. He turned to me, speaking directly this time when he corrected my wording.

  “Your warrior.”

  Words escaped me as my gaze synched with his. I was practically drowning in him, whether I liked it or not. He was all sharp edges and precision—his nose, his jaw, his brow. But there was still something soft about him. Maybe something that emanated from the inside out.

  “Can you tell me how we met?” I asked half-dazed. A mixture of excitement and nervousness flooded my veins.

  Liam hesitated to respond, but after gaging my expression, his posture slowly relaxed. “Your father took me in,” he began. “There was a situation in Cairo and he came with his men to rectify it.”

  At mention of my father, one other than the only I’d ever known, I closed my eyes. For so long, I sought answers to my past and now I was sitting beside someone who held them all.

  “By design, human women aren’t strong enough to survive bearing the children of shifters. They die seconds before the birth if they’re not turned and, if the fathers or other shifters of that race aren’t present to raise these children, they become feral—wild, a danger to others, and a risk of exposure.”

  It scared me a little that I didn’t think this was crazy talk.

  “As you can probably guess, our existence relies heavily on our ability to blend in with society. So, you can probably also guess how big of a problem this caused—an epidemic, male shifters of both races impregnating human women and then leaving them for dead. And, not to mention, the feral children.”

  Breath left my lungs slowly as I listened.

  “My mother was one of those women who’d been left for dead,” Liam revealed. “Your father found me and, unlike the hundreds of others he seized and slaughtered… he spared me.” Silence crept in as Liam got lost in a thought. “I remember asking him once why he dealt with me differently than the others, but he could never really explain it. He said that, when he raised his sword to kill me, he just couldn’t.”

  Something about the way he spoke concerning my father filled me with emotion. “He loved you,” I breathed, letting the words fall from my mouth like stating a fact instead of asking a question.

  Liam nodded and that same sadness I’d seen so many times before returned. “The feeling was mutual. Your family was the only I’d ever known.”

  “And he trusted you.”

  Liam nodded again. “Enough to charge me with the task of guarding the most important thing in the world to him.”

  His eyes lingered on me and another flash crept in from the edges of my memory. A bedroom. Sheer linen hung from the rafters, billowing in the wind. Through the fabric, just beyond the window, lush greenery—a landscape that was foreign and beautiful, stretching as far as the eye could see. But I wasn’t alone. A warm body lie beside me, legs entangled with mine like vines around a trellis.

  The image reminded me of something Liam said before, that I’d always known him. Now, somehow, he made me a believer.

  I took a deep breath, needing to absorb bits of information a little at a time.

  “You okay?” His voice was low and deep, like music.

  I forced a smile when I nodded. “I am. This is just such an extraordinary thing… for such an ordinary girl.” My hands rested in my lap as I tried to picture it.

  A gentle touch pulsed electricity through every inch of me when Liam turned my chin, bringing my eyes to his. His fingertips fell away from my skin, but I was frozen in place, forced to let him see the chinks and clefts in my armor. The scars and vulnerable spots I tried to keep hidden.

  But that was impossible with him.


  More soft words moved from his lips to my ears. “Evangeline… you’re a lot of things, but I assure you, ordinary has never been one of them.”

  The air I sucked in was hot and thin, leaving me to feel like I couldn’t get enough. I hated it, this wooziness he induced with mere words, a compliment I really ought not have let go to my head.

  It did, though.

  Music in the next room brought me out of the daze, enabled me to break away from Liam’s stare.

  “Phone… Mine…” I stammered. “It’s… It’s my mom. I should get that.”

  Liam said nothing, but kept his eyes trained on me as I stood from his couch and walked toward his bedroom. Alone and out of his line of sight, I breathed deeply and heavily, trying to recover from the gamut of emotion I experienced a moment ago.

  “H—Hello?”

  “You’re up,” Mom sighed, sounding relieved to hear my voice. I was right to rush to answer. “Did something happen? I mean, you left with Nick and we were expecting you back last night, but then you texted about staying with Beth, I just—”

  “Everything’s fine. Don’t worry. I’ll be home later this morning,” I promised her, purposely planning to return after she and my father left for work. There was no way I could get in the house wearing Liam’s clothes without them asking a ton of questions.

  “I just ran into Beth at the party and she and I thought it’d be fun to hang out for the evening, so that’s when I texted.” I hated lying to my parents, but telling the truth wasn’t an option.

  “Well, I tried calling and it just kept ringing. Apparently, Nick was shocked that you left so abruptly, too. He came by late, asking if we heard from you. I had to tell the poor kid where you ran off to,” she added. There was a pause and she came back with another question. “Did something happen between you two? Was everything okay last night? It seemed like you were really excited to hang out with him and then—”

  I couldn’t take anymore of her questions. The more she asked, the more I’d have to lie and I hated it. And from the sound of it, I’d have quite few to answer for Nick as well.