“I had respect—to some extent. You’re thinking of how Darius used to do things.”
“Okay, so you may not have been as selective as he was but it was still pretty similar.”
“Oh, and you were completely innocent?”
I sighed and turned around, leaning against the counter. “Okay, look. I know I wasn’t. Okay? But it’s different. You might be surprised but I’ve only been with like four guys my entire life.”
“You’re admitting to this?”
“What do you mean? Of course I am.”
“Kole told me about this before.”
“Did he? When?”
“It was that night we went to drop off Ellie. You went to make him tea because he wasn’t feeling well and we talked.”
“What exactly did he tell you?”
“That you’ve only been with four guys your whole life. The kid you lost your virginity to, him, Ryon that one time and then me.”
I huffed and turned away to prepare some of the food. “Did he tell you why?”
“I never needed a reason. You chose it and I’m fine with that.”
“It was never that I chose it. It was Trever.”
“Trever?”
“He’s always had this thing about guys being with me and I could never understand why.”
“It’s your bloodline.”
“I know that now but I didn’t then and even still, it was foolish. Like he had to pick them for me so I wasn’t with anyone that didn’t have a respectable family history.”
“Like Kole?”
I laughed. “That may have been a little different and be ready to laugh when I tell you.”
“Okay.”
“Trever gave him written permission to be with me. Like a contract because they were friends after my first night with him.”
Troy laughed a little louder. “Really? I’m sorry. I don’t mean to take amusement to you being treated like an object but that is a little funny.”
“Told you you’d laugh. It was kind of Trever’s way of making sure that I was watched out for more than just by him. I wasn’t really laughing about it then but I am now. He said we would someday. I just didn’t believe him.”
My mood went downhill with all the talk of Trever. We haven’t heard from him in a while and I just missed him, I guess.
“It’s all right, Jaylyn. You don’t need to talk about it anymore. I know you miss him.”
“Never thought I’d do that either.”
“Well, things change when you know of why he’s done everything he’s done. You see him differently.”
“Yeah, I guess so. How much longer do you think he’ll be?”
“A few months? I’m not completely sure but what he’s doing is important. It’s going to take some time.”
“You’re probably right. I’m just going to stop thinking about it so I stop worrying about something happening to him.”
Troy leaned in and kissed the back of my head. “Don’t worry. He’ll be fine and he’ll find us. I’m going out there now. You all right in here?”
“Yeah. Few more minutes and it’ll be done. I’ll let you know.”
“Okay. When it is, we’ll have to get Adele and Zayden up to have some. They should get up at a reasonable time anyway if they want to leave.”
“Good idea.” I turned and kissed him then gave my son a light kiss on the head. “You better be good for daddy, Bryce.”
“He will be. No problems so far.”
I watched him leave completely before I turned back and tried getting breakfast finished for everyone.
Chapter 7
Ruby
I woke to the aroma of cooking food and realized Dirk hasn’t woken me up. That meant he was still sleeping and I looked over at Darius next to me, remembering our deal. I moved closer to him and kissed his cheek lightly, moving down to his neck.
Darius began to wake up and brought his arm up around me. “Morning already?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“And he hasn’t woken us up?”
“Nope.”
“Mmm, sounds good to me.” Darius pulled me on top of him with his strong arms around me to keep me there. “I’ve been dreaming about this.”
“I bet you have but not here.” I pulled back suddenly and started to get off the bed all together.
This made Darius huff with the unpleasant surprise and start to sit himself up. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I looked back with a smile and tied my robe around my body. “Didn’t I say it’d be in some high risk place? If you can hurry and catch me, we’ll have time before Dirk gets up.”
I headed quickly right out the door and knew Darius didn’t hesitate to follow. I could hear his loud trumping steps behind me and I laughed loudly as I hurried down the stairs. He was catching up but I still tried to be quick like it was some amusing game and I finally reached the first floor.
I saw the eyes of Troy and Meg but I pretended not to notice and hurried towards the kitchen. Darius was right behind me and caught me before I could go inside.
I turned towards him and he stopped himself long enough to kiss me. “I win.”
“Then claim your prize.”
Darius picked me right up in his arms and carried me into the kitchen.
It was exciting. We haven’t gotten to do anything like this while we spent all those months in the Senian palace just mainly out of respect for the people that owned it. It was different here and I didn’t care where I was as long as I was with him and he was pleasuring me the way only he could.
Chapter 8
Jaylyn
Almost done setting up breakfast. Now I just needed one more thing from the kitchen.
I walked out of the dining room and Troy’s steep voice stopped me for all of a second. “Jaylyn! Don’t!”
“Relax. I’m almost done.” If only I knew the concern of him stopping me, it would have prevented me from opening that door but it was too late. I stepped into the kitchen with a heart clenching screech. Ruby and Darius were—well, I think they were. “Really? Now of all times?”
Ruby laughed while laying on top of the counter with a tight hold on Darius in front of her. “Make yourself useful and check on Dirk for us. We’re busy.”
“Yeah. That’s obvious.”
Ruby laughed to my disgusted tone and brought Darius’s lips into her like my interruption meant nothing to them because they just continued and I left.
“We’re burning everything in there.” I told Meg and Troy as I headed to the stairs.
Troy laughed. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. What are you doing?”
“I’m going to check on Dirk then get Adele and Zayden. Let’s just be thankful that I was able to get the food out of there in time or they’d be fucking on it right now.”
Troy laughed again and I hopped up the stairs to do what was intended of me. I went into Ruby and Darius’s room first and Dirk was wiggling around in his crib but wasn’t crying.
“Hey, there! You’re awake. Did mama and daddy leave you up here by yourself? Don’t worry. They would say their intentions were good. Let’s get you changed.” I changed and dressed him for the day. It wasn’t the first time I’ve had to take over in the morning like this so he was well warmed up to me. “Now, come on. We have to get Adele and Zayden then we’ll see if your mama is ready to feed you. I bet you’re hungry.”
I left the room with him and continued up another flight of stairs to the last floor with rooms on it. It was even quieter and I knew they were probably still asleep. I crept up on their room and carefully opened the door to go inside. Zayden was already up with Rift and had just slipped a shirt on over his head.
“Oh, sorry.” I whispered. “Came to get you up. Breakfast is ready so you can have some before you leave on your trip.”
“You made it?”
“Yeah. I knew Adele wouldn’t want to take the time with other things to do.”
“Well, thanks. You’re probably rig
ht.”
“Is she still—”
Zayden smiled, glancing at Adele still on the bed. “Yeah. She was pretty tired but she should get up.” He walked over to her and touched her arm. “Hey, Love—”
She jumped right awake and sat up. “Is Seth okay?!”
Zayden laughed. “He’s fine. Calmly waiting for you. It’s time to get up. Jaylyn made breakfast for everyone today so you wouldn’t have to.”
“Thanks, Jaylyn. Why are you holding Dirk?”
I looked down in my arms for a moment with a smile. “Ruby and Darius are—well—let’s just say we have to burn everything in the kitchen.”
Adele sighed and started getting out of bed. “Perfect. We’ll be right down. I’ve got to get dressed. Is Meg up?”
“Yeah, she’s down there right now.”
“Good. We’ll be right down.”
I nodded and left the room with Dirk. Troy and Meg were in the dining room already with Ruby and Darius and there was an unusual atmosphere inside. Ruby seemed as normal as ever with Meg only feet away and it was like she didn’t notice her at all while she kept her focus on Darius next to her and her food.
Meg was also seeming to ignore the fact that she was there and never once looked over. She waited patiently in her presence for Adele and Zayden so they could leave for their trip.
“Well, I guess we better get going.” Adele said, getting up from finishing breakfast. “We have a long trip ahead of us.”
“I can’t believe you’re leaving.” I sighed. “We just got back.”
“I know but it’s important. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
“It’s going to be weird not having you around.” Darius said, looking at Zayden. “You sure you don’t need us to come?”
“No.” Zayden answered, taking a quick glance at Ruby. “We’ll handle it fine.”
“And if father should need us?” Troy asked.
“He shouldn’t. He should have assumed that I’d at least be accompanying them but if there is some kind of emergency then you two can handle it, right?”
Darius and Troy looked at each other and I didn’t know if they were fully confident to agree.
“I guess.” Darius said. “But we’re not you.”
“Oh, I’m aware of that.” Zayden smiled charmingly. “Well, ready ladies?”
“Just need our horses, I guess.”
“Well, let’s go. Come on, Rift. I know I could never get you to stay here.”
Adele laughed. “Not unless we left Seth and that’s not about to happen.”
“It’s sweet that he’s like that.” I said.
“I know.”
“Come on.” Zayden said, dragging out his sigh. “We’ll see the rest of you in a couple weeks.”
“Okay.” I hugged Adele tightly. “Have a safe trip.”
“We will.”
“Bye, everyone.” Meg waved while she headed to the door with her twins tucked away in her arms.
“Bye, Meg.” We chorused except for Ruby who acted as if she was nonexistent.
They walked out the door and we were left at the table in complete silence, picking at the food on our plates.
“So, this is great.” Ruby smiled, breaking the awkward pause. “Adele’s gone. Anyone know what that means?”
“Should we?” Troy wondered.
“No rules! We can do anything we want.” She took a side glance at Darius and they smiled at each other.
“Oh, no.” I sighed. “I’m not going to have to walk around with my eyes closed, right? Because I really don’t want to walk into another one of those horrifyingly unspeakable sights like earlier.”
Ruby laughed. “No. Nothing like that. We can keep that under control.”
“Good.”
“I was just saying we can do all of the things Adele doesn’t let us do without getting yelled at.”
Troy laughed. “Like what?”
“Well, I don’t know. Things like yelling while inside, feet on the table, walking around in whatever indecent manner we please.”
“Liking the sounds of that.” Darius smiled.
Ruby looked over and returned it.
“I really don’t see the point in trying to do those things.” I said. “You might get too used to it and do them even when she gets back.”
“Well, fine.” Ruby sighed, getting up with her plate in one hand and Dirk in the other. “You be like that if you want but I’m going to make fun of this. It’ll be a better distraction. We’ve never been apart like this before. The last time was when we had to wait for her to turn fifteen so she could join us on the island for our year of training and that was only five days.”
“I know.” I sighed, not wanting to think of Adele being away. “It was ten for me.”
“See? We have to make this fun. Have you guys ever been apart from Zayden like this?”
Darius and Troy looked at each other, their moods becoming about the same.
“No.”
“At least not since we moved in together.” Darius said. “And we were younger than you.”
“Oh, you poor thing.” Ruby stepped up behind him and leaned her head down, kissing his. “We’ll have to make sure time goes by fast so none of us think about it. Come on. Our free days await.”
Darius shared a look with Troy from across the table before he got up and followed Ruby out of the dining room, starting our first ever long separation from our leaders and best friends.
I felt myself becoming her as the days passed. Adele’s absence seemed to put a strain on me most of all and I had to be the one to create order, especially with Ruby. She held up to her word and began doing everything she mentioned. It was beginning to get too much.
“Ruby, can you please put clothes on today?”
Of course, she only laughed. “Why?”
“Because you’re getting too comfortable. Adele will be back eventually.”
“But not yet.”
I hated when she had to remind me. It only made me miss her more.
“I know but think of the boys. You can’t keep this habit when they’re older.”
“I know. All the more reason to get it all out now. They won’t remember any of this.”
I was feeling more how Adele felt all the time and my eyes rolled. It was kind of pointless. Why did I think Ruby would ever listen to me? I missed Adele and hoped she was having a slightly better time than me. I wanted her home days ago but I knew what she was doing was important and my needs just had to wait.
Chapter 9
Adele
The night’s seemed short and the days long during our slow travel to the northern docks of Kalu. Meg was experiencing firsthand what the harsh conditions of travel felt like with young ones and exhaustion didn’t take long to settle in. At least she didn’t have to carry both her children. There were three of us and three of them so we all held one for the ride. It always seemed like we were going none stop and the first real break didn’t come until we boarded the ship that would take us into Hintus.
“Oh, finally.” Meg sighed, sitting herself down in a chair with Cadence asleep in her arms. “A break from a horse.”
I laughed and joined her in a nearby chair with Seth. “I know what you mean but we’re almost there now. Couple more days.”
“It already seems like it’s been so many.”
“It did take just under a week to make it here but we’ll make it all worth it when we get there.”
“I hope everything goes okay and they take the offer. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if—”
She looked down at Cadence in her arms and I shook my head with certainty. “That won’t happen. There’s honor in what we’re offering and they’ll come to see it.”
“I hope you’re right but Viktor is pretty set on the old ways. He may not allow this to happen. There hasn’t been a born Hintin Princess that survived longer than minutes after birth. What if—”
“They won’t. We won’t have to convince Viktor. Wy
att is our target. He’s young like us so there’s room for ideas of change. If he accepts this than he’ll demand it to happen to his father.”
Meg nodded and Zayden came walking in the room, holding Meg’s nameless son. “Okay, they’re pulling up the anchor now. We’re ready to go.”
“Good.”
“So, have you thought at all about how you’re going to word this? Now is the time to do that while we’re just sitting around waiting.”
“I have a pretty good idea.” I said. “It’s really going to be up to them to make it work.”
“We’ll still do whatever it takes. I’m going to see to it that nothing goes wrong, okay? You won’t have to worry, Meg.”
She looked up with a smile. “I really wish that was true actually.”
“It is. We can be awfully convincing. You’ll both keep your lives and of course this little one will.” He looked down at him like he was unsure of what to call him.
“I know it’s weird.” Meg said. “But Wyatt will want the rights to name him. I didn’t dare to.”
“I know. It makes perfect sense. You won’t have to worry about a thing. We’ll make sure that you get to live your life how and where you choose. That’s a promise.”
Meg was filled with a great relief to hear his words but there was still a part of her that was fearful. We both knew what Hintins were really like and we both prayed through every silent second on our journey across the sea that everything would turn out the way we planned.
The fires of the city of Cambell came into view at the trading port and our destination was near. Normally, they don’t let passengers in this way but they made an exception for us since we carried the Princess and the country’s future.
I watched Meg suck in a breath from her nervousness when she saw it and I took her hand and tried to get her remember to remain calm. Everything was going to work out and she had to start believing it. Showing signs of weakness and fear around these particular royals was not a good idea; they’ve never taken to it lightly.
Rift was left safely on the ship and we passed through the gates and up the streets towards the palace. In a deep reality, none of us could believe that we were back. Meg spent a countless amount of days being held captive, waiting for her forced wedding day while Zayden spent a short time here for that very day and I knew he now hated every aspect of their ways. As for me, it has been quite some time but I still felt just the same and was determined to make sure everything went our way.
Rising Sun (Fate's Intent Book 9) Page 3
