“No. I don’t want him growing up in that environment.”
“What environment? Civilization?”
“No. Since he has this gift, he doesn’t need to live anymore like everything is just given to him and it would be if we lived at the palace. I don’t want him to grow up that way.”
“All right. I understand but can you stop talking about my being away so much? I don’t want to feel like I’m doing something wrong.”
“You’re not. I’m just still trying to get used to it. It’s like you’re gone even more than you’re here these days and I miss you.”
“I know. I miss you just as much but it’s not like I have a choice. I’m doing this for our future.”
“I realize that but if you also want to be in your son’s life, you’ll have to be here for it.”
“Well, we have a little while before we’ll be needed again. At least a few months so we can make plans.”
Adele smiled. “Good because I told my father we’d bring the boys to visit.”
I laughed. “I see. Well, it looks like we’ll all be going.”
“Exactly what he expects. You can go tell the others dinner is almost ready and take him with you so I can finish it and get this food out there.”
“Okay.” I walked over and picked up Seth. “You heard your mother. Better do as she says. No one wants the alternative. Come on, Rift.”
He happily followed and we left to do what Adele asked; I was just glad the fight was over.
Chapter 14
Ruby
We were yet again having another dinner together but this one seemed more unusual. I kept noticing that Seth was trying to get his father’s attention but Zayden just sat and ate like he didn’t exist.
It didn’t seem long before others started to notice as well and Jaylyn was first to verbally point it out. “Ah, Zayden? I think Seth wants your bread because you have your hand on it.”
“Oh, I know he wants it. I’m stopping him from taking it.”
Huh? It was one of those times when everyone would have asked it but said nothing, only the look on our faces spoke the confusion.
“But he can’t reach your plate.” I said.
Zayden looked over at Adele and she nodded. “All right, Seth. You can have it.” Zayden moved his hand from the bread and it lifted off his plate and moved over to Seth. He got it and immediately put it in his mouth.
“Adele, did you give that to him?” Troy asked.
“No. It wasn’t me.”
“If it wasn’t you and it couldn’t have been any of us then who was it?” Darius asked.
Adele and Zayden looked over at Seth.
“Oh, shit! No way!” This time I spoke my reaction yet I still couldn’t believe it. “He did that? Are you sure?”
“Yup.”
“I don’t believe you. Let’s see it again.” Jaylyn said.
Zayden got up and took the bread from Seth. He was fussing and reaching for it again until Zayden put it down and it started moving over to him. He was happy when he got it back and it went right back in his mouth.
“That’s still hard to believe even after seeing it a second time.” Troy said. “He can actually control it for what he wants and he’s only a year old. That’d be nice if the other two would make it that easy.”
“Maybe we can start testing them.” Darius said. “Dirk hasn’t done it since that incident at his introduction dinner.”
“Be careful with that.” Zayden replied. “You wouldn’t want to rush it. Their powers may not be fully developed enough for full control. You can try something small for now but don’t overdo it.”
“Why didn’t Madam Carla tell us about all of this? It would have made things a lot easier.”
“I think she did.” Troy said.
“When?” Darius asked. “I don’t remember her ever telling us that either.”
“Fate shows that the three great sons of Seni shall one day hold one of their own brought forth to you only by those worthy to bear such a precious gift and in giving, mold a new era of men.”
“How did you remember all of that and what does it mean?”
“It’s clear if you think about it. And in giving, mold a new era of men. It means, what we have will be passed to them and what they get will be passed to their children and so on and so forth, starting a new breed of power only through our bloodlines.”
“That would make it harder to hide.” Darius said. “The world is going to find out about this someday.”
“Let’s just not have that be now.” Adele said. “The world is definitely not ready.”
“Then we need to get them to control it quick.” I replied. “Just so there are no mistakes.”
“Test it now. Dirk is older.”
“How?”
Adele used her gift to move Dirk’s plate of food away from him.
“What are you doing?” Darius asked.
“Just watch.”
Dirk tried reaching for his plate but it was just far enough out of reach that he couldn’t. He started to get frustrated and let out an angry scream as his little eyes started to turn red.
“Shit, that’s creepy.” Troy said.
Adele gave Dirk his plate back and his eyes faded to normal color. “See? There’s an easy way to test it. He’s hungry right now not tired. He calmed it down on his own. It at least means he knows how.”
“I guess he never had a reason to get like that again.” I said. “I’ve always kept him quite happy.”
“For that purpose?” Zayden joked.
“No. He’s always been happy. I haven’t found many things that upset him.”
“Wait.” Troy stopped anyone from replying and lifted his head higher. “Hear that?”
“Hear what?” Adele asked.
Zayden’s eyes turned black. “A horse is riding this way.”
The rest of us stopped eating and listened. I could slowly started to hear the sound in the distance.
“No.” Jaylyn said. “You’ve only been back for two days.”
“You don’t know that’s what it is.” Troy replied.
“But I have a feeling.”
“Well, if that’s the case, then we don’t have a choice.” Zayden said.
“What?!” Adele’s voice was loud and practically shook the glasses at the table. “But we’re supposed to be going to see my father next week.”
“If we’re needed, you know it can’t be helped. You can just go without us.”
“No!”
“All right.” I said, standing up before this got any worse. “I’ll go check, okay? Before you really need to fight about it.”
“Be careful.” Darius said.
I nodded as I walked out of the dining room and headed to the door. Someone had rode into the stables with their horse and I slowly started to walk over curiously. If it were a messenger, they wouldn’t have wanted to settle their horse in for any reason.
“Hello?” I stopped when I saw a dark figure walk out. “Who are you?”
They were stepping closer. “Did you miss me, Red?”
I stood placid when I was called Red. I had an idea but couldn’t be sure until he was close enough that I could see his face.
“Trever!” I ran to him and threw my arms around him.
“I knew you missed me but I can tell you, I missed you a lot more.”
“Where have you been? It’s been longer than a year.”
“I know. I just returned to Dorlin when the King told me where to find you.”
“Come on. You have to come inside. Jaylyn will be happy to see you. She was beginning to think you were dead.”
We walked inside and I took him towards the dining room but had him stay outside of the door.
“Who is it?” Adele asked.
“You’re not going to believe it.” I walked in and Trever stepped in.
Jaylyn’s eyes lit up and she jumped up from her chair to run to him. “Trever!”
They hugged and he spun
her around in his arms. “I missed you.”
“We thought you were dead.”
Trever laughed. “Close, a few times but—”
Jaylyn’s demeanor completely changed. She went from happy to see him to hitting him repeatedly. “I can’t believe you! You said a year! That was almost two!”
“Well, technically, it was only a year and a half.”
The numbers didn’t seem to matter to her; she just kept hitting him. “Don’t ever do that again! I thought you had to be dead!”
“Okay. Stop hitting me.” Trever took her wrists just so she would. “I told you I’d let you know if I was dead.”
“It’d be more like you to think that I couldn’t handle it. I didn’t know what to think.”
“Well, I’m here now. Everything is fine. Can you relax? You’re ruining my visit.”
Jaylyn finally took a breath and hugged him again. “I’m sorry. I just missed you. You’ve kind of missed everything.”
Trever smiled and looked over at the boys sitting together. “Not everything. He’s not grown up yet.”
He was ready to go over but Jaylyn took his arm. “Wait. Don’t approach too quickly. He’s not use to strangers.”
“Excuse me.” Trever pulled his arm away and sounded insulted. “I’m not a stranger.”
“This is the first time he’s meeting you.”
“Then why is it he knows who I am?”
I looked at Bryce and he was just staring up at Trever. He very well could have known or at least knew Trever wasn’t going to be harmful from having that heavy resemblance to his mother. We couldn’t be sure of the truth but Trever seemed to know. He was probably reading his thoughts.
“How could he?”
“No offense but he gets his brain from me.”
Jaylyn huffed to his over confidence. “From you? No. You weren’t involved at all. He gets it from me.”
“No. You don’t carry the male gene of our family, I do.”
“No. He gets it from his grandfather from whom he’s named.”
Trever paused with a smile and looked between them. “Is that so?”
“I thought it’d be suitable enough but you already knew about that, didn’t you?”
“Of course. He’s already destined to be great with the blood of his father running through his veins. It’s only right that he has name that tells everyone so.”
“Thank you.” Troy said. “Nice to see you.”
Trever smiled and shook his hand. “Troy, and you. Zayden.”
Zayden stood up and they shook hands too. “Glad to know you’ve made it back.”
“Likewise, of course. Adele, you’re being awfully quite. Still your father’s daughter, I see.”
She smiled and they walked around the table to each other. “Still won’t admit your his son, I see.”
He laughed while they embraced. “Only history will tell.”
“Some things will never change and you’ll be there like he would have wanted.”
Trever smiled but saw Darius completely ignoring his presence. “But not like how everyone would have wanted. Isn’t that right, Darius?”
I was surprised when he looked up. “It’s true some things will never change and it’s doubtful that they ever will.”
I hit him in the shoulder but should have expected to hear something like that. “Stop it. He didn’t come here to fight with you.”
“Only because I’d win.”
Trever laughed. “You honestly believe that, don’t you? It’s still quite amusing.”
“Are you challenging me?” Darius stood up.
I stood in front of him and put my hand on his chest so he wouldn’t go any further as Trever was walking back around the table. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“No guess as to why.”
“True. With Ryon out of the picture you do over power me with your brute strength but when it comes to superior intelligence, I think we all know who resides on the higher end.”
Darius was just getting madder and he tried taking a step closer but I stopped him. “No. Go put your son to bed. I’ll be up in a minute.” Darius looked down at me and my eyes flashed red. He looked back at Trever as he walked over and picked up Dirk. He thankfully left with him without another word and I looked at Trever. “Stop doing that. You just got here and you should know to watch what you say around him before you end up getting hurt.”
He laughed. “That’s not going to happen. I’d know what he was going to do before he even did it.”
“Even still. Just watch what you say. It was good seeing you.” I left. It was good to see him; I’ve missed him just as much as Jaylyn but Darius needed me more right now. I knew he wasn’t liking him being here at all and only I could make him forget.
Chapter 15
Zayden
Jaylyn sighed while getting to her feet. “Just like old times. I’m going to put Bryce to bed.”
She started to walk over to him but Trever reached him first and picked him up. “I’ll do it for you.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, why not? He is my nephew and I fully plan to be a part of his life.”
“Okay. Let me show you where his room is.”
Trever nodded and they were about to walk out of the dining hall. “Oh, wait.” He stopped midway and walked over to Adele, still holding Bryce. “Adele, your father wanted me to give you this.” He pulled an envelope out of his pocket.
“It suits you.” Adele smiled as she took it.
“What?”
“You holding a baby.”
Trever laughed and pointed at her. “Ha! Yeah, right. Nice try.”
“Just getting you to think about it.”
He immediately turned from her and left the dining hall with Jaylyn.
“So, what’s the news?” I asked.
“Nothing that important. Just about the peace talks and other things of that nature and he can’t wait to see us.”
I laughed. “I know, Love. I said we’d all be going.”
“Good. Time to clean up, I guess. It’s getting late. Seth probably should have been to bed already.”
“Probably.”
Troy and I got up with her and we herded everything back into the kitchen while I tried wrangling Seth in one arm.
“So—” Adele began. “Are you going to go up to Jaylyn?”
I looked over at Troy and he seemed unsure of why she would have asked. “I’m going to give them another minute. Jaylyn was worried that he was dead all of this time and now that we know he’s not, they could use the time together.”
“I guess that’s true. So, how do you feel about it?”
“Feel about what?”
“Trever being back?”
He looked at me and even I was unsure about this question. “I don’t mind. I never hated him. Not like Darius though.”
Adele laughed. “Yeah, that is still kind of funny. He shouldn’t have anything to worry about. It’s not like Ruby will do anything.”
“Yeah but he still feels like he needs to protect her from him.”
“Well, I’m proud of him.” I said. “I seriously thought we were going to have to step in.”
“Let’s just hope he’s not staying too long.” Adele said. “I don’t think Darius could handle it.”
“He shouldn’t be.” Troy replied. “He is Aleksander’s advisor. He’ll have to be getting back now that he’s through with the peace talks.”
“Actually, he’s the King. He just won’t admit it.”
“Your father is the one who wears the crown, Love. He said he’d get to it when he’s ready.”
“Please. We all know the truth. My father has never done a thing without talking to Trever and it wasn’t for his advice. It was for his instruction.”
“Don’t get all steamed up about it.” I said. “He still has time to do what’s right. Right now he thinks that’s giving your father the chance to be the leader he was born to be.”
“Ye
s and the people will make sense of it all when he names Trever to be his successor.” Troy added. “Their past time together has set the stage for that.”
“We’ll just have to wait and see, I suppose.”
Troy smiled. “Well, I guess I’ll be getting upstairs now. It’s late.”
We nodded as he left.
“You should put Seth to bed.” Adele said.
“What about you?”
She looked around at all the remnants of dinner still scattered across the counter. “I still have more to do.”
“All right. Here’s the deal. You clean up while I put Seth to bed then you bring yourself upstairs and do me next.”
“I don’t know how long it will take.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll be in bed and don’t hesitate to wake me.”
She smiled even wider and kissed us both. I left her to do what she always felt like she had to but I took my time going up the stairs. I even set Seth down and let him try to climb while I inched along behind him with Rift.
It accomplished what I wanted. It took several minutes just to make it to the fourth floor and Trever saw us just as we started up the next flight of stairs.
“What are you doing?”
“Walking—sort of.”
He laughed. “I see. Taking your time while Adele cleans up?”
“Yeah. It’s a nightly routine that I’ve gotten used to well, when I’m here anyway.”
“I heard about how your father calls you away a lot. Have you ever considered living there?”
“Of course I have but the girls—they’d never allow it. They don’t want the boys growing up in that life. They only tolerate it when they go to visit and even then it’s not for very long.”
“I understand that, I suppose but one day that may change when the boys are older and can voice their opinion.”
“Maybe. I’ll at least want them to come with us more often then.”
“You’re absolutely right. I’ll leave you to your night, Zayden. I was just going to get myself a room.”
“All right. There’s one right next to the bathhouse that’s available or anyone on the third floor. You shouldn’t go any higher than this. Ruby and Darius are right above us.”
Rising Sun (Fate's Intent Book 9) Page 6
