“You had no way of knowing the importance of the piece. You were trying to protect your family from Rodman’s evil plan.” Melvin’s calming tone eased her burden, and she lifted her head.
“Then you aware of his desire to kill Jack and my mother?”
“Yes.” Melvin dropped a few herbs into the swirling liquid circling inside his pot. “I’ve been watching him for years. A slippery con-artist, Rodman’s evil games are usually centered around gaining more power, but I’ve thwarted more than one plan to harm the royal family.”
“Then everyone is safe?” Danella set down her cup and scooted to the edge of her chair.
“Not really. Rodman’s plan has become more aggressive since your sisters returned home. He’s working diligently behind the scene to gain support so he can take over control of the country should anything happen to your mother.”
“But if he kills her, why would anyone want him as their leader?” Danella watched the scene unfolding in the center of Melvin’s kettle. Rodman sat in the chair she now occupied with a gun pointed at her mother while Jack stood before them. “What is going on? Are you seeing the future?”
“One version.” Melvin stirred the silvery liquid and glanced at her. “You’ve already changed the outcome of those events. Your mother and brother-in-law are aware of Rodman’s plans, but he doesn’t know of your return. The future has changed with your presence.”
“Then what’s going to happen?” She stared inside the pot but no pictures formed.
“Can’t say. What are you planning to do about Omar?”
Melvin’s question blindsided her. Omar has nothing to do with this.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Does it matter?”
“Every action has an effect on the future.” Melvin stepped away from the kettle and touched the round sphere on her lap. The ball glowed bright green, revealing her memories of Omar. Melvin smiled, amused with the information he’d gained.
“You can’t hide from the world.” He shuffled to an empty chair and sat, then lifted his gaze to meet hers. “Memories haunt you with events that can’t be changed. You have to step forward and reclaim your destiny or you will shrivel up and die like Maris.”
“But every decision I make is wrong.” Danella studied the aging face of the man who’d been an important part of her youth. What did he know that she didn’t?
“Oh, but the one you made with your heart led you home.” A crooked grin lay on his lips, and he scanned her naked form. “You’ve found pleasures in many forms, but only one man has consumed your thoughts. He is the bane of your existence and the source of your deepest joy. You need to come to terms with him.”
Melvin’s shrewd gaze peered into her soul, and she rubbed her hand against her brow to hide her emotions. Omar held a special place in her heart, but so did her family. Shouldn’t she help them first?
“So what are you telling me?”
He stood and leaned over his kettle. “Now, what could I suggest that you haven’t already thought of doing? You know your own mind.” Melvin sank once again into the high-back chair. “Only you can decide what you really want.”
Danella glanced at the door of her mother’s chamber. Should she find Omar and let him know she was alive, or should she wait for her mother’s and father’s return?
****
The stone walls shifted closer. Omar glanced around the small space and wondered how his soldier’s quarters differed from those of a prison in the dungeon. He shut off the sight.
Yes, he had a lock on the door. One to keep people out, but the small, narrow room held little more than his bed and footlocker. The smooth granite held no pictures or decoration.
Why had he never aspired to acquire more than this meager existence?
Duty? Devotion to the crown?
Or had he hoped Danella would someday return?
He opened his eyes. The gray haze blurring his vision intensified the aching of his heart. She’d consumed his world for so long, what possible future could he have now?
Heavy eyelids demanded closure.
Sleep beckoned.
A sound ruffled his senses. He stretched his foot to the edge of the bed. Dog-tired, he refused the temptation to open his eyes again, but soft footsteps outside his room sparked his interest.
He rolled to his side and stared at Danella’s ghost, floating beside his bed. “Danella, can you ever forgive me?”
He moaned and closed his eyes again. Would he be forever tortured by her memory?
A soothing hand cupped his cheek. “Omar, my love, there is nothing to forgive.”
Her sweet voice lifted his heavy eyelids and he sank into the crystal blue depths of her eyes. “But I failed in my task to protect you.”
“No, there’s no way you could have known what those men were up to.” She leaned closer and her hip brushed his outer thigh.
He edged over on the narrow mattress to allow her more room. Her face blurred as soft lips greeted his. Light kisses swept across his mouth, soothing his soul and awakening the ever-starving need in his cock. Her palms stroked his shoulders and followed the line of his arms to grasp his wrists. She stood and straddled his waist, then placed his hands on her thighs.
“Forget the past, Omar. For now, let’s just make love.” She spread her hands over his chest and finger-combed the dark hair.
Unable to resist the plush bounty of her breast, he cupped them and toyed with the rosy tips. “If this is one of your magical spells, I hope I never wake.”
A wicked grin spread across her face, and her blonde hair swung forward as she leaned closer. “I didn’t have to use witchcraft. As my soul mate, wherever you go, I’ll follow.”
Desperate for a taste, he lifted his head and captured a nipple. The hard bud rode against his tongue, inflaming his desire and pulling lust up from his toes. He sucked harder, drawing the tight kernel deeper down his throat. A low purr rumbled through her chest.
“Oh, how you make me burn,” she whispered near his ear and her legs slid along his.
The wet heat of her cunt, dripping on his shaft, fed the carnivorous hunger in his loins. He brushed his hand along her inner thigh and palmed her moist center.
“Yes.” She rocked her hips and begged for the penetration of her needy core.
He probed the delicate petals with fingertips and found the small bud of her desire.
A growl echoed through the room, and she sank sharp nails into his biceps. “Don’t play, Omar. You know I need more.”
She lifted her hips and positioned her pussy over his engorged cock while he teased her clit. Pleasure spread over her face as his shaft speared deep into her wet heat. Closing her eyes, she panted and worked up and down his length.
Fire gathered in his loins, and he slammed his cock deeper with each of her downward thrusts. A connection formed between them. Her thoughts sank into his and answered the question of how she’d survived. Heartaches and pain melted under the combined weight of their love. Peace settled over his troubled thoughts and joy sang through each cell in his body.
He applied more pressure to her clit and lifted his head to clamp his mouth around her rosy nipple.
She screamed and worked her hips faster to ease the fire in her blood until only erotic delirium clouded his mind. Spasms rode along his cock and Danella yowled with her release.
The impending explosion of his loins tightened his balls, and he arched his ass off the mattress to plunge deeper into her pulsating pussy. His lungs on fire, he tore his mouth away from her succulent breast to gasp for air.
Power surged. His climax demanded release. He poured himself into her, and she responded to the sizzling elixir with a second orgasm, joining him in the passionate abyss where only the two of them existed.
His mind and body exhausted, Omar struggled to stay awake and tightened his arms around Danella, but the endless hours of fighting sleep finally won the battle.
“Rest, Omar, while I go talk to my parents.” Danella’s word
s drifted through his dreams.
A beautiful vision of her beside his bed, with her long blonde hair streaming over the lush fullness of her breasts, blurred as she stepped away and floated along the corridors of the castle. He smiled at the way she didn’t bother with the royal robes but displayed the beauty of her form for all to see.
A sudden unease filtered through his senses, and he guided his hand to the edge of the bed in his search for her. Gone. In danger.
Omar bolted upright. He’d failed to protect her before. He wouldn’t do so again.
****
Danella turned the corner that led back into the castle from the barracks, and her gaze fell on Councilman Rodman. His chubby, round face broke into a huge grin.
“Well, look who we have here.” Rodman strode toward her. “I knew the story about you being dead was wrong.” He clamped his big, beefy hand around her wrist. “But I had hoped.”
Repulsion climbed up her spine, and she widened her stance to secure her footing. This man was responsible for so much heartache in her country. He’d manipulated the people’s council into entering the war, and it had thrown her homeland into disarray. If not for her mother’s courage, Ardenia would have fallen into anarchy. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
“No problem. You’re much more useful alive.” He jerked on her arm and crowded her back into the entrance of the barracks. “Why don’t we take a little walk, and I’ll tell you all the plans I’ve made for your future?”
His putrid breath hit her as she dug in her heels and refused to budge. “Don’t worry about my future. Yours is the one that is in danger.”
Rodman released her and drew a spiral ball from his robe. “Maybe, but you’ll still be my prisoner.”
“What? You can’t lock me in my memory ball.” Danella placed her hands on her hips and squared her shoulders. “You don’t know enough magic to accomplish such a task.”
“Want to bet?” Magical words exploded around a wall of light and a white fog encircled Danella. Memories floated through her mind. She blinked several times to clear her vision, but a milky partition enclosed her in an eerie prison.
“See, it’s not such a hard spell after all, if you say the right words.” Rodman’s face distorted the crystal walls of her prison, and she fell back onto a soft cushion.
How had he done it?
To lock a person in their memory ball, the conjurer casting the spell needed a special connection to that person and the sphere. She searched through past events for an answer.
A scene of her fifth birthday formed. Everyone invited. Presents lined the table, her memory ball among them.
But Melvin had checked the packages. None were given in malice. Had Rodman done something to connect himself to the item? Or was the ball a gift from him?
Confused, Danella scanned the data stored in the ball and discovered Rodman, standing in the background of events she didn’t remember him attending. How had he gained access to her memories?
Maris?
The answer burned through her like a torch. Her friend and mentor had often apologized for her deeds against Danella’s family. But had Maris also been guilty of performing magic against Danella?
Pain gathered in her chest. What choice did Maris have? With her husband dead and her brother-in-law supporting her and her son, she’d been forced to do whatever Rodman wanted. Was there no end to the lies and heartache caused by the man?
The memory of day she decided to step through the portal into the human world resurfaced. Her sister’s words echoed through her head.
“Let’s leave her behind, Danella. She’ll only get in the way.” Brown hair waved in the wind as her sister raced to the crystal archway in the distance.
“No, Noelani, we can’t. She might tell Mother where we’ve gone. Then we’ll get in trouble for going into the human world. She has to come with us.” Danella grabbed her younger sister’s hand. “Please, Kesia, let me see Omar for just a moment.”
A light flickered. Danella studied the scene closer. Someone lurked by a grove of trees in the distance, an eerie beam highlighting his hands. She narrowed her focus and used her powers to help find the answers that she sought.
The image expanded. For the first time, she understood Rodman’s part in her decision to travel into the human world. His lips chanted a control spell.
Bastard. The burden of guilt she carried for years morphed into a hunger for revenge. A low chant sprang to her lips.
“Powers that be,
Powers that are,
No power can hold me,
If I want to be free.
My captor has wronged me,
Throughout the years,
His secrets weigh heavy on me,
Let his evil return to him
By the power of three.”
Chapter Twelve
“What are you doing here, Omar?” Oxford stood in hallway outside the queen’s chamber. “The queen ordered you to rest.”
“I have. Now I’m looking for Danella.”
The captain of the guard’s face fell. “Omar, don’t you—”
Footsteps sounded farther down the hall, and Oxford straightened. “Stand ready,” he whispered to Omar and then addressed the man walking along the corridor. “I’m sorry, Councilman Rodman. The queen is unable to see you at the moment.”
“But I had an appointment.” The stout man puffed out his chest. “Who’s with her?”
“She’s talking to her son-in-law, Jack Avery.” Oxford answered.
Where was Danella? If she wasn’t with her mother, then where had she disappeared to?
Omar narrowed his focus on the man’s red face and tightened his grip over his weapon. Were the visions in his dream correct? Had Rodman somehow captured her?
Oxford laid a hand on Omar’s arm. “We’ll escort you inside, councilman.”
His commander’s expression told Omar something was up. Oxford usually didn’t reveal the queen’s business so easily.
“Good, Jack is exactly who I want to talk to her about.” Rodman directed a curt nod at Oxford for him to open the door.
After the man entered, Omar followed his commander into the queen’s chamber.
“Your Highest, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I must inform you of what I’ve discovered.” Rodman strolled to the center of the room.
Put on alert by the man’s villainous presence, Omar tracked Rodman’s progress across the room and shut the door. Rodman stood a few paces from the queen, who sat regally on her throne. Jack, located in the chair beside hers, appeared irritated by his uncle’s sudden appearance.
“Councilman Rodman, are you sure this can’t wait until later?” The queen glanced apologetically at her son-in-law. “Jack and I won’t be too much longer, then I can meet with you if you like.”
“No, I need to show my nephew’s true nature.” Rodman adjusted his stance. “I’ve warned you many times, Jack has criminal intentions. Now, I have the proof.”
Rodman’s slid his hand inside his robe and pulled out a gun.
The queen gasped. “What is the meaning of this?”
Oxford drew his sword and raced forward. He’d not fail in his duty to protect the royal family. “Councilman Rodman put down the weapon.”
“Why? I don’t believe it’s even loaded.” Rodman waved the gun through the air. “And even if it is, I have no idea how to fire the thing.”
Right, and pigs fly. Omar held out his sword and edged closer.
“Then you’d best set it down.” Oxford worked his way between the man and the queen.
“No, I believe I should return it to its owner.” Rodman offered the gun to Jack.
“I don’t know where you got the idea that this gun belongs to me.” Jack stood and eased away from his uncle.
Omar noticed the tension between the two men.
Rodman grinned. “Funny, but I found it with the things you left behind when you last visited Ardenia.”
“That was over twelve years ago.” The queen
interjected and gestured for Rodman to lay the gun on the floor.
“Yes, but it proves again how much he doesn’t honor our laws.” Rodman swung back to the queen and pointed the weapon at her.
Omar’s gaze never wavered from the man, looking for an opportunity to strike.
Rodman continued, “He’s a criminal. I’ve told you he killed your husband. And now I’m telling you, he has the means to kill you, too. What more is it going to take for you to see him as a threat to our kingdom?”
“Are you sure it’s Jack who wanted me dead?” A stranger stood at the door of the queen’s bedchamber.
Rodman swiveled to confront the man, and a shocked expression lit his face. The hand holding the gun dropped to his side. “King Harris.”
Rushing forward, Omar grabbed the weapon. With a quick twist of his wrist, he disarmed the councilman and dug the point of his sword into the man’s side. “You’d best step away from the queen.”
Rodman stared at him for a brief moment then turned back to the newcomer. “How did they return you from the dead?”
“First, let’s dispose of your gun.” Oxford held out his hand. Omar relinquished the weapon to his commander, confident the councilman’s plot to accidentally kill someone wouldn’t come to fruition.
Rodman blinked and took several steps back. “Oh, but that’s not my gun. I told you it belonged to Jack.”
“Yes, and you also told me the necklace you placed around my neck was to protect me.” The tall, thin, blonde-haired man strode to the queen and stood beside her chair. “From what Irene has been telling me, you’ve gained a great deal more power since I’ve been away.”
Omar stepped out of the way, lowered his weapon, and stood to one side of the queen. With the king’s return, Rodman had to understand his plan to gain control was in jeopardy.
His captain placed the gun on a low table next to Jack and returned to Rodman.
Banished Page 28
