by Amy Richie
“No,” I stood up straight. “I was chosen by Neleh for a purpose.” I was humiliated to realize my chin was trembling.
“That purpose was ill conceived and not well thought out.” I hated when David talked so calm and formal.
“Were you just going to tell Neleh that I failed?” My voice was still shaky.
“Looks like I won’t have to lie now.” his face was calm but I knew him to well. I saw the hardness there, the stress.
I lunged forward and shoved his shoulders. Taken off guard, he fell to the ground, but he was on his feet in a heartbeat. We faced each other, breathing hard in anger. “I am still here,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Not for long,” his tone matched mine.
“I can still finish this.”
“Out of the question.”
“It is not your decision.”
“It is now.”
“Nickolas is taking me to Dominick.” I hated that I was starting to sound desperate.
“I’m sure he is.” His sarcasm was heavy.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Now my defenses were up to protect Nickolas.
“We’re leaving.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Yes you are.”
“No, I’m…”
“You have to go back with him, Eva,” Nickolas cut me off.
I turned my face to him. “What?”
“You’ll have to go back with David.”
“No, I won’t.” I shook my head but my eyes were already starting to sting with tears. I absolutely had to get control of myself.
“You won’t let Neleh harm her?” Nickolas addressed his question to David.
“Neleh’s not…”
“Is that a yes or no?”
David turned nervously to me. I saw him chewing the inside of his lip. “I don’t need David’s protection,” I flared. “I can take care of myself.”
“Will it help,” Nickolas took a deep breath, “if she did kill Dominick?”
His dark brown eyes bore into David’s. David’s face fell and he had to look away. He cleared his throat before speaking. “If Eva kills Dominick now, there is every reason to believe that she will fail to exist in the future at all. I believe she would not live past infancy.”
“Maybe I could…”
“There are many repercussions to altering the past. Trying to control anything about the future is ludicrous. We should have never…”
“I am glad you did.” Raw emotion passed between the two men, leaving me speechless.
“We have to go back.”
“Of course you do. Nothing shall change.” Nickolas hardened his jaw.
“Everything has changed,” I said hoarsely.
“Eva.” Nickolas pulled me close enough to kiss my forehead and I wrapped my arms around his middle.
“I have to finish this.”
“It is finished.” I kept my face buried in his chest.
“This is most unexpected. Unusual. I never, ever thought this could possibly happen. Max came back and told me she had escaped but I never thought…”
“Dominick, who are your friends?” My blood ran completely cold at the sound of her voice. It just barely broke through that Neleh had said Dominick. Dominick Letrell was close.
“Lady Neleh,” Nickolas greeted her stiffly and pushed me behind him, out of view. I heard David making distressed noises beside me. My heart was beating wildly. I couldn’t let Neleh see me and yet I wanted to see Dominick. He had to be right here, finally within my reach.
“Are you not going to introduce us?” Neleh asked sweetly. My heart froze.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“She’s timid,” Nickolas explained without pushing me forward. “She was attacked. By…wolves.” Even I heard the edge in his voice.
“No need to worry about the wolves anymore.” Her peal of laughter hung in the air. “You’ve missed all the fun.”
“Fun?” Nickolas snorted. “you’ve killed them all then.”
“There was no need to,” her voice took on a defensive quality. “The wolves attacked and we defeated them. Now they are submissive to me.”
“How fortunate.” The sarcasm was heavy.
“Come now, do you honestly refuse to introduce me to your friend? You seemed quite familiar with her just a moment before.”
“She is mine.” Was it my imagination or did Nickolas just growl at Neleh?
“I don’t plan on taking her.” Iciness crept into Neleh’s voice. I recognized it, Nickolas had no choice.
I pushed past Nickolas’s protest and stood vulnerable before Neleh. “What is your name?” she asked in a soft tone. I brought my head up and looked at her eye to eye, just as I’d been taught. “Are you still afraid?”
“No Neleh.” My voice rang out in the silence that had formed around us.
“Are you challenging me?”
“No Neleh.” I kept eye contact, momentarily forgetting where I was.
She shifted uncomfortably, but didn’t break eye contact. For a suspended moment everything was completely still. I knew better than to move. “Who are you?” I don’t know if she said it out loud or only to me.
“I am Eva.”
Movement behind me distracted me. “Come on, we’re leaving,” Nickolas said, grabbing my hand. He dragged me to the high wall guarding the colony before I was able to turn back. Neleh was still standing in the same spot, staring after me. I had never seen her look so shaken.
“What did you tell her?” David hissed as soon as we were out of the colony.
“I didn’t tell her anything.”
“But what were you thinking?”
I shrugged. “Nothing.”
“She saw everything, I’m sure of it.”
“David, I didn’t…”
“Why did you make eye contact with her? No one is supposed to make eye contact with the Lady Neleh.” Nickolas still had a hold of my waist and we were moving quickly through the trees.
“She told me too!”
“You have never met her!” David nearly screamed in his agitation.
Nickolas turned to growl in David’s face, which sent David to the other side of me.
“We can save this whole thing,” I told him evenly.
“How? Just how do you suggest we do that?”
“Finish what I came here for.” He threw his head back and groaned but I pushed forward anyway. “I heard Neleh say his name, David. Dominick is at the colony right now. If we just go back.”
“Eva.”
“Or you could go back. Bring him here. I’m sure you have something I could wear besides this dress, right.”
“Eva, it’s over.” David pinched the bridge of his nose.
“When we return, I am telling Neleh everything you’ve said and done. I hope the guards rip you to shreds.”
He laughed a short, unamused sound. “When we return, she’ll see everything in your head and the guards will rip us both to shreds. And now,” he gestured to the colony behind us, “probably Nickolas too.”
He was still muttering to himself so he didn’t notice when I stopped. The implications hit me hard, as if I had been kicked in the stomach. Nickolas noticed and stopped with me. “You don’t have to worry about me,” he whispered.
“But he is right. You know too much, she’ll…” Panic gripped me tightly. “You have to get far away from here. Don’t ever let Neleh find you.”
“Don’t worry about me,” he repeated, more fiercely.
“Are you coming?” David called, finally realizing I had stopped.
“No.”
Nickolas winked and forced a grin. “Come on.”
“If I go back, failing my mission, she’s sure to kill me.” I passed Nickolas and hurried to join David.
“We’re not far from Orbex,” David called.
I was still trying to plan how I would get away when Nickolas spoke again. “David?”
“Yeah?”
“Wh
at day is it?”
“It’s…April 18th.”
“Hmm.”
“It’s best if you stay away though.”
“We don’t always do what’s best.”
“You can’t be planning to come to Lexon?” I was horrified. His questions about Lexon suddenly made sense.
“I don’t even know where Lexon is,” he winked.
But he did. I myself had told him. I wiped the moisture from my top lip with the back of my hand. What had I done? What had we done? I couldn’t even wrap my head around everything that could go wrong.
David walked on quickly, eager to reach Orbex and be back to our own time. I let myself fall further behind. Nickolas stayed by my side. “I have to kill him Nickolas,” I whispered.
“You can’t.”
“You said you would take me to him.”
“I did.” He swallowed audibly.
“No, you didn’t.”
“He was there. In the colony.”
My eyes turned stony. “David tends to worry way too much,” I said as quietly as possible.
“We need to hurry.” He tried to pull me along but I wasn’t budging.
“We don’t know what will happen,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Yeah well,” he stopped trying to walk and spun to face me, “I believe what David says.”
“You have just met him!”
“Yes.”
I was torn in half. Part of me was furious that I was so close to Dominick and unable to do anything about it and the other part of me wanted to throw my arms around Nickolas and cry for all that would never be. But all of me, every part, wanted to protect Nickolas. I couldn’t imagine anything bad ever happening to him. I loved him.
“You don’t have to worry about me,” he whispered softly before pulling me to his chest.
“She’ll hunt you down now,” I moaned, “She’ll know that you know too much. David must be right. She’s seen it all in my head.” I looked up at him with unshed tears pooling in my eyes. “I’m sorry Nickolas. We should have never come here.”
He was shaking his head before I could even finish. “No, I’m glad you came. It makes the next thousand years or so easier to figure out.” he tried to look amusing. Failed.
“You cannot wait for me. Promise me that you’ll…” My voice broke so I just stopped talking.
He put both of his large hands on the back of my neck and forced me to look at him. “You are part of my life now, Eva. Whether you meant to or wanted it isn’t really relevant anymore.” I pressed my lips tight together and somehow managed to not cry. He licked his lips. “And as long as I don’t manage to get myself killed,” he winked and grinned, “then in the year 2152 I will come for you and claim what is mine.”
“No,” I mumbled defiantly.
“I’m afraid you have no choice my love,” he chuckled.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold my tears back anymore so I pressed my forehead against his chest and let them fall. I felt no shame, as I would have if David had been there, crying against Nickolas’s chest. Because I knew Nickolas loved me. Well, the me that he knew. The squishy, vulnerable me that needed him.
Now he needed me, but he was too much of a man to realize that. A man of Nickolas’s time protected women, not the other way around. If only he knew what I was capable of. If only…
I had to kill Dominick Letrell, there was no way around it. If I failed, Neleh would hunt Nickolas down until he was dead. I shuddered at the thought. But if I succeeded — that would change everything. Even if it meant the end of my life, I was willing to risk that to save Nickolas. That thought dried my tears. I was willing to die for Nickolas.
I brought my head up to look at him. The change he saw in my face alarmed him. “What?” he asked.
“I love you Nickolas.”
“I love you too.” But his declaration sounded more like a question. He pinched my chin fondly before taking a step back. “David,” he whispered at my questioning look.
I had just enough time to dry my face before David appeared at my side. “What are you doing?” he demanded.
“Nothing.” Did I sound guilty?
“Are you crying Eva?” He got close to my face as if he didn’t believe I was capable of such an act.
“No!” My face flamed red, giving me away.
His eyes narrowed but Nickolas’s low growl convinced him to take a few steps back. My prince charming sure had a bad temper I thought with satisfaction.
“Are you finished then?” David asked with impatience.
“Finished with what?”
“Saying goodbye.” He glanced at Nickolas and then back at me. The air around us got suddenly thick.
“I’m not going anywhere.” I jutted my chin out and squared my shoulders.
“Yes you are.”
“For what?”
“Wh…”
My plans formulated quickly and I acted on them just as quickly. I needed to buy some time, that’s all. Neleh would send someone for us soon. As long as there was blood and screaming, Dominick would come — David had said so.
“Why should I go back? I could just stay here with Nickolas. You want me to, right Nickolas?” I made my voice as vulnerable as I could manage. “I could just stay here with you.” Would batting my eyelashes be appropriate here? Probably not. Crying? Not yet.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“What are you doing, Eva?” David snapped.
Nickolas appeared undecided. My hope soared. “Eva, I...”
“You have no idea what consequences could...”
“Neither do you.” I turned back to David. I would have to be more careful with him. He’d see right through me. “If I go back now what happens? Best case scenario, she lets the guards kill me swiftly.” Both men flinched.
“I can talk to her.”
“We both know that is not going to do any good.”
“You can’t stay, Eva.” His voice became kinder, softer. “We didn’t...we didn’t plan for this. It wasn’t supposed to be...”
“You betrayed us, David.” Ice crept into my voice. “If you had not lost your nerve, it would have been done by now.”
“My nerve? You think I lost my nerve?”
“Once it was known, what happened and your part in it, the Letrell’s would have destroyed you.”
“That may be so,” he smiled a small lopsided grin towards Nickolas, “but that isn’t why I...” he fumbled for the right word.
“Betrayed us.”
“Eva.” He looked away for me, hiding his eyes. “Damien came to see me. That’s why I had a change of heart.”
I already knew that but I just shrugged.
“It was about a year before Tday. He...he reminded me about things I had forgotten. Things I had chosen to forget.”
“What things?” It was Nickolas who asked. I didn’t like where this was headed.
He looked up and met Nickolas’s eyes briefly, but looked back at me before answering. “I used to consider myself a Letrell. Dominick was...a brother to me.”
A sound of disgust and anger burst out of my chest. “David, don’t say that. Dominick Letrell is a...”
“No, Eva, he’s not. He wasn’t.” He came forward and placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. “But you cannot be blamed for your hatred. It’s all you have ever known.” His eyes held an ancient sadness that sucked the breath out of me.
“David, I hate Dominick Letrell. I hate what he is. What he has done. To Neleh, to you, to me.” He was still shaking his head. Weak! That’s what David was, but not me. Just because David had some epiphany did not affect me whatsoever.
“When Damien came to me and reminded me who I was, I realized what had to be done. You may think of me as a coward, Eva, but I did what I had to do. I could not,” his eyes bore into my face, “I cannot allow you to kill Dominick.”
I threw my head back in distaste. “And what will happen now? You have already let it go too far. Neleh…”
“I ac
cept whatever consequences befall me.”
“You will die? For Dominick Letrell?”
“Yes.” Without hesitation.
This was certainly not what I expected, not from David. “What about us?” I jerked my head to include Nickolas. “You sentence me to die for him too? And Nickolas? We will all die.”
“No one is going to die,” Nickolas said suddenly.
“You don’t know her,” I responded immediately.
“Do not worry. I won’t let her hurt you.”
“That really helps. Especially if you are dead.”
“Eva.”
“I want to stay with you.”
“We have to go, both of us, now.”
“I’ll go back and delay Neleh and the guards,” Nickolas offered.
“No.” David said it before I could. “You need to get as far away as possible. Go find Damien.”
“Damien? No Nickolas, stay away from the Letrell’s.” I grabbed his arm. “We’ll stay away from the Letrell’s,” I corrected.
“Eva, you know you can’t stay here with me.”
“Why?” My voice faltered.
“You’ll always want to kill Dominick.”
“No,” I tried to deny it but we both knew the truth. “We’ll stay away from them. They won’t ever have to know we exist.’
“It’s too late for that.” He glanced warily behind him. Was Dominick coming? My heart sped up in anticipation. “You have to go now, David is right.”
“What if I never see you again? Nickolas, don’t you want me to stay?”
“Not here, not like this. I have already claimed you as mine Eva but you will not stay here and live your life running from Neleh.”
“But you…come with us.”
“Eva,” David was already protesting but I ignored him.
“Come with me, Nickolas, please.”
He shook his head though and my stomach fell to my knees. “The past will not be changed. I know my course and…” he hesitated, “I will follow it through.”
“What course?” He nodded to David, who came forward to take my arm. I jerked myself away from him. “What course?”
“Just take her.”
“No!” Sols and Max appeared as if on cue and took a hold of my arms.
David took out a large syringe filled with a milky white substance. “This will turn out just as its supposed to,” he said solemnly.
