“Oh, relax. I’ll just take it off until we get outside.” She removed the crown from her head.
“And put it where?”
“I’ll improvise.” She looked down and lifted up her right leg, slipping her foot through the crown and pulled it to her thigh.
“Be careful with it! It’s special!”
“It’s okay. It’s not getting hurt. As long as you don’t tell her, Bianca won’t know where it’s been. Now, come on.”
“Wait. What?” I stopped Adele from proceeding down the stairs and turned her to me with wide wondering eyes about what she just said.
“What?”
“How do you know her name?”
“Leccan Princess, right? She’s lovely. We’ve met.”
Ruby laughed. “That was a lie. They have met but hate each other.”
Adele sighed. “Can we please leave? I surely don’t want to stand around talking about this.”
“And neither do I.” I agreed. “We’ll get our horses.”
We walked all the way outside without being bothered and walked inside the stables.
“Well? Come on.” I held my hand down to Adele and she looked at me the same way as last time. She didn’t like it.
“I’m not dressed to be riding on the back of a horse.”
“It looks like you’ll have to ride like a lady. Think you can handle that?”
She sighed.
“Don’t worry. It won’t be for that long. It’s not that far when riding.”
She sighed yet again and reached down to her dress. She pulled it up to her hip to reveal the crown on her leg and slipped it off.
“Good idea. You’ll probably need that first.”
She place the crown unhappily back on her head and took my hand. I pulled her up and she held her arms snug around my waist while I led the way out of the palace gate and through the city, hoping we wouldn’t run into anyone she would recognize.
Chapter 29
Ruby
I looked around while we road through the city, happy to get out. The white buildings shone against the setting sun and it just seemed so peaceful here like there really wasn’t a war. The people surely knew about it but you wouldn’t think that by walking these streets. It seemed like such a nice place to live although I don’t know what I’d do about all of this white. It’s everywhere. I’d be afraid just to get the ground outside dirty.
We turned a corner and my eyes widened to the building we were approaching. Its high peeks seemed to climb into the clouds, the sun reflecting off the silver detail, making it look as spectacular as the palace itself. This must have been The Grand and grand it most certainly was. I couldn’t wait to see the inside.
We stopped just out front by the doors and a doorman came out, bowing his head as an immediate response to the presence of the three most respected men in the city aside from the King. “Good evening, your majesty, my lords.”
“Good evening.” Zayden replied. “Full house tonight?”
“Expected to be as full as usual. Do you wish to attend? We always have the royal box prepared for you.”
“I think we will, thank you.” He, Muscles and Troy got down off the horses and appeared as respectable gentlemen, helping us, their disguised lovely lady guests down into their arms.
“I’ll have those horses taken care of for you while you’re enjoying the show. They’ll be ready when you are.”
“Thank you.”
We walked in arm-in-arm and my eyes widened again. The inside was just as marvelous as its exterior. The main lobby was huge with several ticket booths sitting just before the entrances to the theater hall and stairs, curling around large stone pillars.
People already started to show up for the event and were looking to take their seats. Zayden led us up the stairs on the left and we went all the way to the top balcony.
“Wow, couldn’t get a better view, could you?” I asked.
“Welcome to the royal box.” Zayden smiled. “Sit. Sit. Be comfortable. Make yourselves seem important to everyone staring.”
He sat in one of the thrones, Muscles sat two spaces to his left and Troy sat two spaces on his right, leaving the other throne empty. I naturally sat in between Zayden and Muscles and Jaylyn sat on Troy’s right but Adele remained standing just looking at the spot left for her. I tried to hide my smile.
“Are you going to sit?” Zayden asked. “People are watching.”
“Really? Right there?” Her voice seemed nervous and I only tried to hold in my laugh harder with all the stares.
“Of course. I don’t normally allow it but you are supposed to be my bride, are you not?”
“Your pretend bride.” Adele slowly sat next to him like she didn’t really want to but knew she had no choice.
“Not if he could help it.” Troy muttered.
Now it was worse trying not to laugh.
Adele’s eyes widened just slightly and her head snapped in Troy’s direction with an even quicker voice. “What?!”
“Huh? Nothing.”
Zayden sighed while he was looking down at a piece of paper in his hand and writing on it. “Thank you, Troy. That’ll do. Does anyone want anything? I’m making the order.”
Muscles sighed and put his hand on his forehead. “I’m going to need a strong drink to get me through this night. Anything will be fine.”
“Yes, and some food.” Jaylyn added of course.
“What kind of food?”
“Any kind! Preferably not poisoned. I’m starving!”
Zayden laughed as he continued to write. “All right. I’ll be right back.” He stood up with the list and started walking down the stairs in front of us into the public, getting greetings and good wishes along the way.
“Well, would you look at that?” I turned my head in Adele’s direction, seeing her watching Zayden interact with his people and I stalled long enough. I had to say something. “You really are enjoying this, aren’t you?”
“Enjoying what?”
“You know you wish it were for real and it’s because you look so good sitting there.”
“You know, she really does.” Troy said.
“Can everyone just come back for a second and join me in the real world? Because that’s we’re I’ll remain tonight. This is just for show.”
“Then who will get to join Zayden in his perfect fantasy world where he gets to marry you and have the child you dreamt about?” Muscles wondered.
“What?!”
The thought alarmed her and he laughed to it. “Oh, come on! Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. How much more obvious does he need to get?”
“You’re wrong. It could never happen.”
“That’s good. You keep telling yourself that and maybe you’ll stay miserable like you want.”
Oh, no! I quickly grabbed his arm and shook my head then looked to Adele. She just sat quietly in the throne while looking forward. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I was waiting for her to say something back but she never did.
“Come on.” I said, getting up and pulling Muscles with me.
“What?”
“I forgot something on the horse.” He went with me and we walked to the stairs.
“I didn’t even notice you brought anything.”
“Maybe I just thought we needed to get away. Adele takes things a bit seriously.”
“When are they just going to give up and tell each other?”
I laughed. “I don’t know. Maybe never.”
Muscles returned the laugh. “Oh, hey, go ahead to the horse. It’s right around the corner to the right. I’m going to talk to someone for just a minute.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I’ll meet you.”
“Okay.”
I watched him walk over to someone in line for a ticket then continued on outside.
My steps were quick. The sun had gone down even more since we’ve been inside and it was getting dark. This is a place I did not want to be caught alone in a
nd kept my focus in front of me.
Footsteps started to echo behind me. Someone was following me. My hopes told me it was only Muscles but my skepticism kept insisting differently. The footsteps were too steady to be Muscles. He would have jogged from the entrance of The Grand to catch up. No. This was someone else but I kept my paces normal, careful not to seem urgent to get away and nor did I ever plan to turn around and check.
The stables were in sight right around the corner like I was told and I had just a bit of relief until I walked in. I figured there would be people inside tending to horses but there was no one, just stalls upon stalls of beautiful white horses.
I walked through them all and heard even more footsteps behind me. I kept my eyes forward and found the right horse, easily recognized among all the white by its silver mask and the finer detail on the reins.
“There you are.” I opened the stall door and stepped inside. “Keeping it safe for me?”
I went to the horse’s left saddle bag and a voice caught my attention while I stuck my hand inside. “Well. Well. What do we have here?” I turned my head and met the deep blue eyes of a stranger. “You’re an exotic beauty if I ever did see one. What do you think, gents?”
Three other men stepped up around him, blocking the stall door completely. I was not looking forward to this at all but at least someone thought I looked pretty with this mess of a color for hair.
“Most definitely.” One replied.
“What say you to joining us for a little fun?” Another asked. I stayed still with my hand in the bag and didn’t reply. “What’s the matter, girlie? You stupid or something?”
“Maybe she’s a mute.” One suggested.
The one who greeted me first laughed. “Then no one will be able to hear her scream.”
They took a step into the stall and every muscle in my body tensed. I gripped my hand tightly inside the saddle bag and was more nervous than I’ve ever been. It was much unlike myself. I could have taken all of them but I only feared it because I didn’t want to cause any trouble while I was here. Adele would have a few things to say about that and I could already hear them circling in my head.
Thankfully, before I could even pull my hand out to do something about this, Muscles jumped over the stall’s right wall and blocked the four men from getting even closer to me.
They all stopped, surprised by his presence. “Darius!”
“Is there a problem?” He took a small step towards them that made them back up. I could see their fear.
“No problem at all. We were hoping to—”
“Not with my girl you’re not!” His voice startled me but I liked hearing it.
“Oh, she’s your girl, is she? Not something you’d share I take it.”
“She belongs to me and me only! Unless you’re up to challenging that then I suggest you turn around and leave before you make me deal with this my way!” He took a confident step forward, his knuckles cracking while they clenched into fists, his eyes fierce and intimidating, never straying to appear unfocused at any point.
I could tell the men were afraid but they didn’t back up. To my surprise, they moved forward.
“All right then.” Muscles welcomed it. Keeping me behind him, he made sure none passed.
The first punch was thrown. Muscles brought up his right hand, grabbing the man’s forearm then pulled him closer, head-butting him with a strong enough force that knocked him out. It was impressive when he didn’t hesitate to protect me.
The men’s bravery only withered thereafter. They proceeded but not without consequence. Muscles made them look as common fools with little, if not, no fighting skills. They tumbled and caved under his hand until the last man lost all courage and ran for his life out of the stables.
Muscles took an easy breath from the brief workout and turned his calmed attention to me. “You all right?”
My eyes were still from watching what had happened and nodded slowly. “Yeah. I think so.” I pulled my hand out of the saddle bag and my dagger with the ruby handle was clenched tight within it. “Kind of glad I didn’t have to deal with it my way.”
Muscles smiled and stepped closer to me. “We could have worked around that if you did.”
“Well, thank you—for saving me—again.”
“Of course. Nothing will happen to you as long as I’m around.”
I smiled and perked up on my tiptoes to give him a kiss. “I love the benefits of being your girl.”
He smiled back and touched the soft skin of my cheek. “You should. Now I’ve got to clean this up before someone comes out looking for us.”
“Okay. I’ll just put this away.” I looked down and placed the dagger in a small holster that was attached to my thigh. “I had to take it off because of the way I had to sit on the horse. It was jabbing right into me. It wasn’t very comfortable.”
“I bet.” He approached the unconscious bodies of the men he struck down and started dragging them into an empty stall nearby.
He made it look so easy and I enjoyed just watching.
“Need any help?”
My head snapped up and Kole was leaning on one of the stalls by the entrance.
“Kole.” I moved closer to Muscles as he was taking care of the last body. It may have looked like I was being scare of Kole’s presence and I guess I kind of was for his sake. “What are you doing here?”
“Just enjoying the show.”
“You didn’t need to follow us. As you can see―” I took a hold of Muscles’s arm and stood close to him. “I’m perfectly protected.”
“I didn’t doubt it but as you’re aware―” He paused in the sense that he was mimicking me. “Trever trusts no one when it comes to your safety.”
It made me angry to hear but I didn’t want to go on about it in front of Muscles. Trever didn’t own me and I didn’t want him to think that I thought that. “Then what are you doing here?”
He laughed which I guess was a good way to keep the situation light when we were practically trapped in here until he moved. “I’m not no one. Surely, you already knew that.”
“You can leave. We have to get back.”
“To your odd night out choice? Don’t fall asleep.”
He walked out and I let him keep going. I’m sure he would still be around but I wanted to give him a little bit of a head start. “Sorry about him.”
Muscles just smiled and stayed on my side. “It’s okay but you were right. We should go. These guys will be waking up on their own soon with a mild headache while we’re taking his advice and falling asleep to the show.
I smiled and looked up at him while we started to walk back. “You really don’t like things like this, do you?”
“Not completely. It’s something I’ll never suggest in doing but if there’s a time for it, like this, I usually don’t protest.”
“Well, you’re more than welcome to sleep right on me if you’d like.”
He smiled and turned his eyes down to me. “As long as you don’t mention what just happened, I just may.”
“You mean Kole?”
“Well, that and what I had to do before that.”
“Would you get in trouble?”
“Zayden would probably disapprove of the way I handled it.”
“I don’t think you had much of a choice. They didn’t back down.”
“Yeah, but he’d make some kind of excuse. We usually don’t cause trouble that way while we’re home.”
“Well, I won’t tell but watching you was amazing. The way you move, it was so invigorating. I was a little turned on.”
“Is that something we should take care of before we actually get inside?”
A smile crept on my face and I bit my bottom lip, turning it red from the pressure. “I’m afraid we wouldn’t have the time out here without someone looking for us.”
“You think it’d take that long?”
He made the question sound serious and I took a hold of his muscular arm with both my hands inst
ead of just one. “It would since I’ve become used to more than one.”
“Oh, no.” He sighed playfully. “What have I wrought?”
“A very happy woman!”
“For now. What if I can’t give you that when—” His words trailed off but I understood them.
“You’ve never given a woman multiple orgasms before?”
“To be completely honest—I never really cared. It’s actually been so bad that I didn’t care if any of them even got one. Judge me now. I’ve grown to be quite the self-serving person.”
“Somehow I can’t believe that. You’ve been completely selfless since I’ve known you.”
“That was only because you were supposed to be off limits. Even now, after knowing you, I regret that I ever thought that way. You deserve more and I’m trying the best I can.”
I smiled and hopped up to reach his cheek with my lips. “You’re doing marvelously. I wouldn’t ask for anything to be different and you’re not the only one who’s trying. This isn’t exactly how I’m used to doing things either.”
He smiled and swooped me up in his arms quite unexpectedly. I laughed to the surprise and he raced with me up the stairs back to the royal box.
“Zayden not back yet?” I was set back on my feet and noticed he still wasn’t there.
“Where have you been?” Adele snatched, turning her head towards me like I didn’t just ask a question about Zayden.
I was careful though. I didn’t mention anything I wasn’t supposed to like seeing Kole who was probably somewhere in this crowd with Ryon or how Muscles had to put a few people in their places. “Just needed something. You okay?”
“Fine.” Adele turned her head back to look towards the stage and seemed just as emotionless as before.
I didn’t get it. I looked at Muscles and he just shrugged his shoulders while placing his feet back on the table.
“Well, this should be great.” Zayden appeared from behind us, retaking his seat next to Adele. “The stuff will be up in a minute.” No one replied. We all remained quiet since Adele stopped talking and Zayden was starting to notice. He looked around at us sitting still and saw the look on Adele’s face. “What’s the matter? Did I miss something?”
Deciding Skies (Fate's Intent Book 2) Page 16
