Leaf held out his hands, and she walked over to him and sat next to him on the bed. “Congratulations on today.”
She smiled and laid her head on his shoulder. “Thank you.”
“I share your frustrations,” he said quietly.
She sat up and looked at him. “About Syney?”
He nodded. “I decided to follow Adam as much as I can.”
“Why him and not Syney?”
“I think he’s a big part of what’s going on, whatever it is that Syney is trying to hide. I also don’t think I could get away with following Syney; I think she might have converted Reed to her cause or whatever she’s go up her sleeve. If Reed sees me, and he’s good, then he’ll tell her,” Leaf said holding Helen’s hand.
“She does have a way with wolves,” Helen said, smiling at him.
“There is something I was hoping you could do.”
“Anything.”
“Get closer to Noelle. She’s Syney’s closest confidant. I’m hoping if she feels more comfortable with you, she might open up and tell you what’s going on.”
Helen nodded. “Good idea. I like Noelle. And maybe I could even befriend Gabriel.”
Leaf gave her a stern look. “No.”
“You said yourself that both Noelle and Adam spend a good deal of time with him, and we both know Syney does. He might be the key to all of this.”
“Oh, I know he is. But that doesn’t mean I trust him. Especially around you.”
She smiled. “Because you love me.”
Leaf smiled back and kissed her lightly. “Because I love you,” he said, squeezing her hand. “And about the Protector thing…I’ve asked Ivy to keep an eye on you.”
“You’ll get into trouble for that.”
“No, I won’t. The Elder Lycin Council found her at fault for Cass’s kidnapping and stripped her of being a guard. I had them reassign her as my personal assistant so I could keep her in the palace. She’ll be personally assisting me by watching you.”
“All right,” Helen said, stealing another kiss. She was OK with this plan and hoped something would come of it. She missed her sister and would do anything to find out what had happened to her—anything.
The queen sat back on her throne. It was getting harder to stand. It was getting harder to breathe, even. It was time to move forward with her plan, but she kept hitting a wall. The damn girl was never alone, not even when Mellisandrianna called her to a private meeting. It was suspicious and made her very uncomfortable. It was as if Syney knew everything that was going on, which made her even more dangerous. “We need some adjustments,” she told Grass.
The wolf nodded. “How so? You don’t want her dead anymore, right?”
“Right, but I do need her vulnerable.”
Grass slowly smiled. “She has a few vulnerable spots.”
“Let’s see what we can do for her friends,” Mellisandrianna said, spitting the last word out with contempt. Connections with others were the basis of weakness.
“I know of some royals who aren’t entirely happy with their future king.”
She grinned at him. “See if any of them would be willing to take some matters into their own hands, as soon as you can. I’ll work on that assistant of hers.”
“What about the Vampire?”
She looked away with a shake of her head. Gabriel McMann had been a thorn in her side for as long as she had known him, which was a very long time. He always put himself where he didn’t belong and where he wasn’t welcome. And he also was very dangerous. “Leave him. The others are easier targets.”
Grass bowed and headed for the door. He stopped when the queen called out to him.
“Just because we don’t want Syney dead doesn’t mean you and your wolves can’t put her in her place,” Mellisandrianna said sweetly.
Grass smiled. “Yes, ma’am.”
She watched him go and felt a little better. Once Syney’s support was gone, she would be open for whatever Mellisandrianna needed of her. Everything was going to run smoothly from now on.
Syney wrung her hands and paced in front of her bed. She glanced at Gabe, who lazily lounged on her couch, staring back at her. “You know how you said you bound my energy stuff?”
“Yes.”
She stopped. “Can you do it again? But for some of the other stuff too?”
“No. Is that all? I have somewhere to be.”
Syney rolled her eyes. “Noelle and your bed can wait.”
“I need you to use and train with your powers, not get rid of them,” he said.
“I know that. It’s just…Adam and I have been doing some magic every day, and the energy is building again. I’ve had to get rid of it five times this month. It’s getting frustrating,” she said, sitting down across from him.
Gabe sat forward. “You’re extremely powerful. That’s just something you have to deal with.”
“And I have no problem doing that once everything is settled. But now I live in a place where doing magic might get me into trouble.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “What’s this really about?”
Syney avoided his eyes. She knew he would see right through her but she had to take the chance. It had happened the night before. She and Adam had done some magic—nothing too difficult—then gone to sleep. Well, not straight to sleep. They were making love when it happened. Syney felt a little drained after having done the spells earlier and started to feel more so while they were being intimate. Her mind had drifted to that fact when suddenly Adam got a dazed look on his face and started to breathe funny. Syney looked at her hands and watched as they literally drew the life force out of her fiancée. She pushed him off her, and the second they weren’t touching, he shook his head and came out of the daze. He had no idea what had happened. Syney, her heart pounding, told him it was nothing. For some reason he believed her and didn’t ask anything else. But that was just too close for Syney. She wasn’t a life-stealing being, no way.
“I just think having this much power is dangerous,” she said. “I don’t want it all gone. Just the big stuff, like the energy and the healing.”
Gabe sat back and eyed her for a few moments. “This is about last night with Adam, isn’t it?”
Syney immediately felt embarrassed and angry. “Does he tell you everything?”
“Yes. Everything that has to do with you—especially when you suck the life out of him,” Gabe said.
She sighed. “Is that what I did?
He shrugged. “I’m not sure, wasn’t there.”
“I think I did,” she said slowly. “And that scares me.”
Gabe stared at her for a moment before nodding. “Scares me too. But I don’t think this is the answer.”
“It has to be. I never did this before last night, and I did a whole day of magic at Becca’s.”
He sat forward again. “If I do this, you won’t be safe.”
“How safe am I with it? If anyone sees me throwing energy, I’ll be killed.”
“Not if you kill them first.”
“Which you know I won’t.”
Gabe reached out his hands. “Fine. I’ll do it. But you need to get used to the whole killing thing. It’s going to happen eventually.”
Syney shook her head. “Not if I can help it.” She placed her hands in his and watched as he closed his eyes and whispered some words. After a moment she felt a jerk, as something inside of her had just stopped. She felt empty. She’d gotten so used to having magic flow through her that she missed it now that it wasn’t.
Gabe opened his eyes. “Don’t go anywhere without Reed or Adam or me.”
Syney pulled her hands away from him. “I won’t.”
He stood up. “And make sure you always have your knife. And don’t stop practicing magic. Just because I bound your natural abilities doesn’t mean you’re powerless.”
“OK.”
He shook his head and headed to the door.
“Thank you!” Syney yelled as he charged out of the r
oom. She rolled her eyes. She had gotten so accustomed to his being upset that it was like second nature now. The only one who seemed to be able to calm him down was Noelle. He’d been especially prickly since he’d taken Cass to Becca’s house. He wasn’t happy that the princess was involved in his master plan at all, which nixed the idea of letting Helen in on everything. Syney had felt horrible about lying to Helen about Cass, but there wasn’t much else she could do.
Her anger still hadn’t simmered when Adam walked into the room in his usual suave manner. He smiled and gave her a quick kiss. When she didn’t respond, he frowned. “What did I do?”
“Who says you did anything?
“You have your angry face on.”
“I don’t have an angry face!”
“Yes, you do,” he said, sitting down on the bed. He pulled her to stand in front of him, between his legs. “Are you angry about something?”
Syney sighed. “Yes. But that doesn’t mean I have an angry face!”
He laughed but stopped after she scowled at him. “Sorry. What’s wrong, honey?”
“I’d just appreciate it if you didn’t go running to Gabe with everything. Especially if it happens in our bed,” she said, trying to sound stern.
Adam let out a breath. “He wasn’t supposed to tell you.”
“Well, he did, when I brought it up to him.”
“You’re right. I shouldn’t have gone to him. I was just worried, and you blew it off last night.”
“Because I was scared!” she yelled, sitting next to him.
“When you’re scared is the most important time for you to talk to me.”
“How did this turn into you telling me what to do?”
“Why are you getting so angry about this?” Adam yelled.
“Because I don’t want everyone knowing everything!”
“It’s Gabe! Not everyone!”
She jumped up. “Next time don’t go to him before we talk about it!”
Adam shook his head. “He knows more about your powers than we do.”
“And I get that! But we’re going to become us soon, and there have to be some ground rules.”
He stood up. “OK, ground rule one: open communication!”
“Sounds great!”
“Two! No secrets!”
“Fine! Don’t have any!”
Adam stared at her.
“What?” she said. “I don’t!”
He shook his head. “You told me you were all in,” he said quietly.
“I am!”
“No secrets.”
“None!”
“So you’re not sharing dreams with your ex-boyfriend.”
Syney stopped, her mouth open. Then she looked away. There were only two people who knew about that, Noelle and Cass. No wonder Gabe had been so testy after taking Cass away. He could read her mind just fine. She was beginning to like Leaf’s idea of kicking Gabe out on his ass. “I have no control over that.”
“It’s not about doing it, Syney. It’s about lying about it.”
“Lying like you did for months when we first met?”
He shook his head. “That was different, and you know it. I haven’t lied once since that night at Becca’s. You’re the only one who actually knows the real me.”
She sighed. “The second I realized Hunter and I were sharing dreams, I told him.”
Adam looked away and cleared his throat. “So these dreams weren’t PG.”
“They were just dreams.”
“But they weren’t.”
“I didn’t know that at the time,” she said. “Ugh. This is a no-win situation. You’re going to be mad at me no matter what I say.”
Adam stared at the floor for a moment before heading toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Syney asked.
“Out.”
“What about ground rule number one?”
Adam looked at her, his whole face deflated. “I can’t communicate right now without saying things I don’t really mean. I’ll see you later.” He slammed the door behind him.
Syney dropped onto the bed and put her face in her hands. A fight wasn’t what she’d wanted. It had been a long day, and it was only the afternoon. Everything that was happening with her magic was frightening, which made her even crankier than usual. She hated taking any of it out on Adam. But that was all he was going to get if he kept bringing up Hunter. It was easier when Syney had thought she’d had a clean break, but Hunter was still there—literally—in her mind. She knew she couldn’t keep both of them, but that meant she had to find a way to break the connection she had with Hunter, which she had zero idea how to do.
She crawled up the bed and lay on the pillows, her eyes closing. She hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, and it was catching up to her now. Maybe a little nap would do her some good. She knew it was a bad idea the second she opened her eyes and stared out at beautiful blue water with tiny white lights running along the surface. It was breathtaking and calming at the same time. Without having to turn around, she knew Hunter was there.
“What are you doing asleep in the middle of the afternoon?” she demanded, spinning around.
Hunter was lying on the ground, his arm draped over his eyes to block the bright sun. “I was on patrol all night,” he said, exhaustion filling his voice. “So if you could keep it down, I think if I just sleep here, I might feel more rested when I wake up.”
“I have to get out of here,” Syney said, pacing along the water’s edge. It had become second hand to her now, pacing. It was the only way she could get her nervous energy out.
“Could you pace a little more quietly?”
She rolled her eyes and looked out at the water. This was a different place than where she and Hunter had met the last few times. “Is this the Great Lake?”
“Uh-huh.”
“So you and your troops have settled north?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Have you gone over the border yet?” She turned around after he didn’t answer. He had sat up and was staring at the ground. “You OK?”
Hunter slowly looked at her and shook his head.
She gave him a sad smile. “Me either.”
“Can you find a way to break this?” he asked her.
“I have to,” she said with a sigh. She looked back at the lake. Whatever this was, she needed to break it for her own sanity.
After a moment Hunter stood up and wrapped his arms around her. “When you do, don’t wait. Just do it.”
She closed her eyes against the tears that were coming. She understood and even agreed with what he was saying. It still hurt, though.
He backed away from her and looked out at the water. “We’re moving over the border soon. There have been a few scuffles with Shifters already. We’re definitely in the right place.”
Syney shook her head. “I hate the idea of the guards doing this.”
Hunter crossed his arms. “I have a feeling that so many are going to die. We already have ten injured.”
She bit her lip and let the tears fall. “You’re not going across the border, though, right?”
He sighed. “I have to.”
“No, you don’t!”
“I can’t ask them to do something I know is wrong and not go myself.”
“That’s just stupid,” she cried.
“Syney.”
“No, you can’t do it! It’s too dangerous!”
“Syney.”
“I can’t lose you!”
He sighed and cupped her face. “I’ll do everything I can to not die. I promise.”
She closed her eyes as he kissed her lightly. “Be careful.”
“I will.”
“If you do die, I’ll call you back here and berate you for as long as I can!” Syney looked away from him. That was it. She had been looking to books that were left behind to answer some of her questions, but she needed to ask someone who knew about her powers personally. She had to call Amelia forth.
Hunt
er pulled her face back to him and kissed her again. “When I come back, I’m coming for you. You’re mine, Syney Andrews.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but a banging on the door jerked her awake. She looked around the empty room and took a deep breath. The door banged again, and this time Leaf barged into the room carrying something wrapped in a red blanket. Syney jumped off the bed as she realized it wasn’t something but someone.
There wasn’t really a place Adam liked to go. He preferred to move around while he thought things through. He had made it once around the palace before he finally made up his mind to leave. He had tried, but it just wasn’t working. His relationship with Syney was completely one-sided. He had put everything into it, but she was still holding back. He couldn’t deal with it anymore; it hurt too much. He stopped in the Great Hall and leaned against the wall. Who was he fooling? There was no way he was going to leave. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to put his foot down. He would have to tell Syney they needed to start over. The first thing they had to do was go over everything. No more secrets. And then they needed to find out how to break Syney’s dream connection with Hunter. There was no way she could keep both him and Hunter.
Adam had pushed off the wall and started toward Syney’s room when four men blocked his way. He looked up at Brian and smiled. “Hey, man. It’s been a while.”
“Yeah, it has. You’ve been real busy around here,” Prince Brian said, with a cocky grin and his blue eyes flashing playfully.
Deviation: Altera Realm Trilogy Book 2 Page 27
