“I’m sorry, this is taking you a long time. I got bored.”
Darius picked up the last few rocks and threw them then walked over and stood over me. “Well, I’m done now so get up.” He held his hand down to me and pulled me to my feet. He pulled a little too much and I stumbled toward him, falling in his arms. “Ooh. Sorry about that.”
I moved myself away to stand up fully. “I’m f—” I paused while looking in his eyes. I’ve never been this close to him before and it was like I was just learning how his eyes pulled one in. It was hard to look away and it made my voice stutter. “I’m fine. Now let’s go find another one.”
I walked back to my horse and just wanted to get this over with. I don’t know what just happened but I couldn’t stay any longer to find out. I still had to get to the vision at some point, probably on our way back.
“Hello? Didn’t you hear me?” I rode up to him with his horse but he was still standing there as if I was still in front of him.
“Yeah, sorry. Let’s go.” He got on and we traveled down the road through a silence, neither of us wanting to bring up what that was about and I was glad.
We came around a turn and saw another obstruction blocking the road.
“I’ve got this one.” I turned around and stopped Darius by putting my hand out.
“All right. Only fair.”
He stayed back but we both got off our horses and I took a few more steps closer. I raised my left hand and the left side of the pile risen out of the road. I moved it up and it was tossed over the high ledge. Then I picked up my right hand and did the same thing on that side.
“That was quick.”
I smiled as I wiped my hands together in victory and walked back. “Yeah. I don’t even know why I bothered to bring you.”
“Adele, lookout!” Darius pushed me out of the way and shielded me with his body while the rocks fell around us. I didn’t even see it coming but was glad one of us did.
Once it was quiet, he looked back and sighed in relief. “That’s why you brought me. Are you all right?” He turned back with his body still close to mine.
I was looking in his eyes again and unfortunately said what I was thinking. “You mean besides me being unusually attracted to you? I’m fine.”
He leaned slightly away with an amused laugh. “What?!”
“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t know you’re good looking.” I guided him away from me so he wasn’t standing so close and I could move.
“No. I know I am. I just didn’t think that you noticed.”
“Why would I say anything unless I had plans to act?”
“Are you?”
I sighed because he seemed hopeful and this was the complete opposite of what I brought him out here to do. “Can we talk?”
“Weren’t we already?”
“This isn’t why I wanted to get you away from them.”
“You wanted to get me alone, why?”
I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out a vial with what was left of the herb and a bit of blood from the dagger Ruby provided for us the night before.
“Oh, Adele, no.”
He turned to walk back to his horse and I swiftly followed. “It’s just something you need to see, Darius. What are you so afraid of?”
He stopped and turned abruptly. “I’m not afraid!”
“And I could always see right through that. You are. You can talk to me. No one is here to judge you.”
“Besides you, you mean.”
“I’m not here to judge. I’m here to help. Why are you afraid to even talk about it?”
“I’m not afraid.”
“Concerned then.”
He let out a long breath and almost started to pace. “Look at me, Adele. I’m not exactly father-material. I know nothing about raising a child.”
“And you think you’re alone in this? I’ve often wondered if I would even be good at it with my low tolerance for patience and human nonsense but every time I see him it gets better and I think all the trials I’ll face will be worth it.”
“Well, I’m not you. I don’t think that.”
“Let me show him to you and then you can decide.”
He stood completely still and did nothing. I knew he was only moments from giving in and I took his hand, gently leading him over to some of the fallen stones.
“It’ll be worth it.”
He still didn’t say anything but he sat on one of the rocks and I guess he was now waiting for me.
I set up everything on the rock in front of him, including my blood and held out my hand for his.
“You can’t puncture my skin that way.”
“How’d Izin get your blood?”
“He punched me in the face.”
I tried not to laugh but couldn’t help myself. “Is that how I should do it?”
He took the dagger from me and barely pressed the blade against his cheek to draw a tiny amount of blood. “No.”
He gave the dagger back to me and I let the drop fall onto Ruby’s. “You ready?”
“No.”
I guess it didn’t matter. I made a spark to light the herb for the very last time until we saw Trever again and the smoke rose in front of us.
I didn’t know what we were going to see this time with just using their blood and mine to induce a vision but I still looked forward to it.
The sound of metal was echoing before we could even see anything. We saw him right away with no build up to it and I looked at Darius. He seemed to be a little more intrigued than I expected but it was a good sign. His son was in the halls of the Senian palace, training in some way with Seth rather aggressively while Troy’s son was practically jogging to keep up.
“Bryce?”
When Troy’s voice bellowed that name, Darius and I both looked at each other then immediately back at the image. Troy’s son turned around to it and we just couldn’t believe it.
“Hey, father.”
Darius’s son turned next while they were still fighting and Seth knocked him down and stomped his foot onto his chest. “You looked away.”
“I know. Get off.” He shoved his foot away and he helped him up.
“Shouldn’t you boys be outside?” Troy asked. He looked amazing. He was older but still just as dignified and there was a group of kids all standing behind him in some kind of uniform with various levels of shock on their faces.
“Sorry.” Seth said. “My fault. I escaladed it.”
“All is well. Why don’t you take a break and join us?”
“We could but first we’d have to put away our gear, get cleaned up and get ready for the day all over again. By then it might be lunch.”
His voice was obvious like he were trying to get out of something but Troy saw through it. “Or—you get on it now and can join us for that lunch.”
“Done.” Darius’s son said quickly. I was hoping at some point we would learn his name.
“Then we’ll be on our way. This way everyone.”
Troy passed them and the crowd nervously followed.
“Janie.” Darius’s son waved to a girl among them but she seemed distant and didn’t make eye contact with him for very long.
“Hey.” Even her voice sounded nervous.
“What was that?” Bryce whispered while they were being led away.
“I think she’s scared of me.”
“Well, you did explode in a fiery rage and almost kill her brother.” Seth said. Darius and I looked at each other again, unsure at all about what that meant.
“But I didn’t mean to.”
“They all seemed a little scared.”
“Maybe we should have gone.”
“You know we’re not ready. I wasn’t lying about that.”
The image faded as they turned away and I let the smoke completely disappear before I thought to say anything but I wasn’t the one that did first.
“He has her hair.”
I looked over at Darius and watched his face with a gentle s
mile to his tone. “Yeah. He does.”
“And her eyes.”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Can we not tell her about this?”
“Why?”
He paused like he was thinking of an adequate answer. “I want her to see it for herself when it happens.”
I smiled and leaned closer to him. “You don’t want to ruin the surprise.”
“No. I guess I don’t.” He said it like he couldn’t believe he just did.
“It’s okay. We won’t tell her and we shouldn’t tell Jaylyn and Troy either.”
He actually smiled. “About Bryce?”
“Yeah. That’s the first time I’ve heard his name. It was weird but I know how Jaylyn will feel. It should be her decision to make so she shouldn’t know about it and feel pressured to.”
“It’s okay. I won’t tell. Can you do it again?”
“You want to see him again?”
“It was so random.”
“It’s always been random. I don’t decide what we get shown and I can’t do it again unless we find Trever.”
“Oh, no.” He stood up immediately. “I guess I can wait but I just wanted to maybe see how I was with him.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine. We’ll all be in it together. We can help each other.”
“How about we just not tell anyone about this?”
“It’s okay. I didn’t intend to. I just wanted to do this for you.”
“Thank you. I guess I have been foolish about this whole thing.”
“Yes you have and you’re welcome.”
We stayed there for a second and just stared at each other until he moved in and kissed me for no apparent reason.
“Darius!” I put my hand on his chest; his solid firm chest.
“I’m sorry.” He said. “I don’t know why I did that. I think I may just be panicking.”
He was being sweet and I gently touched his hands while he tried keeping his eyes off me. “Darius, it’s okay to be nervous about what the future holds but you deserve it every bit as much as I do and you’ll be great at it. I know it.”
“You always seem so sure. Sometimes I wish I could be like you.” He finally met my eyes again and I felt strange; weakening. I didn’t know why. Something about him was just pulling me in and it was like I didn’t have control over my own actions when I was the one to kiss him.
He didn’t pull away like I had, well, not at first. He let it linger and only said something when we needed to take a breath. “Adele, wait. What are we doing? This is wrong.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” I moved away from him, trying not to look at him again. There were only a few times that I’ve ever been this close to him. “It’s completely wrong.”
We both knew that it was but when we looked at each other, everything just changed. He made me feel foolish and weak. We started kissing again and Darius picked me up and pressed me up against the rocks. It seemed so easy for him to hold me there and he kept me balanced while he started pulling on my clothing.
I held tightly onto him and allowed this to continue, not even thinking of the consequences that would follow and he penetrated my body, beginning the makings of our affair.
It was incredible; I couldn’t lie but it wasn’t until after it was already done that I realized what had happened.
I was back on my feet and I fixed my clothes, taking in the guilt already. “I can’t believe I just let that happen.”
“Adele, I am so sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
I felt my insides just start to tighten and I think I was panicking. What have I done? The future we just saw could be different now. I rushed towards the rock that had the blood on it and tried to find even the tiniest piece of that herb so maybe I could create more and look into the future again but I wasn’t finding anything. It was making me shake and tremble.
“Shit! Where is it? I just need one.”
My eyes were watering and it almost seemed impossible to look for one now.
“Adele, stop.” Darius was behind me and tried getting me to my feet. “It’s gone.”
“It can’t be! It just can’t be!”
“It is! Stop!”
He shook me, trying to get me to come to my senses but it only helped a little. “What have we done?”
“I said I’m sorry. I don’t know why proceeded.”
“I think it would be better if we just didn’t talk about it.”
“Okay but please don’t tell anyone.”
“Me not tell anyone? You better not tell anyone!”
“I won’t. It was a mistake. That’s it.”
“Then we both agree. We better keep moving.”
He nodded and we walked to our horses. We traveled the road for a little while longer in total silence, not even looking at each other until we came upon the familiar mountain pass of the north.
“Well, I guess that’s it.” I said. “We can go back now.”
“It seemed longer going the other way.”
He was right. It did but I didn’t want to carry on any kind of conversation. I still couldn’t believe what had happened and I just wanted to get home.
The trip was completely silent again with just the sounds of the horses riding along the path and it was dark by the time we made it back.
“There you are. What took you so long?” Ruby asked. “We finished here a while ago.”
Darius and I paused just through the door but never looked at each other. Of course we couldn’t mention taking the time to see the vision and definitely not about the mistake we made afterwards.
“It was a long way.” I said.
“So, is it done?” Zayden asked. “Or do you have to go back tomorrow?”
“No, we won’t have to go back. We did it all.” Darius replied casually, only making me hold my breath from his choice of words. “I mean, not we as in we. I mean, I did the first one then she did the second one and that was all we did because there wasn’t anything else to do.” He paused and I hoped no one caught on.
I sighed and started walking to the stairs. “I’m going to bed. I’m tired.”
“Yeah, me too.” Darius added as he followed.
I was a bit thankful that no one else did right off but I was not happy either. “Smooth, Darius. Why don’t you just come out and tell them?”
“Like you helped either. Besides, I didn’t mean it to sound like that. I don’t think anyone noticed.”
“You better hope not.”
“So, I never got to ask because you kind of freaked out afterwards but was I better?”
I huffed in frustration to how he could be so calm about this and I raced up the stairs a little quicker to my room and closed the door.
“Are you all right, Love?” Zayden walked in only seconds after me and started undressing to get into bed.
I just smiled to hide it. “Yeah, I’m fine. Why would anything be wrong?”
“I just wanted to make sure everything was okay. You seem edgy.”
“Well—” I was so unsure about telling him. I felt so guilty that I gave myself to Darius but if I was going to tell him, I knew it couldn’t be yet.
“Well, what?” Zayden walked around the bed and got in on the other side.
I turned to him as he laid his head on the pillow next to me. “Something did happen.”
“Something like what?”
“I showed Darius—his son.”
“You did?!” He seemed overly happy. “He was willing?!”
“Shh! I wasn’t supposed to tell.”
“You know I won’t say anything. What did he think?”
“He didn’t openly say but I think he was impressed. He doesn’t want Ruby to know.”
“He wants her to be surprised by the hair color?”
“I think so.”
“He does care.”
“Please don’t say anything.”
He laughed and pulled me closer to him. “I said I won’t.” We started kissing but I only
kept getting flashes going through my mind of my time with Darius and pulled away. “Zayden, not tonight. I’m tired from the day.”
“Are you sure? You know I could make it fun for both of us.”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Okay. I just thought I’d try.”
“And I appreciate the effort. Never stop doing that but tonight, it’s best if we just go to sleep.”
“Okay.” Zayden moved away and laid on his back. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Goodnight.” I leaned in and we kissed one more time before I move back and put my head on his shoulder.
“Goodnight.”
Zayden soon fell asleep but as I laid there, trying to fall asleep, my mind just kept drifting to every possible thing and wouldn’t leave me to have any kind of peace. I was nervous that he would find out about my whole time with Darius and I knew that I had to tell him at some point before this guilt killed me.
Chapter 37
Zayden
I was glad to hear things for Darius might be changing even if it all was secretive, it was a start.
We received our belongings about two weeks later and things started to feel a little more like this place was turning into home but I knew something was still missing. I saw it in Adele as well but I had an idea about how to bring a bigger piece of home to her so we began secretly transforming the back balcony of the palace into the courtyard from Balwin Manor. It had the same layout of obstacles and it was also equipped with a training ring. I remembered one of her visions she first described to me of our son training with the two others and knew she would just love to see it here for herself.
After five days of construction on that alone, it was complete and we went to find her to show her. Jaylyn and I raced around looking for her since we were the most excited about it and found her laying in the study on the second floor.
“Adele!” Jaylyn shouted.
Adele kept her eyes closed while answering. “What?”
“Get up. We have something to show you.” I said.
“I don’t feel like it.”
“Oh, come on.” Jaylyn said. “You’re going to love it.”
We grabbed her arms and pulled her off the couch, making her finally open her eyes. “All right! I’m up. Now what?”
Forgotten Days (Fate's Intent Book 6) Page 16
