Despairing Tides (Fate's Intent Book 12)

by Bowles, April

  “Very well. Best start preparing.”

  Trever smiled and nodded as Oren walked off with Vera and Rory. He looked back up to see Jaylyn and the others standing there.

  “You have some serious explaining to do.” Jaylyn said, in a less than happy tone.

  Trever smiled to himself. “Yes, I suppose I do.”

  “I’ll just leave you to that.” I said.

  “Thank you.” Trever replied. “You really did well with him. I am grateful.”

  “You’re absolutely welcome. It was our pleasure.”

  “We’ll talk more later.”

  “Yes. You have something else to do.”

  Jaylyn was still waiting by and still didn’t look happy.

  “Yes.”

  I let them have the conversation alone. I heard the story once. It was a sad one. I didn’t need to be retold.

  Rory was finally a man and he got his Princess. Things could finally start to get back to normal around here. It would be weird.

  Chapter 45

  Bryce

  The next morning, we said our farewells to Trever and Rory as well as Oren and Vera and wished them safe travels back to Kalu. We knew we would be seeing them again and probably soon because there was something else that we promised to do once this was all settled.

  I was laying out in the outdoor lounge with Naomi later that morning, holding her through a silence. Thoughts of what I would say were going through my mind.

  Naomi let out a relaxing sigh as she snuggled her head against my chest and I smiled as I looked down. “What is it?”

  “Nothing. Just thinking about life.”

  “Well, that’s something.”

  “I guess.”

  “Then what about it are you thinking?”

  “I don’t know. Just looking back on everything that’s happened so far and wondering what could possibly be next.”

  I smiled to myself and knew this was a good time to mention it. “Lots of things.”

  “You think so?”

  “Of course I do. I want to marry you.”

  “What?” Naomi seemed surprised as she sat up and looked back at me.

  “Well, don’t you want to marry me? We’ve been together for a long time.”

  “Are you officially asking me?”

  “I might be.” I smiled as I took her hands.

  Naomi continued to smile and leaned in close to my lips. “Then I might be officially answering. It’s a yes.”

  I smiled again as she laid her body on mine and we started kissing while I reached into my pocket. “Then here. You’ll need this.”

  I held out a little wooden box and opened it in front of her eyes, revealing the ring I picked out for her. It was a large marquis diamond set in a gold setting.

  She bounced right off me to sit completely up. “Bryce! It’s beautiful!”

  “Then it’s yours.” I slipped it on her finger and it fit perfectly.

  “I love you so much.”

  She kissed me and it was the most perfect kiss. I really did love her and I wanted her to be my wife a long time ago. No one could ever claim her once she was and it was something we both needed.

  Chapter 46

  Dirk

  How was I going to ask her a second time so it didn’t seem obvious? It was actually kind of fun to think of a way and I went right up to my room to see her.

  “There you are.” Lana said. I just groaned and fell back on the bed. “What’s the matter?”

  “Tired.” I snatched. “I’ve had a long four fucking weeks and I’m just glad it’s over.”

  “Oh, what?” Lana smiled as she sat next to me. “You miss not having him around here, don’t you?”

  “Can we not do this now, please?” I asked in an irritated tone.

  “What? I was just saying.”

  “Well, don’t! I’m fine!”

  “All right. I get it. You’re in a bad mood.”

  “No I’m not.”

  “Yes you are!”

  “I said everything is fine! Would you just stop?” A pigeon started pecking the window and I looked over and acted like it was bothering me. “Would you get that stupid bird away from the window? It’s giving me a headache.”

  Lana was mad at me but she looked over and saw what it was. “It’s a messenger bird.”

  “Yeah, great.”

  Lana rolled her eyes at me and went to it. “Hey there, girl. What’s the news?” She brought her hand down to the pigeon’s foot and took out the message then let the bird sit out on the balcony.

  It flew off and I slowly sat up and watched her reaction as she read it. Her eyes got wide as she quickly turned around and saw me smiling.

  This made her smile and she walked back to me. “You are the most horrible, sadistic person I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing so of course I will marry you publically. Does this mean your father knows?”

  “Yes, down to the day but he still wants us to do it publically.”

  “I knew that was coming eventually and I’m perfectly happy to marry you a second time. There’s no point in even asking me.”

  “That’s why I didn’t.”

  Lana smiled and she pushed me back onto the bed and kissed me. “Does this mean I get to wear my ring now?”

  “Openly. Yes.”

  She sprung right off me and went over to the drawer she always kept it in. “Finally. I love you.”

  I smiled. “I know. We’re just waiting on others to ask then we have to meet with our fathers at sundown to discuss further details.”

  “Is it weird that I’m excited?”

  “No. I always knew you’d want to do it with our family present. Now we get to.”

  Chapter 47

  Seth

  I think I’m the procrastinator of the group. I seemed to put this off most of the day and my father found me while I was walking through the main hall. “Seth!”

  “Yes, father?”

  “How’s it coming with the—arrangement?”

  “Slowly.”

  “Nervous?”

  “Extensively.”

  “Reason?”

  “Method.”

  “Ideas?”

  “None.”

  “Advice?”

  “Please.”

  He laughed. “Just make it simple. It’s less likely to go wrong that way since she’ll remember the moment you ask for the rest of her life.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, your mother still brings up the time I asked her.”

  “Well, what did you do?”

  “It was very simple because I just asked but it was still special because the night before we had a huge fight and I did it letting her know that I was passed it. Now, I’m not saying at you should go and have a fight and then do it but make it special. Something that the both of you can relate to and do it in a way that she’ll never want to forget.”

  I honestly didn’t know if I were up for it and sighed.

  My father only smiled and put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’ll do fine. You’re forgetting you are my son. You should go do it. It’s almost sundown.”

  “What about the others?” I asked. “I haven’t seen them.”

  “They’ve already sealed the deal.”

  “So, where are they?”

  “Celebrating it, of course. You better go and get it over with so you have time to do the same before we start discussing a date.”

  “Thank you, father.” I turned away to find her.

  “Good luck!”

  I walked out of the palace towards the stables where Cadence was brushing her horse. “There you are.”

  Cadence didn’t look up but knew who it was. “Been looking for me?”

  “No, I just missed you.”

  “Really because you usually only miss me when I’ve been gone for a few days and you haven’t had sex in that time and I know that can’t be it because I’ve been here and thoroughly remember waking up to it this morning.”
<
br />   I smiled. “What, I can’t just miss you?”

  “No, you’re making me suspicious.” Cadence laughed. “This isn’t like you. You want something.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “I know you. So, just tell me what it is so I can say no and we can get on with our lives.”

  “Well, maybe I don’t want you to say no.”

  “Then it better be something worth saying yes to.”

  “Will you marry me?” I asked it in a completely calm relaxed tone, making Cadence drop the brush.

  She slowly bent down to pick it up and looked at me. “Are you serious?”

  “It’s what I want. Was I wrong to think it’s what you might want too?”

  “No. It’s what I want. It’s our responsibility to, remember?”

  “That’s not why I want to. I want to because it’s you and I love you. I want to make it forever if you’ll let me.”

  I held out a ring that had a large round lavender stone like her eyes set in a silver setting.

  She started to cry when she saw it. “Oh, Seth! It’s gorgeous!”

  “Then will you?” I slid it on her finger while she just stared down at it.

  “Of course I will.”

  I took her in my arms and lifted her up so I could carry her out of here. I knew she wouldn’t think the atmosphere was romantic and I took her all the way up to our room so we could celebrate taking the next step in our union the right way.

  Chapter 48

  Darius

  It was sundown now and we waited for our sons in the conference room to make the wedding arrangements.

  “It’s about time you got here.” Zayden said. “I was hoping we weren’t going to have to do this for you.”

  “Of course not, father.”

  “Good. How do you plan on doing this then?”

  They looked confused.

  “The traditional way?” Bryce answered.

  “He means if you plan on doing it on the same day or not.” Troy explained.

  “Isn’t that what you did?” Dirk wondered.

  “Yes, it was better that way, trust me.” I said. “You won’t want to sit through the same thing three separate times.”

  “It sounds like you’ve already made up our minds.” Seth said.

  “Yes, well, it’ll make it easier on everyone.” Zayden replied.

  “And will the girls want that?” Bryce asked.

  “Why wouldn’t they?” Troy wondered.

  “Who cares?” I cut in. “If the center of attention thing is bothering you, than just do what we did at our wedding.”

  At the same time, Zayden and Troy both sighed and sat back in their chairs from my mentioning of it.

  “What?” Seth asked.

  “Well, for starters, Zayden decided to give his speech while being drunk as fuck, followed by a charming vocal performance.”

  “Shit, Zayden, you were really drunk?” Dirk asked with a smile. “I can’t picture you drunk.”

  “Why not?”

  “I just can’t. I don’t even think we’ve seen you even a little drunk.”

  “It’s been awhile.” Zayden admitted. “But I try not to let myself because I have moral responsibilities to uphold but I’m not lying when I say I miss the good days.”

  “When was that?” Seth asked.

  “Before you three were born.” I answered. “When there was nothing to do but drink, smoke or watch Adele show off her breasts.”

  Our sons all gasped and Zayden used his speed and grabbed my arm. “Hold your tongue before I remove it.”

  “She really did that around you?” Bryce wondered. “Shit, I wish I was there to see it.”

  “Fuck, yeah!” Dirk smiled as they touched fists behind Seth’s chair.

  “Hey! Don’t talk about my mother around me.”

  “Enough!” Zayden interrupted. Everyone got quiet. “That was one time, it wasn’t even for their sight and we’re way off topic. We’re supposed to be picking a day, remember? Not conversing about your Queen, she wouldn’t appreciate that?”

  “And what exactly is it I wouldn’t be appreciating?” Adele walked in holding an old book and a few dusty scrolls.

  “How do you know it’s about you?” Zayden asked.

  “Oh, please, darling. I may pretend to be but Fate knows I’m no lady.”

  “Isn’t that the truth.” I muttered.

  Adele walked behind me to get to Zayden and hit me with all the stuff she was carrying. “I’m always at the other end of a male conversation. It was him wasn’t it?” She looked right at me. “It was you wasn’t it?”

  I smiled. “What makes you say that?”

  “Because it’s always you.”

  “Then why’d you bother to ask?”

  Adele silently laughed to herself as she dropped all the stuff she was holding. Dust kind of went everywhere.

  “What is all of this?” Zayden asked.

  “I really hoped you haven’t picked a day yet because I’ve just spent the last week looking for the perfect one and made a few significant discoveries you should hear about.”

  “But we haven’t even asked them until today.” Seth said. “How did you know?”

  Adele smiled. “Never too early to start planning these things. We all knew it was going to happen eventually and it couldn’t have come at a more ideal time.”

  “Then tell us.” Zayden said. “So we can start the other preparations.”

  “All right, first of all, take everything you know about the forming of our nations and just throw that right out the window and get ready to hear the truth. It started almost five thousand years ago before the world was ruled by man.” She opened up a scroll and we looked at an image of a man looking up to the heavens as a falling star came down towards him. “This image shows the coming of man’s first gift to start a new life, metal, formed out of this great gift that fell from the sky.”

  “Yes, we know that already.” Troy said. “That’s how the founder of Kalu made the first sword and enchanted it.”

  “Yes but until now that was only initially to be believed.” Adele took out another scroll an opened it. “He did create that first sword but he’s not the one to enchant it.”

  “How do you know?” Seth asked.

  “It’s been in the back of my mind for years. If he indeed was a sorcerer, the very people attached to his bloodline would be as well but they’re not. Trever and Jaylyn were the only living ancestors at the time and grew up completely normal until they got their powers from Madam Carla and don’t bring up all the weird shit Trever’s done around us, that’s something entirely different. Anyway, this shows that there’s no way he could have been.”

  “So, what did it?” Zayden asked. “What enchanted that sword to make it do the things it did?”

  “This.” Adele opened the book and flipped to a page with an illustration of a comet and writing around it. “The stone that fell from the sky came from this. It’s known as Summer’s Comet. Said to hold great power and a part of that power was left in the metal that was soon to be the Great Lion Sword but it wasn’t the only one if it’s kind as the comet passed west to east leaving another somewhere else. At midway summer, eighth month, thirtieth day, Summer’s Comet passed over the very field that would soon become this city and dropped a gift upon another, the founder of Seni and out of it, the second sword was created, a sword that’s always been around through the centuries and is now carried by one of us.”

  Seth put his hand down on his sword. “You don’t mean—”

  “Yes, that’s right.” Adele lifted her hand and took it out of its sheath. “This sword.”

  “But what does it do?” I asked. “We’ve never seen it show power like the other one and the Vendel line has never been broken.”

  “The enchantments are different.” Adele said as she took the sword in her hand. “This sword does not show the true heir and bind itself to him. I imagine its secrets have yet to be unlocked because n
o one knew of its power.”

  “And you know what it does?” Zayden asked.

  “Summer’s Comet gave Ashvanghosha its strength. That’s how it has survived this long. The Great Lion Sword only did because it was hidden away for centuries and never used but this sword, this sword has through generations. It’s harder than the surface of a diamond and therefore can never break but is light weight and if you ask of it, it can slice through anything.”

  “What do you mean, if you ask it?” Seth wondered.

  “If you really want it to, it will cut through anything even other metal.”

  “Really?” Dirk wondered. “Well, let’s see it.”

  “You do it, Seth.” Adele held the sword out to him by the blade. “It must be quick.”

  He smiled as he stood up and took it from her. He then quickly swung the blade at the table in front of him twice and stopped.

  “What’d you do?” Bryce asked as he looked down.

  Seth kneed the side of the table and a perfectly cutout piece fell to the floor.

  “Oh shit.” Dirk muttered.

  “Even now it remains flawless.” Adele said. “Just think of what it could do to an armored foe.”

  Seth smiled back as he put his sword away and fixed the table with his other gift before sitting back down.

  “Well, what makes this all lead up to the perfect day?” Zayden asked.

  “The comet’s return.” Adele answered as she turned the page. “Said to be a glorious sight as the greatest wonder of the world. It’s a once in a lifetime chance and it only comes around once every five thousand years.”

  “Being when?” Troy asked.

  “Eight month, thirtieth day at sundown, this year.”

  “That’s in like six weeks.” Dirk said.

  “And the perfect time to celebrate your day with the makings of this country.”

  There was a pause and everyone looked at each other.

  “Well.” Zayden said as he looked down at the date book and flipped to that date. “That day is free. Any objections?” There was another pause. “No? Great. It’s officially penciled in. No changing it.”

  “Excellent.” Adele gathered all the stuff she brought into a pile on the table and picked it up. “I’ll just get this put back and then we can start preparations.”