Decadence (Tree of Life Series Book 1)

by Nichole Austin

  When I sit across from Rosalyn, she hugs her knees to her chest. Leaning forward in my chair, I prop my elbows on my knees and clasp my hands. “What’s wrong, amare?” There I go again, slipping up by calling her that. Glancing away, I hope she doesn’t ask what it means. There is no way I’m going to tell her that I’m calling her “love”. She’ll run for the mountains or use her powers on me. She’s not ready to hear that, and I don’t know why I keep saying it.

  “Lawrence?” The questioning tone in her voice has me looking back at her. “What did you want to talk about?” she asks with a shaky smile while tugging on her hair.

  “Are you going to take Xavier back?” I ask as the cords in my neck thicken, and I chew on my lower lip. “I can’t take this much longer. When I came around the corner, you were telling him that all he needed to do was answer your questions and that would fix everything,” I say bluntly. “Where do I stand in all this? Does that mean you’ll just brush me to the side and pick up with Xavier where you left off?” My heart rate increases, and my hands feel clammy. I’ve spent the last few weeks getting to know and falling for this stunning girl. Losing her could mean I’ve lost my chance at truly having love for the first time. My heart can’t handle it, and to lose her to a man like Xavier would break me down to a husk of a man.

  Studying Rosalyn, I notice tears shimmering in her eyes as she runs her hands through her curly hair. “Lawrence,” she begs, “please don’t ask this of me right now. I’m begging you. I’m barely hanging on by a thread with everything everyone is demanding of me.” Her legs fall to the floor as she curls her arms around her middle. Watching my girl beat herself up is the hardest thing for me to do, but she needs to understand the turmoil I’m going through.

  My lips set to a firm line, and regret courses through me as I say, “Rosalyn, I need an answer. I can’t pursue you romantically if I’m going to be thrown to the side as soon as things are fixed with Xavier. You have to see where I’m coming from.”

  Her eyes get a far-away look before she wrings her hands. She bites the inside of her cheek before murmuring, “Xavier practically raised me. I never imagined that we would begin a romantic relationship, but the minute I thought we were going to, I saw him kissing my mother. There’s no trust there, but there’s a connection. I’m confused, so I can’t give you an answer. I’m sorry.” Her eyes meet mine at the end, and a tear falls down her cheek, which she wipes away with the back of her hand.

  Leaving my chair, I cross to hers and grasp her face. I’m about to break both our hearts right now. Gazing into her eyes, I sadly smile as my voice breaks. “I can’t pursue a relationship with you while you’re still making up your mind. We can be friends, but I won’t allow it to go any further.”

  Tears fill her eyes as she lets out a sob. Hearing her anguish, I pick her up and set her on my lap. Gently, I rub her back until she calms down because there’s nothing else I can do to make it go away, but I can hold her until she falls asleep. When her breathing finally evens out, I place her in her bed under her covers. Leaning down, I kiss her forehead, and a ragged breath leaves my mouth. “Pick me, Rosalyn. You’re what makes my heart beat, the reason I breathe, and I’ll never leave your side. If I have to stay as your friend, then that’s where I’ll stay because anywhere you are is where I want to be.” But what she doesn’t know is that every second she keeps me as her friend, I’ll die a little inside.

  Chapter Ten

  Xavier

  Who does Lawrence think he is? I’ve watched him and Rosalyn over the past few months, and to say I’m furious would be an understatement. There are so many times I wanted to rip him away from her. I’ve raised her into the woman she is. He isn’t going to steal her from me, not when we’re meant to be. It’s time for me to get rid of him so I can lay claim to the woman I love.

  Knowing no one will stop me, I take off down the guard’s corridor in the middle of the night to Lawrence’s chamber. At this time of night, he’ll be fast asleep. Opening his door slowly, I quietly walk to his bed. My lip curls because he’ll never see me coming. When I reach his bed, I find him wrapped up in his black bed covering. I rip him out by his neck and throw him against the wall. An energy ball comes barreling toward me, and I quickly throw up a ward around me, blocking it before it hits. If this waste of space thinks that’s going to do anything to me, he’s sadly mistaken.

  Energy balls come at me, one after another, as he stands up, barreling toward me. Shaking my head, I bark out a laugh. “Do you really think you can beat me, Lawrence?” Dropping the ward surrounding me, I charge at him, slamming him against the wall across from his bed, his head narrowly missing the bureau. He’s lucky his head didn’t bust open with how hard I slammed it against the stone. Lawrence’s fist comes up and slams into the side of my face, and I’m thrown to the side of him.

  Getting up, he walks toward me. His eyes narrow as he snarls. “If you really think this is the way to Rosalyn’s heart, you’re as deranged as I thought. She’ll never forgive you if something happens to me.”

  Roaring, I throw him against the wall using my telekinesis and start to strangle him from across the room. My breaths come in short pants as my fists clench at my sides. “I told you to stay away from her, and you refused to listen. Because of that, you’re going to die.” I continue to choke him until I see a white nightgown flash by me.

  A scream sounds. “No!”

  Through the haze of my anger, a voice cuts through. Xavier, if anything happens to him, I’ll never forgive you.

  The haze of my anger is broken when I’m thrown across the room into the stone wall. That’s when I realize Rosalyn and Alizon are in the room, but to my delight, Lawrence is turning blue. All I have to do is take away his immortality and he can drop dead. Sadistically, I laugh until Rosalyn throws a ward up around them, and he starts coughing. His arms wrap around her, and in a familiar tone I hate, he says, “Good thinking, Princess.”

  Throwing everything I have into breaking the ward, I see the spider web cracks beginning to form. Only a little longer before I’ve broken through, and I can kill the stealing bastard. But then they begin to recite a spell, and I roar with frustration:

  Lay protection over me, as this person attacks;

  Let no ill will break through while I fight back.

  When I see Rosalyn lay her forehead on his, a fury strong enough to break through Rosalyn’s powers engulfs me, and I storm to them. My hands almost slam down on the ward before I realize what I’m about to do. Taking a step back, I clench my fists. “Remove the ward, Rosalyn,” I demand, my eyes flashing with the rage boiling inside of me.

  She throws back her head and laughs at me before looking me straight in the eyes. “No, Xavier.” She glances down at Lawrence again before laying her head on his chest.

  Yelling with all my might, I use everything I have to break through the ward. When I hear noise behind me, I throw whoever it is backwards.

  “Bring down the ward,” I scream wildly.

  Draped over Lawrence, she yells, “I’m not bringing it down, Xavier. You just tried to kill him.” Hurt and anger lace her words.

  From behind me, I hear a commanding voice I know all too well.

  “Xavier, you will stop this madness right now.”

  I turn around, my mouth curls up as I stare Andreya down. It’ll be nice to see her kneel in pain, the bitch. Realizing it’s not working, I throw a ward up before she can use her powers to choke me. I prowl toward her. She is the reason all this has happened. She is the one who told me to stay away from her daughter, the love of my life. It’s because of her meddling that I’m going to rip her apart. I counter every attack she throws at me until we meet in the middle of the room. When I throw my fist toward her face, I’m suddenly thrown against the wall.

  The stupid bitch walks toward me with her lips pinched together. It’s almost like this is the last thing she wants to do. When she gets close enough to me, I notice her eyes narrow and she whispers harshly, “I warned yo
u, Xavier, and you didn’t listen, . . . once again.” She clenches her teeth. “This is my kingdom. You attacked one of my trainers and guards, and you put my daughter in danger. You’ll regret it.” There’s a crunch in my jaw as her foot slams down on my face, and everything goes black.

  There’s pain in the side of my head when I come to. Slowly, I open my eyes and wait for my vision to clear so I can look around the room. The stone walls are bare, and it’s smaller than my chamber. I’m lying on a bed, but there are no windows, and when I look to the side, I see a table with medical supplies. I can’t move any part of my body. I’m literally glued to the bed, and my anger wells up again as I harshly breathe out of my mouth.

  The door opens, and Alizon walks in. She arches an eyebrow at me. “Couldn’t follow the rules, could you, Xavier?” she brashly asks as she puts her hands down at the end of the bed. “The best part about this whole thing is I get to keep your powers with permission from my mother. Since she isn’t here yet, I’m going to have some fun with them.” Slowly, she runs her finger up my leg. “You can think of it as payback for what you did to Benjamin all those years ago.” Her lips pull up in a smile, and I can see all her teeth. White-hot agony bursts through my body.

  Having my power used on me is the worst experience ever. Alizon tortures me until my eyesight begins to fade and the room grows dark, but then she lets up for a bit. When she starts again, I throw my head back and scream.

  “Oh, you aren’t so strong anymore, are you?” she taunts, her voice getting high at the end. “Do you know that you finally ruined whatever you had with Rosalyn?” Throwing back her head, a laugh spills out before she stops and looks at me. “I’ve been trying to keep you from her for years, but you finally did my job for me. She’s going to run to Lawrence and stay by his side, all because of your actions tonight.” Coming over, she cocks her head to the side and raises a brow. “I bet you feel like a complete idiot right now, don’t you?”

  Before I can answer her, Andreya enters the room. She puts her hand at the end of the bed, just like Alizon did, but clears her throat. If she thinks I’m saying a word to her, she’s got another thing coming. I’m not telling her anything.

  Narrowing her eyes at me, she puts her hand on her hip. “Xavier, I want an explanation right now about what happened in there.” She means business.

  I continue to blankly stare at her. This is a waste of time. She pulls out a long, narrow gold box made of stone that I’ve seen only a handful of times. I’m almost certain she can smell the fear radiating off me. She slowly opens the lid and then glances over at Alizon. “Alizon, release his powers into here.” Regret is heavy in her voice as the air leaves her body.

  Alizon slowly smiles and then raises her arm up. “Let these powers be contained until a later date,” she gleefully states, and then my powers flow into the Arca Archa.

  Andreya snaps the lid of the gold box shut and then whispers, “Cincinnulus.” She looks up at me with narrowed eyebrows as the locks engage. I snatch at the box. I’m barely sitting up when my back cements to the mattress again. With her eyes still on me, she quickly says, “Alizon, you’re free to go. Please change your clothes and bring something other than a nightgown for your sister to wear.”

  As soon as the door closes, Andreya puts the Arca Archa on the side table before leaning down. Putting her hands on either side of my head, her mouth an inch from mine. Vomit rises from my stomach. If she kisses me, I’ll bite her. That kiss we shared was a one-time deal, it’ll never happen again. Andreya’s been chasing after me for centuries, and I want nothing to do with her crazy ass.

  Her brows crease together, and she purses her lips. “For the life of me, I can’t figure out why you did what you did. I told you weeks ago to leave Rosalyn and Lawrence alone, and yet tonight you tried to kill him,” she muses. “Why, Xavier?”

  I continue to stare up at her, not saying a word. Now that she took my powers, I don’t want to say anything to her. We’ve always been a team when it came to running this kingdom, and now she’s treating me like another one of her subjects, when I’m the one who helped put her in power. She doesn’t deserve my answer. If it wasn’t for Rosalyn, she wouldn’t have been able to take me down.

  Standing up, she pulls something from between her breasts, and when I see the glint, I realize it’s a knife. My lips set into a firm line because I know exactly what’s coming. I invented this torture. If she thinks she’s going to get me to talk this way, she really hasn’t thought things through. She’s playing with the master. Taking the knife, she slowly cuts down the center of my shirt. Her tongue wets her lips. “Do you know how I see it, Xavier? You supposedly love my daughter, but you treat her horribly. Tonight, she got to see just how crazy you are. You put her in danger. You’ve ruined it for yourself.” When she finishes, she makes the first cut along my chest and the burning of the muscle splitting apart and the blood pooling on my stomach makes my jaw clench. On the next cut, she continues in an excited voice, “I took your powers because I’ve had it with you thinking you can do whatever you want in my kingdom. I’m going to cover your body with scars so Rosalyn will never want anything to do with you again.” Andreya twirls the knife around on my chest and cocks her head to the side while smiling.

  “She’ll never let you do that, Andreya,” I roughly state through clenched teeth.

  She takes the knife and, as I watch, slowly pushes it into my stomach. Breath wheezes out of me before I inhale quickly as the veins bulge in my neck and sweat breaks out on my forehead. Leaving the knife there, she leans over and maliciously whispers, “I can torture you repeatedly, and you would still live. I can cover your precious face in scars, just like I did with Scarlett. Rosalyn doesn’t have any power in this situation, I do. So, it would behoove you to answer my questions before I cut up the body you hold dear.” Standing up, she crosses her arms over her chest and taps her foot.

  Quickly, I answer her before she cuts up my face. The last thing I want is Rosalyn seeing it and being disgusted. In a rush, I say, “Rosalyn’s mine. From the moment she was born, we’ve had a special connection, and Lawrence comes in and thinks he can somehow steal her away from me. I was putting a stop to it. He kissed her today. I love her. She’s my soul mate. I can’t lose her.” My eyes dart around as I desperately try to make her see reason.

  She clucks her tongue while shaking her head. “I never promised you Rosalyn, Xavier. That’s up to me, and this delusion that you’re soul mates,” she quietly laughs, “that’s the most insane thing I’ve ever heard. At least I won’t have to worry about you going anywhere near her now. She’ll be cozy with Lawrence, and you’ll be staying far away from her. If showing your love for her is killing another man, that’s a poor way of showing it.” Andreya pulls the knife out of my stomach, and I feel the warmth of the blood cascade down my side. I’m slowly growing weaker. “Here’s what’s going to happen,” Andreya informs me. “I’m going to keep your powers, and you’re going to spend some time sleeping and thinking about your actions. When I think you’re ready, I’ll wake you up. Until then, Sopor.”

  Everything gets fuzzy. Then it’s pitch black.

  Chapter Eleven

  Rosalyn

  My brows raise, and I can’t help the way my jaw gapes. This is the fence surrounding the garden where I stood in my first vision when I was nine. The difference is that then, I was inside the garden. Now, on the outside, I see the surrounding woods. In only my nightgown, it’s hot, and sweat gathers on my skin.

  I push open the gate, and there is a slight creak as rust floats in the air. It hasn’t been opened in some time. “What are you doing here,” a deep, outraged voice startles me. I jump back, grasping my chest. Glancing up, I meet a pair of stunning jade eyes. His jaw is strong, and his full lips pinch together in a scowl.

  Taking a deep breath, I step forward. My soul recognizes him. “Alaric?” I chew on my lip as my voice goes up a notch. This makes no sense. This isn’t a normal vision.

  His ey
ebrows raise, and his voice rings in surprise. “Rosalyn? How are we here?” Crossing his arms over his chest, he taps his foot, waiting for an answer. His large body comes toward me. Then suddenly, Lawrence’s face flashes through my head, and I don’t want him touching me. I immediately put my hands up and back off. When he keeps moving, I take off running through the flowers and tall grass, winding my way toward the clear blue river. Before I get too far, I’m tackled to the ground. With our contact, a piece of my heart clicks into place, and my breath catches.

  His hands grip my shoulders and turn me over. While I’m ensnared by his wide green eyes, he whispers, “Don’t run from me. I just want to know if you know how we got here.” He gently brushes my hair from my face, such a huge contrast from the man who scared me a minute ago. My hand unwillingly makes its way up to cup his cheek, but I catch it right before it makes contact.

  As the gravity of this situation dawns on me, I shake my head, and my eyes widen. I answer after I clear my throat, “I don’t know how we came here.” He quickly gets off me and holds his hand out. Grabbing it, I let him pull me up, and I realize my nightgown is now stained with grass. My eyes follow him as he paces back and forth in front of me. Every so often, he runs his hands through his hair, his brows wrinkled and lips turned down.

  Looking off into the distance, I see the tree that was in my dream when I was nine. Leaving him to his pacing, I make my way to a shallow end of the river so I can cross. Picking up my nightgown, I put my first foot in when a warm hand grasps my arm. Glancing over my shoulder, I see Alaric’s handsome face, and once again I have an overwhelming urge to touch him.