The tension is officially broken, and we laugh. I’m the only one who knows that no one will be killing each other, but that’s beside the point. No one but Scarlett and I know about our truce. Pain shoots through me when I think about how Alaric knew, too, and I stop laughing.
Allie stops, too, and walks to the door. Looking over her shoulder, she says, “I’m heading out. Have fun, love birds.” With that, she heads out of Lawrence’s chamber and closes the door.
“Come here,” Lawrence says as he pulls me against his body. “I realize you were upset, but don’t ever slap me again unless you’re prepared for the consequences.”
Many scenarios go through my mind, but I don’t know what is going through his. “What consequence would that be?”
Stepping back from me, he takes a deep breath. “I don’t want to be with someone who thinks it’s okay to hit other people. I’ve spent too long being tortured to be okay with it.”
My world stops turning, and my breathing picks up. He’s all I have left. I can’t lose him. “No,” I say breathlessly.
In one step, he’s close enough to drop a kiss to my nose. “Then don’t hit me again. You need to gain control of your temper, amare. Just like I would never lay a hand on you when we aren’t training, I expect the same thing with you.”
Wrapping my arms around his middle, I declare, “I love you too much to do anything to risk losing you. It’ll never happen again.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Alaric
My eyes feel like they have sand in them when I pry them open, and there’s a twinge in my side when I try to move. Someone is crying off to my right, and it grates on my nerves like claws dragging across stone. I just want them to stop. When I’m able to look that way, I see Jacque. She runs toward me and throws herself across me, sobbing. Gathering her in my arms, I try to calm her and figure out why she’s crying. The only thing I remember is saving her from almost stepping foot into the Wildlands.
Shaking her to get her attention, I ask what happened. Before she can answer, however, the door opens and my sister walks in.
She draws in her breath and runs to my bed. When she sees Jacqueline, she pushes her off me, and my girl hits the floor with a plop. “My mother told you to stay the hell out of this room,” she hisses.
A growl bursts from me. “What the hell, Brailyn? I’m done with you being a bitch to my girlfriend.”
Stepping back from me, my sister’s brows draw together. Studying me, she says, confused, “What is going on with you, Alaric? You couldn’t stand her before you left on your mission.”
Running my hands through my hair, I frown. With an uncertain tone, I say, “You’re making no sense. I never went on any mission.”
“I’m going to get Mother,” Brailyn tells me as she wrings her hands. She turns away and hurriedly leaves the room.
Jacque gets off the floor and comes toward me, leaning down to kiss me. When she tries to kiss my lips, I turn my head. It just doesn’t feel right to kiss her, and that’s when I realize my sister must be telling the truth. “Why would my sister say that I couldn’t stand to be near you, Jacqueline?” She looks toward the floor, refusing to make eye contact. “Look at me,” I bark. Her eyes glance up. “Tell me right now what happened between us, and don’t lie.”
She shakes her head at me, rushing from the room. Gritting my teeth, I take a deep breath, waiting for my sister to get back with my mother. I want to know what happened. For some reason, I’ve lost a chunk of time, and I don’t like it. There’s a twinge in my side again when I take another exaggerated breath. Pulling down my blankets, I notice there’s a pink scar going down my right side.
The wooden door to my chamber opens when I’m about to get out of bed to find someone myself. My mother hurries to my bed and sits down by my side. “How do you feel?” she asks with concern.
“I don’t know.” The honesty in my voice is obvious as I mess with the beard that has grown on my face. “For some reason, I have no memories of the mission I was on, so I wish someone would tell me what’s going on.” Frustrated, I rub the heels of my hands into my eyes.
My mother’s cool hand touches my arm and I stop. “One of the Witches must have used a spell on you,” she explains.
Scowling, I grunt, “You wonder why I hate Witches, Mother.”
With a grim look on her face, my mother pats my arm. “You don’t hate all Witches, Alaric.”
“Like hell, I don’t,” I grit out, trying to get out of bed.
She says a name, and it stops me. “Rosalyn.”
There’s something at the back of my mind, but I can’t grasp it. Shaking my head, I look at her. “Who’s Rosalyn?”
Rising from the bed, she puts her hands behind her dark green dress. “Alaric, Rosalyn is your mate.”
I get up, and realize I don’t have a stitch of clothing on. Grabbing a blanket from my bed, I wrap it around myself and go to my bureau. “Where is she, Mother? If I have a mate, I want to see her. Why isn’t she here with me?” My voice is muffled by the bureau as I rifle through it.
“She’s in Caldia, Alaric,” she answers quietly.
In a flash, I turn around and pin my mother with a narrowed look. In a rush, I ask, “Is that why I was on a mission and got injured? I was rescuing her, right?” This is the only possibility I can fathom.
My mother looks over my head and slowly shakes her head. “Rosalyn lives in Caldia. She’s one of the princesses.”
I’ve only gotten my shorts on when she answers, but that’s all I need. As I walk away from her, I answer, “Absolutely not. I’m not mated to a Witch.” Storming out of my chamber, I run almost face-first into Thomas.
He does a double-take when he sees my fury. “I was just coming to see you, but you look like you need to get out of here.”
Storming down the hallway, I growl at him, “I’m going for a run. Are you coming with?”
Looking down at my scar, my anger returns, and I pick up my pace until I’m running down the staircase leading to the front of the castle. I know Thomas is right behind me because his breathing picks up with mine. As always, he doesn’t leave my side when I need him. As soon as I clear the village by the castle, I strip out of my shorts, transforming into my wolf. Breathing in the spring air around me, I take off running, leaping over roots. When I come back toward the castle, I notice the guards carrying a bundle. I come to a complete stop and transform back into my human form.
I’m stunned when Jacque steps in front of me, naked as the day she was born. We may not care about nudity, but this is a little ridiculous. Turning around, I go in search of some bottoms to put on. Once I’ve tied them around my waist, I look around for Thomas but don’t see him. Racking my brain, I look back over at Jacque and see she also put some clothes on.
“Were you following me?” Getting into her personal space, I grab the back of her neck. “You need to tell me why we aren’t speaking, or leave me alone.”
Her lower lip trembles, and she grabs the sides of my face. “I’m sorry.”
She finds my lips through all the hair on my face, and Thomas says, “Dude, you can’t stand her.”
Jacque jumps, and I let go of her. It’s amazing how fast she gets away from me. Looking over at Thomas, I ask, “What happened between the two of us?”
“Let’s just say you found out about a side of her you didn’t know existed,” he remarks, clapping me on the back. “I need to get back to Steise. She’s still not doing well.”
“What do you mean she’s not doing well?” I follow him toward the castle.
He takes a deep breath. “She still hasn’t woken up from the battle.”
My eyes widen. As I follow him, I see a little boy’s arm hanging out of the bundle of cloth the guards are carrying. Momentarily shocked, I stop moving, but Thomas walks ahead. The boy’s skin is as dark as the bark on our trees, and I know he’s a Vampire. That’s when I decide to follow the guards.
Catching up to them rapidly, I ask, “What
’s going on?”
In a hurry, one with dark brown hair answers, “We found him by the ward. He’s barely clinging to life.”
With authority, I order, “Hand him to me.”
The guard does a double-take and realizes it’s me. “Your Highness.” He tries to bow with the boy in his arms and almost drops him. Hurriedly, he hands him over to me. I sprint toward the bottom of the castle where the healing quarters are.
Calling behind my shoulder, I tell the guard, “Please, get my mother.”
There’s a shout when I get to the bottom step, and a nurse with blond hair comes rushing out of one of the rooms. When she sees me carrying the little boy, she motions me inside, and I lay him carefully down on the bed. When I uncover him, a quick, quivering breath is drawn.
“Turn him on his stomach,” she says as she motions me to do it.
“Why?”
“Just lay him on his stomach,” she demands.
Carefully, I do what she says. When I step back and look at his back, the muscles in my neck cord up. My nostrils flare. Strips of his back have been cut. Someone took a whip to him, and there isn’t a portion of his back that hasn’t been hit by the leather. Mara has gone too far this time. We’re guardians, and we know stuff like this can go on down there. But to see it happen to an innocent makes me furious, especially a young boy. Never has a young Vampire sought out asylum, but I’m wondering if maybe he’s the only one who’s survived long enough to be able to do so.
She gets my attention by snapping her fingers. “Grab a couple of guards. This is the first time we’ve had to do this, and I need to give him blood to help him heal.”
Furrowing my brow, I tell her, “Would you get the guards? I don’t feel safe with you staying here by yourself. He’s in an unfamiliar place. If he wakes up, I don’t want him to do something and hurt you out of fear.”
In a hurry, she leaves the room, and I wait for my mother. When she opens the door to the room and sees the little boy’s back, her eyes narrow. For the first time in my life, I see fur grow on her forearms. This is one injustice my mother will seek revenge for. You don’t go after children.
My mother looks at my scar and shudders. Then she looks back at my face. “Let’s get him some blood, Alaric. We’ll need a lot of it to help him heal. Pouring it on his back should help, too.”
I lift one brow at my mother. She’s lost her mind.
“Don’t give me that look,” she snaps. “I’ve been around for a long time, and I know what I’m doing. Grab some blood out of the iceboxes. We’re going to need as much as you can get.”
In a flash, I run out of the room, meeting the nurse who has her arms full of blood bags. When I have my arms full, I return to the room. There are two other guards and the table at the end of the bed is piled high with dark red bags of blood.
In queen mode, my mother issues orders. “When I tell you, dump blood on his back. As soon as he smells blood, get ready to hold him down.” She looks directly at me and says, “Alaric, you need to rip open the bags and pour them in his mouth. Just keep feeding them to him until they’re gone.” As we all gather around him, she tells us one final thing, “He may look small, but he’s near death. He’ll be really strong, and it’s going to take all of us to hold him down. When everyone is ready, let’s begin.”
We all look at each other and breathe deeply before looking at her again. “Okay everyone, let’s go.”
They rip the first bag open and the smell of iron fills the room. Before they can pour it on his back, he springs up to attack, but they slam him down on the table, and I watch as they struggle. As soon as they’re able to pour the blood on his back, they flip him over. Ripping open the first bag, I pour it into his mouth. Bile makes its way up from my stomach when he’s reached his twentieth bag. The smell of the blood has taken over the small room, and it’s splashed all over the white stone.
He swallows bag after bag and stops fighting after the twentieth. Now that I’m giving him the twenty-second bag, his eyes are clearing. Tears slowly track down his face. It’s breaking my heart. I want to make this okay for him.
Our eyes meet, and my heart cracks when tears continue to leak out of the corner of his eye. Looking over at my mom, I tell her, “He’s aware of what’s going on.”
Her eyes go up, and she lets out a relieved breath. She then tells me, “Keep going, Alaric. He needs to be completely healed before we can let him up.”
Shaking my head, I mutter how horrible this is. This is pure gluttony. Vampires don’t need this much blood, only a drop or two at a time.
During my muttering, I finally open the last bag. When I finish giving it to him, I realize my mother and I are the only other ones in the room. She’s trying to comfort him when he sits up and hangs his head.
Going down on one knee in front of him, I say, “Hey little dude. What’s your name?”
His lip wobbles. “Caleb,” he answers as a tear hits the ground underneath him.
Some internal awareness goes through me. I know he’s supposed to be here. “Hi, Caleb. I’m Alaric.” Gently, I ask, “Do you think we can be friends?” His light brown eyes meet mine, and he nods. Continuing, I tell him, “I know this is scary, but we’re going to take care of you and do our best to not let anything bad happen to you.”
He sniffles as more tears fall down his cheeks and, in a heartbreaking voice, he whispers, “I miss my mommy.”
With just a small comment, my heart cracks, and my eyes squeeze shut. When I open them, I look at my mother, and she nods her head at me.
Smiling at Caleb, I let him in on a secret. “Hey, Caleb, I have an awesome mom. How about I share her with you since you can’t have yours right now?”
He covers his face with his hands and cries. Moving out of the way, my mother gathers him up and sits on the table with him in her lap. This is what she’s good at—being a mom. I’m pretty sure we just adopted him.
She whispers to him until he eventually falls asleep. “We’re going to leave him here for right now. We need to talk,” she tells me.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Rosalyn
The last week has been magical. I’ve spent every second I can with Lawrence. We train, eat, sleep . . . well, we do everything we can together. Xavier does everything in his power to try to get between us, but he hasn’t succeeded.
This morning, Lawrence is going with Alizon and me on a walk through the woods. Life is pretty different now that we know we have this upcoming mission. Lawrence let Scarlett know she was going, but to keep the peace with Alizon, she’s keeping to herself until we get underway.
Alizon is just leaving her chamber as we walk down the corridor. She flashes me a smile and grabs my arm. “Everything still quiet with your visions?”
My mind flashes to the garden, when Alaric threatened to throw me into the river. Looking down, I whisper, “Yeah, no visions for weeks now.”
Lawrence comes behind me and kisses my neck. “That’s a good thing, right?” he asks, turning me around to look at him.
Looking up and smiling at him, I answer, “Yeah, it’s great. I’ve been getting a good night’s sleep every night.”
Dipping his head, he kisses my forehead. “Good.”
We turn to make our way outside, but Xavier is standing in our way. Lawrence and Alizon move to get between us, but I stop them. This is my battle, and I think it’s time for me to say something to him.
Going to him, I see hope in his eyes. He doesn’t realize I’m about to crush him. When he reaches out to me, I push his arm away. When we touch, I’m thrown into a vision. . . .
“I love you, Addy.”
We’re standing in the garden from my first vision, and Lucas is next to us. He laughs. “Don’t listen to him, Rosalyn. I love you more.”
Giggling at their antics, I shake my head. “I love you all equally, you should know that.”
From behind me, dark brown arms wrap around my middle, and I’m swung around. Squealing, I yell, “Put me
down, Quinn!”
A voice I know well, belonging to the man I thought was dead, barks, “Put her down before she pukes, Quinn.”
When reality comes crashing down, I’m working hard to keep the tears at bay. Xavier and I are still touching, but Alizon has her hand on me, too. Xavier’s eyes are larger than I’ve ever seen, and I minutely shake my head. He goes to argue, but I motion with my eyes to Alizon and Lawrence. For now, he relents and steps back. However, I hear his voice in my head. We need to talk about what we just saw, Addy.
The vision plays over and over in my head. Slamming my face in my palm, I realize I should have kept my mouth shut because I just had another vision. But this vision doesn’t make any sense. Alaric is dead, despite what I saw in the vision, because I know he would talk to me if he were alive.
You may want to talk, Xavier, but not right now. Let me think, okay? It’s the only thing I can tell him, but right after the words leave my head, Alizon’s nails bite into my skin. Frowning, I look at her, and she’s fixated on Xavier.
“When are you going to get it through your head that she isn’t yours?” she snarls.
Xavier steps farther away from me, but once again, his voice is in my head. I’ll give you some time, but I have a bad feeling about today. I’m not letting you guys go out there unprotected. Our eyes lock on his last sentence. I love you so much, Rosalyn, which is why we’ll talk later.
Turning away from him, I burst out the door to get far away. There’s no way I’m ready for whatever talk he thinks we need to have. The man I love should be following right behind me. I’m a little surprised he was so quiet during the scene back there. Glancing over my shoulder, I see that he isn’t following, only Alizon.
Decadence (Tree of Life Series Book 1) Page 17
