With that, I shove them out of my brain, but then I hear laughter. Sweetheart, you keep telling yourself you’ve been involved with Lawrence longer than any of us. You know that’s a damn lie. Also, we’re all tied together. So, it’s going to be hard to shove us out of your head. Have your talk with him, and you’ll be afforded your privacy. Try to do anything more than talk, and you’ll see me interfere. As of the time in the garden, you became my intended mate, we don’t share.
Ahhhhh!
I hear Quinn’s voice next. Throw the biggest temper tantrum you want, Rosalyn, but we’re going to protect what is ours. We have that right.
Lucas calmly comes to my defense. You guys need to let her be. She had a life before we entered it. Let her grieve it. We can’t just walk in and expect her just to accept this. Leave her alone. If she needs these moments alone with the man she loves, give her these moments. It’s the least we can do.
Xavier’s sad voice fills my head. I’m in agreement with Lucas. Let her be. You don’t understand Lawrence and Rosalyn’s relationship. Let them have their time to say goodbye. They deserve to have this moment. Leave them alone.
Alaric growls at Xavier, Believe me, I know all about their relationship. Don’t I, Rosalyn? He waits a few seconds, and when I stay silent, he continues. As you thought before, Xavier, we wouldn’t be in this mess with Lawrence if it weren’t for you.
I’ve had enough and simply request, Just give me this. Give me today, please. I’m begging you. Let me say goodbye.
I hear all four voices say at the same time, You have one day.
My head snaps up, and when I look at Lawrence, his head is quirked to the side, his eyes full of questions. A huge lump forms in the back of my throat, and I try to swallow, but it hurts. The fact I only have one night before I have to say goodbye to the love we share crushes me.
Rubbing my arms, I walk over to him, climb over to his side, and lay my head on his chest. I’m going to fill tonight with as many memories as I can with the man I love. While I’m thinking, Lawrence clears his throat.
“You want to tell me what that was all about?” he questions as he lifts my chin to look at him.
Instead of meeting his eyes, I look down at his chest. “Do I have to explain it to you right now?” I ask. “I’m not ready yet.”
He puts his hand on my jaw and rubs my cheek with his thumb until I look at him. When I meet his eyes, they soften. “I need an answer, amare.”
This is where everything can go wrong. He wants an explanation, but I’ll have to explain the whole situation, and I’m not ready to say goodbye yet. When I tell him everything, I’m going to destroy him. But my moral compass will not allow me to walk away from this prophecy, and neither will these men. They’ll come after me and hunt me down if I do, especially Alaric. He’s very possessive.
His growling voice breaks through. Welcome to Lycanthropes, sweetheart. We are quite possessive of our mates.
Immediately, I answer, Get out of my damn head, Alaric. You promised me.
Fine, Rosalyn.
Lawrence’s warm lips touch my forehead. “I just lost you again, Rosalyn. Where do you keep going?” he murmurs.
I look him in the eyes when I plead, “Can we talk about this tomorrow? I just want tonight to be about us. Can I have that? I promise I’ll explain everything tomorrow.”
He pulls my head away from him and shakes his head at me. With a soft strength in his voice he states, “I can’t. I’m sorry, amare, but I just can’t. I need you to tell me what’s going on.”
Leaning toward him, I make one last, gentle request. “Can I have one more kiss before I tell you? Just one more kiss?”
He looks hesitant, but he nods. There is one thing I make sure of. I give him the longest, most heated kiss I’ve given him yet. I push my lips hard against his, and when he opens his mouth, I search it with my tongue. He groans and pulls me on top of him. He grips my head, and I kiss him like I’m never going to kiss him again. This is our goodbye. When we finally calm down, I feel him hard against me, but neither of us do anything about it.
Out of breath, Lawrence asks, “Rosalyn, why did that feel like a goodbye kiss?”
I look down so he doesn’t see my eyes fill with tears. Little does he know that tonight is our goodbye. When I get a hold of myself, I look back up and give him one last kiss before I start.
“I need to tell you what happened today. You saw some of it, but you don’t know exactly what’s going on. I know you heard some of the conversation between Alizon and me, but you deserve the truth. Especially since we were in a relationship, and we love each other.”
His words are forced through clenched teeth. “What do you mean we were in a relationship?”
“Let me explain Lawrence.”
From there, I explain the events of today to him. I tell him everything that happened, and about the prophecy. I tell him about the guys and how I’m supposed to marry them. The fact that I’m meant to be with Xavier, too. When he hears this detail, he pushes me off him. That’s when he gets off the bed and paces. Questions fire at me rapidly.
“What happened in the healing room?”
“I’m just as clueless as you,” I tell him.
He stops pacing to look at me like he doesn’t believe me and asks, “What happened when we kissed the first time a few minutes ago?”
Taking a shaky breath, I play with the blanket on his bed. Nervously, I answer, “Alaric and Quinn didn’t like you kissing me. So, they stopped it from happening.”
He runs his hand through his hair and punches his bureau. There’s now a hole in it. He’s breathing heavy. “How did they know that?”
This is where I lose the man I love. Holding back a whimper, I answer the question that ends us. “I was talking to them right after it happened, and they weren’t happy about it. Alaric says that Lycanthropes are quite possessive of their mates.”
“You can talk to them?” he shouts, and punches another hole through his bureau.
My throat is tight as I nod my head and answer him back. “Yes, we’re all connected. We can talk and see what’s going on with each other.”
My head is going back and forth, trying to keep up with how fast he is pacing across the room. He stops abruptly and makes his way over to me. “Answer one last question for me,” he whispers dangerously close to my mouth. “Why did they let us kiss this last time?”
When I try to look down, he captures my chin so I can’t. Tears start to fill my eyes, and I choke out, “Because I begged them to give me tonight. I begged them to give me one last night with you.”
He looks absolutely disgusted and pulls me off the bed toward the door. “You wanted one more night with me so you could fuck me and rip my heart from my chest. You know what? You can get the hell out! You aren’t the woman I thought you were. I can’t believe I ever fell in love with you. You disgust me.”
Shaking my head in disbelief, I gasp, “No, Lawrence. I would never do that.”
As he pushes me out of his chambers, I fall to the floor crying. He gives me his parting words before he slams his door. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t come back.”
As I’m crying on the floor, I feel somebody pick me up and their scent fills my nose. It’s Xavier.
“I’ve got you, Addy.”
Tears make a steady trek down my face as I sob. Another broken heart. I gave my heart to Lawrence. How could I be so stupid? Love isn’t worth all this pain and heartbreak. All it does is destroy your soul and leave little pieces of you with the person you’re brave enough to give your heart to. I’m a husk of who I was months ago. I wonder if I’ll ever heal from all this pain.
“You’ll heal from this, Rosalyn. It may not feel like it right now, but you’ll heal,” Xavier softly declares in my ear.
He’s the one who started all this pain. It’s amazing what love can do. One minute you’re smiling and feel like nothing will break you, and the next minute it’s shattered you to the point where you can�
��t breathe. I just want a break from everything that is love.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Xavier
Wake up. You need to wake up, Xavier.
There’s pressure in my head as Alaric’s voice breaks through, and stone by stone, my mental block goes up. My eyes fly open and the candles that are slowly burning on my bedside tables cast dancing shadows across the walls. Glancing toward the door, I see Andreya standing there, her fists bunched up at her sides.
“Why did I feel four other minds inside your head, including my daughter’s?” she asks, slowly walking toward my bed. Power radiates off her, but it doesn’t touch me.
Lie to her. Only tell her as much as you need to, Alaric tells me in his dominant voice. Everything in my being wants to argue with him, but I tell myself to calm down. No man tells me what to do. In order to save the woman we are supposed to spend our lives with, you’ll listen to me, Xavier.
My fists curl, but I take a deep breath and look at my queen so I can answer her. “Something happened in the clearing, but I don’t know what. For some reason, I’m connected to Rosalyn, but I have no clue who else you were feeling inside my head.” My voice is even, and my eyes never leave hers. In my 1,764 years, lying has become a craft.
Her nail slides down the stone and a loud grinding noise fills the room. “If you think I believe that, you must take me for a fool,” she sneers. “Tell me the truth, Xavier.” Andreya’s lips pull into a sinister smile as she walks closer to the ward surrounding me. “There wouldn’t be a ward surrounding you if someone else wasn’t protecting you. I’ll just find out the information from Rosalyn.”
If she thinks that threat is going to work on me, she’s sadly mistaken. A bitter chuckle bursts from my lips. “You do realize that whatever is protecting me will protect her too?” Shaking my head, I tell her, “You know that threats have never worked on me, Andreya. It may work on Lawrence, but it’ll never work on me. She’s a stronger Witch than you, and it’s time for you to accept it.”
She bares her teeth at me and harshly whispers, “You’ll regret what you just said to me. I’ll figure out what’s going on.” She gets as close to the ward as she can without being thrown backwards. “You’ll stay away from her or you’ll truly regret it,” she growls. Turning around, she glides out of the room, the door clicking behind her.
Taking a sigh of relief, I reach out to check on Rosalyn and feel her sleeping through her deep breaths. Not wanting to disturb her, I reach out to Alaric. You may think you know everything, but I know how to handle my queen.
You call that handling your queen? he snaps. You just made the situation worse. In my head, I feel him shaking his head at me. Are you sure you’re older than me? I swear you’re the youngest of all of us.
No twenty-something is going to tell me what to do. Snorting, I retort, I’d like to see you handle her better. You’d be dead in ten minutes. Why don’t you leave the handling of adult things to the adults, kid.
Instead of fury filling my head, I hear chuckling and a smooth voice. Wow, Xavier, even after the many times you tortured me, I didn’t realize how delusional you are. I feel bad that our mate has had to deal with you.
I try to figure out whose bright idea it was to put Lucas and me in a prophecy together. Lucas, you know it’s your fault that you were tortured. It’s not my fault. My retort ends the conversation, at least, I think it does.
You should know we don’t control our fate, so that should answer your thought, Xavier. Quinn comes to Lucas’s defense and continues giving me a lecture. You, out of all of us, know exactly how Endennia is. Don’t you dare blame him for whatever you did to him. I’m ashamed we have to be mated to you with Rosalyn. You will pay for everything you have done in your life. That’s a promise.
This is ridiculous, and I shouldn’t have to listen to it anymore. If I had my powers, I’d block them out. A few seconds after that thought, I feel anguish coming from Rosalyn, and she whispers Lawrence’s name. Getting off my bed, I walk to my bureau and throw on a loose cotton shirt to cover my naked torso. I’m going to have to talk to Lawrence.
Don’t do anything stupid, Alaric growls.
Ignoring him, I pull on my boots and run my hands through my hair. When I open my chamber door, I look down the corridor to make sure it’s clear. I make my way toward Lawrence’s chamber. When I’m about to round the corner, I see Andreya leave from inside his chamber and walk toward the end of the corridor. A dark young man meets her at the corner, and she grabs him and pulls him to the secret door that goes to the underground passages. They disappear inside, and Quinn says in my head. Why are there vampires in your kingdom, Xavier?
Shrugging my shoulders, I answer him. I have no clue, Quinn. I’m going to follow them. When I go to take a step, I’m stopped by a ward and Alaric states powerfully, You will not follow them. You have no powers. We don’t have enough strength to help you.
I’m so sick of being weak and not being able to investigate things on my own. I’m tempted to go find that damn box and take back my own powers. I’m done with being powerless.
It sucks, doesn’t it? Lucas points out.
He’s the only one out of all of us that doesn’t have powers, and right now, I’m experiencing how helpless that feels. Rubbing at my chest, I realize I misused my powers a lot in my life. Well, there’s one person I can get answers from, and that’s Lawrence.
When I storm into Lawrence’s chamber, he’s lying in his bed, but he sits up when he sees me come in. Not wanting to start a fight, I just ask one simple question. “Why was Andreya in here?”
He visibly shudders and responds, “I’m not in the mood, Xavier. You got Rosalyn, so leave.”
I walk toward him and put my hands behind my back as I sigh. “For months, I told you we were meant to be, and you laughed at me. Now, my girl is in her chamber with a broken heart because you cruelly handled it with her.” My bitterness bleeds through each word.
He shakes his head at me and slams his hands down on his blanket. “I did not break up with her in a cruel fashion. For months, she played with my heart while she loved someone else, so I finally told her to get out. Now, you can get the hell out, too.”
As I’m turning to leave, I tell him, “You realize you’re going to watch me marry her, right?”
He laughs bitterly. “I’d rather die than watch that. Plus, good luck getting her to agree to that.”
Abandoning my walk toward the door, I storm toward his bed but hit a ward. I’m flung backwards into the stone. The pain radiates down my shoulders and back, and a groan bursts through my lips. “She’ll agree because it’s her duty. She understands duty.”
He fists his blankets and glares at me. If looks could kill, I’d be dead. “That’s why we’re no longer together. She threw away love for duty. It’s admirable, but she’ll be miserable for the rest of her life because of it.”
It doesn’t take long for the Lycanthrope to growl, You tell that Witch that she’ll be the happiest woman in existence. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
Slowly picking myself off the ground, I chuckle. “Alaric took offense to what you just said. You do realize we’re going to his territory on our mission, right?”
Lawrence grunts. “He’s not going to kill me. They’re the peace keepers.” Nevertheless, the blood still drains from his face.
Raising my shoulders, I look toward the ceiling and leave him with a few parting words. “They’re very protective of their mates. Think on that while you’re waiting for us to leave in a few days.”
I’m slow to move toward the door, but when I get there, I hear movement outside and put my ear toward the door to listen. It’s muffled but I think I hear Andreya’s voice. Lawrence clears his throat and motions for me to come toward the bed. Making my way toward him, he says, “She’s talking to someone about Vampires.” That’s when I remember he has the advantage of being able to hear at long distances, so I stay extremely quiet so he can continue to listen. When I hear a qu
ick intake of breath, and then his lips lift into a small smile, I know something’s up.
“What did you hear?” I whisper in a rush.
He waves his hand to brush me off. “Nothing important. They’re gone, so get out.” Lawrence mutters to himself, and I realize he’s casting a spell. Before I can react, I’m flung from the room, and the door slams in my face.
The stone corridors surround me, and I’m about to investigate the end of the corridor again when Quinn speaks. Don’t, Xavier. You don’t realize how strong they are. Just leave it alone for right now. Rosalyn would kill us if something happened to you.
His guilt trip works, and my arms hang down at my side as I turn and make my way to the end of the corridor. When goosebumps raise on my arms, and the feeling of being watched hits me, I turn around. There’s a young woman standing at the end of the corridor by the secret passage. She has striking dark brown hair with blond highlights, creamy dark skin, and what looks like eyes that are almost black. Her body is barely covered, and I know she’s not supposed to be here.
Quinn’s voice is almost a whisper.
Victoria. There’s a small pause, and then he continues. Move. Whatever you do, don’t show fear. She lives off fear. Just walk at a brisk pace. My alarms are going off, so I move toward Rosalyn’s chamber. If anyone needs protection, it’s Rosalyn. I back away toward the end of the corridor, but when I turn the corner Victoria is right at the end. She can’t move past it because there’s a ward there.
In a seductive voice, she says, “You left before we could have any fun.”
Instead of saying anything, I walk away from her. I know she wants me to talk to her. I’ve heard a lot about Victoria in my travels. It still begs the question, why is she in Caldia?
Decadence (Tree of Life Series Book 1) Page 20
