“We’ll have three days.”
We all look over at Connelly, watching us from where he’s now sitting up on the sofa, and we’re shocked into silence at yet another revelation from this tight-lipped traveler.
“Good morning to all of you, too.” Arendale appears in the doorway of the bedroom in nothing but his boxer briefs. Looks like a night in the sack with Rory did nothing to curb his appetite if his bulging morning wood is any indication. Christ. And the prick has the nerve to just waltz over to Rory, pull her hair back and nip at her neck.
“Morning, darling,” he murmurs. Then, fucking finally, he seems to recognize that there’s something serious going down right here, right now. He looks from face to face, his gaze finally landing on Connelly. He narrows his eyes. “Did I hear you say three days?”
He nods. “That’s how long they need to arrive at your meeting point.”
I don’t know what fucking meeting point he means, or how he knows about it, but Arendale sure seems to.
His eyes cloud over for just a moment, then he smiles and nods. “So it’s been decided, then?”
“No,” Ryker growls. “It hasn’t.”
“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong.” I stand from my chair, rising to my full height against the vargr, and fold my arms across my chest. “Didn’t you hear? Your little witch has made her will known. We leave today. Unless, of course…” I pause to take a long sip of my coffee, making a show of setting the mug back down, then arch my eyebrows innocently. “This is where we part ways?”
The murderous look in his eyes only makes me smirk more. I know, as every man in this room also does, that not one of us would abandon Rory. I do have to admit, though, Rory’s plans are right on track with mine for a change. If we were on a different page, I’d be doing my damnedest to sway her to my way of thinking. I hated the idea of going on the run in the first place, but once I committed, I’ve been all in. We’re seeing this thing through.
I’m more than happy to get this show on the road today. Now that Rory and I are defectors in the eyes of the Regime, any time advantage we can gain is a win in my book. Today, that means we leave to get the stones before they have a chance to know what we’re up to.
“Three days,” I repeat. It sounds too long to me. “How far away is your family, Arendale?” Maybe we can find them another way, though if this meeting point is a secret, it’s likely our best bet.
He laughs. “Apparently three days. This time. They’re never in one spot for long.”
What does that even mean? What the hell kind of family does Arendale come from? He was always closed-mouthed about his past whenever we crossed paths in our service to the Regime. I figured he came from some low-ranking Regime family. Now, I’m not so sure.
“Then it’s settled.” Rory claps her hands together once. “Let’s get moving.”
“Ah—er—it’s not quite that simple, darling.” Arendale brushes a lock of hair from her face, and the brief look of love that passes between them does nothing to tamp the smoldering flames of jealousy I’ve been fighting since he’s walked in half-naked and put his arms around Rory.
I roll my eyes, tired of the hemming and hawing now that Rory’s made her choice. Let’s just get the fuck on with it.
“Your vamp can send out some kind of hippie-freak new-age vibe to his mommy, sweetheart. She’ll either come running to meet him, or we’ll land in a trap. Either way, it’s going to take us three days to get there.”
“Right. Great. What are we waiting for?” She puts her hands on her hips and looks at us all like we’re crazy for not jumping into action.
I get it. I really do. I’m as eager as she is to get out of here. Every day we stay in one place is one day closer we could be to being found. Even so, the odds may already be stacked against us. We don’t actually know what we’ll find when we arrive at whatever this meeting place is. But actually getting there could be the hardest part.
“Look, so as soon as Arendale does his emotional party trick, it’s going to send out a major pulse of magic. A signal of sorts to his mother. With a magical trail. Just what the Regime is waiting for.”
Her face falls as it registers. “So we’re going to be sending up a big old Here I Am, Come and Get Me flag.”
I nod. “We have to be ready to go, or even on the way, before we even get started.”
“We’ve got this.” Rory’s face is determined, but I can see in her eyes the bone-wearying tiredness she feels at being on the run. Staying in one place for more than one night has been a bit of a reprieve. And now we’re headed out on a race against the clock to reach a meeting point before the Regime catches on.
“We do,” I agree, locking eyes with her and giving her a little nod. Something to let her know that no matter what obstacles are in between us, there’s still something else in between us. A connection that hangs on even in the face of her wavering trust. And she knows in this moment that she has my full support and I’ll do everything in my power to help her see this through.
“Now, Arendale, go put on some fucking pants so we can make our game plan.”
Rory opted not to get a head start on the journey, wanting instead to wait for Arendale to send out his bat signal so we could all leave together. Four hours in, I feel like this is going to be the longest three days of my life.
The military vehicle Connelly procured isn’t exactly small, but pack five broad-shouldered, hulking men into it, and it starts to feel pretty damn claustrophobic after a while. Especially when the single little female is putting off all kinds of sexy vibes without even knowing it.
Right now she’s in the front seat next to Arendale, asking about his family, trying to get a better idea of what to expect. But they’re both all flirty banter. I tried to tune out a long time ago. Not an easy feat when there’s Connelly and myself in the middle row, stuck between listening to the lovey-dovey bullshit from the front and the vargr and the roughneck’s peanut gallery commentary from the back.
“It’s just a consequence of my particular type of magic,” Arendale is saying. He glances at her sideways and winks. “Though that isn’t always a bad thing, ask you know.”
“Hey, skinwalker.” I grit my teeth and don’t acknowledge Iver, but he doesn’t give a fuck, just keeps on talking. “What’s your consequences for using magic? Might get stuck with an ugly face for the rest of your life? Oh, wait.”
He laughs like a fool at his own bad joke, and Rory turns around and joins in, rolling her eyes when she sees my bored expression.
“Oh, lighten up, Xander. If we’re going to be stuck in this car together, the least we can do is make the most of it.” She turns sideways in her seat so she can see us all better. “Hmm, let’s see. I think I’ve pried everything I’m going to get from Nico about his family. Killian, what about you? Tell me something I don’t know about your family.”
He smiles. “I think that could be a safe enough topic.”
“Was your family always part of the Regime like Xander’s?”
“Yes. And no.”
“Okay, here we go. Maybe I shouldn’t ask you anything if I want to get a straight answer,” Rory teases.
Connelly continues, though, and I wonder why he’s being so forthcoming all of a sudden. It could mean we’re on the right path, our decisions all leading to where we need to go. But whose right path is the question.
“Yes, because travelers possess powerful magic, so we’ve always been on the radar of magical peoples. No, because travelers aren’t supposed to have agendas. We’re supposed to be impartial observers of time, keeping things in line. So aligning completely with the Regime isn’t something to take lightly.”
“Supposed to be,” I sneer. “Yet you gained the trust of the Regime so completely, you were the Warden’s right-hand man. Doesn’t sound very impartial to me.”
Connelly levels me with those misty silver eyes. “I would think you of all people, shapeshifter, would understand that appearances can be deceiving.”
I shift. I look down at my own dark jeans and black t-shirt, so different from the Regime uniform I’ve worn for what feels like forever. Even as a child, before I joined the Night Watch, I revered the Regime, displaying my allegiance as if it were a badge of honor, knowing no other way.
“Indeed,” I reply. The question they all wonder now is apparent. Am I deceiving them still? Out of my uniform, I look like every other member of this bunch of rebels, but I’ve been part of the Regime, groomed from its inception to be a loyal member. They don’t trust me. Still.
“So all of your family are technically part of the Regime, though, right?” Rory presses.
“Yes…” Connelly replies carefully. “And no.”
The vargr makes some kind of snarling, scoffing noise behind us, and I turn to see him staring daggers at Connelly’s head. Just as I’m about to ask what the fuck that’s about, Rory’s laughter fills the air.
“Okay, fine. No more family questions.” She props her head on the back of the seat and looks at Connelly with a gleam in her eye. “Can you tell me more about how time travel works? I mean, we are headed to retrieve the sapphires. And we have three…long…days ahead of us. What better time to teach me how to use them?”
Everyone’s paying attention now. Because Rory’s right. We’ve been so busy getting to the stones in the first place, we haven’t had time to plan what we’ll do past the point of retrieving them.
“Before trying to use the stones, you have to know the rules. As with any magic, there are rules. And there are consequences.”
I swear, if this dude speaks in riddles for the next three days, I might fling myself right out of the vehicle.
“We’ve touched on the consequences. Messing with time could alter the entire trajectory of humanity, for better or worse. Sure, you think you make one decision, that it will be the logical catalyst to positively affect the future. But you don’t know that. Every decision spins out a million possibilities, and each of those a million more. There are an infinite amount of potential futures. Not all of them good, even if that is the original intention of a decision made.
“That’s why the cardinal rule of travelers is you don’t interact in another time with the intention of changing anything. You let it all unfold. And every scenario is as it should be.”
“That seems impossible, though,” Rory says. “How can you be in another time and not create some type of influence, some type of ripple effect?”
“You can’t,” he says simply. “It’s your intention that matters.”
Rory just stares at him for a minute, then shakes her head and laughs.
“God, all these rules of magic.” Rory rolls her eyes. “You’d think that something as powerful as magic wouldn’t be limited by something as trivial as rules. Anything should be possible. Just imagine all the things that could be done for good.”
“But there are consequences,” Arendale reminds her. “Magic is just as dangerous as it is powerful.”
“Right. But the things I’ve been reading in my mom’s book of shadows. The things I think she was attempting. There’s so much I don’t understand, but it seems like she was pushing the boundaries, discovering what could really be done.” Her smile reaches her eyes when she says, “I think she was trying to make a better world. I know that sounds crazy, but just from what I can tell, she had big ideas, things that could change everything. But then…nothing.” Her smile drops.
The blackened pages. The secrets we’re wanting to go back in time to uncover.
“You must always be aware of the consequences,” Connelly says softly. “Not everything can be corrected by magic.”
Rory’s eyes cloud over. “And you can’t bring people back from the dead.”
I know she must be thinking of all the people she’s lost, that she maybe never even got to say goodbye. Yes, she wants to uncover the secrets of the past, but even more than that, I feel that Rory wants to see her mother one more time. Yet another reason I’ll see this thing through for her.
Everyone grows silent, lost in their own thoughts.
Which is why I’m the only one who notices the way Connelly continues to watch Rory. As if he’s willing her to continue her thoughts in whatever direction they’re headed. I’m also the only one who notices he doesn’t reply to her statement.
By day two, I might be willing to ride on the roof of this thing if it means I don’t have to listen to these assholes for at least a little while. We’ve driven non-stop, rotating shifts. Now they’ve gone from creating our very revival of This Is Your Life yesterday to playing car games today to pass the time. Not a lot to work with there either.
We’re so far past any inhabited territory at this point that it would take a master tracker to find us now, and we’d see them coming from miles away if they did.
“I’ve never actually been out this far on Regime lands,” I hear myself saying. The territory is massive, even though almost the entire population is centered in overcrowded cities or massive industrial stations that are cities in and of themselves.
“Neither have I,” Rory says, taking a break from playing charades to turn to me from the passenger seat as I drive. “Nico and Killian obviously know where we’re going. But you know what? I never realized how I’ve spent my entire life never seeing the majority of the world. It’s kind of nice, this little trip, don’t you think?”
I laugh. “If you want to call being enemies of the state a nice little trip, go for it sweetheart.”
“You know what I mean.” She slugs me on the shoulder. “Don’t you think it’s kind of awesome to see things you’ve never seen before?”
“I think I prefer a nice big mattress and maid service round the clock, but that’s just me.” I give her a wink.
The guys in the back are continuing with whatever asinine game that’s keeping them entertained, and Rory glances back at them before taking my hand in hers.
“Thank you.”
I look at her in surprise. “For what?”
“Just for supporting me in this. For giving up your position, your life, everything you’ve ever known and following me on some potentially hare-brained quest.” She smiles softly at me, and I think for the briefest of moments that maybe all hope isn’t lost where she and I are concerned.
Squeezing her fingers, I smile but keep my eyes on the road. “What can I say, sweetheart. You inspire me.”
She laughs, but I can see her watching me at the edge of my vision. And what I see there does inspire me. Everything about Rory Bright makes me want to be a better man. I only hope she can finally see that’s what I’ve wanted all along.
The night comes and goes, and the third day drags on even longer than the first two. Something I thought was impossible. By now, we’re all sick of it. No soul-bearing conversations, no car games. Just impatience. Tinged with a little nervous energy. After all, we all know the Regime could have been to the cave by now and discovered what we did—that Arendale’s mother has the stones. They could have sensed his freakish vampire bat signal and be lying in wait. But mostly just impatience to finally face what’s next.
By late afternoon, we’ve left behind the windblown plains, and sand and palm trees soon welcome us. The sea spreads out before us, golden and shimmering in the fading light of the day.
We’re all on high alert, watching for any signs of an ambush. But none appear as we get closer and closer to the shore.
Then there it is. Or I can only assume the ragged yellow and green houseboat floating just offshore is our destination from the way Arendale perks up suddenly.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
This is where Arendale’s mother is? Is this where he grew up? I have no fucking clue what we’re about to walk in on.
But I’m pretty damn sure I’m not prepared for it.
Rory
“Nico,” I say from the sand as I unlace my boots, “I don’t mean to sound rude, but…”
“What is it, darling?” Nico doesn’t eve
n have to sit to take his boots off—he pulls them off with perfect balance and chucks them with gusto across the beach.
“Well…are you sure we’re all going to fit?”
Nico follows my gaze to his mother’s tiny houseboat, floating gently out on the beautiful blue-green water. There’s something different about him now—and I find it hard to believe that it’s just the fact that we fucked three nights ago.
When I first met Nico, he was charming, sure. A little cagey, maybe, but under the watchful eye of the Regime, so was I. But this new Nico—grinning even when no one’s said anything funny and brimming with excited energy that rolls off of him like steam off a hot stove—seems so much more genuine. So much more alive.
It’s one of the reasons that I’ve felt so confident about trusting Nico’s mother, actually. Nico’s bubbling demeanor combined with the feelings of familial love I felt in the memory he showed me has formed my impression of his mother even before I’ve gotten a chance to meet her. While I can’t help but question what kind of mother encourages her six-year-old to steal bags full of government apples, I can tell already that whatever we’re getting ourselves into here, our welcome will at least be warm.
Besides—with seventeen children and not a father shared between them, at least Nico’s mother won’t be judge me and my, well…my harem, for lack of a better word.
Assuming that we can all actually fit inside, that is.
“You worry too much, darling.” Nico helps me up off the sand. It feels warm and pleasant beneath my bare feet. “Didn’t I tell you? My mother’s a witch, just like you. I assume you’ve heard the phrase bigger on the inside?”
I’m not totally sure what Nico means, but I’m too distracted by this latest revelation to care. Nico’s mother—a witch. Save for Drew’s mother and my own—neither of whom felt the need to inform me of their magical ways—and Dr. Belmont, who was a potential ally at best, a Regime puppet at worst, and is dead now either way, I haven’t met a witch I’ve actually been able to talk to about my magic before.
Emerald Vows: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Marked Souls Book 3) Page 5
