“That’s not creepy or anything,” I said nonchalantly.
“It’s a power source, among other things. Marc’s girl, Stella, can use it to see throughout the palace, but apparently the energy in it also affects the string. In the beginning, Landen and Willow thought this was a big part of their conflict, but I don’t know. You and Charlie have this mark; that tells me it means more than I first thought.”
“I want to see it, feel the energy.”
He sat down next to me. “First, let’s look into this dream of yours. You still have the insight to see your way into The Realm, right?”
“I’m not as broken as you think I am.”
His green eyes carefully glided over me. “Not anymore, Maddie, not anymore.”
I didn’t even bother to engage that comment. “So, we go to The Realm, live out the nightmare, then come back and find the real deal?”
“That, or use The Realm to bring back the real deal.”
When we first went into The Realm, before we knew how to utilize The Realm we would be put into a nightmare—either ours or someone else’s—and if you were fighting something or someone and The Realm pushed you out, you came back with weapon in hand. Draven had almost killed Aden and me a time or two.
“I don’t even know what I’m looking for or why I am so focused on this, but there is something there, something that I have to set free or use to set myself free. I don’t know how to explain it all. It’s like a resolution. I know I’m looking for a resolution.”
“We’ll figure it out,” he assured. “Let’s figure out where it is first.”
I nodded and sighed, telling him I was relaxing so we could move our souls to that dream plane. A few breaths later, I was standing on the foundation of The Realm, an orange field with threatening gray clouds encasing the sky.
Aden appeared right next to me. “Definitely not broken,” he commented as he appraised my expression. Normally, I would have my guard up here. We are like a magnet for all things evil in this place; apparently, our energy is very bright and Escorts, along with the damned, are drawn to it—but not this time for some reason. I was furious and would love to take that out on anyone who dared to cross me.
“Manifest,” Aden said to me, knowing that he could come close to creating my dream, but the emotion I felt while enduring it would bring forth more details.
The air turned frigid. The wind howled, and night was born. I felt myself moving and grasped Aden’s arm. I looked down and saw water moving beneath my feet: glass boat.
I didn’t see many people in my dream, but the voices I heard were echoing around me as if they were trying to manifest. I was even sure I could hear a crying baby; the cry was loud, but it was easy to tell that the baby was young, maybe a few days old, a week at the most.
The boat we were on was steered by long oars; they were guiding us across dark water. It looked as if we were passing through stone archways or caves. On each side of us, I could see the floors of the palace. This must be what Aden meant when he said at one time water was damned inside the palace.
“Have you figured out what time we are in?”
“Narrowed down, for sure,” he said as he nodded in the direction we were moving in.
We had passed by the archways, and now the sky was open. The water seemed shallow. We were sailing toward what looked like a stone stage. A row of five stairs led up to it, and the closer we made it to the stage the darker the water seemed to become.
“You all right?” Aden asked under his breath.
I was grateful. Two days ago, I would have been enduring a massive panic attack, water, boat, darkness—all terrifying. Not to me. Not now.
I glanced below my feet, and through the glow of fire that was somehow beaming under water I saw an octopus as big as the vessel we were in. It was peeking out of what looked like a cave that was maybe six feet under our boat. Oddly, that wasn’t the only opening I could see below us; it was almost as if there were several floors below the water level.
“It almost looks like they are keeping him as a pet,” Aden said with an odd sounding bit of awe in his voice.
“Her,” I said for no reason at all.
When Aden glanced at me, I just shrugged.
“I think those caves are only flooded at certain times of the year. This is one of two places I have found on the blueprints, and neither of them has water now.”
I grimaced.
“Any idea what you want here?” Aden asked me again.
“No…I feel…betrayed. Mad. It’s almost like I want my life back or something, but that makes no sense.”
“I’m going to try and date the stones. Maybe, just maybe there are remains here and they are locked in ice or something. Just try and remember anything you can, okay?”
The phantom chants grew louder as they echoed around us. The octopus responded in what must have been fear or anger; ink began to pollute the water, making it even darker.
“Be right back,” Aden said as he vanished from my side and appeared along the narrow walkway that framed this pool of water. I watched as he ran his hands across the stones—looking for what, I don’t know.
I crouched down and peered at this octopus. Even though the ink was clouding the water, I could still see her. She was massive, yet I saw too much innocence in her eyes for her to be considered vicious. Something deep inside of me resonated with this creature; it was like I knew at one time the two of us were guarding something precious and we had been forced to cross paths unnaturally.
The octopus eased back into the cave it was in front of, keeping its stare trained above on the boat I was in.
“Why do you have a death wish?” I heard from a voice that should not be anywhere near me. The aroma of rich vanilla laced with dark cinnamon blanketed the air around me, bringing forth the same rage I’d felt the last time I had been alone with Britain.
With an angry glare, I let my eyes rise and meet his. “What the hell are you doing here?” I fumed.
“Me?” he asked as I stood so I could face him. “This is The Realm, precious—my home.” The look in his eyes was pained, laced with an obvious longing. Of course, I felt no emotion to back that up coming from him...well, nothing past what I’d always called obsession when it came to him.
“It’s a big house. Find another room.”
“Like the one Drake has you locked up in?” he taunted.
More than once, he had warned me that Drake would suffocate me, lock me away, seize my obsessions, and make me nothing more than a lost treasure that he only played with for the sake of preventing boredom. Sadly, he was nearly proven right an hour ago, but I was not going to give him the pleasure of knowing that.
“What are you doing at the palace anyway?” I said with a sinister grin, giving him the illusion that I was right where I wanted to be.
“What I told you I was going to do,” he said as those steel blue eyes of his raked over me. “Protecting you.”
Britain had always had this raw power waving off his soul, one that told me he was more than he had ever let on that he was. He never answered direct questions clearly and always managed to churn his words into a statement that made him seem like a selfless servant—but I was no fool; this boy had never served anyone or anything but his own personal needs. I would even dare say that somewhere on this plane he had countless souls serving him. I had no proof of that, of course, it was just a gut feeling.
“I don’t need you for anything.”
He smirked. “You think you don’t need anything from me. We’ve discussed this, diligently.”
Yeah, he was right about that. We had argued about this. Well, I yelled and he said nothing outside of his placid tone. You see, Britain thought I needed to learn to calm my mind. That I shouldn’t ponder questions that I didn’t want the answers to. Our brief relationship was mostly spent with him trying to teach me to seal my energy; he said I was like a flashing light in the dead of night, that I needed to learn to be discreet in my quest. He had
told me he was the only one that could handle the power of my soul, that others would drain me, leave me as nothing more than an empty shell.
“I’m not changing for you or anyone else.”
Aden manifested at my side then, full of rage, with his favorite weapon in hand: a dagger so sharp that it could cut you just by looking at it.
“Is that a fact? Is that why you put on a cute little dress and had dinner with Drake in front of the entire dimension?” Britain said smoothly as his eyes eased down my body. I felt the slight sensation of jealousy in his emotions. Knowing that I had never felt his emotions clearly led me to believe that he had to be swimming in that sensation at this moment in order for me to feel it. On the inside, that made me smile. He deserved that misery.
“That is my business, not yours. Move on. There is nothing here for you.”
“Sorry, precious, I’m engaged in this drama now.”
“By?”
“Xavier. I suppose one of you managed to lock up Bianca. He needed some muscle that knew their way around. I volunteered.”
“Like you weren’t already on the payroll. What is your job description?”
Those steely blue eyes of his eased over every part of my furious expression, and for an instant I thought I saw sorrow and regret there. “I’m supposed to kill you.”
Aden stepped forward, finding an excuse to slice him in two. I held my arm out to halt him, which made Britain sneer.
“Of course, I have different intentions,” Britain said, moving his gaze back to me.
“Wouldn’t want to get you fired. Maybe you should give it your best shot. Let’s just settle this now so one of us can move on with our life.”
“I told you before that I couldn’t kill you. I adore you…you are my rush.”
I tilted my head curiously, trying to understand why the word rush seemed so familiar to me, why my mind was struggling to remember something that was right there in front of me. The word reminded me of the scent of peppermint, one that was stronger than Drake’s aroma. I breathed in deeply, still smelling the deep vanilla and rich cinnamon coming from Britain’s essence. “Adore—rush,” I spat back at him. Deep inside, I knew those words were powerful and that they were not the way he felt about me.
“Means more than you think it does. So does my word that it is not my intention to kill you.”
There was far too much seriousness in his stare, matched by the pull I could feel coming from his energy. He wanted me to run away with him right now and never look back. That wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t care what he said or showed me. No one breaks my heart twice.
He needed to know I was not a fool, that I knew exactly what I was to him. “You are here for spite, plain and simple. You’re mad because your little source of nutrition caught you cheating. This is your revenge.”
“Stop degrading yourself to that title. You didn’t catch me doing anything I didn’t want you to. And if anyone is keeping score, Drake has wronged far more than I have.”
I leered as if he were oblivious to what my intentions were. He needed to think that the last thing I cared about was the actions Drake had taken in his past to gain Willow’s devotion. I knew if I showed any jealousy, that would put Drake at an even greater risk. He didn’t need Britain on top of all the other evil he was fighting.
“Doubt me, do you?” Britain said as he raised his chin and looked down at me over his strong profile. “Have I ever kidnapped your friends—killed one of them for sport?” He paused. “Have I ever found you in a vessel that wasn’t yours and toyed with your mind to the point where you thought you were someone else and all your little friends were evil?” His blue eyes grew darker. “Have I ever pushed my soul into another girl while her adored was in the same building? Or better yet, have I ever invaded your dreams, causing you to fear sleep?”
Drake performed all of those acts he mentioned when he was trying to convince Willow to love him. It was everything I had managed to get over. Apparently, I wasn’t over them completely because that horrid emotion of jealousy stung my soul—but only for an instant; I was on stage right now.
“You do realize that I am Madison, right? Why would I care about any of that? Maybe you should be pointing out his flaws to Willow—though that may be a waste of time; she seems to be pretty much into Landen.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure of that…maybe she liked all the attention. Perhaps she misses his affections, no matter how sinister they were.”
It took all I had to hold in the rage of jealousy, to hold my ‘I don’t give a flying crap if he does’ expression, but I did.
“I’m sure Drake will be pleased. Why don’t you go give him the good news and leave me be?” I said as I crossed my arms and gave him a sly smile.
Britain stared blankly at me, clearly trying to see how long I could hold my expression.
“If you are waiting for me to cry and beg you to take me away from here, it’s not going to happen.”
Aden pulled his broad shoulders back. “I don’t care if you do cry; that’s not going to happen.”
Britain spoke over him as if he were nothing but an annoyance. “That would be the wisest decision that you have ever made in your life. Here is something you don’t know: they’ve already drained you to the point where you are common. You keep sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, and they are going to pull the plug and take you down to nothing. Here is a thought: why would they want to drain your essence and leave your vessel intact?”
I wasn’t even going to bother engaging him. I knew what he was up to. We had done this a thousand times before, only in the past I would answer whatever question he proposed, and he would slowly lead me down another road to where in the end I walked away with no answers to my original questions and enough questions tumbling in my mind to distract me from seeking whatever I was after in the first place.
Seeing the resolve in my glare, he went on. “Fine. You don’t want to see the poor, misunderstood prince as the bad guy. I get it. But think about this: they knew from day one that Willow’s vessel could not be linked with Drake; some past spell cursed that union. So, they had a body waiting for her soul when she came to her senses, as they say, but the vessel was recently destroyed. They need another.”
“This one is taken,” I said with a carefree shrug of my shoulders.
“This one is in prison. An elegant one, I’m sure, but a prison nonetheless. He is locking you down so he can toy with your mind, so he can convince you he is broken and innocent. Once he does, I’m sure there will be some battle. You will think you are dying for him, but really you are the one dying. He will live on with Willow residing in your body. Fairy tale ending.”
“It’s all written out in that head of yours, isn’t it? You have the whole story.”
“That, I do. He’s killed you before.” He glanced around to the stone platform. “Here. Looks like history would have repeated itself if I didn’t show up and save the day.”
“You’re full of shit,” Aden bit out.
Britain sneered. “You want to watch that tone. You are one crack away from insanity.”
I stepped in front of Aden in a weak display of protecting Britain.
“I have nothing more to say to you. Do whatever you want. And for the record, I wasn’t in a committed, faithful relationship with Drake when he committed the sins you speak of. He didn’t have a girl named Anna in his bed when I popped in to say hi. So you are the bastard in this situation.”
“Are you committed now?” Britain asked as his eyes raked over me. At that moment, a wall of wrathful energy slammed into me.
“Never assume I am as low as you are,” I said with a sick glare on my face, hoping against all hope that he didn’t see the devotion I had for Drake in my emerald green eyes.
“I see…he’s just giving you the illusion that he adores you.”
“No, you taught me how to play that game. I’m a pro at spotting players now.”
“Never played you. I told you I
adore you. If I didn’t, you’d be dead already.”
“Good thing I’ve got charm then, huh?”
“Listen to me,” he said with an uncharacteristic glare. “Stop asking questions you don’t want the answers to. If you were ever to see this room in reality, it would be because Drake is about to strip your soul and slide Willow’s right into that vessel. You need to leave with me now…the only way out of this alive is at my side.”
Nothing he was saying made any sense at all. I knew when I saved Monroe that my insights were jacked up; now I might have thought that something evil had stolen them from me that night if Monroe herself didn’t return all but a few emotions to me right after that. Obviously, Britain or whoever was informing him didn’t know that had happened. They thought I was an idiot. Shame on them. There may be a plot to drain me, but it wasn’t Drake’s, and he didn’t have anything to do with what happened to me that night—I would bet my life on it. Of course, I couldn’t say any of that to Britain. I wasn’t going to let him know what I knew—or tell him that betting my life was exactly what I was doing.
“Not happening,” I said as I raised one brow to emphasize my point.
“What? Do you want to spend a night in the room he made for Willow so you can pretend you are what he wants? Do that. I will forgive you, just as I have in your past lives.”
I grabbed the knife from Aden and charged forward. As I held the blade to Britain’s neck, I could see blood seeping out of from under the edge, sliding down his white collar. “You see, when he or whoever started to dwindle me down, as you say, they took my ability to grieve away. Hell, for all I know they took my humanity away—so if I slice you in two now, all I have to worry about is washing the blood off my hands. You think you know the game I’m playing? You’re not even on the right field. So back away, let me do my thing, or figure out how to live six feet under.”
He glanced down at the blade. “Sadly, precious, attempting to kill me would bring more harm to you than it would to me. Come with me.”