“Is that what Drake told you?”
“I don’t listen when he speaks, so I couldn’t tell you. But I have eyes. This place sucks, and you don’t become as angry as Drake is if you were not tortured in some way.”
“Anger is his line.”
Line? Was that what they called their reigns? Was Drake born of one that was ruled by anger? That memory of peppermint teased my senses, and for some reason my cousin Draven came to mind as well. Maybe that was it, maybe that was why my cousin and Drake were slated to this curse: the other six kings had found fault with their king—they were tormenting that king by tempting his line of followers. If that were true, though, why had no one mentioned that? Why was everyone so focused on this one dimension? This drama seemed far too massive and aged for one dimension to bear the brunt of it.
“Line of what?”
He chuckled. “And we thought you were a threat.”
“Who’s we? The Seven?”
“Six.”
I nodded once as he clearly confirmed my math: six against one.
“Trust me when I tell you that I am here by mistake. You already have a green-eyed girl to annoy.”
“That, I do,” he hissed.
“Did she do this to you?” I asked as I gave him another once over.
“She had help.”
“Ah, the love triangle.”
“The spells.”
“Oh, so you are a witch, king, and a ghost—sure you don’t have an identity crisis?”
“Amusing.”
“Just saying.”
“I am a king above all. I have a duty to fulfill.”
Now, that statement reflected his dying thoughts or illusions. Our own personal arrogance always surfaces in our darkest hour, and if you led a life of torment, that arrogance always reared its ugly head at the moment of death.
“What duty was given to you?” It was a bleak comment, but it seemed to slice into him. He went rigid for an instant.
“It matters not.”
“Sure it does. I doubt Landen and Willow decided to give you hell for the sake of avoiding boredom.”
“You inquire too much,” he scoffed.
I needed to back off before this took a nasty turn for the worst.
“Passionately curious.”
“Passionately obsessive.”
“That, I am,” I said with a wide grin.
“Well, child, you are too far off course to understand my path.”
“Your course is not mine to understand.”
That one eye of his appraised me once more. “You. You are more than meets the eye. Worth salvaging. I would stand with you. Therefore, I will tell you that Xavier is plotting to frame you. The first piece was set in place tonight.”
“Must have missed that memo.”
“Memo?”
“Sarcasm. Do you speak sarcasm? It’s a rather fun language.”
“I do not.”
“Right. So your sense of humor is missing, too.”
The perplexed stare in his one eye was near humorous. “You do not inquire why or how he will end you?”
“That is his business. I’m just making the best of a bad situation.”
“By diving into waters that you have no business in.”
“By facing fear.”
“Watch your words. You are looking into the eyes of fear.”
“Eye. You’re missing one.”
He narrowed his one eye at me, but it was playful enough for me not to put my guard up. “Xavier rules shock, and we all are aware that he never reveals his intentions completely; therefore, he may very well be plotting to take us all down.” He glanced over me. “That is far more concerning to me than any triangle that is fighting me.” After a moment, he spoke again. “The King of Obsession will kill you to save you from Xavier.”
“Do kings not realize that there are better ways to get a girl’s attention?”
He leered. “Why would he change his play now?” His eye focused on me. “That is what he has done in each of your lives. The others believe that he is protecting himself, but I know better. I saw how he looked at you today.”
So whoever this was had seen me; the question was, did I see them?
I raised my hands to tell him I was clueless. That just made him laugh again.
“Blind fate—I never have understood how humans withstand that,” he grumbled.
“Maybe because when you jack with fate you end up looking like you?”
“Not amused.”
“Your eye smiled.”
He moved his head from side to side in dismay. “I have warned you of your death. You can fight if you wish. It matters not to me.”
“I’m sure it does. I brought doubt to your Willow. Are you not playing matchmaker?”
“One way or another, I will rule this world again. If Willow happens to prevail, if Drake happens to adore another in her place…there is a spell in place to claim their children.”
“You are going to steal babies? Right when I thought I liked you.”
“Not infants. They will grow, the cycle will repeat, and against their parents’ will, they will follow down the same dark path—only that time, I will already know when and how to strike.”
He was delusional. What he was speaking was what he believed when he died. I know for a fact that Willow and Landen had already made it past far more trials than Donalt or any other evil would have assumed that they would.
“And if there are no children?”
“There will be.”
“You are playing this all wrong.”
Quickly, he moved back as if my words had struck him. “How do you mean?”
“Willow and Landen already know your game—the smart thing to do would be to leave them be and bide your time.”
“Did they take your humanity when they drained you?”
Who was this ‘they’? I already knew that Monroe’s powers were the ones that had altered my insights. Now, how did I know that and they didn’t? And who was taking credit for that in the first place?
“Maybe. Just looking at this from an objective perspective.”
“Spells have chained us. We must complete this task.”
Once again, that was what he believed when he died. Like a fool, the last thing he had considered was Landen and Willow prevailing.
“It’s going to suck if you lose,” I muttered.
“I’m not going to lose. They will end their quest soon enough. They are already keeping their distance from this palace.”
“Right.” This guy was clueless.
“You believe me not.”
“Why should I? How do I know that Xavier did not put you up to speaking to me? You want me to fret over a death that I have no power to stop. You want me to believe that some phantom king has the hots for me. What’s the point?”
“You implore a sign of good grace.”
“Not really.”
“Why are you so difficult?”
“I’m not. The only good grace you could give me is a ticket out of this hell, and apparently Xavier has that planned out.”
“He needs to be taken down,” he grumbled.
“Well, I’m sure someone is working on that.”
“You dive. When he begins the spell, you dive. Swim north. You will find what you need there.”
“Sure. Swim into a trap.”
“Not a trap. It was Xavier’s plot that led you down the road you are on. He convinced the King of Obsession that if he complied, you would forget your quest, you would commit to him.”
“And what were you offered, considering that this occurred in your kingdom?”
“A vessel,” he said with a sly grin.
I knew he was talking about Drake, but I was going to play this out. I glanced over him once more. “You got the short end of the deal.”
He grinned again.
“I’m not diving into water until I have some kind of proof that your word is not worthless.”
“My word
is true.”
“Proof, dear King of Fear. I need proof.”
He said nothing for what seemed like forever, then he pursed that half lip of his. “There is going to be an explosion in twelve hours. The city north of here. The eruption is one of three omens meant to tell the people in this dimension that Drake is courting the wrong girl. Evacuate the city, do not bring them here, move them further north so the other kings will not be aware that you have blocked this. After you realize that I just helped you save thousands of lives, consider diving, and do so before they’ve bound your hands this time.”
“This time,” I mused. “And were you there the first time around?”
“No. If I were, I would have told the fools to spare the child. At the very least not bind him so he would not be damaged when we needed him.”
Rage. I could not believe how calm he was about whatever had happened so long ago that a child was involved.
“There was a child at my death. Is that what you are telling me?” I said as uncaringly as I could.
His one eye filled with the evil I knew he was. “The child was your downfall. The King of Obsession swore to the others that it was his—that you were faithful to the devotion he claimed he felt coming from your energy. He went as far as stating that the child carried his eye color, assuming that would be enough proof that his essence had collided and created that babe.” He let out an evil laugh. “You see, a sovereign cannot produce a child with a mere human; not on this plane at least.”
When I first came here with my cousins, Charlie, Monroe, and her brothers, Donalt had formed before us, and he didn’t look at all like he did now; he was near perfection, even sported some impressive wings. Monroe was the one that hindered him then, by simply stating, “Father, tempt me not.” Now, I knew that Monroe had supernatural powers, but as far as I knew she was human. If that were the case, then how was he her father? Of course, I couldn’t ask him that because that would hurt the uncaring character that I had displayed thus far. I made a mental note to figure out where exactly Monroe was born and what, if any powers her mother may have had that would have allowed her to bear children with this ghost at some point in time. My gut was telling me that Donalt was a father to no one, that that was a ruse. Seemed as if no one was who they claimed to be.
“Glad we agree that I am a human now and then; nothing to worry about,” I said in a bored tone, which seemed to irritate him because the room turned arctic.
“The others knew the King of Obsession was delusional and chose to offer a compromise—a test, if you will.” His one eye gazed forward as what was left of his mind replayed what he knew of that time. “You had fallen for an Earthly prince, and I allowed it simply because your image had fooled me then.” He glanced at me and shook his old finger playfully in my direction. “Should have tested the energy. You were a sly one then, too.”
“Then—now? Not sly. I have no fight with any of this.”
He grunted before he spoke. “To prove that the child belonged to the King of Obsession, you and your child were tested; you failed.” He glanced over me. “Obviously.”
I hindered any thought or conclusion I wanted to make in my mind, knowing that he very well may be able to see those conclusions.
“So I hooked up with this king in a past life, cheated on him, then he killed me? Do you see how insane this sounds? Whose baby was it? What Earthly prince?”
His laugh was so cold that I felt my breath seize. “The same prince you are courting now. And it was my kingdom then and now. Drake slipped through my fingers then because the King of Obsession let his favor fall on you. To this day, he still thinks you were killed by Xavier for spite, that you never cared for Drake. That blue-eyed boy was and still is his.”
“I don’t get the king thing, man. This is your kingdom, but you have pointed out at least one other, or two—did you not say Xavier was one, too? Why where they in your kingdom?”
“They are not Earthly kings, and neither am I. This was my domain, and of course I let my fellow kings dwell here when they came to this plane. We were still trying to sort it all out back then, who was who, and in that assembly confusion was born. The point is you are not a threat to me. So, I care not if you undo your beginning.”
Just to ensure that I should still hate this ghost, I pressed on. “All you care about is a vessel, right? One that you have prepared to take over?”
He didn’t bother to answer, which led me to believe his goal was to survive the trials before him now and wait for Landen and Willow’s children to be born. It also told me that the other kings, at least this Xavier guy, didn’t care to wait that long; they were pushing forward with the original plan. The reason behind that plotting was still absent to me.
“Fine,” I said with a shrug as if I didn’t care to know his answer.
“You need to return; otherwise, they are going to harm that looking glass searching for you, and that would not be good if you ever intend to leave this dimension again.”
“Well, on that note,” I said as I stood, “I’m going to get out of here. I don’t need anyone blocking my way out of this hell.”
I didn’t even bother to wait for his response. I dove into the dark water and pushed my way into the tunnel that had led me there. Halfway through, I ran into another body—it wasn’t Aden, and it wasn’t Drake, so I had no idea who had dared to try and come after me. I swam past him, pulling his arm to follow. Once out of the tunnel, I hugged the wall; the swim to the top was faster than the descent simply because the current was pushing me upward. I broke the surface seconds before my rescuer. One glance told me it was Marc, and he was furious with me.
Aden was drenched on his knees by the pool. He reached to pull me out yelling, “What the hell, Maddie?”
The only one not mad at me was Zander. I felt pride and honor coming from him. Must be why he was not wet. He’d trusted me. I was really starting to like that guy.
“I was exploring,” I muttered as I took in the room. All of the guards were in there now, and at least three of them were soaked.
“Underwater?” Marc bit out as he pulled himself out.
“I didn’t bother the rings,” I said in instant defense.
“You don’t know that! Do you have any idea how many lives you put at risk?” Marc bellowed at me. The anger in his voice, his fierce, dark eyes, and the way his wet hair was waywardly tossed out of his eyes made him look so much like Drake.
“Did you find anything?” Aden said, raising his hand to tell Marc to back off. Chrispin helped Marc up and said something sternly to him, which I’m sure was along the lines of ‘cool it.’
“There is a waterway feeding this. There may be more tunnels, but I didn’t go that far,” I answered Aden.
“You were down there for almost fifteen minutes,” Aden argued.
“I was only under water for less than two.”
“There is a cave?” Aden asked as his eyes expanded and I let him see everything I had said or done down there.
He glared at the water, then to me. “You believe him?”
“The question is, what if I don’t and something does happen?”
“Better safe than sorry,” Aden said with an exhausted sigh.
Marc, Chrispin, and the others were looking at us like we were crazy.
“What city is north of here?” I asked.
“You would call them churches, something like a Vatican. Deeply religious followers of this reign live there,” Chrispin answered as Marc put his shirt back on after pushing as much water as he could out of his suit pants.
“Perfect target,” I said under my breath.
“You need to evacuate it, move those people north, quietly,” Aden ordered.
“What are you guys trying to tell me? Some ghost gave you the heads up?” Chrispin asked, obviously gauging what I had been up to.
“Yep,” I said with a wink. “He said to go north, too. I’m not sure how deeply to believe this, but like I said, it would suck if we were wron
g and something did happen.”
Marc’s dark eyes raked over me. “What ghost?”
“Donalt. Like I said, you can believe him or not. He said it was one of three omens. To move them north, not here, because if you did the person who set this in motion would know.”
“And who is that?”
“Didn’t ask.”
After a moment of indecision, Marc nodded once. “I’ll tell Drake. Will the two of you go to your wing now? I don’t need anything else to worry about tonight.”
He nodded in Zander’s direction, silently telling him to watch over us.
“You have twelve hours. It’s going to be a long night,” I said in an offer to help.
“We’ll figure it out.” Marc handed me the dress I had taken off. “Do you have any idea how horrible it would have been to tell him that I lost you?”
“I’m not his—not anyone’s. I’m going to bed. This day has been long enough.”
Sorrow engulfed Marc. It killed me to make him feel that way, but I was still on stage, and letting him or anyone else know that I was in love with Drake was a risk I wasn’t prepared to take.
Chapter Fifteen
~Drake~
Madison Marie had been in my palace for less than a day and already turned it on its heels. Stopping a royal in his path is punishable by death, and she did that when she halted to put whoever was imitating Clara in her place—which still had me grinning on the inside because I knew that meant she gave a damn. She had decided I was worth fighting for.
Madison Marie didn’t stop there; no, she exited a royal dinner without being excused. I almost erupted in laughter, I really did. It took all I had not to fall over with joy that she was brave enough to stand up to every one of those pompous asses. The only thing that stopped that action was when the thought arose that something had driven her to do that. If I found out someone at that table was solely responsible for her reaction—Creator help them—I was going to rip them apart piece by piece.
I was so distracted with that thought that I barely listened to Xavier and Alamos—the real one—when they gave me a briefing of the kingdom. Xavier was quick to point out that the kingdom was breaths away from a civil war, a war where half the souls demanded the reign of any and all Blakeshires to end. Half was an improvement in my eyes. Zander had told me the entire dimension was seeking a hostile takeover up until the moment Madison Marie and I shared that dessert before all of them.