Blakeshire (Insight #9)(102)
“I’m sure it will make sense soon enough. We all had to touch the same object before it happened.”
She nodded apprehensively. Her emotion of fear was back. I would dare say all of her emotions were back, and she wasn’t in pain. We had more than one victory this day.
Draven vanished from our sight as Zander came to Madison’s other side until we reached our wing.
I pulled her inside and pushed her against the door.
We were off stage, no longer a king and courting princess, but young lovers that had endured enough emotions that day to last a lifetime.
Our hands were out of control as we rushed to get closer to each other. My heart was thundering; I could not get close enough to her. I was waiting for her to vanish from my arms. All the ifs were haunting me. I ached to feel every part of her against me. I wanted my soul within hers forevermore.
I heard someone clear their throat before they said, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll move.”
I halted my kiss against her neck, then turned to see Aden lying on the couch that centered the room. He looked half-asleep. Madison gently pushed me away as she went to him.
“You okay?” she asked as she helped Aden sit up.
“Just lightheaded.”
“Did Landen not heal you?” I asked. That was the plan Draven had shown me before.
He raised his shirt to show us his chest with unbroken skin. “I’m just wiped out. Need sleep or something.”
“Energy,” Madison said. “Why did you do something that stupid? Why did you not come through that wall?”
“Only stupid thing I did was not realizing it was a trap sooner. I knew if you were out in the open, someone would see you—someone would save you.”
“How did Landen find you so fast?”
I knew the answer to that one but let it be. Aden was a future king, too. He just didn’t know it yet, and Landen barely figured it out in time.
Aden’s green eyes looked up at Madison. “Are you fixed now?” he asked, knowing that Madison had to have seen clearly into either my or Draven’s mind even to know that Landen had helped him.
“On the mend,” she said with a blush as she looked at me. I couldn’t hide my sinful smirk. I was ready to work on mending her a little bit more.
“I don’t remember Landen…I remember mint.”
Madison’s eyes met mine. That was odd. I assumed Landen had healed him. Now I wasn’t sure I knew what the hell happened in that back passage. We couldn’t look into Aden to find the answer because he wasn’t conscious of what happened.
“You need a nap. Food. Did you ever talk to Phoenix? He was here with Drake last night.”
He shook his head no to the last part. I needed to look into whatever she was talking about. If Aden was a fellow king of mine, then we were missing a queen.
“Sure thing, Mom,” Aden said with a smirk. He reached for her locket and opened it. “Looks like you hit the mark…now to figure out the other two.” He let the locket fall and stood up. “Let me know when food comes that we can eat. I’m going to lie down.”
Madison looked at me as if to question if Aden were one of them. I nodded to confirm and watched her face fill with remorse. She feared her friends were going to go through the same hell we’d been through, and I couldn’t promise her that wouldn’t happen.
I helped Aden up and offered him a glance full of gratitude. “You may want to send somebody after those men I took down—wouldn’t want them stinking up the place.”
I nodded. “Will do.”
Madison
As Aden walked away, I felt myself blush. I still hadn’t processed that Preston was that baby. I hadn’t processed that that was me or even Drake in the cavern. To me, it was just a sad mystery that I had unraveled.
“I’m going to take a shower. I have no idea what I was swimming in before.”
Drake glanced over me with a smoldering smile as our last shower flashed through his mind. He shook his head as if he were arguing with himself. “I’m going to get you something to eat.”
He held my hand until I had walked so far away that I had to let go.
The shower I took was hot and endless. I felt myself coming back around. I felt my fears surfacing, my grief emerging, I felt shock lingering. They were not as powerful as the other emotions I was feeling, but I could feel them again—and because I could, I cried. I cried angry tears. I didn’t want to be a part of this twisted fate, for anyone I cared about to be a part of it.
I could have died today. Aden could have. I still wasn’t clear on what Draven and Charlie were doing, but I knew that all of this was going to get harder long before it ever became easy.
I planned to eat and go straight to bed, so I pulled on my black yoga pants and night shirt that could double as a short dress before I made my way to the kitchen.
As soon as I opened my door, I smelled the rich aroma of rosemary and other herbs roasting on what would surely be one of the best chickens I had ever eaten.
In the kitchen, I found Drake leaning by the counter.
Zander and Preston were sitting at the bar, laughing and talking as if it had been nothing more than an ordinary night.
“Hey,” I said to announce my arrival. Almost too naturally, I moved to Drake’s side to help him with the plates he was preparing.