Blakeshire (Insight #9)(61)

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.