Blakeshire (Insight #9)(72)
“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.