Blakeshire (Insight #9)(91)

I turned to face her, urged her chin up, let my lips rest against hers for a brief second, then pulled slowly away. “I’ll be back as soon as they are calm. It’s near dawn. Try and get some rest.”

She only offered a nod.

I reached to trace her bottom lip before I walked away. Just as I reached the door, another violent explosion erupted. It was so strong that it nearly knocked her off her feet. I was at her side that instant. She was trembling.

“What was that?” she gasped.

My eyes were trained at the window. Time was sailing forward. Not good at all. I was massively late now. I had to go before all of the premade plans I had with the others became pointless.

As soon as she stopped trembling, I kissed her forehead, then swiftly stood to leave.



Madison



I stared at him as he left—at all the regal dominance his essence was pouring into the air. He was born to be a king, that much was for sure. The sad part was that I knew I was not born to be any queen. I was an obsessive fighter at my core.

My gaze moved to the window for countless moments. I could see the sun rising, people rushing from their homes, them climbing to their rooftops to peer at the damage. Their emotions were rich in the air, and I could feel them all. I tested myself over and over, waiting for the pain I had felt in the past to surface, but it remained dormant. I was running out of time. If I had any plans of chasing any fears I had—if I planned on diving into any water—I had to do that now.

I ditched my robe and pulled on a tank top, a pair of jeans, socks, and short combat boots. I thought about grabbing a hoodie, but my adrenaline was pumping too much for a chill to catch me off guard.

When I opened my door, I saw Aden in the center hall. His shirt was off, and a toothbrush was in his mouth as he turned the pages in an aged book.

“Multitasking?” I said with a smirk.

He raised one finger as he put the book down and walked away, brushing his teeth rapidly.

I was sitting on the couch that centered the hall, letting my legs dance in place when he came back. I wanted to go to those hidden halls that we had used to get back here last night, find out where more waterways were in this palace, ones that had saltwater in them. I would have been long gone if my mind were not instantly replaying both Draven and Drake telling me to stay with Aden.

When Aden came out of his room, he had his shirt and shoes on and another book.

“Look, bodyguard, I’ve got things to do.”

“Excuse me?”

“Your brother,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Draven was here?”

I glanced up at him, letting him see the non-private moments of my night.

“You’re not serious? What day is it?”

“I don’t know anymore.”

Aden tilted his head. “I don’t think your boy is going to see another sunrise.”

My eyes rose to meet his instantly. When I saw Britain’s image instead of Drake’s, I felt a relief. “Not my boy, and Drake is not a heathen. He’ll just get him to leave.”

“Right,” Aden said as he nodded to the books. “Where did you find these?”

“Me?” I said, pointing to my chest. “Those aren’t mine.”

“Somebody left them here.”

“Maybe Drake. He told me he was trying to be alone in Alamos’ study.”

“If he got these from Alamos, then Alamos is a thief.”

“What do you know?”

“This one,” he said as he picked up the book on the table and took a seat next to me, “is the one that Draven took from Britain’s house a while back. Draven gave it to August, and he brought it here. And when I asked where they were yesterday,” he grimaced, “or the last time they saw Perodine, rather, they said it must have been put in the wrong place.”

“What are the others?” I asked, nodding to the other three.

“I think we need to worry about this one,” he said, turning the spine for me to see it. “The translation of this name is close to ‘Horace.’”

“You are not serious.”

“Gets better. If I am translating this right, this word,” he said, turning to the first page, “means time keeper.” He glanced at me. “Does this drawing look familiar?”

My stomach dropped as I saw the drawing of my locket on the tattered pages—only it didn’t look like a necklace. It looked like an intricately detailed clock.

I reached for my locket and opened it. Aden reached for the chain so he could see the clock part, then dropped it as he went back to translate the words on the page. Thank God he could read at least six languages fluently.

I glanced down at the details of the watch and turned it so I could see how it was put together. Without trying, the glass over the face came off, then what looked like a normal clock turned out to be nothing more than a thin sheet of paper. The mystery began beneath that point.

There were not twelve notches, but seven, and those seven ovals had five points within them. There were wheels spinning behind five of the seven points; the other two were still. Now the five points were not all spinning at the same level or even looked the same; it was almost like black sand was filling these ovals.

“Let me see it,” Aden said as he took it from me once more. After a second, he cursed under his breath, then shifted his eyes between the book and the locket.