Synergy (See #3)(41)

I couldn't stop myself. I reached out and slapped him as hard as I could. Aden held his face where my blow hit him as his eyes blazed with anger.

“You might want to get your story straight before you decide to accuse me of anything,” I said through gritted teeth. “Open your eyes,” I demanded as I let the wall I hid behind in my mind fall and stared at him.

I let my entire day play out for him. I showed him every minute, every escape from death, that demon, what Draven and I said to each other, what Silas said, the words of Willow that still echoed in my mind.

I stared at him for countless minutes and watched a sea of emotions wave across his body. When his pupils returned to their normal shape, I crossed my arms and tilted my head and waited for him to have the nerve to accuse me of doing anything wrong.

Aden let his crossed arms fall. “I’m sorry,” he whispered as he pulled me to his chest. I let an angry tear fall before I pulled away from him.

“Have you convinced him to leave?” I asked.

“No,” he answered quietly. “Charlie, what are we going to do about Madison and Monroe?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that I’m not going to let anyone hurt them.”

“Do you really think Madison hasn’t seen any of this? How can she not with the dreams she has?”

“I don’t know. Monroe said it was just too much for her.”

“At least I now know why Winston is having a hard time picking what team to play for,” he said as he sighed deeply.

My eyes questioned him.

“If his dad’s a demon, that has to be in him.”

“That’s where I’m confused. I think Monroe needs to be in Chara, but I don’t want to bring any demons to their doorstep -- if that’s even the case, that ghost might just be after them for some other reason.”

“Willow told you she would see you in this life. She would have warned you not to do that if she didn’t want them there,” he said, clearly concerned that I was now wavering on whether we would leave or not.

“Maybe you saw my day too fast. All Willow was worried about then was assuring me that loving her friend was not a sin. She didn’t mention anyone beyond us, not even Madison -- and call me crazy, but I think I would have mentioned a twin if I were her.”

Aden furrowed his eyebrows as he gazed into his memory. “She did say the path she saw for her future could change. I don’t think Madison is a sacrifice.”

“That’s reassuring. Why?” I uttered with little enthusiasm.

“I think you’re just too deep into this and you haven’t had time to see this from an outside perspective.”

“What I am not seeing, Aden?” I asked, knowing I was too tired to put it all together.

“Willow told you she loved two. She told you that in this life everyone would be together. Bianca has two boys. What if they are both her lovers, the ones she loved across time? What if Madison was the one that they loved in a different life? That would explain why she’s dreaming about that guy.”

“You think Madison is that prince’s soul mate? That right now Willow loves them both and I’m about to bring a hammer and destroy that love triangle? I don’t see how that makes Madison any less of a sacrifice; sounds to me like all this talk that Madison has about not wanting to love anyone until she finds herself or that she doesn’t want to be anyone’s second choice is her way of saying she wants nothing to do with any of that.”

“Listen, Madison says those things about being in love because she thinks it will blind her the way it’s blinded you.”

“I’m not blind. How do you know that? I’m her best friend. If that were true, I would know that already.”

A frustrated smile revealed his dimples as a gasp escaped him. “Why do you think she does all that research she does? Why do you think she tells you not to worry about Silas or Draven? She does that because she thinks -- and I agree with her -- that you’re so focused on saving Draven that you aren’t fighting what we’re meant to.”

“It’s not worth fighting for if I don’t have Draven.”

“That’s Madison’s point. Draven is your weakness, and you’re his; if we can see that, then so can this thing we’re fighting. Madison just doesn’t want to be pulled into that. She wants to be clear headed, end this, and then fall in love.”

“How do you even know that? Are you assuming? I’ll tell you like I told her, you cannot choose who or when you fall in love.”

He tilted his head as his eyes fell into mine. “Who do you think gave her all those books she read? I did. Madison and I may butt heads, but we’re both clear headed, and we do our best to make sure that you and Draven stay that way.”

I looked away from him. “Aden, I think she loves Britain.”

“No. She doesn’t. He’s not good enough for her.”

I looked back at him to see anger engulfed in his eyes. “And how do you know this prince will be? Have you seen the place he rules?”

“I have, and I don’t know that he’ll be good enough for her either, but I know if she loved Britain that she wouldn’t be leaving with us. That she would be spending all of her time trying to help him, but she’s not doing that; she’s using him as a guide, a guide to figure out Draven for you.”