Broken Road (Fate's Intent Book 7) (13 page)

“What will Ruby think?” Adele asked.

“You think I care? I haven’t seen her in days so she probably wouldn’t even notice. Is she even still here?”

“Of course she’s here.” Jaylyn said. “She ate with us for a few minutes before she took it upstairs.”

“Then it doesn’t matter, does it?”

“Apparently not.”

That’s all that was said for the rest of the time I was down there. It seemed like everyone wanted to finish in a hurry just to avoid another disappointing conversation. I was glad for it. It was definitely something I didn’t want to talk about—ever but my reasons were still unclear even to me.

Chapter 25

Adele

It’s been yet another week and Ruby and Darius still weren’t talking or even seeing each other for that matter. I was worried but for reasons more than that. I seemed to be the only person to notice these strange glances between Darius and Meg. My explanation of the situation was something I didn’t like to think to be true but I just had to know.

I walked to the third floor to see Darius while I knew Meg was safely in a conversation with Jaylyn downstairs and entered his room. “Oh, hey, Adele. Ever think of knocking?”

My face was scorned and I closed the door behind me. “We need to talk.”

Darius seemed a little confused as to why but stood agreeing. “Okay. About?”

“What’s going on with you and Meg?”

I got right to the point with this too but Darius tried to hide it. “Me and Meg? Nothing.”

“Really?” I started walking around the bed. “Because it’d be hard for me to believe that you’d wear this.” I reached to the foot board and picked up a ladies garment, holding it up with the tips of my fingers. It was lacey and definitely something I’d never catch Darius in.

“Yeah. I can explain that.”

“Well, start explaining.”

I just gave him a look with my arms folded and he caved with a sigh. “All right. Fine. I’m sleeping with her. Okay?”

“Darius! Are you insane?! Why?!”

“Why not?! I’ve already lost Ruby! I shouldn’t have to wait around for her to finally say it!”

“You have not lost her.” I said more quietly.

“Oh, really? It’s been weeks, Adele! Explain that!”

“How long?”

“What?”

“How long have you been fucking Meg?”

“Don’t say it like that.”

“Well, it’s you. How else would I say it? Just answer the question.”

“All right. Ah—about a week.”

“A week! Have you completely lost your mind?! Do you not want to get Ruby back?!”

“I don’t think it would happen if I did and Meg doesn’t make me feel like I’m worthless!”

This was different; he was different. He was defending her in some way and my eyes widened to why. “This isn’t just for sex, is it? You’re actually in a relationship with her?”

Darius just sighed like he couldn’t admit it to me and I shook my head and headed for the door.

“Adele, wait. Don’t tell anyone.”

“Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because I don’t want you to ruin it. I think I might actually be able to have something with her.”

“Are you kidding me?! You are not splitting up this family!”

“Please! Just keep my secret. At least for a while. I know you can.”

I didn’t like this one bit and made my own plan. “Fine but you’ll regret this.” I left the room, slamming the door behind me and started back down the stairs while I was drowning in thought. I took a turn down another flight and almost ran right into Meg.

“Oh, Adele. I’m sorry.”

“Meg. It’s okay. My fault.” I kept going down and approached Jaylyn, Zayden and Troy sitting in the lounge on the first floor.

“Hey, what?” Jaylyn asked.

She must have seen the irritation on my face and it was better to get all of this out now.

“We have a serious problem. Come with me.” I turned back towards the stairs and everyone didn’t hesitate to follow. I led them to the second floor and into the study where we could talk behind a closed door.

“What’s wrong, Love?”

I sighed as everyone sat down but I kept on my feet and paced in front of them. “We can all agree that we like Meg, right?”

“Ah, yeah.” Troy said, looking at the others beside him a little confused.

“And we don’t mind having her here?”

“Of course not.” Jaylyn smiled.

“Okay, so the real question is, do we like her enough that we’d want her to replace Ruby?”

“What?” Zayden wondered. “Why is that even a question?”

“Yeah?” Jaylyn agreed.

I paused with a sigh and got to the news I thought they had to know. “Because Meg and Darius are—together.”

“What?!”

“I know but it’s true. I just talked to Darius and they’ve been not only sleeping together for the last week but he thinks he could actually go somewhere with her.”

“Oh no.” Jaylyn sighed as she had to cover her face. “Please tell me he was joking.”

“He wasn’t. He’s still convinced that Ruby is going to leave him and so he’s trying to move on already.”

“But we can’t let that happen.” Troy said.

“Exactly. So we agree that she can’t replace Ruby?”

“Definitely agree.” Zayden said. “But what can we do? We already tried talking to them and that didn’t work out.”

“I don’t want to end on bad terms with Meg because she really is a good person. So, we’ll have to get her to part from us with something she can’t refuse.”

“Okay but even if we can do that where will she go?” Troy asked. “It’s still dangerous.”

“Yeah and especially because she’s pregnant.” Jaylyn said.

“What?!” Zayden and Troy shouted at the same time.

“She’s pregnant?” Zayden asked, trying to be quieter. “Darius?”

“No. Wyatt.”

“Phew!” Troy sighed. “You almost just did it for me there.”

“Then that makes this worse.” Zayden said. “Wyatt will definitely want to get to her just to check if that’s true. Where could we possibly send her to be safe from that?”

“Sharlet.” I said.

Jaylyn gasped. “That’s a great idea, Adele! No one will find her there and she should go willing!”

“Wait, who’s Sharlet?” Zayden asked.

“She was Prince Venny’s first and only wife of Hintus. He was different from most Hintins you’ve seen. He loved her and wouldn’t marry again. When he died, she knew it wasn’t an accident and had her thoughts pointing to Wyatt. She confronted him with what she knew and he had her exiled from the country. She’s been staying in these mountains, far to the south. I know she would gladly take Meg in. Not even the Hintins know where she is.”

“Okay. That sounds like a reasonable plan but how are you going to explain all this to Darius?”

“We’re not. Meg is going to leave willingly and she’ll tell him whatever she feels will make him let her go. That’s when we’ll work on getting Ruby and Darius back together.”

“How are we going to do that?” Troy asked.

“I don’t know but we’ll think of something. Meg just has to be out of the picture first because I won’t see them split and I won’t see them just try to tolerate each other because of a child. We’re going to make this work. Just don’t say anything or act like you know.”

Everyone nodded and started to get up.

“When are you going to contact Sharlet?” Jaylyn asked.

“Now.”

“How?” Zayden laughed.

“With our messenger hawk.”

“Didn’t know you had one.”

“Because we don’t need to use her that much but she’s always around. Her name’s Honey.”

“Honey?”

“She’s a golden hawk.” Jaylyn smiled. “She looks like honey in the sunlight.”

Zayden laughed as he started towards the door, tapping his leg for Rift to follow. “Cute. Okay. How long do we have to keep this quiet?”

“Till we hear back from her then we’ll talk to Meg. I can reach her in hours with Honey. It should be by dinner. I’m going to write the message.”

“Then we’ll wait.”

They walked out and I stayed behind and went over to the desk to write the letter. I wrote up a quick inscription explaining the situation and asking for help then folded it up into a small square then rolled it so I could attach it to Honey.

I hid it in my hand as I left the study and climbed every stair in the palace to the highest tower. I stood at the window and looked around before letting out a long whistle that echoed through the mountains.

I waited for a moment then heard a bird cry back and saw Honey approaching from the horizon. It was beautiful as the sun reflected off her golden wings and she landed on the stone windowsill in front of me.

“Hello there, old friend. I have a job for you.” Honey let out a sound and I attached the rolled up letter to her left leg. “Take this to Sharlet. You’ll find her in a little cottage to the south. Wait there for her reply.”

The bird cried out and took flight back to the skies, heading south. I was hopeful and it took just as much time as I thought it would because I didn’t hear back from her until that night. I was thankfully alone in the kitchen when Honey appeared outside the window. I didn’t want anyone to see her that shouldn’t know about this so I immediately stopped what I was doing to go to the side door. I looked around before I opened it and lightly whistled to Honey, hoping no one else would hear.

She landed on my arm and I took the reply from her leg. “Good girl, Honey. Fly home. I’ll call if I need you.” She flew off my arm back to the skies.

I closed the door and walked back over to the food as I opened the reply and started reading it.

Adele,

It was good to hear from you. I will most definitely assist with your request. Send Meg my way as soon as you get the chance and I’ll be sure she’s kept safe. Don’t worry, I’ll show her the way.

Sincerely,

Sharlet

I held the letter over the fires of cooking to get rid of the evidence. “Perfect.”

“What’s perfect?”

I jumped and turned around to see Zayden. “Oh. I just heard back from Sharlet.”

“Really? Well?”

“She’ll help. We can send Meg off in the morning. We’ll have to talk to her tonight.”

“What about Darius?”

“After dinner, you and Troy can ask him to join you outside so he’s distracted and far from hearing anything.”

“Good. We can do that.”

“Great. Dinner is almost done. You can start gathering everyone and I’ll bring it out.”

Zayden nodded and kissed me before turning and leaving the kitchen. I got everything ready on plates and started bringing them out, leaving one in the kitchen, knowing Ruby would come get it when she was ready.

Dinner went as normal as ever and I hardly made eye contact with Darius and him me. No one really made any kind of lingering eye contact with me at all so he’d never suspect that I told everyone right after I found out. I guess that was better but I just kind of wanted to get this over with. With everyone not even striking up conversations, we finished quickly and Zayden and Troy started to get up.

“Hey, Darius, we’re going to have some fun outside.” Troy said. “Join us.”

Darius’s eyes finally looked at mine for a split second but I looked away as if nothing were wrong. I didn’t want him to get suspicious at the wrong moment.

“Yeah. Sure. We could use some.”

Zayden smiled and gave him a quick pat on the back. “We’d love to see how lazy you’ve gotten.”

Darius laughed and pushed Zayden towards the door playfully. “Oh, now you’re going to get it!”

Zayden and Troy ran out of the dining room with laughs and Darius chasing after them like children.

“Awe. That’s nice to see.” Jaylyn smiled. “They’re still big kids at heart.”

Meg laughed. “Most guys have that somewhere.”

“Yeah.” I agreed. “So, Meg, how’s it been going for you here?”

Meg looked up and both Jaylyn and I were looking at her. “Ah, good. I thank you for letting me stay.”

“Yes but perhaps we should get right to the point. This thing between you and Darius can’t happen.”

Meg sighed. “He told me you found out.”

“You must understand.” Jaylyn said. “We do really like you but this is our family.”

“I do understand.”

“Then I think it’s time you leave so Ruby and Darius can work out their problems.” I said.

“But he doesn’t think they will.”

“I understand that you may feel something for him, Meg but Ruby is the one carrying his child and you’re—”

“Not. I know.”

“You know it’s for the best.” Jaylyn said. “This doesn’t by any means mean we can’t be friends.”

“Of course not. In fact, we’re going to give you a little security for you to leave. We know what will happen to you if they find you and you give birth to a girl.”

“And you are having one.” Jaylyn said. “I’ve confirmed that.”

Meg’s head lifted right up and she looked very worried. “Then they can’t find me!”

“Even if they do, we promise that you’ll keep your life and so will your daughter. That is, if you leave come morning.”

“How can you promise that? You know what they’re like.”