Broken Road (Fate's Intent Book 7) (9 page)

Chapter 14

Jaylyn

Two more long days have passed until our husbands have finally returned home. I felt it first and immediately got excited like a child does for some special surprise. “They’re back!” I hopped quickly out of my seat, ready to see him.

“Wait. Don’t rush out there.” Adele said. “You don’t want them to think that we couldn’t live without them that badly. Just wait until they come in on their own.”

I sighed in disappointment and looked out the windows towards the stables while lowering myself back down. I didn’t want to wait but then my eyes caught something and I had to squint to see it. There was a woman riding on the back of Zayden’s horse with her arms snug around his waist.

It made me nervous but I had to say something. “Ah, Adele. I don’t want to worry you but I think Zayden brought his Kitten home.”

“What?!” Adele swung herself around to look out the window.

The horses were right outside of the stables and Zayden set Rift on the ground then helped someone down before getting the horses settled inside.

“Uh oh.” Ruby muttered.

“Come on. Let’s get out there.” Adele said.

This was more like it. We got up and walked out of the palace towards the stables. There was light talking inside and I made a point not to notice the woman and went right over to Troy with a tight hug as he pulled the saddle from his horse. “You’re home! I missed you!”

“I missed you more.”

I doubt that could have been true and I would have called him on it but I could already feel the tension as Adele slowly approached Zayden almost like she wasn’t that happy to see him. “Welcome back. How was everything?”

Her eyes flickered over to the strange woman among us and Zayden set his horse’s saddle down with a smile, probably trying to make nice of this awkward situation. “It was good. Ah, I’d like you to meet Meg.”

The woman made her first mistake and looked right at Adele and smiled. “You must be Adele. It’s an honor.”

“It should be. Can someone explain to me why I’m meeting you?”

“Ah, that’s a funny story actually.” Darius smiled. “Meg is the new Hintin Princess.”

I dropped every prior emotion and gasped at the same time with Ruby and Adele immediately shot her look over at Zayden. “You stole their Princess?! Zayden, do you realize what you’ve done?!”

“I thought you be glad and we saved her actually, not stole.”

“We did nothing of the kind.” Troy cut in. “That was all you.”

“Okay. I did but still you should have seen what it was like.”

“I know what it was like. I’ve been there before. Just because I said I’d like to free their women from that prison, doesn’t mean that I actually would.”

“I’m sorry.” Meg interrupted. “Maybe I shouldn’t be here. You’ve done enough already, really.”

“No.” I said. “Adele, let her stay for a little while. She can’t be out on her own when they start looking for her.”

Adele sighed, rolling her eyes. “Please tell me you’re not agreeing with this treason. Housing a fugitive Princess is not what this family needs right now.”

“Oh, Adele, come on.” Ruby replied. “Just a couple weeks. They already got her out of there. It’s done.”

Adele sighed again and turned away for a moment. “All right. Fine. You can stay for a bit but don’t expect us to do your will. We don’t have servants because we pull our own weight around here. Get used to it.” She walked right out and no one knew what to say. Adele agreed but she was still clearly angry about it.

“Well.” Meg muttered. “She’s very welcoming.”

“She’ll get used to you.” Zayden assured her. “Come. We’ll get you a room to stay in.”

“Thank you, Zayden.” He walked out with her and there was another pause.

“Yeah, you know? I don’t think she will.” Ruby said. “Zayden brought home a woman as his souvenir. Not the best choice.”

“I’ve got a better one.” Darius lifted her right up into his arms. “And it’s starting right now.”

Ruby smiled so big as she hung her arms around his neck and he carried her out.

I laughed. “That wasn’t surprising.”

“Yeah. You should have seen him just six hours after leaving. He was seriously losing it, calling it having withdrawals.”

I laughed again but got quieter while Troy was hanging up his horse’s gear on the stable wall. “I really missed you.”

“So did I.” He stepped closer to me and noticed my expression. “Are you okay? You seem distracted.”

“Ah, yeah. I have been actually. I’ve been wanting to tell you something but please don’t get mad.”

He laughed. “Why would I get mad? Do something Ruby crazy?”

I returned the laugh and moved my hands down to my stomach while I spoke. “No. Nothing like that. It’s just that I’m—well, I found out recently that I’m—pregnant.”

I was nervous. I didn’t know what he’d say but then he started to smile and reached for me. “I should have guessed. You’re simply glowing with the radiant beauty of an expecting mother.”

I smiled in embarrassment and found myself in his arms. “Oh, please. You don’t need to suck up to me. So, you’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad because of that? It’s what we both want. I mean, isn’t it?” I was quiet. What would I say? Of course I wanted it but—“I know it won’t heal the hole you already have in your heart but I promise I’ll be here to make sure you’re happy through this.”

A smile started across my face and I moved right into Troy’s lips. We kissed for the first time in days and I didn’t want to pull away.

Chapter 15

Zayden

I had shown Meg to a spare room on the third floor and stayed for a moment to make sure she was comfortable. “You can stay in this room. I hope it’s enough.”

“Oh, more than. Thank you. I hope I didn’t put you in any trouble with your wife.”

“No. It’ll be fine. You can rest here until dinner and I’m just going to find Adele to make sure she’s really okay.”

Meg nodded. “Good luck.”

I smiled and nodded back as I left the room to find Adele. I walked the palace looking for her but she wasn’t anywhere to be found. I walked outside onto the back balcony and my eyes turned black. I used it to find vibrations of her. Apparently, she went up the cliff and was sitting at the top like I liked to do when I wanted to be alone.

“Rift, you stay. I’ll be right down.” He sat down and I took a long breath and ran for the cliff. I jumped over the stone railing and clung to the side, climbing up effortlessly.

I reached the top and my eyes faded back when I saw Adele. She was sitting on the edge overlooking the world. “There you are.” I sat myself next to her. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“I thought you’d be too preoccupied to care.”

“Of course not. I’ve missed you. I thought you would have at least appreciated what I did.”

“Bringing home a strange woman?”

“It’s not like that. She was being abused and forced to stay in the Prince’s bed even before the wedding.”

“It’s how they are there, Zayden. You can’t change people.”

“But you can help people.”

She sighed and finally looked over. “I get it, all right? Your heart was in the right place. I just didn’t expect to have outside company when I give you the news.”

“What news? Did something happen?” I was anxious as if there were actual danger.

“Yeah, something did happen but you can relax. It’s not bad. At least, I hope you don’t think so.”

“Well, what is it?”

She paused from telling me and looked across the scenery. “Our life is seriously about to change.”

“How?”

“With a child.”

“I know that. Jaylyn’s pregnant. You told Troy, remember?”

“I did but it’s not just Jaylyn anymore.”

I almost lost my breath and could only get out one thing. “You?”

She nodded and looked over. “Ruby too.”

I was completely speechless and thought about everything I’ve been through. All the time I spent dwelling on what happened has seemed to be wasted. I was getting it. I saw it. I knew things didn’t have to be that way anymore. I could finally move forward as everyone has.

“Zayden? I know we’re not really ready but—”

“No. We’re ready. I mean, I’m ready. Are you not ready?”

Adele turned her eyes from me and looked down. “I don’t know what I am. I didn’t really want to get your hopes up too much.”

“Why?”

She started to get emotional and tried keeping her eyes off me because of it. “I need to tell you something that I never told anyone and couldn’t even put in my journal either.”

I moved closer to her and rubbed her back. “All right. What is it?”

“I’ve been pregnant before.”

My eyes widened just slightly and I wondered if she knew about before but said something to confirm it.

“It was a long time ago. I didn’t tell anyone except the father.”

It was easy to guess. “Ryon.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, what happened? I know you don’t have a child.”

“No. I don’t. It didn’t last very long. I carried for about two months and then—there was—it was painful and there was so much blood. I lost it.”

“Are you afraid?”

“Things die around me, Zayden!” Her voice got louder but still upset. “My mother, Bryce, that baby, Ellie, Kole, Ryon—I can’t even keep a potted plant alive! What if I can’t do this? What if I lose him? I can’t go through that again, especially not with Seth.”

I pulled her close to me and wrapped my arms around her so she was crying with her face against me. I knew how she felt with thoughts of losing Seth so I could relate best to her issue. “You won’t, Love. I promise. This was supposed to happen this way. You know it and I know it. You’re not going to lose him. I’ve seen him too.”

She pulled away with a sniffling voice and wiped her eyes. “I know. I just—

“I meant very recently and I was with him.”

“But how?”

I knew I couldn’t tell her the whole story but lying to make her feel better wasn’t something I wanted to do either. “I saw Ryon on our trip.”

She perked up a little with slightly widened eyes. “You did? Why?”

“He came to me. He knew about my recent behavior and how it affected you. We had a nice chat that led to him showing me a visual of our son like when you saw him.”

Adele laughed. “You had a nice chat with Ryon?”

“It didn’t end badly with us. He’s still my brother but the point is, I saw him, Love. Seth. He was with me. You don’t have to be worried about this. You won’t lose him.”

“But how can you believe what he showed you?”

“Because I want to. It will happen.”

“There’s still other things to worry about.”

“You don’t have to be worried about anything. I’m going to be right here with you to make sure everything’s okay.”

“Sounds like it’s going to be the most boring nine months of my life.”

I laughed and kissed her head quickly. “Not when you have the most important job.” My hand slid down to her stomach and my voice became mellower. “You can do everything. You can do this and I think we’re both ready.”

Adele smiled as she leaned into my lips and we kissed. She rested her head on my shoulder while in my arms and we looked out across the great scenery in front of us. “I’m glad to know you’re happy.”

“Of course I am. You think Jaylyn can speed up life like she can with plants?”

Adele laughed and backed away. “Zayden, don’t even try it.”

“I don’t want to wait months to hold him.”

“Me either but I want him to grow normally and healthy. Waiting is part of it.”

“Okay. I know it is and I’ll have to, I guess. I’ve been thinking about it a lot since Troy found out. I was hoping.”

“Well, it paid off and I’m glad you’re home.”

“Are you?”

“Zayden, of course I am.”

“You didn’t seem it.”

“It had to have been the unexpected cargo.”

I sighed and leaned into her. “Are you going to be like this the whole time? She needs somewhere to be away from everything. Where’s better than here? Are you going to let her stay?”

“Yes. I said I would. It’s just the first impression wasn’t very good. Jaylyn assumed she was your Kitten.”

“You knew about that?”

“I know Hintins, Zayden. I thought you actually brought yours home with you.”

“I can’t believe you let me go there without you, knowing that would happen!”

“So, how was she?”

I sighed from her smile and glanced down. “I uncomfortably slept on the couch. What did you think? But I won’t lie and say I didn’t want her. I didn’t like being away from you but nothing happened. I wouldn’t have let it.”

Adele continued to smile, taking my arm. “I trusted you. I just wanted to see what you’d say. Thank you for telling me. That must have been hard to do.”

“Telling you the truth is never hard. It was just a complete shock to me that she was in there in the manner she was that I almost lost control.”

Adele laughed. “I know; naked. They’re used to the men just wanting to get right to it.”

“You should have warned me at least.”

“You chose the right thing on your own. I didn’t have to warn you. Now come on. I should see what we have to make for dinner for an extra person.”

“Okay.” I got to my feet with her. “But first, I’d like you to give our guest a more warming welcome than you did. She’ll be with us for a couple of weeks.”

“Do I have to?”

“Please? For me?”

“All right. Fine.”

I smiled as I followed her to the edge of the cliff. “Were you serious about trusting me?”

“With my life but I can get down myself.”

“Not in your condition.”

She laughed. “My condition?”

“I’m not going to let anything happen to the world’s future. I’m banning you from doing anything drastic with your powers when you’re pregnant.”

“What?! Zayden!”

I stepped closer to her and touched her face so she would know I was serious. “I don’t want anything to happen to either of you. You don’t know how things will change while you’re like this and I won’t risk it.”

I simply moved my hand from her face and held it out to her. The moment she took it, my eyes jumped to black and I flung her up onto my back and started to descend down the side of the cliff in a hurry.