Deviation: Altera Realm Trilogy Book 2 (24 page)

Syney and Hadrian talked for most of the day, which was good and bad for Gabe. He wanted them to talk, but also didn’t trust them alone together. Hadrian had his own thoughts on what should be done and wouldn’t hesitate to try to push his opinions on Syney. His only saving grace was Syney’s annoyingly independent thinking; she wouldn’t necessarily go along with what her father said.

Gabe sat back in the wicker chair in his bedroom upstairs. As much as he wanted to sit around thinking about the plan and Syney, he couldn’t help think about Faye and Noelle. He pulled out the red-gemmed amulet and turned it around and around. He had a feeling why Faye had wanted to talk to Noelle alone, and he didn’t like it. He never would have been able to get through the years following her death if he hadn’t been able to see her. He had started going to her for so much. Faye gave him advice when Adam decided that he hated Gabe for just about everything. She told him what to do when Raine called him to tell him that Syney had been found. She told him when he was being an idiot and needed to relax. He wasn’t sure he could live without her. But lately he had seen less and less of her, thanks to Noelle. He really meant it when he said he wasn’t expecting to fall for her, and he didn’t like things he didn’t plan out.

“Hey, you missed dinner,” Noelle said, walking into the room.

“Wasn’t hungry,” he said, not looking at her.

Noelle sighed loudly. “OK, out with it. What’s wrong?”

Gabe stared at the amulet for a moment before finally looking at her. “What did Faye want?”

“I told you it was nothing big.”

He shook his head and looked away.

“She just wants me to look out for you.”

“And destroy this,” he said.

Noelle quietly looked at the amulet. “She just wants you to be happy, and she doesn’t think you can be with her still around.”

Gabe jumped up and threw the amulet onto the bed. “Go ahead then. Break the damn thing.”

“Gabe, let’s talk about this.”

“I don’t want to talk. Just do it.”

“This is a huge step—”

“Just break it!” he yelled.

Noelle backed away from him and took several jagged breaths before grabbing the amulet from the bed. She looked around then headed to the wooden desk in the corner of the room. She put the amulet down and picked up a solid-metal candlestick.

Gabe watched her, his heart picking up speed.
This is a good thing
, he thought.
Chapters in lives end all the time
. His chapter with Faye ended a while ago. What he had with her now was just a holdover. Nothing but a holdover that needed to be taken care of. Noelle raised the candlestick and was about to bring it down when Gabe ran across the room and grabbed her wrist.

Noelle looked at him, tears in her eyes.

Gabe picked up the amulet. “Noelle, you have to…you have to understand.”

She let out a sob and shook her head. She dropped the candlestick and ran for the door.

Gabe knew he couldn’t let her leave and was thankful at that moment for his Vampire speed. He blocked the doorway just as she got there. “Don’t leave.”

“Now you want to talk?” she said, her tears in her voice.

It broke his heart to see her this upset. He knew he had to make a decision. He was going to lose one of them either way. Gabe stared into her eyes as he lifted the amulet and squeezed it. A Vampire had the most strength of any of the races, and only one squeeze smashed the entire amulet to pieces.

Noelle looked at his hand as bits of metal and gems fell to the floor. She looked back at him and stepped closer. “Gabe,” she started.

He shook his head and ran. He didn’t stop until he was miles away. He couldn’t believe he had just done that, but it needed to be done. He just wasn’t sure anything was going to be OK anymore. He was never alone as long as he had that damn thing in his pocket, but now he had nothing.
You have Noelle
, a
small voice in the back of his mind whispered. He nodded in agreement with a smile. She was amazing and all his. He didn’t have to be alone, and he wasn’t.

By time he returned to the house, everyone was asleep. He slipped into his room and slowly walked to the bed. He tried to get in quietly, but Noelle rolled over the second he sat on the mattress.

“You’re back,” she said, quickly putting a hand on his arm. “Are you OK?” Gabe nodded and sat against the headboard. “I’m fine. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I pushed you to do that, and it was selfish of me.”

He ran his fingers though her blond hair and pulled her into a kiss. “It wasn’t selfish. It was for us.”

She nodded. “But it still was huge for you.”

“Maybe, but you’re worth it.”

Noelle sighed and smiled at him. Gabe felt something settle inside him. Some anxiety finally seemed to leave, and he relaxed into the bed. Not bad for a chapter beginning.

“Do you have to go?”

Adanna glanced behind her at the young valet in the disheveled bed before standing up and slipping on her dress. “Can you tie this, Alexis?” she asked, ignoring his question.

The man stood up and tied the back of her dress, planting a kiss at the top of her spine. “Just a few more minutes, princess.”

She sighed and stepped away from him. “I have to go, you know that. This was…great, really,” she said with a fake smile as she slipped out of the room and down the hall. Alexis was the last in a long line of young valets and assistants Adanna had on call but none really meant more to her than some fun in a dark room. Nothing was more important to her than following in her mother’s footsteps and taking the throne to rule over the entire Village. Not that that seemed likely now that the twit from the Human Realm had taken power. Adanna’s whole body fizzled with anger for Syney. She had no right to come in and take over. Syney wasn’t fit to rule the Village. She had proven as much when she went to bed with her wolf.
At least I stick to Magic Users
, Adanna thought as she walked into the throne room.

Mellisandrianna was sitting at the long wooden table that sat against the right wall of the throne room, looking over some papers. She looked up at her middle daughter. “Darling, how are you?”

Adanna shrugged and sat down across from her. “Same as always. What are you doing?”

“Just looking over the palace’s finances. Let me show you.”

“Shouldn’t Syney be looking at these?” Adanna asked bitterly.

“We had an appointment but it seems a trip to the Great Lake is more important than learning how to run the Village,” Mellisandrianna said with the same bitter tone.

At least I’m not alone
, Adanna thought leaning in to looked over the spreadsheet in front of her. They were halfway through the stack when Grass came into the room, without knocking, Adanna noted.

He stopped in front of them and gave a short bow. “Your Majesty, Princess Cass has just arrived with a Guard.”

“Cass is back?” Adanna asked, not genuinely caring either way. Her two sisters were more like distant relatives than actual close family members. Neither would take the time to talk to Adanna about secrets and other things sisters would normally talk about. Even growing up Adanna found herself spending time with their mother over Cass and Helen. Mellisandrianna told her everything she needed to know about life, love, and, most importantly, power.

“The Guard brought back a new report also,” Grass said with a nod. “It’s marked urgent.”

Mellisandrianna sighed and stood up slowly from the table. “Let me see it.” She walked over to the throne and sat down.

“Are you OK, mother?” Adanna asked moving to stand by her side.

She nodded as she took the report from Grass. “Just moving a little slower these days.”

Adanna looked her over and noticed wrinkles on her mother’s normally pristine face. This was the first time she would describe her mother as old. Adanna thought about her mother dying and the thought sent a couple different emotions through her. One was sadness. Her mother was really her only true friend and losing her would mean a lot. The other, the one she tried to push away, was elation. She was second in line for the throne and with her mother gone and Syney constantly being in harm’s way, it seemed like Adanna might actually make it to the throne herself. Adanna thought back to a few years ago when Mellisandrianna had talked to her about her death. Her mother had told her that she wouldn’t really die and that Adanna would help keep her living.

She pushed the thoughts away as Mellisandrianna made a noise and folded the report. “Something wrong?”

“Possibly. I’ll have to see how this plays out.”

So will I
, Adanna thought looking around the throne room.

Cass made a beeline to her room the second she returned to the palace. She didn’t have a welcoming party, so what did it matter anyway? No one even knew she was coming back. She was happy to have Ivy return with her. Ivy actually had broken her leg on her last patrol, so she wasn’t of any use on the front lines. At this moment, however, Cass thought of no one but herself as she lay in a bath of scalding-hot water. She wanted to wash the last six months out of her body if she could.

An image of Wes entered her mind, and she rested her head against the porcelain. She knew she was never going to see him again, and the thought made her sadder than she’d ever been. Sure, he had kidnapped her, but he also had let her go. And he had kissed her. That thought made her smile. She had never really thought about boys, or men, before. They always seemed like a necessary evil in life. You grow up and join with someone and have a family. But she always felt that feelings didn’t have much place in the Realm’s system for joining. She wasn’t overly religious like Helen and didn’t really buy into the idea that Venus saw the future love of her pairings. But now that she had met Wes, she had a totally new outlook—on a lot of things. She told Hunter as much before she’d left. She told him everything, even about the kiss. He had been quiet, letting her talk. At the end he did ask some questions about the lands and the supposed curse. Cass gave him as much information as she could,
most of which Fern had backed up when they returned from their scouting mission over the border. Something didn’t feel right to Cass, though, and she promised herself she would look into the whole thing once she had taken a nice long bath and eaten three times her body weight.

She also had tried to apologize again to Hunter, but he cut her off and sent her away. What she had done before leaving the palace in the first place ate at her more and more now. She had felt it was wrong for Hunter and Syney to be together because they were so different. But now…she felt more like Wes than she felt like most Magic Users. She also thought he was a much better person than most members of her own family.

Cass was relaxing even more into the bath when she heard someone enter her room. She was tempted to tell the person to get lost, but she didn’t have the energy. She did muster a smile when Helen walked into the bathroom.

“Cass! They told me you’d come back, and I thought there was no way you’d come back and not come see me first thing! What’s that smell?” Helen asked, crinkling her nose.

“My clothes,” she said, gesturing to the pile of ripped and torn clothes.

“OK, I can see why you didn’t come see me first,” Helen said with a laugh. “I’m so happy you’re home.”

“Oh, me too! Do you know what’s crankier than forty wolves who have no alcohol or beds? Nothing!” Cass yelled, grabbing a bottle of soap and scrubbing some into her hair. “I’m going to be washing dirt out of my hair for weeks!”

Helen smiled at her. “It’s so good to see you.”

Cass returned the smile. “It’s good to be seen.”

Helen shook her head. “You finish up. I’ll wait for you to go get some food.”

Cass nodded and dunked her head under the water. Once she felt clean and dried, she put on her favorite dress and walked with Helen to the dining hall—only Helen continued past the door. “Hey…food, remember?”

“Things have changed around here, that being one of them. Come on,” Helen said, taking her hand and walking to the Grand Ballroom. Instead of being one big open space, the room now held hundreds of wooden tables, with buffet tables along each long wall. At first Cass didn’t know what to think as she looked around at everyone chatting over dinner. Although everyone was now on the same level, there was still a distinction to the tables. Royals were all on the right side of the room by themselves. She did spot a few tables where some royals sat with their Protectors or several nonroyals.