Forgotten Days (Fate's Intent Book 6) (28 page)

“We’ll see who the one is doing the trying. She can’t resist me. It’s happened before and it will happen again. You’ll see and I can’t wait for it.”

He walked out of the room and I was only heating with anger, trying to keep my eyes from changing. Rift was growling lowly and I walked out behind him still angry and my voice showed it. “Hey, Sedrik!” Sedrik turned around and I did the next best thing to taking his life. I punched him right in the face without warning.

“Zayden!” Adele ran over post haste when she saw. “What has gotten into you? Are you all right, Sedrik? I’m so sorry.”

She helped him to his feet and he put his hand to his lip. “He’s crazy! Hitting people for no reason.”

Lying bastard. I took a step forward but Darius held me back and was probably the only one that could.

“Zayden, that’s enough.” Adele said. “Come on. Let’s get that cleaned up.” She walked away with Sedrik and he turned his head back and gave me the most conniving murderous smile I’ve ever seen.

“Let the games begin.”

“What was that about?” Ruby asked.

“I need you to keep a close eye on Adele. Whatever it takes. He’s up to something and I don’t like it.”

Chapter 45

Adele

We’ve only been here for what seemed like a minute and I couldn’t believe what has happened. I walked Sedrik to the kitchen and got a wet rag for his lip. “I’m sorry about that, Sedrik. I don’t know what got into him. Please don’t use force.”

“I won’t but I think he’s mad because he knows about us.”

I sighed quietly, knowing I was going to have some conversation like this. “That was a long time ago. What I have with Zayden may be different but it’s still special to me.”

“I know. I can see it and I’m happy for you. I just wish it could have worked out with us. Why did you leave?”

I sighed again, a little more loudly. “I don’t know. I was young. I guess I wasn’t ready for that kind of relationship.” I put the cloth down, ready to change the subject. “There. I think you will heal nicely.”

“Thanks.” He said as he looked into my eyes. I had almost forgotten how pretty they were and he waited there until I looked away. “I’ll take you to your room.”

He led me out of the kitchen through the dining hall and we took to the halls downstairs.

“Here we are. You and the others can stay in this suite until you’ve gotten the rest you require. There’s plenty of room.”

“Thank you and I hope you can forgive Zayden. He’s really not like that.”

“I know. I’m sure he has a good explanation as to why he did what he did. I’ll see you later.”

Chapter 46

Jaylyn

Ruby and I followed them down the hall and watched them stop at a room while we remained at the corner so they wouldn’t see us.

She was doing it again. I couldn’t much explain it myself but she was always drawn to him for some reason like she would have done anything for him. There was a time when it was sweet but that time had long been over. Sedrik wasn’t who we remembered anymore and we were seeing it the moment he closed the door with Adele alone inside.

“Hmm. This ought to be good.”

He was setting her up for something. I just didn’t know what exactly yet and Ruby and I were not happy to see this side of him.

He walked down the hall and entered another room and we came around the corner to go to Adele.

“Hey, there you are.” I said, casually so she wouldn’t suspect that we were just basically spying on her.

“Can you believe Zayden? What was that?”

“I don’t want to interfere so maybe you should ask him.” Ruby said.

“He has a good reason, Adele. You should hear what he has to say.”

“Where is he? I think we do need to talk.”

“We’ll go get him.” We turned and I walked out the door with Ruby back to Zayden.

“What is she doing?” He asked.

“She wants to see you.” I said.

Zayden took a step forward, ready to go.

“But before you talk to her, let us warn you that Sedrik has been filling her head with some stuff.” Ruby explained. “Be careful about what you say. I have a feeling she won’t believe you anyway.”

Ruby turned and led Zayden to Adele while I stayed behind with Troy and Darius. “This is not going to go well.”

“We shouldn’t be staying.” Darius said.

I agreed. “But it looks like for now we are.”

They both sighed. It was a bad idea to stay here. I just wanted to take Adele and leave but she wouldn’t have it. She was trying to be respectable because we just brought back his sister and it was probably the right thing but none of us liked it.

Chapter 47

Zayden

I was eager to get her to see my worry and let Ruby take me right to her.

“Be careful.” She whispered.

I nodded and she let me walk in without her.

I would have taken her advice to be careful but the second I walked in, Adele was right there to give me grief about hitting him. “Zayden? How could you?”

“Would you let me explain? I have a good reason.”

“You better.”

“I know about your past with him and it was obvious he didn’t know about us. I simply pulled him aside to tell him that we are married and he is not to go anywhere near you.”

Adele’s anger level only heightened. “You what?!”

“You know what he said to me? He said it didn’t matter to him and that you would come around to him like you did before.”

“He didn’t say that. I talked to him and he clearly understood about us. He wouldn’t try and get in the way.”

“Do you hear yourself? He lied to you and he won’t stop until he gets what he wants and that’s you.”

“Stop over reacting, Zayden. Nothing is going to happen. I love you.” She took my hands to get the point across but I wouldn’t see her way. I couldn’t after seeing how he reacted to this. “You should know that.”

She kissed me and we hugged but I was still worried. Ruby was right that she wouldn’t believe me and I knew now that I had to get Adele to find out for herself—somehow.

We spent the day concealed inside the room, not to make a bigger disturbance in a place that was trying to get back on their feet from the recent loss of their King. Servants were being assigned left and right and new duties were found, keeping the palace seeming all around busy. I’d rather stay out of it all and just go home but I knew that wasn’t an option yet.

“Are you sure we can’t get some air, at least for a little while?” Ruby groaned, slouching with uncontrollable boredom in a chair.

“And do what?” Adele asked.

“Well, we could have been well on our way home by now but you just had to stay.”

“It’s polite to. We brought his sister back dead. It would have been rude to just leave.”

“Like we’ve seen him.” Ruby continued with her ongoing complaints and that voice that expressed it.

“Fine!” Adele shouted. “Leave then! Go do something! You’re driving me crazy!”

It was a good idea to at least go out into the city for a while and I was first to get up. “Do you want to come with us?”

“No.” Adele sighed, laying herself back on the bed. “You can go. I’m going to stay here and take a nap or something.”

“What are we doing?” Ruby asked.

“It shouldn’t matter.” Jaylyn replied. “As long as we’re out of here.”

Ruby agreed with a nod and we started heading towards the door.

“We’ll be back shortly.” I said, giving Adele a simple kiss good-bye on the forehead.

“Okay.” She yawned. “I’ll be here.”

“Rift, come on.” He jumped right up and was ready to go.

The palace was still busy and we just wanted to get out. I’ve had enough of the palace life and I was looking forward to doing something simpler. We took to the streets of the city and walked around to see the sites.

Nindor wasn’t like Randal at all. I’ve been here only a couple times in my life but it’s been a while. The houses, shops and other various buildings were made out of a darker stone than our white marble and they all had similar green stone shingle roofs so it appeared to match.

The weather was calm with just a light breeze but it was a warm breeze. People were outside, sitting in the shade and trying to cool themselves with paper fans and a wet rag. It seemed awfully quiet until we walked into the market, a part of town that seemed just a bit busier.

Jaylyn got excited the moment she saw it, clapping her hands together and pulling Troy along by his arm. Food laid out for sale everywhere from the delicious fresh fruits and vegetables Lecca was known to provide to items that have been made by local shops. I’m sure she felt right at home but she was scrambling on what she wanted to get. “Oh, it all just looks so good!”

I laughed. “Then I’d hate to douse your mood but we didn’t exactly bring money for this trip. It was just supposed to be a quick stop.”

“That’s okay. I won’t need any money.”

“Oh, no.” Ruby muttered.

“Planning to steal something?”

“What? Steal? No. Never steal. Just—legally obtain. Observe.” We watched her approach one of the fruit stands and smiled at the older gentleman tending to it. I couldn’t hear what was being said but watched her twirl one of her curls with her finger and laugh innocently. She was handed a small platter of freshly cut melon and smiled while she walked back over, eating off it. “See? That was easy!”

“I’m impressed.” I said. “You used that smile of yours.”

Troy’s eyes rolled.

“Well, she is the persuader of the group.” Ruby smiled. “It’s what she’s best at. She can convince anyone of anything.”

“Bet you can’t do it again.” Darius said.

“Oh, yeah? You’re on. Something you want?”

Darius looked around with a clever smile.

“Darius, stop this.” Troy sighed. “It isn’t right.”

“It’s okay.” I said. “I won’t let it go on extensively. We just want to see what she can get.”

“Fine.” Troy muttered, still not liking the idea. I knew why but it was just for fun. She’d never go that far to get something.

“Okay, try to get me—one of those little cakes with the colored sugar sprinkled over it.” Darius said, glancing towards the cart that another man was tending to.

Jaylyn smiled and turned towards him. “I’ll be right back.”

She walked over like she was just browsing at everything and the man was first to address her with usual kind greetings and the typical asking if she needed help.

Jaylyn merely smiled and started looking at the cakes with stars in her eyes. She made a gesture that they looked tasty and acted hesitant to proceed in buying one and ruin her figure. She got a compliment in return and was handed one for her efforts. She smiled again and thanked the man for his kindness before walking away. “Here.”

She handed it to Darius and he didn’t waste any time to eat it by sticking the whole thing in his mouth and speaking while it was still full. “Thanks. This is great.”

“Well, you just inhaled that, didn’t you? You could probably put one of Ruby’s entire breasts in your mouth.”

“Probably.” He smiled back, working on getting it down and licked his fingers. “Not yours though.”

“No. Doubtfully not.”

“Okay.” Ruby sighed, folding her arms high across her chest to hide her breasts. “Let’s stop talking about breasts.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“No. You were just calling them little.”

He laughed. “I did not!”

“Yes you did! You called those cakes little and they’re about the same size.”

“Ruby, come on. They’re little for cakes.” He tried to explain with the humor in his voice still. “I don’t think your breast are little. They’re perfectly proportionate to your body. Guys, back me up here.”

I don’t know why I got involved but I did by nodding quite a bit while I tried getting a look at them still being covered. “They’re decent. I wouldn’t exactly say small either. Not too big, not too small but perfectly sized to fit right in a man’s hands where they should be.”

“Okay. Thank you.” Darius cut in. “That was a little extensive.”

“What? You wanted me to help. I was just telling you what I thought from another man’s point of view.”

“How about you not do it again?”

“Not unless you ask.”