The Secret Trinity: Reign (Fae-Witch Trilogy, Book 3) (11 page)

“Thank you, this is wonderful.”  I said, tr
a
cing my finger over the embossed trin
ity symbol adorning the cover.

“You’re welcome.  I
hope you find a way to open it,” he said.

“I should get going
. 
I have a training session, and I want to make sure I get
Bree
today.”  I said with a
big smile, and Jeremy groaned.

“Please don’t embarrass me,” h
e said with a pleading voice.  I gave him a hug
, and when I retracted
I held his shoulders.

“No worries.  I got this,”
I said, giving his shoulders a reassuring squeeze, but he did
n’t
look so convinced.   I got up and waved goodbye, te
leporting back to the cottage.

When I appeared in the living room of the cottage, I was extremely surprised to see Aileen sitting in a wingback chair in front of the fire.  I looked around and no one else
seemed
to be here.  I didn’t think she had ever stepped foot in the cottage until now, and I instantly feared the worst.  I set my new book on the coffee table and sat in the other chair with trepidation. 

“Is the King?”  I asked half of the daunting question, unable to finish the sentence because looking at her now she seemed even more undone than yesterday.  Not a good sign. 

“The King’s condition is unchanged.  I came here to discuss what occurred between you and my son last ni
ght,” s
he said calmly, and I internally groaned. 

“Yes, I am sorry for acting so brashly in public with him.  I know some of the Court will not approve.”  I said, trying to keep my feelings about their outdated opinions out of it. 

“You are right about that.  William has already come to see me today, and he is trying to get your crowning postponed indefinitely.”  She answered with some irritation in her voice, but I couldn’t tell if it was with me or with William.  I knew she and the King were already upset with me for the stunt I had pulled to go rescue my brother from Liam. 

“Before William can organize a petition to postpone your crowning and once again step in as
Aira
leader, we think it would be best to hold the crowning ceremony tomorrow night, before it’s too late.  Technically his grounds are without merit since the law in question is unwritten, but that certainly won’t matter to some of our more traditional Court members, and we fear you could still be overthrown.  It would be much more lengthy and difficult for them to accomplish this when you are already crowned because the procedur
e would change.”  She explained
and I cringed again, thinking that she and the King were obviously also traditionalists considering their relationship.  They had sacrificed true love for the sake of tradition and were quite possibly going against everything they believed in order to support me. 

“I agree.  What do I need to do to prepare?”  I asked.

“All you need to do is follow our lead and be prepared with a statement, for I’m sure you will have some explaining to do before the ceremony begins.  The King will do everything in his power to be there to conduct the crowning himself, but Fiona will step in if needed.”  She said standing and brushing off her dress. 

“I will spread the word…
t
he Council building tomorrow night at seven
.  Congratulations, my dear,” s
he said, showing me a glimpse of a sm
ile, and I thought that maybe in
spite
of
everything, she was happy for me and her son.

Instead of teleporting to the training center, I decided to fly.  It hadn’t rained yet today, but there was still a cool mist in the air.  I enjoyed the wind whisking over my face as I passed over the city center, taking in the beautiful colors below.  Tomorrow night this would officially be my Kingdom to rule alongside the
Eartha
King, and I would begin my new responsibilities as the
Aira
Queen.  But tonight would be about fun, enjoyin
g my friends, and playing match
maker.  I felt gloomy that Adam could not join us, and my first order of business as Queen would be to get our Kingdom to see him as one of us, and release him from his ridiculous house arrest.

The truth was, with all of the Black Magic
that
Adam knew, he could easily break the house arrest spell Grant had placed on him, but he wanted the community to trust him too.  I would make sure that Adam was allowed to come to the crowning tomorrow night, whether some in the Court liked it or not.  It was a big moment for our family.  He was the only one I had left to share it with and he deserved to be a part of it.  A knife twisted in my stomach to that sad rea
lization, and I thought of the t
rinity book sitting on my dresser.  We were the only ones left of our lineage.  After several attempts, the book still sat there unopened, and imagining what was in its contents was driving me mad.  I landed in front of the Arts and Training Center taking in the large diamond pattern of the brick.  I wondered if Grant or someone in his family had sculpted the metal sign that hung over the doors, welcoming cr
eativity.

I went straight to the
Aira
Gym and was very excited to see
Bree
inside putting harnesses away by the rock wall.  She didn’t appear to be helping anyone so I quickly flew o
ver to snag her and say hello.

“Hi
Bree
,” I said waving happily, landing on my feet in front of her.  She tucked her short blonde hair behind her ears, and smiled the same smile I had gotten from my friends when th
ey heard about the public kiss.

“Hey, it seems we have a bit of a rebel in our Court.  It’s about time.” 
Bree
said patting my shoulder.

“The crowning has been scheduled for tomorrow night.  It’s nice to know I’ll have some forward thinkers there with me.”  I said, smiling thankfully.

“I hate
to break it to you, but the Court doesn’t give a damn about us civilian
s,” she stated
matter-of-
fact
.
I thought there was one particular
court
member that probably made sure the civilians felt that way.  William needed to be put in his place and fast.  I found it hard to believe that Jeremy was even his son, but I guess I had felt that way about Clay and his Father as well.  The supposed
sacred
tradition
s of the Kingdom were tearing families apart.

“Forget them, they’re set in the past and I plan for the future.  Some of us are going out tonight to pre-celebrate.  Would you like to join us?”  I asked tr
ying to mask my hidden agenda.

“Who’s some of us?” 
Bree
asked cautiously, since I hung out with mostly Co
urt members, and her thoughts about them were clear.

“Well you know Grant, so I’m sure by now you have met Morgan. 
Also my friends
,
Kayla and Jeremy, oh and Clay.”
  I an
swered as casually as I could.

“Morgan’s pretty funny.  She’s here all the time helping Grant.  Clay and I are buds too, although I haven’t met Kayla.  Jeremy and I used to train together in high school.  He’s at least not a total wanker like the rest,”
Bree
said with a hint of a smile, an
d I took this as a good start.

“Oh, Kayla’s awesome.  She’s super laid back too.  It’ll be fun, are you in?”  I asked, hopeful. 
Bree
shrugged and nodded in a casual manner, and I had to suppress jumping and clapping happily at how cool I played this fix up.  No wonder Clay made fun
of me for being a cheerleader.

“Why don’t we try out a d
ifferent area of training today?
  I want to show you the upstairs where we work on our mind gifts.” 
Bree
said, and my eyes went wide with excitement. 
Bree
flew with me upstairs.  We went past the dance studios and music rooms until we came to the end of the hall.  The room was pretty straight forward except that it was divided by a glass wall in the center.  On our side there were poker tables and shelves with games and other machines I
couldn’t
indentify
, but they reminded me of the kind of tools a psychologist used when conducting an experiment in some sort of brain study.  On the other side of the glass wall was a stark white room with nothing but a bunch a yoga
mats rolled up in the corner.

“What’s the yoga room for?”  I asked with curiosity.

“We call it the meditation room.  The glass is completely sound proof.  Sometimes it’s hard in
Draíochta
t
o find a quiet place for
Airas
to harness their mental energy.  You should try it out.” 
Bree
suggested while sliding open the glass door so
I could get to the other side.

“How can you help me with meditation?”  I aske
d.

“I can’t really.  I’ve been dying to
see how many of the cards you could
guess in my poker hand
,
but there’s always time for that.  Grab a mat and rel
ax,” she said, closing the door.

“I’ll text you about tonight,” I said right before it clicked shut, and s
he said, “o
kay” back
,
but I couldn’t make out the sound.  I said a few nonsense words to her back as she left
,
testing out the sound proof glass, and she didn’t react
, so I guess it worked.

I grabbed a blue yoga mat and rolled it out in the middle of the room since I had
it to myself.  I sat down cross-
legged and rested the tops of my hands on my knees pressing my thumb and finger together like I had seen in the movies.  I slowly start chanting “
Uhmmm
,
Uhmmm
” and quickly began to laugh at myself because I felt ridiculous.  I didn’t see this meditation
concept really working for me.

Trying again, I
laid
on my back and stared at the ceiling.  I took a few deep breaths and slowly my mind drifted to Clay.  I thought I would try
tracing
him.  Since I hadn’t talked with him after ditching the gambling ring debacle at Grant and Morgan’s place, I wasn’t sure where he was right now.  I closed my eyes and tried to picture every curve of his chiseled jaw as I imagined running my fingers over his two day subtle, sending an electric current of heat through me.  More relaxing deep breaths ensued and my mind began to slip into a
vision
and my heart led me to
find him.  A scene started to clear
away the darkness behind my eyes.  The light was blinding at first, and it reminded me of the hot summer sun I always felt when dreaming of the morning of our
sealment
.

T
his light felt different, though, somehow
hazy and more subtle.  Instead of the golden light of the sun
,
it had a sapphire hue.  The recognition of the energy made my breath seize.  My vision focused and I realized that I was staring at the ceiling of the
Famorii
cave through a transparent sapphire cloud of Black Magic.  Liam was conducting his spell, the chanting drumming into my ears giving me a stabbing headache.  The spell’s chant sounded similar to when he and the Ashen Witches had tried to break my
sealment
.  The grotesque faces of the prehistoric
Famorii
scribed into the ceiling stared back at me mockingly.  Their leech-like tentacles broke free from their stone confines and began lurching
toward
my neck, penetrating through the now thundering blue cloud to strangle me.  A piercing pain shot into my ribcage as if it had just snapped in half and I screamed.  Liam’s chant went silent and he appeared in my line of vision.  His face was twisted into a sadistic grin.  As he hovered above me, I could feel that he absolutely radiated impure Black Magic mixing wi
th his own evil
Famorii
blood.

“The spell has been cast Aria, and soon you will be
my
Queen.”  Liam purred with a disturbing amount of confidence, and I felt another rib snap.  I squeezed my eyes shut, and a blood curdling scream ripped from my throat as the pain spread to my heart working its way into my soul, when strong pair of arms lifted me off the ground hugging me.  I thrashed against Liam’s unwanted embrace and weak attempt to comfort me, while the pain spread over my entire being a
nd tears streamed down my face.

“
Shhh
, Ari.
I
t’s ok.  It’s me, you
’re ok.”  Clay said in a velvety,
soothing voice as he held me tighter
,
pressing my ear against his chest.  The recognition of his heartbeat helped me relax into his form, and I snapped my eyes open coming out of the
tracing
vision.  I pulled my head away to look up at him and his eyebrows were
knitted together with concern.