The Secret Trinity: Reign (Fae-Witch Trilogy, Book 3) (12 page)

“
What happened?”  H
e asked brushing
my tears away with his thumb.

“It’s...
it’s
Liam.  He interrupted my
tracing
.  He talked to me as if I was
standing right there,” I said,
shocked by how powerful the darkness inside Liam had become.  It was beyond frigh
tening.

“Are you sure?  How could he find you?  I thought Adam took care of that with a Black Magic cloaki
ng spell.”  Clay said, equally
disturbed by this, and I nodded, positive of the pain twisting in
side.  It had really happened.

“Maybe he can’t physically track
me, but he was definitely there,” I said in a shaky voice.

“Why were you trying to
trace
him?  We know where his
hide-out is now.”  Clay asked
p
ulling me back into his chest.

“I wasn’t.  It’s like he knew I was using that gift and hijacked me out of my
vision. 
I
t felt so real,” I said as another silent tear trickled
down my face.

“Did he hurt you?  What did he say?”  Clay asked, rubbing
soothing circles over my back.

“He wants my soul, Clay, and he’s going to take it,” I said, my whole body shaking out of control.  For the first time I truly believed that Liam was capable of getting anything he wanted, and the first thing on his list was my soul.  His stormy grey eyes
had disappeared.  O
nly dilated, onyx
pupils
were
in their plac
e.  The Black Magic had
completely taken his heart and now there was nothing left to hang onto, not one glimmer of hope that he would ever show mercy in those eyes.  How could I defeat
something so incredibly evil?

“How did you find me?”  I asked
,
wondering how he heard my screaming from a soundproof room.

“I’ll always be here to protect you, Ari.  I will n
ever let Liam take your soul,” Clay said
not really answering my question.  He had obviously sensed my pain and came looking for me.  Of course Clay wanted to protect my soul
, because if Liam possessed it
he would have power over Clay’s soul too.  That thought hurt as much
as my ribcage cracking in
my chest.  I touched my side to make
sure nothing was truly broken.  The pain had dissipated in
my ribs
as I became more lucid.

I buried
my face into Clay’s chest.  H
e squeezed me so tightly
,
I could tell he was debating if he should ever let go.  I feared my soul was Liam’s for the taking.  It was simply a matter of when.  My only solace now was that when Liam broke our
sealment
, Clay might be spared from his wrath and escape from this
war into the life he deserves
.

“Ari, do you want to play darts with me?”  Jeremy asked, holding up the darts in his hand.

“I’m just starting to feel comfortable showing my face in here again, so I think I’ll pass.  Maybe
Bree
will play with you,” I suggested, bumping shoulders with her sitting next to me at the table.  Jeremy’s face noticeably blanched, suddenly nervous like he was on a first
date.  It was sweet
,
really.

“Sure,”
Bree
said in a relaxed manner, obviously not picking up on Jeremy’s suddenly pale state.  She stood up to join him over by the dart broad.  While
Bree’s
back was turned, I gave Jeremy a reassuring nod and mimicked a deep breath for him to chill out.  Jeremy nodded back, took a deep breath and turned his attention to
B
ree
, giving her an easy smile.

“What’s with him?”  Clay whispered calmly in my ear, noticing mine and Jeremy’s silent exchange, as if he played it cool I wouldn’t notice the
golden jealous waves rising
in him.

“I guess he’s had a crush on her for some time, but never had the nerve to ask her out because he was worried about his Father’s disapproval.  But he’s all grown up now and living on his own, so I think he’s ready
to
go for it and throw caution to the wind.  We might be inspiring a culture shift here.  The next generation in
Draíochta’s
Court is turning the traditionalists on their toes.”  I whispered back to Clay, brushing the tip of my nose along his jaw while trying to ignore the fact that everyone in the pub seemed to have one eye on our interactions.

“Good, that’s the plan.”  Clay said kissing me just below my ear, obviously glad to see that Jeremy had moved on.  I was relieved too because maybe they could be in a room together now without those competitive waves coming off
of them, making me feel like I was being cooked in a microwave.

When Clay had kissed my neck
,
I swear everyone in the pub stopped their conversation.  I felt like the paparazzi
were
going to bust in and start snapping pictures of us.  It’s a good thing
Draíochta
didn’t have any tabloids, but I supposed our high profiles made us the target of some juicy gossip regardless.  I hoped it wouldn’t always be like this.  People would get used to it eventually, right?  The best thing I could do right now was pretend I didn’t notice and go about busin
ess as usual.  I took a sip of
my drink and stood up to use the restroom.

“I’m going to the
jax
,” I said, and Clay smiled. 

“Aye, you’re picking up on a bit of Ireland, I see,” he said in a suddenly thick accent, pleased with my slang term, and I wink
ed at him before walking away.

Just
when I was about to turn the corner, I saw
Penni
come into the pub with some friends.  She promptly glared at me, and from the look on her face, she was also h
olding back a few choice words.

When I got to the restroom, I splashed some water on the back of my neck hoping that would calm me.  I really didn’t want to get into it with
Penni
.  The way she was talking in the locker room, it was so obvious that she wanted Clay because she couldn’t have him.  It was all a game to her and she wasn’t the kind of girl to take the loss so easily.  Just because they barely had a thing when they were in middle school, big whoop, if she only knew how much of a claim
I
had on Clay.  Not that anyone would ever know, not that Clay even wanted to know.  Suddenly I felt anger and resentment surface.  He had me.  What was he waiting for? 
Why was he still holding back?

I looked into the mirror.  The bright green inside my eyes almost sparkled against the overhead light.  What is he seeing in these eyes that stopped him from telling me the truth?  Maybe I really am broken.  My face became hot and red, and I had to dab a cold, wetted paper towel against my forehead to dimin
ish the hue before I returned.

I rounded the corner and saw Kayla, Clay
,
and
Penni
sitting at our table, and she was getting way too comfortable in my seat.  She giggled that stupid fake laugh and put her forehead on Clay’s shoulder
,
clutching his arm like she couldn’t contain herself.  I saw Kayla glower at her before she stood up to go join the dart game, sick of
Penni’s
act too.  I didn’t think twice
about my next move.  My crowning was tomorrow night and I couldn’t risk an altercat
ion here.  Before I had another
stupid repeat mistake and sent King Bryan over the edge with stress, I turned on my heels and walked out of the pub, deciding it was a good
time to visit with my brother.

I knocked on the door of Morgan and Grant’s after quickly teleporting over
there
to keep myself from punching
Penni
, and Clay for that matter. 
The way
he let her fawn all over him li
ke that was beyond irritating.

“Come in,” Adam’s voice chimed from the other side of the door.

“Hey, I thought you were out trying to get Jeremy and
Bree
together,” Adam said, closing a spell book and setting it on the coffee table when I entered.  Poor Adam is sitting here studying, trying to find a way to break Liam’s unnatural bindings
with his part-
Fae
prisoners,
while the
rest of us were out on the town.

“Geez, Morgan and Kayla have such big mouths. 
Bree
and Jeremy didn’t need a facilitator.  I just got them in the same room.  I think Jeremy can handle it from
t
here
,”
I said
,
sitting down next to him on t
he couch.

“What’s bothering you?  You seem a little...”  Adam asked, not quite b
eing able to pinpoint my mood.

“It’s nothing.  I think my soul might be broken, that’s all,” I said
,
slamming my head
against the back of the couch.

“Don’t say that, Ari.  Your soul is perfectly fine,” Adam said, patting the top of my head a couple of times.

“Clay’s your Soul Keeper, isn’t he?”  Adam asked bluntly, and my face contorted.  I knew my grace period ha
d been dwindling.  Adam now knew
my secret because Liam
had been
trying to break my
sealment
.  I begged him not to tell anyone
about that
when we returned to
Draíochta
and he agreed to keep it to himself.  No one except Adam knew about the pain I endured while captured, as Liam experimented with his Black Magic spells on me.  I knew the
time would come when Adam started asking questions about my unusual Soul Keeper circumstance
s.

“Yes, it’s Clay,” I answered, just as blunt.  No use denying it with Adam.  He already knew enough to figure it out and he was mostly asking for the sake of confirma
tion.

“I still don’t understand how a
sealment
can be buried inside you like it
is,” Adam said, looking me over
like it was locked inside me trying to break free, and if he stared hard enough it would
surface.  One could only hope.

“It’s because I don’t remember it.  The day Clay and I had our
sealment
is the same day King Thaddeus almost drowned me.  I don’t really remember anything from that day.  I have dreams about it, but I always wake up before I look at Clay,
seeing
him for the first time.  It’s torture.”  I sighed.  It actually felt good to tell
someone else about the dreams.

“Oh, I see.  That makes sense now.  Wow, I can’t imagine.  I’m sorry
,
that sounds...rough,” Adam said as understanding registered on his face.  I could tell he didn’t know what to say to
comfort me in this situation.

“Have you thought about talking to him?  Maybe he can help you remember?”  Adam suggested.  Just like a guy, wanting to fix it.  W
hy didn’t Clay want to fix it?

“Clay doesn’t know that I know, and I’m not saying a word until he does first.  I couldn’t take it if he was disappointed that I found out.  Liam already broke my heart.  I can’t bear Clay breaking my soul too.  It’s all I have left.”  I said, and a quiver of tears bubbled up to the b
rim of my eyes.

“Do you really believe that’s how he feels, Ari, or is something else bothering you?”  Adam asked, calling my bluff.  I couldn’t say it out loud.  I quickly sniffled back the tears, knowing if I didn’t, I’d cry all night.  Adam didn’t push me further.  He knew I was terri
fied, terrified to love again.

“Seriously, it’s really uncool when you do that.”  Clay said loudly into the phone over the noise of the pub.  He had called to find out where I had disappeared to after he figured out that I bailed from the pub.  I was still with Adam, and I had just teleported back into the living room holding the trinity book
I had retrieved from
my dresser.  I wanted to show Adam the book and see if he could help me find a way to unlock it.  After all, he was in the bloodline too.  Maybe I needed a male
Aira
. 

“Sorry, I didn’t want to sit around and watch
Penni
try to dry hump you all night,” I said, accidently letting the jealousy creep into my voice. 

“I’m coming over,” Clay said, roughly clicking
the phone shut, and I sighed.