The Secret Trinity: Reign (Fae-Witch Trilogy, Book 3) (13 page)

“See, he’s worried about you,” Adam said, as if that statement would really get me to confess to Clay when he came over.

“He
guarded me for six years;
he can’t help
himself.”  I stated, brushing him
off.  “Anyway, th
is is what I wanted to show you,” handing Adam the book.

“Wow, it looks really old.  You said Jeremy found it in the
A
ira’s
royal study?”  Adam asked
,
tracing his finger over the trinity symbol embossed on the cover just as I had.  Nothing happened when he touched it, and my heart sank
a little with disappointment.

“Yeah, o
bviously based on the symbol, he thought it was a history book specific
to our lineage.”  I explained.

“Amazing.
  The lock spell on it is very powerful.  I wonder what it go
es with,” Adam marveled out loud.

“I don’t know, but I would like to find out,” I said, and Adam nodded in agreement.

“You know
,
Liam crashed in on my
tracing
while I was training today,” I told
him, and Adam looked at me wide-
eyed with fear.

“What? 
How?”
  He asked, his voice showing some panic.

“I don’t know.  One second I’m meditating trying to
trace
Clay, and all of a sudden it felt like I was back in the cave having my soul ripped from my body.  In the
vision
he said the spell was cast, and soon I would be his.”  I recounted as a quiver of fear shot down my spine. 

“Did you think that maybe Liam didn’t crash your
tracing
, but you had a prophecy like
Queen Danu had about the Trinit
y
Fae
?”  Adam pointed out, and my breath caught in my throat.  That thought hadn’t even occurred to me.  I never imagined that my tracing gift would be strong enough to predict the future, but maybe Adam was right
,
and it was a
vision
of something to come.  Oh god, that did not make me feel better.  The thought of that scene unfolding in my future caused a sandpaper lump to form in my throat, and all the color drained from my face.  Adam realized too what he had just said, and a cold s
weat broke across his forehead.

“
What’s
with you two?  It looks like you just saw a ghost.”  Clay said from the door
,
quic
kly walking to us on the couch.

“We think Liam didn’t actually enter my
tracing
vision, but that I had a prophecy like Queen Danu.  I have to say that my prophecy is much more unsettl
ing and disheartening than hers.”  D
read licked i
n my words as I became queasy.

“Put you
r
head between your legs,” Clay instructed, and both Adam and I complied, breathing heavily
, fighting the urge to ruin the rug.

“Deep breaths,” Clay said calmly, and I heard Adam’s timed with mine.

“You really are brother and sister,” Clay said with a litt
le chuckle.  That made me smile.  N
o one had ever said anything like that before.  It helped distract me, and I slowly sat back up.

“Better?”  Clay asked and we both nodded.

“There is no way to know if what you saw was the future or Liam messing with your visions.  The future is never set in stone, and I will absolutely
never allow him near your soul,
”
Clay said, brushing my cheek, and Adam squirmed uncomfortably.  I shot Adam a look that he better keep everythin
g I just told him to himself.

“Ari, can I talk to you alone for a minute?”  Clay said, looking at Adam, and he nodded.  Looking relieved to get away, he beg
an walking toward the kitchen.

“I’ll grab us some waters,” Adam said disappearing behind the door.

“What is it?”  I asked
Clay in a sharp voice once Adam was out
of ear shot, still annoyed by
how
Penni
was
hanging on him in the pub, and
by how not
bothered he was by it.

“I really wish you would talk to me before storming off.  It puts me in a bad place when I
think you’ve been kidnapped,”
C
lay said, trying to be calm, but I caught
some
bitterness in his tone.

“You know, I really put myself out there the other da
y, and you made a fool of me.  Y
ou’re lucky I didn’t zap you and
Penni
to bits, and I left instead,” I said, crossing my arms in an I-dare-you-to-counter manner.

“If you had
stuck around for two minutes,
you would have heard me tell
her that I’m with you now, and then you would have seen me walk away to get her off of me.”  Clay said with resentment.

“Whatever,” I said, almost believing him.

“
Errg
, you are the most stubborn, frustrating, impossible being on the planet, who I think was only born to drive me crazy.  What do I have to do to get you to trust me?!”  Clay said, throwing up his ha
nds.

“Nothing,” I said, because it was the truth.  I didn’t know if there was anything he could do for me to trust him when I knew what he was keeping from me. 

“Two days into dating and we’re already fight
ing.  What a wonderful start,”
Clay said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  His lips smacked my cheek with a loud kiss
and I wiped away
the slobbery residue, not amused.

“You obviously don’t want me here.  I’ll see you
at the crowning,” he said,
getting up and bolting out the door in an angry rush, and I slumped into the couch.   Adam walked back in from the kitchen
with bottles of water in hand.

“Wow, you two have issues.”  Adam said.  Clearly he’d been eavesdropping.  It was official, that between him and my other betting buddies,
I
had no pr
ivacy.

“Tell me about it.  Welcome to the family.”  I said, too tired to harangue him for listening.

“Happy to be here,” h
e said honestly
,
and we tapped water bo
ttles in a “cheers” and drank.

I watched in the mirror wondering if it was really me I was staring back at.  For the first time in my life
I felt that I looked like a woma
n.  Not a girl, or a young lady, but a woman.  My blonde hair fell in delicate waves over my shoulders and my little black dress hugged my curves in all the right places.  The hem just above my knees showed off my calves and the years of pointe classes that shaped them.  My strappy high heels were adorned with crystals and I painted my toe nails ruby red for a bit of pop.  My French tip manicure looked elegant against the dress as I rested a hand on my hip loo
king closely into my own eyes.

I had been careful with my eye makeup, choosing colors that would bring out the emerald inside them and leaving my lips to nothing more than clear balm.  My eyes would be the highlight.  I wanted the Kingdom to remember who I was tonight and my purpose.  I stepped back a few feet, and even from that distance you could still see the green, shining brightly, matching the trinity’s gemstone glittering in the light, the ce
nterpiece at my open neckline.

As I inspected myself, a vice squeezed my lungs making it difficult to breathe.  Even though I looked the part, I still wasn’t sure I was ready, and I was afraid of my expression betraying me.  I turned away from my reflection before I changed my
mind and left the room to find
Clay so we could leave.  We had hardly spoken since he left me with Adam last night and I almost thought of leaving without him.  Unfortunately, after taking a public stand with him, I couldn’t let a petty fight get in the way of the importance of tonight.  The Kingdom needed a strong confident leader that could stand by her decisions and acting like a jealous teenager would not go over so well, even though that is exactly how I felt.  I clenched my jaw and knocked on his door, reminding m
yself to be the bigger person.

“It’s open,” Clay said, and I turned the knob.

“Clay, let’s go already.  You’re taking for… ” My words cut off when I saw him on the other side of the room.  He was so unbelievably fine that the sight of him had instantly rendered me speechless.  His black hair fell in his eyes as he looked down fumbling with his charcoal tie, shirtless.
His body
was a work of art,
his muscles smooth and sculpted to perfection.  I had to bite my tongue to keep my jaw from hanging open.  I couldn’t stop staring at his bare stomach, wanting to reach out and trace the ripples with my fingers.  Clay looked up at me seductively through his lashe
s and gave me a crooked smile.

“Like what you see?”  He asked standing up straighter holding the tie on ea
ch end.  I still couldn’t speak;
my tongue felt numb.  I couldn’t even roll my eyes at his comment, which was what my brain was telling me to do.  I cleared my throat and shook my head, completely unconvincingly, because I was still sweeping over his exquisite feature
s.  He gave me a full smile,
turned his back to look in the full length mirror
and continued to fumble with his
tie.

The moment he turned around, I gasped.  A sprawling tree tattoo
covered almost his entire upper
back.  Its trunk scrolled up the length of his spine and the branches and leaves twisted into a stunning intricate pattern over his shoulder blades.  I stepped a little closer, my eyes adjusting as I took in his body art.  I couldn’t believe with all the time I have spent with Clay, I had never seen him without a shirt.  I liked it much more than I cared to admit.  The details of his tattoo were incredible.  I had never seen anything like it before.  The leaves looked so real, I could swe
ar they were swaying the wind.

Then something caught my eye and I took another step closer.  Upon further inspection of the be
autiful intricate leaves I thought
I could make out small calligraphy script integrated onto some of them.  The calligraphy was so subtle it almost looked like a hidden message, but if I squinted
,
looking very carefully
,
I could make out a word.  I took another step
toward
him and I could now see “Aileen,” penned within its veins.  I swept my eyes over his wide shoulder blades and found “Brody” in another leaf on his upper right peak.  Lastly I found “Bryan,”
toward
the base
of his neck.  It was his family;
everyone he cared about alw
ays with him when he was away.

“What are you doing?”  Clay asked, looking at me curiously in the mirror, giving up on his tie.

“It’s incredible, Clay.  Did you do this?”  I asked
,
fighting the urge to touch it.

“I had to find som
ething to occupy my time while g
uarding you.  Until recently it had been a pretty dull assignment, no offense.”  Clay said, smirking at me in the mirror, and I had a flash of him shirtl
ess in a dusty motel room
, using his
Eartha
abilities to blindly s
croll this artwork onto his back to pass the time.

“You’re very talented.  You should go into business or something.  Even the subtle detail of the names, it’s amazing.”  I said
,
smiling at him in the
mirror and his face blanched.

“Oh, you noticed those?”  Clay sai
d nervously, turning to face me
, but as he turned something caught my eye, and I grabbed his arm to keep him from facing me.  He hung his head when I gasped, and he let out a deflated puff of air
,
like a kid who had just been caught sneaking
in after curfew.

I took slow labored breaths as I inspected a leaf in the middle of his left shoulder blade.  I had to squint again to make it out, but the three letters were definitely there, “Ari”.  I reached out with my palm and covered the leaf adorned with my name.  The moment I touched it I could feel Clay’s heart drumming through his back, right where the leaf was placed.  He dropped his hands from the tie, and it fell to the ground as all of his muscles tensed.  He knew I had discovered it.  He went rigid when I began to trace my finger over the leaf, confirming that I saw it.  He slowly turned to face me, and I looke
d up at him blinking rapidly.

“Why?”  I mouthed the sound unable to find its way out of my throat, shocked that he would do that, inked onto him as if I
were part of his family
.  He bit his lip and looked past me, struggling to answer my question
.  He slowly shrugged.