Aligning Stars (Fate's Intent Book 1) (34 page)

“Very well. We shall hold a duel in my private arena at sundown. Be there with your best stuff as I will match you against mine.” Adele bowed her head to the King and Izin seemed even more pleased with the outcome. “Excellent. Be a gentleman and show our lovely guests to their quarters, would you, Zayden? And be sure their given everything they require.”

“Yes, father.” Zayden replied, bowing his head.

Izin walked off to prepare but Lamar stayed behind and smiled at Zayden. “Get around that.”

Zayden didn’t reply. His eyes merely narrowed and he watched Lamar walk off after the King.

“Wow, he does hate you.” Ruby muttered.

Jaylyn laughed and Zayden turned to us. We could tell he was mad. He put his pointer finger over his mouth then pointed away, making everyone leave the main hall to a more secure area.

He led us inside the conference room just beyond the main hall that was surrounded by extra thick walls for sound protection and closed the door. “Like I don’t have enough on my plate already! You go and offer to prove your worth to my father! What were you thinking?!

“Oh, you mean
after
you offered our
company
to him?”

“That’s different! I knew he would have refused! Do you even realize what you just gotten yourselves into?!”

“What? We’re just going to fight some people and have a good laugh. What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that it will be a fight to the death!”

“Really?!” Ruby wondered. “I’ve been waiting for the chance to actually kill someone! Adele already got to.”

“Are you forgetting who we are?” Adele asked, just continuing the argument. “We can handle it.”

Zayden turned his back and was breathing heavily while he began to pace the floor.

“I think he’s furious because you might have to fight us.” I explained. “Father did say he would put you against his best and that’s us.”

“Then we won’t kill you. So, what’s the problem?”

“Then we’ll have to kill you. It’s the law. Someone has to die.”

Jaylyn laughed. “But you guys don’t kill women.”

Adele quickly looked over at Darius and myself while Zayden was still pacing. “What?! You don’t kill women?!”

“No.” Darius replied. “Not purposely. It’s our rule.”

She sighed and turned away. “I should have known!”

“Can we stay focused here, please?” Jaylyn asked. “What are we going to do about this?”

Zayden walked back to us, still ecstatic. “I’ll tell you what we’ll do!
They
will bring you to your rooms where you will
stay
and
I’ll
go talk to my father about alternative soldiers for you to fight!” He frantically walked out of the conference room to find the King.

“He really needs to learn to relax a little.” Ruby laughed.

“Things can sometimes get a little tense around here.” I said. “Zayden and Izin don’t always see eye to eye but he’ll work at it until they do. Now, come, we’ll show you to your rooms.”

They followed us out of the conference room and we walked through the main hall through the great stone pillars towards the stairs. Another great sign that we were finally home.

Darius and I brought them down one of the long halls on the second floor in complete silence until we stopped in front of one of three doors. “These will be your rooms. Stay here until we get you. We have to go assist Zayden with the King to prevent any problems or possible death sentencing.”

“That actually happens?” Ruby wondered.

“Well, it’s never made it that far.” Darius laughed. “But you can’t be too careful. They disagree on a lot of things. It’s hard to see them even related sometimes but you saw it. Their looks says it’s obvious.”

“Well, good luck with that then.” Jaylyn replied.

“Don’t worry. We won’t be too long.” I said. “We’ll have to get cleaned up too but we’ll be back.”

Adele stood with a sigh and turned towards the far door. “Just kiss her already.” She was the first to close herself in and we were left in the hall.

“Well, can’t refuse an order.” I quickly leaned down, giving Jaylyn a kiss right on the lips. “We’ll see you later.”

Darius gave Ruby a quick kiss too while there was no one else around to see it and I felt them watching us until we rounded the corner.

I already missed her.

Chapter 44

Lamar

Zayden’s return was a disaster but I at least got to convince the King of something while he was here. I was on my way with him now, walking obediently through the halls to the King’s private arena near the east gate. I was ready to prove these
soldiers
were nothing but fakes, brought here for their own amusement. Well, now, they got to watch them die. Tragic. Like they cared. They would be out this evening after their deaths to pick up three more. So typical.

The King requested me at his side while we went over the list of real soldiers in his command. I was ready to give my opinion and choose some strong fighters but Zayden’s foul voice called in the distance.

“Father!”

I looked up when the King did and was displeased to see how he cherished his company so. “Zayden! Good, you’re here. I was just about to send someone for you. I’m trying to decide who I should put up against the Leccan soldiers. You’ve spent time with them. Surely, you should know a thing or two and we could use your input.”

“You’re not sending my team in are you?”

This was a sudden change. Zayden seemed worried like he actually cared for the tramps but the King didn’t seem to notice.

“No. No, son. I was going to but I want soldiers who can be disposed of in case the Leccans are as good as they appear. I can’t afford to injure my best team.”

“Good. May I recommend some new recruits that have just completed their training? They will have battle strategy fresh in their minds.”

Interesting suggestion but weak. That wouldn’t have been much of a challenge but I watched the King think it over and look at the city’s registry. He couldn’t have been considering it, could he? Surely something was wrong with Zayden’s mind about those
soldiers
and I spoke up. “Is the young Prince showing a weakness for these females?”

“No.” He seemed careful not to snatch at the question. “I just don’t want anything to happen to my team. That’s all.”

“And you feel three mere women can take out one of the two units of fierce killers known to this world? Something seems wrong about that unless they’re not who you say they are.”

“That’s enough, Lamar. Very well, Zayden. I will see to it that we have the three that were top of their class. Go, get yourself ready and make sure they remain well rested for the fight then bring them down when the time comes.”

Zayden bowed his head to the King and look at me again before leaving.

Now I knew something was going on. Nothing that Zayden said so far felt right and my mind started to plot a different path. “Your majesty. I must advise you to choose soldiers with a little more experience.”

“Why is that, Lamar?”

“If you want them to prove their worth, it can too easily be done with ones that have not yet seen battle. I suggest you give them a challenge. If they survive then they will truly be worthy to serve such a leader as you. If not, then you’ve solved the problem by getting rid of them.”

“I see. That is a good point. If they are to protect our borders they will need to be worthy enough for so few. Find me the three that are second best to the Great Seni Fighters and summon them here immediately.”

I nodded, smiling that my scheme had worked. “I will at once, your majesty.”

I was glad to turn the tables on Zayden so soon after his return. Now, let’s see how he would handle it.

Chapter 45

Zayden

That was done. It wouldn’t be us. I walked back through the halls and Troy and Darius were walking towards me alone.

“There you are?” Troy said. “Finished?”

“Done.”

“How did it go?” Darius asked.

“Just fine. I got him to choose others for the duel but we need to keep a close eye on Lamar. He’s doing his usual thing, asking the wrong questions. I fear he’s on to us or going to be soon.”

They nodded and we started up the east stairwell.

“So, what now?”

“They settled?”

“Yes.”

“Well, now I guess we get ourselves cleaned up then father wants us to make sure they stay well rested and bring them down.”

We walked down the hall to my quarters at the corner and went inside where I have my own private bathhouse, commonly used by the three of us.

“Let’s try and make this quick. We don’t want them to start wandering around, getting into trouble.”

They nodded and helped get my gear off then took off their own. We stepped in front of the long horizontal mirror and tiled sink that suspiciously had items placed on it ready for us to clean up with.

“Oh, shit.” Darius looked at himself, his hand rubbing along his prickled jawline. “It’s only been like five days since I shaved last but it looks like a lot more than that.”

I laughed. “Probably because we haven’t done it properly in six months. At least father was generous enough to have it ready for us.”

“Well, he wanted you home awfully bad.” Troy said.

“Don’t.”

“Well, I’m glad to be back.” Darius picked up a razor and started shaving his face while easily getting away from the conversation he knew I didn’t want to have. “This is going to make me look so good when I’m finished.”

“Just hope Ruby thinks so.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. When I see her again, she won’t be focused on my face.”

Troy sighed. “Thank you for the mental image.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Be careful.” I said. “She could kill you, remember?”

“Yes, I remember but I don’t think that will be an issue. I have a good feeling that it won’t. It’s not sex. Well, you know what I mean.”

“Just be careful. You should really be waiting until after the duel. You don’t want to be a distraction.”

“I won’t be. It’ll be the first time we’re really alone like I care about that.”

“Yeah, like last night?” Troy muttered.

Darius got a smile on his face. “I honestly couldn’t let that opportunity go.”

“Darius.” I said it with a lingering sigh. “I really hope nothing happened.”

“Nothing dangerous. She just prefers to sleep naked. I wasn’t going to stop her.”

“Of course not.” Troy laughed.

“That’s what led to it, actually. I had to. I didn’t know when I would get a chance like that again.”

There was a silence among us and the mood changed with Troy’s question. “They wouldn’t really be able to stay here, would they?”

I leaned over and wet my hands before running my fingers back through my hair. “No, and we could never ask them to but if this is what we choose, you both know what has to be done.” I gave them a moment to let the thought sink in before I said it. “If we escort them back across the border, we can never return here.”

“A price worth paying.” Troy said. “I’m still in.”

“Me too.” Darius added.

“Good. At least you’ll be happy.”

“What happened when you talked to her?” Troy asked. “It almost seemed worse when you came up.”

“She’s still having a problem with who I am. Anything more than friends will just bring her more pain so we’ve decided to be neither.”

“
We
?” Darius wondered, hinting that I was lying about it.

“Okay, she decided but partly my fault. I told her I couldn’t just be friends.”

Troy sighed. “You actually said that?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, it’s not like we’re exactly used to this relationship thing. We use women around here just as pleasurable company. The word ‘love’ has never crossed my mind until now.”

“So, you love her?” Darius asked.

I paused and turned my back to the mirror so I wouldn’t see them smiling. “I’m not sure. It’s different with Adele like you said with Ruby. Even when she acts like she hates me, I’m still having a problem staying away.”

“Does that have anything to do with seeing her naked?” Troy asked.

I sighed, hating even thinking about what I did or what I almost did. “We’re not going to talk about that. I came this close to losing it.”

“Shit, I would have.” Darius laughed.

“Not funny. I hated myself for it but I still hate the thought of not seeing her.”