Discovery: Altera Realm Trilogy (54 page)

"No way," Noelle said, shaking her head.

Syney sat back down at the table. "That's what it says."

"All of those books were lost. They were only given to the ruling families who wrote it. It was supposed to be passed down, but when the Great War broke out..."

"Most things were tossed?" Syney asked opening the cover. On the first page was a symbol that looked like an upside-down P with two squiggly lines across the stem. "What's that?"

"Vampire," Noelle said simply.

"Huh?"

"Oh, um, all of the great races have a symbol that represents their race. That's the symbol for Vampires. I'd assume that means that was the Vampire royalty's book."

"What's Becca doing with the Vampires' copy of the treaty?" Syney flipped the page. There was a list of names with a race listed after them.

Noelle moved her chair so she could see the book as well. "Those must be the names of the ruling families who wrote the agreement. Yeah. See? Magic Users—Queen Armarilla of House Vilori. She was Queen Amelia's grandmother."

Syney scanned the names. King Hadrian III of House Zeffin—Daemons. King Lional V of House Cat—Shifters. Ash of House Juniper—Head of the Royal Guards, Lycins. King Gabriel of House Sânge—Vampires. Syney stopped and stared at the last name. No way. She looked at Noelle, whose eyes widened.

"You don't think..." Noelle said, looking at Syney.

She shrugged. "This is the Vampire book. And he is friends with Becca, who has it."

"And he's old enough."

Syney closed the book. "If Gabe helped write this, then whatever he's been up to has to be good, right?"

Noelle gave her a sad smile. "Not necessarily. The royal families of the time all wrote it. But that was a long time ago."

Syney nodded and ran a finger down the leather cover. A thought came to her, and she smiled. There was one way to get into Gabe's head. She flipped open the book until she got to the Agreement she was looking for, the one Gabe had invoked when he had come with her to the Village. The second she read it, her smile fell. The ass!

Hunter

He had checked on Syney and Noelle several times during the day, making sure not to bother them. He didn't know what to do. He was antsy, and his run earlier hadn't done much to alleviate it. He went into the sitting room in the front of the house and took a seat on one of the longer couches. On the side table was a novel from the Human Realm. He picked it up and started to read, if only to keep his mind blank. After a few pages, he realized it wasn't working. Syney had invaded his once calm mind, and she wasn't leaving. Last night had been a mistake, he knew, but he didn't care. He felt good when he was around her, and when they were intimate, he felt even better. He would have loved to chalk it up to the physical pleasure of sex, but he had been with other women before—women who were experienced—but they were nothing compared to Syney. He and Syney didn't have sex; they made love. He shook his head. Now he was thinking like a girl with flowery language. She was really doing a number on his head. He turned back to the book and tried to get lost in the fictional war on the pages in front of him.

Gabe walked into the room a while later, sitting himself in an armchair and putting his feet up on the small table in front of him. He was silent, but Hunter could tell he wanted to talk. He didn't care. Gabe was falling rapidly from the list of people he could stand. It was a pretty short list.

Finally Gabe broke the silence. "I have to go somewhere really quick before we leave."

"Fine," Hunter said, not taking his eyes off the book.

"So you and Syney had some fun last night."

Hunter looked over at him. "We did. And you need to leave her alone."

Gabe glared back at him. "What do you mean?"

"Stay out of her head. I think you've done enough for her. She doesn't need to get confused by messages you're putting into her mind. Do you understand?"

Gabe narrowed his eyes at him. "I understand. But you should probably understand that she's already confused."

Hunter scoffed and looked away.

"She kissed me last night. While you and dear Noelle were in the store. Right there in the car."

Hunter looked back at him, feeling his anger build inside. He needed to calm down, or he was going to cure his boredom with another fight with the Vampire, which wasn't something he could afford, considering he was just finally fully healing from their last fight. He smiled, something that didn't come naturally, and decided to play a little of Gabe's game. "But whose bed was she in last night?"

Gabe stared at him for a moment before looking away. "Touché."

"I don't want to have to kill you. So don't make me."

Gabe didn't respond. Instead he looked silently out the window.

"Do you love her?" Hunter asked, not really wanting the answer.

"No," he said after while. "Not the way you mean."

Hunter looked away from him and closed the book. There was no way he would be able to concentrate now. He opened his mouth to say something else when Syney came charging into the room with Noelle hot on her heels.

Syney went right for Gabe and threw a small leather book at him. "You asshole!"

Gabe easily grabbed the book with one hand and looked over at her.

Hunter jumped to his feet. "What happened?"

Syney stared Gabe down. " 'Agreement Seventeen of Article Twenty-Nine of the Treaty of Allegiance of the Great Races,' " she spat out, her voice growing louder with every word. " 'Any Vampire will be welcomed into Magic User territory, including the Grand Palace in the Village, and be treated as an honored guest, because of the Vampires' unique abilities that would help the population, including the ability to see spells...' " She paused. " 'And curses.'

Gabe stood up and looked down at the book in his hands. Hunter couldn't see what it said, but he was pretty sure it was a copy of the Treaty of Allegiance, especially with the way Syney was acting. He didn't blame her. His own anger was building again.

"You saw that damn curse on me the whole time!" Syney yelled, tears filling her eyes and her voice. "You knew what I was going through! You really are an ass! Oh, sorry. You're an ass,
Your Majesty."

Gabe looked back at her but was still silent.

"What?" Hunter asked. He didn't understand what Syney was talking about.

"Oh." Syney looked over at him. "He's a Vampire king, or at least he used to be." She looked back at Gabe and stepped closer. "Was it all just to get me vulnerable? To get into my bed? What? Just tell me!"

"I didn't tell you for your own good," he said finally.

Syney rolled her eyes. "Bull. I tried to kill myself. You did this for yourself. I just can't figure out why."

Gabe shook his head. "Who put the curse on you?"

"Queen Bitch," Syney said quickly.

"And what would you have done if I'd told you?"

"I would have marched right up to her and given her a piece of my mind and made her take the damn thing off!"

"Oh, goddess," Noelle said quietly.

Hunter closed his eyes. He had no doubt that was exactly what she would have done, and no one would have been able to stop her. "You would have been tried for treason."

Syney looked at him. "What are you talking about?"

"If you had accused Mellisandrianna of putting a curse on you without any proof, she would have charged you with treason, and the penalty for that is death," he explained. "Putting a curse on someone is illegal."

Syney silently looked at him. "She would have won." Her lips thinned out into a straight line as she looked back at Gabe. "You still could have told me. We would have come up with something else."

Hunter took a deep breath and shook his head. "Wow. You really are manipulative, Gabe. You got me to take her to Colchin because you knew they would charm us."

Gabe looked at him lazily. "You were easy to convince."

"Life—especially other people's—isn't a game. We aren't your little puppets!" Hunter yelled.

Gabe moved over to him. "And what exactly are you in a huff about? I gave you three perfect weeks with the woman you love. Oh, so mean of me."

Hunter clenched his fists and gave a low growl.

"Shut up," Noelle said quietly.

Gabe looked at her. "I did nothing to you."

"You did everything. You've been playing us all since you came to the Village," she said.

"Of course I have!" He shook his head and looked back at Syney. "There's something going on that's bigger than all of us. I see the whole picture. And if I
have to keep you from doing stupid things in order to get you where I need you to be, then I'm going to do it. You're a young stupid girl who has no idea what she's capable of! You're so love struck over someone who could get you killed that you make choices that I can't work with. If you all want to think of me as the bad guy, fine, do it, but don't sit around telling me I don't care about life! That's all I care about!" He looked at each of them in turn before disappearing.

The three of them stood in silence for a moment. Finally Noelle cleared her throat. "Do you think he'll come back?"

Syney looked at her and then at Hunter. "Of course. There's a big picture," she said. She had stopped crying, but her eyes had grown hard and dark. She turned to Hunter. "Do you think he's right? Am I so stuck on you that I can't see anything else?"

Hunter just stared at her. He didn't know what to say. Gabe probably was right, but there was no way he was going to admit it. Instead he shook his head.

Syney sighed and looked away. "We should get our stuff. We need to get back to the palace." She quickly walked out of the room.

Noelle gave Hunter a sad smile before following her out.

Hunter sighed and cursed to himself. He should have realized they were being manipulated. It wasn't just Syney who was blinded by her feelings. He needed to step it up, keep a level head. But something inside him didn't want to let her go. It was just a matter of time before one side would win, but at this juncture, he wasn't sure which would.

Gabe

He needed to calm down. He slowed down about a mile from Becca's house and kicked at the stone wall of the store in front of him. He couldn't believe Becca had let Syney and Noelle into the library without taking that damn book out. This wasn't the time for Syney to find out about his past or even what he could do. It did surprise him a little that Noelle didn't know about that trait of the Vampires, but he had bigger things to worry about. He couldn't lose Syney, not after all of the work he had put into this. He closed his eyes and found himself at the lake. He hadn't gone there in a while. He knew Faye was angry with him, and he couldn't face her. But he needed to calm down, and this was the only place to do it in.

He looked over at Faye. She was staring at him silently, her thin arms crossed over her chest. Even though the tension was thick, he felt himself calm down within seconds. "Go ahead," he said, deflated.

"How could you?" she said, shaking her head.

"Which part?"

"Gabriel! You were supposed to help her, not sleep with her!"

"I figured that was what you were most upset about."

"You know I want—and encourage—you to move on with your life, but not with her! She's too important."

"Don't you think I know that? I did what I had to do. Besides she was the one who seduced me."

"The little eighteen-year-old overpowered the nine-hundred-year-old Vampire king?"

"Former king, and yes. She's very persuasive when she's naked."

"Ugh!" Faye yelled, throwing her hands into the air. "You were always so stubborn!"

Gabe shook his head. "The plan is still moving smoothly. Now that that damn curse is gone, I can keep her going in the direction I need. I'm going to bring Adam in. I think she's ready."

"It's not a good idea. You should deal with what you have. Why not just let her and Hunter be together?"

"Because I can't control him! He's all about his duty and honor. Stubborn and pigheaded, just like his father! You know what a pain in the ass Ocean was to deal with."

She shook her head. "He has much more of Rose in him."