Endless Night (Fate's Intent Book 3) (17 page)

“Sorry.” Ruby smiled. “We’re not in this conversation.”

“Yeah, you’re not.” Kole said with his eyes directed towards Ruby then moved them back to Jaylyn. “We’re done.”

He turned away to head down the hall, ending the conversation but Jaylyn didn’t seem ready. She followed after him and her worry reflected off her voice. “Kole, you can’t be serious!”

He stopped in his tracks and turned back to Jaylyn with a small level of his anger showing. “You really want to talk about this now?”

“Yes. I really do.”

Kole looked back at us to see Troy’s continuous stare and took Jaylyn’s wrist. “Fine.”

They only walked a couple more feet away and turned to each other, standing close together while they talked but I became confused. Their mouths were moving but we couldn’t hear them, not even me. “What’s going on?”

“It’s Kole.” Adele said. “He’s blocking us so we really can’t be a part of the conversation.”

“What are they talking about?”

“Ah, let’s see.” Ruby turned herself fully to them and played out what they were saying based on their body language, attitudes and subject of their discussion. “She’s begging him not to have Ellie cut from her life and he is completely against it, bringing up the mother thing and saying something about how it’s all Jaylyn’s fault and she’s only seconds away from crying.”

Jaylyn’s jaw clenched to hold back something and Kole’s last words were heard. “Have a nice trip.” He turned from her and walked away to join the others in the back.

Jaylyn huffed without saying a word and walked out passed us without making eye contact.

“See?” Ruby smiled. “I knew it.”

“Well, that was wonderful.” Adele said. “We should go.”

We followed her outside.

“Where’d she go?” Troy asked.

We looked for her but Jaylyn and her horse were gone.

“Waiting outside the gate probably.” Ruby said.

“What happened back there?” I asked while we started to head back down the street. “Did Jaylyn kill that girl’s mother or something?”

Ruby looked over at Adele like she thought maybe she should answer. “We shouldn’t talk about it but if you really want to know, you’ll have to get her to tell you.”

Would she? That was my biggest concern.

Chapter 27

Troy

Things were becoming more difficult. Why didn’t she tell me? Jaylyn clearly has some tie to him though she often expresses her hate. There’s a child; a child that looks almost identical to her but smaller. I wanted to believe that she wasn’t hers but it was hard to deny when I saw them together and now, she’s upset again. Something Kole had said to her upset her and I wanted to find out why. I wanted to find out everything.

The ride was quiet. Adele led the way with Zayden next to her. I rode behind them with Ruby and Darius to my left but my eyes were forward, unfocused on anything. I only had one destination in mind and didn’t care about anything going on around me.

Jaylyn was waiting for us outside the gates like Ruby had said and we started off slowly without a word. The silence between us was more obvious now but still, no one wanted to say anything to her. I knew it was going to have to be me. I moved my horse closer, her stare was straight ahead of her like she was riding alone and I was encouraged by others to get her to talk.

“You all right?”

It was a simple question and the only one I could think of that didn’t sound too obvious in what I really wanted to know.

“Fine.” She snatched, jumping a little too quickly into conversation like she’s been waiting for someone to bring it up.

“Will you tell us?”

Jaylyn paused and looked around. Everyone had their eyes on her. She appeared hesitant to say anything as a reply but did while looking straight ahead of her again. “You really want to know what a horrible person I am?”

“Why not?” Darius smiled. “Maybe it’ll make us feel better about the things we’ve done.”

I didn’t want it to be brought up like some kind of joke but Jaylyn took it rather well. She let out a slight laugh from her closed lips but kept her eyes forward. “Yeah, I’m sure it would but I was kind of hoping for a different answer.”

“Look, you don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.” Zayden said. “We just saw how upset it made you and didn’t know why.”

“No. It’s all right. I don’t mind telling you.”

“Are you sure?” I asked. I didn’t want her to be pressured. I didn’t want to make her think that she had to.

“Yeah, as long as you really want to hear it and you can stop me if at any point it becomes too uncomfortable for you.”

“It won’t.”

She took a deep breath and began the telling of her story. I wasn’t going to interrupt. I wanted to hear it all. “All right, well, it starts several years ago when Kole met and obviously slept with Ellie’s real mother. Her name was Leah. Blonde, beautiful but not better than me just so you know.”

I laughed quietly from her remark. How could that have been true? No one was more beautiful than her.

“Anyway, I didn’t like her. That shouldn’t really be so shocking because it’s always been hard for the three of us to like other women. We’re different, not like them. We couldn’t relate as well as we do with each other but I didn’t make an openly big deal about how much I didn’t like her. We’re usually good at keeping that stuff hidden but my behavior started to change when I found out she was pregnant. It quite literally set me off when I heard about it because I knew that she didn’t deserve it. It wasn’t because it was Kole’s or even the fact that they were together. I just knew she didn’t deserve it.

“The nine months went by fairly quickly because back then we were only home for maybe a week at a time in between missions and every time we came back I noticed the changes. She was using her frailty from the pregnancy to get things out of Kole because he has a ton of money to throw around and she was one of those girls. That just made me sick but when I was around her, I was supportive and polite until that night I got her alone.”

She stopped and took a breath. I thought maybe it was becoming too much for her and let her know she could stop at any time. “Are you all right? You know you don’t have to.”

“I’m fine. I was just getting a little ahead of myself. That night, we were completely secluded from anyone else that might have heard the yelling. That’s when I told her what I really thought and what I knew she was doing. She admitted to hating me just as much and agreed that she was using him, that she wouldn’t stick around after the baby was born. Just knowing that those words came from her lips, I snapped.

“Looking back on it, I can’t even believe that was me. I broke her pathetic little neck without wavering my decision at all and she fell dead. It was so quick, she probably didn’t even feel a thing. My hands were tense at my sides without regret and then I saw the movement from her stomach. The baby kicked. It was still alive. I didn’t even hesitate for a second knowing that the baby would have died with its mother dead so I cut her open and pulled Ellie from her womb.

“There was blood everywhere. Someone was bound to notice soon so I just cut her free from her and took her with me, leaving Leah where she fell. I secretly brought Ellie back to the manor that night and Adele and Ruby didn’t find out what I did until the next morning when they heard Ellie in my room.

“For the better part of a day, they were convinced that I did it because I’d wished that she was mine and maybe that was true on some subconscious level but in reality, I did it to save her from the horrible mother she would have had. Leah wouldn’t have loved her. She was cruel and selfish. It wasn’t until about a week later after I already fell in love with her and named her that they started to believe me and got me to agree to tell Kole about her. I haven’t seen him all that week but by then he knew about Leah’s murder and the disappearance of the baby. He went through a lot because of me and I dreaded every step I took closer to get to him because I knew how things would go.

“I told him everything and he was—furious even more so than I imagined.” Her eyes started to water and she failed to keep them at bay. I just wanted to hold her but it wasn’t as easy to accomplish being up on horses. “I seriously thought he was never going to get passed it and when he took Ellie from my arms, I thought I was never going to see her again. I spent the next week in solitude, hating myself and anyone who tried to talk to me until he walked in one day holding her. At that point, I wasn’t even sure if it was real. I thought I was only dreaming again because I dreamt it so many times but that time it wasn’t a dream and even stranger, he started apologizing to me.

“Apparently, Trever told him that I had mother issues because our mother left us when I was too young to even remember her and that I was just trying to make up for it but when he called her Ellie, I wanted to cry. No, I did cry. He kept the name I gave her and was allowing me to be a part of her life even though his entire family disapproved. I owe him. He never should have forgiven me. Ellie has been the only happiness that existed around any of us until we met you and it’s because she doesn’t see the bad things; war and hate. She only sees the good.”

The end. She didn’t have to say it but that was the story and I felt better in believing every word.

“Well, it doesn’t really sound like you did anything horribly wrong if you did it to save her.” Zayden said.

“Maybe to you but I know Kole still doesn’t believe Leah said what she did to me. He still feels like I robbed Ellie of a good mother.”

“Why is he even letting you see her?” I asked.

“I wish I had the answer to that question but I don’t. He never fully answers whenever I’ve asked so I’ve just stopped asking. As long as Ellie is still there, I’m fine with not knowing. Her smile is enough.”

Darius laughed. “Seriously though. She looks just like you.”

Jaylyn laughed too. I was glad to see that smile revisit her face after a story like that. “I think that’s what makes his mother so mad. Just another excuse to hate me even more. She’s never wanted me to be around Ellie, not only because of what I did but just the fact that I’m an Assassin. She doesn’t exactly see it as a good role model but I don’t care. She can hate me all she wants.”

“I think it’s worse now than it was when you were together.” Ruby said.

“That’s because she knew how Kole felt about that when we were together. Now that we haven’t been, she sees no reason why I should get to be around Ellie or Kole for that matter.”

“How long were you together?” I asked.

She looked over at me with that look that appeared hesitant like how could I have just asked that so normally. I didn’t even know but that didn’t stop me from being curious about the answer. “It’s always been on and off over the years. We fight a lot. We leave for weeks at a time and he has fidelity issues. I’d be lucky if he’d wait a day.”

“That’s because he didn’t know what he had. The wait is worth it.”

She smiled and I knew it would have made her feel better but it was also the truth. No amount of time with any other woman could ever replace her. Jaylyn was everything.

We continued on with our travel and it was never brought up again. We all just enjoyed the time together and it help our bond for when we would return.

Chapter 28

Adele

Spring. The frost had all diminished from the earth, awakening life. This time of year also meant it was the rainy season for Kalu. The sun started to disappear from the day and dark clouds were taking over for another storm. The ground was already soaking, perhaps from rain during the night and the horses were kicking up mud as we rode east towards the crossroads.

The day was calm for us. We enjoyed each other’s company and were hardly affected by the ride or darkening skies.

Nightfall soon came but it was like we didn’t notice. Staying at attention through conversation, we rode straight through it, soon starting our journey south once we reached the crossroads. With only short stops to let the horses feed and eat ourselves, another day had quickly passed. Night was soon upon us once again and it became the first real stop on our trip together.

We rode away from the road, not to be seen by passing travelers and I used my gift to create an underground shelter for us to sleep in like I have in the past.

The earth was split, dug out and stairs were formed. Everyone tied up the horses outside under a canopy of their own to keep out of the drizzling rain while I went inside. It was a single large room that I had created with just three beds.

Ruby sighed in relief as she fell back on hers. “Oh, finally. I still don’t think I’m used to all this traveling yet. My legs don’t even want to close from being on that horse.”

Darius smiled with a wanting gesture coming from his closed lips as he climbed over her. “That’ll make things easier.”