Forever Fae (22 page)

“With the way you’re acting
,
I wish something would have happened.  I’m not going to lie, I think about her all the time, and yes I want to be with her.  I’m in love with her just as much as you are and I was hoping to convince her that she belongs with me.”

That son of a bitch Warren lied to me.  Why would I have ever believed him in the first place?  Calista is never going to forgive me. 

Frustration sends me over the edge and I shout, “
Damn it
! That bastard told me nothing but lies.  When I get out of here I am going to find his sorry ass and beat the fuck out of him.”

“Who?”
  Merrick commands.

I look over at Merrick
,
huffing from anger
.

“Warren.  He told me he saw you and Calista together this morning being a little more than friendly.  He’s also been acting strange for a while now and saying weird things about me staying away from Calista.  I’m going to make him see our counselor when we get back home to find out what his problem is.”

Merrick looks exasperated and yells, “And you brought him here?  Why would you do that?  If he is that unstable he could be a threat.  How stupid could you be?  I guess the ice in the Winter Court has frozen your brain.”

“Just like the sun here has fried yours?” I retort back.

Merrick sighs in frustration and insists
.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere.  The meeting will be going on in about another hour.  We need to get back.  Do you have any suggestions?”

We pull and twist, but nothing happens.  We do this for about thirty more minutes and when we are about to give up when the vines slowly unravel around us and slide back into the ground.  Merrick and I both lay dumbfounded and shocked that Calista would let us go so quickly.  I figured she would leave us there all day to teach us a lesson.  I was prepared to be stuck there all day.  After a few seconds, I decide to get up slowly and brush the dirt off my clothes.  Merrick gathers the weapons and we both head back to face the wrath of Calista.

I am going to kill Warren with my bare hands when I see him.  How could I even believe he was telling the truth?  I am such an idiot and now Calista is furious with me.  Why did I doubt her?  Elvena told me to trust her and I let my jealousy get in the way.  She’s not going to forgive
me and I deserve it.  My heart aches with the absence of her.  Watching her walk away was the hardest thing I have had to face.

As we’re walking back, Merrick says, “You should have never doubted her.  Calista is the most honest and trustworthy person I know.  She’s also a loyal friend.  We both have a lot of
gr
o
veling
to do when we get back.”

“I kno
w. I just hope she forgives me,” I say somberly.

  Merrick
thr
ows
back his head and
laugh
s.

“I wouldn’t count on it, ice boy.  She is more stubborn than a mule.  She’ll forgive you when she’s ready.  I’m her
g
uardian
so she has
no choice but to be around me so
I’ll be stuck with the attitude when you leave.”

How can I leave today with things being the way they are? 
I pl
anned on asking her to marry me today.  She’ll
probably just laug
h in my face and tell me to go to
H
ell
now that I’ve been a complete moron.  Hopefully, she’ll let me talk to her when we get back.  I need to apologize, even if she doesn’t forgive me.  I have to do this before I leave or I will never forgive myself.  If I have to make her listen I will, but she has to know how I feel
about her
before I leave.

“That’s the thing, Merrick.  I don’t want to leave.  I want to marry her.
”  I look over at him and his jaw clenches, but I continue
.

“
I was going to ask her today and now she’s probably going to tell me no.  Last night, when we were together
,
some things had changed.” 

Merrick’s anger escalates and his eyes are blazing.  I can see the fire building around his hands as he reaches for his dagger. 

Outraged, he yells, “When you say you two were together, do you mean you had sex with her?”

I definitely thought about
it
and I know she did as well, but I’m not going to tell him that so I just simply say, “No.”

  “Where were you two when you
got
together last night?  How come I didn’t know about her meeting you?”
he asks.

“We planned for it to be a secret so we could discuss the vision we had.  We met at t
he willow tree by the lake.” Merrick and I
reac
h the willow tree just as I say
it
and I noticed that the colored leaves are still
lying
on the ground.  I point to the leaves and pick some up to show Merrick that what I’m saying is real.

“The vision was of us together in a new land
and t
hings are going to be different in the Land of the Fae when we come together.  These leaves changed last night while we were lying on top of them.”
I look down at the leaves and I can hear Merrick fuming with his erratic breathing.  He has to know the truth, even if it pisses him off.

Merrick
obviously couldn’t handle the truth anymore so he stormed off without me. 
He
thr
ows
his hands up in the air and
mumble
s
obscenities the whole way. 
I know he’s angry and I don’t care, but he has to know he’s not her destiny
…
I am.

Before the Meeting- Ryder

I get back to the house and the servants are milling about getting everything ready for the meeting.  I decide to try and find Kalen first before I try my luck with Calista.  I get to his room
and knock on his door.  He answers
the door and is
still
dressed in his nice clothes
.
When
h
e looks at me
and sees that I’m
all disheveled and bloody, he
laughs.

“Well, Ryder, don’t you look handsome?  I think
all
the blood will get the ladies swooning.  I trust Calista’s
g
uardian
is still up and moving?”  He pulls me into his room and slaps my back.  I wince.  My bod
y is sore from fighting Merrick, but i
t should heal up here in the next few minutes.  Aches and bruises typically
only
hurt for a couple of hours. 

I slowly sit down in one of the chairs before I respond
.

“Unfortunately, Merrick is fine.
  I came by to see if you’ve seen War
ren.  He told me a bunch of bullshit this morning that
may have cost me Calista.  She’s furious with me and I need to see hi
m so I can kick his worthless ass and send him home packing.” I look at Kalen seriously and add, “He can’t be here anymore.”

Kalen looks bewildered
.

“I haven’t seen him yet and I don’t know where he would be.”

“Will you look for him while I try to find Calista?  I really need to speak with her.”

“Sure, brother, I’ll head out now to find him.”  He stop
s me with a hand on my shoulder and looks hopeful.
  “Don’t worry, things will work out.”

I give him a slight smile and head on my way to Calista’s room.  When I get there, I knock on her door. 
Nothing.
I put my ear to
the door,
but no sound comes from her room so
I knock again.  Either she’s not in there or she doesn’t want to see me.  I lean my
fore
head against her door and take a deep breath.  I have to believe she will forgive me.  I know she will be at the meeting so I’ll corner her there and make her speak to me. 

I head back down to the main floor where the meeting will be held and the
sight before my eyes
has me worried.
There are servants running around and people here and there crying.
I see Kalen in the corner talking
to Meliantha, Calista’s sister, so I run over to see what the deal is.
 

“What’s going on?” I ask.

Meliantha says
worriedly
, “Something bad has happened.  One of the servants found a necklace on the council room floor along with
a
trace of ashes.”  I look at her questioningly so she continues
.

“The necklace belongs to one of o
ur council members, Xylia’s mom, Raisa.
  No one has found her husband either.  We believe him to be dead as well.  If what we believe is true, we have a traitor among us.”  She looks back and forth between Kalen and me.

I grab Kalen
on the shoulder
and say, “It has to be Warren.  I saw him this morning leaving the council room.  He had blood on his pants and he tried to cover it up, but I didn’t say anything.  I also saw him talking to Avery last night.”

I turn to Meliantha and ask, “Has anyone checked to see where Avery has been?  Calista told me of
the
bad vibe she gets when he’s around and I felt
it
as well. 
I know it’s not my place to request this, but can you please get someone to check him out?”

Meliantha nods her head and says,
“Of course, I will get one of the warriors to take a look in his chambers, and Elvena as well.
By touching the ashes, she’ll
be able to identify who it was.
”  She pauses and puts her hand over her mouth and closes her eyes.  When she opens them they are full of tears.  I look at my brother and I can tell he wants to hold her, but he keeps his distance.  She continues on and her voice breaks when she speaks
.

“
We haven’t told Xylia about her parents yet.  We’ll wait for Elvena to come to the council room and take a look around.  If you see Xylia, please don’t mention any of this.”

I look to
Kalen and we both nod at her
sympathetically
.

“We won’t,” Kalen assures her.
 

“We are going to look for Warren for a few more minutes until everything gets settled.  If you see Calista, will you please tell her I need to talk to her?  I made her upset this morning and I need he
r to forgive me before I leave,” I plead to Meliantha.

She looks a little confused
.

“But I thoug
ht things were going so well and
Elvena told me what
all has happened.”  She points and nods
in the direction of my changed skin. 

“They were going well
until Warren told me a bunch of shit that wasn’t true
and I accused her of betraying me.  I doubted her trust and now she won’t speak to me.”

“That sounds like Calista.”  Her eyes show pity and she gives me a small smile. 

“She’ll come around.  She’s stubborn, but eventually she’ll realize
she won’t be happy without you,” she claims. 

She squeezes my arm and gives Kalen a long, lingering gaze before walking off.
  He hasn’t
taken his eyes off of her retreating form yet so
I wave my hands in front of his face and that snaps him back to attention.

“You seem to have it
bad
,
too, little brother,” I say teasingly.

Kalen shrugs and laughs. 

“Me, I don’t think so.  I do
not
see myself settling down any time soon.”
 
He says that now, but I can’t wait to see what he says when he finds the one he’s supposed to be with.  From the way things look, it looks like Meliantha is tugging pretty hard on his heart strings. 

Not believing him at all
,
I say, “
OK
, I believe you.  Now let’s find Warren.”
             

We look for what felt like hours searching for Warren, but
we never
f
ind
him.  We search
hi
s room and most of his stuff is
gone.  When and where would he have gone?  The sinking feeling in my
stomach is
le
tting me know that something is seriously wrong and I need to figure it out fast.

Chapter 18

Calista