New Roots (Fate's Intent Book 8) (12 page)

Chapter 29

Adele

Morning came swiftly and the time for our long parting was upon us—again.

I sat on the bed and watched Zayden get ready like I’ve done before. It was sad for me but I kept in mind that he needed to go and promised myself not to cry—at least in his presence.

Zayden closed up his bag and took a breath as he set it down on the bed by me and started strapping on his weapons. “I’m glad you’re okay with this.”

“It was my idea.” I replied, struggling to smile. “I know how much it means to you. I’ll be okay this time.”

“This time?”

I hesitated to explain. “Um—well—it’s not a big deal. Last time I just stayed in here for two days and didn’t talk to anyone or—eat anything.”

It only took a second but he reacted much worse than I imagined. “What?! Not a big deal?! Love, you weren’t eating?! That’s it! I’m staying!”

“Zayden, no.” I got up and went to him so he wouldn’t change his mind about going over something stupid. “It’s okay. I’m not going to be like that this time.”

“I can’t leave and think that you’re hear harming yourself and our son!”

“Zayden, listen to me. I chose for you to go. I’ve accepted it and I’ll wait for you. Nothing will happen to me or Seth. I promise.”

Zayden’s tone became more mellowed and he touched my face. “You’re asking me not to worry.”

“So, don’t. I’ll be fine. You don’t need to have your mind on other things while you do this.”

“My mind will always be on you.”

“But don’t let it worry about me. Just think about the good things. You have to do this and you know it.”

He sighed because I was right and kissed my forehead. “Okay. You can stay in here the entire time but talk to people and eat. Please. That will make me feel better just knowing that.”

I smiled playfully just to lighten the mood. “I don’t want to add on extra pounds I don’t have to. I plan to be as active as I can until the time comes. You just focus on tending to your people.”

“Our people.”

“Yes. Go. Their waiting.”

“Walk with me this time?”

He held out his hand and I agreed by taking it and we walked down to the palace stables together with Rift right at Zayden’s ankles as usual. To my surprise, we were the first ones down here but the horses have already been prepared.

“Less work for me, I guess.”

“See? Someone else wants you to go.”

“It almost saddens me that you do.”

“I don’t want you to, Zayden. I know you need to and I don’t want to hold you back from your duty.”

“I wish you could come with me.”

“Maybe some year but I have my own duty right now.”

Zayden smiled to mine and put his hand on my stomach as he stepped in closer. “I’ll accept that.”

Our lips moved in to each other’s and met for just a second before we were interrupted. “You should have done that before you came out here.”

Troy entered the stables with the biggest smile.

“Okay.” I sighed. “Funny. You ready?”

“I suppose so.”

“Where’s Darius?” Zayden asked.

“He’s with Ruby right now, not really wanting to leave until she’s okay.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“The baby kicked and broke two of her ribs. Jaylyn is with her too, I just left from there.”

“Oh, no. You think he’ll want to stay now?”

“I think he knew this could happen. He just wants to make sure she’s okay before he leaves.”

“You better make this trip extra fast, Zayden. He’s going to need you to.”

“I know and I will. We’ll get him back before it happens. Just make sure you stay here for Ruby.”

“I will.”

Darius walked in and went straight to his horse.

“There you are.” Zayden said. “How is she?”

He sighed and looked over. “Fine now. She just needs to rest.”

“We’ll make sure she’s okay.” I said.

“I know. So, are we ready?”

“No! You’re not!” Jaylyn ran in and gave Troy a long kiss good-bye. “Okay. Now you are.”

“Keep assuring Ruby we’ll be back before the time comes.” Zayden said while they got up on their horses. “And we’ll try to send letters to let you know our progress so you know more of when we’ll actually be back.”

I nodded and tried to keep my eyes from watering as I walked next to him out of the stables.

“Remember what I said.”

Troy nodded and touched Jaylyn’s face. “Don’t worry. I promised.”

A tear fell from her eye as she led the horse out of the stables and Troy had to get down and kiss her again.

“Come on!” Zayden called. “We’re on a tight schedule.”

Troy got back on his horse and looked down at Jaylyn one last time before he turned and started to follow.

“It’ll be okay.” I assured her.

Jaylyn nodded and we watched our husbands ride off out of sight and our long parting began—again.

“Come on. It’ll be fine. We need to watch Ruby.” I had to turn her so she would turn away and we took the long solemn walk slowly back to the palace where we were to wait for their return.

Chapter 30

Jaylyn

Four weeks have passed and winter had fully come to Randal. Snow blanketed the city, sparkling like diamonds in the sun. Hopes raised high for the soon return of the Great Seni Fighters but Adele and I could only talk of missing them when we were together.

“It’s soon, isn’t it?” I asked.

“He said six weeks at the most. I suppose it’s going to come close to that time.”

“Then we still have two more weeks to wait.”

“I know. I want to see them too.”

“Maybe we can.”

Adele paused like she was trying to understand my words and finally did. “You’ve gotten his gift haven’t you?!”

“How did you know that?”

“I’ve notice I had Zayden’s shortly after he left.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. So, you can actually see what they’re doing right now?”

“Yes but I’m not sure about showing you. I haven’t got to test anything like that.”

“Test it.” Adele got up and sat closer to me, acting extremely anxious. “Troy could do that early in the beginning.”

“Okay. Let me find them first.” I turned my look to my left, looking south. I focused completely on my vision and moved it out away from me. I started at a fast speed and drifted through the snowy plains. “Where did Zayden say they were headed next?”

“They’re half way up the west side of the river.”

“Okay. I’m almost there.”

“Look for large gatherings.”

I nodded and continued with my vision. I passed a few villages that didn’t have much commotion and came up onto a curious one with a little more foot traffic in the streets. I looked around a little more where people were headed and finally came up on them. I was happy at first until I got a better look. They were in a wide open space like an eatery but were completely surrounded by women. No other men were in sight.

“See anything yet?” Adele asked.

I kept my vision where it was and held out my hand. “Let me ask you a question.” Adele took my hand and I focused on showing her. “How many men do you see in this room?”

I felt Adele’s grip get just a bit tighter and her voice expressed a calm anger. “Three. Those stupid skinny whores. You up for a trip?”

“What do you mean a trip?”

“They’re not too far away. I can get us there by nightfall.”

I was silent as I looked upon Troy sitting among all the women and even young girls. I knew deep down that nothing has or will happen but I submitted to jealousy like Adele and brought the image back. “When do we leave?”

“Now. Get what you need. I’ll take you on foot.”

“But what about Ruby?”

Adele paused and let out a saddened sigh. “Oh, yeah. She’s too sick to come, isn’t she? She has to stay here, I guess.”

“It’s still okay if we go. I’ve been trying but nothing has been working. The baby takes back whatever health I can give her.”

“Yeah.” Adele muttered, feeling the sadness from talking about Ruby’s condition. “I suppose it wouldn’t matter if we weren’t here.”

“So, which one of us is going to tell Izin?”

“He probably won’t like it, will he?”

“I guess that means you’ll be telling him.” I smiled innocently.

“All right.” Adele laughed. “Get your stuff and pack mine too. I’ll be busy.”

Chapter 31

Adele

It saddened me these days to talk about Ruby but now I had to try and convince Izin to let us go. This would be a big challenge indeed and I waited in there for a bit longer, just thinking of what I would say. I went for it. I knew exactly where he would be at this time in the morning and walked to his room on the first floor.

Kathryn came to the door when I knocked and was surprised to see me. “Oh, Adele! Good morning. I wasn’t expecting to see you.”

“I know. Sorry about that. Is Izin available? I need to speak with him.”

“He’s just finishing up in the bathhouse. You can wait inside if you’d like. I was just going to the dining hall.”

“Thanks.”

Kathryn smiled and nodded as she passed and I entered the room, closing the door. I walked in farther and paced around, waiting. I was in this room again. It didn’t frighten me as much as it used to since I found out the things that happened in here was all a dream but I still felt like I shouldn’t have been in here like this.

Movement came from the bathhouse and Izin walked out, buttoning up his shirt. “Adele, what are you doing in here?”

“Sorry if this is intruding. Kathryn said I could wait in here for you.”

“It’s quite all right. What do you need? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I was just speaking with Jaylyn and we were thinking about taking a brief trip outside the walls.”

“Yes. You know you can go outside of the palace walls with an escort.”

“I know that but we were kind of talking about the city walls.”

That caught his attention like I didn’t want and he immediately stopped what he was doing. “No. Absolutely not.”

“Izin, please. It’s been weeks and we want to—”

“Adele, no. You already know that it’s not a good time for you. You may be months away from giving birth but that doesn’t mean you can be reckless about your time so no.”

“Maybe I wasn’t asking you.”

Izin’s eyes narrowed and he looked me over, trying to figure out my angle because I have yet to tell him. “And where do you plan on going?”

“South.”

“Ah, I see. You plan to disrupt Zayden’s work?”

“Not disrupt. We just want to see them.”

“He’s days away and even if I allowed you to go, you know you couldn’t spend your nights outside in the dirt no matter how civilized you can make it seem. You need proper care and things you can’t get out there.”

“Okay but we know exactly where they are and can get there by tonight where there will be services to care for us in the way we need.”

“Wait. How will you get there by tonight? There’s no way they’re that close.”

I hesitated but knew he should understand. “Well, I—ah—I have Zayden’s gifts.”

Izin’s eyes immediately shot down to my stomach. “Because of the baby?”

“Yes. It will work. I just want to be with him tonight. I promise I won’t distract him. We’ll be back by tomorrow evening and he’ll finish on schedule.”

“Adele, listen to me. I know how much you miss him but you really shouldn’t be going anywhere. I’m telling you this for my own concern. You don’t know what a trip like that would do to you. I’ve been on them with Zayden and he’s always worn out by the end. You can’t have that right now. Stay. You only have weeks left before he’s home.”

I knew he was going to say no but hearing it like that saddened me. “But I need him.”

“And he’ll come home to you soon. I promise that. You know it would be better for you to stay. Think about that. Think of Seth.”

I knew he was right but it’s been so long since I really gotten to see him and all I could seem to think about was him being surrounded by all those other women. “But what if he forgot about me?”

Izin smiled and started taking steps closer to me. “Adele, you should know better. He left his country to be with you. That says something. He would never forget about you. What would make you think that?”

“Jaylyn showed me and—”

“I understand. All the women?”

“Maybe.”

“You have nothing to worry about but just because he’s now married doesn’t mean that all the attention will go away. He’ll always have that and you have to know that he chose you. That won’t change. I know him. He won’t risk what he has with you for the lot of those women. Trust me and don’t risk your health by going to see him. You could very well become a distraction if he sees you and he’ll want to come home with you. That would be pointless now. They’re almost finished and will be home soon. Count on it.”

I slowly nodded my head. “Okay. You’re right. It probably wouldn’t have been a good idea. I guess it just worried me.”

“You shouldn’t let it. He’ll be home sooner than you know it and you can see him then.”

“Okay.” I started moving slowly towards the door. “I’ll just go and tell her that we’re not going.”

“You do that and explain good reasons why.”

“I will. Thank you for your time.”

“Of course, Adele. Any time.”

I slowly walked down the hall and knew it was better this way. Our time was almost up and I would see Zayden soon. Now all I had to do was convince Jaylyn of the same thing.

I walked out into the main hall and saw her at the top of the stairs with a few bags. “Wait.”

She stopped before taking one step down and saw me walking a little faster. “What is it? Did you talk to Izin?”

“Unpack. We’re not going.”

“But I thought—”

“I know but Izin made me see that it would be wrong to go for the reason we want. We should know nothing will happen and if we went, we’d become the distraction. It’s best if we just stay here and wait out the rest of the time. It shouldn’t be that long.”

Jaylyn sighed. “If that’s what you want. I was a little worried about what that run would have done to you.”

“So was he. It’s a good idea to stay. There’s only weeks left and they’ll be home. We’ll get to see them then.”

“Okay. I see that and what would we have said to Darius if we showed up without Ruby?”

“Yeah. I don’t want to be the one that would have to explain that.”

“I guess we can go put this stuff back. The last thing I would want to do is be a distraction to Troy again.”

“The wait won’t seem so long if we keep ourselves busy.”

Jaylyn nodded and we walked down the hall to return the stuff to our rooms.

Waiting out the time was best and we’d do it. Our time to reunite with our husbands was approaching and we tried everything to keep our minds off it for the next couple weeks.