New Roots (Fate's Intent Book 8) (20 page)

Chapter 43

Darius

I should have known.

“Well, that’s my cue.” Trever said, getting up. “Remember, don’t worry about a thing.”

“I won’t.” Ruby smiled. “Bye.”

Trever nodded and turned for the door.

I still had my eyes on him and spoke quietly as his steps got closer. “What are you doing?”

“Be gentle. She was just a little frightened.”

He walked right out the door and I didn’t get the chance to respond. My head quickly turned towards the bed and my feet carried me to it. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I am now. What happened?”

“We won’t be seeing her again. You won’t have to worry about that.”

“But what? I feel something else coming.”

I sighed and sat next to her with my eyes down on my son. “But—father thinks it’s best that Dirk stay a distance from the public for long periods of time, at least for a while until he can control it. We all understand that it could take years.”

“Oh, you made it sound bad. I never wanted to bring him in the first place and it will help that we live out in the middle of nowhere.”

I paused again and she saw it.

“What?”

“About that, we’ll be staying here until Jaylyn and Adele have their sons.”

“What?! You’re kidding. We can’t go home?”

“Father wants to know the second it happens. It only makes sense that they’d have to be here and he wants them to be born of Seni.”

Ruby sighed and rested her head back. “Great. Darius, I don’t want this life for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Growing up here, among all the judgment. I don’t want him to be ashamed of who he is.”

“He won’t be. He’ll grow the way you want back home. We’re only staying until the other two are born then I’m sure they want to get back home too.”

“Okay. I’ll deal with it, I guess. He won’t ever know that he lived here the first months of his life.”

“Not unless we tell him.”

“Okay but I hope you like spending a lot of time in this room.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m rarely going to leave it and no maids allowed.”

“Who’s going to clean up after us?”

Ruby smiled and hit my arm. “Relax. I can do that. How much of a mess do you plan on making anyway?”

I laughed and kissed her head. “I was kidding. We’ll do things however you want.”

“Thank you. Now, I think I want him to finish so I can get some sleep. I don’t know when he’ll be up again.”

“Then we’ll do that. I could use some more sleep myself.”

“What is everyone else doing?”

“I’m sure they’ll be up shortly. Things were just getting wrapped up downstairs.”

A steady knock was heard on the door.

“Don’t worry.” Ruby said. “It shouldn’t be Trever. Can you get it?”

“Sure.” I got up and answered the door, surprised to see Izin standing on the other side. “Father?”

“Darius, is Ruby available?”

“Ah, yeah, come in.”

I held the door open for him and Izin walked in. “Thank you.”

“She’s right over there. Dirk’s eating.”

“Then I’ll make this brief.” I nodded and walked with him over to the bed. “Ruby?”

“Yes? Oh, hi.”

“Forgive me for disturbing you but I wanted to formally apologize for what happened.”

“Oh, it’s okay. You don’t have to. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes but it is I who wanted to celebrate him this way and I proceeded without thinking how special he truly is and for that, I am sorry.”

“Well, thank you and I heard about your decision about what to do and I accept it.”

“I do hope that you don’t feel as if we’re trying to cast him aside by any means.”

“Of course not. I don’t feel that way at all. I completely agree. That’s why it’ll be better for us when we can get back home.”

“Yes, I understand that though it saddens me to talk about it this early. We’re going to miss you terribly around here when the time comes.”

Ruby smiled. “We’ll be sure to visit as often as we can. We want you to be a part of his life.”

“Glad to hear it. I’ll go now. I just wanted to make sure you were okay and know that he’s completely safe here.”

“I do and thank you.”

“Have a good night and we’re looking forward to seeing all of you in the morning.”

Ruby smiled with a nod and Izin turned back towards the door.

“Goodnight, father.”

“Not yet. I think someone else is eager to come in.”

“Jaylyn.” Ruby muttered.

Izin opened the door and Jaylyn was standing there with a big smile and Adele by her side.

“What an unexpected surprise.” Izin smiled. “They’re right in there and she’s fine.”

“Thanks.” They chorused.

They let Izin pass before entering.

“Hey.” Adele said. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“I guess I better start getting used to it sometime.” Ruby smiled.

Jaylyn laughed. “You mean, you’re not already?”

“Funny.”

“All right.” I cut in. “Let’s behave. My son is present.”

“Awe.” Adele smiled. “Listen to you. Haven’t been a father a whole day and you’re already laying down the rules.”

“Well, follow them. It’s important that children have a solid structure.”

Adele raised her eyebrows at me like she was impressed and looked at Ruby.

Ruby smiled. “Like I said, better start getting used to it.”

“I guess we’ll have to.”

“I thought I might find you here.” Zayden appeared standing in the room next with Rift chasing in after.

“And what made you think that?” Adele smiled.

“Good guess but I hope you don’t plan on staying in here all night.”

“Me too.” Ruby agreed.

Jaylyn laughed. “We’re not. We just wanted to see him one more time. People have been holding him all night. Not us.”

“Well, it looks like he’s busy.” Zayden said, taking notice to Dirk still feeding. “It can wait till morning. You’ll have all day. No one else will be here.”

Adele sighed and started to turn away. “All right. I guess this is a quick goodnight instead.”

“That’s okay.” Ruby said. “We should all be getting some sleep. He’s starting to right now then I need to right after him.”

“Okay.” Jaylyn nodded. “But I want to hold him the most tomorrow.”

Ruby tried putting a smile on her face. “As long as you just leave now.”

“Oh, but he’s so cute!”

“Come on, Jaylyn.” Adele said, pulling her with them towards the door. “Let them get some sleep. Troy is probably looking for you so you can get some. We all know how early you’re going to get up.”

“Yes and please don’t come in here.” I said. “On the off chance that we’re still sleeping, Ruby shouldn’t be disturbed. We’ll come to you.”

Jaylyn let out a long sigh and turned away. “Okay. Goodnight.”

They finally left and it was our turn to sleep.

Chapter 44

Adele

We walked out the door and Zayden laughed to seeing Jaylyn’s saddened behavior. “It’s all right, Jaylyn. They need time to be together as a family.”

“I know that. I just—love babies.”

“I’ve noticed. Just go get some sleep. We’re going to do the same thing. Morning will come faster that way.”

Jaylyn nodded and parted from us to walk down to Troy’s room.

“She’s going to hate this wait.” I muttered, watching how slowly she was walking.

“She’ll be okay. Now come on, let’s get to bed.”

I turned my eyes away from Jaylyn and went with Zayden into our room for the night.

Rift went right to his chair to sleep and Zayden sat himself on the edge of the bed to take his boots off. “It’s been a long day.”

“Tell me about it. I’m at least glad everything turned out okay.”

“Of course it did. We wouldn’t have let anything happen to them.”

“Well, I guess I’m going to take a quick bath. I’ve been moving around too much today.”

“Okay. Should I have someone sent up to draw it for you?”

I laughed and looked back at him. “Have you ever tried, I don’t know, doing that for yourself?”

“I’ve never had to. Father always said that it was never a Prince’s way to have to do anything and nor is it for his pregnant Princess. He never said that. I just added that second part.”

“Well, as sweet as that is, I think I can do it myself this one time. I’m not exactly used to living like you, remember? We had maids at the manor but only because it was so big. Our wing of it was ours to take care of. They never went there unless we asked them to while we were away.”

“But perhaps it’s time you get used to it because you are a Princess now and you deserve it.”

“I have gotten help with things while you were gone but the nursemaids are no longer here. While they’re trying to find someone we can trust to replace them, I can do things myself. I’m not that immobile yet.”

Zayden got off the bed and approached me with a smile. “All right since you’re fighting to be so persistent but at least this time, let me do it for you.”

I smiled to the thought. “You know how?”

He walked passed me and started going into the bathhouse. “Don’t insult me.”

“I wasn’t. I just didn’t think you’ve ever done it for yourself before.”

“I have sometimes. You should know by now that I never fully take my father’s advice. He’s the one that doesn’t do a thing.” He approached the tub and turned both knobs to make it warm and put the plug in the drain.

“Well, thank you. I appreciate it.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Love. I’m happy to. Is there anything in particular you like in it?”

I smiled and walked over to the cabinets, taking out a glass bottle filled with a clear liquid. “This is my favorite.”

Zayden took it in his hand and read the label of the rose scented oil. “So you know, this was not mine.”

I laughed. “I know. They brought it here for me. I requested it. It’s my favorite scent.”

“Good to know. See, we’re still learning stuff about each other.” He poured some of it into the warm water and the scent filled the room. “Well, I guess I’ll let you do the rest yourself. You can shut it off when you think it’s full enough.”

“Thank you but maybe you could—stay?”

“You want me to?”

“Yeah. I’ve missed having you around here. I decided I want to get used to it again.”

“Okay. Go ahead and get in. I’ll stay.”

I smiled and turned from him shyly. I began to get out of my clothes and I tried not to make it seem like a big deal but I still felt flushed because I knew he was watching though he never came over to me.

Once I was completely undressed and I turned towards the tub, seeing Zayden’s still stare. “Are you sure you’re okay with staying?”

“You know I am and you look beautiful just like I said you would.” I smiled and carefully lifted me leg to step in the tub. Zayden quickly came to me and took my arm for some stability. “Careful.”

“You don’t have to worry about me, Zayden.”

“Of course I do. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

I lowered myself down into the water and rested my head back while taking a relaxing breath.

“Just what you needed?”

“Definitely is.”

Zayden sat himself beside the tub and put his arm around the front of me in the water while resting his head close to mine. “Then take all the time you need.”

“That couldn’t be comfortable for you.”

“I’m okay. I can stay here as long as you want.”

“I don’t want you to stay there. You should—join me.”

“Join you? You really want me to?”

I laughed. “Don’t sound so nervous about it. You don’t have to.”

“No. It’s okay.” He got right up. “If you want me to then I will.”

I just smiled and kept my head rested back with my eyes closed but could hear Zayden getting out of his clothes behind me. The water moved and I opened my eyes, seeing him sit at the other end and bring my legs on his.

“Oh, no.” Zayden sighed.

“What?”

“Now I’m going to smell like a woman.”

I laughed. “It’s not like you’ll be around anyone else. You can change it in the morning. I just want you with me right now.”

Zayden let out a long breath and tried to relax. “Okay. I smell like a woman but it’s okay.”

“You don’t sound very relaxed. Let me help take your mind off it.”

I lifted my right leg and put my foot against his chest. Zayden took it with a smile and gently rubbed his thumbs on the bottom of it in constant long strokes. “Okay. That did it. Now I’m thinking about how weird feet are.”

I huffed and pulled my foot away.

“No, not yours!” He laughed, reaching for my foot and taking it so I couldn’t pull it back. “I meant feet in general. I’m not really a foot guy.”

“No? What kind of guy are you?”

“We’ve been married how long and you’re asking me what kind of a guy I am?”

“Still learning about each other, remember?”

“All right. Looking for traits in a woman, I like—”

“Wait. Let me guess. Breasts?”

“Of course I like breasts but I wouldn’t call myself a breast guy. If I were, I would have been with Jaylyn.”

“Oh, so you’ve noticed?” I crossed my arms over my own chest to hide them.

“How can one not notice? Don’t get jealous. I love your breasts the most because those are the ones I can touch.”

“Unless Ruby asks you to again.”

“Now that was only to make Darius pissed because she wasn’t letting him touch her. It was for fun not my benefit.”

“Okay, then you must be an ass guy?”

“What did I do to make you think that I’m the dirty one? Troy likes curls, Darius likes Ruby’s legs and you assume that I have to be the one to fixate over something sexual?”

“Well, it’s a guy trait. One out of three seems like an accurate statistic.”

“Then it must be wrong, not that you don’t have a nice one of those too but I would say I’d favor the eyes the most. It’s what I look at when engaging in conversation like right now.”

“Says the guy with the best eyes. No one can compare to you.”

He smiled charmingly. “I know but I don’t see my own eyes that much. I’d rather take hours of the day to stare into yours.”

“Think you’ll be able to see into my soul? Well, you can’t. It’s a dark place. Visibility would be poor.”

“What makes you think your soul is dark?”

“I’ve spent most of my life doing Arianna’s dirty work, killing people that probably didn’t do anything to deserve it. It was wrong. I was wrong.”

“It was your job. You didn’t have much of a choice. You’ve redeemed yourself through me.”

“You mean by not killing you?”

“And going all the way to create peace then married me. Your soul is not dark. It’s bright like my eyes because I’m all you think about.”

I smiled and rested my hand on my stomach under the water. “You’re not all I think of. Not anymore.”

Zayden smiled back and leaned forward, touching my hand with his. “I know and it’s okay. He’s a good reason.” I sat up with my smile and moved myself over Zayden so he could take me in his arms. “Over the awkwardness of being touched?”

“Now I’m feeling like I want to be.”

Zayden smiled and we kissed again. It was lucky that this tub was so big or else we wouldn’t have been able to fit this way. I proved that I wanted to be touched again by straddling him and bringing my hand towards him under the water. He moaned instantly and to my surprise, he was ready to have me. It just made everything perfect.

Zayden was finally home and the love we made proved how strong our bond really was. He knew just what I wanted and was even more amazing while performing it. I didn’t realize how much I missed this until it was happening and felt as though I never wanted it to end.