Rule (Roam Series, Book Five) (29 page)

Before I could shoot to my feet, my mother pulled away and turned to look at my father through the darkness. “
No
. I won’t let you do that to her. You train her to protect herself, you encourage her to be strong, and tonight I watched her fight away her tears over and over-
for you.
She admires you, she
trusts
you, and you can’t stand that you have to share that with Will.”

“He’s Troy’s son, Roam!
She deserves better than that!
” He stood, and his growling words sent my mom to her feet.

“Eva.” I jumped at Will’s voice behind me, and my parents both turned to the stairs in unison. Will raised one eyebrow, otherwise completely stoic. “Respect your parent’s privacy.”

“Will,” my mom started to the stairs, but Will stared at my dad.

“Goodnight, Roam. West,” Will’s even voice turned to my father, and I stood, accepting my husband’s outstretched hand. “There were words left unsaid the last time we parted ways. I will speak them now.”

“Don’t bother,” I mumbled, but he only tightened his grip on my hand.

“I love your daughter. I love her for everything that she is, not for what she has been born to do. It is my wish to keep her safe and protected.”

“Then you’ll agree she should stay here?”

“I agree.” I opened my mouth, but Will held his finger up to stop me. “However, Eva is not
just a girl. She is an
irrepressible flame
.  It is time for you- for all of us- to trust her. The love that you bear for her, as a father, cannot be compared to the love that I feel for her, as her husband. Tell me this,” he nodded towards my mother. “When you went into the castle to save your wife, could anything have stopped you?”

My father immediately looked at me, and Will pulled me tighter to his side.

“She stopped you- at first. Ultimately, you took her through. Even knowing her life may be in danger… because of your love for Roam.”

“West, don’t.” My mother wrapped her fingers around his forearm gently as my father took a heated step forward.

“Try to understand, then, that I’ve fallen in love with Eva. And nothing will stop me from protecting her… from the sun, from my sister… and from my father.”

My
own father’s eyes found mine.

I silently pleaded.

Finally, he looked down at the floor. “Get some rest, Eva. I love you.”

I exhaled slowly, turning to press a kiss to Will’s arm. “I love you too.”

The moment I closed my bedroom door, Will turned me into his arms, capturing my lips in his. I followed him to the bed, speaking between kisses. “Thank you… for what you said, Will…,”

“Listen to me, love,” he pulled away, trying to calm his rapid breaths. “Listen. No matter what happens, you must live. Do you understand?”

“That’s usually my goal,” I grinned, dropping kisses over his jaw. He captured my face in his hands, gently lifting my face to his.

“
Live, Eva.
”

His voice broke, strained beneath the weight of his unspoken words. I dove into his watery eyes, surrounding myself with his liquid gaze.

I raised my hand in the air, but he caught my fingers in his.

“
My turn.
”

He moved to my record player and unsheathed the album on top, setting the needle to the spinning vinyl.

So, so softly,
Stand By Me
began, filling the bedroom, and sparkling white raindrops poured over us through shards of silver moonlight.

“
If the sky that we look upon… should tumble and fall,
” he sang quietly in my ear, and I gripped his shoulders as he gathered me into his arms and carried me to my bed.

We made love as the enchanted rain doused
every uncontrollable flame that I cast. When I curled in his arms and listened to him sleep, I focused on his heartbeat in my ear.

Live.

The following morning, before the sun was up, I left Will asleep in my bed and followed the voices out to the balcony. When I opened the sliding glass door, I nearly tripped trying to run to my sister.

“Carol and Robert have
Wynn and Rose. I couldn’t stay... When Logan said he was going over,
I couldn’t stay.
” I sensed the guilt in her voice, and I pulled away from her arms, nodding comfortingly.

“
They will understand, Vi.”

“You’ve both been there. I haven’t. What are we facing here?” Chris continued to carefully load bullets into a magazine, glancing out at the ocean. “Dad said they are
all kinds of medieval, but only
you
have magical powers.” He raised his eyes to me.

“That’s not entirely true. There are… creatures… that Troy collected from this world, and when he found that he couldn’t control them, he locked them up. The dungeons are multiple levels deep, like a labyrinth. I don’t know if Meredith has released them.”

“And this bitch wants you to open a portal to the past?” Violet demanded.

I shrugged. “I guess so. But I really don’t know what I’m doing. Grandfather taught me some magic, and I’m learning, but I don’t know as much as he does. There is a feather… that I need to find. It heals injury, and I think I can use it on others if I try.”

“Oh, because you’re not immortal over there.” Chris sat back, nodding.

I shifted my eyes to his. “Because I’m not immortal… anywhere. I was destined to give Grandfather my immortality. And I did… when Will and I went to medieval England.”

“What the-…,”

“You can’t tell Mom or Dad. You can’t.” I glared at both of them.

“Listen.” Chris stood, blocking the rising sun, and I looked up at him. “Both of you. I don’t intend to come back from this other world. Once we shut this hag down, I’m staying, Eva.”

I reached for his arms, meeting his determined gaze. “I know, Chris.”

He opened his mouth, prepared for a rebuttal, and then stilled at my silence. “You know?”

West’s son will reign.

I nodded, looking down at my bare feet. “I agree.”

Logan appeared at the sliding glass door, and Violet turned to him, waiting.

“God
damnit
, Vi-…,”

“I know. I don’t want to hear it. Just shut up and kiss me.”

Without a word, he tugged her into his arms.

I sat back, watching the way Logan’s fingers gathered Violet’s hair, and the way her biceps tensed with the force of her grip on his shoulders. I thought of my parents.

They are willing to give their lives for us… for their children.

I closed my eyes, sending a warm breeze up the stairs to my bedroom.
Let him sleep…

Let them all sleep.

“You must have been awake all night. Come on, let’s lie down for a little while and get some rest,” Logan led them back into the house, and I watched Christopher yawn, digging at his eyes with irritation.

“Fuck I’m tired. I need some caffeine-…,”

“Just go back to sleep, Chris,” I coaxed, gentling my voice to a soothing hum. “Everyone is still sleeping. We have plenty of time.”

He nodded without another word, and I watched as he barely made it to the couch before dropping.

I moved through the house, listening to the tranquil breathing. In my bedroom, Will slept soundly, unmoving as I slipped into jeans and a tee-shirt. Securing my hair into a messy arrangement of curls, I reached for the Beretta on the nightstand.

Standing over Will, I reached for his cheek, dragging the backs of my fingers over his rugged jaw.

Can I be apart from him, knowing that I may never see him again? Never knowing whether he lives or dies?

No liabilities.
             

You will mourn…

The Romani woman’s words haunted me. I’d never mourned for someone that I loved, and I refused to lose Will. If I crossed, there was no way for them to follow me.

And if I failed?
I thought of Icepond, the throne occupied by Meredith…

Or worse.

I cannot fail.

Lowering to the bed, I pressed a kiss to Will’s lips
, lingering longer as I memorized the feeling in my heart. “I love you. I’ll come back for you,” I whispered, swallowing the enormous lump in my throat.

He sighed, his eyelids moving slightly.

I hurried to the shore, thinking about the sirens.
Could I fight them if they attacked? Will Eric still be waiting?

The first step into the freezing water sent me backwards.
Maybe if I can try to fall asleep and dream about the portal…

“I really gave you the benefit of the doubt. I did not believe
you would make it all the way to the water.”

Whirling around, I stared at Will.

He tucked his hands into his pockets, and I pinched my bottom lip with my teeth. “How are you awake?”

“You must truly want me with you, Eva. Your enchantment did not work for me.”

“I
do
want you with me, but I won’t let you go.”

He moved closer, his face inches from mine. “Then at least protect yourself.” He pulled his right hand from his pocket,
lacing his fingers through mine. “Take it.”

“Take what?”

His grip tightened on my hands. “Take my immortality.”

“No, Will.”

His soothing voice, always so in control, sounded over the crashing shore. “You are powerful, and I know that I cannot stop you. I also know that, if you go alone, I may never hold you again. Please do this for me. Take it.
Give me hope that you will come back to me.
”

Staring
at his handsome face, the burning in the corners of my eyes overtook all of my senses.

I
broke. The dam of tears that I’d managed to hold back for so long washed away, and I dropped my hands to my sides, defeated.

He
held me as I cried, lowering me to the sand to sit in his arms. All of my enchantments fell away; I felt my power over my family weaken as they woke, one by one.

It was my father who knelt next to me on the sand, exchanging glances with Will. I knew he’d never seen me bawl like this, and I was probably scaring the hell out of him. “
Daddy… please stay,
” I begged, fighting through quickened, sobbing breaths.

“
Eva… I have waited for you for seven hundred years. I won’t leave you now.”

“This isn’t your responsibility,
Dad, it’s mine. That’s what the prophecy says.”

He traced my ear, tucking my hair back. “
I do not shrink from this responsibility. I welcome it.”

My father’s words, the words of John F. Kennedy, took be back over the ye
ars. Through every trial, no matter how small, he would remind me of the true meaning of bravery. In training me to fight, he often quoted Victor Hugo.

“Courage is not the…
absence of fear… but the mastery of it,” I added, my words shaking as I struggled for control.

He smiled at me as I sat in Will’s arms, nodding. “And… my favorite one for you, babe… it’s all been done,” he hushed, and I knew he was quoting the Barenaked Ladies song. “It’s all been done, Eva. We’
ll be okay… or we won’t.
But it’s all been done.
”

I
thought about that, nodding, reaching for him. He held me, and I let him rock me in his arms as he used to, soothing me with soft whispers.

My world had tilted, but only for a moment.

Clearheaded, stronger, I kissed his cheek before moving back to Will. “We have to go in… to the ocean, and swim down when I open the light. It’ll be cold, and I don’t know how far we have to go,” I added.

“You know I have no problem with holding my breath.”

I lifted my face at my mother’s voice. She held her arms out, and I moved into them, gripping her to me with all of my strength.

As Logan, Violet, and Christopher joined us, Will explained the sirens. Logan frowned. “So, mermaids
aren’t
a bunch of half-naked hotties?”

Violet elbowed him, and he kissed her sweetly.

“Not these ones,” I cringed at the memory of the creature’s black, twisted eyes. “Eric will be waiting to help us. Just stay together.” I held my hand out, and Will slipped his fingers through mine.

I kept the gun at my side, and I knew each of them had their own weapons of choice, even knowing we’d be disarmed in the castle.

How strange we must have looked, wading into the water together until we were waist-deep. I turned to Will one more time, for reassurance, and he lifted my wet hand to his lips.

“I love you,
little one,” he reminded me, and I gave him a courageous smile before taking a deep breath.