Sapphires and Desires (The Gem Fairy Series Book 1) (14 page)

The Brownie finally enters the room, her eyes wide with shock.

“What is it?” Lenaya asks immediately.

“King Blahyne Shafkov of the dark fae is here, my lady.” The petite woman announces quietly. Dark fae?

“Is that the same as the Emerald Court?” I whisper against Damon’s wishes.

“No. The dark fae are a Kingdom of fae rebels who wish not to follow the rules. Many years ago there were five Courts, not four. The fifth was called the Opal Court. Full of misfits and exiles it had no ruler. Then Prince Blahyne of the Sapphire Court rebelled against Damon’s orders and was exiled to Opal. He very quickly worked his way up to become the leader as he was the first prince to ever be exiled in history. He was powerful and easily became king of the Opal Court which from there only seemed to cause mischief. I’d say he’s almost as merciless as your uncle Jadorn.” She explains. “It was a shock to the whole fae world because he was King Damon’s right hand man as well as his closest friend.”

“What did he do to disobey orders?” I ask wondering what could be so bad.

“He seduced King Damon’s wife. Then took her with him to the Opal Court.” She answers eyeing me.

“Me?!” I exclaim quietly.

“Who else? You stayed with him for an entire year and then he erased all memories of himself from your mind and then you returned to Damon in a daze and not remembering anything. I can only guess that he was trying to get information from you. Whether or not he got it, is beyond me or yourself obviously.” Lenaya tells.

“So I willingly left Damon for this Blahyne?” I ask confused. I was under the impression that I was freakishly head over heels in love with Damon.

“Yes as far as I know, I was there when you left with him. But do not tell Damon that I told you any of this, young girl. He will not be happy with me. He will not like you having a sliver of doubt about your relationship.” She says quietly. “Quite a fight is breaking out outside. I wonder what he wants.” She murmurs opening the blinds and shaking her head at them.

“The King has come alone, how strange.” The Brownie mutters to herself.

As the two of them are gawking out the blinds at the two boys I decide to go out there myself. I mean if this King Blahyne was going to kill me don’t you think he would’ve while I was in his Kingdom for a year? Maybe I’m just an idiot, I don’t know. The girls are too busy with snooping that they don’t even hear me slip away, if they did, I’m sure they would’ve stopped me.

I open the front door and slip out. I meet the deep brown eyes of Blahyne and my gut drops. His hair is even darker than his eyes and blows lightly in the slight wind. When I come out of the house he stares at me and smiles appreciatively. Wait, I’m supposed to be dead…maybe coming outside wasn’t such a good idea. Duh, Laytah, you idiot.

I never thought that it was possible for someone to be as gorgeous as Damon but I think Damon met his match in the field.

“Queen,” he says softly with a slight bow.

“Princess. She doesn’t remember being married to me.” Damon corrects and turns, his back no longer facing me and scowls at me. “Get back into the house.” He demands.

“No.” I says sternly.

“Ah…She hasn’t her memories does she? Now you know how it feels for someone to be in love with you but not remember. Or wait, was she ever in love with you?” The black-haired man mocks rudely.

“She doesn’t even know who you are. She’s not just going to walk away from me and walk into the forest with a stranger.” Damon says through clenched teeth.

“Oh, Damon…” He laughs.

Damon’s sword is quickly drawn and Blahyne follows his lead removing his as well.

“Touch her and die.” Damon scowls.

“Laytah dear, I brought this for you.” Blahyne says softly and throws me a small velvet bag. I catch it instinctively.

“Don’t open it!” Damon cries furiously. “It could be poisoned.”

“It’s not. You have my word,
princess
.” He promises.

I debate whether or not I should open it. If Lenaya hadn’t told me that I’d possibly once loved this Blahyne, there’s no way that I’d have opened it, but she did. Desperate for answers about my old life and curious as to what could possibly be in this bag, I slide the object from the pouch. It’s a…Opal? I stare at it blankly. He’s brought me a gift? Then my head explodes with pain and I crumple to the ground clutching it. The pain fills my vision and I’m suddenly no longer in Lenaya’s front yard. I am in a room with…Blahyne? He’s cooking me…eggs? The smell is overwhelming, I’m starving. But that doesn’t make sense because I just ate, didn’t I? It takes me a minute to realize that this a memory. I am inside of a memory. The man soon sets a plate on the table in front of me and kisses my cheek softly.

“I didn’t know you could cook.” I state with a genuine smile.

He smirks. “I have servants to cook for the Kingdom. I do not cook often.” He’s silent as he traces the lines of my free palm with his finger. “The arrangements are all finally made. Our wedding is tomorrow at dawn.”

A wicked smile takes over my face and I lean in and kiss him on the lips.

“Excited?” He asks and brings my hand to his lips to lay a kiss on it.

“Of course. Trudee, the one who will marry us tomorrow, is coming this afternoon to end my marriage with King Damon. Then we will be free to move forward tomorrow.” I say excitedly and I
feel
the love I have for him. I’m nearly knocked over by it.

He grins. “I’m happy to hear that.”

The memory then disappears and I find myself standing at the end of a wedding isle with Blahyne across from me. We marry.

Then this memory fades as well and I stand in front of a small pond in my wedding dress staring into it at myself. A short man walks up behind me and grabs my hand murmuring something that I don’t understand. And then, I’m no longer in a dress but in a light night gown and I’m running for my life towards the Sapphire Kingdom. Not from the small man, but from my captor. I don’t remember how I ended up in the Opal Court. I run for my life.

Suddenly, I’m back in the yard belonging to Lenaya, clutching my head and screaming. Damon stares at me, eyes wide. Blahyne stares at me, his eyes filled with what I now recognize as…
love
? Is it possible that both of these men love me?

I’ve
seen
the love Damon has for me in his stares, haven’t I? And I’ve now seen the love that Blahyne holds for me too in his own stares. That is, if you can
see
love. I’ve never been in love, at least not in this life so can I possibly
know
that either of these men love me just from a mere
look
each has given me? No. I am not that naive. Believing that would make me a fool. Just because they’ve said they me, does not mean that either does.

Blahyne quickly masks his expression as Damon turns to him sneering. “What was that?” He demands.

“It’s some of the memories of me that you stole from her.” Blahyne answers grimly. “She now knows that she is no longer married to
you
. The night you sent to have someone take her memories, we wed. She is not married to you no longer, but to me, dear friend.” Blahyne scowls, enraged. “And for all these years, I’ve thought she ran away from me because she second guessed our
love
. Then I found these, and many more I might mention, when I stormed King David Barthelow’s home. You stole them, you and that Emerald King.” He says to Damon skeptic              ally with disgust.

“I never stole a single memory from her mind. She came running back to me in the middle of the night without memory of where she’d been the last
year.
” Damon shouts. “You kidnapped my wife!” He launches into fight with Blahyne.

“Stop!” I cry angrily.

They don’t listen. “I never stole her. You know that! You were there that day that she chose me over you.”

Damon looks back at me for a moment, just long enough for Blahyne to pin him to the ground and throw his sword over his throat.

“Stop!” I cry again.

“I will not kill him, though I should. You would’ve if you’d had the chance back then. When you found out that he’d been helping your uncle kill your family all along.” Blahyne laughs without humor.

I don’t know what to say as shock fills my veins.
What?
Could that be true? No. Not Damon, the man who’s been nothing but kind to me the last few days. That’s just it though isn’t it? I’ve only know him for mere
days
. How can I possibly trust him as much I feel I should after only knowing him
days
. Come on, Laytah, you idiot, you shouldn’t trust either of these men. For all you know, that Opal was some sort of magical scam full of fake memories. Both of these men could be lying through their teeth.

“Come with me,
my queen
, and I will return the rest of your memories. The memory of this murderer killing your family in cold blood. The memory of you holding them down while Jadorn stabbed them with the sword? I bet it’s not in this necklace you have here in your pocket full of memories you plan on giving her. You know why? Because I found them with all of the memories of me, the memories that you didn’t want her to ever have again, the memories I found in David Barthelow’s house. It was with all the ones you chose not to give her back. To be blatantly bold, you Damon, are a complete
asshole
.” He laughs an angry laugh and pulls the sapphire that Damon had shown me the first day I met him out from his pocket and smashes it against a rock. Then he presses his sword tightly against Damon’s throat making him groan.

“You stole my wife from me before we’d even been married a day!” Blahyne shouts at Damon.

Damon groans. “
You
stole her, my wife, from me.”

“She left you willingly, Damon. You
killed
her family. You even
killed
her multiple times!” Blahyne argues. “You’ve been on this insane power trip for too long. It’s gone too far. Have you not realized as much? The love of your life left you.
I,
your best friend,
hate
you. Everyone besides Jadorn
hates
you. But you don’t care, do you? All you care about is the power.” Blahyne scorns.

I realize that I am faced with a choice. I can stay here with a man I barely know who may have killed my family and who I know I wished not to be married to at some point, thanks to that memory, if it was in fact real. Or I could go with a man I also barely know, the king of the Dark Court which doesn’t sound good, but know that at one point I loved enough to marry, if those memories were real. But then again, I at some point married Damon too. Why had Lenaya told me that I’d once left willing with Blahyne but implied that he used me to get information? She said I’d been
seduced
not that I’d fallen in love. It’s a decision that I can’t make. I wish that there was a third option. To go home and forget the last week or so. But there’s not. Does Lenaya know if Damon killed my parents? Could I ask her that? Whose side is she on? Does she have a side? Damon said that she’s god mother does that mean I can trust her? What if he was lying? What if everything he told me was a lie?

“What happened after I returned to the Sapphire Court?” I ask the fighting men.

“You went back to the Ruby Court to visit your parents and let them know that you were okay. That night Jadorn attacked, killing the rest of your family except you and your parents. You fled to the human world where you stayed from then on. Jadorn would find you, kill you, find you, and kill you. Then finally he killed your parents so you could not be reborn again.” Damon explains through another groan.

“You forget to mention that you helped kill her family that night in the Ruby Court
and then
helped her flee.” Blahyne murmurs still on top of Damon.

“Why would he help me? Why not kill me too?” I ask finding a hole in the story.

“Because, he needed you to one day kill Jadorn so
he
could be king of both the Sapphire and Ruby Courts, where he’d then use that power to join with the Emerald and Diamond Courts so he could take over all four. Maybe he’d even go as far as to take over mine as well.” Blahyne grunts while pressing the sword into Damon’s throat. “Your parents hid you from both of them well once they found out but Jadorn always managed to kill you but not your parents because Damon would hide them so that you could be reborn and he could use you. Jadorn is not very bright, he is likely not aware of Damon’s plans. If he were, I assume he would’ve sent an army to kill him long ago. When Damon finally couldn’t protect your parents anymore without it becoming suspicious and they died, he settled on saving you for the last time. He kidnapped you the night before Jadorn said he was coming for your family again and he and David Barthelow warded you from Jadorn.”

“But why would Damon wait so long to do that? Why not do that from the beginning and have me kill Jadorn years ago?” I ask confused.

“Because he was buying time. He and Barthelow were conspiring to find a way to kill you afterwards.” Blahyne says grimly. “If you were dead, who would there be to kill Jadorn?”