The Gold Crown (Golden Crown #3) (16 page)

Zoey sat down as Cas turned and looked at her, he seemed to not know her at first but then he tilted his head as she tried to grin at him.

“Cas, I need your help,” she said as she touched her stomach and he took a step towards her. “I am pregnant. August is the father and he is cheating on me.”

“What?” He said as his voice sounded broken.

“He is fucking my cousin, Jami.”

Cas blinked a few times as the drugs continued to wake him up.

“Where am I?” he said as he took a step and stumbled a little bit. Zoey stood up and grabbed his arm as he stared at her.

“Zane?” he said as the light played tricks on him and made Zoey appear to be Zane. Cas touched her face and the tears welled up in his eyes.

“I am Zoey, Zane is dead….” She paused and then decided to warp his mind the best that she could. “August killed him, he killed Zane. He is trying to kill me Cas, I need your help,” she said as Cas started to double over and the sobbing uncontrollably. Zoey held him up the best that she could as he nearly collapsed from the weight of his loss. “I need you to protect us Cas, August is insane. He is trying to kill me and your Mother.”

“What? My Mother?” Cas said as something splintered in his mind.

“Yes, he is trying to kill her and me.”

“I don’t, what are you saying.”

“I am saying we have to leave here, I need your help. I need you to come with me.”

Cas nodded as Zoey pulled him towards the door. She then stopped and stared at his clothing.

“You look insane.”

He stared at her and she sighed as she opened the door up and peeked out into the hallway.

“Zane?” Cas said again and Zoey nodded. “Yes, I am here.” She said as she decided to play along to get him out of the room. She pulled him out and they started to walk down the hallway. She heard the door open on the end and she pulled him back with her into a linen closet and they stood there in the darkness as she felt his hand on her face.

“I have missed you so much Zane, so very much.” He leaned in and kissed her lips as she struggled at first and then allowed him to give this to her. She needed the passion he was willing to give.

Their lips finally parted and she opened the door to peek out and saw no one. She then pulled him along with her until they reached the end and she pushed the door open as they ran down the stairs.

****

I sat at the table and smiled at my food. It was the first time I was going to enjoy a meal in this dining room and I was happy. The kind of happy that makes you smile and act foolish. I looked up at Mani who sat across the table from me and tapped my glass. He lowered his fork and watched me as I smiled at him.

“I thought you were toasting.”

“Oh no, I was just enjoying the meal.” I said as he grinned and took another bite of his steak.

“This food is amazing.” He said to me and I laughed.

“You know what? It actually is.”

He smiled at me and took a drink not understanding the joke but that was fine. He then started to stand as he took his wine glass and lifted it up.

“I want to make a toast.”

“Yes?” I asked him and he grinned like a man who had won the lottery.

“To the most beautiful…”

“Beth!” I stood up as I heard Ryan scream in the entryway and I ran to the doors and pulled them open as I stepped out and looked for him.

I then spotted him as he leaned on the large table in the center of the entry where statues commonly stood, but after my Father’s death I had the roman guard taken out into the garden. Ryan looked to be a mess. I assumed he was drunk and I crossed my arms on my chest and stared him down.

“What?” I asked him as Mani ran out behind me and Ryan pushed himself up straight and smiled.

“Oh, am I interrupting you?” he asked and Mani stopped and rubbed his neck.

“I meant nothing by it, I mean I know you are leaving.”

“Am I?” Ryan said as he stumbled forward and had to hold onto the table yet again.

“You are an embarrassment.”

“You didn’t say that when you were fucking me last night.”

I stopped and closed my eyes and then I glanced at Mani who sighed and walked to get his coat.

“Mani,” I said as he put it on and then he stopped and stared at me.

“Beth, I love you. I will always love you but I can’t so this fucked up shit with you. If you love him then love him.”

“I…” I tried to say as he walked to the door and left us alone in the entryway. I then placed my hand to my forehead and shook it back and forth very slowly as Ryan watched me.

“Are you insane?” I asked him as I dropped it and stared him down.

“I would have to fucking say yes.”

“Ryan, why? Why do you do this to me?”

“I thought you were in danger, Beth.”

“In danger, why?”

“I just, is anyone else here?”

“No, just us. The staff has gone home for the night.”

“Well, that sucks because I think I may be dying,” He said as he stumbled forward and fell, hitting the floor so hard it echoed. I cried out and ran to him, rolling him onto his back as a trickle of blood ran from his mouth.

“Ryan? What is wrong with you?”

“Payment was due Beth, I seem to be poisoned.”

“You what?”

“Poison.”

“Oh my god, Ryan,” I said as I looked at him and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with my finger.

“You can’t be, you just can’t.”

“Oh but I am, I am dying Beth. I mean look at it this way. You finally get me out of your life.”

“Ryan,” I whispered as I started to cry. Then I heard a window break and I held him there as he looked up at me.

“She is fucking crazy, be careful. Get the gun in the study.” He said and I narrowed my eyes and wondered who he meant.

“Who?”

“Molly,” he said and I stood up slowly as I knew he may be right, I mean she told me she would take everything from me and had she poisoned Ryan? I could only guess that she had.

I then started to walk very slowly towards the study, I knew where the gun was but I could only hope that it was loaded. I opened the door and then I stepped into a dark room, I felt the fresh air as the door closed behind me. I then sucked in my breath as I saw him standing there by the desk, the gun already in his hand.

“Cas?” I said as I felt a blow to the back of my head and I fell down, seeing feet walking towards me but unable to run.

****

The fire department showed up to 740 Park and checked all flats starting with the top floor and working their way down. They had freed August and Jami. August stood there as Jami watched him very closely.

“I guess saying I am sorry would not work.”

“Shut up,” August said as he rummaged for clothing and got dressed seeing that his clothing was damp.

“I didn’t mean.”

August held his hand up and pointed at him.

“You meant every bit of it,” he said as he walked out and Jami shook his head and let it drop.

August stopped and then looked back at him.

“You know what, you are coming with me. You will explain this shit to her and make it right.”

“You fucked me, there is no “right” going to happen.”

“Oh yes there is.” He said as he walked back to the bed and grabbed Jami, jerking him to his feet, Jami pulled back and out his hands up.

“Fine, listen, it was fucking Molly. She paid me.”

“What?”

“She paid me to come here and do this with you.”

“Oh that is fucking great Jami.”

“I am sorry, I mean at first it was the money and then, well I…”

“Don’t, don’t say it. I wouldn’t believe you anyway. Come on.”

“Where are we going?”

“Home. I need to talk to my parents and then we are fixing this shit, you and me.”

“Coming out?”

August stopped and rolled his eyes as he looked back at him.

“Oh the baby thing.”

“I haven’t told my dad, I want to marry her and move us here.”

“Well, shit.”

“Come on,” August said and out the door they went as he could only hope he could get forgiveness.

Chapter Twenty-One

The Bittermends

I heard a voice before I felt the hand slap across my face. You would think after my upbringing and the way I enjoy to fuck that a slap would not hurt me but this did as my eyes focused and I saw him, as I wished I had not. Cas stood there in normal clothing, his features a bit softer than his brothers but other than my ability to tell them apart he looked like August as he always did. He walked back and forth as he held the gun in his hand. He would stop and walk up to me, tears streaming down his face as he held the gun to my forehead, he clicked it and then sighed as the gun did not go off. I held my breath and the click was followed by my breath releasing. He then held the gun up and walked to Ryan who was tied in the chair next to mine. I looked over as I started to beg him.

“No, no, no, no. Please don’t Cas,” I said as he held it to Ryan’s head and he pulled the trigger, the click sounding just like my own. I released a sigh of relief as he eyed Ryan and leaned down into his face. Ryan looked horrible, he was paler that I had ever seen him before and he coughed as blood came up. His head titled and then Cas grabbed his hair and held it up. I heard low laughter as I looked to right and saw Zoey standing there, her face stained in mascara.

“Zoey, please,” I said as she smiled at me. She ran up and hit me, suddenly rubbing her hand and moving back from me. I looked down and could taste blood in my mouth.

“He told me,” Zoey said and I looked at him as he paced the room. “You killed his mother, who are you?” she asked as she tilted her head.

“You do not know the story, Zoey.”

Cas stopped pacing and looked at me, he walked back and placed the gun to my forehead again.

“No, no Cas,” I said as I stared up at him and he looked weary, like a traveler who needed rest.

“Who are you?” he asked me as he looked as if he may be waking up from a haze.

“She killed your Mother!” Zoey yelled at him as he turned to her and shook his head ‘no’.

“Who are you?” he asked her and she stopped talking and started to step back from him as he lifted the gun.

“Cas, you are not well honey. You are sick. You need your medication,” I said as he held the gun up into Zoey’s face and she started to cry. He then leaned in to stare at her.

“Zane?” he said as she nodded to him and then screamed “liar!” he hit her on the side of the head with the gun. She fell to ground and I started to cry, I could not help it. I was helpless, stuck here in this chair with Ryan dying next to me and Zoey possibly dying on the floor. I then tried to collect myself and I spoke as calmly as I could.

“Cas, do you remember the dragons?” I asked him as I steadied my voice.

He stood there and took slow and steady breaths as I watched him.

“There were four, the four of us. Me, you, your Father and August.”

“August?” Cas said as he turned to look at me.

“Yes your brother, August. Cas, he is your twin, you are twin dragons. We called you that when you were little, I read to you upstairs every night, I read to both of you about the dragons.”

“Where is my mother?” He said to me as he turned and he was crying. I had broken through to something in him, something real and tangible. He then lifted the gun and stared at it.

“She died here, didn’t she?” he asked as he looked around the room. I moved my hands and felt that the binding on my hands was loose and I started to pull on them, trying to get free.

“I mean, I hear her calling out to me. I thought it was just my mind when I up there alone in that room but then she came and spoke to me and told me things I needed to know about this place, about myself and who I am.” He said as he walked to the window and stared out. I pulled on my hands with more force and the binding slid from my wrists, I sighed as I started to reach towards Cas and he looked at me. I stopped moving and he shook his head and sat down at the desk. Running his hands along the top of it and feeling the smooth surface. He then turned in the chair and had the back towards me. Zoey moaned quietly on the floor as she started to wake up and I saw this as an opportunity I needed to try to help us in any way that I could.

“Zane is hurt, Cas.” Cas turned in the chair and looked at me as tears ran down his face.

“I know he is, I know,” he said to me as I glanced at the floor.

“You have to help him.”

He nodded and walked around the desk, he looked down at Zoey and it looked like Zane to him. He leaned down and touched her face and as he did I stood up and attacked him from behind. He screamed as he lifted me up, I tried to grab the gun and he clicked it off two more times as I spun with him and then the gun finally went off. It went through the door and I heard a thud on the other side. I ran to it as Cas stood there and stared at the gun in his hand. I opened the door to see August lying on the floor. His mouth moving but he couldn’t speak. I dropped down and placed my hand on his chest as blood spread up around my fingers and then I looked back at Cas and stood up, full of anger and wanting revenge but not able to take the life of a boy who was my son. A shadow ran from me and I heard the door open but it didn’t matter to me. I then rose up and walked to Ryan and started to untie him, Cas stood there and watched it all as if it was surreal to him and perhaps it was. I called out to Zoey and she fluttered her eyes.

“Get up,” I said as I lowered down and helped her to her feet. She rubbed her head as she walked to the door and then she saw August. She dropped down and started to sob as he held him to her.

“No…no!” she yelled as she looked back at me. I walked to the door and closed it as I turned back to Cas and watched him very closely.

“This ends here, Cas. It ends tonight.”

He tilted his head and lifted the gun as I watched Ryan slip form the chair and hit the floor. His chest rose and fell a couple of times and then he stopped breathing so I looked back at Cas and wiped the tears from my cheeks.

“Do it, Cas,” I said to him as he stared me down and held the gun steady.

I closed my eyes and I could see her for the first time in forever. It was not the vision of my Mother in the tub, pale and desperate. It was of her touching my face and smiling as I was sitting on her lap. It was a time I loved, before I knew what I was, before the Bittermend took me in and ruined me. I opened my eyes and nodded to Cas as he pulled the trigger and everything went to black. He placed the gun to his temple and closed his eyes.