The Timekeeper (30 page)

“This will get easier once everything settles down. You’ve got to make it through the next couple of weeks, get some time off
,
and when you find your way back you’ll be good as new
.
” I frowned
.

“I sure hope your right. I suppose if everything goes in the shitter, I can off myself
,
and go home earlier than planned. Luckily
,
suicide is always an option, thank heavens I used my brain when I negotiated my contract with those assholes. Besides, I don’t give it much longer before they start trying to screw me along with everyone else.”

“Did you hear something I haven’t?” She gave me a quizzical stare.

I snorted, “Yeah, I keep many things to myself. Here’s the deal, in the near future everything falls apart. War comes this way with the intent of tearing both worlds in to pieces
.
The Council will try to backstab me
.
Those crooked monsters have already started plotting
.

“I guess they forgot I can see it coming, and even if I’m not looking, someone keeps track. I’m still working on the particulars, getting everyone in the right places and in the correct situations. Being able to pick up on long range and nothing else lately is starting to piss me off.” This time Echo raised her eyebrows.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were having problems with short term strands?” I shrugged, typically I told her when I had an issue. A voice in the back of my mind told me to keep my mouth shut this time. Something I couldn’t quite put my finger on stopped me
.

“I don’t know. It happens sometimes, not a big deal
,
and it’ll go away in a week or less
.
This is probably stress induced.”

She shook her head, “It didn’t occur to you
,
someone might be blocking you on purpose?” This time I raised an eyebrow. The thought had never occurred to me. As the Timekeeper, the orchestrator of events, I’d never worried about a person with enough power to foul me up
.

“Who would be able to, Echo? My sister’s wouldn’t dare, okay maybe Nicolette, but she’s never been strong enough. My father and Seraphine have better things to do, Zev wouldn’t have a shot in hell of pulling that off. Amelia isn’t powerful due to a lack of effort, my mother doesn’t care and Aural has her hands full and is completely trust worthy. The only people who’d have motive is the Council, and it wouldn’t be in their best interest, nor could they find the means.” Her vacant stare told me everything.

“Is it possible those crazy Angels might have something to do with this? They possess enough power to block you from certain things, the question becomes
,
do they want to?”

They would if they wanted to muck up Aliis enough to bring the Veil down. That was an answer I’d only get from the Daemons, and I certainly didn’t plan on hunting down the insane Angel posse down to ask.

“Anything’s a possibility. I’ll talk to Dad about this when I meet with him. He’s aware of what Angels are capable of. He’s not going to be happy when he finds out they kidnapped me once already. He’s got it in for Angels, renegade or not.”

Echo had witnessed more than one of Azazel’s tirades against the Angelic kind. As long as he left Warde and Neal alone
,
I didn’t care what he did with the rest of them.

“By the time Azazel found me, he’d already been notified. I don’t know how everyone in Aliis keeps getting information so quickly. Someone must be watching your every move. I talked to Dex. The man was going out of his mind with worry until I told him you were fine, but he hadn’t had a chance to tell anyone. I asked him and he said he’d been in and out of meetings all night
,
and Tuscan interrupted him to give him the message.” She had to be right, someone from Aliis watching me.

“Zev. It’s got to be Zev, but I have no idea why he’d be so concerned. This isn’t the first time I’ve been kidnapped. He’s never expressed any kind of distress regarding my well being in the past fifteen hundred years.” Echo shook her head.

“You wouldn’t let him, honey. He’s always been concerned, he begged for updates from Amelia, Aural
,
even Azazel. Anyone he could find was fair game when it came to finding out about your wellbeing. Amelia never knew what was going on
,
and Aural and Azazel wouldn’t tell him anything. We never told you because we didn’t want to upset you.” I started growling.

“You didn’t want to upset me? Echo, Zev is my husband and all this time I’ve been under the misguided impression that he didn’t care about me. Now you’re telling me every horrible thing I ever believed about the man is bullshit, because you guys didn’t want to upset me. How do you think I feel now? I’m fucking upset, Echo, seriously upset. We’ve surpassed the highest level on the fucking chart of upset. You need to tell me these things, I can’t go around hating my husband for no reason.”

She cringed, this situation is exactly what she’d been trying to avoid. I had a right to know what was going on around me. I was sick of people withholding things and placing me in a glass bubble, I wasn’t a child and I’d certainly never been fragile.

“I’m sorry, Princess. We thought we were doing the right thing, but I understand how wrong we’d been. There’s nothing I can do to change the past, but it’ll never happen again.” It wasn’t good enough, but it’d have to do.

I couldn’t help but wonder how much of this had been Azul’s doing. If he told them to keep their mouths shut, they’d be obligated to obey. She got up and walked out the door silently. I didn’t want to leave things like this between us. I’d apologize later
,
when I finally calmed down
.

My second husband had every reason in the world to hate Zev. It drove him crazy that I would even consider listening to the man. Zev had been horrible to me, and Azul and Dexter had been the ones forced to deal with the aftermath.

If I hadn’t been young and naive at the time, I’d have seen right though Zev’s facade. I also might have seen the people closest to me were keeping things from me. There was no telling what else they’d been withholding. I would’ve acknowledged my husband in the strands, if I hadn’t blocked him from my mind.

I refused to dwell on the betrayal, what’s done is done. The knowledge had bearing for when I made my decision about the man. Our relationship was rocky and basically nonexistent, but it didn’t need to stay that way.

Azul left this up to me, Dex protested loudly but stood back when it came to the final choice in the matter. I was lost in confusion without a clue, and completely at a loss for whom to ask advice. Obviously around here, no one planned on giving me a straight answer. I might as well rekindle the relationship with Zev just to teach Azul a lesson. Dex wouldn’t be happy with me, but he’d deal.

The best advice would come from my mother, who was currently unavailable. I couldn’t turn to my mortal mother, she wouldn’t understand. She believed I was simply married to Darius, with whom she had a spectacular relationship. She’d start thinking we were having problems in our marriage. Amelia would tell me I needed to forgive him, of course, Zev was her father. I was up a creek without a paddle, heading straight toward a waterfall
.

Reading at this point became a lost cause. I couldn’t focus on the page. I tried for several minutes, attempting to calm myself, but gave up after the words kept blurring together. I put the book down on the nightstand. I had too many things on my mind. Echo was right, all I had to do was get through the next couple of weeks. I needed a break, plain and simple.

I crawled out of bed and stretched, pulling some pajama pants and a t-shirt on. I might as well join the clan downstairs. Judging by the parade of people who’d already visited me in my bedroom, I wouldn’t be able to hide today. Better to be harassed in my living room and wearing some
thing other than a slinky nighty
.

I must have been sitting on the couch for hours, watching Darius play a historically relevant video game. He chatted with me sporadically, asking questions I didn’t care to answer. I hadn’t been paying attention, only giving noncommittal answers.

I found myself lost in thought, drifting along the river of events from the past couple of days, and slowly realizing my life was going to change drastically forever. I wanted to kick myself for not seeing this coming sooner, or at all, as was the case for most of the dealings that had recently transpired.

“Ilana, answer me.” I glanced at him, pulling out of my daze
.

“Sorry, what did you ask?” He glared at me, knowing I hadn’t been a participant of the conversation for quite some time.

“I asked if you had informed Dexter about the wedding ceremony in its entirety? Particularly
,
the part in which he’ll be forced to share his new bride with the rest of her husbands before he can steal her all to himself. If I recall, you left that small tidbit of our consummation out when you explained everything to me.” He would never get over some of the smaller details of our first night as husband and wife
.

“I’ve apologized and begged for forgiveness since the incident
,
and you’re still hanging it over my head. No I haven’t spoken to him. I’m not handling any part of this ceremonial nightmare, so if Echo doesn’t fill him in, then I suppose he’s in for a bombshell. The monarchy has banned me from speaking to him unless deemed absolutely necessary. You’re more than welcome to inform him, I’m sure he’ll take it well.” He paused his game
,
set the controller on the coffee table and turned toward me
.

“I’m simply saying it would’ve been beneficial to have a little warning before hand. If I need to explain everything to Dex, then I shall. A man shouldn’t walk in to one of the most significant nights of his life and confront a surprise like
that
. I have no desire to shock the poor Vamp with my presence in the bedchamber
,
to witness the horror on his face. This is a stupid fucking custom
,
and serves no purpose. The Demon-Djinn should’ve done away with it ages ago.” I sat up from where I had been lounging on the couch next to him and glared
.

“Darius, don’t give me this shit. Nothing but the sacred ritual binds us together and is the single most important part of the ceremony
.
The wedding itself is only a legality. My husbands should be more willing to be bound to each other. You despise Zev, you aren’t interested in sharing a bed with him, I get it. However, you’re pledged to the both of us. Your instigating brought on this union in the first place.

“If this is such an issue for you, you shouldn’t have pursued it. Never forget, Darius, I’m the one with the power in this relationship. I will not allow you to slander a custom that’s been in place since the beginning of time.” I stood up, bearing down on him.

Our eyes locked, but eventually he shied away. Even with his strength, the Dragon lurking in the dark, he would never be a match for me. I remained the dominating partner in this entanglement
.
I possessed the skill, the potency and the slyness to rule. I’d been trained not only to control the kingdom
,
but also to govern my husbands.

Numerous times I’d let him protect me, and many more instances I’d allowed him to believe he was in control. Both of us knew the truth, and he’d never gain power over me. The possessive Dragon in him refused to accept that, and nothing could be done about his nature. I’d simply tolerated his attitude all this time.

“I’m sorry, my Princess. I’ve stepped out of bounds. There is no room in this relationship for my ego, and I should remember. I’d give my life for you over and over again, my Ella. The knowledge I’ll be required to share you with Zev, well
,
it infuriates me. He’s estranged
.
Why can’t someone find a way around this? I’m sure your father is looking into it, perhaps we should ask him.” I ran my fingers along the edge of his strong jaw. It had been ages since I had heard him call me Ella. The name touched my heart and left me breathless.

“There is no alternative, I already spoke to Echo. Don’t you think the situation bothers me as well? The man hasn’t laid a finger on me since you and I married. Don’t you believe I wanted to change that, especially on a night so important to me? I only planned on entertaining the idea of resuming a relationship with Zev, but this was not my intention. I suppose how he behaves will be the answer to the question he keeps asking me.”

He glanced up at me
.
The pain and irritation remained evident in his eyes. My heart broke for him and I pulled him close. His cheek rested against my stomach.

“When I fell in love with you, Ella, I thought you were the most beautiful creature I’d ever seen. Fierce, cunning, astonishing and independent, I dreamed of a woman like you. Your skill proved parallel to mine, driving me harder than I believed possible, and every time you complained about my presence, I noted the playfulness in your eye. The moments I spent with you made me love you more than I did the minute before. I wished for nothing else in the world than to be your husband.