Vindicate (36 page)

Landen took in a deep breath, trying to stop himself from saying something he would regret.

“Answer m e,” I said, looking up at him begging him to take my side on this.

“Willow, I don’t see what is on the outside in our dreams, I never have. I see your soul, and no, her soul is not yours. S
he is young, confused, and slightly reckless. D
oes she have bre athtaking eyes –beautiful skin?
D
oes she reflect your outer image? Yes…
yes , she does.”

“Very diplomatic,” I said, sighing. Seeing he’d stopped himself from saying something that would cause a fight between him and Drake.

“Very right,” Drake said f latly. “It’s your soul, Willow. N
ot the way you look. Like it or not, we’re bound toget her and you are not going to turn this triangle into a square,” Drake said flatly.

“Whatever…
I guess she was right,” I said, squeezing La nden’s arms that were around me , pushing as much calm as I could through him.

“About?” Drake asked. “What did you not show me?” he asked, looking from her to me.

“I showed you everything. I f you were listening, you would have heard her. H
ow she thinks love is a weakness. T
hat it blinds you to the big picture. T
hat we are running in circles, looking like fools to the heavens above.”

“So she’s a hypocrite,” Drake said coolly .

I slapped his face before I could think not to. “Sorry – you made me mad,” I said with instant regret as Landen pulled me back, returning my calm to me.

Drake held his face where I hit him, then tilte d his head. “Love.
I’m al ready fighting for your heart.
I’m not going to fi ght some Britain guy for hers. She loves him. S
he can deny it to you all she wants. B
ut she loves him.”

Ah, so he was jealous. That was why he refused to admit that I was right. “She is hiding behind that and I couldn’t get that guy to say he loved her. S
he’s confused.”

“Aren’t we all?” Drake said, looking at me with wonder. “What did you want to happen? For me to wake up look into her eyes, and fall madly in love. Forget everything. U
s . H
ow fair would that be to her? For her to know that I lo ve you. F
or her to feel that?”

My eyes rushed rapidly over his a ddictive image. “You’re right. So is eve ryone else. I’m dropping this. You know where I stand. Where you stand, and ap parently where she stands.
I’ll never say another word about it.”

“Thank you,” he said as he let out a deep breath.

We stood in silence for a moment, taking it all in. Landen had begun to pace; he would glance over Drake, then clench his jaw as he tried to calm himself down.

“
Are you alright?
”
I thought.

“Just getting flashes. M
emories, I don’t think they’re all mine, ”
he thought in an exhausted tone.

“
Are they bad?
”

“
Depends on how you look at them.
”
He thought with disdain.

He set the intent to drop the subject, block out what he was seeing, and focus on what was wrong right now. He glanced at Drake. “Why were you so worried about the mourning?”

Drake pulled the drape back a half or inch or so. E
nough that I was sure he could see the black cloths around the courtyard. He let out a sigh and closed it tight. “Because now I have to face Donalt’s death.”

“I don’t get that,” I said, crossing my a rms. “I thought this was done. Y
ou were ruling.”

Drake glanced at me. “Look, it ’s easy to control two cities. E
ven if they ar e on opposite ends of the world. C
ontrolling this entire dimension is a completely new game.
Donalt rule d for over four million years. W
hen power changes hands, the people change. W
hen power that has been in place for this long changes, you have epic consequences. D
o you have any idea how many times Donalt was ‘killed’? How many times someone dared to take his life over the years? How much planning and plotting that is in place for when this moment came ? I didn’t have time for that. N
ot with these trials that rock our world every few days.”

“They are not mourning him. I f that makes a difference; they are mourning the priest.”

“You don’t get it – I – Marc – whatever, invoked the mourning. The only way Donalt would have no t done that was if he were DEAD. T
hey have to know by now.
I can only imagine what is going on underground.”

“Yeah, I heard about them,” I muttered. “I can’t keep up, though it seems like no matter what, they want one of us dead.”

“Right,” Drake breathed as he looked at Alamos. “No matter what, someone will die.”

“Ther e has to be a way around that. W
hy can’t you just say you’re a king and make up some new rules?
L
ike rules that would not kill people?”

“You don’t understand. A king does not rule his people. T
he people rule him. These people are too superstitious. T
oo much change will cause a collapse .
I’m already changing more rules than I ever planned to.”

“Wh at do you need to become king? I s that what you even want?” Landen asked Drake.

“The impossible,” Drake said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

“Which is?” I pushed.

“My mother.”

“What does Beth have to do with this?” Landen questioned .

“Look, I have spent every minute that I am not wit h you trying to figure this out. T
he groups for and against Don alt’s rule vary in sizes…but under it all, they still fear Do nalt.” Drake glanced at Alamos’
frozen images, then back to us. “Alamos is wise and has been plotting such an event for a while. The only way I can take over the rule of this world is for my mother to swear before God that she was a surrogate . T
hat I am the ch ild of both Donalt and Perodine. I f she commits to that, Alamos has a creed signed by Donalt nineteen years ago stating that he would not be take n to the next life with Donalt , that he would serve me.
Alamos only signed it on the condition that Perodine would remain as well -
-
to serve as a guiding light of wisdom to her son.”

“So not everyone dies?” I asked. As long as the three of them were safe, I didn’t care about the other members of the court.

“I’m trying to remake the laws and av oid using that creed. T
he creed is spelled. I t is written that as it burns, the words of Donalt will echo. T
hat when the people hear the voice of their former king, they will obey.”

“Who put the spell on it?” Landen asked.

“Alamos – and another priest, Xavier .”

Every part of Landen tensed, and I couldn’t figure out why.

“So they could break it?” I asked. “At least mock a voice?”

Drake grinned. “
Love, the only problem with that is that Xavier do esn’t want to break the spell. H
e wants to rule. If everyone is executed – including me as a fraud -
-
he stands in line to rule by right of birth.”

“What if he dies?” I asked coldly.

“What have they done to you?” Drake asked, offering a sardonic grin.

“Just done with all of this,” I muttered.

“We can’t kill him until we know how to break the creed. U
ntil we know the words he spoke but let me be clear…
finding his words – even forcing him to help us is nothing compared to convincing my mother t o say that I am not her child. T
hat Livingston is not my father.”

“I’ll tell you what,” I said all too calmly. “I’ll handle Beth. You find these words. W
hen the kingdom is yours, we will worry about the next step.”

“How long do we have with this mourning that is in place?” Landen asked.

“I think they said a month,” I answered.

“At the speed of these trials, that may be enough time,” Drake mumbled.

“Why do the trials matter?” I asked.

“How can they not matter? Being a king is a full-time job – twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year. E
very trial pulls me away – one way or another, it distracts me, and I can’t do both.”

“But we’ve got Marc,” I argued.

“Are you serious?” Drake said, looking at the frozen image of Marc in the doorway. “Do you not see the look of disdain on his face – the absolute disgust for the role he was asked to fill?”

“Yeah, it looks familiar,” I said as I stared into his dark eyes. “Look, Stella is pr etty much here full-time. T
hat lo oking glass has her attention. He won’t go far from her and standing in your place allows him to not feel useless. If you asked him h e would do it.”

Landen nodded to agree.

“I’m not going to ask him to die for me – for him to take the chance that someone would kill him, thinking he was me,” Drake argued.

“I think he has come to terms with that if not, he would have found a way out of that suit by now,”
I maintained .

Drake lost himself as he stared at Marc. I wish I could feel him. F
eel the gratitude I was sure he was feeling.

“So, that gives us a plan of action on what’s going on here, but what’s going on there?” Landen asked, looking to Draven and the others.

“You know what? I don’t know. I don’t clearly understand this E
scort thing or how they attract the dead…but they need help with that. T
hey need people who are used to the supernatural.”

“Are they th e heirs to Donalt?” Drake asked as I caught him gazing at Madison.

“No, those three are in Chara, and I d on’t know what to make of them.
I don’t think they have said one word to me beyond the oldest one telling me that ending Donalt’s existence was fine with him.”

“They definitely got his attention,” Lande n said, raising his eyebrows.
“’
Father, temp t me not’ – those are strong words.”

“I think The R
ealm is some kind of connection,” I mused. “Madison really made me think when she asked me how I didn’t know we were living in exile –that on the other side of that R
ealm is our home.”

“Home for you, maybe,” Drake said shortly. “Remember, I’m an Escort, too, apparently.”

Landen tensed again. I tried to rehash what I said that could make his emotions spark, but I didn’t get it. I wanted to sit down with him a nd talk out everything he saw in The Realm . I didn’t want him to face whatever was going on in his mind alone.

“I don’t believe any of that,” I said absentmindedly as I gazed up at him. “I just think that there is a balance of good and evil in every soul. T
hat some are tippe d too heavily to the dark side .” Escorts are not all bad, I thought to myself , as I remembered a wave of energy absorbing my soul.
The crisp sent of peppermint came to mind.
I swallowed nervously. I felt like I was missing something. And the way Landen was a cting was not helping me soothe my uneasy emotions.

“I think it’s going to take me some time to absorb this…
” Landen said quietly. “
I could swear I have read about something like this in other dimensions,” he reached for me to come to his side. “I’m interested to see where August stands with this.”

“I think he’s home. H
e wouldn’t talk to you about it here – you know that.”

“That’s fine.
I’m starving any ways, and I could use a shower.”

“Tell me about it,” Drake said, pulling his open shirt closed a little more.

“Have dinner with us,” I said, staring at Drake.

“No,” he said evenly .

Landen let his hand fall from around me when he felt my determined anger. I stepped forward and poked my finger in Drake’s chest. “After everything you put me through – you owe me dinner. These people ris ked their life to wake you up. Y
ou would still be trapped in some seductive dream if it weren’t for them. You are going to take a shower. G
et in that string, and come to Chara and act like the grateful man I know you are – and you are going to enjoy it – do you hear me?”

Drake looked over me at Landen, I’m sure to see if he was OK with that invitation, then down at me. “Fine, Love, dinner it is,” he sighed. “Though I’m sure that will be hours away,” he said, glancing across the room. “There is no telling how long this discussion is going to last.”

“We are going to cut it short on the grounds that both of you need to be fed.” I looked at Draven and the others. “
They need a place to close their eyes in peace tonight.”

“Good luck with that,” Drake said as he nodded his head and time resumed.

Landen left my side and went to Brady.
“Are you all right?
W
here does it hurt?”