Aligning Stars (Fate's Intent Book 1) (31 page)

“Well, I wasn’t always thinking about it. Just more so since I’ve been around you.”

“Yeah, I don’t think you have to explain that to me. Just saying it’s my fault is good enough.”

“Well, it is. What are we going to tell everyone? You know they’re expecting something.”

Adele put her coat on and moved to the other two beds. “What do you mean? Your breakdown?”

“No, like where we stand.”

“Oh, um, well, I’d consider us to be friends, I guess.”

“Friends? That’s it?” I was surprised that was her answer after everything that’s happened.

“Is there a problem?”

“Yes. I can’t just be friends with you. I want more than that. That wasn’t clear a moment ago?”

“A moment ago, you were just in a rush to have a woman. You would have done that with anyone.”

“That’s not true, Love. I haven’t made even a verbal attempt on the other two. It’s just been you.”

“Maybe because they were already claimed?”

“Why do you have to be like that?”

“So we can’t be friends?”

“No. After everything you’ve put me through, you either call us together or nothing.”

She paused with coats folded in her arms and I would have given anything to know what she was thinking. “Then I guess there’s nothing.”

Besides that. “So, we’re back to that and all of this was worthless?”

She started to turn away like she couldn’t even look at me while she said it. “If you don’t want to take the only thing I can offer then yeah, I guess so.”

Great. This surely wasn’t helping my mood. Why did she have to be this way?! She was fighting for it too hard but made it clear there was nothing more I could do.

Chapter 40

Jaylyn

“How’d it go?” Ruby was standing with her cloak wrapped tight around her to keep her arms warm just waiting to know when Adele walked up with Zayden trailing behind her.

He shook his head. “We’d better get this picked up. We leave as soon as it’s done.”

Adele gave us our coats and we quickly dropped our cloaks and put them on, not wanting to be cold for a second. It was sunny but it was still chilly being this early.

Adele put up her hand and the doorway to the underground room was closed.

“Adele, what happened down there?” Ruby whispered.

I leaned in because I wanted to know the answer just as much.

“Nothing. We don’t need to talk about it. We’re just going to get the rest of this over with.”

Ruby and I both sighed and leaned away. We somehow knew that she wasn’t going to say anything. We almost expected it. At least I did.

“Shouldn’t we be going?” Adele asked.

“Ah, yes.” Zayden said. “But there’s probably one thing you should do first.”

“What?”

“In order to be Leccan, you have to look like one.”

Adele’s eyes moved over to us and I got excited, clapping my hands together softly. “Ooh! I love braids but how do you intend us to look like them besides that?”

“Don’t worry.” Adele cut in before Zayden could respond. “I’ve got that covered. Ruby.” She took her arm and pulled her back a few steps away from the others with me and quickly put up a wall.

She used the outfits that we were wearing and made us adorable new ones with her gift that looked much less like us—Kaluian.

“Awe, look how cute I look!” I was upbeat and full of joy to wear it but Ruby definitely wasn’t.

“Is that really necessary? You’re not going to make me look like that are you?”

“I can only work with what we already have and you’ll deal with the look I give you. Jaylyn, now your hair. Turn.”

She did my hair to go with my outfit and I was first to walk around the wall to show it off. “Is this Leccan enough?”

They were staring with their mouths wanting to fall open. I loved it. The green leather in my corset was transformed into a strapless mini dress with a lace up front and slits up my thighs on the front of the skirt. I had on knee high boots made out of the green leather with fur cuffs from my coat. The same fur was used to cover the front of my chest and a small choker around my neck with the gray holster belt for my ring blades. My fabulous blonde hair was tightly braided up the back and sides to high pigtails where my curls were left to flow down and bounce around every time I took a step.

“Well?”

“You’re fuzzy.” Darius smiled.

“Ah—it’s very—” Zayden paused.

“Winter Leccan.” Troy said.

“Yeah.” Zayden agreed. “It’ll do.”

“Great!” I walked over and hooked my arm in Troy’s then turned my head back to the wall still up. “Hurry up! I want to see!”

We heard a heavy sigh from behind the wall and Adele’s laugh as she came into view next. “She needs a moment.”

I smiled and turned my look to see Zayden not blinking a wink as he watched Adele walk over. Her blue corset and pants were made into a mini dress with a jagged edged skirt that was short on the right side and got longer on the left. She wore another similar straight edge skirt under it that was used mainly to cover her right hip a little better with the black belt for her sword.

Her fur from her coat was used completely over the dress and settled over the front of her chest. Fur cuffs were also around her new designed blue leather knee high boots, her hair was tightly braided in four rows in the back and going up to the top of her head where a single long braid consumed the length of her hair.

“I hope this works. It wouldn’t be wise to actually take us to the city then find something suitable.”

“No. It’s fine.” Zayden replied, finally blinking. “You think she had her moment yet? We’ll need to get going sometime today.”

“Ruby, come on! We’re all waiting on you!”

“No way! You made me look like such a—Leccans are freaks!”

“Well, that’s what we have to be so just get out here!”

“No!”

Adele sighed and put up her hand, dropping the wall back into the ground while Ruby stood with her arms folded across her chest. Even though she looked angry, she looked good. She was in a red leather and velvet mini dress with four slashes around the hips and five across her breasts. She was wearing a short fur cape that just covered around the top of her shoulders and fur cuffs around her red leather knee high boots with a tan belt and her swords placed as normal on her back. Her red hair was tightly braided from the crown of her head on each side and curved down towards the back and all the way to the very ends.

Her anger was rising, making her eyes turn red with them on Adele. “I hate you.”

“Good.” Adele smiled. “Because there’s one more thing I need to do to you.”

“What more could you possibly do?”

Adele kept her smile and pushed her hand towards her. The wind stopped immediately when she was thrown back, landing hard on the ground.

Ruby let out a sigh and stayed there for a moment. “All right. Fine. Was that it?”

She started to get up, wiping the dirt off her and I wanted to scream.

“What?”

“Don’t look down.” I muttered.

Scared with curiosity, Ruby did anyway and she became just as heart stricken as me. Her bright red braids were no longer red anymore but a light brown and she started to hyperventilate in a slow pace. “What did you do?”

“You have to ask that? Really? Oh, yeah. It says good idea all over it for you to walk into the city with an obvious difference. That would just get us into trouble.”

“But—but—but—”

“Is that what your natural hair color looks like?” Zayden asked.

Ruby just looked up at him and her face was stunned speechless.

“Ah, actually, you’ve already seen her natural hair color.” I said.

“That red?” Troy wondered. “We’ve only heard of it, not that it was natural.”

“Inherited it.” Adele said. “Her mother had it and she’s now the only person in the world with hair like that which is why I had to do it.”

“I get it.” Ruby replied. “But—but—but—”

“You’ll get it back. We just have to be far away from here first.”

Ruby’s face looked saddened rather than mad and Darius stepped closer to her, touching the new color. “I’m going to miss it too.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I have to ruin Jaylyn’s day as well.” Adele said.

I quickly turned with a loud screech. “What?!”

“Just hold still. You have an obvious difference too.”

I held completely still and Adele brought her hand up to me. I squeezed my eyes shut tight, preparing myself for what might happen like getting stabbed or thrown back but nothing did.

“Okay.”

I slowly opened my eyes, looking down at myself. “What did you do?” I couldn’t figure it out. My hair was the same and my clothes didn’t change. “Really. What did you do?”

I looked up and Ruby laughed. “Look at you! You look so weird!”

“What?” I turned my head back and everyone else was just staring at me like they did with Ruby. “What?!”

“Your eyes.” Troy said, stuttering. “They’re—they’re—blue.”

I gasped and pulled out one of my ring blades, holding it up high so I could see my reflection in the shining blade. “Adele!”

“Sorry. This is Seni. Their blondes all have blue eyes. Look at Zayden.”

I did and Ruby laughed again. “You could be his sister!”

“Oh, shut up. It looks like you stuck your head too close to a horse’s rear end.”

Ruby smile was completely gone and she huffed to the insult.

“Get over it.” Adele cut in, walking through us.

“Actually, there’s probably more you should do.” Zayden said.

Adele stopped and looked back with a sigh. “What?”

“I’m sorry if this upsets you Jaylyn but hopefully you’ll see my reason. You can’t stand in front of my father with a simple eye color change if you look like your brother.”

Ruby’s eyes widened. “You know Trever’s been here?”

“You knew?” I asked.

“I know a lot of things.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Zayden said. “What matters is, I don’t want him recognizing you.”

I whimpered, shaking my lower lip while I turned to Adele. “What are you going to do to me?”

Adele looked over at Zayden for a suggestion.

“The opposite of what she looks like now. Darken her hair to black and give her brown eyes.”

I whimpered again and lowered my head when Adele raised her hand towards me. My hair turn black in my view and I didn’t look at anyone. “I hate you.”

“I’m sorry but—”

“I hate you because you actually listened!
You
listened to Zayden!”

“If I didn’t, I would have to disagree that he was wrong and I don’t. Don’t blame me. Blame genetics.”

“But I liked the way I looked and now—I feel gloomy and evil like you.”

Adele took my head in both hands and spoke softly while trying to get her point across. “You’re nothing like me. You’re better. Now, how about you try on a smile.”

“I can’t smile.”

“Someone of the male species please tell her she’s still pretty.”

Darius had the biggest smile. “Of course you’re still pretty. She didn’t change everything. Your body is still completely doable.”

I finally shown my smile but not everyone’s reaction was so pleasant.

Troy immediately collided with Darius and they tumbled to the ground.

I was surprised when they started fighting each other but Zayden didn’t seem to be. He just stood back with a sigh. “They’re like big children and I’m always the overly stressed out father.”

Ruby smiled and vaguely glanced over at Adele. “So, you have experience being a father? That’s good.”

“Shut up.” She muttered.

“It’s okay.” Zayden said. “We’re not going to.”

“This is my fault.” I said.

“Kind of. Troy is very attached to you and Darius, well, let’s just say he’s a male version of what you would call a slut.”

Sounded like a handful but I liked hearing that Troy was
very
attached to me. It felt nice.

“Wait!” Darius let Troy go and Troy set his glance east. “Zayden.”

“What?”

“Horses.”

Zayden’s eyes turned black instantly. “Shit. Just what we need.”

“How many?” Darius asked.

“Four but I only feel one rider.”

“It’s true.” I said, feeling useful by using my own senses. “One human.”

“Looks like we won’t have to walk anymore.” Darius said. “They’re clearly for us.”

“Yeah but that’s not exactly a good thing.”