Ancient Guardians The Legacy of the Key (44 page)

Michael, poor
man.
Luckily, Levi spared his life
after their encounter at Castle Ruin, but that was the kind of man Levi was.
Her heart wrenched with pain, recalling how much she loved him. And now he
despised her. She tried with everything in her power to block the memory of the
day he returned from being imprisoned on Earth. As irate as he was toward her,
it did not compare to when sought her out that afternoon to reprimand her for
threatening his beloved Reece. She had never witnessed the man so hostile with
his words. She believed she would die of heartbreak then and there. Levi was
intimidating to be sure; however, she never gave much credence to the
superiority of the man, until he confronted her the night before he returned to
earth to bring Reece to the council meeting. Once again, he assured her that
she would never have his forgiveness, and if the decisions of her fate were
left up to him…

She shuttered at
the horrid memory, and walked into the next room for her tea. She promptly
dismissed her maiden, and attempted to unwind her frazzled nerves. She sat on
her settee and began to sip her tea. This entire situation had gotten out of
hand. She could no longer live among any of these people. Her constant,
torturous dreams reminded her of the scorn she had to endure from everyone on a
daily basis. She was not only haunted with these horrors in her dreams, but
they followed her while she was awake as well. She could not escape any of it,
no matter how hard she tried.

She was treated as
a disease; everyone strayed away from her, and treated her as if she were
contagious. How did this happen? Until last night, she held on to hope that
everyone would move forward and forget what she had done. It was not an easy
process, but she was managing. More than once she considered leaving and trying
to find a life somewhere else. The only thing that stopped her was the hope
that when the men returned from Earth, Reece would not be among them. Reece
would have been traded to the Ciatron, and it would be over.

Simone understood
everyone’s anger toward her, but in time, that would all mend. Everyone would
forget, move on with their lives, and everything would be the way it was before
she
came. She knew she could charm her way back into all of their good
graces soon enough.

All of this
actually seemed like it could work itself out, until word came from Earth that
the Council of Worlds had agreed to allow Navarre to bring Reece back into
Pemdas, where she would remain…indefinitely.

She could not
imagine that the Emperor would allow someone from Earth to take permanent
residence in their world. She knew that once her father returned, they would
prepare for their journey home, and away from the Emperor and his family. For
the first time in her life, Simone was never so happy to leave the grand
palace.

Hopefully, during
her time away, the nightmares would cease. More importantly, with any luck,
Levi would lose interest in Reece, just as he did Isabelle; and she would have
her opportunity to prove to him that she was a better person after all of this.

But it was last
night that she was proven wrong.

 After Harrison
arrived, and Levi and Reece were not with him; the fury within her ignited once
again. She could not imagine why the two would not have ridden directly to the
house together with Harrison.

The sun had disappeared,
and Simone seemed to be the only one concerned by their absence. Lady
Allestaine’s mood was electrified; Simone had never seen her so excited. Simone
wanted nothing more than to return to her room, but everyone was ordered to
await their arrival. 

Simone was
miserable, or so she thought she was. Finally, an hour after the sun
disappeared behind the horizon, Levi and Reece walked into the room.

Simone’s eyes
narrowed as they openly held hands in front of everyone in the room. She looked
at Lady Allestaine, waiting for the disdainful response that was sure to
follow; yet, found the opposite. The lady held her hand over her heart while
she brought the other one to rest in the bend of Navarre’s arm. Navarre smiled
enthusiastically toward the two as they entered the room, and Simone did not
fail to notice Elizabeth wipe a stray tear from her cheek. Something was
different. Why wasn’t anyone upset that these two were off alone, until dark,
together. Why was Harrison smiling so mischievously at them both? What was
going on?

It was when Levi
proudly announced that Reece accepted his offer of marriage that Simone nearly
collapsed. She searched for air, but her lungs would not take it in. Her eyes
burned with rage, and she was doing everything in her power to remain seated.
Oh, how she hated this girl, with every fiber of her being. She could no longer
live in this land, not with any of these people. As far as she was concerned,
Navarre corrupted this land by allowing such an abomination to take place. Why would
Levi disregard everything that was revered and sacred to the Pemdai by doing
this?

She sat in shock as
the room exploded into cheers, and as Lady Allestaine rushed to give both Reece
and Levi her blessings. Reece smiled brilliantly as Levi stared at her
adoringly. Simone’s heart kept a rapid pace as fury and rage radiated from her.
She remained quiet; no one noticed that she did not congratulate the two, nor
did they seem to care.

She spent the rest
of the evening trying to find an excuse to dismiss herself from the crowd. She
couldn’t leave too soon and risk appearing to be envious of Reece; she wouldn’t
give that girl the satisfaction. Reece could never know how much Simone loved
Levi. She turned her attention to the captivating man, who was in conversation
with the men. She noted that, although Levi smiled radiantly, his attention was
focused on Reece, and not the men surrounding him.
Has he even noticed I am
in the room?

As she watched him
gazing at the girl, she began to feel hatred for him as well. He was as
ignorant as Reece. Pemdas was no longer a place she was proud to call her home.
She would not live in a land where her future Empress would be a nonsensical,
naïve girl from Earth. She had to find a way to leave, and soon. Michael’s
horse led her through the vortex once, and he
would
do it again.

She continued to
sip her tea, recalling these horrid events from the previous night. It was
supposed to have relaxed her; however, it did quite the opposite. She was wide
awake, and fully aware of why this nightmare resurfaced. What else would she
expect after hearing about Levi’s engagement the previous night? She had to
leave, and it had to be now.

Simone looked
around her room, and realized Rachael was nowhere to be found. Quietly, she
packed everything she would need to leave for Armedias. It was a world just as
unique and beautiful as Pemdas, and she could easily find a home there. She
knew that with her looks, charm, and close affiliation to the Pemdai royal
family, the rulers of that world would welcome her with open arms.

Excitement flooded
through her. She would not wait another moment. She would not spend one more
day in this land, hearing of the future Mrs. Levi Oxley. As she hastily made
her way from the Palace, she found her way down to where Michael’s horse was
stabled. Her heart startled when a man approached her.

“Michael?” Simone
whispered, “What are you doing here? How can you ride?”

Michael whispered
quietly back, “I believe I should ask the same of you, Simone. What brings you
down to my horse’s stable before sunrise? Are you planning to run away?” He
laughed.

  “I must leave
this place at once. Have you heard of Levi’s engagement?”

  Michael brushed
his hand over Simone’s cheek, “I take it that you are not the lucky bride to
be? Is your heart broken, along with every other girl in Pemdas?”

  Simone batted his
hand away from her cheek, “Michael, do not be absurd. You know I cannot stand
Levi, it is why we worked together to destroy him.” She then brought her hand
to his rugged face. “Oh, Michael, you know I have always loved you. Levi is too
proud, I detest his presence. Come away with me, you can no longer live here
either. Everyone despises us both. I cannot imagine what my father will plan to
do with you, if you remain.”

  Instantly persuaded
by Simone’s charms, Michael grabbed her into a tight embrace. “Simone, if we
leave, we must leave now. But I don’t leave to run away; I will return, with
vengeance. You see, I met a few new friends, while I was amongst the Ciatron.
There are other’s that want nothing more than to put Navarre in his place.” He
chuckled darkly.

  Simone’s eyebrow
shot up as she played with a button on his shirt. “These new friends, Michael,
who are they?”

  “Michael brought
his lips to Simone’s. He withdrew and smiled, “In time, lovely Simone. Now, let
us go before the stable men are out with their morning duties.”

  Simone giggled
with excitement; Michael was proving to be more of a man than she truly thought
him capable. Maybe there was hope to remove Reece from Pemdas after all.

Without going into a 500 page novel regarding how
much I love, admire, and appreciate my sister, best friend, and other half,
Amanda…I will leave it at this; she knows exactly how I feel about her. If I
didn’t have her constant support, help, and most of all…approval; this book
would only have remained between me and her. I will always be grateful to her
for the great effort and dedication she gave this book while bringing it
through its final edits. Thanks for helping bring Frankenstein to life, Honey!
I sure do love you! 

I am forever indebted to my Aunt Trena, who test
read every version of this novel. If it wasn’t for her getting lost in the
enchanting world of Pemdas with me, and having as much passion and desire as I
have for this fictional family, I would have never gotten past the many
obstacles I faced as a first-time writer; nor would I have had the desire to
keep the story alive by writing more books in this series.

I could never say thank you enough to my mom,
whose love for her children in unmatched. Without her constant support of my
creative abilities ever since I was a child, I probably would never have
believed myself capable of writing a fictional novel. Thank you for being my
fresh set of eyes for this book, when I couldn’t see straight anymore.

Thanks to my dad, for his love of Sci-Fi books and
movies. If I didn’t grow up in a house that had an episode of Star Trek playing
in the background every day, I may not have had the imagination to play in the
world of fantasy.

And most importantly, thank you to my husband,
Jason, and our three children. They have sacrificed countless hours of their
time with me as they stepped aside to let me write; and instead of being upset
about it, they’ve shared the same passion and excitement for the characters as
I have.

I must acknowledge my oldest son, Caleb for asking
his teacher is he could do a book report on his mom’s novel. I am so proud of
him; he did it, and received an A!

And of course, many thanks to the band
Evanescence. Every song on every one of their albums inspired my desire to
write this book. Their music helped move me past dozens of writers block
situations, and helped provide my inspiration to write.

Lastly, thank you to all of my fans who supported
me before the book was even published!

       For up to date info
on the next books coming out in the Ancient Guardians series, visit www.slmorganauthor.com