Bound, An Arelia LaRue Novel #1 YA Paranormal Romance (22 page)

Somehow, deep within me, I had known
for a long time, but my head hadn’t let me accept it yet. My head
had refused to acknowledge that there are certain things in this
world that none of us could control. This whole realm was still
very new to me, and I was beyond a little confused. I felt betrayed
by Ms. Mae and by Lucus. They both made me feel like they cared for
me when in reality all they wanted to do was groom me for their own
purposes. I felt like an utter fool thinking that there was
something special between Lucus and I. I had thought that he cared
for me and that well… In reality, he didn’t give a shit about me.
He only wanted me to help break the curse, so he could finally be
free from Darkwood whatever that meant.

At that moment, the only thing that I
could think of was how nice he had been to me. It made my blood
boil thinking about his stupid apologies and the time I had wasted
analyzing every little touch or glance that took place between us.
All this time I had thought Ivan was a jerk when the real jerk was
Lucus. At least, Ivan didn’t hide what he was.

Ms. Mae knew what I was thinking. She
knew what was racing through my mind, but what I refused to say.
“You need to let him explain.”

“
I’m supposed to meet him
tonight.” I finally gathered the courage to say something in a calm
and rational manner rather than screaming like I wanted to. “I
don’t really believe in curses or anything.” I was doubtful of the
words that were coming out of my own mouth.

“
Arelia, we’ve been over
this before. You cannot control everything, and there are times
when it doesn’t matter what you believe. There are things that just
are. You need to talk to Lucus before it’s too late. The cards tell
me that Louis Beau is strong. If you wait too long, he won’t allow
you to help Lucus.”

For some inexplicable reason, at her
words I felt myself fill with rage. If it hadn’t been for Ms. Mae
and her stupid invitation to work at Darkwood, I wouldn’t be in
this situation. Ever since, I’d gotten here, she’d been the one
encouraging me to explore my powers. Now I knew the real reason.
“You knew all this time didn’t you? You knew that Lucus was under
mad Marie’s curse, and that’s the reason you called me to
Darkwood.”

“
That’s not true my child.
Of course, I knew about the curse, but that is not the only reason
I wanted you to come here. You have a gift. A gift so strong, that
it needs to be developed.”

“
Stop calling me your child.
I’m not your child!” I screamed.

Ms. Mae was taken aback by my little
outburst.

“
Arelia, please believe that
I didn’t invite you to Darkwood just to help Lucus.”

“
Sure you didn’t. Then why
did you invite me? I should have listened to grand-mere Bea. She
knows too, doesn’t she? That’s why she didn’t want me to come here.
She didn’t want you to manipulate me. That’s what you and Lucus
have both been doing manipulating me. You’re nothing but a master
manipulator. You could have just called me instead of sending
Sabrina an invitation. You knew that I would come if Sabrina
convinced me. This whole thing has been a sham from the beginning.
What are you in love with Lucus? I mean if you were born here that
means that you’ve known him all of your life. Did he make you
believe that he was interested in you too so you would help him
break the curse? Well did he?” I was past the point of trying to be
composed and rational. I was furious and beyond
disgusted.

Ms. Mae sighed before replying. “When I
was a young girl, I did have feelings for him.”

“
That’s just great.” I could
feel vomit threatening to find its way to the surface, as I thought
about the implications of what she had just said.

“
It never progressed to
anything, he never shared my feelings,” she admitted. “Besides that
was well over fifty years ago. A tiny childhood crush that’s all.
Henri has always been the love of my life. Mon Dieu, have you
fallen in love with Lucus?”

“
No. Even if, I have it’s
none of your business.” I knew I was being disrespectful and
condescending, but I couldn’t help myself. I was hurt and confused.
How could they have lied to me so well? Ms. Mae acted as if she
cared about me when really she had her own agenda. “Why do you need
me to break the curse? Why can’t you do it?”

“
You’re blessed by Erzulie
that makes you much stronger than me or your
grand-mere.”

“
I’m leaving,” I said when I
finally spoke. “This is bullshit. I don’t give a crap if I was
blessed by all of the saints in New Orleans. I don’t like been used
or lied to.”

“
Leaving? You can’t. I do
admit that I should have just called you from the beginning and
explained everything. We all make mistakes out of fear. I’m
terribly sorry,” Ms. Mae pleaded. She walked towards me and placed
her hand on my shoulder.

“
Don’t touch me.” I shook
away her hand. “Don’t explain, don’t apologize, don’t do anything.
After tonight, I’m leaving. I’ll help with dinner, so I can see the
guests one last time, but that is it. I don’t want to be a part of
whatever this is.” I rushed out the door making sure I slammed it
hard behind me.

Chapter 17

You won’t tell, will you?

I ran upstairs to my room just wanting
to be alone before dinner. The smell of cigarette smoke greeted me
outside the door which I found strange since neither Sabrina nor I
were smokers. “What the hell?” I opened the door, and Sabrina
rushed to cover herself with the duvet. In bed, beside her was
Ivan.

“
Arelia, hi,” her voice
unwillingly quivered.

“
Hey queen.” Ivan gave me a
wink and took a drag from his cigarette.

I shot him an evil glance. This is not
what I needed right now. I wanted to be alone.

“
Ivan, can you excuse us?”
Sabrina practically pushed him out of the bed. He scrambled to
collect his clothes from the ground.

“
I’ll catch you later.” He
gave me a wicked glance before exiting.

“
You’re unbelievable.” I was
livid. All this time she had been going on and on about how much
she loved Lucus, and here she was in bed with Ivan. She was such a
hypocrite. She always wanted to be the center of the universe and
didn’t care who she hurt. What was wrong with all the people around
me? Why was everyone so messed up, so self-absorbed?

“
Arelia, please don’t tell
Lucus.” She jumped out of bed and came towards me. “Look I’m sorry
for all the nasty things I said about you, I was just jealous.”
Tears started rapidly running down her cheeks streaking them with
globs of mascara. “I should have never accused you of trying to
steal Lucus. You’re my best friend and what I said to you was so
bitchy. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t in my
life.”

I wanted to stay mad, but I couldn’t.
Her apology melted the anger off my bones. This was Sabrina. We had
been born one day apart, and from that moment on we had been
inseparable. She could have refused to play with the nanny’s grand
kid, but she hadn’t. When we were younger, and I was constantly
teased for having parents that were MIA, Sabrina had always been
the first one to my defense. She was my sister, we had an
inexplicable bond. I had no one else at Darkwod. Ms. Mae and Lucus
were both liars who only cared about themselves. What good would it
do if I kept on fighting with Sabrina over Lucus? I would never
speak to him again. I hesitated and chose my words carefully. “I
don’t get it, if you’re crazy about Lucus why are you here with
Ivan?”

“
I don’t know. I don’t
know.” Her tears continued to flow. “Lucus, he hasn’t even kissed
me yet. For the past three weeks, I’ve been trying, but
nothing.”

“
I thought you already had
sex with him.” I wanted her to admit that she had been
lying.

“
I lied. I only said that so
I thought you would stay away. I really like Lucus. I know I’m in
love with him, but I just lost my self-confidence. Ivan, he’s been
constantly flirting with me ever since I got here, and I figured
that if I slept with him, it would make me feel better, but I was
wrong. I feel awful. Please Arelia, don’t tell Lucus what you saw,
I’ll probably lose any chance that I have with him. Obviously he’s
a bit traditional.”

“
Look Sabrina, I can
understand why you may have been jealous over Lucus, but what you
said about me being a freak was super bitchy and I don’t think I
can get past that.”

Sabrina wrapped her arms around me. “I
was scared,” she whispered. “I’m not as brave or smart as you, but
I promise from this day on I’ll be there for you no matter what,”
she vowed.

“
I’m scared too,” I
admitted. “I don’t get any of this stuff. Anyways, you really need
to stop hooking up with every guy that smiles at you.”

“
I know,” she moaned. “I
would never go out with a waiter much less marry one, I have to
keep my eyes on the prize which is Lucus.” All of a sudden, her
tears stopped, and she eyed me intently. “I wouldn’t want you to
change Arelia. You’re my best friend, and you’re perfect just the
way you are, and when you smile the whole world stops and stares
for a while.”

“
Hey, that’s a Bruno Mars
song.”

“
You caught me. You know I’m
not great with words. I missed you, where have you been going off
to every day at seven am? OMG did you meet someone?”

“
No, I’ve been meeting Ms.
Mae. I’ve been learning stuff.” I didn’t know if I could tell her
exactly what kind of stuff just yet and what had happened. It was
all too surreal. The wounds were still raw.

“
What kind of stuff? Tell
me, I won’t freak out or anything. I think I know.”

“
Really, what do you
know?”

“
You’ve been learning how to
develop your witch powers.”

“
The technical term is
voodoo queen, but yeah, I’m pretty much learning how to be a
full-fledged queen or at least I was. I’m not anymore, not here
anyways. Are you going to call me a freak again?”

“
No, are you kidding, do you
know how awesome it is having a best friend who is a voodoo queen.
Think of all the possibilities.” Sabrina’s eyes got a faraway look,
she was probably thinking of ways she could get me to put a love
spell on Lucus. “So, you’re not going to tell Lucus?”

“
Sabrina listen to me, it’s
not my place to tell Lucus, but as your best friend, you need to
believe me when I say that you need to stay away from him. There
are things that you don’t know about him.”

“
Like what?” Her eyes got
large with anticipation.

“
I can’t explain. I’m
leaving Darkwood tomorrow, and I think that you should come with
me.”

“
Come with you, are you
insane?”

“
No, I’m serious. This place
is creepy, and we don’t belong here.”

From the cynical expression on
Sabrina’s face, I knew that this was going to lead to another
battle. “How can you say that when you’re the one who’s been
learning voodoo? You can’t just say that this place is creepy and
expect me to leave. I can’t leave yet. I haven’t had enough time
with Lucus,” she protested.

“
I’m sure Lucus is great and
all, but there are plenty of other guys.”

“
Not like him,” she
maintained. “If you leave, I’m still going to stay.”

“
For once can you please
just believe me, and not pick Lucus over me? We just made up. I
don’t want another fight.”

“
You know that I love you,
but I don’t have to leave. We don’t have to be joined at the hip
24/7, you know. I’m not picking him over you. It shouldn’t have to
be like that.”

“
It’s not about that. This
place is dangerous, that’s all,” I wanted to tell her the truth
about Lucus, but how could I? She was infatuated with him, so there
was no way she was going to believe me. A few weeks ago, I wouldn’t
have believed me either. I guess it didn’t matter whether Sabrina
stayed or not, they wanted me, not her. Besides, I knew that Ms.
Mae wouldn’t let Sabrina be harmed if she ever wanted me to
consider helping Lucus.

“
It’s okay if you go. I’ll
give you my paycheck,” Sabrina offered nobly.

“
You know I won’t take it.
It’s your choice if you want to stay, but I’m leaving first thing
in the morning.”

“
What’s with the drama, what
happened?” For the first time in a long time, Sabrina looked
genuinely worried. I hadn’t seen much of that side of her since
we’d left home.

“
It’s nothing. I just don’t
feel right working here anymore. I don’t feel safe.”

“
Oh please, the most
dangerous thing here is Mr. Dumpty, and that’s only when he has too
much gumbo, and slams back the hurricanes. I know you’re hiding
something,” Sabrina pressed on.

“
I don’t feel like talking
about it.” I wanted to forget everything about Darkwood and return
home to grand-mere Bea.

“
I know what will make you
feel better.” Sabrina walked over to the bed and pulled out a box
of chocolates from under her pillow. They were the chocolates Lucus
had given me. “I was tempted to eat all of the boxes, but I kept
this one for us. I figured it would be a great way to kiss and
makeup.”