Children of the Gods - A Chosen Novel (21 page)

A hand snaked around my waist, pulling me
down next to him. I fit perfectly into the curve of his body. I was
meant to be there.

“What are you up to, Love?” he whispered in
my ear, cradling me in his arms. I turned my head and kissed his
lips, knowing this was the last time I would ever make love to the
man who had become my world.

His lips seemed to understand the urgency of
the situation, as did the fingers that had been tracing my skin
sleepily only moments before took on a desperation, as if seeking
to memorize every inch of me.

~o~

His eyes watched my face as I trailed circles
aimlessly across his chest. I was unwilling to fall asleep and lose
any of the final moments I had with him. Whether he sensed it or
not, he too remained awake holding me, running his hands through my
hair and down my back.

I knew I could wait no more. I had to get him
and Griff off the ship before I could begin preparing, and I needed
to be ready before breakfast.

“I need you to do something for me,” I said,
looking him in the eye.

He watched me for a minute before
nodding.

“I need you and Griff to take Niko back to
the City today, before anyone wakes up.”

He nodded again, but still did not say
anything. His eyes felt all-knowing and I feared he was humoring me
so he could lock me away in our room until it was too late.
Instead, he kissed my forehead, then slid out from under me.

Seeing him dress like it was any other day
nearly did me in. I stifled a cry in my throat and pressed my face
into the pillow to gain my wits.

I could hear him getting ready to leave. I
launched off the bed and tackled him near the door. I pulled him
close. “Please be careful,” I begged while my fingers pressed deep
into his skin.

He lifted me off the floor, pulling my mouth
to his. I kissed him with all the longing and pain of loss. His
lips trembled and his breath seemed to impart a similar knowledge.
I almost could not let him go. Then I did.

He slowly let me slip down his body till my
feet rested on the floor, but he still held me tight against him.
“I love you,” he breathed.

I laced my fingers through his hair and
kissed him once more, savoring the taste of him on my lips as I
pulled away. “Not nearly half as much as I love you,” I whispered
back.

He chuckled as he stepped through the opening
leaving me to my dire task.

There were few humans aboard the ship; the
girls who bathed me, the kitchen staff, and about five others with
responsibilities throughout the ship, not including the guards.
Though they were not human, they were also not Haloran. I could not
justify their deaths either. They would be the hardest to convince
to leave the ship.

I took my time dressing, trying to draw out
the minutes before I had to begin the tasks that would end my life.
It was only a moment, but each second ticked by in slow motion as I
sat on the bed breathing in and out, trying to gain the nerve to
act. I Hoped what I did here would make all the time I had wasted
worth it. Finally, I stood and headed to the opening.

I jumped as the wall began opening even
before I laid a hand on it to command it to do so. My breath caught
as I took in the look on Jaxson’s face, standing in the opening,
blocking my way.

“You did not think you would be so easily rid
of me, did you?” he asked with a dangerous hint to his tone.

I stood dumbstruck, unable to respond, unsure
if I was elated or devastated.

“I know what you are up to,” he spoke when it
was clear I would not. “You have tasted of goodbye for days
now.”

I grabbed him and pulled him tight to me. His
eyes held too much anguish for me to bear. If I continued looking
at him, I would lose my resolve. “You have to leave.” My words came
out in a sob against his chest.

“I will not leave you. Whatever your fate is,
it will be mine as well.” He pulled my head back, forcing me to see
the resolve in his own eyes.

“I do not think I can do it if it means
destroying you,” I sobbed. “But it has to be done. This all has to
end. It started with me, and it must end with me. Too much innocent
blood is on my hands. I cannot have your blood on them too.”

“I will not live without you,” he said,
simply. “Besides, this will put things right back home, and finally
clear my conscience.”

Unsure of what he meant, I stared in
bewilderment.

“Once I am gone, a new king will be born, and
they will finally be whole again.”

I looked into his perfect green eyes that
held both sadness and a twinkle of hope, and I could see the world
in them. A different world, one we could never have. The one,
Pimilco, the fortune teller’s card had promised…

There was a little girl with dark curls
bobbing around olive skin that matched her fathers. Jaxson was
laughing as he snatched her up and tossed her into the air and
caught her again. I watched from a porch that overlooked our
pond.

With a blink, it was all gone.

He took my hand and led me out through the
opening. “What do we do first?”

“You cannot help me with the first part.”

“I am not leaving you. If this is to be our
last day together, I am spending every moment with you,” he
responded.

“Only I can do this first part. It will kill
you.” I touched his arm. “I want as many of our last moments as we
have. So I need you to trust me. Go get all the humans, except the
kitchen staff, off the ship.”

He nodded and began to leave, then turned
back and kissed me. I felt light headed as he pulled away. I
watched him disappear down the hallway and away from me. It felt
like he was tearing a piece of me away with him.

Again, I thought of the fortune teller’s
cards. Secretly I had been hoping she was right, that somehow I was
the exception to all their rules. But it was clear now, she really
could not tell the fortune of a God. That third card should have
told of death, not life.

With a jolt, I realized I did not have time
to wallow in my sadness. I had mourned my own death for the past
few days and accepted it. I would not get a chance to mourn
Jaxson’s.

I felt my feet propelling me forward, though
I did not recall deciding to actually do so. Before I knew it, I
was standing in front of the garden. No turning back now. Anaya’s
emotions were still muted from my recent visit, but it was obvious
she was frightened.

I lurched into the room and scrambled around,
plucking every lily I could get my hands on. I was grateful that
Jaxson had brought me so many, and had Griff replenish them so
often. I would need every last one for my plan to work. I fought
off a twinge of sadness as I looked at the gift that made all of
this possible. If I had not flirted with Niko that night in front
of the woman with the flowers, if he had not put one behind my ear,
things would have turned out very different.

I stumbled out into the hallway, hoping not
to pass anyone on my way to the kitchen. Luck was on my side and
the hall remained clear.

Harlan looked up and his eyes widened as saw
me. His gaze moved from my face to the flowers and back to my face.
“You cannot…” he trailed off, realizing who he was speaking to.

“Help me,” I said as I tried to step over the
opening into the kitchen. He reached out and caught me just as my
foot snagged on the wall and I tumbled forward.

He steadied me and looked carefully around
the hall before helping me into the kitchen fully. “What are you
doing?” he asked through his teeth.

I took a deep breath and looked him in the
eyes, hating what I was about to do. “Harlan, I need your help. I
need you to make sure no plate of food leaves this room without
sprinkling some of the pollen into it. Then if there are enough,
place a flower on every tray. When everyone is served, you must
leave the ship immediately. Do not stop for any reason.” I spoke in
the softest, most compelling voice I could muster.

His pupils grew until they swallowed all the
color. Giant black orbs stared back on me, then returned to normal,
but the light in his eyes was gone. I had snatched away his ability
to tell me “no” so easily it frightened me.

I turned to see Marcel frozen, watching me
carefully, his knife still hovering over the piece of meat he had
been working on. I repeated the same pattern with him and every
other worker.

I felt sick to my stomach when I stumbled
back into the hall. I raced to the room.

“I need a bath,” I ordered into the wall.

“Yes, my lady. Right away,” the voice issued
from the wall.

“And send my girls please,” I said casually,
realizing how frantic I originally sounded.

Not waiting for the girls, I slipped into the
steaming water and let it slip over my head. I began scrubbing away
the lilies’ deadly poison that covered me. I could not risk Jaxson
coming in contact with me this way.

Chapter
30

No sound was ever more glorious than the
sound of the chimes announcing Jaxson had returned. He peeked in at
me as the opening expanded to admit him.

“I see you found the girls,” he whispered,
sounding relieved.

I nodded, wishing we were not speaking of
death so easily.

“What is next?” he asked, taking my hand as I
stepped out into the hall.

“The control room.” I motioned.

He laced our fingers together and coiled his
arm around mine nearly fusing our sides to one another as we walked
slowly down the hallway. Without letting go of my hand he raised
the main console with his other hand. “You have sealed everyone in
the dining room?” he asked.

“Yes, no one will be escaping,” I responded,
amazed that my voice sounded so somber given the turmoil that was
going on within me.

He pressed his fingers to the console and it
let out a grating noise.

“You would not have been able to complete
this without me.” He motioned to the wall. It was asking for my
confirmation.

“I am so sorry,” I cried into his shoulder as
I pressed my fingers to the console, completing the order to
destroy the ship.

“We have a little time,” he said, pulling my
face away from his skin. “Where would you like to spend your final
moments?” He gasped as the room transformed, and we were standing
on the porch he had built with his own hands over a thousand years
before. Before all of this started, and he was just an innocent boy
preparing to build a family.

Tears filled his eyes as he took in the pond
and the feathery trees that stood as sentinels around the cottage.
He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped and looked deep in my
eyes. “It is so real,” he whispered.

There was a flutter in my stomach, then
another. Then the thing I never thought I would feel. There was a
bump, a tiny kick of life?

“What is it?” Jaxson’s eyes were filled with
concern.

I touched my belly. “I think there is
something in here.”

He dropped to his knees and pressed his face
to my belly.

There was another bump.

He pulled his face back, looking at me with
questions in his eyes that melted into wonder. “A baby?”

“I think so,” I respond. “Pimilco was
right.”

He placed both hands on the small round that
was my belly. Tears were streaming down his face as he kissed my
bare skin.

“I am a father?” he asked.

The look on his face, the wonder, was a
glimpse into the world I had seen hours before when I looked into
his eyes. He had never looked more happy.

Suddenly he froze and stood. “Griff? Griff?
Griff!” he screamed.

Large hands clamped down on my shoulders.

“You are not the only one with gifts, Reka,”
Jaxson said.

“You knew?”

He nodded.

“She is with child. You must save her,
Griff,” he ordered.

“No, wait!” I tore away from Griff’s iron
grip. “You have to come with me,” I pleaded, grabbing hold of
Jaxson.

He pried my fingers free of his arm and took
my hands into his. “You have given me the one thing I have always
wanted, but Anaya could never give me, even in a thousand years.
You loved me. I always knew this day would come. I do not know how
you did it, and I am not sure how long you will last. I do know I
cannot go back to living a life without you. I am sorry, my love.
Griff can only take one. It must be you.”

“There is still time. We can both escape. We
could still be together until I die. Then we can both go together,”
I sobbed.

“There is no time, Reka. Tell Anaya I am glad
she will finally be getting what she always wanted, because she
gave me what I always wanted. You.” He brushed the tears from my
cheeks, and leaned in, pressing his soft lips to mine. They were
salty from his tears.

A thunderous crack shook the ship and Griff’s
hands were on my shoulders again, ripping me away from the only
thing that mattered. The world blurred into a shower of light and
fire. My feet touched bare earth and the ground trembled. I turned
just in time to see the ship explode.

Griff grabbed me and pulled me close,
shielding my eyes. I struggled to get free, but he held me until
there was no fight left in me.

Chapter
31

“The baby is kicking a lot lately. I think it
is getting close to time,” I said, putting my hand on Griff’s
arm.

“Sounds about right me,” he responded.

Griff was always short with me when I spoke
about the baby. I think he knew what was coming and wanted to avoid
the conversation, but I could put it off no longer.

“I need to ask for your help with something,”
I said, knowing he would hate me for asking.

“Anything.” He glanced at me, but did not
meet my eyes. Just as quick, his eyes were back on the path ahead
of us.

“When the time comes, I need you to do what
is necessary,” I said.