Despairing Tides (Fate's Intent Book 12) (18 page)

“Is that so? Then what of Blake?”

“Blake is—well, he’s more eager about getting the throne but it makes sense since he is the more potent of the two. Wyatt is actually quite proud. He’s the ideal image of a Hintin man which really tells the rest of the world that he’s psycho. He takes a personal interest in seeing a prisoner’s sentence carried out as he’s the one that controls what happens. I’ve actually been down there one time to see what it was like and I got to see how he does it, very interesting. It’s all about conflicting as much pain as possible before you die, like with his specialty whip.” The muscles in my back twitched. “Ah, you’ve got to see this thing. Twelve feet of cold steel—”

“Rory.” Seth said quietly.

“—with a tripled spiked tip—”

“Rory.” Seth said again.

“—just waiting to grab a hold of you and rip away at the—”

Everything he was saying was just making it come back to me. It was going to take more than saying his name to stop him.

“Rory!” Dirk threw a roll at him and it bounced off his head and went back into his hand.

“Whoa! How did you do that?”

“That’s enough.”

“Bet you couldn’t do that again.”

Dirk glared over at him with red eyes and picked up a knife to his right. “How about I try with this?”

“Dirk!” Ruby shouted.

Rory froze and got wide-eyes as Dirk let go of the knife. Seth quickly brought up his hand and stopped it before it reached Rory and he sighed in relief. “You just tried to kill me.”

“You need to learn when enough is enough.”

“What’d I say?”

“Just forget it.”

“That’s not very good advice. I won’t learn that way.”

Dirk’s eyes flashed red as he pointed at him again. “You won’t learn at all if you keep it up.”

Seth looked across the table at me and knew what I was thinking through all of this. It was like I was feeling it all again. “Bryce, are you—”

“I’m finished.” I stood up and put my napkin on my plate. “Everyone, I bid you goodnight.”

I couldn’t stay to hear anything else. No one else could have known what that felt like. I could still feel it even now. I don’t think that kind of pain is ever going to go away.

Chapter 32

Seth

Bryce walked out. I tried to stop it but Rory hasn’t quite exactly learned yet.

He was even about to say something else when he left the room but Dirk stopped him. “No.”

“But I—”

“I said no.”

“You are such a—”

“Rory.” I interrupted. “Do you remember what you were told about picking your fights?”

“Yeah.”

“Then think before you talk. Or next time I’ll let him kill you.”

“Please do.” Dirk muttered.

“And what exactly would that be teaching me?”

Dirk laughed. “Not to do it again.”

“Oh, how humorous.”

“That’s enough, Rory.” I demanded.

“What? I’m sorry.”

“No. It’s time for you to go upstairs.”

“But I―”

“No. Go.”

Rory sighed and got up from his chair. “Fine.” He turned to our parents and bowed. “Thanks again for dinner, your majesties but it looks like I’m done for the night.”

“Of course, Rory.” Mother said with a smile. “Goodnight.” Rory smiled back and nodded as he turned to leave.

“Sweet dreams.” Dirk smiled. Rory turned back around and returned the smile.

“Don’t you even reply to that.” I said. “Go.”

Rory turned back around and walked out of the dining hall.

“Well, I’d say that went well.” Father said. “He’s coming along.”

“We still have a lot of work to do.” I replied.

“Unbelievably.” Dirk added.

“Well, you know, it would go a whole lot smoother if you were nice to him.” Mother said.

“It’s not our job to be nice. Once he learns that, it will get better.”

“You better hope if you only have four weeks.” Ruby added.

“It’ll be fine.” Dirk replied. “He’ll get there even if we have to beat him into shape.”

“Dirk!”

“What? It’s true. It’s the only way he’s learned so far.”

I sighed. “That is true. He was much worse when we met him and had to take him all the way back to Dorlin against his will.”

“You mean, you took him as your prisoner?” Jaylyn wondered.

Dirk laughed. “Yeah but he brought that on himself. Trever tells us to do whatever it takes to get him where he needs to be and we’re going to do just that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got one last lesson for him before he goes to sleep.” He got up and started walking to the door.

“Dirk, don’t get rough!” I shouted.

Dirk turned around and walked backwards as he laughed. “I won’t too bad but don’t worry about it if you hear someone scream like a little girl, it’s just the kid and that means he failed!”

I sighed and put my head down on the table. “This is going to be the longest four weeks of my life.”

“The first week is almost over.” My father said. “But perhaps you should go assist him.”

I nodded and stood up. “I probably should.” I walked around to my mother and leaned down to her. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.” We kissed each other’s cheek. “Be sure to let us know his progress.”

“I will.”

I walked to the door. I would have liked to stay longer and talk about the possibility of Darius being Cadence’s father because of how Wyatt has been these days but I didn’t know if it was a good idea that everyone knew that I knew. It was still something I thought about, especially since I knew this thing with Wyatt wasn’t over because I struck him. Something was going to happen next. I just didn’t know what but we would be prepare for anything.

Chapter 33

Zayden

“Well, I’d say that was quite interesting to watch.” Troy said, breaking the silence after Seth departed.

Darius laughed. “Which part?”

“All of it probably.” Adele replied. “Like father, like son.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Darius wondered, sounding angrier now.

“Our son’s behavior towards Rory.” Ruby answered. “It’s almost familiar.”

“That’s not fair. I never put it on Dirk to hate him.”

“Maybe not.” I said. “But he gets that spitefulness from you. You can’t deny that.”

“Perhaps but he’s not the only one doing it. There’s just something else about that kid that’s been getting to all of them.”

“Well, whatever it is, it’ll pass.” Jaylyn added. “His future depends on it and they know that.”

“Speaking of the future.” I said. “The girls should be returning sometime within the next week and Jaylyn, I need you to be prepared and get to Naomi before Bryce does.”

She sighed and nodded. “I know but let us hope she’s not.”

“And if she is?” Troy asked. “What then? You know what this will do to him if he finds out.”

“Then we rid her of it.” Adele said. “He never has to know.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” Darius asked.

“With me.” Ruby answered. “I can take it from her.”

“You can really do that?” I wondered, hoping for some good news.

“Simply but it’s going to take time.”

“How much time?” Troy asked.

“Enough that someone has to keep Bryce distracted so he doesn’t know she’s returned. We wouldn’t want him to do something else he’ll regret.”

“Okay.” I said. “We can do that too. We just have to make sure he’s distracted with Rory when she gets here.”

“You better be absolutely sure you can do it.” Troy continued. He sounded a little demanding but we understood how things would be if it couldn’t be taken care of.

“Relax.” Ruby said. “I can. He’ll never have to know.”

It sounded good but we could only really hope at this point.

Chapter 34

Rory

I stayed up a little later after Dirk had finally left me alone. It was like he wanted to see what I had for dinner and he’s the one that watched it all go in. I guess I shouldn’t have minded it. Negative attention is better than getting no attention but I was determined to change all of that. I wanted them to be proud of me; I wanted my father to be proud of me. I deserved his acceptance, didn’t I? I’m back after all. Well—sort of back but I’m still not home. When I would be is the opportunity I had to prove it. I would have everything, their respect and my sword.

My sword.

I still wanted to see it and I honestly couldn’t help myself. It was kind of keeping me awake. I snuck out of my room and listened for Seth’s thoughts so I would know where his room was. It wasn’t far in fact. He was thinking of that Cadence girl so it was easy to find him.

I slowly opened the door and it creaked while being gently pushed open. I hoped I wouldn’t wake him or else I would have to make up some excuse for why I’m in here. I looked around with just the light from the moon lighting my way and saw the rolled up bundle of cloth sitting on the desk. I smiled to myself then took a step forward but heard Seth move in his sleep.

I paused for a moment and looked over at the bed to make sure he wasn’t waking up. He wasn’t. He just moved. I walked over to the desk and unraveled the sword. It was incredible and everything I imagined it would be but when I touched it, the eyes on the lion head began to glow. It frightened me. I quickly pulled my hand away and watched the eyes fade. I didn’t know what this meant. Was this sword cursed or something? I didn’t care at the moment. I quickly covered it up as fast as I could and got out of there.

Once out in the hall, I stood against the wall and was taking deep breaths. I’ve never seen anything like that before. It had to be cursed to do something like that. It was like the lion was looking right at me.

I was still shaking about it as I made my way back to my room to go to bed. I tried to forget about what I just saw and sought to tell no one. I didn’t want anyone to see me as afraid.

Chapter 35

Dirk

A week has passed and we had been gaining progress on teaching the young Prince the ways of proper behavior and formality as he embarked on his last two weeks before he would be announced as a man.

It was early morning and Seth, Bryce and I started the day with a warm-up training session before we would return to mentor Rory. We haven’t gotten much of this in since he’s been here but we all felt like we needed to.

We were each equipped with a wooden stick just to go light and were positioned outside of the palace on the grass. Bryce and I were facing each other and Seth started the match between us. “Begin.”

At that moment, Bryce immediately swung his stick towards me and I put up mine to block. I then spun around and swung at Bryce as Bryce ducked out of the way and swung low at my feet. I jumped over it and swung high towards him.

“Are you going to let me try this time?”

Rory had ran out to us with an extreme measure of excitement and Bryce and I stopped.

“Do you think you’re ready?” Seth asked.

“Yeah, I’m ready but do you think I am?”

Seth smiled as he looked back at us.

“Why not?” I answered. “I’ll admit you’ve done well this last week. Maybe we should give you a break with some fun every now and then.”

“Really? You mean it?”

“Yeah.” Bryce said as he held out his stick to Rory. “Unless, you’ve changed your mind.”

He slowly started to pull the stick back and Rory grabbed it. “You don’t have to ask me twice.”

“All right, then get over there.” Seth said as he waved his hand away from us. “As always, we’ll start with the basics.” Rory took a few steps away with me and we faced each other. “You’re main goal is to not let your opponent strike you, this being Dirk. One strike in real life and you’d be dead so let’s practice your blocking first. Dirk, go easy on him.”

“I’ve got it. Hope you’re ready?”

Rory held tightly to his stick and smiled. “Ready when you are.”

“One double strike first then move to a triple.” Seth explained. “Remember, Rory, you are blocking only. Ready? Begin.”

I swung one end of my stick at Rory but he quickly blocked and I swung the other end toward him and he blocked again.

I smiled. “Not bad. You’ve been watching us.” Rory didn’t reply, just smiled. “Let’s see how you handle this.” I swung really quickly at him again.

Rory blocked and I immediately swung two more times but Rory blocked both times as well. I knew his confidence was up and this easily became a way to bring him down. I swung at him several more times so he was getting distracted by blocking and then I spun around and swung low, taking out Rory’s feet. He fell to the ground.

I stood over him and put the stick in his face. “You showed too much self-assurance that time. Best if you keep that to yourself.” I moved the stick away and put down my hand to help him up.

“Not bad for your first time.” Seth said.

“Whoever said that was my first time?” Rory asked with a smile.

We looked at each other.

“You’ve been holding out on us then.” Bryce said. “Where have you done this before?”

“I’ve done some dueling in my time in Hintus for money. It was an alternative to stealing what I needed but that all changed when I broke my arm.”

“So, how good are you?” Seth asked.

Rory smiled. “Care to find out?”

Seth raised his eyebrow. “All right. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Rory smiled as he took a quick strike toward Seth. Seth blocked and returned the hit, starting the match. Rory moved aside, out of the way and swung up at Seth. Seth flipped backwards to get out of the way as Rory stepped to him, continuously swinging his stick. It was good but then Seth blocked, pinning Rory’s stick down to the ground. He looked up at Seth with wide eyes as Seth smiled and quickly swung his stick up. Rory jumped back and blocked.

His eyes caught the attention of something for a quick second and it was like he lost all thought as to what he was doing and Seth knocked him to the ground.

He hit hard and we reacted together. “Ooh!”

Seth dropped his stick and we all went over and stood around him to make sure he wasn’t dead.

“Shit, are you all right?” Seth asked.

Rory continued to lay on his back but he nodded. “I think I’m in love. I didn’t even feel that.”

“In love?” I wondered. “What are you talking about?”

We looked up and saw a Ledian carriage had arrived since we’ve been out here.

“Oh, the King has arrived.” Seth said. “You’re in love with the King?”

“No.” Rory quickly got to his feet and looked over there but no one was around. “There was a girl. The most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. She had long hair that would shame the very shine of the amber stone and the face of my future.”

I laughed. “Shit, Seth. You hit him pretty hard. He’s talking crazy.”

“No, I think he’s talking about Oren’s daughter, the Princess.”

“She’s a Princess? Fuck yeah!”

Rory took a step forward but Seth stopped him. “No. You are not to have any contact with her so long as she’s here, understand?”

“Why not? That doesn’t seem fair.”

“She’s here vacationing with her father for the last time before she goes to Rugis to marry Prince Ellis and you are not to get in the way of that. Their marriage has been planned since her birth.”

“You mean she’s being forced to marry but he’s got to be almost ten years older than her!”

“It’s just how things are. Not everyone can be as lucky as we have been. Some things just need to be pushed in the right direction for the future.”

“But—”

Seth held up his hand and stopped him. “I don’t want to hear it. It’s the King’s decision and you are not to interfere.”

“Fine.”

“Good. Now, that’s enough of this. It’s time to get back to your training. You have two weeks until your final test and we shouldn’t delay progress by standing around talking about this. Let’s go.”

We walked into the palace and continued to train Rory up in his room away from any distractions—meaning the Princess.