Emanate: Insight Series ((Insight) Web of Hearts and Souls) (6 page)

He glanced to my chest
, then met my stare. “Just as Alamos stated over and over that the time to kill you was now. I didn’t back down, and if you are still who I think you are, you will not either.”

“
I don’t know how to explain this to her, and if I don’t figure out how, my family is going to take the liberty. They will make it seem whimsical. Hide the reality of it.”

“
You must find a way to tell her, then. She trusts you more than them,” he said with one raised brow to mark his point.

“She
trusts herself,” I said quietly.

We had both witnessed how stubborn Willow could be. She never
listens to anyone, which is one of the countless things I love about her.

Drake shifted in his
seat, letting his scathing glance meet mine. “Blue eyes.”

“Don’t go there
.”  I was still furious at him for putting the illusion of that blue-eyed girl before me when we faced Mercury. He swore it wasn’t him, but he was the only soul in the universe, beyond Phoenix, that knew of that secret. That night had saturated Willow with raging jealously—that night made Willow meeting Skylynn worse than it should have been.

I never lied. I told Willow
when I met her in our dreams that I only saw her soul. That was the truth. What I left out was that at one time her soul carried blue eyes.

Not long ago
, Drake and I had an argument only feet from Willow through harsh whispers—he wanted me to tell Willow about the blue eyes, tell her that she was obviously holding back her soul and that she needed to be strong for what we were facing then. I didn’t. She was nowhere near over the illusion he
swore
he didn’t create.

When Drake saw Skylynn for the first time
, he couldn’t help gawking at me with questioning eyes. I only glared, clearly telling him it was nothing more than a coincidence. By then, Madison had surfaced and he knew I was always telling the truth about Willow. That she was mine. That no matter how deep within that breathtaking vessel of hers she was buried—we were made of one.

“I’ve never lied to Willow
.”

“You never let her know the real you either.
” He smirked. “All sweet and cuddly, saying the perfect words. No one can be perfect all the time, Landen. Bet that little lavender blonde gave you an unwanted reality check—bet that girl knew the warrior you are.”

My
whole body tensed. “Back off, Blakeshire. She has nothing to do with this; that is an entirely different ordeal.”

“She’s cute. I can see the appeal. Why you were drawn there.”

A glare from me sent a wave of energy thundering at him. Of course, he met my play and the inside of the Jeep all but ripped apart. We both backed off before my Jeep was torn in two.

“I will answer for that soon enough. And you can tease me all you want about being sweet and cuddly with Willow
. Lest you forget, I can read your intent. You have plans to do the same with Madison.”

At that
, he laughed. “Maybe. But seriously. I didn’t cause that illusion of Willow having blue eyes. I know Donalt and Alamos didn’t either. So it came from you or Willow. Considering you were imprisoned by it, I’m going out on a limb here and I’m going to say Willow created that. That somehow she knows that she is trapped inside. Try telling her that. Try explaining why you do not want to do this ceremony, at least not yet. If you don’t come out with this now, when she hears it, her jealousy is going to shred you. If she does not link the blue eyes with Skylynn, then she will link them with some other phantom girl. Explain yourself before she reads it all over your face. Demand that she stops hiding.”

Sure
, Drake. Willow responds awesomely to demands. Not to mention that I didn’t think it mattered if we chose to participate or not, this flame deal was going to happen—and when it fails, when neither she nor I ascend, more than four million years of beliefs will go up in flames as we wage war with Donalt, with Esterious. A world that is divided has no chance at victory.

“Look
, man,” Drake said, adjusting himself in his seat. “I don’t get this any more than you, but the way I see it, we’re both in the same boat. We both have kingdoms that are expecting us to rise up and redeem them, both fighting evil for that to occur, and at the same time we know that the ones we share our souls with, the souls around us in this supernatural war, have a purpose that is even more impossible than the one our people expect of us.”

I nodded once.

He stared at me for a second before he went on. “The thing is, you and I know this ascension Chara wants to occur will not happen the way they want it to. I know you. I know that whoever you were back then did not create Chara for the sole purpose of ruling it, then taking over Esterious. You created it to be an example. Some supernatural power may be pulling you to fortify this dimension, but all in all I know we are meant for more.”

“Some kind of universal rule
,” I said without thought.

He nodded
, which oddly shocked me. “I doubt that we would have been put through the hell we have endured over lifetimes for the sake of an Earthly kingdom.” He moved his stoic stare over me. “You don’t want to be a king, never have wanted to be one. Willow doesn’t want to be a queen. The two of you need to get over that. One way or another, you are going to lead people. In some way, you already are, albeit without some formal title.”

“Do you understand how any of this connects? Do you understand that Donalt ruled more than a dark kingdom
? That he in fact ruled the emotion of fear? That in The Realm he is basically seen as a dark God? That he has legions of Escorts under his command? That in your palace there is only a trace of the ones that honor him?”

One nod.

“Who told you?”

“Mostly my gut.
It’s always been clear to me what you wanted to free souls from. Meeting Draven, seeing him go head-to-head with Xavier, knowing that man relishes in shocking souls…hearing Madison tell me of childhood dreams. All of that combined with what I saw and felt in The Realm when my soul was turned inside out—it all told me that we are meant for more. That these Earthly games are just that.”

“It
’s not all Earthly, though. I have a supernatural mark on my chest. Willow does, too.”

“And your people will see it the way they want to see it. Doesn’t mean you have to agree.”

I didn’t respond.

“What risk do you see with this ceremony?”

“Lack of knowledge. No text that we know of stated how it would happen or what would happen. What was clear was that our cycle would be complete. The thing is, on a spiritual level we are nowhere near where the lore says we should be…every trial pushed her deeper inside.”

“Tri
als Donalt put in place. He put her in that cage. You need to get her out.”

I knew that
, so I didn’t bother to respond.

“You know what? I seriously doubt Donalt thought we would have made it alive and well to this point in the trials. He thought you were going down with the Blue Moon, that my past with Willow was strong enough to do that
which means that at this point in this cruel game, he imagined himself consuming me with Willow at my side, he imagined this heavenly lineup of Saturn and Neptune occurring completely differently than it will—he saw this lineup as Willow seizing Chara from my side.”

I raised my brow at this train of thought. It made sense. It also fit the lore of Chara, that Esterious would breach us and the Fla
mes would rise to defend us. Donalt knew that lore, and he would have tried to take a vital piece of that ceremony away: Willow. In a way, he already has with the state she’s in, but there’s still hope. I’m still standing. Drake is still standing.

“But Willow rocked his boat with every trial
. She chose you,” he said, clearing his throat, clearly not over the heartache that caused us all when it occurred. “And to top it all off, she went hunting for my soul mate—and now my dimension has laid eyes on Madison Marie.”

“So y
ou think since you’re not attacking Chara, because we are allies, that the ceremony of Chara will not happen the way they think it will?” He was delusional if that were true, and I was ready to show him the mark that was already forming on my chest to prove my point.

“Donalt is already
assaulting you. He’s put your queen in peril, added a few locks to the prison she walked herself into. You need to deal with that. You want peace to stop war. Take it. The only way you can do that is to free her. Be with her. Decide what the pair of you want, and ignore the rest; none of it will hold if there is no foundation of you and her.”

He wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know. The how was still a mystery
though.

“He’s going
to do whatever he can to distract you. Don’t let him.”

“Put your dimension in peril again,” I agreed.

“It has never left peril. If I were him
, though, I would kick up enough dust to cause you to come to Esterious and leave behind Chara.”

“You know just as well as I do that neither Willow
nor I can sit back and watch your people suffer.”

“I do. I just think that with this trial we need to try something different. Instead of coming
together and fighting one evil God, we should go to our respective corners and deal with the evil Gods that are challenging us, whether that challenge is an open one or silent one.”

“Draven have something going on with Xavier right now?”

“More than likely. That’s what I meant, though. You, me, Draven, and your Phoenix buddy all coming to my palace to fight some conflict that is not clear yet—how do we know that is not a distraction? That we think we are standing together to take down Donalt, or even Xavier, but in reality they’re hurting us on some other level? Maybe even an eternal one.”

“Sounds like you’
re telling me to stay at home and rise to be the king of Chara.”

He smirked. “I’m not. I’m just telling you that we need to
do the opposite of what we have in the past. Stop letting them corral us with all these dramas that keep popping up. Fight for what matters and ignore the illusions of conflicts that are nothing more than distractions.”

“You realize this trial is suppose
d to be Saturn, right?”

“My sources say that Saturn is entangled with Neptune.” He glanced to the house
, then back at me. “Which is why I’m saying what I’m saying. If Neptune is in this mix, then there are going to be illusions and Saturn is going to ground us at the same time. I’m not letting this trial twist me, and I don’t want it to twist you. I think your only problem right now is what is going on between you and Willow.”

“Man, for the life of me I can’t figure out why we would be having so many issues
,” I said, angling my eyes at him, only halfway joking.

“Landen, I love her. I can’t tell you or Madison that I don’t. We had
a past, several of them. I believed she was the solution my world needed. In some way, I still believe that, but you can’t blame me for this lack of connection you think you have.” He stared me down for a second or two. “Not this go around. We both have amends to make.”

“And kingdoms asking for our full attention. A supernatural war looking for heroes to
be leaders among them.”

His dark eyes narrowed on me.
“We can’t rule anything without being whole, without coming to terms with our past mistakes and all.”

I thought about telling him of the lore on the seven souls that were
to rise and take out the evil Gods in place now, that I had a theory that Madison may very well be one of them, that I was unclear on what that role would ask of her or him, but I let it set for now. No sense in bringing up something I didn’t understand, something Phoenix and I were still mulling over.

“Well
, then, I guess I need to go and check my borders, make sure we are safe and sound for the time being.”

“That’s what you go
t out of all that? Go make sure your borders are safe?”

I nearly laughed.
“She’s asleep. I get what you’re saying, I do.” As I stepped out of the Jeep, he followed. “I’m going to leave this here if you need it.”

“You’re getting fond of zapping around
, aren’t you?”

“Faster when moving to different planes and such. I think I can teach you how to
do this.”

He shook his head. “Already working on it.”

“Really?”

One nod.

I went to leave, but then I hesitated. “You need me, you call me. Don’t let pride stop you.”

“Same
,” he said to me.

There was more to say, more to analyze, more to prepare for
, but words were not coming now. I doubted either of us would be in a position to debate or plot a future until we knew our girls were all right.

For now
, we could only hope that sleep was healing them.