Eternal Bloom - Book 5 (The Ruby Ring Saga) (13 page)

“We didn’t hurt the panther!” I yelled, assuming they were angry at us for disturbing the natural balance of their island. “We just gave it a good scare, that’s all.”

They didn’t speak or flinch. Gripping their spears tightly, they just glared at us.

My stomach dropped into my shoes. “Victor!” I said, inching closer to him. “I don’t think they like trespassers much.”

He gripped my hand tightly, and a trickle of sweat rolled down his face. He blinked, as if to focus.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

He nodded, then wiped his brow. “We must try to make peace with these natives.”

I stared at my hands and thought, for a moment, that I had four of them. “Everything’s spinning...and I’m seeing double.” At that point, I was sure I’d been shot with a blowgun. It felt as if Guardian poison was surging through my veins, and I worried that they had somehow obtained it, one of the rare things that could kill me.
Is this the end, after all I’ve been through? After all we’ve survived, am I gonna die out here in the jungle on some mythical island?
I had survived death so many times, yet I now worried that my child and I would be destroyed by a tiny little poisonous dart.
What kind of game is fate playing with me? Or maybe it’s my own fault for coming here without an invitation.
I touched my stomach, and a tear tumbled down my face. “I’m so sorry, Alexander.”

It was all a blur, but I felt a tug as one of the warriors grabbed my arm, and I collapsed.

Victor swiftly intervened and lunged at one of the warriors. “Do not treat her this way! She’s carrying my child!” he shouted, as if he was ready to take on the whole clan.

Everything started to blur even more. I blinked, but it didn’t help my vision to clear. I could only make sense of Victor crashing to the ground next to me. I took a deep breath, reached for his hand, and held it in a death grip. “I love you, Victor. You’re my...” I tried to say, but I couldn’t get my tongue to cooperate.

“I love you too,” he said as his eyes fluttered shut.

My heart lurched. Through the fog, I crawled closer to him, then collapsed on his chest. I softly touched his face. “I love you so, so much.” Then, dizziness rushed over me, and I drifted off into darkness.

W
hen I opened my eyes, I noticed knights guarding every corner of the huge room I stood in. Iron chandeliers holding a multitude of taupe-colored candles hung above me. Beautiful red and purple tapestries and elaborate arrangements of gleaming swords, maces, arm poles, and shields covered the stone-sculptured walls. Somehow, I was right back in Victor’s castle on my wedding day, dressed in that white and gold Juliet-style wedding dress. The corseted bodice clung to my chest like a second skin, and everything sparkled from the crystal and tulle embellishments. Curls trimmed my forehead and fell in ringlets down the sides of my face. Thicker curls hung loosely at the back of my head and neck. A long veil trailed to the ground, and I could feel the tiara on my head. Still, I felt far more confused than beautiful. My stomach dropped.
How is this even possible?

Glancing up, I couldn’t keep from staring at the beautiful man before me, my wonderful husband. He looked so damn handsome all dressed up for his nuptials. I inhaled sharply, taking in every single detail. He wore his best black and white doublet with a golden lion emblazoned on the velvet, outlining every muscle in his chest. On his head was a gold crown, adorned with a variety of fancy jewels. The facets of the gems reflected the light of the torches, and I was completely mesmerized by the sight of him. And then I remembered that mind-blowing kiss we shared after the priest left the room,  hot kiss that would be seared into my memory forever.

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves.
What’s going on? Did I travel back in time? Am I dead, or am I simply dreaming?

I glanced up at Victor. “Victor!” I gripped his hands as his muscles flinched from my touch, as if he was shocked by my actions. It was almost as if he didn’t recognize me as his loving wife, the mother-to-be of his child. I flipped a curl over my shoulder. “Victor, it’s me, Sarah.”

“Are we back to that again, Princess Gloria?” he asked, his jaw taut.

“Victor, you know who I really am.” I softly touched my stomach. “I’m carrying your baby, and—”

His face registered complete shock. “Have you gone mad? That’s not
my
child.”

“Yes it is! Alexander,” I said with absolute certainty.

He shook his head, and his voice cracked as he said, “We have never been...intimate, Princess. I assure you that child is not mine.”

“What are you talking about, Victor? We made love in the rain and created our child in perfect love,” I insisted. “How could you forget—”

“Clearly, you are delusional.” A troubled look settled over his face. “I just met you this morning, and I will not tolerate these accusations.”

“I can’t believe you’re treating me like this, Victor—like a complete stranger.”

His frown deepened, and he turned toward the priest. “She must have hit her head far harder than we thought,” he said. “We must bring in the healer as quickly as we can.”

“No healer!” I touched his arm.

Compassion filled his eyes, and he carefully studied my face. “Are you sure, Princess? We must consider your health and wellbeing a priority.”

I pushed a few curls away from my face. “Please! I’m fine. Let’s just continue.”

The frown resumed its hold on his face. Nonetheless, he nodded, and the priest continued.

It suddenly dawned on me why Victor didn’t recognize me as his wife; somehow, we’d been jolted back to the day we’d first met. As far as he knew, we hadn’t fallen in love yet. He’d captured me thinking I was Princess Gloria, and he didn’t yet have any idea of my true identity. He had mistaken me for an Immortal princess, and he was set to use me as a pawn in his little sparring match with William.

The priest smiled at me. “Do you take King Victor Fesque to be your wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, till death do you part, if the Holy Church doth ordain it?”

Just as I was about to say,
“I do,”
to the priest and the beaming Victor, already knowing how wonderful my life would be with him, a burst of light suddenly blinded me. When I opened my eyes, Victor was frozen like a statue. I looked at the priest, my lips trembling. “What’s going on? What’s happening?”

“I need to talk to you for a moment,” said the priest, cocking his head as if to study my reaction.

“Unfreeze him,” I begged. “Please.”

“I will, but you must hear me out first.” Without waiting for my answer, he continued, “Think long and hard before you accept this marriage.”

I cocked a brow, stumped.

“If you marry this man, your life will be forever changed, fair maiden.”

“I know that, but I-I love him,” I said, more determined than ever.

“You love him? Victor is pushing you into a cold, meaningless, rushed wedding, nothing at all like the glorious ceremony you’ve dreamt of since you were a little girl.”

“How do you know about that?”

His gaze narrowed. “I know everything about you.” He motioned to the knights. “You are not surrounded by your loved ones, your friends and family. These witnesses don’t even really know you. Your parents are not here, and won’t they be heartbroken to discover that you wed without their knowledge?”

“Sure, Reverend, Victor and I started out on the wrong foot, but things are different now, and—”

The priest stared at Victor and cut me off. “I can see he’s very smitten with you, but we both know he doesn’t really love you.”

“He doesn’t love me yet, but that’s because he’s only known me for a day. Victor is my soulmate, though, and over time, we’ll fall madly in love with each other.”

“If you accept his ring, his hand in marriage, you will be become an Immortal being. You will be chased by Victor’s enemies, who will want nothing more to kill you.” His voice grew more intense. “You will lose your friends, your family, and everyone and everything you have ever known and loved. You will outlive them all and will watch them die around you like flies as the years wane away. The world you now know will crash down around you. You will never permanently live in your home again, and your life will be here in Tastia for the rest of eternity.”

“I don’t care!” I shouted.

“But you hate this world,” he said.

“I don’t hate it. It’s just not...mine.”

“I know the entire picture. You’ve already told Victor you won’t stay in Tastia. You’ve made that clear numerous times and have warned him that you will leave with your friends, that you’ll go back through the portal. You even told your sister that, but you changed your mind at the last possible moment.”

I blinked. “How do you know all of this?” 

“I know your entire story. So what made you change your mind at the portal? Beth and Frank were waiting for you on the other side.”

“I realized I couldn’t live without Victor.”

“And now you regret that split-second decision!”

A flash of anger cut through me. “No!”

“If you are being honest with yourself, Sarah, you know you regret it.”

I was furious at his blunt insistence that I regretted marrying my husband. I had never regretted marrying Victor, not for one single second. “I love Victor! I’d never regret being with him!”

“Victor detests your world,” he spat. “Is your love strong enough to endure that?”

“Yes,” I said as emotion flooded through me, and I meant it with all my heart. Victor was my life, my everything, and as I thought of him, I felt a love so overwhelming that tears slipped down my face.

A frown crept across the priest’s face. “Sarah, there is no hope for you. You will die because of the unstable energy battling for control of your body.”

“There’s always hope,” I said, with more determination than ever.

He fixed his gaze on me, and he laughed. “Hope is a beautiful notion, but that is all. What if I told you I could give it all back?”

I cocked a brow. “What do you mean? Give what back?”

He looked at me for a moment, then said, “If you refuse to wed Victor, I could take you back home to California this very second and you could live your life as a normal human. You can have your old life back. Deep down, I know that is your heart’s desire, my child.”

I stared harshly into his eyes, trying to determine why he was hassling me.

The priest didn’t flinch. “You made a mistake by putting on the ring of Immortality, but I can erase that mistake forever. I can take away your Immortality and make you human once again, as if it never happened. Just say the word.”

I pondered his offer for a moment.
What if I could return to my world without the painful memories? What if I could go back? I could be human. I could live out my life like I was supposed to, sharing it with all my loved ones.
Becoming Immortal was an accident, and I slipped into a life I’d never envisioned for myself. Being hunted down and chased by Victor’s enemies and the Immortal Court would fade from my memories. When I decided to stay behind while the others traveled through the portal, I’d had no idea what I was in for, but at that time, I didn’t care. Still, going back would mean losing the beautiful, loving man who was standing before me, along with the precious son we’d created in perfect love. I’d also lose my precious sister, Liz. No matter what I chose, I had plenty to lose, but in the end, I had to choose the loves of my life. A surge of panic rose inside of me. “If I go back, I’ll lose Victor, Liz, and my baby.”

“Your sister loves it here. We both know you interrupted her perfect life.”

I let out a trembling breath. “I know, but Victor and I are going to have a baby together, and—”

He shook his head. “You will be unaware of what you’re giving up. Life will resume as it was before you left your world. You’ll have human children with a human husband,” he said softly, “as you were meant to do in the first place.”

A crushing sense of guilt made me panic even more. “But then Alexander won’t exist.” I sucked in a deep breath. The thought of destroying my son ripped my heart out. “No! I don’t want other children. I want
my
Alexander. I love my son more than anything.”

The corner of his eyes crinkled. “But the burden of being Immortal will fade away. You’ve always said you weren’t given a choice, but that is what I am offering to you. You know what will happen when you become Immortal. You know the risks. You know that in the end, you will die.”

“That is not guaranteed,” I said, hope seeping through my voice.

“Sarah, you are very near the end of your life now, but that doesn’t have to happen. I can give you life. I can take you back through the portal. I can even take you back one year earlier so you won’t remember any of this. You can go on with your life as if none of this ever happened.”

I shook my head vehemently. “I don’t want to forget!” I shouted. My throat felt constricted as more panic rose up inside me.

“I can take away all the pain you suffered, grieving for him when you thought he died. I can make every single tiny bit of pain and worry and heartache disappear. All those dark memories will be erased, as long as you refuse to marry Victor. Do that, and you’ll wake up two years ago, in California.”

I stared at the priest, dumbfounded. “And I’m supposed to just pretend none of it ever happened?”

He nodded. “You will not have to pretend. If you do this, none of it will happen.”

“I’ve been to hell and back with Victor. There’s no doubt about that. But I’d go through it all over again, even if this is all the time we’ll have together,” I said, pouring out my heart. “I’d do it all over again.”

“Even though you’ll die?” he said sadly.

I met his gaze sharply. “I love Victor, and I’d rather have a short life with him than to have never met him at all.”

The priest just glared at me. Clearly, he didn’t expect such a standoff; he assumed I’d just take his wrinkled hand, close my eyes, and beg him to take me back to my old life, but that was not what I wanted.