Genesis (3 page)

“
As we speak, they are on an
obscure landmass in the middle of the Okefenokee Swamp. Once again,
the Order has managed to conceal their underhanded
workings.”

“
So they are there,” I
breathed. Roger had been telling the truth. I wondered what else he
knew…like where Natalie was. The last time I had seen her she had
been trying to escape the Order. Her boyfriend, Sam, had been
ordered to kill her, and I had been helpless to stop him from doing
something stupid. Well I wasn’t helpless anymore. I had to protect
my—

“
Don’t worry,” she said. “We
are working on that.”

A myriad of thoughts bombarded me at
once. How long were they going to keep me in Uldran? I didn’t even
like Taylor. Why couldn’t I refuse him period? After all, I already
knew how I felt about him.

“
Rayla,” Tabitha interrupted
my internal rant. “In order for you to make the best choice, you
have to know your options. Each of these men have much to offer
you
if
you are
willing to put aside your preconceived notions and see them for who
they are.”

I glanced at Taylor again. What could
he possibly offer me, other than a headache every time he opened
his mouth? From the stern look on her face, I was pretty sure
Tabitha wasn’t going to let this go, so I decided to concede a
little.

“
How long?” I
asked.

“
Three weeks in each
province.”

“
No,” I said. She was
talking about more than four months wasted in the fae realms. “That
would be years in the human realm. The Order will not wait that
long, and neither will I.”

Tabitha chuckled. “My child, there is
much you need to learn. First of all we can control time. Even if
you spent three years with each lord, if it was what we wished, a
mere second would pass in the mortal realm. We don’t do it very
often because it becomes too burdensome to maintain a balance, but
in this case, I think it might be warranted.”

Huh? Did she actually just say the fae
have the power to manipulate time? If that was true, why had so
much time gone by when I was in Ingnis? Why hadn’t they just
rewound time to go back to get me from Utah before I knew anything
about this stuff? I grunted in frustration. After all this time I
still didn’t understand anything about this world. Was Tabitha
telling the truth, or was she trying to mollify me to get me to go
with Taylor without making too much of a fuss?

Suddenly, I ached for the ability to
read her mind because she clearly wasn’t going to elaborate. What
exactly would I be agreeing to here? If she was telling the truth
and I could get some much needed training before I faced Ainessa
again without losing anything in the process, why wouldn’t I
agree?

There was only one problem I couldn’t
get to leave my mind. I was already so confused when it came to my
feelings where the lords were concerned. Would spending more time
with them really help, or was I about to add more uncertainty to
the mix?

I took a turn looking at each one of
them, but that didn’t improve anything. There was only one way to
find out if this was worth the effort—I was going to have to jump
in feet first. Hopefully I would be able to tread this
riptide.

My eyes found Taylor again. His cool
exterior couldn’t mask the intensity shining in his maple eyes.
Trepidation seized my lungs. I didn’t want to go anywhere with him
alone. I didn’t want to get to know him. Maybe Tabitha would let me
go with Luke or Zach first.

“
We drew straws,” said Zach
softly.

Holy cow. Did he just read my mind? I
flicked a glance at him. His expression gave nothing
away.

He continued without commenting to my
thoughts. “It was the only fair means to do this.”

I studied him for a moment. He wasn’t
glamoured up like Luke, and he looked flat-out tired. I didn’t want
to cause him any more stress than he had already dealt with. These
two had been through enough because of me. Maybe they would be able
to recover by the time I was to go to their land. I hoped so,
because I was determined to choose someone soon.

I couldn’t keep going on this way. Not
knowing where my future was headed had been slowly shredding my
insides. I needed some stability. I just hoped I could manage to
make a choice when the time came, because there was no way I could
right now.

I squared my shoulders, inhaling a long
breath. With more effort than it should have taken, I walked up to
Taylor. He looked down at me, still wearing his placid exterior,
even his eyes had gone neutral. Did this guy ever show
emotion?

When he reached for my hand, I let him
mold his fingers to mine. It wasn’t exactly painful for me to be
around him. That was, as long as he kept his mouth shut. I owed it
to myself to give him a fair chance. What if I was wrong about
him?

“
Bye,” I said to no one in
particular and followed him into the castle. We walked down the
corridors in silence. My heart beat frantically in my
chest.

“
Aren’t we going to get my
stuff?” I asked.

“
Your needs will be provided
for. You mustn’t worry so much.”

Right. No worrying. Like that was going
to happen.

“
I would really like to say
goodbye to—”

“
We haven’t the time, my
lady. I am sorry, but I need to get you to Uldran as soon as
possible.”

“
Why?”

“
Safety measure.”

I glanced down the hallway to my right.
Nicco stood in front of a door. Was that Heath’s room? I swallowed
my anxiety, at least I tried to. What was his problem anyway? Nicco
gave me a nod. I smiled, but Taylor pulled me forward. I gave one
backward glance before I addressed Taylor’s statement.

“
What did you mean by
that?”

“
We will discuss things once
we are settled.”

That was it. End of topic. I tried not
to notice the stares we received. At one point, the hair on my arms
stood straight on end like someone was secretly watching me, yet
there was something else in the foreboding that rushed through
me…like an inevitability I would have to face soon.

Taylor hissed in a breath and quickened
his step, not wasting any time leading me outside. I hadn’t been
able to talk to Lacey, or, well, anyone. The worst part was I still
didn’t know what they were going to do with the other Elementals
they’d taken from the island. Tabitha had agreed to my terms, but
if I wasn’t here to make sure things happened the way they were
supposed to, would they?

We glided down the glowing staircase
out into the morning. The air was crisp with sweet nectar wafting
around us. Everything here still amazed me, from the crystal
castle’s waterfall that seemed to have no source to the little
glimmering specs in the wind. I took one last look at the castle
with its jutting spires and nearly see-through edifice. I couldn’t
imagine a more beautiful castle, yet something here was dark and
twisted as if in direct opposition to the shimmering
façade.

“
You have a very active
mind,” Taylor commented in his honey tones. Much like Jett, his
voice was his weapon against me, lulling me into a state of bliss
with mere words.

I nodded. What was I
supposed to say to that anyway? Was he trying to get me upset by
implying he could hear my thoughts? Could he hear my thoughts? One
thing was certain: I was going to find out. I angled my neck
slightly, taking in his scrumptious good looks and deliberately
thought.
At least I’ll have a nice view if
I end up stuck with him.

His face twisted into a grin. “Once I
get you home I’ll give you a better one.” A smile played on his
mouth then he shrugged. “Why wait.” His fingers floated over the
buttons of his shirt unfastening them in succession.

The heat of a blush rose up my neck. He
laughed. Well I guess that answered that question. I grumbled
curses to myself for being so stupid while shaking my head at him.
If I hadn’t known better I would have said he was teasing me.
“Okay, I’m sure your bare chest would rock my world, but you can
stop now.” He smirked at me so I gave him a face. “Why can’t I hear
your thoughts?”

He smiled, and it brought out a
softness in his eyes I had never noticed before. “Because, my lady,
I am not allowing you into my mind.”

“
That implies,
my lord
, that I
am
allowing you into
mine.”

“
You are
correct.”

That couldn’t be right. I wasn’t
purposely letting him through my walls. Did that mean I needed new
ones? I focused on my barriers. To my surprise, they were all down.
Every last blasted one. I zipped them back up, attempting to not
let my embarrassment color my face. Yeah right.

When we reached Taylor’s entourage,
several carriages waited for us. Taylor apparently liked to travel
in style. The Sleek coaches were uniform and, no surprise here,
black. If they had been cars, I would be looking at five Maseratis.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to ride with him in such enclosed quarters
for however long it was going to take us to get to his realm,
especially if they were magically amped like Luke’s ride had
been.

“
Drifting is not a common
ability,” he said conversationally. “Most fae avoid travel as much
as possible.”

“
You’re still listening to
my thoughts!”

A smile crept up his lips. “Rayla, we
are connected now. It will take more than those puny walls you
constructed to keep me out of your mind.”

I was tempted to stick my tongue out at
him, but knowing him, he would take it as an invitation. “Okay,” I
said. “Teach me how to do it properly.”

He scoffed. “Why would I do such a
thing? As it is, I am beginning to understand you. I know what you
think of me. You are correct about many things, but I am not giving
up simply because winning you will be challenging. I assure you, I
have dealt with worse in my existence.”

I couldn’t bring myself to look at him.
This was absolutely unfair. I knew from reading Lily’s journal that
this man was capable of kindness, but it had taken him nearly two
hundred years before he started opening up to her. Before that, it
had been a dictatorship. She had been lonely. That was why she had
taken to entertaining herself in the most unusual ways she could
find.

He snapped his head toward me,
interrupting my contemplation. His expression was guarded, but
beneath that I thought I saw what? Regret maybe? “How I treated
Lily is none of your concern.”

“
I beg to differ. The best
predictor of the future is the past. I’m not willing to spend
hundreds of years with a decided bombast just because you want me
to.”

Apparently dismissing my insult, he
replied in a smooth tone. “I know what you require from a
relationship, Rayla. In fact, I am looking forward to giving you
unguarded moments into my mind, but not here, and certainly not
now.”

What was that supposed to mean? A wary
fog blanketed his eyes, clouding any real answers from me. He
glanced behind us as if looking for a tail then pushed me forward.
This was the most emotion I had seen from him, and I was beginning
to understand that Heath wasn’t the only lord keeping his feelings
guarded. I climbed into the middle carriage wondering why he looked
so upset. When I finally had a moment to check behind us, no one
was there; yet the hair on my neck rose. We were being watched
again, but by whom?

Once we were settled, the carriage
lurched forward, pushing me back against the plush velvet bench I
was sitting on. Taylor pulled the curtains shut without another
word. His shoulders held a visible tension that worried me more
than I wanted to admit.

My mind stirred with the possibilities
for his unease. The only thing that made much sense to me at all
was he was worried someone would overhear our conversation. Did the
counsel have someone in the bushes surveying us? Could it be
possible my thoughts were not safe? When I glanced up at him, he
nodded. I shuddered, but refused to let any thoughts about that
knowledge into my mind. Instead, I focused on thinking about what
Uldran was going to be like. It seemed like it would be a safe
subject. I sure hoped it was.

“
Will you tell me about
Uldran?” I asked.

He shifted in his seat, seeming pleased
by the change in conversation. “What would you like to
know?”

First things first. “Where is it
exactly?”

“
In human terms,
Mid-Atlantic, I suppose.”

Great. Another island.

“
You misunderstand.” His
light brown eyes shone with mischief. “Uldran is unlike any place
you have ever been. In fact, it might be possible you have heard
legends about my home.”

I scoured my brain for legends that
involved islands or the Atlantic Ocean. The only one that made any
sense to me was Atlantis. Was he actually implying it was under
water?

Again, he nodded. How was that
possible? I imagined glass domes one crack away from making me a
permanent fixture of the ocean floor.