Made to Love (17 page)

I dreamed.

It was back in the apple
orchard, but it looked less golden than before.  If anything,
it looked pretty normal: cloudy, misty.  The blossoms had
disappeared and switched to leaves, so there was more of a green
look to the area than the purity from my earlier dreams.  It
wasn't any less pretty, just different.  And I'd had enough
sun recently that the mist didn't bother me.

Octavius walked up and
looked at me.  “You betrayed me,” he said.

I held my ground. 
“You betrayed me first.”

“
But...I did everything
because I love you.”

“
You love power,” I said,
closing in.  “Not me.”

“
Is that what he told
you?”

“
He didn't
need
to
tell me anything. 
He
cares.”

I heard a heavy step behind
me, and I looked.  Standing in the gloom was Byron, complete
with dual vision and the motor in his chest.  He appeared
ready to weep.

“
You left me,” he
said.  “You left me to deal with Father and your dad. 
You
promised
.”

“
I won't feel guilty about
this!” I cried, even though that's exactly how I was feeling. 
“I was manipulated by everyone!”

I heard hoof beats behind
me, and I turned to see Rich, in unicorn form, riding toward
me.  The clouds parted, and the sunlight made him glow. 
I breathed a sigh of relief and hugged his neck when he
stopped.

“
Take me away from here,”
I whispered.

I swung on his back and
looked down at Octavius and Byron.

Octavius looked hurt. 
“So this is how it is?”

“
For now,” I found myself
saying.  “But everything changes with the wind.”

A breeze blew up, and the
clouds covered the sky until all light was leeched from the
area.  It was only when the horn on Rich's head glowed that we
cut through the darkness.  Even Octavius and Byron looked
awed.

“
For now,” I
whispered.

Chapter
Forty-Four

I awoke in Rich's
arms. 

He looked fully human, and
although he was shirtless, he was wearing jeans.  I was
touched that he would protect my modesty in such a way.

He laid a kiss on my
forehead.  “You're beautiful,” he said.

I blushed.  “You're
the beautiful one.  I'm just a human.”

“
You're a little more than
that,” he said, “but I'm just an average unicorn.   You
look amazing.”

I brushed my hand on his
forehead.  I remembered the horn, and how powerful it had
seemed.   “Average, nothing.”

Rich grinned.  “Ready
to go back home?”

I raised an eyebrow. 
“You mean Oregon?”

“
I mean Oregon,” he
said.

“
But what would I face
there?  Being Queen of all the creatures, or
whatever?”

He gave a faint
smile.  “That's going to happen anywhere.”

“
What?”

“
Why do you think everyone
was so panicked that you were gone?” he said.  “Everyone's
been prepared for it to happen in Coos Bay.  We have
precautions in place.  It would be devastating if it happened
elsewhere.”

I looked at him through
narrowed eyes.  “And you were just waiting for it, weren't
you?”

He seemed puzzled. 
“What?”

“
You were using me, just
like everyone else,” I said.  “You thought you'd get to be the
King by getting in with me.”

“
I'm hurt that you would
say that,” he said.  “Hurt.  I've been looking for you
all month, worrying about your safety--”

“
You were?” I felt myself
melting.  There was something so genuine about his
words.

“
Why do you think I was
the first to find you?” he said.  “I felt a pull to you, and I
knew I couldn't let you go.  I felt it here.”

He put a hand over my
heart.  I felt it beat to match his touch.

“
I can't fall in love
again,” I whispered.  “It hurt too bad last time.”

“
I'm not asking for love,”
he said.  “Just your safety.  I couldn't bear it if you
disappeared again.  Or worse, if you--”

I put a hand over his
lips.  “I know.  Let's go home.”

He brushed my hand away and
lowered his mouth to mine.

It felt, oddly, like I was
already home.

Chapter
Forty-Five

The trip back was a lot
less eventful than the trip away.

Rich had a car waiting
nearby.  I had to say, I was a little disappointed.  I
wanted to ride him all the way back, but I conceded mentally that
he was conspicuous in unicorn form.

Besides, a silver BMW with
a leather interior?  Probably more comfortable.

The landscape whizzed by
us, and I went through all the climate zones I'd hit in several
weeks' time in just hours.  Of course, it would take a couple
of days to return to Oregon, but it was still considerably faster
than I'd been traveling.  It almost made my head
spin.

We pulled up to a Holiday
Inn the first night we stopped.  It had been so long since I'd
used indoor plumbing that it was beyond a luxury; it was downright
odd.  But efficiency hadn't left me; I showered within a few
minutes and found Rich stretched onto the bed.

The only bed in the
room.

“
I guess I'll be taking
the floor,” I said, grabbing for a pillow.

He laughed.  “Are you
nuts?  After what we shared?”

I flushed.  “This is
different.  It's...a
bed
.”

“
What if I promised not to
lay a finger on you?”

“
No!” I cried. 
“That's even worse!”

“
So...you want two beds,
but you want me to touch you.”  He rolled his eyes. 
“I'll sleep on the floor.”

“
It's okay, I've been
sleeping--”

“
Look, I can do it
comfortably.”

He stepped off the bed and
slipped off his shirt.  I reveled in the sight of his chiseled
torso, then watched as he changed into a unicorn again.  I had
to laugh; the room was a lot more cramped with a full-sized
horse-like creature inside.

But soon, he folded his
legs under him, and he sat on the ground like he was born to do it.
Which, when it came to it, it seemed he was.

“
Are you honestly
comfortable like that?” I asked.

He tossed his head in what
seemed like a yes.

“
What if someone comes
in?  What if you have to use the bathroom?”

He whinnied quietly in what
sounded like a laugh, and I reluctantly smiled.  Of course, it
was probably a small thing for him to change back.  I'd just
forgotten.

“
Never mind, I'm shutting
up,” I said around a yawn.  “I'll go to sleep.”

I climbed into bed and
closed my eyes.  I felt human lips against my
cheek.

“
Sleep well,” Rich
whispered in my ear.

Chapter
Forty-Six

My mom greeted me by
collapsing on top of me and sobbing.  My dad was rigid behind
her, his arms folded, his face drawn into a stern mask.  When
my mom finally released me and I could breathe again, his mask
cracked, and he too fell on me.

“
I am so sorry you felt
you had to leave!” he wept.  “We will never lock you in your
room again!”

I patted his back
awkwardly.  “That’s okay.  Don’t worry about
it.”

Dad stepped back and took
Rich’s hand, giving it a hearty shake.  “Thank you so much for
finding our daughter where the police could not,” he
said.

“
It’s no problem, sir,”
Rich said.  Even as a human, he was dazzling.  I could
have stared at him for years.

My mom leaned in close and
whispered, “This one’s
much
better than the other
one.”  Meaning Octavius, of course.

“
I agree completely,” I
said, although I wasn’t really sure.  Now that I was back home
amongst the oppressive sound of the ocean, the drafty stone walls,
the moist lawns and orchard, I kind of wanted to see him
again.  I missed what we had shared, if not the
lies.

But he didn’t come to see
me immediately, and Rich left me to my parents before long, and so
life returned to what I knew as normal in Coos Bay.

I completely missed that I
had turned eighteen during my flight back to Georgia, so the first
order of business – aside from making up with my teachers and
trying to make sure I could graduate – was apparently a huge
birthday bash.  Rita was thrilled to see me back, even if Jana
was so upset by it that she all but projectile vomited across the
cafeteria, and insisted that we had to have a massive
bash.

“
I don’t know about that,”
I said, poking at my breakfast pizza with a plastic fork. 
Rich’s arm around my shoulders was warm and totally comfortable
while I was trying to not eat.  “I don’t know if I’m ready to
fling myself back into the social grind just yet.”

“
How can you not be?” Rita
shrilled.  “I mean, if anything, you’ve only gotten more
beautiful and popular since you left!”

It was true.  I hadn’t
seen any hint of the Queen thing Rich had told me about, but people
seemed to like me even more.  Strangers hurried to hold my
umbrella when I was walking down the street.  I probably just
looked like a wet rat or something and they just couldn’t bear to
look at me.

“
I don’t know…”

The door to the cafeteria
swung open, and it was like the world shifted into slow motion as
Octavius entered.

He stood by the door and
stared at me.  I stared back at him, helpless to his
beauty.  If I had grown more beautiful, then he had grown even
way more beautiful.  His skin was glistening, his hair even
straighter, his lips even fuller.  Snug leather pants hugged
his hips.

And he looked at me with
total revulsion.  Hate.

“
Octavius,” I
whispered.

With a ragged sob, I fled
the cafeteria, so fast that even Rich couldn’t follow
me.

What had I done? 
Hadn’t Octavius just been lying to protect me?  I still loved
him so much, and I wanted nothing more than to let him wrap his
arms around me and smell the seaweed scent of his sweat.

I ran for the
bathroom.  Even through my tears, I was mildly surprised that
I didn't make for the exit, but I had the feeling that I didn't
need to.  Actual escape, after all, had proven useless. 
I was barely even aware of the people in the halls, or how they
grew fewer in number as I approached the furthest girls' bathroom
from the cafeteria.

As the door came into view,
there was only one figure in the hall.  And that figure was in
front of the door.

“
Calliope,” Octavius said
as I stopped in front of him, his voice as beautiful as ever. 
“What are you doing?”

I answered him with
tears.  To my surprise, he pulled me into his arms, and I
marveled through my cries at how well I fit there.

“
I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,
I did something I shouldn’t have…”

He sighed.  “I know
all about that, dear.  I meant, what are you doing
here?”

I squeezed my eyes
shut.  He couldn't see them, pressed to his chest as I was,
but I just couldn't bear the thought of however he was looking at
me.  Cruelty would kill me, but kindness?  Kindness was
even more deadly.

“
School?” I said in a
muffled voice, confused.

“
At the
bathroom.”

“
I...”

Octavius took my arms and
pushed me away.  I felt the cold chill of death touch my
insides.  He slid up the sleeve on my left arm, and I knew
without looking that his eyes took in every healed indentation and
raised scar.

“
You don't seem to know
it,” he said in a whisper, “but I know for what purpose you came to
this bathroom.  Why didn't you trust me?”

“
I don't trust myself,” I
choked out.

He laid his lips lightly on
my wrist, and I shivered.  He looked at me, showing me the
heat in his gaze purposely, and drew back.

“
You will never cut
yourself again,” he said firmly.  “Never, you
hear?”

All I could was nod. 
I never could resist his power.  “But...”

“
But?”

I turned my head and looked
at the ground.  “Me, and Rich...”

Octavius hugged me tight,
mashing his face against the top of my head.  “It’s not all
lost.  You’re not Queen yet and you don’t have a King. 
We can still be together.”

“
But I… I…”

“
You can’t just mate and
have him be your King.  There’s a ritual.”

I gazed up at him, nearly
blind through my tears.  “Really?”

“
Really,” he said, and he
kissed me passionately.

When I came up for air, I
said, “I want to do the ritual with you.”