Never Let You Fall (The Prophecy of Tyalbrook) (23 page)

She let the matter drop as she went over to a stack of frames, shifting them some, and then pulled off a bed sheet from a mirror that stood about five feet high. She had shifted the two pictures that had been sitting in front of it over to the side.

“Here we are. Our way home.”

Skye gasped as she looked at the mirror. The center of the panel was swirling and rippling like a lake did when you threw a stone into it.

“Here’s what we’ll do. Xander, you step through first. Take a look around to make sure there’s no one in the area. Once you’re safely through it will be Skye’s turn, and then I’ll go last so that I can pull these other frames back around to cover this up behind us.”

Selene continued, “The portal will come out in a cavern in the western forest. We are a few days walk from the nearest village, so we should be safe.”

“Can’t we go together? What if there’s something there and Xander is alone to fight it?”

I couldn’t help but smile at Skye as she tried to protect me. I stepped up to the mirror, ready to step in, when she spoke again.

“Xander?” She walked up to me and held my gaze with her own.

Those eyes held a million thoughts and words I knew she wanted to say but wouldn’t. Not in front of Selene, and maybe not ever. I pulled her to me and kissed her.

Skye gasped, Selene groaned and I smiled as our lips touched. My hand cupped the back of her head as our lips melted together. I didn’t deepen the kiss, I just held it. Pulling back I whispered into her ear, “You will never fall. Remember that. I love you.”

With that, I let her go and escaped into the mirror.

EIGHTEEN - SECRETS

Skye

“You too,” I whispered as he vanished into the mirror. My heart clenched as he disappeared, and I started to follow him right away.

“Wait!” Selene grabbed my arm before I could move. “Give him a little time, Skye. He’ll be fine.”

The bubble of stress and anxiety at what he might have been facing started to close in on me. I’d let him go in there alone. What if something happened to him? I loved him! I loved him?! Wait- when the hell had that happened? God help me, I just couldn’t stand the thought of being without him. ‘Hurry, hurry, hurry!’ my brain chanted.

“So he’s like a brother, huh?” Selene asked with a slight hint of humor in her voice.

“Well, yeah! Is it unusual to kiss one’s brother when they go off to another realm?” I teased, feeling slightly bad for lying to her earlier.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Selene, but I just didn’t know how to handle everything that was going on. My feelings, especially, were driving me crazy.

“Skye, I get it. It’s hard to not love a Guardian. He stands for everything that you’ve missed most of your life. He promises to keep you safe, to love you, and you’ve missed that.”

“No, that’s not why I have these feelings for him. I…” I began, and then found myself trailing off. I let her words sink in. Maybe my feelings were based on the comfort he had provided to me after ten years of loneliness. Maybe I had latched onto him because he made me feel safe. The tingling in my chest, the warmth that spread through me when was around… it wouldn’t be hard to mistake those feelings for more than they were.

The tingling warmth!

I couldn’t feel it anymore. For the first time in days I felt cold in my core and I wanted to cry out.

“Skye, if you want to love him, then love him. You just need to decide if you’re willing to let that love go for the sake of the Kingdom. You’re the only one who can save them all, but to do it you may have to sacrifice your own happiness. Are you ready for that?”

Just when I was about to answer her, Xander popped his head into the mirror and made me jump.

“It’s all good! Come on home, princess.”

The smile on his face was brighter than the North Star. He was happy, extremely happy. I put my hands out in front of me and stepped towards the mirror. My hands went right through with nothing but a slight
whoosh
sound. I took one, two, three steps, and then I was through the mirror.

As a child, I had seen movies like
Alice in Wonderland
and
The Wizard of Oz
enough to be wary of the new land I now found myself in. The famous line Dorothy had uttered was well in my head when I opened my eyes and found myself in a cave.

What a letdown! Just a cave?

“Where are the rainbows and mermaids?” I muttered as I stepped away from the portal entrance. Water was streaming all around and I realized that the portal was actually positioned behind a small waterfall.

Not only that, but Xander was soaked.

“Why are you wet?” I asked, looking at how dry I was.

“Apparently to go back from this side, you actually have to go
through
the waterfall. But I didn’t know that little nugget when I decided to stick my head through to get you!” he laughed. He was in a good mood despite getting soaked, and I was glad for that. I smiled with him, determined to be happy to be here too.

It was time to find justice for my family and his. Time to find justice for all the people of Tyalbrook. Selene stepped through a moment later, and we stood there for a moment to let her get her bearings.

“It smells like home,” she croaked, and her eyes filled with unshed tears.

Her happiness, as well as Xander’s, brought tears to my own eyes. I wished that I was able to remember being here. I wished that it felt more like home to me.

Selene cupped some water in her palm and ran her hand under the waterfall. Lifting the water to her lips, she closed her eyes and drank from her palm.

“Ahhh, it’s so clean!”

Xander and I just stood there watching her. She drank more water and then bent down and snatched a clump of dirt into her fist. Smelling the ground and smiling she looked at our faces.

“You have no idea what this dimension smells like, compared to your own. It’s amazing how clean and fresh…I missed it more than I realized.”

‘Clean dirt?’ I thought to myself as Selene headed for the exit of the cave. Xander shrugged with a smile and followed after her, leaving me behind him.

The mouth of the cave was only about twenty feet away around a bend. It opened up into a forest much like the one where Selene’s cabin had been. As I stood there and surveyed the forest, I was struck at how similar it was to home.

Again, the expectations I’d of unicorns and magical dancing faeries were dispelled. This was just a regular old forest!

“You look disappointed,” Xander commented when he came to stand next to me.

“Well, I guess it’s not what I expected. I was looking for ‘magical’, and instead I got a plain forest.”

“Don’t be fooled, princess,” hinted Xander, leaning closer to me. “There IS magic in this forest.”

Every time he called me princess I felt shivers run through my body. The familiar warmth that meant Xander was near had returned as soon as I’d walked through the waterfall, and I felt complete again.

His eyes twinkled at me and I couldn’t help but feel as if he were talking about me, and not anything else that might have been in the forest.

Doing my best to stare into his eyes, I murmured back at him, “You’re right, there is magic here.”

His swift intake of breath and the way his hand reached for mine told me he knew I was speaking of him. I felt my knees weaken as we stood there, our faces a foot apart and my hand held in his warm one. This was way more than him just being my protector.

His smile. His eyes. The way his fingers curled around mine. All of those things made me want him. I’d never wanted anything like I wanted Xander. I wanted to stay by his side forever. The feelings I got when he was near, the tingling warmth in my heart, in my chest… my whole body sang when he was near. That couldn’t be
nothing
. It couldn’t be just gratitude.

“You two ready?” coughed Selene, not so subtly. Talk about cutting the tension with a knife! Xander’s face snapped to hers and he actually growled under his breath. I hid a smile at his reaction.

“Yeah, what’s the plan here? Are we just going to storm the Castle?” I straightened up and walked out of the cave into the full daylight. Xander, still holding my hand, followed behind me.

“We’re going to head southeast towards the village of Sheridan, and we’ll look for a man named Cillian. He was a close friend of Rioden’s and a staunch supporter of your parents, Skye. When McClintock became King, Cillian actually defected from his royal duty.”

“How do we know where to find him? How do we know there is still a village that way?” asked Xander impatiently as he looked toward the east.

“You’re right, Xander…we don’t really know where to find him. We’re going to just have to ask around. Look - there are still so many things that you don’t know yet, Xander. Rioden has been planning this for years, and although I wish he were here to fill you in, he isn’t.”

“Then
you
fill me in, Selene. Hell, I’m starting to wonder if I ever really knew anything about him at all! He kept you a secret, he even kept all of his elaborate plans secret!” Xander pulled away from me and walked up to Selene. He stood toe to toe with her and glared down into her face. “Tell me what he planned, Selene! Tell me now!” he yelled.

“Xander! Stop it!” I warned, as I made haste to reach them.

“Why, Skye? Aren’t you tired of this? The secrets, the not knowing what’s going on? I’ve been following the rules so far, but I’m done with going into this blind! How did he plan all of this, Selene? How do we even know where to go and who to seek out?”

Selene stepped back slightly and the three of us stood in a triangle. Xander was fuming mad, but I couldn’t understand his anger. What had upset him so? Selene looked serene, although perhaps a little worried at his outburst.

“Do you not trust your own uncle, Xander? The man who gave his life to protect you? To protect your family?!” Selene snapped out.

“How dare you! Do
not
question my loyalty to Rioden, Selene. I didn’t ask him to give up his life for me. He did that willingly. I was only a child! Who do you think you are?!”

Selene smiled a deliciously wicked smile at that question. My insides churned at the meaning behind this argument. I knew that nothing good could come from this fight. I wanted to step in, but the overwhelming anger and pride that both of them exuded caused me to step back.

“Xander, you forget your place.
I
am the one who is privy to Rioden’s plans - not you. If you want to move forward, you
will
listen to me.”

“Oh really? Are you threatening me? What exactly are your intentions,
Sorceress
?” He strung out the word ‘sorceress’ as if it were a curse word.

Selene raised her hands from her sides and I saw sparks of energy crackle between them. Her long, raven hair actually began to float up, almost as if she’d been zapped by electricity. Xander’s hand rested on his dagger but he didn’t unsheathe it; not yet. Things were quickly getting out of hand!

“STOP,” I finally interrupted them; speaking in the most royal voice I could command. “What is wrong with you two? You
both
forget your place! You will listen to
me
from now on!”

The cackle of laughter that rolled out of Selene actually scared the crap out of me for about two seconds, until Xander rushed her and knocked her to the ground.

He held a dagger to her throat as he straddled her; his weight pressing down on her so that she couldn’t move.

“You will never, NEVER disrespect the Princess of Tyalbrook in that manner again. Do you understand me? I don’t care who you are to my uncle…I will kill you.”

“Xander, no! It’s okay! She was just angry! What are you doing?” I cried out, as I tried to figure out how to get things back to the way they had been just twenty short minutes ago when we had first walked through that portal and were actually happy to be here. “Please?”

With his face concentrated on Selene, his body still tense and holding her captive, he didn’t bother to lift his head as he spoke. “No, Skye. I think it’s time we set some ground rules.
You
are the Princess here, and you’re the one in charge. Selene here is just a guide who is going to answer our questions now.”