Never Let You Fall (The Prophecy of Tyalbrook) (9 page)

“You know how I told you my parents died right before my eighth birthday?” I blurted quietly, and I felt the slight tightening of his muscles.

“It was never solved - the murders, that is - but apparently it was pretty gruesome. There was a fire.”

“Skye, you don’t have to talk about that,” he interrupted, and squeezed me tighter to his chest.

“I know, but like I told you earlier, I’ve never really had any memory of the event. I’ve always wondered if it was an ordinary car wreck that killed them, or if it were something more sinister, magical, you know?” I asked, although I wasn’t looking for an answer.

“Well, I’m pretty sure that I just dreamed about the night they died.” My voice was barely audible, and I began to recognize the truth in what I was saying.

I could hear Xander’s heart speed up under my ear and his hand stilled in my hair as he replied, “What did you see?”

I closed my eyes and let my mind go back over the nightmare. I described the screams, the heat of the fire and the shadow of a boy who yelled for me to run. As I recalled the scene, I could feel that something else was missing. I searched the cobwebs in my brain for what I was leaving out.

The voice, the promise he made to me…it was so familiar to me, yet I was unable to put my finger on it and sighed in frustration.

Xander tipped my head back with a light tug of my hair and his blue eyes were able to penetrate my cloudy senses; pulling me back to the present.

“It’ll be okay, we’ll figure it all out together, tomorrow,” he promised, and he leaned down to press a chaste kiss to my forehead.

Feeling his warm breath and soft lips on my forehead, I wanted to press my lips to his just to taste them. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to relax, and in his arms I quickly drifted off to sleep again.

Xander

My father was fond of saying, “The light of the morning brings with it the truth for all to behold. Secrets and evil lie in wait in the dark, but goodness and justice will be had when the sun shall reign.”

That saying was one of the very few things I had left of my parents. My father had written it in a journal that I’d found after their deaths, still singed from the fire. I would finger the charred pages of his journal for hours a day as I read about his wisdom on training. Some pages held drawings of combat positions, others held tactical maneuvers. My favorites were the ones with his personal reflections. That saying, and others, were my motivation to one day avenge both his and my mother’s deaths.

Never had that saying meant more to me than it did that day. With the bright sunlight peeking through the cracks in the curtain and under the door, I was reminded of the goodness that would reign once again. Skye sleeping against my chest was the goodness.

The light of the morning was sure to bring some truth to Skye, and I planned to tell her about her prophecy. Her role in this was something much bigger than she could even imagine. Although I was pretty sure that Rioden would be there at any moment, and I knew he would certainly frown upon our sleeping arrangements, I was in no hurry to wake Skye up. Holding her in my arms the night before had been by far the best feeling I had ever had. Second only to waking up with her in them that morning.

I knew that I should push her away, and if we managed to get to Tyalbrook I would be forced to back away from her anyway. Rioden had already made it pretty clear that if we could ever get the Guardians to reunite, I would most likely be set aside for an older, more experienced Guardian.

They wouldn’t be willing to trust someone as important as Skye to my care, and the most I could hope for would be a job shadowing her main guard. It angered me to think of others taking over guardianship for her, when I had been the one to watch her all my life. Maybe if I faked some indifference, I would be able to convince them to leave me with her. After all, we already had such a strong bond.

“Wrong side of the bed?”

Her voice, husky with sleep, pulled me from my somber thoughts. She scooted out of my arms and into a sitting position, and I sat up against the headboard.

“What?” I asked confused, as I watched her finger comb her hair out of her face.

“You looked mad,” she explained. “I was wondering if you might have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. I’m sorry, I guess I used you as a pillow last night. I hope you weren’t too uncomfortable,” she offered; her face tinting pink but her eyes holding mine.

There was something in those deep brown eyes that made me think she was actually less than sorry. So I decided in that moment to tell her the truth, no matter how stupid it might make me look. Sitting up and running my hand through my own hair, I confessed. “Actually, I don’t know if I’ve ever slept better.”

Her hand stilled as she took in what I had said, and then she shyly acknowledged, “Me too. Thank you.”

Sitting two feet from her in a bed after lying with her in my arms all night was about to drive me senseless. I felt myself actually start to lean towards her, like gravity was pulling me into her orbit. I couldn’t stop it; I couldn’t stop loving her and I was in serious trouble.

“Shoot,” I muttered, as I pulled back abruptly and jumped out of the bed. “I’m going to jump in the shower. Do you need to use the restroom first?” I asked her as curtly as I could manage.

Her eyes narrowed at my face for a moment before she slid out of the bed and disappeared into the bathroom.

I mentally kicked myself again, telling myself that I needed to straighten up and steel my body from acting on my feelings for her. Her innocent face and soft lips were just so damn tempting!

When she stepped out of the bathroom I dove for the shower as quickly as I could. I stood still under the water stream for a good long while, and allowed the cold water to cool my hormones down.

In a calmer frame of mind, I pulled on some jeans and a black tee. When I stepped out of the bathroom I found Skye sitting on the bed staring at the far wall, with her shoulders hunched over and her face downcast.

“Your turn,” I offered, and I pulled out my day pack to stuff clothing into it.

“Why are you packing?” she asked, as she slowly got up to grab her own bag and then began to rummage through it.

Not sure how to tell her that I was afraid we would have to switch locations, I just shrugged.

“I just always like to be ready. Grab a quick shower and we can wait for Rioden to arrive, then I’ll share some more about Tyalbrook with you, okay?”

“Whatever you say,” she retorted with little emotion in her voice, as she breezed past me and into the restroom, shutting the door with a
click.

Almost an hour later Skye appeared dressed in clean clothes, with her hair pulled to the side in a long braid. If you just looked at her face, she looked like she might have been around twelve years old. However, when your eyes wandered down her body, it became quite clear that she was
not
a little girl.

Her long, lean legs were ensconced in skin-tight jeans that would probably show the imprint of a quarter if she’d one in her pocket. Her black shirt barely covered her torso, and the neckline hung off one shoulder. I imagined that if she lifted her arms I would get a peek at her smooth stomach.

The shirt was loose everywhere but in the chest, which I’d already glimpsed in the shower two nights earlier. She was a man’s dream, my dream, and yet I couldn’t touch her.

I swallowed the lust as it started to build up in me again and finally sat down in a chair, motioning for her to do the same.

“Are you ready to hear some more?” I practically hissed at her.

If she noticed my strange behavior she made no comment. She just nodded her head and sat down on the bed that I’d made while she had been in the shower. She crossed her legs, pulled a pillow to her chest and waited for me to begin.

SEVEN - HISTORY

Xander

“Fifteen years ago during a siege on the Kingdom, you were sent here through a portal in order to keep you safe. I’ve described Tyalbrook to you, but what I didn’t mention is that Tyalbrook is enchanted. That is to say, there is magic in our land.”

I stopped for a moment and rubbed my neck as I thought of how to explain so many things to her.

“This is harder than I thought,” I muttered.

Placing her hand on my arm she encouraged me, “Xander, just tell me what you can and I’ll ask questions if I need to.”

I nodded my head and forged ahead.

“Okay, so - the portal. Well you see, a mystical sorceress somehow found a way to transport people to this dimension, by request from the King and Queen. They realized that those who wished to overthrow them would stop at nothing to get their hands on you.”

“Why did people want me, and why would the king and queen even care?” Skye interrupted.

“Hang on, I’m getting there. When you were around one year old, the king and queen visited a seer – that’s someone who sees the future, like a fortune teller here. Understand?”

She nodded and I continued.

“The seer had foreseen your fate, and declared that you would be the one to bring peace to the entire kingdom someday. You were predicted to unite all the nations, rule over a prosperous and fruitful land, and reign through your bloodline for many, many years.

Your parents tried to keep the information quiet, but eventually word of this prophecy was leaked. It was at that point when many ambitious leaders began to seek out your parents for your hand in marriage.”

“I was only a baby! How sick is that?”

“No, it’s actually very common in our country. Many members of wealthy families are betrothed when they are just children, in order to create wealthier and stronger alliances amongst the people. It’s not much different than what once happened in the Regency era. As a matter a fact, according to Rioden, your mother herself had been betrothed to someone before she met your father.”

Skye’s face paled at that, and I mentally kicked myself for having spoken ill of her mother.

“She left another man for my father?” she bemoaned. “Why?”

“Skye, I can’t speak of your parents, since I didn’t know them…I’m sorry. Perhaps Rioden can give you more information on them, since he was very close to their personal Guardians.”

She nodded in agreement and then asked me to continue.

“So where was I?” I murmured. “Oh - your parents were against you being betrothed, but as weeks went by and the unrest throughout the kingdom grew, it became obvious that they would have to do
something,
as word of impending war started to arrive.

As is human nature, there were some larger land holders who were fed up with their lot in life, and they decided to oust your family from the throne in order to control it themselves. Several battles were waged by warring factions, but they were never a large enough threat to take down the royal guards or army.”

“All of this - the wars, the deaths, what’s happening now…it’s all because of me? Because some fortune teller said I would bring happiness to the kingdom?”

“Wars have been fought over less, Skye,” I replied solemnly, as I caught her steely gaze with mine and held it. “Way less.”

She leapt up and slowly began to pace, catching her bottom lip in her teeth and chewing at it in a way that was both endearing and erotic.

The muscles in my stomach tightened at the thought of biting her lip for her, and I hastily looked away when she stopped and questioned me again.

“So, wait a second. You said people wanted to remove
my
family from the throne and that
I
was supposed to reign and rule over the kingdom,” her voice squeaked, as she began to see the bigger picture.

“Who am I, Xander?” she asked urgently, and then almost immediately she put her hand up.

“Wait! Don’t tell me, I think I know.”

I let her concentrate and then she spit out incredulously, “I’m a princess? Oh my…oh, I need to sit down…”

She began to panic at the thought, so I pulled her down to sit next to me and waited for her to calm down before confirming her guess. But before I could even speak, she burst into tears.

“Crap,” I muttered, rubbing her back in small circles in an effort to comfort her.

“Skye, it’s alright. Don’t start crying before we even get to talk about it, please.”

Knock, knock, knock

Three knocks sounded on the hotel door and I skirted over to peek out the window, confirming it was Rioden. Grateful to have his help with these revelations, I hurried to unlock the door and let him in.

“It’s Rioden,” I assured her and pulled open the door.

Rioden stepped in and a quick look of surprise swept over his face when he spotted Skye as she sat on the edge of the bed, hunched over and crying softly.

“You were able to get her to come back?” his deep voice boomed from the doorway. “Why is she crying?”

I shut the door and sighed, admitting to my less-than-stellar handling of imparting the news of her true identity.