Pigalle Palace (19 page)

She whispered in my ear, “I'm your secret.”

We stared one another down and the rage in my eyes told her I would fight her if I had to. We would fight 'til death.

Suddenly, Legend came outside. He sensed trouble and shot me
a confused look. There was no way I could hide Essence any longer.

“What's going on out here?”

Essence said, “Hello, Legend. It's good to see you again. I was just—”

“She was just leaving.”

She smiled widely as if to say she wasn't going anywhere. Legend was paying close attention to the way I had her pinned against the tree. I had a grip so tight that my nails were digging into her skin.

I ordered, “Essence, take your ass home.”

“Oh, now you want me to go home. Is it because Legend is standing here? The other night you were deep inside of me.”

I tightened up my grip on her arms and she laughed loudly.

“Tell me she's joking,” Legend said.

“I wish she were joking, but she's telling the truth, but that has nothing to do with her stalking me. She even stalks me in my dreams. She can manipulate dreams. That's something she's perfected.”

Legend frowned a bit and replied, “I know... The reason why is she's trespassed into mine as well.”

Essence continued her laughter. “Did you enjoy me in your dreams, Legend?”

I stared her down. What was she trying to do? Was she trying to play my own brother against me?

“I don't disrespect you the way you are disrespecting me, Essence. Stay out of my family's way. You hear me?”

“Or what? You might as well kill me now, Rain; this is only the beginning.”

This had been coming to a head and it was time to pop it. It had been red and aggravated long enough.

“Now isn't the time to talk about this,” Legend replied. “Our parents are on their way. You need to get rid of her right now.”

“Hey, Legend, tell Rain the truth. He needs to hear the truth, finally.”

“Shut your mouth,” Legend replied calmly.

“Who was the vampire that I slept with? Hmmm?”

I let go of Essence's arms and turned my attention to Legend. This was splendid news. “Is she suggesting what I think she's suggesting?”

The look on Legend's face told it all. He'd slept with my wife and broken our bond. He'd betrayed me. That's when I did the unexpected. I punched him in the face as hard as I could. We were fighting, wrestling all over the grass.

Essence saw my parents pulling up with Azura, so she fled the scene. Azura screamed for us to stop. Father tried to jump in the middle.

Father hollered over us, “Chill! Rain!”

“Legend slept with Essence and you want me to chill? How could my own brother betray me this way?”

“Calm down.”

“You knew about this?”

Confusion set in as I stared at their faces. They knew. My head started spinning. My own family was aware this whole time. I didn't have any facts, but I was left to assume that Legend had seduced Essence when she was vulnerable.

“There's no need to get upset, Rain. We did what we had to do for the family,” Father asserted.

“If my brother wouldn't have made himself available to my wife, she wouldn't have broken our bond!”

Legend said, “It was only going to be a matter of time, brother. She's in love with me, too.”

I started walking away. I didn't have anything to say to any of them.

Azura was on my heels. “Rain, please don't be mad at me. What Legend did was necessary. Essence was taking control over you in a way that we've never seen before. You would've never stepped into your rightful duties.”

“You were in on it, too?”

“Yes, but…I love you, brother. We all love you. We were trying to protect you.”

“If that's what you call love, then I don't want it. Essence was going to be the only woman I was going to love forever. You wonder why Essence has crossed over to the dark side. It's because of the betrayal.”

“That's not true.”

“Azura... Essence was my wife.”

“It was always your wife this, and your wife that! Rain, it's over. We will get over this. Can you forgive us?” she asked with tears in her eyes.

“Not right now.”

She turned slightly away from me so I couldn't see her tears. “I hope you don't stay away too long.”

A light bulb went off in my head. Did they plant Olivia in my life as well? “And this thing about Olivia… It was set up from the beginning, but she's also a piece in your little game of chess, right?”

“Yes.”

I cocked my head to the side trying to figure her out. It was easy for my family to control everyone, especially me.

“Does Onyx know about this, too?”

“Yes.”

“I can't believe you all would deceive me... I need some time away. I don't want anyone coming to look for me. Stay away from me.”

She didn't respond. For the first time ever, Azura didn't have a smart comeback for me.

I ran as fast as I could; at the speed of light.

  *  *  *  

It was hard for me to look at Olivia when I made it home. I could tell that she had heard about what had happened. I was sure my mother had called her. While I paced the living room, she watched me nervously.

“Your mother wanted me to ask you if you were okay.”

“Oh, is that so? Just like she asked you to come back from New Orleans to make me fall back in love with you?”

“She wanted me to be here for you to keep your mind off Essence, but it didn't work.” Her face turned very serious; her blue eyes seemed cold all of a sudden. “I know you're a man. Many women have loved you throughout the centuries. I also realize how hard it is for you to be who you are, but I believe you fell for me honestly. I could've left you and you wouldn't have known where I was, but I'm not cruel. I really do love you.”

In the back of my mind, there was still that provocative question. “Did you only want to be with me because of the Divination?”

She thought about it. “I already was in love with you before I knew about the Divination.”

“Did you use any of your powers to force this?” I raised my eyebrow.

She shook her head, looking hurt. “No.”

“I just discovered that my own brother broke my bond with my wife, my parents coaxed him to do so, and you are guilty by association.”

“Your family has always been overly protective.
You can't blame them. Rain, you are destined for greatness. Ulysses will walk in your footsteps. Together, you will take over Pigalle Palace and put things the way they should be. You can't be mad at Legend for protecting that.”

“Legend had no right. They don't know what would've happened if he didn't corrupt Essence. He ruined her. I didn't create that beast on my own.”

“I wish you could look at it from their standpoint.”

“What do you want from me, Olivia?”

“Have I ever asked you for anything other than love?”

“No.”

“I stayed. Even after I found out you were still sleeping with her.”

She came to me and placed her hands on my face. “I truly am in love with you. Our spirits are connected and I want to be your Queen.”

“I believe you, but you have to understand something. I can't love you the way you want me to love you right now and honestly, I don't think you have what it takes to be the Queen. You let my Mother manipulate you. She will only manipulate you some more once you're in power.”

“I understand. I don't blame you for thinking this way. I will be gone before dawn. If you want me, you'll come for me.”

She pulled away from me to pack her clothes. I stared out of the window. Drops of rain trickled from the dark clouds. A storm was
brewing.

“Lovebirds,” Azura said as she entered our home with Mother, Father, and Legend.

Soleil and I were in the middle of sharing an intimate moment of kissing.

“You two are so cute,” Mother stated.

We parted and I asked, “Where's Rain?”

“Onyx, Rain knows about Legend and Essence,” Azura replied.

“And how did he find out?” I questioned.

“He and Essence have been seeing one another and this evening, she followed him to Legend's place. During a confrontation, she decided to tell Rain while Legend was standing there.”

I took a deep breath and rubbed the lines that were forming above my brows.

“I thought Rain knew already,” Soleil said.

“If Rain had known, he wouldn't have been calm about it,” I replied.

“Oh.”

“Soleil, you look so good,” Mother complimented to change the subject. “Where's my grandson?”

“He's sleeping in his room. I can take you to see him.”

“Is that a diamond ring I see?” Mother asked, lifting Soleil's finger.

“Yes, Onyx proposed.”

“That is gorgeous, Onyx,” Mother cooed.

“You have good taste,” Azura added.

“Thank you.”

“I want to see the baby, too,” Azura said, following Mother and Soleil to the nursery.

“Did you try to explain to Rain why you seduced Essence?” I asked.

Legend cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. “I couldn't get a word out. He attacked me.”

Father said, “We're going to let Rain have some time to him. Thankfully, we have Olivia there keeping an eye on him.”

“How much longer do you think he's going to allow her to be there with him? Especially if he feels ambushed by the family. He's not going to trust Olivia,” I pointed out.

“True,” Father said. “We'll have to wait and see.”

“What are we going to do if Rain decides he wants nothing to do with us?”

“We're family. He has no choice,” Father answered.

“When is he going to be crowned?”

“Next week sometime.”

“I'm sure the Préfet can't wait to have him take the throne.”

“You do realize that once Rain is King, he can make any decision he wants,” Legend said. “He can decide to never allow any of us into the castle.”

“Rain wouldn't do that,” Father replied.

“We don't know what Rain will do,” I said.

“How are you feeling, Legend?” Father asked.

He answered, “I'm okay. Look, I'm not proud of sleeping with Essence, but from here on out, she can no longer come between us.”

“You haven't been still sleeping with her, have you?” Father questioned with suspicion.

“No, but she's been in my dreams. Rain says that she manipulates dreams. Let's say, I've let her have her way in my dreams…”

“If Essence can manipulate a dream, then the more power she gets, the more she will be able to do in dreams,” Father said. “I believe Rain has learned a good lesson today. He has to get her out of his system and the first step would be to keep her out of his dreams. The same goes for you, Legend. She can do some damage if the two of you let her.”

“So, I must've given her more power by allowing the fantasy to play out in my dream?” Legend quizzed.

“Without a doubt. Her plan is to destroy this family, starting
with you and Rain.”

I
checked my voicemail as soon as I got home from Onyx's place. The family meeting was long because we really had to come together on our next plan of action. We didn't want Rain to start pulling away from us. We were going to have to let him cool down. I loved my brother with all my heart. I didn't want to hurt him the way he was hurting. I was hoping to hear his voice on the recording, but he hadn't called.

Essence's voice came through the box before I could settle in, and the sound of her stopped me dead in my tracks. “Legend, this is Essence. I want to know if we can meet up and talk as soon as possible...”

Why did she want to talk?

I called her back without hesitation to see what she was possibly thinking with what she'd done earlier that day.