Raining Light (Fate's Intent Book 5) (5 page)

“I know. Just be with me to be with me, not because you think you have to. You can choose another way if you wanted.”

“Don’t say that.” I leaned in even closer, almost as close as I could get without kissing him again. “You know I love you and this is what I choose. That won’t change.”

He had to see it and I would do what I had to just to make him believe it.

Chapter 7

Jaylyn

Kole took control of dinner and was able to make it faster than Adele could ever had and we were eating it when they got back.

“Oh, looks like you have thought of it.” She said, taking her seat next to her father and looking around at how the circle of chairs got bigger.

“You expected us to wait for you?” I asked. “I’d starve but isn’t this the cutest thing you’ve ever seen?” I held up my bowl made of bread with soup in it while Zayden got one for himself and Adele.

“It is cute. Kole did this, I assume.”

“Who else would you expect could?” He smiled.

Adele brought a spoonful up to her mouth and paused, looking at it before taking the bite. “It’s not poisoned, right?”

Kole laughed. “No! Why would I poison yours?”

The Great Seni Fighters paused from eating and glanced down at the bowls in their hands.

“Oh, relax. I didn’t poison anyone’s. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it already—a long time ago.”

“It’s okay.” Aleksander said. “He knows better.”

“Yes. An unfortunate mishap I agreed to.”

“Well, it’s good.” Adele said. “Thanks for doing the work for me.”

“You won’t have to clean up from it at least.” Ruby smiled.

I agreed excitedly. “I know! Finally! Dinnerware you can eat! Love it!”

Trever laughed. “You’re like a year-round pregnant woman, did you know that?”

“I am not!”

“Yes, please quit saying that.” Kole said. “It creeps me out every time.”

“Wonder why?” Ryon muttered sarcastically.

Trever shared in his laugh until Adele looked over and noticed Ryon didn’t have one of the bowls in his hand. “Did you eat already?”

Silence hit Aleksander, Trever and Kole extraordinarily quick and they all looked towards Ryon almost emotionless. “Ah, no. I don’t—never mind.” He got right up from his chair and simply walked away without even finishing his sentence to give Adele a proper answer.

“What was that?”

“Leave it alone, Adele.” Aleksander said.

“But why did he—”

“Leave it alone I said!”

Adele sat back in her chair with her food, not to say another word. It was a good idea not to get anyone worked up right now but I wanted to know his behavior as much as she did.

“Should I talk to him again?” I asked.

“That won’t be necessary, Jay.” Trever said. “Stay. Kole will give him what he needs.

“A good kick in the ass? On it.” Kole got up with his bread bowl and took it with him into the brush beyond the fire after Ryon.

“Do we even want to know?” I asked.

Trever glanced at Adele for a moment then shook his head. “No. No, you don’t. He’s just—”

“Stubborn? Rude? Pig-headed?” Ruby said. “Want more? I’ve got them.”

“No. They’re all good but I was just going to say—himself. Don’t worry about him.”

Ruby took another bite of her bread bowl since she finished the soup and no one seemed to want to continue it.

“Well, isn’t this great?” Aleksander asked, breaking the awkward pause.

“Are you looking for a real answer?” Darius replied under his breath.

Trever laughed and kept looking in between them. “He says no and he also says that he hates you and really hates me and wishes that I’d stop doing that. Ooh! I don’t even what to repeat that. There are ladies present.”

“Oh my! Where?” I asked sarcastically while looking around then lost my tone while I glared over at Trever specifically. “You don’t have to protect us. There isn’t a thing we wouldn’t be surprised to hear.”

“Trever! Did you know we forgot to pack his leash?”

“Besides that!” Ruby laughed. “But that’s more hilarious!”

“A metaphorical one.” Trever replied before he tilted his head back towards Kole. “And you know it wouldn’t work on him anymore. Did you at least do it?”

“Yeah. Painfully. He’ll be over it in a second when he comes back.”

“Kole! You’re bleeding!” I gasped, seeing the scarlet ribbons running down his hand.

“Oh, would you look at that? How very observant of you, Jay? Relax. I’m fine. It’s not life threatening and even if it was, there’s nothing you could do.”

“And it just helps that you keep reminding me.”

“Just preparing you for the future.”

“Kole!” Aleksander snatched, making him shut right up. “Not a word further.”

Kole sighed as he sat back down in his chair and wrapped the small wound on his arm. I didn’t want to believe him. Nothing was going to happen to him.

“What happened anyway?” Adele asked.

“He bit me.”

“Really?” Ruby asked a little disgusted by the thought.

“No. Wrong place, wrong time kind of thing. No big deal. It always seems to be me. Disaster follows me wherever I go and sets anchor when I stop.”

“Doesn’t help that you usually instigate it.” Trever replied.

Kole laughed. “Life’s too short. One day you wake up and oh shit, you’re old!”

“You are not old!” I said, openly defending him.

“And you say that just to make yourself feel better. Did you know just fifty years ago, the life expectancy of Kaluian men was only twenty-three? According to that, I am old!”

“Then I must already be a rotting corpse.” Aleksander replied.

“Nah. You’ve got a young heart for your age. Besides, we could only hope to be as lucky as you if we made it that far.”

“What do you mean?” Adele asked.

“I seriously doubt you want to know.” Ryon appeared, almost out of nowhere and retook his seat. I didn’t even feel him approach.

Adele’s eyes narrowed and she looked to her father. “Then I sadly already do.”

Aleksander laughed and went on in a way that was clearly ignoring his daughter sitting just a foot away. “Now that you mention it. I did bring extra.” He took a heavy pouch out of his coat and shook it so we could hear the coins inside. “I thought we could always spoil ourselves with it.”

Ryon and Kole looked at each other and simultaneously got up from their chairs. “We’re in! When do we leave?”

They laughed from saying it at the same time and Aleksander stood up from his chair, putting away the pouch. “Now, I suppose.”

“Please tell me you’re kidding?” Adele said, irritated by their plans.

“It’s all right, Adele. The crossroads are only an hour away. It won’t take us very long.”

“This is a joke right?” Adele jumped to her feet, her voice loud with annoyance while they were about to approach their horses. “So we’re just going to sit here while you go off for some—some late night venture to the local whore house!”

“Shit, Aleks.” Kole sighed. “Did you have to bring your mother along? She’s such a judgmental shrew.”

They laughed but it was just getting Adele angrier which was not helping. “That’s just great! You go right ahead and laugh about it! You’re just being a bunch of selfish children! You should have prepared for this trip properly, knowing that you’d be out here for days!”

I could see that Kole was getting annoyed by her constant nagging but he tried laughing it off. “You know, you’re right. I was preparing for this properly but I was kind of having trouble fitting her in my saddle bag right next to the ashes of my dead friend so why don’t you just take your—”

“Kole!” Trever immediately got up and stopped him from getting any closer to her, trying to calm his anger. “That’s enough!” He pushed him away towards Aleksander. “Get him out of here.”

Aleksander led Kole away towards the horses and there was a silence around the fire. Ryon looked to Trever and he gave him the go-ahead with a nod.

Adele was standing stiff, motionless, not knowing what he meant but still couldn’t move by it. We watched them ready their horses and ride off into the dark without a glance back at anyone. Things only seemed stranger the longer we were out here. I was almost worried about what would be next.

Chapter 8

Troy

A whistle echoed and Rift ran off through the trees to follow Ryon.

“It’s all right, Adele.” Trever said while sitting back down in his chair. “Let the bachelors have their fun. We’ll leave when they get back.”

“Why aren’t you going?” Jaylyn asked, narrowing her eyes to the fact that he stayed behind.

“Who ever said I was a bachelor?”

“You have a woman?”

“End it, Jay, okay? I’m not getting into it here.”

If her eyes could narrow more, they would have but she didn’t go on, probably because she was stopped.

“What did he mean?”

Jaylyn turned her head to Adele finally move and look at Trever. Her eyes shown real curiosity to her question but Trever answered it with little detail. “Please forgive him. Kole’s just been frustrated lately. We try to keep him on a fix but sometimes it wears off before we get to it again.”

“My father’s coronation—he looked at me like—like I did something for him to hate me and you—you knew why. You sent him away. Something happened that you’re not telling me. Something bad.”

Trever exhaled a long breath through his nose. “It was nothing you did, I assure you. Kole’s just—some things are hard for him to accept.”

“Trever, can we once get a straight answer from you? You’re just trying to get away from telling me.” He looked down at some papers in his hand and acted as if he started to ignore her to stop the conversation. “Trever!”

“Don’t bother, Adele.” Jaylyn said. “He’s not going to tell you. He has a real problem giving anyone a straight answer. Believe me.”

“There are a time for things to be said and a time for them to not be. This just happens to be one of those times. None of you are ready to understand what it is you want to know.”

“You know, you think that a lot about us.” Jaylyn said. “You never think we’re ready to hear anything.”

“Actually, that’s untrue. I didn’t go with them, not just because I don’t care to join in their activities but rather I have something to show you. If you’ll let me.”

“What?” I asked.

“You might recall the last time we were all alone like this, except for Jay, and I showed you something.”

“The blood thing.” Jaylyn said. “You told me, remember?”

“Yes but since then I figured out a way to induce a vision that shows people with certain blood traits.”

Jaylyn tensed next to me. “You’ve seen them.”

“Why haven’t you mentioned this sooner?” Adele asked or more demanded to know.

“It’s your father, actually. He likes to think the future is solely for his eyes but I disagree. We’re all part of it and I can show you but there’s one catch.” No one even asked what. He just let the silence linger before telling us like he likes to do. “You all have to want me to.”

We looked around at each other, wondering who wouldn’t want to see then my eyes turned to Darius. He wasn’t looking at anyone or anything though Ruby was right next to him, staring for his approval but he wasn’t giving it.

“It’s okay.” She said. “We’ll just go for a walk or something while they see it.”

He barely nodded but he got up with her and they started to walk away.

“Red, really?”

“This isn’t your concern, Trever. Just show them. We’ll be back.”

Trever sighed loudly while they disappeared.

“Did you say that just so he’d agree?” Zayden asked.

“I was maybe hoping he would. He can’t fight it. It’s going to happen. It’ll be better for Red if he just learns to accept that now.”

“Better for Ruby?” I asked. “How?”

Trever sighed again. “Forget it. What’s your answer?”

I looked at Jaylyn’s hopeful eyes and answered quickly so Trever wouldn’t bring up anything about my past again. “I won’t mind seeing. Can you still show us his?”

“I can. Usually they’re together so it would probably happen even if I chose not to. Adele, could you get me a clean surface?”

She nodded and formed a table in front of him and he got up to go to his horse. He came back over with the same box he used before that had all those little bottles in it.

“Is it a good idea to bring that stone back into Seni?” Adele asked.