Shattered Secrets (Book of Red #1) (19 page)

“No way, Derick. You tell me what’s wrong or me and the book are going to bed. Alone.”

“
Servants
, Abigail. I’m going to guess you’re the Elder’s heir and I’m the son of a servant. Which would explain Mr. Snellings’ comment about Mark being my greatest competition, I think, because we’re all just your servants.”

The only person I cared about being with at the end of whatever horrors our future held worried he wasn’t good enough for
me
? “Should I hit you now or later?”

I tossed the book to the floor—
to hell with the thing for now
—then turned to the side and draped my legs over his. “You told me what you want. Me. How we are. How we were. Well, that’s what I want, too. Not just now. Forever. I don’t care if someone thinks we’re young and stupid and making decisions we’re not old enough to make. If what we have isn’t true—and if we’re really
magical
, then I think there’s no denying what we have—I can’t imagine what a deeper love feels like.”

Smiling, Derick shifted so he was on top of me, hand sliding up and down my bare leg. “You don’t care if I’m supposed to be a
servant
?”

He teased me with a soft kiss, brushing his lips across mine.

“You will make an excellent servant. I have needs.” My breath evaporated from my chest the closer his fingertips traveled to my stomach.

Derick lifted the end of my tank top, snuck his hand under and gripped my skin, pulling me closer. I arched my back, pressing against him, and our mouths met. I loved the tenderness in his touch, filled with longing and desire yet still feather-light and gentle, roaming over my belly as our bodies moved together.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

He jumped up and spun around, as though he didn’t know where to find the door, his hair disheveled and poofing out every which direction.

I giggled and pointed to the left. “That way.”

Glaring at me, he said, “I know my way around. I was looking for a weapon.”

“I’m sure it’s f-fine.” I grabbed the remote and held it out for Derick—
like this thing would help
—and he laughed. “Better than nothing?”

“You sure about that?” He peeked through the peephole, fingertips pressed against the door. “Who is it?”

“Molly Anderson, sir. From the sales office. You forgot to come by and sign the paperwork today.”

Our sighs echoed throughout the cold room.

Suddenly feeling underdressed in my pajamas, I spread the red throw blanket from the back of the couch over myself.

Derick opened the door, then stepped aside. “Hello, Ms. Anderson. Please, come in. We lost track of time today and forgot to come by the office. Accept my apologies?”

The petite woman in her white gaucho pants and strappy red sandals smiled at Derick as though she’d never heard someone speak so politely. Personally, I wanted to gag. Manners or not, he went overboard.

“No problem. You had a long drive.” Ms. Anderson pulled a manila folder from her black briefcase. “Now, if we can just spread these papers out somewhere… the coffee table should do.”

I reached down to grab the book and had to stifle a scream.
History of Kalós
lay open, and words filled the page before my eyes, as though someone held a pen to the paper and scrawled in a slight cursive handwriting right here and now.

‘Aedan Mordha knows the heir is in a Safe Zone. Aedan has only two servants inside the human plane. They are not human or Kalóan—he works with the enemy—and their powers are dwindling.’

Then, as though the world paused, so did the writing. I closed the book, hid it behind a throw pillow, then glanced at Derick while biting my lip.

He tilted his head to the side as I rubbed my hands up and down my arms, bouncing my legs. Concern must have been all over my face. I felt the worry. Everywhere. Pins and needles pricked at my hands and feet. A brown paper bag would have helped. Maybe.

“Oh, Mrs. Crawford, don’t worry. Buying real estate is scary, but you two are already ahead of the game. Paying in cash will save you so many headaches, and you’re buying at the right time.” She prattled on about the economy being bad and that being a good thing for young married couples like us.

Married
.
Mrs. Crawford
.

“May I see?”

I shook my head, wondering if I’d just stepped into an episode of the
Twilight Zone
. “Sorry?”

“Don’t be shy, Abby. Show her the ring,” Derick said.

“The ring?”
What ring
? Stupid imagination. Just when PTSD seemed like a thing of the past.

He rushed over and took my left hand. “She’s a bit modest. If the ring wasn’t an heirloom, I doubt she would ever have agreed to wear it.” A warm smile lit his blue eyes, a genuine thing, one that made me want to point at him and call him a liar and a freak, but somehow I knew I shouldn’t, especially once I looked down at my finger. “But I’m so glad she did.”

I wore a diamond—at least a carat—set inside a white gold band lined with knots. Where did this to-die-for jewelry that would have Megan—
still need to text her
—squeeing to the world come from?

My head ached. Something weird was happening. I didn’t know what. Or why.

“Oh my!” Ms. Anderson pressed her palm to her tan chest, jostling her shiny black and white beaded necklace that matched her outfit perfectly. “Stunning. What did you say your family does again?”

“Investment banking. If we’re lucky, Abby and I won’t have to work a day in our lives. Neither will our children.”

She giggled like a schoolgirl. “Children? Do you plan to have any soon?”

“No. No,” he said. “We need to finish college first. Just because we don’t need to work doesn’t mean we don’t need an education.”

“I like you, Mr. Crawford.” Molly Anderson turned to me and smiled. “You’re a lucky girl.”

“Thank you.” I stared at the TV, trying to get my attention on something else. Maybe this was all part of being a Romancer. I certainly did
not
control the illusion of a ring on my finger.

Derick and Ms. Anderson sorted the papers on the wicker coffee table. They signed form after form, laughing and joking with each other. Part of me wondered if he knew what he did to her. Derick had done something similar to Trooper Samson in Virginia, and I don’t think he realized it then.

I couldn’t watch. Clicking the volume on the remote, I wished I hadn’t.

“Next up on ABC 7 News at 10: Two Missing Virginia Teens. Have you seen them?” Our faces flashed across the screen. I hit the mute button.

“Such sad news, isn’t it?” Ms. Anderson asked before I had a chance to covertly change the channel. “Apparently the girl had been kidnapped, and rescued, a few days before she and her boyfriend disappeared. I pray they ran away to be together and nothing horrible happened.”

Derick’s skin paled, and he pulled me to my feet and against his chest—
did he need the support as much as I did?
—then he narrowed his eyes. “Maybe you’re right. Young love is pretty powerful.”

“The police still don’t have any leads on her kidnappers. So if these teens were taken again, no one knows who did it.” She wrung her hands together, probably a nervous habit; maybe she realized we were those teens. “Well, I think we’re all done for now. I can’t accept the deposit, not in cash anyway. Drop it by the office tomorrow?”

He nodded.

“Have a great night, you two.” She walked out, humming an 80’s hair band tune and stuffing files back into her bag. Odd woman. Odd situation. Odd everything.

Closing the door with his back, Derick slumped to his butt. “That was more difficult than I expected.”

“
Expected
?” I flung the book onto the table. “I don’t expect
anything
. First, you need to explain to me what happened with her, where that ring”—I checked my finger; the rock was gone—“came from, and where it is now, and why she didn’t recognize our pictures on the TV.
Then
, we need to figure out what this book is.”

His eyebrows drew together. “The book?”

“Derick, look”—I opened to the last page of Aedan Mordha’s entry and pointed as more and more words appeared on the paper—“
History of Kalós
is a work in progress!”

“Looks like we’re going to be up all night again.”

With everything we needed to learn, that was an understatement. We’d need to stay up for a century.

Derick

ur new lives had this way of making me feel powerless. I should have listened to Abby and taken the week off, enjoyed myself and her—
especially
her. Now I knew Aedan and the two Fávlosi were looking for us, that they’d wait us out and find Abby the second we tried to leave this island—our Safe Zone. Of course they would.

Evil has nothing better to do than be evil.

I rubbed sleep from my eyes. The words on the pages had started blurring together several hours ago, compounding my frustration. Longboat Key spread across a dozen square miles, not enough to keep us occupied for years—or however long people wanted to chase after Abby.

Why here? Why did my parents have to bring our family to such a small place that summer? They had to have known about this moment, the future my mother saw, the future where Abby needed protection from the rest of the world. So why choose a location that would drive us nuts after a few months, maybe even weeks?

I needed a computer to access the untraceable game and contact my dad so I could ask him all these questions. Using a phone would be too dangerous.

And I needed a plan to break the details of our hideout to Abby without her throwing a fit. Her independent spirit would scream and fight and claw to get out of here as soon as I told her about everything I read, but I had to tell her.

We were in this together.

Abigail

My head pounded, so I rolled over and snuggled closer to Derick, pressing my temple to his firm, muscular thigh. Apparently I was incapable of pulling all-nighters two days in a row.

He whispered as he read and tucked the blanket around me.

I squeezed my eyes closed, avoiding early morning light as long as possible. Derick didn’t protest, so I wasn’t getting up just yet.