Soar (The Immortal Chronicles Book 3) Page 5

  “You know as well as I do, it will be. She’d have the Elite watching over her as part of the Royal family. She’d have her own personal guard on top of that, plus, that palace is like a fortress; it’s almost impenetrable – and they have the Fae there: Magic weavers who have spells.” He shudders and smiles conspiratorially. “Between me and you, they give me the heebie-jeebies.”

  “Okay, if that’s the case, why is she here?” Michael challenges.

  “Because this is where she wants to be,” I say. “You heard her before.”

  “Uh-huh, or is it because this is where you want her? You could get her to go to The Palace and we both know it. Yes, she’d put up a fight, but she’d eventually understand and go.”

  “Not you, too,” I groan.

  “What?”

  “Dimitri thinks I need to take a step back from her; that I’m letting emotions cloud my judgement.” I focus on my attention back on the coals and mutter, “Here I was thinking I was keeping that locked down.”

  Michael just grins goofily and I know that if he has seen it, then pretty much the world has seen it.

  I sigh. “I just couldn’t stand it if anything happened to her. I don’t want her hurt. I want her to have some happiness, even if just for a little while.”

  “Kaden, you know I love you like a brother, but you’re an idiot! First off, anyone with eyes can see how much you love her. Even Xander saw it before… No one has ever seen you fight for something so hard as you did when we lost Addie. It’s impossible not to notice, and I’m pretty sure the only reason Addie hasn’t, is because she’s been so wrapped up in herself. But, she’s coming back and she’s going to see it, too. Are you ready for that? Secondly, she’s not going to hate us if we explain to her why it’s in her best interest to join the Fae. Maybe we can work a deal with the Royals so that she’s not there for too long at a time – something like six month periods. They’re not awful people.”

  “I get where you’re coming from, I do, and I’ll think about it. We’re running out of time. As for the rest, no I don’t want her to see. She’s not ready, and neither am I. She deserves better. She deserves more than me, but I’m a selfish bastard. Now, enough of this mushy crap. Let’s sort these burgers and get this film on.”

  The film was a pile of crap, not that I could focus much as I had Dimitri’s words running through my mind the entire night. Afterwards, we decided to put on one of Celeste’s favourite films from before the Outbreak; one before the humans knew we existed. She always loved how the mortals were fascinated with us in fiction, but couldn’t bare the truth when actually faced with it. Addie fell asleep about half way through, curled up in a ball next to me.

  “You guys should head off to bed, she’s due at the Palace soon, it’s creeping up on us. God knows what will come in the next few weeks,” I whisper.

  They murmur their agreement before leaving me with Addie. I know what thoughts are running through their mind, but I don’t care. Here in the dim light, I brush a strand of hair from her face and take a moment of self-indulgent gazing before gathering her in my arms and carrying her back to her room. As we travel, she sleepily wraps her arms around my neck, snuggling into me. I still so as not to wake her.

  Once arrived at her room, I settle her in bed, pulling the duvet over her. Dimitri was right, I don’t want to let her go but I must.

  “I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe and to be worthy of you. Even if that means letting you go,” I whisper before gently kissing her forehead. I make my way to the door as quietly as I can, trying not to wake her but she stirs.

  “Kaden, is that you?” she asks sleepily.

  “Yeah, you fell asleep earlier, I thought I’d bring you back.”

  “You always do,” she says, falling back into a heavy sleep.

  I am woken by a loud banging, followed by a voice yelling my name. I’ve spent the night tossing and turning after making my decision. I throw on some pants and a t-shirt before rushing downstairs, where I come face to face with my worst nightmare.

  The Royal Fae guard is at my door, and in the entrance hall, facing them off, is Addie in all her dark splendour. Her eyes are flashing red and I can feel her power from here. Michael and Celeste flank her, backed by several other of my people behind them.

  “What the hell is this?” I shout from the top of the stairs before making my way down to stand between Addie and the Fae.

  “You know what this is, Sir; the Princess has been summoned,” the guy at the front says to me in the standard soldier bark.

  “And who is leading this rabble, soldier?”

  “That would be Commander Lucian, Sir.”

  “And would Lucian be happy with the lack of respect you show not just to me, your superior, but to your Princess?” I ask, my eyebrow raised, daring him to sass me. He looks at me warily; his eyes darting around as he scrambles for something to say.

  “Where is Lucian?” I ask loudly.

  “I’m here, Kaden,” Lucian says, entering the room. “I was delayed a few minutes – behind this lot. I apologise for the intrusion,” he says, looking over my shoulder. He side steps me and drops to one knee, his closed fist resting over his heart. His men follow suit.

  “Your highness, it is my honour to escort you to your new home at The Palace. I’m sure you will find everything suitable; Dimitri has seen to it personally.”

  I grit my teeth at his words. Of course, Dimitri did this! He knew I wouldn’t make her go, and considering the number of warriors here, he didn’t expect me to give her up without a fight.

  “Please get up,” Addie says quietly. Her eyes are wide but they have returned to their stormy grey. “I am not your princess, and there is no need to bow to me. I am just a girl who was abandoned by her parents; I do not belong at The Palace.” Lucian rises to his feet at her request, and motions for his men to do the same. He then looks to me and hands me a letter with the Royal seal.

  Kaden,

  I should have known that you wouldn't have encouraged my daughter to do the right thing and join her family. I thought too highly of you, obviously, casting you in the same light as your brother. Apparently, I was wrong.

  I know of your intentions to keep her at your mansion, to keep her safe there, but this will not do. She is the Princess Valoire, first in line to rule our territory should anything happen to myself or my husband.

  You need to let Lucian bring my daughter home to me, otherwise you will pay for this. Not with your life, but the lives of your people; with my daughter’s happiness.

  Failure to return Adelaide will result in her being deemed a traitor. The punishment is death.

  Send her to me Kaden. I will not ask again.

  My head drops as my decision tears me apart.

  “Stand down,” I say quietly, and my people do. All but Celeste and Michael, who look at me like I’ve lost my mind.

  “Are you kidding me?” Addie asks. The look of shock over my betrayal cuts through me.

  “I said, stand down,” I say to Michael and Celeste. Reluctantly, they follow my orders, but it is clear they are furious at me. I turn to Lucian.

  “Michael here will accompany you. He will act as the Princess’ personal guard,” I tell him.

  “Apologies, Kaden, but that is not your choice.”

  I bite down and try to contain the growl in rising in my throat. “He will be going, or she won’t leave here with you – at least not without you losing half, if not all, your men. Neither of us want that. She trusts him, and he has her best interests at heart. He will protect her with his life. He is a man of the Bane syreline; you have no reason to object.” I watch as he considers his options before agreeing with a small nod.

  “Excuse me!” Addie shouts. “What the hell do you think you’re doing talking about me as if I’m not here – as if I am some pawn for you to pass around. I am not going anywhere.”

  Red fire returns to her eyes and Lucian jumps forward, reaching her before she can say or do anything el
se. Before she can react, he has clasped a bracelet around her wrist. She falters for a second before passing out into Lucian’s arms.

  “It’s Hela’s bracelet; it drains the power from any Fae or Fallen. I didn’t want to use it, but I had it just in case,” he explains as Michael lifts her out of Lucian’s arms.

  “Thank you for not being an obstacle in this, Kaden,” Lucian thanks me before following Michael out of the house; his men trail behind him. I close the door behind them.

  “What the hell was that, Kaden?” Celeste roars. “After everything she’s been through, she was finally coming back, and you feed her to the wolves. How could you betray her like that?” I throw the letter to her before putting my head in my hands. I give her a minute to read.

  “You see, I had no choice. It was let her go, or get her killed. I love her too much to put her through another fight Celeste, and that’s what it would have come to. You know it as well as I do.”

  “Well… shit. I don’t even know what to say. What can I do?” she asks softly. It’s rare that she softens.

  “What I need is your help to find The Seven. Once she’s safe, nothing will stop me from retrieving her.”

  I wake up groggily, with a thick layer of sleep in my eyes. It takes me a minute to open them, and when I do, I’m in a room I don’t recognise. I sit up and see Michael asleep at the end of the bed and the panic inside me dulls a little. I lay back down as it all comes back to me; the Fae guard, Kaden betraying me. He said he’d fight for me – more fool me for believing him, I guess. He had been so kind since Xander… I knew the Fae would come for me, it was inevitable, but that he just let me go, stings.

  I swallow the disappointment and remind myself that I swore to act more like an adult. At least I still have Michael with me.

  “Morning sleepy head,” I say, seeing him stir.

  “Morning,” he yawns. “Are you okay? They knocked you out pretty hard.”

  “Other than the obvious, I’m fine,” I nod. “Though we’re seriously screwed here – you know that, right?”

  “What do you mean?” he asks, sitting up and wiping the sleep from his eyes to look at me properly.

  “What I mean is, they want me to be a Princess. A god damn princess! Grace and all. I honestly can’t imagine anything worse, grace and poise aren’t exactly high on my list of qualities,” I ramble, climbing out of bed to pace the floor. “Christ, I am going to SUCK as a royal. All I ever wanted was to fight for what I believed in, to protect people as part of The Guard.”

  “You can still do all of that, Addie, especially here. It will just be fighting and protecting in a different way,” he says to me softly. He’s treating me like an unexploded bomb. I guess I can’t blame him, I’m not always exactly a bag of happy. I think about what he says, and maybe he’s right. Maybe I can protect people from here. Humans, wolves, Fallen and Fae alike.

  “Hmmm, maybe. What do they want from me though? I mean, they didn’t want me before, why would they now? I have no idea how this world works.”

  “Well, I’m going to be here to help every step of the way, baby doll. Anything you need, I’ve got you.”

  I sigh a little in relief. More than anything, I’m afraid of this world. I’ve always heard how cruel the Fae could be, how they only truly cared about themselves, and now here I am, in the heart of the beast. It’s the last place I want to be.

  “I never wanted to be here – I still don’t want to be, but I swear I’m going to try. If this is my place in this new world of mine, I’ll give it a try.”

  “Xander would be real proud of you, you know? You’re handling all of this with such grace, just like a princess – well, if we exclude the whole threatening to take out a whole platoon of The Guard.”

  “I miss him,” I whisper, my throat full of tears that threaten to spill.

  “I know you do, baby doll. We all do, but you’re right. This is your new path, and if he could, he’d be walking it right alongside you. He’ll never leave you though, not in here,” he says, wiping my tears away and placing a hand on my heart. “He’ll always be in here.”

  The door to the room opens and I spin to face it. Michael stands in front of me protectively.

  “Good, you’re awake,” Queen Eolande, my mother, glides into the room and pulls the curtains open. Light fills the room and I cover my eyes as they adjust from the darkness. “We have things to do, and not much time to do them,” she snaps her fingers and a host of people enter the room. “Your coming out ball is in a few weeks and we have so much to plan, but first, we need your dress. Eliana here will measure you up, then Jessa will sort your make-up whilst Stefano and Canza sort your hair and nails.” She claps her hands and the room becomes a flurry of activity. Her people pounce on me and start pulling me in various directions before trying to undress me.

  “Hold on one god damned minute! You are not taking me out of my clothes!” I shout. How freaking dare they!

  “Your highness, but we need accurate measurements and clothing will just get in the way. Also, this way, we can see to your,” she looks at me, almost embarrassed, “your personal areas.” She says heavily accented. Her voice almost twinkles.

  “No, this is ridiculous. You don’t need to do that,” I stress. “Michael, help?” I look to him and he shrugs. So much for every step of the way. Ugh!

  “Your highness, please, we need to do our job. We do not wish to anger the Queen,” the girl with blonde hair, I think her name is Jessa, says. The fear on her face is evident and I waiver. What kind of monster is my mother?

  “Fine,” I say. “But we have rules; if I say stop, you stop. And if you cut my hair too short, it’s not my mother you’ll need to be afraid of. Deal?” They all nod and begin pawing over me again. How on earth am I going to survive this?

  Two more people enter the room bringing with them some weird bed, chair thing, which I’m pushed into once I’m down to my underwear. One of them leaves but the other stands by the door. She looks stern with her pencil skirt and blouse, but it’s the clipboard that does it – that matched with a face like a slapped ass. She looks down her nose at me, which doesn’t bother me as I’ve never really cared what people think about me, but I don’t get it.

  “Who are you?” I ask. I’m not nice about it, but since I didn’t really want to be here, I’m about at the end of my nice rope.

  “Your Highness,” she says with a sneer. “I am Penelope; I will be your personal assistant, a ladies’ maid of sorts. I will manage your diary, ensure you’re ready for events and conduct your training to prevent any public mishaps. I previously worked alongside Queen Eolande, I am very good at what I do.”

  “Righhhtt,” I respond. She seems like she doesn’t want to be here, but I guess working with me is a demotion of some sort? Who knows. I sit back in the chair and start to relax as my head, hands and feet are massaged. It feels amazing. I’ve never been pampered like this before, maybe there are some perks to being a princess.

  “Your Highness,” Jessa starts.

  “Please, call me Addie,” I offer.

  “Princess-a,” Stefano says. “We couldn’t possibly. We are not your station. We are here to aid you at all times. You are, Your Highness,” he says almost frantically.

  “Okay, fine – but let it be known that I don’t like it, and I would prefer Addie.”

  They both nod before Jessa speaks again. “Your Highness, we will do your hair last, and er… personal beauty first. If that is okay?”

  “Of course, Jessa. Do as you need,” I say with a soft smile. She’s young, younger than I am, but she’s working in the palace. Maybe I don’t know as much about the Fae world as I thought.

  I have been waxed, plucked, buffed, and preened to within an inch of my life. I am sore in places I shouldn’t be sore, and all in the name of looking like a god damn princess. Some of it isn’t too bad, my eyebrows now have some shape and make my eyes look bigger, and my hair now falls in soft waves down my back.

  I drew the lin
e at the clothes Penelope pulled out for me. I’m not a dress kind of girl, especially not dresses with full-boned corsets; I like to actually breathe. I settled for the red flouncy blouse she pulled out for me with a pair of black trousers. I’m just trying to squeeze into the red torture devices she left for me to put on my feet.

  “You having fun there, Addie?” Michael chuckles from the wingback chair he’s moved by the window. I scowl at him, making him laugh more. Finally, I get my shoes on.

  “Why do I need to dress like this? What do these people have against comfort?” I groan, standing and feel the shoes pinch my toes. “These shoes are too freaking small,” I say as I sit back down and throw them across the room. Moving to the closet I come face to face with something from some shopaholic’s wildest fantasy.

  “What the hell…” I say, walking into its depths. There are rails and rails of dresses, skirts, and every other sort of clothing imaginable. The back wall is just shelves of shoes, and to the left of that, on the wall, is a cabinet full of jewellery and other accessories. Scarves, bags, etc.

  “Holy crap! What sort of person needs this much stuff?” I shout out to Michael who appears in the doorway. He whistles as he moves through the room, checking out the different garments. He’s in Heaven!

  “Apparently, you do, baby girl. Never let Celeste in here. She’ll pitch a fit,” he says chuckling. “Hell,” he says wrapping a feather boa around him, “I might just have some fun in here,” he winks at me and I can’t help but laugh at him. He’s so blasé about everything; I wish I could be as free as he is. He struts over to the wall of shoes and pulls down some patent red and black lace-up heels.

  "These are perfect!” he says, grabbing my hand and leading me out of the room to sit in the chair he’s just vacated. Dropping to his knees, he slides the shoes on, lacing up the ribbon before pulling me to stand. “See, perfection!”

  I take a few steps, and amazingly I can walk, and they don’t hurt. Score!