Horizon (18 page)

“I saw Luke before you came,” I blurted.

Zach’s face paled. He scanned our surroundings. “Where is he?”

“He left.”

He visibly sighed. “What was your point in telling me that?”

“Luke wants to change things too. So does Jett and Taylor.”

“What about Heath?” he asked. “What aspirations does your husband have?”

I gasped. “How did you find out?”

His shoulders stiffened. “Styx told me.”

How would Styx know? I hadn’t spoken to him about it. “We didn’t exactly have time to discuss things like plans,” I said, venom coating my words.

He held up his hands as if in surrender. “I know you care about him, but you have to think this through. Will Heath be the best bondmate for you? Will he be able to help you maneuver a court he has not attended? Will he even care about our worlds?”

“He cares more than you think,” I said.

Zach frowned at me speculatively. I shouldn’t have said that. This whole time I’d been trying to keep Heath out of our conversations. I didn’t want to get him in more trouble than he’d already dealt with because of me.

When he spoke, his voice came out squeezed. “The only thing I care about is saving our bond. I’m not just going to give you over to him because you married the fool.”

I tilted my head and scowled. “Well, talking like that sure isn’t going to help you achieve that goal.”

“He’s not who you think he is. He’s had more chances than anyone to make a difference for his realm, for your world, but he refused to care, time and again. You aren’t going to convince me otherwise.”

“I’m not trying to,” I yelled.

Clearly frustrated Zach closed his eyes for a few seconds. I nearly felt bad for where our conversation had turned, but it wasn’t like I wanted to chum up to him now that there was a chance I could really have Heath in my life for good.

I concentrated on powering down and, to my surprise, it worked immediately. I needed to have more faith in my abilities. They were always there when I needed them, but somehow I couldn’t quite get myself to trust them.

Without saying another word he turned and headed for the castle. I followed, not because I was afraid to be in the forest alone. I needed to find out where Heath was. He had to be here.

Along the way, Zach looked back at me. “By the way,” he said. “Don’t even think about finding your husband. He’s bunking with the masses. You stick one pretty little toe in that place and you’ll be mobbed. Fair warning.”

The next morning, I awoke to clatter. Letting out an annoyed groan, I tried to drift back to sleep, but the commotion only got louder.

I stumbled to my feet, made a pit-stop then found my way to the living room. “What are you do—” I couldn’t finish my sentence once the scene before me took my mind.

Zach was covered in head to toe armor, not the typical knight’s armor of old. This looked more like a compilation of dragon scales that were fashioned together. It wasn’t even made of metal. In fact, I had no idea what it was made of, but it was shiny and black. He turned and eyed me for a second before he said, “Would you mind fastening that for me. I’m in a bit of a hurry and Nicco has disappeared.”

Seemed like that was all Nicco had done since I’d gotten here. I’d hoped to talk to him so many times. Maybe he realized that and chose to vacate the premises every time I came in sight? I shrugged and walked over to Zach.

I grabbed the cool loop he held, and asked, “Where does it go?”

“There’s a pin about halfway up my back on the left. Don’t be afraid to give it some force.”

He wasn’t kidding. I practically had to hang from the thing to get it to snap into place. I grunted with the effort. “There,” I said. “Is this seriously going to be a battle?”

Before he could answer me the armor shifted, the plates merging into a solid plate that moved with him. He turned and smiled at me. For a moment I thought he might not be mad at me anymore. I hoped he’d gotten over it.

His voice came out light, which brought a smile to my lips. “What did you think we were going to do? Sit around and play dollies?”

I grinned. “Play…dollies?” A laugh burst from me. I couldn’t’ help it. “Did you really just say that?”

“Shut up,” he said, giving me a frown.

“You first,” I said. “So about last night.”

He shook his head. “Don’t. I haven’t forgotten, and I’m not giving up, so you can save it.”

“Zach?”

“Don’t you Zach me, Rayla. I’m done with talking to you. At the end of the week you will know who your bondmate is. I shall do my utmost to be that man, but if someone else gets you, it’s on you. We could have prevented this if you had shared yourself with me, but now we have to move forward.”

I cocked my jaw. “Good luck, then,” I said, shoving his shoulder. “You’re going to need it.”

He lifted himself to his full, imposing height. “Don’t worry about me, love. I’ve got this one covered.”

Arrogant. They were all arrogant idiots. I didn’t have anything else to say to him, so I wandered toward the closet.

“Oh, and Rayla?” he called after me. I didn’t turn around, but I did stop. “If I am the man left standing at the end of this battle, you will be in my bed every night for the rest of your fae life. I’m done being chivalrous.”

The air charged between us, and it was all I could do to keep myself steady. My knees wanted to buckle out from under me. He laughed then a soft thud reached me.

I whirled around, heart racing.

He was gone.

Cassie came to my room a few minutes later. I opened the door to an exuberant girl that didn’t act a thing like my best friend, at least the one I’d gotten used to. She held her hands behind her back while she zipped past me with a huge smile covering her face.

“Guess what?” she said. “You’ll never guess.”

I leaned against the door and smirked at her. “Why don’t you tell me then?”

“Finn’s officiating in the tournament!”

My eyebrows bunched together. “What does that mean?”

She pushed my shoulder. “He can help Heath, silly.”

“How?”

She flicked her wrist. “I don’t know, something about a brotherhood. I didn’t quite catch it all.”

I took her shoulders between my fingers and squeezed, leveling our gazes. “Tell me what you do know.”

She brushed my hands away. “Geez, Rayla, you don’t need to manhandle me.”

I smiled, but it stuck halfway up. Luckily, I had better control over my voice than my face. I motioned to the couch. “How about we sit and talk about it?”

Her face scrunched up. “No way. You have to get ready. Didn’t you know? The tournament starts in ten minutes.”

I slumped into the sofa. “I don’t think I’m supposed to go yet.” Trying to distract myself from the butterflies in my stomach, I picked at my nightgown. “The truth is, I don’t know if I want to see it.”

She grabbed my hand and pulled. “You’ll worry yourself sick if you stay here. Watching is always better than covering your eyes. Didn’t you learn anything from that slasher flick we saw junior year? What was that called anyway?”

I shrugged, laughing. She was right. I’d let Travis talk me in to taking him into Moab to see some movie. I’d hidden my face throughout half the show until Travis thought he’d scar me for life by making me watch a gruesome scene. At first I struggled to free my arms from his strangle hold, but as it turned out my imagination was way more descriptive than Hollywood. I’d laughed and laughed until he finally let me go. Cassie had shushed me and Travis looked at me as if I’d morphed into the man on the screen hacking teenage girls to shreds.

Let’s just say he never asked me to go with him to a movie again. At home, every once in a while when I wanted to freak him out after practice, I’d come around the corner with a steak knife in my hand when he walked through the door.

It got him every time. He told me I was sick, and I kind of was, but he deserved it.

Man I missed him. My emotions caught up to my thoughts. All at once tears streamed down my cheeks.

Here I was wasting time, once again, because of the fae. Cassie scooted closer. “What’s wrong? I thought you’d be happy about this.”

I was thrilled with the chance to be reunited with Heath, but somehow I felt time slipping away. If I didn’t do something soon, Travis might be lost forever. If Lambert could convince him that the Order was right, Travis might just take up the cause.

He’d been floundering for a while before I left for school. Even though he’d been in the same grade as me, we didn’t associate together. He hung out with the jocks. He was even friends with Brody Smith, my once boyfriend.

Even after he found out what happened between Brody and me, he’d still hung out with the creep. Cassie told me once that Travis had actually kicked the crap out of Brody because of it, but if you asked me they looked like great friends at school.

I’d never asked Travis about it and he never said anything to me, so maybe I’d never know. I’d always thought that one day we’d talk about it. Now I didn’t know if I’d have another day with him to talk.

At least the rest of my family was safe even if I still didn’t know exactly where they were. That couldn’t be said for my friends. I hadn’t forgotten that no one seemed to know where Natalie and Sam were.

One thing was certain. I needed to figure out how to get myself out of the realms. I’d thought about approaching Nicco to see if he could undo the curse. For all I knew everyone was lying to me. It wasn’t like I’d tried to go back to the human realm, and seeing as I couldn’t drift in Lombarda, I couldn’t exactly test out my theory. A part of me wanted to get Styx to take me to the borderlands. They weren’t all that far from here. Even if he could just drop me off, I might be able to find my way back to St. Mary’s or some other hotspot.

I was pretty sure now that I knew how to harness space I could cloak myself, but I hadn’t tested it out. What if Zach was right? What if Luke was the only person that could locate a sanctuary?

Luke had flat out told me he was done with me. I was okay with not seeing him for a really long time, but I was pretty much hosed if Zach was right.

The only thing I knew was I needed to find Travis. If Lambert was changing him, experimenting on him, who knew what I would find when I finally located him?

Cassie passed her hand in front of my face. “Hello? Where did you travel off to? We’ve got to get you ready.”

When we went into the closet, I groaned. I was so sick of wearing dresses. I’d had it with billowy fabric tripping up my feet. Even Cassie wore a pretty pink number today.

What I wanted was leather, or something with spikes. Maybe I could go emo today? I imagined my hair sleek and black maybe even in a fohawk. I laughed imagining the raucous that would cause.

It certainly would get the fae’s attention. They all looked like they were on their way to a fashion shoot for Retro Magazine or something.

Cassie gave me a confused frown, and I just shrugged. When I went for some jeans, she slapped my hands. “You can’t go to the tournament dressed like that.”

“Watch me.” I barked. “I see no reason to follow stupid fae rules. It’s not like they ever do.”

The left side of her mouth tilted into a lopsided grin. “I’m in! I’ve been dying to get into something comfortable for a change.”

“It’s settled then,” I said, reaching for the jeans again.

She bounded out of the closet then peeked her head through the doorway. “I’ll be back in a few. Don’t leave without me!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I called after her. I didn’t even want to go.

For a second, I considered actually conjuring some leather to wear then thought better of it. It might just give some of the men there ideas I didn’t want to plant. In the end, I chose skinny jeans, a loose red top with a tank underneath and high black boots.

Once I was dressed I wandered into the bathroom and went to work on my hair. I had it up in a simple ponytail in no time.

Cassie took a bit longer than I’d thought she would, so by the time she got back I had practically picked another pillow apart. This time I repaired it before we left. I didn’t want the cleaning crew to end up hating me. I should have grabbed some breakfast, but there was no way I would be able to keep it down at this point.

We were three flights down when I finally asked, “Where is the tournament held anyway?” The empty halls didn’t exactly scream party.

“The forest,” she said. “It seems they get a bit rambunctious with these events, so they’ve been banned from holding them on castle grounds.”

I frowned. “They’re really having a tournament in the forest?”

“Sure. Where else did you think they’d hold it?”

“I don’t know,” I said, glancing at the rising sun. “How long is it supposed to last?”

“Until it’s over, I guess.” She bit her lip. “It could go until tomorrow or even the next day.”

I scoffed. “They don’t stop to eat or sleep?” I stopped dead in my tracks. “What if they have to use the toilet? I mean, there are just some things I don’t want to see!”

She laughed. “You’ve got the imagination. From what Finn told me, they’ve got that covered.” She gave me a secretive smile. “I asked the same thing.”

I shook my head at her and smiled. “Great minds,” I said.

“Yep,” she said with a grin.

For a moment there, I actually thought I might have Cassie back. She’d remembered things about home already this morning. Should I test the waters? Should I ask her about her mom again or just leave it? The absolute last thing I wanted to do was cause Cassie pain, but I also didn’t want her to forget who she was. She’d scared me last night.

“Hey, Cass?” I asked.

“Huh?”

Sneaking up on the topic seemed like the best plan. “You know the time your mom made us that really good caramel candy for my birthday?”

She slowed down and looked up, squinting her eyes against the brightening sun. After a moment she smiled. “Yeah, that was amazing.”

So far so good. “Do you think you could get the recipe for me? I’ve been dying to try it.”

She laughed. “Since when do you cook?”

I smirked at her. “I might settle down soon, and you know what they say about the way to a man’s heart?”

She shoved my shoulder. “Right. You’d believe anything. Seriously Rayla, the way to a man’s heart is through sex not food.”

I nearly choked on my spit. I shoved her shoulder back. “So now you’re an expert?”

She grinned. “Need some pointers?”

This was not where I figured our conversation would go. “Um, maybe later, but about that recipe…”

“I don’t know. I’ll have to ask Mom the next time I see her.”

Now I had her. “Which will be when exactly?”

She stopped walking and placed her hand against her temple. The color drained from her cheeks and she swayed where she stood. “What did you ask? Man, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’ve got another headache.”

I gritted my teeth and patted her arm. “Never mind. It wasn’t important anyway.”

We walked the rest of the way in silence, but that didn’t mean there was no noise. The sounds of the games already intruded my peace. Loud booms, explosions, and cheers rocked the air, not to mention the ground under my feet.

Rainbow colors of light sliced through the trees like a meteor shower gone awry. My feet refused to move forward when we reached the edge of a large clearing. A humungous structure jutted out of the ground. It looked very similar to the arena in Ignis, but instead of being made of ice, this was pure stone. The jagged edges and razor sharp slopes made me believe it had been dreamed up by a madman. Throw your opponent on a rock and impale him before the games even start type of mentality.

A small pathway showed a bull’s eye view of the interior. The place was large, even by fae standards.

Cassie stood next to me and put her arm around my shoulder. “It will be okay, Rayla. Trust the men that have vowed to protect you.”

I gave her a sharp nod, took a steadying breath and plunged forward. Nicco stepped in front of me.

“You should not be here, my lady. We will call you when it is time.”

I stared up at him, avoiding looking directly into his nearly black eyes. Instead, I focused on his forehead. “Is there some sort of rule to prevent me from attending?”

He shook his head. “It is not the best idea.”

I cocked my head to the side and studied his rugged face. “Why’s that?”

His lips pursed together. “Things have a tendency to get out of hand in beginning matches. I am merely thinking about your wellbeing.”

I went to turn around, not wanting to make a bad situation worse. Cassie grabbed my elbow.