Rising Sun (Fate's Intent Book 9) (12 page)

Chapter 23

Troy

I was still trying to make sense of this day. Ruby and Darius are gone because she can’t stand to see Trever with another woman? Now Trever has gone upstairs to pack up everything that reminds him of her so we can take it back with us? It was all completely deranged. I could only wonder about what would happen next with Bianca left in this room with all of us but it seemed to go well.

My Jaylyn got right on the subject. “So—tell us. How did you meet?”

Bianca suddenly became a little shy and nervous to see everyone watching her. “Ah—I don’t know. I wouldn’t exactly say it was that special.”

“That’s okay. I want to know. He’s kept you a secret for so long that I just want to know everything.”

Bianca finally smiled to her determination and agreed. “All right. Um—it was in Nindor, late spring, almost summer during the annual Peacock Procession Festival. I was positioned as Peacock Princess during the parade. I sat in a carriage in peacock theme attire complete with face makeup and feathers. He was merely a spectator but my eyes seemed to find him trying to blend in anyway and it was—everything became still like the world had stopped and it was just us.”

“Awe. Sounds like love at first sight.”

“I suppose you can say that. We didn’t officially meet until later. He seemed quite determined to make it happen. He followed all day until the parade was finally over but when he first tried approaching, I had several guards around me and they all immediately dropped spears to protect me. I instantly became stern as any Princess would trying to save who she already knew to be her true love and demanded that they stand down and leave. Thankfully, he didn’t get scared from my outbursts and we finally heard each other speak. He was so sweet and oh so charming. There wasn’t a moment with him that I wasn’t smiling. I changed into something I could move around in much easier and we got to know each other by enjoying the evening’s festivities. The rest is history; a very long history.”

“So, since you were in the parade, he must have already known who you were.” Zayden said.

“Yes. That was pretty clear.”

“When did you find out who he is?” I asked.

“That same night.”

“Wow.” Adele replied. “He jumped right into that, didn’t he?”

Bianca laughed. “Well, he thought he had to. He didn’t want me to get attached and then become sad when the night was over because I would have known that I couldn’t have really been with him.”

“Did you believe him?” Jaylyn asked.

“Did you when you found out?”

“Of course not.”

“I suppose I didn’t know what to think at first. I was a little scared but he pledged his intentions right away and it got easier because I’ve never been happy like I was with him before. In fact, I’ve never spent that much time with anyone else.”

“So, wait.” Adele cut in. “Trever is the only one you’ve ever been with?”

Bianca nodded, looking around at all the equally shocked faces. “I’ve only ever kissed one other man and I remain truly and utterly sorry for it.”

“It’s okay.” Zayden smiled, feeling the awkwardness for having to be that man. “All in the past. You don’t need to live like you’ve done something wrong. We understand what you needed.”

“Thank you. I’m glad to hear it.”

“So, it was still only him even when he was—” I paused and my eyes glanced around the room. Aleksander was shaking his head.

“With Ruby? Yes. Even then. I accepted why he had to do a long time ago. We’ve spent most of that time apart. Even when he came to see me, it could only be for a couple of days and then who knows how long our wait would be before we saw each other again.”

Jaylyn immediately clung tight to me. “I could never do it. I hate it when he goes away for just a few days.”

“It’s not my fault.” I replied.

“I just said I hate it. I wasn’t blaming you.”

Bianca smiled. “It has always been hard to do but thankfully things worked out and we won’t need to be apart as much as we used to. That’s also a little hard to get used to.”

“Sick of him already?” Adele laughed.

“No. Of course not. He just still gets a little stressed about people knowing who I am. I was surprised when he said he was going to tell you. Also, a little uneasy about how you’d react.”

“I got over it. I suppose it all makes since but you could have trusted us.”

“It wasn’t my decision not to. He worries too much. I didn’t want to do any of the things I did—except get out from under Sedrik’s shadow.”

“And you’ve done that. We won’t need to tell anyone.”

“Thank you. That will hopefully make him calm down a little more.”

“I’m sure it will. He just needs to find something else to do these days since he doesn’t have—”

Adele trailed off and Bianca put a soft smile on her face. “It’s okay, Adele but they do visit.”

“They do?”

“Ryon much more frequently than Kole but I’ve seen them both.”

Adele shifted her eyes around the room. “You know Ryon?”

“I’m the one that granted access to the prison so Trever could get him out. He’s quite a delightful company.”

“Really?” Zayden asked. “Are we talking about the same Ryon?” Adele quickly hit his arm.

“Yes. He’s been there for Trever and I’m grateful for it or more so his defiant nature so Trever always had something to do.”

Everyone laughed.

“That’s probably true.” Jaylyn said. “We know how he is.”

“Excuse me, Princess?” A young woman interrupted and was standing obediently in the doorway.

“Maci? There are three of us in the room.” Bianca said. “You need to be a little more specific.”

“Forgive me, Miss Bianca but it’s time for your fitting.”

“Oh, yes. For my new line. Thank you. I’ll be right up.”

Maci nodded her head and backed out of the room.

“She knows who you are?” Jaylyn whispered.

“It’s all right. Maci was my Royal Assistant in Lecca. I found her before I left because I knew Sedrik replaced everyone working in the palace. She doesn’t have anyone. She was orphaned at a young age and I took her in to teach her about this life. She’s been with me ever since. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without her.”

“How old is she? She seems young.”

“She’s about your age, maybe some months younger. I see her as a little sister. Well, one that happens to do everything for me. I don’t necessarily have to tell her either, she’ll just do it. She likes to stay a step ahead of me.”

“Because if I didn’t, you’d never get anywhere.”

Maci was in the doorway again and Bianca turned her head with a smile. “And no one respects that more than me.”

“Could you hurry it along? You’re scheduled for a pedicure soon followed by your royal hair combing and manicure.”

“Do I have time to ever spend it with my new family?”

Maci looked down at the papers in her hand, flipping through some of them. “I could etch them in—about three months.”

“Three months? That’s unacceptable.”

“Then they’re more than welcome to join you.”

Bianca looked to Adele and Jaylyn. “You want to? Are you even into that kind of stuff?”

“I will!” Jaylyn smiled. “But I doubt Adele will.”

“Excuse me. Don’t answer for me.”

“But you hate girl stuff.”

“Doesn’t mean that I want to me a man. No offense guys.”

“None taken.” Zayden smiled. “I wouldn’t want you to be a man either.”

“Well, you’re welcome to join me.” Bianca said, rising to her feet. “The fitting honestly shouldn’t take that long. I didn’t bring all of my help here so I had to find a new dressmaker.”

There was a pause and Zayden gave Adele an encouraging nudge forward. “Go ahead. You deserve some girl time. We can keep an eye on the boys.”

“Are you sure?”

“There’s not much to do.” Aleksander answered. “I can go get some stuff out of the way so I won’t have to do it while you’re here.”

“And we can take the boys upstairs and see if Trever needs any help.” Zayden added.

Jaylyn laughed. “You mean see if he’s actually doing it?”

“Or that. How much stuff could that really be?”

“I for one would really rather not know.” Bianca said. “And I’ll cease in talking about it.”

She walked out with Maci and Adele and Jaylyn merely shared a looked before they followed.

“I still think she’s handling it well.” Zayden said.

“She accepted it a long time ago.” Aleksander replied. “It’s what he had to do to be around her or Ruby would have pushed him away.”

“You mean he was only with her because he was her protector?” I asked.

Aleksander laughed. “Maybe not completely. Ruby, as you may have noticed, is a beautiful girl. He got the privilege of watching her grow into that. He cares about her so be careful about when you go up there. Don’t surprise him. I’m sure he’s taking her decision hard and will be more focused on his thoughts than hearing yours approach.”

Zayden looked at me and nodded. “Okay. Seth, come on. We’re going upstairs.” Seth wobbled right over with Rift at his side and lunged himself into Zayden’s arms.

“You too, Bryce.” I walked over and picked him up myself and we headed out of the room.

“I should be finished by lunch.” Aleksander said. “By then hopefully the women are and we can gather.”

“Hopefully.” Zayden smiled.

Aleksander nodded with his own and parted from us, letting us take the stairs to find Trever.

Chapter 24

Zayden

Upstairs was quiet but a door was open down the hall.

“Let’s be sure he knows it’s us.”

Troy nodded and we stopped outside the door, knocking loudly on the frame. “Trever?”

“In here!” We stepped in with the boys and saw wooden crates laid out everywhere with Trever randomly placing things inside. “What can I do for you?”

“Probably not much. We thought maybe we’d help you. The girls went with Bianca to do—girl things.”

His eye brows raised. “Really? They’re together?”

“They warmed up to each other rather quickly.” Troy said. “Bianca told us about how you met.”

“Oh.” Trever laughed it off and shyly looked away. “That’s—nice.”

“It really was. Sad we never knew sooner.”

“It’s been explained. I would have liked to but it would have changed things.”

“Which leads us to this.” I said. “How’s it coming?”

Trever sighed and looked around. “Worse than it looks actually. This isn’t even half of it.”

Troy leaned over and looked inside one of the crates. “Are you really getting rid of everything you have that’s red?”

“Anything that reminds me of her, remember?”

“Surely but I wouldn’t think it would have to go that far.”

“You’d be surprised. I’ve spent a lot of time with her. Mostly everything I have has been touched by her in some way. It’s the only thing I can do to forget.”

“I don’t think you ever really will.” I said.

“Probably not but it will help. I definitely have to get rid of these.” He walked over to a wall of stored paintings. “Think she’ll want them?”

“What are they of?” Troy asked.

We walked closer, putting the boys down so they could roam around the room.

“Seth, behave for five minutes, okay?”

“It’s okay.” Trever smiled. “They won’t hurt anything. I’m sure Rift will make sure of that.”

“Noticed, have you?”

“You should be proud he’s not jealous of him.”

“I suppose.”

“Are these paintings of Ruby?” Troy asked.

Trever looked back. “Ah—yeah. We’ve had a lot of—free time. This is one of my earlier ones.” He pulled out one of the paintings of a young Ruby posing at a table.

“You did this?” Troy asked. We were both amazed by the lifelike rendering of her.

“Painting has always relaxed me. That and drinking but it’s more peaceful, quiet. Just sitting and watching her for hours at a time has always been a delight. This one took about eight months. She was seventeen.”

“Well, you can’t destroy it.” I said. “I think she would want to keep it. The work is just exceptional.”

“Thank you. I suppose you’re right. She fell in love with this one and was means for the rest, except she had a few requests.”

“Requests?”

“Well, the ones after this have gotten a bit—well, less. She’s not supposed to be my concern anymore so I guess I can show you. I did one every year right up till she met Darius. This one was at eighteen.” He pulled out another painting of Ruby lounging sideways in a round chair wearing a gold robe, exposing most of her legs while she had them bent up against some pillows.

“I see what you mean.” I smiled. “But it’s beautiful.”

“It only gets worse from here. Think you can handle it?”

“It’s not going to change our minds about our wives, if that’s what you mean.” Troy joked.

Trever laughed. “I hope not. This one is at nineteen.” He pulled out another painting. Ruby was sitting on a large red pillow, her head turned to the left with her hair over her shoulder to expose her bare back all the way to her tailbone.

“I never knew Ruby could look so elegant.” I muttered.

“She never wants to admit that she is but she pulls it off quite well.”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to look at her the same.” Troy said.

“Maybe you should see the next two before you say that. This is at twenty.” He pulled out the next painting. Ruby stood facing forward, her head directed to her left, proudly held. Her arms were bent up to cradle her breasts while exposing cleavage between them and she only wore a red cloth that draped low around her hips.

“Okay. You might be right.” Troy said.

“This is the last at twenty-one. I actually finished it when you were here. Funny how I didn’t need her to actually do it. By then, I think I’ve spent enough time looking at her.” He pulled out the last painting and our eyes widened. Ruby was laying on a bed of red rose pedals on her back, her naked body dusted with them but still barely covered while she held a full blossom in her hand.

“Found my favorite.” I muttered.

“Now I’m definitely never going to look at her the same.” Troy said.

Trever smiled and pulled his eyes away from it to see our faces. “Sorry. Chances of them being displayed are probably next to none. She’s only seen them a few times herself.”

“It’s all right.” I replied. “Probably for the best. We should find something to wrap them in so they can be transported.”

“That’d be a better idea than having them exposed to the elements. There’s actually a large crate over there in the corner that they might fit in.”

We finally took our eyes off the painting and headed for the corner where Trever pointed and worked together to drag over the large crate.

“Shit, I wish Darius didn’t leave.” Troy said. “How are we supposed to get this stuff all the way outside into some kind of carriage or something?”

“Not something we’ll have to worry about.” Trever smiled. “We have people for that.”

“Oh, people. Right. I guess if Darius was still here, we wouldn’t be doing this.”

“Nope but I’m sure he couldn’t be happier and that’s all that matters.”

“It won’t be forever.” I said. “He may like it but we know Ruby wouldn’t really want you out of her life.”

Trever laughed but I knew it was to try and keep the moment happy. “Don’t be so sure of that. You might be surprised to know but I’ve never hurt her before. So, the first time I did, she locks me out. She only gave Darius so many chances because she loves him. She doesn’t love me.”

“Maybe not like she loves him but she cares to some extent or she wouldn’t have left.”

“Well, we mustn’t worry about all of that right now. It will be awhile before I see her again. Let’s just get these packed in and hopefully they all fit.”

His little joke made us smile and we helped him with Ruby’s portraits, getting one more look at each one before they were covered and ready for the next to be stacked.

“That about does it.” Trever said when we were finally finished. “I’ll have someone load this up for you.”

“You sure that was everything?” Troy asked.

“I just have one last thing to do. It might take me out the rest of the day.”

“Involving this? You want us to come?”

“You can but I’d suggest leaving the boys. It may be dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” I leaned down and picked up Seth. “What is it?”

“Come if you’d like. Just don’t get in the way.”

Trever was first to walk out and Troy and I were once again left baffled by something he said.

“What do you suppose that means?” Troy asked.

I shrugged and we left after him, eager to find out.

The boys were left with their mothers along with Rift for lunch and Troy and I left the palace after Trever.

“Find him.”

Troy nodded and used his vision to look down the distant streets. “Found him. It looks like he’s headed towards his house, carrying—something in buckets.”

“What would be dangerous about that?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think he still lived there.”

I didn’t have any answers either. I stayed with Troy and let him lead since he’s the one that knew the way to Trever’s house.

We reached the third street from the palace and saw Trever go inside. We were even more curious than before and headed straight for the front door.

Before I could knock, Trever opened it like he was coming out and was jumped by our presence. “Shit! It’s you.”

“You invited us.” I said.

“I did and you’re just in time for the show.” Trever stepped out of his house with free hands and walked passed us to the street.

We followed, my nose picking up an unusual scent. “Is something burning?”

“You might want to move faster than that.”

A loud explosion blew behind us and we tumbled into the street, rolling right up to our feet.

“Trever, your house is on fire!”

“I know that.”

“You’re burning it down? Why?”

“I bet you could guess.”

“Because Ruby has been in it?”

“Been in it? She practically lived here with me. Bianca would never even come here. There’s no point in keeping it. Too many memories.”

“But you can’t just—”

“I told you not to get in the way.”

“And what made you think they’d listen?”

Trever looked to his left and Ryon was standing with us in full color, watching the fire. “They know why I have to. It’s their choice to accept it.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“He’s making sure the other houses don’t burn down with it.”

“You knew?”

“We always knew.” Ryon replied, tapping Trever’s shoulder like he was comforting him. “It just came too soon for us.”

“It won’t be forever and it’s not like he doesn’t have anyone.”

Ryon turned his body towards me but Trever held up his hand. “No. He’s right. Let’s not make a big deal of this. I’ve spent too long focusing on everyone else’s life. Now I get to start living my own.”

Ryon only shared one last glance with me and turned his head back to the burning house. The fires lit up the sky and drew spectators. Nothing was said. Nothing could be. With others watching, no one wanted to discuss details of any kind. The four of us just stood in the middle of the street, our eyes forward. Viewers came and went but we never moved. The burning roof crashed down over the two floors, breaking the structure of the house and taking it to the ground.

Ryon blew a silent breath towards it and a wind passed through the street, taking out the fire. “Done.”

“All right.” Trever said, moving for the first time by turning his body to walk away. “I’ll arrange clean up and the rebuilding project tomorrow.”

“You’re rebuilding?” Troy asked as we followed him back towards the palace.

“Just because I don’t live there doesn’t mean someone shouldn’t. It won’t look the same so I won’t even notice if I walked by. I know just the family to give it to.”

“You’re giving it away?” I wondered.

Ryon laughed. “You really think he needs to make money off it? He’s always been charitable. Now it just means he can be more. He won’t have Red to buy for anymore.”

Trever tried laughing like it was actually funny. “Yeah. There’s a positive to all of this, I guess.”

“Come on.” Ryon put one arm around Trever’s shoulder. “Let’s get you back. I just realized I haven’t haunted Bianca all day.”

“Be nice to her. She’s the only reason I was able to get you out of that prison.”

“You say that like you did me a favor.”

“Just go light on her. I’m really not in the mood to psychologically comfort anyone.”

“Are you sure you should even be coming with us?” Troy asked. “Adele is there.”

“I know but I’m coming anyway—” His look towards me turned into a smile. “I’d like to see how big my little nephew is getting.”

My eyes narrowed with a sigh. “Don’t get too comfortable. He’s not going to know you.”

“Really? Well, that reminds me. Trever, did you have Red depart with Bolek?”

“I did. It was at least good to see her leave with a smile.”

“Good.”

“You gave your ax to Ruby?” Troy asked.

“Not to her. It’s for Dirk when he’s ready. Each of the boys received gifts when they were born.”

“Why weren’t we told?” I asked.

“Didn’t think it needed to be run by you. The gifts won’t take effect until they’re ready.”

“What did you give them?”

“Well, Dirk is the only one that could use Bolek properly so, it made the most sense, not to mention it visually matches him best. Bryce will be getting Kole’s bow with his extensive collection of arrows and the skill to match.”

“He couldn’t possibly teach him.” Troy said.

“He won’t have to. Jay will. She’ll decide it when he gets closer to the age but the gifts will come from him because he didn’t physically get the chance to give them to her.”

“He told her he wanted her to have them.” Trever said.