Rising Sun (Fate's Intent Book 9) (13 page)

“Not the same as far as I’m concerned. They’ll be from him. He’ll just never know.”

“Then he won’t come around?” Troy asked.

“No. She probably hasn’t told anyone but Jay doesn’t want Bryce to ever know about them.”

“Why?”

“So he doesn’t feel like he’s always going to be second. No second born likes being compared to the first. Isn’t that right, Zayden?”

I tried laughing. “Like you would know anything about that.”

“Not really but I know you don’t like it.”

“It doesn’t matter because no one does it.”

“Well, that may not be the only reason you won’t see Kole. I probably shouldn’t tell you but—he misses her too much and seeing her cry again wouldn’t help.”

“Then I’m at least glad he’s thinking of her.” Troy said. “No one likes to see her cry.”

“So, what was Seth’s gift?” I asked. “Tell me it’s not a weapon. He’s getting my father’s sword.”

Ryon smiled while I said it and looked towards Trever who tried not looking back.

“What? You did, didn’t you?”

“Can we get inside before we discuss that?”

Trever laughed under his breath. “Only because he can’t disappear out in the open.”

Ryon held his lips together so he wouldn’t let out a sound but a small laugh escaped. My eyes narrowed even more and I knew something was up. I already began to prepare myself for anger while we walked back to the palace.

I wanted to know and stopped everyone the second we were securely inside. “What is it?”

Ryon looked at Trever with another smile and began to answer like a child slowly confessing their faults. “Well, you know about our wolf blood.”

“Of course. I’ve been one but I thought Seth wasn’t going to get it because of all the other gifts in him. You said it’d weaken the wolf. That’s why it was so hard for me to turn.”

“Yes, that’s all true but I may or may not have possibly kind of sort of strengthened it so he’ll positively carry the gene. Bye.”

My eyes widened with a blackened anger and Ryon disappeared like Trever said he would have.

“Ryon!”

Chapter 25

Adele

I heard Zayden yelling and I didn’t hesitate to see why. “What happened?!” I raced down the stairs with Jaylyn and they were standing around, not really doing much of anything.

“I’m going to kill him!”

“I don’t think that would be as effective as you hope.” Troy said.

Zayden gritted his teeth and began to pace.

“What happened?” I asked again.

“Zayden, calm down.” Trever said. “There’s nothing you could have—”

“I am calm!”

“What happened?” I took Zayden’s arm so he would relax enough to tell me.

His eyes began to fade while looking into mine and I knew it was working but he was at a loss for words.

“The boys were given gifts when they were born.” Trever explained.

“Gifts?!” It was obvious that Zayden was still furious when his voice heightened. “It’s not a gift!”

“What’d they get?” Jaylyn asked.

“Dirk got Bolek.” Trever said.

“Really?”

He nodded. “You’ll give Bryce Kole’s bow and that just leaves Seth.”

“What’d he get?” I asked.

Zayden huffed. “Not an item if that’s what you’re wondering. He strengthened the damn psychotic wolf transformation in him.”

“How is that bad?” Jaylyn asked.

“We didn’t want Seth to have that. It would only bring more problems than good with all the other gifts he’ll have to control.”

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. I knew he was mad and I didn’t want to get the same way and just fuel him to do something further. “All right. We’ll fix this. Ryon?” There was a long pause before he appeared next to me, keeping his transparent figure. “Take it back so the wolf will lay dormant again.”

“I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?!” Zayden raged. “Take it back now!”

“I can’t once it’s been in his blood.”

“Then maybe you should have asked! You should have ran it by us first before just thinking that it was okay to do! I mean, you were there when we said having the wolf weak in him was a good thing! Why change it without telling us?!”

“I’m sorry but I didn’t have anything else to give him and I don’t know how you can be so mad about it. If it wasn’t for the wolf, you never would have found Jaylyn and Troy when you needed to. It was helpful. You had complete control over your actions. This won’t be different.”

Zayden was clearly still frustrated and it wasn’t going to go away.

I sighed and tried to be neutral and calm. If there was nothing we could do, we had to find some even ground. “Okay. Maybe it won’t be so bad.”

“I can’t believe you just said that.” Zayden said. “After all those times you were terrified of Ryon when he was a wolf, how can you agree to this?”

“It’s not that I do. It’s that I don’t have a choice. We’re not going to block it like what happened to both of you. That brought more bad than good.”

“Seth surely won’t be as ungoverned as Ryon was.” Trever said.

“Because he’ll learn proper discipline.” Zayden replied, looking right at Ryon when he said it. “He won’t be using your gift. When it happens for the first time, for whatever reason may cause it, the only thing you’re going to do is tell him how to change back.”

“You mean, he’ll know me?”

Zayden gritted his teeth from having to get out these words. “You gave me no choice. It’s been too long for me to do it without your help, let alone when I could do it myself to teach him.” He walked towards the stairs without another word or glance at anyone.

“We’re not done here.” I said. “He’s never going to forgive you for this.”

“I don’t need him to.”

I turned after Zayden and followed him all the way up to our room. He was standing over Seth’s crib, looking down at him peacefully napping.

“You all right?”

“I never wanted this.” Zayden muttered so he wouldn’t wake him.

“I know.”

“And how are we going to tell him that the dead can still come around and interfere in our lives? How could he possibly understand?”

“We’ll get through it. We have to. It shouldn’t be for several more years anyway.”

“I just wish there was something we can do. I didn’t want to get him involved in any of this.”

“Then we’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t go through anything that will cause the wolf to come out accidently like Ryon did.”

“Do you know how it first happened to him?”

“Do you?”

“He told me a while ago when I found out he was my brother. It was when he came back to Kalu looking for mother. Instead of finding her in the house he used to live in, there was some strange family and she was gone.”

“That must have been pretty horrible. It probably made him scared and angry. Seth shouldn’t go through anything like that. We’re both with him and nothing will change that.”

“But it could still happen with something else.”

“This isn’t going to ruin his life, Zayden. He’ll have to control it.”

“On top of everything else he’ll have to learn to control? That’s too much to ask of him. That’s why I was glad when we knew the wolf would forever sleep.”

“He’ll be fine. He’s already destined to do great things. We’ll get through it.”

Zayden let out a long breath and hunched himself over Seth’s crib, hanging one arm inside to stroke his hair.

“Can I say something?”

Zayden stood right up, his body tensing and turning to see Ryon. “No! You’ve done enough!”

“Zayden, shh!” I whispered, pulling him away from Seth so he wouldn’t wake him.

“Just get out of here.” Zayden said a little more softly. “Nothing you could possibly say will help.”

“I will. I’m going to be there, remember?”

“Oh, is that why you did it? Just so you could be?”

“No but I’m glad that I will be.”

“Why?”

“He’s family and I would never purposely do anything to harm him. Think of the gift as added protection. It could save his life as it has many times for me.”

“Like when? You said you only used it for your thievery in the beginning and then to kill when Trever needed you to.”

“Yes, those are both true but it also got me through the harsh winters when I was traveling alone. I was able to survive as a wolf whereas a person would have died.”

“He won’t need any of that. He’ll never be alone.”

“You don’t know that. You won’t be able to protect him from everything.”

Zayden paused for a moment and quickly read between the lines of Ryon’s response. “What have you seen?”

Ryon hesitated to answer, glancing down at the floor but looked at Seth when he finally did. “Him alone, surrounded by—enemies.”

Every nerve in my body twitched. “Enemies? When is this?”

“Far off. He’s much older—teen years I would guess.”

“And the enemies?” I asked worried.

“I don’t know who they are but I think they’re right here in the city.”

“In Dorlin?”

“Yes.”

I sighed, trying to keep my worry under control while I approached the crib. “Why would he have enemies here?”

“I don’t know but there was a girl.”

Zayden and I looked at each other.

“What do you mean a girl?” Zayden asked.

“She was afraid, trying to stop the confrontation.”

My eyes slightly narrowed. “Purple eyes?”

Ryon looked a little confused. “How did you know that?”

“Zayden, it’s Cadence.”

“Who is Cadence?” Ryon asked.

Zayden sighed too and turned to look in the crib at our sleeping son. “She’s the Hintin Princess.”

Ryon smiled with a proud nod. “Catches himself a Princess? Nice.”

“Not when you hear he’s betrothed to her because of Zayden.” I said.

Ryon’s eyes widened. “What did you do? I didn’t think your first parenting mistake would have been this early.”

Zayden sighed. “It’s a long story and not a mistake. Obviously, he was here because of her.”

“I thought she was Hintin.”

“Her mother is Kaluian.” I said. “She’ll be living here to learn the ways and will be my successor.”

Ryon laughed and looked between us. “Really? Making them follow directly in your footsteps, are you?”

“We’re not making them.” Zayden said. “We can back out of the agreement at any time. He’ll decide on his own.”

“Well, from what I saw, he’ll decide to keep her. She was worried for him.”

Zayden and I looked at each other again with only one thought. “Will you show us?”

Ryon smiled when we said it together but shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’d like to but I’m really not supposed to show you anything.”

“And when have you ever cared about something you’re not supposed to do?”

He laughed, most likely because it was completely true. “I know but this is different. I already went too far by telling you about it. I just thought I should and that’s why I strengthened the gift. I only wanted to help.”

Zayden let out another breath, this one sounding a bit more relaxing than the previous ones. “I guess if you did it to save him from something then I should be thanking you.”

“I’ll try to be there when it happens. That day is going to be rough on everyone.”

I huffed, only to hold in my tears and went right over to Ryon with my arms open. “Thank you. Just please don’t let him get hurt.”

“I won’t. You won’t have to worry about that.”

“I think maybe we should plan this a little better.” Zayden said.

I pulled away from Ryon and turned around. “What do you mean?”

“I want him to know about it and how our family got it.”

“Just let me know when you want me to be there.”

“But let’s get one thing perfectly clear. You are not to just pop in. He’s not going to know that you’re dead.”

“Why?”

“That’s too much for a child. He’ll find out when he’s ready if you can manage to be around in your full form so you look alive.”

“I hope you didn’t just say that so I’ll back out. I can manage to. This will be for him.” He stepped closer to the crib and looked inside. “It’s worth it.”

I smiled and joined him by the crib.

“What?”

“Nothing. You’re acting—different.”

“You’re surprised that I care about him?”

I glanced towards Zayden. “A little.”

“You shouldn’t be. He’s family. I always knew.”

“Well, it’s sweet and I’m glad you care. I’m glad you’ll be a part of our lives. I always knew you would be—even this way.”

Ryon smiled and glanced at Zayden. “Yes, you did.”

“Don’t get a mouth about it.” Zayden sighed. “But we are glad.”

“I know.”

Ryon held out his hand to Zayden and he merely looked down at it before proceeding to shake his hand.

“This is so sweet.” I smiled in an innocent voice like Jaylyn would have if she was present. “I hope you finally realize how important family is.”

Ryon chuckled softly, trying not to let it escape. “I didn’t know Jay was in the room. Where the fuck did that come from, Adele? That was horrifyingly touching but it has nothing to do with us being family. I would have done it even if we weren’t. You may have noticed that children tend to like me.”

“Ellie, you mean?”

“Yeah. It was a good ride. It was like we all took a little part in raising her. The best part for me was not having the responsibility. I could go home at the end of the day. Now I get that again.”

“You don’t see her?”

“Of course I see her but she’s protected like crazy. It could never be like how it was. Maybe having a reason to spend more time away will change that.”

“Well, thank you for dropping by.” Zayden said. “Feel free to leave. It’s late and Adele and I like to keep to our schedule of nightly lovemaking.”

“Zayden!”

“It’s all right.” Ryon smiled. “I’m not here to get in the way. I’ve accepted how things are a long time ago.”

“It hasn’t been that long.”

My voice was softer, maybe even showing a little remorse but Ryon kept his smile. “It was long enough. I won’t keep you any longer. Enjoy your evening which—I’m sure that you will.” He kissed my cheek and was gone.

Silence followed and I looked down in the crib before turning to Zayden. “So—are you at least a little happier?”

“With what? Having him around? I never hated him. Just what he did.”

“I meant having a solution.”

“I still never wanted any of it. I just wish we could see that day and know if it was true.” Zayden paused and looked at me a little hopeful. “Wait. Maybe we can.”