Skye's Arrival

Chapter Thirty

I initially ignore the receptionist-who is watching me open-mouthed-but then have a change of heart. “You might want to get out of here,” I warn her while I open the door.

Heathe is waiting with a triumphant smirk on his face. “There’s our little Skye. You’re so weak, I barely noticed you were here. Our battle is going to be pitiful.”

I roll my eyes. “Then you should have left me alone to rest.”

“I’m not dumb enough to take you on at your full strength.” He runs a hand through his hair. He’s wearing a red shirt. It looks almost clean, and it looks comical against his pajama bottoms.

“I take it you were in bed,” I say, motioning to his outfit.

“And you were being a whore.” Heathe answers, smirking. “At least that’s what Koan said.”

“I could look at a picture of a man and be labeled a slut in his eyes,” I tell him, very unamused.

“From what I heard, you let Rafi bite you.” He cocks his head. “How is your leg by the way?”

“If you knew that, why did you call me a whore?”

He shrugs, “I find it reasonable, but Koan never did like anyone around you, no matter the reason.”

“So you can see that he’s a horrible partner?”

Again, he shrugs. “I’m not one to question Prince Koan. He is the prince after all.” He looks me over. “And you’re not exactly fully covered at the moment.”

I look down to see what he’s staring at, knowing he’s trying to trick me. In a flash, I have my blade up and piercing his stomach while he moves to bite me. “Morte,” I tell him, looking up to see the horror on his face. “Tell Koan his ex-wife refuses to be bledded with him once more when you see him.”

When he disappears on me, I straighten. Well, that was easier than I anticipated. I turn and go back inside. The receptionist is still staring at me openmouthed. At this moment I don’t care. I’m running on empty at this point. I still keep my body poised, ready to fight if needed.

I open the door to see Rafi holding Dawn and Gerrickson apart. They both look like they want to passionately hold the other. “I can’t leave you three alone, can I?” I ask, sounding annoyed.

Dawn immediately straightens. “What the hell is going on with me?”

“It’s Skye’s Celestial aura,” Rafi answers, glaring at the two. “It’s enough to give you some clarity.” He looks over his shoulder. “That was quick.”

“Heathe’s overconfidence is one of my favorite things about him,” I say in way of explanation. “That makes three High Ranked Demons I killed today.”

Dawn steps away from Gerrickson. “Well I’m going to go back into my stone until the hell my body is going through is over with. Rafi, can you take it from here?”

“I can handle it,” I tell her, slightly hunched over. I’m trying to regulate my breathing so they don’t think I’m overly tired.

“Skye,” Dawn says, giving me a critical look. “You’ve been through a lot in these last few days.”

“I know,” I tell her, giving her a hard look. “Do you promise to sleep in there?”

She folds her arms. “Only if you do.”

“I don’t need to.”

She gives me a winning smirk. “Tell you what. I’ll go to sleep when I go into my stone. However, if you can handle me returning to my stone, and staying awake, you don’t have to sleep.”

I know that’s impossible, but I’m being stubborn. “Deal.” She starts to disappear and I’ve fully fainted before her body is even gone.

My body feels like I’ve been run over repeatedly by a horse when I wake up. When I open my eyes, I see someone’s bicep. I squint, trying to figure out where I am. The arm is bare, but I can see muscle.

I look up to see Rafi. He’s wearing a cloak and his face is concentrated. He’s walking somewhere. Slowly, I reach up and touch his cheek. “You’re so serious Rafi.”

“You’re very sick,” he tells me, not even glancing at me.

I laugh, “I think my body agrees with you.” He looks at me, his eyes hiding something. “Where are we going?”

His eyes measure me with care before answering. “To the lake. I’m going to put a spell on you.”

I yawn, “Okay,” I say as I lower my hand and rest it against his chest.

“You’re not worried about the spell?” Rafi asks, stopping in his tracks.

His question confuses me. “Of course not. You’re Rafi.” Why would he think that I would be worried? He’d never hurt me.

He shakes his head and takes a deep breath before resuming his walk. “You confuse me, Skye.”

I cock my head. “Why?”

“You trust me so much, yet fear my brother so strongly. You’re frightened by his actions so much, that you refuse to move on in your life. Yet you’ll blindly allow me to carry you in a weakened state and just accept that I’m going to place a spell on you, without worry; just trusting my word.”

“You’re not your brother, Rafi,” I tell him, looking up at him. “I’ve known you forever.”

“Even when we first met you were like this. Remember training together for the first time? You couldn’t stop laughing. Everyone else was scared to fight me, and you were in hysterics.”

I roll my eyes. “I still find it hard to believe they were scared of you.”

“I was captain of the Second Demon Army when we first met.”

“And?”

He takes a deep breath to steady himself once more. “My point is, you’ve never once been scared of me. Not even when I was throwing punches at you, or held you at knifepoint. Even Koan is starting to fear me. Yet, here you are, relaxed as ever in my arms. Why is that?”

Does he want me to be scared of him? I give him a small smile when he glances down at me; waiting for my answer. “I feel safe with you. I’m rarely scared when you’re around.”

“If that is true, then why were you so terrified to talk to me in the woods the other day?”

I blink and our exchange comes back to me, immediately making me put my guard up. “That’s not fair.”

“You’re doing it again.” Frustrated, he quickens his pace. “The moment I brought it up, you shielded yourself. Are you so afraid I’d hurt you like he would?”

I blink, taken aback by that accusation. “Is that what you think?”

Rafi stops in his steps, lowering his head, and remains silent. I hear the sound of the tide, making me look away from him. We’re stopped at a lake that is diamond-shaped. It takes me a moment to recognize it. He’s taken me to Tetra Lake. That is a five-day journey from where we were. Have I really been asleep for that long?

I slowly start to realize something. Tetra Lake is a special lake, hand built by Celestials long ago. It was a gift to the mortals who had saved a fallen Celestial Soldier from a demon. Its design is to reveal what has been hidden and to break evil spells and curses that have been cast. However, it has to be asked by someone with knowledge of the evil that has been done.

“Rafi,” I ask hesitantly, looking back at him, “why are we here?”

“You’re sick Skye,” he answers, refusing to look at me.

“I can feel that, but it’s from exhaustion.”

He shakes his head. “No, it’s not. You were covered in Koan’s blood, remember? It was all over you…including your face.”

Where is he going with this? “I remember. I smashed his face with a brick.”

“You ingested some of it, didn’t you,” Rafi continues, ignoring my response.

I have to think about it for a moment, but I do remember some of it getting in my mouth when he spat at me. I nearly gag at that thought. “Accidentally, but yes.”

He looks away at that point, making it impossible for me to see his face. “There is something I need to tell you, Skye. Do you remember when Koan bit you that final time? How he was scared of me?”

I nod slowly, recalling Koan briefly using me as a human shield. “Yes, I do,” I answer, remembering he can’t see me nod.

“I bit Koan that day…and it did something to me. I remembered something, but it was muddled. It took me less than five minutes to realize what had happened, but not regain my missing memories. I told Dawn about it, and we both knew we had to tell you, but agreed to wait until this was over. My memory wasn’t back, ”

Rafi takes a deep breath. “Then I had to bite you and I remembered. I knew what would happen if I bit you. I knew it would make this harder, not on just me but on you. I-I just couldn’t say no with the amount of pain you were in…I just couldn’t. It hurt me to stay away from you after that, and it was soul-crushing to keep what I have learned a secret. It just wasn’t in me to tell you. Not when you’re so vulnerable.”

“What are you talking about Rafi?” I ask him, feeling uneasy.

“Then we kissed…it woke up a part of me that I had long forgotten. A memory. I remember Koan walking into the room when the two of us were talking. We were laughing about something, and I was helping you muck the stables. You didn’t notice him because he hid until you had left to put the tools away.

“I didn’t even notice him until he came up to me after you had left. He was getting ready to head home after visiting with Esmeralda, and wanted to see if I wanted to join. He asked who you were, and I joked that you were the girl who was truly in command. Koan then wanted to know if I liked you…and I told him that I believed you were my mate.”

My mouth goes dry, “Rafi?”

He ignores me, pushing himself to get through his words. “We dated for months before your encounter with Koan. We had kept it secret since Koan was showing such heavy interest in Esmeralda. We both knew if we took the spotlight off of her, you’d be paying for it for the rest of all existence. The night you met Koan, he and I were in a meeting with the Celestial King, Esmeralda, and our father. That is when they had announced that you, Skye, were to inherit the Celestial Kingdom and everything in it when the Celestial King is to step down. The reason for this is because more than one race, and soldier, had complained to the Celestial King how badly Esmeralda has treated you, and anyone else who had rubbed her the wrong way. After witnessing it themselves, both Kings agreed on the decision; believing you were the embodiment of their values over Esmeralda.

“Esmeralda was furious. Koan was…stoic. We were ordered to keep this secret, until the time of the Eunsision Ball. That is when it was to be announced. I wanted to go straight to you, and warn you of Esmeralda’s wrath, so I went to ask Koan to cover for me. He drugged me and went to you himself. He put a mimicking spell on you, Skye, that night, but you resisted him initially. He tried to use his charisma skills on you, but it was ineffective. That’s why you went into your room, instead of going to him. It was not because of Esmeralda.

“The reason you never saw him after that, or me, was because Koan had done everything in his power to keep me with him. I didn’t know he was stealing my blood, hair, anything he could, to create a spell strong enough to mimic my scent and our mate bond. He spelled you when it was proving difficult for him to gain your interest. He replaced every romantic memory you had with me, with him. He also placed the same spell on me, making it difficult for me to remember that you are my mate.

“That’s why we both do not remember your time dating Koan. There was none. It was us. You never told him you loved him because you had never told me. You cannot hide true mateship. That is why he kept us apart. The only other way for you to break his spell is by tasting his blood and your mate’s. He kept you too weak to break the spell by biting you and then reapplying the spell in your sleep. Right now, you’re too weak to fight the spell, so it’s making you sick. Your body is trying, and Koan isn’t here to reinforce it. Since your body can’t disperse it on its own, you’re going to die. Believe me when I tell you that I don’t have a choice.”

I try to move out of his arms. “What are you telling me, Rafi?” I demand, my heart pounding.

“I’m your mate Skye, and this is going to hurt,” he tells me, looking at me with such heated passion that it catches my breath. He bites into his wrist before shoving it into my mouth. I try to scream, but he pushes it further in, forcing me to bite him in my panic. He steps into the lake while his hot blood flows in my mouth. When the water has reached his waist, he drops me into the water and pushes me under the surface; holding me under it until my body goes limp.