Undone, p.18
Undone, page 18
“I can’t even imagine…”
“I’m worried that when we do, there will be many in danger.”
She tucked her legs under her and knelt on the bed. “The fathers?”
“I don’t know. We don’t know who is involved. If there are others that have been coerced into working—” He sighed loudly. “I wanted you there when we told everyone, but I’m worried about your safety too.”
Jeri’s eyes widened. “You wanted me there?”
“Yes. I didn’t know that I did until earlier today–yesterday now, I suppose.” He sighed again. “Being is so easy around you.” He scoffed. “You don’t care that I’m a prince and if there’s a protocol to follow. I’ve never had that.”
It was sad. She didn’t say it to him, but she thought it. “I don’t know if I’m meant for that life, Trendan, being part of a ruling family.” She grinned. “I know nothing about tea parties and throwing dinners.”
“Good. I have had enough of those to last many more lifetimes.” He paused for a minute. “Come to your window.”
Tilting her head, she looked at it and then got off the bed. Going over, she moved the curtain aside, and standing on the roof of the building across from hers was Trendan. “Hi.” She smiled.
“Hi.” He lifted his hand and then let it drop. “I seem to spend a lot of time on this roof.”
“Don’t fall off of it.”
He laughed. “Not planning to.”
“We weren’t planning to swim yesterday…”
“Good point.” She watched him step back several feet. “Okay. I’ve been doing some thinking.” He spoke quietly, like he was about to reveal some big secret. “If you don’t want to be part of the royal family, I respect that. Once the realm knows the truth, I don’t think I’ll need to be at the forefront as much–I hope…”
“I don’t think you can just quit.”
“No. I know that. I just meant I can do what is required of me there, and you can stay here in Interealm if that’s what you want…”
“Trendan.” She put her hand on the window as if he was going to reach out and touch it.
“Yes.”
She could see him intently watching her. “I think we should take this one step at a time. We don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“I know.” He sighed into the phone again. “I’m not good at this–talking about this with you.” He snorted softly. “It’s not like I could have practice conversations with my other prior to this.”
She leaned closer to the window and watched the outline of the man on the roof. “I never thought I’d have a real relationship. Seeing souls isn’t something people understand.” She shrugged. “And my eyes are a bit…”
“Amazing. They’re amazing.”
She smiled. “I was going to say they’re a bit unusual. I’ve had people ask if I can shift into an animal because of them.”
He snorted. “That’s ridiculous. Shifters are fiction.”
“I know, but you see the point I was making.”
“I do.” He walked closer to the edge again. “I think your eyes are amazing. So colorful in my otherwise dark-eyed world and the fact that you can see souls and my solitary purpose to even exist is for souls…”
“Fate is having herself a chuckle over that.” She said, trying to stop him from making some confession that was going to have her running outside and climbing a building.
“I suppose she is. Or she knew it was the only thing that would make sense.”
He was quiet again, just standing there on the darkened roof facing her, standing in her darkened window.
“I should let you sleep.” He whispered.
She nodded, even though she didn’t want to hang up. “Tomorrow is going to a bit crazy.”
“Every day since my brother saw Princess Reagan has been crazy.” He huffed out a breath. “Do you want to have breakfast with me?” He blurted it out quickly.
Jeri smiled. “I would. yes.”
“Okay.”
The relief was clear in his voice, and she couldn’t help feeling a little amused at the fact that a man his age was nervous about asking her to breakfast. “Where?”
“Where do you want to have breakfast?”
“Did you have somewhere in mind when you asked?”
“Uh, no.” He hissed out a breath. “I guess my place is out of the question.”
“It is in another realm that you have to sneak me around in.”
“Right.” She watched him put his hand on his head as he thought.
“So, your realm then.”
“Okay. Where?”
“I have no idea.” He groaned. “I really suck at this. I’ve never had to ask someone out before.”
“You’re doing fine.” She heard a clunk from upstairs and knew that Fade was probably wandering around her room. “Fade is awake. She’s probably staring out the window at you.”
“I see. How about I meet you here—on the ground, at eight, and we’ll decide where we’re going then.”
Jeri smiled. “Okay.”
“Okay.” He continued to stand there.
“Good night, Trendan.”
“Good night, Jerika.” She heard the line go quiet, and then he disappeared from the roof.
Before she could set the phone down, it pinged. She looked at it. Fade had sent a message. You should go for it. He’s cute. For an old guy. Shrugging emoji. Jeri chuckled and sent back a winking emoji and then set her phone on the table again. She had a breakfast date with a prince from another realm. She was smiling when she lay down and pulled up the covers. She was living in a fairy tale.
Evil magic was always in the fairy tales, too. Squeezing her eyes shut, she groaned. Her brain just ruined a perfectly good happy moment.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Trendan stopped at the corner and looked at the building. He hadn’t slept much at all because he couldn’t stop thinking about having breakfast with Jerika this morning. Now that he was here, he was overwhelmed with a case of bad nerves. He had never been this way before, not in all his years of life. He’d been on dates before—if being set up by your mother was considered a date. He wasn’t a virgin by any means, but right now, he felt like one.
Blowing out a breath, he pulled his shoulders back and forced his feet to move. A few feet later, he stopped and removed his link bracelet so no one could yank him back to Solrelm without notice. Ulric knew where he was, and that was good enough. If anyone needed him, they could do it the normal way and phone him. He frowned at the pavement and then pulled out his phone and set it to vibrate only. Bastain had the worst timing of anyone he knew, and if anyone were going to harass him, it would be his little brother.
It felt like it took him forever to cross a hundred feet to the building the Geminis were in, but at the same time, he reached it too quickly.
“Trendan.” Fade yelled down.
He looked up to see her leaning out the window. Someone needed to get that girl a safety harness.
“Look.” He watched her change her visibility. “Keep watching.” She reappeared slowly. “I can’t do it fast yet, but I can do it.”
He had no choice but to smile up at her. “You’re doing great.”
“Thank you.” She looked around, and he knew she was watching for Sedric. “I’ll see you later.” She laughed. “And you’ll be able to see me.” She ducked back in the window.
Had it been that exciting to him when he’d learned how to do that? He couldn’t remember. He recalled doing it, but the emotions that went with it were lost to him now.
“That’s a very serious look for so early in the day.”
He blinked to see Jerika standing outside the door.
“Have you changed your mind?”
He shook his head and then realized he was standing there like a mute. “No. Just thinking about learning and wondering if I was as excited as Fade is.”
She smiled. “She’s been scaring all of us, just appearing in front of us.” She glanced up at the window. “But it’s worth it to see her happy—or just to see her at all, I suppose.”
Tucking his hands in his jacket, he looked at her. He wanted to hug her but saw the pendant resting against her skin. It was good she wore it. Her safety was important, but he couldn’t help resenting the crystal at the same time. Her eyes were more grey this morning, and they seemed brilliant to him, reflecting her emotion. “I don’t know this area well.” That wasn’t entirely the truth; he did, but he wasn’t like Bastian and didn’t go inside establishments and sit with the humans as if he were one.
“Let’s see.” She turned and looked down the alley. “There’s a cafe not far from here—” She looked back at him. “Or a small restaurant just down the street a few blocks.”
He wasn’t even hungry, he realized. “Whichever you prefer.”
She smiled. “I do like the muffins at the cafe.”
“Cafe it is.” He motioned toward the corner of the building. “You will have to lead the way.”
She started walking. “Do you just lurk on rooftops when you’re here? You don’t look around?”
He put his hands back in his pockets so he wouldn’t give in to the urge to touch her. “It’s been so chaotic lately. The lawless—dark soul ones,” He clarified. “Have been wreaking havoc and preventing us from doing our job, so I’ve been quite single-minded trying to stop them.”
“I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
He didn’t want her to concern herself with it. “Considering no one here is supposed to know of our existence—” He paused when a man walked by them and glanced at them a little longer than he was comfortable with. The man kept going. “No one should know or realize what the lawless have been doing.”
“It’s scary.”
She wrapped her arms around her waist as she walked, and it made him want to grasp the chain of her pendant and pull it off so he could hold her. Blowing out a breath, he clamped down on emotions, hoping to block thoughts like that. “It is. Elyas didn’t know where they operate from or who is in charge, but with the information we have, we will find them.” He prayed he wasn’t lying.
They went around the corner, and Jerika motioned to a door a few shops away. “That’s it.” She looked up at him. “I believe Bastain and Nova came here once.”
He raised an eyebrow. “My brother frequents places like this.”
“You don’t?”
He shook his head. “No. I’ve never felt comfortable sitting there surrounded by humans and watching them like they’re on television.”
“Is that what Bastain does?” She grinned.
“I don’t know exactly what he does—and I’m certain I don’t want to.” He smiled. “I won’t feel the need to look at anyone but you.”
Her eyes sparkled when she looked back at him, and he jammed his hands into his pockets once more to stop them from straying in her direction.
“Should I take this off?” She touched the pendant.
If one could argue with oneself, he did just that. His mind said no. The rest of him wanted to say yes. “It’s better if you keep it on when we’re here.”
She nodded. “Okay.” Going over to the door, she opened it and held it until he got there.
He scowled at the ground on the way over. What was the proper protocol now? Did men hold doors for women, or was it considered—he wasn’t sure of the word but knew it was a big thing in the human world.
“There’s that look again.” She gave him a small smile.
Relaxing his face, he grabbed the door and motioned for her to go inside. “Sorry. I’m just not sure of what a man should or shouldn’t do in this time.”
“This time?” She laughed and walked over to a table secluded in the corner. “Do I want to know what time you’re comparing it to?” She sat down at the back of the table.
Trendan glanced around the space and decided he would turn his chair and sit so he could see who entered the establishment. “I feel like I would be revealing more than I want if I answer that question.”
She leaned over the table. “I see a lot. I think I know more about you than most do.”
How had he forgotten that? She had seen him at what he considered his very best and yet worst in his life. “This is true.” He inhaled slowly and then exhaled. “Most of my life, I have been set up by my mother or her friends to go on outings with their daughters to see if they might be…”
“Your other.” She bit her lip. “I guess you don’t have to do that now.”
He inclined his head and was unable to stop the big grin. “I can’t express how thankful I am for that.” Leaning over the table, he whispered. “It’s not much fun when the entire realm is watching and waiting to see if there is a match.”
Jerika cringed. “It sounds awful.” She smiled at the woman behind the counter. “Liri has told us all a lot about a woman’s life there.”
He sighed. “It’s barbaric if you ask me. It was necessary, of course, but somewhere along the way, free will was taken away, and Bastian and I have spent many decades trying to think of a better way.”
“Now you don’t have to.” She looked up at the woman when she came over. “A coffee and muffin, please.” Her smile widened. “Surprise me with the flavor.” The woman looked pleased with her answer.
When the woman looked at him, he nodded. “The same for me, please.” He still had no appetite, but coffee would be welcome. The day was bound to be another long one. When he looked back, Jerika was resting her elbows on the table, holding her chin in her hands, and staring at him. He gave her an inquisitive look.
She shrugged. “I’m just trying to piece together who Trendan—” She frowned. “I don’t know your last name.”
“I don’t have to use it often.”
“I suppose not, considering your status.” She continued to look at him.
“Taredd.” She nodded once. “What have you pieced together?”
She sat back and tilted her head to the side. “He’s not as hard on the inside as he tries to make exterior appearances seem.”
He raised an eyebrow at her and was rewarded with a smile.
“That secret is safe with me.” She paused when the woman brought their orders over. “Thank you.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Trendan inclined his head to the woman.
Jerika continued to study him as she put a touch of sugar in her coffee and stirred it slowly. He picked up his cup and inhaled. One thing he would admit was the humans knew how to make good coffee. “What else have you figured out?”
She took a small sip before answering him. “That you’re very torn between your duty and your heart.”
“I am?” He was curious. He wanted to know how she saw him. That surprised him. He’d never cared what anyone’s opinion of him was before.
“Yes. You do your duty without fail and complaint, but in your heart, it’s not what you want?”
Leaning closer, he rested his arms on the table. “It’s not?”
She shook her head slowly as she broke apart her muffin with her fingers. “No. When I saw you defending or avenging the innocent, there was this look in your eyes.” She took a small piece, put it in her mouth, and chewed it. He couldn’t move. He would honestly sit her and just watch her all day if that was an option. When she swallowed, she narrowed her eyes and looked at him. “I think that version of Trendan Taredd is the real one.”
He was stunned for a moment. Completely floored that she was able to see that within his soul. He sat back and took a sip while he tried to think how to word what he wanted to say. “I can’t be that man.” He motioned around them. “This time is not like that one was.” He shrugged. “Which is good in the way that most of it was barbaric and violent.”
“You can be.” She said softly.
He tried a bite of the muffin and wasn’t sure what flavor it was, but it was good. “I can be?”
She nodded. “Yes. You can be the man that defends those that can’t defend themselves.”
He grinned. “The times aren’t like…”
“It doesn’t have to be with a sword as big as my leg.” She smiled. “There are other ways.” She motioned to the door. “What you’re doing now is that. Finding those that are harming others, the fathers, their children.” She shrugged.
He hadn’t thought about it that way. “It’s my duty to right what was done.”
“It sounds like your duty and heart are working together right now.”
He sat there and just looked at her for a moment. “You can see all of this from my…”
She shook her head. “No. I see that from your reactions to things that happen or something someone says.” She gave him a small smile. “I can feel it, if that makes sense.”
“I see.” He played with the cup in front of him for a second. “I didn’t think I was that transparent.”
She gave him a look, gentleness on her face. “I don’t think you are. I just watch people, mostly because I haven’t had a choice most of my life.”
He took another bite of the muffin because he didn’t know what to say, and it seemed a good reason for not speaking. He also wanted to try to pinpoint the exact flavor he was tasting.
Jerika grinned. “Oatmeal.” She whispered.
He raised an eyebrow and then swallowed. “Are you sure you don’t read thoughts?”
“No. Thankfully, I do not. I can’t imagine what that would be like and don’t want to. I know Princess Kara can, but I think it would be truly awful.”
“Yes, it…” His phone vibrating reminded him that he was hiding from his duty right now. He pulled it out to stop the vibrating and saw Ulric’s name on the screen. His guard would not call him just to be an annoyance.
“You better answer it.”
He nodded, hit the button, and put it to his ear.
“Prince. They’re looking for you. The Alterealm royals.”
“Did they say why?”
“Yes. They found a location from the cameras, and they need Jerika there to look at the people when they confront them.” There was a brief pause. “Or something like that. I’ve been busy with souls all morning, and I may have missed some of it.”
