Allegiance (34 page)

‘Just spit it out.’

‘I’ve sworn allegiance to him, Lysander. That means a part of me is in him and a part of him is in me and, despite everything he’s done, I… I can’t help
liking
him.’

He sat up. ‘You
like
him?’

Heat infused my cheeks. ‘Okay, so that’s not the best way to explain it.’ I picked at the stitching on the bedcover while I considered. ‘I hated him before I swore allegiance to him—despised him, but now, it’s like I want to…
please
him, and, when I’m with him, I feel a kind of
love
for him.’

I looked up. He was watching me, his blue eyes narrow. ‘That is twisted!’

I sighed. ‘I know it is, and believe me, part of me still can’t stand him, but it’s like it’s buried under this allegiance thing. It’s hard to explain, but this connection to him… it feels spiritual, actually.’

The corner of his mouth hitched. ‘Right,’ he said slowly. ‘So he’s like a
god
?’

‘Of course not! But it’s like when you’re with him you feel… close to God.’ A light went on inside of me. I’d just nailed the feeling
exactly
.

Lysander snorted, bringing me back to the moment. ‘You actually believe in that God crap?’

‘Don’t let Dad hear you say that!’

‘Okay, but… do you?’

‘I don’t know what I believe. I only know when the king’s essence comes into me, it’s like love and light and joy all rolled up together. It’s like being connected to… heaven.’

‘Wow, that’s sounds amazing.’

I detected a tinge of sarcasm in my brother’s voice but carried on regardless. ‘Yeah, and it’s not just him. Leif has the power too—all kings do. And, oh, speaking of other kings,’ I added, keen to wipe the smirk off my brother’s face, ‘Leif said his grandfather Aren will let you live in his kingdom.’

He sighed. ‘I can’t leave Mona.’

‘Not even to go check it out?’

‘What would be the point?’

‘You must love her,’ I said, irritated after the lies she’d told him.

A few beats went by then Lysander said, ‘That’s not it.’

‘So, what is?’

He caught my eyes. ‘She saved my life.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Me and Mum had a car accident and Mona was first on the scene. She said Mum just kind of swerved into this tree. Neither of us could remember anything.’

‘How badly were you hurt?’

‘Lots of bruises, a bit of blood, but nothing broken—I healed up pretty quick.’

‘So how exactly did she save you?’

‘Afterwards she took care of us. She lived more than ten miles away and worked full-time in a diner, but she used to come over every day after her shift. She cooked, took care of Mum, even did the washing. And when Mum died a few months later and it felt like I was gonna die right along with her, she took care of me, too. I was only fourteen.’

‘But you were so young—too young for
her
!’

‘She’s only three years older, and we didn’t start dating till last year.’

‘How did that happen?’

‘One day she told me she was in love with me, said she wanted to be with me…
like that
… you know?’

‘And how did you feel about that?’

My brother shrugged. ‘I cared about her I guess… so I said, okay.’

‘Oh Lysander, you feel like you owe her!’

‘I don’t feel like I owe her, Marla, I
do
owe her. Besides, who else do I have? You’ve met my grandmother—she puts up with me living there, but that’s all.’

‘You have me.’ I felt sick that my brother was prepared to give up everything for a girl who’d deceived him. Before I could even consider whether I should or not, I took a deep breath and said, ‘Did Mona mention a conversation I had with her on Christmas Day?’

‘What conversation?’

Oh God, was I doing this for me or Lysander? Would he be better off? I didn’t know. But I
did
know that if our situations were reversed—if the people closest to me had betrayed me in such a blatant way—I’d want the truth.

‘Go on, Marla.’

‘Did she tell you we’d met before?’

‘Keep talking,’ he said, when I hesitated.

‘A few months ago Jack and I were in the US looking for you with our grandparents.’

He watched me, baffled. ‘When?’

‘September.’

‘I spent most of September in hospital.’

‘Figures,’ I said and told him the whole story, starting from Leif and his Facebook magic and finishing with my conversation with Mona at the beach.

He didn’t speak for a long while. When he found his voice again, he said, ‘It was her brother.’

‘What?’

‘The guy she passed off as me—Tyrone… He’s her brother.’

‘Oh.’

Lysander’s voice was cold when he said, ‘He’s
supposed
to be my best friend.’

I didn’t know what to say.

‘They’ve been lying to me—both of them. And come to think of it when I mentioned that stuff you left at my place, Mona looked seriously guilty.’ After another long moment he looked up and caught my eyes. He looked defeated—like this was just one more let-down to add to the others. Regret pierced my heart. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. I put my arms around him and told him I was sorry. He patted my back twice before pulling away, saying he needed some time alone. I hesitated, leaving only when he insisted.

The living room and balcony were overflowing. The King’s Guard had arrived early and my family were sitting at the table drinking tea and eating chocolate brownies with Leif and my friends. Leif must have noticed something was wrong because he got up and
came to me. After I told him what had happened, he went to see Lysander. He came back a bit later and said, ‘He feels let down, Marla, but he’ll be fine. I think he’s actually relieved.’

Ashleigh sidled up to us and tugged on Leif’s arm. ‘Which one’s mine?’ she whispered when he leaned down to her.

Leif chuckled. ‘What happened to your boyfriend?’ he asked.

‘He’s not here,
obviously
, so which is it?’

‘Well,’ Leif said, tilting his head in the direction of a serious-looking guy with blond hair and broad shoulders. He was standing by the balcony door, arms folded, waiting to leave. ‘Kais is single.’

‘Ooh, Ash, he’s nice,’ I said with a grin.

Leif looked at me, eyes glittering with amusement, before turning back to Ashleigh. ‘Does it matter to you that he’s over two thousand?’

‘He is not,’ Ashleigh said, frowning.

Leif nodded. ‘I assure you, he is.’

A smile spread across my sister’s face. ‘Oh well, with a body like that, who cares?’

Leif smiled. ‘Are you certain?’

‘Oh yeah,’ she said looking the handsome Kais up and down.

‘I’ll hook you up then,’ Leif said, his smile turning into a broad grin.

He left us giggling and went to speak to Kais who bowed low at his approach.

‘Oh my God, he is
not
actually going to do it,’ Ashleigh gasped.

‘He wouldn’t,’ I said, watching carefully.

Leif said a few words to the guard and then both men looked in our direction. Kais smiled and inclined his head.

Ashleigh’s face flared as red as the roots of her hair. ‘I’m going to kill him!’

‘It’s your own fault.’

‘He’s coming over! What am I going to do?’

‘Talk to him I suppose.’

A moment later Leif and Kais stood before us. ‘Marla, Ashleigh, this is Kais, one of my father’s guard. I was just telling him how curious you were, Ashleigh, as to the type of fitness regime he is required to maintain in order to be in such…
condition
.’

Ashleigh glowered at my betrothed. ‘How embarrassing, Leif.’

‘I do not see why you should feel so?’ Kais said. ‘Of course, our kind must fascinate you. Humans are not usually permitted to be aware of our existence.’ He opened his arms to indicate my sister had his full attention. ‘So, what can I tell you, Ashleigh? What would you like to know?’

‘Umm,’ Ashleigh said, the fire in her cheeks glowing bright.

Leif took my hand and led me into the kitchen where we both fell about the room laughing.

By the time Lysander appeared from the spare room, Ashleigh was back to harassing Leif for an invitation to Faera. I looked up to see my brother; his face determined and fixed on my parents. He took a long breath and released it slowly before saying, ‘I was wondering, Mr and Mrs Smith… do you think it would be all right if I stayed here? Just for a while?’

Ashleigh sat up straighter and told him it was no problem at all. Lysander smiled in her direction before returning his attention to Mum and Dad. His hands were clenched tight at his sides, trembling as he said, ‘I’ll get a job so I can pay my way. You won’t even know I’m here.’

My insides twisted. I thought of orphans and abandoned dogs and people who lived in shop doorways who had nobody to love them. I blinked a few times.

‘Of course you can stay,’ Mum said quickly. ‘The spare room’s yours.’

Dad agreed before telling Lysander he wouldn’t be allowed to work without a visa.

‘But I’ll do anything—I don’t care what it is!’

Dad moved to my brother and lay a hand on his shoulder. ‘You’re family, Lysander. You’ll stay for as long as you want and you won’t worry about a thing. All right?’

Lysander nodded.

‘And in the morning, you can take the car to pick up anything you need from the shops.’

‘I can’t drive,’ Lysander said.

I knew Dad saw this as a sign of neglect. He’d started teaching me and Ashleigh the moment we’d turned sixteen and got our learner’s permits. After a moment, he smiled and gave my brother’s shoulder a pat as he said, ‘Well then, we’ll have to fix that, won’t we?’

Mum rubbed at her eyes and said she was going to get the spare room ready. My brother looked happy in a way I hadn’t seen before. Even so, I hated leaving him. Ashleigh didn’t help when she leaned in close and whispered, ‘Don’t you worry about a thing, Marla, I’ll take
real
good care of your brother.’ She said it like she was joking, but I knew she wasn’t.

‘
My
brother!’ I said. ‘He’s
your
brother too!’

‘Puh-leaze,’ she said and made a scoffing noise. ‘We’re not even
close
to being related.’

There was drama ahead, I knew it.

We arrived in Faera to the sound of Hilary’s shock, quickly followed by her delight. I grinned in her direction as I unwrapped myself from Leif’s arms. A moment later King Telophy’s Constantine guards approached, informing us the king would be joining us presently.

While Hilary looked around, amazed at everything, the rest of us wondered what was going on.

King Telophy arrived in a matter of minutes accompanied by his four Most High. I watched Hilary press a hand to her heart at the sight of him and when a moment later, Leif introduced her, she told the king she was honoured. He barely gave her a nod before returning his attention to his son. ‘Ayana awaits us in the human world with Mirren’s location and Denar will not give hers lest you accompany me.’

Can’t imagine why,
I told Leif silently.

He smiled my way, then, glancing at my friends, said to his father. ‘What of the humans?’

‘Jack will come with us. He needs to hear what Mirren has to say and this new one…’ he raised a brow at Hilary, ‘might be of assistance to him. Ameyah will return to Maia and Armand.’ He gestured to four of the guard. A moment later they vanished with Ameyah. ‘Come Leif,’ King Telophy hurried on. ‘Speak with Denar, find out where we are going so we can be on our way.’

Some of the remaining guards acting as human escorts shot each other eyebrow-lifted glances and I started to worry about Jack and Hilary’s safety—energy out versus energy in.

I said to the king, ‘Don’t the guard need to rest first—take in more sun?’

King Telophy’s eyes narrowed. ‘You believe I would risk the lives of the humans, Marla?’

Your friends will be well, Marla,
Leif told me.
The guard are tired but have much sun still.