Autumn Dawn (Fate's Intent Book 11) (19 page)

“While having some fun in the meantime!” Naomi replied.

Lana smiled. “And may this night lead to many other happy nights of wild drunken sex.”

“I’ll drink to that!” Dirk said. “Let’s speed this up then.”

We all shared in a laugh together as we touched glasses to seal it and took a drink.

Chapter 34

Darius

“That was quite an impressive presentation Seth gave us tonight.” I said. “I think that trip did them some good.”

“I’d say it did.” Troy replied. “Did any of you see the connection they had? It was like seeing us.”

We all looked around at each other and Adele did her usual thing of sighing. “All right. I’ll admit that letting them go was probably a good thing. I’ve never seen them this happy.”

Zayden smiled. “See, what did I tell you? Everything worked out just fine.”

“Besides the recent news.” Jaylyn muttered.

“Yes, well, we should have seen something like this coming after the warning. Chan was right. People always take notice when a group shows its dominance and our defeat over the Leccans proven it twice over.”

“This isn’t about the weapon you killed Sedrik with too, I hope.” Adele said.

“I don’t think so. Seth said he didn’t see it being anything about that.”

“When did he say that?” I asked.

“Oh—ah—I mean earlier before their trip.”

“What?!” Adele snatched. “You knew about this?!”

“Seth just came to me about the visions but we needed proof.”

“He had visions about it?” Jaylyn asked.

“That’s why you let them go.” Ruby figured. It was a good assumption but I’m still surprised I didn’t know sooner.

“It’s perfectly fine.” Zayden said.

“How can you say that?” Adele asked. “We’re going to be at war with the world.”

“We should have known it would happen eventually.”

“I guess but how could this be about just Chan? They wouldn’t attack Kalu too. They were supposedly all from Kalu.”

“Does it really matter why?” I asked. “It’s going to happen either way. All we can do is respond.”

“Yeah, I guess we’ll get to continue living the old ways for a while.” Ruby smiled.

I shared in her joy. “I have no problem with that. It should be simple for us.”

“Possibly.” Adele said. “But we’ll have to split up for the first time.”

“Why?” Troy asked.

“Just because we live here now doesn’t mean we fight here. We’re still bound to Kalu and so are the girls. They’ll be coming with us.”

“You’re going to split them up?” I wondered. “They won’t take to that well.”

“I know but it’s the only way, you all know that.”

“But you mustn’t tell them.” Zayden said. “They will detest if you do and we’ve all seen that they’ve bonded better than expected.”

“Well, what did you expect?” Ruby asked. “The girls have been waiting for their meeting for a year.”

“No need to down upon it now.” I said. “Things have worked out better than we’ve planned with them.”

“Well, did you think our sons would have refused?” Jaylyn wondered. “The girls are just like us.”

“Yeah, except we were older when we met and started sleeping together.” Zayden said.

Adele, Ruby and Jaylyn froze.

“I don’t want to hear that.” Adele said. “Adults or otherwise. Let’s just let them have these weeks together before they know we won’t be fighting here.”

“I still don’t like it.” Zayden replied. “But I at least agree in not telling them yet.”

“Good. Now we can put this night to rest and begin our own preparations in the morning.”

She was good at ending things like that so we just let it be and headed upstairs.

“You know what I’d like you to think about?” Ruby asked once we were inside our room.

“Don’t even say it because I’m not going to lose you.”

She laughed. “No. Not that. I want you to think about—talking to Cadence.”

“Why?” I kind of couldn’t believe I asked it but Ruby was clearly showing that she didn’t want to say why. “Oh. I know why. Ruby, we don’t even know if that’s true yet. I don’t see—”

“I don’t need to test it because I know, Darius. She’s your daughter and she has a right to know before we’re sent off to war.”

“If you believe in this so badly, why haven’t you told her?”

“It wouldn’t be right coming from me. It should be you. I just wished that you’d believe it.”

“Why? Do you know what that would do to us?”

“It wouldn’t do anything. It happened a long time ago. It wouldn’t be a surprise to me and it’s not like she’s not already a big part of our life.”

“But what about Dirk’s life? How do you think he’ll react?”

“He won’t be angry. He might not understand at first but once it’s explained I think he’ll warm up to it. She’s going to be in his life anyway since she’s with Seth.”

She just kept coming out with an excuse after an excuse about it not being a bad thing when Adele said she’d greatly be affected. I know that I want to know but I don’t want her to become distant if it ends up being true and she finally realizes it.

“I’ll think about it, okay? I have two weeks to really decide.”

“Okay. Two weeks then.”

I kissed her and just wanted to put an end to it. It almost helped that she started to get in the mood but my mind was on other things. There’s a fifty percent chance that I have a daughter and I didn’t want to think about that while pleasuring my wife. I just let her do what she wanted and she fell asleep in my arms after.

About an hour later, I was still awake thinking about it and heard a strange noise outside my door. Ruby was still asleep on my chest but I slowly moved her so I could get up. She just rolled over and I walked to the door and opened it. Lana and Dirk fell in and I jumped back out of the way. I could tell they were both drunk but they didn’t even see me standing here.

“The door just opened!” Dirk said while laughing.

“How did that happen?” Lana asked as she was lying on top of him.

They continued to laugh until Lana looked up and saw me with my arms crossed. She quickly backed off Dirk with a shocked look on her face.

“What?” Dirk asked as he looked at her and was still laying on the floor.

“I don’t think we’re in the right room.” Lana said as she continued to look at me.

Dirk stayed on the floor and moved his head back to see me looking down at him. He quickly got to his feet and stood with Lana. “Father!”

“Dirk. Lana. Out late, are we?”

“Oh, please don’t punish him, Darius.” Lana said as she stepped in front of Dirk. “It was my fault. Punish me.”

I laughed, trying to keep it to myself and not wake Ruby. “I’m not going to punish anyone but next time, make sure you know where you are before you plan on continuing your physical relationship, all right?”

“Sorry, father. It won’t happen again.”

“I would hope not. If your mother caught you instead of me, you’d both be dead.” Lana and Dirk’s eyes got wide and they looked passed me at Ruby sleeping on the bed. “Now go, before she wakes up and sees you like that.”

Lana and Dirk nodded and left. I closed the door with a light laugh and went back over to the bed. I needed to get to sleep before the night got any stranger and it was Seth and Cadence at our door next. I wouldn’t really be that comfortable to handle that situation like I had done with Dirk, especially since I didn’t know if she was my daughter yet. I actually don’t know how I’d feel knowing she was with any man.

Chapter 35

Zayden

Two weeks to war: Day One

As our first day had begun, we had everyone gather in the ballroom for something I’m sure none of them have thought about in a while. Six covered display cases stood in a row just waiting to be revealed.

“I can see you’re all curious as to why I asked you here but there is a very good reason and no better way to start our two week countdown to war. You may have forgotten what was asked of you many months ago but today is the day you shall remember for we are honored to present you with these great gifts as you are all well deserving of them. So, let’s get right to it then, shall we? Seth. Yours first.”

I quickly pulled down the cloth and it fell to the floor, revealing Seth’s armor. In that moment, everyone knew why they were here and got excited.

Seth was speechless but walked to me nonetheless while looking up. He had every right to be stunned even by his own design because it turned out amazing. I wasn’t too sad that he wouldn’t be wearing Seni’s traditional armor because everyone would have known who he was while wearing this.

Some of the silver was tinted dark blue with two-tone arm braces and shoulder armor of the dark blue and traditional silver color. The breast plate and protective boots were of the solid dark blue with silver stallion markings and it came with a matching solid dark blue cape lined in silver, an outfit fit for a Prince.

“Better than you imagined, isn’t it?”

“Most definitely.”

I looked over at Adele and nodded at her to present the next set.

“Cadence.” She took a hold of the cloth ready to show her. “This is yours.”

She ripped it off and revealed Cadence’s armor. She was excited of course and didn’t think twice about getting closer. Now, these Assassin ones were much different than functional armor. In fact, we were once told that they were mainly for distraction purposes because it was hardly enough to protect them.

The metal was tinted a vivid light purple and the stiffened leather pieces were brown. Leather layers molded over her breasts in a scooped fashion with an almost tear shaped metal piece cradling them and extending up between them to connect to her leather collar. The same shaped metal piece was attached just under that and stretched down onto her waist guard that was made up of leather layers. It had matching shin guards with it, brown boots and purple pants, surely something that would be noticed.

We all smiled at her reaction and I looked over to Darius and nodded.

“Dirk.” He stood in front of his covered armor and took a hold of the cloth. “I hope you’re ready for this.”

“I am.”

“Good because you better be.”

He pulled down the cloth and revealed Dirk’s armor. He was so impressed as he looked upon it that he couldn’t say a word right off.

The metal on his was tinted red to match his hair with everything else looking just as Seth’s with only the color difference. It came with red protective boots and a red cape with a rigid torn look at the bottom like it had been burnt by his fire.

“It’s perfect.”

We smiled and I looked over at Ruby and nodded. She stepped up in front of Lana’s armor and looked at her with a smile. “Lana.”

Lana was just as excited and merely held her hands tightly together in front of her in anticipation. “Oh, just show me!”

Ruby continued to smile and grabbed a hold of the cloth, pulling it off. Lana was so excited when she saw it that she fell to her knees with impressed joy. Her metal was tinted a shade of white and the stiffened leather pieces were red. Her breastplate was the focal point. White molded metal in the shape of the female form attached to her leather collar and came down over the left breast and angled down to her right side where it attached to her waist guard. Her right breast would be covered by red leather layered pieces as well as the right half of her waist guard while a white plate sat on her left hip. It had matching shin guards, red boots worn all the way up to her thighs and white pants.

“I don’t believe it.” She was just gawking at it while covering her mouth. Naomi helped her to her feet and she approached it, touching the glass with the same expression.

I looked over at Troy with a nod and he stepped in front of Bryce’s armor. “Bryce. I think you’re going to like this.”

He pulled off the cloth and Bryce’s mouth dropped, a typical reaction. His was tinted to a brilliant green shade but still looked like Seth’s and Dirk’s so everyone would know they were a team.

Bryce continued to look at it as he walked to his father and Troy patted his back. “You did well.”

“Seth did you mean. I didn’t give much input.”

“The shoulder design was yours.” Seth said.

“Does it matter?” Dirk asked. “It’s fucking awesome.”

I smiled and looked over at Jaylyn and nodded for the very last time. She stepped in front of Naomi’s armor and looked at her as she took the cloth. “Naomi. You think you’re ready or should we wait a little longer?”

“No! Please just show me!”

“All right.”

She pulled off the cloth and revealed Naomi’s armor. The metal was tinted a bright pink and the leather was black. Her short breastplate, just enough to cover her breasts, was mostly made up of black leather layered pieces but there was a pink metal strip between them as well as on the sides that came up and attached to a metal collar. A simple chain crisscrossed from her breastplate down to her waist guard. It had two molded metal pieces that sat high on her hips with a leather band connecting them. It also had matching shin guards, black boots and pink pants.

Naomi ran to Jaylyn and looked up. “This is so amazing!”

We let them stand there for a moment and take in the excitement of their gifts.

“We’re all glad you find them to be suitable.” I said. “But you must remember that the time you will have to wear them will not be the time for fun. War is upon us in the coming weeks and you all must be prepared for the fight ahead. We will have your gifts moved to your rooms throughout the day but for now you must manage to both rest and practice your skills for the remaining of the countdown.”

They nodded and I was glad they understood that war wasn’t something to be excited about. We all had to be ready and they took my advice. For the next few days we all needed to get some practicing in.

Troy, Darius and myself got up extra early on this morning and went outside to loosen up. We met in the court yard in our traditional shirtless attire and picked up a wooden stick. We stood in a circle facing each other and began a three way training session. Darius and Troy both swung at me to start it and I had to block both of their attacks at once. We continued to play two on one and Darius and Troy tried to weaken me but my skills were too great and they couldn’t break me.

“I see you admire my skill.”

“Uh oh. We’re not the only ones that admire your skill.” I was about to turn around and look to where Troy glanced but he swung at me to get my attention back on him. “Don’t look.”

“Well, who is it?”

“It’s the girls.”

“Which girls?”

I watched Darius secretly glance up to see who Troy was talking about as he swung at me while answering. “Not our girls.”

“Why are they watching us?”

“Why do you think?”

“No way.” I said, blocking a hit. “That’s crazy.”

Darius smiled. “Why is that so crazy? It says we still got it.”

“Yeah, they’re young enough to be our children, you know and one of them actually might be yours.”

I said it lowly but it was enough to get Darius to change his thought pattern. “Don’t say that. I was merely trying to bask in the compliment.”

“That’s enough of this.” I stopped, lowering my stick. “We better put some clothes on before they start getting any ideas. We’ll continue this later.”

Darius and Troy nodded and I turned around to glance up for the first time. Cadence was looking at me but neither Naomi or Lana had their focus on us, they were both speaking quietly to Cadence. I didn’t know why and honestly, I didn’t think of any kind of logical reason.