Cloud Riders (Lord of the Planets) (31 page)

On re-entering the castle, the servant Lamar took her straight into the dining room where Aldebaran sat reading a book. It looked like he had only just woken up. His hair was a little ruffled and his eyes had dark rings as if he’d had very little sleep. She guessed it had been a bit of a shock with her just turning up and no doubt it would have interrupted his sleep. Unlike him, she always slept well and drinking never gave her a hangover so she was glad for that.

‘Can’t you handle it like you used to in the old days, Pops? Hope I don’t inherit those genes.’ She stirred him as she sat down and poured a juice.

He looked over his novel. ‘Someone woke up in good humour this morning.’

She looked carefully at him to judge his mood. The last thing she wanted was to put him in a grumpy frame of mind and have it spoil the day. Then she remembered that this was the old way that she used to think. She had to stop worrying that he would turn on her like her other parents did. As Woody said, they were not like normal people. They were cruel and spiteful. Yet it was strange because although she knew her dad was both, there had been no sign of that towards her. She had to give him a chance to prove he was different, worthy of a daughter’s love.

She reached out for a pastry. ‘We’ve all day together, Pops,’ she said, drinking down some juice. ‘So, tell me what do you and your friends do in your spare time?’ Throwing his words back at him in a playful way she said, ‘Don’t tell me you only play war games. Surely there must be some fun things to do on these stars?’

He put his book down and sipped his coffee. ‘Aquarius has a huge water park with tunnels and slides if that interests you. Aqua is the ruler of the zodiac known to you on earth as the water sign. She’s a good friend of mine and I’m sure she wouldn’t mind a visit.’

‘Beats sitting around here all day watching you read a book,’ she joked again and liked that he seemed to be enjoying her fun side and taking her comments as they were intended.

He shook his head. She was so much like him that it amazed him. ‘You’re so cheeky, young lady. I’ll take you on one condition. You eat something. And I just hope you can find a pair of bathers upstairs that’ll fit you.’ Looking at her shape he said, ‘It’s been a while since I had someone so petite visit me.’

She looked down at her outfit. ‘What sort of magical world is this? Surely if this outfit can mysteriously not get wrinkled, if I strip off near water shouldn’t bathers just appear on me?’ she asked, raising her eyebrow, uncertain but hopeful.

‘You’re a fascinating woman, Cassandra. That logic is quite kooky yet possible. Take a pair from upstairs just in case.’

Lamar served her a plate of eggs and bacon. ‘Normal food!’ she said as she ate heartily for the first time since breakfast two days before.

He smiled. ‘I took note of your indifference to our food last night. I thought you might appreciate some earth food.’

‘Thanks, Pops,’ she said, digging her toast into the runny eggs.

After both had eaten, Cassie ran upstairs and found a pair of bathers and a towel. When she went to join Aldebaran downstairs, he was talking quietly to one of his guards making her frown as she walked towards him.

‘You’re not breaking your promise to me and playing war games behind my back are you, Pop?’ she asked, feeling a little flutter of worry begin to grip her stomach.

He gently took her chin in his hand. ‘Don’t frown. I promised you, Cassandra and I’m not about to spoil our time together. I just need my home protected while I’m gone.’

The second he put his arm across her shoulder, a bright light surrounded them, the room they were in shimmering out of focus. Amazed with this form of travel Cassie was in awe when the view changed and suddenly realised he had transported them both to the Aquarius constellation in what seemed like an instant.

‘Cool trick,’ she said, looking around at the castle before them and to the left, the water wonderland. The sparkling water glittered and shone as the sunlight touched it. A woman came out with a warm smile. Cassie figured she must have been Aqua. ‘I wasn’t expecting you today, Ald darling. Who’s your friend?’

She stunned Cassie with her beauty. She had long, curly, dark hair and a perfect figure. She wore a white mini-dress with a gold sash that highlighted her waistline. Her ankles, wrists and hair glittered with diamonds that sparkled like the water. She had a sort of childlike sweetness yet if she was friends with her dad, Cassie knew that she would hardly be naïve or innocent, truth be told.

Aqua hugged Aldebaran maybe a little longer than normal, leading Cassie to believe they were a lot more than friends and Pops had been holding out on her. Aqua stayed hanging off his arm while her dad introduced them.

‘This is Cassandra, my daughter. She paid me a visit, yet after only a few hours finds me boring. So bringing her here for some fun in your water park gives me the opportunity to catch up with you as well, my lovely.’

Cassie smiled and shook hands with her. ‘Hi Aqua, nice to finally meet one of the twelve zodiacs. Coming from earth, I would never have dreamed the water sign would actually have such a magnificent setup. We all just thought you were a statue holding a water jug. I’m amazed at how magnificent all this is.’

‘Yes, we only give earth visions of what we want them to believe. This will be our little secret, okay?’

‘Sure. As if anyone would believe all this. I’d be labelled crazy and locked up in a padded cell if I divulged anything I did.’

Aldebaran laughed. ‘Your secret is safe with Cassie. She’s one of the Cloud Riders.’

‘Ald, my God! You two are mortal enemies—how can you be associating with each other? Zoren will have a fit.’

‘It’s alright, Aqua, she came to me. He knows. We have both agreed to stand down for twenty-four hours while her team sort out some personal business. It’s mutual and benefits both of us. This is the first opportunity we’ve ever had to get to know one another a little better.’

‘Then when she goes back, your plans, Ald, have they changed?’

‘This changes nothing for either of us. It’ll be business as usual again tomorrow.’

Cassie chuckled. ‘Yes, I’ll be back out there giving Pop hell again and he’ll be throwing whatever he can back at me. He will lose of course! But I’ll let him try.’

‘Cheeky little shit.’ He grinned good-humouredly. ‘See what I have to put up with? She’s a cocky little thing who needs to learn a lesson. I am so looking forward to her leaving.’ He laughed with her.

‘Bring it on, Pops!’

He grabbed her, not even waiting for her to change and threw her in the water. Drenched, she came up still laughing. She swallowed a mouthful of water and nearly choked but kept giggling.

‘See? Even choking doesn’t work with her. She’s like a cat with nine lives.’

Even Aqua was getting into it now and was smiling at them both. She could see they definitely were father and daughter. She was happy that Ald had the chance to meet her even if they were rivals.

Cassie looked under her top and saw a gold bikini top had magically appeared. She took off her outfit and threw it at her dad. ‘You wet it, you can hang it up to dry,’ she chuckled.

Aqua bent down, picked Cassie’s top and pants up and draped them over a chair. ‘You go have some fun, Ald. I’ll organise some lunch for you both.’

‘That would be lovely of you, sweet one.’ Aldebaran kissed her hand tenderly, making Aqua blush and giggle before she left him to have some private time with his daughter.

Cassie pulled herself out, ready to dive back in, when she saw her dad just standing there watching. ‘Come on, old man. Let’s see if you can keep up with your kid.’

He smirked, threw off his shirt and flew after her, catching her on his way and throwing them both in the water. ‘Give you old man shit, you little stirrer?’ he laughed.

They spent half the morning going up and down the slides. Her favourite was the tunnel. It went very dark and you could feel weird things touching you as you went through. It made you quiver with horror before being flung high up in the air. They dragged themselves out, laughing and exhausted.

Wrapping towels around themselves, they sat in the lounges by the pool with Aqua while servants brought out savouries and ice-cold drinks. These they enjoyed while chatting about how much fun they’d been having. Aqua seemed to have a thing for her father and constantly touched his arm or hand as she talked. He seemed to enjoy her constant flirting and was kicking back, relaxing and having a good time. Cassie hated to break up the fun he was having but she knew she would be going soon and wanted a bit of alone time with him before she headed off.

Aqua asked if they could stay for dinner but Aldebaran saw the look on Cassie’s face and declined, saying that he had just a few more hours left with her so he wanted to head off. He slipped his arm around Cassie and she was not prepared for her father’s powers. Her clothes appeared on her, dry and pressed. Her hair was again dry and her makeup felt freshly applied.

Aqua grinned. ‘Your father’s great to have around the morning after,’ she said. ‘He does have a way with making a girl not only look good, but feel good.’

Cassie put her hand up. ‘Far too much information!’ she giggled, looking up at her dad.

Aqua and her father both shared a look of tenderness before Aqua disappeared from their sight.

It only took an instant to get back, therefore Cassie felt she had time to pay Starburst a quick visit to make sure he was alright. Going inside the castle, she noticed her father had organised a drink for them both. She was happy that he wanted to just sit back and chat to her. He was making her feel very comfortable and welcome.

‘You seem very connected to that horse,’ Aldebaran commented.

Cassie took a sip of drink, recalling the first time she saw him. ‘I watched him being born and it was the first time I’d ever seen anything give birth. When he came out, he was an unsteady skinny little thing that could barely stand. He wobbled and made me laugh as he tried so hard to stay on his feet. He was beautiful.’

‘You missed a lot, didn’t you, Cassandra? Like today.’

She smiled. ‘Yes but yesterday is gone and from now on I intend to make everyday count and experience all the things I’ve only read about. What we did today, to visit a water park was high on my to-do list. So thanks, Pops. It was crazy fun and I loved it.’

She got up and walked around the big study they’d been sitting in. She couldn’t help but admire the books he had crammed onto the selves. There were even moving ladders to get to the paperbacks way up on the top shelf. It amused her he would need them with all his magic. He could have just summoned one to him.

Before she left, Aldebaran made a toast to his daughter. Cassie went to have a drink and then stopped to think about it before swapping their drinks and taking a sip of his. He gave her a quizzical look. ‘Swapped them just in case you send me home and everyone hates me again. You know that was a pretty dirty trick.’

He smiled; his eyes glowed with a crafty flicker.
‘A father will do what a father must do to be able to spend time with his little girl. You forgave me though or you wouldn’t have come back, no matter what the reason.’

‘I have no need to carry a grudge. Unlike my pops, I can forgive and forget.’ Darkness filled his eyes and she knew it was silly to spoil the day with one of her flyaway comments that were not called for. ‘Sorry, that wasn’t only rude but none of my business. If you allow me to pull my foot from my mouth I would like to retract that silly comment. I really would prefer not to bring business into our time together and spoil the lovely day we’ve just spent together. All too soon we’ll back on opposite sides and I don’t want to think about that just now either.’

She felt his mood lift instantly. ‘Thanks, Cassandra, I appreciate you apologising. It’s one of your many traits I find adorable. To tell you the truth I never want politics to deter you from visiting me. I’m stubborn and change is not easy for me nowadays. At this time I can only see it causing us both heartache. Instead I would prefer you to visit because you just enjoy your old man’s company.’ He held out his hand for her to accept this or not.

There was no way Cassie wanted to even think of him as anything more than her cool dad who had given her his time freely without an explanation as to why she had requested it. She ignored his hand, instead wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him. This time he automatically hugged her back. ‘You would have made a pretty good dad. Thank you for showing me that,’ she said, meaning it.

He growled in a playful way. ‘I could eat you up, you’re so sweet,’ he chuckled, making little chomping noises around her ear and making her laugh happily.

Walking out to the horse, Cassie was sad to be leaving. She had enjoyed getting to know her real father and hoped one day, to visit again.

He held her for a long time, silently searching her face like he was looking for something. When a tear ran down her face at the sadness she felt at having to leave him, he smiled with utter joy. ‘I knew you loved me too,’ he said, pleased. ‘Come and visit me again as soon as Kayden allows it. I’ll understand if it won’t be for a while. After all, we are enemies and you have been in the rival’s camp, which in war times is frowned upon. But I had the best time, Cassandra. Thanks for making an old man very happy,’ he said, helping her up on the horse.

With tears in her eyes, she blew him a kiss as Starburst flew off and headed for home.

Second Chance

Starburst landed them in the paddock and trotted back to the horse stables. The slow trip back to Kayden’s farmhouse had given her time to try and calm down a little. Even the magical cloud with its colourful lighting did little to ease her mind. Since leaving the comfort of her father’s home the worries of what she was coming home to washed over her to a point were she was on the edge of bursting into tears.

Was Conor better? Had Pop put a spell on her that would make Kayden distrust her again? What about Woody? Would he be there waiting or be replaced by a stranger?

Starburst trotted the last few yards to the barn. Kayden heard them and was out of the door in a flash. He lifted her off and held her while their emotions stabilised. He had missed her terribly and she had not only missed him but now missed her dad.