The P.J. Stone Gates Trilogy (#1-3) (53 page)

She raised her face to look at me with violet eyes.
And she gets violet eyes
? I inwardly groaned.
So not fair!
“My name is Tatiana, my Queen, and I belong to the Silver Dragon faction.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that,” I said with annoyance as I motioned to her hair.

Her lips turned up in a slight smile. “Yes, well I know you are relatively new to our world. I just wanted to clarify.”

“Look, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but could you please get to the point?” I was doing my best not to sound like a petulant child. I didn’t think it was working out for me too well.

“No need to apologize, my Queen, you are still young, patience will come to you in time.”

I barked a harsh laugh at her. “Doubtful, but please continue.”

She produced a white envelope about the size and shape as the one I had received from the old Queen, my biological mother, when I had been in the Smokey Mountains. A feeling of foreboding washed over me. “My clan has been holding onto this for a very long time. Our instructions were to give it to you today, after the announcement.”

“How long have you been holding on to this?” I whispered.

“Since before your birth,” Tatiana responded.

“Oh. Well then, I already know who it’s from. Thank you.” I reached out and took the envelope from her and stared down at it wishing it would simply disappear.

“It was our pleasure to serve both the old and new Queen,” she said as she rose and headed for the door.

“Thank you again,” I said without looking up at her. My attention was riveted on the small white envelope resting in the palm of my hand. I had no doubt who it was from. Guess my birth mother thought she could still shake up my life even from beyond the grave. I tore the envelope open, kind of wondering in the back of my mind, how the Silver Dragon faction had resisted the temptation to open it themselves. I personally would never have been able to withstand the temptation. Inside was a letter written in the same scrawling handwriting that had adorned my previous message from my birth mother.

My Dear Child,

It is imperative that you understand that what I am about to ask of you, if you deviate from it and think that you can find a better way, it will result in your death. And therefore also the deaths of the ones you love. I have foreseen it. Please trust in my powers, which are now your own, for one day you will need to rely on them. But for now they are still growing and changing within you. You, for the moment, lack the skill to control them the way that’s it’s taken me many decades to learn how to do so myself.

This evening there will be an attempt on your life by someone you thought you could trust. She has let a Rider slip into her, for all humans carry some darkness in them, and it will convince her you have caused all of her problems. She will try to end your life by poisoning you, so do not accept any nourishment from anyone this evening. It will save your life. But do not fear; eventually, if you follow the path I have laid out for you, you will be able to save her. That should offer you some small comfort.

Once the commotion steals everyone’s attention, you are to strike out on your own; I’ve had a trusted subject place a care package hidden in the back of your closet behind a loose panel with everything that you will need, including a way to keep Khol from tracking you. You must do this on your own, and I’m sorry for that my daughter. But I will help you whenever I can. Find the strength that already exists in you.

~M

My hands were shaking as I struggled to process what I had just read in the letter. Jenna was going to try and kill me; there were no other female humans that I trusted—it had to be her. But I could save her if I followed the path my birth mother had laid out for me . . . That was indeed a comfort. And it looked like it was time for me to stand on my own, something that I had been wanting for awhile, so why did it suddenly have the feel of “be careful what you wish for”?

“I hope you have good news for me this time,” his master snapped as Terrance entered the room.

“Yes. One of our most trusted is in place. The girl will be dead by week’s end, as promised.”

A smile slowly spread across his master’s face. “Excellent. Most excellent indeed. Let me know when it is done.” He flicked his hand in a dismissive motion. “You may go now.”

Terrance breathed a sigh of relief as he exited his master’s office. By the end of the week the girl would be dead and all would be well once more.

I found the care package hidden in the back of my closet, although I wish my birth mother would have had the forethought to warn me about the huge icky spider that had been laying in wait for me. I almost knocked myself unconscious when it crawled over my hand, and I slammed the side of my head into the closet door in an attempt to escape my creepy tormentor. But besides that, everything else had gone smoothly. My birth mother had thought of everything . . . wigs, colored contacts, fake I.D., credit cards . . . and even some sort of magic bracelet to dampen Khol’s connection to me. She left more instructions, which informed me I was not to put it on until after, when Khol was distracted, or he would notice something was wrong before I could make a break for it. The plan was for me to enroll myself under the false name she had given me at a specific high school to which I had been given directions. She said from there I would figure out what to do. She had even left a letter for Khol, which I was not to open, that had directions inside for him to follow. I won’t lie; the not opening the letter to Khol was proving to be the most difficult part of the plan. I sighed and pushed my duffle bag full of everything I was taking with me into the back of my closet. I didn’t want to risk anyone seeing it and therefore cause them to ask questions. At this point, questions were bad. The fact was, it seemed like I was running away, and in some ways that felt easier than anything I’d done in a long time. I just hoped I wasn’t in high school too long because my baby bump would eventually show up. The thought made me bring my hand up to my stomach protectively. My birth mother wouldn’t put my baby in danger, would she? I doubted it, but I couldn’t seem to push the worry aside completely.

“Hey,” Jeremy’s voice made me jump about a mile and I looked up to see him carrying a tray with milk and cookies on it.

“God, you scared me.” I chuckled nervously at him.

“Sorry. But the good news is that I bring a peace offering from Jenna. She wanted me to drop these off on my way to workout. She even made me promise not to steal any for myself.” He smiled at me and set the tray on my nightstand. “I’ll come by on my way back, okay? To talk”

“Yeah, okay,” I interjected before he could finish. I was letting my nerves get the best of me and it was probably better if he just went to go workout so he wasn’t in danger himself.

Jeremy eyed me curiously, probably picking up on my nervous energy. “She also said to tell you she’d be down to check on you in a bit, and if you wanted to talk, then she’d be ready.”

Yeah, I bet she’d be down to check on me—to make sure I was dead. I had to fight back the laughter that bubbled up in my chest. “Yep, I’ll be here . . . ready to talk.”

Jeremy gave me one last curious glance before ducking out of my room. “Okay, I’ll see you in a bit.”

I didn’t know what was weirder . . . the fact that Jeremy seemed so cavalier about how I had tried to fry his lady love earlier, like we’d had a normal girl fight, or that my best girlfriend was trying to kill me. Or maybe the weirdest thing of all was how I was now taking all of these things in stride, like they were totally normal. Oh yeah, my life was definitely not turning out the way I had thought it would, not by a long shot.

“Khol,” I called out on shaky breath. “I need you.”

Khol appeared almost before the last syllable of my request had left my mouth, and he rushed to me with worry etched into the furrows of his face. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

I looked up at him and tried to mentally record every last detail about him, from his long auburn hair, to his high strong cheekbones that flowed up to his dragon green eyes. When I was with Khol I always felt so tiny in comparison to his large proportions, something that I’d always liked. He made me feel safe and protected, like I was the most precious thing in the world to him. I was going to miss him . . . more than I wanted to admit to myself. Khol had become a constant in my life from the first day he had literally popped into it. I loved Bryn too, but the fact was Bryn had been ripped away from me when I had needed him the most. I knew it wasn’t his fault, and I never blamed him, but he didn’t have an excuse now for walking away from me. Because he had done just that . . . walked away from me. His intentions might be sincere, and he might be doing it out of love for me, but that still didn’t change the fact that I felt like he had abandoned me and that I couldn’t trust him to always be there for me. I knew emphatically that Khol would never ever walk away from me, no matter what. He’d proved it time and time again, and truth be told, that was very important to me, especially with me having a baby on the way. I wish I wasn’t going to have to leave him behind soon. It wasn’t like I had a choice if I wanted to live, according to my birth mother, but it still didn’t make me feel any better about the situation. How would he react when I was gone and he couldn’t find me? My chest tightened as I thought about what he might do. I shook myself internally. I had to deal with the task at hand. “Jenna is trying to kill me. I mean not Jenna really . . . but a Rider got into her.”

Khol studied me with sharp eyes. “Are you sure?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yes, my birth mother left me a letter. She told me a Rider had slipped into her and she was going to try and poison me and not to accept anything to eat or drink from anyone tonight.” My lower lip began to tremble. “And sure enough Jenna sent Jeremy down with milk and cookies for me. She had to send him because . . .” Tears began to track down my cheeks much to my chagrin. I had told myself that I wouldn’t get emotional over this. It wasn’t Jenna, not really, and I would find a way to save her just like my birth mother said I could.

“Because if you saw her you would see the Rider in her,” Khol completed my sentence for me.

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“Then I must—”

“Don’t hurt her!” I said in a rush. “I mean I know you’re going to have to lock her up or something but don’t hurt her—please! Promise me you won’t! I can save her! I know I can! Just not now!”

Khol came to me and wrapped his comforting frame around me. “I know what she means to you. I promise not to hurt her.”

“Thank you,” I croaked.

“Drake,” Khol called with his arms still around me.

“Yes, my Lord,” I heard Drake’s low voice rumble in response a moment later.

“Go to the little Speaker, escort her to a cell, a Rider has taken up residence in her, so expect a fight.”

“Should I just not kill her then?” Drake asked as if he was inquiring about the weather.

“No!” I exclaimed, pulling free of Khol. “Don’t hurt her!” I met Khol’s sympathetic eyes. “You go—please. I trust you.”

Khol nodded. “I will see to it myself then. Drake, get rid of those . . . They are poison.” He motioned briefly to the plate, and then he turned back to me and brushed his lips across mine. “I will be back shortly.”

A feeling of sadness washed over me as I thought about how I wouldn’t be there when he got back. I knew he would feel my sadness, but I was hoping he thought it was connected with Jenna’s situation. Soon I wouldn’t have to worry about him reading my emotions at all, and for the first time ever that made me sad too. “Okay,” I said.

Both Khol and Drake disappeared, Drake taking the milk and cookies with him and Khol off to imprison my best female friend.

I inhaled and exhaled a few times to try and center myself. It didn’t work, and for the millionth time in my life, I wondered who that kind of crap ever actually worked for? I raced to my closet and pulled the duffle bag with my things in it out of its hiding place. It was now or never, life or death, I had to do what I needed to do in order to save my world . . . and the people I loved. I placed the letter that my birth mother had intended for Khol on my bed where I knew he would see it when he returned for me. Again my chest tightened thinking about how he would react when he discovered I was gone and realized he couldn’t track me. But there was no time for thoughts like that now.