He barely refrained from cracking his jaw as he stalked to her and snatched the vial. She stared at him expectantly but he marched to his desk and took a seat, gently setting the vial on the desk.
“You won't take it?”
“Later, mother.”
She smiled wide and gave him a peck on his forehead. “All right, Alrik. You sleep well this night.” She reached the door and turned back. “You'll let me know what you decide.”
“Of course.”
Long after she left, Alrik sat in his chair contemplating everything. He ordered a servant to bring him a hand mirror and spent a long time staring at a pair of violet-colored eyes. They didn’t look bright or shiny; the color was still diluted, polluted. He'd never once, in all this time, questioned how his eyes changed. Or even why. He'd always accounted it to the blatant evil that had grown in his heart after the Great War. Everything about him had changed after that. He saw his father butchered by soldiers from the Atal Warriors. Saw his people murdered in a war meant to imprison them in the earth.
After becoming king, he stopped thinking such thoughts. His brother betrayed him and his people. Without a king, he'd had to step up and rule the kingdom.
Time squished events and feelings together until he couldn't really remember exactly how he'd felt and when. He remembered feeling anger worse than anything he’d ever felt at his brother.
He closed off his train of thinking with an iron fist. It didn't matter. What good was rediscovering the past when nothing could be changed? Another thought poked up its head. Arianna.
The woman had him enthralled. From her sharp wit to her incredible body, if he wasn't careful she could have him eating out of her palm. His chest tightened. He'd like that. He'd give power over to her for her loyalty and...love.
Alrik left the study and made his way to the outer barracks where the dargen resided. He'd first have a talk with them to see where they stood on the matter, and then he'd go see Arianna. He walked faster, anticipation guiding his movements. Already he couldn't wait.
CHAPTER 25
Lily used the phone in her apartment to call her sisters up. She arranged to meet them at Rosa's shop so they could all insert their much-needed advice on the situation.
She had a driver take her to Rosa's shop and made a mental note to buy another bike. She hated being chaperoned around like some teenager. She needed to get her own pair of wheels. She grinned. Maybe she'd have to buy Telal another gift. The driver pulled up to Rosa’s shop. Inside, her sisters were waiting.
She melted as she spotted the bundle in Willow's arms and she couldn't keep herself from racing over there and taking her.
“Hello, little Mary,” she cooed to the sleeping bundle. “It's your favorite Aunty, Lily.” She stopped cold. Mary. Things connected in a way they hadn't before. She'd know Willow named the baby after their long-lost mother, and Lily thought it was sweet. Until she found her mother locked up and treated worse than a mutt.
Chloe snorted and came forward to give her a one-armed hug. “How you doing, sis?”
Lily's smile faltered. “Fine.”
Willow sighed and took a seat, slouching back lazily in it. “I'm telling you this motherhood thing is hard. That baby cries more than she sleeps. But, of course, guess who can always calm her?”
Chloe grinned. “Lyonis?”
Willow made an angry face and nodded but Lily could see her eyes dancing. “How is he?” asked Lily.
“Oh, fine. He's already wanting to try for a boy and then he said he wants even more after that.”
“You don’t want to have any more?” Chloe asked, taking a cup of tea from Rosa. They all took a seat in the circle of chairs in the main room, surrounded by the smells of yummy candles, coffee, and fresh herbs.
Willow sent her an arched brow. “Why don't you try having one before you ask something like that?”
Chloe flushed deep crimson, her hand fluttered to her stomach. “Well actually...”
“Oh, you've got to be kidding me,” Lily muttered. “You too?”
Chloe nodded, her eyes wide and a little frightened. Willow smiled for real this time, the look soft and gentle. She wrapped Chloe in a hug, whispering something in her ear that calmed the fear in Chloe's eyes. Lily felt a pang of twisted jealousy in her gut. The feeling wasn't unusual but she always hated it, then hated that she felt that. Her sisters were fraternal twins, and they’d always had a different connection because of it. It wasn’t anyone’s fault, but still, it rubbed her the wrong way.
Her eye twitched and she cursed herself for not drinking her special brew before coming. She'd just been so...lost in thought. And of course, she'd felt amazing after being with Telal. Those effects apparently weren't permanent.
“Congratulations, Chloe!” Lily said, belatedly. The baby wiggled in her arms and she looked down at its soft, round face, itty-bitty nose, and curled little fists. Something squeezed tight in her stomach and she had to hand the baby back to Willow before she something stupid like tear up.
“Well it's really no wonder with the amount of sex Tyrian and I have. I mean that man is wild. Once he's unleashed, whew, he's gone.”
Lily screwed her eyes shut at the images projected into her mind. “TMI, Chloe!”
She chuckled. “Sorry.” Her voice said she so wasn't sorry.
“So, what have you brought us here for?” Willow asked, direct and to the point.
Lily's eye twitched again and her stomach knotted up in balls. She hated this. She shouldn't have called them. She'd always hated wrapping them up in her problems, which was why she'd never done it. She caught Rosa's watchful eye and at her encouraging nod, she sighed.
“A few things actually.”
“Is it a demon?” her sisters asked at once. She hid her sigh. She'd never have that kind of connection with them.
“I guess, maybe. Sort of?”
Rosa poured her a cup of tea and set it on the table in front of her. “Start with the visions.”
Lily wanted to bury her face in a pillow. You mean, the visions I've been controlling with a certain nasty potion?
“What visions?” Chloe asked, her expression pinched into a frown.
Lily sighed and told them about the visions of the dark man on the throne. She had no doubt now who it was. Telal's brother.
“And what’s so important about these dreams?” asked Willow.
Lily stared at the floor. “I die.”
After the flurry of curses, gasps, and a nearly crying Chloe, everyone calmed down enough to finally talk. Lily wanted more to just crawl back out of the room, tell everyone she was sorry, and leave. Her own eyes watered on the verge of tears but she curtailed them.
“We won't let that happen,” Willow said with an arrogance Lily didn't reciprocate. “I'll talk to Lyonis. I'll talk to everyone I know. I'm sure he knows some people. After all, Telal saved his life. He owes him.”
Lily shrugged but didn't voice that no one would find anything that'd help her. If it made her sisters feel better then let it be, she supposed.
“There's more,” Rosa said after a moment.
Her sisters glanced from Rosa to her, expectantly. “I, um, went into the rift.”
The look on her sisters’ faces flashed first with disbelief, then outrage, and then plain shock. “Why? How? When?” Chloe asked, her jaw hanging open.
“I'm sure Tyrian mentioned it, but Telal is trying to get the rift opened. Tyrian agreed to pull the Atal Warriors if he got a contract signed by the demon king. I went with him.”