Chapter 41 — Reunited

I wanted to run to him so badly. “I’m going to head to my room,” Cade said. “I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

I nodded and walked in the direction of Lexus’ room. From a distance I saw the door open, and he was there. He looked at me and I held back the urge to run. When I got to his door, he pulled me in. He closed and locked the door. “Lex—” He kissed me before I could get a word out. I pushed away from him. “I didn’t come for that.” I wish I had but I was still upset with him. “You ditched me, you didn’t speak to me for a month, and I went through hell here.”

Lexus stared down at me. “I know. I heard it from your mom and the old human woman you stayed with. Do you know how hard it was for me to leave the castle without taking you with me?” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I’m not going to let anyone separate us. We’re back to our last plan. We won’t get married, but we’ll still be together, just in secret. Everyone else will just think you’re my adviser.”

I shook my head. “No, I can’t do that. I can’t work here at all.”

“It’ll be fine Aqua. I won’t overwork you the way my parents did. While you’re working for them, I won’t let them over work you either.”

I explained to him my dream with Diana and what Ruben and Calvin told me about the truth about holders. “That’s why I can’t stay. I came back with Cade so I could see my family and you.”

“You’ve been hanging around Ruben and Calvin the last few days?”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, but it wasn’t like that. It was just for protection and planning.”

“I could protect you all by myself Aqua.”

“You didn’t talk to me for a month! What was I supposed to think Lexus? You said we shouldn’t be in contact, so we weren’t.” I sighed. “Seriously, I want to be the kind of holder that holders were meant to be not the puppet to the royal family. I’m leaving in a few days or maybe even tomorrow.”

“Then I’m coming with you. I get it okay. My family fucked Diana’s vision up to make their job easier. I don’t want to be a part of that.”

He seemed so sure so soon. “But you’ll have to give up the throne,” I said. 

“I don’t want to be king Aqua. I realized that while I was gone, it meant nothing to me. I said we’re not going to separate again, and I meant it.”

I smiled. “Okay… now we can make out.” So, we did make out and passionately. We undressed each other and his hands glided all around my naked body. I felt hot and wet all at the same time. My body never wanted him the way it wanted him now. 

When we finished, I got out of the bed and picked up my clothes. “What are you doing?” Lexus grabbed me from behind.

It felt good to be in his arms. “I’m going back to my room.”

“You don’t have to go. We don’t need to hide anything. Everyone who works here already knows about us.” He kissed my neck.

It was weird not having to sneak around. “Okay, I’ll sleep here tonight.”

In the morning I woke up before Lexus and looked around his room. I noticed a scale on his desk. “Hey that isn’t yours, right?” I pointed at it.

Lexus sat up and yawned. “No, I was gifted it while I was away.”

“Oh. Was she pretty?” The scale was beautiful so she must have been.

He got out of bed. “She was about fourteen Aqua. A kid from the elf village I stayed at. She was a hybrid.”

I wondered what made her give him her scale. My mom made it sound like you really had to make an impression on someone for them to give you their scale or feather. “I’m going to take a shower. I grabbed some clothes from my room earlier.”

“I’ll join you.”

I blushed. “You’re getting too comfortable.”

“Too comfortable? We had sex last night, twice.”

Now I was really flustered. “You don’t have to say it.” I whispered.

Lexus laughed. “I’ll shower after you.”

I took a shower then he did. Once we were ready, we left his room and went to my father’s. “Oh, I should tell you something.”

I knocked on the door. “Tell me what?” 

When my dad answered I noticed it right away because he was in his pajamas still. He had a tank top on, and his shoulder was clear. “Where’s…” There was no mark and when I looked at his hand there was no ring.

“Lynn rejected me and moved out. She’s with her parents for now. Grays going back and forth but he’s here now.” Dad explained. He didn’t look too bad, but he wasn’t dressed, he usually got ready early even if he didn’t work. He hugged me then invited us into the room. 

“So, when’s Mae moving in?” Lexus asked bluntly.

Dad sighed. “I’m not with Mae, it’s too soon.” Lexus and I were both a little confused. “It’s too soon for Gray.” He clarified. “I don’t want to introduce him to someone new so soon. Plus, it would get back to Lynn and hurt her more. Let’s stop talking about me, Cade told me about your holder dream and everything else. If you leave, I might go too. I’ve worked here my whole life based on a lie. I’m not as close to the king as I used to be and most my children are leaving the castle. It’s time for me to move on too.”

I looked at the door leading to Grays room as it opened. “Aqua!” He ran to me and hugged me. “Where were you??”

I rubbed his back. “I went to my Gram’s house for a little while to get better. I’m fine now.”

I ended up hanging out with Gray for half the day and Lexus stayed with us. Cade opened the door and it seemed urgent. “Aqua, you’ll want to see this.” There was a lot of yelling coming from down the hall, so I left with Lexus. 

“Open the safe! 336543 is the passcode!” A guard yelled. “The gemstones are gone!” The guard panicked. I couldn’t believe it; my holder dream was unfolding before my eyes. “Someone alert the queen and king!” It didn’t make sense, I told Calvin the plan was postponed.

“Calvin and Ruben were supposed to wait, they needed me. I was going to use my ability so nothing would go wrong. They’re risking our one chance.” I panicked. “I need the gemstones so that I can use the increase of my power to protect myself against the royal army and help the people of the kingdom. I’m going to be who they blame for this.”

“It’s okay Aqua, we’ll figure it out, you don’t have to worry. I’m going to protect you,” Lexus said. He’d protect me but who’d protect the kingdom?

I closed my eyes and looked around the castle with my third eye. “They’re cornered… fuck it’s not looking good.”

“This was your plan Aqua? To steal the gems??” Cade whispered yelled at me when he walked to us.

I watched Calvin and the rest of the pack struggle to try to get away with the gems. “Well yeah, they should be with me so I can do my job as a holder. This isn’t exactly my plan because Calvin and Ruben executed it without me.” I took a deep breath. “Shit, it’s over, they weren’t able to secure the gems.” 

Lexus grabbed me. “Come on, it’s better if we’re not anywhere in sight.”

My eyes stayed closed as Lexus led me back to his room. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Packing.” Lexus answered. “We’re leaving now. I don’t need too much. Cade are you coming with us?”

Cade scoffed. “I’m not going anywhere with you Lexus. Don’t forget what you did to me. I was only around you to find Aqua. Now she’s here and I don’t want to see any more of you.”

Lexus sighed. “I’m really sorry about that Cade. You’re my best friend, I shouldn’t have slept with Vella. I regretted it right away.”

“It wasn’t soon enough.”

I heard the door close. “That was Cade?” I asked.

“Aqua open your eyes.” Lexus said. “It’s over, I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

I kept my eyes close. “You don’t sound good, is it because of Cade? I think he’ll forgive you but with time.”

“Is it your intuition?”

I laughed. “No, it’s just what I think. I wish my intuition would tell me if Sadia would forgive me… Can you hand me a notebook and pen?” 

“Sadia will probably forgive you before she forgives me.” He handed me the notebook and pen. “I’m not sure if I should try to fix my friendships with them.”

I wrote down a few important things about what I saw. “Maybe wait a while before trying.” 

There was a knock on the door. “The king and queen would like to see Aqua.”

“She’s not here.” Lexus said. “She’ll be back tomorrow.” He lied but it worked. 

When I was done, I packed my things with Lexus then I insisted we go to bed early. After we rested, I woke Lexus up in the middle of the night. “Why? Are we leaving?”

I got up. We grabbed our bags, we each had one. “Yes, but first we’re getting the gemstones and freeing Ruben and Calvin.” I grabbed the notebook. “Everything we’re going to need is in this.” 

We walked to the room with the safe. “They would have changed the code,” Lexus warned.

“I know and I saw exactly what they changed it to.” I looked at the notebook then put the code in, but it still wouldn’t open. “I also saw the spell that the castle’s mage put on it.” I looked at the notebook to remember the spell then grabbed Lexus’ arm and started chanting the counter spell to break it.

“Since when did you know magic? Wait, are you using me as a magic source?” Since I wasn’t a mage or elf, I didn’t have a source to pull from myself, but I was able to siphon mana from other magical beings and magical objects. I couldn’t siphon from my own self, but I could siphon from Lexus.

The spell broke. “My Gram taught me and yes I am.” I opened the safe and all the gems where there, except the sixth. “Shit. I guess this is better than nothing.” I put all the gems in my bag. “My intuition tells me that opening the safe triggered a silent alarm.” I held Lexus hand and chanted the spell Gram used to hide us from Lexus before. We were both invisible to the guards. The spells were taking so much energy from me, but I couldn’t stop now. 

We went downstairs under the castle to where Calvin and Ruben were being kept. Luckily, the guard who was guarding Calvin and Ruben left when the alarm went off. They needed to go since there wasn’t as many guards present at night. Since there was an attack earlier, they were more at night than usual but still not enough. I stopped chanting the spell and looked at my notebook. I put in the code and the door opened. I rushed in and saw Calvin and Ruben. “Aqua?”

“Yeah, I have the gemstones, let’s go.” I turned around but the door shut. “Shit the guard…” Now all four of us was stuck in here.

“Great plan.” Ruben scoffed. “You should have just left with the gems. They would have released us eventually. My father wouldn’t have let them keep us.”

I sat down. “It doesn’t matter because I have the gems.” I opened my bag. “So how do I use them…?”

“None of those gems can help us,” Ruben said.

“You don’t know which are which do you?” Lexus asked. “You don’t know how she’s supposed to use them either.”

Ruben glared at him. “The plan was to retrieve them then we would have figured out the rest.”

Lexus looked at me. “You can teleport us out or use a portal?”

I shook my head. “I don’t nearly have enough energy to teleport us all and I don’t know how to open portals yet.” We weren’t in the best situation, and I wasn’t sure how to get out of it.