Chapter 27
IwatchedAjaxscramblelike an idiot to follow Rykon. You would think being an assassin would make him more graceful at that kind of thing, but Ajax was always a ball of emotions ready to burst.
“How disappointing, pretty boy.” Hemlock cooed at me. I tightened my hand over the arms of my chair, telling myself that just because she got the others freaking out, she wasn’t going to be able to do that to me.
“You know nothing, Hemlock.” I replied cruelly. I’m not impressed with her words or attitude.
“Oh… Let me guess… You think because she is now some royal that she will leave you in the dust and you couldn’t handle that so you’re going to be the first one to leave, eh? Did I get that right?” Her smile was ugly and mean, but I was used to people thinking one way of me. Used to people thinking they knew me because of my face and profession. If she thought she could rile me up, she had another thing coming.
I laughed a harsh sound at her, “Oh, Hem.” I leered at her as I called her the nickname I knew only her inner circle of people called her. She immediately dropped her legs from the table and sneered at me, neither of us giving any ground. I leisurely stood up, running my hands down my chest as I pretended to straighten out my clothes as I stared down at her. “You think you’re so smart just because you could read them both like books? Don’t make that mistake with me. You won’t win. I can guarantee it.”
I turned to the librarian. “I have a feeling we are going to need to stay the night tonight. Do you have rooms available, or are we going to need to camp outdoors?”
The librarian laughed, “This is a magical lighthouse. I have already made up rooms for all of you. Just go out the door and to your left. Keep going until you see the door with your name on it.” I nodded to him in thanks. Hemlock sticking her tongue out at me as I walked past her, not even giving her a second glance.
“Good night, asshole!” She yelled at me as I opened the door. For all of my carefully placed emotions, I broke for a second and yelled back at her.
“Good night, bitchy brat!” I quickly slammed the door, but I could still hear her chuckle through the door. I rolled my eyes and sent a silent prayer for that boy of hers, Talican. He was going to need the patience of a monk to deal with her ass.
I started to climb up the steps. As soon as I hit each few steps, a door would appear and when I stepped in front of it, gold lettering would appear with a name on it. The first one was Hemlock, the next was Talicon and the rest of her crew. Then came Rykon’s, then came mine. I looked up and saw more doors, names not on them, just blank wooden doors.
I put my hand on the doorknob to the room that was mine, planning to enter and keep thinking everything through. As soon as I turned the knob, I looked over at those two blank doors again. Would the one next to mine be Emerald’s or Ajax’s? Would the door even say Emerald? The book didn’t show a name, and the librarian said that she hadn’t picked one yet, which was something that seemed unimportant at the moment, but kept playing over and over in my head. Did she not know her birth name? Did Stevos give her a name she didn’t like, and that’s why she kept up with Emerald?
My curiosity got the best of me and I let go of my door and took steps to the next door. I stood in front of it as it started to form letters in gold. Once it got past AJ, I knew it was Ajax’s, and I moved into the last room at the top, not waiting for the rest of the letters to appear. I stopped in front of the last door and I waited for what seemed like forever when the gold lettering spelled “My Gem”.
My eyes got wide as I stared at the letters. What the fuck does that mean? My heart started to pump harder in my chest, my legs got weak and I felt exhausted. I thumped my head against her door as I whispered to the door, “But what does that mean?”
“It means that the magic of this place recognizes that she hasn’t picked her own name, but that when she is with you, she knows she’s that name.” The librarian was down the stairs at my door, looking up at me with a kind smile, and then he turned to walk down the stairs.
“You were curious as well?” It was the only reason I could come up with as to why he would’ve followed me and watched.
He turned his head, a small smile crossed his lips as he shrugged, “Guilty.” Then he was off down the stairs, mumbling about confusing kids.
I looked back at her door with the name I called her on it and it made me weirdly happy. The feelings of chaos and uneasiness I felt earlier were gone and replaced with this odd type of contentment. I enjoyed knowing that she identified with the nickname I gave her. It made me feel more connected to her than I had been feeling.
I put my hand on her doorknob, and the door clicked open. I was going to wait for her to come back. She already had both of them go after her, each caught up in their own emotions. She didn’t need to battle with mine too. At the same time, I knew we needed to talk.
I went into her room and found it to be a normal plain room, no extra furnishings, then a bed, wooden dresser and side table with two chairs. The room had a window to the outside, which made no sense logically, but it was a magically appearing room, so I wasn’t going to question it.
I felt so exhausted I kicked off my shoes and crawled into bed, wanting to be available to her when she got back. I wanted to tell her how I felt, but also, I needed her to tell me what was going on in her head too. After everything she just learned, I was sure she was thinking and worried mainly about the royalty part of the experience, but what she must be shoving down was the pain of finding out her father wasn’t her father. He seemed to mean a lot to her and once she faced that; I wanted to be here for her. If anyone knew anything about disappointing fathers, it was me. So, I waited.
I felt someone touching my hair, combing their hands through it, and it felt amazing. I moaned into the hand, pleading for it to keep going, when I heard a small chuckle. I cracked open my eyes and met with sparkling brown gold ones, the ones that I enjoy staring into all the time. The eyes were looking down at me, a curtain of dark green covering our faces and she ran her hand through my hair again.
“I got back, and I found you here, sleeping. I didn’t know if that’s what you meant to do, so I tried to wake you up as gently as I could.” The concern in her voice made me smile. She cared for me. She cared enough to be gentle, maybe sensing from the trip that I hated to be woken up in a rush.
I practically purred as I pushed my head into her hand. “I enjoy waking up like this.” She looked down at me, her eyes seemed tired and conflicted at the same time. It reminded me why I was here in the first place. I patted the space next to me.
She took her time, eyeing the bed before laying down on her side, facing me. For a couple of minutes, we just stared at each other. It was one of the weirdest and most intimate thing I have done with someone. I looked all over her face, watching her eyes search my face for answers. Watching her take a breath. Watching her hair move as she tilted her head forward to get comfortable. Everything about her fascinated me. Intrigued me, but also made me have so many questions.
“What was the name on the door when you came in?” She looked at me like I lost my mind, but I wanted to know what she saw. Who she believed she was at this moment.
“It said Emerald.” She looked off to the side for a second before she smirked and asked, “Did you think this room was yours?”
I searched her face for clues, hints to the truth, but at the same time, I was nervous about it. I wanted to keep our relationship as it was. Well, that was a lie. I wanted it to go further, much further, but depending on who she was would determine how much further.
When we first learned who she was, I was happy. I knew there was something special about her. She was stunningly beautiful, fierce, and a reckon to behold. Then reality hit, and I realized that in order to be with her how I wanted to, we would need to do it in secret. That was what hit me the most. I was always everyone’s secret. The secret that females didn't want their significant others to know about, the keeper and trader of everyone's secrets, the son that my father wished he could keep a secret. I was shrouded in secrets. I wanted so badly to not be a secret with her. I wanted to be out in the open. I wanted her to stare down any girl that even looked my way. I wanted her to threaten everyone that dared to look at us like we didn’t belong together. But as queen, she couldn’t do that. The castle court was its own secret beast and with them, there were rules you had to follow.
Oh, you could break them, but again, that had to be done in secret. Did I want to be her dirty little secret? Did I want to only get to visit her at night and sneak out in the morning? Did I want a life of stolen glances and eyes watching our every move?
