Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“So what exactly are we looking for?” Ash asked from behind a rack of neon colored clothing.
“Not sure, just need something new,” I shrugged my shoulders, fingering the fabrics. I thought maybe finding something new would help with all the new changes in my life. Going back to my old life after finding out that I was Magical seemed impossible. I walked down another aisle.
Now, what would a princess wear?
“What about this?” Ash’s voice was behind me, and as I turned around, she held up a bright blue top with flowers dancing around the hem and neckline.
“Not exactly what I am going for.”
“Looks like you.” Ash scrunched her nose.
“True, but I don't want something that looks like what I used to wear,” I said, again turning to look through the clothing options.
After I let my fingers look through every single item of clothing, I finally found what I was looking for.
I pulled out the hanger and smiled. It was a grey top with a black rose in the center of it.
The rose looked like it was sketched, and I liked the effect.
“Find something?” Ash looked at me, hopeful, standing behind a clothing rack. I noticed then that she had a full arm-load of clothing.
“Yes,” I said as I held up the top. I watched Ash’s reaction as I held it up. She smiled and looked at me with sadness in her eyes.
“It's beautiful, Emma.” She gave me a sad smile.
“What's wrong?” I asked, dropping my arm and raising the shirt up.
“It's just, I am so sorry about Shad. I know you loved him.”
“I do love him, not past tense, Ash.”
“Oh, yeah—sorry.” She tucked some hair behind her ear.
“What?”
“Soulless don't recover, Emma,” she said, and I appreciated that she looked upset because I hated those words coming out of her mouth.
The monster inside was scratching and clawing its way forward, and I did all that I could to pull her back.
I didn't need to have a freak out episode in the middle of the department store.
“I know I can save him, Ash.”
She nodded, and I am grateful for the brightness that came into her eyes as she changed the subject.
“That shirt is so adorbs. You need pants, now, to go with it, of course; I am thinking black?”
“You read my mind,” I said with a smile.
I made it to the flower shop, just in time, after our shopping spree.
Mary was fine with me spending any amount of money.
She was just glad that I was going and doing something.
I didn't think I had spent a lot, but when we loaded up the trunk in the parking lot, I wondered if I had, indeed, purchased too much.
I hoped that I could fit it all in my closet.
I dropped Ash off, and that's when I finally saw the place she called home. It wasn’t much to look at, but she promised me that it looked better on the inside and that she loved the people she lived with.
I wondered for a few moments as she carried her single bag of items to her door, the purchases I made for her because she didn't have the money.
I wondered why Glasson let her live with earthlings.
Why had he just abandoned her? I waved to her as she waved back and then darted inside.
I didn't know what was going on with her.
I knew she was probably safe, but her life seemed anything but happy, and yet Ash always seemed to have a smile on her face, well, unless she was talking to me about Glasson annoying her.
I realized that there was so much more to Ash that I did not know.
I pulled into the Rose Village parking lot ten minutes later and parked the car.
I sat there for a few moments, looking at the outside of the store.
I had to work my shift that night. Mary would have given me the night off if I asked, but I didn't want to stay at home.
If I did, I would only think about Shad and strategizing ways to save him.
I got out of the car, slipping the keys into my pocket.
The door chimed as I entered as usual. Mary was standing with a customer, speaking about an order.
She smiled as I walked in, and I smiled back, motioning to the back.
I walked into the back room, placing the car keys on the key hook by the back door.
Technically, I still had fifteen minutes until my shift started.
I sat in the back room on the old couch that Mary had ordered online.
She said that it reminded her of the good-old-days, which then had me wondering exactly what that meant.
I closed my eyes as I leaned into the fabric of the couch. I breathed in all of the smells of the florals around me. I tried to be there in that moment, focused, as Keil had taught me. The beast inside me fought against me for a little while, but I pushed free.
“Emma, how was shopping?” Mary's voice broke my concentration, and I opened my eyes.
“Great, I got a bunch of things. Thanks, Mary.”
“Of course. We have more Earth money than we know what to do with, hun,” she said, sitting on the arm of the couch.
“Are you ready for your shift?” she asked, standing up and holding up my apron.
I nodded as I took the apron. She handed me a list of things to do for the night, and explained the few orders that we had.
I watched as she took her keys from the hook and kissed my head.
“I love you, Emma. Ryker will be close by if you need him, but we are all hoping that Cade comes here tonight, and that you can start building some trust with him so that you can get closer to him.”
“Yes, okay, sounds—horrible.”
“I know this is hard for you, especially with the corruption inside of you. Just focus on Shad's melody. I am sure you can use that to help you.”
I nodded and watched as she walked out of the flower shop. I couldn't help but see the worry in her blue eyes as she turned to look at me one last time before leaving me alone.
Like expected, Cade came in mere moments after Mary left. I tried to settle my heart, and my melody, down. I shielded the important information from him, shielded the part that knew what I had to do, the secrets I had to keep from him.
“Emma, sweet, how are you this fine evening?” he asked as he leaned against the counter, close to me, with another camera in his hands. I noticed that it didn't have a huge flash attached to the top like the other one did. Well, at least if he attacks me again with photography, it won't blind me.
“Just working,” I said, trying to steady my hands and keep my mind from thinking of anything but each moment in turn. I moved to the side and started to trim some flowers. Cade followed.
“Working, huh?” he said, picking up a petal from a daisy as it fell to the counter, then moving it to the side and taking a picture of it.
I turned away from him before he noticed my staring. He was so weird. I didn't respond.
“Emma,” he said my name, and it was almost as if I could hear Shad in his voice.
Being brothers, they were so similar in so many ways, and yet, still so drastically different.
I looked at his handsome face, because, yes, he was handsome, especially with his nose fixed and with Shad’s melody lighting his soul in an appealing way.
I saw that a smile spread over his face.
“Emma, I do believe you think I am hot—” he chuckled as I dropped my chin and stared at my hands.
His hand touched my jaw and moved my face, so that I was not looking directly at him.
His touch had a spark to it, and I flashed my eyes up to his in surprise.
“Don't worry, I will not tell my brother,” he winked at me, and I pulled away.
“Go away, Cade.” I moved across the room and started to spray the flowers with the spray bottle. How is it that I had already forgotten that I needed to act like I did not despise him? I cursed under my breath. I understood that it was going to be much more difficult than I ever imagined.
“I can't, Emma. You are my other half.”
I rolled my eyes.
“No, I am not,” I said, looking at the purple roses and spraying them as I tried to forget about Shad giving me one. But before I could shield it, the memory tumbled out and was there for Cade to see. I hate it, I hate that he can see it; that memory is mine.
“Shad, ever the romantic,” he said with a chuckle. I sprayed water into his face in annoyance, then turned away.
“Don't talk about him.” Calm down, Emma, I privately told myself. Remember, you need to win him over.
“It’s true, sweet, he was ever the charmer.
” I heard a few clicks of his camera before I turned back around to find out what he was doing.
He stood there, looking at the digital viewfinder on his camera's screen with a smile on his face.
I tried not to let his words resonate with me, tried to deny the pain I felt in my stomach, worried that his words were true, that I was one of many girls he had liked.
But how could that be? I knew Shad, and he had been honest with me. He had waited for me, hadn't he?
“I see you are rethinking my brother and his virtues.”
“I am not,” I said, slamming the spray bottle on the counter as I held myself upright. I felt dizzy. Clearly, it was not working; I couldn't play a part.
“It's okay, I don't want to stop you. Many have been fooled by him in the past.”
“How would you even know, Cade? You were, supposedly, dead for most of his life.”
“Ah, but I heard all I needed to hear, sweet.”
“Stop calling me that.”
“But Emma, you are just that—my sweet love, the other half to my soul.” He walked over to me to touch me, but I pulled back.
“If I buy you flowers, will you let me kiss you?” he asked with a smirk.
“Get out of my head! And he didn't buy me flowers so that I would kiss him. I really—” I stopped the words from coming out of my mouth, but my melody shared them with Shad’s melody: I hate you.
“Hate is close to love, my dear,” he said, touching my shoulders.
I tried to pull away, but his grip was firm, and he pulled me to him.
My melody swarmed to him, and our melodies connected.
As they did, and as I was in his arms, I melted into him and felt the connection of melodies ease my mind and comfort me.
I felt alive and happy. His melody, Shad's melody, was glorious.
Maybe, I could do this. With him this close, I could almost imagine that he was Shad.
“Look at me,” he commanded, and I obeyed, looking into his dark brown eyes. I focused on the color, told myself over and over again that brown eyes were what I wanted to see, not gold.
You are not Shad.
“I am very glad that I am not Shad, right now,” he whispered in my ear. I tried not to react to his touch, but I did, and goosebumps ran down my skin, and it wasn't as unpleasant a feeling as I had thought it would be.
“I can't,” I said, trying to move away. This is the man who murdered my parents.
I did not murder them, sweet. It was an unfortunate accident by some of my men. His soul-speaking caught me off guard.
What?
Some of my men were watching you and got too close. Don't worry. I took care of them. I never wanted your parents to die, Emma.
I tried not to let his words soften me. He could have been lying; after all, how could I trust anything he said? His fingers were on my waist, moving up and down in slow circles as if to calm me.
You hurt Ryker. I could never like you after what you did to him.
Ah, Rykerian the knight. I wasn’t killing him; I was just trying to get information out of him. It's nothing he hasn't done to his enemies before, or even to Shad, for that matter. But I do apologize for the pain that it has caused you.
And what about Shad? What about stealing his melody?
My brother, ah, yes. He was always the beloved one. I am not sorry for his fate, yet I am sorry for the pain that it has caused in you.
I can’t ever forgive you for what you have done, no matter how you justify it.
“You can, Emma. You, so very much, can.” He moved my face so that he was an inch away from me.
“Please, I love him,” I said, hoping that he had some shred of decency inside of him.
“Shh, I know you love him, Emma, but you could love me, too.” His mouth was on my cheek.
He kissed me softly, and I wanted to pull away, but his hands kept me there.
”You could love me, Emma, if you tried. We could be everything.
” His mouth got closer and closer to my lips, and I tried again not to move, but couldn't be there with him like that.
I couldn't do it; I couldn't let it happen.
Shad, I thought, over and over again, letting my mind remember him.
“That’s a buzz kill,” Cade said, moving away from me but not letting me go. “I am not the biggest fan of having the woman, who I am trying to kiss, thinking about my brother.” His eyebrow rose, and I stepped back. He finally let me.
“I love him; I will never get over him, or what you did to him.” Not helpful, Emma, for the plan, I reminded myself. There was such a war within me.
“I am not the man you think I am, Emma. You will see, very soon.” He walked to the Rose Village door, nodded, and left.
I took a deep breath and let the tears fall.