Chapter 14
Rafe
I stayed in the shadows once I arrived at the gravesite. Skye tensed as soon as my feet hit the ground, then relaxed upon realizing it was me. I remained a shadow for several minutes, content to hide under the shade of the trees while she continued her visit.
She sat in the grass, picking one blade at a time and ripping it in half before plucking another and repeating the process.
Her hair was wild from the ocean water, falling down her back in messy waves.
Her bare shoulder was exposed as the sexy mesh cover she wore over her bikini had shifted.
Her creamy skin was now slightly tanned from her time in the sun, though her hair remained a deep, dark brown.
In front of her were two inconspicuous grave stones that could have blended in with the rest of the landscape. There were dozens of little rocks gathered around them, some jagged and shiny and some round and smooth. Did my little Key have a thing for rock collecting?
A breeze blew through, stirring the tree branches and sending some leaves across the ground.
I didn’t have a plan before I came here.
I’d wanted to get away from the stifling, awkward asshole that had become my best friend, and the menacing presence that was my new brother-in-law, but now that I was here I felt a little… off balance.
Maybe it was because I now knew what happened to her parents, but I was looking at my Key with a new light. Skye and Zephyr were strong, forged from the depths of rock bottom while only mere children, somehow managing to pull themselves up together.
Never in my life had I longed for a sibling until I’d seen the relationship between Skye and Zephyr, and that’s that I’d only seen them interact a few times.
Wyatt had been the closest thing to a brother I’d ever had, and even he’d let me down so gravely I wasn’t sure how I could move past it.
“If you come over here, you better behave.” Skye said softly, though I heard her perfectly clear.
I smirked, remembering how she’d told the shadow something similar before as I took a few slow steps forward. “How could I possibly misbehave here?”
Skye snorted, then dipped her head as if she was embarrassed by the sound, which was adorable.
I came to a stop behind her, though I left several feet between us so I wasn’t looming over her. “May I sit with you?” I asked.
She only nodded, and I plopped down in the grass beside her. I copied her movements, plucking a blade of grass and ripping it down the middle.
“It’s a nice view up here,” I said after a few minutes of silence and several mutilated blades of grass.
“Zephyr picked it out,” Skye said, her voice barely audible over the crashing waves at the base of the cliff. “I remember him asking my opinion, but I don’t remember what I told him.”
I hummed. “Trauma does that to a brain. At least that’s what Wyatt tells me.”
“I don’t want to talk about him,” Skye muttered. “If you came up here to convince me to take him back–”
I laughed, cutting her off. Skye flinched, almost imperceptibly at my sudden outburst. Taking a risk, I reached out for her hand, squeezing gently in apology.
It felt weird being hesitant around her.
Things had changed after last night, but in the light of day, she seemed to have gone back to her uncertainty.
I had to remind myself that I was comfortable with her because I’d been following her, but Skye had only really known me as the shadow.
It was probably going to take a while for her to rectify that we were one and the same.
“Wyatt has to earn all of us back, I’m afraid.” I sighed in frustration. “He pissed me the hell off.”
“I don’t know how y’all are friends,” Skye said, foregoing a single blade of grass and instead plucking a handful this time. “He’s so…”
I shrugged. “We get each other. Things just click for us. He has my back, I have his. I’m not excusing his behavior, love, but…” I blew out a breath. “Go a little easier on him. His life hasn’t been easy.”
“And mine has?” Skye shot back, thrusting out her hand to gesture toward the matching grave stones.
I rolled my neck, the skin over my right side tight from my scar. “None of us has,” I said quietly.
Skye’s silver eyes were on me, trying to find the hidden meaning behind my words. Her gaze roamed over me, settling on the tattoos across my forearm, then traveling upward toward my neck, where she paused, examining the skin beneath the design.
Her fingers flexed in the grass, and I desperately wished she weren’t so polite. I wanted those hands on me again.
“Will you tell me what happened?” I asked. Her cryptic comments from the night before had puzzled me. I wanted to know more about what she’d experienced during and after the massacre.
“Only if you tell me,” she replied, her eyes still on my neck.
I chuckled even as anxiety shot through me. “Eventually,” I promised. “I’m just…not ready, I suppose.”
Skye was silent for several seconds, her eyes darting all across my face like she would be able to see a lie in my expression.
Her fingers twitched, then she took another clump of grass.
“I saw them,” she said quietly. “I think my brain blocks it out to protect me, but I know I saw them. I can’t remember exactly what they looked like, I just remember my mom’s coat was hanging on the gate.”
“I saw the aftermath,” I said. “I had to visit with my mother, I don’t know if you remember seeing anything about it. It was all over the news.”
“Yeah, the governor at the time was so pleased they managed to get all the blood and guts removed before the precious teenage prince arrived.”
I choked back a laugh, looking at Skye finally, but I couldn’t tell if she was serious or not.
“You’re joking?”
“Not exactly,” she chuckled. “It was all over the news. They made you sound like a wuss.”
“Dicks,” I muttered.
I’d been the exact opposite of a wuss as a kid.
At the time, I actually may have been overly fascinated with the blood and guts, and that wouldn’t have looked good for my mother.
She’d barely taken me out into public when I was a child, even less so when I was a teen.
She’d wanted to keep me hidden away for as long as possible, and that was shattered the moment my father decided to tell everyone I was joining the military.
Which was why I remembered the massacre so clearly.
The memorial wasn’t just a horrible day for Skye and the other survivors.
I remembered standing with my mother while my father gave his first speech as the president of the WAA, a position he’d fought tooth and nail for.
I hadn’t paid attention, but somewhere around the mid-point, the crowd had broken into murmurs, and my mother was so furious, her cheeks had gone bright red.
The screaming match they’d had that night had really freaked me out. I’d never seen my mother so angry.
But just two years later, I was being shipped off to my grandfather’s military.
Alejandro had played the entire situation perfectly.
Announcing I was to be conscripted at a massive public gathering guaranteed that it couldn’t be taken back.
It’d been broadcast everywhere. My mother couldn’t have changed anything if she tried, since she was already facing heavy scrutiny in becoming the future queen.
There had never been a stand-alone queen. And a woman as the Key to a Royal Chain? Unheard of.
“I’m pretty sure I saw you,” Skye said, chewing her lip. “Zephyr and I only attended the memorial because–” She stopped abruptly, and I could practically see the gears turning in her mind.
She’d almost told me something I wasn’t supposed to know. I’d bet my entire crown on the fact that Aiden probably knew this secret, but Wyatt and I didn’t, and she was going back through her memories trying to remember who knew what.
I almost groaned. I wanted to know. I wanted her to trust me so desperately I was willing to do practically anything.
Skye cleared her throat. “Anyway,” she muttered. “I think I saw you. Zephyr called you an underwhelming pretty boy.”
I laughed out loud, then reached out for her before I could think better of it. I pulled her to me, and while she stiffened for a moment, she quickly relaxed against my chest.
“And did you agree with him?” I asked, dropping my voice lower.
Skye snorted. “At the time? I was twelve. I don’t think I knew what any of that meant.”
“I meant now,” I murmured, testing my lips against her temple.
Skye barely held back a shiver before speaking again. “Now? I’d say he was right on the mark.”
I squeezed her tighter to me. “You’re a brat,” I said softly.
She breathed a laugh, but relaxed into me even further.
“Thank you for sharing this with me,” I murmured against her temple. “This was very special.”
Skye shrugged and let out a shaky laugh. “It’s a gravesite.”
“Well, your brother did refer to me as the prince of darkness,” I said dryly.
Skye sniffled again, tightening her arms around my back as she shifted her position. I froze as her nose brushed along my neck. Goosebumps erupted across my skin as she continued running her nose up my neck, then along my jaw before she pressed her face into my throat.
My cock was hopelessly hard in an instant, her skin brushing against mine all I needed to get going.
Let’s be honest. It took way less than that to get me going where Skye was concerned.
But Zephyr would fucking kill me if I kissed his sister on their parents’ grave. For some reason, I really craved his approval. He’d given it to Aiden so freely, even giving him a nickname. Actually, he’d given me a nickname of sorts, too, but–
Skye’s tongue brushed along my neck, jolting me as if I’d been struck by lightning.
“Skye,” I cautioned, pulling back slightly.
She didn’t let go of me, desperately gripping me tighter instead.