Chapter 39 #2
The giggle that erupts from my throat is from more than just following his command. It’s as if time stood still in the last few moments, and I’ve been so lost in Weston’s attention that I almost forgot there was more we have to accomplish, more to the ruse we are acting out.
Focus, Lennox.
His smile widens against my skin, and when his tongue flicks out, licking and sucking the sensitive spot beneath my earlobe, another uncontrollable wave of giggles overcomes me. He hums appreciatively against my skin before his lips drag back up to my ear.
“Every sound that comes out of that pretty mouth makes my cock stiffen. Any more and my guards will have no choice but to see how hard I am for you.”
I suck in a quick breath, and he grumbles at the sound. My hands fist in his clothes as I pull him closer to me and angle my face so now I can whisper in his ear.
“If we didn’t have somewhere to be, I’d be bringing you to bed right now.”
Leaning back just enough so he can see my face again, he lets out a sigh, and worry races through me. It almost seems…sad. But it’s gone in a second when he captures my chin in the crook of his hand, his thumb and his fingers pressing into my jaw, and pulling me in for another fierce kiss.
“I love you,” he murmurs. “Time for the next step.”
He pulls away abruptly, straightening until he towers over me again, and shifts to make sure I’m still shielded from any wandering eyes.
He tugs my hood down a little farther over my face, then grabs my wrist, pulling me into his side and wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
I curl into him, dipping my chin toward his chest and following the guidance of his body as we saunter toward the gate.
His chest vibrates under my cheek as he grumbles a quick greeting.
“Gentlemen.”
“Sir.” A few other voices murmur a greeting, and I mentally tally the number of guards we have to worry about when the first one speaks again.
“Night off?”
“First one in over a week,” Weston says, all his normal confidence coating his voice. “The queen is in her rooms. All entrances should be closed down for the night. If anything happens, ONeal is in command.”
“Yes, sir,” the man says again, followed by the clank of the lock and high-pitched squeal of the hinges. “Enjoy your evening, Rowe. Miss.”
“We will,” Weston mutters, and his arm tightens around me. I let out another playful giggle, a planned one this time, and sink into him more, hoping that whatever look is on Weston’s face helps play into the scheme.
Weston’s body guides me through the gate so I don’t have to see where I’m walking. Hopefully to all the guards, it looks more like I don’t want anyone to know who is sneaking off with the First Guard on his first night off, and less like the queen is hiding beneath a staff uniform.
My boots pound on the cobblestones once we step outside the grounds, and Weston’s hand lifts from my shoulders. I assume he is signaling to the guards behind us it is safe to close the gate, and let out a deep breath when I hear the clang of the lock reverberate behind us.
We made it.
The mist and rain from earlier in the day have stopped, but the bitter wet chill in the air cuts through my clothes once we are out from behind the protection of the looming castle. I shiver, tugging my cloak more firmly around my shoulders and Weston leans closer.
“Almost there.”
I wait until we’re a few blocks away before straightening myself so I can walk normally.
My hood still hangs low over my face, but at least I can see.
I know the way, but the walk feels different this time.
Very few people are out tonight, probably because of the worsened cold and late hour, but I still keep my gaze down.
Now that the kingdom has seen me, I can’t take any chances.
Not tonight.
The darkened entry of the alley comes into view ahead, and the closer we get, the easier it is to hear. The unfamiliar rush of the flowing fountain and the water rippling in the pool stands out over the otherwise still night.
Neither of us utters a word, but our pace quickens together. Weston’s arm drops away from my shoulders only to clutch my hand and lead me around the corner and into the dark space. The bright white stone almost glows in the dim hue of the moon through the clouds, illuminating the air around it.
My heart pounds in my chest as we stop before it.
The fountain, the same one that brought each of us to Dawnlin and back again, looks nothing like it did mere days ago.
Gone are the packed dirt and sludge-covered surfaces, the cracks and nicks in the stone.
Pristine white carvings with smooth surfaces depicting every manner of life and magic are clear as if it were in daylight.
The water cascading through the openings in the mountain and into the pool below is clean and clear.
It looks exactly as I expected it to when I first realized the fountain was the key.
It looks alive.
As if something breathed life back into it, the same way the healing waters would. The magic is back.
We might actually have a chance.
Weston releases my hand and roams around the alley, peering behind anything that could hide someone, and looking in every shadowed corner to make sure we are alone, the same way Dane did the first time he whisked me away.
While Dane was the one who caused the heightened level of caution, Weston learned his lesson. This time, he isn’t willing to take a chance that someone would harm the magic, not after we are so close.
“We’re alone,” he murmurs and is back at my side in an instant.
“We need to call Edmond.” The breathiness in my voice betrays my excitement, and I look up at him. “Do you remember how?”
He nods, his brow furrowing. “Tears.”
His chin dips, and his teal eyes meet mine, and in the moment as I look up at the man I love, tears feel completely impossible.
Dawnlin already gave me almost everything I hoped for.
It gave me a new family, one that I chose.
It gave me freedom and the power to make my own decisions.
It gave me love and a future I never thought I would have.
Though I left wanting to cure my mother, and have a life with a parent I never knew, I was grateful for what I walked away with, even if letting go of the others and of the hope for saving her hurt more than any pain I ever knew.
The last time I knelt at this fountain, I was filled with hopelessness.
But when I look into Weston’s face, when I feel the brush of his fingers against mine, I don’t feel sad or hopeless at all.
Which makes panic rise in my chest.
If I can’t cry, we can’t call the Guardian. I’ve never seen Weston shed a tear, only felt the ones that fell on my cheeks when he thought I died in his arms. How can we go to Dawnlin if we’re no longer hopeless?
“What are you thinking?” he asks, and I let out the breath I was holding.
“I don’t know if I can do it. I...” My words trail off as I try to piece together all the emotions surging through me.
“I think this is the first time I’ve ever been in my kingdom and didn’t feel completely hopeless.
Not anymore. Not with you here. Even if I could get a single tear to fall, deep down, the same feeling isn’t there.
Just a tear might not be enough for the magic. ”
I watch the column of his throat bob with a hard swallow, and he reaches up, his palm cupping my cheek. “I feel the same.”
Leaning into his touch, I sigh deeply, my shoulders falling as if they no longer have to hold up the invisible weight I have been carrying. A quiet calm settles between us, punctuated only by the trickling of water in the fountain.
This was it. This was our chance to save her.
Both of us sacrificed pieces of ourselves to do so, and now, all because we found each other, found happiness, we lost our chance to help her.
I know it isn’t a waste, and deep down, I want to think she would agree, especially knowing how my father left this world wishing only that we lived.
But the piece of me that hoped for her to be part of my life aches.
“I don’t want to give up on her,” I murmur, “but maybe now that my father is gone, they can be together again. She would be happier, and so would he, after holding onto hope for so long. Even if we could get back, would it be selfish to keep her here and away from who she loves?”
He turns toward me, taking my other hand in his, and the thumb still on my cheek strokes my skin softly.
“She loved you too, Lennox. Don’t forget that.
But holding onto hope isn’t selfish. It’s part of being human.
Letting go isn’t selfish either. There’s no right or wrong answer in death.
Life as well as the end of it, will be how it is meant to be. ”
How it is meant to be.
Everything that has happened in my life, all these ripple effects that have made me who I am and gotten me to where I stand, were all meant to be.
I thought I could change things, control them, make what I wanted to happen when I wanted to, but time and time again, I was humbled.
The island proved me wrong every time I thought I knew what was coming, and my world was turned upside down.
My life here proved me wrong, when everything I expected to have or return to didn’t end up at all how I pictured.
Because it all happened how it was meant to be.
Dawnlin gave me hope. Edmond led me to it. But even after everything, I still couldn’t bring the waters back to her.
It’s time for it to end.
“If there’s no way we can help her, and no healing waters, then I think it is time I let her go.” His lips tip up into a sad smile, no doubt understanding what I’m feeling after he too has had to let both of his parents go.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.”
Turning away, my eyes fall on the fountain again.
This piece of stone has brought me so much misery yet so much happiness, and now my journey with it has come to an end.
Edmond will be there, for whoever finds it that needs it in the future, and I know without a doubt that their experience will be more fruitful than ours.
“I tried,” I whisper. Whether it is to the island, or to my mother, I’m unsure. I stare fixated on the water cascading down before me, so much like the waterfall that hid the island’s secrets. Reaching out, I run my fingers through it, wanting to commit those moments to memory one final time.
Mouth falling open, my eyes widen, and a gasp rips from my throat as I take in the sight before me.
It’s glowing. My hand cuts a break in the water’s flow, and everywhere it touches my skin glows gold, the same as it had when my tears fell into it almost two years ago.
I yank my hand from the stream and reach out to grab Weston, yanking him closer to the fountain.
“Weston, look!”
Extending my hand, my fingertips disappear under the stream of water, and it happens again. The glowing water cascades off my skin, down into the pool below before fading once more.
“Does yours too?” I ask and tug his hand toward the stream, immersing it in the water beside mine. My eyes widen and my stomach tumbles as I watch the water around his hand glow, the same as mine.
“Why is it doing that?” I ask, looking around to see if there are any other changes, anything that could tell us what this means and why it is so different from before.
“I should have known that you two would be the first to call me.”
We both whip around to find Edmond, cloaked in a robe similar to the one Dane wore when he was called. He stands behind us, hands clasped in front of him, with a soft smile on his face as he waits for our response.
“Pop,” Weston breathes, and Edmond smiles wider. “That worked? The magic called you?”
“It did. I felt the pull, and here I am.”
“But we didn’t shed tears,” I say. “How did we call you without them?”
Edmond barely shrugs. “Maybe the magic recognizes it already allowed you to the island once before, and you left empty-handed.”
“It’s giving us a second chance?” Hope bursts through my chest, and I look up at Weston as a grin tugs at my lips.
I squeeze his arm, and he looks down at me with a smile, but my excitement falters.
There’s something more behind his eyes, and I can’t figure it out, something I feel like he isn’t telling me.
I hold his gaze, searching his eyes, but he looks down at where my hand is wrapped around his arm, and instead reaches over and clasps our hands together.
“It would seem so,” Edmond says, his eyes bouncing between us. “Are you ready to return?”
“Yes,” Weston says, taking long strides toward his father and pulling me alongside him. He wraps his arms around my shoulders and gives Edmond a firm nod.
Edmond places his hand gently on my back, and I watch as his other hand reaches into the loosely open pouch that dangles from his belt.
The glowing, fragrant dust that caused us so much trouble pools in his palm, and I squeeze my eyes shut, turning to sink my face into Weston’s chest as I feel the magic of Dawnlin wash over us.