Chapter Eight
Tulya
It had been ten minutes since we’d walked out of Valerie’s house—without seeing her, but learning about the existence of Blake.
Donovan was busy white-knuckling the BMW’s steering wheel and focusing his venom on the road, while I wondered if I should say something, comfort the man in some way, or sit silently.
Unable to take the tension anymore, I had to ask. “Do you want to talk about it?”
I watched his hands grip the leather harder. “No,” he said through gritted teeth. “Actually, I do, but not to you,” he added.
Grateful he didn’t take his gaze off the road, I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment. I knew Donovan was hurting, and it pained me that it wasn’t the kind of hurt I could take away. My powers were limited to affairs of the heart.
Before I could give it too much consideration, I caught the man in question slapping his hand on the dash, hitting the call button. And in a matter of seconds Magnum’s voice echoed in the car.
“Donovan, WHAT did you do? You’re playing with fire,” he roared.
“ME?” Don’s own anger radiated around me. “Magnum, you had a kid—” He paused and looked like he was going to spit, from what I could tell. “Years ago. You. Never. Told. Anyone.” He punctuated each word. “How could you do that? How dare you?”
“Dad was already dying, and he’d sent me to the States to take a class. I was young. She was na?ve. We liked each other and fooled around. Dad would never want me to desert my daughter.”
It was the most heartfelt I’d ever heard Magnum.
“I’m not even going to say there were ways, things to do, ways to take care of this, because I just met your daughter and she has fucking powers.
And now…now, Magnum, not only do I need to take care of your human woman, but I need to take the kid.
I’m pretty sure that’s called kidnapping, but you know Mom will never let her go with what she is capable of—”
“What? What are you doing, asshole? Abort this whole mission of yours. You’re not taking my daughter. That’s fucking kidnapping. And no way is fucking Tuvy getting her hands on V.”
“Abort? No goddamn way. It just got a million times more intricate, and you know it.”
My head hurt from Magnum mentioning me in such an awful way, but there wasn’t a bone in my body that believed my mom or Ceci would give up now. And clearly, Donovan planned to still go through with the pain transfer and figure out a means to get custody of Blake.
“You can’t just get a kid, Don. She is with her mother, and they should both come be with me.”
“Listen here, Magnum, I’m taking the kid.
She is a Rubian. With one twitch of her nose, I knew it.
And there is no way she is staying in the States, away from us, with that type of power.
If I were you, I’d be ready to prep Mom about all this and figure out what you’re going to do with Blake when she gets to Rubia.
And let Valerie know she is not welcome there—ever. ”
I heard the gasp escape my chest.
“You can’t,” I whispered to no one.
Except Donovan heard me, and before I knew what was happening, he’d jerked the car to the side of the road. We were in some bougie neighborhood, lined with cafés and coffee shops, but I didn’t have time to study it.
At some point he’d disconnected the call on his final marching orders, and I now sat surrounded in silence, Donovan breathing fire at me.
“Tulya,” he said.
“Yes?”
“You do not get to judge me.” He looked at me, his green eyes penetrating my soul, waiting for me to respond. “You do not. I must do what my brother can’t.”
“I’m not,” I finally said. “But she’s just a kid. Her mother is all she’s ever known.” I couldn’t help but think of my broken childhood, thanks to my capabilities. And now Donovan wanted to take Blake from her mother. I didn’t dare spill all that… Not now, likely never.
“A KID who showed the emotions running through her soul with a twitch of her nose. With the second twitch, she showed me mine. Bright red anger and lavender confusion. A fucking child with that ability. Don’t pretend it doesn’t have to be protected, Tulya.
She’s half human. We don’t know if this works on the other kids at school.
And she cannot be running around the United fucking States of America doing that. ”
Sadness washed over me at the sight of the man in front of me and the possibilities running through his brain. He had a poor way of showing it, but somewhere in there, Donovan was scared for Blake.
My brain told me not to, but my hand moved to cover his and I spoke calmly, trying to bring down the burning inferno radiating off him. “Don, listen, this is a mess.”
“You can say that again, a mess… That’s what you come up with,” he gritted through his teeth, staring at my fingers covering his.
“It’s more than a mess, but I don’t know what to call it.
Your mom is going to lose it. My mom is going to run to the Minister, and we know they are both going to come down on me hard.
” He side-eyed me. “I know, this isn’t about me, but those two are going to want action.
And Cinder… Oh God, Cinder is going to be hit with such a harsh reality.
A kid. One with magnificent powers, and our tiny country will go to war for her. ”
“Tell me something I don’t know, Tulya. I have maybe three days to wrap this adventure up. You will be home for your precious Christmas.” Despite his harsh rebuttal, he wound our fingers together.
“This doesn’t have to all fall on you, Donovan. You don’t have to be your brother’s puppeteer. I will do what my mom has asked of me. I will transfer the pain, but Magnum should come and deal with Valerie and his daughter.”
“No. He will never accomplish what needs to be done. He’s gone for them. The most I can hope for is he’s telling our mother now about the reality we’ve discovered and doing that dirty work.”
“I don’t know if I agree with any of this, but I’m going to go along for you, Donovan. Because you deserve it. You’re a good man.”
I said it; I meant it. Not once had I needed to take pain away from someone Donovan hurt.
I was beginning to see that even if he had capability to cause pain, he didn’t wield it unnecessarily when it came to the heart.
If his brother was the devil, he was the white knight—just not mine.
I was in the middle of reminding myself Ceci had an arrangement for Donovan when I felt his palm slide up my cheek and his lips met mine.
At first gentle, but applying pressure within moments of us connecting, we sat making out in a car in South Florida.
I heard Donovan rustling and pivoting to meet me better, his other hand leaving mine and cupping my cheek.
With his palms holding my face to his, he ravaged my mouth.
I met his tongue stroke for stroke, leaning in, wanting more, whatever that was…
And then he pulled away.
“I know, I didn’t ask. I’m sorry, but you do this to me, Tulya. Something no one has ever done. You bring up feelings and desires I shouldn’t have.”
“You didn’t have to ask. I reciprocated,” I breathed out, forbidding myself to beg for more.
“Now isn’t the time for us to get involved,” he responded and started the car. “Another time, years ago, maybe. But my sights are focused on my next steps, and now there is an extra one. Cleaning up Magnum’s mess.”
He pulled away from the curb without giving me a chance to respond, which was quite okay because I didn’t have one. Instead, I sat there, my pointer finger touching my lips where he’d kissed me and wondering why they felt so ice-cold.
“Mom, I know.” Donovan answered his phone as we walked back into the suite after remaining silent for the rest of the car ride.
In the elevator, he’d avoided eye contact, and it was only when his palm found the small of my lower back as we made our way down the hallway that I realized his shying away from the kiss was self-preservation.
“I didn’t know. What the fuck?”
I watched him nodding his head, unsure if I should go to my bedroom and let him be, or stay. It was only a matter of time before my phone rang.
“Yes, I’ll watch the swearing, but how would I know about your granddaughter? Magnum acted as if this all happened recently, post-engagement. Obviously, not.”
I rolled my eyes at that as I bent down and helped my tired feet out of the strappy sandals I’d been wearing.
Padding barefoot to the bar, I checked the time. Almost one in the afternoon, which was well past my not-before-noon rule, signaling a vino was a-okay, according to me. I poured myself a glass of Cabernet and headed toward the balcony.
Donovan was in the middle of giving the same spiel he’d given me—the nose twitch, the emotions, his brother needing to man up—when my phone buzzed.
There was no delaying the call, so I hit answer and slid the balcony door open, balancing the stem of my wineglass in my fingers and the phone in the crook of my neck.
“Tulya, are you there? I don’t have time for games.”
“I’m here,” I told my mom, gulping some vino. Closing my eyes, I allowed the sunlight to wash over me.
My mother was in a state. “Ceci told me. She’s making me go see the Minister with her. Thinks since I’m his sister, he will soften his words. Doubtful. It’s imperative you do the pain transfer now. We need Magnum here with Cinder, raising that girl. As theirs. I heard what she can do.”
I took a long inhale. I should’ve known those two would have a plan within moments.
“We didn’t find Valerie, Blake’s mom,” I said, knowing these real people with names were nothing more than pawns to my mother.
“You will. Donovan will see to it.”
I didn’t bother trying to explain how I wasn’t sure I could even do what they were asking.
“Okay,” was my response, deep in my own thoughts.
“We plan to do as much damage control as we can. Magnum’s daughter will live among us. Eventually she won’t remember life before Rubia.”
Swigging back wine, I wondered what realm my mother existed in. It wasn’t reality. “I don’t know about that. Her grandmother seems pretty formidable,” I mentioned in some sort of desperate attempt to soften her.
“It doesn’t matter. Magnum made a catastrophic mistake, and we will fix it. Do what you need to do, Tulya.”
She disconnected the call, and I knew it was the end of our talk.
My needs, worries, or concerns didn’t matter.