Chapter 5
FIVE
Madison’s heart still pounded. She didn’t know if progress had been made or not. Drex had touched her cheek, but then he ran off like he’d just stuck his hand in a toilet. Okay, it wasn’t quite like that, but he had taken off fast.
She sighed and got up. This was a favorite spot of hers.
It was among the most comfortable places to sit in the palace.
She loved the natural light and it was easy to get a snack or a drink, being right next to the kitchens.
Several times she’d been there quietly reading or sipping a warm beverage when Drex had come in, gotten food and left without ever noticing her.
Maybe. Perhaps he had just pretended to not notice her.
She was beginning to suspect there was more going on under the surface of Drex Letu than he tried to project.
It was time they had a talk. She deserved to know what was going on with him.
Did he still plan to send her back to Earth?
Was he coming around on the idea of a physical relationship between them?
Or did he just want her around to be an object of forbidden desire, to be kept close, but never touched?
If the answers were the first or third, she would ask Ferias to be considered for another placement or directed to a safe place for her to live other than Exir City.
The third possibility chilled her blood.
She knew what it was like to be trapped in a luxurious prison.
Madison had been the object of an unhealthy desire with a man who had controlled every aspect of her life. She wouldn’t endure it again.
Madison tucked the screen under her arm and strode to the exit, determined to find Drex. They would have a conversation, and then she would determine what to do. Would she stay and see how things would go with Drex, or get out of there?
She knew the general area of his private quarters. They led down a dim corridor and branched off somewhere. She hurried down the one she’d seen him go numerous times before, listening for the sound of activity. If she found his attendants, they could direct her to him.
She didn’t find his attendants and she didn’t find Drex. The corridor ended at a set of clear glass doors. Through it, she saw a lush, green garden. The blinding array of color and life—two things sadly lacking in the palace—beckoned to her.
Ferias had granted her handprint access to most areas of the palace but there was no way she would be allowed into a private space.
If these doors opened at her touch, it would mean that this was a place she was allowed to go.
With a held breath, she pressed her palm to the door and hoped it opened.
It did! The double doors whooshed open. She stepped inside. Warm, humid air enveloped her in a loamy, moist cloak. A thick, round dome made up the whole ceiling, bathing the room in filtered light, but what was in the room held her entranced.
Life bloomed in vibrant abundance. Plants of many sizes, colors, patterns burst from every available bit of earth.
Butterfly-type bugs with huge, vivid-colored wings and long, iridescent legs, glided gracefully, landing here and there.
She laughed in wonder when one landed on her arm before flitting off.
Artfully arranged rocks interspersed the garden, and a little path of crushed stones led a visitor in a spiral to the center.
Madison walked slowly, marveling at the beauty surrounding her.
How did she not know this was here? A thick, gnarled tree with scaly, silver bark was loaded with coral-colored blooms, each the size of her hand.
She snapped one off and breathed in its light, floral scent before tucking it behind her ear.
It was a carefully planned garden, meticulously maintained.
But who cared for it? She reached the center where a small bench had been placed before a stone set into the ground.
Madison couldn’t read it, of course, but she had a feeling she knew what it was.
She pulled the screen out from under her arm and inputted the Virilian symbols.
The translation came up, revealing what she had already suspected, but it was also worse than she’d thought.
This was not only Tuli Letu’s grave, but their unborn child’s as well.
Tears sprang to Madison’s eyes. She took a deep breath of the thick, delicious air as sympathy and sadness rolled through her.
She didn’t know the exact purpose this place had for him, but there was no competing with it.
Drex had built his love this living, growing shrine.
Perhaps it was his way of trying to keep her alive.
This male was far from moving on, making her original intention of having a conversation about it seem absurd. She would speak to Ferias when she returned, find other living arrangements, and leave Drex to his perpetual grief.
On a whim, Madison snapped off another bloom and placed it on Tuli’s grave stone. She must have been amazing for Drex to still be so devoted after all this time.
The doors opened with a sudden hiss. Madison jumped to her feet. Drex filled the doorway. The lines of his body were tense. His large hands opened and closed. “What are you doing in here?” His voice was low, gravelly.
“I-I was looking for you,” she stammered out. “I found this by accident. It’s beautiful here, Drex.”
He began down the spiral path, slowly, never taking his hot gaze from her. “This is part of my private quarters. You do not belong here.”
“Oh. I didn’t know. The doors opened…” She held her ground, but squirmed. “I thought I was allowed.”
He stopped in front of her. “No one is allowed in here.” His lips were compressed. A muscle pulsed in his jaw. His gorgeous face had never looked so fierce to her.
She wished she could smooth out the furrow between his brows without him rejecting her touch. Beneath the display of fury, he was hurting. Anyone could see that. “Drex, I—”
“Leave.” He snatched the flower from her hair and crushed it in his fist. “Now. This place is off-limits. Do you understand?”
Oh, she did. With a sob, she turned and ran from the garden grave, trampling plants and scattering stones.
She glanced back as the door closed behind her.
There was Drex; the fist with the crushed bloom was pressed to his lips as he slowly sank onto the bench.
Madison had seen enough. She was leaving as soon as possible.