Fragile Reign (Mortal Enchantment Book 2) Page 2

  Ariel appeared on the balcony. “Princess Kalin, your father has requested to see you.”

  I had never been happier to see her. “Absolutely.” I glanced at the council. The air was thick with irritation. “I believe we can continue our conversation during the next meeting. Hopefully Dad will be able to attend.” Before anyone could comment, I hurried out of there with Ariel right behind me.

  We headed down one of the castle’s long hallways. Air inside the walkways was humid. The moment I could no longer hear voices from the council members, I stopped. Tugging at the council robes, I couldn’t wait to get them off. Those things were unbelievably scratchy. “Ariel, your timing couldn’t be better.” I said, letting go of a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Under my robes were my jeans, a plain black t-shirt, and sneakers.

  Ariel leaned against the wall next to me. “Things looked intense when I walked in there.”

  Intense could pretty much describe every moment of the day over the last week. I couldn’t leave my room without someone asking about Dad. Even when I was practicing my element, knights would ask for updates. For the most part, I told them nothing. Dad had asked me not to. With the elements unbalanced, the last thing we needed was for the other courts to see us as vulnerable. “They are scared. For my father, our people, and our element.”

  “He’s moving around a lot better today.” Ariel smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

  She tried to find the positive in every situation. Since Dad’s return, she rarely left his side. Dad had asked that only a few elementals be allowed to see him. People he trusted. None of the council members had been allowed. After he learned the extent of Jarrod’s betrayal, he lost trust in his own council. I couldn’t blame him. Jarrod had been a council member and the leader of his knights. But more than that, Dad considered him a friend. I doubted anyone had ever hurt him the way Jarrod had.

  “Does he really want to see me?” I asked.

  “No, but I’m sure it would be okay if you want to.” Again, always optimistic.

  What I really needed was a break. A long one. I didn’t know how much more I could take. Keeping up appearances while worrying about Dad was eating away at me. “I’ll stop by later. It would be nice to get a breather away from everyone for a while.”

  She stared at me as if I had just broken up with her. “Do you want me to go?”

  “No. I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant.” Ariel perked up again. “I’d love for you to stay and talk to me. Tell me what’s going on with you. I’m sick of talking about my problems.”

  Ariel leaned her head against the wall. “I took Marcus to see my parents.”

  “Oh, juicy gossip.” I leaned to the side, facing her. “Perfect. What happened?”

  She lowered her eyes, looking like she was about to cry. “Exactly what I expected. They refused to let me out of my engagement to Aiden. Oh, and they threatened to have me exiled from the court.” Her entire demeanor changed. It was as if someone had deflated her.

  I pulled her into a hug. “You will never be exiled from our court. I can promise you that.”

  She let out a sniffle. “It’s not just that. They called Marcus a mongrel. They were so mean to him. They made it clear they would never accept him. It was awful.”

  I pushed back, gripping her shoulders. “Who cares what they think? If Marcus is the one for you, then you should be with him. You should be with whoever makes you happy.”

  “I wish it were that simple.” Ariel said, wiping away tears on the sleeve of her yellow sweater. “I have to think about my younger brothers. If I marry Aiden, I join a family with clout in the court. My brothers are almost guaranteed a knight position. It’s been their dream since they were children.”

  Ariel always thought of her family before herself. When I was sure there had been a trap and refused to return to the castle, she walked straight into danger. Her concern for her family was always more important than her own safety. She was one of the most selfless people I’d ever known, which was why the situation with her parents was so unfair. Was she really expected to live the rest of her life unhappy because it was better for everyone else?

  “I think it’s amazing how much you care for your brothers, but you also have to think about your own happiness. I believe they wouldn’t want you to be miserable for their sake.” I nudged her side. “Plus, hello, your BFF is the future queen. I believe I have some pull in our court as well. And, I would knight them if it gave you the freedom to be with whoever you wanted.”

  “I should’ve told you about this a while ago, but things never slowed down—” She turned away as her eyes welled with tears.

  “Hey,” I said, grabbing a tissue out of a nearby box and handing it to her. Ariel wiped underneath her eyes. Her emotional reaction turned the volume up on my already frazzled nerves. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”

  Rubbing the sides of her arms, she said, “My mother heard a rumor. She said it was circulated by someone on the council. They think we’ve been keeping them away from your father because we’re trying to hide the truth of his condition.”

  I rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t matter what they think. Dad will recover, and when he does, I will make sure he knows all about this petty rumor.” I sounded a lot more convincing than I felt. On the inside, this was my greatest fear. What if he never regained his power? Would the council support me as their queen? Not from what I could tell from those council meetings.

  “Do you really believe he will make a full recovery?” she asked.

  “Absolutely.” Yeah, I was a big-ass liar. I needed to get out of here. “Come on, I need your help.” I grabbed her hand and led her farther down the hallway.

  “Where are we going?”

  “My room. I have to get ready.” All of the anguish I was feeling melted away when I thought about my plans. I tried to hide my excitement. “I’m meeting Rowan at sundown.”

  Ariel glanced out the windows as we passed each one. “You better get moving. You’ve probably got less than an hour.”

  The minutes could not pass quick enough. In the chaos of the last week, seeing him was all I’ve had to look forward to. When he heard about the damage from the natural disasters, he took off in a hurry for the mortal world. There was no time for discussion, which left too many questions hanging in the air. Are we dating? Does Rowan even want a girlfriend? To say things started off rocky between us would be an epic understatement. We went back and forth so many times it made me dizzy. But somehow, we also got to know one another. He opened up to me about his past, and it felt good to be let in, when I was sure he never let anyone new get close to him. Then everything changed when he kissed me. But what did that kiss mean? I shrugged. “It’s no big deal. It’s not a date or anything. I’m just going to throw on a new pair of jeans and—”

  Ariel stopped suddenly, pulling on my arm. I nearly fell on my face. “Kalin, no. You haven’t seen him in over a week. You have to look hot. Give me thirty minutes and I’ll have you ready for the runway.”

  I laughed. “You say that like you’re giving me a choice.”

  “I didn’t mean for it to come off that way.” She said with a mischievous grin. “You really have no choice.”

  Chapter Three

  Rowan

  Pacing the white sandy beach, I waited impatiently for Kalin. It had been weeks since I had stood on this sand. I had spent so many hours training her here, but it was more than that. This was where I started falling for her. At first, I thought she was annoying as hell. She didn’t seem to take my lessons seriously. But it wasn’t that at all. She was scared out of her mind. It was hard to believe Taron let her grow up as a mortal. Away from other elementals, without knowing how to use her power. She missed so much.

  But somehow, she survived. She stood up to the council, managing to rescue her father without their help. And, in a very different way, she even saved me. After I killed my mother and thought I’d lost Marcus forever, I went to a dark place. Except for the lone
liness and despair, I just felt empty inside. I spent a year in the mortal world, never talking to anyone about what had happened to me. I trained and—from a distance—watched over Kalin. It got to the point where I hardly recognized myself. Then she needed my help and everything changed. I changed. She turned out to be exactly what I didn’t know I needed.

  A few yards away, an oval shaped wind tunnel appeared, swirling like a tornado on the inside. Kalin walked through it, pushing her loose red curls over her shoulder. The wind coming off the ocean ruffled the bottom of her short canary-yellow sundress. In the dimmed light of the setting sun, her skin seemed to glow as she made her way toward me. I swallowed hard. As she got closer, I noticed she was wearing make-up. It was more than she ever wore in the mortal world, which meant Ariel must have gotten her ready.

  Suddenly she was standing in front of me. Neither of us said a word. I had the feeling she was waiting for me to say something. And for the first time in my life, I couldn’t think of anything to say. Was I nervous? Why would I be? I had dated plenty of girls. Since when did I get tongue-tied? When in doubt, I was always good for at least one snarky comment. But then she smiled and I lost my entire train of thought. My brain ordered me to kiss her. Pull her into my arms and press my lips into hers. My fingers tingled at the thought. What was this chick doing to me?

  I crossed my arms in front of me. “You’re late.”

  “Really?” Kalin rolled her eyes. “You have no idea what it took to get here. I have knights following me everywhere. The council has everyone on full alert since the fire court started attacking us in the mortal world.”

  I wanted to correct her and say rogue members of the fire court, but since I already sounded like a douchebag, I decided to shift the topic to something less combative. “Looks like you’re handling the portal travel much better.”

  I cringed. Brilliant conversation starter, moron.

  She ran her fingers through her hair. “Yeah…I’m still not crazy about the portals, but I guess I’ve gotten used to them.”

  “Good.” If Marcus could see me now, he would be laughing uncontrollably. He would never let me live this down.

  “Good?” she repeated, eyebrows furrowed.

  I should just bury my head in the sand. “I meant, good you’ve gotten used to them.”

  “Rowan, is something wrong?” she asked, genuinely concerned. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  “No,” I said, louder than I intended. She took a step back. I grabbed her hands. “You look beautiful. That’s what I wanted to say.”

  “Thanks.” She smiled. “You look good too.”

  Finally, I managed to get one sentence out without sounding like an idiot. “Well, that’s to be expected.” I winked.

  “Never mind,” she said, shaking her head. “I take it back.”

  Oh, it was on. I pulled her into my arms. “You don’t mean that, do you?”

  Looking away, she said, “I meant it.”

  I leaned in, letting my lips touch the tip of her ear. “I know you’re lying.” I whispered.

  “You couldn’t be more wrong. I think you’re barely tolerable.” She wiggled as if she was trying to release herself from my embrace, but there was no force behind her attempt.

  “I’m intrigued.” Holding her with one arm, I used my finger to turn her face until her eyes met mine. “What would you do if I tried to kiss you?”

  “Push you away.” She said, scowling. For a moment, I almost took her seriously. Then she bit her bottom lip to hold back her grin.

  Our faces were only inches apart when I said, “I call your bluff.”

  Before she had a chance to respond, my lips were on hers. I loosened my hold, giving her a chance to pull away. She didn’t. Then I kissed her harder, wrapping both arms around her waist. She let out a little squeal, then her arms were around my neck. The longer it went on, the more intense it became. Everything around us disappeared. Her kiss tasted like peppermint, alerting all of my senses. I didn’t want to stop. I only wanted more. My fingers clasped the back of her dress while her fingers dug into my hair. Every hair on the back of my neck stood up.

  “I missed you.” Kalin said, in between pants.

  “I know.”

  Laughing, she broke the kiss. Our foreheads rested against each other. “Has there ever been a moment when you weren’t cocky?”

  I pursed my lips like I was actually pondering the question. “It hasn’t happened yet, but if it ever does, you’ll be the first to know.”

  Taking her hand, I led her to a blanket I had set up. We sat next to each other, watching the waves as they crashed against the shore. I took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. It was the first time I had truly relaxed in a long time. Right here with her, I was completely content. I could almost forget about all of the drama going on. Maybe even pretend we were two normal mortals on a date. I shook my head. No, that would never be us. We would always have responsibilities that most mortals couldn’t even fathom. Soon, we would both be in control of our own courts. Moments like these would be few and far between.

  “I wish it could always be like this.” Kalin said, as if she were reading my mind. She pulled her legs to her chest, resting her head on her knees.

  Since she seemed to already know what I was thinking, I figured I’d ask, “If we were mortal, what do you think we would be talking about right now?”

  “You mean like on a date?” she asked, biting her lip again as if she were trying to contain her smile.

  I shrugged. “Yeah.”

  Everything got quiet while she thought. “I guess we’d be getting to know each other. You know, talking about our hobbies or what we like to do for fun. That kind of stuff.”

  Although I had watched over her in the mortal world, I didn’t know much about what she did with her friends. When she was with a group, I knew she was safe. I gave her privacy. Plus, she had her knights and I had to keep my distance. “What did you like to do in the mortal world?”

  “Well, when I was with my friends, we’d hang out at Mike’s diner. They had the best hamburger sliders. We’d get a massive plate of them and just talk for hours. Sometimes we’d go to the mall and walk around. If I was by myself, I liked to paint.” She laughed. “With my mom, we’d have our movie nights. We would compete to see who could find the best romantic comedies. Mom liked the ones from the 80’s, like Sixteen Candles and Say Anything.”

  It was nice seeing her so calm, not thinking about all of her duties and responsibilities. I leaned back on my arms. “Which movies did you choose?”

  Her eyes widened with excitement. “I was all about the 90’s. I love The Wedding Singer and Never Been Kissed. Basically, any movie with Drew Barrymore.”

  The excitement dropped from her face. “You really miss your Mom, don’t you?” I asked.

  “Every day something happens and I wish I could tell her about it.” Her fingers toyed with the fringe on the blanket. “I’ve thought about visiting her a thousand times, but I don’t want her to know what’s going on. I don’t want her to worry.”

  I wasn’t a big fan of secrets. I had seen firsthand how they can break a family apart. “I might be stepping over a line here, but don’t you think she has a right to know? Aren’t you afraid she will be upset when she eventually finds out? At some point, you’re going to see her again.”

  Her back straightened. “She might be upset, but I think she’ll ultimately understand I had my reasons.”

  It was better to back away from this conversation. It was easy to see I had hit a sore spot. “How is your father doing?” I asked, changing the subject.

  Once her shoulders slumped, I had my answer. “Not good. The iron in his bloodstream cannot be removed. I…I just didn’t get to him fast enough.”

  I put my arm around her, squeezing her shoulder. My heart ached at the guilt she obviously felt. How could she possibly blame herself? “Hey, none of that. He wouldn’t have been found if it wasn’t for you. He’s ali
ve because of you. Don’t ever forget that.”

  “If I had been trained—”

  “Exactly. Taron made the choice not to teach you. Of course he couldn’t have predicted how everything played out, but he should’ve been prepared for anything.” I thought back to my mother’s execution. I had begged Taron to tell Kalin the truth. She had a right to know that her life was in danger. If she had known, she could’ve prepared herself. Sought out training. Who knows? If only he had listened to me.

  “Any news to report from the mortal world?” she asked, obviously trying to change the subject. She must have sensed this was a sensitive topic for me.

  I scratched the top of my head. There had to be a way to tell her in a positive light. “Well, I did find out most of the fires are not igniting from the unbalanced elements.”

  Her eyes lit up. “That’s good, right?”

  Nope, there was no positive way to spin this. It made more sense to just come right out and tell her the truth. “It seems Valac has been encouraging other fire elementals to attack the air and woodland territories. He has apparently declared himself king.”

  “No, he can’t do that!” She said, her tone filled with venom.

  I understood her anger. Valac had no right to claim the throne. “He can say whatever he wants, but he cannot be crowned king. Not until I’m dead or I concede the throne to him, which I will never do.”

  She put her hands over her mouth. “Please don’t go back to the fire court. He’ll kill you.”

  I started to wonder if she really could read my mind. “You know I have no choice. These attacks will not end if I don’t. The elements cannot stay unbalanced.”

  “But you have no army to stand with you.” Kalin said, frantically. “Do you even know how many members of your court support him? You could be walking right into a trap.”