Chapter 47 - The Calm Before The Storm

“Hey,” Kerri said, peering in through the door. “Am I disturbing you?”

“No,” Drake said, a forced smile on his face. “Come on in.”

“Are you okay?” she asked him, sitting down on the bed next to him.

“I’m going to be fine.”

“Yes, but you’re not fine now. So spill.”

Drake looked at her, and then shook his head. “I’m fine.”

She scrutinised him before shrugging. “Fine.”

“So what are you doing here?”

“Arik told me to—I mean, summoned me to spend my day with either you, Joshua or Mel. So I thought I could stick with you.” She pushed herself off the bed. “But I think I should go.”

“What? No, stay.”

“Oh, please.” Kerri waved away his feeble attempt. “I’ll leave you to sulk on your own. I’ll see you later, okay?” She kissed his forehead and gave him a hug before leaving.

Next stop: Joshua.

She knocked at his door before opening it. “Joshua?”

He looked up from where he was sitting on his rickety wooden chair. “Kerri.”

“Can I stay with you for the day?”

He nodded after a while. “Make yourself comfortable.” He gave a bitter smile. “At least, as comfortable as you possibly can.”

She tilted her head to one side. “Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

She shrugged. “Just asking. Everybody seems to be really nervous today. Well, not everybody, but the people who know about what’s going to happen tonight.”

He sighed. “You would be too, if you knew how grave the situation was.”

“Grave? How grave is the situation?”

“It would be hard to take down Woodland, even when there are only three people fighting.”

Kerri suddenly understood. “You want to fight.”

He shrugged. “Male instincts, I guess.”

She bit her lip. “I’m sorry when I asked for you to stay with me. I was…it’s just that you’re more easily hurt than the others, and you don’t heal as quickly as they do.”

He nodded. “I know.”

“But you still want to fight.”

“He stole my True Love,” he burst out suddenly. “He blackmailed her. My Mate. He took her away from me.” He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not going to let him get away with that without suffering,” he said in a trembling voice before closing his eyes.

Kerri put a hand on his shoulder. “You know, he’s not coming alone tonight,” she said softly.

His eyes shot open. “What? Does Arik know this?”

“Yes.”

“Then why the hell is he not letting more people fight? He’s insane.”

“Is Woodland really that good?”

Joshua shrugged. “It depends on how you look at it, I guess.”

“Is he better than Arik?”

“They’re about the same. But Arik hasn’t fought for years except for when there’s the occasional invasion. It’s Woodland’s job to fight. He has to go to other minor companies to take what they have. He leads the invasions.”

Kerri gulped.

Joshua banged his fist down on the table, which shuddered and threatened to break. “He should’ve let me fight, dammit.”

“I can talk to Arik about it, if you want. After all, it was my idea to not let you fight.”

He shook his head. “Arik’s stubborn. He’s not going to let me fight.”

“It’s not like you need permission.”

He shook his head again. “It’s my job to protect you while they fight.”

Kerri slapped him across the face. “Stop with that crap. You’ve done it for like a hundred years now. For God’s sake, Joshua. Do it for Sitara, if not for yourself. Go out there and do what it is you want to do.” She touched where she had hit him. “Sorry about that slap, by the way.”

He glowered at her. “It’s okay.”

She looked at him for a moment. “You want to see whether he’s bringing Sitara, do you?”

He blushed. “What?”

She shrugged. “It could happen. Besides, bringing Sitara would surprise Arik and probably put him off. So he might bring Sitara. Oh, stop looking at me like you haven’t thought of it before.”

“Okay, I admit I have thought of it before, but that doesn’t matter.”

“What, you’ll fight on as if you haven’t seen her?”

He gritted his teeth. “I’d try my best.”

“And if you were forced to kill her? If you were the one who cornered her and Arik was knocked unconscious and Drake was yelling at you to kill her? Would you?”

Joshua clenched and unclenched his fists. “I don’t know,” he said a minute later. “Probably.”

Kerri widened her eyes. “You would kill her?”

“If Drake and Arik’s lives depended on it, then most probably yes.”

“But she’s your True Love.”

His gaze hardened. “So?”

“You…you wouldn’t.”

“I could. I wouldn’t want to, but I could.”

“Then what? How would you be able to live with yourself?”

He gave a bitter smile. “Who said I’d live afterwards?”

“What, you’d kill yourself?”

“I should just as well. There’s nothing to live for anymore.”

Kerri thought hard. “How about…protecting the company?” she suggested weakly.

He shot her a look, and she shrugged and replied with a look that said I was only trying to help.

“Do you think you’d know?” she asked him after a while.

“Know what?”

“Whether she was here or not.”

“Well, it’s not like she’s going to call me and expect me to welcome her with open arms and a cup of coffee, is it?”

“Do you want to see her again?”

He shrugged. “Yes and no.”

She gave him a hug.

“Don’t,” he said dully. “I know you’re trying to make me feel better, but this hug means nothing. It means nothing if you don’t know what it feels like to lose a loved one. A True Love, nevertheless.”

She sat back. “I’m sorry.”

He looked at her. “I wasn’t trying to be insulting or anything like that.”

“I know.”

“But I was, wasn’t I?”

“A little,” she admitted. “But I understand.” She leaned forward to hug him again, but stopped herself just in time. He smiled and stood.

“I have to bring some things down to the garden.”

“For tonight?”

“For tonight.”

He hung his sword around his hips and picked up a few other weapons that Kerri felt pained to even look at. “Let’s go.”

***

Kerri lay down on the grass and stared up at the sky as Joshua went around the garden putting down weapons in unseen places just in case he’d need them later.

As if he’d need anything else other than two guns, two knives and a sword. But then again, she didn’t fight—at least, not like men—so she couldn’t judge.

“What time is it?” she asked drowsily.

“Twelve.”

“Arik says lunch’s at twelve forty-five.”

“Twelve forty-five?” he asked her. “He couldn’t have made it at one?”

She looked up in agreement. “That’s what I said. But does he listen to me? No.”

Joshua snorted. “You’re his Mate. You can make him laugh, cry and fight for you, but you can’t make him reschedule lunch to fifteen minutes later?”

“Shut up. I already made him change it from twelve thirty to twelve forty-five. What else do you want from me?”

He lay down next to her. “Change it to twelve forty-five?”

She reached out to swat him but he rolled away. “Damn your fast survival instincts,” she muttered, and heard him laugh softly.

“You can go fight if you want, you know?” she asked him.

“Yes. But I don’t want to.”

“Bullshoot.”

He sighed. “I do want to fight the bastard, but I don’t want to have to fight Sitara.”

“But she may not even be there.”

“But she may.”

“But she may not.”

“But she may.”

“But she—oh, grow up.”

“I can’t actually do that.”

Kerri resisted the urge to slap him across the face again. “Do you think we should take Mel here after lunch?”

Joshua shrugged. “Sure. It’d be good to let her familiarise herself with the area.” He looked at his watch. “We still have thirty minutes. Is there anything you want to do?”

“Arik said I should practise my magic. Would you mind if I did that?”

“Why would I mind?”

She shrugged. “Just asking.”

“Knock yourself out.”

And she did. Literally. And also by accident. She had just been randomly flicking up small little mountains when suddenly Joshua coughed and she jumped and earth shot out from the ground and hit her in the face.

She came to when Joshua doused her with ice cold water. She groaned, and then choked, and then spat out the mouthful of dirt.

“Blech. Gross.” She reached for some water and rinsed her mouth with it.

“You can say that again.” Joshua was eyeing the mouthful of dirt with disgust. He offered her his hand, and she took it gratefully as he pulled her up. “It’s time for lunch. Do you think you can stomach food?”

Kerri grimaced. “As long as there’s no mud in it.”

***

“Hey honey,” Arik greeted her when she sat down next to him.

She raised an eyebrow. Did you just call me…honey?

It’s just an endearment.

It’s a thought-inducing endearment.

And what thought does it induce?

Oh, I don’t know, but maybe, just maybe, Mandy?

Arik choked on his food and Carter slapped him on the back. It wasn’t meant to induce Mandy thoughts.

What thought was it supposed to induce, then?

Arik smirked. You. In honey.

She swatted him on the arm. Filthy minded dragon. She reached over and took a bite of his meal. “What the hell is that?” she asked grimacing. “It tastes like mud.”

“I wonder why,” Joshua muttered from beside her.

She ignored him. “Can you get me some of this stuff, please?” she asked Arik. He shot her a look that said I’m not your slave and she returned it with a look that said you could’ve fooled me. He pursed his lips and got up to go get her some food.

“Oh, Mel, I just remembered,” Kerri said. “Joshua and I want to take you to the place we’re hiding in tonight.”

“That’s a great idea,” Mel said enthusiastically from where she was sitting next to Carter, his arm around her waist.

Aw, they look so cute together, she thought to Arik as he came back with her food.

He kissed her cheek. I personally think we’re so much cuter.

She stifled a giggle. I thought you would’ve realised by now that we’re not exactly a cute couple.

No, we’re a stunningly sexy, wild, cool couple.

Saying we’re a cool couple just officially made us not cool.

You’re right. We’re not cool. He sat down behind her and slid his arms around her waist. We’re hot.

She giggled. You dumbass.

I love you too, dear, he thought sarcastically.

Kerri looked around the table. Everybody was off in their own world. Mel was giggling at something Carter had whispered into her ear; Drake was moody and was pushing his food around on his plate, muttering to himself; Joshua was stirring his coffee absentmindedly, no doubt thinking about tonight and how he would love to kill the bastard who had effectively ruined his life.

What are you thinking? Arik kissed her neck.

A lot of things.

Care to share them with me?

She kissed him back. Nah. Nothing important. You nervous about tonight?

A little, he admitted after a while. Be sure not to come out until I tell you to, okay? I know you don’t like following orders, but listen to me just this once? Please? He kissed her lightly.

Fine, fine. But you’re going to have to make it up to me afterwards.

He chuckled. I’ll try my best.

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment