I chose not to tell the council I was going, against Calista’s wishes. What else was new? It felt like my advisor and I were agreeing on less and less lately. She’d been quiet around me ever since I returned from the party at the brownstone. I still hadn’t had time to interrogate her about her past with Baladar, but I was dying to know every detail. He’d called her the love of his life … that was deep. Did she feel the same way?
As I stepped onto the Manhattan vortex disc, about to merge with the mecca energy to travel, I heard a faint whisper. It was that familiar voice again.
Arianna … protect the…
The voice cut off as I stepped off the disc in a jump. My arms wrapped around my body as I fought the chills encasing me. Breathing rapidly and ragged, I turned to the girls: “Did you hear that?” I couldn’t stop my head from swiveling around as I tried to see more of the room; chills continued to creep up my arms.
Violet and Monica shook their heads. Both looked confused as they stared from me to the vortex disc and back again. I swallowed hard, trying to fight the urge to run. I’d traveled the mecca a thousand times before. Why was this happening now? What had the Red Queen done to the mecca?
The voice was familiar, but I couldn’t narrow it down to who it exactly was. All the vibrations of energy were warping the tone.
I heard nothing either, Ari. Finn sounded concerned, brushing his huge head against my side. At his touch, some of the creepiness eased and I was able to breathe deeply again.
There’s this voice in the mecca. It’s trying to tell me something. Both times they’ve used my name.
I felt his concern and worry for me. Weirdness is definitely afoot. Feels like this has something to do with the imbalance the prince mentioned. Still, there’s nothing you can do now but try and figure out how to send the energy back.
He was right, there was nothing I could do. Maybe the voice was trying to help me, or maybe it was an enemy that wanted to lure me to do their bidding. For now I would reserve judgment until I had more evidence.
“Are you okay, Your Highness?” Monica broke protocol to brush a hand across my arm, clearly sensing I needed the comfort.
Giving her a nod and forcing a smile across my face, I stepped back onto the disc. No one said anything more as I reached for the energy and we all traveled to Staten Island with ease. This time there was no weirdness. No voices. Almost like I had imagined the entire thing.
When we arrived, I was pleased to be greeted by Gerald, Kade’s war councilman.
“Your Highness!” He bowed deeply.
I smiled and clasped a hand on his shoulder. “You don’t need to bow to me anymore, Gerald. We’re friends now.”
He smiled hugely and nodded. “Queen Arianna, you caught King Kade on a bad day, but he’s going to be very happy to see you.”
Violet and Monica shared a look and I cleared my throat. My stomach was doing weird flips at the very happy to see me part.
“Well, I have official news, so…” I couldn’t really say more in public; this news needed to be given to Kade first, and he could decide what he wanted his people to know.
“Right.” Gerald began walking away and I followed him to the curb, where a black Range Rover sat waiting. There was a driver inside and four large royal bear guards on motorcycles waiting around it. Kade had sent his best to protect me and I didn’t even try and hide my smile.
“You’re blushing,” Violet whispered as I climbed into the seat.
She was right, I could feel the heat in my cheeks, and I tried my best to calm the torrent of emotion inside of me. I hadn’t seen Kade for a few days and … dammit, I missed him. Despite the fact he had my nerves shot and my stomach tied up in knots whenever we were around each other, the friendship we had built was comforting. He was someone I felt I could share the inner workings of my life with, the burden of being queen. Who else could understand better than another leader? It was not something I’d expected, but Kade had become as good a friend as many of the shifters I had known my entire life.
I sat forward in my seat now as the SUV roared to life, and then we were off, heading in the same direction as the last time I was here. From my peripherals I could tell that Violet was still watching me. I narrowed my eyes on her, telling her silently to leave it alone. Of course, when was the last time my best friend had listened to anything I told her, silent or not?
“I love that color on you, Ari,” she said, her voice fakely happy. “Nice shade of rose pink. Really brings out the aqua in your eyes.”
My eyes were probably narrowed to thin slits, and there was no way Violet wasn’t getting my message to shut the heck up. Of course, as she dissolved into laughter, I just shook my head. Only a true best friend would find such humor in my misery. She reached over and grasped my hand, briefly, but the effort was noted. Her gentle ribbing was no doubt her attempt to lighten the air, add some humor back into my life. For once, it wasn’t working. My world felt like it was shrouded in darkness on every angle, which made it very difficult for the light to shine. Violet had the right idea though, I had to try to figure out how to ease some of the burden or I would be crushed by the sheer weight of my responsibilities.
Gerald straightened and turned to face us, drawing our attention. Monica sat forward, as if she were about to be called on for some task.
He started slowly: “So, we’re aware that the website formerly titled ‘Royal Secrets’ is now reappearing as ‘Karianna: the royal scandal.’ Kade has members of his staff tracking down those who are responsible. We will not let your good name be sullied, Queen Arianna.”
My blush was back in full force now. Sullied … if only. The couple name was kinda cute though. “Starting to think I might as well forget about protocol. One should at least be getting some action if they’re going to be referred to as ‘Her Highness, the royal traitor whore.’”
Lots of throats cleared and I had to internally chuckle as the occupants of the car tried to figure out what to say. Did they think I hadn’t bothered to check out the site? I wanted to know what my enemies were saying about me and Kade. I needed to know what I was fighting against.
I think everyone was relieved when we arrived at Kade’s Staten Island estate. Looking out my window, I eyed the path outside as we pulled up to the mansion. The beautiful brick exterior and romantic wraparound porch were even more lovely in the daytime. I had only ever been here at night.
When the vehicle stopped, Gerald opened my door and extended his hand, helping me out, Finn was right on my heels. I thanked him, then he led us all up to the porch, stopping to speak with a few guards.