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  I guess he had figured out a few things about me. He knew that I sought reasonable doubt. If I found it, I moved on to find a better solution or explanation. He wanted to give me doubt about Drake. Like I needed help in that department.

  But what he didn’t realize was that right now he was digging his own grave. If he had given a damn about me, he would have figured out that I was measuring every breath because I was in pain; he would have seen the battle scars on my soul. Instead, he was too busy trying to stake a claim on something that I had never given him. I mean, hell, I could count the number of times I’d kissed him on one hand. It was all words and glances with us, was; there was no us now.

  If I never saw Britain again, it would be too soon.

  Chapter Three

  ~Madison~

  Aden was intently staring at my wandering thoughts. When he saw what I went through with Britain, he let out a low grunt from deep within his broad chest. That was his way of cussing.

  “I’m going to kill him,” he said under his breath.

  “Why? I don’t care.”

  “See, there we go right back to the fact that you’re sick. You should be furious.”

  “Aden, I didn’t care before I lost my emotions.”

  He raised his brow and gave me a once over. “Are you going to let me see those dreams of Drake?”

  “No.”

  “Why?” he bit out.

  “Because they’re private.”

  “I need to know if he is going to hurt you, Maddie.”

  “According to Drake, I am the one with the dagger to his heart.”

  “Was that his line?” he said with a smirk.

  “No, I saw it in him.”

  “We don’t have time for that boy, or any of this,” he muttered.

  “You don’t have time for this. This is my issue, not yours.”

  “I’m not backing away.”

  “All right then, let’s talk about your dreams. Heard any violins lately?” I snapped.

  Aden had been haunted by the sound of a violin for years now. He dismissed it because sometimes he would hear it around Draven, too, not just when he was alone. But I knew there had to be something to it. Last night when he was on stage playing the hell out of the song that we used to get into The Realm, I saw him fall into the vicious sound of the violin that had been added to the heavy metal song we jammed with. I saw him close his eyes and move his head to the rhythm of that sound instead of the sound he was making. I never missed anything. Obsessive. That sound was seducing my cousin’s mind, and I had no doubt it would lead him to the soul that would seduce far more than that.

  “A few. Quit trying to deflect.”

  I glided my feet in the warm water, and as I did my mind flashed back to my childhood trauma, the woman, the octopus.

  “That is symbolic,” he stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

  I glanced up at him.

  “The octopus. Every animal is symbolic, and to me it looks like that woman was trying to keep you away from it.”

  “My point exactly.”

  “Rather ugly woman. Maybe it’s a man,” he said as his eyes looked all around me and evaluated my thoughts.

  I shrugged.

  Right about then, the air filled with the powerful, everlasting aroma of mint. A lingering sensation of fresh cut roses was laced within that addictive scent. I sighed. Drake had passed another test. He had come for me.

  I felt a burning sensation bloom through my core and slide down my legs, reaching my toes and causing them to curl just as I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. A fire had consumed my soul. That boy was becoming a drug to me. He always caused that sensation in me, long before he even entered the room I was in...how insane was that? To spellbind a girl by just being in the same zip code?

  ~Drake~

  I left Esterious without one single possession. I suppose in my own way I was telling my mother I was not running—I was going to get what was mine, and I planned to take my time to do just that.

  I had never been able to see my way to Chara. Each and every passage was vacant to me. But my brother had guided me here a few days ago. I still couldn’t see them, but I could feel them. I had charged through the wall of the string, not caring if I was wrong and my skin was burned. I guessed right and made it through to the land that was near perfect. I had never been to anyone’s home here but Willow’s, but I could swear I could feel Madison. I followed that undeniable pull through the field, finding a home. Right as I went to open the door, my newfound brother Chrispin pulled it ajar, looking at me as if I were a ghost.

  “Where is she?” I grated.

  “Upstairs. Look, when she comes out of the bath we are going to talk to her and figure out how damaged she is and then ask her to come back to Esterious.”

  “I’m not waiting that long.”

  Chrispin’s soul mate, Olivia, rounded the corner at that moment and made a half-hearted attempt to stop me from climbing the stairs. “Don’t, Drake. She’s coming around to you. Don’t push this right now. Something is off about her. She is more distant than ever right now. She wouldn’t even let Aden in.”

  I glanced to the kitchen table to see Aden sitting still as a statue, staring into nothing. He was seeing, no doubt. His soul was more than likely at Madison’s side. He was consoling her. That was my place, and I was prepared to tell him as much.

  “I’m not asking. I’m going up there.”

  “Drake,” Chrispin said as he went to follow me. I stopped at the top of the stairs, knowing as soon as I went in that room that I would more than likely not come out for days. I locked stares with Chrispin. “You know Zander.” I had introduced them all to him but made it seem as if he were an ordinary warrior at my command. “He’s now your second-in-command.”

  Chrispin’s eyes went wide. “You can’t trust anyone from Esterious,” he argued.

  “I trust him with my life. Always have. This happens now. He is currently at your post, brother. You might want to make sure that transition goes well, considering that Marc needs to be in my role now and until further notice.”

  He started to say something, and anger took over me. I pushed him against the wall, finding it harder than I should have. “You tell me, brother. If you were in my place, would you sit in your palace and wait for me to bring Olivia to you? Would you wait for her to be strong, or would you be the one making her strong?”

  Whatever force he was using to defend himself left his body as shock took over his eyes. “You’re over Willow?” Chrispin asked in a ghostly tone.

  “Zander will lead you to a wing in the palace that was built by myself and our father. Open it. Send whomever to Madison’s home dimension and bring any object that would give her peace.”

  Even though I admitted nothing, that statement right there said it all to a man that had been raised in the traditions of Chara.

  “Congratulations are in order, brother, but you need to cool it. She’s beyond fragile.”

  I smirked. “That girl is anything but,” I said as I pressed my hold against him once more before returning to my charge toward where I knew she was. I could feel her. Fire. Raw fire. That was what her energy was.

  I charged through the bedroom door and started to bang on the bathroom door. “Open the door!” I bellowed as Olivia and Chrispin kept their arguments up that this was a bad idea.

  They were right: knocking was stupid. I pulled the door from its hinges and haphazardly handed it to Chrispin.

  ~Madison~

  As soon as Drake began to bang on the door, Aden had stood and pulled me behind him in an attempt to protect me. The door left its hinges a second later.

  Standing tall in the threshold was the most addictive, seductive, gorgeous soul that has ever taken a breath on this rock: Drake Blakeshire.

  His midnight eyes took in the room, me in a towel, damp from the steam, Aden standing before me holding his hand behind him to ensure that I stayed there. Yeah, it was a pretty tight moment.

&nb
sp; What was even odder was that I felt Drake’s emotions in my core; he was concerned, jealous, and in some way terrified that something irrevocable had happened to me tonight.

  I glanced behind him to Olivia and Chrispin. I felt nothing from them, I mean, maybe if I weren’t distracted by Drake at the moment I could have focused hard enough to feel something. Olivia sighed once, then pulled Chrispin away to give the three of us privacy.

  “Am I interrupting something?” Drake teemed just before he locked his jaw.

  The first time I saw Drake in real life, I knew he was different. Others always had so many hues of colors around them that their bodies were the last thing I focused on. With Drake, the colors were still there, mostly a deep purple, but his image was in focus. It was like my mind was forcing me to focus on him. Forcing me to conceive the idea that he was real.

  Whatever reprogramming my mind had gone through, it didn’t change the way I saw Drake or the way he made me feel. My heart was skipping every other beat. Breath was something that I could not remember to take.

  At least I didn’t feel like fainting around him anymore. That could be due to the fact that last night, for a few hours, he was not a king and I was not a look-a-like. We had managed to escape our hell for a few minutes. I got him to take me home, to meet my mom, to see the town I was raised in, some of my art. We listened to music and watched I Love Lucy DVDs until we fell asleep.

  A mischievous grin echoed on the corners of my lips as I remembered this stoic prince laughing. It was as if he never had before; even he seemed surprised by the simple act. I adored it simply because that emotion of bliss was overshadowing all the other harsh ones that were stabbing my soul at the time.

  “Seriously, dude? She’s my cousin. Might as well be my sister. We used to take baths together, for God’s sake.” Aden gave him a once over. “If anyone should be ticked off right now, it should be me. You want to give her a chance to get dressed?”

  “Not leaving my sight,” Drake said under his breath as he ignored Aden and stared at me through the long, dark strands of wet hair that had fallen over my green eyes.

  I would swear I could feel his essence reaching out for me and surrounding my soul. Devotion. Yeah. I felt devotion emanating from his soul.

  Before I was broken, I would see this in his energy; his essence would morph into a deep crimson, the smell of fresh cut roses would fill the air, and next to him, against his skin I would smell mint, a deep, powerful, cleansing aroma. I was too nervous to focus and try to see his energy, but I could smell him. I could sense the silent claim he was making on me.

  “Let me give you a tip, buddy: smothering will get you nothing but a one-way ticket to ‘get the hell away from me.’ Trust me,” Aden said as he relaxed a little. Apparently, he had found a way to trust Drake.

  “We had a deal,” Drake said to me.

  I felt that burning sensation bloom in my core once more. He had asked me countless times to come and stay at the palace with him. I didn’t have the nerve to tell him that I was terrified of some ghost that only I seemed to be able to see, so I played it cool. Told him he would have to stay at my house first. I never thought he would do it. I mean, don’t princes kinda have to stay in their kingdoms? At least the dimension said kingdom is in? Drake decided not only to take that challenge, but also exploit it for all it was worth.

  My eyes dared to travel down his tall, lean, firm body. This boy was dangerous, in more than one sense.

  “Do you own a boat?”

  Aden threw a nasty glare over his shoulder at me. He knew at this point I had set my intentions on figuring out that childhood drama and that I was crazy enough to head out to sea and not come back until I found what I was looking for.

  Drake just smirked. “Fleets of them.” He glanced over me once, furrowing his brow. “You’re afraid of water,” he said, almost to himself.

  I felt myself draw a sharp breath. I hadn’t told him that.

  “Draven tell you that?”

  “No,” Drake said in a ghost of a whisper, which made that burn intensify. I’d only known him a few days, but I was already picking up on his tones, his unspoken body language. Right now, he wasn’t remembering anything from this life, but ones that were lost in the past.

  You see, priests invoked dreams and memories in Drake in order to convince him that Willow was made for him, but they managed to invoke more of me than they did of Willow, but that was kind of hard for Drake to figure out at face value. Now he didn’t know what was me and what was her. I really didn’t care because as far as I was concerned, there never should have been a her.

  If this were just a few hours ago, I would have been awestruck that he had pulled a memory of me forward. Then I would have analyzed every single thing about his expression, body language, tone, and memories to understand without a doubt that he was seeing me and not wishing I was Willow. But not right now, with those emotions at bay, I was more intrigued that this phobia of mine had been with me for longer than one life.

  “I’m not afraid of anything right now.”

  A wry grin came to the edge of Drake’s lips. “Maybe there is an upside to this.”

  “I told you I wasn’t afraid.”

  Drake is insanely blunt; must come from being raised as royalty. He’d told me last night that I was afraid of him, not because of who he was or what he had the power to do, but because I knew deep in my soul that I was a half to a whole. He told me I was afraid of losing my independence.

  Aden raised his hands, calling a time-out; he knew he was standing in the middle of private conversation, and he wanted out.

  “Where she goes, I go. Keep that in mind,” Aden said just as he vanished.

  Now the only thing between Drake and me was his royal suit and my damp towel.

  ~Drake~

  Even though I was furious, terrified, and nearly out of my mind, the sight of her brought me much needed peace. It took everything I had not to let my eyes leave hers to take in the fact that she was damp and only wearing a towel that barely made it past her thighs.

  A boat. Why would she of all people want to know if I had a boat? She’s afraid of water. I knew that just as well as I knew my own name. I’d had countless dreams that I could call on that showed that very real fear. I took in a somewhat relaxed breath. Without even knowing it, she had given me a new tool to hash out my dreams. To separate her from Willow. Willow had no fear of water; she nearly craved it.

  Moments like this, and my time in The Realm, led me to believe that I never once lived a life of peace with Willow. With us, it was raw passion. Passion that is only found in the gallows, a passion that claimed one last sensation.

  With Madison Marie, every moment was seduction. It was more powerful than any last kiss. My dreams and my recent private moments with Madison Marie told me that the touch of her lips put the very word passion to shame.

  Madison Marie wanted a boat. I would give her a hundred.

  I saw a spark in her eyes when I came in this room. I saw her breathe in as if she had been holding her breath since the last time I saw her. Her green eyes were invaded with darkness as her pupils expanded. She was seeing me. And I let her. I let her see my new discovery. Let her revel in the fact that though I had kissed Willow in this life, it felt as it always had in the past. I had used Willow as a lifeline, one that led me to Madison. I would forevermore be in Willow’s debt, but I couldn’t worry about that right now. I had to seek redemption, and the only way I could do that was by being honest.

  I did love Willow Haywood, but I dare say I was not in love with her. I couldn’t give her something I never possessed any more than she could have. Our hearts had been robbed long before our paths had been crossed by a dark fate.

  I was staring at the thief that took mine this very second.

  ~Madison~

  Slowly, Drake moved closer to me as his eyes glided across my body. Everywhere he looked, I felt a scorching sensation intensify. It always left a deep, humming sensation in its wa
ke; I had yet to figure out how he managed to do that to me. It was even odder that he was still able to do that to my soul after what I went through. It was like everything about my abilities had been altered with the exception of how I saw and felt him. Strange.

  “I didn’t leave you to fight at her side. I left you to defend my kingdom,” he said carefully to me, as if he were expecting me either to erupt with rage or collapse with jealousy.

  Drake was with me when I saved Monroe in The Realm. He tried to stop me from hurting myself, and in truth if he weren’t there to help get me out of that fire there is no telling what shape I would be in.

  “Who said I had issue with that?” I muttered as I gripped my towel and braced my legs, ensuring that my knees wouldn’t buckle.

  His emotions were so strong that I literally felt my soul being wrapped in them.

  “This wall is up again,” he murmured, now standing just inches from me.

  I must look calm, reserved on the outside. If he knew what was going on inside my head, he never would have said that.

  My eyes were steadfastly pointed at the ground. That was my defense. “It never had a chance to fall. We lost tonight. Once again…we lost.”

  His long fingertips reached for my chin and beckoned me to look up, giving my eyes no choice but to meet those dark, spellbinding eyes of his.

  His thumb traced my bottom lip, and there I felt passion so intense that I had to sigh. “Then you shouldn’t be afraid to stare into my eyes,” he said softly.

  I sucked in a sharp breath. “I wasn’t afraid before; I was mad. Now I’m neither.” My voice trembled, taking away any strength that I wanted to convey.

  “You’re lying.”

  “Are you trying to fight with me?” I accused.

  He leaned a little closer to me. “You always breathe in audibly just before you speak a lie. You still feel emotions; you just think they are gone because they’re not out of control anymore.”