JADELater that evening, I felt like getting some fresh air sominasked for Ray to be called.I hadn't seen Andrew at all and I figured he was busy again. I wonder where Atlas went. I mean, it's not like he would care that something was wrong with me so he might be around and still not come to see me..But with the way Andrew was busy, I doubted he was in the pack. He was never away for this long. The pack meant everything to him and most time, he put it first.“I heard you were calling for me. What's up?”“Are you busy with something?”She shook her head.“I'm bored outnof my mind. I'm done staring at the walk and I think my eyes are going to fall off. Pregnant women do so much more than just stare at walls.”She agreed.“Sure. Let me get the wheelchair and we'll go.”I wanted to ask her why she thinks I can't walk and then I thought about it.I really couldn't walk. My feet were really swollen.When she brought the wheel chair back, I was already to go.“How much did you say I don'
JADESleeping wasn't an issue for me because by the time id cried my eyes out, I was tired. My eyes were a bit swollen when I woke up.Ray had slept in my room so she was on the couch, still fast asleep.The eventus of yesterday came hitting me again just as I sat up and tears came to my eyes.“Don’t tell me you want to start crying again.”Andrew's voice startled me and I didn't know he wad at the other end of the room with his eyes on me.He stood up immediately started walking towards me.“It’s too early for you to cry, Jade. You just woke up. Let your eyes rest.”He sat on the bed beside me. “Did you sleep here?”He nodded.“All night. I need to keep an eye on the Luna. Atlas would have my head if he found out you were crying and I wasn't there.”“So you watched me all night?”“For my Luna.”Speaking of Atlas.“When is he coming back? Why's he taking so long?”“He’ll be back soon. He's done with what he went to do. You don't have to worry.”I wasn't worried. He could take care o
ATLASWe arrived at the pack later that evening. Feyre was so exhausted.“Feyre, thank you again for your help.”“Stop it, Atlas. I'm glad I could help. I need to freshen up, I'll see you later.”We parted ways and I went into the house, walking straight for her room. Andrew said that she was feeling better which meant that she might be awake.As I got close to the door, I suddenly remembered that I'd wanted to bring her back some flowers but I'd forgotten again.There were lots of flowers around the house. I could always give them to her later.Besides, it's not like we were on the best of terms right now. She still thought I was the Atlas she married.I didn't blame her though. I did so much back then that it would be hard to forget the hurt.I bumped into Ray on my way out and she had a smile on her face.“Hey, you're back.”“Yeah, it's good to see you. How're you doing?”“I’m good.”She closed the door and pulled me a few feet away from the door.“She just found out about our gra
JADEI was feeling quite energized today so I decided to get my own lunch. I took the stairs one at a time since it was my belly that was leading me.Atlas was at the table when I got there and so were Ray and Andrew.Ray was the first to see me and she jumped out of her seat.“Why didn't you tell me you needed me? I would have come upstairs to meet you.”“You know I'm not a cripple right? I'm just pregnant.”“Heavily pregnant.”She led me over to the chairs and I sat down beside Atlas who had stopped eating.“Why did you come down? Do you need anything?”I nodded.“I’m hungry. Really hungry.”Without waiting, Atlas passed me his plate like heHe called one of the maids to bring more food.His eyes didn't even meet mine.“How're you doing?”Andrew asked.I don't know what annoyed me. The question or the fact that it wasn't Atlas that asked it.He stood up immediately.“When you're done, I'll be waiting for you.” He told Andrew and walked away.He didn't even spare a glance at me. We're
ATLAS“So what do you suggest we do? I mean, we can't just sit back and wait for the answer to fall into our laps all of a sudden. We're working on time here.”Andrew was right.“Then we'll go to the answers. First off, send guards to the nomads. Tell them to keep a watch on that girl. A tween, black hair, brown eyes,”“I’m very sure half the pack would fit that description.”That was true. I thought about any distinctive features that I might have noticed.“Yes! She wore a ring on her left hand, it was of a flower.”“That should do. What do you want them to find out?”Now that I think about it, a girl of that age shouldn't have that much information unless she was close to someone who did.“Find out who her parents are, who she goes around with, who she talks to. Also, find out who Anika is.”He frowned.“Anika? Who's that?”“I have no idea. But I think she will be able to give us some answers so I'm going to need you to do this.”He looked up from his notepad.“What about her mother
ATLAS“You mean, she was poisoned?”I followed him downstairs.“Yes.” He turned around and raised a jar in my faceIt contained red and brown liquid.“This was her urine. We gave her something to make her pass the contents of her stomach oot before they got secreted into her bloodstream. Or before they got to the baby. That fall was serious and we're hoping that it won't cause any more problems.”“What is it?”He brought it closer to his eyes.“I’m not certain yet, but I'll find out. For now, just be with her and call me if anything happens, okay?”“Thank you, Zade. Thank you so much.”He nodded and called someone passing by.“Get me the food tray in Jade's room.”He noticed the questioning look on my face.“I need to get it tested. I need to confirm my suspicion. In the meantime, make sure you and Jade do not eat anything brought to you except by someone you know and trust.”“What? You think someone has gotten to one of your people?”“Yes, which is very unlikely because they had to h
ATLAS“Does Jade have any enemies?”I didn't even know how to answer that question..“She's my wife. That makes my enemies, hers.”I didn't even want to speak about her father. He'd gone off the radar and I doubted that he would know where we were so he wouldn't do this out of the blue.“Because this was personal. They were out to kill her and the baby.”“I'm going to need to summon all your kitchen staff and everyone who set foot in the kitchen this afternoon.”He nodded and stood up.“I’ll come with you.”As we left the office, he spoke to one of the yards stationed outside his office and he left.“Let’s wait for them in the living room.”Five minutes later, they were all gathered in front of us.Zade spoke up first.“As you all know, something tragic happened this afternoon to our guests and we're hoping to find the root of it. One of you poisoned his wife's food and we're hoping to find out why.”There was a light murmur and I spent my time watching the reaction of everybody's fac
ATLASIt had been three days and she still hadn't woken up. I was beginning to get worried.As a matter of fact, I was already fully worried because according to Zade, she was meant to have woken up already.Even he was perplexed.“Or maybe I gave her too much of the herbs.”I looked at him as he said that.“But I was sure of what I gave her. Don't worry, I'll give her something to wake her up and I'm sure it will do the trick.”He left the room and returned to a bowl.I helped him raise a bowl and poured it down her throat. I don't know how she swallowed but the bowl was half empty when we dropped her.“I’ll put the remaining in her IV. She should be up in an hour. I don't want to give her too much because of her condition.”That's fine. As long as she woke up.I stayed with her for a while before Zade came back into the room.“Hey, come out.”I wondered why he was telling me to come out when he could just say what he wanted to.“What’s going on?”He shut the door behind me.“Just be
JADE“i needed to come see him.”“Why?” He collected the baby from me “I told you that there's no need to. Why do you feel the need to come here even after I told you not to?!”“Because it's not just your victory! It's not just your life that he was after! It's mine too! And it's Ray's too! So yes, I needed to come down here to get closure.”He needed to understand that this meant something to me too, just as it did him.“Closure? Is that why you put the baby at risk? How much more closure do you need?”What on earth was he talking about?“Risk? Incase you didn't notice, I was there with him! I was at risk too! I needed him to look me in the eye and tell me why he did what he did to my family.”“Or maybe it's because you're too hung up on the past and you just can't let go. Incase you havent noticed, you're so stuck in the past and you are obsessing over it. Move on!”Well, I'm glad he finally got to say what he wanted to. Now I know how he feels about me trying to find answers. I w
JADEI didn't think it was worth it at first. Going to see the man that had made me grow up without parents and without the concept of what a true family felt like.But after much thought, he needed to know that all his plans failed and I was going to rub it in his face..I'd gotten all three pieces of the stone together and wore it around my locket.It would hurt him so bad to see that in the end, I won.Iniko decided that that was the right moment to start crying and everytime I dropped him back in his cot, he cried even louder.“Young man, what is it that you want? You've been fed and burped and I just changed your diaper so there's no way you could have soiled it again -”I stopped and remembered what happened yesterday so I took a peak for myself. There was nothing im his diaper.“So what exactly do you want?”I wish babies could talk.I guess I didn't have any other choice than to take him with me then. Atlas would blow a fuse if he found out that I took his son to see Ford.Whe
ATLAS“By wasting any more time, we are not doing ourselves any good! Sixth Circle pack is vacant. We have their leader in our custody and I've taken down every opposition in our way, do you think it would be long before we get more interests?”Sometimes, having a cabinet infuriates me so much. It was like I was speaking to brick walls. I didn't see any reason why they couldn't just agree to me taking over the Sixth Circle.It would even be better for us because it would improve our army base, it would make our pack bigger and in general, it would be a plus for us.But they weren't seeing it that way. All they were seeing was the fact that Ford had committed something against the pack and they weren't going to take it.I mean, what better way to teach him a lesson by taking over his pack?“Alpha, we're not disputing the fact that you've gone a long way-”“But you're diminishing my efforts. What's the whole point of defeating him and taking him into custody when I can't even go ahead a
JADERay and I weren't speaking for now.How could she hide something like that from me?“Where is she?”“I have no idea. All I know is that she ran away when we were little. She knew that he would come after her and she didn't want to put you in danger. So she ran away and left your nanny to take care of you. I don't know where she is.”How could she do this?“Before I lost my memory, did I know?”“No, you never knew.”I couldn't believe this. I lost my appetite for the rest of that day and I just stayed in Iniko's room because I couldn't even speak to anyone right now.I'd spent my life thinking my mother was dead only to hear that she was alive and she ran away because of that beast.“It’s not her fault, you know. Your mother ran away to protect you and Ray didn't tell you because she wanted to keep you safe. You have to forgive her.”I didn't blame her. It wasn't her fault things turned out like this. I was just hurt that I didn't know.Later that day, I took Iniko on a walk so h
JADEI was just realizing that this baby has Atlas's eyes and hair and everything!“This baby is rigged.”He turned around in shock.“What are you talking about?”“You did something to make the baby look like you.”He laughed and shook his head.“No, I didn't. It's just a coincidence.”“Coincidence? Look at this baby and look at you. It seems like I didn't even have anything to do with his birth.”“Don’t worry, you can have the second baby.”I scoffed.“You think I'm going to let you have another chance to have photocopies? Big joke.”Iniko was so small and he seemed so fragile.Ray brought my food and she took him while I ate.“I wish my grandmother was here to see him.”She gave me a sad smile.“Me too. She would be so proud of you.I'm proud of you.”I'm so happy my sister was here with me. She was the one who had been by my side throughout and if the child had been a girl, I would have named her after Raya.“Thank you for everything you did. If not for you, I don't know how I would
JADE“I'm going to need your blood as well. Atlas, I promise it won't hurt her. Just a little nick.”He nodded and she dragged the knife across my finger.“Place your finger over the stone and let the blood cover it entirely. Do not take your hand away from the fire.”It was a simple instruction but it seemed so intense.It was almost over. My legs were beginning to feel well and it was getting harder to quiet my screams.“What do we have here?”That voice. He was here.“What are you doing here?”All I had to do was keep my hand over the fire until the stone bled.Ray helped me stand up straight while Atlas and Andrew faced my uncle.“So this was why I came here. How did you do that? How did you call the other stones?”I eventually removed my hand from the fire since we had found them.“I always knew it was with one of you. That stupid old hag told me she couldn't find the other piece but I guess she gave it to you. “Why were all the worst things happening tonight?I was in labor and
JADEAtlas returned later that evening.I was right with what I'd thought.“What have you been up to?”I knew he knew I'd been eating because of the smirk on his face.“You know you don't have to hide from me when you eat right?”Oh, I did.“If you see how much I eat and the way I eat, I don't think you'd want to be married to me anymore.”He burst out laughing.“What makes you think I care about the way you eat? As long as you're healthy and our baby is fine, I don't care.”“But then, what if I get fat? I'll be so big that I won't be able to eat. I don't know why I eat so much.”This was actually a worry of mine. Normally, I ate but my appetite was not this big.“Blame it on the baby. I figure when you give birth, the cravings will stop and even though you do get fat, you're still my wife. It doesn't change anything.”I was really married to the best man ever, wasn't I?“You’re the best.”“I know. Ray says that we have to get there before midnight so that she can prepare everything.
JADEAt this point, I was realizing that the earlier we did things, the better.“I’ll arrange for the sacrifice to happen tomorrow. We need to move as fast as we can before he gets Intel that were here.”I didn't want to have to run with this big belly of mine.“What are you going to need?”“Don’t worry, I'll take care of it. Just bring the stone.”We went to bed that night because we were all completely exhausted.“Hey, are you okay?” Atlas asked when we were in bed.“Yes, I am. Why do you ask?”“You didn't cry when you found out that he killed your father. You didn't cry when you found out that she was not your grandmother. I'm worried.”Now that I think about it, it's true. But it was because I didn't feel like crying.“I don't know. Maybe my body just hasn't proceses it yet. Maybe its because I hate him so I'm not bothered that he's not my father and I never really knew my father so i can't cry for him. I've already mourned for my grandmother.”I just didn't feel the need to cry b
JADE“Jade, step away from that.”I walked back towards them and stared at the pile.“What kind of animal would do this?”I had no idea but I think I was beginning to understand why she wanted us to find this place.This place held secrets.I went back to the wall to look at the drawings and try to understand them.I used my fingers to trace them again and this time around, I heard the voice clearer.“Look at the bigger picture.”I stepped away from the wall so I could see the entire thing. There were more drawings to the side and when I walked up, I noticed that there was a sign at the bottom of it.That sign…looked all too familiar but I couldn't just place my finger.“Ray, come see this. I've seen this before but I don't know where it's from.”She crouched beside me and stared at it for a moment.“I know it's familiar but I don't know where it's from, either.”Andrew and Atlas joined us and just within seconds, they knew.“We know.”They shared a look and it made me scared.“Jade,