The hand at his cheek was mirrored by the other. In a powerful moment of silence, the pair gazed into each other’s eyes, both searching for answers, both making pleas even they weren’t aware of. Jamie wished for acceptance; she craved the assurance he would still be there for her and help her regain her life. Demetrius craved the assurance she was still the girl he’d taken to following around, the one who’d been able to stir such strong emotions in him that he risked and ultimately surrendered his once rising prestige amongst his fellow guardians.
Neither noticed the subtle drifting, oblivious to the hidden force that drew them closer until the tips of their lips brushed elusively against each other. Demetrius pulled back, not wanting to overstep in this new unknown but Jamie pushed forward, pressing her lips against his with a firmness that caught him off guard.
&nbs
The sun had begun to break free of the horizon when the pair returned to the house. Following the hunt, Demetrius had allowed Jamie to remain in the plains for no other reason than her desire to stay a while longer to enjoy the feeling of the wind on her cheeks and the grass beneath her toes. The boy came to the unsettling realisation that he would arrest the very stars in the heavens if it would make her smile. It was dangerous business being so endeared to someone; it had already proven itself problematic. His superiors had caught on to the effect she had on him and were not opposed to exploiting that weakness for their own gains. The pair found her mother sitting on the chair she’d moved to the bed; she hadn’t moved since they left. Her eyes, once laced with worry, filled themselves with relief as they walked in from the b
“I can’t let you replace the seals.” Jamie’s mother sputtered at Demetrius’ words, newly incensed by his continued refusals. “Can’t? Let? Who do you think you are? Haven’t you done enough? If it weren’t for you—” “If it weren’t for me, Jamie would be trapped forev—” “Idiot! If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be in danger!” She shoved him again, this time managing to get him to fall onto the bed next to Jamie. The woman stood over them both, an angry parent about to give the scolding of the century. “You’re somehow stupider than she is, getting led your tiny dick, letting her talk you into her destruction. Neither of you has any idea
Chapter 41 – Mild provocation “We only have a few questions for now,” Carlton said. “Strictly business and if we have everyone’s cooperation, we can go our separate ways without injury when this is all over.” The half truth was as glaringly obvious as if the man had outright lied. If all went to plan, Mr. Carter and, perhaps Valerie, would be left unharmed. As it stood, both Jamie and her mother sat in a precarious position and were at the mercy of the guardians who didn’t take kindly to those who flouted the laws and made extra work for them. Carlton pulled the final bar stool before the family then sat. “Let’s start with something easy. How long have
Mr. Carter swore…profusely. Every other word from the man’s mouth was enough to make the devil blush. His eyes grew wide, his face pallid as he tried to make sense of the scene that played itself before him. “Someone, help him up,” Carlton said. It was a command given in vain. The man wouldn’t let anyone near him, frantically slapping at their hands whenever any reached out to pull him from the corner he’d wedged himself into. “Stay away from me!” He could barely breathe, driving himself to hysterics faster than should’ve been possible. It was an unnecessary amount of theatrics in the boy’s estimation, as Jamie’s had been. Were sharper teeth and extreme bursts of speed truly so terrifying? Surely, there were things in the world that were infinitely more frightening—and far more likely to cause him harm. Demetrius imagined the man would’ve soiled himself had his wife been a clandestyne and her transformation more dramatic. Eventually,
“Let’s wrap this up. Helena Carter—or whoever you are—you’re under arrest for several breaches of the conduct reform. Jamison will be coming with us; do you have anyone you could leave the little one with?”Distraught as she was, the woman could barely manage to shake her head. “There’s…there’s no one.”“She’ll come with us then. We might be able to find somewhere to house her while we get this sorted.”“No—Demetrius!” Jamie cried.The boy was already reaching for the papers in his back pocket. His hands shook, making the feat that much more difficult than it needed to be but eventually he steadied them enough to lay the papers on the counter. “You can’t,” he said. “You can’t yet. There’s still too much that we don’t know—extenuating circumstances that still haven’t been investigated before any judgem
No sooner had his mother led the mother-daughter pair away, Demetrius saw Cassidy nodding him up the stairs. The gesture put a pit in his stomach that made him want to turn and head back through the door. The morning had barely started, but the boy wanted nothing more than to take himself away. He would’ve loved even one quiet moment to clear his head and shake off the heaviness that settled on him, but he was starting to see he wouldn’t have that luxury.Demetrius would have to wait a while longer for that moment. He took Jamie by the hand, leading her up the stairs behind his sister.Cassidy led them back to her room, being careful to close the door behind her. It earned her a raise of his brow.“What?” he asked, not in the mood for more surprises.“She’s on edge.”“Carlton?” he asked, assuming the man had gone ahead to give their mother an earful on his most recent act of wilful defiance. The
Two men dressed in the garb of the palace’s guards approached the house. Demetrius crooned his neck to get a better look at him, all but forgetting Jamie’s request to know more about Scarlet. The men had become the more pressing matter for the morning, all the more so because he didn’t see his sister walking with them.“Stay here,” he said, rising to his feet. The boy waited for them to pass the veranda’s threshold before jumping from the roof and entering the house behind them. He felt a rush of wind at his back as Jamie descended the roof, but his attention remained on the newcomers.From the opposite, direction Cassidy descended the stairs. She froze at the sight of the uniformed men, but only long enough to orient herself to their arrival.“Mom!” she called, not wanting to find out for herself what they wanted. While they’d both been forced back to their duties as guardians, Cassidy had been unrelenting i
The calm his mother had managed to project throughout the morning disintegrated in a matter of seconds. The woman’s face crumpled in on itself, her eyes flooding with unrestrained tears faster than anyone could process the prince’s words. Her hands moved to cover her face, muffling her sobs but the pain embedded in them was difficult to ignore.Demetrius had seen his mother sad on a few occasions, but never had the grief been so severe.His father looked helplessly from his wife to the prince. “I…I beg your pardon, My Prince. Perhaps my wife and I have misunderstood…”“I don’t see how,” Alexiel said, his mother’s tears not moving the man in any particular direction. He remained the picture of contentment. “Rejoice! You’ll soon be the family of royalty—there’s no higher elevation. You’ll be the guests of honour at the feast. Now, we don’t have much time to wast
“Hurry up or we’ll miss it!” Megan pulled Jamie through the crowd of students that gathered near the football field. “He’ll be in detention until he graduates, I know it.”Megan shoved and elbowed the pair up into the bleachers where several other students had also managed to climb their way up. All eyes were cast toward the recently manicured lawn—the one the principal had paid landscapers to prepare for the upcoming track events to be held at the school.The entire student body had been abuzz from the moment the rumours first began spreading and those rumours had endured long enough to draw the crowd that they had.In the centre, sitting atop one of the school’s riding mowers was none other than Demetrius Nicholai Finley. He wore the widest Cheshire grin, overly pleased with the work of his hands and the crowd he’d managed to draw. The boy climbed atop the machine he’d stolen from the old shed, facing
“You didn’t tell me you’d be coming over.” Demetrius watched Jamie scale her way onto the roof, taking great care with her footing before she made her way over to him. The boy’s gaze followed her as she took the spot next to him laced with questions he decided against asking. “I’d have come get you; we could’ve walked together.”Despite his extreme vigilance, the boy hadn’t found dangers lurking around each corner. That, however, did little to assuage his anxieties where she, or anyone else in his family was concerned. The boy had allowed himself to drop his guard and that was when disaster had struck.He wouldn’t be making that mistake again any time soon. Jamie shrugged. “It was spur of the moment. I didn’t wanna stare at my ceiling anymore or listen to my mother ask me how I’m feeling for the millionth time.” She looked out at the guard house, its figure silhouett
“You didn’t need to say that.” Scarlet nudged Phoenix further behind her.“I don’t care.” Demetrius turned to face them. “Let my sister go.”“Alexiel…” the queen said, slowly rising from her chair. She shot the prince a sceptical look, uncertain who she was meant to believe. “Is it true…?” she asked Scarlet.His sister dug deep into her silence, choosing to set her eyes on the queen’s middle rather than lifting her gaze for them to meet. In the uncomfortable silence that followed, the woman asked that the chains be removed. Free of these constraints, his sister took her child into her arms but otherwise gave no acknowledge to king or queen…or prince.As was her right.“It can’t be,” Alexiel said, shaking his head.“No,” the queen said, reaching out to take Phoenix by her chin. She tilted the little girl&rsquo
“We’re leaving.” His mother’s words were sharp, final; they brokered no room for argument or negotiation. She’d barely gotten done listening to Demetrius’ account of the night when the women made the executive decision that they were all done with the follies of court and wouldn’t suffer another moment of it.“I need to find him first,” Demetrius said.“You’ll do no such thing,” she said, dismissing the idea the moment it left his lips. The woman turned to her husband. “Get my daughter or I will, but none of us is spending a single night beneath this roof.”His father’s face was drawn, worn thin by the events of the earlier evening and the truths he was forced to face. Demetrius hadn’t, at first, understood why the man wasn’t back in the banquet hall kissing the asses of all present while he begged their forgiveness for his son’s youthful obstinacy. It was
He’d suffered all he could. Demetrius had tried and had made concessions; he’d held his tongue when they screamed hard enough; he played along when they insisted forcefully enough.He was done.Demetrius offered his hand to Jamie, allowing her as much time as she needed to talk it. The girl clung to his hand, drawing close as she sought to shield herself from the piercing gazes that followed the boy from the stage. With her secured, the boy walked across the room to the table set for his family. He momentarily released Jamie’s hand to hoist Phoenix up from the table. He placed her in Cassidy’s arm before taking her free hand and reclaiming Jamie’s.The path to the main door was clear for him, despite the many guests and guards that sat or stood in his way. They simply didn’t matter.“Where are you going?” The presenter called to him from the stage, encouraging back to receive the prestigious award made speci
Applause rang out from within the banquet hall, some guests rising to their feet in exuberance when Demetrius’ name was called. Those seated around him on the stage reached out to give him congratulatory pats on his shoulders or back and a few even hooted in encouragement.The presenter in charge of handing him his reward played up the work the boy had done in the last few months and the impact it had had on the Avendale Tower and wider mythical realm. The man was intentionally vague about his contributions at Central Bureau, but it left the audience no less impressed with what they did get to hear.It was everything Demetrius had ever dreamed of from the moment he first walked into the guard tower with his father all those years ago. The boy aspired for greatness, knowing he would someday be on that very stage by his father’s side. Back then, he knew he would hold his head high and feign modesty while he thanked everyone for their acknowledgements.
Leave it to his father to want to mingle while his family waited for him back in the apartment. Within ten minutes of realising his father was getting comfortable with some of his former partners, Demetrius excused himself from the company of the men and started back. The rehearsals ran longer than he thought necessary, and he could only imagine his sister crawling out of her skin with impatience. In another mood, the idea would’ve amused him enough to slow his steps. He knew, of course, that with his mother around it was unlikely anything would happen, but it did little to quiet the erratic pounding in his chest. “I’m running out of options, Caspian.” Demetrius drew to a dead stop at the sound of the prince’s voice and the mention of the man who managed to keep him rattled despite his extended absence. The boy crept over to the door. “You could try releasing her.” Carlton’s dispassionate response rang as clearly from behind the door. “I’m sure her fa
The palace was beautifully decorated for what would be four nights of ceremonies and celebrations before the prince’s wedding. The halls were filled with guests being ushered to one wing or the other. Those who’d received special invitation to remain within the royal halls for any—let alone all—the days were the most envied.Demetrius thought differently.The moment his family entered the palace, he felt his nerves begin to fry. The boy was openly on edge, looking around every corner for the danger he’d convinced himself would be coming. The servants smiled warmly, welcoming them with platitudes that were no doubt rehearsed weeks in advance. His family returned their smiles with varying degrees of ease, but Demetrius could scarcely coax the corners of his lips to rise. His muscles hurt from the constant tension that ran through them and he could feel the joints of his jaw tightening from the unrestrained teeth clenching, but
“Jerry…what…what’s this about?” “You’ve got some nerve,” he said, pushing past her to enter the living room. Behind him, four other men entered. They all did their best to avoid making eye contact with the woman despite having let themselves into her home. “Who are these people?” “The movers. Get the books off the second and third shelves,” he said. “Honey, I—” “Don’t call me that,” he said, snapping despite the lack of necessity for such hostility. “You don’t get to call me that, not after what you’ve done.” “Daddy,” Valerie tried, too cautious this time to reach out for him. “Where are you going?” The man gritted his teeth. “I’m not your father, despite what your whore of a mother’s led you to believe—the things in the third bedroom from the stairs, too, men. I want the nightstand, the dresser—leave the bed. That slut’s done too many things on there while I was at work. She can keep that for the next time she runs into