Blood of Destiny (Witch Fairy #6) Read online

  “Xandra, open your eyes and look at me.”

  “No, you can say whatever you have to say while my eyes are closed.”

  Using his thumb and index finger, he pries one of my eyes open. “I would like to have a conversation with you. Those usually go better with eye contact.”

  In lieu of him forcing my other eye open, I give in and open them both. He smiles and shakes his head. “If we are to be married, we both need to rid ourselves of our insecurities. I want nothing more in the world than to make love to you, which you should know by now.”

  “Then what’s the problem? We’re alone. We’re planning to get married as soon as possible.” And the clincher, “We’ve done it before. It won’t even hurt me.”

  Bringing that last little bit up hurts him, though. I can see it in his eyes but he doesn’t acknowledge it. “Yes, we have. And for some reason – I believe the blame lies within the magic of the Apsaras – we did so without any thought in the world about birth control. Have you not thought about the fact that you could be pregnant right now? And if you are not, do you want to become that way? I love you, more than anything, but I would like to spend some years just the two of us before we start a family. If you are already pregnant, then so be it. We will still be happy. If you are not, then we need to figure out what to do to prevent you from becoming so.”

  As he speaks, every last red blood cell in my head has decided to swim downstream. Even without a mirror, I can tell that my face is ghostly white. I probably look like Mom and Dad at the moment. Pregnant? At seventeen? I’m now imagining all the ways that Mom and Dad will kill me. I can see Isla’s face turning stormy as she does the same to Kallen.

  I am not ready to be a mother. I have a hard enough time keeping myself out of trouble, let alone a small child. Not to mention all the people who want to kill me outside of my immediate family. Saying ‘excuse me, could you hold off trying to kill me a moment while I change my baby’s diaper?’ is probably not going to be very effective in preventing my demise.

  A baby. Ambriel is right. I am self-centered, because all I can think about right now is how my life will change for the worse if I’m pregnant. There is so much I want to see and do and learn. I still have hopes for college, maybe, or vacations to exotic places with friends. Places that wouldn’t be the same to visit with a baby stroller. I want to spend time learning about my heritage, hone my magical skills. I have selfish dreams that I want to share with Kallen. And, right now, I want to keep most of my time with Kallen private. I’m not ready to share his love and affection yet. And yes, darn it, I’ll admit that I’m not mature enough to handle the responsibility of a baby. At this point in my life, I don’t know that I could be the kind of loving, understanding and patient mother that I hope to be someday. Sure, I’m loving towards my family and Kallen, but understanding isn’t even in my vocabulary. Pig-headed would be a more apt description of me. And most importantly, I haven’t seen the right side of patience since birth. I always thought I’d have time to grow into all of these things before having a baby.

  “Xandra,” Kallen says. I can hear the worry in his voice. “Xandra, answer me please.”

  I meet his eyes with mine. “Pregnant? Why didn’t you bring this up earlier?” Yeah, like he should have been the only one thinking about the possibility.

  His lips are in a grim line. “Because I was too angry with you for making that deal with Ambriel to worry about the really important things.”

  I bite my lip, trying to hold the words in my mouth, but they give my teeth a little ‘nah, nah’ and blow right by them. “I don’t want to have a baby right now.”

  The grim line on his face tries to move into a grim smile. “Neither do I.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  He shrugs. “All we can do is wait and see. And not repeat what has already happened,” he adds pointedly.

  Remember all those red blood cells that ran for cover earlier? They’re back. And they brought friends. I’m pretty sure that my face has become such an intense shade of red that even nature cannot replicate it. “Point taken.”

  He chuckles but he doesn’t sound amused. He pushes a loose strand of hair back from my face. “Someday, I want a daughter as beautiful as you.”

  I try to smile at the compliment. “Someday I want a son as gorgeous as you.”

  Kallen bends down and kisses me lightly. “Sometime very soon, I am going to make love to you. I am finding it nearly impossible to resist you, even after this conversation.”

  “Lie down with me again?”

  He nods. “Move over a bit.”

  I start to slide over into my original position with my back to the wall. My progress is suddenly affected by the hundred pounds of chainmail that stretches from the hood on my head to my ankles. Kallen laughs. “That is better,” he says. If I could lift my arm, I’d smack him with my chainmail gloved hand. And you know, if he was going to put me in chainmail, he could of at least given me underwear. This stuff is really cold.

  “Really? This is how you want to play this?” I ask.

  He’s getting a suspicious gleam in his eye. “Perhaps the chainmail was a bit much. I was simply trying to make you less desirable.”

  He realizes his mistake. I can see it in his eyes. He knows my magic gets much easier for me to use when I’m annoyed. “Good idea. I’ll give it a shot, too.” I give him a wicked smile as I work my magic. My gorgeous boyfriend now has curlers in his hair, a mud mask on his face, and is wearing a ratty, pink bathrobe with matching slippers.

  He looks down at himself and then back to me. “This is how you want to play it?” he asks, and I can tell from his voice that the chainmail is about to be replaced with something ten times worse.

  Yup. I was right. I am now wearing seaweed. Green, fresh from the sea cold, seaweed. It’s in my hair. It’s in my ears. It’s squishing between my toes.

  I can see Kallen brace himself for what I’m going to do next. I almost laugh like he is, but not quite yet. Now, I’ll laugh. He’s in a cast. A full body cast with his arms stuck straight out at his sides. He’s completely immobile. I did give him little eye holes and nostril holes on his face cast, though. Good thing he’s not claustrophobic. It’s also a good thing I didn’t make a mouth hole. I don’t think I want to know what he’s mumbling against the casting material. I laugh harder when he concedes with a wobble and the seaweed is replaced with a sensible pair of pajama pants and a long sleeved tee. Now, he’s pleading with his eyes for me to set him free. Which I do. I let him make his own clothes, though. Since I’m amused instead of annoyed now, who knows what could go wrong with my magic if I try to dress him.

  “Much better.” With a grin, he joins me on the cot again. Well, first he dries the sheets and blankets that the seaweed made wet, and then he joins me. “I love our time together. Did I mention I want to spend the rest of my life with you?” he asks, as he pulls me closer.

  I shake my head and sigh. “No, I don’t believe you’ve mentioned it.”

  With a playful growl, he captures my lips and kisses me breathless. When I can finally intake some oxygen, I say, “Okay, you may have mentioned it once or twice.”

  “Much better,” he says again, and he adjusts us slightly so he’s on his back and my head is resting on his chest. He’s making circles on my back with his fingers. “I love you.”

  I grin against his chest. “I love you, too.” It doesn’t take long for us to fall sleep despite our sexual frustration.

  Chapter 9

  All my dreams during the night are about babies. And all the babies are screamers. Except one. He’s a poop machine. Every time I change his diaper, he poops again. I can only use one hand to change him, though, because I have to use my foot and other hand to rock the complicated chain of screaming baby cribs attached to a pulley system and it requires the use of both limbs. It doesn’t make them stop crying, but if I don’t rock them constantly, the babies’ cries become deafening.

  I wake up to Kalle
n shaking me. “Xandra, it’s just a dream,” he’s saying.

  I force my consciousness to acknowledge him. He’s real. These screaming babies aren’t. Slowly, I wake enough to push my eyes open a little bit. I try to surreptitiously look around a little bit just to be sure there aren’t any real babies around.

  Kallen chuckles, and as if reading my mind, says, “There are no babies here. It was just a dream.”

  I open my eyes fully and let them adjust to the light from the bare bulb overhead. “How do you know what I was dreaming?”

  “You were screaming that the babies had to all shut up so you could concentrate on the poopy one.” He raises a brow. “I assume that was because he smelled so horribly?”

  I nod. “It was awful.” I didn’t even know you could smell things in dreams. I could definitely smell that baby’s poop, though.

  Kallen gives me a stern look. “If that is how you are going to be with babies, I am going to suggest we do not have any.”

  I pull the pillow out from under my head and bop him with it. “It was just a dream, remember?”

  He steals the pillow from me so I can’t bop him again. “Well, I believe you woke the entire island with your opinions on baby poop.”

  I can’t help it. My cheeks turn red. “Is Patrick here? Did he hear me?”

  He waits several heartbeats before he nods. Then he says, “No.”

  I try to grab the pillow from him but he holds it tight. “That wasn’t nice.”

  He shrugs and grins. “I never claimed to be nice.”

  Grabbing the front of his t-shirt, I pull him down to me. He’s wary until I lift my head and meet his lips with mine. After a quick kiss, I mumble against his lips, “Stop being a jerk.”

  He laughs and sits back up. “Perhaps in a few years. I am having too much fun to stop now.”

  I roll my eyes and sit up, as well. Through a yawn, I ask, “What time is it?”

  “A little after eight. Patrick should be back soon since the bar opens at nine. Then we can break the bad news to him that his new help will be deserting him today.”

  Aw. Poor Patrick. He was so excited to have more time with his lady friend. It takes some effort again to keep that visual from popping into my head, but I manage. Barely. “I feel bad. But not bad enough to stay a minute longer than we have to.”

  Kallen stands up and stretches. I love it when he does that. He looks like a sleek cat as all his muscles ripple with the movement. It makes me want to pull him back down to me again. No. Not until we figure out the whole baby thing. With a groan, I swing my legs over the cot and stand up. “I’m going to have some stale peanuts for breakfast.” There’s a big bag of them behind the bar.

  “Save some for me,” he says with a wink. “I’m going to start with the opening stuff Patrick wanted me to do.”

  “Kiss me first.”

  He grins. “My pleasure.” And he does. And it leaves me wanting so much more. Stupid hormones. We force ourselves to pull away before we end up in the same position we were in last night.

  Patrick walks in just as we’re about to unlock the door. Right behind him are the same gentlemen who were at the bar yesterday. They’ve brought some friends, as well. Turns out, a young married couple who show up out of the blue is equivalent to a Thanksgiving parade back home. I think half the island has come to watch us. The larger audience does not make me pour ale any better, though. Not to mention I don’t like the looks several of the women are sending Kallen. I don’t think some of them care if he’s a married man or not. Technically, he’s not, but they don’t know that.

  Considering how busy we are all day, you’d think the time would fly by. It doesn’t. Patrick serves breakfast and lunch, so Kallen is stuck in the kitchenette area cooking and I’m running back and forth delivering food on top of pouring drinks.

  Patrick is enjoying himself being on the other side of the bar for a change. He was bummed when we told him we were leaving, so he decided to live it up on his day off. By noon, he’s so drunk he has to go home, which is upstairs, and sleep it off. Most of the crowd thins out after lunch, but there’s still a fair amount of stragglers who come in the rest of the afternoon. By dinnertime, I’m exhausted. Kallen looks a little better than I do, but not much. I can’t wait to see Tabitha’s face when I tell her he spent all day cooking.

  Thinking that makes me homesick. I start watching the clock even closer which of course makes the time crawl by like an asthmatic snail. I am so relieved to see Ray come in at 7:45 that I’m tempted to give him a hug. I don’t. He’s still a Fallen Angel with a shady past in my opinion.

  When the last person is shooed out of the bar, Patrick turns to us. “Thank ye for givin’ these ol’ bones a wee bit o’ rest.”

  I smile. “You’re welcome.”

  “We must be going now,” Kallen says. He has a hand on my lower back and is gently propelling me towards the door. Ray is right behind us.

  “Going? Where? Are ye sleeping at Ray’s house tonigh’?”

  I start to say no but I’m drowned out by Ray. “Yes, they are. I’ve arranged for a boat to pick them up first thing in the morning.” Oh, yeah. There probably aren’t any boats coming out to the island after dark this time of year.

  With a final good bye, we walk out into the bitter cold. “Where are we going?” I ask, zipping the coat Kallen makes for me up to my chin. We’ve already told Ray that I can open gateways between the realms. That’s pretty common knowledge nowadays, so it’s not a big deal that he knows.

  “The Wishing Stone,” Ray says, walking ahead of us.

  “What’s that?”

  Ray smiles over his shoulder. “It’s a stone where you can make wishes.”

  Does everyone think they’re funny when they say things like that to me? Well, they’re not. “Thanks, I figured that part out on my own.”

  He chuckles. “It is a magical stone that will grant wishes. If you climb up to it, which is quite dangerous, and spin around three times, your wish will come true.”

  Huh. I wonder if you can wish away promises to Angels. Probably not. “Is it far?”

  “Not too far.”

  Fifteen minutes later, I sound like a kid on a long car trip. “Are we there yet?”

  Ray holds an arm out and points to the distant horizon. “You see that cliff? The Wishing Stone is the flat one on top of it.”

  I turn to Kallen. “Hey, that’s where we landed.” Kallen sighs and shakes his head at me.

  Ray stops walking and turns around. “What do you mean, that’s where you landed?”

  I suck at being secretive. I’ll give it a final try. “I meant, that’s where our boat let us off.” That earns me another head shake from Kallen.

  Ray crosses his arms over his chest. “There is no way a boat would pull up there.”

  I sigh. “Forget it, I was wrong.” I’ll try deflection. “Where are we going to do this?”

  Ray looks like he wants to ask me more, but he doesn’t. “There’s a spot next to the stone that should shield us from anyone seeing.”

  As we walk towards the Wishing Stone, a thought hits me. We were on top of it. And I spun around three or four times before I wished that I could teleport to the Fallen Angel. Great. Now, I don’t know if it was the magic of the stupid Wishing Stone, or the little rock in my pocket that brought us to him. I sigh. I guess we’ll find out with the next one.

  Another five minutes, and we’re where Ray thinks is safe. We all take a moment to scan the area until we’re satisfied that no one is around. Now, I close my eyes and I put my hand out and imagine I am peeling back the page of a huge book. I hear a slight intake of breath from Ray, so I guess it worked. I open my eyes and there it is. A gateway to the Fairy realm. I put my hand out and I clear the harmful elements from it so it won’t hurt when we step through. Then, I gesture to Ray to go first. He looks doubtful, but he goes anyway. Kallen follows and then me, closing the gateway behind us.

  It feels great being out of the biting cold.
The house in front of us is glowing in soft light, and even though I’ve only lived here for a short time, it feels like I’ve come home.

  “Xandra Illuminata Smith! You get your butt in this house right now and you explain why you and Kallen took off without telling anyone. And if you’re married, I will learn how to become corporeal just so that I can strangle you!” Yup, feels like home.

  Chapter 10

  “We’re not married, Mom,” I say as I trudge through the sand to the terrace stairs.

  “Then where have you been? You had no right to go off like this and make us all worry. Again. We thought maybe the Apsaras were back and kidnapped you again.”