Chapter 12: Chapter Ten: Moment of Peace

Ava felt her hands shake as she placed Lucas’s bowl of stew down in front of him. She had to clear all of the flowers away from the living room and place them in her room just so that all four of them could eat together.

But that distraction only lasted a few seconds when Gene and Cole came home with knowing, teasing looks on their faces once they found Lucas walking out of her room with her. Ava hated how quickly she tried to cover for him as if they had been doing anything other than placing his gifted flowers into her room but her words only drove them into wriggling their eyebrows and acting like they needed to have the baby talk with her.

Ava sat down on the opposite side of the table and picked up her spoon before she pulled her lips into a thin line. “Just say it.”

“Say what, dear sister of mine?” Gene questioned innocently as his shoulder bumped into hers. His dark eyes looked down and his mouth turned up into an innocent grin. “This is lovely stew.”

She rolled her eyes and groaned. Ava was hoping that this wasn’t going to happen, she was hoping that they would be normal but as Cole snickered next to Lucas who was pretending to be oblivious, she wished that they had stayed in the cabin and never left.

And then she made the mistake of looking into Cole’s blue eyes before he took that invitation to open his mouth. “Do I need to start making that serum?”

“Oh my…No!”

“What serum?”

She felt her face burn, her body slowly sinking in her chair while Cole turned to Lucas. “There is a drink to prevent pregnancies. Can’t have you two making babies this fast.”

Lucas’s eyes widened slightly, his amusement turning to her before he spoke. “Should have told my brother this before he got Mackenzie pregnant.”

“Oh, you’re an uncle?” Gene asked, his interest suddenly away from her non-existent sex life and she couldn’t help herself but look at Lucas with gratitude.

He nodded, his eyes flicking from hers to Gene’s. “Yes, Zack met Mackenzie about a year and a half ago. They were forced to get married due to Zack being king but their child was a surprise for all of us.”

“What about your other brother…I forget his name?”

Ava rolled her eyes. She knew that Gene hadn’t forgotten about Raphael because the moment Gene saw him, he had a giant crush. Cole was jealous beyond belief but then she heard what the sight of Raphael did to Gene through the wall and now she hoped that they never see each other again. Gene and Cole were loud most nights but that night was the worst sleep she had ever had.

Cole followed along with his eye roll as Lucas answered. “Raph met Abigail not that long ago. I like her and when I left they were slowly starting to form their bond. They could be marked and mated by now but from what Ava said, they are secretly married.”

All eyes turned towards her as she shrugged. “I never gave a specific time frame.”

Lucas pouted slightly. “I was hoping that they were already. Abby is good for him.”

She felt his love for his two sisters-in-law and felt like now that she was in his life, that castle would be bustling with activity. Up until Cole opened his mouth. “What about that guy who is Zack’s second in command?”

“Oh! I forgot about that guy.”

Cole gave Gene that ‘sure you did’ look while Lucas spoke. “August and Nymeria are complicated. They got together at the same time that Zack and Mack were but I don’t think Nim is fully there yet. She’s been helping him with training the warriors but she still refuses to enter the castle and join family dinners. Her companions and their kittens do.”

“Wait! Companions?” Gene questioned in shock. “She’s an assassin? They only have one…”

Lucas shrugged. “Nobody knows why she has two and she also has this Wizard, Simon who has turned into our grandfather. He is the reason that Nim and August were paired, to begin with, same with Zack and Mack and he paired Mack’s sister Marley with her mate as well.”

Ava felt herself suck in a breath and chock. Her shock was so sudden that she regretted having food in her mouth while Gene helped her breathe through her tears. Once she was able to talk, she looked up at a concerned Lucas. “You know Marley and Sawyer?”

“You know Marley and Sawyer?” He mimicked back with Cole and Gene tossed their eyes between them in confusion.

Ava kept this secret and she wasn’t willing to share but it seemed like that option was thrown out the window. “One night, I couldn’t sleep so I decided to go for a walk.” She paused and gently grinned up at Gene who growled at her confession before she continued. “I guess I walked further than I should have because I found myself between our shoreline looking out towards the Thieves. There was nobody around but I saw a boat coming and hid. That was when I saw Marley and Sawyer…. I… I don’t know what drove me to help them but I built that cabin for them and kept them hidden for three days. I’ve been wondering where they have been this whole time, I liked Marley and she became a friend to me.”

Lucas’s softened, the sadness in his eyes instantly made her regret saying what she just said before he sighed and placed his hands in his lap. “Marley and Sawyer came to our castle asking for help. They were looking for the crystal heart that was in our mountains.”

“Wait, like that one story…”

Lucas nodded at Cole’s question. “Yes. That was no story, it was real and they were the couple who made that legend a reality.”

Ava felt herself whimper as she stared down at her bowl. “But…that means…”

“It doesn’t mean that she died,” Lucas said strongly as he cleared his throat. It looked like he didn’t like the sound of her whimper and neither did Cole or Gene as they shuffled in their spots. “I refuse to believe that she died for Mackenzie. Simon has been making cryptic rhymes about her and Sawyer and I believe that Sawyer is coming once we come back to the kingdom. I think he needs all of us to have our mates and I figured this because each of you has your own gifts.”

“I’m confused.” Gene admitted as he crossed his arms. “All the girls have their own gifts?”

Lucas nodded. “Nobody has but two and two together and neither had I until I saw Ava that day she exposed her power. Mackenzie is part human, part demon. She was raised human but Abigail is teaching her how to use her abilities because Abigail is also part demon, part vampire. Nymeria is an assassin and well… I don’t know what she possesses but I’ve seen her do a few mind-blowing things so I assume she will have a role in helping Sawyer.”

“And me?” Ava questioned.

He thought about it for a moment. “Mackenzie is the mother of our group, she keeps us all together. Abigail is our survivor, she makes sure that any conflict is resolved so that it doesn’t affect the kingdom and Nymeria is the person who protects everyone. She keeps herself in the shadows but if you truly need her, she will be there.” He then stared into her eyes as if he was looking into their future. “And you, Ava. You have such a gentle heart, you’ll be the one who brings peace. You already bring peace and when Sawyer comes, I think you’ll be the one to convince him to let go of that crystal heart.”

The table fell silent once he was finished, his words cutting deep into her soul but in a good way. And what he had said made sense, she felt it when she connected with everyone through their scents. She felt their connected bonds and how the group worked and she was pleased that Lucas saw this too but she didn’t know how deeply needed she was to complete their group until now. She was the last piece to their puzzle and that both fascinated and scared her.

“Wow.” Gene breathed before he moved his eyes down towards Ava and winked. “I knew you were special.”

Ava rolled her eyes and shook her head before standing. “I think that was enough excitement for one night. I’ll walk you back to the ship.”

“Oh, there is no need,” Cole said with a glint in his eyes that she suddenly didn’t like. “We have a spear bed, remember. He can stay here for the night.”

Lucas frowned in confusion but she knew what Cole was talking about. She had a mattress under her bed for visitors but that would mean that they would be sharing her room and she didn’t know how to feel about that. But then as she looked between Cole and Gene as they waited for her to protest, she knew that they did this on purpose.

“I forgot about that bed.” She shrugged with an innocent, knowing smile between her deceiving, wanna-be match-making brothers. “I’ll go and get that ready now.”

“I don’t-“

“Don’t be silly!” She said brushing him off as he raised both his eyebrows in a questioning look. “It’s cold and it’s dark. Making this bed would be no problem at all.”

Gene went to say something but she was already walking away. She knew that this mattress was impossible to pull out on her own, she knew that Cole was setting her up so that she would give up and offer to sleep beside Lucas but she wasn’t going to play their game and her determination was stronger than their will to see her happy.

Self-sabotage was glorious.