We Promised

Chapter 11

I'm always first in everything when it comes to me and Blayne. He surprises me when I find him awake before me, jostling through my closet. I leap out of bed as quietly as I dare and a grin forms on my lips, watching him do everything for me. "Blayne, leave some for me to do." He doesn't even pass a glance in my direction and I curse, breaking into a small smile. Any attempt to try and scare him goes out the window. He smirks and my smile falls. Something is wrong. "Well spit it out. I know you like the back of my hand." He grimaces, knowing that we know each other inside and out. "What did they do to you, Vera? What did they make you see? I thought the nightmares stopped." I don't answer him. I look away, I look anywhere else but at him.

The things that I saw still haunt me, and I'm not ready to share them with anyone. I'd rather keep it in the deepest parts of me, and let it destroy my soul instead of anyone else's, especially Blayne's. He frowns, throwing some of my features back at me. "That's what you're worried about, Blay Blay?" His scowl deepens at my failure to take him seriously. I finally give in, my mind traveling back to the month in the bunker. "I saw many things. I was held in a cell for a few weeks. But, afterward, they let me go. It's strange, they tried to make me feel welcome and a part of something. All I know is they are planning something big." They're trying to take over, I want to say. I purse my lips into a thin line. Even now I'm helping them, helping him and I feel sick. I don't know where I stand or who I'm helping anymore. To my chagrin, he presses on my withheld truth. "There's more to it than you're letting on. What aren't you saying?" I release the breath I didn't know I was holding as a strong knock lapse against the door.

For once I'm relieved at the sound of my sister's pestering dominant voice, only because it gets me out of this conversation. "Are you decent? I'm coming in," Evelyn announces. I whisper hastily to my brother. "I'll explain later." He gives me a sharp nod and continues stripping my closet while I hover over my desk. I examine the pinned locations on the map that we are to follow.

We're going to Colist, the Raylands, Trayens, Sarilon, Plaica, and my favorite, Biltar. Biltar is an island, one that I visited as a little girl, and it's beautiful. I expect to return to the castle, with tinted light caramel skin. I grimace at the thought of going overseas again, the reminder of Jaxon lingering over me and putting me in a mood. My brother has no idea how strongly I feel for the agitator, aided by my denial to face the facts myself. Once Blayne figures it out, I have no doubt he'll be livid. He hates Jaxon as much as I do but there's a difference in our relationship with the enemy. Blayne feels pure hate for him but I have a sliver of an emotion that I can't place.

Evelyn and I have always had a complicated relationship, where we butted heads a lot. We love each other just enough to protect each other, but I don't know how far she would go for me. I know Blayne or Corbin when he was alive, would die for me in an instant. My sister though, I'm not so sure what she would do if it came down to it.

She sweeps a hand over my arm and I flinch, the weight of the chains I was forced to wear for weeks, burning through my mind. The bruises linger faintly and I hide them quickly. I like them. They are my reminder not to pity Jaxon, and not to forget what he did to me. The question still floats around in my head like a blaring siren. Did you know she would have lived? Did you know my little sister would have come back? She notices my actions but takes it in stride, like the queen she is. She folds her hands in her lap as she sits on the chair by my desk. "As you know the tour begins today." I frown, being brought back to the reality of what I have to do today, or for the following weeks for that matter. "Yes and?" I give her a sidelong glance and she turns, finding our brother exiting my closet with a pile of well-sown dresses in his arms. Her features turn downward in a scowl and an emotion that I don't understand. Is that... jealousy? "I wanted to tell you something that I have been withholding from you guys. Mostly for the safety of the country and the safety of us, initiated by Lord Mandos." I cower at the name as if he were right behind me.