Page 5 of Imbalance
Oh, fuck. That's right, Adrien had announced that Ama was somehow our fated mate. Whatever the fuckthatmeant.
"Explain yourself, Wraith," I demanded with my eyes narrowed suspiciously. What if this was just a ploy to get me to try to stay with them?
"Yes, please do," Ama practically whispered as she tucked a stray strand of her long hair behind her ear and nibbled on her lower lip.
Fuck, I wanted to tug her lip from her mouth with my own. I wanted to learn how she tasted and feel her writhe beneath me.
Which is exactly why I needed to get away from here. I couldn’t focus on what was important when she was around.
Nico finally managed to pull himself together enough to stand and join us so that we were all in a circle staring at Adrien, who was rubbing his chin while staring at the ground. Drayven was standing behind Ama with his arms wrapped around her and his head resting on the top of her head.
Jealousy burned within me. I wanted to take her into my arms, but at the same time, I still wanted to fly away from her and all of these heirs. I needed to go back to the capital and take this shit storm into my own hands.
To sum it up, I was utterly fucking confused about what to do. My mind and heart were at war, and I didn't know which was going to win.
CHAPTER THREE
Ama
Fated mates? What did that mean?
I was lost in my thoughts, but I noticed all of the men had gathered around and were finally being quiet instead of bickering amongst themselves.
Colt's words had sliced deep, and I was trying to mentally compartmentalize them into a bin to deal with later. He had blatantly claimed his feelings for me were the reason his parents were dead now.
My knee-jerk reaction was to tell him to fuck off because that hurt, but a second later, I couldn't help but wonder...wasit my fault?
And I couldn't stop thinking about what was happening to my dad—to all of our parents who had been imprisoned—or how two sets of them had already been killed. It was just a matter of time until the rest of them were executed, I was sure.
Dad...why did you sacrifice yourself to push us through a portal, when you knew there wasn't time for you to come through with us?
Almost immediately, words he had said to me countless times when I was upset about something popped into my head,causing my eyes to burn with unshed tears.
"I may be Supreme and, therefore, have a lot of duties to make sure our realm is fair and at peace, and it might seem like I'm always busy, but my first and most important job is being your father, Ama. If there is anything wrong, I want you to know that nothing could keep me from fixing it for you, if it is within my power to do so."
I didn't know how he’d known I needed him at the time of the attack, but he had shown up and fixed it, even—it seemed—at the cost of his own life.
A large hand came into view just before it wiped away the tears that had fallen down my face as I thought of my dad. "Come back to me, beauty," Adrien whispered, and I immediately felt at peace as I stared into his glacial eyes and processed the fact that Drayven was holding me in his arms.
We would get through this—all of us, including my dad. I'd accept no other option.
Taking a shaky breath, I blew it out and nodded, "I'm here. Please continue—I need to know what you meant by your statement."
Adrien hesitated for a moment, his gaze roaming my face and seeming to take in every inch as he tried to read me and make sure I was okay for now. I smiled softly at him, and he finally nodded and stepped back, facing everyone now.
"It's no secret that I'm not a socialite. When I’m not spending time with my parents and sister, I prefer to be left alone to read books and research topics that are of interest to me."
My heart ached, wondering where his sister ended up in this situation. I knew it had to be eating him alive, yet somehow, he managed to keep his logical hat on and was helping us sort through all of this.
He licked his lip, drawing my eyes to them as I considered our last kiss, before he continued, "In one of the archaic books my parents kept tucked away in our library, I found a lot of information that would completely unravel how our society functions. When I brought it to my parents’ attention, the fearful looks they shared confirmed that what I read had been real."
"Get to the point. I don't have all day. There are people likely being killed every minute at the capital," Colt interjected in a snarky manner that made me want to hit him with my wings again.
Adrien's voice increased in volume as he lashed out in return, "You don't think I know that, Colt? That my parents are being held captive and my sister is probably locked away in our quarters, all alone and scared to death at the screams of the people being killed. Shut the fuck up and listen to me."
That confirmed my thoughts about his sister and also caused Colt to lower his eyes to the ground, likely admitting he had been in the wrong for his words.
I couldn't imagine the immense pain Colt was feeling with the loss of his parents, but the other heirs weren't the people he needed to be taking his emotions out on. We were the only people who could possibly begin to understand. Especially Nico.
