Nadine Book 4

23. Pretty Flowers

Tye pinches my butt. "I'll go announce us to my dad and tell him what we're doing. You can go up."

Dipak grabs onto me and picks me up. "I have to carry the little one. She didn't walk last time." He tickles me.

I laugh hard. "DIPAK." I try to push his hand off my belly.

"You're going to make her pee."

"Alright fine." He throws me over his shoulder, and we go up to the room I was in.

I lay down on the empty bed.

I remember Dipak. He was yelling at everyone. Trying to figure out where they were. He was such a mess and then to get sent away. That had to have been horrible for him.

I remember Tre. He was a mess too. I remember he kissed my head. He had blood on him that wiped off. He told me I was safe now.

Kane set in the chair to my left. He told me it was 6 hours.

Tye sat in the chair to my right. I guess I never realized it, but I think he was crying too. We weren't even that close then. I must have been bad.

I remember Cruor asking if I wanted knocked out.

I remember the magician that cut into my neck. That felt like lava. It was hot. Felt like he was melting my flesh off.

I was happy when I felt my dragon again. Then she healed me. I remember the blood Kane kept pouring down my throat.

"There's nothing here."

I walk out the door and Dr. Androes comes in fast.

"AAAAAHHHHH!" I spider monkey Marcus.

The doctor throws his papers all over. Then he nods. "Still extreme on the reactions. I see you found her Marcus."

Tre helps the doctor pick up his papers and Marcus puts me on my feet. "She's fine. Been through a lot."

"I came to see if you needed anything from me?"

Dipak looks at him. "We are going over what happened the day she was taken. As expected, there's nothing here. But we wanted to be sure."

I try to leave again and Tye comes in. He nearly runs right into me. I jump straight up. Then I start crying.

"I'm sorry I scared you babydoll." He picks me up, and I wrap my arms and legs around him.

I cuddle my head into his neck.

"We're leaving. There's nothing here. Going to fly over to the house now."

Tye lifts me up higher on his hips and pats my butt. I shake my head. "I'm a good girl."

"Good girls get butt pats baby."

We go down a flight of stairs, then I hear his dad talking. "There's a ball at Phoenix castle in 3 weeks. You'll need to join."

I hear Dipak. "We need to do that too."

"I don't care where he sits, he needs to be there. I'll need him to be introduced as our prince though. It would be helpful if he would be introduced with her. That would explain why he's not at our table. But yes, it's going to be big. 7 families already."

Tre perks up. "Why so big?"

"They say they found the queen of queens."

I lift my head off Tye's shoulder. "Did they find me?"

"They're going to try to say it's their daughter."

"I'm not going." I plop my head down.

"You have to go. I need a date babydoll." He pats my butt again.

"Fine. But we're taking Ylle and Tanny."

Dipak smirks. "Can me and Tre take them?"

I jump off Tye and go for his sword. "WHY DIPAK?" I can't get the sword off. "GIVE ME THE SWORD TYE."

He unhooks it and smiles.

"Thanks asshole." Dipak blocks my first swing.

"WHY YOU WANT TO TAKE HER?"

"Man, you punched me earlier."

He keeps blocking my swings. "I SAID I WAS SORRY." He blocks another one. "WOMAN, YOU SAID YOU WANT TO TAKE THEM. I WAS THINKING ME AND TRE. SINCE YOU'RE GOING WITH TYE. THAT'S ALL. WE LOVE ONLY YOU."

"FINE. I want as many dragons as possible there. Marcus, you're going with Thora." I hand Tye back is sword.

Kane shakes his head. "You can't do that..."

I glare at him. "STOP TALKING OR HE WILL GO WITH MARY. THEN SHE CAN SAY SHE'S ON A DATE WITH A REAL PRINCE."

Kane nods. "Thora's fine."

The boys laugh.

I stop in the hallway. "I can't put Elkie or Dorseti with Frode. They would drive him insane. What about that doorknob I gave to Dipak? Does she have a dragon?"

"I can go with Elkie or Dorseti. It's fine with me."

"WHY IS THAT TRE?" I go for Tye's sword again.

"BECAUSE THEY ENTERTAIN THEMSELVES. I DON'T HARDLY HAVE TO TALK TO THEM. THEY RUN OFF WITH OTHER GIRLS THE FIRST CHANCE THEY GET."

"SO YOU DON'T LIKE TALKING TO ME?"

"I ONLY LIKE TALKING TO YOU. I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO ANY OTHER GIRLS."

"He's terrible at it anyway, sweetheart. You know this already. You're the only girl he can talk to."

I keep walking. "That is true."

"You know Omar always takes Ylle."

Dipak smiles. "Let me talk to Ylle before you ask Elkie or Dorseti, she may have a couple of friends who want to see this too."

"Can I go as the queen?"

"Baby, you can't go as the queen of the village because Dipak is the king of the village. What sense would that make when you are announced with Tye, the prince of another village?"

"That would start some drama."

Tye wraps his arms around me from behind. Then he walks with me. I pick my feet up to see if he's paying attention. My butt hits the ground.

He picks me up. "What are you doing woman?"

"I wanted to see if you were paying attention."

"Not to your feet. I wasn't." He pulls me in tight to his side.

His mom and another woman come around a corner. "Helen, you know my son. This is his mate, Nadine."

I curtsey. "Pleasure to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine. Hard to believe they found each other this young."

"Neither of them are old enough for a mate yet. But I knew quickly. My boy nearly took out 10 servants and 3 tables to get to her to do the bonding test. First time he saw her." Then they laugh and keep going.

"10 servants and 3 tables?"

"They kept getting in my way."

"You know son, if you looked away from her and watched where you were going, it might have been easier."

He pulls me in close. "I still can't look away."

I give him a little kiss. "Mine."

"All yours babydoll."

We get out the front door and Omar is with the guards and the herd of magicians. He's about to pull his hair out. Or is already trying to pull it out. It's all over the place.

Tye's dad puts his eyebrows up. "Come in and have a drink. They can make it to the next spot."

Omar nearly runs over us to get inside.

We fly to the little house. It's still empty and falling down. The magicians show up a couple of minutes after we do. I watch them. There are 16 of them. They point stuff out to each other and talk quietly. Not sure why that is hard to handle.

I go inside with the boys and put the glasses on. We go through the main level. Nothing here. We go upstairs. We go through each room. Then we get to the last room. There are blood stains on the floor.

"He died here?"

"Yes baby."

Omar comes in. "Sorry, I really needed that drink."

I see a blue box on the ground in the closet. It's fairly small, about as big as my hand. But it's definitely glowing blue. And it's open. I go into the room with everyone. I'm still holding it in my hands. It's empty. It's an empty little box.

Omar turns white as a ghost. "Where did you get that?"

"Closet."

"It was already open?"

"Yes. Found it laying on the floor."

He takes it. "Can you go out and send the magicians in please?"

"Of course. Be right back." I run.

I find them behind the house in the flower field. "Sorry to bother you, but Omar wants to show you something upstairs in the house."

"It's no bother child." The first one goes and the rest follow.

"We like flowers' sweetie." One says as she goes by.

I follow them in. They are making weird noises about the box.

Dipak tickles me. "To many people in this little room, woman. Let's go outside."

I laugh and try to push his hand back. He throws me over his shoulder and carries me outside. Tre and Tye follow us out.

Tye winks. "Where did you find the herd?"

"Over here. They were looking at the pretty flowers."

"Not as pretty as you, baby."

I give Tre a hug.

"That's how you talk to girls, Tre. Try that on your date."

I pick up a rock and throw it at Dipak.

He dodges it and they laugh.

"Don't tell him how to talk to girls."

"Sorry sweetheart. I didn't think that through. Forget what I said, Tre."

Tre rubs his eyes.

Tye winks at me. "You know. I have a parade coming up in a couple of months. Will I be able to be in it?"

"Only with a blindfold, sir."

"I could always let Tre go in my place."

I shake my head. "Don't get Tre's hopes up like that."

They laugh so hard.

Tre nods. "You can't do that to me. You know how much I love boobs."

I pick up a rock and throw it at Tre.

"I MEANT ONLY YOUR BOOBS BABY."

I shake my head. "Thank god you can't talk to women. If you could, I'd have to watch you closer."

Dipak falls over and lays on the ground laughing.

Tre picks me up, then tickles me like Dipak did.

When he lets me go, I run for it. They take off after me. Even Dipak gets up.

"Baby, if I catch you, I'm tickling you again."

He makes me run faster through the flowers. Then I trip and fall straight down. Of course, I did. I jump up and they stopped. They're just laughing.

"You ok babydoll?"

I try to see what I tripped over. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

It's a body. It's been there a long time. It's in the same condition as the ones in the cave. But the hair, the hair is like my brothers.

-Blackness-