Nadine Book 3

74. Cake

We all go to dinner after the meeting. It's still not over. Johen is staying another night. I sit by him at dinner again. We mainly talk about humans.

When dinner is over, I sneak off to my house. I want to be alone. I sit on my swing. Then it hits me, I should check on Fred and Bob. Hopefully they didn't starve to death in all those days.

I get to the barn and Tye and Johen come up behind me. "What you doing over here?"

"Checking on everything." I think it would be rude to say I want to be alone now. "Chicken coop has some damage that needs fixed."

"Damage from what?"

"I don't know. I think something hit it."

The smell is off in the barn. I plug my nose. "What is that Tye?"

"You 2 wait outside and let me check."

"NO. It's my barn."

"Then wait right here."

"Fine."

I stand by the door. "So how you holding up being here?"

"I like it. It's really different than where I'm from."

"Yea, that's why I like where you're from."

"MAKE DOOR. FIND DIPAK. GO."

"WHAT?"

"NOW."

I speed to the front door and the boys run behind me. I make the door to the king's office. I turn to see where they are. They run right into me. We all land on the floor in Dipak's office.

Tye jumps up and releases all the magic. "GUARD SUMMON DIPAK TRE DRACUL KANE GUNNER OMAR"

Dipak picks me up then he helps Johen up. "What is going on?"

My eyes fill with tears. "I think something may have happened to Fred and Bob."

Tre gives me a hug. "It'll be ok baby. We can get you a new Fred and Bob."

"Fred and Bob are her baby pigs."

"That barn did not smell good at all."

"Did you see anything?"

"No. Tye went to check it out. We stood by the door. He came out all freaked out and screaming at her to make a door."

Tye looks at me. "Make a door to your house please." He says it so polite compared to how freaked out he is. I expected him to command that. "You can't come back. You and Johen stay here please."

I make the door.

"Thank you." Tye kisses my head and goes in.

I am so confused by his reactions. Dipak says, "Stay in the castle. You don't have to stay here. We'll figure it out and let you know."

"So what was that place?"

"My house." We go to the advisor wing. With 16 guards in tow. "A garden, pigs, chickens, a place for a fire, a swing on the porch. There's a lake for fishing and water. I'll show it to you tomorrow if they let me go back by then."

"Why do you have all that when you have all this?"

"This is what I've had my whole life. Servants, guards, meetings. A bunch of men telling me what to do every second of every day. Princess ball gowns. Tiara's. The perfect princess. My boys built it for me, so I could have a place to be normal. To see what it's like. That house is everything I want. Everything I've ever wanted."

"Who is your mate? I thought it was Tre, and then I heard Tye call you baby."

"Nothing in my life is normal. So my mate wouldn't be either. I'm technically not old enough to have a mate yet. I'm to young to feel the mate pull. But there is a test magicians can run to see if someone is your soul mate. They mix your blood and check the markers somehow. Well, Dipak came back my soul mate immediately." Johen nods. "And then Tre did too."

He puts his eyebrows up. "So you have 2 soul mates?"

"There's more. After awhile, they ran some more tests. I can hold up to 4 soul mates. I only have 2. It's Tre and Dipak. But Tye's parents ran the soul mate test on us. It came back blue. Which is almost a match. They can do more testing to see if we are soul mates but Dipak refuses to have it done. Since he's my primary mate, he has control. He's refusing any and all testing now. He says it freaks me out. ALL OF YOU STAY HERE. I WILL NOT HURT HIM." We go in my apartment and sit down. The guards stay in the hallway.

"Does it?"

"Yes very much. I almost always go unconscious. He's not wrong. But it leaves me wondering about Tye. I don't know what to think. I mean, if he is going to be my mate, I don't want to push him away. But if he's not then I could keep more distance between us. Maybe not kiss him anymore."

We start laughing. "But you say it's not normal?"

"No, usually people get 1. Then they get a little house and make some babies. That's not at all what my life is turning into."

"What is your life turning into?"

"It appears that I'm not just the vampire queen. I'm the queen of all species. All magical beings. Maybe humans. I'm not sure. But it's my job to keep them all alive. To make sure they never go extinct. I have to protect everyone, and that gets tricky sometimes. Awhile back, a boulder almost fell on a werewolf prince. I got a vision and had to go save him."

"That sounds stressful. What happened to you and Dipak? You're king and queen. Soul mates, but you don't talk or anything really?"

"He beat me. He was drunk. I talked to him a little bit today at lunch. But not really much else since then." I shrug my shoulders. "He's still a good king."

"You going to forgive him?"

"Maybe someday. It's still 13 years before I can be claimed or feel the mate pull. That's a long time."

"So you have a choice about whether to bond with him or not."

"Yes, I can refuse the bond. As could he. I have to be of age to refuse it though."

Someone knocks on the door. I expect it's one of the boys, so I wait. Then I remember Tye won't walk in. "ENTER."

A vampire walks in. She's dressed like one of my servants. I've never known a servant to knock. "I brought you a nightly snack, ma'am."

"Thank you." She stays bowed. She's waiting for me to say rise. "1 second please. I need you to take something to the jeweler for repairs."

"Of course, ma'am."

I go over to the table and grab my 2 swords. As fast as I can, I remove her head. When her body falls, I shove a sword through her heart. "DO NOT TOUCH THOSE JOHEN."

He's not speaking. He looks scared to death. I realize now that my eyes are red too. That's probably not helping the situation for him any.

I fling open the door. "Raise the alert level to maximum and get me the king NOW!"

1 second later, every alarm in the castle goes off. 16 guards surround me. Mary runs in ready to kill someone.

7 seconds later. Dipak, Tre, Tye, and Kane take out half the wall, coming in at the same time.

"What happened?"

I point at her. "She brought me cake."

Tre smiles. "You didn't want cake?"

"She knocked." They all nod.

Dipak yells, "NO ONE TOUCH THE CAKE."

"Then she bowed. She was waiting for me to say rise. So I told her to wait a second. I had something for her to take to the jeweler. I grabbed my swords and killed her."

Mary picks up her head. "This is not one of our servants."

Dracul come in. "What happened?"

I point at her body. "She brought me cake."

He looks at Dipak.

Dipak smiles. "She knocked. And waited on rise. She's not our servant."

Omar runs in. "I see the door is gone. That's why I couldn't come here. NO ONE TOUCH THAT CAKE! DID ANYONE TOUCH THAT CAKE?"

Johen shakes his head. "No one touched it in here, Omar. What is it?"

"It's cursed. I'll summon the magicians again. Be right back. NO ONE EVEN TOUCH THE PLATE. ACTUALLY LEAVE THE ROOM. ALL OF YOU OUT."

Tye throws me over his shoulder so fast. He carries me and my swords to his apartment. Johen and 16 guards follow us in.

He puts me on the couch and sits beside me. Right beside me. We are touching. Any closer, I will be on his lap.

"Please don't go anywhere. Just sit there and let me sit here. Do not roam off. Sit here and let me think a minute please."

I rub his back. "I'll sit here. Right here. You can relax."

"Thank you." He puts his arm on the couch behind me and sits back into his spot. His head falls back, and he sits there quietly.

I glance around at all the guards and Johen. This is weird. Tye rubs my shoulder and arm with his thumb. That feels good. I lean into his side. He's so warm.

I feel myself getting lifted. I open my eyes and Tye is carrying me. It's dark, and I can't see when he stands me up. But he helps me into one of his shirts. He lays me down in bed then snuggles with me and covers us up. Then he starts rubbing my back.