Six: Clark Endless
1171 Words
Chapter Six
Clark Endless
Hook was there.
He stood, in my family home, as if he had a right to be there. He’d walked in with Nia and Louisa, perfectly calm. I saw him as I was coming down the stairs after having just left Ben to sleep in my old room.
“Hook,” I snarled.
His Caribbean Sea blue eyes looked up at me, and he smiled that familiar wicked smile. I understood what Emma had seen in him. He was every bit the pirate rogue romance novels waxed soliloquy on. But that didn’t mean I was happy that he was with Emma.
He had found out that he was her true love, and then he had bailed her. Leaving her in a cursed state for years and years. We’d spent ages searching for him before giving up.
“Your highness,” he said, bowing slightly.
I wasn’t sure if he genuinely didn’t know I wasn’t king anymore, or if he was trying to goad me into punching him by being cruel. I suspected it was the latter, and clenched my fists, trying my best to remain calm.
“What’s the plan?” I asked. “If I don’t like it, I’m going to kill you. I might kill you anyway.”
“It involves time travel,” he said, “and breaking your poor, unfortunate heart.”
“My heart?” I stared at him. “What about Ben? I won’t…. I won’t forget him, will I?”
He shook his head. “No, that’s not Emma’s intention. She doesn’t want you broken hearted. She just wants to get your ending right.”
“What is the right ending?” I asked.
He hesitated. “According to her, it’s to make sure that you two aren’t together.”
“But…. that’s how we save her from the demons.”
“I’m aware,” he said, “a f*****g foolish move on your part. If we make certain that you two never have s*x, that the child is never born….we change everything. We can restore Faerie to it’s rightful rulers.”
“And who are they?” I asked. “Certainly not Ben and myself.”
“No,” he said, “Tatiana and Oberon. If we do this, they will both be so grateful they will have to free you of any bargains they held you previously. Besides which, faerie law dictates that they have to uphold earth law for humans. Earth law dictates that no contracts can be made without a minor’s parental consent. The bargain made for Emma was made by someone who was never related to her. Moira Endless, and I suspect that she had something to do with your father being turned to stone.”
“You mean----”
“Sorry,” said Hook, glancing at Louisa, “your father.”
“Why would she turn my father to stone?” Louisa said.
“Look, regardless of what she felt for you, she sold his other daughter to Oberon before she was even born. She lied to The Faerie King to keep you safe. I understand why she did it. Because she wanted you to live the life that you rightly deserved. Moira might not have been thrilled at the prospect of the man that she loved having an affair with another woman and having to take care of her daughter. It was the perfect way to get back at your father without having to actually do anything.”
“Are you saying my Mum did this out of revenge?” Louisa asked, her eyes blazing with fury. Beside her, the silver staff she used as gatekeeper was glowing bright blue, and sparking as if it sensed how upset she was.
“I’m a pirate, Louisa. I know a revenge plot when I see it,” he said with a twinkle in his Caribbean Sea blue eyes. I hated how very, very right he was.
“He’s right,” I said, “and Emma deserves her chance at a happy ending. If it’s time travel that requires getting her what she needs, then we’ll do whatever it takes. Besides, Edward was never meant to be ours.”
Louisa glanced toward me. “Are you sure about this? Nia and I have been working on several plans that could get both of them back----”
“It was foolish of me, loving Emma,” I said, “I was lying to myself, and lying to her. I’d always felt like an outsider in this family and I thought that somehow being with her would make me belong more. If I hadn’t been in love with her, I would have helped her find another way to defeat Oberon. Maybe we could have even sent her off with Hook in the first place.”
“That’s what Emma would like,” Hook said, “she wants you all to help her get to me. If you could.”
“Everyone deserves their shot at true love,” I said, “I’ll do whatever we can to help.”
“Good, because you’re going to have a lot of work to get that stick out of your arse so that you can fall in love with Ben Taylor.”
Louisa smirked. “Maybe not.”
I stared at my sister. “Oh, I know that face. That’s your scheming face. People are going to die, aren’t they?”
“Not people,” she said, “just relationships. It’s okay though. For the better good.”
“That’s how all dictators start off,” I reminded her.
“Trust me,” said Louisa, “This is going to work. I’ve got a plan. If we’re going to time travel, we might as well get it right.”
I did not like the sound of any of this one bit. I didn’t want to lose Ben, not after I had taken so long to find him. To come to terms with who I really was. A bisexual man in love with another man.
Had I loved Emma? Yes. Did the fact that I was with Ben now make our love any less? No. But Ben made me feel a kind of security that I hadn’t known before. With him, the world fell into place. And I never wanted to lose that sense of self ever again.
But I also didn’t want to lose Emma. She wasn’t the love of my life, but I still loved her.
- Writer
