Chapter Fourteen: Bradley Endless
1805 Words
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
BRADLEY ENDLESS
I was pacing by the door, waiting for Adelaide to come. Inside, I could feel my dragon pacing with me waiting to burst forth. Our mate was there. Our love was coming. I could smell her outside of the door. She was there, waiting, hesitant to knock.
I made the choice for her. I opened it up.
Adelaide stood there, looking at me with wide eyes. “We have to talk.”
“Okay,” I replied, “come on in, Miss March.”
I opened the door, letting Adelaide come in.
She glanced around, and her gaze fell on the staircase. “You kissed me there once, didn’t you?”
I nodded. “It was Christmas, and there was mistletoe.”
Adelaide kept on staring, taking everything in. I stood there, feeling as if something heavy was pressing down on my chest. I didn’t know if I should speak or if I should wait. Every moment seemed imperative.
Adelaide fiddled with her hair, tugging at the ends. “Can we…can we go somewhere more private? I seem to remember you have a really nice library.”
“We do have a really nice library,” I agreed, “I’ll---”
“I remember the way,” she said, and she walked on up ahead of me. I followed behind, as if I were a child following his mother after being told not to go anywhere. She found the library without an issue. I should have known that she would have. She had the necklace now, she had her memories. She knew the truth of us. Of everything.
Adelaide pushed opened the library doors, then turned to look at me. “You lied to me.”
I knew it was coming. Knew we’d have to confront our past eventually, I just hoped that it would be later rather than sooner. That we could bask in the happiness of having found each other. But nothing was ever that easy.
Her nostrils flared as she looked at me. “Why did you lie? Don’t blame it on the enchantment. I know how the enchantment works, you still could have been honest with me.”
“Because,” I said, “you saw what I am, Adelaide. I’m a dragon. I didn’t want to hurt you or frighten you. I’m also a thief, wanted in several, different realms.”
“Realms?” Adelaide squeaked.
“Different worlds,” I explained, “the faerie realm and the human realm are only a few of them. Faeries were created from the coupling of fallen angels, who came from heaven, and fallen angels eventually became corrupt from their time on earth turning into demons. Which means they make their home in hell. Although, those are the only ones that we know of. It doesn’t mean that there isn’t more.”
“So, when you say that you are a thief wanted in several realms?”
I grinned. “There are several angels in heaven that would like to get their hands on me, and several demons in hell who want to burn me like a hot dog.”
“What could you have possibly stolen down there?” she asked.
“Adelaide, you can ask me anything, but don’t ever ask anything about that,” I told her, “trust me its better this way. That way, if anyone ever comes to you demanding to know where the thing is you can lie honestly.”
Her lips, which up until that point had been in a frown, twitched into a smile. “I’ll take that, I suppose.”
She sat on a nearby couch, that’s red, with golden, claw feet. “Since I was little, I’ve had this reoccurring dream of a man in a cloak chasing me through the forest. I’m with Emma, we stop by a tree and….”
“I saved you,” I finished.
“You’ve been saving me my whole life, haven’t you? The huntsman, the tree that I fell out of….”
I looked directly at her. My dragon was there, at the surface now. I could feel the heat radiating through my body. He was proud of the protectiveness that I had over her, and that protectiveness surged through me now.
“What are you talking about?”
“When I fell from the tree,” she says, “I always thought that it was Danny that saved me, but I realized that it was never Danny. It was always you.”
I stood there awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot waiting for her to say something more. She looks at me as if she’s trying to decide whether to murder me or kiss me. “Please say something,” I whispered.
She took a breath. “I want to see faerie.”
“Huh?” I blinked. Out of all of the things that I had expected her to say, it hadn’t been that.
“I have to know that I’m not crazy. That I haven’t made this up. Danny…. Danny is dead, how do I know that this all isn’t part of some huge break down that I’ve had? Show me faerie.”
“Sweetheart, you’ve seen my dragon wings. Isn’t that enough?”
“No,” she answered, “because I don’t know what’s real and what isn’t real anymore. If you want me to believe you, Bradley, I have to know that faerie is real. That this isn’t something that I made up.”
“Alright,” I said, “let’s go to faerie. Whatever you need, Adelaide, I’m here for you.”
Adelaide smiled softly at me. Jesus, that smile never failed to make me weak. “Come on.” I took her by the hand and led her through the house. She was silent the entire way, not stopping until we reached the blue door in the garden maze outside that led to faerie.
“What on earth?” she stared in shock.
“What on earth, indeed,” the familiar voice of Louisa said from behind us.
Stiffening, I slowly turned to face her. “Lou.”
“Bradley.”
This wasn’t my sister that I was talking to now. It was the gatekeeper. She even had the staff, something she only used on special occasions. The staff was a long, silver thing that had a glowing light which helped Louisa protect herself and the gate from intruders.
I sighed and ran a hand through my blond hair. “C’mon, Lou. You know as well as I do that Adelaide’s been to faerie before.”
“She wasn’t supposed to be,” Louisa reminded me, “the only reason she even managed to get through was because she snuck in with Emma. We can’t let anyone into faerie, Bradley.”
“She’s my mate, Lou,” I said, “I’m part of faerie, which means that she is too. She has a right to know what she’s getting involved with.”
“He’s right,” it’s Emma that has spoken this time.
I turned to see my sister, standing behind Louisa, looking as if she’s been through battle herself.
“Let her go through, Louisa,” Emma said softly, “she’s not going to be able to make up her mind about wanting to be with Bradley if she doesn’t know all that it entails. Let her see it for herself. Besides, if she gets frightened off what’s the worst that can happen? She’ll forfeit her memories the minute she leaves the estate if she decides that she doesn’t want to be with him.”
Louisa sighed. “Fine. But we can’t keep bringing strangers into this world. It’s getting complicated enough.”
“Nice to see you too, Louisa,” Adelaide said coldly.
Louisa nodded curtly, but her face remained impassive. I had never understood how my sister could keep things so impersonal. She turned her gaze back to me. “Brother, you know what happens if anything happens to her while you’re there.”
“I’ll be trapped. I know,” I said, “but it’s Adelaide. She’s worth it. She’s always worth it.”
Adelaide’s cheeks flushed, and she murmured, “Thank you.”
Louisa bristled a little, and I could sense her protective, older sister coming out, but I shot her a silent look. One that I hoped she would read as ‘tone it down a little’. She seemed to understand, because she smiled politely.
“Adelaide, we’ve known you as a friend for many years. I know this is all new to you right now, but faerie is a very particular place with a lot of rules. You might have noticed that my siblings and I aren’t like the rest, and there’s a reason for that. It isn’t simply the curse.”
“It isn’t?” this came from Emma, who looked startled by this revelation.
Louisa shook her head. “No, it isn’t just from the curse. It is because of our interaction with faerie. There are rules for travelers.”
“What are they?” Adelaide asked.
“Don’t drink the wine, don’t eat the food, and don’t take anything.”
“What happens if I do?”
Louisa narrowed her eyes. “The faeries will claim you. One way, or another. If you don’t believe me, you need only look at my brother as a warning.”
“Correction, I was cursed by a witch,” I reminded her.
“Who protects faerie,” Louisa reminded me.
Louisa pulled something out from around her neck, revealing a golden key. She walked towards the door and opened it.
“After you,” I said to Adelaide.
She smiled politely at me and went through the door. If there was ever a time to run, this would be it. I waited for her to come screaming back through but when she didn’t, I followed.
- Writer
