The Heir Read online

  “Now, you know what being my best friend means to me.” His hands cradled my face as he spoke to me, “you can stop thinking all of those ridiculous thoughts now, because you will always be mine, and I will always be yours, no matter what happens, you are mine darling, and I am yours. It is etched onto our very souls.”

  I tried not to, but heat rose up in my cheeks. I should have known that he could read me more than I realized through our bond, which meant that he knew more of my feelings than I knew about his. But, I had a lingering thought, a question that wouldn’t be put aside.

  “You kiss me now, Shad? You tell me all I have ever wanted to know now—now that your brother will make you into some—some, alien-zombie?”

  “I didn’t want to become a Soulless without making sure you understood all that you mean to me.”

  I smiled as tears still flowed down my cheeks, tears of happiness and tears of sadness mixed and mingled together.

  “Tell me how to save you, please.”

  “I don’t know if this will work, but it’s all I have.

  “What is all you have?”

  I will show you. There is little time to explain, I fear I kissed you too long. He kissed me one last time, his lips tenderly brushing my own. I felt his melody swirl around me and his thoughts flooded my mind, swirling and churning inside of me. He was filtering his thoughts to find the exact memories he wanted to plant inside of me. I could tell what he was doing, and I was in awe of what was possible between us. I saw him, sitting somewhere at a desk, reading, as memory floated into me. But, before I could focus on the entire thing, I heard the metal door open and a loud clap as someone entered the room. Shad let go of me, and as he did, I felt one single note from his melody linger with my own.

  What is that?

  That is hope, Emma, all the hope I can give you. I don’t know if it will work, but I know you can do anything. You are the other half of my soul. Don’t ever forget that.

  Shad, tell me what I need to do. He pulled me into his arms, and I heard Cade clear his throat.

  “Well, aren’t you two just adorable.”

  I ignored him.

  Those memories should help you—if there is a chance that a soulless can find their soul again—

  “Let’s get on with this, brother. I don’t have all day.”

  I watched in shock as Shad fixed the collar of his shirt, and then moved to the cell’s door. I reached for him one last time, kissing him with everything inside me. His hands gripped my waist as he pulled me into him.

  “I love you, Shad.” The tears continued to spill from my eyes, and I could not help them from falling. It was true—I loved him. I knew that I had been scared, and I still was. I was terrified after my parents died, I was scared about losing Ryker and Mary someday, and I was also frightened that right at that moment, I was going to lose Shad—but what is love without fear? What is love without being brave even if you are not sure you can be? All I knew was that I loved him. I loved Shad, and I wanted him to know it.

  “Emma—”

  “It’s true, Shad. You know it’s true: I love you,” I replied. I sensed within our bond his doubt about my true feelings for him, thinking I was only saying it because I was desperate for him to stay, not to leave me. I was desperate, I was scared but I was also helplessly and madly in love with Shadrict, the prince of the second kingdom of Terra. It was scary, but undeniably true.

  “Say it again, Emma.” he whispered, closing his eyes, and I knew what he wanted.

  I love you, Shadrict, and I always will. I touched his hair as I spoke inside his soul. I meant those three little words more than I meant anything else I had ever said in my life. He slammed into me. It was as if a well broke, and he was unable to control the rush of water flowing between us. His kiss was fierce, and I returned his kiss just as fiercely, there was an ache that our first kiss didn’t have, a roughness that spoke of need and longing and of unbelievable truths spoken and realized. A goodbye of sorts, but how? How could this be a goodbye when I needed him, and I needed him closer, nearer, I didn’t want to ever let him go, how could I be without him? I loved him.

  I know you must mean it, Emma, it is just too wonderful to be true, I think. He thought as he pulled away to look into my eyes to make sure that I was real, that he was really seeing me in his arms, that this wasn’t a dream.

  No, not too wonderful, perfectly right, I said to him through our souls. Our chests rose and fell at a rapid rate, and it wasn’t until Shad was thrust backwards and away from me, that I realized Cade had been yelling at us, and two of his guards were coming over to take Shad away.

  “Okay, let’s get on with it!” Cade’s voice roared, irritated in the damp cave. With one last look, Shad smiled at me,

  I will be with you again, Emma. Nothing will take me away from you permanently. I promise you that, not when I have you to come back to. He turned toward his brother. I heard the cell door unlock, then open, and finally shut with another click. I looked up, and I watched as Shad drew out a map with care and detail. Cade shoved the folded paper into his suit pocket and brought out the crystal.

  He walked to Shad, whose eyes were on mine, and I begged him a thousand more times to not do it, not to go through with it because of me. I made a thousand more wishes on stars that I couldn’t see, anything I could think of to make him not leave me. I prayed to God; to the ancients who Shad revered, whoever could hear me to save him, to bring him back to me. He smiled one last time and whispered, I love you, darling, my Emma, into my soul as his melody was drained from him.

  I was shattered glass.

  I was shattered, splintered, fractured glass on the cold damp cave floor. I was a broken thing, an unmendable, unfixable object, lying on the floor. As I looked at Shad, as I watched Shad become drained of his soul, his melody—and become a Soulless, it was as if I watched a part of me, even half of me, die.

  He collapsed onto the floor, and Cade mused as he tucked the crystal that held Shad’s melody under his shirt—

  “There, painless. Or well, semi-painless?” Cade said as he motioned to a guard to open my cell. I slumped down to Shad’s side, hating Cade more and more with a burning fury every moment that passed. Shad felt cold to the touch, and I looked into his eyes. The gold was gone. The sunshine—the warm, melted, honey gone. No smile clung to the corners of his mouth. He looked at me with no emotion, and I looked past him to his brother.

  “Your own brother, how could you?!” I screamed, hearing Shad’s precious melody in Cade’s grasp.

  “Unfortunately, it runs in the family, love, nothing personal—or well, that's a lie; it is quite personal,” as he walked out of the room with Shad’s melody, I heard it singing to me, calling to my soul one last time, reaching for my heart—before the melody was gone.

  Shad and I were then alone in the cave after Cade’s quick departure. I watched as Shad sat up slowly, hand on his heart. We looked into each other’s eyes, and I realized the truth as to why it was painfully silent: not even my melody could hum a tune for the loss of Shad’s soul. I cried and helped Shad stand. He doubled over as soon as he was up, and the sound that escaped his lips and reverberated from the walls was a moan and a scream, one of a deep, torturous pain that made me ache with him, my own soul, too, moaning as if it was tearing to pieces alongside of him. As he stood to his full height, finally, he walked to the edge of the cave in silence, and to the tunnels where we had entered only hours earlier—or had it only been minutes that had passed since we arrived in that place, both souls intact? The one small lantern Cadian so kindly left for us flickered in the darkness, casting strange shadows across the cave walls. I picked it up as I followed him through the cave. We were silent, as if discussing it or even saying anything would make it even worse than it already was. We found our way through, passage after passage, somehow. I could see just his back in the dark, flickering light of the lantern that I held. I wanted to talk to him, to say something, but what does one say? I wanted to hold him and c
ry at our loss and promise him that I wouldn't leave his side. Whatever it all meant, we would survive it together; we would get through it together. As a light spilled into the damp cave ahead, I knew we had reached the opening. The sunlight hit our faces, and I blinked away the brightness. My vision adjusted to the sun. I knew it had all been my fault, and that realization stung me: if I hadn’t been there, if I hadn't come, Shad would not have sacrificed himself for me. He looked at me as I came up beside him. I grabbed his hand and squeezed, wanting him to know that I was sorry, that I was with him. As I looked into his eyes, I saw blackness there, no golden glow, no small smile trying to escape his lips. He looked down to my hand, grabbing his, and he shook my hand away as one does a mosquito. My hand went limp, falling heavy at my side as I watched him walk through the forest and disappear into the trees, and I felt a hole punch through my heart. The ache was so strong, so powerful that I stood there frozen to the spot.

  I did not know how long I stood there, but slowly the snake from my past, coiled once again around my heart. I gasped for breath, clutching my chest; I couldn’t feel my heart anymore, only sorrow and pain. I slumped to the ground, not caring about the jagged rocks beneath me cutting into my flesh. Shad was wrong, I wasn’t strong enough to get through it. I could never survive such misery again. As despair grew within me, I heard a single note from Shad’s melody lingering, tinkling against my own. I will figure out how to get Shad back—how to restore his soul.

  Numb, I stepped onto the forest path, watching as blood dripped down my legs from the unforgiving rocks that I had kneeled upon only moments before. The black, slimy snake curled its way up inside of me, tempting to strike, taunting me again as it had before. But I was mad, and I was determined to fix it all. So, I dared it to sink its venomous teeth into me, dared it to push me, and to my surprise, it recoiled—loosening its grip, and it slithered away.

  You see, misery is indeed a snake, a cold-blooded, slimy, black snake. But hatred—hatred, you see, hatred is something else entirely—a monster. It is indeed a monster, one that overpowers even misery, leaving nothing in its wake, and as that monster clawed and roared within me, love left me, and all I could do was hate—feel hate for the one man who was the cause of all my misery, who had won that day—the man who I would ruin if it was the last thing I ever did. As the hateful monster made its way into my consciousness, I started to scream in pure, torturous agony.

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  Emma’s story continues in

  Book Two of The Heir Series:

  Shattered Heir

  Enjoy this sneak peek!

  Shattered Heir

  “ARE YOU DONE YET?” I was resting on a fallen tree, taking a long drink from my water bottle. I swallowed; then I looked at Shad, his anger was evident in the lines around his eyes and mouth. His face looked wrong as he scowled at me. Everything is wrong now.

  “You know, if you keep making faces like that, your face may just get stuck that way.” I leaned against the log, trying to act like his presence didn’t make me want to collapse into his arms and be held by him as I cried and begged him to remember me. I was doing a halfway decent job, in my opinion, because I was on the log and not in his arms.

  “Yeah, that’s so funny.” Shad rolled his eyes—he actually rolled his eyes at me. “Get down. We are going.” I noticed then, that his glare was still ever-present on that still beautiful and wonderful face of his. My melody sped up. He cringed at the exact moment I blasted it.

  “Okay,” I said putting my water into my pack. As I walked across the fallen tree, Shad's eyes on me made me nervous. I looked up for one second and lost my footing. I started to slip but found myself in Shad’s outstretched arms. He smelled like he always had, like mint and leather, and I couldn’t help but rest my face against his shoulder as he set me down on my feet. I could almost imagine the old Shad, the one I loved—until he spoke, ruining my fantasy.

  “Not only are you the most useless person—but also, the most irritating,” he snarled as he let go of me.

  “Excuse me?” I replied, anger evident in my tone. It bubbled up way too quickly, but the monster from within wanted a bite out of him, needed to sink his teeth into something. I walked up to Shad and tugged at his shirt collar so that he was right in my face. “Me useless, me Irritating?”

  “Yes, that is what I said.” He looked at me as though he enjoyed my rage. I felt the smokiness of anger and hatred build and boil within me. Remember who you hate: Cadian, not Shad. Cadian did this to him; this is Cadian’s fault. I repeated it over and over again, attempting to tame the monster raging war within me:

  I hate Cadian.

  I hate Cadian.

  I hate Cadian.

  “Hello? Anyone home?” I felt a small flick on my cheek, and I realized then that I had closed my eyes to refocus myself. I pushed Shad’s hand away from where he flicked me.

  “You are—you are—” I spat, trying to find the right words.

  “Yes, Princess?” he asked with a lopsided grin that almost made my knees weak until I looked into his dead, black, soulless eyes. I will forever miss the golden color.

  “Just leave me alone,” I stepped away. There was no use in fighting—it just made everything worse. I tried to calm myself and forget about the hate I felt within me. I just wanted Shad back, I just wanted his melody restored. Was that so much to ask for? Was it really too much to ask for something in my life to actually go right or to work out?

  “Tell your melody to shut up. It is driving me insane,” he growled at me as my melody started to stretch out from me to him, yet again searching for his soul’s melody.

  “If you hadn’t been such a stupid hero—” my voice cracked, betraying my new hatred for my torturous pain.

  “Now, princess, this is where this conversation ends. I will add, however, that you are incredibly attractive when you are angry.” He put a hand on my cheek, and before I could turn away, he said, “I like it.”

  Take a sneak peek look at “The Knight”

  An Heir Series Novella, available soon!

  AS GUARDIAN KNIGHTS, we are born into service; we don't get a choice. I was always grateful to know where I stood in the worlds and felt that it was a great honor to be trusted to protect heirs of the Ancient line. It was an honor in my world, but sometimes, when I was honest with myself, I just wanted Emma. For her, I would break every vow, every rule, every promise that I ever swore to uphold—to be with her—and that truth terrified me.

  Acknowledgments

  IT TAKES SO MUCH WORK to write a book. If you were to ask me a year ago if my book would be ready to publish in 2019, I would have laughed. Here I am, however, with a published book.

  When I was six years old, all I wanted to be was a mother. Six years ago that dream was realized. When I was eight years old, I wrote a short story called the dragon caves, and that was when I decided I wanted to write books one day. I am so blessed to be able to carry out that dream now.

  I thank my Father-in-Heaven for the voice, mind, and hands that I have. The voice to speak, my mind to imagine, and my hands to create.

  I thank my husband, Robert. Thank you for listening to the fourteen-year-old me talking about publishing novels one day, listening about princesses and other worlds. Thank you for being here with me, to see it come to pass and urge me the entire time, despite my doubts. I appreciate you always being by my side, supporting me.

  To my children, my two boys Kai and Ryo, thank you for being such an inspiration to me. You make me believe in myself even when I don’t. When someone asked you Kai what I did for work you proudly stated: “My mom is my mommy, AND she writes books,” my heart about melted because those are the two thi
ngs I wanted so much out of life. Thank you Kai & Ryo for sitting on my lap as I typed this story. Thank you for smiling and dancing around the room when my book came in the mail. I love you two with everything I am. EVERYTHING I AM.

  To my mother who read that very first rough draft in 2018. You inspired much of Emma’s story. Thank you for being the strong, brave, pure, courageous and bold woman you are today. Your life experiences made you who you are, and I love you. The good and bad things of life—you always pull through them and more often than not with a joke or a smile on your face. You are an incredible example of what it means to be a strong woman. Thank you, mom, for reading my book and helping me know where to add things, and where to take things away, but mostly thank you for enjoying my story, for always standing by me in my endeavors. Whether that is changing a tire on the side of the road, helping me move to Southern California, being with me in the hospital or rooting for this book, I am so blessed to have your support in all that I do. I love you so much. Thank you, mom, you are incredible.

  To my dad, your passion for writing was handed down to me—it is in my very blood; it is my core and is etched into my very being. Without you, I wouldn’t be writing. Without you, this story would never have been told. Without you, I would be way less that what I am today. Thank you for teaching me English as a sophomore in high school and for reading my short story back then. And while my punctuation, grammar, and spelling was atrocious, thank you for loving my creativity and telling me I was a good story-teller. That meant so much to me. Thank you for making my high school years so enjoyable. I loved having you as a teacher at my high school. I also thank you for your time in editing. Again—where would I be without you? You spent so much time working on this book, and I can never thank you enough for helping my dream of publishing a novel come true. Dad, I love you. You inspire me to be the best me that I can be. Thank you so much for helping me achieve my dream.