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Lex stared at me for a while longer and then finally, he nodded reluctantly, looking around himself for somewhere to go. I noticed his hand still hadn’t left his sword. He spotted a door leading off to the right, and he motioned for me to follow him. I did, watching as he herded his omega in front of him, keeping himself between me and his pretty spouse and looking over his shoulder at me, watching me like a hawk.
We were in some narrow corridor, and he led me forward and opened another door that took us out on the castle ramparts. Clouds had gathered while I’d been inside, and the weather was turning colder. Still holding protectively to his omega with one hand, Lex turned to face me with deep suspicion.
“Explain yourself, Dark Shade,” he said in a growly voice. “Why have you come here? What do you want?”
“Lex…come on and really look at me…I’m not a dark shade. I swear it.”
“Stop lying, demon. I warn you that my powers are far greater than yours.”
I had no doubt he was right. His powers were legendary, and I had already felt him reaching out to me with his magic, trying to oppress me. It was like a heavy weight trying to settle itself over my head and onto my shoulders to constrain me and weigh me down. I gave another massive shrug and cast it off me again like an unwanted cape.
His eyes widened in surprise. “Evil demon, that only proves my point. Only a demon with strong powers could so easily cast off my spell. The real Roxbury had no such powers.”
“I am the real Roxbury and I’m still not a demon and not a shade or ghost or whatever it is you’re thinking. And the power—I don’t have any idea about that, but it’s been growing since I found Brandon again. Maybe that’s really how I survived the sinking of my ship. I don’t know, but please, take me to Brandon. He’ll know right away if I’m real, and he can tell you if I’m really Roxbury. I know he will.”
He glared at me, completely unconvinced, until help came for an unexpected source. Rory pulled on his Alpha’s sleeve to get his attention. “He’s right, Lex. Let’s get Brandon. A demon would never be able to fool me if he said he was really you. I’d know you in any form and I’d know in an instant if it was the real you. Wouldn’t you? Know about me? Brandon will know too.”
“No. Brandon isn’t well.”
“He’s what?” I demanded, stepping toward them. “Brandon’s sick?”
“He’s been steadily growing weaker since our return.”
“Take me to him. Please, Lex. I need to see him. I swear to you I can help him.” I glanced over at Rory, who I already could tell was the easier of the two to persuade. “Rory, please, help me. I swear to you on my life that I’d never hurt him. I want only the best for him.” I put every bit of longing and sincerity that I could in my voice, and I saw him begin to crumple. “I swear it. I-I love him,” I said again, and his eyes darkened with sympathy.
“We could try, Lex. Just think, what if he’s telling the truth and we don’t let Brandon know? He’d never forgive us. Not ever. And you’d be right there to stop this shade from hurting Brandon if he’s not really who he says he is.”
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Lex nodded reluctantly. “All right. Go get my cousin and bring him here. But don’t tell him why. Just say…say there’s someone here to see him. I want to be with him if it shocks him too badly or this demon tries to attack him.”
“Not going to attack him,” I muttered, but he only glared at me.
Rory nodded and hurried past me, slipping inside the door and pulling his robe back down over him and holding onto the ripped sides. Despite his willingness to help though, he gave me wide berth as he passed.
Lex and I were left alone on the ramparts to stare at each other uneasily. I could still feel him reaching out with his magic to try and suppress any errant and violent dark magic urges I might suddenly be feeling. It felt like being poked at all over with a sharp stick. Instinctively, I imagined an invisible, protective wall going up around me, and finally, the feelings gradually faded.
Lex and I had never liked each other much and had never been friends. Brandon was the only thing we had in common, and even that felt like a constant competition for his loyalty. I could see that he hadn’t changed his feelings for me even a little bit over the years and that he didn’t like me one iota better than he ever had. If anything, he maybe liked me less. Make that definitely, on account of the pirate thing, not to mention the finding me alone with his naked omega thing. I kept quiet, trying to wait patiently to see Brandon, and I didn’t even attempt to engage Lex in conversation. There would have been little point, and I didn’t want to say anything inadvertently that might make him change his mind here at the eleventh hour.
Finally, the door opened, and Rory stepped through, still speaking over his shoulder to someone behind him. “The person who wants to see you is out here, Brandon. Lex is with him.”
Then Brandon was stepping through the door, still smiling a little at Rory with a puzzled look on his face. He looked pale and drawn and somehow frail. He had dark bruise-like circles under his eyes. He was limping badly and leaning on the cane I knew he hated. I think he’d lost weight in the relatively short time since I’d seen him.
Yet I’d never seen anyone or anything so beautiful.
He glanced up and saw me right away, stopping dead and just staring at me. He began breathing hard, and he looked so distressed, I was afraid he might pass out, so I took a quick step toward him. I couldn’t help it, but Lex grabbed my arm to hold me back, as Brandon gasped. He dragged his eyes away from me and shifted his gaze past me directly to Lex.
“H-how are you doing this? I don’t know how you conjured his image, but this is cruel, Lexington. Rox is dead.”
“No,” I said, and his head whipped back toward me. “I’m not dead and this isn’t just my image or my shade. It’s me, sweetheart. I got out of the ship. I swam to shore—I swear it’s really me.”
He stood there, pale as the ghost he thought I was, shaking his head back and forth. “No, no, you can’t be real. You’re not real. My Rox never called me ‘sweetheart.’ He had a different name for me, and he never once called me that.”
He whirled to leave, but I had to stop him. “Wait, please…”
He stopped, but didn’t turn around, and I knew I had only seconds to change his mind.
“Do you mean, ‘dearie?’” I smiled tenderly at him as he slowly turned back around. “You used to say you hated that name, and it reminded you of your maiden aunt. But I’ll call you dearie if you like. Every day for the rest of our lives.”
He cried out then, a sharp, wounded sound like an animal might make as it was dying and he flung himself forward into my arms. I caught him and pulled him close, sinking to the stone floor of the ramparts with him, holding him as tightly as I could and murmuring over and over again in his ear how much I loved him and how we’d never be parted from each other ever again. I said a lot of other very foolish things, I think, as I knelt there holding him close.
