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CHAPTER 12

Lucy

“Lucy! We have beenlooking for you everywhere. Viv thinks she has found the spell that can locate my parents.”

I glanced at Joanie and Vivian who were clutching an old spell book in their hands. My emotions were all over the place. For a moment there, I worried that Henry might strike Marcus or vice versa. And Marcus didn’t even remember that I had already tasted Henry’s blood and wanted to again.

The last thing that I wanted to do was to come between the brothers. I needed to stay away from both of them, and Viv and Joanie were the perfect distraction.

“I will come with you,” I moved deftly to their side and clutched at Joanie’s arm.

Her brow raised, and I knew that she smelled the desire that still lingered in the air from before. Viv placed an arm around me, and they both ushered me out of the area. By the time we got back to the castle and went directly to the queen’s private rooms, the girls were bursting with questions.

I wasn’t going to say anything, but apparently our love triangle was the topic of conversation throughout the castle. If I was mortified before, it didn’t hold a candle to what I felt hearing this news.

“It doesn’t matter,” I said firmly. “There is nothing permanent between any of us.”

“Yet,” Viv added with a pointed look at my flushed cheeks. “There is nothing permanent yet. Leave Henry and Marcus to work things out for themselves, they will come to their senses.”

If anything, my embarrassment rose. I had seen porn and knew the mechanics of sexual intercourse, but that was nothing compared to the feelings that erupted inside of me when I was held by Henry or Marcus. I was a complete novice, and it seemed that my mind went blank when these situations presented themselves.

“Can I ask you something, Joanie?” I blurted the question out, knowing that she would be the best one to help in this instance.

Her brows knit together. “Of course, ask me anything.”

“How did your three mates come to the agreement, err, how did you?” I wasn’t even sure how to ask the question. Thankfully Joanie took pity on me and answered.

“At first there was some jealousy and even fighting. I felt terrible, as if I were splitting the brothers up.”

A wave of relief washed over me, that was precisely how I felt. “What did you do?”

She reached over and took my hand. “You probably don’t want to hear this, but it has to be something that Henry and Marcus will decide for themselves. I wish I could make it easier for you, but some things in life are difficult no matter what you do.”

My heart sank. “I don’t want to come between them.”

Viv came to sit beside me. “If they are meant to be yours, nothing will keep you apart.”

Doubts and fear crept into my thoughts. “What if they aren’t meant to be? I feel like I have loved Marcus forever. But this thing with Henry is intense and overpowering, and so terribly new. The thought of losing either one makes me physically ill. But the thought of hurting either of them makes it so much worse.”

“My mother once told me that every time you go through something difficult it helps to shape who you are. We all start out as this cold lump of clay, but as we face trials and hardships, pieces of the clay are stripped away. We might feel as if we are losing ourselves, but the truth is that the beauty is in the creation. Throughout the process of being carved at, tossed into the fire, and forced to prove our strength, we discover what we were truly meant to be. Without it, we would remain the cold lump of clay.”

I swallowed. “Your mother sounds like a wonderful person, Joanie.”

Joanie’s eyes glittered with something that suspiciously looked like tears. “She is.”

“Where is that spell?” I said changing the subject.

Viv placed the book into my hands, and I read through it.

“I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. Did you bring something along that belonged to your mother or father?”

Joanie pulled out a necklace from beneath her shirt. The old carvings in the gold showed a family crest. “This was my mother’s.”

With a sigh, I reached out my hands to clasp them with Viv and Joanie. “I will perform the spell. Are you both ready for this?”

“I am!” a much younger voice chirped up from underneath the bed.

“Eva? Angie!” Viv’s voice was stern. I liked the nicknames that she called them.