Page 112 of Gift from the Tree

“Will you see them, please? Just to let them know you're here.” The pleading in his words makes me look over at him. Regardless of what I said just a moment ago about it being all their fault, he’s still trying to carry the weight of this.

“Why are you so hell-bent on taking all the blame off them?”

He stares at me for so long, I don’t think he’ll answer me.

“Because it’s my fault. I pushed them not to say anything by acting out, speaking ill on you, feeding them with my thoughts of you being sent here to hurt us, and with you not having all your memories, who was to say I was wrong. But I was wrong. I know that now. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen everything you’ve lived through.” He takes a deep breath before continuing, begging me with his eyes to consider his words.

“They’ve always felt the need to take care of me since what happened, and I used that to my advantage. I dug into Corentin’s and Tillman’s doubt, their fear, and exploited it against them growing closer to you. They’ve both wanted this their entire lives. They’ve been waiting on you since the moment they entered this world, and I just kept feeding them doubt after doubt, making them fear the possibility you’d break us up.

“Draken broke every rule we gave him with you except telling you the truth and that’s been killing him. He cares about you so much, but I used our brotherhood to keep him from saying anything. The one and only thing he’s ever had, I turned it around on him to make him listen. It’s my fault they listened for so long.”

Some of my anger and hurt crack with his confession. I already knew from what he told me that he was in their ear about not trusting or getting close to me, but not this deep. I never would’ve thought that Corentin or Tillman were actually happy about the possibility of a Primary. Nor did I know they’d given Draken rules to follow, and he broke all of them to be close with me.

Not once in any of Draken’s texts has he blamed his brothers for anything. He’s taken full responsibility for the part he played and has begged me to listen, and Caspian pretty much just confirmed his intentions.

“I’ll see them, but that’s all tonight, nothing more.” That’s all I can give them right now. I’m so tired, both mentally and physically.

“Okay.” Before I can protest, Caspian wraps his hand around my wrist, covering me in shadows and moving through the darkness.

Holy fuck, that was a wall. We just walked through a fucking wall.

He comes to the lounge, but instead of continuing into the room, he holds me in front of him and we watch the guys. Draken’s eyes are shifting back and forth as he paces behind the couch, pulling his hair as he runs his fingers through it. Tillman’s standing by the window, stoic, staring out toward the pool, lost deep in his mind. And Corentin… Corentin looks like he’s falling apart. His hair’s a mess, there’s a five o’clock shadow gracing his usually smooth face, and his eyes are bloodshot like he hasn’t slept in days.

Caspian gives no warning as he steps us out of the shadows into the room. The weightlessness I had been experiencing suddenly disappears and he has to catch me before I fall face first.

“Warn someone next time you walk them through walls, asshole!” I screech. Spinning to face him, he’s wearing a stupid smirk on his face, one that I don’t know if at this moment I want to kiss or punch.

Not this shit again, stupid fucking Primary hormones.

“Little wanderer.” What usually sounds like music to my ears and causes laughter in my heart, is broken and sorrowful.

Turning toward the sound of his voice, Draken steps around the couch, stopping only a few feet away. Taking another step closer to me, I attempt to move back, knowing if he touches me, I’m done for, but Caspian stops me with a hand to my hip. Draken’s in front of me a second later, crushing me between his and Caspian’s bodies.

“You’re here.” He reaches his fingers out slowly to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. The moment his fingers touch my skin, we both let out choked gasps and a tear slides down his cheek. “I didn’t know if this was real.”

“Caspian came to get me,” I sputter as I watch relief, regret, guilt, and hope all cross his features in a matter of seconds.

“Did you want to come home? He didn’t kidnap you, did he?” Corentin asks, stepping up beside me. I can feel Caspian flinch behind me through his fingers that tense for a second on my hip before he lets go and steps away from me.

“I asked him to come get me.”

Corentin and Draken glare at Caspian in disbelief before looking back at me.

“Willow, we—”

I cut Corentin off with a wave of my hand. “No, not tonight. I just want to go to my room, try some food, and go to bed.”

“Have you been sick? Are you okay?” Tillman speaks, coming to stand on the other side of me, boxing me in between all of them.

I’m fine.

Growling his displeasure, picking up on my lie, he takes his time taking in every inch of detail of me as he slowly moves his eyes down my body.

“We’ll get food sent up to your room.” Corentin nods, pulling his communicator out of his pocket immediately.

“Can we eat with you?” Draken asks so hopefully I almost immediately say yes before biting my tongue.

“No. She’s not talking about anything tonight. She needs her rest and not to be bothered,” Caspian says before I have a chance to say anything, causing the other three to look at him with such hostility and disdain, I step back toward him unconsciously, ready to defend him.

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