Page 54 of Shattered Heir
He laughed.
I reached out to hit him, but before I could, he was already walking away. I hated him so much.
“I see the Cade-befriending thing is going well?” Ryker asked as I sat down. Ash was looking at me with pained eyes.
“I know, I said I would do this, and I will for Shad, but I mean, this is just not going to work.” I took a bite out of my pizza slice and looked around the table, not spotting Shad. Where was he? Before I could ask, loud giggling from the table across the room caught my attention. There, sitting right beside Shad was Karen. She played with the collar of his shirt. I hated that he didn’t push her away.
“I think I just lost my appetite.”
“Karen is such a loser,” Ash said, shaking her head.
“It’s fine. I just don’t know how much longer I can take all this.” I put my head on the table and started banging it.
“Em,” Ryker started, then he paused, “He was really different this morning; be prepared.”
“Different? Different how?” I asked, picking up my head from off the table as I took another bite of the pizza. I stared at the blue table top and focused, waiting for his words. He was silent during math, so I had not noticed anything too unusual.
“His personality is gone. He isn’t the Prince at all, anymore—it seems the corruption has started to overcome him.”
I wouldn’t lie and say that it didn’t hurt like the dickens, but I also knew it was going to happen, right? I mean, isn’t that what the meeting was just about? Yes, so why was I curling my fist and trying not to cry? How can I stop this corruption from taking him away from me forever before I can figure out how to save him? I thought I had at least a couple more days—honestly, Ithought I had weeks, but it seemed that the situation was getting more dire, and it was happening more quickly than I had dared to imagine.
“Are you okay, Emma?” Ryker asked as I looked up. I wiped under my eyes and cleared my throat.
“I am fine, Ry, seriously peachy,” I mumbled.
When the bell rang for third period, we all stood, put our trays away, and shuffled to class. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was living within my own worst nightmare.
I bolted from my classroom as fast as my legs would carry me. I was done with Shad, with Cade, even with Ryker and Ash, trying to make me feel better. How could I feel better? My life was sonotokay.
Just as the last hall stood between me and my peaceful walk home, I saw Cade. He walked around me in a circle as I stopped. When he was facing me, he moved closer and closer until I was backed up against the brick wall of the hallway, and I didn’t remember how I had gotten there. His breath was on my face, and although I knew I couldn’t kill him because it would kill Shad’s melody, I wanted to—so bad. I put that thought quickly into the box inside of myself that I had labeled: “Keep these things from Cade.” I was getting better at filing away specific things that I didn’t want him or anyone else to read from my melody.
“You cannot avoid me forever.”
“I can avoid you for all eternity if I have to.” I couldn’t make friends with my enemy; it was impossible. He looked at me like a lion would a lamb–as his prey.
“Our melodies are connected, sweetheart.”
“My melody is connected to Shad’s.”
He placed his hand above my head, locking me in, and I wondered how accurate I could be if I attempted to kick him in the groin. His mouth was so close to my ear, and his melody was calling to mine to reveal itself, to dance around with each other. I wanted that, too, so badly, but I knew that he wasn’t Shad; it wouldn't be the same. I reminded my melody over and over again of the lie, of the imposter. I begged the corrupted monster to unleash herself on him. She was silent, and I wanted to scream. She could, at least, be useful if she was going to corrupt my soul.
Agh.
“My melody is Shad’s melody, so you see, you are also connected to me.”
I shook my head. I wouldn’t buy into his crap. I would not listen to his lies. I was not interested in what he had to say. “Get away from me before I make it so that you can never have children.”
“I can show you how we can make—” I kneed him in the groin, and he deserved it. He was a human just like earthlings, so he crouched down like every other male would. It seemed that even if you were a big, bad, evil, magical brother, the groin was a good area to attack. I stepped away as he leaned in pain against the wall.
“Nicely played, sweetheart, but the only one you are hurting is yourself. I know how sad you would be if we could never have children in the future,” he said with a forced smile, and I glared at him.
“I would never ever want to have—ew, you are so gross.” I walked away, but his melody reached out to mine, and it was so strong that my melody let him in, and his message haunted me;
It is only a matter of time. I can wait.
“So how are things with you and Glasson?” I asked, trying to distract myself from Cade’s glance from across the room as well as from Karen flirting again with Shad, the next day at lunch. At that moment, my day was going pretty well. Cade had not yet taunted me, and Shad, well—I didn’t want to think about him, but for the time being, things wereokay.
“Glass, gah, he will not leave me alone,” Ash started talking about Glasson, and try as I might to focus on her, Cade kept sending me messages and images in my head. It seemed that he had access to all the memories of Shad and me, and he kept showing me how he could do everything that Shad could do, but better. I mentally slapped him, and he laughed. I walked down the hall with Ash after lunch as she talked about homecoming.
