Strange Love

Arei tapped his fingers on the cellphone resting in his l.a.p in irritation as he stared, contemplatively out the window at the bright morning sun rising over the gentle hills surrounding the palace. A small hand ran across his b.a.r.e c.h.e.s.t and a soft face rested against his shoulder bringing his attention back to the room. He moved his hand that had been drumming on the phone up to rub the arm around his neck as he turned a warm smile to the face resting on his shoulder. "What are you doing up so early?" He tugged Jos around and wrapped his arms around her waist.

She tilted her head, watching as the irritation quickly melted away from his beautiful hazel eyes. She smiled sweetly up at him as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I guess I'm getting too used to your warm body against me while I sleep..." She met his lips as they moved down to hers.

Arei gave a husky growl against her lips as he moved the phone out of his l.a.p and pulled her into it. He wrapped her tightly in his arms as he lowered his lips down to hers. "Then we'll have to rethink the sleeping arrangements once we get to the island."

Jos ran her hand over his b.a.r.e c.h.e.s.t as she pushed up to meet his lips for another kiss. "And what arrangements were those?"

He smiled down at her. "I'd planned on you having your own room as well as Shelly."

Jos traced one of the many tattoos, her eyes focused on her fingers movements as she whispered. "Maybe it should be the baby's nursery instead..." Her heated gaze met his.

His smile widened mischievously. "Then where will you go when you've tired of me?"

She pursed her lips. "Who's to say I'll ever tire of you? It seems like you have an extensive enough past to keep me entertained for years..."

"Hum... maybe..." He stroked her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb before bending and placing another kiss on her lips. "Then when you're angry with me..."

She tangled her hands in his loose hair, tugging him back down to her lips. "Even more reason to share a room... You can convince me to forgive you."

His lips curved in a seductive smirk. "And how might I do that?" He asked as he ran his hand over the curve of her hip and down her t.h.i.g.h before stroking it back upwards.

"You've such a way with words... and your hands..." She purred as he continued stroking his massive hands across her body teasingly. "I'm sure you could always find a way to convince me to forgive you..."

The corner of his lips raised more. "Damn, I wish I'd known years ago that was all it would take." He regretted his words almost instantly when a frown spread across her beautiful lips. He ran his hand along her jaw and tangled his fingers into her hair. "I'm sorry if I've upset you, Kitten. I was only teasing."

She shook her head. "No... it's alright... It was well deserved..." She sat up as much as she could in his l.a.p. Cupping her hand over the hand laced into her hair and leaning her head more into his palm, she held his turbulent gaze. "I don't want you to feel like you have to tiptoe around my emotions anymore. I promise, no matter what, I'll not run away again. I'll face you like an a.d.u.l.t and talk about whatever it is bothering me."

Arei nodded as he let out a heavy sigh. "And in the attempts of moving forward and making better on our past shortcomings, I should tell you what had me so bothered this morning." He retrieved his phone from beside them. Handing it over to Jos, he said. "Russ killed a man last night... It was one of the palace guards hired by and loyal to Fern. Russ told Ry and Father that the man had been sent to kill him... after Fern had tried to drug him..." He watched as her worried gaze moved from him to the phone. She quickly scanned over the texts.

"Oh... no..." Her eyes shot back to his. "But he's alright though, right? Your dad and Ry will keep him safe?"

Arei nodded, "Ry had decided to keep a closer watch on him. They plan on going into town today and seeing what all they can dig up on Fern. They've asked that we see what we can dig up here." He nodded toward the phone. "Just in case the computers there in the palace are bugged. I also told them I'd speak with Prometheus when he comes to finish out your paperwork."

"Should we see if Peg and Andy can uncover anything at the Embassy?" Jos asked, worry heavy in her voice.

Arei nodded. "They can use all the help they can get right now. Ry and Father suspect the party they broke up last night was Fern's last-ditch attempt to get as much money as he could before bailing on Russ and the kingdom. If he is into human trafficking and the other things Ry suspects then he's going to be desperate now... Maybe even desperate enough to step up another assassination attempt."

Jos's frown deepened. "Tell them to go to my cave. Cam stored a lot of doc.u.ments and things there over the years. She never trusted Fern and after that last time he'd come to the island and tried to challenge Ales, she brought several more boxes there. She was convinced he'd at least been the one to poison and eventually killing his own mother." Jos's brows tented. "She'd even thought it possible he'd somehow killed their father but could never prove it... or even come up with a good enough reason to accuse him."

[I wasn't going to say anything about that yet, but yes, we found one of her old diaries in Fern's desk. We assume he was holding onto it because of the incriminating accusations Camila had made against him. But there's no way of knowing for sure, at least not yet. If there's more at Jos's then you better bet we'll head there first. It's better to learn these things directly from the source. I'll text back later with what we've found.]

Arei nodded to Jos. "They are on their way to your home now to go through whatever she's left there." He set the phone back beside him as he pulled her back against his c.h.e.s.t. "Don't worry he's in good hands. They won't let anything else bad happen."

***

Russ snarled his nose as he looked around the cluttered, damp space. "This is Jos's home? She actually lived here?"

Ry sent him a 'are you kidding' glare. "Yeah, kid, what did you expect?" He motioned around the room. "This was here that she spent every second of her life before moving with you, what sixteen years ago now?" He furrowed his brows. "As close as she and your mother were how was it, you'd never been here?"

Russ looked around at the newer boxes that sat piled up near the door, the boxes that had been sent from their apartment. "If I'd been here before, I don't remember it. I only have tidbits of memories of her at the palace..." He shrugged. "I guess it's good that I left here at such a young age. Coming back to see everything like it currently is would probably be a lot worse if I'd seen it during my parents' rule."

Ry clasped a hand over his shoulder. "You're not lying there. It's rough seeing what this place has become after seeing what it had been all those years ago. Don't get me wrong there were still some rough parts of the island, but nothing compared to this." He turned his focus to Poseidon. "So, you find anything yet?"

Poseidon arched a brow from a packed corner. "Shouldn't you be the one navigating this mess? Out of the three of us, you're the only one who's ever been here before."

Ry scratched his head as he looked around the room. "It's not exactly how I remember it... She's changed quite a bit... but..." He walked over to a tall, antique c.h.e.s.t and began pushing it to one side. "There should be another portion of the cave back this way." He'd barely gotten it moved when several large boxes came into view. "I think I found what we are looking for." He bent and handed several boxes out to Poseidon and Russ before taking a stack and walking over to the mismatched furniture in the main area.

"The boxes are labeled." Russ observed as his eyes moved over the boxes they had taken out. He pointed to the one Poseidon had opened. "There are dates, and that one seems to be the oldest out of this collection." His eyes moved back to Ry with a hint of excitement. "Were there more?"

Ry nodded, "Yeah, nearly the entire back area along with some other odds and ins." He flicked his head toward the cavern. "Go on kid, knock yourself out." He sat the boxes he was carrying down and pulled out his phone. I'm going to give Arei a call and see when exactly they plan on coming back. It's going to take us several days to go through all this."

Poseidon nodded. "Even with all the tricks up my sleeve and a team working this lot, we're probably looking at a good week maybe more."

Ry nodded as he pressed the phone to his ear. "You think you could zap some of these over to the palace if I can get that team gathered for you?"

Poseidon glanced up at him as he thumbed through the box of journals. "Of course... Tell your brother we finally found someone who keeps more diaries than him..." His gaze moved back to the box as he lifted one and flipped through it. "There's not a page left blank... I bet all the finest gems in the palace that every one of these are the same."

Ry pursed his lips as he squeezed one eye closed. "Well, I know two wolves who will enjoy it... What better way of getting to know their parents?" The phone was answered just then. "Hey man, we found the boxes Camila left at Jos's. Dad was wanting to know when you guys are planning on heading to the cottage and if you guys could look through some of these as well in the meantime?"

Arei's low voice was murmuring to someone nearby. [Yeah, tell him to go ahead and send them. I'm not sure how long we'll be here. It depends on how long the paperwork with the council takes. Prometheus guesstimate three days at least a week at max.] A softer voice spoke in the background. [Jos said you guys were welcome to use her place as you need even after we get there.] He paused as the soft voice continued. [She said it was fine if dad wants to make it more suitable for you guys.]

Ry nodded more to himself than his brother. "Tell her we appreciate it. We'll probably crash at the cottage until you guys head this way. I imagine, if Camila thought it important to hide these from Fern, then, it's probably twice as important to hide them from him now." There were more low murmurs causing Ry to arch an irritated brow. "You know you could just put the call on speaker." He could hear the shuffling of the phone as Arei switched the call over.

[Jos was just saying that Cam's suspicions of Fern were so strong, and she became so obsessed with trying to find proof that it caused a rift between her and Alesondro for several years.] Jos spoke up. [Yes, it should all be right there! If Cam was nothing else, she was meticulous when it came to journaling! Give us an idea of exactly what you guys are looking for and I should be able to lead you toward the boxes to search first based off the dates... more or less.]

Ry's lips lifted in a relieved smile. "Thank the Gods! We were afraid we'd have to go through every single one of them... Though I'm not going to lie, the kid may anyway."

[Pretty much anything and everything of Cam's that could be saved from the palace is in that room. We had some of the loyal guards and servants bring them there after the attack. Tell him if he'd like to wait until we get there, I'm sure Shelly would get great p.l.e.a.s.u.r.e out of going through some of it with him.] Jos said, pain weighing heavily in her words as she spoke of what was left of her friend.

Ry's voice softened. "Yeah, I saw a few garment bags hanging back there... I'm sure eventually she'll want to at least see them, though I'd assume it would be you she'd want to go through it with instead... They both probably would..."

[Ry, you know why that can't happen. There's no point even bringing it up. I know you're grown attached to the kid, but I'm not putting Jos through that right now.] Arei said matter-of-factly.

Ry's frown was evident in his voice. "I know, I'm just saying... The kid's going through some shit right now too, ya know..."

[Then call Raven.] Arei said flatly. [Tell dad to send the boxes. We'll call over Peg and Andy and get Chary and Scylla to help. Between the seven of us and the three of you, it should go pretty quickly. Hell, you may even be able to get Raven and Isha to lend a hand.]

"I know dad likes those two as much as the rest of us, but I doubt he'll want to outsource this that far out." Ry said as he walked along the edge of the lagoon. "Besides, Isha is probably busy. She may be willing to send Raven but it's hard to tell."

[Get Russ to make the call. She can't tell him no, I swear it!] Jos said with a pained, wistful laugh.

"Alright, I'll see what we can do. Expect the boxes in the library here in the next few minutes. I figure he'll have them sent to the antiques room just in case unexpected visitors swing by." Ry said as he forced his gaze away from the beautiful shimmering waters and back toward the cavernous home. "We'll try not to mess too much up, Jos, I promise. Talk later." He added before ending the call. He stepped inside the door, finding his father first thing. "They said to go ahead and start sending boxes. I told them you'd probably send it to the archives and antiques room. They're going to get Chary, Scylla, Peg, and Andy to help."

Poseidon nodded as he pushed up from the pile and began searching the tables and dressers around the back of the room. "Alright, that's great, but if we are going to have so many people working on this then we need to make some semblance of a list of what we are looking for."

Russ poked his head out from around the corner. "I mean that's a brilliant idea... but what all are we looking for?"

Poseidon ran a hand through his now short hair. "Well, it doesn't look like it makes a shit right now... I can't find the first scrap of paper or writing utensil anywhere in here. Our dear Jos wouldn't be a hoarder by chance, would she?"

Ry gave a slight shrug as he made a cl.i.c.k.i.n.g noise with his mouth. "I mean I wouldn't say hoarder exactly, rather that she's old, has collected many random things along the way, and unlike you don't have a palace to store it all..."

"Fair point..." Poseidon said. He lifted his head with his hands on his h.i.p.s. "I would just pop in pen and paper, but I'm afraid it may get lost among all the knickknacks and boxes..."

Ry chuckled, "Well, there should be everything you need at the cottage. If not I'm sure Arei has a journal or two laying around, you could rip some pages out of." He stepped around the boxes they'd carried out earlier and leaned against the c.h.e.s.t at the entrance of the secret hidie-hole. "Come on kid. Grab whatever you'd like to start on and let's head over to the cottage."

Russ frowned up from the diary he was flipping through. "Alright, are we going back to the palace to get our shit?" His eyes moved to the many boxes stacked around him. "Do you think any of these have journals or anything my father wrote?"