Page 11 of Venomous King
I turn towards her, glancing at her serious and sincere expression. She truly believes I am safe, but she doesn’t know Diego like I do. I will never be safe as long as he’s still breathing, and neither will my daughter. Even knowing that with certainty, I can’t give my grandmother the go-ahead to murder him. Even though that would be what is best for my daughter, and would allow us to finally stop hiding. It would enable us to live a life without the fear of every shadow hiding a monster. A final shudder runs through my body, as the remnants of the nightmare finally loosen their grasp.
The memory of how I finally revealed myself to Stella three years ago pops inside my head.
“Are you sure about this, Isabella? We never have to let her know you are alive. We have managed to live without her thus far,” Kai implores me, with his beautiful blue eyes filled with concern. I know he disapproves of this plan. He’s made his feelings towards Stella abundantly clear over the last few years. He doesn’t trust her with my life, or Julia’s.
“Kai, we have tried everything we can with our resources, and they haven’t been enough. You know as well as I do, that if she doesn’t get a heart soon, she will die. Her best chance of getting one is Stella, and the Stratford resources.”
“There has to be another way, little rose. This will put both of you at so much risk. He could find you, I am sure he has people watching Stella.” His hand slides around my neck, gripping it and pulling me flush against his large, warm body. His scent immediately envelops me, and I inhale deeply, needing the strength his presence always provides me. He is my constantnow, my shoulder to cry on, my white knight standing guard against anything that would harm me, and our daughter.
“There is no other way. We have tried everything, and I won’t deny her this chance at a full life because I’m frightened of Diego. My grandmother will never hurt her, and she will move heaven and earth to ensure that her great-grandchild gets the best care. Care we cannot afford, Kai. We don’t have the resources.”
I know that my words hurt him. He has done his very best to provide for us. He is the reason that Julia survived past her very tumultuous birth. The surgery he performed, when she was two days old, allowed her tiny heart to keep beating, but it hasn’t been enough. She needs a heart transplant, and she can’t wait any longer. We need Stella, and the Stratford power and wealth.
“She will never forgive you for faking your death, and hiding. Stella holds grudges like a fucking maniac, Isabella.” He pulls back from my embrace, and his mouth descends into a deep scowl, while his thick, golden eyebrows form an irate ‘v’.
“She loves me, Kai. She raised me, and although she will be furious, she has every right to be. I can’t even imagine the pain I have put her through, but she will forgive me. There is nothing more important to Stella than her family. Julia is now her family.”
My eyes slide over the stiff form standing against the wall: Clark, my grandmother’s ever-faithful shadow. There was only one way to get to my grandmother without the possibility of Diego learning that I am alive. I had to get to someone quietly, and secretly, who has my grandmother’s ear, and whom she trusts. Someone who moves within shadows, and can ensure all of our safety, when I reveal myself to her.
To say that Clark was not amused, and was thoroughly shocked, was an understatement. Yet, he came when Icontacted him, meeting with me, without knowing if it was a trap set up by my grandmother’s enemies. I’d never seen the man display any emotions before that night in my in-laws’ barn. Yet, when he got a first glance at me, a tear slid down his cheek, and when he got a look at Julia, his face broke from its usual mask, and emotions crossed his usually stoic features.
Here we are a week later, with my grandmother, who is due to arrive at this secret location in the Washington mountains at any moment. Clark looks a bit nervous, and that is stressing me out. Fuck, if he’s frightened of her reaction and wrath, what chance do I have of leaving unscathed?
High heels form a staccato-tapping noise, as they approach across the scarred hardwood floor, from the direction of the back door of the cabin. “What is the meaning of this, Clark? You’ve had me thrown onto the damn private jet without an explanation!”
My grandmother’s angry voice carries down the hallway, and a thrill at seeing her again slides down my limbs, accompanied by a sense of dread. My breathing becomes shallow, and my hands become clammy. Kai reaches down and threads our fingers together, giving them a squeeze in a reassuring manner. “It will be fine, little rose. I will protect you from that dragon,” he whispers in my ear with amusement.
Stella comes to an abrupt halt, and I get my first glimpse of my grandmother in over three years. Her hair is streaked with a lot more gray, and there are deep lines on her face that weren’t there before. She looks older and smaller, as if time has somehow crushed her, and taken a part of her fierce spirit. Her arm rises, and she clutches at her chest, a gasp leaving her with a wheezing sound. She sways momentarily, and Clark immediately grabs her arm to stabilize her. Holy fuck, I might have just given my grandmother a heart attack.
“Isabella...” A sob wrenches from her lips, and diamond tears slide one after the other down her face in rapid succession. She pulls away from Clark’s supportive grip, and moves shakily towards me, and I leave the comfort and support of Kai’s side and meet her halfway, where she throws her arms tightly around me, and sobs into my shoulder, her whole body trembling against mine.
We stay like that for long minutes, neither of us willing to break the embrace, both of us seeking comfort for all that we have lost in the years that we have been apart. Regret and pain fill me, as I see the toll of what I have caused on my strong and fierce grandmother. The knowledge that if I didn’t need her to save Julia, I would still be hiding, and hurting her, fills me with self-loathing.
“Where have you been, child? Why have you hidden from me?” Stella finally pulls back from my embrace, but her arms remain locked around me, as if she fears that I will somehow disappear if she lets me go.
I swipe at my own tears and meet her dark, arctic gaze. “I had to hide, Grandmother. Diego had trapped me in that jungle, and although I managed to escape with help, he would have dragged me back against my will, if he had managed to get his hands on me again. I couldn’t risk it, or him hurting you or Mia to get to me.”
“You would have been safe, child; I would have ensured it with my very breath.” Her head turns away from me, and she stares at Kai, her eyes filling with rage. “You! Kai Joliette, I will have all of your limbs ripped from your body, while you are still breathing, for hiding my granddaughter from me!”
Kai shrugs his shoulders, as if my grandmother is not currently threatening him with torture, as he moves closer to us, his head held high, and a look of malice across his usually docile features. “You can try, Stella, but I won’t be leavingIsabella’s side for anything, and your fucking threats don’t work on me. I’m not scared of you, dragon queen.”
“Mrs. Stratford. I have not permitted you to address me by my first name, Kai, nor are you worthy of such a privilege, and if I deem it, you will die a painful death regardless of your wishes.”
I pull myself away from my grandmother, and use my body as a wall between Kai and her, as they both prepare to be irrational lunatics who won’t back down. “Enough, the two of you. No one will be doing anything to harm the other. Grandmother, Kai has kept us safe from harm all this time. He’s helped us hide from Diego and from you. I love him, and you will not harm him.”
“Us. You keep using the word ‘us’, granddaughter. Who is us?” At a nod at Clark, he opens the bedroom door he was standing in front of. Rachel, my former roommate, walks out with my daughter cradled, and sleeping, against her chest. The expression on Rachel’s face is fierce, and I know one wrong move from anyone in this room will have her committing bodily harm to anyone who threatens Julia. She is her designated fierce protector, and loves my little girl as if she were her own.
If I thought I had seen shock cross my grandmother’s face at my sudden reappearance from the dead, it’s nothing compared to her reaction to my daughter. She stumbles back, and has to be assisted to a chair by Clark. Her eyes are too large on her pale face, and her mouth opens and closes without any words escaping it.
“What... what is the meaning of this?” Her voice cracks, as if she’s struggling to form words.
I reach forward and take my sleeping daughter from Rachel, cradling her tiny form in my arms. I lay a kiss on her pale forehead, and she squirms in the blankets she’s wrapped in, asI move towards my grandmother. I place myself on my knees, holding her out to my grandmother, like one does a priceless jewel to a queen, and she hesitantly takes her from me. She holds her with such gentleness that my heart swells with love seeing them together.
“That is your great-granddaughter, Julia Stella Stratford Joliette, and I’m pretty sure she’s pleased to finally meet her gammy.”
Julia’s little, pale face pinches, and her lips pucker before her thick, dark lashes lift, and her stunning, bright green eyes gaze up at her great-grandmother. They stare at each other, neither willing to break the connection. A fierce queen staring at her future generation, who will carry her bloodline forward. “Hello, Julia Stella; it’s my honor to meet you, little one.” My grandmother kisses Julia’s forehead, as tears slide down her age-lined face.
I release a breath I didn’t even realize I was holding, and tears leave my eyes as I watch them together. It’s as if peace has come over my grandmother, and smoothed away some of her hard edges. This right here is what I have longed for, to see my daughter with her family.