"Well, that's no surprise there," he mumbled, but his tone sounded better, just barely.

"Kiran, if I had any idea of how much I would upset you, I wouldn't have even gone to the dance. I, I.... I just thought it would be a harmless night, and since I had used Jericho as an excuse with Sebastian, I wanted to cover all of my bases. That's all. There is nothing between Jericho and me. There is absolutely nothing to worry about."

"So you say," he stepped away from the tree and the little light that made its way through the canopy of darkened greenery illuminated his face. His expression was softened, but the sadness etched across his forehead and deep in his eyes was unmistakable. He reached out to me and I ran to him, letting him envelope me in his arms. "Eden, you don't see how he looks at you. You don't have to watch some other guy fall in love with you and sit there helpless."

"Yes, I do," I said plainly. "Seraphina has her dirty little hands all over you, all the time. She's the one who gets to go to dances with you and eat lunch with you and be taken on dates. All I get are secret rendezvous' and midnight, subconscious sleep worlds."

"Oh, Love," he hugged me tighter, "We have got to figure something else out. It doesn't do any good for us to fight over these stupid jealousies," he tipped my chin up to him, gazing into my eyes. "Seraphina means nothing to me. And I'm fairly certain all I mean to her is a crown. You have nothing to worry about."

"Nothing? Yeah, right. Except that you're supposed to be getting married to her," my bottom lip jutted out in an uncontrollable pout.

"That will never happen," he smiled reassuringly.

"How can you be so sure?" but the hope was already there, unwillingly and without permission, the small flicker of hope had begun to grow.

"India," Kiran replied with confidence. "Father wanted to meet you, get to know you better. He knows I have no real feelings for Seraphina, which has never bothered him before; but if he does suspect you are who you really are, then he might hope the feelings between us are real. A marriage between the two of us would be.... beneficial.... for all parties involved." There was hope in Kiran's eyes, too; he was beginning to believe there was a future for us.

"Marriage?" I gulped. I was not even seventeen yet and already I had to be thinking about marriage. There was not a doubt in my mind that Kiran would be the only man I would ever want to marry, but did we have to start talking about it already?

"Don't tell me you have cold feet already? We don't even know what my father is really thinking," he smirked at me.

"No, I know, I mean, I was just surprised that we could even use that word," I stumbled through what I hoped to be a convincing argument.

"I'm just teasing, Love," he leaned in to me and finally our lips connected. Our magics slammed into each other in a raw connection reminding us that it had been too long since we were alone. Kiran kissed me passionately, dipping me back and holding me tighter. I was overwhelmed by him, feeling heady and lost. He kissed my mouth and my neck, making his way across my shoulder blades and then back to my mouth again. One of his hands was tangled in my hair and the other pressed tightly against my lower back. He was fierce against my mouth and when he left it, finding my ear and neck again I had to gasp for breath.

Gently he picked me up and laid me on the ground, his mouth against mine again. Our magics swirled around us in the palpable magic that had become a connection of our auras. Except this time, I found them distracting. Usually they were alight with an iridescent glow, changing colors too fast to ever make one out clearly. This time however, the deep blue from my magic was overwhelming any other color in smoky wisps of air. The blue from my magic forced Kiran's to be black and the two colors seemed to be fighting in the night instead of wrapping themselves in each other like they usually did.

I panicked for a moment, afraid the wind from the caves in India had followed me home, but then the blue was gone and the magics were back to the fast changing colors they had always been. Kiran was kissing my mouth again. I tore my eyes away from the magic trying to give him my attention, but I was too distracted. I slowed down his kisses and eventually ended them, trying not to give the wrong impression.

"So, marriage, huh?" I cleared my throat

"Yes, marriage," he whispered, full of affection. "If that's all right with you." He lay next to me on the soft forest floor, still kissing me sweetly.

"Will that make me a Princess then?" I asked dreamily, still trying to forget the magic.

"And one day, Queen," he whispered.

"But more importantly, I will get you." I forced myself to look into his eyes. They were turquoise; a reflection of his mother’s and full of love for me. In that moment nothing else mattered, I didn't really care about being a Princess or even Queen; but if I were, if that dream came true, I would be able to make everyone happy. I could set the Shape-Shifters free, the Titan Guard as well, my family would be safe, and I could give the Kingdom freedom to marry whomever they chose. If I were Queen, I could solve everyone's problems without anyone I loved being in danger. And I would be with the man I loved, without secrecy or threat of danger. We could be together forever.

"And I get you," he finished, confirming my future plans.

"And of course, live happily ever after," I sighed, finding the perfect nook of his arm and cuddling closer.

"Well, of course," Kiran said happily. "We will know more in a week or so when father comes to visit," he finished off-handedly.

"Wait, I'm sorry, what did you say?" I sat half way up. Lucan? In Omaha?

"Yes," he laughed at me. "He wants to visit for the Christmas holiday and stay through January for my birthday."

"He has time to stay for a whole month?" Lucan in Omaha for an entire month could not be a good thing, no matter how much closer to progress Kiran and I were.

"Eden, he is the King, he can do whatever he wants." Kiran sat up with me and laughed again. "It will be all right dearest. I said it before; he would very much like to see us together. It's a strategic move for the Kingdom and of course he wants me happy."

"No, I know that's what you said. I just didn't think he needed to come here, to, you know, make up his mind," I smiled weakly, trying to reassure myself that this was a good thing. If Lucan wanted us together then it didn't hurt to speed things along. Still, Avalon and Jericho's faces flashed before me and I couldn't drown the sick feeling that they and everyone on the farm would be in danger. How could I protect them before I was Queen, before I really had any power at all?

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Avalon, seriously, I can't shop for your Christmas present if you are with me. I'll be fine," I pushed Avalon away, laughing at him. We had been at the mall for hours, Lilly and Jericho had gone off to find something special for Aunt Syl as not only a Christmas present, but a thank you for her hospitality; and I was finally down to just Avalon's gift, but I couldn't get him to leave.

"I can't leave you. Amory's orders," he said stubbornly, crossing his arms and giving me the defiant look I had started to believe was genetic.

"Listen, I've got Roxie, there is nothing to worry about," I tried again. "Besides, don't you need to get me a present?" I asked with all sincerity.

"No, you don't deserve a present," he rolled his eyes and then turned around, scanning the mall in every direction.

"It's all right Avalon," Roxie came to my defense. "Listen, if I see anything suspicious, anything at all, I will call you, or make Eden call you with the twin connection thing."

"Yes!" I agreed. "I will totally just let you know if anything seems out of the ordinary!" I exclaimed, excited to have someone on my side.

"Besides, Eden already knows exactly what she's going to get you, right Eden?" Roxie asked and I nodded my head furiously. "Can we get it in less than twenty minutes?" I nodded again.

"See Avalon? You have nothing to worry about. You can even sit right here and we will come find you as soon as we pick it up," she looked at me again and I nodded for the third time.

"I don't like it," Avalon grumbled, but we both knew he had conceded.

"And no cheating," I demanded, tapping my temple with my finger.

"Yeah, yeah. Ok, then get going, I've already started timing you," he held up his wrist watch, waving it at us, and Roxie and I scattered off in a different direction, walking fast and laughing.

"Oh, he can be such a drama queen!" I sighed, exasperatedly.

"No, I don't think so," Roxie defended him, but in a nicer way than usual. "No, I think he just cares about you."

I looked over at Roxie, surprised by her. She just smiled and I didn't know what to say. We walked into the electronic store and my eyes floated over the big TVs and fancy cameras and camcorder displays, looking for the game console I wanted to buy Avalon.

I wandered around the store with not much direction and Roxie gave me a little space, making her way over to the new movie releases. Eventually, I found what I was looking for and I stared at the two options I had researched, still not really sure which one to choose.

I had no clue which one Avalon would prefer; I just knew that he wanted one. He owned every kind of electronic anything back at the farm, but he had left them all for the visitors staying there. I knew he wanted something for our house, but felt that to go buy something would be negligence of his duties.

I couldn't make up my mind and none of their descriptions were helping me choose which one was better. I felt like everything was written in a different language, a techie language that was as good as French to me. I was contemplating buying them both and just explaining the extra charges on my credit card later to Aunt Syl, hoping she wouldn't care.

"Can I help you find anything Miss?" I barely glanced up at the sales associate trying to make a commission.

"No thanks, I've found what I'm looking for," I smiled politely, while turning my attention back to the two items in question.

"I'm very happy to hear that," he said snidely, but didn't move anywhere.

"Really, I've got it," I snapped my head up, not even pretending to be polite anymore. I was irritated.

Irritation quickly changed to fear when I realized the man bothering me was not a sales associate at all. He was dressed in a nicely tailored black suit and had the distinct military look of a Titan. I felt his magical current, faint beneath his blood and chastised myself for not finding it earlier.

"I think we have more of what you're looking for, back this way," he gestured his hand towards the back of the store. I looked frantically around for Roxie but couldn't see her anywhere. The man put a firm grip on my arm, pulling me away from the people milling around the different displays.

Avalon, find me. I opened our twin connection while stumbling through an employee door that led to the concrete hallways out of sight to the average mall-shopper. Once on the other side, I gasped; there were six more Titans waiting and one of them was holding a flailing Roxie, his hand over her mouth.

I felt Avalon tense up, and knew he was watching what was happening. Get Jericho first. I demanded. I didn't care how powerful I was supposed to be, I wasn't going to win this fight without some back up.