Cherish

"Cherish, wake up. It's not real," a soft voice murmurs from beside me, pulling me from my dreams. Although, nightmares is more appropriate.

My eyelids flutter open and I gasp loudly, moving quickly into a sitting position. A small part of me wonders if maybe I'm still sleeping and was just asleep during my dream.

There in front of me is a transparent Ella, wearing the same clothes she wore the day she died. My breath catches in my throat and tears trickle out of my eyes and down my cheeks.

"Ella," I whisper, my voice cracking. "Is it really you?"

She smiles sadly. "It's really me." I go to reach for her hand but mine slips right through, making my chest ache all over again at the thought that I'll never be able to hug my baby sister again.

"How?"

She looks around my room, the moon shining in from the window allowing for a good amount of light. "I honestly don't know. I've been trying to talk to you ever since you were brought here, this is the first time you've heard me. Or seen me, for that matter."

"Ella," I whisper miserably, "I'm so sorry."

She tilts her head and her brows furrow as she stares at me. "For what? None of what happened is your fault."

"How is it not? They wanted me dead. Me! Not you, not mom, not dad. Me."

Her lip quirks up a little at the end as she continues examining the room around us. "It's not your fault, I don't blame you and I don't think mom or dad do either. By the way, why didn't you tell me about all of this sooner?"

My chest tightens. "I wanted to. Mom and I were trying to get dad on board about telling you about it. We were going to tell you the night that-" I cut myself off, not able to say it out loud.

"The night that we died," she finishes her expression sad.

I bite my lip debating on asking the question that's burning to come out. "Do you remember what happened?" I finally ask after a few moments of complete silence.

"I remember," she says simply. "You don't need to hear it. It'll just upset you more than you already are."

"Of course I'm upset. I got you guys killed!"

She glares at me before pointing her finger in my direction hard. "It wasn't you! Get that through your stubborn little head, Cher. I love you and it's been hell watching you blame yourself for what happened. You had no control over it and you didn't know that would happen."

"I knew there was a possibility," I say quietly. "I didn't want to admit it out loud, but I think a small part of me always knew that there was a possibility they'd use you guys to get to me."

"And that's on them," Ella says, voice hard. "You are not at fault. Please," she begs quietly, "please, drop the guilt, Cher. You couldn't have possibly imagined that outcome."

I stare at her for a few minutes before nodding dejectedly. "Alright. I'll try."

"Good."

"Ella?" I ask carefully.

"Yeah?"

"How are you here? I mean, how am I seeing you right now?" I swallow hard. "What about mom and dad?"

"Mom and dad moved on. To where, I'm honestly not sure. I couldn't leave you, I knew you'd be beating yourself up about what happened and I couldn't let you do that." Her transparent hands fidget a little. "I also wasn't ready to go, you know? I need to make sure that everything is okay with you."

I smile sadly. "I'm okay. I think."

She snorts. "Whatever. You're so far from okay, you're just lying to yourself. Although, your boyfriends are doing a good job with keeping your mind off of things," she says with a waggle of her eyebrows.

I burst out laughing at the movement, unable to help it. I can't even muster the ability to tell her that there is no boyfriend. Let alone multiple.

The door opens and Andrei comes inside, eyes scanning the room, skimming over the spot where Ella is sitting on my bed, then drift to me.

"You can see her now?" he asks, making my jaw drop open.

"Wait, you could and you didn't tell me?" I ask, feeling slightly hurt that he hadn't mentioned it to me.

He smiles sadly. "Not everyone can see spirits, Cherish. I didn't mention it because I didn't want you getting upset that you couldn't see her. If it makes you feel better, I can see her, but I can't hear her. She's been watching over you, but also giving you your privacy."

I raise a brow at my sister's ghost and she shrugs. "I can give privacy if it's needed. Just because I liked to bug you when you wanted privacy when I was alive doesn't mean anything."

I laugh and shake my head at her. "You're crazy," I tell her, still smiling. I look up at Andrei, who's standing in the middle of the room, arms crossed in front of his chest. "Why are you awake?"

"My turn to take guard duty for night time for a few days."

I scowl. "Do you guys ever get any time off?"

"No."

I exchange glances with my sister. "Why not?"

He shrugs. "It's not really important to us right now. The thing that matters most to us is your safety."

"That honestly sounds like a shitty life, Andrei," I say bluntly.

He chuckles, his eyes scanning over me, heating my blood. "Trust me, disa," he says softly. "It's not all bad."

My mouth opens and closes several times while I try to find the words to respond to not just his words but the look in his eyes, but I come up empty. Ella laughs quietly beside me and I wish I had her physically with me so that I could hit her. The little shit.

* * *

After spending the rest of the night talking with Ella, she says that she has things to do. Though, what the hell she has to do when she’s a ghost, I’ll probably never know and probably don’t want to know.

Kade comes into my room shortly after I’ve gotten showered and dressed for the day. He frowns at me as he comes close. His hand comes up and his thumb brushes lightly under my eyes.

“You’re not sleeping again?” He asks gently.

I smile at him. “This time it was a good thing,” I assure him. His expression turns confused so I elaborate. “I, um, I saw Ella.”

Understanding dawns on his face and he smiles. “Your powers are manifesting quicker than expected.”

I grin. “Dude. I don't even care about that. I'm just happy I got to talk to my sister again.”

He chuckles, his face softening. "It's good to see you smiling again, mia."

Heat rushes to my cheeks. "Um, thanks? What are you doing in here anyway?"

He grins. "I figured you would like to get away for a little while. Xander and Andrei will be staying around here but I wanted to see if it was something you'd like to do."

"Get away to where?"

"Well, it's not really getting away, it's still here in the palace, but it's a surprise."

I eye him suspiciously before nodding. "Alright. Anything beats sitting on my ass in here or more time spent with Adelheid, the tutor from hell."

He laughs. "She's not that bad." I raise my brow and he backtracks. "Okay, so she is that bad. It's just because she's not one of those people that doesn't deal with change well."

"Because me showing up just puts a damper on everything for everyone, doesn't it?" I mutter with a roll of my eyes.

Kade lets out a breath and takes my hand in his to lead me out of the room. "Come on. All that thought process is going to do is piss you and me off."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"I'll tell you in a minute."

"Ooookay," I mutter, letting him lead me down several hallways before stopping at a painting of my father in the middle of one long hallway. "Did you just want to show me the pretty picture?" I ask, more than a little bit of sarcasm in my voice.

He chuckles. "Shut up and watch."

I stick my tongue out at him, making him chuckle again. He reaches his hand up to the middle of the painting and lightly touches the middle jewel on the crown. Grabbing my hand he steps back with me just in time to avoid getting hit with the large painting.

"There are secret tunnels in this place?" I raise a brow at him, my excitement growing. "That's seriously clichéd you know that right?"

He rolls his eyes. "Come on."

"Where to?"

"I want you to be familiar with the tunnels in case something goes wrong." We step inside the hole in the wall and the picture door thing closes quietly behind us.

"Wrong?"

"The reason I took you to this entrance first is because it is directly in the middle of the castle." He takes a step forward and torches immediately light up one by one down the tunnel. "There aren't a lot of entrances to it, but there's enough to get the royal family out safely in the event of a breach."

"What about the servants? The guards?" I ask.

He stops walking and looks down at me for a moment, something in his eyes that I can't read glitters down at me. He starts walking again, leaving me standing there looking at his back before I snap out of it. "The servants have their own areas to hide, and the guards stay to deal with any intruders."

I frown. "That's shitty. And totally not fair. Why is it just the royal family that gets to hide out in the tunnels?" He gives me a funny look. "Okay, what is with the face?"

"The face?"

"The faces you keep making at me. Quit it."

His lips curve up and his shoulders shake. "I'm sorry, mia. It's just strange being around a royal who actually has a true regard for the others around them."

This time, I stop walking. "Kade? What does that mean? You keep talking in riddles today."

He sighs and turns to face me. "Your father is a great king, I'm not denying that. To him, and any other royal really, guards and servants, we're not necessarily worth saving."

"But I thought our numbers were dwindling. Why would they be like that?" I ask, confused.

"It's just how it is. I've never questioned it because I grew up with the belief that the royal family must come first. Just as Xander and Andrei did. Our lives aren't important compared to royalty."

"That's bullshit," I snap. "You guys are just as important as I am."

He smiles and moves closer to me, standing just in front of me. He lifts his hand and runs his thumb against my cheek. "That is what I mean, mia," he says quietly. "You are an enigma. The only reason I can think that you think and feel the way you do is because you were raised as a human."

"It's just being a decent person, Kade," I whisper, my heart racing in my chest. He still hasn't moved his hand away and I know my cheeks are warm to the touch because I can feel the heat in my cheeks.

"That may be so, but there aren't many decent people in this world you've found yourself in, ma hai," he mutters.

I tilt my head, leaning more into his hand. "What does that mean? Xander called me that the other day."

A brow raises and his lips curve into a wicked smile. "Did he now?" I nod. "He didn't tell you?"

"No." He leans forward, brushing his lips against my cheek. "Kade."

"Hmm?" He lips brush against my ear making me shiver despite the fact that I'm not at all cold, just extremely turned on. He pulls back slightly, just enough to meet my gaze with his own.

"What does it mean?" I ask with a shaky breath.

He doesn't answer, he just stares at me with lust filled eyes.

"It means 'my heart,'" he finally answers quietly.