Melody Anne - Scorched

Adriane realized that he thought about her all the time. During his meetings with his council, while he was awake and asleep, she haunted him. Her smile, her touch, her voice...even her smell. There wasn’t a moment that went by when she wasn’t on his mind.

Not just as the mother of his children, not just as a lover. He cared about her as a person. The thought of her leaving him was like taking a knife to his chest. Was this love? Had he found this thing he had never believed in being real? Was this what his mother had spoken of? Was this what Rachel was demanding of him?

Suddenly, the aching in his chest and midsection vanished. What a fool he was. Why would he fight against something that felt so right? Why had it taken him so long not only to take the advice of his mother, but to listen to his own heart?

He could have saved a lot of pain, pain for both him and Rachel. Surely it wasn’t too late, though. He just had to catch her before Rafe whisked her off to America.

“I love her,” he said aloud. He needed to put his emotions into words.

If Rachel left him for good, if she ran away, he would lose a part of himself. He wouldn’t have the same purpose in life — just empty days and lonely nights. This must be what people meant when they professed their love. Without the person you loved by your side, a vacant nothingness of days lay ahead.

He turned, surprised to see Nico still standing uncomfortably by. The man obviously wasn’t leaving until he said whatever he’d come in to say.

“It’s about Rachel.”

Adriane’s heart stopped for a beat before resuming at a much faster pace. Had she left with Rafe? Was he too late?

No! Even if she had left, he would find her — beg her to come back to him, humble himself before her.

“Tell me,” he said.

“One of the guards saw her running from the palace out to the beach. With the weather so turbulent, he grew concerned, and after she didn’t return right away, he followed her path. He got there just in time to see her being tossed into a boat and taken from the island.”

Nico’s voice trembled as he spoke. Adriane was afraid to ask the next question.

“This wasn’t consensual?” Whether it was or not was a moot point. No one should be out on those rough waters at this time. The sea was a dangerous place at any time, but during a storm, it was practically suicide to be on the ocean.

“No, Sire. She was being carried over the man’s shoulders, and was placed in the boat in a rather unpleasant way. The guard called back to the palace and immediately began a foot pursuit after the kidnapper, but it was too late. The boat was long gone before they were able to reach the dock.”

“Who took her?”

Everything in Adriane froze as he stared at his trusted adviser. There was deep worry in the man’s eyes.

“The guard made eye contact with the man. There’s no doubt about who it was,” Nico said, hesitating.

“Tell me!” Adriane shouted, fury filling him because he already knew the answer.

“Gianni.” The name was barely a whisper from Nico’s lips.

Adriane felt his face drain of color, felt his blood turn cold. She was out there with his brother now because he’d been unable to speak to her — unable to tell her how much she meant to him.

He was a coldhearted bastard and Rachel was going to be the one to pay for his sins. Gianni was making the ultimate play in a long struggle against Corythia, and Rachel was nothing more than a bargaining chip. His brother would have no problem killing her and the children she carried.

“Get Rafe up here immediately,” he said, the dead sound of his voice unrecognizable even to him, and he picked up the phone to call his guards.

Seconds ticked by like hours as Adriane stood before his large windows, looking out at the thrashing ocean, praying that the boat wasn’t overturned, that Gianni was able to navigate to a place where Adriane was sure he had a crew waiting for him.

“What is it, Adriane?”

Rafe sounded irritated. He was about to become enraged.

“Rachel has been kidnapped.” Adriane was barely able to get the words from his mouth.

Suddenly he was being pressed up to the glass he’d been looking out as Rafe’s eyes flashed before him.

“You’d better talk fast,” Rafe thundered, fury transforming his features, fear just as apparent behind the fury.

“My brother was seen grabbing her on the beach less than an hour ago. My guards were too far away to get to her,” he said, his throat closing at the thought of what could be happening to her.

“Do you have any idea where he’d take her?” Rafe asked, his fury dissipating to be replaced with anguished concern. He released Adriane and began to pace the office. Adriane almost wished Rafe would just punch him. He’d rather feel the ache from physical pain than this strange burning in his chest.

“I think so. I’ll have the guards prepare transportation right away.”

“Why would he do this?”

This was the question Adriane had been afraid he’d ask.

“He’s making a play for the throne. As you know, he was supposed to be Corythia’s next king, but he gave up the title years ago. He wanted nothing to do with the kingdom. A few years back, he changed his mind, but it was too late. Father told him he was disinherited and not allowed back in Corythia. He hasn’t stopped seeking revenge since then. I’m afraid this is his ultimate showdown.”

“Will he hurt her?”

“Honestly, I don’t know. The brother I used to know is long gone. I think at this point he is capable of anything. That is what frightens me the very most.”

“Then we can’t just go in with guns blazing. We have to come up with a solid plan. If he’s using my sister as some sort of pawn and sees us coming, he will shield himself with her. We can’t let that happen,” Rafe said, clearly the one thinking out of the two of them.

“He has a compound in America. That’s where he went after renouncing the throne and leaving Corythia. He doesn’t know that we are aware of his hideout. My father had Gianni investigated when he first came back into our lives. The place is in rough country in Montana.”

“Can we reach him before he gets her on a plane?”

“I have no idea where he would fly from. My guess is that he’s been lying in wait, and had it all arranged. I think our best guess is to get to that compound.”

“How do we know for sure?” Rafe asked, hesitating before making an irrevocable decision.

“We don’t know. All I can do is go with my instinct. At one point in our lives, Gianni and I were close. We loved each other. He’s been attempting to form armies for months, but Corythia’s forces have quickly disbanded them, having no trouble staying one step ahead of him. I’m afraid that now, he is desperate. He would want to regroup where he feels stronger, feels he has more power. That wouldn’t be here in Corythia, where he has no one loyal to him.”

“I will trust your judgment, then,” Rafe said, though Adriane was sure they were equally terrified that Adriane might be making the wrong move.

“Thank you. I already have men out combing the waters and the land here, too, just in case, but I truly think he’s taking her from the country.” There was nothing else he could say until they knew for sure where Rachel was.

“I’ll call Shane. He can be there before us, since he’s currently in the United States. Give me the exact location.”

After the calls were made, it didn’t take them long to collect Ari from the sitting room and for them to arrive at the airport. They would have to drop her in a safe location when they got to the States, because they weren’t taking any chances of her getting caught in the crossfire. It was bad enough that Rachel was in danger.

The weather was such that no one should have been thinking of flying, but none of them said a word as they made their way to the airport. They would reach Rachel, or die trying.

“Sire, I’m sorry, but we can’t get authorization,” Adriane’s pilot said.

“I don’t care what it takes; you will get this damn jet in the air,” Adriane thundered.

“A hurricane is about ten miles off the coast of the island, Sire, threatening to turn at any time. We won’t even get liftoff,” his pilot told him.

Rachel had been out on that water, far too close to the dangerous winds and waves of the hurricane. What were the chances that Gianni and Rachel had even made it to Gianni’s safety point? It wasn’t looking good.

Instead of coming unglued and berating the pilot, Adriane, Rafe and Ari waited, counting down the hours for the storm to pass. The walls of the hangar shook as the wind did her best to wipe out the entire building, but none of the people inside had a single thought of waiting elsewhere.

If they made it through this storm, they would head out the second the jet was able to lift into the air.

As the tense night progressed, the storm continued to grow in its fury, threatening to lay waste to Adriane’s country. He didn’t even care. All he cared about was finding Rachel.

Homes he could rebuild; crops could be replanted.

Rachel. There was only one of her.

If it took his death, that’s the price he would pay. As long as she lived, the world would be righted.

Finally, the winds abated.

Now, for the long journey, with only the hope that she was where they thought Gianni had taken her.

“Take a breath in and then push it back out.” Rachel continued to repeat those words to herself in a low whisper as she sat on the filthy cot in the pitch-black room. The last thing she needed was to panic.