Eternal Bloom - Book 5 (The Ruby Ring Saga) Read online

  Eternal Bloom - Book 5 of The Ruby Ring Saga

  The Ruby Ring Saga, Volume 5

  by Chrissy Peebles

  Published by Chrissy Peebles, 2013.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  ETERNAL BLOOM - BOOK 5 OF THE RUBY RING SAGA

  First edition. September 4, 2013.

  Copyright © 2013 Chrissy Peebles.

  Written by Chrissy Peebles.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  The End

  Book 6 – Eternal Flame will be released Spring 2014 | See cover on next page.

  Chapter 1

  I had been rescued from the mountain and was in the Immortal hospital.

  When I woke up, I was shocked to find my beloved holding my hand. “Victor?” I whispered.

  “Sarah,” he said softly.

  I couldn’t help but notice the dark circles under his eyes from countless hours of lost sleep. I traced the outline of his strong jaw. “I need a kiss. It’s long overdue,” I said softly.

  When he softly pressed his lips against mine, I felt the stubble on his unshaven face, far beyond a five o’clock shadow. “I’ve been so worried,” he said, tears welling in his bloodshot eyes.

  I reached out and grabbed him in a tight hug. I let the tears flow freely, and the back of my throat constricted with emotion. Hugging Victor was the best feeling in the whole world. I started to sob uncontrollably. It wasn’t like me at all to lose my cool, but I couldn’t help it. Just hours earlier, I’d thought I’d never see Victor again. I didn’t want to be separated from him or any of my loved ones ever again. Strangely enough, I felt like Dorothy, when she woke up from her dream of Oz, only I had no ruby slippers to carry me back home. That sure would have made things a lot easier, I mused to myself, thinking back to our time on the mountain. “They have Lynn, the girl from our theater. I saw her in the pods,” I whispered to him.

  Victor’s eyes widened. “What!? Those fiends! I shall gather a rescue team, and we will get her back.”

  “I didn’t tell the sheriff,” I said. “The Immortals would just kill him. Also, I think we’re gonna need Immortal help.”

  “Hmm. I’ll talk to Dr. Meyers, my love. I’m sure she can lead me to the right people.”

  The nurse studied the beeping machines next to me. “Her blood pressure is reaching the danger zone, Dr. Meyers.”

  “We have to act now,” the doctor said.

  “Wh-what’s going on?” I asked, though I doubted she could hear me over my own labored breathing. It was like straining to breathe through a straw. Spots flooded my vision, and I knew something was terribly wrong. Through the haze, I glanced up at Victor’s grim face.

  “We have to deliver the baby,” Dr. Meyers said.

  “No! You have to stop this,” I said in a panicked voice.

  “They have already tried, Sarah,” Victor said, trying to console me, but I could tell from his tone that he was just as terrified as I was.

  A flood of uneasiness gathered in the pit of my stomach. “Will my baby live?” I asked, anxious about the answer.

  Dr. Meyers’s gaze narrowed. “I’m sorry, but the baby isn’t far enough along. Sarah, your life is in danger. If we don’t take the baby now, you’ll most likely die.”

  “Most likely? Are you saying there’s a slight chance I won’t? Because if there’s any chance that both of us can live, I’m willing to take it!”

  Her mouth pressed into a hard line. “You would only have a 10 percent chance to live if we don’t take the bab—”

  “Those odds are fine with me,” I said, letting out an anxious breath. “I’ll do anything to save my baby.”

  Victor squeezed my hand and looked back at me with horror-filled eyes.

  “I wouldn’t advise it, Sarah,” Dr. Meyers said.

  “I will not let you take my baby early, not if it will harm him!” I screamed, frantically looking at Victor. “Tell them!” I demanded, my stomach aching and my breath coming in gasps.

  Dr. Meyers met Victor’s gaze, and hard lines dominated her face. “You can have more children, Victor, but you cannot replace your wife. We need to deliver this child now if we are to save Sarah.”

  “Blood pressure is 250/150!” the nurse said, as if it was bad news.

  Everything began to spin around me. I tried to focus, but everything began to melt into a hazy blur. I was sure I would pass out any second, but I tried to stay conscious to fight for my son.

  “Victor,” Dr. Meyers said in a frantic tone, “are you ready to watch your wife die before your eyes?”

  He cupped my face, and tears welled up in his eyes at this serious dilemma he was now faced with. “I don’t want to lose you, Sarah,” he said. “I love you so, so much.”

  His words melted my heart, and I knew how genuine his love was for me.

  I was starting to lose focus as heat flooded my body and sweat poured down my face.

  The nurse quickly took my temperature. “She’s up to 105, Doctor.”

  “Prep the operating room,” Dr. Meyers told another nurse.

  “Victor, please don’t let them kill our baby,” I begged. Cramps rippled across my stomach, and I moaned in pure agony. “Fight, Victor! Fight for our baby, for our family!” I yelled. “She can give me medication to bring down the blood pressure. Tell her she has to! Don’t let them take our baby!”

  Dr. Meyers adjusted the IV that was attached to my arm. “We’ve already given the meds to you, Sarah, and they aren’t working.”

  “Please just give them some time to kick in,” I said, glancing at Victor again. “Our little Alexander is fighting so hard to survive. He should have died in that mountain prison, but I got him out of there. He should have died in the gorge when I started to deliver him prematurely, but I set that fire and got us out of there too. Now he’s destined to die once again. Why is this happening, Victor? Why us? Why our child?”

  Tears brimmed in his eyes. “I won’t give up on our son or you, my love.”

  I cupped his face. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  “If I don’t make it for any reason, know that you changed my life.”

  He kissed my hand. “And you mine, so much for the better.”

  I sucked in another breath as I struggled to get enough air. “And always know you are my world, my king.”

  “I love you, my beautiful queen.”

  “I don’t...I can’t...Victor, I am not ready to die,” I said between gasps. I gripped his strong hands tightly and prayed for a miracle, hoping God wouldn’t think me too greedy for asking again.

  “Please hang on, Sarah. You must fight,” Victor said, his gaze connecting with mine.

  Through the foggy haze, I focused on his blue eyes. “You’re such a brave warrior,” I whispered. “If we die, go back to Tastia and reclaim your kingdom. You must be happy, Victor. You were meant to rule, not to fade into the crowd. You must go back.”

  He tried to smile through the tears. “You’re meant to dri
ve a Lamborghini, not a white stallion, my dear.”

  “I-I...if I make it, Victor, I’ll happily go back to your world with you,” I whispered. “I’ll give it all up, and I’ll never look back. I just want to spend the rest of my life with you, to hear the pitter-patter of our children running around the castle.”

  “We’ll have so many, and...” His emotion-filled voice drifted off.

  “I-I want to wake up in your glorious arms every morning,” I said, then closed my eyes. I could still hear them talking through the hazy fog surrounding me.

  “Blood pressure’s skyrocketing,” the nurse said. “We need to get her into surgery pronto.”

  “Victor!” Dr. Meyers yelled. “We need to act now. We need your consent to—”

  “And you shall not have it!” he shouted. “You will not take our son.”

  “But your wife is barely hanging on, and—” she argued grimly.

  “She won’t die,” Victor said, shaking his head. “This baby is something special. He’s specifically mentioned in the prophecies. It is fate, and he will live...as will his mother. Fate will not let either of them succumb!”

  “You’re willing to leave your wife’s fate in the hands of a myth?” Dr. Meyers said. “I am a doctor, and I will not stand by and watch this woman die, not when I can do something to save her life. This is modern-day medicine, Victor. We don’t live in ancient, medieval times of dragons and magic books. This is real life, and your wife is dying. You’d damn well better do something about it and give us the consent to save her!”

  “No, he’s...we are survivors,” I gasped out, still barely conscious.

  A nurse walked in and tugged on the doctor’s scrubs. “Doctor, there is a woman here who claims to be the patient’s sister.”

  “Let her in,” Dr. Meyers said. “Maybe she can talk some sense into these two.”

  I glanced toward the door. “Liz?” I said in a weak voice.

  She walked in and squeezed my hand. “Sarah? Oh my gosh! Are you okay?”

  “No, she isn’t,” Dr. Meyers said. “She’s dying. If we don’t deliver that baby this very second, your sister will not survive the day.”

  Tears streamed down my cheeks. “Alexander won’t make it, Liz. My son’s going to die if they deliver him, and—”

  “Calm down,” she said. “I’m going to try and save you the way we saved Beth, but I can’t promise anything. All that unstable energy might hold us back.”

  “Do it,” Victor said. “Do it now!”

  “Victor,” Liz said, “I will need your power.” She looked at Dr. Meyers. “Please go get my husband. He’s in the waiting room.”

  “I can help too,” Dr. Meyers said.

  “No,” Liz responded. “I mean, I appreciate that, but we need Immortals with ruby rings, as I’ve got no idea how Immortals of a different race will interact with our powers. My sister has already been a guinea pig once today, and I won’t put her through that again.”

  “I understand,” Dr. Meyers said.

  “We need Della,” Liz said.

  Dr. Meyers blinked. “She is in the next hospital room, recovering from a gunshot wound to the shoulder.”

  “A gunshot wound? Why isn’t she healing?”

  I gathered up enough strength to explain, “The Immortals gave us some kind of shot that paralyzes our powers for up to a month.”

  “There are three of us,” Liz said. “That should work.”

  Dizziness flooded me, but I tried to hang on to consciousness. I could hear Charles’s voice, but everything was fading out. I called for Victor, and he held my hand tight. A wave of electricity washed over me, and I started to tingle from head to toe. If I hadn’t known better, I would have sworn I was hanging on to a high-voltage, live wire. The energy coursing through my body scared me, and I wondered if my baby could handle it. I struggled to stay awake, but spots flooded my vision, and then I fell into darkness.

  Chapter 2

  When I awoke, I saw the fuzzy outline of Liz, Charles, Victor, and my parents.

  “You’re awake,” my mother said. “Baby, I was so worried about you.”

  I squeezed her hand. “Hi, Mom.”

  “Oh, Sarah, I love you so much.”

  “I love you too,” I said, then bit my lower lip to still the emotions rising up inside of me. “Victor,” I said, “is the baby okay?”

  A wide smile was the answer he gave me.

  A surge of relief flooded through me. My sister had saved us both, and I didn’t know how I would ever thank her. My little baby had faced certain death three times in one day, yet he had survived. My heart sped up in my chest at the fantastic news. My son was a fighter, just like his father, and I couldn’t have been happier to know he was still living and growing within me.

  “Alexander is doing fine,” Victor finally said, “and the doctor says you are as well.”

  I let out a deep breath, but the tears wouldn’t stop flowing. I wiped at them, suddenly laughing through even more tears. It was the best news I could have asked for, especially after so many close calls. “What about Della?” I asked Victor.

  “She’s still recovering in the room next door.”

  “Is she okay?” I asked.

  He nodded, then cocked a brow in confusion. “She’s quite all right, Sarah, but why are you so concerned about her?”

  “We got to know each other a little bit through all of that,” I explained. “I was just worried about her, that’s all.”

  “Such a compassionate and forgiving one you are, my love. I couldn’t have asked for a better wife. The woman has been horrible to you, yet you still worry about her.”

  “I understand her better now.”

  As everyone gathered around me to give me hugs and talk to me, Dr. Meyers walked in, carrying a clipboard. “I’m thrilled everything worked out. Your sister saved the day.”

  Liz grinned.

  Dr. Meyers turned to face her. “None of the Immortals from this world have the gift of healing, so you must be very careful using it here. If word gets out about it, you will be tracked down and locked up. You will be expected to be at their beck and call, and maybe even put through experiments.”

  “Keep it quiet. I got it,” Liz said, as if it was nothing new.

  “I think it’s best that you all stay very well hidden. Perhaps you should relocate. At this point, all of you are in grave danger.”

  “We’ve already relocated once,” Charles said. “We’re not doing it again.”

  “What about us?” my mom asked.

  “There is someone who owes me a favor. If you like, I can have your names placed on a list so the Immortals won’t be allowed to touch them for any reason.”

  “Like some kind of Immortal restraining order? Pssh. That won’t stop them,” Liz said.

  “It’s a sacred list, and our people abide by rules. I can only place two names on the list, your parents’. The rest of you must stay in hiding.”

  Suddenly, for no real reason at all, I remembered the jewelry I’d looted from the fallen Immortals. I was in a blue, backless, very unflattering hospital gown, so I asked for my pants. I explained the entire story and handed the jewelry over to Dr. Meyers.

  “Ah,” she said, looking it over. “This belonged to members of the rebellion. Consorting with them is far beyond dangerous. There is a rumor that Jackson killed all those Immortals,” Dr. Meyers said. “If it is true, he led them to their slaughter, and he is not to be trusted.”

  “Then why didn’t he kill me when he had me alone on that dark road?” I asked, skeptical.

  “Perhaps he was just keeping an eye on you. He wants your DNA for himself, just like the rest of them. He waited until you were isolated, then kidnapped you.”

  “My DNA?” I asked.

  “A long story for another time,” she responded.

  I blinked, realizing she wasn’t willing to tell me a damned thing.

  “How do I find Jackson?” Victor asked, seething.

  “The
y can’t help Sarah with her medical condition,” Dr. Meyers said, “and they’re very dangerous. My advice is that you don’t look for trouble, Victor. Just keep your distance.”

  “I would like to make an allegiance with them,” Charles said. “Maybe we could help each other.”

  “I would not advise that,” Dr. Meyers said, shaking her head.

  “Getting into a war with the blue-ringed Immortals who kidnapped Sarah would be nuts, you two!” Liz said.

  “The rebels could help us retrieve our land from Ethano’s vile hands,” Charles said.

  “But at what cost?” Liz asked in disbelief. “Charles, you’ll just have to fight the nuts here in this world, but you saw what they did to the rebellion elite in that gorge. They wiped them out, a complete massacre. I know how brave and valiant you are, and I know your heart is in the right place, but you cannot beat them.”

  Charles met her gaze. “What if we bring in more Immortals from Tastia and Dornia? We could create a huge army and defeat the blue-ringed Immortals who rule this world, and then the rebellion could help us defeat Ethano.”

  “You have no idea how dangerous these people are,” Dr. Meyers said.

  “It is far more dangerous to rest on our laurels and do nothing,” Victor said, straightening his shoulders. “I say it is worth the risk.”

  Dr. Meyers shook her head. “They are equipped with weapons you’re not even familiar with, and—”

  Victor shifted his stance. “I am a warrior, Doctor. I have fought countless battles over centuries, and I will not be defeated. My parents named me aptly, for I always win.”

  We spent another hour talking about everything from the rebellion to our safety.

  Dr. Meyers wasn’t a fan of us joining the rebellion or stirring up a war she was sure we couldn’t possibly win. Even after she explained all the dangers in great detail, we still talked about different strategies. “You should be placed in protective custody,” she said, looking at Victor, “at least until your child is born.”

  “Tell me how I can get in contact with the rebellion,” he said, ignoring her suggestion.

  Dr. Meyers let out a huff. “May I have a word with you in my office, Highness? And the prince too.”