Despairing Tides (Fate's Intent Book 12) by April Bowles

did.
    “That’s it. That’s what I had to say and you can do whatever you want with it. You can toss it if you’d like and keep up with this feud but I implore you to log it away and really think about it. We wouldn’t want you to take this behavior to your death. You’ll be all too vulnerable to choose the wrong side and we need you. Your purpose isn’t over so think about it.”
    It was quite a stirring speech. I know I was seeing better in Trever already, although, I’ve never really seen bad in him before. Ryon just made everything make more sense but Darius still sat without a word.
    A few hours later, well into the night, the others arrived and rode directly into the cave.
    “They’re here!” I said, shaking Dirk awake.
    Ruby was the first to jump off her horse and approached us. “Dirk!” She ran over to him and gave him a hug while he was still trying to comprehend what was happening. “Are you all right? Let me look at you.”
    “Mother.” Dirk muttered as Ruby continued with her river of worry.
    “Are you okay? You’re not catching a cold are you?”
    “Mother!” Dirk said to get Ruby to finally stop. “I’m fine, you can stop worrying about me. Seriously, I’m fine.”
    “Well, I guess everything was fine after all.” Zayden said.
    “Yeah, weird how that worked out.” Ryon smiled.
    “I can’t believe you!” Adele said. “You had us all worried!”
    “Loved the effort though.”
    “And everything is back to the way it should be, I presume?” Zayden asked while he had his eyes on Darius.
    Darius looked over at Dirk and smiled. “Yes.”
    “Good. Now we can focus on resting and getting home in the morning.”
    Sounded good to me. I haven’t slept yet since I knew they were on their way. I was looking forward to getting it now.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 16
     
     
    Darius
     
    Everyone settled around the fire after securing their horses but I noticed that Ruby hasn’t even looked over at me yet. In fact, she’s the only one that didn’t join us. She walked farther back into the cave instead. Adele immediately met my eyes like she thought she knew something and I guess she could have if Ruby told her about the note I left. Could that be what this is about?
    Adele glanced back to where Ruby went and I knew what she wanted me to do. I lightly nodded and started to get up. I walked to Ruby, far away from the others and noticed she was now upset but she knew someone followed her and that it was me because she spoke, only proving how upset she was. “What’s happening to us?”
    Just the sound of her voice made me feel bad and I approached her from behind, putting my hands on her arms. “It’s my fault. I should never have said those things.”
    “Did you really want me to stay there?” Ruby turned to me as she asked the question with eyes swollen with tears. “I mean, how could you even suggest that I should?”
    “I was wrong. I thought I’d lost everything. I just didn’t want to bring you down with me.”
    “Do you really regret not leaving when you had the chance?”
    “Of course I don’t. I changed my life for you because I love you and I would gladly do it again but I’d change things. Like be around more for you and Dirk like I should have been when he was young.”
    “It’s not like you had a choice. I’m the one that did this to us just by not moving back to the city where we could have been together every day.”
    “I don’t want to do this. Everything turned out fine. Dirk and I are back to the way we were and I want us to be too.” Ruby seemed hesitant probably because she still felt awful about this whole situation but I had to change her mind and I took her head in my hands. “Hey, I love you. I don’t want you to ever forget that. We can’t keep dwelling on what could have happened. We can’t change what already has. Let’s just move forward. If you need to be distracted, I’ll do whatever it takes.”
    Ruby started to get a smile on her