Past Comes to Present (Book 3 in the Bodyguard series)

Nightmare and Truth

I found my mom matching two colors on the wall. One brown and the other one teal. The wall was green at the moment. "I'd go with the teal," I said coming to stand beside her.

She turned. "Would you? I was thinking brown."

I made a face. "Trust me. You do not want to paint the throne room brown."

She sighed. "Alright."

"Soo...I got a letter today from someone very unpleasant."

"Oh? Who?"

"Adder," I said simply.

Her eyes widened. "He found you?" She whispered.

I nodded. "Yeah." I pulled out the letter and handed it to her.

She uncrumbled it and read it once. Then read it again. "Oh, Y/n!" She hugged me.

I hugged her back. "My family is in danger."

"You need to tell Lloyd."

I took a step back and started pacing. "Tell him what? That my ex found me after I've hid from him for years? That this boyfriend tried to kill me several times in the most brutal way? That now he and our kids are in danger?"

"You're in danger too," She pointed out. "And he loves you. He won't die easily and he can help you through this. If you work together I'm sure everything will turn out okay."

I looked at her. "How do you figure that?"

She gave me a look. "You two have gone through a war together and defeated Loro. You don't need much more proof than that, Y/n."

I sighed. "I'll think about it."

She made a face. "I guess that's all I'm going to get out of you." She gave me the letter back. "But when you do tell Lloyd, have him read that, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay." I hugged her. "Thanks."

"No problem."

After helping her redecorate some, I went home and found Lloyd waiting for me by the door with his arms closed. I glanced at my watch. "Aren't you supposed to be training the boys right now?"

"Kenako is the only one who finished his homework. I worked with him for an hour after he finished with his work," Lloyd said.

"Oh. Okay."

"So? What did you need to talk to the Empress about?"

I waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, nothing important. Just random mother-daughter stuff."

He narrowed his eyes. "Oh, really? Zane said you read a letter and then came to the decision."

I huffed. "I told him it had nothing to do with the letter."

"That's what he said. He might not find that suspicious but I do."

"Why?"

"Because you never just go and visit her."

"Well, I decided to today and she wanted me to give her my opinion about what color she should paint the throne room. She's going to do it in teal." I walked passed him. 

After we ate dinner I flopped onto the bed and Lloyd laid beside me. "You'd tell me if it was important, right?" Lloyd asked quietly.

"Yes," I lied and fell asleep.

I was sitting in the cabin Adder and I discovered during the summer. The door opened and he came in. I threw myself at him. "Adder!" I cried happily.

He smiled. "Hello, love of my life."

"I was worried you weren't going to come."

He kissed me. "I said I would."

"I know. I still can't believe the hottest guy in school is going out with me. A girl who isn't even popular."

"I love you because you are the hottest girl in school."

I blushed. "Am not!"

"Are too." He kissed me again and the kiss slowly deepened. He started touching me.

I squirmed and pushed him away. "Adder! I'm not ready for that yet."

"Oh, come on, Y/n. We've been two months! It's time."

I shook my head. "I don't want to."

His eyes narrowed. "If you don't do it, I'll punish you."

Fear slid through me. "But..." He went to the chest and put on gloves before opening it. He pulled out two snakes with diamond-shaped heads. I gulped and took a step back. "A-Adder, please. I'm just not ready."

"Well, I am," he growled. He threw the snakes at me and they started biting me. Pain seared through me as they pumped their poison into me.

I jerked awake weeping. I jumped when I felt Lloyd's arms wrap around me. "Shh," he said soothingly. "It's okay. It was just a dream."

"No," I sobbed. "No, it isn't." I reached over and opened my nightstand drawer. Then handed him the letter. 

He read it. "Who's Adder?"

"He's the first boyfriend I've ever had. He tried to kill me several times. All of them were extremely brutal. After he almost succeeded one time, we moved here to Ninjago. He never contacted me so we figured that we succeeded in hiding. But now he found me and you and the kids are in danger." I was still crying but I was trying to stop.

Lloyd hugged me again. "Shh, it's okay. We'll handle this together and let the Ninja know."

Slowly my tears stopped. "How are we going to stop him?" I whispered.

He kissed my forehead. "We'll figure that out. Together. Okay?" He had said 'together' with emphasis to let me know we'd be talking about the fact that I lied to him later.

I nodded slowly. "Okay." 

He laid back down and brought me with him. "Let's get some sleep."

"I don't know if I can," I mumbled. But I could already feel my eyelids beginning to close.

"I think you can," he replied quietly as he folded a wing over both of us. 

He was right. I fell asleep two minutes later in the warm cacoon he had created.