“Shut up. I’ll fix this.” She whipped out her phone and almost dropped it when the Gateway flashed even brighter upstairs and the lights flickered. Leandras’ number wasn’t saved in her phone, but it was the last number on her incoming-calls list.
He picked up after two rings. “I understand you’re eager to continue, but I believe it’s—”
“Leandras, I need you. Right now.”
“Well. That’s rather forward of you, Jessica.”
“Damnit, at the bank! The issue I had to leave behind got…worse. By a lot. So get your ass back here.” She ended the call and turned in a slow circle, gazing at the lobby. A puff of green smoke and glittering light shot from the open drawer of the crunched cash register on the shelf beside the door. Another filament dropped from the ceiling and dangled in front of her face. She reeled backward, then made her way slowly toward the front.
‘Oh, no. No, no, no. Where the hell do you think you’re going?’
“I have to get it. If that’s what we need, I have to go back to the warehouse. Jesus, how did I not think of the goddamn coin?”
‘Hey, don’t beat yourself up. I’m learning all the “what we need to survive” stuff as I go too. But if I get ripped apart because you were too busy being all creepily turned on by your magic coming back, I’ll beat you up.’
Rolling her eyes, she moved slowly through the bursts of green tendrils. A faint flash of light rose outside the bank and revealed the fae’s silhouette she could now recognize even through frosted glass. Jessica reached the door and yanked it open. “We need to go back.”
Leandras’ hand froze where it had been poised to open the door. “To the warehouse? Jessica, our purpose there is finished.”
“No it’s not. Take me back. We have to get the coin.” She darted forward to slip past him, fully intending to drag the fae out into the street with her so they could take another jump that made her stomach curdle just thinking about it.
But Leandras’ hand shot out to grip the doorframe, and she barely managed to stop before she would have clotheslined herself on his arm. “Step inside.”
“What?”
He glanced briefly over his shoulder, then gave her an intensely warning look. “I do not enjoy the prospect of physical violence between us. Most likely, I’d be the one to suffer the most. But I will use force if I have to. Step inside.”
The last part came out as such a fierce, growling command that Jessica backed up just to put more space between them. “Are you kidding me right now?”
“No.” Leandras entered the lobby, gazing slowly around at the green-glowing scum coating everything like he couldn’t even see it.
He had to see it. How could he not?
“Listen. The bank’s been fighting off whatever’s pushing through that door to get out, but it can’t hold it forever. You’re seeing this, right?”
“The blight on your establishment? Yes.” He closed the door behind him.
“I need the coin, Leandras!” Jessica clenched her fists. “It’s still at the warehouse. If you don’t take me back—”
“That won’t be necessary, Jessica.” The bolt of the front door’s lock slid into place with a heavy click.
What the hell was he doing?
‘Locking up.’
And you didn’t blast him away like everyone else touching your off-limits parts?
The bank snorted. ‘In case you haven’t noticed, I’m a little busy upstairs.’
The second floor rumbled again above them. Jessica ducked when a larger corona of green light flared down from the ceiling and dropped wooden splinters between her and the fae.
The fae who was grinning now like he’d just caught his prey in his perfectly set trap.
Chapter Thirty-One
Jessica’s mind reeled. Everything set up, everything perfectly timed. The second phase complete, a whole slew of competing magical factions obliterated and out of the way. Now here she was, when the bank needed her most, and Leandras had already turned on her. “You’ve been planning this all along.”
“Naturally.” The fae slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the gold coin. “I know exactly what needs to be done.”
“You—”
Another growl racked the second floor, and the ground trembled beneath them down in the lobby.
‘I always knew he was full of shit.’
“You said we could trust him!” Jessica shouted. Then she pointed at Leandras, black tendrils of smoke and glittering specks bursting from her hand. “You said I had to.”
“I did.” Leandras gazed slowly around the room, keeping perfectly calm. “And as long as you do exactly what I say—”
“Fuck you!” A burst of crackling black energy exploded from her fingertip and hit the fae’s hand.
He hissed, and the coin flew from his fingers. The second he leapt forward to catch it, the bank’s floor buckled with the crack and groan of splintering wood and knocked Leandras backward.
‘Ha! Take that, asshole!’
Jessica lunged for the golden coin rolling across the floor. She snatched it up just as a tendril of green smoke flickered up from the floor. Pain lanced through her fingers, but she clenched the coin with all her strength and booked it toward the hallway.
“Jessica, listen to me!” Leandras snarled. “If you don’t—”
The next thump and shift of whatever was making hell upstairs cut off the rest of the fae’s words, and Jessica ignored all of it.
He didn’t want her to finish this part. He didn’t want her to save the bank. The lying bastard had helped her just enough to make her feel safe about what they were doing before double-crossing her. Again. And she would do the exact opposite of what he wanted.
‘Yeah, great idea. Just get the hell up the stairs, huh?’
Green smoke burst from the walls and snatched at her hair, her clothes, her flesh.
Jesus, her bank had turned into a haunted death trap.
‘Hey, I could do this if I wanted.’
Shut up.
She clambered up the stairs, her skin rippling with black light as Leandras’ shouts followed her from the hall.
The stairway rocked sideways, throwing her against the bannister before she caught herself on the splintered wood. Leandras was right below her, looking up at her with wide eyes. “Jessica.”
She launched herself away from the railing and kept climbing.
This had to be finished. Thanks to him, she could finally get the job done. If the fae didn’t want her to do this, he should’ve thought of that before he’d helped her get all her power back.
“Stop!” he roared behind her. “You can’t do this on—”
“Watch me!” Jessica reached the top of the staircase as the Gateway let off another burst of eerie green light. The dungeon door rattled in its frame at the end of the hall, filling the air with the shriek of grinding metal.
She raised the coin toward it and gritted her teeth.
Now what?
‘Now? I don’t know. That was supposed to do it.’
Shit.
She stepped forward and found herself pressing against an invisible force blasting out of the Gateway toward her. Then the heavy iron door reinforced by bolts and its frame and magic stretched toward her.
The whole thing ballooned away from the doorway, like it was nothing more than a door-shaped glove bulging beneath the pressure building behind it. Cracks splintered down both walls toward her. The green light intensified, and Jessica really thought the thing was about to explode.
She’d failed.
The force of Leandras’ blow from behind took her completely by surprise. His cool hand and something even colder pressed against the side of her neck and left a searing hot-and-cold fire in its place.
Jessica staggered sideways. “Don’t fucking touch me!”
As she spun toward him, he grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to face the Gateway before she could blast him back down the stairs. His hand clamped
fiercely around her wrist, and he jerked her arm and the hand holding the coin up toward the door. “Not me, the Gateway!”
With a furious shout, she tried to jerk away from him, but his other arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her fiercely back against him. His fingers on her wrist dug painful hollows into her flesh.
“Now,” he growled in her ear.
Jessica didn’t even have to do anything. Apparently, whatever the fae had done was the last item on the list for How Not to Let the Gateway Destroy Everything.
The coin glowed with golden light in her hand and burned like nothing else. She felt the pain all the way in her teeth and beneath her toenails.
‘What? Hey, yeah. I think it’s working.’
Clenching her teeth against the pain, Jessica suffered the fae’s hold on her just because the bank had a hunch.
It better work.
A high-pitched squeal rose from the coin, then the thing exploded in a thick, blinding stream of gold light toward the Gateway. The crack on impact made her ears ring. Whatever the door held behind it roared in fury, shaking more dust loose from the walls. But the coin’s magic held as steady as Jessica’s arm and Leandras’ painful grip on it.
The golden light overwhelmed the green. The iron door settled back into place without exploding and killing them all. The rumbling faded like a devastated groan, and the bank’s destructive trembling stopped.
In seconds, the coin’s magic ate away the green film coating every inch of Winthrop & Dirledge Security Banking. It raced past Jessica and Leandras down the hallway walls, crackling and snapping as it went. The sound intensified downstairs, and then it was over.
‘Whew.’ The bank chuckled. ‘I mean, I know I’ve said it before, but that was a really close one.’
Jessica stared at the door, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Instead, the coin in her hand burst into glittering fragments, and her searing fingers closed around nothing in her fist. The pain there made her suck in a sharp breath before she noticed Leandras’ heavy breathing in her ear again.
And his arm wrapped tightly around her middle.
Her back fully pressed up against his body.
Fighting to catch her breath, she attempted to lower her arm, and Leandras released her without resistance. “You can absolutely let go of me now.”
Without a word, the fae slid his arm slowly back around her midsection, his fingers lingering at the edge of her hip before he finally released her all the way.
“Jessica—”
She whirled around and socked him in the face again.
‘Hey, nice arm.’
He staggered backward with a hiss but didn’t bother to defend himself. Or fight back. Leandras did, however, gently touch the fresh split in his lower lip and hummed. “I suppose I deserved that.”
“That wasn’t even a taste of what you deserve,” Jessica spat. She quickly brushed her fingers over the side of her neck where he’d struck her and felt a thrumming energy there that hadn’t previously existed. “What did you do to me?”
“Well I tried to explain, but you weren’t entirely open to it.”
‘Sigil on your neck, Jessica,’ the bank muttered urgently. ‘Unless you got a tattoo I don’t know about.’
She slammed her hands up against her bedroom door before her fingers found the doorknob and she stumbled into her room.
“I’m happy to explain now,” Leandras called behind her.
“Yeah, I bet you are.” Once she reached the bathroom, she slapped on the light switch.
‘Hey, easy on the goods, huh?’
Breathing heavily, Jessica turned her head to study her neck in the mirror.
A bright-purple symbol glowed on her skin. It looked a hell of a lot like the same runes Leandras wore on his lower back and shoulder with all the scars. Now, it seemed a lot more likely that he’d put those there himself, including this one on her neck.
She stormed out of the bathroom just as Leandras entered her bedroom. “You branded me?”
He raised both hands in surrender. “I protected you, Jessica.”
“By literally slapping a rune on my neck. Are you fucking insane?”
“No.” A smile flickered at the corner of his mouth. “I merely didn’t wish to see you kill yourself.”
Her jaw ached from clenching it so hard for so long. And her hand burned where the coin had unleashed its power—with her or through her, even. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because you didn’t give me the chance.” Leandras cocked his head. “I would love to know when you’ll finally decide to trust me.”
“When I figure that out, I’ll let you know.”
They stared at each other for what felt like ages, then Leandras glanced at the couch. “I’d like to sit. Do you mind?”
Rolling her eyes, Jessica walked stiffly toward the couch and sat first. She studied her hand, which did actually look burned this time.
“I can help with that.” The fae apparently didn’t care about giving her space and sat directly beside her before reaching for her hand.
“I don’t want your help. I’ll be fine.”
“I know you will be. I know you are. But that mark will take a lot longer to fade on its own. Even for a vestrohím.” He held her gaze and raised an eyebrow as he reached for her hand.
Jessica glared at him and let him grab the same wrist he’d grabbed before, only this time, his touch was impossibly gentle. The first pass of his palm over hers shot a soothing wave of cool energy through her, and despite her anger, she closed her eyes in relief. “Start talking.”
“I took the coin without mentioning it, and I apologize. You seemed rather…invested in that conversation with your friend.”
A heavy sigh escaped her with the next pass of the fae’s hand and the wave of healing magic brushing across her palm. “Next time, don’t walk in here looking like you’ve won without telling me what you’re doing.”
“We have won.” He smiled when she looked up at him, then returned his attention to her hand. “This wouldn’t have been nearly as painful if the warding rune had been applied on your arm or wrist. But I clearly didn’t have the time for that. Still, I must admit it looks nice where it is.”
“You’re complimenting my unintentional warding rune.” Jessica snorted. “Thanks.”
“Compliment or no, Jessica, you would have died without it.” His cool palm settled lightly on her own, and he slid his fingers between hers. Not enough to actually call it holding her hand. Definitely enough to make her look down in surprise. “Forgive me for doing what was necessary to keep that from happening.”
She shot him a sidelong glance, not reacting to his touch other than to let her hand settle in his. Of course, she didn’t exactly pull away either.
‘Oh, man. Is this the part where you guys have crazy save-the-world—’
It’s definitely the part where you shut the fuck up.
‘Got it.’ The bank’s giggle cut off halfway. At least it got the picture.
“So that was the actual end to the second phase,” Jessica muttered, studying Leandras’ sharply angled profile beside her.
He chuckled through his nose and shook his head. “No. That was you staking your claim.”
“To what?”
“To the Gateway.” He turned his head to look at her full-on. “You said you didn’t plan to offer first rights to any party. I do hope you haven’t changed your mind, because you just overrode the first rights altogether.”
“So no one’s getting through.”
“For the time being, no. We have another window of opportunity.”
Jessica huffed out a laugh. “Let me guess. It’s not long enough to sit back and enjoy the fact that we aren’t dead yet.”
“It’s certainly longer than having to get up tomorrow and risk our lives all over again.”
Smirking, she dipped her head and eyed their almost-interlaced fingers again. “And you have something planned during that window, don’t you?�
�
“Hmm. I believe you may be the only one who makes me enjoy being predictable.”
“Well that makes one of us.”
Leandras cracked a knowing smile when he saw hers, but it faded again quickly.
Too quickly.
“Jessica, you’ve managed incredible feats today alone. And what you did just now with the Gateway opens up another opportunity to stay ahead of the forces on the other side.”
She narrowed her eyes. “An opportunity for you.”
“In a way, yes. With the first rights renounced, you’ll no longer be a target for those on this side who wish to cross. But you are the Guardian. You’ve…whipped the Gateway into shape, if you will.”
“Staking my claim.” With a sigh, she dropped her head back on the couch and closed her eyes. “So I can make it do whatever I want. Great. I’ll keep it closed.”
“You may, if that’s what you really want. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t also tell you right now there is a way not only to keep it closed but to stop the Dalu’Rázj from attempting anything like that again. And he will. That and far worse.”
“Just say it, Leandras. I’m tired of trying to figure out your riddles.”
The fae shifted on the couch and removed his hand from hers. Her skin prickled at the cool air and the very real absence of his energy she hadn’t realized she’d felt until it was gone. “There are certain…artifacts in Xahar’áhsh. Artifacts which, when brought here, can put an end to this ceaseless war.”
“You showed me the end of the war.”
“This has merely been a ceasefire.”
With her eyes still closed, she heard him swallow thickly and took a deep breath. Jessica didn’t want to open her eyes right now. She just wanted to sit here and use this window of opportunity to just be.
“Are you listening?”
“I can multitask.”
Leandras leaned forward away from the back of the couch and turned to face her directly. “There is still a way to get through the Gateway. If someone were to cross to collect these artifacts and deliver them here, we can finish it. All of it.”
“With two dozen Laenmúr members? We barely made it today.”
The Secret Coin (Accessory to Magic Book 3) Page 28