by T. S. Snow
I could make her forget about the resistance, forget about Arcane, forget about Futhark.
I wondered what she’d do if I acted on my urges, if I made my move. Would she respond to me? Would she be soft and pliant in my arms? Or would she unleash all the heat I knew she packed inside of her? All the fire she had running in her veins? Would she grab onto me, making those little noises she’d made while she’d been with Futhark? Could I make her scream more, louder, beg for me to fill her?
Goddess, how I wanted a chance to try.
“You… you want to fix my hair?” Was it just me, or did Charisma sound hesitant?
“Well, I mean, yeah. But only if that’s what you want. I can’t do much about your actual hair, but I could put an illusion that would last long enough for you to fix it yourself, if that’s what you wanted. I can make it so it looks pink even to you.” I shrugged, as if her answer made no difference to me, even though it did.
Her eyes shone with something I hoped to fuck was happiness. Because if those were tears… well, things were already awkward enough, I didn’t need her taking offense and crying and making things worse.
I was about to open my mouth to tell her never mind, that it had been just a stupid idea, but she nodded before I could, and I tried to smother my sigh of relief.
Why was I so affected by her? Why did her answer matter so fucking much to me? I was scared of looking too closely, analyzing too much. Some questions were better unanswered.
“Yes, please,” she answered at last, as if I hadn’t seen her tiny nod.
I smiled at her. “Alright, one bright pink highlighted hair coming right up,” I said, already starting to turn my MET while I focused on what I wanted to do. I pulled the image of Charisma’s hair during the Academy years, how the pink almost hid the dark strands underneath, how it shone under the sunlight when she was making her way around campus, making the pink seem like it had an array of different shades. I visualized how soft it would feel if I had my hands wrapped around it.
The illusion took a life of its own before my eyes, and the Charisma staring back at me smiled hopefully, excitedly.
“Well? Did it work?” she asked, jumping from foot to foot in front of me as if she couldn’t bear the thought of staying still for long.
“See for yourself.” I motioned towards the bathroom door behind me and stepped aside so she could see for herself.
Charisma rushed to the bathroom, exclaiming excitedly when she saw her own reflection. She rushed back out, but yelped in pain when she was passing through the bathroom door.
“Are you okay?”
Charisma was curled over in front of the bathroom, her hands on her right hip.
“This motherfucker attacked me, but I’m fine, it’s fine,” she wheezed.
“Who attacked you?”
“The goddamned doorknob! Motherfucking bitch of a doorknob.” She stood up straight, one of her hands still on the injured flesh, as she stared the doorknob down as if it had truly come alive and attacked her.
Must. Not. Laugh.
“This isn’t funny!” Charisma protested, when I wasn’t fast enough to hide my chuckle. “It hurt!” She pouted.
Well, in that case...
“Do you want me to kiss it better?” I offered.
Charisma seemed to consider my offer for all of two seconds before she came to her senses and shook her head vehemently. “No, no, it’s fine, really. I’m fine. I’ll live. Erh. Thank you, by the way. For the hair thing. I like that I’m more myself now, even if it’s fake and temporary. So, yeah. Anyway, thank you.”
“Sure thing, beautiful. You’re very welcome. And let me know if you want to change the color or spice things up a bit.” I winked, and Charisma blushed, making her face the same shade as her hair.
“Did you want to ask me something?” I didn’t want the conversation to end just yet, and I was grasping at straws, even I knew that. I was usually a hell of a lot better at flirting and winning over the opposite sex, but for some reason I was fumbling like a damn teenager.
Charisma stared blankly at me for a second, as if trying to understand what the fuck I was talking about.
“When you saw me here, we both said we had something to ask the other at the same time, but you told me to go first, so I did. Now it’s your turn,” I supplied.
“Oh. Ooh. Yeah, right. I remember. I wanted to thank you for your help today as backup. Even though they were just agents and not really rebels nor a threat, you had our backs and, yeah, I just wanted to say thanks, I guess.” The whole time she was talking, she kept fighting herself to hold my gaze, averting it before she brought her eyes back to looking into mine.
I had to admit, I was bummed. I didn’t know what I had expected, but this hadn’t been it. Did I really think Charisma had sought me out to tell me how much she wanted in my pants? Please, I should’ve known better. I did know better.
I needed to get the hell out of here and get my head checked. I shouldn’t be this affected by one girl. I’d never been this affected by one girl before. And I’d talked to Charisma a total of three times, one of which was to offer her a job.
Which reminds me...
“You’re welcome. Listen, now that I have you here and now that I know you’re not actually dead, I was wondering... Is my deal with Onyx still on? Will you still be able to develop my MET? I know you don’t have your magic right now, and I’m cool with waiting a little longer; the challenge hasn’t been set yet and even once it is, I can probably postpone the duel to the end of the month or maybe as late as next month. Would that be enough time for you? Will you have your magic back by then?”
“Wait.” Charisma reached out and grabbed my arm. “A duel? You’ve been challenged for the title of heir?? By who? Who challenged you?” she screeched.
Oh shit, I forgot I hadn’t given her the details when I’d met her before. But then, again, considering we had met in a super public place, it was no wonder I’d kept it hidden.
And maybe it was better that she found out about it now, because the way she reached out to touch me, the look in her eyes as she asked the questions, almost as if she cared… It made me feel things. Things I’d never felt before.
There was a fluttering in my stomach I couldn’t quite pinpoint the cause of.
Something new. Something… impossible.
Get back to reality, Andres.
“My uncle. He hasn’t challenged me yet, but he will. My father warned me about him a long time ago, and I’m honestly surprised he’s taken this long to make his move. But then, he doesn’t want to risk my father’s wrath just yet. Problem is, my father is sick, and he won’t be able to keep his hold on the Illudere branch for much longer, so I’ll have to step up. Unless my uncle wins, that is. Which is why I went to you in the first place. Well, why I went to Onyx. I have the same Magical Engineer as my uncle, and it didn’t seem like the best idea to keep it that way when he was about to challenge me. I needed someone I could trust, someone I knew for a fact wasn’t working for him. You came highly recommended.”
Charisma just stared at me.
And stared. And stared.
And then when my words finally registered, her jaw literally dropped.
It was quite the look on her.
It made me think of all the things I could do to that mouth of hers.
“What’s going on in here?” Blaze stormed in from the bedroom where he’d been, made his way towards Charisma and wrapped his arm around her in a possessive move made to send me a very clear message.
Then again, maybe I should leave her and her mouth and all things Charisma alone.
29
Charisma
The Goddess save me from possessive alpha males who felt the need to lay their claim on me. Yet again.
Blaze was hot, and he was cute, and he did this thing with his tongue that deserved an A plus plus. But it was the fifth time in as many days that he was marking his territory around me and it was starting to grate on my nerves.
We weren’t even officially in a monogamous relationship. He’d asked me to give us a chance, and I’d obliged, but no rules were specified. Nothing was set in stone.
And. He. Was. Still. Pissing. Around. Me. Like. A. Damn. Dog.
I was no expert in relationships. In fact, I was pretty much the opposite of an expert considering the one relationship I’d had, I’d managed to scare my boyfriend so hard he’d run from me and avoided me like the plague for five years. If there were awards given to people who sucked at relationships, I’d have gotten the first place trophy. Along with a lifetime supply of cat food. But nooo, all I had to show for the craptastic end to things were my mental scars. Oh, and the gossip that still ran around Arcane hallways, even though none of us went there anymore.
Nobody liked to gossip more than mages and no topic of conversation was more favored than the heirs and the duped heir.
Me. I was the duped heir.
So yeah. Add in a drama between one of the heirs and the duped heir, and they hit the jack-fucking-pot.
They had even placed bets on how long it’d take me to run back crying to my family.
Joke was on them.
My family was the one who’d come crying to me in the end. Not that they’d ever admit to it. But still.
So Blaze’s alpha male attitude around me? Not a fan.
It wasn’t like I was just going to jump Andres’s bones if I was left unsupervised. Not that, like, I didn’t want to jump his bones, but I had self control. And I was not living in a reverse harem novel. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have three hot as sin guys attending to my every need and being okay with sharing me both inside and outside the bedroom.
Those were goals. Real goals. Or fantasy goals. Whatever.
Anime and books have it right, that’s all I’m saying.
Unfortunately, Willy Wonka’s “get inside the TV” tech idea was still a no-go, which meant a harem was not in my near future.
But anyway, I digressed. All this daydreaming of getting a harem, and I forgot the main issue here: Blaze and his inability to keep his possessiveness in check.
I mean, for goodness’ sake, he’d intruded on a private moment between my client and I right when Andres had dropped a nuclear bomb on me.
Not that Blaze knew Andres had hired me, but that was one tiny detail.
I had been left reeling over his revelations. I was so far out of my depth in processing this, I didn’t even know where to start.
And to think I used to say my family was bad. But compared to Andres’ uncle, my parents were basically angels.
Andres needed my help. Hell, he needed all the help he could get, and I didn’t even have my magic to truly make a difference.
I really hoped my magic would be fully restored before his uncle challenged him, or else this could very much mean the end of Arcane, and in the worst possible way.
Because someone who was willing to challenge and kill his own nephew would not make for a good leader, and he wouldn’t stop at leading just the one family.
After all, why lead a few when he could lead all?
I took in the two men in the room with me, how tense their postures were, noticed the tightening of Andres’ hands at his side, and the way Blaze’s arm grew heavy around me.
Futhark’s question went unanswered, as I stepped out of his arm, breaking free of his hold.
I was nobody’s possession.
My action seemed to spur Andres on, because he turned a glare to Futhark. “What’s going on here is none of your business, Futhark. Why don’t you run along like a good little boy and go make us some food? I’m pretty sure Charisma can survive five minutes without you shadowing her every move.”
Oh snap. A little rude, but point to Illudere.
I wanted to sit back, kick my feet up and watch the arguing that was sure to ensue because if there was one thing I’d learned long ago it was that the heirs could be worse than children squabbling. I’d seen it happen again and again at the Academy, even if I’d never been this up close to them while it happened.
Blaze stepped up to face Andres. “The fuck did you just say?” He asked, and Andres just smirked.
I didn’t know if he was a genius or a complete loon.
Both. Probably both.
“I said the adults are talking, so you should take your leave.”
That would’ve been a much more effective insult if Blaze wasn’t actually a couple months older than both Andres and I.
Not that I’ll ever admit how I know that. I’m not proud of the truth.
The smirk never left Andres’ face as Blaze raised his hand to grab his shirt.
Okay, huh. Maybe I should intervene. I didn’t think they’d actually get physical right in front of me.
If I had my powers, I could totally douse them in cold water so they’d chill the fuck out.
As if the universe heard my thoughts, a blue magical circle appeared right in front of the guys and they did get drenched in water. They both yelped and cursed as they backed away from one another.
My jaw dropped.
I couldn’t understand what was going on. Had… had my powers worked?
But… that hadn’t been my activation circle up there, had it? I searched the room, aghast, too afraid to hope, and I caught Blair at the door. Arms crossed, hand on her MET.
I deflated like a hot air balloon.
She’d done it, not me.
Blair had used her magic to stop the fight. I was still as good as powerless.
Nothing had changed.
30
Bastille
I sat back on my chair after hours and hours working on the coding for the new RPG game I was almost done developing and cranked my neck from side to side, trying to get rid of the kinks there. One look at the screen’s clock showed me I’d been at it for way longer than I’d expected, which explained why I felt about twenty years older and in desperate need of stretching. I’d thrown myself at my work since I needed a distraction, but I didn’t expect it to be quite so effective.
Rubbing my hand over my face in an attempt to wake myself up, I got out of the chair, heading towards the kitchen.
I needed coffee, boatloads of it.
If I dove into work long enough, if I focused on it and nothing else, then I might be able to forget.
Forget that Charisma was in danger.
Forget that she had almost died.
Forget that she was ghosting me. That she didn’t need me.
Forget that the woman I loved had friendzoned me and that I couldn’t find a way out of it.
Forget that the only reason I even knew she was alive after two weeks was because a damn ghost had told me so.
It was a struggle not to beg my grandmother to check in with ghost-Annie daily in order to make sure Charisma was still breathing, but after what had happened last time… Gran had used up a lot of energy trying to bring Charisma’s ghost close enough to this side of the veil that I could see her. Even with our magic linked, even with her feeding a little from my power, it had taken a lot out of her. So as much as I’d wanted to, I hadn’t asked her to do it again.
I poured the coffee, made a quick sandwich so I could eat while I worked, and made my way back to the office. I was just crossing through the threshold when something on the TV caught my eye. I didn’t even remember turning it on, but I sometimes did it for background noise when I wasn’t in the mood for music.
The news station was in front of Charisma’s apartment, or what was left of it, talking about how there was a big fight going on between the owner and the city because while the owner of the building wanted to try to renovate, the city wanted to have it torn down. Then the reporter went on explaining what had happened in the building, and how one of the people who lived there had died because of a gas leak—even her name was mentioned.
I froze in my tracks.
I’d never get used to hearing them say she was dead. Hell, I wouldn’t be happy until I had her in my arms, where she be
longed. Until I could touch her and make sure she was safe and in one piece. We could cuddle on the couch, have a gaming night where we would play every game imaginable side by side. She’d yell at me if I won, or jump around dancing when she did, until I had to shut her bragging up with a kiss.
As if moved by some unseen force of the universe, my phone started ringing and I rushed to it, placing the plate with my sandwich on my desk so I could check who was calling me.
It was her.
“Hey Char, where have you been? I’ve been worried sick about you!”
Instead of an answer, all I heard was white noise.
“Hello? Char? Are you there? Can you hear me?” I tried, but I still got nothing.
I took the phone away from my ear and checked to make sure the call was still going, and sure enough, it was connected and the seconds were counting up.
“Char? Char?” I was just about to hang up when I heard voices on the line.
Two men, arguing.
Shit. Did someone get Charisma? Was she in trouble?
Shit shit shit.
Suddenly, there was cursing and yelling, and a voice that sounded an awful lot like Blair’s right before the line went dead.
I stared back at the phone screen and saw all the confirmation I needed that the line had been cut out.
I needed to figure out what was going on, I needed to know Charisma was okay. Just because the call had been from her number, it didn’t mean she had been the one to call me.
But if that had truly been Blair, then...
I grabbed my phone and called one of my contacts, who answered on the second ring.
“This better be important, bro, I’m in the middle of something,” she said. I could hear voices around her, but none I recognized.
Please Goddess, let me be right.
“Please don’t tell me I called you in the middle of an orgy again,” I snarked. There were some things a guy did not need to know about his sister, no matter how old she was.
“That was one time and it was a threesome. Hardly an orgy. But no, I’m not getting lucky. Did you just call to waste my time?”