by Cherie Marks
“Not sure. You were going to tell me something earlier but wanted to wait until we could locate some food. That’s accomplished. I guess you could pick up where you left off.” She sat down on the opposite end of the sofa from him. “You were asking about my grandmother’s story. Why?”
She studied his face, noting the painful hesitation there. He obviously didn’t want to tell her something, which made her want to know it all the more.
Finally, he pulled in a long breath and blew it out before saying, “I saw your parents get murdered.”
Ivy’s heart seemed to stop in that moment. She hadn’t known what to expect, but she certainly hadn’t imagined that would be what he was struggling to tell her. A buzzing sound filled her brain as the reality of what he was saying sunk in.
“Murdered? What do you mean, they were murdered?”
He stared somewhere over her shoulder as he began speaking again. “Grath Suprame was the warlock who was willing to kill to get his hands on you. Your parents did fight admirably. I wish mine had been as devoted to my release. Your parents’ powers were impressive, but in the end, none of it mattered.”
“It wasn’t all in vain. I was released from the requirement.”
“Not because of your parents. Your grandmother was there too. She watched it all happen...emotionless...and unrestrained. She didn’t even lift a finger to stop Grath. After your parents were defeated, your grandmother negotiated with Grath, and in the negotiation, your life was spared. Theirs were not.”
“My grandmother allowed my parents to be killed?”
“Not exactly. They...became...magical energy, which Grath then absorbed. That’s what your grandmother allowed to happen.”
She sat silently for a while, processing Zayn’ words. It was confusing and ridiculous, but somehow, she knew it to be true. Had her grandmother been plotting against her all along? Then, why wait until now to hurt her? Why hadn’t she done it when Ivy had been young and vulnerable? It didn’t make logical sense. But then again, none of this did.
“You said you were there. How is that possible?”
“Like you, I was taken from my parents right after birth to be trained by Grath, to become a part of his army. I not only watched it happen. I hooked up the machine that pulled your parents’ magic from their bodies.” He paused, seeming to gather the courage to say the next words. “I killed your parents.”
The words hit her like jagged stones. “What do you mean?”
“Your parents’ deaths are on my hands.” He stared at his hands as if he could see the damage still. He didn’t make a sound as tears began to fall onto those same hands and pool in the crevices there.
Ivy stared at him, the reality of who sat across from her sinking in. He had admitted to killing her parents. How was that possible? He wouldn’t have been more than...six or seven.
The whole thing seemed beyond understanding. “Zayn, how old were you when all of this happened?”
“Seven years old. I’d been with Grath for seven years at that point, and he was training me to be his apprentice. Yet, somehow, I’d known what I was doing was wrong. I remember crying that night, and one of the servants laid down beside me. She hugged me and let me cry into her shoulder. It was Franny, and from that day forward, she took care of me.”
“Even if I wanted to blame you, I can’t. You aren’t responsible for my parents’ deaths, Zayn. You were just a child.”
He wiped his eyes and stood, turned away from her. “They weren’t the only ones I killed for Grath. There were so many people, and he absorbed their magic like he was feeding an addiction.”
Ivy eased up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her cheek against his back. “I forgive you. But you need to forgive yourself.”
He turned, their gazes meeting, sending a thrill of energy down Ivy’s spine.
“How can I forgive myself when I see you struggle? I know that I’m ultimately responsible for your sadness.”
“You aren’t responsible for that. Somehow, my grandmother made him release me. Otherwise, I would’ve shared the same fate as you.”
He looked away and shook his head. Ivy could only imagine the shame and guilt he carried inside. She reached up a soothing hand to run over his cheek, and when he gripped it with his own, he turned his heated gaze back on her. He brought her hand to his lips and laid a soft kiss on her palm. A fire stoked in her midsection, and she felt the touch to her core.
“Ivy, I don’t deserve your mercy. But I’m a selfish bastard, so I’ll take it.”
“I don’t think you’re selfish or a bastard...anymore.” She gave a small chuckle, and for just a moment, he almost smiled. “Yes, I’m sad at the loss of my parents. I’ve grieved them for years. But you didn’t put yourself in that situation, and I could never hold it against you. The blame isn’t on you. It’s on Grath...and maybe my grandmother.”
Relief softened his features, and he wrapped his arms tighter around her, pulling her up against his chest. He smelled amazing, like soap and heat and everything her body craved. When she pulled back, his gaze dropped to her mouth.
With soft precision, he lowered his head and their lips met for a chaste kiss, but in an instant, it deepened. This wasn’t wise. It wasn’t the least bit smart, but it felt right as she ran her tongue along the seam of his lips, and his mouth opened with a groan that vibrated deep in his chest. She needed his touch. She needed the comfort it provided in that moment. He touched his tongue to hers, and the teasing tangle sent sexual awareness all the way through her body. Without thought, she arched into him, trying to get closer as passion overwhelmed her and she released a sensuous moan against the wetness of his mouth.
Her heart was pounding and his hands roamed over her back as the kiss turned hot and hungry. A small voice in the back of her head told her to slow down, but she couldn’t have paid any more attention to it than the sound of an ant crawling along the ground. It was non-existent in that moment. The only thing that mattered was getting as close as possible to Zayn and feeling his soothing touch covering her body.
Maybe she hadn’t quite processed everything about what Zayn told her, but in just a few days, he had given so much of himself to her, and whether he believed it or not, it showed his true nature. He was good. Despite the circumstances of his childhood, he was good.
He walked her backwards until the backs of her legs hit the side of the bed. They broke the kiss as she fell to the mattress and he knelt on the bed over her. She scooted back until her whole body lay across the bed.
His eyelids were lowered half-way, and his mouth was tipped up on one side in a sensual smile, sending all kinds of swirls through her mid-section. A dark curl of his hair fell recklessly over his forehead. His body was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. He looked every bit the handsome warlock and too tempting by far.
Each of his hands rested on the mattress at the sides of her head, and he looked like he was about to kiss her again. She held her breath in anticipation, but he stopped and looked over his shoulder as if he’d heard something behind him.
A deep voice called from outside, “Co-mooon-uh-caaate!” A set of eyes bulged right outside the front window and a Halloween grin sat below two nostrils that Ivy assumed sufficed as a nose. The creature waved madly and called out again in gibberish.
Zayn ran a heavy hand down his face and sighed. He stood up and walked over to the front door, opening it with a jerk. “What do you want?” His voice sounded a tad strained.
Ivy propped herself up on her elbows to watch the exchange and giggled when the creature merely held up what looked like a piece of tree bark and babbled on in the unintelligible language it continued to speak.
Zayn took the piece of bark in his hand and stared at it. The creature seemed to be excited about something as it mimicked eating the bark. But Zayn just continued to watch the creature as if he couldn’t believe this was actually happening.
“I think it wants you to eat it.”
With
a slow look at the chunk of wood in his hand, Zayn shook his head back and forth. “No thanks. I’m not hungry.” He tried to hand it back, but the creature scuttled backwards and held up its hands as if to ward him off. Once again, it mimed eating the piece of bark and muttered something that seemed important.
Yet, Zayn clearly didn’t comprehend the message the creature was trying to convey. He reared his hand back and threw the bark out into the yard. “I’m not eating bark. Thanks, but no thanks.”
Ivy stood up from the bed and walked over to the door. The creature motioned for her to come outside, so she did. Its fingers were long and spindly but warm to the touch as it took her hand and led her to the spot where the bark had landed. Once again, it mimicked eating the bark, as it picked it up and handed it to Ivy.
She stared at it for a while, but before she could do anything, the little creature seemed to shrug and say something dismissive before turning around and running away from the cottage.
“Wait! What happens if I eat this?”
But the little being had disappeared over the hill and was completely out of sight.
Ivy turned to look at Zayn in the doorway, his hair disheveled and his arms crossed over his broad chest. The moment from earlier had passed, but she still felt the heat of attraction burning through her body. Now that her sense had returned though, she knew it was a bad idea to take things any further until they knew where they were and what was going on—and until she could make sense of all he had revealed. Until then, she needed to keep her hands...and her mouth...to herself.
Chapter 17
IT WAS A LITTLE AWKWARD between Zayn and Ivy after that, and Ivy felt sure the heat between them had cooled. They would go back to the way things had been before they’d lost their ever-loving minds. It was the best way to proceed for now.
The sleeping arrangements were made with Ivy taking the bed and Zayn taking the sofa. Ivy tried to be logical and give Zayn the bed since he was taller and would need more room to stretch out, but he insisted the sofa had plenty of room for him. So, they slept in the cottage for the night and decided to walk in another direction when they woke the next morning.
They’d been walking all day, following a path of their own making. Now, they were headed across a field of what looked like daisies and had been walking for a solid hour without seeing another house or person anywhere. It was unexpected and strange, but they roamed on, talking over the strange interactions with the one living being they’d seen. Ivy still carried the bark in her back pocket, and the temptation to take a nibble continued to weigh on her mind—as did lots of things she’d learned recently.
She still couldn’t quite fathom that her grandmother had anything to do with her parents’ deaths or had made a bargain with a warlock bent on wreaking evil havoc on the world with an army of children. Yet, she had to begin accepting the fact that maybe her grandmother wasn’t the benevolent caretaker Ivy had always assumed she was.
It was puzzling, and Ivy wanted answers.
“You were right. It was my grandmother.”
Zayn looked distracted but focused his gaze on her when she spoke the words. “What was your grandmother?”
“The one who jinxed me. I don’t know why, but my grandmother put a jinx on me so I would lose the tournament.”
“I’m sorry you had to find out that way.”
“Do you think she did it because...she...hates me for some reason?”
“I can’t imagine that would be the case. I would imagine she had her reasons. Most people do, but ultimately, the only person who could explain why she did it is your grandmother.”
Ivy bent over and plucked a blade of grass from the ground, placed it between her thumbs and palms and put it up to her mouth. She blew on it and a shrill whistle sounded on the air. She did it a couple more times before asking, “Do you think we’ll ever get out of here so that I can ask her?”
“Of course we’ll get out of here—wherever here is.”
“It’s another dimension.”
“What? How would you know that?”
“It has all the makings of a world that is not our own with its purple sky and no development whatsoever. Even the little creature is not anything I’ve ever encountered before. The only explanation is that your magic blew us into another dimension.”
“Hmmm. Interesting theory. If that’s the case, how do we get back?”
“Well, that’s something I don’t know, and I don’t know how to find out.”
Yet, Ivy dropped the blade of grass and fingered the bark in her back pocket. Was it possible that the little creature had been trying to help them get back to where they belonged? Should she chance taking a bite to see what happened?
Maybe it would reveal the secrets of this world to her. Of course, it could also be some form of poison that would paralyze her so that the little creature could feast on her. Then again, the creature clearly had some sort of way to feed itself and others if the magic it performed in the cottage were considered. Why would it need to eat Zayn or her?
And the biggest question of all kept haunting her. What would they return to? What if Zayn had destroyed everything? What if there was nothing left?
The only way to know for certain was to return, but, again, how did they do that?
“I’ve been thinking. Maybe we should eat the bark.”
“No! Absolutely not. We are not ingesting a piece of wood given to us by a creature that we have no idea the intentions of.”
That did make sense, but what were their other options at this point?
“We ate the food the creature gave us, and we’re still alive.”
He didn’t answer right away, just pursed his lips and shook his head. “No! I don’t like the situation any more than you do, but I don’t trust that little squirt, and you shouldn’t either.”
“Maybe you’re right, but what if we’re stuck here forever?”
Zayn stopped walking and grabbed Ivy’s hand with both of his. “We’ll find a way out, Ivy. Once we’re back in our dimension, we’ll remove the jinx and fix the rose, and everything will be back the way it was. You have to believe that it’s true.”
“I believe we need help to do that.” Once again, his mouth tightened into a thin line. But she continued, “Hear me out. That little creature made sure we had food. Why would it do that unless it was trying to help us?”
“To fatten us up?” He shook his head. “I don’t know why it helped us, but I do know that trusting a strange being from a different dimension can’t possibly be the smartest choice. We have to figure this one out on our own.”
“And what if the next creature we meet isn’t nearly as harmless?”
“What are you talking about? We don’t even know that the creature we met is harmless.” Zayn dropped her hand but leaned closer. “I refuse to let anything happen to you, Ivy.”
“Why?”
He smoothed her hair with his hands and pushed it back behind her shoulders. “I don’t know why, but I know that I can’t do anything or let you do anything that might put you in jeopardy. It’s just the way I feel.”
Ivy had to wonder if he’d grown to care about her like she’d grown to care about him. She understood not wanting anything bad to happen to him, but she still felt as if the answer was there in front of them and they should use any means necessary to get back home.
Ivy nodded and said, “We should probably head back to the cottage before it gets dark. I’m tired and hungry, and let’s be honest, this has felt like a road to nowhere.”
They headed back to the cottage, back to the new sleeping arrangements, and back to the awkwardness that had grown between them since the kiss.
Lying in bed that night, Ivy held the bark in her hands. She put it to her lips, but she didn’t bite it. What if it were toxic? She couldn’t take that chance right now, but the temptation was growing, and she knew it was just a matter of time before she resorted to drastic measures to try to save them.
She just hoped
she didn’t die trying.
Chapter 18
THEY WEREN’T ALONE.
Zayn sensed the familiar presence and knew immediately it did not belong to the creature. It was someone he knew well and still feared despite how far he’d come.
They’d been in the dimension for a week now, and each day they’d explored as far as they could go before the sun started to make its way behind the horizon. Still they had found nothing and no one. They hadn’t even encountered the big-headed goblin-like creature that had befriended them that first day. Zayn figured that the creature probably wasn’t a danger to them. If it were, it would have come back no doubt to check up on how round they were getting.
Fortunately, all the walking they were doing was exercise enough that they weren’t plumping up well enough to be eaten if that were the creature’s intention.
But why was he feeling the presence of his greatest enemy? Was it just his mind playing tricks on him or were they really in danger? He didn’t know for sure, but even now, he sat up, staring out the window, while Ivy slept. He was keeping watch and could feel what felt like a ghost of Grath moving around outside. He sat by the window, watching and waiting, for the inevitable attack.
“What are you doing awake?”
He turned to look at Ivy, propped up on one elbow and staring at him with that golden-green gaze that glowed in the moonlight shining across her face. She was beautiful, and he had to steel himself so that he wouldn’t cross the room and take her into his arms. If he did that, he wouldn’t stop until he was buried deep inside her and pumping hard and fast until they were both panting and clawing to satisfaction. Just the thought of it had his body reacting.
“I couldn’t sleep. Too much on my mind.” Despite his resolve not to let things go too far, he stood up and crossed to her, stretching himself out on the bed beside her—on top of the blankets, of course. “Did I wake you?”
“No. I was dreaming. I mean, it was more like a nightmare, but it woke me up, and now I can’t go back to sleep.”