by Eva Brandt
“I’m sorry. I’m being unreasonable. It’s just that this still seems surreal. How could we allow this to happen?”
Mere days ago, Pierce and I had been engaged to be married. We’d had it all set up. We had planned to finally tie the knot in a beautiful ceremony on Fire Island. We’d even cleared it beforehand with The Pure Kingdom of Alaria. We hadn’t wanted any issues because Pierce was still technically a scavenger, and they’d been cooperative.
Everything had been going so well until those bastards led by Mathias Vandale had appeared. Now, my father was in a coma and might never wake up again. Pierce’s mother had almost been bled dry by that vampire I’d come close to killing. Diane was doing a little better and had already recovered, but there were countless others of our family and friends who had not been so lucky. Vandale and his ilk had done a lot of damage.
“Why did they do this, Pierce?” I asked. “Why did they have to ruin our lives in such a way?”
Pierce wrapped his arm around my shoulder and kissed my temple. “You can’t rationalize the actions of insane men. You know Mathias Vandale has always hated your father. He doesn’t need any other reason.”
“Yes, but still...”
It still seemed too much? No, it didn’t. There was no such thing as too much for plagues. They took the scorched earth policy to a whole new level and didn’t care who they hurt as long as they got what they wanted. No, that wasn’t really accurate. Plagues liked killing people. It was how they fed, after all. Anyone who was a threat to their vile way of life was always removed, and the plagues enjoyed doing it.
I only realized my magic was swirling angrily when the scent of burning cotton hit my nostrils. I yelped as I realized that I’d accidentally set my fiancé on fire. “Oh, shit,” I said as I extinguished the blaze. “I’m so sorry, Pierce.”
“It’s fine,” he replied with a kind smile. “Don’t worry about it. You know I’m immune to fire magic.”
“That doesn’t really excuse it. God, I’m terrible at this. Why did I have to be born magical? Father deserved a better daughter.”
Pierce’s smile faded at my self-pitying words. “Lucienne, can I ask you for a favor? It’s important.”
I frowned at my fiancé. Pierce rarely asked for anything, especially in such a way. We’d known each other for so long that it felt strange and awkward to be formal with one another. “A favor? What did you have in mind?”
“Come with me for a moment. Your aunts will notify us if anything happens. I think we both need a breath of fresh air.”
I didn’t really want to leave my father’s room, but on the other hand, I sort of agreed with Pierce. I’d been in my father’s healing quarters for three days now, since we’d returned to our American residence. I needed to stretch my legs a bit, feel the sun on my face, and take a shower if I could fit it in.
I also needed to talk to my fiancé somewhere better than here. He had supported me through this difficult time, but I hadn’t done much to support him in turn. Maybe that was why he was acting so strangely.
Or maybe it was just because his mother and sister had both nearly died and he was too busy comforting me to stay by their side.
Musing over how to fix my blunder, I followed Pierce out of the room. At first, he was silent, almost as if he didn’t know what to say. I gave him time to gather his thoughts and I was soon rewarded for my patience. The moment we left the building and entered the gardens, he turned toward me and said, “Lucienne, listen to me. You need to stop blaming yourself for what happened at the wedding. It wasn’t your fault.”
I looked away from his earnest face, unable to withstand his affection and compassion when I knew I didn’t deserve them. “I should have stopped those scavengers. I should have stopped that man from just disappearing with them. I don’t know why I froze up like that.”
“You were recovering from a serious injury.”
I shook my head. It hadn’t been the injury. I’d looked at Malachai Braun’s son and my magic had refused to work. “It was my fault. I was weak and stupid and—”
“Don’t,” Pierce cut me off sharply. “Don’t ever say that. I won’t allow anyone to insult the woman I love, not even her.”
Pierce wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. A part of me was a little embarrassed because I still smelled like smoke, ash, tears, blood, and gods only knew what else. The other, stronger one, couldn’t have cared less about such trivial things and reveled in his proximity.
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “I just can’t bear seeing all of them like this.”
“I know it’s difficult, Lucienne, but it’ll pass,” Pierce said. “Your father is the strongest man I know and you’re his whole life. Nothing will keep him away from you for too long, not even brain damage. And you know my mother. The only person more stubborn than her is possibly you.
“Your aunts are amazing healers. They won’t allow our wounded to give up. We won’t lose this battle so easily, Lucienne.”
“You’re right, of course,” I answered, forcing myself to believe his words. “My father will open his eyes soon and so will Clara. And then, we’ll get married properly, somewhere safe, where murderers like Mathias Vandale will never be able to find us.”
“That’s right, my love,” Pierce replied with a wide smile. “That’s exactly what we’ll do.”
The palpable relief in his voice kept me from revealing the full extent of my plan. I had no intention of being a passive participant in any of this. Once I ascertained that my loved ones were out of danger, I would hunt down the people who had hurt them and teach them the error of their ways. It would be the last lesson they’d ever learn.
When Pierce crushed his mouth to mine in a devastating kiss, I kissed him back with the same fervor. All the while, I thought about Mathias Vandale, Bjorn Lindberg, and Malachai Braun, about what I would do to them during our next meeting.
They would burn for their crimes against my family. They would beg for death before the end, and they would wish they’d never been born. The whole world would know that it was a bad idea to mess with me and with my loved ones. This would never happen again. I’d make sure of it.
* * *
Bjorn
“So to summarize, Lucienne has lost her memory in a fight with her father. It might be related to her gunshot wound and the loss of control over her abilities, but mostly, you think it’s mental backlash from Louis’s injury. On the other hand, she seems to know the Dames Blanches who came to attack you and is obviously fond of her father. To top it off, we’re all her soulmates, but she has no idea and she only trusts Pierce now. And this whole mess isn’t new. It’s a redo of something we might have already done in our past lives.”
I grimaced at Declan’s summary of the disaster that had struck us. I’d yet to tell them the details of what I’d seen in my flashbacks, but I’d thought it was necessary for them to know at least the bare minimum. “That would be accurate, yes. And she would’ve probably killed us all if not for...”
If not for Alois’s intervention. I was uncomfortable finishing that sentence. I’d never even gotten to speak to him, at first because I hadn’t been able to see him, and then, because he’d disappeared before I could recover.
Darius had said that he and Declan had cast a spell in an attempt to channel the power of the dead. It had been meant to help them find the Garniers, but I assumed it must’ve contacted Alois instead. While I appreciated the help and the fact that I had survived, a part of me wished Darius hadn’t ventured in that direction.
I knew who Alois was now and it hurt to realize that the story had already started to repeat itself. But we hadn’t lost yet. Like Lucienne had said, the only thing that didn’t have a solution was death.
Granted, we weren’t in an ideal position. Mathias’s subordinates had been looking at us weirdly ever since we’d arrived at his headquarters. We’d been here less than a day and I already hated it. So far, no one had attacked us, too afraid of their superior to
try anything. They’d even followed Darius’s commands to the letter and given Mathias—in Darius’s body—medical treatment. Even so, it was only a matter of time until they decided they didn’t want to cooperate with former Alarians. They’d specifically have an issue with me since I’d done some pretty questionable things in my time as an inquisitor.
This was the problem we were going over today. Ensconced in Darius’s private office, we were trying to come up with a valid, long-term strategy. So far, we hadn’t had much luck, although I had a feeling Darius and Declan had some kind of plan they had yet to reveal.
“There’s only one weapon we have left right now,” Darius said as if guessing my thoughts. “We will use the plagues to the best of our ability. Our first priority is to make sure Mathias recovers from what happened. After we accomplish that, we can go track down Lucienne.”
“I don’t think it will be so simple,” I argued. “What can we possibly do that we haven’t tried yet?”
“It’s quite simple,” Darius answered, his voice like ice. “We kill.”
Declan obviously agreed with him. “We will gather as much power as we can, no matter what price we have to pay for it. We’ve already lost too much. We can’t start over, not again.”
I wasn’t sure what he had seen or what else he knew, but he’d obviously been aware of the past life thing before I’d even mentioned it. I suspected Mathias must’ve explained and it was why Declan had decided to ally himself with Mathias in the first place.
I didn’t ask him about it. I didn’t want to dwell too much on every time we’d failed in the exact same task we had now.
“You’re wrong, Declan,” I said instead. “We are starting over, but we’re better now, and we’re together. This time, we can do it. This time, we can get it right.”
Our plan might very well cost us what was left of our souls, but we would go through with it until the end, no matter what.
THE END
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Now available, free for download - the interlude/prequel to my Soulmates of Seasons series Winter’s Dragons. Draconic Affairs.
About the Author
Eva Brandt is a romance aficionado who likes to spice up her stories with an extra bit of something special. Dragons? Perfect. Vampires? You got it. Any other type of mythological creature you might not have heard of? Absolutely. Sexy, snarky heroines and heroes with a penchant for falling head over heels in love with them? Yes and double yes.
She also believes in a very simple motto. Be passionate about passion. Embrace temptation. Life is too short to deny yourselves the most beautiful things about it.
When she’s not weaving her latest sexy tale, she enjoys relaxing in bed with a nice mug of tea and her ebook reader. Because nothing is better than writing a book, excepting reading one.
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Also by Eva Brandt
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Pre-order here on Amazon (expected release date 08/22/2019).