Cian, laying on his back, flung an arm over his face. Covering his eyes.
“Very well,” Ashlynn continued. “Have it your way.”
She’d turned back for the kitchen when he finally spoke.
“I’m sorry,” he said with a huff. “I’m an idiot. But this is all so…” Cian moved to a sitting position and rubbed hands over his tired face. “It’s just a lot.”
Wordlessly, Ashlynn moved toward him, arms crossed. She came to a stop right at his bended knees and peered down at him.
“That can’t happen again.” Her fingers raked through his brown waves. “Okay?”
Cian nodded and pressed his face against her warm stomach as he wrapped his hands around her thighs, pulling her closer. Ashlynn kissed the top of Cian’s head and inhaled the scent of him. Would he smell different without a soul? She remembered the vile in her pocket.
“I have some good news.” She said quietly, smoothing back his hair.
He guffawed and tipped his head to look at her. “At this point, any news is good news.”
Ashlynn smiled down at him. “I found a way to slow down the curse and keep you strong.”
Cian leaned back; his face filled with disbelief.
“I swear,” Ashlynn assured him. “From a memory. I witnessed my father lend my mother his magic while she recovered from a horrible illness. She nearly died until he performed the spell.”
“You need your magic, Ash. In case…” he trailed off, but she knew he meant in case Serena attacked her. “Besides, how do you know it will work for me?” he asked, sounding unsure.
Ashlynn shrugged. “We won’t know until we try, and I have plenty of magic to spare. It’s better than nothing and we’re running out of time.” She stroked his face and swallowed down the pain she often felt. “And I’d give all my magic to save you. Without you, what place do I have here?” She referenced this time but, deep inside, Ashlynn meant life itself. Without Cian, she didn’t know if she could live.
His hands squeezed her hips. “You’d be my wife. You’d have the power to lead our people to safety and make things right again.”
Ashlynn held his face in her hands and leaned in. “Then let’s make sure you’ll be there by my side. Alright?”
Cian sighed and smiled. “Okay. What do I have to do?”
She reached into her sweater pocket and pulled out the vile, popping the lid. This had better work. She tried not to think about the crippling disappointment if it didn’t.
“We each drink from this and it’s supposed to work itself,” Ashlynn explained. “As long as we’re close enough.”
Cian’s hands slid up her backside as he grinned. “Well, I don’t think we have a problem there.”
She held the tiny opening to Cian’s mouth until he sook a sip, then did the same. At first, all was still. Nothing happened. Cian looked the same and Ashlynn didn’t feel the familiar crackle of magic over her skin.
She opened her mouth to speak, but the breath escaped in a frightening pull. As if some force had reach deep down inside her and milked the very essence of magic from her soul. She struggled to stand as the force squeezed from her body right into Cian and she watched as he took it in. A rush of energy and power. Of healing.
After several long minutes, the pull subsided, and Ashlynn could breath. She keeled over, gasping for air. Cian was there in an instant, plucking her from the floor.
“Are you alright?” he asked. “Ashlynn, talk to me.”
She was trembling. “That…was not at all like what I witnessed my father do.” She peered up at his face. “Did it work?”
Cian held her tightly and began to rock as one did a hurt child. “Yes, it did. Something worked, at least. I can feel the curse lingering, but not advancing.”
He stepped back and pulled up his white t-shirt to reveal the origin of Serena’s dark touch, the spider web of black veins that spanned out from it no longer crawling across Cian’s skin but still. Pulsing. Waiting.
“But it hurt you. You’re drained, Ash. We can’t do that ever again.” his voice was firm and resolute.
She stood tall and slid her hands around his waist, under his shirt. Pressing her body tight to his. “We’ll do it as many times as it takes. I’m not hurt. I just didn’t know what to expect. I have a great power inside of me, and it’s mine to share as I see fit.”
Cian gazed at her with awe and love gleaming in his eyes. “As you say, Mrs. Boswells,” he whispered hoarsely.
“I like the sound of that,” Ashlynn replied and kissed his warm throat.
Her simple touch aroused Cian in so many ways. She could feel him growing between them, pressing against her. Ashlynn’s heart raced as Cian’s expert hands moved over her body. Their faces met and her mouth hovered near his, hot and breathy, eager to touch. Cian took her bottom lip gently between his teeth, sending a rush of heat pouring down her skin, pooling in the center.
“Make love to me, Mr. Boswells.”
A low growl erupted from deep inside Cian’s chest as he grabbed Ashlynn’s bottom and hoisted her onto the table. He reached up underneath her cotton dress and yanked off her panties, scraping the sensitive skin of her legs before she wrapped them around his waist.
In an instant he was inside her and Ashlynn tipped her head back in ecstasy. Cian’s body hardened with the tightening of all his muscles, every thrust a beastly movement. Ashlynn welcomed the bliss of the unexpected sensation, letting her mind wander open and connect with his. She peered deep into his soul as they both reached climax together. Their cries of pleasure entwining together in the air around them.
Suddenly, darkness filled her vision and Ashlynn’s blood ran cold, despite the heat that coursed through her body. She tried to back out, to leave Cian’s mind. But the darkness held onto her with a sticky hold. Threatening to suck her in to the void. Taunting her.
The curse.
It was strong and wouldn’t be placated for long. That much she could see now. As the tendrils of their joined climax fell down around them like a gentle blanket, Ashlynn finally broke free of the hold and opened tear-filled eyes. Cian, panting heavily, dipped his sweaty head to her bosom. The pounding of his racing heart beating against her chest.
“I love you,” he said in a whisper.
She struggled to contain her emotions, hide her fear. She’d seen deep into Cian’s mind, into his soul, and had came face to face with the darkness that Serena had inflicted upon him. She’d felt its will to live and knew, deep in her gut…they hadn’t much time at all.
Chapter Ten
Cian closed his eyes and let the hot water sluice over his naked body, wishing it could make him feel clean.
Ashlynn’s magic filled his veins, halting the curse’s progress, but he could feel it, like a living thing, just waiting for the opportunity it needed to surge forward and swallow him whole. All the water in the world couldn’t wash that kind of darkness away.
He was exhausted, physically and mentally. They’d spent days searching for what they needed, a spell to force Serena out of hiding by using the curse that bound them to the darkness and a way to hold her once they accomplished the first feat. His parents and their advisors had scoured every book they had access to for ways to hold her, while Faith had experimented on his blood for ways to accomplish their first goal.
She’d finally succeeded.
It wasn’t a tracking spell, or at least not any kind of tracking spell he’d ever seen. It was more like the magic that had brought Ashlynn across time and space to find him. They’d use his blood and the dark curse that ran through it, to shift Serena through space and force her to come to them. They’d meet the bitch on their turf, on their terms, and lock her down.
If they could find a way to bind her powers.
Cian poured some shampoo into his hands and scrubbed his hair clean as he remembered each encounter, he’d had with Serena so far. They were few, but there may be some clues he hadn’t seen in the moment. Something that could help them defe
at her. But, try as he might, Cian couldn’t see a crack in her armour. She wielded power he’d never known before, power he hadn’t know could even exist.
He stepped out of the shower after rinsing off and quickly dried himself with a thick towel that he wrapped around his waist. Ashlynn was at Faith’s, resting after their latest power transfer. Cian frowned as he wiped the steam from the vanity mirror and looked into his own tired eyes. Ashlynn was giving too much of herself for him, draining her magic to give him time. And every time he tried to question her about it, she shut him down. She wouldn’t live without him, she argued, so he’d better shut up and accept what she had to give.
Cian’s lips twitched. She was such a bossy time traveller.
Love swelled up in his aching chest, pushing away the pain for a moment. Cian rubbed the skin over his heart and wished love were enough to save them. He’s spent his entire life knowing he would never experience the kind of bond his parents had, knowing his union with Serena would secure the clan’s future but leave him alone. That had all changed the moment fate had pulled Ashlynn to him. Their bond was unlike anything he’d ever known before. It grounded him, made him stronger, helped him hold onto hope. Without her, he’d have given into the darkness long ago.
Now, with the way she was sharing her magic with him, their bond was only growing. It scared him to think of the damage he’d leave behind if Serena won.
Cian closed his eyes and pictured Ashlynn’s face. She was so beautiful; it often stopped his heart for a moment. But she wasn’t just lovely on the outside. There was such kindness and love inside her that it humbled him. He let his mind’s eye travel over her face, her shoulders, down over her body and opened to the magic that tickled his heart.
An aura pulsed to life around her image, making Cian smile. It was full of life and golden, and it made her appear radiant. He was glad his magic had let him see this side of her. Cian was about to open his eyes when he saw something that made him pause. Ashlynn’s aura surrounded her, wrapping her in gold, but a small part of it, like a strand, broke off from her body and stretched out, as if it reached for something.
Him, Cian realized. It reached for him. Wonder filled him as he understood. The bond of love he knew connected them spiritually was an actual, physical thing. It wasn’t just an abstract thought, there actually was a connection between them.
Cian opened his eyes and froze in place as a thought consumed him. If he and Ashlynn shared a bond because of their love and, maybe, because of the magic she’d been giving him, did that mean he and Serena shared a similar tether through the curse?
He gritted his teeth and took several sharp breaths, scared now to close his eyes even though he knew that was exactly what needed to happen next. It was so simple, all he had to do was look. Chances were there was nothing there, but if there was…
Cian closed his eyes and pulled an image of Serena to mind. At first, she appeared to him as a young girl, still innocent and not quite sweet, but bearable. That image hurt him, though, so he shifted it purposefully, reimaging her as she’d been on the road, all darkness and hate. Cian opened himself to the magic and let himself see.
Disgust knocked him back a full step and he grabbed for support. There is was, her aura, swirling like liquid death around her entire body, pulsing, thrumming to the beat of her heartless body, and there, trailing from her body, reaching out, was the tether that linked her to him.
They were linked. Not just through the curse, he realized. Just like with Ashlynn, there was a real connection between him and Serena that made him want to tear his skin off. Nausea filled him and his eyes flew open as his body rejected the idea. Cian raced to the toilet and vomited over and over, until there was nothing left inside of him to purge.
He slumped on the bathroom floor and struggled for breath. She was inside him, tearing at his soul, and he couldn’t force her out. And soon, he’d be beyond help. Soon, he’d stop fighting her and join her.
If you can beat them, join them.
The childhood faux wisdom echoed through Cian’s mind, taunting him. It was a ridiculous notion, that you would join someone or something you’d spent so much of your energy fighting. But, wasn’t that what he’d almost done when he’d lost control after his last encounter with Serena? He closed his eyes and wished there was a way to clap back, to use the very thing that connected them to destroy her, once and for all.
Cian opened his eyes slowly and stared, not really seeing. Faith had figured out a way to use the curse to bring Serena to them. The bond was real, he’d seen it with his own magic, it was tangible. And if it was real, if he could figure out how to manipulate it, couldn’t he also figure out how to increase the bond instead of lessening it?
They’d been looking in the wrong place. Cian climbed to his feet as his heart began to race. All this time, they’d been trying to destroy the curse or use it to track Serena, but none of them had considered the connection. None of them had realized what he was suddenly crystal clear to him now.
He could use the curse to entwine their life essence and destroy Serena by killing himself.
This was it. It was how he could keep them all safe, from himself from Serena, from the anarchy being barely held back.
Ashlynn. Cian’s heart fractured at the thought of her. She’d never forgive him, never understand why he couldn’t wait for a cure, for them to find the answers. She’d never recover… but she’d live, and he could die with honor and the knowledge that he hadn’t become a monster.
He flung the door of the bathroom open and strode to his bedroom, knowing exactly what he needed to do.
***
Cian adjusted the strap on the duffle bag he had slung over his shoulder and locked the door to his car.
It struck him as funny that he’d locked it. Out of habit, he supposed. There was no point, though, he should really just leave his key in the ignition, make it easier for whoever found it to use it. He’d have no more use for such things soon. Still, he slipped the key in his pocket and turned toward the faint trail into the forest.
He’d decided on the spot a few days before but hadn’t really shared with the group. It was far from town, from Faith, from his friends and family. It was also in the midst of nature, his element, not Serena’s, which would help him focus his magic. Cian started down the path that would take him to his final battle and paused, torn once more by his decision.
He knew his decision to take Serena down with him was right, that wasn’t what was bothering him. It was his decision to leave Ashlynn without speaking with her one last time that was tearing at him. And if he set off into the woods right now as he planned to, his reception would fail, and he’d never get the chance to hear her voice again.
Cian cursed and pulled the cell from his pocket, frustrated that he didn’t have the willpower to just walk away. It was selfish to do this, selfish to call her because when she found out, when she understood what he’d done… it would devastate her.
He pressed the button and listened to the rings without breathing. What if she didn’t answer? She never had her phone nearby. What if she…
“Cian?” Ashlynn’s voice was like a cool breeze on a boiling day. “Are you on your way? Faith made goulash and fresh bread, enough for a small army or you and your appetite.” He could hear the smile in her voice and closed his eyes to feel the beauty of it.
“I love you so much,” he murmured, the words just spilling from his lips. He hadn’t planned what he would say but couldn’t stop the words that needed to be said. “I’ve loved you since the moment you walked through that portal in time. I wanted to give you everything. A life, a family, our people.” Hot tears spilled from his eyes and he let them fall, not caring anymore. “You’re strong, Ash. Stronger than even you know.” Cian inhaled, “Which is why I know you’ll be alright without me.”
He heard the worry in her voice when she spoke. “Why are you saying this now? Cian talk to me. Why are you acting like you’re going into war and saying goodbye?
”
“Because I am,” his heart broke at her instant sob, but he pressed on, needing her to hear him. “I’m only one man, I can only make so much of a difference in this world, but I can do this. I can stop her from using me. I can save everyone.”
Ashlynn’s panicked sobs filled the connection. He heard her gasp out Faith’s name and was grateful she had someone like Faith to help her through this next part. “Cian, please,” she begged, “please don’t do anything crazy. Come back to me, please! Don’t do this. We almost have it. We can stop her, together.”
“No, you can’t,” he said, feeling the truth of it in his bones. “No one can. No one but me. I’m the key. Don’t you see?” Cian wiped sweat from his forehead and squinted into the sun. “I’m the only one that can destroy her. I love you. Be strong and know I’ll always love you.”
He hung up the phone.
Cian stared at it for a long few seconds, knowing it would start to ring any second, then threw it to the forest floor and sent a blast of magic at its center. When the smoke cleared, all that was left was a pile of melted plastic.
He sent his awareness out into the forest and the river that past through the clearing he’d chosen, searching for human life, animal life, any life at all, and found almost none. Whatever animals he found, he sent scurrying away with a push of his magic.
Cian cast a circle, calling upon the elements, the directions, the old gods, whatever he could think of to strengthen this place, to draw the magic of the earth to him so he could use it to fight back against Serena. He’d be expelling a great deal of power to complete the binding, then the summoning, so it was lucky for him and the world that his mortality would be simple enough to end.
It should have been more complex, this ending of his life, but it wasn’t, not really. He’d found the answer to how he’d bind himself physically to Serena in one of his grandfather’s old journals, one he’d read at least twenty times since he’d been ten years old. His grandfather, Jobadiah Boswells, had once thrown a party for his wife’s fiftieth birthday and had used a binding spell to link himself with a renowned ballroom dancer.
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