by M. W. Muse
She threw on some clothes and raked the brush through her wet hair. She ran her fingers through her tresses to loosen them up as she walked downstairs. “What’s up?” she asked as she walked into the living room.
“I think we need to have a little talk about Adin. Er, about him sleeping over here,” she modified.
Uh-oh. “Okay,” she said shakily. She guessed she should’ve known this was coming.
Lissa inhaled deeply as she took a seat beside her. “I know I’m not your mother,” she said slowly, “and…technically, you’re going to be a goddess…so traditionally, you’d be giving me orders, but it’s still my responsibility to make sure you’re making the right decisions.”
Legacy waited, not knowing what to say because she didn’t really ask her anything…or tell her anything.
“Umm…I know you two are in love, but you’re still in high school.”
“But my soul is thousands of years old,” she said with a smile.
Lissa chuckled. “True. But until you ascend, you’re my responsibility. I know Adin and River are supposed to help protect you, too, which is why I haven’t said anything about Adin staying over here before.” She sighed, groping for words. “Er, I’m not going to say anything about him staying over in the future either. I just think you should be careful. You don’t need to lose sight of what’s important—your ascension. You must remember to control your emotions. Everything else is secondary.”
“I will.” She didn’t know what else to say. She wasn’t sure if she was going to say anything else or if she wanted her to volunteer any information. Luckily, she didn’t have to worry about that for long. The doorbell rang.
“I hope that’s River,” she said as she and Lissa stood up. “I called him to come over here so we could talk. He and Adin got into it last night,” she whispered as they walked toward the door.
“Legacy,” Lissa said, frustrated, “you have to be careful with their emotions too.”
“I know, I know.”
Lissa sighed as she walked away, and Legacy answered the door.
“Hi,” River said as soon as she opened the door, before she even had a chance to really look at him.
When she looked at his face, she gasped. He looked much worse than Adin did. She shook her head at the sight of his wounds and gloomy expression. “Are you okay?”
“No,” he whispered.
From the sound of his voice, she knew he didn’t mean his battle injuries, but at least she could do something about his cuts. “Come into the kitchen.”
River followed her, and she grabbed them something to drink. She also put some ice in a towel and took out the antibiotic ointment, and she internally hoped that she wouldn’t have to buy this stuff in bulk. He was sitting down with his arms folded across his chest when she pulled a chair up to him. She gently applied the medicine to his cuts, and River shut his eyes.
As she lightly rubbed in the medicine, he opened his mouth and took shallow breaths.
“Am I hurting you?” she asked as she tried to barely touch his cuts.
“Yes,” he whispered.
She pulled her hand away from his face, though she didn’t think he was talking about his cuts. “I’m sorry.”
“Please don’t stop,” he whispered with his eyes still closed. “When we touch, it’s easier to ignore the ache in my heart. Since I don’t get to touch you, you have no idea how much your soft touch means to me.”
He was wallowing, and she knew she couldn’t get caught up in that. She went back to quickly working on his face. “You should have put some medicine on these cuts last night. They’re already starting to scab over.” When she finished applying the medicine, she picked up the ice and put it on his swollen eye. “Hold this.”
River reached up and grabbed the towel. His hand grazed hers, and as she slipped her hand away from the towel, River’s pinky stroked the back of her hand.
“I’m sorry, Legacy.”
“Sorry for what? Getting into a fight when I asked you to behave or for not helping me out when I needed you to?”
“Both,” he sighed.
She leaned back into the chair and stared at him.
“I was mad at myself already for having such a hard time giving you what you wanted, and he was right there with us. When he got in my face, I lost it.” He looked down.
She nodded. “Yes, you did.”
“I know that Adin only stepped in because I, umm, startled you,” he whispered, looking back into her eyes. “I would never hurt you. You know that, right?”
“I know,” she murmured.
“The thought of me scaring you has upset me more than anything. I never want to do anything to frighten you.” He shut his eyes again.
“You didn’t scare me, River. I knew I was asking something of you that I really didn’t have a right to ask, but Calli’s my best friend…” She hesitated because River’s eyes were still shut. “Look at me, please.” He did so. “And you’re my best friend too. If I can’t turn to one of you, I turn to the other.”
He nodded.
“So what are we going to do about Calli?”
River sighed as he pulled the ice off his face. “I’ll ask her to the dance.” He sounded so sad.
Even though she knew this was a big sacrifice for him, she smiled. “I really appreciate this, River.”
“I’m doing this for you. I know if she’s hurting, you’ll be hurting. And I don’t want you to hurt.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded and continued to stare at her for several seconds. She couldn’t understand his expression.
“What?”
River started to blush. Blush? She’d never seen him do that before.
“This is, er, the first time I’ve seen your hair wet.” He shrugged, trying to downplay the comment.
Legacy fought a smile. “You’re going to use the wet hair in some fantasy now, aren’t you?” she teased. She figured it was better to tease him about it than feel uncomfortable.
He laughed. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?” She chuckled.
“Definitely.”
We both laughed, and then River stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“Home. Adin’s car is outside, so I figured he’s around here somewhere. No need to overstay my welcome.”
“You know you’re welcome here anytime, River.”
“I know, and thanks for calling me this morning instead of running over to my house. My mom’s back.”
“Great.”
“Not really. She was home last night and saw the fight. Legacy, she wants me to find out how you were able to shock me.”
“Hmmm…” She shrugged.
There was only one explanation for that—she was going to be more powerful than he realized. The explanation, however, was one she couldn’t share, but she knew River was smart enough to uncover the truth by himself. He was the one who enlightened her most about where she came from through his own due diligence.
All he needed was a little time, and this goddess secret would be a secret to him no longer. She could not allow that. She needed to redouble her efforts to ensure he never learned of her true abilities.
Her life depended on it.
The End
Author’s Note
Thanks for reading this book! If you enjoyed it, I would be very grateful for a review on Amazon. As an independent author without the backing of a large publishing house, attracting new readers is difficult and marketing is expensive. Customer reviews are extremely important on Amazon to help better position a book within search results and to help other readers select their next book.
I will have a contest starting in April where leaving a review on any book in this series will get you lots of points… it’s the least I can do to show my appreciation for you taking the time to help spread the word about me.
Thanks again for reading this book, and I hope you enjoy reading about Legacy’s journey as much as I did writing about it.
About the Author
M.W. Muse is an award-winning, best selling author…under a different name. Her alter-ego writes in adult genres for multiple publishers, but her love of young adult stories geared for the upper end of that spectrum made her seek a new outlet for those young adult characters swimming around in her head. She still spends most of her time living in her other reality, but is looking forward to spending more time focusing on the lighter side of love.
www.mwmuse.com
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Author’s Note
About the Author