by J. L. Weil
“You have an entire harem of girls living in your home,” I reminded him.
“That may be, but most of them only work here. They have families of their own,” he reasoned, dipping his head to silence me with a kiss.
“And the ones you’ve slept with?” I stopped him with the question.
Kieran snickered behind me.
I twisted to the side so I could glare at him too. “Same goes for you,” I said, giving him a stern warning. “I might not have stepped foot inside Viperus Keep, but I hear the rumors about all of you. Issik might be the only descendant who doesn’t have a reputation for being a slut.”
“Did she just call us sluts?” Kieran asked with a smile.
“I’m being serious.”
Jase forked his fingers into his messy hair, taking a step back from me. I immediately missed him. “I can see that,” he replied.
“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” I muttered, dropping my hands and readjusting the robe to cover myself up. I clenched the material together at my neck.
Jase’s lips pursed as the glimmer in his eyes faded. “This isn’t why we brought you here. Seducing you was not part of the plan, and whether or not you believe me, you’re not just another girl.”
“There is something between us… between all of us,” Kieran stated. “I think we’re all curious about you.”
I swallowed, feeling my body waver back toward them, but I stood rooted. “Maybe we can take things a little slower.”
They both nodded. “We’d never do anything you weren’t comfortable with,” Kieran assured me.
“I appreciate that.” What scared me was I was too comfortable with what we’d been doing. I didn’t want to stop and might not have without the interruption from the three girls. “Good night, I guess.”
The three of us awkwardly lingered for a few moments, uncertain what would happen next. I could see they both wanted to reach for me and pull me back into their arms. I wanted it too, more than I should admit. Biting down on my lip, I forced my legs to move and kept going until I was inside my room. Even behind the closed door and with them out of sight, it didn’t diminish the strong desire in me. If they had followed me, I would have dragged them both inside and locked the door.
My brain no longer screamed at me to sleep, and after what had just happened with Kieran and Jase, I couldn’t have anyway. The last thing I wanted to do was sit in my room replaying each touch and kiss we’d shared. It would drive me straight back into their arms.
Chapter Fourteen
In the days that followed, I saw very little of the descendants, and even though I told myself not to let my feelings get hurt, they were. Sure they were busy dragons, doing whatever dragons did, but without any friends in the keep, I was lonely… and bored.
I could only sit in my room and count the stars in the mural or wander aimlessly about the castle so many times. It would drive even the sanest person insane. I also wasn’t the sanest person to begin with, so the going insane thing happened quicker for me. To pass the hours, my mind took it upon itself to come up with excuses for their absence.
Were they deliberately ignoring me?
Why would they do that?
Was everything they had said to me about being special a lie?
Was I being tossed aside like all the other girls?
To hell with that! If they thought they could kiss and ditch me, they had another thing coming. Dragons or not, their scaly asses were grass.
Were they secretly planning something they didn’t want me to know about?
I stopped wearing out the wood floor in my room from pacing and strode to the door with purpose. Before I crossed the threshold, I glanced down at my attire to make sure I wasn’t half naked. There would be no more wandering the halls in flimsy robes.
The door swung open viciously as I stormed out to hunt down the dragons, but as I rounded the corner, I found someone else. Harlow. The wicked grin on her cherry lips was all trouble.
For the love of peanut butter, I couldn’t take any more drama. “Harlow, I’m not in the mood to mince words with you.” I tried to pass her by, seeing as there wasn’t a dragon in sight and that’s whom I sought.
“You slut!” she hurled at me.
So much for being the bigger person, and walking away. I paused and took a breath before I turned around and faced her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had the authority to judge me.”
Her hand flew back as if she was going to slap me, but I stared her down, daring her to touch me. “They’ll get tired of you. They always do,” she spat, her hand suspended in the air.
My gaze shifted to the left, staring at her open palm. “And let me guess, you’ll be there to comfort whichever dragon will have you. I’ve got news for you, sista. I’m not giving them up. We have a connection you’d never understand.”
Her face turned red. Not a pretty look. “You’re nothing but trash. I heard they found you on the streets.”
The fact that she knew that hurt. It meant one of them had talked about me to her, and I didn’t like being discussed behind my back, especially with someone like the bitch-monster herself. But I refused to let her get to me. I lifted my chin. “In order for you to insult me, I’d have to value your opinion, which I don’t.”
“You little—”
I’d had enough name-calling for one day. I snapped my hand closed in front of her face. “Zip it. Now, get out of my way before I do something you’ll regret.” I jerked away and took a deep, cleansing breath that did nothing to stop the tremors of rage.
I should have known better than to turn my back on a girl like Harlow. In high school, Tracie Wilson had it out for me because she thought I had flirted with her boyfriend. So not true, but the point was Tracie had believed it. I had brushed her off and ended up flat on my face in the hallway with a split lip. She had shoved me when I turned my back on her. You think I would have learned my lesson.
Barely taking two steps, I felt a hand fist into my long hair and yank. Pain radiated from my scalp. I tried to steady myself and failed, pulled back like a ragdoll. I was going to kick her ass as soon as I got my claws on her.
Blindly swiping through the air, I attacked, just waiting for my hands to make impact, and once they did, I dug in, using my nails on her flesh. “What is your deal with me? What did I ever do to you?” I hissed, twisting her arm, and she released the fistful of my hair.
Her eyes were narrowed and filled with hate. “Before you came here, I was the one they came to.”
Propelled by pride and fury, I took one long stride toward her. “Why you conceited, self-absorbed little—” Clumsy because of the ferocity of my temper, I missed my target, which had been her pretty face, and managed to spin in a circle. Not my finest moment, but then again, I’d never been much of a fighter.
I did, however, end up pinning her to the floor. So what if I accidentally fell into her, knocking us both down? It still counted. She went wild underneath me, scratching like a feral cat over my arms and face. There was definitely blood under her fingernails—my blood.
With a feral growl, I grabbed her wrists and stuck my knee into her gut, but I swear, she must have been a wrestler in a prior life. Girl had moves I couldn’t even fathom. Swinging her leg into some kind of pretzel knot around my shoulders, she put me into a chokehold.
Oh my god. We’re going to kill each other.
My face was turning purple when a pair of strong arms enclosed around my waist, pulling me off the she-devil, but Harlow wasn’t finished with me. She came flying to her feet as I fought against my restraints. A cold chill sent tremors through me.
“Touch her and you’ll deal with me,” a hard voice said behind me. It was Issik.
Of all the descendants to see me in such a state, it would have to be the frosty one. He was the only one who hadn’t warmed up to me, and still, I felt something between us when we were alone.
“Relax, little warrior. She won’t hurt you,” he whispered in my ear.
Harlow straightened. Her eyes shot daggers at Issik in an epic stare down. I had no doubt who would win. Issik had a severity about him that trumped Harlow’s bitchiness. “Jase will hear about this,” she threatened us.
“Yes, he will… from me,” Issik assured her, not the least bit intimidated by her warning.
She flinched. “If you care so much for her, why don’t you do us all a favor and take her to Iculon?” she challenged him, still trying to figure out a way to get rid of me.
“For someone who is so bright, a lot of dumb things come out of your mouth. That’s not how this works, and you know it, Harlow.” He said her name with a sharp bite.
“But she isn’t the one,” she argued, relentless as always. It made her sound like a petulant child.
Issik’s hands loosened around my waist so that they held me out of comfort versus restraint, trusting me not to punch her in the boobs. “You know nothing of the curse. It still remains to be seen if Olivia is who we’ve been searching for. And it would be wise for you to remember your place in Jase’s kingdom. The liberties he has allowed you will quickly end if you lay a hand on her again.”
She huffed. “How dare you speak to me like that!”
“I think it’s time you retired to your room. You’ve done enough damage for one day.” I didn’t miss the tension in his voice.
The second Harlow stomped her ass out of the hall I spun to face Issik. “Are you really going to tell Jase what happened here?” My voice quivered, fighting the tears that suddenly threatened to spill over my cheeks.
“Hey, don’t do that.” He brushed the pad of his thumb under both of my eyes, wiping away the water that had gathered there.
“Sorry. I hate crying.”
“After the last few days you’ve had, no one would blame you,” he said, keeping his voice low and leveled.
I sniffed, forcing the lump back down my throat. “I don’t think I can do this.” Everything felt so gloom and doom. I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t the one. They were all going to die because I couldn’t break some idiotic curse cast by a jealous witch.
“Yes, you can. If you can jump off a dragon’s back, in mid-flight, straight into Wakeland Sea, you can stick this out a little longer.”
“I wish it were that simple.” How I felt at the moment was anything but badass. I felt like a failure, and all I wanted to do was pack up my shit and go home. Screw the Veil. I didn’t need this crap.
Issik kept me in his arms, allowing me to indulge myself in the cry fest of the century. If Harlow could see me now, she would have eaten up weakness. I let the bully win.
Through a haze of tears, I stared up at Issik. “Sorry about your shirt,” I said, having left behind a big wet spot, but at least he’d been wearing one.
His eyes frosted over as he stared at a spot on my cheek. “She hurt you.” The sound of his voice was strained, and he gently touched the raw scratch.
I shrugged, wary of the darkness I saw churning in his eyes like a blistering winter storm. “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
“You don’t think Jase should know that Harlow is causing problems?” he asked, his brows drawn together in confusion, but curiosity was there too.
“I don’t want to add more stress to the situation. You guys have enough to deal with. This is something Harlow and I need to work out ourselves.”
I couldn’t make out the expression on his face, but that was typical when it came to Issik. “What did you do to get on her bad side?”
“Breathe,” I replied dryly.
His lips cracked at the corners into what looked like a grin.
“Did you just smirk?” I teased him.
“No, definitely not.” His lips returned to a thin line, but I could see he struggled to hold it in place.
Tucking my hair behind my ears, I shifted my weight to one side. “Just admit it. You find me amusing.”
“I will admit no such thing, but if it takes the sadness from your eyes, then it might have been the smallest of smiles.”
I beamed. “I knew it. You actually like me.”
“So, are you going to tell me what happened between the two of you, or am I going to have to torture it out of you?” He wouldn’t dare, and we both knew it—nothing but empty threats from Ice Prince, except in Harlow’s case. Then he had been dead serious.
“She’s had it out for me since I arrived.” I avoided telling him about what happened to gain Harlow’s wrath—the kiss with Jase and Kieran. What a kiss it had been. My mind was still reeling, and my emotions were a mess. I didn’t want to go there. “I went to, um…” My brain searched for a plausible excuse. “…get something to eat and she cornered me. Started calling me names.” That was as much of the truth as he would get.
His jaw twitched once, and I could see he was fighting back the urge to press me. “I told Jase he shouldn’t mess around with Harlow. In case you haven’t figured it out, she was sleeping with him, but he ended things before you got here, and hasn’t touched her in weeks. She’s jealous of you. Just a warning: be careful around her. I don’t trust her. Never have.”
Processing what I already knew about Jase’s relationship with Harlow, I nodded, and ignored the pang in my chest.
This was the longest conversation Issik and I had ever had. What he said made sense, regardless of the fact that I didn’t want to feel sympathy for her. I could understand Harlow’s anger at Jase for suddenly ignoring her. It would put me in a not so pleasant mood, but I’d like to think I wouldn’t act as she had. I would go straight to the source and ask what his deal was.
“Did you ever get to eat?” Issik asked.
“No.” I answered, shaking my head. “The wrestling kind of killed my appetite.”
“A good fight always makes me hungry.”
“Does that include girl-on-girl fights?” I was razzing him, and it came naturally.
His eyes twinkled, and this time, there was no mistaking the smirk that spread across his lips. “Nah, that’s a different kind of hunger, little warrior.” He draped an arm over my shoulder. “Come on, I can’t have you starving to death.”
My lips twitched as I rested my head on his chest, letting him lead the way. I didn’t expect him to take me to his room, only one of the million surprises I’d had recently, and I’d completely forgotten the reason I’d been in the hall in the first place.
Dinner wasn’t anything fancy, but there was wine and candles. We sat on the floor with the terrace doors open, revealing a sky filled with glittering silver stars, which provided all the light we needed. The room was cool, but in a refreshing way, and we gorged ourselves on crackers and cheese. I drank the wine, but only one glass, and we talked for hours. There was so much more to the quiet shifter than I’d imagined.
I’d never been much of a drinker and sipped the smooth, cranberry liquid slowly. That was all it took to cause my eyes to become heavy. Feeling peaceful, my lips loosened, and I gave in to the questions that had been on my mind. “Do you have anyone waiting for you at home?” I asked Issik.
“Are you asking me if I have a girlfriend? No.” He shook his head, his light blond hair falling around his jawline. “Iculon is a cruel and unforgiving land. Not many can withstand the constant brutal weather.”
My heart grew sad for him. No wonder he was rigid and reserved. He had no one to care for him.
The coolness of his fingers brushed along my cheeks, seeping into my skin. “Don’t feel sad for me, little warrior. I prefer to live alone.”
Did he really though? How did he know if he had never shared his life with another person? “I think I would like to live in an ice castle,” I murmured, my eyes blinking very slowly as my voice drifted off.
Soft lips pressed against my temple. “I would keep you warm,” I thought he whispered, but the wine got the better of me, and right before I dropped of
f into a deep slumber, I recalled the reason I had left my room—damn dragons.
The sound of deep voices dancing around me woke me up—four of them to be exact. What were the descendants doing in my room?
And then I remembered I wasn’t in my room, but Issik’s. I must have fallen asleep. Oops. My cheek pressed against a pillow, and a thick blanket draped over my body. The smell of Issik’s crisp scent lingered on the bed, and I found it comforting, unlike the dragon himself. Keeping still and my eyes closed, I tuned into the whispered conversation that was growing in volume.
“Did you sleep with her?” a low voice asked that I was seventy-five percent sure was Kieran’s.
“No,” Issik said with an edge. “But would it have mattered if I had?”
“Yes!” came three hisses.
A moment of silence followed, and I held my breath. “What is going on? It’s been decades since we’ve fought. And never over a girl,” Jase said.
I couldn’t believe they were talking about me. Scratch that. Yes, I could. Arguing over me seemed to be a pastime they partook in frequently.
“We’ve never all desired the same girl before,” Zade commented.
“There is that,” Jase added. It sounded as if he was pacing the room.
“It must mean something because it’s clear we all feel something for her,” Kieran voiced.
“So what are we going to do about it?” the fiery golden god wanted to know.
“For starters, we need to put all our energy into figuring out what we’re missing. Time is ticking by, and seducing Olivia is not going to give us our freedom, or save us from extinction,” Jase lectured them, doing what he did best—leading.
A bunch of groans and shuffling feet responded, but eventually, there were grunts of agreement.
Don’t I deserve a say in the matter?
“What’s the plan? Do we have any leads? Something to tell us what direction to be searching in?” Issik asked.
A frustrated sigh resounded around the room. Jase. “We’ve been over every inch of this island, scoured every book in the kingdoms, tracked down every person with an ounce of magic, who are now all dead. What’s left?”