“I’ve only encountered a goblin wraith one other time in my life, and he left me with this.” He removed his jacket, unbuttoned his cuff, and pushed up his sleeve to reveal a scar cutting across his forearm. “This is one of many scars he left me with. Honestly, it was a miracle he didn’t kill me.”
“I agree. I’ve seen the way you fight.”
He frowned. “Why do you insist on insulting me? I’ll have you know my dueling skills are unequaled.”
“Dueling—yes, perhaps you are good with a dueling sword, but that is not the same as fighting. And I do not insist on insulting you. I am merely pointing out your weaknesses so you can be prepared for the future and so this,” I said and pointed at his scar, “doesn’t happen again.”
He narrowed his eyes. I was getting under his skin. “If we’re on the subject of scars, how about you explain yours?” He nodded at my hands. Self-conscious, I crossed my arms.
“Those are nothing.”
“They’re nothing?”
I nodded.
“Come now, if you’re going to belittle me over my combat skills and then add further insult by pointing out my weaknesses made apparent by my scars, you must at least tell me how you got yours.”
I gave him a shrewd look. “That is a subject I will not discuss.” I spoke with venom in my voice, hoping he would leave the subject alone.
“Why not?”
I stared at him, shocked. Most people would have dropped the topic. Maybe he wasn’t the pushover I’d assumed him to be. I’d never told anyone the truth behind my scars—not even my brother—so what would happen if I told Maveryck? He meant nothing to me, and after this quest, I knew I would never see him again. Maybe telling someone the truth—someone like him—would help me overcome the past.
“You really want to know?” I asked. “Even if it causes me pain to speak of it?”
“It causes you pain? I wasn’t aware you felt pain.”
What? “Of course I feel pain. Why wouldn’t I?”
“You fight like a demon. You’ve got a godlike reputation in Faythander that’s only rivaled by your brother’s. If I had to guess, there are some who wouldn’t believe you to be mortal. So, do you feel pain? Did you feel pain when you got those scars?”
I’d been so close to telling him, but now he’d ruined his chance.
“No one speaks to me that way,” I said, barely keeping an even tone.
I stood abruptly, and then I turned and marched out of the restaurant, feeling his eyes follow me.
“No one speaks to me that way,” I repeated to myself.
I drew a few stares as I stormed through the lobby, past the main desk, and out into the chill nighttime air. A path wound away from the hotel and I took it, breathing deeply and trying to sort out my thoughts.
Under the yellow streetlamp, I opened my hands and studied the scars crisscrossing my skin. They were ugly reminders of the past I’d tried so hard to leave behind—of the man I’d tried to leave behind. He was dead, so why did I feel as if his ghost still lingered, taunting me, manipulating me?
But I’d love him once, too, and maybe that was the reason behind my emotions. Staring back at the hotel, I couldn’t deny that Maveryck brought up some of the same feelings I’d felt for another person not so long ago.
After what that man had put me through, I’d sworn never to fall in love again.
And I wouldn’t.
I walked down the alleyway behind the hotel, between the buildings and toward another street but stopped abruptly. A shadow lurked in the alleyway. I couldn’t see much, only the hem of a long coat caught in the breeze that blended with the shadows. Someone was hiding there. I pressed my back against the warm bricks, listening.
Uneven, rattling breaths echoed faintly, almost drowned out by the roar of motorized engines and drifting laughter. I crept quietly along the wall, my heart racing. When I got to the corner, I peered down the alley, but the shadowy form had disappeared. I waited, watching, thinking perhaps he’d hidden behind a trash bin, but I saw only an empty alley.
Had I imagined him?
I exhaled, letting go of my pent-up tension, and walked around the corner. Mist gathered around me as rough arms grabbed me from behind, one around my neck and the other around my waist. Before I could react, the biting, cold sting of a blade stabbed through my abdomen on my right side just below my ribcage.
The intense pain made me want to scream, but the arm circling my neck clamped so tight I only made a muffled cry. The wraith shoved me to the ground, and I landed hard on my back. Blood seeped from the open wound, sticky and warm, soaking through the ivory dress and pooling beneath me.
The monster slammed his knee into my stomach as he hunched over me; his icy fingers chilled my skin as he searched my clothing. Bile rose into my throat as I looked up at the creature—he had a bone-white face made skeletal under the moonlight.
Clamping both my hands over the knife wound, blood seeped between my fingers. The pain was blinding and all consuming. It burned me from the inside out. There had to have been magic in the monster’s blade, and I could only imagine what the enchantment was doing to me. As I writhed beneath the creature, gasping for breath, the beast kept me pinned as it continued to search my clothes.
“What… are you looking for?” I said, choking.
“Illumina,” it hissed.
“What?”
His icy fingers grazed my skin. Anger stirred inside me as he searched me, treating me like an animal. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to fight. The stupid beast had attacked me from behind. If I’d had the ability to move, I would’ve gutted him.
The wraith pressed his knife, still slick with my own blood, to my throat. “Where is it?”
“Where… is what?” My vision blurred. Focusing was becoming difficult.
“The Illumina crystal—where is it?”
What was he going on about? A crystal? “I don’t know… ”
His blade bit deeper into my skin. I was fading fast, which meant he must have hit a vital organ. If I were going to die this way, then I would spend my last breath cursing the beast to the farthest reaches of Naströnd. “I’ll… kill you,” I said. “I’ll make sure you… suffer.”
Why was everything so blurry?
Through the haziness, I felt the weight of his body lift off my chest. Finally, I was able to breathe again, yet I still couldn’t make sense of anything. I heard his screams—heard steel ringing against steel and the scuffing of feet. But what was happening?
With the blood loss came the feeling of numbness in my fingers and toes, and then the cold, the shaking that wouldn’t stop, the chattering teeth. Time must have passed because the pain began to fade.
Am I dying?
A bright light pierced my eyes. I woke, gasping for air, and everything came into sharp focus.
I was back in the hotel room. Maveryck stood over me and held something in his hands—a crystal suspended on a silver chain. It shone bright with a silver-white light, but then it diminished, leaving the room in near darkness.
“I’m cold,” I whispered.
“That happens when you’ve lost large amounts of blood,” he answered.
Maveryck wrapped a soft blanket around me, and though I felt the urge to sleep, I forced my mind to stay active. I couldn’t afford to sleep now—not when he’d saved me. Could anything possibly be worse? Saved by the man with far inferior combat skills—it was too much.
I preferred death.
Sitting on the bed beside me, Maveryck’s gaze grew distant as he focused on the buildings outside the window. The red-and-blue lights from the tower drifted through the sheer curtain, illuminating his face. Though his lips were drawn, he was still seductively handsome. The dim lighting accentuated his deep bronze skin, and for some completely unknown reason, I had the urge to reach out and touch his face. It was a compulsion I couldn’t explain, but I needed to know what his skin felt like. Would his lips feel the way I’d imagined?
Yet there wa
s something odd about him—about the way he sat without blinking, like he wasn’t quite human…
“Are you still cold?” he asked, though he didn’t turn toward me.
I snuggled deeper under the blanket. It must have been spun from the wool of a shakespin. Did they have those in Earth Kingdom? It was the warmest blanket I’d ever felt, and I couldn’t help but tuck it around my face and let its heat warm my cheeks.
“I feel wonderful,” I said.
He raised an eyebrow, and I focused on the crystal hanging around his neck, catching the light as it glowed against his chest.
Was that what the creature was searching for? I wanted to ask, but my brain and mouth didn’t want to cooperate with one another. All I could focus on was how wonderful I felt underneath the blanket with Maveryck sitting beside me, so close I could touch him if I wanted.
“Don’t get too comfortable,” he said. “You’re feeling the effects from the crystal. It won’t last long.”
“Mmm-hmm.” The sound of his voice was so deep and soothing. Had he always spoken so alluringly? Why did he sit so far away from me?
“Why does my wound still hurt?” I asked.
He turned to me. “It hurts?”
I nodded.
“That’s very odd. You shouldn’t feel any pain.” He moved the blanket aside, and I realized I only wore my underclothing. At any other time, I knew I would have been enraged over my indecency, but instead I lay still, not speaking, as Maveryck gently touched the skin surrounding the wound.
When I looked at the wound, I found only a faint white scar where the puncture had been.
“Magic did this?” I asked.
“Yes,” he answered. “I used the crystal to heal you, so you shouldn’t be in pain.” He gently touched the scar. “Does this hurt?”
The feel of his fingers on my skin sent a shiver through my body.
“Yes,” I moaned.
He leaned closer, making the chain dangle from his neck. I grabbed it and pulled his face closer to mine.
“Do you want me?” I asked.
His eyes widened in confusion, and I kissed him before I had a chance to question myself. His lips felt warmer than I’d expected. He tasted intoxicating, as if I couldn’t get enough of him.
Without warning, he pulled away from me. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing?”
He narrowed his eyes. “Were you lying about the pain?”
“Maybe,” I answered. A sly smile lit my face. “How did you figure it out?” I kissed his lips again, but he pushed away from me.
“You realize you’re not yourself right now,” he said.
“Does that matter?” I whispered in his ear.
He held back a smile. “Usually the effects of the magic don’t cause such a reaction.”
His nearness was driving me mad. The taste of his lips hadn’t been enough. I needed more of him.
Wrapping my hands around the back of his neck, I pulled him close, our lips only inches apart. I inhaled his scent. His cologne had a subtlety that reminded me of woody amber, raw and noble all at once. I couldn’t pull my gaze away from his. He held me spellbound, as if controlling me. I couldn’t look away if my life depended on it. He swept me away to a place I didn’t know existed.
Something told me magic was at work—a nagging warning so far in the back of my mind that pushing the thought away came too easily.
I ran my fingers over his lips. “You’re not like anyone I’ve met before.”
“No, but perhaps there’s a reason for that.”
“What reason?”
Brushing a strand of hair away from my eyes, he let his fingers trail down my cheeks, onto my neck, and along my collarbone.
He couldn’t do that to me. Did he have any idea how he made me feel? Blood pulsed hot and strong through my body, making me feel more alive than I’d ever felt before.
He brushed his lips against mine, kissing me gently at first, but then I deepened the kiss and he didn’t resist. His hands slid around my waist and under my back, then he pulled me to him, so close that our bodies pressed together. He kissed with unrestrained passion.
Waves of pleasure surged through my body. I ran my hands over his back, exploring the hard ridges of his muscular frame.
When he finally pulled away, he rested his forehead on mine, breathing heavily. I placed my hands on either side of his face and studied his eyes—those strange gray eyes that had held me spellbound since I’d first met him. His irises glittered.
Questions formed in the back of my mind—what had happened to the wraith? Why did it want Maveryck’s crystal? No matter how hard I tried to concentrate, the words wouldn’t form, and my mind went in another direction.
“What did you do to me?” I asked.
He only smiled, and then he silenced my questions with another kiss, his lips trailing down my neck. The warmth of his body against mine drove me mad. He ran his fingers through my hair as he kissed my collarbone.
The world stopped—time stopped—nothing existed but us. Too soon, he pulled away from me, slipped the crystal under his shirt, and sat up. As he tucked the blanket tight around my neck and shoulders, I wondered if I was dreaming. It felt like a dream, like a place where pain couldn’t touch me. I wanted to kiss him again, but keeping my eyes open wasn’t easy.
“You should sleep now,” he said.
“I don’t want to.”
“Just sleep.”
As if he’d whispered a spell, my consciousness ebbed. His image faded until I was forced to close my eyes. I slept with the scent of amber lingering in my hair.
When I woke, I was ready to kill him.
I bolted off the bed but almost fell as my legs wobbled. I didn’t care. I was going to kill him.
Gathering a sheet from the bed, I wrapped it around me and then stormed to the door. I was about to fling it open when I heard a knock. If Maveryck was on the other side, he had better be prepared to meet his death.
I unbolted the door and cracked it open. As I suspected, Maveryck stood outside, wearing only a white shirt and casual pants. His feet were bare. He carried two cups balanced on a large box, and a bag hung from his arm.
“You,” I hissed. “How dare you come here!”
“Good morning to you, too.”
“What are you doing at my door?”
He lifted the box. “I brought breakfast.”
“I won’t touch that food, and I refuse to let you inside. As you very well know, I am not decent.”
“I’ve also brought clothing.” He lifted the bag.
I had the urge to throw it to the ground, but I thought better of it and snatched it from him. After slamming the door in his face, I dressed quickly in the hideous gauzy dress with blue flowers embroidered around the hemline. Yes, a dress. Again. Even though he knew how much I loathed them.
But as I was already outraged about last night, the clothing didn’t seem to matter.
When I felt ready, I opened the door and let him inside the room, but after closing it behind him, I rounded on him. Blood rushed to my face as anger consumed me.
“What… in Odin’s name… did you do to me?” I demanded.
“Nothing,” he answered.
“Nothing?” I pointed at the bed. “You call that nothing? I wasn’t myself. I… You did something to me with that crystal—the one the creature was searching for.”
“Yes,” he said. “I healed you. Your liver had been punctured, and you would have bled out if I hadn’t intervened. I had no choice but to use magic to heal you. The side effects you experienced were not my fault.”
“Liar.”
“I’m being completely honest.”
“You took advantage of me.”
He laughed. “Really? I remember it quite differently. Are you hungry?” He brushed past me without another word and placed the two cups and the box on a small writing desk. When he opened the lid, the smell of baked pastries, eggs, and salty bacon filled th
e air. “Come eat,” he said.
“I won’t touch that food.”
“Fine, I’ll eat it by myself.” He sat at the table and arranged the bacon, eggs, and fluffy pastries on two plates. I hoped Maveryck didn’t hear my growling stomach.
“You should know,” he said as he ate, “that we’ll be making a long journey, and it’s possible we may not eat again for quite some time.”
“I will never eat with you. I would spit on my grandstefar’s grave before sharing a meal with you again.”
He shrugged and continued shoveling in bites of food. After finishing his own plate, he started on mine.
“Are you going to eat it all?” I asked.
He nodded.
Begrudgingly, I sat and yanked the plate away from him. He would not have the pleasure of eating my food. The bacon was crispy and salted, and the eggs were fluffy and well seasoned. Although I’d been raised in a castle with chefs to prepare my food, I had to admit, it was quite good.
“It’s bad,” I said.
“Then why are you eating it?”
“Because I’ve been trained in survival and I’ve learned to eat anything edible—worms, ants, this food—”
A smile tugged at his lips. “Is that so?”
I only nodded.
After finishing the food, I grabbed the cup, which I discovered contained citrus juice, and drained it. I placed the empty cup on the table, feeling the lingering fog in my brain disappear. Whatever spell he’d used last night had been some sort of wicked witchcraft. I was only now starting to feel like myself again.
“That crystal,” I said. “What properties does it have? And why did the wraith want it?”
He pulled the crystal from beneath his shirt. It glowed faintly in the early morning light. “The Illumina crystals store magical energy. In Faythander, they’re mostly useless, as magic can be found anywhere and there is no need to store it. In Earth Kingdom, however, the crystals automatically become more valuable. The portal we’re traveling to will have to be opened with magic, and I suspect the beast’s magic is limited here.”
“So, the creature needs the crystal in order to open the portal?”
“Precisely. I fought him off last night, but I was only able to do so because the magic from the crystal aided me. If not for it, I doubt either of us would have survived.”
Fairy World M.D., Boxed Set Two (4-6.5) Page 37