The Knight: The Original's Trilogy - Book 3

by Cara Crescent

  His body jerked, his foot came free from the rope, and he started to fall.

  “No!”

  Another volley of arrows flew overhead. One hit. It punctured his chest right where his heart would’ve been. His body dissolved into ash. The crowd shouted, jumping up and down, dancing as his ash rained down on them.

  “Time to go.” James lifted her. When did he get back? Part of her wanted to ask, but she couldn’t look away from where Julius had been. Didn’t want to speak. Didn’t want life to move on.

  Lilith’s arms wrapped around them both. The sounds of celebrations clicked off and then they were in Machon. Her gaze remained fixed as if she could still see the last place he’d been. As if should she shift her gaze, even though she could no longer see the flagpole, it would make it all real.

  “Kat?” James eased her onto her feet. Scrunched down into her line of sight. “Kat, sweetheart?”

  “Here’s a chair.” Lilith’s hands settled on her shoulders and pushed her down into a chair.

  Still, she stared, could still see him hanging there.

  Lilith’s face came into view, tear-streaked, red-cheeked. “They were a bunch of mindless animals. I’m so sorry, honey.”

  “I want to go home.” He’d been at her house. He’d been happy there. Her sheets would smell of him. She hadn’t done laundry yet, his clothes were in the basket still. His paintings. The feel of him would still be there. Wouldn’t it?

  “You have to stay here, honey. We’re not out of the woods yet. We can’t do anything until the Scenter signs off that Julius is dead.”

  “I have to go home. I want to go home.”

  “She’s in shock.” James paced next to her chair. “Jesus. This is a cluster fuck.”

  Lilith shook her. “Look at me.”

  “I can’t.” Her eyes hadn’t moved. She could still see him, in peril but alive.

  “Look at me.”

  “No!”

  “Leave her be, Lil.” James pulled Lilith into his arms. “Give her a minute. She needs to grieve.”

  “Where the fuck is Trina?” Lilith sniffed. “We need to finish this now, so we can get on with things.”

  On with things. They had to get this over with so they could get on with things. Should she have a service? No. He didn’t have any friends. Just her. Maybe she’d have one for herself.

  A bright light flashed in her peripheral.

  “Thank the goddess. What took so long?”

  “It’s chaos back there.” Trina knelt in front of her. “Why won’t she look at me? She’s not crying.”

  Crying. She should be crying. Her heart was broken. Her mate was gone, but no tears would come and if she didn’t move, she could still see him in her mind’s eye.

  “She’s in shock,” Duncan’s voice broke in. “Harry and Scott got out okay. They’re both a bit roughed up, but they’re at the DDC filing their reports against Dorset. The Scenter couldn’t verify the ash belonged to Crowley—somehow her nose got broken.”

  James scoffed. “Good.”

  “So we’re good?” Trina paced behind Lilith. “I don’t want to jump the gun, but we can’t—”

  “I know.” Lilith patted her leg. “Kat?”

  James cleared his throat. “She wants to go home.”

  Trina nodded. “Of course she does; I would, too. Home will still smell like him, right?”

  Kat nodded. She was beyond words now. Tears pooled in her eyes. The little show of sympathy making it all too real.

  “Let’s go get Oscar first, okay?” Trina pulled Kat to her feet.

  Lilith and Trina gathered close. Kat’s lips trembled and her throat tightened. Then she was staring at the stone wall in Tamriel’s tower.

  “Look.” Lilith maneuvered Kat around until she was staring at Julian—Julius’ doppelgänger. He was cuddling Oscar to his chest and looked so much like Julius. Except he was dressed in black, an eye patch covering his bad eye. He blurred as her tears let loose. What did they expect? Did they want to replace her mate with a pale imitation? With something that wasn’t even real, a figment of her imagination combined with her talent? He wasn’t the same. She hadn’t remembered the scars when she made him. He wouldn’t ever surprise her the way her mate had.

  Fury welled up inside her. “No!” She stormed over to him as he set Oscar on the floor. “It’s not the same.” She slammed her fists against his chest.

  “Butterfly.”

  “I told you never to call me that!” She swung at him, hitting his neck. “I made you. I made these clothes. I gave them to you.” She yanked at the shirt and when nothing happened she grabbed the front in two hands and ripped it wide. Buttons pinged off the stones. “See? He’s not . . .”

  He had scars.

  She shook her head. How? Was it a glamour? A trick?

  He took advantage of her stupor, sweeping her up and sandwiching her between him and the wall.

  “Jules?”

  He leaned close, whispering in her ear. “You lied to me, Butterfly, Tamriel told me my scar is much worse than the one on that lion, Scar.” When he pulled away, he let his cheek stroke across hers on one side, then the other. “I love you.”

  She still wasn’t sure. She wanted it to be him. To be real but . . . .

  He kissed her. And it wasn’t the polite kiss of the doppelgänger. Nor the awkward kiss she shared with Harrison. He was a little rough. A lot demanding. This was her mate.

  “I’m so sorry, Kat.” Lilith came up beside them. “If they’d seen you not react, any of us not react . . . .”

  “And he had to willingly choose to sacrifice himself to appease the goddess curse,” Trina said. “We had to let him make the choice.”

  Kat shook her head. She couldn’t lift her gaze now. She was staring at his scars, processing what Trina had said. “Who fell? Who died?”

  “The doppelgänger,” Lilith said. “The first one. Trina brought Julian to this tower when you sent him away. While all hell was breaking loose back at the courthouse, she switched them.”

  Kat nodded as she pulled off his eye patch. Cupped her mate’s face in her hands. Goddess bless them, this was her mate. “That’s why he fell?”

  “I couldn’t get the doppelgänger’s foot into the rope, not from that distance.”

  Lilith snorted. “Trying to aim that arrow at him before he hit the ground was no easy trick, either.”

  Trina cleared her throat. “Are you going to forgive us?”

  “Yeah.” They’d saved him. She nodded, but couldn’t take her gaze from Julius. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

  “I’m waiting to see if you’re going to accept me or maul me some more.”

  A laugh broke from her and seemed to set off a chain reaction inside of her, leaving her bawling.

  He wrapped her tighter in his embrace. “Shush, now. Are you crying because you’re happy or because you realized you’re stuck with me?”

  “Take me home.”

  He shook his head against her. “Considering all the trouble everyone went to, I have a feeling we don’t get to walk away that easy.”

  She let herself down, wiped her face, and turned to the others. “Is that true?”

  Trina nodded. “There are some conditions.”

  “Okay.” She drew in a deep breath and wiped her face. “Such as?”

  “You said yourself, he shouldn’t be alone.”

  She glanced at Julius.

  His lips pressed into a thin line. “How’s that going to work?”

  “Duncan and James each get to recommend two daemons to the DDC. Julian Crowley is Duncan’s second recommendation; however, because of his talent, he won’t be allowed to roam the city without a handler.”

  “Julian.” Kat closed her eyes. “I’m going to have to get used to calling you Julian.”

  His gaze narrowed on Trina. “You’re going to put me out in the front lines and hope to hell no one notices? What about the Scenter?”

  Trina scooped Oscar up from
the floor and grinned. “Thanks to Kat, her nose is broken. And thanks to me, she won’t be having a full recovery.”

  “Still, Harrison and Scott—”

  “Trust us,” Lilith said. “They’ll have no reason to doubt you are who we say you are. They saw you die along with everyone else. We’re offering a chance at a fresh start.”

  Julius shifted his weight, his arms tightening around Kat. “What else?”

  “The Watchers know Julian Crowley has no scars on his body. They also know or at least suspect that he’s a doppelgänger. So, when the two of you leave here, you need to play that up.” Trina held up a necklace with a large red stone hanging from it and shifted her gaze to Kat. “Everyone in the coven contributed some Magic to this. It won’t be what you’re used to, but you can do travel spells and small healings.” She gave a pointed look at Julius. “Figure you’ll need it with him around.”

  Lilith took the necklace and put it on Kat. “I’ll do a glamour over his scars now but after you leave here, make a show of giving him scars on his body to make him ‘look more like Julius.’ Make the Watchers think you’re taking the doppelgänger to mate.” She turned her attention to Julius. “And now for you.” She waved her hand over his chest and the scars disappeared.

  Kat touched the stone. “Thank you.”

  Julius’ gaze narrowed. “You still haven’t told us what you get in return for all of this.”

  Trina smiled. “Information on the DDC, of course. We don’t trust them.”

  “And you trust me?”

  Trina shrugged. “More than them.”

  The goddess wept. Not out of despair but with joy. For the worst of her mistakes had become humankind’s blessing. Her blessing. They had grown and learned and seeing their success was beautiful, indeed.

  The goddess danced. Abaddon was good.

  Epilogue

  When the alarm went off, Julius curled himself tighter around Kat instead of getting up.

  She growled. “Jules, if you don’t shut that thing off, I’m going to throw you at the alarm clock.”

  “I’m up.” He nuzzled the curve between her shoulder and neck until she giggled and swatted him. “Go on, big DDC agent. Go get the bad guys.”

  He got out of bed and put on his pants. Even the nagging sensation they were doing something wrong couldn’t wipe the smile off his face. They’d done everything exactly like Lilith and Trina suggested. The Watchers—all but Tamriel—now thought Kat was in an open relationship with a doppelgänger. For the first couple of weeks, Trina and Duncan had moved their quarters next door to his and Kat’s room at the Citadel so they could get used to the new name without the Watchers seeing and hearing their every word.

  Two weeks ago, they’d moved to Seattle where they shared an apartment with Harrison. They were safe from prying eyes and ears while inside—Lilith had shielded the place from the Watchers. At night, he went to work with Scott and Harrison.

  He finished dressing in his DDC uniform, gave his sleepy-eyed mate a kiss, and headed into the shared space of their living quarters to get his weapons.

  Windows covered the majority of one wall of the room. They were set on a timer that automatically closed them from sunrise to sunset. Kat had decorated the place. Not like her yellow-bright kitchen, but in earthy tones, with large pieces of furniture and a wall dedicated to all types of electronics. The whole place screamed man cave and he loved it.

  Harrison stood in the kitchen staring down at his open laptop. He glanced up. “You read about this?” He turned the device.

  George was sprawled out on the counter, tummy up, so he gave the minion a rub. On the screen was a picture of Senator Dorset and his daughter, Angie, with the headline, “Dorset’s Anti-daemon Plan Goes Awry.”

  “What’s it say?”

  Harrison pulled his keys out and unlocked the safe bolted to the counter so Julius could get his weapons.

  “Dorset’s facing charges of embezzlement—guess we know where all the DDC funding went—and breaking treaty laws. Even better, his little pet is going back to jail.”

  “Good.” Julius shuddered. “That woman was terrifying—a cross between Jessica Rabbit and the Woman in Black. I can’t believe you left me alone with her.” He grabbed his sidearm and holstered it. Reached for his Guardian blade and had to jerk his hand back as Harrison snapped the lid shut.

  “What did you say?”

  He looked up. Harrison was staring at his chin instead of his eyes. “I said, Angie was fucked up.” Had he said something wrong? “Why, were you into her or something?”

  “I didn’t . . .” Harrison snapped his mouth shut. Clenched his jaw. “You fucking bastard.” He came around the counter. “Pull up your shirt.”

  Shit. He’d known that someday, this whole whack-a-doddle plan would fall apart. That one of them would say or do something to give the game away. He was constantly catching himself before he said something Julian couldn’t possibly know. And now he’d fucked up. What the hell had he said? “Think that’s more Scott’s gig, man.”

  Harrison snorted, didn’t even acknowledge the barb. “I never left Julian alone with Angie. I left Julius alone with her.”

  You gotta fix this, boss. “Look at me, Harrison.” He could hypnotize him. Make him forget the last few minutes. Everything would be fine again.

  “I thought it was weird, you know, Kat switching allegiances so quick. Didn’t fit with what I knew of her but, hell, people do weird shit when their grieving, right?”

  “I can fix this, pup. It’s nothing to worry about.”

  “You’re slipping, Jules.” He chuckled but still wouldn’t look him in the eyes. “That’s twice now. Julian didn’t know about that.”

  Things were just starting to go right, damn it. He had a job he liked. He enjoyed working with Harrison and Scott. Things were going spectacularly good with Kat. “Look at me.”

  Harrison didn’t lift his gaze. “How? How did you do it?”

  Someone knocked at the door. Scott, no doubt, here to give them a lift. If they didn’t answer, he’d let himself in with his key. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I will. Look. At. Me.”

  Harrison shook his head. “After you saved my life twice? Fuck off or answer my question.”

  He grabbed the lapels of Harrison’s uniform and shoved him against the wall. “Damn it, look at me!”

  “Jules?” Kat’s voice called. “What’s wrong?”

  Harrison’s eyes were closed. He couldn’t even try to edge into his line of sight.

  The door opened. “Hello?”

  “Jesus, please, look at me.”

  Scott walked into the entryway, pausing when he saw what was happening. “Bad time?”

  “Fuck.” Julius released Harrison. Turned to find Kat staring. “He knows, butterfly. I’m sorry.”

  Her eyes widened. Her gaze jerked to Harrison. To Scott. “The apartment’s protected. Harry, just look at Jules. You know he won’t hurt you.”

  “Yeah, I do. But after his fuck-up this morning, I’m thinking he’s gonna need help keeping this ruse going. Someone to smooth over his blunders. You weren’t always with him, Kat. But Scott and I were when you weren’t.”

  A breath shuddered out of Julius. “Jesus.” He turned to look at his partner. “You’ll keep the secret.”

  Harrison rolled his eyes. “Someone’s gotta keep you from sticking those size tens in your mouth.”

  Scott folded his arms over his chest. “What’d I miss?”

  Harrison grinned. “The Harbinger is working for you, boss.”

  Scott’s gaze shot to Julius. The corner of his mouth kicked up and he nodded. “Kinda wondered. When you asked about my daughter last night, you called her by name.”

  Julius dragged his hands through his hair. “How many other times have I done something like that? Christ, the Watchers’ must’ve figured it out by now.”

  Kat shrugged. “Maybe. But the humans have accepted that you’re dead. They’ve accepted that you’re Juli
an Crowley, the Harbinger’s brother. No one’s asking about you, so the Watchers have no reason to tell.”

  Maybe.

  “She’s right, man.” Harrison shrugged. “You’re just another lemming now, working nights, doing the happy-home-life thing during the day. No one gives a shit. As long as you walk the straight and narrow, no one’s going to question it.”

  “All right, boys.” Scott clapped his hands together. “If the drama is over, we gotta go to work. Kiss your mate, lover boy. Time to go.”

  Julius turned to Kat and gave her a peck. Did that just happen? Did they just accept him as he was? For who he was?

  Kat pulled him back. “You’re not getting away that easy, baby.” She gave him a long, slow, thorough kiss.

  He shook himself out of his stupor and looked at his mate. Everything was going to be fine. “I love you like crazy, butterfly.”

  “If you hurry home, with no injuries, I’ll show you exactly how much I love you when you return in the morning.”

  He grinned. “Deal.”

  Books By Cara Crescent

  The Beacon

  The Shadow

  The Last Marine

  Don’t Let Me Forget You

  Author Bio

  Cara Crescent currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with her children and three overly dramatic ferrets. When not writing, you can usually find her curled up with a book, engrossed in a movie or playing video games with her best friend.

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  Please visit her on the web at www.caracrescent.com