I spread my fingers out over his chest, searching for a heartbeat. “Kason? Kason, wake up. You can’t leave me.” Tears burned the back of my throat. I couldn’t do this again. I couldn’t lose someone else I loved and house my frozen, black heart in solitude. That wasn’t who I wanted to be anymore, and this human had helped show me that. I wanted a life with him in it, a warm, happy one.
“Curare,” I said once more and touched the yellow light to his lips. I would spend all my magic on him, if that was what it took.
“You tainted the magic you stole from me, you stupid witch,” Ty said from behind me.
I glanced toward him to be sure he was still preoccupied. Sweat leaked down his face as he shook his head at his fennel seed pile. His wild gaze darted to the cleaver lying on the floor and he winced. It seemed as if he wanted to stop counting and lunge for it, but couldn’t help himself.
“Please, K—”
Something leaped against my palms. Then again, slow and strong. The angry blisters on his hands faded, and a faint smile touched his mouth.
“You rang?” he murmured.
Relief sagged me on top of him. Tears tracked down my cheeks and saturated his blood-soaked shirt.
“I told you to stay in the car,” I said.
“I didn’t listen.” He gently pushed me back so he could look at me, his eyes clear and alert. He swallowed hard as his gaze snagged down the bloody wounds on my body. He lingered on my open sweater, and dark shadows crossed his face. His hands flexed as he looked over at Ty with a pinched mouth. “I smelled him coming before I saw him.”
I followed his gaze. A memory tugged of Ty sitting across from me at Hell Here, sorting spilled fennel seeds into a pile. Not sorting, counting. Maybe in high school, he’d wanted to hang out at his place because there was less likelihood of there being a mess of seeds or other countable objects inside his pristine home that would give away his true identity.
Kason glared at him. “I’ve never been a fan of killing, but today I might make an exception.”
Spittle gathered in a long, dangling string from Ty’s lower lip. It swayed side-to-side in his frantic quest. “My sister should’ve killed you when she had the chance.”
Kason and I shared a look. I’d never met Ty’s sister.
“Daphne?” Kason asked. “Was your sister’s name Daphne?”
“And that man at Dimic’s with your matching shoes… Your dad. Was this a whole family affair?” I asked. “Find the Legacy and destroy everyone who might know about it, right?”
“Then why didn’t Daphne kill me?” Kason asked.
“Said she was in love with you,” Ty growled. “Said she wanted no one to be with you but her, so she put a sex curse on you that she planned on breaking eventually. But once she left your house, she couldn’t find you again. Her locator spells were filled with pain, rocket ships, and a kid laughing.”
A rocket ship like the toy one dangling from the ceiling of Dimic’s Everlasting Ink? Next to the room with a child’s shoe? Maybe that was where Dimic kept Kason in between houses with a number of spells in place to block his location. Too bad Dimic had abandoned ship.
“My father blamed her for losing you, not being able to seduce you to untie the Legacy knot.” Ty snarled at the cleaver just feet away from him as he collected more seeds. “So he killed her.”
I glanced at Kason who heaved a sigh. If I had to guess, I would bet he felt like he belonged in a meat market, the poor guy. But was it any surprise Daphne had fallen in love with him? He was kind and selfless and much too good for this shitty, frozen world we lived in.
He pulled himself into a sitting position with a groan, eyeing all my leaking wounds. “Don’t forget about you, Hadley.”
I nodded, and once I’d healed myself, a lightness flurried through my chest as if I’d escaped a heavy weight. Not just my self-imposed curse. Not the associated guilt, either. But the tiniest sliver of that guilt had been shaved off today, and it was enough to make a difference. If my family were here with me right now, I knew they would tell me I did all I could, that they were proud of me no matter what, that Dad would be thrilled I was carrying on his legacy, both literally and figuratively.
Kason jerked his chin at Ty. “What do we do with him?”
“I have to kill him,” I said without hesitation. I gazed down at Ty as if seeing a total stranger. “A lot.”
16
Smoke billowed into the sky from the direction of my house long into the night, lacing black curves over the heavy gray clouds. I sat on a stiff mattress, watching out the window from the hotel we’d holed ourselves in for the night from the money I’d taken from Ty’s wallet.
My family’s murderer was dead, and I should’ve felt vindicated. Instead, a strange sense of guilt swamped my insides with a greasy feeling I couldn’t shake. He’d once been my best friend—I’d been proud to call him that, too—and now he was a magicless, tied-up-in-barbed-wire corpse inside a burnt house. Sure, he deserved it, but that didn’t make it right. Or maybe it did. Hell if I knew the difference anymore.
But if all witches, not just me, would be taking back their power from the fae and waking tomorrow to the first day of spring, then it would be worth it. Right? Unless Kason was the Legacy human. Then spring might as well be winter all over again. At least for me.
Kason sat next to me on the bed, freshly showered and radiating his comforting cedar and chocolate scent. I leaned my head on his shoulder carefully even though I’d healed all of our injuries. He glanced down at the monster eyeball straw in my hands, the only thing I’d rescued from my burning house, and ran his fingers through my damp hair and down my back.
“Ready?” he asked.
“No.” I took a deep breath and released it, the backs of my eyes burning.
Mom’s cluster of poke root berries, now resurrected with magic, rested on one of the pillows, curved in a deep purple question mark. Was he the Legacy human or wasn’t he? Would he die or wouldn’t he? What if he did die and the Legacy human was just a myth? What if he didn’t die and the Legacy was still just a myth? Maybe Dad believed in the Legacy human because he needed something to hold on to, like I had held on to my guilt. Maybe like my curse, his hope in the Legacy had become so much a part of him, that it had become an addiction of sorts. But Dad wasn’t the kind of witch who invented false dreams. He was logical and precise with everything he did, sometimes frustratingly so to a girl who once wanted to build a rocket ship and fly high above the constant winter gray.
Kason took my hand and looked out the window for a long moment, as if seeing something beyond the snow, smoke, and clouds that I couldn’t.
“Do you think I’m a terrible person for what I did back there?” I blurted.
The corners of his eyes crinkled, and he cupped my cheek in his warm hand so I would look at him. “You mean for repeatedly throwing yourself into danger and sacrificing yourself to save the whole race of witches from the fae?”
I leaned back to study him, but not enough to let his hand drop from my face. “That’s how you see it?”
“That’s the only way to see it. Maybe all this started out as a need for vengeance, but it’s transformed into so much more than that with you.”
The sincerity in his voice burned the tears from my eyes. I swiped at them, too slow to catch them all. Kason had melted his way inside my cold, dead heart to make a permanent home there, rent-free with an immaculately clean path through all my cluttered baggage, and as warm as his soul. That was exactly where I wanted him, always.
“I don’t know what I’ll do if you’re the Legacy,” I whispered.
He bent to kiss the tip of my nose. “You’ll do exactly what you have been doing. You’ll push on. You’ll cope. But it will be spring instead of winter, and you’ll be free from the faes’ control.”
I sighed down at the monster straw in my hands. “You’ve seen how well I cope. Remember the inside of my house? You must think I’m a psycho.”
“Well…y
eah.” He shrugged, smiling.
I barked out a tear-coated laugh and kicked him lightly in the foot.
“Kidding. But it’s a good thing there’s no wrong way to cope. You did what you had to do to survive. You were a seventeen-year-old girl who had lost everything, and now…” His warm gaze searched my face, but there was a hint of sorrow there. Regret, maybe. “Now you’re so close to finding the Legacy.”
“But…” I shook my head, struggling to choke out the words because I needed him to hear them. It wasn’t just about finding the Legacy. It hadn’t been for a while. “I love you, Kason.”
A sad smile tilted his lips. “I love you too.”
No shock, no hesitation. Just the truth, and it matched my truth.
Relieved, I kissed him, long and deep, pouring as much of my true feelings into it as I could in the short amount of time we might have left.
“You don’t have to do this,” I whispered again. “Not right now. We can wait.”
“But I will.” His lips feathered over my skin, triggering a moment of escape in this swell of apprehension. “I’m ready.”
Taking his hand, I pushed to my feet with a sigh. This was it—the moment that could change everything. For the worse. For the better, depending on how I looked at it. I both dreaded and wished for it, a contradictory cyclone kicking up both feelings at once.
If he didn’t take the poke root and we never knew if he was the Legacy or not, the not knowing would likely drive me insane as I continued to live in eternal winter under fae rule. If he took it and nothing happened, then at least we would know he wasn’t the Legacy. If he took it and died, well…I would have to try to learn to focus on the good, on witches’ freedom and spring, no matter how difficult that would be.
I took the poke root from the pillow, threaded my other hand through his, and stared into his rich brown eyes, amazed at how tall he stood even with this pressure weighing his shoulders. If he was afraid, he didn’t show it. This wasn’t even his war to fight, and yet here he stood, like a noble warrior in a world that wasn’t his own, and I loved him even more for it.
“You’ll come with me, right?” I asked softly, eying the poke root dangling between my fingers. “If you’re not the Legacy, we can go back to where you grew up and find your family.”
“On one condition,” he said, his gaze searching the sky outside the window. “We find a house kind of like my old one eventually, with fireplaces in every room so you can wander around naked at all times. Otherwise, no deal.”
I pushed out a weird laugh that sounded like a cross between a gasp and a sob. “And a room for your woodworking.” I lifted a finger at him. “No poppies.”
He nodded. “Or dogs. Or diamonds.”
“And a basement filled with wine with the little green man on the label because…wine.” I shook my head, then shook it harder and buried my face in my hands. What hellish kind of masochists were we? Why were we making plans for our future when there might not be one?
“Hey. Stop,” he said gently and gathered me into his arms.
“I can’t lose you, too, Kason.” Even though my hands no longer ached, I placed them against his chest where they belonged forever as far as I was concerned.
“I’m right here,” he whispered into my ear. He took the poke root berries from me, and without pause, bit several of them into his mouth.
We didn’t know how long it would take or how many he needed to eat or whether they needed to be in a glass vial, but the time it took for him to chew then swallow were some of the most agonizing seconds of my life. Now, we waited to see what would happen.
I took a deep, shaky breath, inhaling him even further into my soul. He nuzzled my neck while turning me in his arms so I could lean my back against his chest. His hands, his warm breath distracted me enough to zip a pleasant quiver between my legs. I let my eyes sink closed and arched my neck to give him better access. His hips lifted into my ass, grinding his hard cock against it while he licked and sucked my earlobe. He slid his hands down my stomach to my inner thighs and massaged them open wider, each tug shooting a series of thrills to my center. I wound one arm around the back of his head to pin him there so he’d always be touching me, always be loving me.
He sank us both into a sitting position on the bed, my back to his chest, with me scooted up high onto his lap. He worked his hand down the front of my leggings and sank two fingers inside of me. With a loud moan, I squirmed against his palm while he thrust his hips into my ass again and again. His other hand knotted at the back of my head and fisted my hair until I looked up at him.
“If these are the last few hours of my life, I can only think of one thing I would like to be doing,” he growled.
“You mean the witch downstairs with one tooth who checked us into this room?” I asked, breathless.
“Of course.” He skimmed his tongue along my lower lip, his eyes fevered with need. “Who did you think I meant?”
“I knew it.” I gasped as his fingers picked up tempo inside me. “I saw the way she kept licking her gums at you.”
His deep, rich chuckle stirred my blood for more of that sound and more of him. “Yes, you. The bravest, most extraordinary, most beautiful witch who rescued me from a life of celibacy from inside a house controlled by poppies.”
“You’re welcome.” I turned in his arms, pushed him back on the bed, taking my time nibbling and licking up his body, and straddled him.
An aching thrill sparked everywhere we touched, but we weren’t touching near enough. My hips rocked against the thick length bulging against his jeans, urging him inside me as soon as possible. I fumbled with his pants then peeled them off, grateful he’d gone commando.
He reached for a bag of supplies we’d bought at The Witch’s Tit as I undressed. Foil ripped and he stroked a condom on while his needy gaze raked my body. I straddled him once again and sank down onto his length, inch by slow inch until he filled me completely from the inside out.
His hands were slow and unhurried, his lips soft and gentle, and somehow that fired me up even more. This felt different than our first few times, more about exploring each other’s souls rather than bodies, though there was plenty of that, too. This was about making love to the person who’d melted our hearts, the person who had become our home when both of ours had been destroyed.
He brushed the hair from my face and gazed up at me like I was the most important thing in his world. “I love you, Hadley.”
I pressed my hands over his heart and pushed myself upright so I could ride him even deeper. “I love you too. Always.”
His eyes sank closed, his perfect mouth parted as if losing himself with me, and he clasped his hands over mine. A delicious buzz sprinted through my veins stronger than any wine could ever give, and I chased after it. Closer and closer, and then I fell apart around him in a detonation of stars. He trailed after me, kicking up his hips with quick thrusts. With a loud groan, he cupped my ass and held me to him as he slowed his pumps. My lips found his, and we kissed languidly while aftershocks continued to tremble down to my toes.
“I love you,” he said again.
This time when he said it, my eyes filled with tears because I feared it might be the last time I heard it. “I love you too.”
17
Gray light cracked into my eyes when I opened them, but I let them drift closed again. I’d been having the best dream about Kason and me enjoying a picnic, something I’d read about once, while we nibbled little sandwiches and sipped sun-warmed tea in the middle of a forest on a blanket of thick, lush grass. But giant insects had come with diamond collars wrapped around their throats carrying barbed-wire ropes and wearing pointed, gold-tipped shoes on their tiny insect legs. They’d plucked our sandwiches from our hands, which had somehow turned black and charred. Okay, maybe that hadn’t been the best dream, but in my warped mind, it ranked easily among the top five because it had starred Kason. Outside in the sun and…alive.
Kason.
I snapped
myself awake but didn’t dare lift my head for fear of what I might see. My body lay flush with Kason’s, both of us completely naked with my head cradled against his chest. Both my palms pressed against it as if to keep the life contained there. But I didn’t feel a heartbeat.
“Kason!” My voice warbled. Panic jolted me upright to look at him. My hands searched his chest for something, anything. And then there it was. Strong and sure, his heartbeat slammed against my palms with a vigorous intensity that doubled me over with relief.
“Morning, sunshine.”
At the sound of his voice, I shook my head against his chest to make sure I wasn’t still dreaming. What a cruel joke that would be. Slowly, in case this moment vanished, I turned my head to look him in the eyes.
He had his head propped up on his arm bent behind him, and he peered down at me with a sleepy, sexy smile.
“You’re alive?” I whispered.
“Feels that way.” He reached out to cup my cheek, a tender look in his eyes. “Let’s not go changing that today, okay?”
I leaned into his touch then glanced out the window quickly in case he decided to disappear. A light snow drifted down. Spring hadn’t come, but the man I loved still lived, which sparked something brighter, warmer, than springtime sun—hope.
“Let me see your tattoo,” I said, pulling away.
He sat up, and I swung around him, nearly face-planting into the pile of blankets and pillows in my haste. As soon as I saw his back, I gasped. Tiny inked stars, hundreds of them, marked a two-dimensional version of the Isa faes’ Earth-mirrored world. Each faction seemed to contain a different amount, but the larger the chunk of land, the more stars there were.
“What do you see?” he asked.
“It’s…like a star map tattoo laid over all the factions.”
“Huh. Not what I expected.”
Wait. Not just stars. Constellations. Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Orion, Ursa Major. Maybe all eighty-eight of them. I brushed the skin on his back, my gaze skimming over each one. No. Not eighty-eight. Corvus, the raven constellation I’d found painted on the wall at Dimic’s Everlasting Ink, the one that appeared tattooed on Kason’s back after we had sex the first time, wasn’t there. So those other constellations must’ve been… I blinked and blinked again, my insides pulsating.
Legacy: Faction 11: The Isa Fae Collection Page 16