by A. K. Koonce
“It’s creepy to watch someone sleep.” Nollix doesn’t look at me as he starts to pull on his thin white shirt.
I’m planted against my tree again, waiting for the others to wake. Nollix woke an hour ago, took one look at me and hasn’t acknowledged me since.
He wants to though. I can tell. His casual teasing is the first sign of him lowering his guard. I’ve seen him do it countless times with Link.
And now he’s doing it with me.
Is he mad that I shut him out again?
I guess I would be. Jeriko is the closest thing to a friend that he has. Jeriko hates me, Link coddles me, I avoid them all. That leaves Nollix trying to find a hint of normalcy in our little band of brothers.
“Like you didn’t watch me when I was asleep.” I taunt him with my words to force him to acknowledge me.
“No, I think your human friend did that enough.” His attention drifts to Cameron. The Warlock’s head rests against my thigh and my fingers push through his soft hair. He does look human; less perfect than the other men in my life. He looks pure and innocent.
Is Nollix … jealous?
To test him, my index finger skims the length of Cameron’s jawline and I study his handsome features. For a moment, I forget I’m trying to get a real emotion out of Nollix. All this Warlock wants is help in saving our kingdom from my own father’s cruelty.
I want to help him. But I don’t know if I can face my father again.
Not without murdering him.
“Fae don’t have to watch a pretty woman to know she’s safe.” Nollix comes closer before crouching down, peering into my eyes as he licks his lips slowly. “Fae can feel desires. They don’t need to see a woman to know what she needs. Fae are different.”
His sensuous words tingle all through me. What does Nollix know about desire?
“You’re nothing special, Nollix. Don’t try to pretend you’re somehow better.”
“It’s a simple fact. We’re different.” He pauses for only a second, his gaze flashing with mischief. “Taste different too.”
He doesn’t look at me as he says it. If it wasn’t for the small smile pulling at his lips, I’d say he believes those words himself.
Some woman must have stroked his ego too hard.
Or he’s just as crazy as he seems.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not. Like pure sugar. Melt-in-your-mouth sweet.”
Now I’m not even sure. Maybe he isn’t lying.
“I don’t believe you.”
He levels his gaze at me.
“Fucking cupcakes and shit, I swear it.”
His rumbling laughter finally breaks through, the deep sound of it tumbles through me. It makes me smirk at him even as my eyes roll at his words.
His next words snap my attention right back to him.
“Let’s not forget you did try to kiss me to find out for yourself.”
My lips part with outrage.
“I did not try to kiss you.”
He studies the curve of my mouth with intent before standing slowly. The dark scar that strikes in glinting colors across his features looks like the gods themselves have cursed his good looks. My heart dips as a serious expression pulls at his sexy features.
Is he done showing me the softer side of him already?
“No. I guess you didn’t.” The sunlight warms his skin tone, giving him an ethereal glow. The sharp angle of his jaw makes him look more dangerous than a man who was joking about cupcakes less than a minute ago. “I guess it was me who wanted to kiss you.”
His admission makes my lips part and he’s stalking away from me before I can even think of a reply.
I can do nothing but stare after the wide span of his back as he walks aimlessly through the tall grass. It skims against his palms and he toys with the ends of it.
He confuses the hell out of me. One minute I’m sure he hates everything about me, and the next he’s saying he wanted to kiss me.
I can’t believe he said that right to my face.
How will I ever look at him again without thinking about that confession?
“Do all these men want to fuck you?” Cameron’s words catch my attention and I stare down at him, my hands still threaded through his thick hair.
“No.” My brows crease with a deep line. “Jeriko most definitely wants me dead.” I nod, trying to reassure him as well as myself.
“So, just two out of three is what we’re saying then?”
How did I ever find comfort in this awkward Warlock?
“Remember when you didn’t want to make things weird between us?” I arch a brow at him. “Eavesdropping on my conversations is weird.”
“Stroking my hair as if I’m a dog also feels a little weird.”
I halt, holding my hands up quickly. I hadn’t realized I was still doing that.
“I’m lying. It felt really good, please don’t stop. It’s not weird at all.”
My eyes narrow on him.
“It’s definitely weird now.” I shift until his head falls from my lap. He grunts from the impact as I stand. I turn on the heels of my boots and stare down on the powerful Warlock lounging at my feet. “I want to get the book of Severed Souls.”
“Great. Yeah, we should start plotting that.”
“I also want my father dead.”
He pauses his nodding, his hands raising just slightly as if he’s afraid to offend anyone.
“Maybe … maybe we backburner that idea for a little while. Let it simmer and we’ll come back to it.”
My jaw tightens.
“Cameron, I wasn’t asking for your help. I have three other very capable men who will assist me, who I also do not need.” My words are clipped and short. “I was telling you. Not asking.”
“Very capable. That’s how you describe me huh?” Nolllix’s big hand settles on my shoulder, pulling my attention to his flashing gaze. “Hmm and here I thought ‘sweet and sugary’ would be my best qualities.”
I almost blurt out that I haven’t tasted him yet, but I snap my mouth shut before the traitorous words have a chance to slip out.
“Yeah, calm down, Cupcake. In case you weren’t listening, your girlfriend wants to get herself killed.” Cameron stands slowly. Grass clings to his dark jeans.
“Actually, I listen to everything my girlfriend says.” Nollix passes a taunting look my way and I cock a brow at his ridiculous claim on me. “I apparently, just don’t listen nearly as fucking intently as you have been.” His attention narrows on Cameron as he folds his arms across his wide chest. It’s a stance of pure dominance. “Violence wants to murder her father.” He pauses as if the statement isn’t as crazy as it sounds. “I agree. We definitely should. I already know Jeriko would approve of death. Link,” his attention swings to his friend who’s sleeping soundly, “Link would do anything to keep Violence safe. And she’s not safe. She especially won’t be safe once you steal that little family heirloom you’re after. So,” his glare is hard as it pins Cameron in his place, “if you want us to help you get that book, you’ll help us first.”
The air crackles with a daring electric current. Nollix is testing Cameron. It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out. Nollix isn’t as deadly as Jeriko, but he does love confrontation just as much.
There’s no sympathy in Jeriko. Nollix is half demon and somehow he’s more human than Jeriko.
“Fine. But if she dies, I want you to remember whose idea this was.”
My eyes narrow on the Warlock.
“It was my idea,” I say with clipped words.
Let’s give credit where credit is due.
I’m sure they’ll carve that into my gravestone if Cameron is right.
Chapter Fifteen
Place of Peace
Cameron paces the rest of the morning. He looks like he’s five seconds away from a nervous break down.
Link sits lazily at my side. The memory of his lips against mine flutters through me every time our shoulders so much
as touch.
And to my surprise, Jeriko and Nollix are arguing.
“I’m not going on a fucking death mission because you want to bury your cock in Princess Shitstorm over there.”
My brows lower as a scowl curls my lips. Link’s attention is pinned on Jeriko. His pretty irises gleam with hate. The sharp lines of his jaw are set tight.
My fingers push over the back of his hand. His smooth skin is warm against mine. The small touch deters his hard gaze. It softens his features. For several seconds he just stares at my hand against his.
“That’s not what this is about. He’s a madman. He’s going to kill her and then he’s going to kill us for being guilty by association.” Aggression shakes through Nollix’s voice. I feel his anger ripping through my chest.
“Speak for yourself. I’m not at all associated with her. I wasn’t seen in his chambers like Cameron was. As of now, I’m not chasing after her. I know what loyalty means, and I’m not loyal to a woman.” He says the word ‘woman’ as if I’m an entirely different species. He says it like I’m a disgusting little thing he can’t even imagine being near.
It makes my blood boil.
Leaves start to swirl at my feet as I keep my eyes locked on Jeriko.
With the turn of the heavy winds, Nollix halts his argument. His gaze swings to me as if he can feel every part of me.
“Calm down, Vi.” Nollix’s wild eyes are fuming just like mine are. Our magic mingles between us. It’s a current of power. Mine pushes to gain momentum and his caresses to slow me down.
I can feel it deep down inside of me. When they accepted me into the Wild Hunt, I never realized a bond was created. In a way, it’s the only thing that made me feel alive over the last few years.
Link leans into me, brushing his palm across the scar along my knuckles just as I had done to him.
I’m too much like my father. Too powerful. Too reckless. Too dangerous. The difference is I hate him enough to know I never want to become him.
“Just breathe, Vi.” Link’s voice is low and comforting. His warm breath fans against my jaw.
My eyes close slowly and I inhale deeply through my nose.
“Bitch isn’t even stable enough to kill the King. So if your reasoning is right, we’re dead either way.” Jeriko’s harsh words snap my eyes open in an instant.
I hate that he’s right. I also hate that I love the swarming magic that’s ripping through my chest. It’s a shaking feeling that pumps through my blood.
With a wild gust of wind, my body breaks down into that deadly magic, the breeze carries my particles of life in the wind.
And in a flash, I’m standing right before him.
“I do not need your help, Jer.” I love belittling his fucking name. I love seeing the seething look in his eyes. “So stay here. Keep safe. Hide away and let us take care of our problems for you.”
All eyes are on me as I initiate a stand-off between us. Waves of his power wraps around mine, pushing and threatening. It coils around mine like a snake. And I let it. I let him try to snuff my magic from existence.
His breathing becomes heavy as he squeezes tighter and tighter.
Until I give a small, insignificant little shove right back.
The unseen magic between us bursts from my force. It collides with the wind and throws the large man before me to the dirt.
My frame is unmoving. I stand tall over his body, my jaw ticing with fury.
“Stay seated, Jerry. We’ll see you soon.”
I don’t give him a second glance before gripping Cameron’s hand and letting the wind pull me away. It’s a slow process at first, a few grains slip away into the morning sky. Then it’s as if the breeze owns my soul as much as I do. It tears greedily until I’m gone entirely.
The other two men follow after me. Their magic brushes along mine, tingling against me.
They’ve always been here. They’ve always been by my side.
But it isn’t until this moment that I truly notice them.
Link and Nollix might be the only two people on the planet who care if I live or die tonight.
By tomorrow morning, the kingdom will know if we succeeded or not. By tomorrow morning, there may not be a King to rule the kingdom.
***
Despite the size of my large family, no one knows my father better than I do. No one else spent their life on the outskirts of the family looking in. I spent my childhood watching him and, sadly, wishing he’d notice me.
It wasn’t until I was older that I stopped clinging to the scrap of hope that he’d love me more than he loved himself. That he’d show me some fraction of affection.
He never did. But it didn’t stop me from watching him.
All my life, I’ve watched him. Studied him. Hated him.
It’s suddenly paying off.
“Are you sure this is where he is?” Link shifts at my side, his shoulder brushing lightly against mine.
It took far too long for us to travel here. My father’s favorite place is hours out of town. The day wasted away just getting here.
“I’m just now getting the vibe that this man might actually be raising an army of the dead. This could only be less creepy if your father liked to hang out in the underworld itself.” Nollix’s attention shifts slowly over the cemetery.
The grave markers are worn down by time. White stones peek out every seven feet or so in haphazard lines that trail across the land. The graves are barely more than dust at this point, but they stand with a minimal amount of pride against the cruel winds.
There, on the far side, where the dawn would meet the horizon, is where I know my father is. A building sits wide and disruptive among the quiet headstones. It towers into the dark, night sky. A rusting and warped bell is unmoving at the top. It must have been gleaming and beautiful at one time. Hundreds of years ago, it must have been a masterpiece at the center of this place of mourning.
Now it’s all but forgotten. Along with the dead who keep it company.
But one man clung to this solitude. As a family, we’d come here once a year to place beautiful, billowing flowers on my grandparents’ graves. I never knew the exact count of how often my father came here alone, but every time there was a crisis, every time our neighboring kingdoms threatened war, every time my mother set him on edge, my father would come here to figure it all out.
And when he returned, everything suddenly made sense to him. The answers were all crystal clear.
“He’s here.” I take a single step toward the ominous bell tower.
Nollix’s hand clasps around my wrist, stopping me in my tracks. The warm feel of his hand against mine makes me realize how cold I am. Goosebumps rise against my skin and I stare at them for several long seconds.
“Why?” Nollix’s gaze shifts around the darkness, seemingly trying to find something within it.
“Why what?” I cock my head to the side as I look up at his intense eyes.
“Why the fuck is your father in a graveyard, Violence?”
A pause drifts between us as I consider his question.
“He—I—I don’t know. He just always came here to think when I was a child. My mother called it his place of peace.”
“Place of peace.” Cameron echoes the words. “That sounds creepy as hell right now.”
Long, draping tree limbs blow in the breeze, sweeping over the cracking concrete with an eerie sound.
“What is it he does here in his place of peace?” Link also watches the darkness, his spine stiffening with tension.
“I have no idea.” Moments pass and I realize Nollix is still holding my wrist. His thumb is gently caressing my skin as we wait for our plan to fall into place. It’s as if he doesn’t realize he’s touching me at all, but I’m all too aware of it.
“Let’s tread carefully, Vi. Point the way.” Nollix peers down at me to find I’m staring at our hands between us.
Sometimes the emptiness of my mind sets in at the most inopportune times. I get lost in my tho
ughts and then my thoughts themselves get lost.
Maybe it’s just something that comes with being in the Hunt. It could be part of that wild magic wearing off on my quiet mind after too much time.
Or maybe it’s just me.
Nollix’s throat clears and he carefully pulls his hand away from mine. An awkward shifting provides space between us as if he needs room between him and me.
My hand rises slowly and I point to the dark bell tower.
Ivy threatens to overtake the structure. The vines are so thick against the old brick that the twisting green plant nearly consumes it.
“Perfect. The only thing that would make this better is if he was hanging out in a crypt itself.” Cameron shakes his head slowly.
My gaze is held on the arching wooden door in the side of the building. I take a single step and Nollix mirrors the action, keeping at my side. The cool air blows at my hair, twirling it into a chaotic swarm of tangled tresses. The soft ground sinks beneath my boots.
Hollow ground. Hallow ground.
The words echo through my mind with different meanings. I shake out a shivering breath. I’m not normally cold. The magic within me is an active and rampant thing that keeps my blood flowing. But right now, it isn’t enough. Something stronger is chilling the air.
Nollix steps forward when we’re close enough. His hand splays wide against the center of the door. With an announcing shriek, the door pushes open. Moonlight scatters along the walls. It flashes white against the wet brick, allowing only slices of light into the tunneling hallway.
The darkness is dense and not even the glimpses of light give us much sight. The four of us stand at the doorway, looking in on the shadowy and ominous hall.
A low and mocking voice shivers across my skin as he speaks.
“I bet you guys are wishing you’d have listened to me now.”
My nerves tense and I turn, coming face to face with Jeriko’s ugly mug.
“I thought you’d be cowering in a bunker by now.” I tilt my head at him, my lips pursing slightly.
“And miss the opportunity to eat your soul? Not a fucking chance.” His smile is a slash of crooked teeth. The dark words he just spoke cause my fingers to curl into my palm.