Finished with her task of tying the knots around my wrists, the phoenix stepped between us. “No. I’m not leaving you alone with him, not while you’ve got that look in your eye.”
I tested the ropes. They didn’t feel overly tight. It was possible it could have been a trick though.
The fae narrowed his eyes and curled up his lip.
“Do your worst,” I taunted him. With the seductress ordering him to stop, I felt a renewed confidence and wanted to enrage him. It might have been that she was biding her time before she unleashed her power on me, but if I could convince her to send him from the room, it would only work in my favor. I was certain I could overpower the phoenix easily enough. It might even give me a chance to finish her off so I didn’t have to come back to the godforsaken house.
“You won’t hurt him,” she ordered. “Go see if you can get hold of Ethan and let him know what’s happened.”
The fae lingered for another moment before shooting me another snarl and rushing from the room.
I tested the ropes again, twisting my hands against the surface. It really was loose. Why had she tied it so loose? It wouldn’t take much to untangle one of the knots.
The phoenix mumbled something as she stood watching me. Her arms caressed her stomach, one hand rubbing absentmindedly over the rounded area.
“Did you say something, freak?” As the word freak left me, her mouth formed a perfect O and her body flinched away from me. It was clear that word held power somehow.
Instead of confirming the pain of the word, or trying to ensnare me again, she asked a question. “Was that you in the car, following me?”
I snarled at her as I worked on freeing my hands. I needed to be ready to take my opportunity when I spotted it. “I don’t have to answer any of your questions.”
“And the phone calls?”
Her question sent the guilt that I’d hidden those calls from Dad coursing through me. “You threatened my life.”
She shook her head and her tone was exasperated. “I didn’t know it was you! If I had—”
“What if you had?” I cut her off, needing to know. “Would you have used your special insults instead of your regular ones? Or would you have tried to ensnare me like you have my brother?”
“Is your memory really so far gone?”
How had she known about the memory loss? Was there some sort of block in place because of her previous spells? Could she release my memories?
“Aiden warned me this might happen after your . . . accident, but I never imagined it would be so absolute.”
It was the confirmation that she’d obviously placed some sort of trap within my mind—it was her fault I couldn’t remember anything. “He was right! It was you.”
Her brows knitted together as she moved closer to me. “Who was right? What was me?”
“Don’t play dumb! I know this is your fault.”
She scowled at me. Was she close to losing her patience? Would I become her victim again—or had she already tried and failed because of whatever the waters had done to me? “I’m not playing anything. I just want answers.”
“Let me loose and I’ll give you more than that.”
“Clay, please.” Her hands caressed her stomach again, and her eyelids fluttered closed. If I didn’t know her true nature, it would have seemed almost pitiful.
I glared at her when my stomach twisted at the way her mouth formed my name. “Don’t you dare use my name!”
“Why are you doing this to me?”
It was a ridiculous question after what she’d done to me. “Maybe you should ask yourself that same question, freak.”
“Tell me what’s happening? I don’t understand.” She knelt in front of me. Her voice was soft and pitiful. I had to remind myself over and over that it was a trick. A trap. I couldn’t let her tone or the aching sorrow in her eyes get under my skin. That way led to torment and falling back under her spell.
She brushed her fingers over the hair in my eyes and I held my breath. The way the sensation raced through every nerve ending wasn’t right. It wasn’t natural, and it signaled the beginning of the loss of my freedom.
I tugged at the ropes again, desperate to break out. The more I struggled though, the tighter the ropes became. It was almost symbolic for the way her quiet demeanor could trap an unwary soul.
Before I could process what was happening, or why it happened, her lips touched mine. The kiss smacked into me like a ton of bricks.
The surge of emotions that rushed into me was almost pathetic. The muscles under my skin flickered, my heart raced, and my mind called for more, more, more. I closed my eyes and forced it all down, making myself stay focused on the anger—one slip and I’d be back under her control.
“Nice try, sweetheart,” I snapped, trying to ensure she couldn’t see how close she’d come to trapping me. She needed to be shown I wouldn’t fall under her command again, “but next time add a little tongue.”
I played with the ropes again, but once more they only tightened. Ironically, that told me how to get free.
“It didn’t work,” she murmured with one hand pressed against her lips. She climbed to her feet as a victorious sensation burned through me. She was so used to her spell working, that she didn’t know how to cope when it didn’t.
It was a small victory, but one I would take regardless.
“What did you expect, Lynnie?” The fae seemed almost tender as he spoke with her. “This is not some child’s story. There is no cure for memory loss caused by the River Lethe. It is designed to obliterate the memories of even the longest lifetimes so that the dead don’t go mad seeking their past lives.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t try.”
I wanted to tell her to try all she wanted, but I’d never be part of her army again. Before I had the chance to voice it though, the fae spoke. “Can we please talk in the other room?”
The instant they were gone, I set to work properly on the knots. Each time I’d twisted the rope, the knot had tightened. It didn’t take much to work out that it was something to do with the way the knot was tied. Once I had that information, it was relatively easy to identify the weakness in the system and twist my fingers around the rope in a way that allowed my freedom. I didn’t stop to grab my weapon or do anything that would cause me to linger. Instead, I threw myself off the chair and raced in the direction of the forest cover.
Shouts rang out behind me, but they were too far away. By the time I hit my car and slipped the keys in the ignition, I was alone.
Or at least, I thought I was.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“YA CAN’T HURT her,” Kieran said, twisting me around to push me against my car.
I shoved him off me and ripped open my car door. “I already told you I wasn’t going to hurt your wife.”
“Not me wife. The girl. The phoenix. I know ya really don’t wanna hurt her.”
“What would you know about it?”
“I know ya helped her move here. Ya came to me to find somewhere ya could keep her safe.”
It was the second time he’d made the suggestion, but it didn’t change the facts—I’d been under her control then. “You don’t know anything. She hurt me. She hurt my family. For that, I’m going to make her pay.”
“Wha—”
“Just stay out of it, and stay out of my way.” I wasn’t interested in hearing anything more from this guy. I didn’t know what his deal was, but one thing was clear to me. “If you get involved, I won’t rest until you, and all of your family, are dead.”
He narrowed his eyes at me, but didn’t say anything more. There wasn’t much he could do. He might warn the phoenix I was back, but she didn’t need that warning any longer. I only hoped I hadn’t screwed up my only shot.
Once I got in the truck, I shoved it into drive and took off without a backward glance at the strange man. Instead, the lilac irises of the phoenix burned into my memory. It was only when I hit the next corner that I discovered h
ow close she might have been to capturing me again. The image of those eyes was enough to make me almost breathless and my chest clenched tighter around my heart with every mile I drove.
Despite the thoughts dancing in my head, I didn’t stop driving until I’d covered at least a couple of dozen miles. Then I pulled the car over as a major case of the shakes overtook my body and images of her body and face filled my head. If I’d thought I’d been haunted by her voice after our limited phone calls, that was nothing on the way every second of the time I’d been tied to the chair with her in front of me played through my head in that moment.
Clenching my fist, I grew determined to get another chance at the phoenix, and this time, I couldn’t fail or I would never be free of her spell.
Despite how hard I tried to calm it, my heart still fluttered as I rushed back to Abe’s house.
When I arrived, Dad took one look at my expression and smiled. “So it’s done then?”
Staring at my hands, I gave a small shake of my head. “She . . . escaped.”
He grabbed me around my bicep and dragged me into the house. “What happened?”
I ran through everything that had happened from the time I spoke with him last. When I got to the part where I had her lined up in my sights, but had somehow missed, Dad wanted more information. He didn’t take the fae’s interference as an adequate excuse for my failure.
“I saw you empty a clip into a target before you’d finished exhaling one breath. How could you not have taken a single shot before he had a chance to charge you?”
I shook off his hold, more irritated with myself than he could ever be. “She took me by surprise, that’s all. It won’t happen next time.”
“There might not be a next time. Not now. Ethan is on his way back from Alaska, so the protection around the phoenix will be double what it has been until now. That’s if she doesn’t disappear into the court completely.”
“I’m sorry. I know I failed you.”
His eyes pinched together as he stared at me. “Failure isn’t part of our family. Or at least it wasn’t. You’ve done more than enough of that in recent years by letting her sink her claws into you in the first place.”
My stomach twisted. “I’m sorry. I will make it up to you. Up to all of them. I’ll bring her to justice.”
“I’m not going to give you more chances. I can’t risk you fucking it up again.”
I straightened my back and met his eye. “I won’t. Next time, I won’t let you down. It doesn’t matter who stands in my way.”
He assessed me for a moment, perhaps looking for any signs of the weakness I’d shown so far. “Go get yourself cleaned up and get back into training. I’ll have Abe watch the house for now.”
I nodded.
When I hit the shower, the memory of her kiss lingered in my head. I pushed it out, but it crawled back in. Over and over, her lilac irises invaded my mind as if she was probing the depths of me. It made me sick at my stupidity. She wouldn’t be there if I had just done what I was supposed to.
I leaned against the wall and banged my forehead against the tiles a few times, punctuating each one with a, “Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.”
After I was dressed, I took Dad’s advice. I headed straight back to the makeshift gun range in the training room. This time when I aimed at the target, I let the vision of her lilac eyes fill my mind. Aiming the gun straight down the range, I closed my eyes and let her in. Instantly, my stomach churned as though I’d swallowed a thousand snakes and every muscle cried out to be near to her. It wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but I didn’t like that she could do it to me from so far away either.
With her image fixed in my mind, I opened my eyes and drew in a breath. As I exhaled, I emptied the clip into the target.
As I reloaded and got ready to fire again, I tried to plan a new attack. I needed to research fae weaknesses. The next time I approached, she’d know I was coming. The fae surrounding the house had been held back today—no doubt by the arrogant fae in the house who probably thought he could handle me solo or by the seductress herself. It was possible I wouldn’t be that lucky the next time. I couldn’t just go in guns blazing, not now that they were likely to be on high alert. If I could somehow get by them silently, maybe even bring them down one by one, then I’d have a much higher chance of success.
I dropped the gun onto the table and reached for a recurve bow. For the next four hours, I ducked and weaved around the training room, firing into the targets from all angles. By the time I crawled into bed, every muscle hurt, but any thought of the phoenix’s hold had been wiped from my mind.
I was ready for revenge and another chance to destroy her once and for all.
MY CHANCE didn’t happen the following day. Abe had called to say the house was deserted, so we figured the phoenix must have gone to the fae court. Instead of letting it ruin my plans, I took it as a chance for more training and research. By the end of the day, I’d trained myself to exhaustion but had organized everything I would need to finish the job when she returned to her house. I also knew that St John’s Wart was known for incapacitating fae, with the various notes saying it could do everything from simply weakening them right through to leaving them unconscious.
A little after eight the next morning, I got a phone call from Dad to let me know Ethan’s plane had landed and that it appeared he was going straight to the phoenix’s house.
“How do you know she’ll be there to meet him?” I asked.
“Just trust me when I say that she’ll be there. He is something of a trophy catch for her. I think you need to give the Dodge a rest though. Take the Lumina instead. And for God’s sake, don’t fuck it up this time.”
“No, sir.”
“This might be your last chance to get to her before the monstrosity she’s carrying is born.”
I bit back my sarcasm as I reassured him again that I would see her ended—whatever it took. After I jumped in the Chevy Lumina Dad had instructed me to take, I readied myself to travel to the phoenix’s house for what I was certain would be the final time.
Dad slapped the window in a request for me to wind it down.
He stuck his head in. “And keep away from Ethan. I don’t want him hurt in all of this.”
“I’ll try,” I said. If it came down to it though and he tried to stop me because of the spell he was under, I wouldn’t hesitate to put him down.
IT WASN’T long before I caught my first glimpse of her. She came from the direction of the ring in the forest and rushed for the house. Not long after that, a car turned onto the street. I sank low in my seat so no one would catch sight of me as the car pulled into her driveway.
With my recurve bow and a quiver of iron-tipped arrows resting on the passenger seat, I adjusted the details of my plan for what I could see. There were three guards along the front of the house, and no doubt at least two to three at the back.
For at least half an hour, I watched and waited, taking in the less attentive guards and following the patrol paths of those I could see. Just when I was about to make my move, the Suburban she’d been in the other day hit the street.
I scrambled to move my car when I confirmed she was in the front passenger seat. The driver seat was taken by the guy Dad had said was my brother. It didn’t take me long to figure out just where they were going—the same store she’d gone to a few days earlier.
Instead of turning into the parking lot and risking her catching sight of me and compromising a second vehicle, I kept driving until I could park up the road just far enough away that I couldn’t be spotted, but near enough that I’d see her SUV leaving.
Less than fifteen minutes later, the pair was back on the road. I took a few side streets in the hopes of getting in front of her. I was almost certain they’d be returning to her house, but didn’t want to let them get too far away just in case.
Once they’d carried the small bag of groceries inside, I made my move. The guards had only arrived after she’d come from the forest, so
I didn’t think they’d have a new contingent soon. During our surveillance, we’d learned that generally the changeover was after five or more hours. That meant I had around six creatures outside the house to get rid of before I could move on to my final victim. If I could clear the area, it wouldn’t matter if the phoenix’s power stilled my bow. It would give me time to breathe and refocus.
Taking my time to pick around the edges of the property, I made my way to the fae guard on the far side of the house. The blue surrounding his body was almost azure and not the deep blues of so many others. It struck me that it might mean his allegiance was lower, but it didn’t matter. He was there to support the phoenix, so he had to go down. When I was close enough and certain no one was watching, I struck.
Rather than nocking an arrow, I used the bow to choke the fae. When he passed out in my arms, I secured his hands and carried him into the forest. For a moment, I assessed the unconscious guard. I nocked an arrow and aimed it at his head. I couldn’t release it though. He was unconscious, momentarily at least, and it just wasn’t right to kill someone who wasn’t an immediate threat.
Even as the thought crossed my mind, he started to stir. His mouth opened, no doubt to cry out, and I acted out of instinct, letting the arrow fly toward him. It missed his throat, instead plunging into his wing and pinning him to the grass. A strangled cry left him, most likely because of the iron that had ripped through his body. I grabbed his sword and stabbed it through the other wing before bringing my fist—still wrapped around my bow—down across his face. His eyes went wide and then grew blank as he passed back into unconsciousness.
I dropped a couple of drops of St John’s Wart into his throat and then ripped his belt off and secured it around his head, stopping him from being able to cry out when he woke again—if he did.
I moved to the next guard, firing three arrows in quick succession as he whistled—no doubt a warning to one of his friends. Of my shots, one struck his legs, one lodged in his arm as he lifted it to block my headshot, and the third punched a hole through his wing. Without stopping, I used my momentum to knock him to the ground and took a measured swing at his jaw. Once more, I dropped some St John’s Wart into his throat and then used his clothing against him as a makeshift gag while he writhed on the ground.
Living with Embers: (Son of Rain #4) Page 13