Chasing Promises: (Capturing Magic, Book 3)

by Sorensen , Jessica

  Chasing Promises

  (Capturing Magic, Book 3)

  Jessica Sorensen

  Chasing Promises

  Jessica Sorensen

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright © 2020 by Jessica Sorensen

  This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. The author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

  No part of this book can be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without the permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Any trademarks, service marks, product names or names featured are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms.

  For information: jessicasorensen.com

  Cover Design by MaeIDesign

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. East

  2. Harlynn

  3. Asher

  4. Harlynn

  5. Harlynn

  6. Harlynn

  7. Harlynn

  8. Harlynn

  9. Harlynn

  10. Harlynn

  11. Harlynn

  12. Harlynn

  13. Harlynn

  14. Harlynn

  15. Harlynn

  16. Harlynn

  17. Asher

  About the Author

  Also by Jessica Sorensen

  East

  “So, what do you think is the best way to approach this?” I ask Asher as he and I wander into the cave where his brother, Maxton, is tied up. We had to put him there to keep him from following Asher’s father’s order to capture our little thief because of what she is. Although, we still don’t know what she is.

  Since Steel is currently still on lockdown, Maxton’s powers that he obtained from Asher’s father are still in lockdown mode, too, so he’s powerless at the moment.

  While it might be a little bit risky to be here, seeing as how, the moment the lockdown is lifted, he’ll regain his power and have to turn into Asher’s father’s puppet again, we need to figure out a way to get him to tell us what he knows about Harlynn, about what she is, and how to break the curse.

  The last time Asher was here, Maxton told him he knows a way. But the only way he’ll tell us is if we put him out of his misery and kill him, something neither of us our willing to do.

  While Maxton may be doing evil things, he has no control over what he does. Being a wishing shadow, he’s bound to Asher’s father and has to do what he’s told, except when planets are on lockdown. That’s the loophole. And, right now, we need to work with that loophole.

  “I’m not sure,” Asher mutters with a frown. “I mean, I’m not going to kill him, but he seemed pretty damn adamant about not telling me anything unless I agree. I hate that he’s in that much pain.”

  “Me, too,” I mumble, thinking about a time when I kind of felt the same way.

  It was when I was forced to be a sex slave to one of the leaders of our kind, and it’s part of the reason Asher, Arrow, and I are searching for powerful objects—so we can take down all the leaders who cause harm to paranormal creatures.

  “I just need to find a way to convince him to stay alive,” Asher says with a sigh as we near the area where Maxton is tied up. “And to tell us what he knows.”

  “You should tell him we’re working on something that will hopefully free him one day,” I say. “I mean, we are, so it wouldn’t be a lie.”

  Asher dithers. “Maybe that could work. We’d have to be extremely vague about our plan, because whatever we tell him could get back to my father.”

  I nod in agreement then press my lips together as Maxton comes into view. Whatever we say from this point on, he’ll probably hear, so we need to be cautious.

  Asher is on the same page as he sinks into silence, approaching his brother cautiously.

  Maxton is hunched over, his legs and arms bound, his eyes shut. At first, I think he’s sleeping, but then his lips move.

  “What do you want?” he whispers without opening his eyes.

  Asher stops in front of him and crouches down. “I want to talk to you about what you said yesterday.”

  Maxton cracks open his eyes. “You came here to kill me then?”

  Asher shakes his head. “No, but I came here to tell you something that will hopefully help you not want to die.”

  He eyes Asher over warily. “Nothing you say can change how I feel.”

  “How about you decide that after I tell you,” Asher says in the most patient tone I’ve ever heard him use, which is saying a lot.

  I’ve known Asher for a long fucking time, and he’s never patient. Well, he has been a few times with Harlynn, but only because he likes her.

  We all do.

  A lot.

  I’m worried that that’ll eventually complicate things. Normally, I’d say no—Asher and I have had quite a few threesomes—but this isn’t just about fucking some woman. This is about having feelings for the same woman. And Arrow also has feelings for her, even though he won’t admit it. I’m not even sure he’s ever had feelings toward anyone before.

  Maxton shakes his head. “Just leave if you’re not going to kill me.”

  “I’m not leaving, and I’m not going to kill you,” Asher grits through his teeth, that control he had over his patience withering. “We can help you without killing you.” He pauses. “We have a plan. A plan that will one day get rid of our father, along with a lot of the evil leaders of our worlds.”

  Maxton lets out a hollow, hoarse laugh. “Good luck with that. They’re untouchable.”

  “Don’t be so skeptical,” Asher tells him with his fingers curled into fists. “No one is untouchable.”

  “You’re stupid if you believe that,” Maxton says in a tone that makes me question if he can be persuaded.

  Asher must not think so, too, because he grows quiet.

  “Fine, I’ll kill you,” he finally says in a quiet tone.

  “What?” I hiss, unsure what the hell he’s thinking.

  He doesn’t even so much as glance at me, keeping his gaze fastened on his brother.

  Maxton eyes Asher over with uncertainty. “You swear you will?”

  When Asher nods, I just about lose my shit.

  “Asher,” I start, but he throws me a nasty look from over his shoulder.

  “This is between my brother and me,” he says, a warning ringing in his tone.

  I start to back away, pissed off and irritated. I mean, Asher and I have done some questionable things, but this is beyond that.

  Asher returns his attention back to Maxton. “Tell me how to get around the curse, and I’ll kill you. I swear on my genie lamp that I will.”

  I shake my head, still moving away from them, preparing to leave.

  Maxton nods, tension unraveling from his body as he sits up straighter. “All you have to do to get around it is to confuse it.”

  “Okay.” Asher sounds confused.

  So am I. But I’m not about to stick around and try to figure it out, only to have to witness Asher killing his own brother.

  “How do I do that?” Asher asks. “With magic?”

  “No. I already told you that the curse was sealed with Destiny, so no magic can break it.” Maxton pauses. “However, normal, nonmagical things can.”

  “Like what?” Asher presses.

  “By multiple creatures falling in love with her at the same time and vice versa,”
Maxton states, causing me to freeze.

  “There’s no way that’d work. She’d still be falling in love with someone, and I’d be falling in love with her …” He trails off, sinking into silence. “It won’t work.” He rises to his feet and turns around, preparing to storm out of the cave.

  “Think about it, Ash,” Maxton calls out, using Asher’s nickname. Maybe that’s why he stops. Or maybe, deep down, he really wants to know if this will work.

  Me? I’m a fucking skeptic. Not that I don’t believe multiple creatures can love one woman or man. It happens all the time with my kind. I just can’t see Asher being the kind of creature who would let that happen when he’s already so wound up about Harlynn.

  “The curse states that she’ll kill someone if she falls in love with them,” he stresses. “Not someones. And if it all happened at the same time, it could confuse the magic. You know that happens sometimes. Spells, curses, and wishes, while powerful, almost always have one basic purpose—play around with it enough and it alters the entire structure.”

  At this point, I’ve come to a grinding halt, and Asher meets my gaze. We exchange a look, and I know he’s wondering the same thing.

  Could this work?

  Asher slowly twists around to look at Maxton. “That doesn’t help my side of the curse, though. Mine stated that, when I fall in love with Harlynn, she’d die.”

  “Did it?” Maxton asks, arching his brow. “Or did it state that when you fell in love with her and she with you, she’d die?”

  When Asher doesn’t answer right away, I know it’s the latter.

  “Thank you for the information.” Asher breaks the silence and spins around toward me. “Let’s go.”

  “Wait!” Maxton calls out in a panic. “You swore on your lamp that you’d kill me.”

  Asher pauses but doesn’t turn around. “And I will … one day.”

  Maxton lets out a frustrated growl then moves to lunge forward, but the chains reach the end and yank him back. He curses. “You can’t do this to me,” he says in a shaky tone. “Please, just do it!”

  Asher only strides toward the exit of the cave, signaling for me to follow.

  “East, please help me,” Maxton begs as I start to follow Asher.

  While his pleading makes my heart ache, I’m not about to kill him.

  “We’ll save you from you father,” I promise. “We’ll find a way to break his control over you. I promise we will.”

  He shakes his head as he slumps back. “The only way out is death.”

  “There has to be another loophole,” I say, but he just sits there, shaking his head, so I hurry after Asher.

  “That was a little harsh,” I say as I reach him.

  “It had to be done,” he mumbles, fiddling with the cuffs on his wrists. “Or he never would’ve told us.”

  “True,” I agree as we step out of the cave and into the bronzed sunlight of planet Steel. “Do you think it’ll work? What he said?”

  Asher shrugs as we start through the trees. “It could.”

  “But you’re not certain?” I question. “Because, honestly, I think it might work … What he was saying about spells and curses having a main goal, he was right about that. And I’ve heard of ways that creatures get around spells using loopholes. Although, never curses sealed by Destiny.” I frown at the realization of how powerful the magic used in Harlynn and Asher’s curse is.

  Asher slows to a stop and yanks his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know what to do.”

  I halt beside him and rub my lips together, contemplating. “You could always gradually test it out. Falling in love usually isn’t an instantaneous thing like some creatures would like you to believe. It takes time, so you should be able to tell if it’s working or not before it kills you completely.”

  “And then what?” Asher questions. “If it doesn’t work, then I just back off?”

  I waver. “Well, you might have to leave her altogether. I’ve never been in love before, so I’m not sure if you can just stop it from happening.”

  He presses his pale blue lips together, his eyes searching mine. “If I test this, who would I get to test it with?”

  I shrug. “I have no idea.” I give a short pause. “Would you even be able to handle that? Sharing her?”

  He gives what appears to be a casual shrug yet tension is flowing off him. “I’ve shared women before.”

  “Not any you’ve loved. Love is a whole different territory.”

  “How would you know? You’ve never been in love.”

  “True.”

  He stares at me with irritation in his eyes then sighs. “Maybe I should just let this go. It’s not like I have to fucking fall in love with her.”

  I mentally roll my eyes at his pretending to be able to easily dismiss that.

  Deep down, I know he really, really likes Harlynn. He wants her. And he wants the possibility of being able to fall in love with her. He always has since the day his father cursed him and showed him what he’d have then lose.

  “Do whatever you want,” I tell him. “It’s your curse.” I start to walk away, heading back to the vehicle where Harlynn and Arrow are hanging out.

  “Wait,” he says.

  I pause, turning back around, confused as hell. And that confusion only grows when I spot the fear in his eyes.

  “If I decided to do this—that I could do this”—he tensely massages the back of his neck—“you know what that means. That you and Arrow … That …” Frustrated, he releases a loud breath and collects himself. “You two would have to be on board. Because there’s no way I could do this with anyone else.”

  I smash my lips together, unsure of what to say. I love the idea of being about to flirt with Harlynn, fucking touch her, fuck her when she’s ready, but love is on an entirely different level from fucking. I’ve seen worlds die over love. Kingdoms crumble. Love, it’s a powerful fucking thing.

  And then, of course, there’s the feeling that, if we go through with this, we’re kind of playing with Harlynn. Not that I don’t love playing with her, but this way feels a bit…

  “Even if I agreed, and so did Arrow, wouldn’t it be kind of manipulative?” I say my thoughts aloud. “I mean, we’d have to tell Harlynn in order for it not to be.”

  He cocks a brow. “Since when do you care about manipulating someone?”

  “Since that someone is a potential creature I’m supposed to fall in love with,” I quip. “A creature, I might add, that we still need to figure out what kind she is.”

  “Would that change how you feel about this?”

  “No.”

  “Okay then,” he says, like that’s that.

  I’m still puzzled as hell. “Okay then, what?”

  “We talk to Arrow about this,” he says. “And then we’ll go from there. Does that work?”

  I shrug, pretending this conversation is a lot more casual than it is. Like we’re not talking about creatures’ hearts being webbed together to break some stupid fucking curse created by a mad genie.

  “Okay then,” Asher repeats then starts forward down the path again. “We’ll talk to Arrow tonight when Harlynn is in bed. I think we should collect those souls, too, while she’s sleeping so that she doesn’t try to come with us.”

  “You don’t need to hide it from her,” I tell him. “I already talked to her about it—told her she didn’t need to help because of the whole … Yellow thing.” My fingers curl into a fist as my mind wanders to what the elf tried to do to her.

  If I ever see him, I’ll kill him.

  Asher gives me a questioning look. “And she was okay with that?”

  I nod. “She’s kind of in a vulnerable place right now,” I tell him, speaking from experience. “Which means, if we do attempt this whole loophole thing, we’re going to have to be careful.”

  He nods in agreement then sinks into silence for a moment before muttering, “I need to find a way to free my brother.”

  “I know.”

&nbs
p; He grows quiet again.

  I remain quiet, too, stuck in my own thoughts, wondering how in the faeries this thing with Harlynn will even work. I mean, sure the idea seems easy, but I’ve never been in love. And I’ve been around for a very long time. That fact alone lets me know how rare love is.

  Honestly, at this point, I’m not even sure it exists at all.

  Harlynn

  I’m floating in the universe, and Asher is hovering around me, smoke mixing with the stars and moons.

  “Do it,” he whispers in my ear as he floats up behind me. “Syphon the magic from the world.”

  I stare at the Moonlight world sparkling in the distance, dusted with silver and purple star dust. “I … don’t think I can,” I whisper.

  And why is he asking me to do this at all? This isn’t like Asher?

  I start to turn toward him, but he places his hands on my shoulders, digging his fingers deeply into my skin. “Do it now,” he commands.

  A chill breaks out across my skin. “Asher?”

  He just laughs, his laughter echoing across the world that he wants me to turn into dust.

  That laugh, though, that’s not Asher’s. Yes, a genie may be behind me, but I don’t think …

  “Ash’s father,” I whisper in horror, moving to float away, but he holds me in place.

  “You’re not going anywhere. I own you. Now do it. Turn the planet into dust.”

  I start to shake my head when heat begins to build in my chest. Consuming me. Wanting out.

  Wanting to obey—

  My eyelids spring open, and I gasp for air as I bolt upright in the quivering bed …

  Quivering bed?

  I look down at the silk sheets below me and start to relax.

  “It was just a dream,” I whisper, releasing a tense breath.