Golden Stair

by Jennifer Blackstream

  Dame Gothel stood there, a splash of crimson against the pale sand and glacial blue sky. Her cloak billowed in the breeze that coasted over the dunes and she raised her hands to push her hood back. There was a tightness around her eyes, but beyond that, no matter how hard Ivy searched, she could find no trace of the fury that had been in her mother’s face the last time she’d seen her.

  “Oh, Ivy, can you ever forgive me?” her mother sobbed then clapped a hand over her mouth. She tilted her head to the side, her features scrunching up as if she were crying.

  “I…” Ivy stared, part of her aching to see her mother so upset even as her mind peppered her with images of her mother brandishing the scissors before shearing her hair off in a fit of anger. She shook her head and turned back to Adonis. He was hurt. She’d heal him first and then deal with her mother.

  A spell crackled through the air and Adonis bellowed another agonizing cry into the sky. His body writhed in the sand, his hands curling into tight fists. His eyes were squeezed shut as he hissed in a breath through clenched teeth.

  “Mother, stop!” Ivy screamed, whirling to glare at her mother.

  Dame Gothel darted forward and grabbed her shoulders. There was no time to speak, to ask what she was doing, before a thick coil of power lashed out from somewhere inside Ivy. It cracked like a whip against her skin before sweeping out toward her mother. Dame Gothel sucked in a deep breath and a smile tugged at the corner of her mouth before she fixed Ivy with a sickly sweet picture of concern.

  “Ivy, it’s all right. I won’t let him hurt you anymore. Oh, if only I’d known this place wasn’t safe, if only I’d known he would follow you here. I never would have put you here, my darling.”

  She covered her roiling stomach with her hand. “What are you talking about? I—ugh!” A crushing weight of emotion broke over Ivy, exploding from the thread of power she could feel stretching from her to her mother. For a moment she was back in her tower, on her knees, begging her mother for forgiveness. Words crowded her mouth, trying to force their way out. She should be begging her mother to save her from the demon. Only her mother could keep her safe. She couldn’t survive without her mother. Ivy grasped her mother’s hands, clinging to her for dear life.

  “It’s okay, Ivy,” her mother soothed. “Just breathe.”

  Ivy’s head throbbed and she groaned and dropped to her knees. The world danced around her, jumbled and fuzzy. “What’s happening to me?” she slurred.

  “Don’t you remember, Ivy? I put you here to protect you from him. Oh, baby, I didn’t know he would follow you here. Thank the gods I got here in time.”

  Her mother’s words swirled through Ivy’s mind, teasing her, confusing her.

  “No, you…you threw me away. You were angry.”

  A stab of pain threatened to split her skull and Ivy cried out and collapsed to the ground.

  “Ivy, you’re in pain,” her mother cried out. “Please, let me help you.”

  “She’s in pain because of you.”

  Adonis’ weak voice barely reached Ivy’s ears over the throbbing of her own heart. She tried to roll over to face him, but her mother stepped in front of her.

  “You lie, demon!” she shouted. Her cloak billowed around her like a storm cloud, blocking Ivy. “But I won’t let you get my daughter. I’ll die first! You’ll never see her again!”

  Ivy winced at the ache climbing up her spine, digging through her stomach. She barely registered her mother’s words in time to protest.

  “I don’t want to never see him again, Mother.” Her voice sounded thick, even to her own ears. Talking seemed like such a chore, but she fought to make herself heard. “He’s not what you think he is. He’s not a monster, not a killer. He’s a good man.”

  The pain intensified and Ivy whimpered and curled into herself. She couldn’t think, couldn’t force the pain away long enough to concentrate. Maybe she should listen to her mother, accept her help. Just for a moment…

  “Ivy, he’s lying to you, using you, and manipulating you,” her mother whispered urgently. “You have to trust me, beloved. Trust me to do what’s best for you.”

  “But, I love him.” Ivy cried out as a fresh shot of pain stabbed at her.

  “Ivy, oh, my baby girl,” her mother gasped, falling beside her. “Don’t you see what he’s doing to you? He has you under his power and now he’s hurting you. But don’t worry, my angel, Mother will make it all right.”

  Adonis’ scream ripped through the air. He was dying. Her mother was killing him.

  Golden light erupted along Ivy’s skin, turning her body into the wick of a glorious candle. The pain writhing in her body sizzled and burned away, snapping the cord of power that had been piercing her body. She shot to her feet, her arm sweeping out toward her mother of its own volition.

  “No,” she rasped. “Not in this world—not in my world. You will not rule here. You will not hurt him.”

  Chapter Ten

  Knives. The pain was thousands of sharp butcher knives flaying his nervous system from his flesh. It bled through his bones like acid. The flame consumed, his insides and organs shriveling as every drop of moisture was leeched away. His insides twisted as if some unseen hand were trying to expunge his soul from his body.

  “Don’t hurt him!”

  She sounded afraid, angry, and a little…unhinged. It was the song of the slave standing up to her master, a rebel facing down a tyrant. Hearing that tone spoken at her mother, the woman who’d terrorized Ivy her entire life, sparked something inside him. The pain receded, battled back by a wave of adrenaline.

  “Ivy,” he forced out, his voice hoarse with the effort to speak without crying out in bitter agony. He gritted his teeth and willed his body to heal, to give him the strength he needed to claim his lover. “Ivy, don’t trust her. She’s not your mother—”

  The pain lessened, cutting Adonis off with a wave of relief. Adonis sighed a prayer of thanks to the gods, grateful that he still had enough magic left somewhere in him to free himself from the pain.

  Ivy gasped. He opened his eyes, not even remembering when he’d closed them. Horror washed over him as he realized he was looking down at the top of his human head. He jerked his hands up, staring at clawed hands with a rising feeling of dread. His wings caught his peripheral vision and ice frosted his nerves.

  He was leaving his physical body.

  “Adonis, what’s happening to you?” Ivy cried out.

  “Ivy, get away from him!” her mother bellowed.

  Speechless, Adonis reached for Ivy’s hand as she charged up to him, but her mother darted forward and grabbed her. All he could do was watch like a specter as Dame Gothel dragged Ivy away.

  “Come on, Ivy, we’re going home!”

  Ivy struggled against her mother, her terrified gaze locked on Adonis. He tried to sink back into his physical body, but some force continued to pull him away. The more he fought, the more it felt as if thousands of tiny hooks had been fastened to his flesh and were slowly pulling him up and out of his body. The physical pain was excruciating, but it didn’t compare with the sight of Ivy being dragged away from him.

  “No!” he roared. The acidic bite of adrenaline coursed through his system, but it wasn’t enough. He had no power, no energy to fight the exorcism. In a few minutes he would be completely separated from the physical body. The flesh would die and if the witch had spoken the truth of her curse earlier, then Adonis would die as well. Even if the witch’s spell failed, his oath would be broken. And Aphrodite was not a forgiving goddess, no matter the circumstances.

  “Ivy,” he shouted, tears burning his eyes as he fought to stay on the physical plane for just a few more precious moments. A thousand thoughts fought for the right to be spoken, but he choked on every one. What was there to say? What could he say? “Ivy, don’t go with her!”

  “Don’t listen to him, he’s only trying to mislead you!” Dame Gothel pulled at Ivy, but Ivy ripped her arm from her grasp and dove for his weakened bod
y. Her arms closed around the waist of the body that had been his.

  “Ivy, I had a plan,” Adonis said miserably. “I was going to come back for you. I would have taken you home with me.” His wings drooped with the weight of everything he wanted but would never have. “I wanted to…marry you, Ivy.”

  “Adonis, you have to keep fighting,” Ivy insisted, her voice hoarse with the promise of tears. “Keep fighting, damn it.”

  She put her hands on the flesh that had been Adonis’ body only moments ago. Adonis smiled tenderly as golden light flowed from her hands, healing the burns her mother had inflicted. It was too late for that though. Her mother had already moved to an exorcism, the physical injuries had only loosened his hold on the body.

  “I was a fool, Ivy. I don’t have the power left to fight, I gave it all up. I did it for you, but it…just didn’t work.” He reached out with his astral form and trailed a clawed hand through what was left of her golden hair. “I guess I’m just not good with plans,” he said weakly.

  Ivy’s mother crept up behind her, hesitating as if afraid to get too close to Adonis. Clearly she didn’t know if Adonis had any power left. Adonis bared his teeth at her and let his fury show in his eyes. His astral form grew darker, reflecting his ire. The witch hissed and jerked back.

  “She’s not your mother, Ivy,” Adonis growled. “She stole you from your real parents a long time ago.”

  “My real parents?” Ivy’s eyes shone with tears, her brow furrowed in confusion.

  “Lies!” the witch screamed.

  “Go to Prince Kirill of Dacia,” Adonis insisted. “Tell him I sent you. He’ll explain everything.” There was a vicious metaphysical tug and Adonis howled as he slid a little farther out of his body.

  “Adonis, stay with me.” Ivy grasped his hand.

  “I wish I could stay with you, Ivy. I wish I’d never left you. I wish I could have had just one more day with you.”

  “I’ll come to the astral plane,” Ivy burst out. Her body trembled as she wrapped her fingers of his physical body with one hand and reached for his astral presence with the other.

  Adonis fell silent as his heart nearly tore itself in two. He wasn’t returning to the astral plane. If only he’d known then what he knew now. He never would have held back. He might have had at least the memory of being with her to take with him into the darkness.

  “You’re doing this to him,” Ivy said suddenly, whirling to face her mother. “What are you doing to him?”

  “I’m sending him far away where he’ll never be able to hurt you again.” Her mother straightened her spine and looked down her nose at Ivy. “Someday you’ll know I was right. You’ll thank me for this.”

  “Stop what you’re doing and let him go.” She rose to her feet, facing her mother down with a growing aura of power.

  Dame Gothel’s eyes narrowed. “Do not speak to me that way, Ivy. You’re just lucky that I caught you before he stole your innocence. You’re lucky I caught you before it was too late.”

  “Mother, you don’t understand. He can’t leave this body, you have to stop.”

  “Ivy, listen to me,” her mother said calmly. “Perhaps I’ve kept you innocent for too long.”

  Adonis snarled as Dame Gothel stepped closer, stroking a lock of hair behind Ivy’s ear. He could see the astral reflection of her power creeping toward Ivy like the tendrils of a sea monster, reaching out to ensnare her victim and drag her under the waves. Before he could call out a warning, a crack of power snapped over him, stealing his breath with a wave of agony he felt even as an astral presence.

  “I will not make the same mistake in the future,” the witch continued, careful to keep her gaze on Ivy and not Adonis. “Perhaps if I’d let you see more of the world, you would not have been such easy prey for a demon.”

  Ivy looked back at Adonis, but the witch grabbed her chin and forced her to keep her eyes on her face. Adonis dragged in another breath, preparing to use his last one to curse the witch to Hades’ dark realm.

  “Ivy, look at me.” Gothel intoned, her voice as smooth as silk wrapped around a heavy blade. “I know he is handsome and charming. I know he makes you feel powerful emotions. So many women have fallen for that façade, Ivy. He is an incubus, he survives on sexual energy he steals from unwitting victims. His survival depends on his ability to trick maidens into his bed, is it any wonder he’s so good at deception?”

  The witch closed her eyes for a moment as if she were upset. Adonis lurched forward, fighting tooth and nail to claw his way just a little further back into his human body. Once he was in his human body again, he was going to kill the witch. He just needed a moment.

  “You were always loyal to me before him,” the witch whispered. “I never would have believed you would betray me for a man.” Her shoulders sagged. Ivy opened her mouth to speak, but the witch held up a hand to cut her off. “No. It’s all right, Ivy. He is a powerful demon, I know you didn’t stand a chance against him. But the point is, I’m here now. I’m here, and I’m going to take you home, and I am going to make sure no demon is ever able to fool you again.”

  Despair wrapped a black clawed hand around Adonis’ heart and squeezed. The witch was staring into Ivy’s eyes, and it didn’t take a wizard to know that she was using magic. He could imagine the pull Ivy was feeling as her mother twisted the bond she’d created when she made Ivy a familiar. He could see the wounded look in the witch’s eyes as she preyed upon Ivy’s love for the woman she believed was her mother. The witch had had a lifetime to cement her control over Ivy. Adonis didn’t stand a chance.

  Ivy jerked away, stumbling a few steps back. “Do not speak to me as if I were a child,” Ivy thundered. “All my life you’ve kept me locked away, to protect me, to keep me safe. And you’re right, the world is a dangerous place.”

  Her gaze softened on Adonis and his heart soared even as his spirit slipped a little farther from his body.

  “But there is enough wonder in the world that I want to see, that I’m willing to risk it. And if I let more people into my life, then there will be more people to protect me, more people to help me when I need it. You tell me that Adonis wants to use me, but, Mother, he had the chance.”

  Satisfaction flowed through Adonis and he couldn’t resist smirking at the witch, who was staring at him with a level of fury that would have been scary if he wasn’t already about to lose everything. He was the only spirit in the body, as opposed to a demon possessing someone else’s body while that person was still in it, so the exorcism would be more difficult—but eventually, he would be forced out. He could only hold on for so long.

  “I’m not going to stand here and watch him suffer,” Ivy bunched her shoulders. “Stop what you’re doing, and leave him be.”

  Adonis couldn’t help but laugh. With his spirit halfway out of his body, holding onto his physical form by a thread, he threw back his head and laughed.

  “He’s laughing at you, Ivy!” Dame Gothel shouted. “He’s laughing because he’s tricked you!”

  “I’m laughing because she’s free,” Adonis said, beaming at Ivy. “You kept her locked away because you knew this day would come. I don’t know how you kept an elemental indoors for her entire life, but that’s all over now. She’s seen the world and she wants more.”

  Ivy’s skin was always golden, but now it was shining as if someone had poured liquid sunlight over her skin. Her eyes sparkled like stars and he could feel the heat radiating from her flesh from here. The witch had made her powerful, had fed that power believing it would be she who used it, not Ivy. But the cat was out of the bag.

  “You’re so beautiful, Ivy,” he said softly. “You’re beautiful, and you’re smart, and you’re so very, very brave. She did her best to break you, to keep your light hidden, but you are more yourself right now than you’ve been in all of the short time I was blessed to have known you. I only wish I could be there when you get to see the ocean for real.”

  “Adonis, don’t leave,” Ivy demanded,
only a slight tremor in her voice. “I can help you, you just have to stay.”

  Adonis didn’t bother looking at the witch, he didn’t have to. He could feel the amount of energy she’d pulled into the exorcism spell, and only the fact that Aphrodite herself had blessed his possession of this body was allowing him to stay this long. There was only one way to break the spell now and he couldn’t ask that of Ivy.

  “Enjoy your life, Ivy.” He raised a hand to her as she leaned closer, her eyes glossy with tears as she wrung her hands in front of her. He stroked her cheek, his chest constricting as she closed her eyes and pressed into his touch.

  “Ivy, come on, let’s go home,” the witch said, her voice hard as stone.

  Ivy’s jaw clenched beneath his fingers and her eyes flew open. She whirled around.