by Serena Nova
“Shirt off,” he said.
“Yes, Sir,” I joked at him. I needed something to cut the tension in the room.
“Isa, please,” he said, and I looked up at him where his eyes pleaded with mine. I wiggled myself out of my tank top. My sports bra fell just next to the wound, which was lucky for the guy who had done that to me. I had been wearing my favourite one, if he had hit it . . . oh, he would have burned.
“Thank you,” he said. The bed dipped when he sat next to me. Softly, his hands started to take the bandage off. I hissed a little when I felt it sticking to the wound.
“You should have let me treat it yesterday, not only bandaged it,” he scolded me. He opened a bottle, and the air filled with a strong smell, I scrunched my nose up at it.
“What’s that?” I asked him when he moved to put it on my wound.
“Healing salve, Cian made it for me. It helps speed up our healing even more; it closes the skin and kills all the bad bacteria.” He placed it softly on the wound, rubbing it in with easy and slow strokes. I closed my eyes. When he was done with that, he moved to grab another bottle.
“When did you see Mara?” he asked me, when his face was turned away from mine. I swallowed. He had caught me off guard.
“In Icas Nox's house, when I was hiding from him. She found me,” I told him. “I thought she lived there. She seemed so real,” I breathed it out, the memory had still been close in my mind.
“She did, we did,” he said when he turned around with a new bandage. “This has some cream on it, keeps the bandages away from the wound and still allows it to heal.” He placed the bandage on my wound. When he was done, I turned onto my back, so I could look at him.
“What happened?” I asked him. He looked at his hands, that big guy suddenly looked so small with the way he sat there. I got up and sat on his lap, wrapped my arms around him, and held him close to me.
“We were young. One day we were playing in the woods. Our parents had told us not to go there, still we went. I dared her to go with me.” He swallowed with the memory. “Mara was always the toughest of us. She knew what she wanted even when she was just twelve.” He looked at me and gave me a sad smile.
“We played hide and seek, it was my turn to find her.”
I moved my fingers over his neck, circling them softly.
“She hid.” He swallowed. “And I counted. The moment I heard her scream, I ran. She screamed so hard, I moved harder. When I reached her, she was cornered by a Dark-world creature. It had wings, big wings. Claws for nails and more of a dog’s nose than a humans. It snarled at her, licked with his long tongue at her.” He shuddered at the memory. “When I moved into view, he looked at me, and I could swear he laughed. Before I could do anything, he speared her on his claws. Right through her chest.” A sob racked his body. “She looked at me, did you know? She asked me to help, and I was too late.” Another sob racked his body.
“I saw her eyes turn lifeless, her body fell down to the ground, blood all over her. And that creature, it just laughed and flew away.” He looked at me, the pain so overwhelming in his eyes, it made me choke up.
“Babe, it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known that there would be a Dark-worlder.”
“I could have,” he said and pushed me away to get up.
“No, Babe,” I said, my voice was strong even with all those feelings going through me.
“Yes, our parents told us. They said not to go there. Not to go into the forest, don’t go too far. And still we did, I did. And she came with me.”
“No,” I said to him, following him. I placed my hands on both sides of his face. “Babe, no. You didn’t know it was there, in that spot she would be hiding. Yes, it is terrible that it happened, that she died. Only, you were a child, too, young and a little foolish. Please don’t blame yourself.” As if his sorrow had summoned her, Mara appeared next to us.
“It wasn’t his fault. It will never be his fault,” she told me. I nodded at her. “Please tell him I love him. He is the best big brother I could have.”
“Flynn.” I made him look into my eyes. “She is here.”
He sucked in a breath, and he moved his head around, making my hands fall from his face. “Where?” he asked. I pointed next to him, he turned and looked.
“She wants you to know that she loves you. That it isn’t your fault. Wrong moment and wrong time. You were a child.” Mara nodded at me, she reached out towards Flynn, brushing his hands, his fingers twitched.
“She is really here?” he asked me, his voice pitching a little higher.
“Yes. Flynn, you were young. You couldn’t defeat a Dark-world creature by yourself. It is hard, I’m sorry. But she is fine, she is happy.”
“I’m so sorry, sis,” Flynn said, his face wet from the tears he had never cried till then.
“It is okay, brother. I love you.”
I repeated what she said, and he looked over at me. A soft, sad smile on his face. “Thank you,” he said.
Then Mara turned towards me. “I haven’t found anything yet,” she said and disappeared.
I moved back towards Flynn, hugging him close. “She is gone, Flynn. She is fine, and you did your best,” I told him again. He looked at me and his hands moved towards my face. He lowered his head and kissed me softly, a brush of his lips against mine.
“Thank you,” he said again.
“It's fine,” I told him and held him again, placing my head on his shoulder. We stood like that for quite some time. “Mourn now, but leave it behind you, Flynn. Holding onto it is never good, she is happy now. That is the most important thing there is,” I told him. He nodded to me. “I need to go take a shower, okay? I can shower with the bandages, right?” I asked him while I touched it.
“That is no problem.” He moved towards my shirt that was still on the bed. Picking it up, he handed it to me. “You are amazing, Guerrero,” he said and kissed me again, his lips more demanding, moved over mine. I leaned into him, deepening our kiss. His tongue darted out, and I greeted his with mine. We kissed until we were gasping for breath. I pulled away. His dark eyes were full of promises and sorrow. How I wanted to react to the promise, but he needed to mourn; he needed to give that sorrow a place.
“It will be fine,” I said to him and touched his chest for a second before I moved away. I walked out of his room and back towards the hallway that would lead towards my room. I still had my shirt in my hands, walking around in my sports bra.
“Look who’s here,” someone said when I walked through the door. I looked up, seeing the other Witches standing before me.
“Getting lucky?” one of them asked, pointing at my shirt in my hand.
“Move,” I grumbled at them, totally not in the mood for them then.
“No,” one of them said.
“Yes, girl. I’m not in the mood to play,” I told them and started moving past them.
“But we are.” I looked up at the one talking. It was the same Witch that had helped Thalia, she had brown hair hanging loosely around her. She was skinny without any womanly curves; her eyes slanted a little at the edges, and her nose was a little too big for her face.
“You are spending too much time with them, getting too many privileges, and you have been here longer than us. It isn’t fair.” She folded her arms in front of her. I waited for her to stamp her foot on the ground, just to be disappointed when nothing happened.
“That is up to them. Please move now.” They blocked my way to my room.
“No,” a redhead said.
“Oh, come on, girls. Why today?” I asked them with a growl.
“Why not?” someone in the back asked. And with that, the air slammed into me, totally unexpected as I flew against the door. Hitting my shoulder hard, I grunted out.
I pushed the Witch’s magic down, and I dropped to the ground.
“You ladies have chosen the worst day to be mad at me. I’ll give you one more chance. Move,” I said.
“Only if
you promise not to talk to the Kings anymore,” the first Witch said, her hands now flickering with Fire.
“Oh, Babe–” I started.
“I’m not your Babe,” she sneered.
“That isn’t up to you to decide,” a voice boomed from behind them. I looked around, finding Averey standing there, his hands crossed in front of his chest.
25
His eyes moved over the girls in front of me, and he looked sexy as hell standing there.
“Your Highness,” some of the Witches muttered.
“Hi,” I said, which got me a glare from Witch Bitch number one.
“It is ‘Your Highness,’” she said and turned around to look at Averey as she bowed low. “My King,” she purred. I rolled my eyes and started moving towards my room.
“Where do you think you are going?” Witch Bitch said, when she noticed me moving.
“My room.” I pointed at my door, she cocked her head to the side. “No,” was what she said next. It made me laugh, and her face reddened. “Why do you think that is funny?” she asked me.
“Isn’t it?” I laughed.
“You need to bow to your King,” she said instead.
“Nah, not today.” I told her and moved to open my door.
“You can’t act like this, you aren’t the Queen here. You are nothing!” she screamed at me. I looked at her and then to Averey. One side of his mouth had curved up when he saw me looking at him. I rolled my eyes again and looked back at the Witch.
“Girl, I don’t have time for this. My back hurts, and I really want a shower.”
I moved again to push open the door, the Witch moved even closer to me and said in a low voice, “You need to leave. You don’t belong here.”
I was so sick of them; my temper had risen higher with everything that had come out of her mouth.
“You think I don’t belong here? Do you even know to who you are talking to?” I started, my hands on my hips as I glared at her. “I am Isadora S–”
“That is enough! Inside, ladies!” Averey’s voice boomed over us. I looked at him, the rest of my sentence died when he shook his head at me.
“Yes, My King,” the Witch Bitch said and moved to the end of the hallway.
I finally opened my door and threw it closed when I was inside, except the satisfying slam never came. I looked back at the door, Averey stood there with his hand holding the door open.
“What?” I asked him.
“Don’t tell them,” he said while he walked into the room, closing the door softly.
“Why? I’m sick of them yelling at me and of the looks they give me. And they came only two days ago. How will it go after the ball, the dates? When you guys . . .” Words stopped flowing out of my mouth with the idea that they would be picking other Witches, too. The world expected them to have four Queens, not one–not like my Great-Grandmother.
“Ah ducks.” I threw up my hands and turned towards my bedroom.
“Isa, you can’t tell them. If you do it now, they would hate you even more. For being better than them. You already are, they can see that,” he said to me. I swirled around.
“I don’t want to be better than them. I want to be me, Protector and Witch. I want to be Fucking Isadora Seraphina Savill Royal. And nothing more. I want to be me.”
“And you are. That will not change.” He moved closer towards me, and I took a step back.
“I don’t know. I was always Isadora, solely that. Nothing more.” I looked at the ground, my hands fumbling with my pants.
“That’s not true, sweetheart, you were always more. You are a Protector.” He moved his hands towards me, and I stepped back.
“What did you want?” I asked when I looked at him, his silver-grey eyes focused on me.
“I came to ask you something,” he said calmly.
“That is?”
“What happened on the roof last night?”
“I already told you guys.” Again, I threw my hands up in the air and moved towards my bedroom.
“You didn’t tell me, us, everything. There is more.” I whirled back around. His arms were folded in front of him. It made him look so yummy, I wanted to lick him all over. I shook my head with that thought, just for Averey to react to the movement.
“You need to tell us.” His voice was lower, it made me shiver and be angry at the same time.
“No, I told you. The girl was more dead than alive. He controlled her and was angry when I broke her legs. He killed her, and I fought him off, and when he was gone, you guys came running in.”
“Him?”
“That’s all you took from it?” I placed my hands on my sides, and Averey moved closer.
“You didn’t tell us it was a him. Was he an elemental? Human?”
“He killed the servant, he used some kind of magic. And he looked human.” I didn’t tell him that his lips definitely felt human. The anger that radiated from Averey would have exploded the moment had I mentioned that I had kissed the Dark-worlder and liked it. Especially the liked it part.
“What else?” He looked at me, his silver-grey eyes full of storms, the ones I didn’t want to be in right now.
“Nothing, I attacked him, scared him off, and he left. Like I said, you guys came running in.” I folded my arms over my chest, which pushed up my breasts. I was still wearing my sweat pants and sports bra. His eyes flickered to them, and his breathing stopped for a second before it sped up.
My cue to leave the room.
“I’m done with this, I told you what happened. I need a shower,” I told him, then turned around and moved towards my bedroom.
“Why didn’t you use your magic?” he asked, while he followed me.
“Can’t you just leave?” I motioned to the bedroom we were standing in.
“It’s my castle,” he answered.
“Not technically.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Oh, yes, as long as you aren’t Queen, it is mine. I’m free to enter every room I want, without permission from anybody. Not even yours.” He looked smug at that, one side of his mouth pulled up.
“Fine, feel free.” I started pulling off my shoes, indicating I still would go and take that shower.
He moved to stand differently, it made me notice the growing bulge in his pants that seemed to grow even more when I started looking at it.
“Why didn’t you use your magic?” he asked again, his voice was low and coarse and not angry.
“He thought I was a protector. I went with it.” I was now barefoot and looking at him.
Averey cleared his throat and asked next, “Why did you let him escape?” He tilted his head and kept looking at me, waiting for an answer. I didn’t even know why I had let him go. I was strong and fast enough to get him. The kiss had surprised me as much as it did him, and for a second, I had totally forgotten he had thrown a chained knife in my back. I could only think of his lips on mine, his dark eyes searching my face, his mouth that could do so much more then kiss me.
“Isa. Sweetheart,” I heard.
“Huh, what?” I answered and looked at Averey who was now a hell lot closer than first. His warmth had started radiating into me.
“I asked, ‘why did you let him escape?’”
I looked up at him. “I don’t know,” I told him honestly, okay, almost honestly.
“Can you tell me more about him, so we can keep an eye out?” Averey asked, his voice was low and seductive when he said that.
“Yeah. Short black hair, dark eyes, and she wore all black.” I started, I was still looking into Averey’s eyes. Those stormy silver-grey eyes that sucked you in and kept you there. I almost forgot one important thing.
“The chain he used.” I closed my eyes for a short time, the closeness and the heat of Averey made my head spin a little, the memory of the man’s lips on mine helped, too.
“It turned into ink on his arm, when he pulled it back.” I used my own finger to indicate what I meant on my arm, swirling it from my hand up to my shoulder. Ave
rey’s eyes followed the movement, turning even darker. His hand moved towards my arm, trailing the same path I had just made, making the hairs on my arm rise and my body shiver.
“It sank into his skin?” he murmured, while his eyes followed his own fingers. They reached up to my shoulder, to stop there and move back down again. He kept doing it for a few times, until I stepped back. His hand dropped next to his body, and it seemed it snapped him out of wherever he had been.
“I need to talk to the others about that.”
“Okay, Go.” I motioned with my hands towards the door, shooing him out of the room.
“No,” he growled out again, and I rolled my eyes. That man changed his mood as fast as a woman could.
“Why not?” I asked him.
“Because you are still holding something back. And you need to tell it.”
“No.” I mimicked him.
“Isadora Seraphina Savill Royal.” He moved even closer, his chest pressing against mine, his chest expanded with his breath, it pushed me back a little. His hands were clenched by his side, almost as if he had wanted to keep his hands away from me. It made me a little sad, I had loved the way his finger had moved over my arm, the tingling sensation it left. Even when I stepped away, I wished I hadn't.
“Using my full name doesn’t make me want to tell you.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Ha, there is something more.”
“Duckface and pancakes,” I swore at him. “Yes, and no, I’m not telling you. It will not help you with anything. Just fuck off, okay? Let me get my shower. I smell,” I growled out at him, angry we were still talking about it. I made a move to turn around, instead he grabbed hold of my arm.
I froze.
“Averey Thorne–” I started, except for him to chuckle.
“Using my full name doesn’t work, either.” I looked at him, there was a ghost of a smile on his lips.