“What does that mean?” Aiden asked.
“She’s prophesized to defeat all six sorcerers who are apparently being resurrected,” Mel said curtly.
I glared at her for speaking to him that way. “We don’t know for sure it’s me.”
Tessi spoke up. “It’s fairly obvious it’s you, Sadie. Own it and let’s figure out what to do.”
Grandma reached over and took my hand. “I want you to come back to headquarters with me. You can bring your friends with you. I think it would be good for you to be at the next meeting.”
“You want me to be at a council meeting?” I gasped.
At the same time, Mel screamed, “I get to go to the council headquarters!” and threw her hands up in the air. She was anything but subtle.
Giving her a shut the hell up look, I apologized for her behavior. “Mel’s a little loud. She was raised by hyenas.”
She squinted her eyes at me and stuck out her tongue, such a Mel move, but kept quiet for the remainder of the time.
“Everyone gather your belongings, we’ll head out in the morning,” Grandma instructed. Speaking to Mel, she said, “And you…you’ll have to control your outbursts in the headquarters. People have been killed for less. The guards are a little on guard.”
Her eyes widened and she nodded in agreement.
Tessi laughed, then asked, “Is it safe to go back to the apartment in Charleston for our stuff?”
Pursing my lips, I shook my head. “It probably burned down with the unbound beings I set on fire.”
“You what?!” Tessi screeched. “My stuff was there!”
“They were trying to kill you!” I yelled back. “It might have been contained to just them. I don’t know. I was more worried about saving Mel before they unfroze.”
“I’m going to check,” Tessi declared. She disappeared before anyone could go with her and I groaned.
She was gonna be so pissed if I burned her shoes.
“What are these Sorcerer Wars?” I asked. Fear coursed through me when I said it, like my body knew it meant danger and I shouldn’t be speaking of such things.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t ask,” she said.
I felt Aiden come up behind me. He clasped his hands over my shoulder and rubbed my tense muscles. “Tell me,” I said when I gained my courage.
Mark spoke. “The Sorcerer Wars were a terrible practice. The first sorcerers were power hungry. They discovered what they could do and wanted more. They were selfish, destructive, and lethal. They killed and drained energies, but discovered it didn’t stay long. So Bram and another, Wolfe, created the Sorcerer Wars. They pitted the most powerful against each other to the death. Each of the six found a sorcerer, then they threw them all in a maze. There were hunts and tasks to be completed, and the way it was set up, if one died, their power was released into the air. The first of the six to get to it, kept it. The sorcerers were in the wars until the community was wiped. Whichever survived got to stay and keep their powers, but they lost everything. Their loved ones, their homes. It was a dark time.”
Things began to pop up around the room. Tessi’s shoes, Mel’s blue leather jacket, and a bunch of other things. I ignored them, looking at Mark. “Am I expected to participate in these? Is that why he’s looking for the most powerful sorcerers?”
He looked at Grandma and she nodded. “We think so,” he said quietly.
Standing, I stepped over and around the stuff arriving, grateful I didn’t burn the place down, and started for the hall. Footsteps fell in beside me, but I was lost in my thoughts and couldn’t be bothered to see who it was.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed my wrist and stopped me in my tracks.
“What?” I scowled, turning,
Aiden stood, his eyes studying me in a way they hadn’t in a long time. His smile was brighter, bigger, and his eyes danced in happiness.
“What’s with you?” I grumbled. I jerked my hand away, angry he wasn’t taking this seriously.
“Sade,” he said.
The one word made my heart fall to my feet and my knees grow weak. He was calling me a name only he called me, the name he had etched on my necklace he gifted to me on my sixteenth birthday. If he was calling me Sade, it only meant one thing.
“Sade,” he said again. “I remember!”
As his hands gripped my shoulders, his eyes scanned over my body, landing on my eyes. “I remember,” he repeated.
“Everything?” I squeaked out.
He nodded. He smiled so big his whole face lit up. “Sade, I’ve missed you.” Pulling me closer, he cupped the back of my head with one hand while the other rested on my hip. His blue eyes, so deep, so bright, locked with mine as he licked his lips.
My breathing became ragged as anticipation washed over me. Leaning in, he gently brushed his lips over mine with the slightest of touches. I shivered. The hand on my hip tightened and he pressed his lips to mine again, moving them more aggressively than before.
Time stood still as we passionately reunited. Our lips were two firecrackers setting the other off. Our tongues danced. His scent washed over me, calming me from my worry. His hands left a hot trail as they moved over my body, the one on my hip tracing up my torso and stopping on my ribs while the one in my hair trailed down my neck, sending tingles the length of my spine.
Snaking my hands up his chest, I locked them around his neck and deepened the kiss. He nudged me backward, then propped a hand against the wall and leaned in. Our bodies were so tightly drawn together I could feel his heartbeat racing against my chest. His body so close to mine created a commotion in mine; my heart hammered while my mind completely shut down. Aiden was all I needed. Aiden was all I wanted.
He broke away, panting as he locked his forehead with mine. “Good grief, Sade.”
Smiling, I peered up at him. “I missed you, too,” I whispered. Bringing one hand to his cheek, I caressed his skin and pressed my hips hard against his. “A lot.”
Growling, he moved so quickly my back collided with the wall. “Don’t do that to me.”
Giggling, I pushed him away playfully. “Let’s go to my room before anyone realizes you know who they are.”
He followed me down the hall as we dashed away from the voices in the kitchen. Briefly I felt bad for leaving Mel and Tessi with people they didn’t know, but it passed quickly as Aiden’s body heat warmed my hand.
He remembered me.
Shutting my door as quietly as possible, I sealed it shut and leaned against it, looking at the beautiful, blue-eyed boy feet from me. Awkwardly, I stood there, unsure of what to do and when to do it. I’d been with him for days, but it was different now. He knew who I was again.
“Sade,” he said, running a hand through his hair. His head was bent slightly, his eyes peering at me. He looked so devilishly handsome that I was certain I’d melt right then and there.
“Aiden,” I replied.
“I’m really glad I remember…but how? I thought Harlow said I wouldn’t.”
Letting go of the doorknob, I nodded toward my bed. “Sit.” He sat, legs apart and elbows resting on knees. I took the spot beside him, curling one leg under me and clasping my hands together. “It’s a long story, but Scott and my grandma didn’t stop looking for you. And they found a way around her spell since you weren’t fully human.”
“Oh, right,” he said, lowering his head. “I’m a descendant of the evil guy.”
“We’re all a descendant of someone,” I pointed out. “Just because he was evil doesn’t mean you are. He could just use you as a vessel because of the blood line.”
He nodded, though unsure. “Has it really been five years? I recall the time, but it’s foggy. Like a dream, instead of reality.”
“It has.”
He turned, mimicking how I sat. “I want to know everything. From the moment my mind was wiped until now.”
“That’s going to take a while,” I chuckled. “I’ll fill you in with as much as I can. We’re going to council headquar
ters tomorrow.”
“All of us?” he questioned.
“I’m not leaving you here.” I grinned.
He took my hand, the pad of his thumb rough against my silken skin. He rubbed the top of my hand in circles, his blue eyes swimming in emotions I couldn’t quite decipher. “Now tell me.”
I leaned in and began my tale.
“Moments after you left, my grandma and an older council member showed up. They got rid of Harlow and her minions, stripping them all of their powers. Grandma was announced the new head of the council and she had three days to get ready to leave. It was hard, Aiden. I’d just lost Sebastian, then I lost you, and within minutes my grandmother. She wouldn’t be here to train me, to help me, to listen and just be my grandma anymore. It was really, really rough on me and I got depressed.”
Explaining what I’d gone through, revealing the truth, was harder than I thought. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him as I spoke.
“Not long after she left for the council, I left home. I didn’t tell anyone where I went and cloaked myself so they couldn’t find me.”
“Where did you go?” he asked quietly.
“Everywhere. Florida, South Carolina, Michigan. I’ve been in any state that required magical assistance. Some of these cities were overrun with evil supernatural beings. Some held a bunch of unbounds who weren’t properly trained and let their own darkness consume them to the point of no return. I protected those who couldn’t protect themselves. These cities would have been exposed in no time if I hadn’t stepped in.”
“You did this alone?” He sounded shocked, upset.
I nodded. “I did until I met Mel and then Tessi in Charleston.”
“Charleston? Isn’t that were Devlin was stationed?”
I nodded again. “I think the leftover magical energy from him attracted more.”
“You did this the whole time?”
“I’ve moved around a lot,” I said, standing up. I began pacing to slow the pounding in my chest. “Scott finally found me last week. He used a spell to locate me and it penetrated my cloak. Grandma came and talked me into staying here for two weeks, for the wedding and graduation. Right before she left she told me they knew where you were. Aiden,” I said desperately. Stopping, I finally forced myself to make eye contact. “I’d never been so hopeful in my whole life.”
He stood, wrapping his strong arms around me. “Oh, Sade. I can’t imagine how painful all of this was for you.”
Refusing to cry, I pulled back. “Anyway, I came here. Reunited with everyone. And they told me we could coax your memories back since you were part of the elite. You have magic in your blood, somewhere, somehow, and that meant you couldn’t fully be wiped of memories of your time with us.”
“What happened to Amy?” he suddenly asked.
I practically growled. “She left after I kissed you.”
He chuckled. “I didn’t really like her, Sade. Not like I care about you.”
My heart soared. “I shouldn’t have been mean to her, but I couldn’t help it.”
He took both hands and swung them in his own. “You were jealous.”
Dropping them, I stepped back. “I was not jealous.”
He groaned and smiled, shaking his head. “You are so damned stubborn, Sadie. You haven’t changed in that sense, but you’re different.”
“I am?” I asked.
He looked me over, his eyes searing my skin with desire. “Oh, yeah. It’s good, though.”
Blushing, I looked at my feet. “How so?”
“You aren’t as shy about stuff.”
“I was never shy,” I laughed.
“You were with me,” he countered. “But you came up and kissed me in front of everyone.”
I bit my lip and picked at my thumbnail. “Oh, yeah.”
“And you’re more powerful. More confident in who you are. And you’re even more beautiful, something I didn’t think was possible,” he said softly. He moved closer, his body heat warming me in ways I’d forgotten.
The effect Aiden Rivers had on me was astounding. I’d met many men in the years I was gone. They’d flirted, they’d tried to win me over, but no one created the chaos in my body like Aiden.
“I like the scruffy look,” I whispered. Raising my hand to his cheek, I caressed the prickly hairs and smiled. “You look older and more handsome.”
He lowered his head, placed his lips on mine and kissed me senseless. How one man’s lips could make my brain stop working, I didn’t know, but I loved it. As I kissed him back, I locked my hands around his waist and dug my fingers into his back. He pulled away all too quickly, leaving me breathless and panting.
“You…” he started, breathing heavily. “No one kisses like you, Sade.”
I giggled. “I don’t want to hear about you kissing other girls, but thanks.”
He dragged me over to the bed, holding my hand securely in his. “Tell me why we’re going to the council.”
“There’s a bad guy after me, duh,” I joked.
He looked concerned, his brow furrowing in worry. “What bad guy?”
“One of the original sorcerers, from a long time ago, was resurrected.”
“Oh, all that stuff your grandma was talking about.”
I nodded. “Apparently I’m the dark sorceress.”
“You could never be dark, Sadie,” he said. Confident and sure, his voice held recognition in his statement.
“I don’t think I have a choice,” I said sadly. “We can’t let a bunch of dead guys keep coming back. They’ll wipe us all out.”
“What’s going to happen at the council?”
“Meetings, research, and probably training. I don’t know what I have to do to defeat this guy. I have no idea how this is even possible.”
“You’re amazing, Sade. Of course you’re one of the most powerful sorceresses in the world,” he said, pride in his tone. “I know you can do this. You’ll be fine. You may have to tap into something dark, but that’s not you. That doesn’t mean you are dark, you just have to use it to save all the good in the world.”
He was making sense, surprisingly. The prophecy had troubled me so since learning of it, the words haunting my every waking and non-waking hour. Could Aiden be right? Would it all really be ok?
“What’s going on?” he asked. “There’s more. I hear it in your voice.”
“I don’t want my family to be in any danger. Liv and Scott’s wedding was ruined!”
“That did suck,” he agreed. “They can take care of themselves, though. You’ve all proved that time and again.”
His confidence in me was heartwarming. Staring at him, my heart swelled and fluttered in happiness. Aiden was back. And after all this time, things were the same. He still believed in me, still seemed attracted to me, wanted me. Time had changed us both, matured our bodies as well as our personalities, but deep down, we were still the same young Sade and Aiden. The two teens falling for one another in the midst of a crisis none of us could see coming.
He squeezed my palm, sending a flurry of butterflies to my stomach. “Don’t overthink things, Sade. I know how you are, and you can’t do it this time. You are part of a prophecy! I mean, come on! You’re going to need help, and who better to assist than your kickass grandmother? Your friends seem nice, too. We’re all here for you. Let us. Don’t push us away.”
I nodded. “I’ll try to stop being so…headstrong. I like to do things my way.”
“We know,” he laughed. “And you can, but let us help.”
Smiling, I nodded again. “I’m really glad you’re back. I want to know everything about the past five years.”
“Not much to tell. That Harlow bitch did a number on me and the family, though. It was like I was never gone. We had memories of the time I was the vessel of us living a normal life. I graduated high school right after I returned and started college in the fall. I majored in business and actually graduated a week before Olivia did,” he grinned, “I just need to find a job
now.”
“Are you going to do that when you go home?”
“Where is home?” he questioned. “I don’t know what I’m doing now. I called my parents and let them know I was staying here for a while right after the wedding, so no one is expecting me.”
“You really want to go to the council with me?”
“If you can promise no one will wipe my memory this time,” he joked.
Scornful Sadie (Dark Sorceress Trilogy Book 1) Page 10