by Sharon Kay
He stared at her, incredulous. “My little wife, you have more power than even I dreamed—shit! Motherfucker!”
Tessa gasped at the tangible wave of anger rolling from him, but maintained her mental grip on the knife as she used her affinity to heat the blade as hot as she could. Lying against Damien’s skin, it would deliver third degree burns if she could keep it up.
She shrieked as a wall of his power knocked into her, slamming her head to the stone floor. Stars danced in her vision as pain cracked her skull. Oh gods. Had to save Scorpio…she rolled to all fours and tried to crawl.
“How does that feel, wife?” Damien’s voice was closer. “That was only a fraction of my power. Power I would be happy to share with you, if you’d only listen and not act like a spoiled girl!”
He sent another wave of power into her and she slumped, arms going out from under her like wet noodles. “S-stop,” she whispered.
Noise at the door dimly registered to her ears, which buzzed with the after effects of Damien’s power. With sheer force of will, she raised her head.
Brenin stood on the other side of the ley line, the humor she’d witnessed before gone from his eyes. Savagery strained his face as he held a knife to a Vespera guard’s throat. A thin line of blood already trickled down. “Let them go or your minions will keep dying.”
“Fool,” Damien scoffed. He grabbed the officiant and shoved him toward the doorway, uttering a spell as he moved. The male neared the dangerous green line…and passed through with no apparent problems. “Meet my top spell caster. See who dies now.”
The mage raised his arms. Brenin raised his blade. All Tessa saw was silver flashing, and blood. Frantic cries from the mage. Then Hallon was in her line of sight, collaring the badly injured mage with restraints Tessa herself had created.
“Dad,” she croaked, grateful for his presence.
“Hang on, Tessa!” Hallon wrenched the male to the side.
Tessa’s head pounded. Angry voices raised and echoed off the stone, drifting hollowly to her ears as if in a well. Her hands went numb and her eyelids drooped.
A flurry of silk beside her, and Zeebi knelt down. “I’m sorry, Tessa. I’m so sorry. Please stop fighting Damien. He always wins. Just go with what he says.”
Tessa stared at her friend like she’d never seen her before. “What did he do to you?” she whispered.
“He cares about me.” Zeebi stroked Tessa’s hair, pieces of which hung in her face. “He’s going to make me leader of Bronwy, and we’ll merge the covens.”
“I care about you,” Tessa said. “You-you’re better than that. Don’t work with him. Look what he’s done.” She shifted her gaze to Scorpio, whose skin now bore an intricate pattern of black lines. “How can you be okay with this?”
Zeebi’s brow furrowed. “I won’t do things like this. This is just Damien’s way. He has to do what he can to stay in power.”
“I can’t believe what you’re say—”
“Aw, are we making up?” Damien’s mocking voice cut in, and Zeebi was yanked to her feet. “Come to me, Tessa.”
None of this made sense. All Tessa knew was that the man she cared most about was suffering, all because of this megalomaniac’s quest for power. Her best friend had fallen completely under his spell. And if she were going to be his puppet to lead Bronwy, then all Tessa’s effort was in vain. “No,” she whispered.
“You lying bitch,” he snarled. “You can’t get enough of me in the hall, and now you put up a fight? Fuck this. You think I’ll forget your hands trying to grab me everywhere? You want me? You’re gonna get me. But I’ll make sure you’re fully conscious so you can appreciate everything I’m gonna do to you.” His booted feet moved out of her line of sight, and she struggled to follow him with her eyes.
Zeebi’s voice drifted to her ears as if far away, softly protesting. “Damien, you hit her pretty hard. I think she’s about to faint.”
“Yes. My bitch of a wife. Time for her to go lights out, don’t you think?” He raised his hand and magic swirled around him. The hairs on Tessa’s arm raised. She had been so sure he wouldn’t kill her, sure that his desire to use her for her power would be greater than that. Would he hit her with the same stuff he’d used on Scorpio? Just get it over with. Make it quick.
A blue ball glowed in his hand and he drew his arm back, a grin on his face. He released his magic.
Tessa tensed. A rush of purple swished through the air, skimming over her bare arms. A soft satin weight hit her as a blast rocked the floor beneath her…but didn’t hit her directly.
She struggled to breathe as Zeebi’s weight slumped over her torso. “Zee…get up…” Tessa tested her legs, and what she could move of her arms. She didn’t hurt, other than the previous pain.
That meant Zeebi had…
Damien roared in fury. “Worthless bitch! What are you trying to do?” He stalked closer and dragged Zeebi off Tessa, dropping her like a stone on the floor. He kicked her ribs. She didn’t move.
Tessa gasped. Zeebi had blocked the shot intended for her. But Damien hadn’t meant to kill, had he?
“You.” He turned to her in fury. “You’re mine. I’ll never let you go. Everyone you care about will die!”
Summoning her last reserves of strength, Tessa pushed up to a sitting position. Horrified shudders racked her lungs. Bodies lay in the doorway and metal scraped stone in the hall. Figures darted with raised voices. But the green line held, and in here it was only her and Damien. “I…you can’t just kill them.”
“I can. And I will. The only reason you’re conscious now is that I allowed it.”
“D-don’t you want my power?”
He stared at her like he was assessing a piece of expensive furniture. “Yes. Yes, I do.” His voice took on a cold smooth edge that made her skin crawl. “And since you care so much about these two, I’ll revoke my decision to end their sorry lives. I’ll keep them alive, to ensure you do exactly as I say.”
The breath whooshed out of her lungs as horrible irony hit her. This was what Scorpio had endured. His loved ones used as leverage to make him do things he would never normally do.
No! Her mind rebelled against the enslavement. You’re not helpless. The Watchers were here. Hallon was out there, fighting for her.
She wasn’t out of options yet.
Her hand slid to the blade concealed beneath her skirt.
Damien knelt by Zeebi first, muttering something. He straightened and turned to Tessa. “One all better, at least until she wakes up wanting to vomit her guts out.”
He started toward her on heavy-booted feet. She froze, running through options, when the green light at the doorway suddenly disappeared.
She gaped in astonishment. Ley lines couldn’t be eliminated.
Damien stared. A low rumble built in his chest, building to a bellow. ”No, no! What the fuck?”
Tessa glanced around the room. Everything appeared the same, but the aura in the space had fundamentally changed. Damien ranted like an angry bull. Whatever was happening, the timing was great.
Brenin burst into the room, flanked by two Watchers just as big as he. “Time’s up, motherfucker.”
Damien backed up. “No. You won’t win. I have a hundred loyal—”
“Not anymore.” Brenin glared. “Your coven just got a lot smaller. Oh, and there’s a new addition to your precious ley lines.”
Addition? Brenin had said earlier that Whysper might get involved. Was she here too?
Delirious, impossible hope bloomed. Tessa gripped Scorpio’s knife hidden under her skirt. Drawing on her affinity, she focused on the smooth beveled edge and squeezed. Just enough to pierce the flesh of her palm, but not enough to make a deep cut. Her blood would add power to the spell forming in her mind. She was taking a chance by not speaking the words aloud, as spells usually were, but she couldn’t risk drawing Damien’s attention to her.
He turned furious eyes on Tessa. “What have you done, witch? This is your fault.”
>
Hallon darted into the room. “You brought this on yourself, Damien.”
“Hallon,” Damien spat. “Trying so hard to fill Pennar’s shoes. I’m surprised you stooped to working with a murderer.” He slid a glance to Scorpio, motionless at Tessa’s knee. “And you, wife. Whatever happens next, if I go down, I’m taking you with me.”
“Lay one finger on her and die,” Brenin snarled.
Damien ignored the threat. He raised his hand.
This was it. If he had any power that didn’t run off the dark ley lines, he would use it to its full extent against her. She had to act. Now.
In an ancient dialect, she whispered four words as she raised the knife. Fly straight, fly true. She flung it at Damien’s heart.
It sailed across the six feet of space between them. Soundless and lethal, it sank deeply into the flesh just left of his sternum.
Brenin gave a low whistle. Tessa clapped a hand over her mouth. She had half expected it to fall in midair, as all the rest had done.
Damien sucked in a breath and stared down at the handle projecting from his chest. Blood welled furiously, soaking his shirt. “You…bitch…” He raised his hands and whispered words to a spell.
Tessa leaped to her feet, grabbing another of Scorpio’s blades, this one bigger than the last. No way was she going down. She raised her hand and drew on the memory of Scorpio’s coaching back at Bronwy. The huge knife hurled forward to lodge in the right side of Damien’s chest.
Damien’s words cut off on a gurgle. He raised incredulous dark eyes to her. Fury and hate gleamed like beacons. His fists clenched as he raised them.
This time no magic hummed across her skin. In her peripheral vision, the Watchers all had blades ready, their brawny power waiting to assist her. Quiet loomed in the room, diluted by Damien’s labored breathing. Yet she would never make the mistake of underestimating him.
She raised her own hands and summoned witchfire. The blue orb danced in her palm. Damien sneered, looked like he wanted to laugh. But he clutched his chest and dropped to his knees, one hand on the floor, bracing his weight. The floor turned crimson beneath his dripping wounds.
His other hand reached toward her, wavering. Unintelligible words fell from his lips in a tangle of syllables, both old and modern.
Tessa threw her fire at his head.
With a harsh, guttural sound, he collapsed and went still.
Tessa stared, breath rasping in and out of her lungs. She clenched her fists and stared at Damien, expecting him to rally and fling more magic.
But the muscles in his back didn’t move. His fingers lay motionless in puddles of his own blood.
Hallon raced across the room and wrapped her in a tight embrace. “Gods, Tessa.”
She gasped as her mind reeled. I killed Damien. The Watchers had secured the area. “D-dad?”
“You did it.” He pulled back to study her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, but—”
A clucking and shuffling drew her attention to the doorway. She tensed, expecting anything in this crazy place, but the petite figure that appeared there emanated nothing but goodness. And so much power that it licked across Tessa’s skin.
“My stars, child, you have good aim.” A gray-haired witch walked up to Tessa and took her hand, the one without the knife. Chocolate brown eyes peered up at her like they could see into her soul.
Tessa’s jaw dropped. “Wh-Whysper?” She stumbled over the name, awed to be in this woman’s presence. “How did you…do you…I…”
“The time for chit chat comes later, dear heart. You have done well. But you have another task. Your warrior needs you.” She gestured to Scorpio.
Tessa turned and knelt by his side, cradling his huge arm in her hands. “I don’t know how to help him.” The black lines now crept up his arm, disappearing under his shirt sleeves. The ones trickling down from his temple wrapped around his neck.
“This is a form of dark ivy,” Whysper said. “It’s like the clinging vine, but this originates from dark magic. All it needs is one drop of evil in the soul and it will grow like weeds. And it will choke him from the inside out.”
A new set of footsteps appeared in the door and a tall, dark-haired witch entered. “What do you need—oh, shit. Dark ivy.” She dropped down next to Tessa and glanced at Whysper. “We need a mix of wormwort, blackthorn berries from the winter realm picked on the first day of fall, and calamus root.” She gently laid the back of her hand on Scorpio’s cheek, then turned to Tessa. “I’m Melixa, Whysper’s apprentice.”
Tessa nodded. “I’m Tessa. And there’s no way we can find those berries now. It’s nearly spring.”
Whysper nodded. “Yes, yes. The other items are easy to procure.”
“What do we do?” Tessa whispered. “It-it’s fatal, isn’t it?”
“Yeees.” Whysper dragged out the word.
Tessa’s eyes burned with tears as she looked down at the most honorable, lethal male she knew. “Please don’t die. Not after all this, not after all you accomplished.” Her heart folded in on itself, crushed with the thought of a world without Scorpio.
“There is another option,” Whysper murmured.
“What?” Tessa and Melixa asked in unison.
“There is a substitution for the berry.” Whysper crouched low to hover a wrinkled hand over Scorpio’s heart. “The blood of his true love.”
C
HAPTER 34
TESSA’S HEART THUNDERED IN HER ears. “What did you say?” she asked Whysper. But the whole time, only one thought beat a rhythm in her heart.
True love, true love, true love.
“Do you love him, young one?” the old witch asked.
Tessa looked from her brown eyes to Scorpio’s closed lids. Dark lines snaked along his hairline, pulsing slightly as they stretched and lengthened. But she saw what lie beneath.
The honorable fighter. The brother who’d kill to protect his siblings. The former criminal who never hid or denied his past, and in his quietly skilled way, strove to make things right.
The man who cherished her, protected her, held her when she quaked with fear.
The man who hadn’t been angry when she had harshly judged him on a sketchy outline of his life
Tears pricked her eyes as realization dawned. She did love him, though she didn’t deserve him. But maybe she could do this one thing for him, and then let him go. “Yes,” she whispered. “I do love him.”
The sharp clap of Whysper’s hands startled Tessa, but her gaze remained fixed on Scorpio’s face. “Then we have no time to waste!” The old witch’s tone brokered no argument.
Melixa hopped up and darted to the doorway. “I’ll go to kitchen first for the wormwort and calamus.”
“There’s a second storage pantry, if the items aren’t in the kitchen. I’ll check there.” Hallon followed on her heels.
Tessa stared at Scorpio, trying to memorize his every feature. His breathing was shallow. She laid her head on his chest, desperate to feel the steady beat of his heart. How many times had she done this? Only a few, but the tiny gesture filled her soul with something she didn’t realize she was missing.
If his heart beat for her, hers would beat for him. She would give anything to heal him. “You’re going to make it,” she whispered. “Don’t you dare think you’re going to die. Not when you did your best to make me see…” A sob welled up. “You made me see how there’s more to everyone than what’s on the surface. Even when I was wrong, you…you underst…” She couldn’t continue.
It was too much. His T-shirt now damp with her tears, she simply drew strength from his powerful body.
Footsteps, heavy and light, darted around the room, but she didn’t look up. Male and female voices spoke in low tones. She sensed the protection of the Watchers and the magic of the witches, but her soul centered on Scorpio. Just breathe. Fighting panic over his mortality, she clung to one mantra. I love you. She breathed it in and breathed it out, willing his heart to somehow, som
e way, get her message.
A warm hand on her back brought her back to reality. “We’re ready for you,” Melixa said gently. “Can you come over to this work table? Or we can do it right here, if you’d rather.”
Tessa straightened and glanced over her shoulder. Hallon knelt by Scorpio’s feet. Around the edges of the room, the Watchers stood with grim expressions. Brenin’s words echoed in her head. We take care of our own. The impact of her time with Scorpio slammed her. He’d stayed to help her and her people, while his own comrades and family had worried. Had no doubt wanted him back.
And now, his life balanced on drops of her blood. Her eyes brimmed with tears as she met Brenin’s gaze. “I’ll do everything I can to save him,” she whispered.
He nodded and looked to the stone table. Whysper stood over a bowl, moving her hand in a circular motion.
“Can we do it here?” Tessa asked. “I don’t want to leave him.”
“Sure.” The witch got up and went to Whysper. The two of them talked quietly and then came to join Tessa.
“I’m too old to get down on the floor,” Whysper said. “Melixa will take your blood.”
Tessa nodded and snuck a glance to Scorpio. “Do you need one of his blades? Or a special one of your own?”
“The blade won’t matter this time, child,” Whysper said with a grim smile. “It’s what’s inside you that has the potential to save him.”
Tessa swallowed against a fresh wave of tears. Would her love be enough? She held out her arm.
Melixa took the bowl from Whysper and set it carefully on the floor. It didn’t look like anything special, just herbs crushed into powder. Now that it was closer, Tessa noticed an indent in the ceramic at the edge. It was almost like a spout. In Whysper’s hand was a small glass vial with a clear liquid. “That’s water from a spring under a grouping of good ley lines,” Melixa explained. “We need a little more liquid in this for him to be able to swallow it.”