by Bella Klaus
Beatrice poured me a steaming cup of tea and cut a generous slice of lemon drizzle cake. It was a two-layer madeira base, baked with lemon zest with a citrus-flavored buttercream filling. The lemon-and-sugar topping was crisp on the outside but had soaked into the sponge, giving each bite a generous helping of moist lemon.
She and Kain updated me on everything I’d missed while in the hospital, which wasn’t much because the Supernatural Council was still suppressing news about the rise of Kresnik. Given the amount of damage Valentine and his guards had done to his body, I doubted that Kresnik would resurface until he had extracted the information he needed from Theodore about the location of his immortal body.
Out of nowhere, a warm bundle of fur jumped on my lap, making me startle. He rose up on his hind legs, placed his front paws on my collarbones, and stared at me with inquisitive eyes. “Meow?”
“I’m feeling much better, thanks for asking.” I ran my hand down his back.
Before I could say anything else, Macavity jumped down from the armchair, galloped across the cottage’s wooden floor, paused, and turned his head to meet my gaze. “Meow!”
I leaned forward and frowned. “Do you need to use the bathroom?”
Macavity butted a wooden panel with his head, which opened into a cat flap. He trotted out, letting it close behind him with a soft thud.
“What’s he doing?” Beatrice asked.
I rose from my seat. “When he acts like that it usually means to follow.”
Kain reached for the cake cutter and helped himself to a generous slice of lemon drizzle. After palming it, he also rose and offered Beatrice his hand. “Are you coming?”
She shrugged, letting him help her up. “Why not?”
I turned to Mrs. Meg, who stood at the kitchen work table, busying herself with the world’s most colorful bowl of salad. “When will lunch be ready?”
The old brownie shooed us out with both hands. “It’ll be a cold lunch, so you can come back anytime you want.”
There was no sign of Macavity in the cottage’s back garden, a large space of waist-high growing beds separated by gravel walkways. Each bed grew a variety of edible plants, including lettuces, squash, tomato plants, and blueberry bushes laden with fruit.
The scent of basil and thyme and rosemary filled my nostrils, and I turned to find a bed on the left, crammed with culinary herbs. Whoever had designed this place did so making it impossible for a person of witch descent to ever want to leave. Too bad I was determined to break free.
Casting my gaze to the wildflower meadow in the distance, I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Macavity!”
Beatrice lowered herself onto a wooden bench in the shade. “I’ll wait here while two go in search of him.”
“Do you need a glass of juice or water?” I asked.
She shook her head and smiled. “It was only the flu, and I’m better. You can stop looking at me like I’m an invalid.”
Kain and I shared a glance, but neither of us spoke. I gulped. Hadn’t the healers at least attempted to break the enchantment that made her oblivious to her condition?
I forced a smile. “We’ll be back soon.”
Kain and I bolted down the path of raised beds, passing arches of climbing grapes, beans growing on poles arranged in teepees, and a tiny orchard of miniature fruit trees. Neither of us spoke until we reached a line of apple trees with perfectly horizontal branches arranged to form a short fence.
“Did you get to speak to the healer?” I asked in a low voice.
He glanced over his shoulder toward the cottage. “I was there when Lazarus was demanding answers. Some enforcer woman came and did all kinds of tests on Beatrice. Whoever stole her youth can’t drain her from a distance anymore, and they went back to her apartment to collect forensic evidence.”
“I’m surprised they let her keep her memories.”
“Considering they failed to protect innocent humans from faerie predators, they should be doing more,” he muttered.
Kain was right. Supernaturals who made deals with others had to make sure the other party understood the bare bones of their contracts. Sure, there was room for double-dealing and legal trickery, but Beatrice hadn’t even known she’d been dealing with a fae. I was sure that Lazarus’ influence as a vampire prince helped in protecting Beatrice’s mind from the enforcers, too.
We jogged into the meadow and slowed. Many of the grasses and flowers were knee-high—plenty of space to hide a cat who didn’t want to be found.
“Macavity?” I said, my voice tight with impatience. “Show yourself.”
Kain strolled at my side. “Are you sure he wanted you to follow him?”
“That whiskered menace has trained me to obey his orders,” I muttered. “If I hadn’t gotten out of the armchair, he would have kept coming back until I did what he wanted.”
He gave me one of those side-eyed glances that implied I was a doormat. I shook my head. Kain was probably immune to the charm of cats. One glance at those huge eyes, perfect whiskers, and squishy paws, and I melted.
“There!” He pointed at a dark tail swirling at what appeared to be the edge of the ward.
My heart leaped, and I broke out into a run. Pollen rose from the flowers we disturbed, and the bees and dragonflies scattered as we charged toward the cat.
“Maybe Macavity is trying to show me the way out,” I said.
“Don’t you have a key?” Kain asked.
“No.” My steps faltered. “Do you?”
He stuck his hand down his shirt and extracted a mother of pearl pendant that shimmered with iridescent light. “This lets me in and out of the wards. Caiman gave one to Beatrice, too.”
I reached for it, only to get my fingers zapped. Flinching, I yanked my hand away. “Ouch.”
Kain stopped. “He’s locked you in.”
I dropped my gaze to a patch of poppies the color of freshly spilled blood. “He says it’s to stop Kresnik from attacking me.”
“If he’s that worried for your safety, why didn’t he give you a room in the palace?”
At the disapproval in Kain’s voice, I pressed my lips together, trying not to squirm at how Kain had to be seeing my relationship with Valentine. Technically, I was his prisoner, but it wouldn’t be for long. Besides I always wore Valentine down until he gave up on trying to keep me confined.
I could have refused outright to enter this pocket realm, clawed at Valentine last night or flared my fire, telling him and his guards to stand back. But where would that have gotten me? Rendered unconscious and thrown into a real prison instead of this comfortable alternative?
Worse. Valentine hadn’t yet made up his mind about me and any signs of violence would relegate me to the status of an enemy. Then I’d never get to convince him to absorb the nucleus in the soul star stone.
“It’s complicated,” I murmured. “But I have a plan to help him—”
“This isn’t right.” Kain placed his hands on my shoulders and stared down at me with sad aquamarine eyes. “When I met you, I thought you were crazy to keep rejecting Valentine when he was a king and you were…”
“A girl who worked in a shop?” I gave him a pat on the arm. “It’s okay to say.”
He shook his head. “Maybe you ran away from him for a reason. My dad used to—”
“Stop.” I grabbed his arm. “Valentine would never hurt me. It’s not the same.”
The young man scowled. “Isn’t it?”
“Valentine needs my help, and I’m just playing along for a chance to gain his trust.”
His features twisted with confusion. “That’s not how it looks to me.”
I leaned into his chest and wrapped my arms around his broad back. “You wait and see. Valentine will be a completely different man once I’ve worked my magic on him.”
“Indeed?” a deep voice asked.
Kain and I jumped apart, and I whirled around to meet Valentine’s indigo eyes. He stared down at me, his features pinched, and his entire
body turned away as though he was only in my presence through sheer force of will.
My stomach flipped, and I pressed a hand over my heart. “Where did you come from?”
Valentine’s gaze settled on Kain. “Leave us.”
Kain balled his fists. “What are you going to do to Mera?”
My heart sank into my roiling stomach, and I exhaled a weary breath. Kain had only just gotten a break from the machinations of Prince Draconius. The last thing I wanted was to create disharmony between him and his guardian, especially considering Valentine had no memory of having located Kain from his foster home.
I turned to the young man and placed a hand on his arm. “Why don’t you check on Beatrice and see if she wants a bit of lunch?”
He opened his mouth to protest, but I spoke first. “I’ll be fine.”
Kain folded his arms across his chest, remaining in place for several heartbeats as though making a point. Then he turned and headed toward the cottage, making sure to cast Valentine a filthy glare. Valentine met the young man’s eyes, watching him long after he was out of earshot and through the garden’s apple-tree fences.
“My charge is rather fond of you,” Valentine said, his voice expressionless.
“I think you brought us together because we have the Human World in common.” My brows drew together. “Did you miss my presence already?”
“The ward alerted me that you were trying to escape.”
I shook my head. “We only just got here.”
Valentine stepped toward me, his penetrating gaze skimming the edges of my mind. “Is that so?” His voice dripped with disbelief. “And what is this nefarious magic you intend to work on me?”
My entire body bristled at the question. I squared my shoulders and raised my chin, daring him to delve into my memory to check. “We followed Macavity here. If you want to know who was tampering with the wards, ask him.”
When I glanced around to get the cat to back me up with a nod and a meow, he was nowhere in sight.
Eyes narrowing, Valentine continued to loom over me like the ghost of disapproving vampires. “And the boy’s key just happened to fall into your hands.”
“You didn’t say I couldn’t touch it.” I backed away, only to hit the spongy edge of the ward. “What’s the point of asking me if you’ve already decided I was trying to escape?”
Valentine reached into the inside pocket of a gunmetal-blue jacket that looked like it once belonged to the Great Gatsby. “The forensic team who searched Miss Pala’s house brought me this cloak, saying its last user was you.”
I hissed through my teeth, falling back against the ward. “You’d better get rid of it.” I reached into the pocket and extracted Istabelle’s leather notebook, the firestone heart I took from Aurora’s room, and the mini scythe. “A bunch of unsavory characters, including Kresnik, used it to track my location.”
Valentine reared back, his nostrils flaring. Tiny red specks appeared within his irises. It looked like Kresnik could inspire emotion in Valentine, but not me. He took another step toward me, closing the distance until we were less than a foot apart.
Curling his lip, he pointed at the cloak. “Why do you have such an item in your possession?”
Valentine’s sandalwood and smoke scent filled my nostrils, and rapid heartbeats reverberated across my chest, making the tips of my fingers tremble.
I’d missed having him so close, and my instincts urged me to step forward and stand flush against his body. Now wasn’t the time. Not while he still looked at me with suspicion.
“You lent it to me a few weeks ago. The cloak protected you from sunlight when you were preternatural.”
His gaze lingered on my face before it slid down my neck, staying there for a few heartbeats, and settling on the item in my right hand. “And the scythe?”
I held it at arm’s length and pushed my magic into its handle, letting it expand to full size. Its blade curved toward the wildflowers, its edge alight with fire.
Valentine stepped back, his eyes wide. “Where did you learn to wield a reaper’s weapon?”
“I watched them destroy a group of zombies—I mean magicless preternaturals.”
“Did you use that blade against my uncle?” he asked.
I shook my head, my mind filling with an image of the Mage King on fire, making me drop my gaze to the flower bed. It was hard to be sorry that I’d killed the man who had tried to enslave Valentine, caused enough mayhem in his kingdom for New Mesopotamia to send their troubleshooter, and then handed Kresnik and Prince Draconius information on my whereabouts.
“You must have an angel somewhere in your ancestry,” he said.
I raised a shoulder. Aurora came from a long line of witches and wizards with the occasional human consort, but Father Jude seemed to be a mix of everything.
He leaned into me, his gaze sharpening. “Show me your phoenix.”
“Why?”
“Because I wish to see it.”
“I can’t just change. My clothes will burn.”
Valentine continued forward until his mouth was inches away from mine. “Then I insist you remove your clothes.”
Chapter Eighteen
A shocked breath whistled through my teeth, and I leaned my entire weight against the ward. Did Valentine really want me to take off my clothes or was this just a test of my personality?
His dark eyes bore into mine, with a hint of smoky magic. Everything about him looked the same—from the bronze skin with the coppery undertones, to the perfectly straight nose, full lips, and strong jaw—but there was no warmth in his gaze.
That wasn’t right. His newly risen corpse had been frightful, but even as he’d abducted me from Beatrice’s apartment and spirited me through the night, there had been a connection between us in the silence.
This Valentine was standoffish, aloof, and cold in a way that made him a stranger. I was certain from the very depth of my soul that he wouldn’t even have bothered keeping me confined if I wasn’t so important to his greatest enemy.
Bitterness coated the back of my throat, and I forced it down. Letting the empty shell of his soul hurt me was as futile as it was foolish, but it wasn’t like I could control my heart. I folded my arms across my chest. “Why do you want to see my phoenix?”
“Very few supernaturals are lucky enough to gaze at such a rare creature,” he said, his eyes searching my face.
He held a lock of my hair between his fingers, examining the depth of its color. Before I’d come into my power, it was a vibrant shade of Orphan Annie. Now, the color was a complex mix of orange and red flame.
I pulled my hair from his grip. “Is this pocket dimension your version of a petting zoo?”
“Fine words for someone who owes my Royal House a large sum of money.”
The words were like a splash of ice water in the face, causing my skin to tighten. “Fine words for someone who I risked my hide to resurrect.”
His lips tightened. Valentine had always been generous, even when he’d completely lost his soul. Now, he was just a miser.
Maybe I’d won the argument, but he was still my jailor and the man whose trust I needed to earn. That didn’t stop me from trying my luck. “Now that we’ve established that you’re the one who owes me the debt that can’t be repaid, you can hand over one of those mother-of-pearl keys.”
He shook his head. “You’re a vital component in this war against Kresnik. One that needs to be kept out of his hands.”
“That’s all?” I rasped, trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice. Of course he would see me just as a pawn. In his current state, I couldn’t expect anything less.
“Perhaps I would get to know you better if I saw your soul.”
My chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. Apparently, he was also manipulative. “Valentine.” I placed a trembling hand on his chest. “Why did you ask me to take off my clothes?”
“You insist we are engaged.” He took my left hand and ran the pad of his thumb ove
r the diamond ring.
“Don’t make fun of me.” I pulled out of his grip. Valentine had already looked at me funny for wearing a call stone. Never mind that he’d slipped it on my finger not explaining its function.
At the time, he wanted to protect me, and we’d both used the stone to reach each other over long distances, but the way he touched it now rankled. Beneath that gesture was the implication that he thought I was a scorned blood cow unknowingly aligned with Kresnik.
His gaze dropped to my neck. “And I’ve heard reports from numerous sources of your willingness to please.”
“You don’t believe we ever had a relationship,” I said.
His head tilted to the side in one of those subtle expressions that meant he agreed with my assessment. “That doesn’t change my desire to see you.”
“Why are you so suddenly curious about me?”
“I already explained.”
He did, but I still wasn’t satisfied with his answer. I made a shooing motion with my hand. “Turn around, then.”
He frowned. “What?”
“If you think I’d take off my clothes in front of a man who doesn’t love me, much less show me the respect of a fiancée, you don’t get to see me nude.”
Valentine stared at me for the longest time, the corners of his eyes creased with scrutiny. Just when I thought he’d say something disparaging, he inclined his head and turned toward the cottage.
The tension around my chest deflated, and I could finally exhale. Right then, I didn’t know if I felt disappointed or relieved he hadn’t been trying to make a move. My tongue darted out to lick my dry lips. “No looking over your shoulder.”
Valentine snorted.
My lips tightened. Did he have to be such a dick?
I toed off my sneakers, pulled off the rest of my clothes, and tossed them aside so as not to burn them by accident. A deep inhale later, I gathered the magic of my chakras and pushed it out to the ends of my meridians. Warmth filled my limbs
Shifting from flesh to fire was like flickering or turning into air, as I couldn’t feel the shortening or lengthening of my bones. The ground beneath my feet dried, filling the air with the mingled scent of herb and flower essences. I sucked in a warm breath through my nostrils and squawked at Valentine that I was ready.