Fury

by Elizabeth Cole

  “Of course.”

  I heard the door open and shut before Salem went on, “Tasha, the key to the catacombs is in the top drawer of my desk. Take Charon and see if there’s any mention in the ancient texts about an antidote.”

  “Salem, those scrolls…”

  “I know. Just do it.”

  There were mumbled ‘yes sirs’ and then the door opened and closed again. The room was quiet for so long I thought I was alone until the bed dipped and my hair was pushed back from my face.

  “Always barking orders.” I rasped, my throat feeling so dry I wondered how long it had been since I’d had anything to drink.

  The hand stilled before Salem said, “How long have you been awake?”

  “Long enough to hear you bite everyone’s heads off.” I said, my eyes flickering open.

  I blinked rapidly as they worked to adjust to the light in the room and then they zeroed in on him. His dark hair was a mess and when he ran a hand through it, I realized that was why. There were dark circles under his bloodshot eyes, several days’ worth of stubble on his jaw, but he still looked good.

  “How do you feel?”

  “Like I got hit by a truck. What happened?”

  “You don’t remember?”

  “I…” I tried to think back, but I couldn’t remember anything other than passing out on the stairs. “Joshua and Jane were with me. I fell, Joshua was trying to keep me awake.” I said, pushing myself up so I could lean against the headboard.

  “You did more than fall, Nyx. You were unconscious for a full day, the next your body got so hot I was the only one who could stand to touch you for more than a minute. The day before yesterday your body temperature dropped so fast your skin paled and your lips turned blue. Yesterday your temperature leveled out but you were barely breathing.”

  “I’ve been out of it for four days? What is this? Some kind of virus? The Underworld flu?”

  He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes and when he drew in a breath it trembled.

  “Nyx, Jane gave you a chocolate cluster. Do you remember?”

  No… I didn’t… oh. Yes. “She snuck it for me. It was good and I don’t even like nuts that much so it surprised me.”

  “They weren’t nuts, they were seeds…and they are the ones used in order to cross a mortal to the Underworld.”

  I blinked several times, not understanding why he looked so sullen.

  “You have a candy that would bring me here when I wanted? Why didn’t you send me with a box when I went back? It would have saved you a trip.”

  “The seeds aren’t given out to visitors, Nyx. They were the ones given to trick mortals into slavery here.”

  Slowly, my mind peeled layers back to the conversation we’d had last time I was here. He’d said they’d been brought over permanently.

  “They’re given out to people to…” Holy souls. “Salem, are you telling me I can’t go home?” My voice broke and the words seemed to fill the space around us. He was watching me carefully, trying to see how I was going to react. He reached forward, his hand settling on mine.

  “We’re trying to find a way.” He said, his eyes closing as he pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand. “There has to be something but we haven’t found it yet. Nyx,” he stopped and the way he said my name broke my heart. It was filled with pain. A turmoil that had been settling in him since he’d realized what Jane had given me. “I’m so sorry.”

  I felt the tears slide down my cheeks but the shock had numbed me to the point that I hadn’t realized I was crying until Salem’s eyes opened back and he reached up and wiped one cascading down my face. My body acknowledged it, but my mind did not.

  What had I done?

  My chest began to tighten as that question repeated over and over, breathing became harder to do. What was I going to do about Callie and Iris? Ms. Ivy and her girls? This was all my fault. I shouldn’t have asked to come back. I couldn’t live here. Visit, yes, but stay forever?

  They’d all be blamed. The Oracles would seek retribution for my disappearance. They’d be punished for my choice. This was my fault. Not Jane’s, not Salem’s. Mine. I’d done this.

  “Nyx?” Salem said, momentarily bringing me out of my mini panic attack.

  “No.” I shook my head as I pulled away from him. Scooting to the other side of the bed as I repeated myself. “No.”

  “Nyx.”

  “Don’t, Salem.”

  “I’ll find a way to undo this, Nyx. Whatever it takes to—”

  I couldn’t handle words of encouragement. Not right now.

  My choice had led me to this. My choice and my stupidity. Because yes, I’d wanted more time in this world but he was part of that. As much as everyone else meant something to me, he had come to mean just as much. I respected him. I liked him. I had wanted more time with him.

  He was stubborn, too serious, bad tempered and had no qualms about pissing me off, and in spite of all of that, I had still developed feelings. Salem made me smile. Salem tried not to smile when I teased him. Salem was sweet and thoughtful and I liked him. Liked him enough to demand he bring me back. Liked him enough to put up with the moody broody bull he showboated around the manor.

  Stupid me. Stupid choice. Stupid consequence.

  “I need to shower.” This was true, but I also needed some space and some time to think this through.

  He didn’t speak for long enough I almost looked up at him, but before I could, he said, “I’ll leave you to it.”

  I slipped out of bed and walked straight to the bathroom, shutting the door before I stripped off my clothes and climbed into the shower.

  I was stuck here. I needed options. I needed a way to keep Callie, Iris and Ms. Ivy safe. Ideas ping ponged back and forth in my mind, each one as pitiful as the last, and by the time the water ran cold I wasn’t any closer to figuring it out.

  Chapter 12

  Fitz slithered over to me when the morning rays began to peek through the window and I sighed, “I really messed up, Fitz.”

  His tongue flicked in and out and he set his head on my hand and looked at me.

  “You know, you’d be a much better companion if you could talk. Tell me to stop berating myself. Stop feeling sorry for myself. You could explain to me it wasn’t going to do any good and even though this wasn’t the outcome I wanted, I can’t sit and mope around.”

  His tongue flicked out again and his tail wrapped around the wrist he was half lying on and he gave me a gentle squeeze.

  I sighed, “What if they get hurt, Fitz? Callie and Iris? What if I just signed their death warrant?”

  He squeezed my wrist again and looked at me with what I could have sworn was sympathy.

  Aside from someone I’d never seen before bringing me a tray of food Fitz and I devoured in minutes, nobody came to see me. I knew I was delaying the inevitable. Jane had been wrong to do this without asking, but the truth was, I wasn’t mad at anyone but myself. Salem said they were looking for a way to fix this and I could sit here and pout, or I could help them.

  When the sun had brightened to midday, I got up, got dressed and went in search of Salem.

  I checked his room first, then his study, then the library and was about to make the rounds again when I passed by a door I hadn’t seen before. It wasn’t like the others. It looked medieval and out of place.

  I pushed it open a little further and saw Salem pacing in a barely lit room, if you could call it that. It was so small it was more like a closet. The walls were comprised of nothing but bookshelves and there was just enough space for Salem to take three steps before having to turn back around. He was scanning a book which looked too old for me to be comfortable handling without gloves to preserve the pages and was completely oblivious to my presence.

  “Salem?”

  His head shot up and he blinked several times before he shut the book and pushed it back onto the shelf in the wall.

  “You should be in bed.”

  I stepped
inside, shutting the door behind me and shrugging, “I came to apologize for wallowing yesterday.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “That’s my line.” I joked, but he didn’t look like he was in the mood for teasing. He looked angry. His lips were set into a hard line and there was a crease between his brows. “Are you upset with me?”

  “No.”

  “Liar. I feel as if I achieved some serious soul searching and you’re mad at me?”

  “Nice choice of words, Nyx.”

  I shot him a grin and said, “I thought so.”

  Salem tucked his hands into the front pockets of his slacks and looked at me, his face going passive as he did. “I’m not mad at you. I’m angry with the situation.”

  “Look,” I started, feeling the need to explain my decisions. “In a way, I asked for this and—”

  “Don’t do that, Nyx. You asked to visit. Not stay forever.”

  “I’m not saying what Jane did was right, but—”

  “Would you stop? Just stop. There are no buts. There are no excuses for this.”

  “I’m not making any. I’m trying to say sorry for snapping at you yesterday. You said you were looking for a way to fix this and I came to see if I could help.”

  “You can’t.”

  “Why? Because you’re mad at me?”

  “I’m not mad at you.”

  “Liar.” I said again.

  His jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything and I stared, trying to will the truth out of him with no such luck.

  “Fine,” I huffed, shaking my head and turning back towards the door

  He moved fast, slipping himself between me and the door and putting his hand on the doorknob.

  “Where are you going?”

  I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow, “You care?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you could start to feel trapped and might try to run. You know the way home.”

  “I do, but I’m not leaving the Underworld. I’m not even leaving the house. I’m going to get something to eat before my stomach starts eating my intestines.”

  “I’ll take you.”

  “Not unless you tell me why you’re mad at me. I’m not going to sit and eat with you while you glare at me from across the table.”

  “I’m not mad at you.”

  “Liar.”

  “Stop calling me that.”

  “Stop doing it!”

  “You are so frustrating.”

  Pot meet kettle. “Go back to your books, Salem.”

  I put my hand on his and turned the knob. He let me pull the door open and walk out but he followed.

  “You’re not following me to the kitchen.”

  “I am.”

  “Fine, then I’ll go back to my room and starve.”

  “I’ll have something brought up.”

  “This is ridiculous.” I snapped, spinning around to look at him. “Next time I try to overcome my circumstances, remind me of this moment and I will just wallow in self-pity.”

  “You’re not the wallowing sort.”

  I let out a frustrated, “Ugh,” and then spun on my heel. I’d go back to my room, lock my door and go wallow just to prove him wrong.

  He had other ideas.

  His hand wrapped around my wrist and he pulled me back towards him and throwing off my balance, causing my chest to crash into his. He didn’t seem to care, since he then secured me in front of him by taking hold of my biceps.

  “I’m not mad at you, Nyx, I’m mad at myself.” He said again, stopping the curse I’d been prepared to lob at him. “Jane stole the cluster from my study. She knew where I kept them and after my refusals to give one to you, she knew she’d have to sneak it to you. I’m just as much to blame as she is for you being stuck here.”

  I saw it then. There was pain in his eyes, in the way he held his jaw ticked up slightly, using stubbornness to allow himself to do something productive instead of punching a hole into a wall.

  “I forced you to bring me back. I made you promise.”

  “You didn’t make me do anything. I gave you my word because I wanted you back here. Because the thought of you not coming back was unimaginable.”

  My stomach flip flopped at his words. I’d assumed that he’d agreed to bring me back because he’d felt like he’d owed me, not because he’d wanted me to come back. To hear otherwise hit me in a nice way and my earlier frustrations went from simmering to nonexistent.

  “And now,” he continued, “my selfishness has taken away your freedom.”

  I shook my head, understanding why he would see it like that, but not agreeing with it. “Salem, if you aren’t going to let me take part of the blame, I’m not going to let you take part of it either.”

  “Nyx—”

  “I wanted to see you again.” I blurted, cutting him off and averting my eyes to a safer place than his face. My gaze settled on the rolled cuff of his sleeve as the words began to pour out. “I wanted to see everyone, but especially you, I had to see you again. So, if you were being selfish what does that make me? And now, because of my choice, I’ve put my sisters and Ms. Ivy in danger.”

  He stayed quiet long enough I wouldn’t have been surprised if Medusa had rounded the corner and turned him to stone. There was no way he’d wanted me to come back for the same reasons I’d just admitted to. I didn’t have Briella’s looks. I wasn’t as smart as Tasha or as sweet as Jane and I couldn’t give him anything that he didn’t already have, except for honesty.

  So, when he tried to get me to look at him by tipping up my chin with one of his hands, I squeezed my eyes shut. If I wasn’t looking at him, I could pretend I had courage enough to say the last bit.

  “I like you, Salem. Enough to play chance with the lives of everyone I care about.”

  His body went rigid, either hand tightening on my chin and arm and I think he stopped breathing for a second. But I knew without a doubt that I had messed up. It was too much. Too honest. I didn’t need him feeling guilty about my being trapped here on top of unrequited feelings on his part.

  “Nyx.” He said my name with so much reverence and I knew what was coming.

  Rejection.

  I must be a glutton for punishment because I opened my eyes. They connected with his and neither of us moved. We were pressed up against each other. I could feel his heart beating steadily in his chest and hoped he couldn’t feel my erratic one.

  His eyes darted down to my lips and then back up and curiously he seemed to move closer, ceiling off the last bit of space that had still separated us. His hand on my arm slid around to my back and his thumb moved up, grazing my lower lip.

  A throat cleared and I spun around to see Tasha, Joshua and Charon.

  “We found something, sir.” Charon said, dropping his gaze to his feet.

  Tasha and Joshua both looked like they were fighting smiles when I tried to distance myself and met resistance from Salem.

  I looked back at him and muttered, “I’m going to go get something to eat.”

  He leaned down to my ear and said, “We’re finishing this conversation.”

  I wanted to argue, but I wanted him to release me more, so I nodded and he let me go.

  “Tasha, go with her.” Salem said, as I was passing the three of them.

  Tasha grabbed my arm and with more enthusiasm than was necessary called over her shoulder, “Heck yeah.”

  Once we were far enough away from the men she asked, “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “More than fine from the look of it.”

  The implication in her voice was clear and I narrowed my eyes. “We were just…talking.”

  She burst out laughing at my lame explanation.

  “If Charon hadn’t cleared his throat we would have seen way more than you two just talking.”

  “How long were you three standing there?”

  “Not long enough. What were you two talking about. It mu
st have been important if it required the close proximity.”

  “I thought he was mad at me and he was explaining he wasn’t.” I said, going for nonchalance. “What did you guys find out?”

  “Nice subject change.”

  “Tasha.”

  “Fine.” She muttered, “I don’t know what Charon found but he didn’t look happy about it and he didn’t explain.”

  “Sounds foreboding.”

  “Or it’s just Charon being Charon. He doesn’t like magic.”

  After eating and putting up with pointed comments and questions about Salem and me from Tasha, we headed back upstairs. The door to Salem’s study was open and voices carried into the hall.

  “This is a mistake, Salem.” Charon said.

  Salem’s voice was soft, but firm when he said, “One I’ll make for her.”