by Rory Miles
“You couldn’t stop it? The power was yours.”
She grimaced. “It was mine at the beginning, but the deep magic became its own master the longer it thrived, learning from each person who used it.”
“So, you screwed up.” I crossed my arms, trying to pretend the divine being didn’t intimidate me. Especially when I kept throwing my anger in her face.
Her hand came to rest on my arm. A zing of warmth filled me.
“I screwed up.” She gazed into my eyes, searching for something, perhaps forgiveness?
I turned my head away, hating that she admitted to it. My anger dwindled the more she showed her remorse.
“They deserved more.”
She squeezed my arm. “So much more.”
I sniffed, wiping my nose on the back of my hand. “What now? Daman ripped apart the fabric of our world.”
Her eyes connected with something over my head. When I glanced over my shoulder, I gasped, taking a step back when I saw the creature standing in front of one of the gates.
“What the fuck is that.”
The goddess walked around the being, looking it up and down with fascination, craning her neck to see the crown of vines and leaves on top of luminous auburn hair.
A garbled mess of sounds spilled from the mouth of the strange-looking . . . person? With pointed ears, gleaming eyes, and sharp teeth, calling it a person was a stretch. A long, luxurious dark brown cape, held together by a brooch in the shape of a leaf, covered fine brown pants and a soft, cream-colored shirt. The man was more divine-looking than the goddess herself.
How was that possible?
The goddess flicked her hand, white magic flaring to life and encasing the man’s head. He shied away from it, but didn’t look afraid of the power. This time when he spoke, I understood his words.
“Who are you?”
When I locked eyes with the goddess, her surprise mirroring my own, I knew whatever Daman had done changed more than I had thought possible.
The gate next to the man shimmered, and a young girl holding a teddy bear blinked at us in surprise, tears filling her eyes. She spoke a different language as well. The goddess flicked her hand again, and the girl’s words switched to our tongue.
“Mama? I want my mama.” Her eyes widened when the other gate spat out a monstrous-looking beast. An ear-splitting scream left her mouth.
Horns jutted from the black, leathery skin covering the newest addition. Smoke curled from his snout-like nose. His hand raised toward the girl, fire—literal fire—erupting from his fingertips. In a flash of white, the goddess gripped the monster’s wrist.
“NO.” Her voice, packed with power, slammed into him. He doubled over, red eyes darkening. His answering smirk, a lethal, frightening display of teeth, didn’t bother her. With a shove of magic, she pushed him back through the gate he’d come through.
“Shit,” I said, raising my brow at the strange man. “Talk about fucked.”
His face scrunched in confusion.
Ah. Right. He didn’t understand.
I made a weird face, hoping he’d get it. His head dipped in acknowledgment and he grunted out a word in his foreign tongue.
“Hey, a little help?” I called to the goddess, tipping my head toward the man.
She turned, face lined with worry. Without making eye contact, she flicked magic at the man. He didn’t flinch this time when it hit him. Then her hand pointed at me; I let out a cry when the magic hit me. I hadn’t been hit directly with magic in a while, Lumi always protected me from it. Her troubled eyes swept over my chest. I reached up to touch Lumi, but the stone wasn’t there. The chain around my neck was empty.
“Your sapphire did her job, protecting you from the magic your friends threw at you. When you unleashed the collective power, along with the emotions driving the magic, the stone shattered.”
A wave of sadness rushed over me, my eyes tearing up. Lumi may have been an inanimate object, but we had history. She’d become a part of who I was.
“Magic?”
I turned toward the man, flipping my thumb toward the goddess.
“Magic. The white power she used on us so we could communicate.”
He nodded. “You mean essence. We have similar abilities in Faerie.”
The little girl whimpered, cringing when all three of us whipped our heads around to look at her. Her pajama pants were wet with her fear. She cried out when the goddess’s magic hit her, more from the tingling feel of it than from pain. She began to blink slowly, eyes growing heavy with the sleep spell. When she curled onto the floor, not caring about her soiled pajamas, the goddess turned to the man and me.
“You’re from Faerie?” she asked. The word rolled over her tongue, like she’d spoke the name of his world before.
He nodded.
“She is a kind sister. My name is Sahira.”
He dipped into a polite bow. “I am Vukan, Lord of Fire.”
The crease between my brows hurt my face.
What exactly was going on?
Who or what the hell was Faerie?
The man looked at me expectantly. I brushed my hair away from my face, straightening my shoulders and thrusting my hand out.
“I’m Winter, Queen of Men.”
The goddess gave me a bored look. “She is queen of nothing; my child uses humor to deflect her insecurities and pain.”
I scoffed, giving her a what the hell look. The man pursed his lips, making a hmm sound. I cut my eyes to him in a look that I hoped read I’ll stab you before turning my scathing gaze to my creator.
“What is this place? What are we going to do about the little girl and what the fuck was that thing you just banished?”
I felt look of disapproval the Lord of Fire gave me. Naturally, I ignored him.
Sahira’s shoulders slumped. “This is a place that was never meant to be, a crossroads between worlds that should have been kept separate. The demon I banished is one of my brother’s twisted creations. A perversion of our abilities. I will take the girl home.”
“She has no magic,” I pointed out.
The goddess smiled at the sleeping child. “My sister Gaia made gentle beings on Earth. Their minds cannot access her power.”
“Yeah,” I dragged out the word, “about that. You have siblings? Like, a divine family?”
She laughed, a magical and pleasing sound. Mr. Lord of Fire gazed affectionately at the goddess, though I couldn’t blame him. She was perfect.
“Something like that, Ivory.” She fixed me with a serious look, one that made my legs tremble. “You must protect our world. These gates are dangerous, especially considering my brother’s vile creatures.” She glanced at the lord. She named the worlds, gesturing to each gate, “Faerie, Earth, Magusai, and Avernus were never meant to intersect. My brother’s world, Avernus, is not a kind world.”
Magusai. The given name of my world bounced around my mind. The fact that my world had a name baffled me. Not to mention that three other worlds existed somehow and Daman’s ambition had created this crossroads, as the goddess called it.
“Return to your people,” she said to us both. “I will take the girl home and speak with my sisters. It is only a matter of time before my brother learns of this, if he hasn’t already. Winter.” She squeezed my shoulder. A flood of euphoria ran through my body, my blood singing with a magic I hadn’t felt for many years.
When I gasped in realization she smiled. “You will need your magic to protect Magusai. Take care of my people.”
The goddess picked up the child and hopped through the gate that led to what I presumed was Earth. The lord and I shared a mutual look of confusion.
“Well, Lord of Fire, it’s been real. Real weird. Hopefully we’ll never meet again.”
He frowned. “Your manners are horrendous.”
“Right backatcha,” I said with a wink and stepped through the gate to Magusai.
Epilogue
A few weeks later.
“No you don’
t, slimy little fucker.” Magic zinged through my body, whooshing from my outstretched hand and flinging the demon back to Avernus with a spell that would keep him from returning for at least a few months. So far, that’s all we’d been able to do. Sahira, my goddess, had a brother determined to poison Magusai, Faerie, and Earth with his creations.
Flynn quirked a brow at me, unimpressed by my demon ass-kicking.
“I’m getting bored of fighting off these demons,” he said, sighing and crossing his arms over his chest. He leaned against a magical wall within the crossroads.
“Until the goddess comes up with a permanent solution, you’ll have to suck it up.”
He grunted, annoyed by the reminder that the goddess herself requested we protect the crossroads along with a select few Fae and Earthlings. After gaining back my magic, I volunteered as much as I could. I had a lot of skills to perfect with my power, especially since the goddess had added a little bit of her own to mine.
“I should have stayed on vacation.”
“Well, you didn’t, so stop complaining. You’re not much fun when you’re whiny.”
He narrowed his eyes at me.
“I’m just speaking truth. Besides, if you hadn’t come back you wouldn’t have seen Ezme.”
“That’s true,” he conceded. “Orv’s doing okay with the business?”
“Do you even have to ask? He’s a hardass; I’m worried Red won’t want to help him if he keeps it up.”
Since I’d been divinely assigned as guardian, I’d given Orval control of Forest City Bounty Hunters. He’d needed something to do. After burying Dawn, the man had been lost. With a little cajoling from Red, we got him up to speed on the business and he accepted control of the company. Given Orv’s reputation, King Marchand didn’t mind the change in management.
“He’s not so bad.” Flynn laughed at the look I gave him. “Okay, he might be kind of tough, but he is good at what he does.”
“I know he is.” I pitied the bounty hunter who screwed up and let a mark get away. Even I wouldn’t want to report back to Orval.
When the two fire fae—or whatever they were actually called—stepped through their gate, Flynn flinched. Just barely. Passing up on the opportunity to tease him, I smiled at the familiar faces. The first few times we had switched shifts, I’d used the translation magic to try and make polite conversations. Now, Flynn and I waved before stepping back into the torch-lit cave and Magusai. The difference between our worlds was enough to make conversing uncomfortable and forced. While we shared a common goal, keep the demons at bay, I’d learned we’d never understand one another.
We passed the short line of people waiting to talk to Noah about leaving Magusai. Apparently giving her people free will meant the goddess wouldn’t intervene if they chose to leave Magusai. A few dozen people had petitioned to leave, wanting to explore Earth or Faerie at their own risk. With no divine intervention stopping them, the best we could do was monitor who wanted to leave and prevent any dangerous criminals from escaping into the new worlds.
Kace waited for us by the tunnel.
“I still can’t believe they want to leave,” Kace said, gesturing to the queue of people.
“Neither can I, but you’ve seen the two Earthlings venture into Faerie.” I shrugged. “Sometimes the best way to escape your past is to start over.”
Flynn started toward the exit. Kace and I followed behind him, walking side-by-side through the tunnel that led out of the cave.
He nudged my arm with his elbow. “Are you planning on leaving us anytime soon?”
My mouth curled up. Ever since we defeated Daman, the men had been subtly trying to find out if I was going to leave.
“How could I leave you now that we’re best friends?”
I didn’t miss the glare he shot my way.
“No, Kace. I’m not leaving and you can tell everyone else I said as much. Again.”
He chuckled. “You should be flattered we like you enough to want you to stick around.”
My nose wrinkled. “Correction. You should be flattered I like you enough to stay.”
“Cocky much?” he quipped, laughing as he said it.
“Always.” I winked at him, stepping out of the tunnel and staring at the portal that led back to Forest City.
“I’m supposed to meet up with Ezme tonight so I’ll see you next week.” Flynn gave me a brief hug and fist-bumped Kace. “Tell Sloan I said hi the next time you go see him.”
“I will,” I said. We’d go see Sloan in a few days. The doctors had ordered us to stay away so he could finish recovering in peace. I guessed having seven people in the small room wasn’t conducive to healing.
We waited for him to step through the portal.
Kace rubbed his stomach. “I hope Amree made some more cookies.”
“Goddess knows you don’t need any more,” I muttered before walking into the portal. My stomach rumbled as I waited for the portal to finish checking me out. Amree had taken to baking as a way to deal with . . . everything. The girl was broken in so many ways. Sammie from the muffin shop had helped me gather the best supplies and even offered to let Amree sell her cookies at the bakery.
When the magic released me, Flynn had already disappeared into the trees.
Kace popped out a second after me and I ducked, avoiding the harmless silencing spell he shot at me.
“Are you calling me fat?” The way his face reddened reminded me of a plump little tomato. Kace, taking my silence and smirk as confirmation, shot another spell at me, this one meant to trip me.
“When did you get so sensitive?”
He scoffed, ignoring the question, and stormed toward the cottage.
“No woman will want you when you act like such a baby!” I called after him, laughing when he flipped me off. “Love you too!”
The leaves had fallen off the trees. The forest had always brought me a sense of relief, but now the spindly branches reaching for the skies reminded me of the demons from Avernus. The horns on their heads or their fingers gnarled and twisted like the empty trees. A cool breeze had me quickening my step, rushing to get out of the cold. Winter would be here soon, and despite sharing the same name, I despised the cold.
When I reached the cottage, Corban stood waiting for me, ice-blue eyes tracking each step I took and sending shivers down my spine. I stepped up to him, a sultry smile pulling at my lips.
“Hey,” I said, brushing my hand over his arm.
He smiled back, gaze dropping to my lips for a mere second before making a slow descent down the rest of my body. When his eyes met mine again, they’d darkened a shade or two, now a stormy blue I knew meant wonderful things waited for me.
“Welcome home,” he said before tugging my hips against his and smashing his lips with mine. His mouth devoured me, pausing to nip at my neck before kissing his way back up to greet my lips. Right on cue, my body melted against his, core tightening and begging for friction which he gladly supplied, running his hand between our bodies.
“You and I have some unfinished business,” he said when he paused to catch his breath. He tugged me inside the house, making a beeline for our bedroom. I couldn’t fight the girlish giggle that escaped me. If this was my new normal, my new home, I was more than okay with it.
“Erik. Seriously, no more dancing. My feet hurt!”
His lip jutted out in a mock pout. I ran my hand through his disheveled hair, only messing it up more. We’d been dancing on and off all night, the wine we’d drank making me more amiable and accepting of Erik’s desire to dance. Honestly, I would do just about anything to see that smile he was giving me. The way his cheeks plumped when his lips pulled back, the child-like joy shining in his eyes, made my heart swell.
His arm draped over my chair which was pushed up against his. He threaded his fingers through the hair at the nape of my neck, tugging on it slightly.
“Are you ready for part two of the date then?” His voice had grown husky. My eyes widened in anticipation.
>
“Yes,” I said quickly, making him laugh.
He stood, pulling me up with him and began to wind his way through the tables. I followed without question, mind racing with dirty thoughts. You’d think having four men taking care of my every need would slow my ovaries down, but you’d be wrong. My baby makers were on overdrive, priming me whenever one of the men shot me a suggestive look.
When we arrived at an inn I’d spent way too much time at, the girl at the front desk shot me a disbelieving look.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered, handing Erik a key to a room and letting her gaze linger on his sculpted arms and the way his pants hugged his strong legs and perky ass. “It’s not fair,” she whined under her breath as we walked away.
We made it to the room before we burst into laughter, me throwing my head back and clutching my stomach.
“I guess I’m not the first one you’ve shared a room with here.”
I waggled my eyebrows at him. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
I squealed when he picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist and lacing my fingers together behind his neck. We fell onto the bed tangled with one another.
“Let’s see if I can make you forget the last time you were here.”
In a matter of seconds our clothes were on the floor. A heartbeat later, our mouths collided. A half-breath later, his fingers dipped inside of me, making me moan and wriggle against him. He held my hips steady as his thumb swirled over my peak. When I came close to shattering his hand pulled away. Before I could protest, his tongue swept over the bundle of nerves at my apex and my mind went blank. His name, the only thing I could remember at the moment, tumbled from my lips in a moan of satisfaction.
Erik kept to his word, making me forget everyone but him, and for fuck’s sake I loved every goddess-blessed minute of it. My body quivered and my back arched; my orgasm took me with enough force to leave my fingertips tingling.
I could get used to this.