Veil of Thorns

by Gwen Mitchell

  Now he is your deepest, darkest secret.

  She had no idea what to do with him.

  As if he read her thoughts, his mouth twitched with the hint of a smile as she approached. She uncapped and chugged a bottle of Gatorade. Though she felt amazing–even better than she had after their first full moon together–she was still dehydrated and ravenous. How was that fair?

  “I have a gift for you.” Lucas conjured his smaller Khaos blade to the table in front of her.

  Bri cocked one eyebrow. “A memento?”

  “A precaution.”

  “Oh. Thanks,” she quipped. “I didn’t get you anything.”

  He chuckled and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. “You gave me the greatest gift imaginable.”

  She was thankful for the shades, because picturing the look in his eyes as he said that made her heart thump like a kettledrum. “You know that er…mirror you hid for me? Can I have it back now?”

  It appeared in front of her beside the blade, still wrapped in her rumpled shirt.

  “So that’s what it is,” Lucas said with interest. “Did you steal it?”

  She shook her head as she stuffed her mouth with frosted, fruit-filled, sugary goodness. Strawberry–her favorite–of course. “It was Vivianne’s.”

  A crease appeared between his brows above the bridge of his shades. “How long have you had it?”

  “Since the day we met, when I got my family vault.”

  Lucas silently pursed his lips, and she wondered how he remembered that day. Was it a happy memory? Or one filled with anguish because she had turned her back on him?

  Bri unfolded the wrapping and peeked at the edge of the mirror. It pulsed a glow and gave a small vibration, as if saying hello. With a few words, she vanished the blade and the mirror safely to her own spelled hiding place, where she could conjure them back with a thought. No password necessary. It wasn’t the same spell Aunt Geri had taught her, or Lucas’s demon caching ability, but some magic she’d absorbed as she drifted through layers of sleep and dream after the ritual.

  She had come apart in Lucas’s arms, burst into fragments of light, until she was both infinite and insubstantial. After, her spirit had slowly stitched itself back together, floating above her body in an astral state for hours that felt like eons.

  She’d sensed each tendril of her existence and finally understood: souls are not homogenous, singular beings. They are tapestries made of a million glowing filaments, each strand with its own history and ties to others in an infinite web of ether. Every life she had lived had left a thread of magic woven into her fate, and each of them carried an engrained knowledge of spellwork that was written onto her soul as sure as her genetic history was programmed into her DNA. Bri had lived dozens of lives, and now she could decipher the individual strands of her power and pluck them to make music.

  She couldn’t remember all the details of every life she had lived–thank goodness–and still didn’t have the natural gifts of a Ward or Summoner in this incarnation, but she had accumulated knowledge of every aspect of the Threefold Path. She knew hundreds of spells that could control weather, wield elements, and set or break wards.

  And her Oracle powers had cracked wide open. Like a geode split in half, every tiny aspect of her power was a facet she could turn in the light and reflect back something different.

  She’d been afraid that she would drown in the fathomless well of power inside her. When the magic crested and broke over her like a giant wave, she’d realized it was just the opposite. She was completely free there.

  That dark pit at her center was a blank canvas where she could bend reality to her will. Step into the past, gaze into the future, any future–for there are limitless possible futures. She could conjure dreams, project visions, reach through the ether to the echoes of spirits long passed. All those facets of possibilities could turn and turn, and she could see them all at once, or focus on the intricacies of one. All in the space of a thought.

  It was so much power, her mind could barely comprehend how to use it. It made sense that her instinct before she had the magical knowledge to decipher so much information had been to stuff it down.

  Her other fear had been that the bond with Lucas would swallow up who she was and force her to become Vivianne. Now she understood he was actually binding her to who she was. He was her tether to the waking world, to this body. He was the force of gravity that held all her disparate strands together.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked, jolting Bri from her thoughts.

  She had to be careful not to get all flighty now that she was full-blown Oracle. It would be easy to get lost between one thought or memory and the next, with an infinite universe of possibilities to explore between heartbeats, and no sense of time in the ether.

  “Hot.” She shaded her eyes and gazed up at the cloudless sky. “We should get going.”

  She wasn’t eager to find out what Vika had planned next, but finally felt as if her destiny was in her own hands. She no longer had to wait for things to happen. She could know what would happen, and make the happenings appear to come at her call. She would have the upper hand now, if she played her cards right.

  “We’ll have to wait to be retrieved. I’ve tested the Wards and I cannot break them.”

  Bri gazed through her Second Sight at the shields of spellwork serving as their cage. What had once looked like an oily rainbow of colors to her untrained eye, she now saw as an intricate scrollwork of magic sigils. She finished her last bite of Pop Tart and walked over to the shimmering wall, waving her hand across the surface. Several protection, aversion, and concealment spells were knitted into the natural energy of the prism. An intricate puzzle, locking them in.

  “It’s a test.” One woven by a Skydancer, for a Skydancer.

  “Can you–”

  With one touch and a yank of power at the right knot, the wards sizzled to ash around them. The buzz and chirp of the forest flooded into the clearing, and a cool, damp breeze swept through, brushing the ashes away.

  Lucas whistled, and Bri gave him knowing smirk–he hadn’t seen anything yet.

  “It’s a whole new game now, isn’t it, my love?”

  Her heart skipped a beat at how easily the endearment rolled off his tongue, but she tempered her hectic emotions and shrugged. Not a new game, but there was a new queen on the board. “She’ll see me as a rival now.”

  He closed the space between them and braced her shoulders. “Good. Let her challenge us. We are stronger. If she starts a fight, we will finish it.”

  Bri shivered, unsure if it was from the thrill of the idea or the husky tone in Lucas’s voice.

  “I cannot wait to get you away from this place.” His hands slid to her neck as he stepped closer.

  She frowned at her reflection in his dark glasses. “We can’t finish anything until I have the book.”

  Her power was not without limits. She could see into Kean’s plane, even reach into it for a short time with her Oracle gifts or travel there with Lucas to ground her. The ritual and song she’d invented had merely been a means to focus abilities she already possessed. Those same abilities allowed her to catch a glimpse of the final moments of those cursed with Vika’s soul-rending spell.

  Now that she knew how to wield her gifts, she could pluck those memories out of the ether like a video recording waiting for her to press play. She could project herself to Kean right now. But reaching across the divide temporarily was not the same as dragging his soul back onto this plane and binding it to his corporeal body. She had to break the demon’s curse for that, or else circumvent it. Either way, that was not knowledge she possessed.

  She still needed the divan.

  You should have it anyway.

  It would be safer in her keeping.

  Lucas sighed, and when he spoke, the only thing remarkable about his tone was the complete lack of it. “Do you have a plan to obtain it?”

  “Sort of.” She could use the mirror to scry for the b
ook. She was confident in her ability to control the mirror’s power now, and it would see through any concealment spells protecting the divan’s location. But first, “I know it’s unconventional, but I was going to try asking her for it.”

  He snorted. “She will ask for something in return.”

  “I’m counting on that.” Nothing happened in the White Wood that Vika did not wish to happen. She wanted Bri at full strength for some reason. She was no longer defenseless, no longer at Vika’s mercy, and she had real magic to bargain with. And she could defend herself.

  Still, she was buzzing with nerves, not sure what to expect when they reached the palace. Perhaps she should scry first…

  Lucas pulled her to a stop and lifted his glasses, calm grey eyes searching hers. “Things have changed.”

  “Trust me, I know that.” She wasn’t a clueless novice anymore, for starters. Lucas had never seen her in her element–when she had control of the keys and the stage and commanded the audience’s very breath with her fingertips. Bri had been slightly jealous when he spoke of Vivianne’s magical talents. She was always the head of the class, the over-achiever, and she had been self-conscious of what a pitiful comparison she made to his long lost love. Now she was eager for him to see what a formidable force she was all on her own.

  She was eager to see for herself.

  “I mean things have changed for me. When I told you there was no turning back, I didn’t mean the ritual.” He laced their fingers together and stared down at her, a self-conscious ruffle to his brow. “Have things not changed for you as well?”

  “I’m sorry.” She steeled her voice against the quiver of emotion that wanted to rise up. “I have one priority right now, and that’s to get the book and get us out of here alive. Yes, things have changed. So much that I know I will need time to sort things out before I can answer the question you’re really asking.”

  A shadow passed over his face. “What question is that?”

  The one that had been simmering in the air between them since the moment he’d risen over her this morning. Since they’d made passionate, desperate love while staring into each other’s eyes. Because she couldn’t deny that was what it had been. It wasn’t just for pleasure or magic–it had been based purely on feeling. And when he said he loved her–called her by name as he plunged over that ledge–she’d felt no shame, only a surge of deep satisfaction that still made her toes curl.

  But the question had hung there ever since. Do you love me too?

  Bri knew it wasn’t a hard no anymore, but she didn’t have the mental real estate to even unpack that question right now. She had a crazy enchantress and a demon curse on the agenda, then hopefully a resurrected boyfriend to deal with. Which moved demon Familiar relationship status to at least number four on her list.

  She pulled her hand away. “The question that every guy is thinking after the first time he gets lucky–if it’s going to happen again.”

  “Ah.” Lucas gave her a wolfish grin and a look that lit a fire in her cheeks. “I don’t have any doubt about that.”

  She snorted and stalked off. “Of course you wouldn’t.”

  “I understand that you will need time to come to terms with everything,” he said, moving a branch out of her way. “That I can give you. Please forgive my impatience. I have been waiting for so long. I had given up hope, and now…”

  She paused and gazed up at him. “Now?”

  He rubbed the back of his head–his nervous habit, she remembered, and had to stop herself from smiling. “You said you would not regret last night.”

  “I don’t,” she answered automatically.

  His gaze kept bouncing from her eyes to her lips. “And this morning? Do you regret that?”

  Bri swallowed hard as the images assaulted her again.

  No, she spoke in his head. She couldn’t say it out loud. That would make it too real.

  Lucas opened his mouth, and froze, eyes narrowing at the shadows of the canopy. “This is a private conversation, Wraith.”

  Ryder appeared in a cloud of black smoke beside them. “A lover’s quarrel already? What has it been, ten whole minutes since you tossed her a bone, Moncrieffe? There’ll be no living with him now, Bri. Even more territorial than before, I’d wager.”

  They both gave him identical withering looks, and Ryder changed tacks, his black eyes sparkling as he stared at Bri, smacking his lips. “Well, hello.”

  A low growl rumbled through Lucas’s chest.

  “Power suits you, Briana. You look absolutely delectable.” Ryder smirked. “Don’t worry wolf, I can only look, thanks to you.”

  Lucas pinched the bridge of his nose. “What do you want?”

  “It’s not what I want,” Ryder said, swirling into black smoke and reappearing behind Bri. “You’re keeping her majesty waiting. She hates waiting. And I hate listening to her complain.”

  Lucas wrapped his arm around Bri, shielding her from Ryder. “She’s not going anywhere without me.”

  “I know, I know.” Ryder waived him off, looking Bri up and down. “Might want a bit of glamour, love. She’s expecting…well, not this.”

  Bri frowned at him but sighed. He was right. After the ward, it was clear her magical abilities were still under scrutiny. She wove a glamour spell to make her rat’s nest of hair look like long, silky waves. She darkened and lengthened her lashes, brightened her eyes, and made her skin and lips pinken and glow with youthful radiance.

  Lucas and Ryder both smiled, and she took that as the approval that she in no way required and huffed, “Done. Shall we?”

  Lucas wrapped her in his arms and pulled her tighter against him as Ryder lifted them into the sky.

  They arrived in the main cavern of the palace, by the dream tree. The vines climbing the walls had turned red and gold and bronze. The smell of damp and rot filled the crisp air, and Bri’s breath puffed out in a cloud of mist.

  Emil stood at his usual station, beside the door leading to Vika’s private wing of the palace. Vika awaited them by the fountain, dressed in a long trailing gown that pooled at her feet like molten gold. She wore an elaborate headpiece of shining silver discs dangling from delicate golden twigs. Her pale skin sparkled too, capturing and reflecting the sunlight like morning mist, making her appear to glow. Ruby red lips split into a dazzling and triumphant smile as her eyes lighted on Bri. “Welcome to my autumn court, sister!”

  Before Lucas could stop her, Bri crossed the carpet of fallen leaves and embraced Vika, who kissed her on both cheeks.

  “Merry meet, truly. At last.” She squeezed Bri’s hands. “How do you feel?”

  Bri gave her a half-curtsy. “Reborn.”

  Vika nodded. “I hope it wasn’t too awful. You understand now, don’t you? Why I had to help things along?”

  Bri had no choice but to answer truthfully, yet the truth still surprised her a little. “Yes, I understand. It was meant to be.”

  A ghost of fear slid through Vika’s rust-colored eyes, and Bri smiled to herself.

  She’s afraid of what you know.

  “Good,” Vika’s gaze cut to Lucas. Her dismissive tone saying Bri’s understanding was actually of little consequence. “And you, wolf? Do you consider my end of our bargain fulfilled?”

  Bri frowned. “Bargain?”

  Lucas’s jaw tightened, but he wouldn’t look at her. “Yes.”

  “What bargain?” she asked again.

  Tell me what she’s talking about, Bri silently commanded him. Now.

  “In exchange for last night,” Vika said, turning to her with an attempt at a benign smile, but it showed too many teeth, “your wolf owes me one favor.”

  In exchange for last night?

  “You…” She looked from Lucas to Vika and back. It couldn’t be as bad as it sounded. It had all been a setup? He’d plotted with Vika to get Bri to complete the ritual? “You lied to me?”

  Kean had said not to trust immortals, that whatever they did, it was always self-serving. Some
where along the way, she’d forgotten. She’d begun to think of Lucas an old friend. Someone she shared a complicated history with. Someone she could trust. And she’d become willfully blind to the fact that he was still one of the monsters.

  And now, because of him, she was too.

  She’d thought they were both victims of Vika’s treachery, that he was a poor creature tangled in an enchantress’s web, and that it was her own fault. She’d let herself believe that becoming his mate in truth was simply written in the stars. Fated.

  Tears built in her eyes.

  She’d thought… she might be falling in love with him.

  How could you?

  Briana, I am bound from speaking to you of this, but you must know that she is twisting the truth.

  Bri swallowed back her tears, letting only a hint of disdain curl her lip. She still had a performance to give, and Vika was watching her closely. “I shouldn’t be surprised, should I?”

  Vika’s blood-red lips gleamed in the slanted afternoon light. “You’re an Oracle, Bri. You should never be surprised.”

  She forced herself to smile as a tornado of emotions built inside that giant cavern of her power. “Oh, trust me—I won’t let it happen again.”

  “Good. It is important for you to know what they are capable of. I wanted you to see him for the beast he is. I’m glad you’re a quick study.”

  “Me too.”

  “You look splendid,” Vika continued blithely, as if they were catching up over tea. “I suppose the clothing couldn’t be helped in this situation, but honestly Bri, being naked would make more of a statement. You must learn how to dress according to your station.” She looped their arms together and steered them toward the fountain, paying no mind to the others.

  Lucas made a move to follow them, but Bri halted him with a glance.

  Ryder nodded to her, as if to say, I’ll watch him.