by Cate Corvin
Table of Contents
Kissed by Midnight
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Thank You For Reading!
Kissed by Midnight
THE CIMMERIAN CAGE BOOK 3
CATE CORVIN
KISSED BY MIDNIGHT
Cate Corvin
All Rights Reserved © 2019 Cate Corvin. First Printing: 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means with the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
Cover Design by Melody Simmons
Author's Note: All characters in this story are 18 years of age and older, and all sexual acts are consensual. This book is a work of fiction and liberties may be taken with people, places, and historical events.
Dedication
To Mel, thank you for seeing me through this whole project, enduring countless hours of my questions and rambling, and making this trilogy the best it could be!
Chapter 1
Lu
Dominic knocked me flat on my ass and the wolves snarled, their teeth flashing like knives.
Instead of backing away, like a smart man who wanted to keep his limbs intact, he offered a hand, his long-lashed hazel eyes burning into me.
I ignored it and rolled to the side, raising my sword in the guard position when I got to my feet.
The wolves watching at the edge of the new practice clearing quieted, but their ears were perked up, snouts quivering, icy eyes focused on Dominic Steele, false professor, Justiciar among Wardens, liar extraordinaire, and breaker of hearts.
For the first time in a week, Professor Ivy Bloom, my new coven-sister since I’d been forcibly inducted into Giltglass, was absent. Maybe she thought the noose she’d wrapped around Dominic’s neck was tight enough. Or perhaps my own seething anger with him was obvious. Still, she usually made herself the star of the show whenever Dominic and I were in each other’s vicinity, which was rare enough these days.
The only time I saw him now was during my mandatory combat training sessions and in his Discipline class, which was more than enough for me.
With a rare Ivy-free session, he was trying to get me to touch him of my own accord just once.
Luckily, even if my own resolve broke, I had my therianthropes present. The combination of their irritation and protectiveness was an unrelenting hum in my chest, transferred through the half-moon mating bites on my shoulders.
I was glad they were there. Because even though I wanted to incinerate Dominic where he stood, I also felt a sick throb in my stomach every time I looked at him.
I still loved him.
It was fucking infuriating.
I pushed every ounce of that anger into blocking and parrying his attacks, my mind on my footsteps and staying outside his range. With a practice sword, I had superior reach, but he was fast as hell and a lot larger than me.
By the end of this morning’s session, he’d only managed to trip me up one time.
“Excellent work, Lucrezia.” He was every woman’s dream professor: tall and heavily-muscled, with tawny skin that set off those green-gold eyes. And that deep, butterscotch-smooth voice with a British accent? Absolutely delectable, really. “I’d love to see you with a real sword.”
A pang hit my heart. I desperately wanted a real rowan sword of my own to replace my dinky wand, a blade made of enspelled wood and inlaid wire that could cut through both revenants and spells.
But rowan swords were expensive, and there was no way I was asking my new covenmistress for anything else. She’d already given me too much I hadn’t asked for.
I caught Dominic’s gaze for a bare second and turned away. It was too easy for me to be tempted by him. Better to pretend there was a wall between us, where I couldn’t see, hear, or smell him.
He caught my shoulder and I looked up at him, unable to look at his sensuous lips without remembering what they felt like all over me. I knew every plane of that handsome face by touch alone.
The wolves’ growls were deeper this time, extending into ragged snarls. Dominic’s eyes flashed to them.
“They’ll bite, Justiciar Steele.” I kept my voice quiet, in case anyone might be around. I hated what he was, but I didn’t want him dead at Gilt’s hands.
Or anyone’s hands, for that matter, except maybe mine.
He released me, his lips tightening. “Are you ever planning on going anywhere without them again?”
They had been glued to my hip for the past few weeks, two enormous beasts sitting in the back of my classes, only shifting back to their human skins to eat and fuck me senseless once the day was over. Not even Gilt had tried to curb them from their behavior after they’d cornered Professor Sweet, who’d tried to separate me from them in the hallway, and almost taken off one of her fingers.
“Not anywhere you might be,” I said tonelessly, turning towards the mansion. Dawn was breaking, and I had things to do. Being a Gilt was busy work.
Hurt flashed across his face, followed by acceptance and then determination. My heart twisted at the sight of it. That was one of the things I loved about him, even if it pained me to acknowledge it: Dominic was relentless.
Even to his detriment.
“We’ll see about that, Miss Darke- Gilt,” he said, correcting himself and driving a knife right through my emotions.
He was the reason I was a Gilt. If he hadn’t shown up…
I shook the thought off. There were no ifs. Only what was. And because he’d gone along with Gilt and his fiancée-by-subterfuge, Ivy, I was the newest member of their fucked-up little coven of horrors.
I shrugged, and the Frost twins surged forward, surrounding me as a living wall of pure muscle and fur. Shane’s scars shone against his black-and-cream fur like rivulets of mercury. My hand found one of those scars and traced it. “I suppose we will, Justiciar.”
Dominic stared at me in frustration. I could picture him wearing the black armor and ouroboros medallion all too clearly now that I knew what he was. “Not all Wardens are cold-hearted bastards.”
He was the only one I’d met who might’ve qualified for that exception. Before that night. “I hope you’re not referring to yourself. The lack of self-awareness would be astounding.”
I hoped my voice was cold and hard enough. Sometimes I felt like he could cut my heart right out of my chest and I’d still find it in me to love him with the bits left behind.
His face hardened. Good. I’d hit my mark.
I slung my practice sword over my shoulder and took off for Cimmerian, flanked by my loyal wolves.
We passed the first practice clearing I used to use with Dominic, and the sight made my stomach flip. I’d loved our morning sessions together so much… until Ivy became a part of them.
It was satisfying to see all of it scorched and blackened by wildfire, lumps of carbonized plant matter strewn around from Ivy’s unsuccessful duel against me.
And that was about the most satisfaction I got from the entire situation. Thanks to my covenmistress’s geas, I couldn’t speak a word about what had tran
spired in the depths of Cimmerian the night of my initiation into Giltglass.
I couldn’t even write it out. Every time my thoughts so much as drifted towards those events while a pen was in my hand, my fingers would go haywire and leave nothing but an illegible scrawl across my page.
So, I alone carried the memories of Grandfather, a desiccated but still-living mummy, and his three eerie, albino-pale attendants, Patricia, Annabelle, and Eleanor Gilt.
Some nights I woke up sweating and shaking, the weight of those memories almost more than I could bear.
Every time I walked down a hall, I went knowing that hundreds of feet below me, they lived and breathed in the darkness, with the titanic metal limbs of an unseen machine looming above them.
Shane and Roman knew that something terrible had happened the night they’d herded Locke to the forest, keeping him from ripping through me and any other unfortunate human while he was starving and blood-crazed.
But all they knew was that I’d joined Giltglass. Sometimes I wanted to scream from the frustration of not being able to tell them about the horrific things beneath us.
And Locke… he was still punishing himself for losing control and attacking Daphne Vega, even if it wasn’t his fault. She was perfectly fine, if a little shaken.
Madness was an invariable side effect of a vampire hive. Once I’d seen what Locke could be like if there were any others of his kind around, I’d accepted that we’d never be able to house more than one vampire in Cimmerian. They spoke mind-to-mind, and in a group, their bloodlust was insatiable.
Which meant that Cadogan Brand, who was roaming loose in Moira’s Forest, needed to die. Either that or move on and live alone if he wanted to keep his sanity.
As did the vampires living beneath Cimmerian. I was certain that Gilt was growing a hive down there- I’d passed through it on my way back up to the surface, in the room that stank of fresh blood.
My four- correction, three- men and I had so much work to do.
Ivy Bloom accosted us in the foyer of the North Entrance. Roman snarled and she blanched, but I wove my fingers into the plush fur at the base of his neck to settle him.
“Coven-sister.” Her gaze flicked behind me, searching for Dominic, but she relaxed when she saw he wasn’t with us. “Our mistress would like you transferred out of C Wing. You’ll live in one of the coven wings, like a proper Gilt.”
Ivy handed me a silvery skeleton key with a black ribbon tied around the bow. As nasty as she could be, she knew better than to be a bitch when the Frosts were with me. Their growls shivered through the air when I reached out and took the key.
“Upstairs, in the master bedroom overlooking the gardens. Your name is on it.” Ivy’s lips twisted in a sour pucker. “You will still be expected to attend class. Don’t let your new status go to your head.”
I hadn’t expected anything less. I desperately wanted to achieve my mastery and earn my freedom, no matter how unlikely it seemed now.
We stared at each other for several long seconds, and Ivy broke away first, casting a nervous glance over the wolves.
I couldn’t hold back a smile when she scurried away.
“Another bribe from my dear covenmistress,” I said, holding up the key. “I wonder if she’ll get me a pony next?”
Shane snorted. He was right. I didn’t need a pony when I had two pony-sized wolves.
We took the stairs up to a wing I’d never ventured into before, the left side lined with windows that looked down over the sprawling gardens, the right lined with several ebony doors.
Shane and Roman sniffed ahead, tails stiff, and stopped in front of a door halfway down the hall.
The key fit perfectly in a brand-new lock and I pushed the door open, revealing my reward for going along with Gilt’s plans like an obedient little witch.
If I’d thought the upperclassmen rooms were nice, coven member quarters blew them away. The four-poster bed, dresser, desk, and bookshelves were made of the same ebony as the door. The bed had been made up with crisp white sheets and a rose-colored coverlet, and the room still smelled of the fresh white paint on the walls. A vase of fresh jasmine had been left on a nightstand.
The twins entered the room first, sniffing for listening charms and other enchantments, while I peeked into the bathroom. It was tiled in jade green, with a clawfoot bathtub and a massive shower. There was also a closet the size of my current bedroom.
I snorted. What was I going to keep in it, my five sets of school uniforms?
Last month, I might’ve been amazed by all this space to myself, along with the gorgeous view just outside my door.
Now, I only felt numb. It was a hollow victory. I’d rather have my old name back than walk-in closets or private desks.
Something glinted on the desk next to a stack of fresh notebooks. I drifted closer and picked up a silver ring, the band imprinted with coins and jewels, set with a smooth amber cabochon.
It was a Giltglass coven ring.
“You don’t have to wear that, Blondie.” Roman’s husky voice cut through my concentration.
My heart always skipped a beat when the twins shifted back to their human skins. They were perfectly identical, over six feet of dusky-skinned brawn, with the shadow of pitch-black hair and stubble. Piercing blue eyes looked out from under thick brows, and they both had chiseled faces with full lips.
The only physical difference between them was Shane’s scars, cutting across his face, abdomen, and arms, and the curl to his hair when he let it grow a bit longer.
I cupped the ring in my palm and leaned into Roman, resting my cheek on his chest. Half-formed ideas shimmered in the back of my mind. “I know. But there might be benefits to this.” Who’d have thought my exile into Cimmerian would lead to coven rings being thrown at me left and right?
Shane shifted, stretching as he shook off the last of the wolf. “What are you planning?”
“Half the teachers are already afraid to chastise me for anything now. And I’m not even trying to pretend I enjoy this.”
“They don’t tell you off because you don’t do anything wrong.” Roman rubbed the half-moon scar he’d left on my shoulder. I raised an eyebrow. “Okay. You don’t do anything wrong where someone in authority might see you.”
“I’ve been treating this like a punishment. Maybe it’s an advantage I can turn against them.”
That echoed a little too close to Dominic’s words the night of my initiation. He’d let them take me because we needed an inside woman.
I shook off the hint of softness towards him. I would’ve forgiven him for that. I’d forgiven him for everything else, even for acquiescing to Ivy to save my life.
But not for being a Warden- a damn Justiciar, even- who could’ve put a halt to this long before I’d arrived.
I slipped the ring on my right middle finger, where it fit perfectly, the amber glowing like gold.
It felt wrong, a lead weight on my hand.
“I’m going to move my things up here before Discipline.” Part of me wanted to skip Discipline entirely. Every moment I spent in Dominic’s presence just made me more conflicted.
I needed to hold on to my anger. If he’d just blown the lid on this place when he showed up, how many deaths could’ve been avoided?
But the Tribunal would’ve put Locke down like an animal. Josephine’s spirit, and Simon, and everyone else who died before he came here would never be able to find rest.
It’d be an empty, razed breeding ground for furious ghosts.
Sometimes my rational inner voice could be such a contrary bitch.
And I knew that I wasn’t going to skip Discipline. If one class made the difference between a mastery or not, then I would be in that class, come hell or high water.
The twins helped me carry up my meager possessions, and Demonseed hitched a ride in my satchel.
I made it down to Discipline just before Dominic shut the doors. Blood suffused my cheeks from the heat in his gaze as I settled cross-legged on t
he floor across from Daphne, whose eyes were already shut tight.
My hands rested on my knees, palms down, showing off my shiny new coven ring.
Dominic’s rough-hewn features tightened just a fraction. Did it irritate him that I wore a Giltglass ring despite hating them, but refused to even touch his?
Being back in Discipline felt like the first week I’d arrived, mirrored almost down to the way Dominic made me feel when his eyes ran over me.
I felt a thousand years older now than I had that day.
I hadn’t believed anyone when they told me this place was so much more than it seemed. And now I couldn’t even tell them how right they were.
He dimmed the lights in the room, and we all closed our eyes and sank into ourselves.
I used to keep my wildfire penned in a box in the back of my mind, where it would crackle furiously, directionless and neglected. Meditation didn’t help much when I was afraid of myself.
These days, sinking into myself was like falling into a whirlpool of welcoming flames. The wildfire liked to be used and channeled, free to flow through me instead of treated like an unwelcome affliction.
Even in the depths of meditation, I was dimly aware of Dominic pacing the classroom, circling behind me. My stomach filled with butterflies at the memory of my first day in here, the way he’d looked down at me like he wanted to bend me over his desk right then and there, and how gorgeous and intimidating I’d found him.
That much hadn’t changed, at least. My breath shallowed until he walked away to whisper something to Leon Cinder, one of the new firewitches.
I opened my eyes, admiring Dominic’s broad shoulders in his tailored shirt, the hint of a dark tattoo just showing under his rolled-up sleeves.
Why did he have to be a Warden? Now I understood why he’d been so insistent he could take care of Warden Vega- Dominic probably had a line directly to his superior.
He turned around and I looked away in a hurry. The door opened.
Heels clicked, and both Daphne and I opened our eyes in irritation, meeting each other's’ gaze with a sour understanding.
