by Sela Carsen
She stirred, her long limbs stretching, her toes brushing his knee. They’d been icy cold last night. As exhausted as he’d been when he fell into bed beside her, their touch on his leg had still made him gasp before he trapped her frozen feet between his calves and suffered until they warmed up.
She rolled onto her side, facing him, and he copied her movement so they were face to face.
Her eyes opened. She smiled.
“I found you,” she whispered. “I’m so glad. I wasn’t looking forward to having to search for you from one end of Heaven to the other.”
“What?”
“We’re dead. I mean, it kind of sucks because I thought I’d have more time to accomplish things, but we’re dead together, so that’s all right.”
Warmth spread through Rodion.
She definitely loved him.
He draped his right arm carefully over her waist and pulled her closer. “Would you be really disappointed if I told you we weren’t dead?”
“Oh, honey.” She hugged him. “We’re definitely dead. Ivan fried you. I saw it. And you’re healed, see?” She pointed to his shoulder. “That wouldn’t happen if you were live.”
A thin, pink line and a lick of slick, supple scar tissue next to it in the shape of dragon’s wings were the only reminders left of the wound that had caused him such pain for so long. He wasn’t sure when it had happened, only that it was done. With the shards gone, there was no reason for the pain he’d felt to linger. The nerve and muscle and bone destroyed by digging out the shards of Gebil had regenerated as if by magic.
All right. Definitely by magic. Just like Carina. They’d been operating under the assumption that Koschei held the cure to her curse. In fact, the curse had only said that once they fulfilled the quests, she would be healed, whether Koschei was there or not.
He thanked everything on earth, above and below, because Koschei had slithered out of the burning castle like his bony butt was on fire. Which it was.
Rodion had lain in front of that altar of the damned and hoped death would come quickly. Since the moment he’d been wounded, he had compared the pain in his shoulder to fire.
The touch of dragonflame made his previous agony seem like a papercut.
He’d been sure he was hallucinating when a double-headed eagle picked him up in its claws and glided low to the ground out of the smoke-filled castle. If he was going to be eaten by something, he supposed his end could be worse than to be consumed by the regal symbol of his homeland.
But he hadn’t been eaten. Instead, the eagle had followed a very large, bald man out of the castle. A man whose eyes glowed golden, and whose skin shimmered with the hint of scales.
Over the back of a white horse, he’d seen another form. Carina, slumped over and motionless. He was not ashamed to say that he’d wept.
Now he flexed his fingers. “Yes, I’m healed. And so are you.”
She pulled up her hand and looked at it. Free of any tattoos or traces of black, her unblemished skin glowed in the pearly light of dawn.
“Good. I hope my body actually looks like this because my mama is going to pitch a fit if she sees me covered in that tattoo.”
Okay. This was not going quite the way he’d intended. Carina was stubborn. He tried again.
“But milaya, we’re not dead.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
“Because we’re in Daria’s guest room.”
With a frown, she pushed her way up. “What? What are we doing here?”
“Ivan and the others brought us out of Koschei’s house before it burned. You have made a number of new friends.”
She shook her head, different colored curls bouncing. “This doesn’t make sense. I was prepared to die. I thought I was dead.”
“Nope.” He crossed his arms behind his head and lay back to watch her. “We’re alive.”
“We’re alive,” she repeated. Then said it again. “We’re alive.” Her face beaming, she turned and straddled him, taking him by the shoulders, laughing and shaking him. At least, she tried to shake him. It tickled.
He laughed with her, free and completely happy for the first time in far too long.
And then he wasn’t laughing anymore because Carina leaned down and kissed him as though she intended to do it for a very long time. Because she loved him.
She loved him. She adored him, in fact. Carina was sure, in the back of her mind, that he would eventually do something that would make her want to whack him with a skillet, but it didn’t matter. It wouldn’t matter. They’d been through so much already that even if he left his wet towels on the floor, they’d work through it.
But right at this moment, she didn’t want to stop anything.
Her hair slipped over her shoulder and it didn’t smell like her shampoo. “Did someone give me a bath?”
He held her straddled over him with his big hands planted on her thighs, and answered. “Daria and Katya did. You were unconscious, but they got you clean and dressed you before putting you to bed.” He tugged at the bottom hem of a massively oversized t-shirt featuring a handsome man on the cover a book by Roxy St. James. She had one like it at home – with a different hero from a different book – that was a memento of a book signing by a now-local romance writer.
The one thing her friends hadn’t provided was a change of undergarments. Looked like she was free-wheelin’ it today. This discovery was… inspiring.
“I notice that you are also in this bed.”
His hands continued to toy with the hem of the shirt. “That’s true. They must have run out of room. When space is tight, sometimes you have to double up.”
“Is that right?”
She’d never seen Rodion actually flirt before, and she wondered if he’d been such a charmer before his injury. Either way, it was really cute.
“Basic survival skills. You have to cuddle to survive the cold weather.”
“It’s May. In Georgia.”
“You know Daria. She keeps the AC turned up way too high.”
Carina laughed quietly. She didn’t want to wake anyone up, after all. “I expect you’d know all about how to survive these freezing temperatures.”
“I do,” he answered. Then he paused, and his face became serious. “With love. Carina, I know I told you yesterday that I loved you. And you may think it’s too soon.”
She shook her head, but he put a thick, calloused finger to her lips. “Don’t answer yet. Let me get this out first.”
He was so serious that she had to work hard to contain her smile. Could he be more adorable?
“But I want to be with you, and I hope you want to be with me, too.”
She wasn’t laughing anymore. This was a man who’d just laid his heart bare for her. She hadn’t left him on his own yesterday, and she sure wasn’t going to start now.
Carina reached down and laced her fingers through his.
“I don’t think there’s any timeline on love. I may not be ready to say it back to you yet, but this thing that I feel for you.” She pulled their hands together between her breasts and held them there. “What I feel is real and solid and good. And I’m more than willing to work it out with you. Is that okay? Is that enough?”
Rodion untangled their fingers and slide his up to bury them in her hair. “It’s more than enough. But, milaya?”
“Yes, miliy?”
“I do love you.”
He pulled her down for a kiss that left her feeling like a heatwave had hit. She leaned over and whispered a few words in his ear, making sure to brush her fingers along his broad, lightly furred chest, over his wide shoulders, and down his very, very nice six-pack. He responded to her suggestions with great, and skilled, enthusiasm.
Carina Valdis had never been so happy to be alive.
After a long morning of exploring their wildly blooming relationship, they finally rolled out of the rumpled bed, took turns in the shower – she liked Daria’s house a lot, but she was sure Heaven would have nicer showers
– and left their room to discover far too many people eyeing them indulgently over cups of coffee.
Ivan rose from the table to refill his plate with a mountain of bacon and eggs, and whacked Rodion on the back on his return trip.
“Good to see you both lived.”
Rodion rolled his shoulder with a slight grimace, then smiled. “Thanks to you, moy drog. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
The giant shrugged and said, “I only came in to, how do you say, clean up the bat?”
“I think he means ‘bat clean up.’” Trick was plowing his way through his fair share of breakfast, too, and Rodion grabbed a plate and joined in.
Carina poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter. Caffeine first, then food.
“Thanks for letting us stay, Daria.” She wasn’t quite sure how to approach her friend. It was one thing, she supposed, to know your brother and your bestie were making googly eyes at each other. It was another for them to, er, google their eyes in your guest room. But Daria was taking it all in stride, checking the oven to see if the next rack of bacon was done.
“And where else were you going to go? Trust me, there is not enough room in your building for what you brought back.”
Carina lifted an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, what?”
Daria pointed to the sliding glass door that led to the back yard.
A unicorn was eating the petals off Daria’s newly planted roses.
“I’d be more upset about the roses, but…unicorn!”
Carina stared, her coffee forgotten in her hand. “I don’t understand.”
Their friend Katya, who ran a shelter for both regular and supernatural animals, but could barely work up the courage to talk to the check-out clerk at the grocery store, opened the slider and stuck her head in. She smelled of warm spices and… oh. Ew.
This time, Daria did shriek. “If you’re coming in, take off your shoes. Don’t you track that smell into my house.”
Katya waved dismissively. “Your firebird is building a nest above the garage. We’re going to need more cinnamon sticks.”
Daria and Carina looked at each other, then back at Katya, and shook their heads.
“Firebirds build their nests from cinnamon sticks before they immolate themselves. She needs more for a good nest.”
“No. She’s not nesting on my garage, then setting herself on fire.” Daria charged out the door, Katya hard on her heels, and started yelling at a large, red and gold bird perched on the roof. Everyone else drifted outside to watch – Trick carried his plate and fork out with him – leaving Carina and Rodion in the house.
“I thought my life would get more normal as I got older,” she said. “Soothsayers don’t usually have days like yesterday.”
“Milaya, I don’t think most people have days like yesterday on a regular basis. Not even Border Crossing agents.”
“Speaking of Border Crossing agents, now that you’re healed, are you going to go back to Volshev and get your job back?”
He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her flush to his body. He felt amazing. Right. Perfect, actually. She tried to stay calm as she waited for him to answer.
“I don’t know. If I’d been cured two days ago, I’d be gone already. But right now? I don’t know. I do still have a few more weeks of leave to use.”
Rodion turned her around in his embrace until she faced him. “Carina, I want to be with you. Whether that’s going back to Volshev to be an agent again, staying here in Nocturne Falls to do something else, or some other option entirely, I want to be where you are.”
With a small cry, she wrapped her arms around his chest and squeezed as hard as she could. “Me, too, Rodion. Wherever we are, let’s be together.”
“I have to say, it will be nice getting to know you better without any curses hanging over us. And we don’t have to make any decisions right now.” He looked out the door. “Although, I think we might have to decide not to allow any firebirds to nest on our building’s roof.”
“Good decision.”
Untitled
The Kelpie
* * *
Bubba decided that if he couldn’t get Honeycrisps or Braeburns, then these little Piñata apples would do. Of course, he’d torn Rodion’s sleeve for bringing them, purely on principle. It wouldn’t do for people to start thinking he’d accept less than the best apples.
Life was pretty good here in Nocturne Falls. He liked Wolf Creek. He liked being with Trick and Daria, who came out and swam with him on most nights. He especially enjoyed riding with Carina, who had a lot of experience with mortal horses. She spoke to him of the human competitions she called rodeos and, although it sounded like fun, he still preferred his stretch of water here.
It would be nice to have a little non-human/non-rusalka company, though. Another who could run with him. Who could be part of his herd.
A sound had him pricking up his ears. He didn’t see anything, but he could hear and smell the source. Something was trying to come near. After a moment, he spotted it. Her. Another horse, but not a mortal one. She was a fae creature, like him.
She was beautiful. Small and delicate. Not big and rangy and black with water weeds in her mane, like him. Although he thought the water weeds made him a very handsome kelpie. Instead, she was so white she glowed, and the long, sharp horn on her head pulsed with life and magic.
She walked up to him hesitantly, her head high, ready to wheel and run if he struck out at her.
But he’d never do that to her. Instead, he put his nose down and rolled one of his precious apples in her direction.
After a moment, she dropped her head and lipped at his offering, before picking it up and crunching through the fruit.
Now he had a herd. Life was good.
Acknowledgments and Dedications
This story was… challenging. I had to really work for it. Which means the people around me had to work, too. And to them, I give great thanks, including my cover designer, Rebecca Poole, my formatter, Jennifer Amriss at Magelight Press, and my MORWA critique group, who helped me beat it into shape.
Any errors of any kind that you find in this book are mine, and mine alone, despite the excellent advice of the many who assisted me. I can’t thank Yelena Casale enough for taking the time to be so patient with all my questions about the Russian language. She’s a gem!
Chatzy is my rock, especially when the going gets tough. And it got tough!
As ever, many thanks and much gratitude to Kristen Painter for letting me play in her world, and severely try her patience.
And always, to my family, who are ever forgiving of my flaws, and celebrate my successes. I love you all very much!
About the Author
Sela Carsen was born into a traveling family, then married a military man to continue her gypsy lifestyle. With her husband of 20+ years, their two teens, her mother, the dogs, and the cat, she’s finally (temporarily) settled in the Midwest. Between bouts of packing and unpacking, she writes paranormal and sci-fi romances, with or without dead bodies. Your pick.
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Other books available:
Nocturne Falls Universe:
Light Paranormal Romance set in Kristen Painter's Nocturne Falls
Magic's Song
Magic's Fate
Magic's Promise (coming Sept 2017)
Wolves of Fenrir series:
Sci-Fi Shifter Romance with a healthy dose of Vikings
A Wolf to Watch Over Me
A Most Wanted Wolf
Silver Wolf Rising
The Wolf Who Came In From the Cold
Entire series available in the Wolves of Fenrir Box Set
* * *
Legends and Lore stories:
Stand alone Fantasy and Paranormal Romances with mythology and folklore.
The Sleeper Dreamed: A Short Story (F
REE!)
Runespell
Not Quite Dead
Heart of the Sea
* * *
Follow Sela Carsen online at:
Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter
