Grave Chance

by D. D. Miers

  Chapter 17

  Julius turned the sign on the bar “Closed for Private Party.”

  “I’ve never seen that sign before. Do you get a lot of private parties, Julius?”

  He chuckled and straightened the sign hanging in the window. “I’ve had the sign, just never a reason to use it. I thought it would be nice to have the place to ourselves rather than hanging out with the regular patrons.

  It was nice to watch the guys laughing and talking as they gathered around the mountains of food that Julius had conjured for us. Not that we’d planned a party, per se, but all of us were still coming to terms with what had happened, especially in the Great Hall.

  “The hotel was completely put to rights, and a couple of my friends worked together to give Persephona her own memorial in the lobby, out of respect for her fight against Aethon.

  His name made me shudder, even though it held no power anymore. We hadn't been the ones to stop him, not really. Death itself…or rather themselves had taken him in hand. Every necromancer in my family had taken hold of Aethon at the end, even Persephona, who was freed in death from the control he'd finally exerted over her when he broke her will.

  Ethan threw an arm around my shoulders. "Did you tell her how we got through, yet?" Julius shook his head. "So, before you got the candle when Aethon began to join our reality with the hall of Death, we were already been on our way through the crack you left in the portal's iris," He explained. "It was weird, elongated, and we navigated the narrow opening like a passage in a cave, sidling sideways through it one at a time."

  “I remember seeing the opening in the portal, but it wasn’t wide enough to see through to the other side,” I agreed.

  “Right. The magic threw the portal wide open, and essentially we fell through it together, just in time to see you battling the magic of the candle and holding the worlds apart.”

  Julius chimed in, “Cole and Ethan realized at the same time that your body was losing physical form and becoming part of the twisted reality around us, and Ethan grabbed you.”

  “It was out of instinct, mostly,” he confessed. I wrapped my arm around his waist and leaned up to kiss him soundly.

  “Instinct I appreciate.”

  Julius continued, "Cole joined him, and Gwyd and I added our strength to the mix as we scrambled up from the tangled pile of limbs we'd fallen in. Thankfully, everyone was healed enough by the fairy that I could turn us all into your focuses, pushing all that power to you so you could shut the door that Aethon had opened."

  “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you all,” I sniffed. “Hell. Here wouldn’t be here without you.”

  "And Aethon, what about him? Is he dead for good? Do we finally get to breathe, knowing we're done with him?" I balanced my chin on my knuckles as I peppered Julius with questions. "If we ever see him again, will he be a man or a beast?"

  “He has joined those who have passed, and his soul has found peace, as far as I can tell.”

  “And that monster he turned into?”

  “Those are the hunters of the Endless City. That part of him has joined them, to guard the wells and hunt souls who lose their way. It feels nothing, no fear, or fatigue, or hunger. If you saw it again, it would not recognize you.”

  “Just one more reason to avoid the wells for the foreseeable future,” I sighed, and Julius raised his glass in agreement.

  We rejoined the others as the last of my questions about what had happened were answered. I knew that Julius had kept me from freezing from the icy touch of death, but I didn’t know if I could’ve died or not. I was happy not to test the theory until we’d found a safer way to do so.

  We drank Julius out of his top-shelf booze and stuffed our faces with everything on the table, all of us eating like we'd been starved for weeks. Refueling was necessary after I'd spent almost all our combined strength, and there was no better way than over the spread Julius conjured. It rivaled the one that I'd summoned when I woke from my coma, but we made short work of the mountains of food.

  It all felt almost as though the entire ordeal had been a nightmare. If it wasn’t for the conspicuous absence of aunt Persephona, and the magic that I could no longer see in Ethan, I could almost have convinced myself it never happened at all.

  But Percy was gone, as was Ethan’s wolf, and the candle… snuffed out by the line of deceased necromancers who had finally taken Aethon’s immortality.

  I felt myself starting to brood watching the others cast off the nightmare easily. Cole and Ethan seemed the most recovered, laughing and joking with each other like they never had before. The fear I’d had of being left out of their joy in each other came back full force, but I pushed it down. They’d earned this. I wasn’t going to let my issues ruin their good time. Not now, still so close to the bad ending we’d barely escaped.

  “Hold on, before we all get too drunk and I forget,” Gwydion banged his fist on the table to get our attention “Ethan, I have something for you.” When we quieted, he pulled a smallish package wrapped in plain beige cloth out of his jacket and held it out in offering. “It’s so you can still summon the wolf, whenever there is need, or whenever you want.”

  Ethan opened the linen and stroked the wolf hide belt he found coiled inside. “This will let me change?” He grinned and immediately slid it through the belt loops on his jeans. “I’m going to eat some more, then I’m going to try this bad boy out.” He hugged Gwyd, kissed him hard and fast, and hugged him again. “Thank you so much.”

  When he pulled away, Gwyd was grinning like an idiot. He sniffed and nodded, waiting until Ethan turned back to his food to dash wetness from the corner of his eye.

  “You big softie,” I teased him as Ethan showed his new accessory to Julius and Cole. “You did good, you know? He might even feel like he can stay, now.”

  “That was the plan.” Gwydion kissed me softly and sighed. “I only did it because it made you happy.”

  “Liar,” I whispered back, and he didn’t argue.

  “Gwyd, come on, let’s go for a run, you and me.” Ethan was flushed and breathless with excitement as he grabbed Gwyd’s hand and pulled him to his feet. “Open a portal somewhere quiet, and we’ll be back in…ten minutes, tops, I promise,” he added to me.

  I shrugged and waved him off. “I expect to see you in full fur sometime soon, of course.”

  He grinned at me, his eyes dancing. “Oh, you’ll get to see me however you want, anytime you want, Vexa.”

  Gwydion and Cole made nearly identical rude noises at his back, but Ethan was oblivious to anything but the soft, plain belt around his waist.

  “Ethan, honey, you’ll have to take your pants off to change. You might not want that threaded through your belt loops, or we’re going to have a hell of a time keeping pants in your wardrobe.”

  He blinked and glanced down, then belly laughed. “God. I lose my ability to change for a little bit and forget how it works.” He undid the belt and slid it easily from the loops in one smooth motion, the sound of leather sliding against his jeans making my mouth go dry.

  “You did that on purpose,” Cole scoffed.

  Ethan gave him a wicked grin. “Did it work for you too?”

  I cleared my throat and nodded. “I don’t know about him, but it gave me a few ideas for later.”

  Cole sat next to me as Ethan and Gwyd took off, wrapping his arm around me and nuzzling my neck. "Do you know, even when everything was going to shit, and I thought we were all going to die together, you still smelled amazing."

  “You’re just turned on by my power,” I quipped, and his hand slid up between my thighs, massaging high on my leg as my knees fell apart in welcome.

  “Probably. But if it’s not broke, don’t fuck with it, right?” He leaned in and kissed me gently on the mouth. “I love you, Vexa. Thanks for not dying on me.”

  “My pleasure.” I kissed him back, and then again. “The afterlife was pretty dope, but I just couldn’t leave you guys to do all the heavy lifting a
lone.”

  We didn’t bother to talk about what would’ve happened if I hadn’t returned when Mort helped me to leave the Distant Shore. We’d seen enough darkness for a thousand lifetimes already. I sure as hell didn’t need to relive it.

  Gwyd and Ethan returned in even less than the ten minutes Ethan had allotted for his run, his face nearly split with his happy grin, one arm around the fae. “Vexa, you should come to the library and work with the curators,” he offered, his face flushed and happy. “Wouldn’t it be great to see each other at work, and not have it be a life or death situation?”

  “I don’t know how that would work, seeing as I’m still a necromancer.”

  “Yeah, but a necromancer who saved the world when they couldn’t.” His eyes darkened. “I don’t think anyone should be telling you what to do or deciding your value to the magical world. I just think you’d have a lot to share, and it could be a place for you to learn more about what you are, now.”

  “You’re right, I need that, and it sounds fantastic, but first things first. I need to find a place to live before anything else.” I paused and sat upright, almost tipping myself out of my chair. “Does this mean you’re staying here, instead of going back to your family?”

  “Sure. I mean, I’ve got to go back eventually, you know, let it all go. But I’ll stay here.”

  I gave Cole a look, and he threw up his hands in surrender and laughed. "Yes, I'm staying. I've got to find a place to live too. Maybe we can all go apartment hunting together."

  “What about your family?”

  “My parents were surprisingly cool about things, at least for the moment. I guess saving their lives and then saving the world was worth a few brownies points.” His tone was facetious but sitting next to him I could still feel the tingle of giddy happiness that thrilled him at his own words.

  I still hadn't told my parents how Percy had died, only that she had, and that there'd be a memorial, but no viewing. To their credit, they hadn't asked why only given their love and promised to help out if necessary.

  “Of course, you can stay here while you look,” Julius chimed in from behind the bar as he set up another round of shots. “I think your family’s room is due for an update, you can help redecorate.”

  It meant more to me than I could say, that he'd let me decide what to add to the family ‘V.I.P. lounge' of the pub. My mind started to wander to the possibility of downplaying Aethon's part in our legacy. It would take some research, but I was certain I could find a spare hour here and there to learning of the good we might have done along the way.

  “Thank you, but I don’t want to spend too much longer being a burden. I feel like we’ve been fighting Aethon forever. I want to move forward with the good parts, now.” I put one arm around Cole and the other around Ethan. “That includes room for a California king bed and then some.”

  "Oh, for the love of all things immortal. None of you will be apartment shopping, and you know it." Gwydion rolled his eyes at Julius, who covered his smiled with one hand and quickly turned to scrutinize the rows of liquor behind the bar. "You all know you're coming to live with me. Stop hedging."

  “Gwyd, that is really generous, but…”

  "Did I say you were permitted to come live with me? No. You will live with me. It is finished. Besides. I already redecorated and went to a fair amount of trouble warding the house, so none of you gets lost again."

  “Can we trust the fairy, do you think?” Cole drawled, one eyebrow arched.

  Gwyd shot him a withering stare and turned back to me. “There’s really nothing to discuss, here.”

  I cleared my throat and tried to stifle the threatening grin that tugged at the corners of my mouth. I left Cole and Ethan and took a seat at the bar, patting the seat beside me for him to sit, I looked at each of my men in turn. “Thank you, Gwydion. I believe I speak for us all when I say we are grateful to you, and we can’t wait to get on with our lives with you in our family.”

  Cole reached behind me and stroked Gwyd’s back, and Ethan joined us flanking Gwyd on his left and adding his touch to Cole’s.

  I had no idea how we would make our new, unconventional, beautiful family work. But it had to. We had stared death in the face and returned unscathed.

  Maybe it was because I’d been changed in my return from the Distant Shore, or maybe it was because we’d snuffed out the magic of Aethon’s candle, or that each one of us had beaten down a demon and none of us had done it alone.

  But we were meant to be, and magic like that is almost impossible to break.

  I kissed each of them on the cheek and excused myself to step outside, twitchy and energized by the end-of-battle adrenaline let down.

  “You made a good choice,” Mort padded up to me and sat next to me on the pavement as I stood under the night sky and tried to piece my thoughts together.

  “Thank you, for sending me back.”

  He chuffed his doggy laugh. “You returned on your own, with power you unlocked in the Endless City. You could be a force to be reckoned with, now.

  “Gwydion wanted me to open myself to the power he said was within me. I wonder if he’d appreciate being the one who unlocked it after all. I still can’t believe it wasn’t just the Aethon’s candle, but I can feel it there in me, filling the place where the candle was.”

  "It was Aethon's candle that began the line of necromancers from the beginning. The power within you will always feel a little like it did because your magic and his were related. But now you have the time to perfect your control and test your boundaries."

  “Maybe, but I right now I don’t want to be anything but a girlfriend and maybe a librarian and just… rest for a while.”

  I scratched between his ears out of habit, even though I knew now he was something beyond my understanding, at least for the moment.

  “Rest while you can, Vexa, and squeeze the joy out of every minute of your new life with them. Peace never lasts, but it can fill a life while you have it.” He fell silent and looked up at the stars with me, leaving my mind spinning at the warning.

  So, trouble wasn't done with me forever. I couldn't really expect that the rest of my life would be boring. Not with my lovers being who they were. But when it came, we would meet it head-on. We'd already conquered the world. With them in my heart and in each other's, there was nothing we couldn't do.

  I wiggled my fingers at a sickly flower growing from a crack in the sidewalk. It bloomed to life again with the merest touch of my magic, and a thrill went through me. No, I wasn't what I had been. But there was time to learn what I had become, and three men and a feast waiting for me inside.

  I opened the door and let Mort in ahead of me. The world could wait for us for a while. Maybe I would be a queen someday as Gwydion wished. But I didn’t need a crown. I was already a queen to my guys, and they were my knights in shining armor.

  We saved each other, and we’d saved ourselves. Everything else simply paled in comparison.

  Through love, we’d beat death itself, and if the need arose, we would do it again.

  Continue on for an exclusive sneak preview of Curse of Iron!

  The Legend

  "Tiocfaidh an leathling chun críche do réimeas, ag caitheamh draíocht Gaia ó lámh seanóirí wicca, agus coróin na Fae a athnuachan"

  “The halfling will come to end your reign, tearing Gaia’s magic from the hands of the elders of wicca, and restoring the crown of the Fae…”

  The child was born on the tenth day of the tenth month, one hundred years after Morgana cursed her own kind to dwindle in power until the great coven was no more. Her mother was a high priestess of Gaia, her father the heir apparent to the throne of the Seelie Fae, the light court of Fairy.

  But the priestess could not survive the hate and fear, and somehow, the strong, vibrant witch died during childbirth. The Fae king was fading, his son poised to take the throne. His grief knew no release, but he had too many hidden enemies to allow them to know his daughter. He left her with
the witches—to keep her safe from harm—and left fairies among the humans to keep watch over her until the time came when she would be strong enough to join him, or his throne was secure.

  Chapter 1

  The first thing I noticed when I jerked awake was my mouth tasted like sawdust and beer.

  The second was the weight of another body beside me.

  I must have drank more than I thought.

  I didn’t remember bringing a guy home and considering how long it had been I could’ve used the recollection of a good time. I swallowed trying to work up some moisture into my mouth, and inched closer to the edge of the bed, and reached for the light.

  The form next to me was cool when my toes brushed against him and too still, making my heart pound excitedly. I turned on the bedside lamp and eased out of bed to look down at the naked man I’d woken up next to, his eyes wide and staring, already clouded by death.

  It took a second to register his face, already twisted into his death mask.

  Gideon Masters.

  Gideon Masters, the baddest Alpha on this side of the continent is in my bed—and he’s fucking dead. What in the fresh fuck is happening? Is this a nightmare?

  I slammed my fist into the wall, sucking in air at the bruising pain in my knuckles. I backed away from the bed, revulsion twisting my stomach. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit, my brain played the words on repeat like one of the old vinyl records my boss liked to play in the office. Gideon’s lifeless eyes continued to stare at the ceiling, ensuring no matter what else, I wouldn’t sleep there restfully, ever again.

  He was naked from the waist up, revealing dark chest hair and fine cut abs. The blankets were pulled back enough to make my stomach lurch again at the realization he was definitely not wearing anything underneath, either. His skin had already begun to look waxy, even in the half light of the reading lamp, and my hand searched automatically for the wall switch before I stopped myself.