I reached out for the box that Brom held, tilting my head curiously. He seemed reluctant to let it go, his fingers trailing over the soft wood as I pulled it from him. It was a curiously plain thing. It seemed to have no seam, and my hands tingled as I traced my fingers over it. It felt heavy against my magic, though it was actually quite light. I tilted it, looking it over, but couldn’t find any sign of what it might be. I felt Merlin look over my shoulder at it, and heard him grunt with interest.
“Rowan wood,” he explained. “A natural defense against magic. I doubt this would be Jupiter’s, or even your father’s.”
“No,” I agreed, searching my memory. “Something about this is familiar, though. I think it was my mother’s.” I looked up to Brom. “Where did you find it?”
“Oddly, it was set into the wall in the bathroom. Had I not brushed against it, I’d have never felt its presence.” He watched the box, clearly intrigued by the mystery. “It was behind a panel. I tried to open it, but as you can see, there doesn’t seem to be a way to. Do you remember anything about it?”
I could have sworn I’d seen it before, but each time I came close to a memory, it would wisp away like smoke. I ran my fingers over the smooth wood, the natural wards tickling against my magic. It was similar to the feeling of pins and needles, but more static. It was as if it should’ve been painful, and if it were any stronger, it certainly would have been. I offered it to Merlin, who held up his hands.
“Ha, no thank you,” Merlin protested. “Rowan wood isn’t a pleasant experience for warlocks. I don’t even understand how you’re not throwing it across the room.”
“Oh,” I said, looking back at the box. “I think it has to do with my mother.” I felt my stomach rumble and Brom grinned.
“Perhaps we can leave the mystery until tomorrow? If it was your mother’s, it has stayed safe this long,” he said, and offered to take it from me. I was loath to part with it, but he was right. He disappeared into the bathroom before returning without it. “Shall we?” He gestured towards the door to the hall. With strangely heavy steps, I left the room, and I fought a strange desire to look back.
It was strange, and nearly uncomfortable, to be dining at the head of the table after so many years of being regulated to the staff rooms. I was easily distracted by the company joining me. Romulus sat at my right, with Brom and Merlin to my left. The lycan’s nostrils had flared as he scented the sex on us, and I blushed hard when he winked at me.
“The celebration of the claiming of your legacy will be expected as soon as possible,” Brom spoke as he traced a finger around the rim of his wineglass. We’d finished dinner already, a simple affair compared to what Madam Jupiter always required. Tender cuts of steak, grilled asparagus, and delicious garlic parmesan mashed potatoes, all chased down with an expensive red wine. It’d been amusing to see Merlin tease Brom about the potatoes, and it was liberating to be able to laugh without care in my home.
“I don’t think I’d like all the Syndicate leaders in my home,” I answered with a sigh. I knew it needed to happen. I sat straighter as an idea came over me. “Could it be like the basement celebration?”
Merlin snorted and Romulus chuckled. “You really want to invite everyone to get drunk and not care about Syndicate lines where they can be seen?”
I shrugged and looked to the vampire, who seemed to be considering it with thought. “I do not see why it couldn’t happen. They already expect to revile you, so why not embrace it? The leaders will not last long at an event. Their sense of propriety will have them fleeing.”
Merlin reached forward and snagged one of the many bottles of wine on the table to refill his glass. Brom waved him off at his silent offer. “You realize those leaders include our parents, right?”
I chewed my lower lip as I thought about the reality which lay before me. It was a harsh truth that these men were the heirs to their own powerful legacies, and the actual leadership of the Syndicates. So far, they had chosen to be at my side, but in reality, we had only a week, if that, of being together. What was a week compared to years of grooming and training? How much change were the men beside me able to endure before the safety of routine called to them?
I wanted them. I wanted them more than I had wanted my freedom from Jupiter. But I was a phoenix, and my desire to burn the world to ash around me lingered. I wanted to destroy the world the Syndicates built: The power plays, the politics, the murky underworld. I wanted to burn brightly until all the shadows had been dispelled and our world was revealed in all of its disgusting glory.
“If they wish to continue their leadership, they must learn to adapt,” Brom retorted with ease. “If they refuse, they prove that they are unworthy.”
I frowned, and it looked like I wasn’t the only one wondering at the implication. Both Merlin and Romulus froze, staring at the vampire, who only looked at his wineglass.
“There hasn’t been a forced succession in the Syndicates, any of them, for generations,” Romulus said quietly. Brom’s dark eyes flickered up to meet the lycan’s.
“And perhaps they have grown too comfortable in that security,” he replied.
I reached out, placing my hand over his wrist. Brom’s eyes flickered to mine. “I don’t expect you to usurp your own families.”
Brom slid back until he could bring my hand to his mouth. “Of course not, little bird,” he whispered after kissing my hand, “but if it is required, we must be prepared to do so.”
I wasn’t sure what to say to such a declaration and so I let it drop. “The party then? How do we go about organizing it?”
The vampire rose to his feet and pulled out his cell phone. “I can be sure the invites are sent out to the proper people within the next twenty-four hours. Speak to your head of staff, she should know what needs to be done.”
“Speaking of staff,” I interrupted him, “I doubt I have enough to handle an event like this. I don’t even have a proper butler since Charles left with Jupiter.”
“What about Hei-Sook?” Romulus suggested, drumming his fingers on the table. “I know she bounces around with employers, but that’s typically because of wandering hands. I don’t think she’d have that concern here.”
Merlin tilted his head, pursing his lips. “It’s worth a thought, if that’s fine with you, Ella. She’s whip-smart, doesn’t take our shit, and isn’t impressed with power.”
“And she’s a fox spirit,” Romulus reminded us all. “It’d be handy to have her on our side.”
They all looked towards me and I shrugged. “I’ve always liked her. She warned me off of you three, so clearly she has some sense. Extend the offer on my behalf and I’d be happy to bring her into the household.”
“Good,” Brom said. “I’ll return later this evening.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my head before nodding to the other men. “Gentlemen.”
I watched the vampire leave, appreciating the man’s poised strength. It should’ve been shocking, how even his retreating figure inspired such lust in me. Watching him feed from Merlin as I took the man in my mouth had been ridiculously hot. I could feel myself getting turned on from the memory alone.
“So, dessert then?”
“Hmm?” I asked as I looked towards the lycan. The redheaded man was grinning at me as if he knew exactly where my thoughts had been.
“Merlin, why don’t you lock the doors?” he asked as he pushed back from the table, watching me the entire time. I felt small under his predatory gaze, but this was a wolf I’d never run from. I watched with hunger as he moved the remaining plates farther down the table with the patience and assurance of a man who knew what he wanted. I could feel Merlin’s magic warding the room, making sure we wouldn’t be interrupted.
Romulus held out his hand, a challenging gleam in his eye, and I took it with a smirk of my own. Was the heat in my heart because I was a phoenix, or was it from the love these men inspired in me? Was the giddiness I felt because, for the first time since the death of my father, I felt free t
o show my face without fear of rejection? Was the strength something I had inside of me all this time, and I just needed their support to find it?
As Romulus peeled my jeans and panties down, I toed off my shoes. His large hands wrapped around my hips as he set me on the table with easy strength. The first swipe of his tongue against my pussy had me gasping, until Merlin caught my lower lip with his tongue.
Pleasure, happiness, and wine flowed through me, and I combed my fingers through both of their hair. Right now wasn’t the time for existential questions, but for enjoyment of one another in the most primal of ways.
Chapter 12
Eleanora
I watched as the fox spirit ran her hands over the masquerade masks we’d pulled from the trunk Merlin had found. There was a beautiful assortment, but I hadn’t wished to wear them exactly how my stepmother and stepsisters had ordered them. I’d hoped Hei-Sook could help with that.
The fox spirit had eagerly accepted the position in my household as the butler, never minding that she wasn’t the traditional gender for the position. She’d tossed out the previous uniform, which I hadn’t blamed her for, and adopted a style of her own. In fact, she and Bonnie helped me overhaul the entire staff’s uniforms. There was only so much that could be done in a few days but instead of the plain linen frocks and veils, the female staff now wore respectable black dresses with the emblem of a phoenix surrounded by flames embroidered over a red apron tied around the waist.
Not Hei-Sook, of course, since she held a typically male position. She had decided to wear high-waisted and wide-legged white trousers with a matching vest, and a black silk modern Korean jacket. It was quite stunning, and both elegant and practical. With her severe haircut, Hei-Sook looked more formidable than Charles ever had.
As I suspected, not a single woman had protested at the disappearance of the veils.
For myself though, I saw how my staff flinched when they saw my scars. I didn’t see fear in their eyes, but sympathy and pain. It didn’t take me long to realize that my scars may not cause me physical pain anymore, but others would feel it.
So I would wear masks when facing the public, but they would be a point of pride. A thing of enhanced beauty and power.
“I can make the changes permanent eventually,” Hei-Sook said, lifting the one I had chosen for the party this evening. It was a gorgeous creation. It covered the entire face, save the lips and chin, molded to my face, and was the color of a supernova, shards of crystals embedded in the material to capture and reflect the light. I had asked Hei-Sook to add an illusion of flames sprouting from the side. “With the flames though”—the woman’s burnt-orange eyes met mine in question—“I imagine it would be much easier for you to simply conjure them yourself.”
“It would be one more thing to worry about.” I demurred without further explanation and turned to look towards my gown we’d chosen. How could I tell her what I could hardly understand myself? Each time I brought the fire to life, it demanded more. The power inside me was not a kind, gentle thing. Most fire was safe, comforting, something that helped humanity evolve. Only when you got too close to it, would it bring pain.
I was in the middle of this fire, constantly trying to stop its consumption of the world. There was only pain.
Since I had awoken the phoenix within me once more, I could only drive back the rage by distracting myself with the men. Their lips, their touch, their love drove the fire back into the darkness, our pleasure holding the inferno at bay. I wasn’t sure how long I could hold the flames back if I called them to me.
“Fair enough,” she said, and I felt the slight pull of her fox magic and looked back towards her. Her hand was caressing the air around the mask, coaxing images of fire from the edges. I was hypnotized by her craft.
Instead of the flames you’d see on a candle or even in a fireplace, the flames leaping from the mask looked like solar flares throwing themselves into the galaxy. It was enchanting. I looked back to my dress, simple in its design compared to the mask. A corseted top and a flowing long skirt the color of a star-filled night, thanks to the illusion placed over it. It was as if I were representing the universe this evening, the power of creation and destruction.
A knock had us both looking towards the door to the bedroom I had claimed as my own. I had not spent a single night alone, and it was definitely an adjustment to go from sleeping by myself with very little contact to having three men who couldn’t stop touching me.
I started to get up from where I sat on the bed but Hei-Sook shook her head and set the mask down. She and Bonnie had to keep reminding me that I was the mistress of the estate now, and that meant I did not answer doors—not even, or maybe especially, to my own bedroom.
She stepped aside and Romulus came in. He was partially ready for the evening ahead of us, a white tank top stretched over his broadly muscled chest tucked into his black pants. His belt was unbuckled, and it gave him just enough of a mussed look that I felt my mouth dry as arousal flared within me.
He strode over to me and dropped a kiss to my forehead, carefully avoiding my artfully curled and styled hair. The lycan may be powerful, but I would place my money on Bonnie if he angered her by messing up her hours of work.
“I’ve got you something, lass,” he said, and with a flourish, revealed a thin white box.
“You didn’t have to,” I said with a smile as I took it from him.
He flopped himself down next to me, the bed bouncing from his weight. He propped his chin on my shoulder, watching me. “I wanted to. Just to say thank you.”
I slipped the top off the box off and my fingers flew to my lips as I saw the beautiful and delicate white gold bracelet nestled in black velvet. It was slender, understated, and pink diamonds sparkled in the light from where they were nestled between the golden filigrees.
“Thank you, Romulus,” I breathed out finally. I held my arm out towards him. “Help me put it on?”
The bracelet looked even smaller in the man’s large hands, and when he wrapped the chain around my wrist, it made me feel delicate. His hands dwarfed my wrist, but instead of intimidating me, it made me feel cherished.
This man, so brutal in the challenge ring, never hesitating to draw the blood of his enemies, touched me with the care and tenderness of a precious thing. He traced his fingers over my hand and I reached out to cup his cheek with my palm, guiding his forehead to mine in a mirror of our moment in Brom’s penthouse.
“Go raibh maith agat mo ghrá,” I whispered in the language of his ancestors. Thank you, my love.
“Mo chroí go deo,” he whispered against my lips before kissing me.
Romulus’s kisses were overwhelming in the greatest way possible. I wanted to lose myself in his touch, but a discreet cough from Hei-Sook made us pull back. He offered me a wry grin and I smiled back before he left me with a sigh.
“See you soon, Ella,” he said, his heated gaze lingering on me for a moment before he closed the door behind him.
“You know”—Hei-Sook’s voice was full of contemplation as she turned her gaze on me—“you’ve blown every expectation I had of you when I first saw you with those three.”
I remembered her warning, her explanation of who Brom, Romulus, and Merlin were in our world, and how quickly my fall from their grace could be.
“I think I exceeded my own expectations,” I said with a shrug.
She chewed on her lip, as if trying to decide to say something.
“What?” I asked, then winced as I realized how harsh it sounded.
The fox spirit came to sit where the lycan had, her hand resting over my wrist and the bracelet he’d given me. “I’m afraid for you, Ella. And in a way, I admit I’m afraid of you. You could burn the hearts out of us all, and we would be powerless to stop you. And if they leave you, what would that do to the world?”
I recoiled at the honesty in her words, and the meaning. “Are you saying you think they’re with me for the greater good?” I couldn’t look her in the eyes
, and I wanted to deny her. She hadn’t been there when they each, in their own way, dedicated themselves to me. I shouldn’t doubt their sincerity, but her words were seeded with truth. If they abandoned me, I would have no one to stand between me and the devouring flames of the phoenix.
She tugged me against her, hugging me tightly, and I held on to her, shaking. “No, my friend,” she murmured. “I have known those three for many years and I owe them much. But I have many ears in many places, and already the Syndicates plot against you. You, and their love for you, are anathema to their world. They will not spare you to live. And if they cannot strike you, they will strike them.”
“Then I burn them to ash,” I growled, a small lick of fire emerging from the darkness and filling me.
She pulled back, holding my shoulders as she held my eyes. “Yes, but if you lose control—you will set fire to the entire world.”
I couldn’t respond and she let me go. As she helped me into my gown, I was lost in my thoughts. The phoenix wanted to burn the world; it was gleeful in its hunger. And if the Syndicates, if Jupiter, took Merlin, Brom, and Romulus away from me, I knew what would happen.
Hei-Sook tied the mask’s ribbons behind my head, and I placed small spots of magic against the temples, adhering it to my face. I looked at myself in the mirror, dressed in a galaxy of stars, my eyes shining brightly from the center of solar flares, and I wondered to myself.
Would it be so bad to watch the world burn?
Chapter 13
Eleanora
The hall was abuzz with tension, the hushed sounds of intrigue, the pointed observations of the grand ballroom of the Bediver estate. I stood on the balcony above them, far enough back in the shadows that I wasn’t visible. Oh, certainly the vampires and various shifters could sense me, and perhaps the more powerful ones could in fact see me. But until I made my presence known, the elite of the magical underworld of the city milled around, sipping their champagne and speaking with one another as if this were simply another evening ball. If it weren’t for the underlying electric tension pulsing through the room, I would almost suspect they didn’t fear me.
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