She stifled a pained flinch as she lifted her hands over her head. “Off, please.”
I grabbed the hem of her shirt. Do not look down. Do not look down. I locked eyes with her and yanked her shirt up and over her head with one quick movement. I can do this. My eyes bore into hers. Tension pulsed between us. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, close your eyes.”
I shut them tight, wanting to do at least this right for her. I’d messed up by calling her just my friend in front of the others when she was so much more. I felt her small hand on my forearm. I stiffened, helping her to keep her balance. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just taking my bra off.”
Leave it to my brain to try and picture exactly what that looked like. I shook my head. Don’t go there. “Okay.”
“Just hold still.”
“Got it.” I wanted to whistle or hum or anything to take my mind off of the fact I was standing in a room with my soul mate naked in front of me for the first time . . . and I couldn’t look.
“Whoaaaaaa.” Astrid’s hand slipped from my arm and she tipped forward, falling into me.
I didn’t open my eyes, but I reached out, catching her so she wouldn’t fall. With her arm in one hand and something warm, soft, and firm in the other, I held her close. “Astrid?”
“Um, Beckett?”
“Yeah.”
“Does that feel like my arm to you?” She giggled.
I gave both my hands a squeeze. In one hand I definitely felt bone, but in the other was something soft and delicious. “Not really.”
“Then maybe you should, you know, not keep holding it.” She laughed out right.
“Shit.” I dropped that hand as if I’d burned her. I’m an idiot. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Oh, I know. How could you know? You’re being a perfect gentleman.” She guided me to the right toward where I pictured the bath. “I mean, all the queens were gone and who else could I trust with this? Maze? Cross?”
Over my dead body. I would kill them both. “No.”
She tilted to the side and the sound of sloshing water hit my ears. Then her weight shifted back and she went down even lower. When her hands fell away from mine, she signed. “You can open your eyes now.”
I looked at the ceiling. “You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
I drew my gaze down and took in Astrid lying back in the tub covered in bubbles. Only her knee and head peeked out from within the bubbles. Everything else was covered. “You look . . .”
“Like crap? I know.” She ran her hand over her face, washing away some of the dirt smudges from her cheek.
“I was going to say lovely.”
She smiled up at me. “I’ve never been this sore in my life.”
“I know. It’s like every muscle in your body has been ripped apart and put back together.” I took a step back toward the door. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“Beckett?”
I hesitated. “Yeah?”
“Can you stay for a few mins longer?” She bit her bottom lip. “I just want some company. I almost died and I don’t want to be alone right now.”
“I’ll stay with you.” Always. I swallowed around the ball in my throat.
If I had lost her, I didn’t know what I would do. Life would never be the same now and whether or not we were together, I wanted her here with me. I walked back toward the tub and sat on the floor across from her. All I could see was her dark locks hanging over the side of the tub and her delicate face. Her features were so beautiful, with her small pert nose and too full lips. Her wide emerald eyes stood out against her pale skin. She slid under the water and came back up. Her hair was soaked and clung to her face. She ran her fingers through it then twisted it into a knot at the top of her head. I grew entranced watching her running her fingers through those strands. Everything about her was distracting, so much so that we sat in silence for long moments before she spoke.
“Did it hurt?”
I shook myself. “Did what hurt?”
“Did I hurt you when my powers came out? The others, they looked like they were in rough shape. Especially Zinnia.” She bit her bottom lip.
“It wasn’t easy, but no, I wasn’t hurt.” I lifted my knee and rested my arm across it. The same arm where, if I hadn’t been wearing a glamour, would show my soul mate mark. Those two perfect lines running next to each other with two small circles intersecting.
“Can I ask you a question?” She lifted her arm and let it rest on the side of the tub.
My eyes locked on the lingering bubbles on her skin and I watched as each of them popped and faded to nothing, revealing more of her skin to me. “Yes.”
“I thought I saw a mark on my wrist earlier.”
My heart shot into overdrive. I thought I’d glamoured it before she could see it. I forced my voice to be steady. “What kind of mark?”
“I don’t know, it was like two black lines, one thicker than the other, running around my wrist almost like a tattoo. Do you know what it was or is? Sometimes I kind of think it’s still there even though I can’t see it. Does that sound crazy?”
“Not crazy at all.” Be cool, be casual . . . lie. I waved my hand and let the glamour drop from her wrist.
She sucked in a breath and held it up to me. “How did you do that?”
“I glamoured it earlier.”
“What’s a glamour?” She examined the two little circles, tracing them with the tip of her finger. Would she trace the one on my wrist too? I wanted her too.
I could almost picture lying next to her while she did it. “It’s a kind of magic to hide things. You can do anything from little tricks like change your hair color to big things like hide an entire building.”
“Okay, so why are you hiding this mark on my wrist? What does it mean?” She held it out to me to let me look.
Oh, I have looked at it. All night long. I’d thought about it and all the things I could’ve made up and the answer only came to me ten minutes before she slipped her little body down into that water. “I wanted to hide it so no one knew about it. It’s a tie to that orb Zinnia gave you. A tie to your magic if you will. But I don’t want anyone knowing that thing even exists. If they did . . .”
Her eyebrows rose with concern. “You think they’d go after it?”
I waved my hand and muttered the spell once more. The mark vanished from her wrist and part of me hated the fact it wasn’t there. The part of me that wanted to claim her for my own. The part I couldn’t give into. “I know they would.”
Chapter 12
Astrid
I expected Beckett to sneak a peek at something, but not one time did his eyes waver from mine or drift downward. Either he was a gentleman through and through, or he had no interest whatsoever in me. He dropped my robe on my shoulders and I quickly tied it around my waist. Then I turned to face him. Though I ached all over, I felt my strength returning quicker than I expected. “I’m surprised how much better I feel after the bath.”
“And your newfound power. I suspect it’s helping you heal faster.” He held his hand out to me. “Let’s get you to bed. At least for the rest of the day.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and the movement felt stiff. “Is that an order?”
“No, it’s a recommendation.” He held up his fingers, only an inch apart. “And maybe just a little bit of an order.”
He held his hand out to me. “To bed then?”
Yes, please? No, down, girl, down. I took his hand and let him guide me to my bed. He pulled the ball of covers off my bed and motioned for me to get in. I quickly lay down and huddled into my robe. Beckett raised the blanket up and over his head, then let the air catch it and drift down over me. “Thank you for helping me out. You didn’t have to.”
“I wanted to.” He sat at the foot of my bed. “Astrid, now that your powers have come, we’re going to have to step up your training.” Locks of his blond hair fell into his eyes. I wanted to reach out and brush
them back, but I lay still as stone. When he looked at me like that, all soft with concern, I felt myself wanting to do whatever he asked.
My pillows were so warm and cushiony behind my head that I relaxed back into them. “I know.”
He rose to his feet. “I’ll go get your grimoire and maybe you can take a look at it later today after you’ve had more time to rest.”
“No need.” I held my hands out and pictured my family book within my grasp. The grimoire appeared right on top of my hands. I placed it on the bed in between us.
“Impressive.” He reached out and flipped the book open. His eyebrows rose and he turned them one after the other. “Ummm, Astrid, why are the pages blank?”
“What do you mean?” I leaned forward with my heart in my throat. We hadn’t come all this way for a blank book of nothing. I reached for the book and pulled it into my lap. Golden smoke poured from my hands the second my fingers touched the pages. They flooded with writing, pictures, and geometric shapes. “Holy crap. Is that supposed to happen?”
“When it comes to being a warlock, there are no rules.” He held his hand out. “May I?”
I dropped the book into his hands and the pages immediately went blank. “Maybe it’s some kind off protection.”
“Exactly.” He held it up to eye level, examining the weathered pages. They were an aged cream with spots of brown on them. When I reached out to take the book back, he held it away from me. “Hold on a sec. Let’s see if you can make them appear from there?”
“How?” I didn’t know if I was capable of doing what he asked. My magic was operating on its own at this point. Control might be asking for a lot right after my ascension.
“You’re overthinking it.” He turned the book around to face me the way teachers did when reading to the class.
I held my hand up and called upon my magic. It rose like a tidal wave in me. Darkness crashed and I felt smoke pour from my hands. It seeped over the sides of my bed and up onto the book in Beckett’s hands. The pages glowed like the rays of sunshine, and Beckett closed his eyes against it. He turned his head away as the words flooded back onto the pages along with everything that’d been there before.
“Astrid, I think that’s enough.” He held the book away from his body. The muscles of his arms shook and he rose to his feet and held the book out in front of him while he lunged to keep his balance.
But I didn’t want to stop. It felt good to let the magic flow. My sourness disappeared, my energy increased, and I felt ready to take on anything. I smiled and watched as the pages flipped of their own accord. Each one filled then flipped to the next one.
“Astrid, stop!” Beckett shoved the book closed then threw his hand out. A pulse of blue magic pressed against my chest, like a gentle hand forcing me to lie back on my pillows.
I closed my hands and smothered my power. I sucked in a deep heaving breath and some of it still seeped from me, but I was back in control.
Beckett smacked the book together and tossed it onto the bed next to me. He hunched over with his hands on his knees and sucked in deep breaths. “That was interesting.”
I wanted to shy away from the power that’d exploded out of me so easily, but it was warm, comforting. I felt strong, almost unstoppable when I called upon it. “You told me to.”
“Control, Astrid. You need to learn control.” He tapped the cover of the book. “Time to start practicing.”
“Beck . . .” I wanted to tell him I was sorry, but I wasn’t really sorry.
He waved my words away as he stood up straight. “Get some rest and I’ll come back later.”
Before I could say another word, he walked toward the door and wrapped his hand around the knob. He paused and glanced at me over his shoulder. “Read and rest.”
So much for not being bossy. “Okay, boss.”
His back stiffened, but he didn’t say another word and simply walked out of the room. Just as I was about to open the book, Odin wiggled out from under the covers beside me. “That was intense.”
I pressed my hand to my head. “I know right.”
Odin lay down and spread out next to me. His voice was low and hissing. “I like him. He gave me this stuff called fried chicken last night. We’re now best friends.”
“Don’t you hop on the I love Beckett train.” I pulled the book into my chest and little puffs of smoke drifted from my hands.
He rolled over onto his back and extended his legs out. “Too late. Tomorrow I’m going to see if he’ll give me potatoes.”
“Potatoes? Cats don’t eat potatoes.”
“I am the wrong animal.” He sat up and started to lick his paw. “Ew.” Lick. “Yuck.” Lick. “Blah.”
“If you don’t like it, then why are you doing it?” I stifled the urge to laugh.
He put his paw down and flipped over to a sit. “Cat videos. I have to be a cat. Cats lick.” He jumped up onto my headboard and walked across the edge to my nightstand where he stood before my cell phone. “This buzzy thing buzzes a lot. I found it in the kitchen and brought it up here.”
“Thanks.” I grabbed my phone off the dresser and quickly punched in the code. “One hundred and thirty-two texts? Damn it.”
It’d been a little over a week since my birthday and I hadn’t talked to Tilly, not really. She was more than my best friend, she was my sister and I all but disappeared. I wanted to text her so bad and tell her about this place. About Warwick Academy, about Beckett, about nearly dying. At some point I was going to have to figure out a way to handle all this. I just didn’t want to lose her or lose us. She was the only family I had. No, wait, one text from my dad.
Hey, pumpkin, headed to Bora Bora for a week or two. Everything okay at school? They called a week ago and said you hadn’t been there.
“Way to be concerned about where I am, Dad.” I quickly hit my reply. Found a new Boarding School in CT. I’m loving it. Decided to stay. Have fun in Bora Bora. Xoxo- A
Those three little dots popped up and his response came a moment later. Okay, honey. Have fun.
That just wasn’t normal. Weren’t parents supposed to, I don’t know. Care? He spent most of my life in court rooms around the country and leaving me to my own devices. But just one time I’d like him to show some concern. But without him being absent I never would’ve gotten so close to Tilly. I sighed and moved to the next set of texts . . . Tilly.
There were exactly one hundred and twenty-two messages from her. The last one ended in, I have a certain skill set I have acquired over the years. Skills that come in handy for these types of situations. I will hunt you down and I will find you . . . watch your back, hooker. I’m coming.
We had officially reached Defcon-Tilly. She was going to kill me when I finally did see her. I opened up the text and started to type out some kind of lame excuse, but we were beyond that now and I had no idea what to say, so I went with the simplest answer I could.
I knew I shouldn’t have let you watch that movie. I hit send.
The bubbles appeared right away. Human trafficking is a real thing, Astrid. It’s a real thing. You could be dead in a ditch somewhere texting me in your ghost form. Are you a ghost?!?
Definitely not a ghost. I wanted to tell her I was a warlock, but I couldn’t. Those bubbles appeared on her end once more and I just wanted to hit that call button. Instead, I sent a quick text. GTG, text later, good luck on the hunt . . .
My phone buzzed with more messages, but I couldn’t do this. I knew avoiding her wasn’t the answer, but until I figured out what the answer was, I needed to step back. I wanted to keep her safe and this world, hell I, was dangerous to be around. Instead, I opened up a text thread to the only girl I could actually talk to.
Sooooo I ascended last night.
At the top of the screen with two little snake emojis was Medusa’s name. She replied instantly. OMG!!! That’s exciting. Was Beckett there? I bet he was.
Yeah, he was there . . . I almost died. I still don’t feel great.
My FaceTime immediately began to ring and I hit the little green button, accepting the call from Medusa. “Hey.”
She held the phone so close to her face then smacked one of her snakes out of the way. “Oh, honey, you do look like death. Are you okay?”
I cleared my throat. “Yeah, I survived.” I pressed my hand to my head. “Barely, I put a hole in the ceiling and nearly destroyed Beckett’s house.”
“Bet he wasn’t mad, was he?” She wagged her eyebrows at me.
“He didn’t seem mad. He even helped me . . .” I lowered my voice. “Take a bath.”
A high-pitched squeal came through the phone. “Oh . . . my . . . god. Did he sponge off your back?”
“Nooooo.”
“Your front? Girl, you are naughty!” The picture on the phone moved like Medusa was walking around her cave. Then she jumped and flopped back on her bed.
I shook my head. “No, he didn’t even look. I’m one hundred percent sure he’s not even the littlest bit interested.”
“Girl, you are not seeing what I saw. He was probably just trying not to pop a boner. It would be frowned upon if he did.”
I pulled my blankets up and curled on my side. “I’m not sure and to top it all off I can’t even talk to my best friend, who’s more like a sister. I just miss her.”
“What’s this friend’s name again?” Medusa tickled one of her snakes under its chin then pushed it away.
“Ugh, Tilly. And she’s so upset with me and I can’t leave here. I could really hurt someone with this new crazy power I have.”
“You couldn’t hurt me.”
“I’m sure I could. I’ll probably be locked in this place for the rest of my life.” I gave a humorless chuckle.
“Nah, Gregor used to come here all the time and mess around with that book of his.” She sat up straight and squealed. “Did you unlock the book?”
I turned my phone and gave her a shot of it sitting on the bed next to me. “It’s right here.”
“Oh, Astrid, this is going to be fantastic! You should bring it here and we can mess around with it.”
Wicked Wish (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 2) Page 5
