Wicked Wish (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 2)

by Megan Montero

  He narrowed those burning sapphire eyes at me. “Mine now.”

  His wings shot from his back and a gust of wind blew into my face. He pulled those black oily wings in and with a single pump shot straight up into the air into the night sky.

  Crap, crap, shit, damn it, no. What the hell am I going to do? Fu—

  “Astrid.” Aidenuli’s voice snapped me to attention. “We’ll be in touch.”

  Then one by one the Fallen took off through the roof of my father’s apartment, leaving me alone with Beckett, Cross, Zinnia, and Tuck. An involuntary groan left me and my lips trembled. A ball formed in my throat and I felt an ugly cry coming on.

  Magic seeped all around Zinnia and she held her hand out toward me then curled it into a fist and pressed her lips into a hard line. “Astrid, learn your freaking control!”

  She turned and out the door she went with Tucker hot on her heels. There was no walking away from this, no forgiveness for this. I’d exposed magic to the world and the rulers of Evermore responded quickly and harshly. Beckett opened his mouth and I could tell he was about to give the tongue lashing I deserved, but I didn’t have it in me to take any more.

  I held my hand up, silencing him. “I know what you’re about to say.”

  “No, you don’t.” He put his hands on his hips. “How could you do this, Astrid? How could you be so irresponsible? I get not wanting to live under my thumb but this?” He threw his hands up.

  His voice dripped with disappointment and it broke the dam of emotions I’d been holding in. Tears streamed down my face and I didn’t bother to hide them. “I know you expected more. Hell, I expected more.” I sucked in a sobbing breath. “But can we just, can we just go? I can’t handle seeing you look at me like that.”

  His brow furrowed. “Like what?”

  “Like you wish I weren’t me. Like you wish I didn’t exist in your world. You know what the shitty part is?”

  He hesitated. “What?”

  “Sometimes I wish it weren’t me either so it all could be easier for you too.” I shook my head and let my tears fall down my cheeks and drip from my chin. The ball in my throat burned and I just let it. “Can, can I please go home? Wherever that is.”

  His eyes widened and he stepped to the side. He swept his arm toward the portal. I let my shoulders hunch over and the wracking sobs take me. I trudged toward the blue pool of magic all the while looking at the destruction I’d caused. All I really wanted in that moment was for him to hug me and tell me it would all be okay. Instead, I was completely and utterly alone . . .

  Chapter 37

  Beckett

  I fell back onto my bed and groaned. Astrid moved out and in the three days she’d been gone she managed to destroy a penthouse, expose magic, piss off the Fallen and Zinnia. I pressed my palms to my eyes and rubbed them so hard I’d explode an eyeball if I didn’t stop. That was all nothing compared to how she’d looked at me. She thought I wished she weren’t the Lockwood heir, that I didn’t want her here. When the truth was she was the only one I wanted near me. She plagued my days and my dreams. But I didn’t know what to do to fix any of this or to help my soul mate. I curled on my side and let my eyes drift shut. If there was just something I could do.

  I fell in blackness. I reached out yet felt nothing at my fingertips. I summoned my magic to light the way . . . nothing. The only sound in the room was my own ragged breaths and something . . . faint. I took a cautious step toward it. I held both my hands out, hoping I wouldn’t smash into something. There it was again, a sob in the darkness. I didn’t know who or what it was, but the sound lashed me down to my soul. I moved quicker now, taking one step at a time toward the sound. A dim light shone and I hurried toward it, running down a dark corridor. The closer I came, the louder the sobs became and I knew it was her.

  I sprinted headlong into the darkness. That beacon of dim light grew bigger until finally I walked into a plain black room. A single bed sat in the middle of the room and there on top of the thick comforter lay Astrid. She was curled on her side with her back to me. Shudders wracked her body and her little sobs were like an arrow to my heart.

  “Shhhh, Astrid, shhh.” I didn’t hesitate. I climbed into the bed and curled by body around hers. She was so small, so fragile. I pulled her closer so her back was flush up against my chest. “Shhhh, my girl, it’s okay.”

  “I-it’s not okay.” She cried harder. “You hate me.”

  Her words sent a sharp pain through me that sucked the breath right from my lungs. I ran the back of my fingers over her cheek. “How could I possibly hate you?”

  “You do, don’t lie to me about it.” The more she sobbed, the more the bed shook beneath us.

  I pressed a kiss to her temple and to the back of her neck. “No, my girl. I could never hate you.”

  She curled into a tighter ball like she was protecting her heart from me. “I am so sorry for everything.”

  Every tear that dropped from the corner of her eye was a slap to my face. “I know you are.”

  “Can you just . . . stay here with me for a moment longer?” Her voice was so small, pleading.

  In that moment nothing could’ve dragged her away from me. I had to be there for her, to help her through this. I wrapped my arm around her and held her tighter to me. “For as long as you need.”

  Her small hand curled around mine and she threaded our fingers together. “Thank you.” She pressed a kiss to the back of my fingers. “I just need you.”

  I lowered my lips over her ear and whispered, “I need you too.”

  Chapter 38

  Astrid

  “One scoop of strawberry, a scoop of chocolate, and three scoops of vanilla.” I grabbed the can of whipped cream from the fridge and headed back to my bowl of feelings. I turned the can upside down and filled that sucker to the brim with whipped goodness.

  Tilly walked by and grabbed the spoon out of my hand. “You cannot drown your sorrows with whipped cream and a layers of ice cream at ten o’clock in the morning.”

  “Hey! I was eating that.” I wrapped my arm around the bowl and marched over to the drawer full of utensils. I yanked it out and they clanged and rattled against each other. I snatched up the biggest spoon I could find and walked out of the kitchen.

  Tilly was hot on my heels. “Don’t you dare get back in that bed.”

  I marched up the stairs toward the entrance of our room. “I’m just going to have a little nap.”

  “Dude, no, you can’t just lie here. You have to go to class. I know I messed up both of us, but we have been through worse.” She stomped along behind me as I turned down the hall of portraits.

  I stopped in front of Gregor. “I don’t plan on lying here forever. But I need another day, okay?”

  “Fine!” Tilly hooked her finger in the back of the frame and flipped the button. “Go wallow then. But I am not going to sit here and watch you do it.”

  I shrugged. “Great, while you’re out . . . goldfish. I’d really love some goldfish.”

  “Why don’t you do yourself a favor and use your little powers to make some?”

  I spun around to face her. “You know my powers and I are on a break.”

  “Riiigghhhttt, like Ross and Rachel.” She rolled her eyes. “You can’t avoid using them forever.”

  I spun back around and stepped into the hallway. “Not forever, just a bit.”

  “I can’t even with you right now.” The portrait slid shut behind me and I took the steps one at a time all the way down. The bowl was cool in my arms and I wanted nothing more than to dig into it. When I got to the bottom of my steps, I glanced up at my bed and my jaw dropped along with the bowl.

  It clattered at my feet. Ice cream fell across my toes and whipped cream shot up into my face. I ran my hand over my cheek to brush some of it away. “Aidenuli?”

  He didn’t move, just sat on the foot of my bed staring at Tilly’s bed. Odin sat as still as a statue, staring back at him. Neither of them moved or spoke. I picke
d up the hem of my T-shirt and ran it over my face to get the rest of the whipped cream. Though I was pretty sure there was some caked in the bun on top of my head.

  I tiptoed forward. “Umm, Aidenuli? Hello?”

  He jerked back and arched an eyebrow at Odin. “Interesting pets you keep.”

  “He’s a good cat.” Did he know what Odin was? Crap, he can hear me. You can hear me lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala.

  He held his hand up. “Okay, stop. That is not what I’m here for.”

  “Then why are you here?” I suddenly felt so awkward talking to him while wearing my pajamas and not my cute pajamas. These were my wallowing, bad day pajamas. The ones that were fuzzy but ugly as sin. I turned my head to the side and took a quick sniff of my shirt. I didn’t think I smelled.

  Aidenuli snapped his fingers and Beckett stood in the middle of the room with nothing but a pair of jeans that hung so low on his narrow hips I could see every muscle in his stomach, including that delicious V shape. Sweat coated his body and ran down his muscles like he’d been standing in the rain. His hair fell in damp tatters into his eyes.

  He spun in a circle. “What the hell was that?”

  “I brought you here.” Aidenuli rose to his feet to stand between us. “Things haven’t been going well for the two of you.”

  “I can do better, I swear. I just—”

  He held his hand up, silencing me. “You just like to be destructive and have a hard time following the rules. I can respect that. Rules in my opinion suck. Doesn’t change the fact that a war is coming our way and you’re not ready. And we need you to be ready.”

  Beckett looked me up and down and I knew he was seeing me at my worst. Hair in a knot at the top of my head, baggy dirty cloths, and makeup that’d been long since cried off.

  He sighed. “I know she hasn’t gotten off to a good start, but I have some ideas.”

  Aidenuli shook his head. “No offense but all of your ideas lately have sucked too. Astrid isn’t the type to be ruled over and we all know that. Which makes her a perfect warlock.”

  My jaw dropped. Was that a compliment?

  Aidenuli continued on, “But also you guys need to figure out how to work together without killing each other.”

  “What did you have in mind?” Beckett rolled his shoulders and glanced at me. “Hi.”

  “Um, hi?” What was happening?

  “Are you okay?” His eyes bore into mine and I didn’t know if he was really concerned or if I looked that bad.

  “I think so.”

  Aidenuli snapped his fingers. “Focus, teenagers.” We both turned to face him and he pulled a rolled up piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Beckett. “This is what Matteaus is calling a team building exercise.”

  Beckett took the paper from his hand. “A what?”

  “Team building. You two are the strongest warlocks in Evermore and it’s time for you to start acting like it. So this is your test. You pass and Astrid gets all of her power back, and, Beckett, you get to keep leading the heirs.”

  I wanted it bad. I wanted the power Matteaus took from me. It was mine and I had to prove I deserved it Peter Parker style. “And if we fail?”

  “Matteaus is prepared to take more of your power to make you an average warlock student here at Warwick where you will continue your education but not join with the heirs. And Beckett will return back to Evermore Academy to help Zinnia as best as he can without the help of the warlocks in the war to come.” He shook his head. “I really hope you guys succeed because we need you.”

  Beckett unfurled the scroll and held it up. “Shit! The Greeks, really?”

  Aidenuli chuckled. “It’s what Matteaus wants. That scroll will help you get started. Astrid needs to learn control and Beckett needs to learn to be a better teacher.”

  I bit my bottom lip. “What do you mean the Greeks? Who are they? Why are you not happy about that?”

  Beckett rolled the paper back up and shoved it into his back pocket. “Get dressed, Astrid, we’ve got work to do. Meet me at my house in thirty minutes.”

  Aidenuli chuckled. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.”

  That did not sound good . . . none of this sounded good.

  Chapter 39

  Astrid

  I took a deep breath and stepped up onto the porch. My hair was still damp from the quickie shower I took and I wasn’t sure what kind of mission we were going on, but I decided on combat boots, ripped up jeans, and a black turtle neck. I lined my eyes with dark liner in hopes it’d just blend in with the bags. I was wracked with dreams I couldn’t control, which wasn’t making sleep any easier. It was like my subconscious was giving me my deepest desires the only way I could get them, through my dreams. I lifted my hand and knocked on the door in three quick raps.

  Logan swung the door wide-open. “What happened? Why are you knocking?”

  Beckett walked past the door, absently looking at the scroll in his hand. “Because she thinks she doesn’t live here anymore.”

  “That’s funny. I always thought she was welcome here.” Logan stepped back from the door and held it open for me.

  “She is,” Beckett called from the sitting room. “She just thinks she’s not.”

  I stepped over the threshold and walked into the sitting room where he was. “Maybe we could stop talking about me like I’m not here.”

  Logan swung the door shut. “Yeah, I’ve got a date to get ready for.”

  “You’re not staying?” I hesitated in the foyer, waiting for the others to join us.

  Another light knock came and this time a broad smile spread across Logan’s face. “I am not.”

  He was more clean-cut than usual with his crisp white button-down shirt, and his black dress pants hanging perfectly from his hips. He smoothed his hand over his hair then grabbed the door and opened it once more. “Angel, hi.”

  A girl my age walked through the door and Logan beamed. I didn’t realize the heirs had time to date, but here he was thrumming with excitement. She was pretty, with a willowy figure. She stood a few inches taller than me at five-foot-six and her hair held the color of a true redhead. It was shades lighter than my nearly black. Light freckles were sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. She was cute down to her delicate face and button nose.

  She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Hi.”

  “Astrid, this is Angel.” He motioned between the two of us. “Angel, this is Astrid Lockwood.”

  Her baby blues went wide. “It’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you.”

  I extended my hand out toward her. “Don’t believe everything you hear. I’m not as bad as people think.”

  A giggle escaped her lips. “Oh please, nobody believes what the Kalarooks have to say. But I think some of your feats are badass.”

  “Oh really?”

  “For sure. The time you got a plant to eat them, the time you ascended, the time you told off the council, and my all-time favorite that time you were on the beach and took out all those rogue warlocks.” She slapped her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I just have this perfect recall thing and sometimes I can’t stop myself.”

  “Perfect recall?”

  “Yeah, I can remember everything that has ever happened around me. And if I read it, there’s no forgetting it.”

  Logan wrapped his arm around her hip and pulled her closer into his side. “Angel is top of the class this year. She’s brilliant.”

  Her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink and I smiled at her. “Now who’s the impressive one?”

  It was so sweet between the two of them, so simple. He liked her and she liked him. He asked her out and she accepted. Is that so freaking hard? They smiled at each other and in that moment the little green-eyed jealousy monster clawed its way into my stomach. Not everyone was as lucky to have what they had. The excitement of new love, not the torture of having a love they couldn’t keep.

  Angel blushed even deeper and Logan beamed down at h
er. “You ready to get going?”

  “Yeah.” She turned back to me. “It was really nice meeting you, Astrid.”

  “Nice meeting you too.” I watched as they walked arm in arm out the door, laughing as they strolled down the sidewalk in the chilly sun. I grabbed the door and pushed it closed a little too hard.

  Beckett’s head snapped up. “Something wrong?”

  You’re an idiot. “Nope.”

  “Good, so I was looking at the scroll and I think I know where our first trip is.” He rolled the scroll out onto the coffee table between the two couches. I walked over and sat down next to him.

  The couch dipped beneath me and my shoulder brushed his. He stiffened but didn’t move away. I leaned over the scroll and pointed to the writing and read out loud.

  “If control is what you seek, face those named Greek.

  Choices must be made, to earn the token to be paid.

  A consort of death she won’t be denied, flow her way by river side.

  A crown you must claim, to face the brothers to be tamed.

  Look not with eyes but with thy heart, for love tears the soul apart.

  Face these challenges three, and present the prize on bent knee.

  Say these lines with a spin, and your final fate will begin.”

  “So all I have to do is say these while I spin?” I rose to my feet.

  Beckett slammed his hands down on my shoulders. “Don’t do it unless you are ready to go right now.”

  “Aren’t you ready to go?”

  He shook his head. “We need to think about this and what we need to prep for.”

  “Pretty sure I can summon anything we will need. But if you want to wait . . .” I let my words trail off. I wanted to fix what I messed up and to earn my way back into this world.

  “I can only think of one place we’d go if we were to court death.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “The underworld.”

  He turned away from me and began pacing in front of the fireplace. “I can’t believe he turned to the Greeks. Everyone knows Matteaus can’t stand most of them.”