Sinners at the Altar

by Olivia Cunning

  She squeezed his chilled fingers and smiled. “Yeah and it makes me happy that you feel that way.”

  Well, happy in a I don’t really want to do this but can’t refuse the man anything because he asks so little kind of way. Jace was the type who didn’t put his whole heart into many things—with the exception of his band and their music, his woman, his cat, and apparently the troubled romance of a couple who’d been dead for nearly five hundred years—so Aggie supposed she had no choice but to follow him to Queen Katherine’s tomb. On Halloween night. When the woman’s jealous spirit was pissed as hell at her.

  Chapter Eleven

  Jace entered the dimly lit tomb alone. Aggie hung back in the corridor, peering around with wide eyes. Now that Jace had come to terms with what was going on, he and Aggie had shifted roles. It was common for that to happen in their relationship, so he didn’t waste time pondering why Aggie was afraid of things that probably couldn’t hurt her and he was paralyzed by the things that could. The sight of that chandelier on the floor where Aggie had been standing split seconds before—and the very thought of losing her—had immediately put everything into perspective for him. Jace refused to let a pair of wayward souls endanger his woman or encroach upon what would be the happiest day of his life, so he was going to put an end to this nonsense right now. At least that’s what he told himself until a breeze swept into the room, causing the few lit candles around the perimeter of the tomb to sputter. He wondered if they burned candles in the tomb every night or if Halloween was a special occasion.

  “Jace!” Aggie whispered loudly. “Let’s go back to the ball. People are probably worried about us.”

  “Not until these two agree to leave us alone.”

  “They can’t follow us back to L.A., can they?”

  “It wasn’t likely,” he said, smirking at his shoes, “until you just told them where to find us.”

  “I refuse to be haunted the rest of my life,” Aggie said. She darted into the tomb and grabbed Jace’s hand, squeezing it hard enough for the pain to rob him of his breath.

  “Katherine, I know you’re in here. Come out and talk to us.”

  I won’t talk to her. Your whore. Did you wait until my body was cold before you took her to your bed, Thomas?

  Aggie glanced around curiously, her full lower lip trapped between her teeth, but didn’t seem upset. She obviously hadn’t heard Katherine’s insult; Aggie didn’t take shit from anyone. Not even queens or ghosts of queens.

  “You have me confused with someone else,” Jace said. “I’m not Thomas.”

  “Are you talking to her right now?” Aggie whispered.

  Jace nodded.

  “I can’t hear her.”

  “She said she doesn’t want to talk to you. She thinks you’re the one Thomas slept with after she died.”

  I know you slept with her. I saw you together in the cottage.

  Okay, a ghost watching them have sex was even weirder than when his cat decided to play captivated audience.

  “What did she say?” Aggie asked.

  “Uh… She… well…” His cheeks burned with the heat of embarrassment. It quickly spread to both ears. “…saw us together.”

  Aggie lifted an eyebrow at him. “Saw us together? When?”

  His cheeks flamed hotter.

  “In the cottage this afternoon?”

  He is mine! Katherine’s voice roared through Jace’s head.

  Aggie stiffened. “Okay, I heard that.”

  “She thinks I’m Thomas.”

  “Probably because he’s latched on to you for some reason,” Aggie said. “Is he with you now?”

  Jace went still and listened, hoping for the first time to hear those weird voices in his head. Jace’s shrink would have a field day with the entire experience. If he ever told him about it. He hadn’t been to therapy in ages, no longer felt a need for it. Strange that he’d consider it now.

  “I think he’s gone. I haven’t sensed his presence since we were in the garden. It seems he’s more afraid of facing Katherine than we are.”

  “I’m not afraid of her.” Aggie grabbed Jace by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him close so she could take his mouth in a deep, passionate kiss. At first he was too stunned to push her away and then, as the heat between them escalated, he didn’t want to. His arms circled her back and drew her closer as his lips and tongue met hers.

  The sounds of sobs echoed through Jace’s head, growing fainter until he could no longer hear them.

  “You two seriously aren’t going to do it in a tomb, are you?” a soft voice said behind them. “I have a taste for the macabre myself, but that’s pretty hardcore, even for you, Ice.”

  Jace stiffened. He’d purposely been avoiding Starr—Fire—since Aggie had told him they’d once been lovers, but there was no way out of the tomb except the way they’d entered, and Starr happened to be standing in the doorway.

  Aggie tugged her mouth from Jace’s. “I hadn’t planned to take it that far,” she said to Starr, and then lowered her voice to a whisper, “but if we’re trying to upset a jealous ghost, I think that would do it.”

  “I don’t want to upset her any more than we already have,” Jace said quietly, hoping Starr wouldn’t overhear. Aggie knowing that he was being haunted was one thing. Starr knowing it was entirely different. “I want her to find peace, even if it’s with a philandering traitor who abandoned his own child and put his ambitions before his family.”

  What would you have me do? Thomas’s voice echoed through Jace’s head. I would have gladly laid down in the grave beside her and died to spare myself the last miserable months of my existence.

  “He’s back,” Jace whispered. “I can hear him again.”

  Aggie released Jace and turned to Starr. “Were you looking for me or did you just happen upon me making out with my fiancé in a tomb by accident?”

  Starr grinned. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have interrupted. Looked as if it were about to get interesting.”

  “You have no idea,” Aggie muttered.

  “I wasn’t looking for you—just trying to avoid that tall whack-job who keeps asking me to autograph things—but I’m glad I found you. I don’t have anyone to talk to but you.”

  Jace snorted. Eric was a whack-job, but he couldn’t believe Eric would actually hound Starr for autographs. On second thought, he could totally believe it.

  “I thought you had a thing for Dare Mills,” Aggie said.

  “Oh, I do. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a thing for me.” Starr scratched her ear and met Jace’s eyes before swinging her gaze back to Aggie. “Can we talk?” This time she gave Jace a pointed look. “Alone?”

  “Anything you need to say to me, you can say in front of Jace,” Aggie said.

  Starr shook her head. “You don’t want him to hear this. This is about that thing you’re trying to pretend didn’t happen.”

  “Do you mean our past sexual relationship?” Aggie asked bluntly.

  Starr’s eyebrows shot toward her hairline. “Uh, I thought you didn’t want him to know.” She nodded toward Jace.

  “I told him. Because someone gave enough hints to make him question my relationship with you. And someone is giving enough hints now that if the first round hadn’t tipped him off, this encounter certainly would. Why are you doing this, Starr?”

  “You’re okay with marrying a lesbian?” Starr directed the question at Jace.

  “I’m not marrying a label. I’m marrying Aggie and everything that comes with her—past, present, and future.”

  Starr shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Now isn’t that touching?”

  “Don’t make me regret asking you to be here for me,” Aggie said. “I’ve been trying to hold on to pieces of my old life so I never forget where I came from, but maybe it’s time to let all that go.”

  Jace stared at Aggie in disbelief. She wasn’t serious was she? Her past had made her the woman she was—the woman he loved. Would she change into something unrecognizab
le if she let it go?

  Aggie chuckled. “Of course that would mean admitting my mother was right and that ain’t never gonna happen. So why are you really here, Starr?”

  “I just came to check on you. If you need to talk to someone about the way he treats you, I’m all ears.”

  “The way he treats me?” Aggie swiveled her head in Starr’s direction. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I just know how guys treat women like us. We are alike—you and I—and men see us a certain way. They treat us a certain way. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about, Aggie.”

  Jace saw very few similarities between Aggie and Starr, so he wasn’t sure why Starr insisted they were lumped in the same category.

  “Oh my God, Starr,” Aggie bellowed. “Are you fucking kidding me? You know he doesn’t treat me like his slut. I’d never put up with that bull. Now stop being a jealous bitch and pull your shit together.”

  Starr’s jaw dropped, and for a moment Jace thought he was going to have to break up a cat fight, but then Starr laughed.

  “You’re right,” she said and shook her head, sending her dangling earrings swaying. “You are right. I’m jealous. I am. I admit it. And I’m not jealous of Jace for winning you. I could have had you if I’d wanted you. I’m jealous of you for finding someone to accept you the way he does. Christ, he saved your life tonight, Aggie. Did you even thank him?”

  Aggie glanced at Jace, who suddenly wished he was invisible. He didn’t need her thanks. He was just glad she hadn’t been hurt.

  “Thanks, baby,” Aggie said and placed a rather platonic kiss on his cheek.

  “It was nothing.”

  “It wasn’t nothing,” Starr said. “I don’t have anyone who would stick their neck out for me like that.”

  Jace tilted his head to the side. “I would.” He’d have shoved a perfect stranger out of harm’s way. It wasn’t a big deal.

  “You would?” Starr squeaked.

  “Of course he would,” Aggie said. “I’m not sure what you’re so worked up about.”

  “Do you know how fucking rare it is to find a man like him, Ice?”

  Aggie nodded and turned her head to look at Jace. “Yeah, I do. And that’s why I’ll never let anything come between us. Not you or anyone else; living or dead.”

  The redhead is exceptionally attractive, Thomas’s voice sounded through Jace’s head unexpectedly. Do you think I could have a go at her?

  “Where do you find a guy like him?” Starr asked. “You wouldn’t happen to have a brother, would you, Jace?”

  Jace shook his head, answering Thomas and Starr simultaneously. But he did have an annoying ghost Starr was welcome to have.

  “Let’s go back to the party,” Aggie said. “People probably think we’re fighting.”

  “Most of them know better,” Jace said.

  Aggie laughed. “Yeah, most of them probably think we bailed early so we could spend time dancing between the sheets rather than on the dance floor. No telling what Eric told them we were up since he was the one who checked on us.”

  He’d love to be alone with Aggie dancing between the sheets. Unfortunately, they weren’t alone no matter where they went while at the castle. And Jace sure didn’t want Thomas and Katherine yelling in his head when he was pouring his heart out to Aggie the next day. The ghosts had to go and he had to be the one to make them leave.

  “You two head on back,” he said. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  Aggie’s eyebrows drew together. “What’s going on?”

  Jace chuckled. “Voices in my head.”

  Starr gave him an odd look, but Aggie nodded before kissing him gently. “Don’t keep me waiting too long. I don’t want anyone thinking I murdered you and buried you in the garden.”

  He grinned. “I won’t.”

  He watched her walk away with Starr, and then he sat on the ledge of Queen Katherine’s tomb.

  “You still there, Thomas?” He spoke to the stone floor.

  I am.

  “Go after her. Go after Katherine. Don’t hesitate. Go now.”

  She doesn’t want me.

  “She waited for you for five hundred years. She wants you. She loves you. But you hurt her, so you have to fix it. You don’t want to spend eternity alone, do you?”

  A deep sorrow settled in Jace’s heart. He didn’t know if it was his sadness or Thomas’s. An eternity alone? And he’d once thought a life lived alone was unbearable. He couldn’t imagine spending all eternity alone.

  If I’d known I’d see her again, I wouldn’t have tried to forget her in the arms of other women. Kat was different. Kat saw me, the man beneath the scoundrel. She knew what I was and loved me anyway.

  “I have a woman like that,” Jace said.

  Treat her well.

  Jace nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

  He sat quietly for a moment, wondering if his best was really good enough for Aggie. Even with a lifetime of loving stretching before them, he wasn’t sure if that was enough time to give her all that she deserved. But if they could be together forever—beyond death—then maybe… Maybe she could come to realize the depth of his devotion.

  He couldn’t imagine the devastation that Thomas must have endured when Katherine died; first watching his child grow within her, seeing her hold that child, love that child, then watching her die days later, leaving them to carry on without her. Jace didn’t know that he’d have made the same decisions Thomas made—being unable to love the child they’d created—or if he’d have clung to and cherish the little piece of her left on Earth, but he knew that if he ever lost Aggie, his heart might as well stop beating.

  “You still there, Thomas?” Jace said.

  Yes.

  “Go tell Katherine what’s in your heart, man. Just tell her.”

  And if she doesn’t forgive me?

  “At least you tried.”

  Will you tell your lady what’s in your heart as well?

  “Tomorrow,” Jace promised. “When I marry her.” He would lay his heart at her feet and pray she didn’t stomp on it.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jace stirred. The sound of rain lashing against the windows was a muted lullaby that made finding consciousness a challenge. He slowly opened his eyes to be confronted by a direct blue-eyed stare. He flinched, releasing a gasp of surprise.

  “I’m not that scary in the morning, am I?” Eric asked with a wry grin.

  “Why are you staring at me like that?”

  “Trying to wake you with the power of my mind. Did it work?”

  Jace smacked him in the face with a pillow. “You are so fucking weird, Sticks.”

  “That’s a given.” He gripped the pillow between both hands, stood up straight so he was no longer leaning over the bed staring in Jace’s face, and shrugged. “Did you sleep well?”

  Jace stretched lethargically and grinned with contentment.

  “Good,” Eric said. “I thought you might like to know that your wedding starts in twenty minutes, he-who-sleeps-like-the-dead.”

  “What!”

  Jace kicked the tangle of covers aside and leapt from the bed, searching the cottage in a mixture of disorientation and panic. Eric was already dressed in his tux, and the clock on the fireplace mantel made it clear that Eric had not been joking about the time. It was a quarter till one in the afternoon. “Where’s Aggie?”

  “Somewhere getting ready with Rebekah and the rest of the women. They wouldn’t let me watch them dress. Can you believe it?”

  Jace dashed to the closet and pulled out the garment bag that held his tuxedo. He tossed it on the bed and yanked the zipper open. “Yeah, you perv. Most women think that’s creepy.”

  “They just don’t know what I’m missing.” He wet a finger and smoothed one eyebrow with it.

  Jace shook his head and laughed. “Once a perv, always a perv.”

  His highly polished black shoes tumbled out of the bottom of the bag, and he reached for his
slacks. He decided he didn’t have time for a shower. Good thing he’d taken one last night before he’d climbed into bed alone. No Aggie, but also no ghosts, thank God.

  “Takes one to know one. Rebekah made me feel better by promising that I could watch her undress later.”

  “Good thing you met that woman.”

  “And I say the same of you and Aggie. I guess there really is someone out there for everyone.”

  Jace hurried through dressing, one eye on the clock. “Why didn’t you wake me when you left this morning?”

  “I did. Several times. You said you were up. Aggie sent me to check on you since you hadn’t shown up yet. Good thing she did. Only you would sleep through your own wedding.”

  Jace didn’t remember Eric waking him at all. He had gotten to bed rather late. Once he’d made his way back to the ball—without Thomas infiltrating his thoughts—everyone had given him a hard time about trying to kill Aggie with a chandelier but chickening out at the last moment. His friends had strange senses of humor.

  “I suppose I don’t have time for caffeine.” Jace slipped the tuxedo jacket on and then sat on the edge of the bed to put on his socks.

  “No, but do take the time to brush your teeth. You don’t want to melt Aggie’s face off with your dragon breath.”

  Jace slipped on his shoes and darted toward the bathroom. Managing not to piss on his shoes while multitasking brushing his teeth and relieving his bladder, he went over his vows in his head. Forgetting what to say was not an option. Almost every person he knew would be there, but he figured he could get through it if he just kept his eyes on Aggie the entire time. Still, his stomach began to do its best impersonation of a roller coaster.

  “You can do this,” he said to his reflection as he dabbed some gel at the ends of his bleached-blond tips to spike them haphazardly.

  He gargled a bit of mouthwash and washed his hands. He ran a hand over his jaw and winced. His beard stubble was a little longer than he normally kept it, but he didn’t have time to trim it. Damn it, why hadn’t he woken sooner? Aggie would be furious with him if he was late. And as much as he’d enjoy her punishing him, he did not want to disappoint her.