Rise of the Magi

by Jocelyn Adams

  “Your instincts are that way for a reason. Listen to them.”

  “I will not abandon my people, no matter the cost to me, and you can’t either. I haven’t come this far to walk away now because I’m scared or because of my maternal instincts. If we fall, then all of us fall. What would be the point of running when Garret wouldn’t have a world to grow up in?”

  Breath shuddering, Liam grabbed my face and pressed his forehead to mine. “I hate this,” he whispered against my lips before crushing his down on mine. Deep and desperate, his mouth explored my lips, my face, and grazed my throat. An explosion of tingles consumed me from everywhere he touched. Fingers kneading my arm, he rolled me closer, making little needful sounds low in his throat.

  When he started tugging at my clothes, I shoved him back.

  “Not that again,” he said, “I need you. I need to touch you, be touched. I need to love you.”

  I shrugged. “Sorry. It just feels weird now that he’s becoming more aware. And besides, we have stuff to do.”

  Liam’s breath came out in a huff. “There are still a few hours before we have to go to Windsor, and you’re wound up tighter than a hyper kid’s crank toy. I’ve been wanting to try something, anyway, and it’ll give us both what we need right now. Do you trust me?”

  “Always.” It came out so fast, and without even a shred of hesitation, I shocked myself. Judging by Liam’s grin, I’d surprised him, too. Since we’d had so much distrust between us in the past, that admission was proof we’d come a long way in our relationship.

  Giving in to my desire to be close to him for a few minutes, I relaxed. “What are you going to try?” It wasn’t like we didn’t explore the full spectrum of activities in the bedroom—very colorful, energetic, blush-inducing activities. I couldn’t imagine there being anything other than what we’d already done.

  The air crackled and fizzed as Liam transformed into pure Light, a whitish blue glow that warmed my face like a kiss of moonlight on a summer’s eve. I could follow the outline of his fine body if I squinted hard enough.

  At first, he simply passed his hand over my exposed skin, the tiny hairs lifting to greet him. Tingles raced across my throat and down my chest to my belly where they burrowed deeper. I closed my eyes, savoring the tantalizing contact. A tug of his fingers relieved me of my shirt, and another of my yoga pants and underwear, leaving me bare to him. His touch deepened somehow, like deep tissue massage, only more. Delicious and warm. My breath quickened. My muscles softened into languid goo as he invaded me completely. His energy disappeared into my body and fused with mine.

  The intensity brought moans to my lips. To be so full of him, so completely joined, I couldn’t distinguish where he ended and I began. Two minds became one. Twin joy. Twin pleasure. Twin sorrow. There was something so soothing, erotic, and consuming about it, I couldn’t resist opening myself completely to his thoughts, his desires, to be devoured and loved by him. Couldn’t think about anything but what he wanted me to do. To relax. To find a moment of peace in his aura. I surrendered.

  The world slipped away as Liam slid through me like silk over velvet. There were no secrets between us, but if there had been, he would have known them all with the depth of his exploration of me. Pressure built within. Not just in the usual place but everywhere. The beginnings of a full body earthquake began in my chest and ripped out to every corner, tearing a cry from my lips at the exquisite pleasure. His sound echoed mine within my thoughts as he shared the aftershocks with me. It wasn’t an orgasm but something much grander in scale and far more delicious.

  Panting, I whimpered as he left me, and re-solidified on the bed. His absence induced cold emptiness inside me, a void only he could fill up with his solid heat. My head lolled to the side, which was all I could manage given my liquid state.

  A satisfied smile lit his whole face as he peered down at me with shimmering eyes. Lips playing along my brow, he said, “Better?”

  “How did … where …” I smacked myself in the forehead. “Brain no worky.”

  The dark chuckles that escaped him tickled my spine until I giggled. “Well, if I’d known I’d get that kind of reaction I’d have done that a long time ago,” he said.

  “Where did you learn that?” I rolled into him, burying my face in his neck to inhale his sweet, masculine musk.

  “Since you did it to me when you went searching for my Light, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. A little intense, isn’t it?”

  “Intense. That’s the understatement of the effing century.” For a few minutes, I enjoyed the euphoria, the closeness, and let myself bask in the fantasy that everything was wonderful. Everything was peaceful. Liam and I were together at last, about to become parents, and life would go on happily until the end of our days.

  As my brain function returned, I remembered what the rest of the day held. Nothing better than a little end of the world talk to spoil the mood. “I need to go.”

  He groaned and tilted my chin up, gracing my lips with a kiss so tender and full of promise I didn’t want to move. Ever. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had to say that to one another. And I know you have to. It just about kills me to have you out of my sight now.”

  I knew the feeling but didn’t bother to verbalize it since the fizzy popping inside my head let me know he’d gone spelunking to make sure I hadn’t conjured a plan to play hero on him. “Heroics aren’t going to get us out of this one, babe. Nothing short of a Goddess-sized miracle will do that.” I wished with every corner of myself I could have stayed in bed with Liam and hear him call me his wife a few more times. God, I’d turned into such a sap.

  He rocked up to his feet abruptly, causing me to topple over as he stared down at me wearing a silly grin—as if both confused and happy about something. “You liked it when I called you my wife.”

  Damn. My cheeks heated as I rolled my rotund self out of bed and scrambled to find a shirt. Anything so I didn’t have to show him how red I imagined my face to be. “Yeah. So what? That’s what I am, isn’t it?”

  “Come here.”

  Stooping to snatch up my pants, I said, “Nuh-uh. Busy. Stuff to do. You know, the world’s about to end again, blah, blah, blah. What else is new, right?”

  “I want to see my wife blush, because she’s so damned cute when she does.” His voice had gone bedroom husky, a tease to send my nerve endings into dancing fits.

  I snorted, unable to contain the laughter that came tumbling out. “Oh, fuck off and get dressed already before I pull my moves and kick the crap out of you. Don’t think I won’t just because you’re my baby’s daddy.”

  Just as I finished tugging my shirt over my head, Liam grabbed me and pressed his lips to mine, possessive, demanding, claiming me so completely it was as if he’d marked me. It wasn’t a sensation I would have imagined enjoying or accepting, but I did without hesitation. Mine. “Your scent is so thick on me right now, you’ll be with me all afternoon. Be careful, do you hear me?”

  I nodded, savoring the tingling in my swollen lips. I snuck in a few more pecks before hopping one-legged into my pink yoga pants and making for the door. Once there, hand on the knob, I turned. “I love you.”

  Instead of saying it back, he pushed his emotions out to me, raw and visceral, nearly flattening me with the profoundness of it. While I struggled to breathe, he smiled and pulled on black dress pants. Before I started blubbering like a baby at having to leave my security blanket behind, I raced off down the white hallway and took the transport down.

  Liam loved me in a way that made the tiny shred of a romantic that existed inside me cry. To save that, I’d have done just about anything. It gave me courage, more than I had on my own, and dammit, I didn’t care how much of a sap that made me.

  It was time to get to work. First stop: the Overseers.

  7

 
I stood in the grand hall, soaking in the serenity to chase away the dread in my bones. On either side of the thoroughfare, white columns rose from floor to high ceiling along the walls, stretching all the way to the gigantic wooden doors at the far end. Behind the columns, little alcoves jutted out, complete with window benches below stained glass where light from the liquid sky filtered through. I’d whiled away a few afternoons there, reading, my legs propped up on Liam’s lap while he massaged my feet and watched me with that hungry gaze of his. Half of the time, the book could have been upside down and I wouldn’t have noticed, too distracted by his touch and the utter peace his presence gifted me with.

  I stepped out into the day more determined than ever to come up with some answers. Brígh saved me the trouble of looking for her, as she sat on the bottom step of the castle waiting for me. Her pink T-shirt sported wrinkles and stains, as if the whole city had cried on her shoulder, and circles of dirt and grass stains decorated the knees of her light blue jeans. The hunch of her shoulders let me know her day hadn’t been any less shitty than mine.

  After a few moments of watching her eerie stillness, I descended and sat on the step beside her. A glance at her profile no longer reflected a girl of nineteen years, but a woman who’d seen too much horror to hold onto her innocence a moment longer. At some point, when I wasn’t looking, her youth had grown black wings and fled into the horizon. If it had been within my powers, I’d have given it back to her.

  Arms wrapped around her knees, Brígh gazed off into places I couldn’t imagine.

  “You okay?” I asked, knowing it was a stupid question.

  Without turning, she said, “I’m not sure what okay means anymore. Doesn’t the Goddess care about us? Is that why she didn’t bond us yet? Because she intends to let us get wiped off the face of the earth.” She balled her slender fingers on her lap. “This sucks.”

  My stomach gave a violent twist at the hopelessness in her voice. “Even though it’s hard to see right now, I think she wants us to fix this, and that’s what we’re going to do. I need you to keep an eye on our future and tell me when it changes.” If it changes. I stood and offered her my hand, needing to get something done. At least we had a starting point. “Are you ready for this?”

  She faced my proffered fingers—probably since I rarely offered—and slowly lifted her hand and grasped mine. “Yeah, but there’s somewhere we need to stop first. We have one more to add to our little raiding party, and you’re going to be pissed eight ways from Sunday about it.”

  When she didn’t elaborate, and evaded my attempts to lock glares with her, I jerked her closer. “Who could I possibly be pissed about bringing to the Overseers? Neve?” I shook my head as I considered why that might be. “I know she’s pregnant, but she can still handle herself.”

  Brígh strode away in the direction of the Court. “Oh, yeah, she’s badass, carrying or not. It’s not Neve, though.”

  Keeping pace with her, I picked off a few names of women I knew from our poker games and the members of my guard, growing more frustrated at each of her ‘nope’ answers. “You’re never cryptic with me. It’s one of the things I like best about you—that you’re so non-Gallagher-like. Quit jacking around the truth and spill it. Or else.”

  She blurted out a laugh. “Or else, what? Your threats are useless against me, Blondie, because I know you have a soft spot for me in that big heart of yours, even if you try to hide it from me.”

  Well, shit. She had me there.

  As we arrived at the gates to the Court, she swept her arm toward it. “Just go see for yourself. And just so you know, you might as well save your breath and spare us from your rant, because she comes. I’ve seen it.” The deadly seriousness in her faded blue eyes chilled me.

  My pulse limped for a moment before sprinting. “Wait … so you know what happens when we go there today?”

  She shook her head, candy ringlets bouncing with the motion. “Only that the three of us go. Once we get to their domain”—her hand made a chopping motion—“nada. Vision goes grey. Bitches don’t like anyone knowing what they’re doing in there, apparently.”

  I stood there for a moment, lips parted, working my brain to figure out who might be waiting inside the Court. “Why won’t you just tell—”

  “Quit stalling, and go see. And don’t you dare yell at me because this isn’t my choice, and I’ve had a shitty day.” A sheepish red glow lit up her cheeks. “Not that you haven’t, but … oh, just go, wouldja? This calm before your hissy storm is making me all skittery.”

  Hands gripping my hips, I shot her an indignant look. “I most certainly do not have hissy storms.”

  At Brígh’s face-palm, I rushed through the gate, and said, “Fine, going, Miss Bossy Pants,” and stopped dead at the pair who stood atop the knoll in the center, gazes cast toward the spirits. Maeve’s eyes dripped a stead rhythm of tears onto her flushed cheeks. Her shock of orange hair frizzed around her pale face. Little Arianne clung to her, tiny shoulders heaving with her sobs.

  “Oh, hell, no,” I said, choking on the conclusion that slapped me in the face.

  “Raze was Arianne’s daddy,” Brígh whispered from behind me.

  My lips seemed to have turned to stone with all of my incoherent stuttering. “But … I … that can’t be right. I’ve never seen them together. How did I not know that?”

  “I said he was Arianne’s daddy, and that’s all he was to their family. He and Maeve cared for one another, but they didn’t live together.”

  Judging by the grief twisting Maeve’s features, I guessed she still loved him no matter what had kept them apart. As I drew up some courage and started for them, my Light already beginning to boil blue across my skin, I said, “Okay, but I still don’t get why you want Maeve to come with us.” I just sent Gallagher off to burn her baby’s daddy, for eff sakes. “Haven’t I put them through enough already?”

  “He hasn’t come home yet.” Maeve spoke before I had a chance to rattle an answer out of my aide. “Are you sure?” A giant tear fell out of the corner of her eye, her chin quivering until she stilled it. “Are you sure he’s … gone?”

  Arianne raised her tangerine-haired head, her little pigtails sticking out either side of it, and placed her palm on her mother’s cheek. “Lila help.”

  The mental jolt at my idiocy cracked me on the top of the skull. Arianne was a telepath. I’d just said—and thought of—sending Gallagher to burn her father to death. “Oh, crap, I’m so sorry,” I blurted, fighting off the sting in my eyes by sheer will alone. “My stupid mind won’t shut up, and I forget she can read me so easily now. I shouldn’t have … she heard something she shouldn’t. It’s possible he’s still out there somewhere, alive and unharmed, but …”

  Instead of ripping into me as I expected—as I would have if the situations were reversed—Maeve calmed and produced a sad smile. “You’re doing the best you can; we all know that. I hope you know none of us blame you, because it’s not your fault.”

  I wanted to rant and stomp and insist it was all my fault, but we didn’t have time for me to have an old fashioned Lilaesque-freak-out. The calm Liam had induced in me before we parted might have had something to do with me keeping my cool longer than normal. “He’ll be at peace soon,” I said. “That’s all I can promise you.”

  Arianne leaned out, her little fingers reaching for me. She’d lost some of her pudginess and appeared more like a little person instead of a baby. “I help,” she said.

  Brow creased, I turned to Brígh. “Tell me you didn’t mean Arianne.”

  My young friend rolled her eyes and made a get-on-with-your-crazy-ass-rant gesture with her hand.

  “No!” My gaze swept back to Maeve. “I will not put your daughter in danger, especially after what happened today.”

  “The Overseers have a blind spot where Arianne is concerned.” Brígh took A
rianne from her mother and brought her the last few steps to me. “They’ve written her off as not a threat, and nobody can read them, not Gallagher or any of the other telepaths, only …” Brígh swept her hand over the girl in her arms with dramatic flair.

  “Arianne,” I whispered.

  “She’s determined to do this for you.” Maeve’s mouth curved up with pride. “And once she has her mind set on doing something, there’s no deterring her. I think she admires that quality in her queen.”

  I studied Arianne’s rosy cheeks, and arms still outstretched in my direction, wondering how the blue blazes I’d gained such loyalty in a child of nine months old. And how had she gotten so smart? Being able to hear everyone’s thoughts might have had something to do with her level of intelligence. How was it she could be braver than me? The girl put me to shame.

  I straightened my shoulders, claimed Arianne from Brígh and plunked her squishy diaper-covered butt on my hip. As usual, Arianne’s hand went down to my belly, followed by her ear as she leaned down. Since she was a solid little thing, her weight shift threw me off balance for a moment.

  “He happy.” She rubbed her hand on my stomach. “We play soon.”

  Her vocabulary had grown leaps and bounds every day. Another side effect of living in multiple minds at once. “I’m sure Garret will love you to pieces, little one.” I pulled her up and wrapped my arms around her, the feel of her against me stirring things down deep in my heart. “Are you sure you want to come with us? It could be dangerous and—”

  She pointed at the gate. “Go.”

  Teeth clenched, I took a moment to let my voice come down so I wouldn’t yell. “I don’t think this is a good idea. You should stay with your Mo—”

  Arianne twisted her body and went limp, total dead weight I couldn’t hold any better than a twenty pound wet noodle. I let her slide down to the ground, glad I didn’t drop her.