“Aidan, you can’t leave like this. You’re—”
“We have to move,” he said with a hint of his old bossy tone. I’d never been happier to hear it.
“We have to figure out how to heal you,” I countered, equal heat in my voice, “because we aren’t getting far with you like this. And if the Council or any other hostile assholes show up, we’re in deep shit.”
“I’ll be fine,” he snapped. But the way he leaned heavily on me said otherwise, and I knew it. He wasn’t healing. His power wasn’t helping him regenerate. The Aidan I knew could be skewered by magic and walk away. The one barely standing next to me wasn’t, and it scared the shit out of me.
A rustle of leaves sounded from beyond the house, and the two of us went quiet. Maybe it was a squirrel. Maybe it was the wind. Or maybe it was something behind door number three that we were in no shape to face.
I felt Maddy’s absence terribly in that moment.
Maddy …
Dragons …
Slowly, quietly, I crouched down and grabbed the painting I’d abandoned the second I’d seen Aidan appear in the portal.
“Listen up, you sonsofbitches,” I whispered to the rough magical canvas, “I might need you in a second, and I don’t want any of this not-coming-when-called shit this time. I did what I said I would do; I got you out of Faerie. So you owe me one.”
I stood up to find Aidan staring at me, eyes surprisingly sharp and keen.
“What’s the plan?” he asked.
“I guess we go see what made the sound,” I replied softly. “Then, if we’re still alive, we get changed, eat, and get the fuck out of here before something else shows up—or my mom comes home.”
He forced a smile. “Worried I’ll make a bad first impression?”
“No, I’m worried she’ll get caught in the crossfire. Believe it or not, my mom is a pretty timid witch.”
“Well, she gave birth to one helluva badass…”
I wound my arm around his waist tighter to help keep him upright. “Let’s hope so.”
Together, we crept to the far side of the house. I tried to feel for the presence of another energy—emotions that weren’t ours—but found nothing. With that slight sense of reassurance, I edged up to the corner of the house and peeked around.
A scream ripped from my throat as I came nose-to-nose with a shadow.
I stumbled back a step out of sheer reflex, nearly taking Aidan down with me. But strong as he was, even half dead, he dug his feet into the moist ground and started to call his malum magic. Fear shot through me at the thought of him burning himself out trying to keep us safe from a threat still to be determined.
Painting clutched to my chest, I strained to see who lurked on the far side of my house. I didn’t have to wait long. Though it seemed like forever, seconds after we’d nearly collided, the figure rounded the house and stepped into the moonlight.
It wasn’t a shadow at all.
It was the woman from the cabin.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. She had the nerve to look irritated, like somehow we’d been the ones doing something creepy and wrong.
“Us?” I replied incredulously. “This is my house! The better question is, why the fuck are you here?”
Her gaze cut from me to the wounded fey draped around my shoulders, then back.
“You’ve been gone longer than I expected, so I came back to see if you’d come here by chance.” Her expression hardened. “Which, of course, was incredibly foolish, given that you’re being hunted.”
“We didn’t mean to come here,” I said, not wanting to spill the reason for our hasty departure from Faerie, but from the way she eyed Aidan, I knew she’d already put two and two together. She was fey, after all, at least according to Sarah. She’d also seemed to know who Aidan was—that he was the unwanted son of the royal family—so his state should have made perfect sense.
“I see,” was all she said as her eyes searched us for something she couldn’t seem to find. Then her gaze drifted to the sky. Her eyes narrowed and she scowled before turning her attention back to me. “And did you mean to sever your bond when you returned to this realm, or was that just carelessness as well?”
“Sever our—”
“He knows what’s been done,” she said, cutting off my question. “Don’t you, Aidan?”
I followed her stern gaze up to him and found him glowering at her, but not arguing. Not refuting her point. Dread grew thick in my veins.
I opened my mouth to ask him what that meant, if what she’d said was true, but before those questions could escape, a burst of fire erupted behind us, and I turned to find a face I vaguely remembered smiling back at me.
The Council …
Kimbra had been right to chastise me for my stupidity. We’d walked right into their hands.
Aidan went rigid beside me, and a faint cloud of black emanated from him as he once again attempted to call his malum magic. But I watched it sputter and fade as his knees buckled. He crashed down beside me and I dove on top of him, rolling him with me so the fireball hurtling toward us wouldn’t hit him.
Dirt and grass rained down upon us as the Council asshole laughed.
“I think it’s time we put you two back in your cages,” he said, and I could feel him growing closer, his malicious energy coating mine like an oily film.
“Aidan…?” I called, trying to rouse him. But his body was limp, his eyes shut. And I couldn't feel his chest moving. “Aidan, wake up!”
“Too late for him,” the man called as he strolled closer. “Guess you’ll have to do.”
I shot to my feet and stared him down, prepared to do whatever I could to stop him.
Then Kimbra stepped from the shadows that seemed to encircle her at all times and threw up an intricate golden web of magic that stopped him in his tracks. The look of indignation that flashed in his dark eyes was epic, and another fireball—one far larger than the first—grew in his palm as he glared.
“You cannot have them,” she said.
“And you think you can?” he countered. “They can’t help you, Kimbra.”
“Maybe…”
The ball of fire flew across the yard and crashed against her shield, knocking her back a step. She countered with a spray of gold unlike anything I'd ever seen before. The tiny orbs of light bit into his skin, slicing him open like shards of glass. Back and forth they went, magic crashing and glowing and vibrating all around us as I tried to get Aidan to his feet—to get him out of there to somewhere safe so we could figure out how to help him. But I failed with every attempt, and fear crept up my back.
He’s going to die , a voice in my head said softly.
Then Kimbra fell back into me, knocking the thought loose. She shot to her feet, only to be greeted by another ball of fire. This time, it struck her hard and launched her back into the fence behind us. The councilman laughed as he sauntered toward us, as though the only threat to him had been eliminated. And all the while, a ball of fire grew in his hand.
“Nobody can help you now.” He looked down at Aidan and drew his arm back.
I jumped into its path and was greeted by searing heat as the fireball struck my shoulder. I crashed to the ground, crying out as pain lanced through my body. He took another step closer to Aidan, and that pain quickly turned to anger once again.
Rage seared through my body, and I lifted my head to the heavens and screamed in frustration. Frustration that I couldn't stop him. Frustration that I couldn't call the army in the painting. Frustration that, once again, I felt powerless to do anything.
The canvas in my hand began to vibrate and smoke, and I winced as a plume of fire erupted from it, burning my skin. I shot to my feet and held it wide, though I could feel my flesh all but melting away.
“I’d run if I were you,” I said to the councilman as the fabric shook my outstretched arms. But instead of heeding my advice, he looked on, a mix of bewilderment and horror in his expression. He quickly called a fireb
all and threw it at me, but I held fast. It rocketed toward my face, but I shielded it with the painting. And it absorbed the blow like it was nothing.
Then my dragon horde shot out.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Cece
The Councilman’s fear engulfed me as he turned to run, as though running from a crew of dragons was even a possibility. He made it all of ten yards before the midnight blue one scooped him up by the belt and did a loop in the air as the man screamed in terror. The dragon swooped back down again and landed in the backyard, filling it with his massive body. The other circled above, moonlight dancing off their scales like waves in a lake.
He dropped the councilman at my feet, then snorted at me, his question clear.
What am I to do with him?
I looked at Aidan’s limp, nearly lifeless body, then stared at the deadly beast before me.
“Shred him to bits...and make sure no one finds any pieces.”
The beast smiled wickedly at my command.
The frantic pleas of the councilman fell on deaf ears, mainly because the leader of the dragons snapped his mammoth jaws down on him, severing him in two. He shot into the air to join the others far above in the clouds and share the spoils, or so I imagined. I didn’t really care at that moment.
The half-dead boy next to me consumed my thoughts.
“Aidan,” I called, choking back a sob. His closed lids barely fluttered as I brushed his hair back from his pale face, but they didn’t open. His energy felt weak and empty, even as I shook him in a desperate attempt to bring him back. “Aidan…I don’t know what to do!”
I felt Kimbra shift behind me, and Aidan’s eyes slowly opened.
“What do I do?” I asked him as tears streamed down my face. “Tell me what to do…”
His pale lips pressed to a wan smile. “I’d tell you if I knew…but it looks like maybe I don’t always have the answers…”
I swallowed back my fear. “Dammit, Aidan! This is not the time to be charming! I need you to be serious!”
His smile fell. My heart dropped with it.
“I am being serious, little witch.”
“You know what she needs to do,” Kimbra said from behind me, and I wheeled around to stare up at her. “I imagine you've known all along.”
“What are you talking about?” I blurted out. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why wouldn’t he heal himself if he knew how?”
Her features tightened as she contemplated my question, though it was clear that she knew the answer. The real question was whether or not she wanted to explain it. Her gaze drifted to Aidan, and she waited for him to respond.
His silence forced her hand.
“He has given you a piece of him,” she began, and she gestured at my hand—at the faint gold marking that no longer shone when I touched him. “Simply put, he needs it back, or he will die. Your return from Faerie severed your connection. Without it, he will fade.”
“What?” The word was soft and hollow and barely audible, even to my own ears.
“You can’t,” Aidan said as he struggled to sit up and argue. I pressed the palm of my hand to his chest to hold him down and tried not to wince at how easy it was.
“How do I do it?” I asked Kimbra.
“Cece, don’t—”
“You must will it back to him,” she explained over his weak but continued objections.
“Will it back?”
“You are an empath, are you not?” Her curt tone shamed me into focus. “Channel his energy back to him. Surely you’ve felt it all along. You just have to force it back into him.”
“No!” he said with enough force to startle me.
I looked at the fear in his eyes and let my tears fall freely. “Why not? Why won’t you let me do this?”
“Because for once in my shitty life I actually care about something more than myself…” His labored breath came in ragged gasps before he continued. “If you give that magic back to me, I might be whole again, but I could lose you in the process.” He shook his head as he reached his hand toward my face. “And I don’t want to suffer this world without you, little witch…”
“What happened to the selfish bastard I punched in the cafeteria?” I sniffled hard and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. “I could really use him right about now.”
His thumb brushed away a stray tear. “I think he already died.”
“You don’t have much time,” Kimbra said from behind me, her tone far gentler this time. “You will need him to face all that is to come.”
Ah, yes. Back to business.
“I’m sorry, Aidan, but my life is mine to risk, and as much as I appreciate your sentiment, I'm going to have to do what I do best and disagree.” I leaned down to brush my lips against his. “You’ll have to yell at me for being reckless later—when you’re alive enough to do it.”
Before he could open his mouth to argue, I clamped mine down upon his and kissed him while I found that feeling Kimbra had spoken of—that tiny, ever-present essence of him coursing through my veins—and cast it out through the palm I pressed to his chest and my lips pressed to his. His body went rigid beneath me, and I continued through the pain growing in my chest until I could barely stand the pressure. It built and built until he cried out, breaking my seal with his lips. But it didn’t matter. The magic flowed into him as though it had wanted to go home—as if it had hated being parted from him.
My energy drained with every passing second, and I felt that terrifying emptiness I had when I'd used my empath abilities against the headmaster and nearly lost myself because of it. This was what Aidan had feared would happen; that I would return to the state he’d fixed with his magic. Or worse. But I was not that witch any longer.
I would not lose myself again.
And I would not lose Aidan, either.
With a final push and a cry that drew the dragons back, I broke my hold on the fey boy I was falling in love with and collapsed back against the grass. I saw my dragons swirling overhead, but they were quickly blocked out by a dark-haired boy with crystal blue eyes and a scowl that should have sent me running.
But it didn’t.
Instead, I laughed up at him, the joy I felt too strong to be squashed by the tongue-lashing I was undoubtedly about to receive. In fairness, I had green-lit it right before I’d pulled him back from the brink of death. It was only fair that he got to take a strip off of me. I’d gladly take it, especially when the alternative would have been to never hear one again.
“I’m so mad at you right now,” he finally managed.
It only made me laugh harder.
“Don’t get too mad, or you’ll have a horde of fire-breathing dragons on your ass. Besides, it wasn’t fully my idea. Kimbra should really get some of the blame since...” I bent my neck to look back at her only to find her gone; not a trace to be found. “Wait, where’d she go?”
“I don’t care,” he said, dipping his face closer to mine. “All I care about right now is the fact that you’re beneath me and breathing. Everything else can wait.” He shifted his body all the way on top of mine, and that breathing he was so fixated on damn near stopped. “Tell me how you feel.” His nose traced along my jaw, and it was all I could do to focus on the question. “I need to know you’re okay.”
“Oh, I’m good.” My hands drifted up to his waist, skimming underneath the hem of his shirt. He sucked in a breath when my cold flesh met his warmth.
“You’re freezing.”
“Saving your ass took a lot of energy,” I argued playfully.
He pressed against me harder, and heat flared through me. “Then I guess I’ll have to warm you up.” Without skipping a beat, his lips made their way across my cheek to my mouth and brushed against it. “I’m still furious with you,” he whispered, his tone low and husky and enough to make me just about jump out of my skin with anticipation. “Don’t think what’s about to happen here makes up for that.”
I swallowed hard. “What’s about to happe
n here?” I dared to ask.
He pulled away just enough to flash me that trademark Aidan smile. “Whatever you want.”
I smiled up at him in return, ignoring our dragon audience. “You sure you’re up for it, old man? I mean, you were half dead a minute ago—”
His mouth crashed against mine, shutting me up in the most delightful way possible, and I let out a little moan as he let more of his weight settle against me. Braced on his left elbow, his right hand slid up my side until it splayed across my collarbone, then drew lower to rest just above my breast. Right over my heart.
“I need this to keep beating—always,” he murmured against my lips. “No matter what.”
Before a smart remark could escape, he resumed our kiss, the depth and intensity of it increasing as his hand remained flush against my chest, soaking in the frantic beat of my heart as it rammed against my ribs. I shifted what was left of my skirt to allow my legs to bend up alongside his hips, and he leaned in against them in response.
Sweet baby Jesus, I thought I'd explode.
But then something actually did. With a crack of thunder and flash of lightning, Sarah tumbled toward us out of thin air, nearly landing on top of Aidan. He shot to his feet, eyes wide, while I lay there staring up at a ghost—or at least what I thought should have been one. There was no way Sarah could have survived the battle we’d narrowly escaped.
But the irritated fey girl glaring at Aidan and me spoke to the contrary.
“Do not tell me that I saved your asses—nearly dying in the process, thank you very much—so that you could roll around in the grass like you don’t have other things to do? Like wipe out an ancient fey psycho and rescue the cute little doggo trapped in Wadsworth, for instance?” When neither of us replied, both too shell-shocked to speak, she rolled her eyes and headed for the house. “When you two are finished playing grab-ass, maybe we can track down that sister of yours and her man candy so we can get on with that.” Aidan and I shared an incredulous look. “It also might be wise to get a move-on in case my spell to seal the escape portal didn’t work. I don’t want to be here if your brothers decide to follow.”
Rogue Reformatory: Breakout (Supernatural Misfits Academy Book 3) Page 15
