He lifts my chin with two fingers. “Why, Kinsley?”
“Because I need this. I need to feel it. I—I always take the easy way out.”
He nods. “I know.”
I tilt my head and peer up at him. “Oh? And how would you know that?”
He shrugs. “Because that’s what drug addicts do.”
I wince as soon as the words leave his mouth. Hearing it, from him, from someone I…someone I love is like a blow to the gut. It’s one thing for me to say it, but for him to say it, for him to know it, makes it so much more real.
It also makes me wish it wasn’t true.
“Hey, I didn’t mean it like… I wasn’t trying to hurt your feelings,” he says.
I square my shoulders and try to wipe the hurt look from my face. “I know.”
Stepping back, I glance around us. We seem to be in the same garden as before, only leaves blanket the ground. There are so many of them, it looks like snow piles, and when I press my foot down, they don’t crunch. They are soft, almost like silk. Barren trees that glisten with the same frosty white surround us in a protective circle.
In vain, I search for the Akashic relic.
Nowhere in sight. Of course.
“Well, how do we get out of here?” I ask, swinging my gaze back to Charming.
He frowns. “I explained how it works. Only Gemma can let us out.” He laughs darkly. “And I don’t see that happening anytime soon.”
“Reyna says that’s not necessarily true.”
He raises an eyebrow.
“She said that because she fed Gemma to the Hateful Tree…”
He makes a stop motion like a crossing guard. “The what?”
I wave my arms and wiggle them around in my best impression of a soul eating tree. “Big scary thing in the Harker’s backyard?”
Understanding flashes in his eyes. “The Affliction Tree,” he corrects.
I nod. “Yeah, that thing. She says because Gemma is in it….”
“Wait, Reyna cast Gemma into the Affliction Tree?” He sounds a mix of impressed and repulsed.
I nod.
“How?”
I glance at the ground. “Well, after she took my body, she crafted a wand from this weird door…then chanted over the tree, and it just kind of…” I slam my hands together out in front of me like a gator chomping off its evening meal.
“Wait, she used your body to put someone in the Affliction Tree?”
My eyes widen at the way he asks the question. His face flushes with anger, yet there is sadness in his eyes. My heart pounds a little harder in my chest.
“Yes. Why?”
He spins around and kicks at the ground. “That fucking bitch!”
I bite my lip and start to creep toward him, then think better of it and hang back. I don’t want to ask, but I have to know. Of course I have to. My hands start to shake.
“Is there something I need to know?”
He doesn’t answer right away, which makes the dread rising within me grow snapping teeth.
I step closer to him. “Charming?”
Slowly, he turns around while nodding. He rakes a hand back through his hair. The white streak falls against his forehead. “Yeah, there’s something that you should know.”
Every muscle in my body seems to tighten as if bracing for the worst possible news.
Charming shoves his hands in his pockets and places most of his weight on his left leg. “How much do you know about magic?”
I shake my head, just wanting him to answer the question. “Um.” I throw my hands up and let them slap down against the sides of my thighs. “The basics, I guess.”
“Then you know that for every bit of magic we preform, something is given and taken away.”
I raise my eyebrows. “Um, yeah, I think so.”
“To put it as simple as I can, witches take and get something from nature. Nature gives and takes something from us.”
I slowly nod my head. It makes sense. Doesn’t sound good, though. I don’t want shit from that creepy ass tree. My face crumbles into a tense expression.
“Okay. So what does the Affliction Tree give back?”
The look on his face falls in such a way that I want to rush forward and comfort him. But I remain rooted in place, breath caught in my chest, waiting for him to answer me.
“The Affliction Tree gives back a microscope.”
I lift an eyebrow.
“You’ll be able to sense a small part of the souls around you. But only the darkest part of those souls.” He shakes his head. “I can’t believe that bitch used you like that and didn’t warn you about this.”
He seems so outraged. So completely protective of me that I go to him and wrap my arms around his neck. His expression settles into something lighter as he cranes his neck down to stare at me.
“It’s sweet of you to worry.”
He sort of laughs. “Did you hear anything I just said?”
I nod. “It doesn’t seem all that bad.”
He opens his mouth then shuts it. Apparently, he can’t think of anything to say.
I shrug. “I’m used to darkness.”
He sighs and wraps his arms around me. A warm blanket. The promise of sunrise. “Well, because you aren’t a witch, it won’t be nearly as potent. I guess there’s that.”
I laugh. “And I found you.”
He nods, his stubborn lips refusing to smile. “Yes, in a witch trap that we have to get out of.”
I flop my mouth open and shut like a fish. “Reyna says any witch could get you out of here.”
“Yes.” He peers down at me. “Except for the witch the trap was set for.” He smiles. It seems like bad timing to me.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He shakes his head. His blue eyes flash with laughter. “Not even a little bit.”
“Great.” I throw my hands in the air.
Charming takes them and wraps them back around his neck. “We’ll worry about that in a minute.” He draws me closer.
A tremble rushes through me.
“For now, I’m doing this.” He leans down and presses his lips to mine.
I melt against his body, tightening my grip around his neck. The kiss is a slow-moving dance that raises me on my tiptoes. Every peck sets a tiny spark off around my heart.
Between kisses, he mumbles, “I thought I’d never see you again.”
Our lips find one another again. Pulling away, I mutter back, “You underestimated me.”
Another kiss. “Clearly.”
He lifts me off my feet, clamps one hand against the back of my head, and kisses me with more urgency. I struggle to breathe, but don’t dare pull away.
For the next several minutes, we stay locked together that way, like two parts of a statue the artist molded to fit perfectly together. As far as I’m concerned, we can stay in this frickin’ trap for the rest of our lives. His fingers trail down the middle of my back. With a shiver that has nothing to do with withdrawal, I push in closer to him.
We’re so consumed with the kiss that it takes us both longer than it should to smell the burning. With a groan, I pull away from Charming and sniff the air.
“Do you smell that?” he asks, stealing the words off my lips.
I nod, backing farther away and sweeping my gaze across the yard. It’s definitely smoke, but it doesn’t seem to be coming from anywhere.
“That’s weird,” I say as the smell becomes more pungent. Tears fill my eyes, and I wipe them from my cheeks.
Charming takes my hand and grips it tight. Those familiar white sparks dance from his fingertips, and his body goes rigid like a pit bull ready to defend its master.
Before either one of us can say another word, the trees, the ones that seemed to create such a protective ring around us, burst into flames.
Their branches burn and start to shrivel up like paper, emitting an orange-green glow. Charming throws his arm around my shoulder, and I press myself against his side.
“Come on,
” he mutters from the side of his mouth.
He starts to pull me toward a line of trees, something that seems counterproductive. Then he starts running. I have no choice but to awkwardly follow his lead. Right before we smash into the burning trees, Charming flicks his hand out. The flames of two trees blow to the sides, consuming the trees on either side of them.
Charming shoves me through the gap between the two trees and quickly follows.
“Hurry.” He grabs my hand and pulls me after him.
For a while, I stumble behind him in near darkness. There is only the strange blue glow I remember from earlier, although not nearly as bright. We splash through a small pond and dash through more of the strange, silk-like leaves that litter the ground.
Finally, we come to the mouth of a cave. A red glow pulses from within.
I dig my heels into the ground and force Charming to a stop.
He turns to me, eyes wild with panic. “Why are you stopping?”
I point toward the opening of the cave, still not quite ready to believe that all this fit into a hat, and shake my head. “I’m not going in there.”
Charming’s eyes bulge, and he fans his arms out to his sides as he spins in a quick circle. “Kinsley, everything else is on fire!”
I bite down on my lower lip. Sweat trickles into my eyes as the flames dance closer to us.
He sighs. “What’s the problem?”
“I don’t like dark places.” I sound like a small child. I should be hugging a teddy bear.
He sighs again and places his hands on my shoulders. “I’ll be with you,” he says in a tight voice. “We really don’t have time for fear.”
I stare up at him.
He leans down toward me and whispers against my ear. “Remember the touch.”
The memory of casting a protection spell, my hands locked inside his, floods back to me. Something hot bites at my ankle. With a gasp, I look down and kick the tiny flame from the cuff of my jeans. My head pops up, and I nod.
He grabs my hand, and we dart for the cave, the flames pressing closer toward us. We dive in and spin around in time to witness the entire scene wash away in spitting fire.
Charming whips his hand toward the cave opening. The ground rumbles, and the flames are locked behind a large stone.
We’re safe inside the cave.
For now.
18
I STARE TOWARD the back of the cave. My eyes water against the orange light flickering from a source I can’t home in on. Water trickles in the distance. Around me, the porous walls are etched in the same kinds of symbols I encountered in the attunement room. Only these are slashed in serial killer scrawl in red, clumpy lines.
I don’t need to be a witch to know this magic is a lot more sinister.
It is the magic of a witch trap, after all.
“Come on,” Charming says, grabbing my hand.
I tighten my arm.
He jerks to a stop and stares back at me, eyes glazed in exasperation.
I smile. “Where are we going?”
“We need to keep moving.”
“Yes.” I nod. “But to where, please?”
His nose wrinkles. I know it’s a gesture of anger, but my heart leaps at how adorable it is.
“Away from here. Will you just trust me?”
I stare at him.
He sighs. “Okay, close your eyes.”
My mouth falls open, but before I can say anything, he swoops me up into his arms and cradles me like a baby. Usually I’d be uncomfortable. I hate when guys pick me up. It’s a hang-up most thick girls probably share. But he doesn’t struggle at all. In fact, I seem light to him.
It sets me at ease, and I even wrap my arms around his neck.
“Fine,” I say and close my eyes.
“Good,” he mutters. Then he starts walking.
My ears perk as Charming moves through the cave. The trickling water draws closer. There is also the occasional rustle, shuffle, and low plop like a rock being dropped into a pond.
Not being able to see what’s going on around me sets me on edge. My heart pumps faster, and the effect makes me dizzy.
Good thing I’m not on my feet. The longer Charming treks me across the porous rock, the louder the rush of water sounds in my ears. Before long, he’s setting me on my feet.
“You can open your eyes now.”
I do. My eyes widen as I take in my surroundings. There is another waterfall pounding purple-tinged water into a perfectly round pool below. The impact of the rushing water against the still pool kicks up multi-colored mist. Jagged rocks like spiked teeth dip from the ceiling, and there are several slabs of rocks scattered throughout the space. Some are rectangular shaped, others oval. It would be beautiful if not for the writing on the cave walls.
More symbols in hasty scrawl. I can’t imagine they mean anything good.
Charming starts sauntering around the place. “We have to find a way out of here.”
I nod. “Couldn’t agree more. Got any ideas on that?”
He sighs and comes to a stop. “Not really.”
I frown. “Maybe they’ll just…let us out.”
He turns to me and smiles. The skin around his eyes crinkles and shoots a rush of flutters into my stomach.
“Yeah, let’s not count on that.” He swipes a hand down his face. “In fact, pray they don’t. If they let us out, they’re not going to be happy with you.”
My frown deepens. “Not like I did anything.”
He smiles. “Well, you kind of put their mom in one of the nastiest trees known to witchkind.”
I tilt my head. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like… Something like that shouldn’t exist in nature.”
He nods. “Technically, it doesn’t.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s very dark magic. Created by the Harkers’ ancestors. It was created with good intent…well, as good intent as there can be for dark magic.”
“To hold bad witches?”
He points at me. “Very good. Of course, Gemma turned it into something twisted, often trapping the souls of her enemies in the tree for cheap reasons, like getting in her way.”
My eyes widen. “Yeah… Reyna showed me some things.”
He nods. “Well, normally I’d say don’t trust anything a ghost shows you…but there’s a lot of bad blood there. What you saw was probably accurate.”
“She blames Gemma for killing her lover.”
Charming’s eyes go wide. But not with surprise. With something else.
“What? What is it?” I ask.
He actually smiles. Weird, given the news I just told him. Still doesn’t stop my heart from dancing dizzying circles in my chest.
“I have an idea.” He pulls his hood over his head and tosses it to the floor.
My mouth parts almost automatically with desire. His eyes drift over me with an intensity that floods me with a myriad of emotion.
I clear my throat, trying to maintain eye contact as he removes his wife-beater and adds it the growing pile of clothing at his feet.
“Um, an idea for what?”
His smile widens. “On how to get the hell out of here.”
“And it involves getting naked?” My eyes slide down that perfect sculpture of a chest.
He winks. “Actually, yes.”
I almost laugh. “Very funny. As much as I want to, this seems like a bad time to be getting laid.”
He strolls toward me, a thumb planted through the loop in his jeans.
“I’m not being funny.” His voice is husky. “And actually, it’s a perfect time to be getting laid.”
I peer up at him as he closes the small distance between us. “I don’t understand.”
He chews on his lower lip. “You ever heard of the Great Rite?” He reaches out and slowly undoes my zipper, slipping my jacket off my shoulders. It floats to the ground.
“N-No.”
He leans down and presses his lips against my ear. My ni
pples go hard. “It’s one of the most powerful magic rituals out there. Add that to touch magic, and I don’t think even the Harkers will be able to keep us inside this trap.” He leans back ever so slightly so that he can look down into my face. “Are you with me?”
I nod. Of course I’m with him. I have a feeling I’ll always be with him. That I’ve always been with him.
“Yes,” I say, my mind swimming with his scent. It’s oak infused with night air. “What is the Great Rite?”
He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear. “To put it inelegantly…it’s getting laid. Only...with focus.”
I nod. How the hell am I supposed to focus on anything but Charming when he’s naked and pressed against me?
He leans down and kisses me, and my mind blanks, making my point for me. When he pulls back, I laugh.
“I know,” he growls. “But I’ll help you, if you help me.”
“I’ll do my best,” I say over my thudding heart.
“Good, now let’s get naked, Kinsley.”
HIS HANDS GO to the button on his jeans, and they fall to the ground. My eyes can’t help but wander south of his navel. I bite down on my lower lip.
Clearing my throat, I ask, “Forget your underwear somewhere?”
He shrugs, a flirty little smile playing with the edges of his mouth.
I step closer to him and run my fingers down his chest. “So, how does this work?”
“Well, we start with you adding your clothes to my pile.” He winks.
I nod, trailing my fingernail down past his navel. He shivers. That makes me smile. “In a minute.” I start to get on my knees, and he catches me by the arms and pulls me back up.
I frown up at him.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
A blush warms my cheeks. “I would have thought that’d be obvious.”
He grins. “Well, you’re doing it wrong.”
My eyes widen. “You seemed to like it earlier.”
He tucks a hand under my chin and kisses me. My mind starts to go fuzzy around the edges. What was I saying?
He pulls away. “There is no point in doing it unless I can admire that fine ass of yours.”
I can’t help it. I giggle. Like a frickin’ school girl. A glint dances in his eyes.
“Do you mind if I do it this time?” he asks, slipping his fingers under the straps of my tank top.
Wicked Legends: A Dystopian Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Collection Page 186
