I held her trembling for a long time. I’d expected a lot of things, but not this. Of course not. When did I ever see Penny Lane coming? My eyes had trouble staying open as she tasted my throat, her tongue and teeth while her warm breath spread a chill down my spine.
I could take her to my bed. She’d just given me permission to do anything I liked with her. To ruin her.
I pushed her away from me. Her lips were soft, her eyes hungry.
“You’re starving.”
Her lips parted and she nodded, staring at my throat.
I swallowed. “Let’s go get breakfast.”
I grabbed her hand and pulled her out of my room before I could change my mind. There weren’t a lot of people up so early on a Sunday morning. Convenient, because I would rip apart anyone who looked at my witch.
I held her hand, keeping her close to me until we were at the small table in the corner, my table. Our table.
I had trouble eating, but I needed to keep up my strength if I had to wrangle a Penny Lane today. And tomorrow. And the day after that. I watched her eat, letting myself stare at her, the way she inhaled the contents of each plate like she hadn’t eaten for a week. She’d eaten a little, but not enough.
I took a deep breath and speared a sausage on my fork, nibbling on the end delicately, not like I wanted to sink my teeth into Penny and never release her. She tasted so nice. Her tongue. Her throat. Her wrists, ankles, calves… I frowned at her. She was shifting a little to the side, like she had a bruise on her hip. Not a bruise. That’s where Zach cut into her. Had he gotten her naked first?
I exhaled and saw a curl of smoke. I held my breath and tried to smile. She was clearly panicked, coming to my room like the wolves were chasing her. I had to stay calm. I had to provide her with the safety and love she required. Thinking of that, being her safety and love helped calm me down. I brushed her foot with mine and she froze, looking at me with enormous eyes, her mouth full.
I smiled and brushed her foot again. She reciprocated, kicking me in the calf. I laughed and she blinked, hastily swallowed and said, “Sorry. I’m nervous.”
“Are you? Having second thoughts about moving in with me?”
She shook her head, sending her hair around her like whips of red-gold energy. “No. It’s just that Zach kind of, well, he owns me.” She squeezed her eyes tight, every muscle on her body tensing.
I watched her stay like that, as though she were wishing herself somewhere else. I put a hand on her shoulder and she jumped. Her eyes opened slowly and she stared at me with those desperate, beautiful, sweet hazel eyes, specks of gold calling to me.
“Penny, do you want me to kill him?”
She nodded her head.
I smiled and leaned forward to kiss her. There were people in the dining hall, but I didn’t care about who saw me kiss my witch. Her lips trembled, but after a moment of applying, slow, soft pressure, her lips parted and I got to taste her tongue. So soft. She pulled away like she usually did when my tongue shocked her. It made me feel better. She was still herself. I wouldn’t trade that even for more tongue, however delicious.
I leaned back in my chair and cut a bite of hashbrowns with my fork. She wanted me to kill him. I wouldn’t, of course, but knowing that she wanted me to made me feel much better. She didn’t love him. No, she loved him, but the way she loved Señor Mort, her princesses, and every other wounded creature she stumbled over. She couldn’t help it. Zach wasn’t able to bind her to him like I had. She’d never asked for it, begged for it.
I spread jam on a piece of toast and held it out for her to bite into. Her teeth were so lovely. My mouth watered as I watched her mouth, her tongue. I glanced away because I wanted her mouth on mine, on me, and I had to think clearly.
I had to consider alternatives to her staying with me. Part of me felt that it was out of the question. It was done. I would never let her live apart from me again. I inhaled deeply and ran a hand through my hair. This was exactly why she couldn’t stay in my bed. I would be single-mindedly obsessed with her and completely miss the rest of my senior year, also, I couldn’t ruin her, particularly when she asked me to. I had to do something about her curse as well as reset her spell. I had to marry her before February 16th if Zach was going to give me her bond. He had to. I needed her. So desperately, and not ruined. I had to not hurt someone close to me.
I stood up while my whole body ached to take her and drag her back to my room.
She swallowed her bite and licked her lips. “Where are you going?”
“I need to help Ian with your trunks. He’s not as good at picking my locks as you are. We should go to church today.”
She blinked at me and shifted so her hip brushed the back of her chair. She flinched and then froze, her face showing a fascinating mix of rage and terror. “Church? Oh. Sure. And then a tea party with Missy. That would be nice.”
I smiled and tried to breathe normally. “It would be. Extremely nice.” I bent over and brushed her cheek with my lips. I lingered, inhaling her skin. “I will see you soon.”
She leaned towards me, her eyelids heavy as she gazed at me when I pulled away. I forced myself to turn and walk away from her.
Chapter 3
Witch
Settling in Drake’s room was weird. First of all, his bathroom was in his bedroom, and the only thing to separate that area from the living room was a wall of black heavy curtains and a set of stairs I’d never fallen down. It just felt really weird to have my trunks taking up so much of his space. I went to the mirror over the sink beside the tub and stopped to study the elaborate cage Drake must have made for Professor Cadaver. It had tunnels and stairs, all contained behind thin metal wires, and it ran around the edges of his room. Professor Cadaver would be safe from Señor Mort. Good. Also, Drake had spent a lot of time on it. I chewed on the edge of my nail at the thought of Drake putting together all those tiny pieces of metal with a mouse tucked in his pocket.
He wanted to go to church with me and have a tea party with Missy, just like nothing had happened. Was there any way that I could forget about Zach? I touched my hip and it throbbed like Señor Mort had bitten it. Signore could bite it and break it. I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I would just drown in Drake and forget about everything else. No more hurters. No more marriage contracts. Just Drake, love, and madness.
After I had Señor Mort settled, I left Drake’s room, locking the door behind me. He needed a much better lock. When I got to the car, the enormous forest green SUV, my stomach lurched just looking at it. I shook my hair back and smiled brightly at Drake where he leaned against the door.
He was so beautiful in his dark green suit, alabaster skin sprinkled with freckles and lips in a smile that was half mocking, half something else.
“Showing up in your serious suit to take me to church, I’m going to think that it’s impossible to torture you.”
He raised an eyebrow and glanced down at my mouth. “It’s much more likely that I enjoy torture. The last time I saw you, you barely spoke to me, running off to find your friend like she wouldn’t rip you apart. If you need someone to hurt you…” He shook his head and sighed. “Never mind. It’s too inefficient, hurt you and then heal you afterwards. Speaking of, what do you want to do about your protection spell?”
He held the door open for me and watched me while I hesitated, fumbling in my bag for a lollipop.
“Oh. You can tell that Zach…” I pressed my lips together. “How about if I stay in your room forever so I don’t need a protection spell?”
He laughed and brushed my cheek with the back of his fingers. “Tempting, but I’m fairly certain your obsession for Szechuan chicken would be your undoing. I’m a little worried about taking you down today before we reset it.”
I licked my lips. “I’m fine. I’ll just cling to you.” I sighed and studied him. “Drake, I’m sorry.”
He glanced at me, eyes sparking with flecks of neon. “I don’t mind for some reason. Probably because you dislike
it so much.”
I shook my head. “Not about clinging, although that’s… Last week I totally blew you off just so I could…” Was there any point in lying about it?
He went around the car, got in, and started the engine. “You’re Pitch’s friend. I’ve known for a long time. She told me if I hurt you she’d rip me apart.” He gave me a wink and a flirty smile that made my skin prickle and my mouth water.
I gripped his hand and squeezed it. “Oh. That’s so embarrassing.”
He nodded soberly, lips twitching slightly on the corners. He wasn’t angry anymore. I exhaled and leaned my head on his shoulder, gripping his hand while he drove down the hills towards Fairfield.
“I love this suit,” I murmured.
He brushed the shoulder of my jacket, fingers slipping beneath the edge to my bare skin. “I’m rather fond of your ensemble as well. Green looks very good on you.” His voice was a purr, a rumble that made me think he was talking about something like him on me.
My breath caught. “Are you really okay with me staying in your room?”
“No. Okay suggests a level of indifference that I am far from feeling. It’s brilliant. Think how much easier it will be for you to traumatize my wardrobe. Think of how much simpler arranging tea parties will be. I would like you to contact your stepfather, request that he assist in resetting your spell this afternoon.”
I blinked and sat up, turning to stare at him.
He smiled with a slight tilt of his head. “Otherwise, it will take three days. You’d miss another Tuesday.”
I bit my bottom lip. Revere would not be ecstatic to hear that I was staying with Drake without any possible marriage. “I don’t know. He’s kind of old fashioned. I don’t think he would approve of me staying with you unless we were…” I looked out the window at the dark trees that stood ominous, whispering, beckoning me to come and run through them.
“I see. What if we were engaged?”
I froze and then turned to glance over my shoulder at him. He was driving, not staring at me, which was good, but how could I tell whether he was serious or not if he didn’t look at me?
“What?”
“Engaged. People get engaged sometimes even before they marry.”
“Um. I guess if we were engaged, Revere would be okay. Maybe. Do witches get engaged? I thought it was all contracts.” My heart pounded. He couldn’t be serious, no of course not, but it was everything I wanted.
“Hm. Well, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that week when you neglected me so terribly. Missy too. Also the princesses. We all agree that I missed you. You see, I watched telenovelas. Quite a bit.”
I took a deep, shuddering breath. “Without me?”
“I know, I should have waited, but I’m not the most patient mage. Somewhere between Enrique declaring his love for Maria and Pedro spying on Helena, I realized that I like some things about you. Basically all of you. I love some things about you, but I really like you.”
“You love things about me?”
“Like your weasel. I love Señor Mort. And I love your surprises, when I don’t hate them. I’m never indifferent. So my point is that I think it would be just as well if we were engaged.”
“Engaged? So like a ring and stuff?”
“Ring. Right. I don’t have one of those. I do, the dragon one, but you didn’t want it.”
I opened my mouth and closed it a few times before I could think of something sane to say. “Are you proposing to me?”
He shot me a glance that seemed almost terrified. “Is that what this sounds like? How horrifying.”
I laughed and shook my head while my breathing stabilized. “Okay, so not proposing. Do you mean something fake so that Revere doesn’t mind my trunks taking up all your space?”
He coughed and cleared his throat. “To be honest, I think it’s the telenovelas. I just watched sweet Maria’s wedding, and I just started to tear up and really feel emotional about it. I just thought, ‘what I need in my life is a wedding.’”
“That’s the one that ends with Marionetta coming in and shredding Maria’s wedding dress with a knife, and then stabbing Enrique and five other people before they’re able to drag her away.”
Drake nodded and I let out a breath.
“Okay. I’m so confused.” I gripped his hand while nausea tangled with my thoughts.
“Right. How about we tell Revere that we’re engaged, and that we’re working on a contract and forget about how sincere it is or not? I am clearly overemotional about the entire topic of marriage after that touching and truly romantic telenovela episode, so I’m possibly not in the best state of mind to decide for certain.”
I put my head on his shoulder and slid my hand down his beautiful jacket until I reached his fingers. “I love you. I would love to be fake engaged to you. I accept. What shall we do for a ring? What is that poem? I don’t particularly want a ring that was in a pig’s nose. No offense, but a girl has to draw the line somewhere.”
He exhaled and gripped my hand tightly. “I appreciate the heads up. Although now I really want to find a pig with a ring in its nose. I wonder how hard that would be in Darkside. Hm.”
I elbowed him. “You like me.”
He kissed my head before he straightened up. “So much, that I’m willing to propose a semi-pretended engagement.”
“Semi-pretended?”
He took a turn that kind of left my stomach behind while nausea started building. I slid down his chest and turned my face into his stomach, inhaling deeply the scent of burning black cherry that made my mouth water and my teeth ache. One bite. Maybe two. He liked me.
“Since witches and mages don’t really do engagements, it can’t be entirely pretended.”
I moaned. “Drake, I think I’m going to throw up on you.”
His hand slid over my head and shoulder, down to rest on my side, where I was missing two ribs. “Yes, it’s always worse without your protection spell. You should probably climb in back.”
“No.”
“Really? You want to throw up on my extremely sober church suit?”
“How sober can green be? I’m obsessed with you. You’re really going to let some obsessed girl stay in your room? You must be mad.”
“Furious. Also green depicts jealousy, not drunkenness.”
“What color is drunk?”
“Yellow.”
“You just made that up.”
“Yes, I did. Will you help me change the world’s perception with me? It’s not much, but everyone needs a cause, something they can live and die for. Will you join me, Penny? For better or worse?”
I sat up, gripping his hand. “For the sake of yellow, changing its reputation from one of cowardice to drunkenness, I am with you, brother. To the end.”
Then I threw up.
Chapter 4
Mage
The sermon was on grace. What kind of a wedding would she want? She hadn’t laughed at the idea of being engaged to me. She didn’t believe me, but she didn’t laugh. What did that mean? Something important, but I was a little bit of a mess.
“What do you think?” she asked as we left the church. “What does that mean, grace? It’s not the kind that I don’t have enough of when I try to chasse across the ballet floor. Do you ever feel guilty for your sins?”
I glanced at her. “Guilt? I have too much pride in my sins, and isn’t pride one of them?” No, the preacher talked about how it was okay to mess up because someone else had paid for your sins already. No one could pay for my mistakes, only suffer them.
“I was just wondering. When I first came here, I was trying to make friends with nice witches and mages, so I tried to be as sweet and nice as possible. You know that I’m not that sweet since I tied you up and, you know. I’ve kind of done some terrible, horrible things.”
“And you feel bad about it?”
She nodded and grabbed my hand, tangling our fingers together. I smiled and tugged her closer to me as the cold wind blew.
She tensed up and gripped my hand tighter. “I hate it. Do you really think that you can change, that you can learn from your mistakes and not make them again?”
“Yes. You can also make them your defining characteristics.”
She gave me a subtle smile. “Like your arrogance and ego.”
She started spinning both of us around, her head back so her hair brushed the snow. I laughed and pulled her into my arms when we were dizzy.
“Be careful, Penny. You wouldn’t want to fall off the curb.” I brushed a rebel curl off her cheek and bent to kiss her.
She melted against me, her hands sliding up to tangle in my hair. My heart pounded. My backseat was extremely roomy and she didn’t mind me ruining her.
Someone cleared his throat behind me. I immediately straightened. I should have noticed someone coming so close. I held Penny protectively in case the old preacher man tried to burn her or cast out a devil or something.
He smiled cheerfully, eyes shining beneath his round spectacles. “Have you two dated long?”
“We’re engaged,” I said, almost a warning like he was going to try to steal her away or something. What was wrong with me? Penny only liked wicked mages. I was perfectly safe.
He raised his eyebrows. “Congratulations. When is the happy day?”
Penny shook her head. “We’re only pretending to be engaged so my step-father doesn’t mind that we’re living together.” She elbowed me and whispered, “Don’t lie to popes.”
He laughed. “I’m certainly not a pope. I do suggest strongly that you refrain from lying to those you love. Lying is always something that does more damage to the perpetrator than the victim.”
Penny frowned at him. “That makes no sense. Suppose you were a psycho killer. If you told people, they’d kill you. If you didn’t, you’d kill them.”
Blooming Black: Rosewood Academy of Witches and Mages (Darkly Sweet Book 4) Page 2
