by Talia Vance
“Nice one,” Sherri says, grinning at Portia. Portia’s here. I don’t know why I’m surprised. She’s a Seventh Daughter. Sherri already mentioned that Portia had answered the call. But Portia is still the daughter of a Son. She is a breeder through and through. Using her power to cause trouble for me is one thing. It’s harder to imagine her really taking arms against her own family.
Liam comes up behind Sherri and wraps his arms around her. She spins to greet him, and they kiss, mouths open. Little smacking noises echo through the trees.
“Eew,” Portia says, and I have to agree with her. “Get a room, or at least wait until my back is turned.”
Liam stops kissing Sherri long enough to flash Portia a warning glare. “Insolence is a luxury you cannot afford to indulge.”
Portia’s left hand erupts in blue flame. “Last time I checked we were doing you the favor.”
“That remains to be seen.” Liam stops the grabby hands with Sherri long enough to point out a large tree branch hanging over the edge of the meadow. “Try that one.”
Portia smiles and lifts her hand to throw overhand. She sends a fireball flying through the air. It skews left, only brushing a few leaves on the outer most end of the branch, before fizzling out in a smoldering pile of ash in the damp grass below.
Sherri steps next to Portia and calls fire to her hands in a heartbeat. She throws it almost carelessly, but the arc is perfect and it hits solidly in the heart of the branch, igniting a large group of leaves.
“Show off,” Portia says. Then she turns her back on them both and starts walking toward the trail.
“You’ll come again tomorrow,” Liam calls after her.
“Yeah, fine.”
I crouch further behind the tree, letting Portia pass on her way down the path.
I wait for her to disappear around a bend before I head down the path after her. When I’m sure we’re out of earshot of the others, I pick up my pace.
She hears my footsteps and spins around, her hands already lit with blue flame. She laughs when she sees me but the fireballs still dance in her palms. “You missed practice.”
“Oh darn. Does this mean I’m off the team? Because I was really looking forward to dying for a bunch of selfish gods who want to destroy the human race.”
Portia sends a fire ball at a tree a few feet to my right. It’s close enough that I jump. The tree catches fire for an instant before turning to damp smoke. “Get your facts straight. They only plan on enslaving them.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
Portia shrugs. “It beats the alternative.”
“Which is?”
“Let’s see. I could spend the rest of my life letting the Sons walk all over me like they own me and treat me like crap. I could stand in the corner and hide my power while the lowest breeders look down their noses at me. That sounds so much better than ruling their asses.”
“You’re the daughter of the Sons’ leader. That has to count for something.”
Portia laughs. “You should know better. The only thing that matters to them is where you fall on the genetic ladder.” She stares at the other fireball in her hand. I know she’s itching to throw it. She’s got to be burning up on the inside by now. It’s hard to contain fire for long.
I glance over my shoulder. There’s no sign of Sherri or Liam or anyone who might care if I survive this day. “You have power. They’ll want it for their side.” They’ll want to use you the way they did me.
“Easy for you to say. You come in and announce to the entire tribe that you’re a bandia and not only do they not kill you, they let you into the Circle. They let you into the family.”
“Hardly.”
Portia walks up the trail, closing the distance between us. She waves the blue flame in her left hand in front of my face. “You think you had it bad? No one hurt you. They feared you. They wanted what you had.” Sweat beads on her forehead, but she doesn’t look away from me. “I hope you enjoyed ruining my life.”
She’s going to pass out if she doesn’t let the fireball go soon. “I ruined your life? I hardly know you.”
Her breath comes faster, but she hangs on to the fire. “I was finally getting somewhere. Dad pushed Blake on Sierra as a potential pairing. He wouldn’t shut up about how her kids would be sixth generation. Like it was the effing holy grail.”
“What does Rush pairing Blake and Sierra have to do with me?”
“Blake didn’t want the match. He asked me out instead. The lowest member of the Circle. A first generation carrier with no value. Blake wanted me.” Her voice gets tight. “Me.”
Her words stab at my throat, depriving me of oxygen. Blake picked Portia. Not because of some sick and twisted bond. Not because the Sons were forcing him to pair with a good genetic match. Because he liked her.
“I still don’t see what this has to do with me.” Even as I say the words, I know I’m wrong. This has everything to do with me. Blake had been dating Portia when he first recognized what I was and claimed the right to kill me. Then we bonded and our souls were tied to each other. Portia never had a chance.
She levels her dark eyes at me. “You ruined everything. You ruined my life. You ruined Blake.”
She has it backward. Blake ruined me. He used me.
Portia raises her left hand and thrusts the fireball in my direction. I jump to the right, throwing myself to the ground behind a thick tree trunk. I wait for the burning pain of fire but it never comes. I prop myself up on my elbows and risk a glance around the tree. Portia lays slumped in the path where she fainted, her fire extinguished.
Wow. Portia holds a grudge. I make my way to where she lays curled next to a bush. “Portia?”
She doesn’t move. I find a pulse just below the line of her jaw. Her chest rises and falls with shallow breaths. She’s alive at least.
She stirs and blinks up at me. “Why are you still here?” Whether she thinks I should be dead or just have run home with my tail between my legs is unclear.
I help her into a sitting position. “Did you just try to kill me?”
She laughs. “It’s not like you can’t defend yourself.”
Yeah, that. “I know you don’t like me, and I get it. I just need for you to understand something. Maybe you can conjure fire. That’s the easy part. It’s not the same as seeing someone you care about reduced to a charred shell, a lifeless body that isn’t coming back.”
“And you would know this how?”
I picture Blake lying on the beach with a black ring around his heart. It’s awful to know that someone you love is gone forever. It is a million times worse to know that you killed him. I close my eyes, forcing the image away. It doesn’t budge. “I just know.”
“My problem, not yours.”
“You really think you could kill your family?”
Portia shakes the leaves out of her chestnut hair. “It’s nothing less than they deserve.”
“What about Blake? Will you kill him too?”
Portia narrows her eyes. “Thought shall not covet your sister’s boyfriend.”
“We’re not sisters.”
“Aren’t we?”
“Think this through. You and Sherri will be outnumbered. Even if you could win, what then? You really think the gods are going to care about you when they don’t need you anymore?”
“You mean me and Sherri and you will be outnumbered, don’t you? Oh right. I almost forgot. You don’t want to kill people. You prefer to drain them of everything that’s beautiful and happy and then throw them to the wind. That’s so humane.”
“What?”
“You ruined him, Brianna. If Blake dies, it will be a mercy killing.”
I scramble to my feet, backing away from her. “You can’t mean that.”
Portia laughs. “My dad was right about you. You are a pathetic excuse for a bandia.”
The words sting more than they should. I never asked to be a Seventh Daughter. I shouldn’t care. I turn down the trail, walking
as quickly as I can without losing my footing in the sharp rocks that dot the ground. I can still hear Portia’s laughter in the distance.
I hear it well enough to know when the laughter turns to crying.
THIRTY-FOUR
Austin and I spend the next week avoiding each other. He’s perfectly polite when I run into him in the giant house, but we don’t talk about anything that matters. He’s giving me space. It’s exactly what I wanted when we first arrived, but now I’m not so sure.
It’s harder to avoid Sherri and Liam. It’s a blessing and a curse that they are usually so busy making out that they hardly pay attention to me. Still, with the Gathering only weeks away, I know I can’t escape Liam’s notice for much longer. They’ve been up at the ruin every day.
My phone buzzes with a text message. I glance down expecting some pithy joke from Braden, but it’s from Joe. “Meet at the Cath Pub at 3. No fire.”
That last part will be easier than Joe realizes. I don’t find Austin in his office or the library. I make my way to his room and knock lightly on the door. Austin opens the door halfway.
I hold up my phone up wordlessly.
Austin leans against the doorframe. “I don’t suppose
there’s any hope of your letting me go alone?”
“None.”
“Didn’t think so.” When he flashes that crooked smile,
I melt a little.
“Are you going to invite me in?”
He doesn’t move from where he stands between the
half-closed door and the frame. “Are you asking to come inside my bedroom?”
Heat rises in my cheeks. “We need to talk.”
“We can do that downstairs.”
He’s right, but neither one of us moves. I stand frozen in the hallway, watching the way his hand strokes the wood of the frame absently.
I take a breath. “But I’m asking to come into your bedroom.”
His sigh is so soft, I would miss it if I weren’t listening so intently. He swings the door open all the way and steps back, ushering me inside.
I make my way over to the large leather sofa, but I don’t sit down. I concentrate on Austin as he shuts the door behind him, doing my best to ignore the giant bed in my peripheral vision.
He approaches me with something close to trepidation, his eyes wary. “Do you not hate me then?”
“I don’t know what I feel.” I close my eyes searching for some inescapable truth. Part of me still wants to hate him, but it’s fighting with other, stronger emotions that I’m too afraid to name.
“I never meant to hurt you. I just wanted you to live.”
I step towards him, stopping when I’m close enough to take his hand in mine. “It doesn’t make it right.”
He stares at our interlaced fingers. “Maybe not. But there is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you.”
“Then trust me to protect myself.”
“What?”
“I’m asking you to trust me.”
He smiles. “Okay.”
“Just like that? Why?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“Why would you trust me?” God knows he has no reason to.
“Because I want to.”
“That’s it?” He makes it sound so simple. Like trusting someone is just a matter of will.
“That’s it. I would follow you to the ends of the earth. I have.”
“And I betrayed you. I sent you away to the underworld.”
“A chance I was willing to take.”
“Even now?”
He pulls me the rest of the way to him, brushing my lips with a feathery kiss. “Especially now. Do you think I’m a bloody fool then?”
I lean forward so I can whisper in his ear. “What do you think?”
His low laugh resonates in the base of my spine. “I think you are playing a dangerous game.”
I bring my hands behind his neck, pulling him the rest of the way to me. “If the meeting with the Sons is a trap, I don’t want to waste today.” Whatever else I’m feeling, if I only have these few hours left, I want to feel alive.
I stretch up to kiss Austin. He meets my kiss with an intensity that floods me with shivery heat. I press closer to him until he falls back on the leather couch, pulling me into his lap. His fingers move under my shirt, dancing along the edge of my bra and dipping underneath. He groans into my mouth as I move against his hand.
I sit up and pull my tee shirt over my head. Austin reaches for a lacey bra strap, sliding it along my shoulder until it falls to the side. His eyes are dark, and his smile takes my breath away.
He kisses my bare shoulder and then moves to the base of my neck, licking the sensitive skin where my pulse beats. He brings his arms around me, holding me to him while he stands. I wrap my legs around his waist as he carries me across the room and lays me across his giant bed.
He lies on his side next to me, trailing a finger from my chin to my belly button. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”
My skin aches for more contact. I brush away the bit of hair that hangs in front of his eyes. “Are you just going to lay there staring, or are you going to touch me?”
“I am definitely going to touch you.” His voice is laced with laughter. “But it’s not a race to the finish. I want to savor every moment.”
I run a hand from his shoulder to his wrist and back again. “Take off your shirt.”
“As you wish.” He sits up and brings his long sleeved tee over his head in one smooth pull. I reach for the soft skin above his heart. When he kisses me, I feel his pulse race beneath my palm.
He moves his hand along the inside of my thigh, tracing invisible lines on my jeans. It’s not enough. I want his hands on my skin. I want his skin on my skin. I want everything that his kiss promises. More.
I pull him down to me, until his body covers mine. I run my hands down his back and under the waist of his jeans, pulling him closer.
“God, Brianna,” he breathes into my neck. “You are determined to rush this.”
I smile into his hair. “I want this.”
“Ah.” He thrusts against me, so that even through our clothes, I can feel how much he wants this too. “I am no match for a goddess.”
He rolls on his back and pulls off his clothes, grinning at me in a way that melts me from the inside out.
I can’t not stare. Austin may not be immortal anymore, but every part of his body is sculpted to perfection, sinew carved in perfect balance with his lean frame. My eyes drop of their own accord, and I can feel them widen despite my best efforts.
Austin reaches for the button at the top of my jeans. “Your turn.”
I nod and let Austin peel away what remains of my clothes. Before I can feel too self- conscious, he covers me with his chest, holding himself above me as his lips crush mine. He lets his weight shift gradually, lowering his chest to mine. When he brings his bare leg between my own, his skin is warmer and smoother than I expect.
I bring my hands between his shoulder blades, urging him closer.
This time when his hand reaches my thigh, I can feel every bit of the soft pressure of his fingers as they graze my skin. When his hips press into mine, I feel the full length of him.
“Is this okay?” he asks, pressing closer.
“Just okay? Don’t you think you should be aiming a little higher?”
He laughs and reaches for a drawer in the wood frame of the bed. “Perhaps. To be honest, I am hovering somewhere between a sliver of control and complete abandon. I’m just aiming to get through this without embarrassing myself.” He takes a square wrapper from the drawer and tears it open with his teeth. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep it together.”
“Who said anything about wanting you to keep it together?”
He moves between my legs and sighs into my ear. “Indeed.”
It hurts a bit. I’m not technically a virgin, so the pain catches me by surprise, and I cry out before I can stop myself
.
Austin freezes. “Did I hurt you?”
“A little.” I feel myself softening around him. “Try it again.” This time when he moves into me, I feel nothing but sweet pressure. “Again.”
“Like this?” He thrusts forward.
“Yes,” I whisper. “Like that. Again.”
He kisses me as he moves inside of me, and I kiss him back, pushing against him, urging him forward, faster, further. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this pure joy that starts at my toes and fills me completely.
The rush of endorphins stays with me long after it’s over and I lay with my head cradled on Austin’s chest. I’m treading water in the middle of the ocean. Austin was right about one thing: this can only end badly.
THIRTY-FIVE
The pub is busy this afternoon. A crowd gathers around a large television, cheering and shouting at a rugby game. The Sons sit at a table in the back corner, not glancing at the television at all. Instead, their eyes watch me, flashing with silvery venom. I should be used to it, but the hair on the back of my neck rises in response. Austin’s hand rests in the middle of my back, propelling me forward.
Blake sits at the end of the table. Though his gaze follows us, he doesn’t watch me like the others. He watches Austin. There is no trace of Blake’s signature dimples. His face is dark, his eyes ringed with black circles, his lips set in a thin line. My heart breaks a little. Not for me, but for Blake. Where is the Blake who could win over an entire room with a smile? I spent months watching him before we were together, and this bitter boy who snaps a straw in half at the end of the table is someone else entirely.
Jonah winks at me from his seat next to Rush. They couldn’t leave him at home? Dr. McKay sits on Rush’s other side. Levi and the twins sit next to him. Jeremy plays with a long strand of his hair, winding it around his finger. His twin brother Micah tries to smile, but his lips twitch. Either these two missed their dose of medicinal this morning, or more likely, peace is not in the cards for us.
Two seats are vacant across the table from the seven of them. Austin and I are meant to feel intimidated.
