by T. M. Cromer
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
Her voice startled him from his musings. He squinted upwards at the mid-morning sun and let the rays bathe his face in their warmth. Spring tightened her hand in his, and he smiled at her impatience. Yeah, some things would never change.
“You.” He faced her and let her see the love he felt for her, allowing himself to be open and honest for the first time in a long while. “I was thinking about you.” She ducked her head, but not before he witnessed her pleased smile. “What were you thinking?”
“That I could live out here. Among all this.” She waved a graceful hand to encompass the trees and bushes on either side of the path. “I…” She halted and cocked her head.
“Sprin—”
She reached an index finger to cover his lips as she frowned over her shoulder. “Someone else is here,” she whispered. “The energy is very bad.”
Trusting her instincts, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pictured the front lawn of the Thorne Estate. Nothing happened.
Fucking Blockers!
Wildly, his head spun left and right, trying to gauge the best route to run. “Can you get a sense of where they are?”
“Close. To the left, I think.”
“That means we’re cut off. Head back to the clearing as fast as you can. You’ll be protected there.”
“I’m not leaving you, Knox.”
“Why can’t you ever do what you’re told?” he growled. “Let’s go!”
“Wait!” In a move that surprised him, Spring faced him and gripped his hands. “Goddess hear our plea and assist us in our time of need. Praesidio!”
She’d requested protection from the Goddess. And as the morning sun disappeared, the entire wooded area was encased in inky darkness. Had Knox not been holding onto Spring, he’d have panicked because he couldn’t see six inches in front of his face.
“Conlumino!”
A faint trail of light appeared. It reminded Knox of small solar lights along a darkened walkway. Careful to keep his voice pitched for her ears alone, he asked, “Can anyone else see this but us?”
“No.”
“Clever woman. Let’s go.”
They hightailed it for the clearing where they knew they’d find the protection of the Goddess and centuries of their ancestors. Roughly ten yards out, Spring pulled him to a halt and ducked into the forest.
“Find them. Conjure flashlights if you have to. They can’t have gotten far.”
Zhu Lin. Why wasn’t he surprised? The only question that remained was if his mother had set him up. It wouldn’t surprise him if she had. The underhanded action fit with her previous behavior.
“Who is that man?”
For a moment, Knox had forgotten Spring had no knowledge of Lin other than what he’d told her. She had no way of knowing what Lin looked like. “Zhu Lin.”
She straightened from her crouched position and stepped forward.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“It’s time to end this.”
The steely determination in her voice chilled him to the marrow of his bones. It was as if she were someone else. Someone other than Spring. Was there a remnant of Isis left in her?
22
With a simple snap of her fingers, Spring restored the light to the forest. The surprised gasps of Lin’s small army of nine alerted Knox to their assumption that magic had been suspended by the Blockers. He toyed with the idea of another teleport attempt.
Together, Knox and Spring stepped from behind the lush foliage of the forest concealing them. The secondary gasps almost made him laugh. Most witches didn’t have the brass cojones to come out of hiding and confront Lin.
“Mr. Lin, I presume?” Spring asked pleasantly, as if she didn’t already know the man had sold her to a drug lord to be his sexual plaything.
Lin frowned. Knox reasoned the man was confused as to why Spring didn’t know him.
“Spring Thorne.”
A lift of Lin’s hands shuffled his soldiers into a semicircle around them. “I know who you are, Miss Thorne. We’ve met before. I also know the name of your companion.”
“Excellent. Then let’s get straight to the point.” She squatted and lifted a handful of dead leaves from the frozen ground, threw them in the air, and blew a kiss in the direction of the clump of leaves before they burst apart. “Addormio.” The leaves simultaneously fluttered into the faces of the soldiers surrounding them, and one by one, Lin’s army dropped to the ground.
“What did you do to them?” Although there was mild curiosity in his tone, Lin’s face showed no emotion.
“I put them to sleep so the grown-ups can talk.”
As Spring spoke, Lin’s hand crept toward the interior of his blue suit jacket. Knox had a good idea what he was reaching for. Knox concentrated on the gun’s barrel and folded it in upon itself. Lin would get a surprise when he tried to use his weapon.
“I’ve been informed that you’re an old enemy of the Thorne family.” She didn’t wait for his confirmation. “You’ll have to forgive me for stating what might be obvious to you, but my memory appears to be faulty. Regardless, I believe it’s time you left us all alone.”
“I will not stop until your entire family is eradicated.” The fierceness behind his statement was proof as to how deep Lin’s hatred ran. “Serqet demands it.”
“I see.”
Spring strolled closer to Lin, making Knox’s heart rate shift into overdrive. What the hell was she doing? The man could physically strike her down in the blink of an eye. “Spring.” He voiced his warning with her name.
He placed a hand behind his back and began gathering the elements as he’d done to strike down his mother. If it worked once, he had faith it would work again.
“Here’s the thing, I’ve done my homework these last two months. I’ve read all the little notations in my family’s spell book. There’s one thing I know for certain. Serqet now lives in the Otherworld. And if I’m not mistaken, so does everyone in her line with the exception of you and a small handful of others. Do you really believe in that honor your ancestors crap? Because from everything I’ve learned, she sure as hell wouldn’t honor you.”
Rage began to gather on Zhu Lin’s countenance. His eerie, green eyes turned icy.
Spring paid him no heed. “I’ve read your family history, Mr. Lin.” She continued on as if they were girlfriends sitting down over a cup of tea. “Your ancestor wasn’t a very nice person. She tried to poison her lover’s new bride. Did you know that? No, not honorable in the least if you ask me.”
Okay, that was news to Knox, but then he wasn’t as fascinated with the past as Spring seemed to be.
“Those are the lies passed down from your family,” Lin spat. “The Thornes and Carlyles only know about lies and deception. Ask Mr. Carlyle.” A sly expression slithered over his smooth, ageless features. “Did you know he left you to your fate at the hands of Don Carlos? He left you to die.”
All pleasantness left Spring’s face. A blank mask replaced her previous animation. “I did not.”
“Spring…” What could he say? He had left her to her fate. Granted it was to find a way to break the spell attached to her shackles, but he’d abandoned her all the same. That desertion had gotten her killed.
A small tremor shifted the hard-packed ground beneath his feet. Had Spring done that?
Lin continued with a sick glee. “Did he tell you what Don Carlos did to you? How he drugged and raped you repeatedly? How he tortured you with every weapon at his disposal?”
“Spring, it wasn’t like that.” If Spring believed Lin, Knox would lose the most precious part of his world. “I—”
She held up one elegant hand to halt his words. “What proof do you have?”
It was as if she played right into Lin’s hands with that question. Within seconds, Lin produced a smartphone and quickly queued up a video. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what that video contained.
�
��Spring, sweetheart, please.” Knox wasn’t beyond begging. If she saw that he’d left her to die, she’d hate him. There would be no hard reset of her memory banks this time around.
Spring accepted the phone and pressed play. As the scene unfolded, he could hear his own words. “I’m coming back for you. I swear it. Tell me you understand. Tell me you know I’ll be back, and that a thousand Lins and Don Carlos Estebans won’t keep me from you.”
Triumph flared to life in Lin’s eyes as horrific sounds of fists on flesh filled the air around them. He wore his smugness like a cloak. “He is little better than an animal, Miss Thorne, this man you’ve chosen. Like his father and mother before him, he will turn on you, as he turned on his mother. Yes, I did see her body. Perhaps he’ll rip your beautiful body apart as he did Don Carlos? You seem to attract the violent sort.”
Bile rose up in the back of Knox’s throat when he saw the shift in Spring’s expression. All warmth faded away as she turned her darkening green eyes upon him. He wanted to throw back his head and bellow his agony for what he’d lost.
With her hard stare locked onto Knox, Spring addressed Lin. “So what is it you suggest I do?”
“Come with me. Serve me. You will receive great financial reward for your loyalty.” Lin stepped closer to Spring. “You owe these people nothing.”
Her eyes dropped to the ground, and she affected a bored tone. “You would use me against my family?”
“Yes.”
“You’d freely admit to using her?” Knox asked, incredulous.
Lin shrugged. “Why lie?”
“Okay.”
Both men whipped their heads in Spring’s direction.
“What? Spring, no!”
“Why should I listen to you?” Her tone was chilly and scathing—the perfect match to the cold fury in her eyes. “You left me to die.”
“I won’t let you go with him.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
Knox surged forward, determined to save Spring from her reckless decision, and kill Lin in the process. Her next words stopped him in his tracks.
“There’s only one small thing before we go.” She bent and ran her hand over the surface of the ground at their feet. “I want you to call off your Blockers and let Knox leave.”
“If he lives, he will come for you.”
“He’s right, Spring,” Knox rasped. “I will always come for you.”
Because her face was turned away from Lin, the other man missed the small smile that twisted Spring’s lips. Knox didn’t. He also bore witness to her wink. Her mischievous expression almost made him give into a shocked laugh, but he was careful to keep the look of grim determination upon his face. Whatever she was planning, he wouldn’t give her away.
“We’ll deal with him if that happens,” she said as if she were unconcerned one way or the other. “Call off your Blockers.”
Lin’s indecision was short lived. “No.”
“Well, you can’t say I didn’t try.” She slammed her fist against the ground. “Terrae motus!”
The earth directly beneath their feet shook with the force of an eight-point-five magnitude quake. A crack opened, roughly three feet wide, and ran toward Lin at the speed of a freight train. Without a thought for his own safety, Knox dove for Spring. Over and over they tumbled as they rolled to the right of the earth’s gaping hole, coming to a stop at the base of an old oak.
Lin cried out. He gripped the edge of the crumbling opening, his fingers clawed for purchase. His frantic gaze sought them out. “Please, help me.”
Spring stood and stumbled forward. “Not a chance, you bastard.” With a thunderous clap of her hands, the shelf of ground Lin clung to dissolved into dust. His terror-filled scream echoed through the trees.
Kneeling, Spring placed her palms flat on the ground. “Desino.” The trembling earth ceased its motion and let out a soft sigh as it closed the hole Spring had created.
Knox leaned back against the base of the tree trunk, his gaze transfixed on the spot where the ground had encased Lin. When Spring rose and dusted off her arms and legs, Knox’s attention snapped to her.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly.
“Okay?” He didn’t know what he was. Okay probably wasn’t top of the list. “You buried him alive.”
She cast a frown over her shoulder to where Lin no longer stood. “Do you think I was too lenient?”
Inappropriate laughter bubbled up, and once it started, he found it impossible to stop. Tears leaked from the corners of his eyes as his hilarity took hold. “Lenient? I’d hate to see you truly pissed off, sweetheart.”
Spring flashed him a delighted smile. “You should pray that never happens.” Focusing her gaze on a point somewhere beyond him, she called out, “You can come out now.”
As one, the Thornes stepped from behind the trees: Autumn, Winnie, Summer, and Alastair.
Autumn reached Spring first and wrapped her in a tight embrace. “That was kickass, little sister.”
“It was, wasn’t it? Do you suppose now you’ll let me teleport?” Spring quipped.
Winnie and Summer each took a turn hugging her.
“How did you know to come?” Knox stood and faced the women.
The four sisters shared a look and a grin. “Hallmark,” they said in stereo.
Alastair’s light chuckle died out as he walked to the freshly turned dirt where Lin had been buried. He stared down in quiet contemplation before his somber gaze shifted to Spring. “Never for a moment doubt you did the right thing, child.”
* * *
Spring met her uncle’s intense dark-blue eyes. “Never. He got what he deserved.” As Alastair nodded and turned his attention to the remaining soldiers who hadn’t been taken by the earthquake. She swallowed hard. She wouldn’t ever let on, but the video of her own death would endlessly haunt her. As would Knox’s unnatural scream of anguish when he returned for her. With single-minded precision, he’d maimed and killed Don Carlos’s men, and then Don Carlos himself. She couldn’t say she was shocked or appalled. No, instead she’d felt a large measure of satisfaction hearing the drug lord’s bones popping. He’d never hurt another living soul.
Knox’s warmth enveloped her from behind. With his cheek against her hair, he asked, “Are we good?”
As if he had to ask! It hurt her heart to think he might be worried about her reaction. For goodness’ sake, he’d watched over her and saved her countless times. She hated that the one time he couldn’t help should be the reason for his self-torture. And there would be self-torture on his part, of that she had little doubt. Instinctively, she knew he heaped too much blame on himself.
She twisted to face him. “Yes. One-hundred percent.”
“I thought when you saw—”
She shushed him with a soft kiss. “Don’t go there. You’re not to blame for the actions of Zhu Lin and Don Carlos. Don’t put that upon yourself, Knox. Promise me.”
The struggle to absolve himself was written on his face.
With a palm resting on either side of his face, she gave his head a small shake. “Promise.”
“I promise,” he said gruffly.
“Good. Now let’s figure out what to do with all these bodies.”
Autumn kicked the closest one. “Are they dead?”
“Just a deep sleep,” Spring assured her.
“Too bad.” Autumn gave a shrug and delivered a second kick.
“Your whole family is savage,” Knox murmured in Spring’s ear.
“Yeah, I’m starting to like them.”
His bark of laughter caused heads to turn in their direction. She noted the silent approval. In a way, it validated her choice.
23
“I’m surprised you allowed one of your own to perish, sister.”
Serqet stood on the edge of the clearing, invisible to all but Isis, watching the Thorne sisters pat one another on the back for Spring’s successful murder of Zhu Lin. A boiling rage churned below the surface, but she�
�d never allow anyone to see, especially not her sister, traitorous bitch that she was.
“He was no longer of use to me,” Serqet stated. “He’d become obsessed with his own agenda.”
Isis glided to her side. “But still, he was one of your line. I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Do you think I care for your condolences?” Serqet turned on her. “You, our father Ra’s favorite. You, who could do no wrong. You, who spoiled my revenge and had my power stripped from me?”
When her sister didn’t step back from the venom in her words, Serqet experienced a smidgeon of respect. Not many would face down her fury, knowing she was as devious as the day was long.
“What I did wasn’t out of malice, sister. It was to prevent you from doing what you would later regret.”
“I regret nothing except trusting you.”
Sadness entered Isis’s amber eyes. “How long do you intend to hold on to your hate? All these lost centuries aren’t enough?”
“My hate is all that holds me together now. Don’t look for the woman I used to be. You stole that from me. Stole from me that which I loved the most.”
“And you didn’t do the same to me? You didn’t orchestrate the death of my husband, Osiris?”
A ping of something long forgotten echoed beneath her breast. Even before Serqet had cursed the piece of jewelry she had intended for her lover to give to his bride, her intentions had never been pure. But Isis had forgiven her for the part she played in Osiris’s death, as she had forgiven their brother, Set.
“Knox Carlyle shall die as the Thorne witch’s punishment for killing one of my line,” she declared. When Isis didn’t issue a challenge to the decree, she faced her. “You do not object?”
“If you feel you must take a life, you may take his.”
“We are in accord then.”
Isis remained silent, her sorrowful gaze locked on the embracing couple.
