by Hall, Linsey
“I won’t let you risk your life for my soul.”
Esha flinched even as her heart soared. He wanted her life more than his own soul? The thing he’d wanted more than anything else for centuries? It wasn’t that simple, though. “But with your sickness, your soul is your life now. You won’t survive if she keeps it. You’ll just be incapacitated and in misery.”
He shrugged, his eyes still on hers. “I’ve lived a long time. I won’t trade your life for mine. I thought I wasn’t complete without my soul, and maybe I’m no’. But losing you would take a bigger piece out of me than I’d be able to recover from.”
A golden warmth spread through her at his words. She had no idea what to say, but she had to believe she could fix this with Aurora. He had to have his soul back, and soon.
“Come here.” She pulled his face down to hers and kissed him. Not a kiss of desire, but of closeness. This was what she’d wanted for so long. Not the sex, not the flirting or the long glances, but the closeness and the caring. The kind that might last a lifetime. The idea took the breath from her. It was like a chance at sunlight after a life underground, but terrifying in that it might not last.
How could something so good endure? It wouldn’t; her luck had never run that way. The only thing she could do was grab and hold on with both hands for as long as it lasted.
She was shaken from her dire thoughts when Warren’s big hand ran up her back and cupped her head. The other wrapped around her waist. He held her so closely that she felt as though she were one with him, his heat pushing out the cold spaces in her heart that the hot springs hadn’t been able to vanquish. His lips were firm on hers, stealing her breath.
Too soon, he pulled away and leaned his forehead against hers. The loss was palpable, the chill all the greater for having known warmth.
“We have to finish this discussion,” he said.
She shook her head. “No. No.” She kissed him. “Let it rest. Just for now. Kiss me. Please.”
He groaned, a rumble from low in his throat, and pulled her mouth back to his. He slipped his tongue between her lips, his clever mouth making her moan, then pulled the towel from her.
“In the water,” he growled.
She swallowed hard, then nodded. But only once he’d torn off his clothes and stood before her naked, with the golden light flickering off planes of muscle, did she turn around and step into the water.
When she reached the middle and it lapped at her stomach, she felt him behind her, his rough hands on her waist and his erection hard against her ass.
“You scared the hell out of me.” His dark voice at her ear sent a shiver down her spine. Barely leashed control radiated from him, no doubt left over from his tension in the temple.
She jumped when his hand slipped between her thighs, his fingers stroking and finding the place that made her moan.
“Fuck, you’re soft.” The words were guttural, his need clear.
The stroking of his hands and the water blended to make her mind spin. When he pushed her forward so that she bent over and rested her hands on the rim of the pool, she parted her legs, tilting her ass up.
A shiver of anticipation racked her when his hands gripped her hips. The hot, hard length of him prodded at her entrance and she moved back, needing him to drive out her fear over the future.
His groan was harsh as he pushed forward, parting her flesh with the broad head of his cock. Her eyes slid shut in acute pleasure as she savored the feel of him, hot and hard against her. She cried out when he began to move, thrusting steadily while his fingers rubbed her clitoris. The slapping of water and flesh was a glorious and dirty accompaniment to the sound of his breath heaving in her ear.
“Come now, Esha.” His voice broke on her name. “I’m no’ going to last.”
His fingers stroked her, making the tension coil tighter and tighter. But it wasn’t until his thrusts lost their grace and his hand bit into her hip that it exploded into an orgasm that tore through her and took him over the edge with her.
Hours later, Esha gazed down at Warren, his harshly beautiful face peaceful in repose. She’d just woken after several hours of sleep to see that it was nearing two in the morning. After the hot springs, Warren had carried her up to his room. They’d fallen asleep nearly immediately.
Now, she lay on her side in the big bed and looked down at him. In all the time she’d known him, she’d never seen him looking so relaxed. He had so much weighing on him, so much at risk these last few weeks. He must be exhausted if he slept so deeply.
She couldn’t, now that she’d awakened. Too many thoughts played in her head. A few weeks ago, she’d had so little in her life. Work, the Chairman—who was worth his furry weight in gold—and Ana. She was lucky. She was. But sometimes, the missing parts glared too brightly to ignore.
Then Warren asked her to help him, and everything had changed. She’d fallen for him. For all her big talk about keeping her heart separate and protecting herself, she’d failed miserably. How had she thought to resist this kind, strong, determined man?
Somehow, during the course of their search, his goals had become as important to her as her own. She had to get his soul back for him. And they couldn’t agree on how to go about it, that was certain. She was grateful they’d been too exhausted to talk any more. He was so set on his path, but so was she. She just needed one more chance with Aurora.
If she couldn’t convince Aurora this time, she’d agree with Warren, as much as it would hurt her to do so. But for now, she had the perfect time to sneak away and try again.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Twenty minutes later, Esha opened her eyes on the beach. Stars twinkled above, the moon a heavy orb hanging low over dark water. The silence was broken only by waves lapping at the sand.
Aurora was probably at the house, so she headed up onto the patio, around the twinkling pool, and toward the brightly lit floor-length windows of the white mansion. The giant sliding glass doors led directly into an expansive living room, where TV sounds blared. Knocking would be no use, so Esha pulled on one of the doors, unsurprised when it wasn’t locked.
“Aurora?” she called over the TV. Hesitantly, she wandered through the white and blue living room and under the archway that led to the kitchen. It was an enormous space, with acres of white marble counters and clear glass cabinets. Every appliance was sitting out on the counters, plugged in and ready to go.
Aurora’s familiar lounged on the island counter in the middle of the kitchen, graceful and sleek under the hanging glass lamps. When the Chairman’s ears perked up and he stood a little straighter, she realized that the other familiar was definitely female. She watched in disbelief as the Chairman sauntered toward the lady cat.
Good luck, dude.
Aurora popped up from behind the island counter, headphones on her head and a big grin on her face. Her skin gleamed golden in the white kitchen, and she was dressed in a bikini with a sarong tied around her waist. The shadows still swirled around her like black smoke, but they were calm. She gripped a shiny steel toaster in her hand.
There were two different Auroras, that was certain. Goofy Aurora with a toaster, and deadly Aurora who came out to play occasionally. Esha hoped that it would be goofy Aurora in residence tonight.
“Esha!” she cried, yanking the headphones off her ears. The faint pounding beat of rock music drifted across the kitchen. “You’re back. Do you know what this thing does?”
“Um, it makes toasted bread. Just stick the slices in.”
“Huh. Okay, then.” She put it on the counter and pointed to another appliance. “What about that thing?”
Esha stared at it, her brow scrunched. She wasn’t much of a cook, but hadn’t she seen one of those on an infomercial? “I think that one pops corn kernels into popcorn.”
“What the hell is that?”
“It’s a snack. Light and airy. Are you fond of cooking?” She gestured to the myriad appliances.
“Nay. No’ if I doona have to.
But I freaking love electricity. All the things you can do with it! And all these strange things for making food. Did you know there is a fire that bursts into flame in my bedroom? All I have to do is push a button on a little box and poof! Fire!”
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice.” Aurora would really get along with Ana, Esha thought. They were equally entranced by technology—Aurora because she’d lived in a time without it, and Ana because she’d spent the last few thousand years stuck in Otherworld, where nothing had changed since the time of the Celts.
“Gods, I’m starving. Do you know how to make any food with this stuff?” Aurora said.
“Sorry, not much of a cook myself. Unless you’ve got frozen pizza in the freezer, we’re out of luck.”
“Pizza?”
“It’s some fabulous food.” Which gave Esha an idea. She wanted Aurora on her side, after all, and she really didn’t want Aurora’s shadows freaking out the way they had before. Esha was more convinced than ever that they were making Aurora crazy.
Food would be a good distraction. Because she was in the aether, it wouldn’t take much energy to aetherwalk to get some. Distances weren’t applicable in the here and nowhere, so she’d save her much needed power. She called the Chairman to her. He gave her a disgruntled look, but with one last longing glance at the female familiar, he came to her.
“Hang on. I’ll bring some back,” Esha said before they disappeared.
In the haze of sleep, Warren reached out for Esha and found only cold sheets. He snapped awake, his eyes taking an interminable time to focus on the dim room lit only by a single torch in the corner. She wasn’t here.
His heart pounded a staccato beat as he leapt up, threw on trousers, and grabbed a flashlight from the floor near the bed. A frantic search of the three floors of the house revealed that his dire feeling had been correct. She wasn’t here.
Damn it. She’d gone back to Aurora.
Fear made his chest feel too tight. He raced up to the bedroom and threw on a shirt and shoes, grabbed his sword and the dagger he’d taken from the museum, then charged down the stairs and out the front door.
The disorientation hit him immediately, a false confusion cast by the magic that protected the place. “Fuck!”
He looked from side to side down the narrow street. In the darkness cut only by a moon that was beginning to set, they looked identical, but he was almost certain that they’d gone left when they’d sought out the temple before. He stepped into the street and his certainty vanished. Every memory he had of traversing these streets was gone, and he knew as soon as he got out of sight he wouldn’t know how to get back to the house. He could be wandering the labyrinthine city streets until he collapsed.
Bloody hell. Didn’t have much choice, did he?
He stepped onto the street and turned left. He hadn’t made it a dozen feet from the house before the shade that had followed them earlier appeared at his side. He glanced at it, realizing that it was more solid than he’d ever seen it, as if its strength surged and waned like Esha’s. Perhaps it was the soul of a soulceress.
“Can you get me to the temple?” he asked.
The vaguely human shaped shadow didn’t nod—he didn’t think it could—but it drifted ahead of him as if to lead. He followed.
Twenty minutes later, Esha returned from London with her favorite pizza and some beer. Thank gods the place served so late or she’d have been out of luck.
Aurora was pushing the buttons on a blender when Esha appeared in the kitchen. She turned it off and looked up. “That smells great.”
“Yeah, it is. That’s a blender, by the way. It chops stuff up.”
They spent the next twenty minutes eating pizza and drinking beer while Esha pointed out the various appliances in the kitchen. She had to guess about some, but for the most part, it was really nice to sit with her sister and just be… normal.
“So, I know all about these gadgets. Tell me about yourself,” Aurora said.
“All right. I’m a mercenary.”
“For souls?”
Esha winced. Did she mean, steal them? “No. I kill rogue Mytheans for money.”
“Rogues?”
“Yeah. Like demons who get out of one of the hells through portals that shouldn’t be open. They either aren’t clever enough to run under the radar of mortals or they don’t care. Either way, they’ve done something to earn a hit on their heads, and I’m the one who does it.”
“My sister is a badass. I’m no’ surprised.”
Esha suppressed a grin. “Anyway, I live at the university.”
“Why? With those assholes?”
“It’s not so bad. There are a ton of Mytheans to draw power from. And they pay me. Works out well.”
“Yeah, right.”
“It’s really not as bad as it was when you went to prison. I mean, the witches hate me. They don’t try to hurt me, but they sure do hate me.” She frowned.
“Eh, doona worry about it. Of course they’re jealous. We can manifest our wishes with the flick of a hand. We’re superior to them in every way. They need their stupid books and potions and crows’ feet or whatever. But they work at the university too?”
Esha laughed—she couldn’t help it. “Yes. In their own department. Lots of Mytheans work there. It’s not just for classes and teaching. The university plays a bigger role in Mythean society than it ever did in the past. We’re more civilized now. Mostly. The university sees to it that we keep law and order so that we stay under the radar of mortals.”
“Fucking mortals, always causing problems. Sheeple. Spook them, and they all start running in one direction, bleating their hearts out.”
Esha shrugged, not really agreeing since she liked mortals well enough. “How’d you learn all this slang? You speak almost like someone from this century.”
“TV. I love this century. And some magic to help. Doona want to sound out of date. Weakness.”
Esha nodded. Her sister took strength seriously. Aurora was one hard bitch, with a steel strength behind her eyes. They could twinkle and joke as quickly as they could turn ice cold and ruthless. Ruthless. It was the perfect word to describe her sister. She’d do whatever it took to have her way, and fuck everyone else.
But it was a survival instinct, not evil. At least, not pure evil. Esha could recognize it in herself as easily as she could in Aurora. Only, once again, Aurora was a more extreme version of herself.
“Anyway.” Aurora turned to her excitedly. A quick mood swing. “Give me all the gossip. What’s going on in the twenty-first century? Mortals still doona know we exist, I got that. But what’s going on with our kind? Any species fighting? The Fae were going after the Selkies big time when I was put away. How did that play out?”
“Probably okay, since they get along fine now. I haven’t been in the UK long, so I’m not too up to date on the older conflicts.”
“Ooh, a world traveler!” Her sister was back to being bright and bubbly.
“Have you always been this way? Fun and light sometimes, ruthless the next?”
“Doona forget bloodthirsty!” Then her face turned serious. “And aye. If I were a witch or some other species that wasn’t despised, maybe I’d always be a basket of laughs. But I’m not. I’m a soulceress. I’ll always get my power from other people’s souls, and they’ll always hate me for it. Ruthless is the only way for our kind to survive in this world.”
Would Esha be as ruthless had she been born before the university had established order? She might get nasty looks or comments and be a bitch right back, but at least no one was trying to burn her at the stake.
It was a thought that led to her mother. She hadn’t wanted to jump right in with the questions, but she and Aurora were getting on well now.
“About our mom,” Esha asked. “What was it all like then? Did she take souls like you do?”
Aurora’s face turned dark and her knuckles whitened where they clutched her beer bottle. “Nay. She believed it was wrong to do so, and so did I
. Until the mortals killed her, at least.”
“Why did she let herself be captured and burned at the stake? I don’t get why she didn’t use her power to free herself.”
“She couldn’t. She was pregnant. Pregnancy is dangerous for soulceresses. All our energy goes to the baby, so we canna use our power.”
“Pregnant with me?”
“Aye.”
The bottom of Esha’s stomach dropped away. “So I killed her.”
Aurora’s head swung around and she met Esha’s gaze, her own shocked. “No, idiot. That’s not how it works. You didn’t do it on purpose.”
“But if I hadn’t been born, she wouldn’t have been targeted.”
“You need to work on your guilt complex. And probably your self-esteem. Respect our mother’s decision. She wanted you. I wanted you. Everything else that happened was bad luck and evil people. Not you.”
Esha felt like an idiot, but that seemed to be pretty common lately. “You’re right. What happened next?”
“She had to escape on foot when the witch hunts and the Burnings came to our doorstep. We lived amongst the mortals because Mytheans were out for our blood, every one of them. They finally had mass hysteria on their side, the only thing that could make a bunch of otherwise reasonable beings commit genocide. Stupid mortals and their paranoia. If they hadn’t gone crazy over their idea of mortal witches, the fever never would have spread to Mytheans. But Mytheans finally had a chance to get rid of us. So we went to live near the mortals, where there were none of our kind to threaten us. But we were low on power because the mortals doona have enough to speak of unless you take their souls.”
“And they turned on you?”
“Yes, they targeted our mother. Her pregnancy advanced freakishly fast for mortals, but normal for soulceresses. They thought it made her a witch, so they were going to put her on trial. But mother wouldn’t let me help her escape. The mortals hadn’t targeted me, you see. She thought I would be safest if I stayed. The journey to the New World was so dangerous at the time.”
