Accacia’s Trilogy: Sisters of Hex

by Paige, Bea

  You and Rhain need a moment alone. I will go and see how Nostra is doing. Maybe there is something I can do to help.

  “Don’t go. I need you here too.” I am shocked by my own words. Was it wrong that I wanted them both? Being with them all has ignited a desire within me that has nothing to do with the Claiming or the Binding or even the Joining. I almost lost them both to the depths of the Forbidden forest. Ezra may well be lost for good. Rhain is right, I need their comfort, the distraction.

  I am a distraction now? Devin asks, tipping his head to the side. He isn’t joking, there is none of the usual mirth that comes with most things he says.

  You know it’s more than that.

  Do I?

  I hold my hands out to Devin. I want to show them both how much they mean to me. I want them to understand just how much I care about them.

  “Lights damn it, Devin. Stop staring at Cia and get over here,” Rhain snaps.

  Devin’s mouth lifts at the corner. “Brother, I am a patient man. The time isn’t right,” he says.

  My heart sinks a little. Despite his words that seem to promise more, I can’t help but feel disappointed, rejected. Devin’s eyes rest on mine. He steps forward and pulls me back into his arms. Rhain’s hands drop away as Devin looks down at me. His words filter into my consciousness.

  Do not for one minute think I don’t want you, long for you, Red. I could make love to you now with Rhain here, and it would be beautiful, but it isn’t what I want for us. Not the first time, at least.

  I cock my eyebrow. Not the first time, eh?

  The tips of Devin’s teeth lower and I can’t help but smile. This teeth baring seems to be a real sign of the vampires’ desire, or at least the three vampires I have come to know so well. He smiles back at me, a laugh escaping.

  Yes. I swear to you, Red, the first time we come together it will be just me and you. My brothers will have to damn well stay away.

  Brothers?

  Rhain and Ezra, of course.

  Ezra? I laugh.

  He can tell himself all he wants that there is nothing he feels for you, but I’ve known that man for more than a thousand years. He might be able to lie to himself, but he is easier to read than he thinks.

  “Do you know how strange it is to stand here watching you two conversing, having no idea what you’re saying?”

  Devin presses a sweet kiss against my mouth, then releases me from his hold. “I am going to wait with Nostra. I trust you to take care of Red for me,” he says to Rhain with a wink.

  “Red?” Rhain frowns.

  “That’s right. Cia, to you, Red to me.” With that Devin opens the front door and leaves me wondering whether what he said about Ezra could be true, and hoping that Devin will keep his promise to me. I don’t get much time to think about it as Rhain lifts me up under my arms and lays me on Nostra’s kitchen table.

  “Now, where were we?” he asks, a sexy smile curling his lips.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Sweet Goddess Solaria, I could do this every minute of every damn day,” Rhain growls into my hair. I am lying on the kitchen table, my legs wrapped around his back as he moves within me. In our urgency for one another, in our need to block out the possibility that Ezra may never return, we only managed to remove the bottom half of our clothing. Our lovemaking is urgent, filled with want, need. Rhain pushes into me steadily, sending items on the table crashing to the ground, smashing against the stone floor. My hands are pinned above my head with one of his own. His free hand is stroking my breast as the table rocks beneath us.

  “Let me touch you,” I groan out, pushing against his hand that is holding me down. He doesn’t relax his hold.

  “Not just yet, Cia,” he teases.

  Before when we made love, we were both under the influence of the Claiming and even though I had wanted to be with Rhain, had made the choice to save him from a painful death, it was a moment that was overshadowed by something I didn’t truly understand, no matter how incredible it had been. This, now, this is my choice. I’m not doing it to save Rhain, I’m not doing it because of an unbearable desire that needs to be satiated. I’m making love to this man because I want to. Need to.

  “Let me touch you,” I say again. Something catches in my voice. Rhain lets go of my hands immediately. He stops moving within me, stilling whilst I gather myself. We look at each other like that for a long moment. My heart expands in my chest at the look he’s giving me. It is haunted.

  “Cia, the thought of almost losing…”

  “Shh, don’t think about that. You’re here now,” I say, pulling his head towards mine. “Distracting me,” I mumble.

  His lips part on a laugh as I slip my tongue into his mouth. We remain holding onto one another, kissing, teasing each other with our lips until I am so wound up by the fact he has stopped moving within me that I grab his arse and squeeze hard.

  Growling, Rhain reaches behind my back and flips me around so that he is lying on the table and I am straddling his hips. He seems to know exactly what I want, just at the moment I want it. Our connection is physical, very much so, but it is becoming more than that, much more. He is so in tune with my body, with what I need, and he makes sure that those needs are fulfilled. It’s as though he understands the helplessness I felt over the last few days and my need, now, to take control.

  So, I listen to my body and I take control.

  Letting go of my worries for Ezra, I concentrate on this moment, now, between us. Rhain’s chest heaves as I lean forward over him, placing my hands either side of his head, so that the sweet spot of my arousal is pressed firmly against his pubic bone. I move against him, gyrating my hips. It isn’t long before I feel my internal muscles clench tightly around him.

  “That’s it, Cia,” he says, resting his hands gently on my hips. “Take control, my love.”

  My love? Love? As the implications of those words wash over me, so too does the most intense orgasm. An orgasm that leaves me breathless, weak and wanting more. So much more.

  * * *

  He’s back. We need your assistance, come now. Devin says, his words rushing into my consciousness. I sit up quickly, untangling myself from Rhain’s arms.

  “Ezra,” I say, jumping off the table and pulling on my scattered knickers and jeans. Rhain follows suit, pulling on his own clothes quickly. We rush out of the cottage towards the edge of the forest.

  How is he?

  He’s taken a few hits. The fae magic has weakened him, but he will live as soon as he gets some blood.

  We turn the corner of one of the stone cottages located towards the back of the hidden hamlet to find Ezra lying on the ground. Nostra and Devin are bent over him. Nostra looks up, beckoning me over.

  “We have no time to send for anyone else. Your blood now, Accacia,” he demands.

  I don’t think twice about it. He has already taken my blood, accepted it. I will give it to him once again. Devin moves out of my way as I kneel beside his head. “Why isn’t he healing?”

  “Fae magic is powerful, it has the ability to infest the host. Clan Lux members have the ability to self-heal, yes, but there is a limit to those healing abilities, especially when it comes to the fae,” Nostra explains.

  My head snaps up as I look between the men. “Why did none of you mention this before? If I had known I wouldn’t have…”

  Rhain holds his hand up, cutting me off. “We knew the dangers. There was no point in worrying you with them.”

  I shake my head in frustration. “You should have told me.”

  “Would it have prevented you from trying to find your friend?” Nostra asks.

  I don’t answer.

  “Precisely,” Rhain says.

  Devin catches my eye. It was better you didn’t know. You and I both know you would have snuck into the forest regardless.

  He’s right, I would have. Ezra groans, coughing up a mouthful of blood. This is bad. “I have nothing to cut myself with,” I say, looking between the three men.
Ezra is barely conscious; a nasty wound is haemorrhaging blood from his chest.

  “He has his teeth,” Nostra points out.

  Right, teeth.

  “Just raise your wrist to his mouth, Cia. He is so out of his mind with pain that he will instinctively bite you,” Devin says.

  I laugh. This is not the first time Ezra and I have been in this position. He refused my blood before. What makes you think he’ll take it now?

  He may be a stubborn fool, but he has tasted you now. He won’t be able to resist. The Joining has occurred whether he likes it or not. Personally, I think he likes it, though he won’t admit that anytime soon, Devin responds, giving me a look.

  Rhain kneels beside me. “Put your wrist over his mouth, Cia,” he says, holding my arm gently and bringing my wrist to Ezra’s mouth. He reacts immediately, just like Devin said he would, his teeth puncturing the delicate flesh. I let out a hissing noise at the sharp pain I feel, and a moment later he is sucking greedily at the blood pouring from the wound. Then, like before, the pain is replaced with a feeling that distracts me entirely. After a few deep swallows, his eyes snap open. He looks up at me leaning over him, my long hair falling in a curtain around us both. His grey eyes flicker with recognition, with fleeting happiness and then, finally, anger. Pulling his teeth free from my wrist, he sits up abruptly, forcing me to move back quickly. I can already see the wound on his chest closing.

  “No, not Accacia,” he growls.

  I sit back on my haunches, trying to stem the flow of blood from my wrist with my other hand. “There was no time to get anyone else…” I falter, holding my wrist back to him. He gently takes hold of my arm, lowering it away from his face.

  “No. No more,” he insists.

  “But you are not fully healed,” I say, noticing the wound hasn’t yet closed.

  “I said no more, Accacia.” His voice is tight.

  “Why not? It’s not as if you haven’t taken it before,” I say. Why does he persist on being such a goddamn martyr?

  “That was different…”

  “I don’t understand you, Ezra. What am I supposed to do? You needed blood, I gave it to you.” I am mortified. Not only has he rejected me, he’s done it in front of everyone else. Without thinking it through, I push against his chest with my palms in frustration. Out of the corner of my eye I see Rhain, Devin and Nostra giving each other worried looks.

  “Did nothing I said in the tunnel mean anything to you?” He remains tight-lipped, guarded. “I don’t know why I bothered,” I say, my voice wobbling. “You can go to hell.”

  Red, it’s not wise to poke an injured lion.

  Shut up, Devin. I stand up, turning on him. He holds his hands up.

  “What about upsetting me? Have any of you considered that? I am not someone you can fool around with, then cast aside at whim. I will not be that person, do you hear me? Now, has anyone else got anything they’d like to add to my humiliation?” I look around at all of them. Not one can look me in the eye.

  “I thought so.” I turn on my heel and storm off back towards Nostra’s home.

  “Accacia, wait. I didn’t mean…” Ezra says after me, but I don’t stop. I just keep walking.

  Chapter Seventeen

  As soon as I enter Nostra’s house, I immediately feel guilty at the mess Rhain and I made. There are broken dishes and cups everywhere, the table is out of place, the chairs knocked over and the rug bunched up. Sighing, I start to tidy up. My emotions are all over the place. Ezra has me so tied up in knots it is becoming unbearable to be around him, and utterly confusing. In my heart, I am glad he is okay, glad he’s safe. I want him to be happy, I had wanted him to live for the right reasons and not die for the wrong ones. In the tunnel, when he was dying right in front of my eyes, I knew what I felt. That I cared for him, that I didn’t want him to die, and after he had taken my blood he had said that he would live for me. Perhaps he had been out of it still. Perhaps he thought I was Thalia, who knows. At the time, it felt like he meant it. That something more than indifference was developing between us. Then he refuses my blood, makes me feel unwanted. Is it so wrong to want him to live?

  I’m not expecting great declarations of love. I understand he will never love another like he loved his wife. Maybe it’s naïve, I just hope that he and I will find some kind of equilibrium and that, eventually, he will heal.

  Behind me the door opens, and expecting to see either Rhain or Devin I turn around. Except it is neither. Ezra is filling the doorway.

  “Can I come in?”

  I place the broken pot I am holding onto the table. “Where are the others?” I ask, avoiding his question. Do I want him to come in? Right now, probably not.

  “They have gone to Devin’s cottage. They thought it would be a good idea if we talked.”

  Devin, I’m not in the mood for more of Ezra’s shit. I say, silently reaching out to him.

  Devin doesn’t respond, but I know he is there lurking. I can feel it.

  Ganging up on me now, I see.

  Silence.

  “I didn’t know Devin had a home here. I thought you all lived within the castle.”

  “We spend as little time at the castle as possible. It’s easier now that we are Queen Adrielle’s knights, it allows us a measure of freedom. So, in answer to your question, yes, we all have a home here in the hamlet. Though we still have to present ourselves at the castle often. Accacia, I am not here to speak about Queen Adrielle. I wish to speak with you. May I come in?” Ezra repeats.

  “Fine,” I say. “It’s not as if I have a choice.”

  “You always have a choice,” Ezra says, hesitating in the doorway.

  I narrow my eyes at him. “You know what, you’re right. I’d like to hear what you have to say.”

  Ezra nods his head, shutting the door gently behind him. “Let’s sit by the fire. I’m not sure I will be able to sit at that table again,” he says, looking at me and the mess that is Nostra’s kitchen. There is amusement in his eyes and not disgust, and that completely throws me. I take a seat opposite him and wait.

  For a long time, he just looks into the fire, the golden flames casting a glow over his handsome face. He takes a deep breath, then releases it slowly. “I met Thalia when I was just a boy. She was my best friend since I was seven. We spent almost every day together, playing in the Light fields, getting up to mischief.” He looks up at me, a smile pulling at his lips. I don’t say a word, frightened that if I do he will stop talking.

  “Then one day I saw her differently. I was nineteen. It was the height of summer and all of Clan Lux was gathered at the Solstice ball to celebrate the Goddess Solaria. Thalia was standing talking to friends of ours. She was so… so beautiful. She had this light blue dress on. She always wore her hair up, but this time it was falling about her shoulders in soft ringlets, the sun highlighting the golden lights I loved so much. The same hair my daughter was blessed with years later…” Ezra stops, rubbing a shaking hand across his face. I want to reach out and touch him, tell him he doesn’t have to relive such memories, but I don’t. I wait.

  “She was like the sun rising, like the northern star shining brightly on a dark night. When our eyes met, I knew instantly that I had fallen irrevocably in love with her. We underwent the Joining less than a year later, Roseanna was born not long after. Thalia was the love of my life, my soul, and Roseanna, my heart…” Ezra’s voice breaks, just as my own heart twists inside my chest.

  “Ezra, you don’t have to…” I start, but his eyes fall on my face and I am silenced by the heartache I see there.

  “The day the curse was cast, Thalia and Roseanna had left for the Light fields early. Every week we would visit there as a family and pray to the Light Goddess, Solaria.” Tears fill Ezra’s eyes, the storm cloud brewing within the grey. I know what is coming next. I had seen what had happened for my own eyes in the memory Clover had shown me, but I don’t say that. I let Ezra continue.

  “I was late because one of the horses was
foaling and I needed to assist the mare. I heard their screaming from the barn and I knew in that moment they were dying. The sound…” A tear slips from Ezra’s eye and slides down his cheek, but still he continues.

  “I ran out of the barn. I tried to reach them but was forced back inside by the sun. The pain was indescribable, Accacia.”

  “I understand, Ezra. I understand. You don’t have to re-live this moment. You don’t owe me anything,” I say, my own eyes filling with tears.

  “I owe you much more than an explanation and I will get to that. But I need to do this. I need you to understand.”

  “Okay,” I respond, holding back the tears that threaten to fall.

  “I was injured myself the day the curse was cast. Every part of my skin touched by the sun burned the moment I stepped out of the barn. It was excruciating, but it wasn’t an excuse for what I did next, or rather what I didn’t do.” He presses his fingers over his eyes, and a sob releases from his throat. “I hid, Accacia. I hid in our home whilst my wife and child burnt to death.”

  I suck in a ragged breath. No wonder he’s so keen to end his life. Having to carry that guilt with him for so many years must be such a huge burden, but it’s a burden he doesn’t deserve to carry. “Tell me something, Ezra, even if you had managed to get to Thalia and Roseanna without perishing first, do you honestly think there was anything you could have done to save them? You would have died too.”

  “For a thousand years I have relived that day. I have punished myself over and over again.” He drops his head into his hands, his shoulders heaving. To see him come undone is too much. I get off my seat and kneel in front of him, prising his arms away from his face. His eyes remain downcast.

  “Look at me, Ezra,” I demand. His eyes meet mine. “You were afraid, in pain, confused. Your wife, your daughter, they loved you as much as you loved them. Do you think either of them would have wanted that pain, that death for you? You lived for a reason, maybe it’s to do with the prophecy, the curse. Maybe it’s because of something else, but I refuse to let you carry that guilt with you anymore. You must let it go.”