by Allie Santos
“I don’t know how Roark could have lowered himself to someone so weak.” A sly expression crossed her face. “Or maybe he’s just using you? That would make the most sense since he doesn’t feel a connection to you. He is pulled to me and only me.”
My heart dropped. I knew he was tied to her, but having it rubbed in my face stung. I wondered if he was still attracted to her. I struggled to swallow… No, she was trying to get in my head. I knew Roark wasn’t using me, but it was the other part that made me tense.
I shoved out of Roark’s arms. “Are you pulled to her?”
The entire time he’d taken me with utter passion, had he been thinking of her? My memory chose to remind me how savage and animalistic he’d been when he screwed her in the tent. He didn’t desire me like that. The sky overhead began roiling to mirror my pain. I wanted to curse. Looked like I’d lost my handle on it.
My stomach roiled, and I clutched it, cringing when he reached out. His face tightened with rage. “Even now, you drive a wedge between us.”
Sabine looked at me, and the evident hate made me swallow. I took a deep breath and narrowed my eyes right back at her. She may be stronger than me, but I wasn’t human anymore. I would put up a fight, and I’d make sure she wouldn’t get out of it unscathed. I narrowed in on the dagger that had flown to the side.
“I’ve had enough, Sabine. I have repaid my debts. I’d rather my mate be safe from you even for the short amount of days you would outlive me.” In the next moment, he palmed a dagger. I’d always thought he pulled the blades out of some hidden compartment on his clothing like he had when he gave me mine, but I watched it appear in his hand as he manifested it.
As he was about to charge, Sabine looked nervous for once. “If you kill me, if you kill us, you will never be able to save your siblings.”
He froze. “My siblings?”
She nodded frantically. “I was trying to find leverage against you so you wouldn’t hurt me. They’re alive. I will tell you everything I know if you let me go.”
He tensed, and I couldn’t lie and say I didn’t understand. My sister was everything to me, and he was finding out that his might not be dead. But I didn’t trust Sabine. Not even a little bit. I wanted to kill her, but she dangled an enticing prospect in front of him. Something that would be necessary for him to be alive to fulfill. But him being alive would kill my sister.
My heart raced. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to push him to kill her because it would kill him. But my sister…Rain began sleeting down, soaking me. I clutched my head as a pulsing ache started up.
“No,” I heard Roark say, and then a thump.
I gasped and looked up at the knife protruding from Sabine’s chest. She looked down, shocked, and then up at him with betrayal. Yeah, betrayal hurt, huh, Sabine.
Roark looked down at me, and as he did, she pounced and punched me square in the face with an inhuman hiss.
She whirled on Roark in the same motion. “Do not move.”
I blinked the dizzies away in time to see Roark freeze his quick movement toward her. She’d used her persuasion on him!
Ducking to avoid her next attack, I threw myself at her midsection. I jerked my knee into her thigh and numbed myself to the spear of pain it shot through my leg. I dug my fist into her stomach and satisfaction breathed through me at her grunt. I did it again and again, putting anger behind every punch. Over the ringing in my ears, I heard Roark cursing savagely. My movements were quick and jerky, but what I didn’t have in skill I made up for in determination.
Sabine stumbled back and I drove into her again, forcing her down. She hissed when she landed on her back. I jerked my elbow down on her face and blood burst on my cheek. Viscous satisfaction filled me, and I angled to grip the knife stuck in her chest.
A slight breeze brushed my face when I almost had it. The force of her hand cracked across my face and I landed several feet away. The only good thing was that she’d thrown me in the direction of my weapon. Grunting, I shoved onto my arms, intending to go for it.
She stood over me, panting with hate. Another knife flipped through the air and landed in her arm. Roark must have gotten free from her control. With her distracted, I fumbled for my dagger a foot from me. She screamed at Roark, whose eyes dared her to do her worst. She changed course and rushed him, jerking the knife out of her arm and wildly slashing out. He moved swiftly, but it managed to slice his bicep as she tackled him to the ground.
I knew I only had moments before she charged me. She wouldn’t kill Roark for the very reason that it would kill her, but me? That was her single handed goal.
Gripping the hilt, I ran at them and thrust it into her back, aiming for her heart. I briefly encountered pressure, and then it sunk in. At the same time, she brought the knife down and stabbed Roark in the stomach. Heart stuttering in my chest, I yanked the knife up through her body with all the Fae strength I had.
She cried out and slumped forward, the large gash in her torso seeping blood. Roark pushed her off him. Flopping to the side, he coughed and vomited, expelling thick, black goo. When he stopped heaving, he fell limply and didn’t move.
I was on my feet in seconds. I ran to him. There was iron running through his system, spidery inky lines spread from all wounds. Barely daring to breathe, I fell to my knees beside him, hands trembling over the injury.
A tingle built in my spine, and I knew Roark felt it, too, because he looked up, his eyes wide. “The dark meld broke,” he rasped. My breath shuddered. How was that possible? There was a way to break the dark meld. Was it because I was Roark’s actual mate? Thoughts flitted through my head as I tried to rationalize everything that had just happened.
Before I could say anything, the sharp tingling reached every part of my body, and I doubled over. The sweetest pain coursed through me. It prickled through every facet of my body moving and spreading at a rapid pace. Time ceased to exist and I wasn’t sure how long it flowed, but when I came to, I looked up at a shocked Roark. He kneeled next to me, smoothing my hair in a comforting rhythm. It must not have been long because the strain was barely starting to show on his face. The inky lines had reached his neck.
“What’s happening?” I gasped.
I curled into a fetal position as a rush filled me. An influx of energy rippled over my skin. Soon, the tingles turned pleasurable, and I squeezed my lips to keep in my moan. Just as quickly as it started, the rush subsided.
I blacked out again, and when I was cognizant, I was on my hands and knees. I looked over to see Roark barely holding himself up with shaky arms. A soft smile was fixed on his lips as he stared at me, his eyes dull and glazed over from pain.
I jerked next to him and grabbed his shoulders. The poison had crawled up to his chin, and he was so still, I worried he was dead. He groaned, and that was the best sound ever. A sob escaped me.
“Roark?”
His smile was pained, and he told me everything in one look. He was dying.
My heart stuttered. I heard it, and I gasped. I hadn’t had that good of hearing. Then I realized I held Roark upright with little effort. Another sob built, and my fingers dug into his flesh.
“Shh, my love. You did it. Magic is unbound.”
My head jerked back. That was the feeling that had swept through me? That delicious thrill?
“You’re still alive?” Tentative hope bloomed as I realized this. He hadn’t died, and magic was back? He answered my unasked question.
“Killing Sabine must have fulfilled it since she had bound our life forces.” He grunted as he moved, his grimace conveying his pain.
“Heal the poison,” I rasped and saw him wince. I looked at my hands, and they had clawed into his shoulders. I softened my hold with an unsteady breath.
“I can’t,” he said weakly. He blinked slower than the last time, and my throat ached.
“Why?”
“Magic never built inside me. I used it as it came.” He shuddered and closed his eyes. “It’s not a neve
r-ending well.” His last words held that sardonic edge.
He was sarcastic. Now?
“Bu-but…” I reached up to cup his face with a trembling hand.
“It’s okay,” he said weakly, and his chest rattled. “Will you do something for me?” Tears streamed down my cheeks as I nodded. “If what she said was true, will you find them?”
I knew what he was asking without him having to explicitly say it—his siblings. I wanted to tell him no, that he could find them himself. That he needed to survive. But I knew it was just denial trying to make sense of all this. I didn’t want this to be happening. The lost opportunities, the potential, it hurt more than anything else could have.
I shuddered and closed my eyes as I reached for that offending dagger sticking in his stomach and pulled it out. A flare of pain rose in the same spot as his wound. I froze and concentrated. Something pulled in me, a tugging from Roark. This was the mate bond that had been stifled. It drew me to him. My fingers twitched with the need to hold him close. It was what I usually felt, but it was as if the itchiness under my skin would subside if I would simply touch him. As if I would gain me safety and comfort within his grasp. Everything was amplified.
I closed my eyes and hung my head. “I feel you.”
“The mate bond.” The corner of his lips wryly tilted up. “Good thing we didn’t meld. I’m happy knowing you will survive and live your life.” My bottom lip trembled as his hand reached up and cupped my face. “I love you, Rae.”
I fell on him as his hand slipped away. Coldness spread through my chest, spreading through my every cell. I wanted him to heal. I needed him to be okay. There was still so much more I wanted to say to him, and I wasn’t done fighting with him.
He jerked under my hold, and a hiccupping sob drew out of my chest. I blinked through my burry eyes and realized I’d wrapped myself around his body. The ache ate at me, swallowing everything else. Pressure filled my chest and built to an excruciating extent. When I exhaled on a sob, the sensation flooded out of me. The release similar to whenever I dipped into the well like Ty had taught me.
I wasn’t sure how long I clutched him and sobbed—feeling nothing but the writhing in my chest. I couldn’t believe he was gone. It was as if my limb was lost, no not just a limb, but potential. It was a possibility of absolute and true happiness. The loss of the person that was my other half and would love me the perfect way. In every way I needed.
A hand buried itself in my hair, and I froze. With stuttering hiccups, I looked up and tried to make sense of what I saw through the blur. Roark was alive. He stared up at me, amazement written in his wide eyes. I gasped and shot away from him, shaking my head. God, now I was going crazy. The inky lines had receded completely as if they’d never been there.
“R-Roark?” I rasped. I ran my hand over the wound, feeling smooth skin under the crusted blood. “How…?
“You healed me.” At the sound of his deep voice, I shuddered and shook my head, numb. Squeezing my eyes, I rubbed them. My eyebrow furrowed and I looked down at my dirt crusted hands. Now that I wasn’t drowned in pain, I registered my hands were burning and hot. As if I’d held my hands close to a fire. I blinked at him on the ground disbelievingly. I inched forward, brushing his torn shirt aside and the wound and spidering iron was completely gone. How was he whole? This had to do with my powers… I squeezed my fists tight.
Emotions overwhelmed me and brimmed to the surface. In the next moment, I threw myself at him and wrapped my arms and legs around him, clutching him to me. He laughed and squeezed me close. For that moment, I let my reservations go and just enjoyed the feeling of his arms around me.
28
Roark being alive settled within me, but as it did, reality came with it. I wasn’t even sure how long we were there, clutching each other. But as the adrenaline slowly faded away, fear and skittishness settled in. I pulled away and cleared my throat, avoiding his prying gaze.
So many feelings coursed through me, and it was overwhelming. I felt myself withdrawing as I tried to make sense of all of my emotions. Everything that had just happened replayed over in my head.
His head tilted as he observed me. “You’re pulling away.”
I swallowed hard at his candid observation and said nothing. If I did, I knew I’d just want to drown in them and screw any thoughts I had on it.
His lips twisted bitterly. “I feel it.”
It wasn’t figurative. He truly felt me pulling away, just as I felt him reaching for me through the bond we had. Squeezing my eyes shut, I built a fortress around me, the way Ty had taught me to shield. Had Roark felt Sabine like this?
A sharp shot of irrational jealousy took root in me, the same kind that simmered on the edge of my emotions every time I was with Roark. After the night I had cried myself to sleep in his arms, it had seemed to have gone away, but seeing Sabine again, hearing the way she spoke to him, had brought the pain back to the forefront. Added to that, his words about fidelity replayed in a loop.
I didn’t want to hurt, so I stuffed my emotions back into a little compartment and flicked my eyes up to look at him. He stood there with an inscrutable look on his face. I took in his restored body and swallowed hard when a needy ache built in my core. I wanted nothing more than to jump on him, take him down, and have my way with him. I wanted his long length inside me as he made me his in every way possible.
Pursing my lips, I stifled a moan at the images. He must have felt my desire because his eyebrows flew up. I turned from his probing glance.
Dawn approached. With it, the suns peeked out, shedding light over the woodland. Even with my roiling emotions, the sky continued to lighten. Yellow caressed the top of the trees and incrementally spread. The multicolored leaves spanned the viney trunk tops—their colors enhanced.
Magic was free. More importantly, I was no longer connected to it. A flash of red caught my attention. Up in the sky, a large ball of flames swirled. Squinting, I focused and saw the flames had a shape.
“What the hell is that?”
“Phoenix.” I startled when I realized Roark stood too near. I swallowed nervously.
A Phoenix? They looked like featherless chickens with leathery skin, like the one I’d seen on that first night Sabine had taken me.
Roark must have sensed my confusion. “With magic bound, they did not have their flames.”
My mouth formed a circle, and I nodded in understanding. Roark looked on ahead and said nothing more. His face was expressionless. It was like a switch had been flipped. That place I had felt him inside of me remained mute, and I blinked tears away from the ache of feeling like I was missing a crucial piece.
I didn’t want to give in and turn to him. I didn’t want him to know I needed him. I steeled myself and buried all the feelings he had wrung from me. The ballooning in my chest undulated and settled.
“I need to get to Annie,” I bit out and crossed my arms. He stared at me with a grimace and nodded shortly. I followed after him as we ran headlong toward the castle. I needed to see if they had healed my sister.
29
We arrived in record time. The entire town was raucous in their celebration. There weren’t even any guards at the wall to check us in. It sounded like a massive party in full swing. I rushed through the bustling streets, the people livelier than I had seen them. I bumped through the crowds with one focus in mind. Annie.
Fae tried to stop me as I made my way through them, but I hurried past them with a smile. Thankfully, when they saw Roark looming over my shoulder, they swerved in the other direction. I climbed up the steps of the unusually quiet castle and pulled open the tall heavy doors easily. Too easily.
“Cora,” I called out, hoping for a response that didn’t come. She was probably celebrating the return of magic with Conan. I called out for Ty next. Through the small connection with Roark, I felt a stab of something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I ignored it and reinforced the block.
Pursing my lips, I concentrated on list
ening and then wished I hadn’t. Fae were getting it on, real hard. I hoped to hell I hadn’t just heard Cora’s sex scream. Weren’t the bedrooms soundproof? Unless they weren’t in the bedroom… My face flushed.
“They’ll probably want to make her as comfortable as possible,” Roark intoned behind me. Of course, they would. She must be in my room.
Rushing in that direction, I didn’t wait for Roark. I pushed my door open when I heard the familiar voice of my sister. The doors bounced off the walls and almost ricocheted back into my face. Roark reached up in time to stop them. Honestly, if the door had hit me, I wouldn’t have even noticed. I was too busy looking at the large bed in the middle of the room.
Annie lay sprawled on it, scowling at Ty, who stood at her bedside.
“Annie,” I gasped. I shot toward her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.
“Oww,” she mumbled. I let her go just as quickly and took a step back. She rubbed her arms up and down with a grimace.
“What’s going on? You should be healed. Magic is back.”
“She is healed,” Tyran said from my side, and I turned to smile at him, grateful he was here. I hoped my eyes portrayed that feeling.
“Took you long enough.”
My head whipped to the side to look at the dark corner where Rian leaned against the wall.
“Rian!” I grinned and walked over to him. I threw my arms around him, squeezing him. He grunted and patted my back awkwardly. I finally released him as Annie giggled.
“You should have seen his face,” she said, grinning.
I rolled my eyes at her and went to her side, perching myself next to her on the bed. I grinned at Annie, glad she was whole and healthy. “She turns when she’s twenty-two, right?” I turned to Rian.
“That’s the general consensus,” Ty huffed and approached. “Remember, you all are new territory. The only human-turned-Fae transition we have on record is Cora. She had just turned two and twenty of your human years when she matured, and soon after she completed, magic was bound. That’s as much information we have, so it may be different.”
