We’d gone back and forth on whether to disguise her as me, doing a quick change between songs so the audience wouldn’t know the difference, but Boots ultimately decided that question for us, objecting with a horrendous howling when we tested it out the first time.
“Are you ready for this?” I asked Maddie in the dressing room just before the show that evening.
She scoffed and waved her hand through the air. “You’re the one who’s new to performing on stage. Are you ready?”
I bit my lip and shook my head. “Not even close, but it has to be done, right? I admit I feel like I can accomplish anything with you guys along for the ride.”
“All of us? Or just three in particular who, from the sounds of things last night, gave you enough power to conquer the world? That’s how your kind works, Willem says. You share the magic through sex. Is that right?”
My face heated and I averted my gaze. “I’m sorry you heard all that. I hope we didn’t keep you awake.”
“There were enough walls between us that it wasn’t obnoxious. I’m just glad we weren’t at home. Sound carries in that old house, which I always thought was why Bodhi never brought any girlfriends home, but now I think it had nothing to do with caring who heard.” She shook her head and laughed. “I’m just happy he’s happy. Make all the noise you want, honey, because that means he won’t have to hear me. That would be mortifying.”
“Hear you?” I asked, staring straight at her again. “You and Willem didn’t . . . last night?”
It was Maddie’s turn to avoid my gaze. She turned to the mirror, suddenly intent on fixing her already perfect makeup.
I moved up behind her, my eyebrows raised. “You know none of us will judge you for it. If this song works the way I believe it will, it means you and Sandor are soul mates. The fact that you and Willem have feelings for each other is a bonus.”
She sighed. “Oh, honey, you don’t need to tell me. I’ve already put it together. But we didn’t make love. We both agreed we should wait until Sandor’s with us. That didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy each other a little. Just for the sake of Will’s magic, of course.”
We shared a conspiratorial look, both of us grinning. “Of course,” I sagely agreed.
A rapping sound at the door drew my attention from her, and a moment later the men all poured through, dressed in their conjured show outfits. Aside from Llyr, they were in sharp suits, while Llyr’s outfit was snug dancer’s clothing displaying his chest and the new tattoo gracing one pectoral.
Maddie and I were in sequined gowns split up both sides to accommodate the dance moves.
“I’ll tell you, one day of practice just does not feel like enough. I think that’s what I’m most nervous about,” she said.
“Deva will take care of that,” Ozzie assured her. “Whenever you’re ready, szívem.” He offered me a tight smile, and I gritted my teeth against the wave of despair that kept threatening to surge whenever I looked at him or Llyr.
“Yes. It’s time for us to sync up. Once we do, I’ll mentally run through the routine so it’ll be imprinted in everyone’s minds. Then we’ll go on.”
I took a deep breath as they gathered around, closing my eyes and focusing on the choreography in my mind. This moment could decide the outcome of the entire night, so I didn’t want to mess it up. I’d considered simply infusing them all with my breath, but an exchange would be more lasting, thanks to its intimate nature.
Opening my eyes, I met Rohan’s gaze first. I stepped toward him with a smile, my body tingling with excitement to share this with him. His breath would at least offer me some fortification to complete the ritual with the entire group.
He bent to meet me as I pressed my lips to his, exhaling smoke imbued with blue dragon magic. He inhaled until I stopped, then completed the exchange by exhaling again, giving the breath back to me mixed with his own. It took two rounds before I sensed the magic seeping through his veins and into his muscles, linking us together in mind and body.
Then I moved to Keagan and repeated the process, my body awash in the pleasant golden glow that Rohan’s magic always filled me with. Keagan’s scruffy chin rubbed enticingly across my cheek when our mouths met. I pushed back with a soft laugh. “Breathe, don’t kiss.”
He grinned. “I couldn’t help it. I’m ready now.”
His breath reminded me of the strange desert wind that had blown through our room the night before, inciting thoughts of flying through the hot night air, but soon enough, his body responded to my blue smoke as it sank into him.
Bodhi’s breath possessed a different quality entirely, and when the link solidified, I heard his whispered words against my lips where they’d only been gusts of breath before: “Boreas breathes for us, we breathe for each other.”
I blinked up at him without removing my mouth from his and recited the pledge back, my heart pounding. We had never discussed the turul mating pledge before. The mating song was one thing—it was how two turul soul mates found each other to begin with—but when they married, they recited the pledge for the blessings of the four winds while sharing a breath exchange like this.
“I love you, angel,” he said. “Of course I’m going to want to go all the way with this.”
The others beamed at us, and I shot a confused look at Ozzie. He simply nodded, confirming that he’d been the one to share the details of that ritual with Bodhi.
I moved on, my throat tight, and prepared to share breath with Llyr next. When he and I parted, my body was flushed with arousal from his power, which should have been expected. He couldn’t exactly turn it off.
I paused in front of Ozzie and reached up to place a hand on the center of his chest. “I won’t ask you to do this. I know what it means to you. But thank you for sharing the knowledge of the pledge with Bodhi.”
Rather than offering my breath, I simply stood on tip-toes and kissed his cheek. I took a deep breath before averting my eyes and moving on.
Willem waited stoically, and I gazed up into his pale eyes. “With any luck, the next time you do this it will be with Sandor, and it will be for good. The both of you.”
I glanced at Maddie, who blushed and touched her fingers lightly to her mouth. She gave Willem an adoring look and shifted closer when he reached out a hand to grasp hers.
I stretched up and hooked a hand around his neck, readying the breath to share. His lips were smooth and dry against mine, his breath a calming power mixing with my own as we breathed for two beats before parting. Then I turned to Maddie and finalized the sync with her, my heart awash in tenderness for this woman whose strongest desire was to see her own son happy. I wanted with all my heart to see the same for her, and if Fate saw fit to reward us at last, she would finally have that love.
I ended the exchange by wrapping my arms around her and holding her tight. “Thank you for him, Maddie. You have no idea what an amazing gift your son has been to me.”
She shook her head, regarding me with glassy eyes. “No, sweetie, you’re the gift. Trust me.”
A knock sounded at the door, followed by the venue manager’s voice notifying us that we were on in five.
“Let’s do this,” I said.
40
Deva
Practicing in front of an empty theater was one thing, but I hadn’t counted on the rush accompanying the awareness of all the souls filling the seats of the theater when we began our performance, nor how rabid they would be for us to begin with. When we took our places on the darkened stage, someone began to chant. At first it was unintelligible, but then more of the crowd joined in, and by the time the lights came up, it was clear what they were saying: “Fate’s Fools, Fate’s Fools, Fate’s Fools . . .”
I’d been focusing on my link with the others while we waited for our cue, using my dragon magic to imprint the patterns of our routine into their minds and muscles. When that step was finished, I shifted my focus outward and was briefly stunned.
The theater was peppered with bloodline souls,
their sparks blazing in my mind more closely than they’d ever been, visible to my soul sight through the spotlight that made it practically impossible to see beyond the edge of the stage. The audience wasn’t entirely bloodline—there were still more normal humans in attendance—but at least a third were, and when I stepped forward and began the first swaying dance to accompany the opening song, I focused whatever power I could summon to reach out to them.
Ozzie’s bass beat vibrated through the stage as the lights came up, and Keagan’s first notes set the tempo for the melody. Maddie and Bodhi’s voices merged in the initial low tones of the background vocals and I came in a beat later, my body alive with the music as the song flowed from my lungs.
The audience roared in excitement and adrenaline flooded me. I was every bit as elated by the attention of the crowd as I’d been by my lovers the night before. Hearing the music performed and singing the lyrics myself was intoxicating, and I let the music take over, guiding me through the performance as if it were controlling me and not the other way around.
The others were perfectly in sync, every pause in the music timed just so to give the audience a chance to respond. When the song began cuing my dance with Llyr, he set down his horn and practically glided across the stage to me. The routine we shared was an erotic tangle that barely left me breath to sing, and when we completed it and the stage lights dimmed, we remained entwined for several more seconds.
Llyr’s breath came in heavy currents across my heated skin and his mouth brushed across my jaw. Through our enhanced link, I sensed his self-restraint wavering, and part of me ached for him to give in. I didn’t care about the audience or the others in that moment. I wanted nothing more than to tell him how much I wanted him, loved him, for every second of his loyalty and devotion. For telling me the truth, even though he knew it would hurt me.
His mouth covered mine as the spotlight speared the stage once again. We’d missed our cue, and Ozzie’s drumbeat had already begun the next song, but I wasn’t ready to let go. Around us, the others began a sweeter melody, and Llyr and I tore away from each other to roaring applause. I was breathing heavy as he looked into my eyes, and the lyrics came in that moment, almost a whisper, as I began to sing the more mournful song of lost love.
He retreated with a sad expression, but the dragon magic in his blood told me a very different tale. That this wasn’t finished yet between us, not by a long shot.
Still, the crowd adored our accidental display and continued their raucous applause, settling down into silence for the softer ballad that followed. Behind me, the second part of our plan was already unfolding, the piece that would draw the audience into the story that would build to our planned finale.
Willem had set down his guitar and took up the backup vocals for the song. This one would segue perfectly into the final duet that his and Maddie’s behavior foretold. He was merely acting, but the audience wouldn’t know that. To them, he’d appear to be wooing Maddie on the sly, seeming to sing to her directly, and she to him, until the part of the song where the lovers parted and he would leave the stage.
I couldn’t look back to check on them, but I could watch the audience, picking up on the reactions of those souls I was linked to. Their attention was split, many focusing with surprise on the background. At the end of the song, hundreds of eyes widened. The audience released a collective gasp, the reaction making it clear that Willem and Maddie had completed the first stage.
“It’s all you, Blackbird,” Willem sent, and I knew he’d disappeared into the shadows. I turned as though worried for my backup singer and found Maddie crumpled on the stage as we’d rehearsed. I ran to her, tearing the tiny mic off my ear as I crouched down.
“Are you ready? It’s all you now,” I whispered.
She nodded and lifted bright eyes to me. I exhaled a long breath, transforming her gown so that when she stood again, it would be resplendent enough for the spectacle the crowd had paid for. Then I helped her rise and retreated back to Llyr’s side, picking up Agnes and beginning to play while Maddie started the mating song.
It was only her and the drums for the first few beats before Ro and Keagan joined in. The hounds had spent the entire show lined up at the front of the stage, but now they all stepped forward, surrounding Maddie and joining in with their ethereal, warbling songs.
A deeper voice broke in after the first verse was complete, and the audience gasped when Willem emerged from stage-left, completing the duet with the half he knew, the half Sandor had sung over and over during their time together in a futile hope that his One would find him.
Today, she would find him, if the hounds’ reactions were any indication. Only halfway through the song, Boots took off running, and it was all I could do not to stop everything so we could all follow. We had to finish the show first. If Boots found Sandor, he would show us the way the second we were able to follow.
The affection between the pair of singers was unmistakable. They joined in together for the last verse, gazing into each other’s eyes while they sang about the missing man they loved. For Maddie, I knew she only sang what she believed Willem felt, but I was sure part of the emotions behind the song were directed to the dragon himself, and to the image of Sandor that Willem had created for her over the past couple days.
When the song ended, they kissed, completing the story of love lost and found once again.
The last note faded and the audience went wild, standing and cheering. Piercing whistles filled the air and they cried for more, but we hadn’t planned for an encore, nor did we intend to take the time for one.
When the lights came up, we all lined up at the front of the stage and took a bow. They’d have to be disappointed today, but the bright souls of the bloodline who had been here tonight would never forget. They’d find us again somehow, and I would be ready for them. Perhaps once this was over, I would help them all find their own soul mates the same way I helped Willem and Maddie find theirs—to hell with Fate’s plans for us.
We didn’t waste time once we returned to the dressing room. “Grab hold of me and Ozzie, all of you,” Llyr commanded. To me, he said, “Deva, can you lock onto the hound who left us?”
“Done,” I said, already projecting my mind into the hound that had disappeared. His perspective was dark until I sensed a spot of stark light and saw a haggard figure bound to a chair. Looking around to get my bearings, I viewed a space that was merely a skeleton of half-constructed walls and concrete. Then I found a huge window overlooking the city from several stories up.
Llyr latched onto the vision I sent him, and within seconds we were there, landing in the shadows surrounded by hanging sheets of plastic and the scent of dust and metal.
Somewhere in the space beyond the plastic, a man was singing, his voice hoarse and strained, but so heartbreakingly familiar it brought tears to my eyes.
41
Deva
We pushed through a curtain of plastic and the figure came into view in a circle of light, just as I’d seen through the hound’s eyes. He was bound to a chair, his head hanging low as he continued to sing.
Maddie’s hand flew to her mouth. “It’s him, isn’t it?”
Willem broke into a sprint before the rest of us could react, but Llyr was quicker, drifting into the light and in front of the figure in the chair. He wrenched the bindings off of Sandor and dropped to his knees. “We’re here, friend. You’re safe now.”
“No, I’m not safe. My entire race is fucked as long as that bastard holds our soul mates over our heads.” He stood slowly, his back still to the rest of us as Willem caught up and yanked him into a desperate embrace.
“Are you hurt?” Willem asked, cupping Sandor’s cheek and looking him over.
“Exhausted, drained of power. Hallucinating, apparently.” He let out a bitter laugh and glanced up at Willem. “The games Fate plays with your mind. Just before you got here, I could swear I heard her singing. I tried to answer, but barely had breath to put behind my own song. No
t that it would have worked, but I was tired of sitting in silence. Maybe it was you?” His gaze brightened. “Fate did say she’d severed my link to my One and linked me to a member of the bloodline.”
Then he frowned, hope extinguishing the longer he looked into Willem’s eyes. “It isn’t you. I would feel it if it were.”
Maddie took a hesitant step forward, then stopped. Her hands shook, and she twisted them together. I touched her lightly on the arm.
“Sing,” I whispered. “He’ll know.”
She darted an anxious look at me, but nodded and opened her mouth. The song broke free roughly at first, tinged with the emotion seizing her, but as it flowed, it grew stronger, each word infused with subtle power that must have come from somewhere within her own blood.
Sandor pulled away from Willem’s embrace and shook his head as though confused. “It’s back. Why am I hearing that again?” He gave Willem an anguished look, but the dragon stepped aside.
“You’re hearing it because she is here.” Willem rested a hand on the smaller man’s shoulder and Sandor stilled, his face a mask of utter shock as Maddie took another step toward him, edging into the ring of light.
Her song rang out louder and stronger than before, but Sandor remained frozen as she approached. When she reached him, the song faded, and Maddie lifted a hand to touch his cheek, roughened by stubble.
“I didn’t believe them when they said you would know. That it only takes a look. But it’s true, isn’t it? Looking at you, a man I’ve never seen in my life, I have never been more sure of anything.”
Sandor let out a choked sound, his lips parted to speak, but no words came out. Finally, he just nodded and grasped her wrist. He closed his eyes and turned into her touch, taking a deep breath as he kissed the center of her palm.
Fate's Fools Box Set Page 80
