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As Leo, Rhiannon, and Peyton filed out—the first looking ready to revolt—I shut the door and turned to Chatter. “You need to have my back. I have to release the demon but keep it contained within him. The only way I can do that is to struggle with it and break the fetish against his heart once it fully wakes. The shaman gave me its name, and with that I can control the creature, but it will try to attack me.”
“I thought it was already part of him,” Chatter said.
“So did I, but apparently what happened was that as it merged with his DNA and died, it left behind a hatchling. And it’s ready to hatch.”
“Ah.” Chatter nodded. He looked like he wanted to say something else.
“What is it? And don’t say ‘nothing.’ You’re upset about Grieve.”
“You should not count on him. I love him perhaps more than you—he’s like a brother to me, but I’m practical. Grieve belongs to Myst, and Myst won’t take lightly to anybody tampering with her toys.”
I let out a short sigh. “No offense, but I don’t give a fuck what you—or Leo—or Rhiannon thinks. You know that Grieve and I’ve been together before, in another life. I was part of the Indigo Court, he was Cambyra Fae. We were in love and we were hunted down and we bound our souls together before we killed ourselves. We’re here to even the score, we’re here to find each other. I will not lose him again, do you understand?”
Chatter’s eyes flashed and he leaned in—the closest to angry I’d ever seen him. “Of course, I know perfectly well that you were together before. I was there. I am as much a part of this whole mess as you are.”
I didn’t want to look at him. I knew what he was talking about but hadn’t yet admitted it to myself. I didn’t want to think about the truth—it was too raw; it made me too angry. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“One of us has to say it—and you have to accept it. You were Myst’s daughter and both you and I know that she’s out to destroy you for betraying her! Grieve is her bait—she doesn’t want him, she wants you. If you go charging in, she’s just going to capture you. That’s why she’s keeping him. You can’t really think she loves him. She loves no one.” He leaned back, arms crossed.
I stared at him as his words ricocheted through the room. “No, no—I was part of the Indigo Court but I was never her daughter! You lie!” But my protest was weak. He was telling the truth. I’d known since my first flashback a week or so ago, but I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself. “I can’t face being Myst’s daughter. She isn’t my mother. Krystal is . . . was . . .”>And then . . . flash . . .
Grieve and I were standing there, together, on a mountain, scanning the vegetation below. Only he was Shy, not Grieve. “Can you see them? Are they coming?”
I shaded my eyes and searched the area. “I think so, but we are far enough away. We routed them, my love. We tore them to pieces.”
He flinched. “You tore them to pieces. I still can’t fathom your fury, Cherish. But we are free from the chase for at least a little while. My mother will never rest until you are dead . . . and me. I am a traitor to my people, because of you. But I choose you—it has always been you. Only you.”
And my heart swelled, as tears began to run down my cheeks. I dropped to my knees. “And you, my love. Only, always you. Traitors . . . we both bear the label. My mother will torture me in front of our people, if she catches me. I have dishonored her. But I am not like my people . . . at least not without reason.”
The memory of the guards, dismembered, bloody to the bone, tasting sweet in my mouth, filled my body, and I murmured a gentle moan. Their flesh was tender between my teeth, their blood still staining my lips. I’d taught them a harsh lesson about interfering with me.
Grieve-who-was-Shy knelt down and gathered me into his arms and slowly kissed me, long and deep, and the taste of blood mingled with the taste of his gentle breath. I slid my legs around his waist and he entered me, rocking gently against the mossy ground, as we mated. The sky shone crimson and yellow overhead, the sun high in the sky, and the feel of him on me, deep inside me, swallowed my anger.
“I will be with you forever, Cherish. We are fated together. No one else will ever measure up. You are my soul mate and we will never let them take us alive.”
“We’ll escape. Somehow we’ll escape and go to a place where our union is not forbidden. Now, take me. Love me,” I whispered. “Make me forget who I am. Who my people are. Who my mother is.” And he did.
Grieve shuddered in my arms, then inhaled a deep breath and gently pressed his lips against mine. “We are soul mates,” he murmured. “Together forever.” And then he dipped his lips to my neck and lightly nipped the skin, quietly lapping the blood that began to flow.
The pain was exquisite, and I flowed into his pleasure as my wolf let out a high pitched yip of joy. I wanted to lay him down, to straddle him in the snow, to feel him deep inside me, but this was not the place or the time. And Grieve seemed to sense it.
He voluntarily lifted his head, his eyes gleaming black, filled with stars. “You are mine, Cicely Waters. And your blood will sustain me. I can resist her, for a while longer. You are mine.”
“I am yours,” I whispered. “Keep her at bay, speak not to her, avoid Myst at all costs. And I will come for you—I promise, I will find a way.”
“Do not make promises you can’t keep, my sweet.” And then he turned, and like a ghost he was gone through the woods. And my wolf bayed in the waning light.
“We have to go.” Chatter was looking pissed out of his mind, but he said nothing. Peyton just glanced at me as we hurried through the snow, over the snowbank. She put in a call to Rhiannon, and after a couple of minutes, her car came rolling up the road and we scrambled in, exhausted and bone-weary.
“Did you make it to the Court of Dreams?” She sounded frantic.
“What happened? I can tell something happened. And yes, we did. I have the spell to help Kaylin.”
“Thank gods—I was afraid Myst might have caught you. You were gone two days.” She flashed me a worried smile. “Last night, a group of vampires and a group of Myst’s hunters got into a rumble downtown. It was bad, Cicely—very bad. Several of the townsfolk were nearby and there were deaths.”
“Holy crap. How many dead on each side?” I didn’t want to know, but it was like taking off a Band-Aid; better to just rip it off quickly.
“Three vamps, two Shadow Hunters, and five passersby. Including two police officers who didn’t know enough to stay out of it.” She sobered. “It was pure carnage down there. A bloodbath.” After a pause, she added, “Oh, and Lannan’s furious—he’s been looking for you.”
