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“Stupid idiot,” she muttered. “I almost had him in love with me as well. All he had to do was say your name, and he would’ve been trapped in my spell, but the jackass refused. I was actually looking forward to sampling him, because this one… Mmm.” She licked her lips and hummed deep in her throat. “Oh, yes. This one looked as if he knew how to properly please a woman. Tell me, Vienne.” She leaned closer. “He gave amazing orgasms, didn’t he?”
She circled the air around my face with her finger, and suddenly the power in my mouth, tongue and throat, could work—so that I could answer her—but all the other parts of me remained immovable.
Hissing, “Fuck you,” I spat in her face.
“Bitch,” she cried, jerking away from me to wipe her cheek clear. Rage filled her features with a red-hot hue. Then her eyes flashed with blue sparks. She slowly lifted both hands above her head, aiming them at me. “Just for that, I’m going to make your death hurt. A lot.”
Before she could cast her spell, however, Nicolette raced back into the room, out of breath, as if she’d been running since the moment she’d left us earlier. Skidding to a
halt when she saw the blue sparks crackling around Yasmin, her mouth parted with fear, her chest still heaving from her sprint.
“Well, look who’s returned after all,” Yasmin murmured. “You’re just in time for Vienne’s demise, my dear. Come closer. Get a front row seat.”
Clutching something that looked like a small leather pouch to her chest, Nicolette gulped and hedged a few steps toward us.
Yasmin lifted her face to frown at whatever the young princess was holding within her trembling arms. “What do you have there?”
“This,” Nicolette said, holding it out to show it off. The leather looked old and used with a frayed string pulling the opening of the pouch closed tight. The more I looked at it, however, the more I saw strange designs etched into the skin. Like magical symbols.
And then Nicolette screamed, “Diabolus hoc relinquet!” as she flung the entire pouch in Yasmin’s face.
As soon as it struck my sister, the leather casing exploded into blue, pink, and purple dust. Yasmin coughed and tried to wave it out of her eyes, grumbling curses until a moment later she yelped… Then she really screamed as pain and terror consumed her.
“No,” she shrieked. “Nooooo…”
Unable to do much but cry out in agony, she stood there immobile while her skin began to change from a flush, healthy peach to a dark gray, wrinkling husk that sucked in around her bone structure until it cracked and burst, breaking apart into a million pieces of crumbled dust and ash.
As soon as she went poof, her hold on both Allera and me broke so that we were free to move again.
Anniston too. The baby squalled in my arms, clearly not a fan of being frozen.
Laughing out relieved tears, I tucked her in close and nuzzled my face into her soft fuzz of hair. “It’s okay,” I assured her. “It’s okay now.”
But Allera’s sobbing reminded me that things were most definitely far from okay. Watching her fall the rest of the way over Brentley’s body, I transferred my gaze to Urban. He remained unmoving, face-first on the floor.
Not sure if I still had any time left or not, I thrust my daughter at Nicolette who seemed to be in shock, still staring in gaping horror at the floor where Yasmin’s pile of dust remained.
The young princess gazed dazedly at the baby in her arms and then went right back to ogling the place where her sister-in-law had exploded.
I hurried to Urban, falling to my knees at his side and gritting my teeth as I rolled over his brawny, muscled body. When he flopped onto his back, his arm slapping against the marble floor, I leaned in without hesitation and slanted my mouth over his.
Almost immediately, his lips warmed against mine until his mouth parted and he thrust his tongue, kissing me with a fervor that went well and beyond mere life-saving. But I was so happy to have him back that I greeted the kiss with just as must gusto, pouring my joy into it.
When we finally parted, panting for breath, he gazed up at me and said, “It happened again, didn’t it? You had to bring me back?”
“Yes.” I nuzzled my nose against his. “You really need to be more careful with your life, you know. I might not always be around to save you.”
His blue eyes sparkled with adoration as he smiled. “Then I’ll just have to stay close to you, always.”
“Deal.”
We shared a grin until the sobs of his sister broke through our happy bubble. When he glanced over to find Allera mourning the loss of Brentley, Urban gasped. “Oh, fuck.”
“No,” Allera sniffed, patting Brentley’s chest lovingly. “Not you too, Brentley. Not you too. I loved you. I loved you more than I thought I was capable.” She pulled away to offer his body a tragic, tear-stained smile. “You made me smile again. Laugh again. I was happy with you. I was more than happy with you.”
I tucked my face close to Urban’s shoulder, and he immediately smoothed a hand up my back before kissing my temple.
“Rest in peace, my brave sweet husband,” Allera whispered as she leaned in to gently press her lips to his. “Goodbye.”
