The Crusaders, page 2
“Does she know what's going on?”
“I can't say for sure. We've told her, but we have no idea if she heard. She didn't react.”
“What about our losses? Have you told her about them?”
“Yes, and that we know she heard. She held your arm around her with magic and cried on your chest for hours, but other than that, nothing.”
Quin looked down, running his thumb along a shiny paper chain. “Do you think she'll ever get over this, Dad? Do you think she'll be okay?”
“You know her better than I do, Quinlan. I will say this, though. She needs time and healing. We all do, but I’ve never seen anyone catch the amount of shit Layla’s been thrown over the past few weeks, and her unique heart harbors as much grief as it does love. We’re lucky she’s still with us.” He paused, his eyes moistening as he patted Quin’s bicep. “We’re lucky you’re still with us.”
“I wish we still had them all, Dad. I’m sorry we don’t.”
“I know,” Kemble whispered. Then he cleared his throat and rose from the bed. “Now let that be the last guilt that slips from your lips today, because Layla’s almost here, and she's dying to see your eyes and smile.”
Quin's heart rate quickened. “She'll be mad at herself for leaving.”
“You can blame it on me,” Kemble offered. “Just do me a favor and wait ’til I leave.”
“You scared?” Quin smirked.
Kemble quietly laughed. “It’s never a good idea to get on a woman’s bad side, son. I taught you that long ago.”
They heard the back door close, and Quin sat up, magically rearranging the pillows behind him. He flipped his gaze toward the hallway, waiting for her to walk around the corner, but she didn't walk around it. She flew around it, and when she saw him sitting up and looking at her, she froze in mid-air, her lips parting into a tiny 'o' of surprise as she dropped toward the floor.
“Layla!” Nearly coming out of his skin, Quin threw out a hand, catching her in a spell right before she hit the floor. He sighed as he floated her back up. Then he pulled her to him much slower than he wanted to.
She came to her senses when she reached the foot of the bed, and she burst out of his magic, flinging herself at him and straddling his lap. Her hands closed over his cheeks as her shiny eyes met his. Then she showered his face in desperate kisses. “You’re awake. You’re finally awake. I missed your eyes so much, Quin… and your smile… I can barely breathe without it.”
He ran his hands down her back and thighs while letting her have her way with his face, but he wanted to look at her, so he carefully worked his fingers into her hair and halted her frantic kissing.
“Layla Love,” he sighed, searching her red-rimmed eyes, pale cheeks, and parched lips. She looked exhausted and slightly ill, but she remained the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He ran a forefinger over her lips, healing the chapped skin. Then he touched the pads of his thumbs to her eyelids, soothing the strain. “I'm sorry, angel,” he whispered, drying the tears streaming down her cheeks. “I'm sorry I couldn't stay awake for you.”
She shook her head while stroking his jaw and brow. “You're awake now, Quin. That's all that matters.”
“Hear, hear,” Kemble agreed. Then he nudged his crying wife forward. “Give Quinlan a kiss, my love, so we can leave him and Layla alone.”
Cordelia moved in to kiss Quin’s cheek, and Layla looked down, tugging on her t-shirt, which was actually one of his t-shirts, until she could have him back.
“I love you, Quinlan,” Cordelia whispered.
“I love you, too, Mom,” he returned, glad he had the opportunity.
As Kemble guided Cordelia toward the door, he mind searched Quin. ‘After Layla eats, she needs sleep. I suggest you help her out. Check the nightstand when you’re ready.’
The moment his parents cleared the room, Layla found Quin’s stare, and her face flexed as fresh tears ran down her cheeks. “I missed you so much, Quin. It was like someone had me by the throat the entire time.”
“You didn't take care of yourself,” he said, sweeping his thumbs along the dark circles haunting her eyes.
“I know,” she confessed, “but I couldn't help it. Please don't be mad at me.”
“Of course not, angel.”
“I'm not an angel, Quin, but I’d walk through fire to make things right for you. I’d do anything to stay perfect in your eyes.”
He flashed a grin. “Then I must insist you don't walk through any fires for me.”
As her forefingers dipped into his dimples, a smile curved her exhausted lips. “I would if that’s what you needed.”
Quin’s heart sighed, a heavy weight lifting from his chest as he brushed a thumb across her smile. “This is what I need. This makes me soar.”
“It’s been lost without you. I’ve been lost without you.”
“Well I’m back, baby, and I have a favor to ask.”
“Anything.”
He laughed as he raised an eyebrow. “You're awfully compliant, my love. I could really take advantage right now.”
“I’m just so happy to see you awake and smiling at me, Quin. I’d do anything to keep it that way.”
He gave her dry lips a soft kiss. Then he held one palm in front of her mouth while summoning a glass of water in the other. “Then spit out that gum and drink some water before we have to treat you for dehydration.”
She puckered, but then she obeyed, letting her gum fall into his hand as she accepted the water. After vanishing the chewed candy and its mess, he carefully ran his fingers into her tangled hair. Then he magically worked out knots while she finished her drink.
“Will you eat something?” he asked, running a hand over her stomach.
Eager to please, she passed him the glass then summoned a bowl of fruit, feeding him a strawberry before taking one for herself. She sighed and closed her eyes, obviously missing the taste of food, so he let her eat in silence, hoping she’d keep going until she was full. When he noticed she was giving him bites without taking any, he set the bowl aside and picked her up, cradling her in one arm as he reclined against the pillows.
He brushed her hair back and kissed her nose. Then he gave her t-shirt a tug. “May I take this off?”
“Yes.”
He vanished the shirt then reached for her pajama pants, noticing they, too, were his. “How about these?”
She gave a timid nod, and he figured she was insecure because she hadn’t been showering and grooming. But she needed to know he didn’t give a shit how clean or dirty or prickly she was, so he vanished the pants and tucked her legs under the blankets with his. “That’s better,” he approved, smiling at her.
She nodded again, her eyes filling with moisture. “I can't believe we made it, Quin. I was so afraid we wouldn't.”
“Me, too, Layla, but I’d fight a million battles for you.”
She slid a hand to his healed side, her gaze wide and pleading as it searched his. “I saw it, Quin. My nightmare wasn't just a nightmare. It was a vision. I saw your injury, and the clothes you wore, and I saw leather armbands before I knew wizards wore such things.” Her tears ran like rivers now, and she and her aura shook with emotion. “I saw it all, and I was so scared… because those damn armbands told me exactly what would happen. And I didn't stop it, Quin. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me.”
His heart squeezed as he watched her grief, and he quickly dried her tears with kisses before finding her eyes. “There's nothing to forgive, Layla. Just because you can see the future, doesn't mean you can change it.”
“But I should have warned you, Quin. I should have told you.”
“Yes, you should have told me, but not to warn me. I wouldn't have changed my path even if I'd known the details of your vision. But I want to help you carry your burdens, Layla, and that’s a big one. I hate that you went through that alone.”
“I didn’t. You’re always there for me, always making it better, even when you don’t know what’s wrong.”
“I’m glad, but I’d like to know why you felt you couldn’t tell me.”
“Because it scared me. I know that’s not a good reason, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud, to describe the horrible thing I saw, and I didn’t know how it happened, so I couldn’t stop it. I’m sorry, Quin. I don’t think I could ever say that word enough to make up for the things I’ve done.”
He scowled and laid a finger over her lips. “You’ve done nothing wrong, Layla. I know you’ll probably never believe that, but you need to hear it. You’ve faced incredible adversity and did what you needed to do to survive, and you saved a lot of lives along the way. So no more saying sorry. Not to me or anyone else. We know you never meant for any of this to happen, and nothing you did caused it. Now…” He moved his finger from her lips and gave her a kiss. Then he reached into the nightstand, finding a loaded pipe. Perfect. “Get high with me while we talk about what we’re going to do next.”
“What do you mean?”
Summoning a small flame from his thumb, he used one hand to take a hit. Then he pulled her to his lips, giving her half the smoke with a kiss. “Well,” he finally answered, watching her exhale, “your schedule has blown wide open. So what do you want to do first? Radium Hot Springs? Or should we give Travis a call?”
She hesitated, her eyes anxiously searching his. “There are things we still need to deal with, Quin… sad things, difficult things. Did your dad not tell you?”
Quin played with her hair as he watched her face, feeling blessed to have such a beautiful reprieve from the pain. “He did, and we'll deal with all that before moving on. But we will move on, and when we do, we'll need something to move on to.” He paused and took another hit. Then he held the stem of the pipe to her lips, urging her to take one on her own. “So what will it be, my love? Angel's choice.”
She eyed him as she blew out a puff of smoke, still unable to relax. “What about the Crusaders? And all those people in the volunteers' clearing?”
“The people in that clearing have no relationship with you whatsoever, so you’re not obligated to them. We’ll tell them to go home and leave you alone. As for the Crusaders, I owe them a thank you, and I plan on giving it to them, but that's on me, not you.”
“You're wrong, Quin. They saved my life, too. But they're not waiting around for thank yous. They're waiting around for favors.”
“Are you interested in hearing what they want?”
“I don't know. I have no idea what I should or shouldn't do.”
“Then whatever they want from you will have to wait until you make up your mind. We can tell them you're taking a break, and that if you do decide to hear them out, you'll let them know. Maybe you and I will take a trip to Europe in a couple of weeks and drop in on them. Maybe we'll forget about them altogether, but whatever we do, we're going to do it for us, not them.”
“I like that solution.”
“Good, because if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work for me.” After taking one more hit, he offered her another. Then he sent the pipe away and hugged her closer. “So, what's it going to be, my love? We could leave for Radium in a couple of days, spend as long as you want there, then come home and have Travis visit. Or we could blow off the whole world and take a cruise.”
“It all sounds wonderful, Quin, and as long as you're there, it will be.”
Her muscles had finally relaxed, and her aura had slowed, so he repositioned the pillows and lay on his side, tucking her in with him. “We'll do it all, Layla, but you have to be awake to enjoy it, so now it's my turn to watch you sleep.”
Moisture filled her tired eyes as her bottom lip trembled. “I don't want to sleep, Quin.”
“You have to sleep, love, but I won’t make you. Your body and that weed will do the job for me.”
“You’re sneaky.”
He smiled as he brushed a thumb across her pout and kissed away her tears. “Maybe a little.”
She desperately searched his face, her eyelids getting heavier. “But I just got you back.”
“I'm not going anywhere, love. I'm staying right here, and I'll be holding you when you wake up.”
“Promise?”
“Yep, and the first thing I’m going to do is summon you a cup of coffee, because I’ll need you awake for what I plan to do next.”
“Please tell me you mean me.”
He laughed as he ran a hand down her back to her butt. “Yes, my frisky angel, I mean you. I’ve faced the possibility of losing this perfect body of yours, and I’ll never go another hour without finding a way to appreciate it, but right now I need to take care of it and let you sleep.”
“You’re really going to stay?”
“Yes. If I go anywhere, it will be the bathroom, and I’ll come right back.”
She watched him for another moment, no doubt wondering if she had the energy to argue, and apparently she didn’t. “Okay.”
He smiled and leaned in, giving her a soft kiss that took her breath away, and as her heart stuttered and stopped, his did the same. They both froze, leaving their lips together as they savored the moment. Then her heart and breathing resumed, and so did his.
His smile stretched around her lips as he cupped her face in his palms. “You're amazing, Layla. What you do to me is incredible, and it's unbelievable how much I love you. You make everything better than okay, you make it perfect, and I'm going to make it perfect for you. I'm going to make it so that you're not afraid to close your eyes and sleep.”
Layla didn’t know if she’d ever be able to live without fear, fear for herself, for him, and for those they cared about, but now more than ever, she knew she could live with the fear, because as long as she feared losing Quin, she hadn’t lost him yet. And one thing was for damn sure – she’d never go down without a fight. She didn’t know why she had extraordinary powers, and she didn’t fully comprehend how to use them, but until the day her crazy heart stopped working altogether, it would beat for one purpose – to protect the people she loved.
And she loved no other more deeply than the man kissing her tired eyelids and stroking her messy curls.
Chapter Two
The morning sun crept toward the horizon, blurring the lines between Paris and the sky. Bryce was familiar with the city from a bird’s-eye view, but today he stood on a sidewalk, looking at the fading metropolis through smog and the pillars of the Charles De Gaulle Airport.
His first trip on an airplane hadn’t been unpleasant, but he had no desire to do it again, and it would be a cold day in Death Valley before he’d climb into one of the taxis lining up for the hexless.
He took off walking, unfamiliar with his surroundings and the shoes on his feet, but all he needed was a shadowed corner, which he soon found. Slipping into the dark, he vanished his shoes and summoned his cloak. Then he concealed himself and reemerged. A quick glance around assured him no one witnessed the magic, so he soared toward coral sky, anxious to leave the stress of the hexless behind.
The Crusaders’ home base was more than a hundred miles away, but after being on a plane for hours, soaring free felt amazing – the cold wind flowing around his warm and weightless body. And his feet; they could breathe. He was pretty sure hexless shoes were made by people who hated feet.
With Paris far behind him and Belgium growing nearer, Bryce descended into the French Ardennes Mountains, landing halfway into a valley dug out by the oldest river in the world – the Meuse. Trees and undergrowth owned the incline, obscuring the world around him, but he didn’t need to see where he was going. This was his home, and he was glad to be back.
Hiking a few yards up the slope, he came to a rocky ridge and looked around, finding the auras of two of his comrades. Bryce revealed his body and offered them a wave. Then he looked at the stone ridge, watching as a crack widened and cool air rushed from dark depths.
Ducking inside, Bryce cast a light from his palm, and the stone closed behind him. The rocky corridor ahead was several miles long, twisting and delving deeper than the Meuse, so he flew, eventually coming to a bright golden door guarded by a wizard in baby-blue.
“Tiernan,” Bryce greeted, landing and extinguishing his light. The guard smiled and moved aside. “Bonjour, Monsieur Bryce.”
Bryce crossed the golden threshold then followed a golden corridor further into the Crusaders' home base. Upon entering the great hall, he found the four magicians he'd come to see sitting in a circle, intently listening to a soothsayer named Gavin.
“I’ve located another guardian,” Gavin announced.
A witch named Andraste swept her knee-length, silver hair out of the way as she replied. “Where?”
“Southern California. He’s much like the other one – a bonded child seeking a dream.”
A wizard named Roarke impatiently rapped his knuckles on the table. “If only the dream would seek him. We’ve located two wizards, yet the witch remains a mystery. Perhaps your original vision was tainted, Gavin.”
“You know I can't guarantee my work,” Gavin countered. “We've been running on obscure prophecies for more than nineteen years.”
A witch named Kassandra stood and paced the floor. “Yes, and smoky visions were fine nineteen years ago, before the threat encroached. But we're running out of time, and our knowledge remains pitifully inadequate.”
“I agree,” Gavin conceded, “but we've recruited nearly every soothsayer renowned for their accuracy, and they hold not one shred of perception regarding the earth angel. I seem to be the only one with answers about the witch, obscure or otherwise, and I've given you everything I know. Her fate is far more legible than she, and even it remains cryptic. The goddess of mercy took pity on us nearly two decades ago and no doubt got reprimanded for meddling in human affairs. To defy Mother Ava is to risk eternity, which would explain the lack of visions. It appears we’re on our own from here.”
“What about the double-bonded male?” Andraste asked. “Finley. He’s loose, powerful and aware of the earth angel. Perhaps he sought her out after killing his handlers and escaping the Dark Guild.”
