The Witch's Consorts: The Complete Series, page 70
Mom hadn’t been able to hide how overjoyed she’d been when I’d told her about the gig. She’d never made any comments about the other ways I’d earned money over the years, but I couldn’t think of many mothers who’d have outright approved of the habits I’d fallen into.
I’d helped keep her afloat after Rose’s dad had kicked her to the curb without severance or even a reference. Made sure her apartment was at least a little less crappy than mine. Until Rose had come back to town, my mother had been the only person in this world I’d still given a damn about.
Going up the steps to her second-floor apartment, hearing the creak of the sagging wood, made me more depressed than usual. It was still a crappy place. Once I settled into this new job and we got rid of the witching threat hanging over us, maybe I could help her out more than I had before. Kick some extra cash toward a down payment on a nicer place. See if I could pull some strings to find her a better job than the one she had cleaning houses for that harassing jerk of a boss.
She was pretty much always home in the evenings. I rapped my knuckles against the door. “Mom? It’s me.”
It took longer than I expected before I heard the shuffle of her feet on the other side. Mom eased the door open. Her eyes had gotten a little sunken over the years, her dark brown hair strung with gray, but normally she brightened when she saw me. Today she gave me a look that was almost dour.
She stepped back to let me in, and I came inside with a frown. “Is everything okay? That asshole didn’t try anything on you again, did he?”
“What?” she said, with honest surprise. “No. No, I just didn’t expect to see you coming around here.”
I stopped by the kitchen doorway, resting my hand on the counter. Her dinner dishes were already in the sink, rinsed, so I hadn’t interrupted her meal. “Why wouldn’t you expect me? I’ve been dropping in all the time since I stopped living with you. I mean, if you want me to start calling first, I can do that, you just always said—”
“No,” she said. “I mean I thought you were too busy with that slut of yours.”
My head snapped around. For a second I could only stare at her. I didn’t think I’d ever heard my mother use that word, and I’d hung out with women in the past who openly embraced the label.
“Excuse me?” I said, my tongue stumbling.
“The Hallowell girl,” Mom said, her dark eyes narrowing. “I know you’ve been seeing her. Everyone knows. And not just you. All sorts of young men she’s luring into her home, isn’t she? After what her family did to me… And now she’s stealing you too, at least until she decides to spit you back out.”
I groped for more words. “Mom—why are you talking like this?”
“Because I can’t stand to see you turn into some kind of… of degenerate. You deserve better, Damon. You deserve to be better. I can hardly stand to look at you, knowing you’ve gone along with whatever whorish scheme she’s caught you up in.” She drew in a breath that sounded like a sob.
“Mom.” Emotions wrenched through me, tearing me between fury that she’d talk that way about the love of my life and horror that I’d somehow disappointed and disgusted her so much. I grasped her shoulder. “It’s not like that. I swear—”
Mom wrenched away from me and backed up to the table. “Don’t touch me. Not with those hands that’ve been all over that whore. There’s always been something wrong about that family. I should have known. I should have said something from the start.”
“There’s nothing to say,” I said firmly, barely keeping my anger in check. “You can’t talk about Rose that way. You have no idea— She’s the kindest, strongest woman I know, Mom. There are no schemes. I care about her. I go out to see her. Anything else that happens is none of your business anyway.”
“Of course you’d say that,” she mumbled. “Of course. Get out. I don’t want to see you, not when I know you’re probably going running back to her the moment you leave.”
“Mom.”
“Go!” She pointed toward the door, her shoulders shaking.
God help me, what the hell was I supposed to do? I wavered and then went, catching the door a second before I slammed it. My pulse thumped through my veins like the steps rattling under my feet on the way down. I marched off toward my apartment, but that beat didn’t settle. Queasiness pooled in my gut.
What the fuck had gotten into my mom? What had she heard to make her turn on Rose like that? How could she talk like that to me?
I sure as hell wasn’t going to Rose with all this rage rushing through me. No, I’d prefer she saw as little as possible of this side of me.
And when I found out who was spreading this poison about her, I was looking forward to smashing their head in.
Chapter Six
Rose
“Wow,” Jin said as he stepped into the magicking room. His feet whispered over the polished hardwood floor. A glow from the skylight overhead streamed over us, and a whiff of the tangy incense used in one of my most recent magickings hung in the air. “This place definitely has atmosphere.”
“I thought you’d appreciate that,” I said with a smile.
“So, this is where the magic happens?” He turned, taking in the whole space. The room was empty other than the supply cabinet at the far end. “Literally?”
“Well, you know I can cast spells pretty much anywhere,” I said. “But this room is the ideal environment. The walls are insulated so no outside sounds can distract me—and so anything I say won’t carry out where the unsparked staff can hear. The colors are all neutral so I can focus on my internal purpose. And the floor is built for ease of movement while I’m moving through the forms. There’s a smaller private one that’s technically mine now as head of the family, but this is where I did most of my practicing growing up. I thought it’d be better to have the extra space.”
“All those blank walls make me want to get painting,” Jin said with a wink. “But I can see why you’d prefer them like this. I’m never going to be able to do any magicking, though, right? It’s only ever the women, even in your witching families.”
I nodded. “But there are joint forms for couples—they’re supposed to help open the mind and emotions, to encourage an even deeper trust, so that the energy we create between us is even stronger. I figured… The Frankfords and their faction are so powerful. We know they’ve been using those demons to give them even more power.” Though the files weren’t completely clear on how the effects worked.
“So, the stronger your magic is, the better,” Jin said. “Makes sense. How has it gone with the other guys?”
He asked the question so nonchalantly, taking it for granted that I’d tried this with at least a couple of my other consorts before him, that my heart pinched. Had I acted as if I relied on the others more than him?
“It hasn’t,” I said. “This is my first try. It seemed like you’d probably pick up the movements faster than anyone else—I saw how you danced at my little birthday celebration.”
He turned to me with that slow flirty smile that always made my insides melt. “It’s an honor to be the first, then, Briar Rose. Shall we dance?”
Suddenly I felt awkward. “I’ve never actually done this with anyone before. I mean, they’re adapted from the single-person forms, and I read everything I could find on the dual forms in the library, but it’s not quite the same…”
Jin took my hand and squeezed it. “We’ll figure it out. Gotta start somewhere. How do we begin?”
My heart settled a little. Of course this would be okay. Jin didn’t care if I looked a little silly. “The first form is the simplest. What do you say we go through it slowly and then chain it all together in a smoother flow once we have the hang of it?”
“Ready when you are.”
The room might have been designed to minimize distractions, but there wasn’t much that could have been more distracting than moving Jin through this sort-of dance. My fingers skimmed up and down his forearms as I showed him how to place his arms: around my waist now, across my shoulders next, his hand on my side, my hip, the small of my back. I leaned into him and then tugged him into me, supporting each other’s weight in a symbolic way, and a totally non-symbolic heat kindled between us.
Jin’s lips grazed the side of my neck as he bowed his head next to mine at the end of the form. I curled my fingers into my palms, fighting the urge to grab his jaw and pull those lips right to mine.
“You’re picking it up fast,” I said, knowing I sounded breathless. “Just like I figured.”
“You know me well,” Jin said with that same flirty smile. “I think I’ve got the shape of it down. Should we try speeding things up?”
“Let’s,” I said. An eager flush tickled over my skin.
We slipped around each other, bending and swaying and spinning together, like an expanded version of the forms I used on my own. After the first few movements, as those movements flowed together seamlessly now, I almost felt as if I had two sets of limbs, two torsos, moving in perfect symmetry. Jin and I hadn’t done anything really intimate yet, but the spark of my magic flickered up in my chest, quivering eagerly. Each time our bodies connected, the warmth between us grew a little more.
“I can feel it,” Jin murmured. “That’s… That’s amazing. Like we really are linked together with this sort of harmony…”
He trailed off as we launched into the final sequence. I dipped low, and he caught my shoulders. With a whirl of his arm, he swiveled me back toward him. Our feet stepped together, our legs twining and releasing and twining again. The quiver spread all through my muscles. I couldn’t take my eyes off Jin’s face.
When we finished, Jin pulled me into an embrace. He hugged me close. “That was fantastic,” he said. “I felt the consort bond when we did the ceremony, but I’d never gotten this strong a sense of it since then.”
The connection between us thrummed through my veins alongside that giddy quiver. I hugged him back, not wanting to let him go. “That’s the point of the forms. To strengthen that bond. It won’t feel like that all the time when we’re not doing them, but it will stay stronger the more we practice the forms.”
“And here I thought that bond couldn’t get any stronger than it already was.” He chuckled, his breath tickling over my hair. “You can call me in to practice any time.”
“That’s just the first one,” I said. “You want to try something a little more complex?” I paused. “I’ll need to use a little of my magic on you for the next one.”
“Magic away,” Jin said, so easily any anxiety I might have had about that component left me. I squeezed him tight before forcing myself to let go.
We started slowly again, trying out each movement and seeing how they joined together. At one point, in the middle of the form, I boosted Jin’s feet several inches off the ground with a burst of magical energy. Then, at the end, I lifted us both in a quick spiral.
Jin was grinning when we touched down. “This is a fun one.”
His confidence trickled into me, pushing back the looming fears about the Frankfords and whatever they might be planning. “Are you ready to try it faster?”
He clapped his hands. “Let’s do this.”
We moved through the flowing pattern, each touch and momentary hold spreading fresh heat over my skin. My heart swelled with the emotion coursing between us until I wasn’t sure I could even hold it all. Jin’s eyes shone as he gazed back at me.
The magical wind whipped around us into that final whirl. The second our feet hit the ground, I couldn’t help myself. I reached for my consort’s face, and he was already leaning in to claim my mouth.
Electricity seemed to shiver through me with that kiss. My whole body was alight from the closeness of the forms, and my spark leapt to flood every nerve with hot desire. Jin kissed me harder, his hands roaming lower down my body. I arched into his touch. I wanted more—I wanted everything. I wanted him to know how much I always wanted him.
My lips trailed across his jaw and down his neck. “Do you trust me?” I murmured, struck by a strange impulse.
“Absolutely,” Jin said.
I nipped the bare skin at the crook of his shoulder, a slight graze of my teeth. At his encouraging sound, I bit a little harder. Not enough to break the skin, but enough to add a little spark of pain to his pleasure.
Jin’s breath hitched. “Fuck me.”
Before I could point out I intended to do exactly that, he’d drawn my mouth back to his. We devoured each other, sinking to the floor without breaking the kiss. Jin wrenched up my dress. I groped for the fly of his slacks. No time for teasing. No time for lingering in the moment. I wanted him in me now.
He slid inside me just as sure as the movements of our dance. A whimper escaped me at the welcome friction of his cock stretching my core. I raised my knees by his hips, urging him onward as our mouths collided again.
Pleasure spiraled through me in a swift wave. Jin plunged deeper and deeper with a groan. He cupped my breast through my dress, stroking his lithe fingers over the nipple until I was arching both chest and hips toward him in turn. My spark flared through me, so bright I thought it might consume us both.
He slipped his hand under my ass, angling me higher to meet him. I moaned as he filled me even more completely. All I could do then was cling to him, skin to sweat-damp skin, rocking with the force of his thrusts. His cock hit that glorious spot inside me again, and again, and—
I tipped over the edge with a burst of light behind my eyes. Bliss raced through my body, curling my toes. Jin came a moment later, with a ragged breath against my cheek. His release was another sear of heat through my core.
He eased to a stop over me, beaming down at me. I smiled up at him as the last ripples of pleasure radiated through me.
“You’re a fucking wonder, Rose,” Jin murmured. He nuzzled the side of my face and rolled us over, his legs tangling with mine. “How’s that for solidifying a bond?”
I giggled. “I think we passed with flying colors. Do you still feel different?”
“You mean other than the amazing high of just being with you?” He ran his hand over my hair. “There’s something about it—the sensation when I think about you, it’s… fuller, somehow? But, you know, it was pretty intense before, so I’m not sure it can get that much more so.”
“Even a little could make a difference if it comes down to a real fight.” Not just against a handful of lackey enforcers, but against all the witches who stood with the Frankfords—and maybe against those demonic creatures too?
The worries crept back in. I buried my face in Jin’s shoulder, but I couldn’t escape them completely. Jin kissed my forehead.
“You’ve got us,” he said. “You’ll always have us. And that means you’ll always be stronger. Do you know— You remember when Gabriel first showed up with that page from your book, the one you gave each of us before you left the estate the first time?”
“Yeah,” I said. The memory of Gabriel’s return was etched clearly in my mind. That and the moment when I’d given the guys those pages. I’d torn them from my favorite childhood novel, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, as a sort of token when my father had decided to move the family to Portland—mainly to force an end to my friendship with the unsparked guys he’d deemed unsuitable companions for a thirteen-year-old witch.
“I still have my page too,” Jin said. “Tucked in with my favorite art supplies back home. Any time I left for more than a day, I’d slip it into my wallet. Like it was for luck or something. Or in case it’d somehow let our paths cross. You’ve always been with me, Rose, and I’ll always be here if you need me. You can trust in that.”
My throat choked up. I tipped my head to kiss him. His hand rose to my cheek, and we might have fallen back into each other all over again, except a frantic knocking reverberated through the door right then.
“Rose!” a muffled voice said from right outside. “I think you’d better come. There’s someone at the gate—he says Charles Frankford sent him.”
Chapter Seven
Rose
Jin followed me down to the front door. “Stay behind me,” I told him. “And hang back a bit. I know you want to help, but… we don’t know what to expect from this guy.”
Jin made a face, but he nodded at the same time. “I’ve got your back.” His voice turned sly. “He definitely doesn’t want to mess with you after the boost your spark just got.”
In spite of the stressful situation ahead, I might have been a bit flushed when I started down the front drive.
There was indeed a guy outside the gate, waiting there with his arms folded loosely over his chest. He wasn’t much taller than me, but he was burly, with hard lines to his nose and his jaw that made him look imposing. From the lines at the corners of his eyes and the silver cast to his light brown hair, I guessed he was about my father’s age.
He tapped his foot in a slow but forceful rhythm as I approached. I couldn’t see his car, though I doubted he’d walked here. He must have parked it farther down the road. Because he was worried we’d do something to it? That our seeing it would be a bad thing?
Hard to tell whether it was reasonable sneakiness or just paranoia.
“Hello,” I said, coming to a stop a few feet from the gate. The guy didn’t look as if he were carrying any of the magical weapons the male enforcers sometimes used, but after what I’d seen in the last few weeks from his people, I didn’t trust myself to be able to spot every potential threat. “You wanted something?”
“Is this how you usually greet visitors, Lady Hallowell?” the man said with a gravely edge to his voice.
“No,” I said. “But visitors usually call first, or at least they don’t demand my attention the second they arrive, after they’ve announced they’re coming sent by someone who specifically swore to leave me alone.”
