In the Shadow of a Wish, page 30
“Are you denying me? Your husband?” spell Nix asked.
Nix’s heart tripped as he struggled inside his own body.
Auri blinked, hesitated, as if she too were fighting the impulse, but stepped forward with her hand outstretched anyway. “A silent woman is a wise woman,” she recited, as if coached to say it.
“Good girl,” spell Nix said and led Auri back to the bed. “Since you aren’t sure if you like to watch, I’m going to teach you how to use your mouth, like a good wife.”
“Okay,” spell Auri said, her voice devoid of the Auri Nix knew.
“Get on your knees.”
She complied.
“I enjoy you like this,” spell Nix said. “Docile. Subservient. It’s addicting. Open your mouth.”
Auri complied.
Not this way, Nix thought, wishing he could look away. He wished he could find a way outside of his own skin, to put a stop to this. He wished he could talk to Auri, but he wasn’t a wish maker. He was the villain. The sensations raged through him, physically making it difficult to string his thoughts together. He was fucking Auri’s mouth and—
The god-yoke.
The thought hit him in the middle of the chest as spell Auri pleasured spell Nix.
Nix struggled to keep his mind right, the pleasure center of his brain wringing out his thoughts and pulverizing them into dust. When his body released, and he came into spell Auri’s mouth, his physical body grunted and jerked, until he fell back onto the bed, ignoring Auri on her knees before him.
She didn’t move.
Spell Nix and trapped Nix lay on the mattress, trying to catch their breath.
The god-yoke. Nix grabbed onto the thought when his brain began functioning again.
“Come here,” spell Nix ordered.
Auri stood.
“I want to fuck you, too. From behind, like a dog. So, when I’m ready again, that’s what we’ll do.”
Spell Auri nodded and sat down on the bed, still and stiff as if she was nothing more than the receptacle for spell Nix’s pleasure.
“Then we’ll eat. Would you like to do anything?” Spell Nix folded his hands together under his head and stared at the fabric of the bed’s canopy above him.
She didn’t turn to look at him. Staring straight ahead, she said, “A silent woman is a wise woman.”
Internally, Nix tried to recall how he’d broken through the first obligation, remembering Auri standing before him in tears. He’d tapped into his heart. The emotions. He tried again, as spell Nix tried to put them to sleep. Nix fought the lull. No. No. No, he chanted, looking for the warm threads he knew were there. He’d seen them, and as if the magic had its own mind, they came forth like a burst of light behind his eyes.
Golden threads, like tributaries of a river, sprang from him, out from his being like an aura. And not only from him, but from Auri, reaching for him. They connected.
Nix sat up, grabbed ahold of Auri, and drew them both into his dark cocoon, lit inside by whatever golden light they had between them.
“Nix?” Auri’s voice made him tighten his grip with relief. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders. “I kept thinking about how I’d found you in the conjuring you made.”
“Yes. Yes!” Nix held her tighter, concentrating. “I thought about that first obligation. I don’t know if we can hold this, Auri.” He remembered the spell fighting back and could even now feel the tug of it, though it was weaker than he remembered.
Auri leaned back, grasping the sides of his face, to make him meet her gaze. “We can hold it.”
“We didn’t last time.”
“Because we weren’t then what we are now,” she said and pressed her lips to his.
Nix kissed her. Slid his tongue between her lips to meet hers, finding solace in the comfort she offered. Finding faith in the connection that sheltered them for the moment, however long it would last. Her faith in what they were bolstered his, gave him hope they could fight the obligation.
He broke the kiss. “I’m not letting you go,” he whispered and wrapped his body tighter around her, hopeful that though the power beyond their cocoon that might try to pry them apart, together they could overcome it.
The return of her mind and body was a gradual thing. From the moment she woke at the onset of the obligation, the fear of finding a stranger’s hand between her legs to the acquiescence of everything about her to someone she assumed was her husband, willingly, was an awful payment for wisdom. She’d felt the fracture immediately, a splitting between what was a lie and what she consciously knew was the truth.
She’d fought, knowing Nix was fighting too behind those dead eyes, and found slips through the blackness of the spell’s control, grasping onto her own desire. Nix. Nix. Nix. A beacon calling forth her heart. When she found the warmth, she’d held onto it. Nix. Nix. Nix, she’d thought, knowing he would come when she called. And he had, even as she’d reached for him.
Even now, as the darkness around them eased, Nix’s tight cocoon relaxed. With her arms wrapped around Nix, her mind concentrating on him and him alone, she wasn’t sure how long the obligation lasted, but she knew she could feel its power wane as a tremor moved through her body and then subsided.
“Nix?” she asked, still wrapped around him.
“I’m here,” he said, his voice comforting in her ear.
“Is it over?”
He pulled back and met her gaze. “I’m hesitant to move.” He offered her a smile.
“We need to check,” she said. “If it’s over–”
His eyes widened with realization, and he released the darkness, allowing muted shadows to stretch out around them, opening the labyrinth once more to the twilight.
“Fuck.” Nix moved, rolling from the bed where they’d insulated themselves from the obligation.
Auri’s muscles protested the movement, but she got up, naked as she rose, and dressed by the time she stood because Nix willed it.
“We did it?” Nix asked, turning in a circle as if to correct his equilibrium.
She looked around at the room, at her hands as if they contained power, at him. “I think we did.”
He rushed and picked her up. “I have never had more hope that I do at this moment.” He kissed her like their world was coming down around them, and in a way it was.
She drew away and said, “The final sacrifice.”
“Luc. Lexa. Poe.” Nix said their names like orders. Frantic. “The final sacrifice is coming. I don’t know what happened to Poe. What if she’s come and gone?” He wasn’t talking to her. Just fretting. He held out a hand, and she knew the second she took it, they would be when everything would change once more.
“Wait.”
“We can’t–”
“Nix.”
He stopped, his fear freezing on his features.
Auri walked to him, took his hands, and pulled them up to her heart. “This–” She took a deep breath. “Remember.” Reaching up, she pressed a palm to the side of his face. The fear eased, making way for something vibrant and beautiful. “No matter what happens, I love you.” She rose onto her tiptoes and kissed him.
When Auri pulled away and opened her eyes, they were in the living room. Luc and Lexa sat in the chairs where she and Nix usually sat, while Poe stood near the fireplace, a drink in hand. She took a sip, watching Nix and Auri step away from one another.
“There you are,” Luc said, his voice as collected as usual, even under the circumstances. “We wondered where you got off to. I made us all drinks. To celebrate.”
“It would seem they’ve already been celebrating,” Lexa said.
“I was just telling Poe that we tried to solicit Lexa’s help to break the spell, to no avail.”
“I could have told you that if you’d asked,” Poe said.
“Except you didn’t answer my summons,” Luc said, a caustic edge to his voice.
Poe took a sip, her gaze sliding to Lexa.
“But you’re here now,” Luc said, all smiles and light. “Let’s not mire our celebration in squabbles.” He lifted his glass and drank. Poe and Lexa followed suit.
“Celebrate what?” Auri asked.
“Your last wish, my dear, and the hopeful freedom of my brother, or my impending demise,” Luc said as if he were discussing a day trip to share a picnic. “It’s your choice, now, isn’t it?”
Nix cleared his throat, seeming to compose himself, and started across the room. “We’re sorry to keep you waiting.”
Auri wasn’t as calm as she followed him, unsure what to expect now that final wish had been granted and final obligation paid. How would the final sacrifice present itself? She should have asked Nix since he’d experienced them before. She found her eyes darting about the room at the corners and the shadows.
Nix handed her a drink and looked inside his own glass, somber. Then he said, “Just in case, I–” He looked up and leveled his gaze on Luc. “If it doesn’t work–”
“What doesn’t work?” Poe said.
“If Auri doesn’t choose the final sacrifice,” Luc said, “and you have to kill me.” He took a drink.
“That’s morose, brother,” Lexa said. “I would welcome you to the underworld, however.”
“That’s good to know,” Poe said. She took another sip.
“I have told–” Nix stopped and looked at her, then offered a devastating smile– “suggested to Auri that she refuse the sacrifice if it means her life.”
“But what about your powers?” Poe asked.
“Thank you for the reminder, Poe. Lexa, will you see that Father chooses a replacement for the night?”
Lexa nodded at Nix. “They’ll have to see to a reaping to retrieve them from the underworld, but I will tell him, if that happens.” Her gaze jumped to Auri. “Mortal—I highly suggest you take the sacrifice. You might not like my underworld.”
“Lexa,” Nix warned. “Luc. Whatever happens–”
Luc stood. “No. Now. Let’s have more hope than that.”
Poe snorted.
“Do you find something funny, Poe?” Nix asked.
She shook her head but smiled. “No. No.” She blinked. “Not funny. It’s just–” She reached out and put a hand on the hearth. “I don’t feel...” Her eyes looked from the drink and flew up to Luc’s face, and then she fell to the floor before she could whisk herself away.
Auri turned to Nix. “You gave her a potion?”
Nix hurried across the room. “Luc did. We needed to make sure we had options in case the obligation–” He didn’t finish the thought.
She understood. In case she and Nix were stuck.
“It worked.” Luc moved to Poe’s side and moved her away from the fire.
“I hate the subterfuge.” Lexa held a coil of bright golden rope in her hands.
“We have to tie her up. Is that the proper binding?”
Lexa twirled the rope. “Do you think I am ever without proper bindings, Nix.”
“Just help me.”
“The concoction worked.” Luc moved away from Poe so Nix and Lexa could bind her, watching over their shoulders.
“Obviously it worked, Luc,” Lexa said, handing an end of the rope to Nix.
“Excuse me for doubting mortal potions,” Luc snapped. “How long will it last?”
“She’s a goddess. Probably not very long,” Nix said and took the gold cording Lexa offered, then threaded it around Poe’s hands.
“What happens next?” Auri asked, wringing her own hands with worry. “Nix?” She could feel her panic rising, knowing that at any moment the spell would begin the final sacrifice, which could kick her out of the spell, away from Nix forever. She didn’t know what to expect. “How long do we have?”
Nix looked up at Auri and seemed to read her anxiety. “It’s okay.” He nodded to her, then helped Lexa and Luc maneuver Poe against the front of the chair near where she’d fallen. “If the pattern holds, the spell will present you with a final choice, as soon as the obligation wears off.” He stood, wiping his hands on his trousers, as if to wipe the filth of Poe’s actions off his hands.
“What if it’s like my vision instead? Can we just get a bit of Poe’s blood and end it before that?”
Luc pointed at Auri, snapped, and resumed pointing. “Yes. That.”
“We’ll do it after Auri is freed,” Nix said.
“But what about you?” Panic rose in her chest, making it difficult to breathe.
“Don’t forget the wish,” Nix told her, moving across the room to stand in front of her. “You made the wish, and the wish was granted. You’ve already paid the wish price. It’s yours. You wished for the capacity, to have the wisdom to defeat the spell, remember?” He grabbed her arms and squeezed them gently as if to imbue her with his confidence. “No matter what, Auri, this is your choice. You know how I feel about you. No matter what you choose. No matter what happens.” He placed his hands on either side of her face. “I choose hope.”
She nodded and took a deep breath. If he could choose hope, she could choose courage.
Poe moaned.
They all turned to look at the goddess of chaos as she raised her head, blinking back to consciousness. She muttered something incoherent.
At creak behind them, Auri spun, her heart slamming against her chest, afraid of coming face to face with the monster of her vision again. A large door lay wide open in the middle of the room, revealing the meadow beyond, the meadow where she’d first met Nix.
Auri could see the melting snowbank, the trees, the newly sprouted growth. It was changed from the day she’d found the key, warmer and more welcoming. A voice—several voices—could be heard beyond, calling for her: “Auri!” Though she couldn’t see them, she knew the voices were those of her family.
She reached into her pocket, where she knew the key was settled inside, and withdrew it.
“Nix?” Luc asked. “Fuck. Where did he go?”
Auri whirled around.
Luc and Lexa turned with her.
Poe struggled against her binding.
Beyond them, another wooden door appeared facing the first, this one closed and smaller. The top was arched, and in its center a doorknob with a keyhole framed in black metalwork. She’d seen a door like it before. Where? Where had it been?
“Nix?” she called, but he didn’t appear. Her heart tightened in her chest. Even though she wanted to deny it, she knew the final test had begun. Nix had gone to wherever her final sacrifice would be.
“Let me out!” Poe screeched.
“Shut it, traitor,” Lexa said. “Where’s Nix?”
“I don’t know. Why would I know?” Poe screamed. “What is the meaning of this?”
“We know everything. Mangle. Maiades. The spell. You set it up,” Luc said. “Since my blood won’t work, you’re going to supply us with yours to break the spell.”
Poe shook her head and fought against the enchanted binding. “No. Luc, I didn’t know. You know I didn’t. We did it together. It won’t work.”
“Where is Nix?” Lexa asked again.
The chorus of Auri’s family grew louder through the door. “Auri!”
“Luc. Listen to me. Listen,” Poe begged, sitting forward, her arms bound tight against her body, the golden cord glowing. “This wasn’t supposed to happen. You know. You were there. You asked for the spell.”
“Nix!” Even as Auri screamed for him, she knew in the core of what made her that he wasn’t there. She pressed a hand to the ache that ripped through her heart, and the room shuddered with her cry, as if the realm quaked around them.
“What was that?” Poe asked. “What’s wrong with the mortal?”
“I’m thinking her wish may be kicking in,” Lexa said.
“What did she wish for?” Poe’s eyes were wide with panic. “What did you wish for?”
“Where does that door go?” Auri asked. “I’ve seen it before, but I can’t remember where.”
“Auri!” Her father’s voice called beyond the open door.
But Auri was staring at the closed one, and she knew where she’d seen it. “Lexa? Is that the door to your realm? The one at Alabastrine?”
“I suppose it’s an adequate replica. Why? Have you been?” Lexa’s teeth gleamed when she smiled.
“Nix took me there.”
“How? He can’t leave here,” she asked.
“As a conjuring; he made it.”
“Auri!” Brinna’s voice called.
Auri looked over her shoulder at the open door, understanding what this was. It was a test. She had to choose between the safety with her family and freedom from the key, or whatever lay beyond the closed door. To find Nix and free him.
“Auri!” her mother and Jessamine’s voices chorused. “Auri!”
She looked down at the key in her hands. She could walk through the open door into the love of her family. It would be simple. She’d made the wish to give herself freedom to choose her life. She would be free from the key, from the chaotic realm of monsters and magic. She looked up at Lexa and Luc and Poe.
But if Poe’s blood didn’t break the spell, she would be leaving Nix to a fate he didn’t deserve. An ending.
Six key keepers had come before her. All six had chosen themselves, their desires, maybe what was safer. Perhaps Nix didn’t deserve such a sacrifice. Maybe he was ruthless and angry, intense and underhanded. But he also had shown her compassion and joy and had helped her find herself and her voice.
Love. He’d given her a choice. She had picked up the key in the glade—no one had made her. She’d called to him, albeit unwittingly, bringing forth his spirit. Perhaps the loss of her freedom to the key had brought forth the consequence of falling in love with Nix. But it required her to be the one to free him, even if it meant leaving behind her family.
“Auri!” her father and mother called.
She looked back at the door.
She knew her parents’ love for her, her siblings, and one another. She’d wondered about it many times since being drawn into Nix’s realm. She used to wonder how they could find happiness even in the day-to-day drudgery of their poverty. They smiled, they played, and they laughed. They worked side by side. They offered one another secret touches, kisses, and held each other while one cried. Their love required sacrifice, to be sure, but was it truly a sacrifice when they had the love of one another?
