Burnt Magic, page 22
I frowned, the words making me realize something. Maybe that’s why Margot had let Asper go... because Asper had already come into his power, already knew how to use his abilities and manipulate people. Maybe Margot had realized he would be too hard to contain, to control... that’s why she’d needed me. Had wanted to raise and shape me to fit her mold.
“Even though I went into that painting to find you, to follow my father and Nolan’s orders, I never wanted to be the person who would have gone through with killing you,” Percy continued, noting my gaze. “Becoming a vampire freed me from all of that. And being a succubus can free you too, from whatever you’re afraid of becoming.”
My breath caught in my throat as he leaned closer.
“Getting to know you... understanding how I feel about you... it taught me that it’s possible to be unconditionally loved, monster or not. That I don’t need to be better, or stronger, to earn some people’s love. That’s why there’s nothing you could say or do that would scare me away, Fontaine. You were the first person to accept me, unconditionally, for who I am. That’s why I accept you, unconditionally, for who you are.”
He brushed his thumb across the back of my hand again, another tendril of purple dancing across my skin with him. I stared at it for a moment before looking up at him again.
“Percy,” I whispered, my throat dry. “Why did you tell me all of that?”
He leaned closer, his gaze flicking to my lips for just a moment.
“Because I want you to know me,” he said earnestly. “All of me—not just the persona you saw before. The real me.”
Tears brimmed in my eyes.
I couldn’t accept his words.
Not because I didn’t want to... but because I didn’t believe them.
Maybe he didn’t see me as a monster... but I knew my own past. I knew that had he not used compulsion on me, I would have killed him that night he turned up on my doorstep.
I was a hypocrite for all this time that I’d stayed mad at him for being sent to kill me. Because I was no better.
Percy was the better one of us both.
And even though I didn’t deserve him... I still wanted him.
I wanted him so bad, the thought of losing him hurt more than anything.
That was why... after everything he’d told me... I could never tell him about the mating bond. Not after what he’d revealed about his father and Isobel and how it had ruined his family and destroyed his father’s relationship with him.
I didn’t know when or how it had happened. But I knew, with him opening up to me like this... the moment I told him there was a bond of any kind between us, he would doubt everything he’d just told me if not reject everything he felt for me.
I couldn’t stand the thought... not with the way he looked at me. With longing and sincerity and all the things I’d craved my whole life. What I wouldn’t have given for someone to just want me, not out of obligation but as a choice.
For it to mean something.
Margot had raised me... but it had felt like a favor. Like something that would break the moment I ruined it. Like her love was something I had to earn, and like her continued guardianship was something I had to work for.
Maybe it was the true sign that I was a monster, that I couldn’t bear the thought of letting Percy go or telling him about the bond. The thought of him leaving me was... unbearable.
But now that I could admit it—I wanted him, I wanted him, I wanted him—then as long as he believed it was by choice, those feelings would mean something...
Wouldn’t they?
Percy leaned in, closing the distance between us, his warm lips finally grazing mine, tender and slow.
I buried the knowledge deep inside me, ignoring the voice that screamed in my mind to tell him the truth—and kissed him back.
He let out a small groan when I reciprocated, like he’d been desperate for this small form of intimacy.
Mated.
My entire soul yearned for the contact, a sense of relief going through my entire body as I let down my walls and finally let him in.
He kept his movements deliberately slow as he cupped my cheek, and despite my yearning for him, I was grateful. After everything that had happened earlier with Asper... I still felt violated from the way he’d combed through my most intimate memories, and I needed some time.
Eventually, Percy broke the kiss. He tucked a stray hair behind my ear and said, “Let’s get some sleep.”
I nodded, getting to my feet. Turning away from him, I shrugged out of my dress since it was uncomfortable to sleep in. I heard the shuffle of Percy removing his fancy attire as well.
Slowly, we both turned to face each other. Standing there in nothing but our underthings, I noticed the way his gaze grew heated at the sight of me, but he still kept himself in check. Pulling the warm duvet down so that we could climb into the bed, he let me crawl under the covers first, then got in beside me, sliding his legs against mine and draping his arm around my waist.
As I lay there, I couldn’t help my wandering thoughts and the plan that had been slowly brewing in the back of my mind since leaving Faerie. Especially now that we were in Monsec and would likely head to the art gallery in the morning to return to the painting.
It was an unhinged idea, but... what if we simply... didn’t?
The dragonfire had been with Margot this entire time, and I was already painfully aware that if Percy and I returned to the painting... we would lose our memories, including that of the dragonfire.
But if I woke Jules up...
He could tell Caleb and Oliver, who could find it and use it to break the spell from within.
I slowly drifted off, and before long, I found myself standing in my dreamland once more. I glanced around briefly, taking in the sights. I had a greater appreciation now for the vines and roses that tangled through the streets now, knowing what my magic was capable of. This entire place was a manifestation of my true power—a sanctum in my mind, where I was at my full strength.
That’s why I no longer feared Jules, who stood on the opposite end of the street, clearly having been waiting for my return.
I knew Percy would disagree with this idea, knew he wanted to keep our connection to Jules intact but... I knew we couldn’t trust Jules to tell us the truth, to relay our memories, if we returned to the painting.
That’s why, my plan made more sense. Jules needed a way out of the Salvhark dungeons he was likely being held in. And if I gave him this information, gave him something Percy’s friends could track down as being real... I believed he’d be more incentivized to help us.
I began walking toward Jules, thinking of everything Percy and I had uncovered, everything I needed him to know for this to work.
What Percy didn’t know yet was that thanks to me absorbing Asper’s magic, I finally knew how to free vampires from my dreamland.
And even though I knew it meant we couldn’t return to the painting... I fully intended to wake Jules up.
I gasped awake, jerking forward violently, a throbbing pain in the back of my head. I felt a tug on my wrists, which I quickly realized were behind my back. Something soft was pressed against them. Wincing, my head rolled to the left, noticing Darcy was beside me in a similar position, her eyes wide and body tense as she frantically wriggled her wrists beside mine.
Glancing upward, I spotted a metal pipe that ran up the wall and along the ceiling, disappearing eventually through the stonework across the room. Another tug at my wrists told me Darcy and I had been bound to the same pole.
Then I heard a moan. Looking straight ahead, I spotted Winona lying on one of the stone slabs from earlier. Blood trickled down the sides, gathering in tiny rivers carved into the floor around the slabs. Slowly, the blood seeped, making its way around a circle that would eventually form in the carved crevices.
I kicked my foot out, my sneaker running through one of the rivers and intercepting the blood. But it wasn’t enough to stop the flow. When I looked back up, I noticed the blood was leaking from slashes in Winona’s wrists, which had been tied down to the slab.
Margot stood between the two slabs wearing a triumphant expression, monitoring the progress. Winona moaned again, and Margot turned to her.
“Shhh... It will all be over soon,” she promised, and panic flared in my chest.
Fuck.
We had to get out of here, now.
I glanced around the room, looking for a weapon. Something I could reach with my foot and kick over to us. Darcy still yanked and tugged her wrists, and then I felt something sharp slice against my outer thumb. I let out a hiss, turning to her. It had probably been a rusted nail or something, and I opened my mouth to tell her to stop moving.
Then I froze, feeling a loosened pull on the ropes around my left hand. Whatever that had been, it had cut clean through.
She continued the motion again, shifting her body closer to me to hide the action, and only then did I realize it hadn’t been a rusted nail in the pipes—Darcy had something in her hands, and she’d been trying to free us this entire time.
I turned back to the scene before us. Margot had turned her back on us now, glancing down at whatever was on the other slab, too far out of sight from this position for us to see. Winona looked ghostly pale, her head starting to slump to the side.
I didn’t know what Margot was doing, but it looked like some kind of ritual. And it was killing Winona.
Using the moment to pull my hands free of the ropes, I nudged Darcy to hand me her tool. My fingers closed around something cool, like a shard of glass. I didn’t recall much from before this moment—my head still ached, and I could only imagine I’d been knocked out somehow. A shattered mirror across the room and a pile of broken glass near a broom in the corner indicated there had been a struggle of some kind. Maybe that’s where Darcy had sourced the glass.
Working quickly, I cut Darcy free, keeping a trained eye on Margot as I worked. As soon as we were free, her breaths came out faster, and I pressed a finger to my lips urgently.
We would have one shot at this.
I kept low so as not to alert Margot with my sudden movements, creeping through the blood rivers on the floor. My two-hundred-dollar sneakers had become thoroughly stained and soaked. I kept behind the slab, making my way around, watching as Margot busied herself with the second slab. There was no body, but from this angle, I could make out a heart—a withered gray husk of a heart. It looked older than the one from earlier, and its edges were blackened. Was it the one from earlier, being affected by Margot’s spell?
I remembered all of my training. Every vampire I’d ever fought and staked. Every sparring session with Percy, Oliver, and Jean. I took a deep breath.
Then I lunged.
Using the full weight of my upper body, I tackled Margot to the ground. Her only response was a shocked gasp followed by a cry as I jammed the shard of glass into her chest. It was too small to do much damage, but it caught her off guard.
“Get Winona and run!” I yelled out to Darcy, using my legs and arms to keep Margot pinned. The woman was strong—stronger than a woman who appeared to be in her late sixties had any business being. With a cry, Margot shoved me off, my back slamming against the stone slab beside us, pain rippling down my spine.
I panted, scanning the room for another weapon as I scrambled to my feet.
“Caleb!” Darcy screamed as she came running around the slab, throwing something small and glinting toward me. A dagger. I caught it by the hilt just as Margot threw her elbow into my gut, knocking the wind from me. Rasping, I brought the dagger down into her right arm, the blade slicing deep, and she howled with pain.
Darcy was now heaving Winona’s unconscious body from the stone slab, blood trickling down her arms all over the floor. Out of the corner of my eye, as I grappled with Margot, I watched her drag her friend to the door and heard the door rattle against the jamb.
“It’s locked!” Darcy sobbed desperately, and I caught another glimpse and saw Winona slide down the door until her body slumped near the cabinets next to the exit. Darcy had begun rummaging through the top drawers of the cabinets, flinging paper and ink and herbs all over the place as the drawers were yanked open.
I kicked upward at the same time, throwing Margot’s weight off me, and she went crashing into the glass cabinets across the room, glass shattering and raining down on her. She didn’t move after that.
Stumbling to my feet, I watched the rivers in the floor finally make contact, and a glow appeared on the slab beside Winona’s. Around the vampire heart, a form began to take shape, barely visible at first.
But even standing this close to it, I could feel something was terribly wrong with the magic. One glance back at Winona, and she looked like death. Like the soul was being sucked right out of her.
Gritting my teeth, I reached for the vampire heart, my fingers closing around it. The moment it lifted from the slab, the figure forming began to dissipate again. But with my fingers wrapped around it, I could tell there was not a single drop of blood left within it.
Cursing, I tossed the heart aside, hearing it thud softly somewhere—and only then did I spot another heart sitting on a silver tray across the room next to a rack of empty glasses that hadn’t been shattered.
That one looked like the one from earlier—still perfectly formed and pink. Without thinking, I crossed the room in two strides, plucking the heart and an empty glass in the same movement.
Steeling a quick look back at Margot, she was still unconscious on the floor, so I raced to Winona’s side. Kneeling beside her, I squeezed the vampire heart as hard as I could, holding the empty glass beneath it. It was like squeezing a lemon that had already been squeezed dry—and I remembered how tightly Margot had gripped it earlier. Barely anything trickled out of the chambers and vessels now.
Gritting my teeth, I prayed that something would come out.
After a few more moments, two miraculous drops splattered into the glass. Enough that if I tilted it, the blood pooled together to form a sip.
Discarding the vampire heart, I brought the glass up to Winona’s lips, tilting her head and forcing her to drink. I didn’t know what had been done to her, if this would impact the ritual or make things worse. But I did know that vampire blood had curative properties, and Winona was bleeding to death.
“Come on,” I muttered as Darcy continued to search frantically for a way to unlock the door, her sobs escalating in pitch with each failed finding. She was tearing through the cupboards now, clawing through countless storage items.
I clutched the empty glass and waited a moment for Winona to open her eyes, but she didn’t stir. One look down at her delicate wrists though, and they were already knitting themselves back together.
“Fuck!” Darcy cried out, throwing a small wooden chest to the floor and running her hands though her hair in frustration. “Why didn’t you both tell me my best friend’s guardian is a fucking Satanist and that she’s going to kill us!”
“Darcy, calm down,” I said quickly, getting to my feet. Her breaths were coming out too fast, and I reached for her shoulders, managing to bring her attention back to me.
“Focus on me,” I ordered, locking eyes with her. “Breathe in... Breathe out... Again... That’s it.”
She followed my instruction, her eyes still wide but her shoulders relaxing slightly.
“You did good earlier, getting us free,” I told her earnestly, nodding at her. “We’re going to get out of here, okay? But I need you to hold it together. See those drawers over there?” I pointed across the room, near Margot, where Darcy hadn’t searched yet. “Try those.”
Darcy’s gaze lingered on Margot’s unconscious body for a moment, as if hesitating. Then she nodded, swallowing hard and crossing the room quickly. I turned my attention back to Winona, who still hadn’t woken up.
Crouching down again, I placed a hand on Winona’s shoulder, hoping she might feel my warmth, might open her eyes. Still nothing.
A moment later, a cry sounded across the room. I whipped my head, only to see Darcy thrust her hand in the air, tightly gripping a key. Relief sagged through me—but it was short-lived as dread coiled in my stomach. Darcy was nowhere near the drawers I’d pointed her toward. Instead, she was standing too close to Margot, as if she’d pulled the key directly off her. I barely had time to react before Margot’s hand shot out, wrapping around Darcy’s leg.
A shrill scream escaped Darcy’s throat in response.
And then I was promptly shoved out of the way as Winona clambered to her feet, snarling, “Get your fucking hands off her!”
Thunder crackled all around the chamber, so deafening that I nearly clamped my hands over my ears. Lightning tore down from the ceiling, cracking and splitting as it struck Margot clean in the chest.
She let go instantly, and Darcy flung herself out of the way as the impact sent Margot crashing to the floor again. Winona doubled over next to me, her hand shooting out to catch herself on the wall.
I could barely breathe as Darcy raced back over to us and shoved the key into the lock, turning the handle with quivering hands. Margot planted her hands against the floor, shaking as she tried and failed to push herself upright again. But she was still moving, still conscious.
Winona turned her head to face me, her storm-gray eyes swirling with anger, her fingertips still crackling with lighting energy. A light wind had picked up around us, causing her hair to drift.
“Run,” was all I said, grabbing her arm and tugging hard as we followed Darcy through the door and sprinted for freedom.
When the three of us stumbled upon the threshold of Salvhark Manor, one of the hunters on guard duty pushed off the column he’d been leaning against and approached us with wide eyes as he noted our appearances.
I recognized him. He was a lower rank than me.
“Get Oliver,” I ordered as I led the two girls inside. I’d offered my arm as support to Winona, who now leaned heavily against me as we walked. The vampire blood had stopped the bleeding and brought her back from the brink of death, but she still seemed weak. Darcy, on the other hand, was holding up better than I’d anticipated, though she’d barely spoken the whole way back.
