7. Chapter 7
Chapter seven
T he week following Karleigh’s attack on Noah passed without further incident, but it wasn’t a peaceful kind of quiet. More like the hush before a storm.
Everywhere he went, Finn felt the prickle at his nape, the weight of an unseen stare against his back, always watching, waiting.
Anxiety had become his constant companion, and when he didn’t sense Karleigh nearby, he worried even more, knowing that meant she had likely turned her attention to Noah again.
Protective instincts urged him to keep his mate hidden away in the castle, safe behind a wall of magical wards. Even if Noah would allow that, though, it wasn’t a practical, long-term solution.
He had tried asking Orrin for help, but unfortunately, the prince couldn’t just wave his hand and banish Karleigh across the river. Only Hades and the God of Death had that power, and both of them tended to be pretty hands off until forced into action.
“We could cross the river.”
Lounging on the sofa in the sitting room of his suite, Finn glanced sideways at his mate. “No.”
“Even if she followed us, she’d never—”
“No,” he repeated with a tone of finality. It had been a reoccurring argument all week, and he had already made his stance on it clear. “I’m not going to let her make that decision for you.”
“She wouldn’t be. Not if it’s my choice.”
“A choice made out of fear and exhaustion.” Slipping a knuckle under Noah’s chin, he urged his head up, waiting for their eyes to meet before he continued. “When this is over, if you still want to cross, we can talk about it then. Don’t let her scare you into doing something you can’t take back.”
“I’m not scared,” he countered defensively.
Finn smirked. “Liar.”
“I’m not. I’m just…cautious.” Pulling away, Noah turned his head and lowered his gaze. “I’ve seen things much scarier than an obsessed vampire.”
“In that mirror world?” he asked, gently opening the door to the conversation if Noah wanted to talk about it.
Since his return, he hadn’t spoken of the things that had happened to him there, but Finn had learned a little about it, mostly from Keegan. Apparently, there had been a ritual involved, a tethering spell that had backfired and pulled his mate through a mirror portal into some nightmare realm.
“Yes,” Noah whispered, still not looking at him. “I hate mirrors.”
“I know.”
Not just mirrors. Any reflective surface. It had taken him far too long to put the pieces together, but looking back now, it seemed so obvious.
Noah feared the elevators in the Tower because of the glass that lined the back wall. It was why his apartment didn’t have windows. Why there hadn’t been a mirror in the bathroom. Why all of his fixture and appliances that changed to absorb rather than reflect light.
It was the reason Finn’s quarters had been shifting and changing since Noah had come to stay with him.
Instead of the metallic golds and silvers that filled the rest of the castle, his suite now boasted rich wood stains and dark mattes. The windows remained, but they had been covered with thick curtains that refused to budge.
He couldn’t say for sure, but he suspected it was also why Noah hated the dark.
It didn’t matter that Hades himself had closed the rift and sealed the realm. To Noah, the threat still remained, hiding in every surface that showed his reflection.
“But you survived.”
“Barely.”
“Not the way I hear it,” he argued. “You not only made it out, but you saved a lot of souls in the process.”
“Well, yes.” Noah finally looked him, his hazel eyes brighter, less haunted. “I had help, though.”
“And you have help now.” Reaching out, he took his mate’s hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. “Like you said, you’ve faced things a damn sight scarier than a vampire with a grudge.”
Though his bottom lip wobbled, Noah offered him the sweetest little smile. “I see what you’re trying to do.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just pointing out facts.”
“Liar,” he said, echoing Finn’s earlier taunt. “You’re right, though. If I crossed the river now, it wouldn’t be for the right reasons. I’d just be running away.”
“I don’t know if it’s so dramatic as that.”
Noah chuckled and squeezed his hand. “Thank you.”
Drawing him closer, Finn cradled his cheek and leaned in to brush their lips together. “Any time.” Whether Noah needed someone to talk some sense into him or knock some heads together, he would always be there. “Now, what are we going to do about our sire problem?”
“Well, I mean, technically, that’s a you problem.”
“Oh, is that so?” he countered with fake outrage. “I see how it is.”
Damn, he loved that laugh, and the fact that he could elicit it, even in the midst of such uncertainty, made him feel bulletproof.
“I don’t know,” Noah said a few seconds later. “Maybe we could get a witch to curse her to forget we exist.”
Well, that was slightly less extreme than leaving behind everything and crossing the river into the unknown, but not by much. Then again, talking to her hadn’t worked. He had a feeling that woman had never met a boundary she hadn’t crossed.
Hell, even snapping her neck hadn’t gotten the message through to her.
“Maybe we can ask Hades for help,” he suggested.
Noah snorted. “Have you actually met him?”
“Once.” And it wasn’t an experience he wished to repeat, but desperate men did desperate things.
“Same, and I don’t get the sense that he’s in the business of helping people.”
“I see your point.” Leaning back against the sofa, he scratched his fingers through the stubble along his jaw as he thought. “What if we convinced her to cross the river?”
“Good idea. How do you propose we do that?”
He didn’t miss the sarcasm in his mate’s tone. “I don’t hear you coming up with anything better.”
“I had the witch plan.”
“Like I said.”
“Okay, okay.” Chuckling, Noah held his hands up in surrender. “Getting her across the river is probably the best plan. I don’t think she’s going to volunteer to hop in the boat, but—”
“I could hogtie her.”
Noah snorted out another laugh. “I was going to say that maybe we can trick her.”
Yeah, that would probably be better. “I’m listening.”
“If she thinks you went across, she’d definitely go after you,” Noah mused. “We’d just need to spread the rumor and lie low for a while.”
A good plan in theory, but it had some holes. “I sensed it the minute she arrived in the Underworld. I didn’t know what it meant at the time, but I felt it. I reckon she did, too.”
“So, she’d know if you’d left the village or not.” Noah bobbed his head, but he didn’t look deterred. In fact, he looked downright devious. “Then we won’t stay in the village.”
“Not to burst your bubble, but there’s not anywhere else to go.”
Noah responded with a wicked grin. “That’s not exactly true. I know a place, somewhere she won’t be able to sense you.” He sucked his bottom lip between his teeth and tilted his head. “What do you know about Erebus?”
“Not much,” he answered honestly.
Beyond some rumors and one intensely uncomfortable blackout, he knew next to nothing about the god. He’d heard that Erebus—or Rebes as the townspeople called him—came into the tavern sometimes, but he’d never seen him, let alone met him.
“He lives just outside the village,” Noah explained. “Out past the diner.”
“But there’s nothing past the diner.”
“You’ll see. He’s not going to like it, but I think I can convince him.”
“So, your plan hinges on the help of a temperamental god?” he asked, skepticism creeping into his voice. “Maybe I should just hogtie her.”
“He’ll help.”
It sounded crazy, but if that was what Noah wanted to do, Finn would follow him anywhere. “Okay, how do we contact him?”
“Leave that to me.”
“And you really think this will work?”
“I don’t know,” Noah admitted. “I think it’s all we have right now, though.”
Fair enough, but he still didn’t like it. “I love you, but you realize this sounds insane, right? We’re going to go hide in some void and just hope Karleigh doesn’t figure out we tricked her?”
When he didn’t receive a response, he looked over at Noah, frowning when he found him sitting perfectly still, his eyes wide with shock.
“What?”
“Say that again.”
“I said we’re going to hide in some—”
“No, not that.” Scrambling across the sofa, he crawled right into Finn’s lap and grabbed his face between both hands. “Before that.”
Still frowning, Finn thought back, trying to figure out what he’d said that had caused such a reaction. He thought the plan was insane with a low chance of success. Before that, he’d said…
Fuck.
The words had just slipped out, and while he’d meant them, he hadn’t intended to say it so casually.
All week, he had been waiting for the perfect moment to tell Noah how he felt.
He had imagined candlelight. Maybe soft music.
He had pictured himself speaking the words with the reverence they deserved.
But it was too late, and even if he could, he wouldn’t take it back. All he could do now was make the most of the moment.
Settling his hands on his mate’s hips, he looked into his eyes and took a deep steadying breath. “I love you, Noah Marsh. I don’t know when it started, but I do know I can’t picture my life without you. If you’ll let me, I promise I’ll spend every day loving you for the rest of eternity.”
Red-rimmed and puffy, Noah’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears, but he wore the most beautiful smile.
“I love you, too, Finn. I’ve never been the kind of guy who sticks around for long, but from the moment I met you, I couldn’t imagine not being by your side. For the first time in my life, I know what it means to have something to fight for.”
Then he dipped his head, bringing their lips together in a chaste, yet heartbreakingly tender, kiss.
“I’m going to fight for us, Finn. And I’m going to win.”