Chapter 32
Evan
Ahigh wind ripped across the yard, hard enough to sting my cheeks with dust. It was cold, despite the muted orange sun that painted everything in a waning light.
Crimson and gold leaves fluttered over the compacted dirt like scuttling beetles.
Above, white laundry thrashed on the line, fighting to get free.
Mom moved against the wind, her body fluid as she wrangled the last billowing sheet.
Her red dress whipped around her. The ginger hair from the drawing was real, secured back in a knot with loose strands escaping across her freckled face.
When the sun touched it, her hair was fire, bright against the sky.
I clutched a pointed stick with my small, clumsy fingers and jabbed it into the damp earth, digging and crunching through the roots. An exposed pink worm recoiled from the brightness.
I pinned it down and watched it twist. “It’s sad,” I said in a high, childish tone that barely carried as I remained fixed on the tiny, struggling creature.
“The worms always have to stay in the same place.” I pushed the stick harder.
“We’re like them, aren’t we? Even though no chains bind us like the other Conduits, we can’t go anywhere we want.
Not since Emperor Cassian took the throne, right? ”
Mom placed the last sheet into the woven basket with a thump. Her boots crunched on the dirt, but I didn’t raise my head until her shadow loomed over me. She stood there, fists on her hips. That smile, the one that punched a hole straight through me, softened and warmed.
“That will never stop us from using our magic.” She tilted her head. “And I know that look. You’re trying to get out of your practice again.”
I dropped the stick and flopped back onto the ground, spreading my arms wide. “I can’t even do a triple jump like you,” I grumbled, and a cheeky grin spread across my face. “But I can create portals to the twin world,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows.
She stopped smiling instantly. She whipped her head left and right, sweeping the empty yard and the vacant woods beyond. In a flash, she knelt, her fingers warm as they seized my ear. The pinch was motherly, but it meant business, a quick twist that made me wince.
“Don’t say that out loud,” she hissed. “Never speak of that power, Evan. You know what the Emperor seeks. What will happen if a gateway to the twin world opens?”
I struggled against her hold and recited the words from memory, emptying them of all feeling. “A rift in space will open, and reality as we know it will shatter.”
Mom let go, and a bright laugh escaped her, though it lacked real humor. She swept me into a tight hug, crushing my cheek against the linen of her dress. It smelled of her, like the sun and pomegranates—sweet. “Mother Goddess, am I really that harsh?”
“Sometimes,” I mumbled into the fabric.
She gripped my small shoulders, holding me still. “Alright, little trickster. Let’s try the triple jump again. What’s the first rule?”
I put a palm over my chest. “Use what’s in my heart as fuel.”
“And the next?”
“Create momentum.”
“And the third?”
I frowned, searching for the answer, and then it came to me. “Root your mind. You have to know where you’ll land before you even leave the ground.”
“Exactly.” She released me and stepped back, gesturing to the open yard. “Show me now.”
I stood there, a skinny kid in a beige linen tunic, the wind whipping my ginger hair across my face. I fixed on the patch of dirt I’d chosen, then met her face. I didn’t want to jump. I wanted to tear a hole in the sky and escape the cage Cassian had made of the world.
I took a breath, the frigid air filling my small lungs. I drew on the anger of being stuck, of being hunted for existing, letting my restless energy build until it became a hum under my skin, a live wire buzzing. A faint, sickly green glow bled at the edges of my vision.
I didn’t wait. I ran, creating the momentum she’d asked for.
I jumped.
The yard vanished in a green-tinged blink, and I landed ten feet forward, my foot slamming the earth.
I didn’t pause; I drove off the packed soil again.
The second jump became a violent, mid-air lurch that twisted me.
The tree line rushed toward me, and I rooted my mind, picturing the patch of empty earth where I wanted to land.
My third jump slammed me into the earth, and for one agonizing second, all noise—wind, leaves, heartbeat—vanished into a vacuum. Then the world exploded.
A concussive force erupted from my feet, a wave of pure, colorless energy tearing through the yard, ripping the remaining sheets from the line and sending the woven basket tumbling to the ground.
It hit the edge of the forest, and the first line of trees splintered.
Wood and leaves detonated outward. The ground beneath me cracked.
I collapsed as my legs gave out, my breath coming in ragged bursts. I fisted the rough fabric of my tunic as a sob ripped out of me.
“Evan! Evan!”
Mom was running, her red dress flying as she crossed the ruined yard. She didn’t slow down until she reached me, dropping to her knees in the dirt and crushing me into a desperate hug.
“Oh, goddess, Evan, what did you use?” Fear tightened her throat, her hand shaking as she held me. “What did you use for fuel? That power… If the Emperor’s mages sensed it… They will know.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks. I buried my face in her dress, clutching her with all my strength as a sob tore from a place so deep it might not have been mine.
“I want us to be free,” I cried, my small body shaking.
“Mama, I want you to be free forever. Free from the Empire, free from Cassian’s hunt. ”
I was dragged from the dream by a cold dampness on my cheek. I blinked against the scratchy pillowcase. Tears. I scrubbed them away, the last few escaping to trace cool paths into my hairline.
The room was near-dark, the corners thick with gloom. A couple of candles still sputtered on the side table, their small flames throwing long, dancing shapes on the rough walls and ceiling beams.
My head throbbed with a dull ache deep in my temples. Lovell’s parting gift. I stretched my sore muscles as I pushed myself up.
Blinding confusion had flooded me after the memory assault.
Gregory hauled me to my feet, but I’d struggled to stand.
We’d stumbled out of that fake house, and the moment our boots cleared the threshold, the entire building behind us had given up.
It collapsed, cascading into dust without a whisper, as if it had never been there at all.
Gregory had scooped me up and carried me bridal style through the strange streets until he found this inn. Now he spooned me against his chest, but I turned, wincing and squirming in the bedding until I was looking at him.
His face was tense, but his breathing stayed even. I touched his jawline with my fingertips, grazing the rough stubble, then slid my hand upward into the softness of his dark hair.
“Beast,” I whispered gently in the silence. “I know you’re awake.”
A slight smile appeared on his lips, although the tension in his brow persisted. He opened his eyes, blue and shadowed in the dim light. “You were dreaming again.” His breath warmed my temple.
“Yeah.” My throat closed. “Mom is so… beautiful.” A sob tore loose as a fresh wave of grief swept over me, and I buried my mouth into the pillow, trying to muffle the sound.
In an instant, Gregory was sitting up, bringing me with him. He tucked me against his bare chest in a crushing hug. “Forgive me for what you witnessed. For what I was. I was so afraid that when you woke up, I thought you wouldn’t be you. I’m glad the goddess didn’t take you away from me again.”
His fear dismantled my collapsing defenses, cutting through my own grief. He wasn’t just a monster of strength; his terror was as naked as mine. We were two broken things, clinging together in the dark.
This nightmare of this world was dragging me under, but he was here, solid and real. I eased back, my palms finding his cheeks. “Take the pain away.”
I crashed my mouth against his and scrambled onto his lap, my knees sinking into the feather mattress as I straddled his hips. I let my pheromones bloom in the small space between us.
Gregory kissed me back with equal ferocity, his mouth bruising and possessive. When we broke apart, his expression was wild, his eyes ignited, burning even in the dimness.
“Evan… He never…” My words caught in my throat. “Be careful with me.”
“I will treasure you.” Gregory leaned forward, and his lips moved against my shoulder as he found the robe I wore, peeling it away. He peppered kisses down my arm, his lips hot against my skin, until the fabric pooled around my waist, leaving my upper body naked.
Gregory’s erection was already thick and stiff, branding my stomach. He wore nothing beneath the sheets. The brazen contact sent a jolt of heat through me, and a deep moan vibrated in my throat.
“Lie down. Present yourself for me,” he murmured against my lips.
My body obeyed before my mind could catch up.
I slid off his lap and settled onto my back against the feather mattress, the cool sheets contrasting with my heated skin. I gripped my knees, lifting them up and apart, offering him everything I had.
A hot, unwelcome shame bloomed inside me, and I turned my head, latching onto the shadows, unable to face him.
His scent, sandalwood and smoke, filled my lungs. “Eyes on me. Watch your alpha.”
I forced my head to turn. He knelt on the bed between my parted legs, and the dimness highlighted the hard planes of his chest and abdomen.
He wrapped a palm around his heavy cock, stroking in a slow rhythm. The other fisted in his dark hair, his head tilted back, lashes heavy. My dick twitched against my belly as slickness gathered at my entrance from the sheer spectacle of him.