Chapter 47 Ivy
forty-seven
Ivy
Ivy’s smile faltered at the mention of her sister’s name. Killian stopped pacing outside of the circle. Ivy’s mind began to race. Could Emer still be alive?
“What do you know about my sister?” Ivy’s heart thrashed against her ribs so forcefully that it made her voice shake.
“Did you forget that I’m a detective? Voresta told me about your lost little sister, and I set to work looking for her. By the time you informed me of her, I already knew everything about her.” Ivy noticed Leseldh stand taller once he realised he’d gained a shred of an advantage.
Ivy cursed herself—she once would have leveraged Leseldh’s help willingly, but that was before she’d considered the possibility that Emer was alive. Was it too late to seek his help now?
“She’s alive?” Ivy couldn’t control the tremor in her voice.
“Oh, yes. I can tell you exactly what she has been doing for the last twelve years.”
“Where is she?”
Ivy had long since given up hope that Emer could be alive and well.
The thought that she may have abandoned her prematurely made remorse hit her like a hailstorm.
Ivy’s vision blurred with unshed tears. Leseldh caught her devastation and latched onto it, taking a step towards her with his hand outstretched.
“Give yourself to me, Malia. Reject your Resonant. Be mine, and I will tell you everything.”
Leseldh’s words rang in Ivy’s mind, you are my Resonant, Malia! I will never let you go!
Ivy’s heart stilled in her chest. She knew that Leseldh would do anything, say anything, to get her back.
What if this was just another manipulation?
If Leseldh wasn’t bluffing, he would take the knowledge he had about her sister to his Ending unless she surrendered herself to him.
But she would sooner disintegrate in Oaris’s sunrise than spend the rest of her nights with Leseldh.
There was no choice—only the illusion of one. She glanced at Killian and saw fear in his stare. She knew he thought she was considering Leseldh’s proposition. She gave him a look that said, trust me. He gave no indication that he understood but he continued to stare at her with wide eyes.
“If I choose you, you’ll tell me where she is?”
Leseldh’s eyes lit up at the suggestion, and she saw Killian tense in her peripheral vision.
“Of course, my love,” Leseldh breathed, his caramel-coloured eyes rippling with gold.
“Shall we seal it with a kiss?” Ivy kept her tone tentative. She allowed a smile to creep onto her lips, despite her rising nausea.
Leseldh’s eyes rippled with gold, and he stepped forward, closing the gap between them. His arms snaked around her waist, but she pulled back as he leaned in to kiss her.
“I want to ask you something first. Did Malia have any Blood Gifts, Leseldh?” Ivy allowed her hands to rest on Leseldh’s sides, fighting her revulsion.
“No. Why?” Leseldh’s response was edged with concern that made Ivy’s eyes light up with savage delight.
“Well, if you both you and your Resonant do, something special happens when you exchange blood. I’ll show you. But first, that kiss.” With her statement, Leseldh’s eyes narrowed, but his response was smothered as she slammed her lips against his.
Kissing Leseldh felt wrong. Ivy remembered every willing press of her lips to his over the last year, and she felt bile surge up her throat.
She resisted the urge to push away and allowed Leseldh’s tongue to force its way into her mouth hungrily.
The violation made her blood heat, and the bile turned to fire.
She pushed that fire up into her mouth. She knew the moment he felt something was wrong because he began to struggle against her.
She wrapped her arms around him and clutched him desperately as she shoved her hatred, rage and torment into the kiss.
A column of fire passed through her and into Leseldh’s waiting mouth.
Leseldh screamed against her mouth as the heat intensified.
He caught fire, turning to ash in her arms in mere seconds.
A cawing sound drew her attention upward, and she saw Phaedra disintegrate into ash, the cinders raining down over her.
Ivy stepped backward and her Sire crumbled into a pile of ash at her feet.
Killian’s circle of flame receded, and Ivy exploded in exultation. She looked at Killian and her resulting grin was downright fiendish.