Chapter 38 Gaetano
Gaetano
Once again, I conjure an illusion of her. She kneels before me, ready to fulfill my filthiest fantasies. I thread my fingers through silk-like hair the color of dark flame. I just need to think of a command, and she’ll act it out.
I can’t force myself to continue. Memories of Nicole’s vulnerability, when she shed her public persona and showed me her true self, keep resurfacing.
I’ve always known I was never meant to love anything beyond magic.
Still if I were capable of loving anyone, it would be someone like her.
A woman who defies my expectations with every move.
Who survives not out of luck, but with bared teeth and a raw heart.
Who paints with a fervor so fierce that even my father would acknowledge the genius in her.
The thought creeps into my mind like a slow caress. If my soul were ever capable of belonging to anything beyond magic… it might have belonged to Nicole. And once it’s there, it roots itself. Quiet and stubborn.
I struggle to ignore it, pacing the corridors, a prisoner of my own mind. I visit the graves, as if the dead could give me answers. I speak no words, but they echo anyway: If my soul were ever capable of belonging to anything beyond magic, it would have belonged to Nicole.
The second time I think about it, my steps falter.
The third time, I remain immobile for what feels like forever. My breath becomes shallow. Magic curls inside me. Silence wraps around me, offering no advice.
Could it be…?
Ten more seconds. I allow myself that. Ten seconds to either accept this potential reality or forget it altogether.
A faint tremor runs through me as I tune into our link. The connection floods back into me. It’s not like the others. It never was.
The air in front of me ripples. The portal shimmers into existence, twisting the space around it.
If my suspicion is correct… My inner world shatters and reassembles, but instead of fear, a surge of excitement rises within me.
If there’s ever a chance she’ll forgive me, I might have just found it with this.
I step into the portal. It’s night when I emerge. I walk into a small, dimly lit room. The only source of light is the greenish glow from the oven’s digital clock. Shadows swallow the outlines of the kitchen cabinets. In the far corner, I make out a couch with posters on the surrounding walls.
Those details fade into the background the moment my gaze falls on the slightly ajar door to the balcony. Nicole’s silhouette stands out against the night—a lone figure with her elbows resting on the cold metal railing, her focus on the darkness beyond.
I move toward her, leaving the shadows behind. To avoid startling her, I keep my footsteps light. Still, despite my silence, she spins around. The quickness of her movement confirms what I already suspected.
She senses me.
Her body stiffens as her eyes lock with mine. I slide the door open and step closer, my pulse quickening. The faint scent of rose shampoo hangs in the air, and my fingers twitch with the urge to touch her.
When I come to a halt, life seeps back into her posture, shoulders trembling, features sharpening.
Only then do I notice the glistening in her eyes.
The realization that she’s been crying lands in my chest like a stone.
I lift my hand, reaching to wipe away the evidence of her sorrow.
She recoils, pressing her spine against the railing.
A pang pierces me, but I accept it. I’ve earned her distance. “Please…let me say this,” I murmur. She flinches, as if my words are shards of glass. “How do you always know I’m near?”
Her eyes widen. “I told you to stay away from me!”
I reach for her, wrapping my fingers around her wrist. She doesn’t pull back, but the muscles beneath my touch are tense. “I tried,” I say. “It’s impossible. We’re connected in a way I can’t ignore. But I need to hear it from you…”
Nicole yanks her hand free. “Then hear this. I hate you. And I hope someday you’ll feel a fraction of what you put your harvests through.”
It cuts deep. I deserve that, too. “Nicole… How do you sense me every time? How did you find me in the labyrinth?”
For a heartbeat, her focus drifts to the darkness of the kitchen.
Could she be in another man’s apartment? A rush of blazing jealousy claws its way through my ribs, fierce enough to burn everything in its path. No. I push the thought aside. Even if she is… I have no right to care. Yet, the question slips out. “Who lives here?”
A flicker of hesitation ripples through her, followed by deep-set frown. “Leave!”
“Not until you confirm you can feel me.”
Defiance sparks in her glare—the kind that always stirs my blood. These power games are another reason I admire her, but today, time isn’t on our side. Fully aware it might cost me another demerit, I raise my open palm. “I’m sorry, my Baroness, I need that answer.”
Fire flares in my hand, illuminating her face and dancing over her skin. The air between us thickens with heat and tension. Her irises reflect the flames, as if tiny firestorms swirl within them.
“If you don’t answer, I’ll burn this place to the ground,” I say.
“Don’t!” she screams.
“Niki?” A soft voice calls from behind.
A woman stands in the doorway, probably close to Nicole’s age. The color drains from her face as she shifts her gaze between me and Nicole. Then she steps back, her hand fumbling behind her for the doorframe.
“Everything’s okay, Daria,” Nicole says, her tone low and fragile.
“That’s…him?” The woman whispers.
Nicole nods. At that moment, everything falls into place. Nicole, the apartment, and the woman standing in front of me. This is Daria. The childhood friend who’s coming up on my harvest list. My last signed contract.
Daria’s eyes track the fire burning in my palm, and her breath catches audibly. “But why is he threatening to burn my home?”
I’m not really, I want to say, my resolve weakening.
Nicole speaks first. “He’s not, because I’ll give him what he wants.
” Tears stream down her cheeks. When she looks at me, the fight in her is gone, and only desperation remains.
“Every time you’re around… the air fills with a particular scent.
It’s sweet… but with a metallic tang. The closer you are, the stronger it gets. ”
She can smell me?
The fire in my hand dies out. I’d suspected as much, knew it deep down, but hearing it aloud still sends a jolt through my veins.
“Please,” she whispers, “take whatever you came for. Just don’t destroy Daria’s home.”
Raising my hand, I say, “I would never do anything to hurt you again.”
The air shudders as the space in front of us warps into a forming portal. Nicole seems to recognize the spell and starts to retreat. I grab her, arms locking around her body, pulling her close against me. My heartbeat pounds in sync with her frantic attempts to break free.
Behind me, her friend’s footsteps hit the floor. With a steady flick of my hand, I send a pulse of magic to immobilize her and say, “Nicole is safe with me.”
I teleport us into the cavern. Darkness closes in. The walls disappear into shadow, as if the cave itself has no end.
A perfect setting for what I felt was coming while we were teleporting.
The first blow slams into my chest. Nicole throws herself at me with the full force of her pent-up rage. Her palms curl into fists, and the strikes are wild and chaotic. Tears shimmer in her eyes, yet they burn with an unrelenting fire.
Her voice rings out against the stone. “You dragged me from Daria’s home! You threatened her. Terrified her!”
“Nicole…” I murmur, trying to soothe the storm in her gaze.
“Don’t call me that!” she screams, as if my speaking her name scorches her. “To you, I’m just Harvest 290. Nothing more!”
“You’re not a harvest anymore.”
Her fists land again and again, frantic and raw. I take it all without flinching. Because I know she needs an outlet for her anger. To say everything she couldn’t the day she walked out of my castle.
“You destroyed my life! You ruined my plans!”
“You can still make them real, Nicole.”
“You shattered the version of myself I actually liked. I had an image I could live with. And now…”
“You were content. But you weren’t happy.”
She tenses for a brief moment, then launches herself at me again. This time, I don’t let her continue. I catch her wrists and restrain her.
She struggles against my hold, screaming, “You don’t know anything! Because of you, I started painting again, got distracted from what mattered!”
“You painted because you have talent.”
She jerks her arms in defiance. “Because of you, I ruined my reputation! I turned my back on my father—”
“You stood up to him.”
“I didn’t even do it properly. I just screwed everything up…”
“Next time, you’ll do it better.”
Tears well in her eyes. Her body suddenly gives up the fight—head bowed, shoulders trembling, she stops thrashing. My grip loosens, but I don’t let go. “Nicole. Look at me.”
She only shakes her head. The cave walls seem to press in, crushing from all sides. Inside me, something else awakens—a rising force, solidifying into unwavering resolve. “In three days,” I tell her, “I won’t claim your soul. You’ll be the first to defeat the Black Joker.”
Her head snaps up. “Why do you keep lying? What more is there for you to take from me?”
Her words pierce deep into my chest. I close my eyes to catch my breath. “Unfortunately…not enough. In another life, I’d claim every second you have. Now, all I can do is secure your safety for the time I’ll be gone.”
She thrashes again, desperate to break free. “No more games, Gaetano! I can’t do this anymore!”
My jaw aches from frustration. “There are no more games, Nicole. In three days, you’ll defeat the Black Joker, and I’ll be bound to grant you one wish. Anything you choose… almost anything.”
“I don’t believe you.”
I tighten my grip around her wrists. “This—what’s between us—isn’t just desire. I belong to you, and you to me, in a way that goes far beyond the physical. We, the witchers, believe in soulmates, but not in finding them in every lifetime. And yet, I found mine… only to lose her in a heartbeat.”
Her body stiffens. At least now, I have her full attention.
“Why do you think you can sense me when no other harvest ever could? Soul-bonded magic always leaves a mark. It resists manipulating the one it belongs to. That resistance left you a thread—a way to be aware of me, regardless of what I did to hide it.”
Her face twists, caught somewhere between disbelief and pain. “I don’t believe a single word.”
I want to lift her chin and force her to see the truth in my eyes. Instead, I lower my arms to my sides. A bitter smile tugs at the corner of my lips. “You feel it, too. Why else would you give yourself to the man who once hunted you?”
Nicole’s fists curl again. “Because, clearly, I’m the biggest fool in the world.”
This time, I don’t hold back. I let my hand brush her temple.
She flinches, but at least she doesn’t push me away.
“You are many things, Nicole, but a fool is not one of them. Like it or not, you’re a predator.
You found a way to survive, no matter the cost. And I’ve no doubt you would have figured out how to beat the Black Joker, too…
if it weren’t for this bond between us. One that not only ties us together”—I shrug—“ but shields us from each other as well.”
She blinks at me. My lips burn with the urge to erase her confusion with a kiss.
“Say something,” I whisper.
The silence stretches. She draws a slow, heavy breath. “So…the pull between us, it was only magic?”
The thought alone causes my brow to crease. “Not at all, my baroness. The pull was completely primal. It’s the magic that made it…transcendent.”
“I don’t understand you.”
Neither do I, entirely. But that changes nothing in me. “You don’t have to. The only thing you need to know is that you’re safe.”
Her eyebrows lift just slightly. She examines me, considering every word. Then she crosses her arms over her chest. “If that’s true, then take me back to Daria. I have to make sure she’s okay. You terrified her with the fire.”
My shoulders tense up. What was I hoping for? That she’d collapse into my arms as if nothing had happened?
“Do you still have the dagger?” I ask. She presses her lips together, and I interpret that as a yes.
“You probably figured it out from the note, but it’s a kind of portal.
It’ll only work for a few more days since it needs strong magic.
I had to lower the defenses around my castle just to make it possible.
” Nicole looks at me like I’m speaking a different language.
“I mean, you can use it to come to me in the castle while I’m still there.
Or call for me. Either way, I won’t block the connection between us again. Not for the three days I have left.”
Her eyes narrow at that last bit. When her lips part, it’s to repeat, “Bring me to Daria.”
The ache in my chest spreads as I slice the air with my hand. The space tears open in front of us, with silver strands pulsing along the edges of the emerging portal. She rushes into it, and I follow behind, my gaze fixed on the graceful curve of her back and the sway of her hair.
In a heartbeat, the cave dissolves into Daria’s apartment. Nicole crosses the room in silence.
Daria appears in the hallway. “Niki?! Are you okay?”
Nicole gives a small nod, never once glancing over her shoulder. I linger in the doorway’s shadow. Daria turns toward me, apprehension shining in her eyes.
Had I truly believed she might want to spend the little time I had left…with me? I step into the portal behind me and blend into the waiting dark, its tendrils slipping beneath my skin and piercing my heart.