Chapter eighteen #2
“What happens next?” he asked softly.
“Keep this on you. It’s tied directly to you, so even if someone tried to steal it, the heartstone won’t work for them.
” She wiped her forehead and closed her eyes to steady her body.
“From what I can discern from the mages who use the heartstones, it amplifies their power. It should do the same for you, without the madness.”
Her eyes popped open when Levi pulled her into his arms. He kissed her, and unbidden, her heart soared.
With the protections down around her mind and her body vulnerable due to the expended magic, Amaya couldn’t fight the feelings swamping her.
An ache built within her, her stomach clenching, and a thud started between her legs that matched her heartbeat.
His kiss swept her under a tide of need and the whine that left her mouth was the closest she could come to begging him for more.
It wasn’t until Raven cleared her throat that Amaya remembered that they weren’t alone. Levi stepped back first. Amaya’s knees were weak, so she clutched his arm tightly, keeping herself upright. Levi laid his forehead gently against hers.
“I owe you, baby doll,” he whispered against her lips.
She started to ask him if the price was her freedom, but something stopped her. Where would she go? Back to the life where she struggled and her mother deteriorated under the stress? Amaya stepped back, conflicted with what her heart wanted and what was right.
“Whose journals are these?” Raven asked, breaking the moment between them.
Amaya straightened her clothes, gathering her wits together.
Levi cleared his throat. “My grandmother’s.”
“Can I?” Raven ran her fingers over the spines of the worn leather books.
Levi nodded, and Amaya watched her friend, just to keep from getting lost in the king’s eyes.
She was precariously close to breaking apart.
Her emotions were raw, her mind conflicted.
She tucked away her magic but was too exhausted to erect the walls over her thoughts.
Her hands shook as she brushed one down her face.
“Levi…” Raven looked at the king with wide eyes. “Your grandmother was Bria Cauly?”
Levi gave Amaya one last lingering look before giving his attention to Raven. “Yes. The journals are hers. There were more, but they were all I could save when war with the Buru ran us from our home.”
“How many do you have?” Excitement threaded Raven’s voice.
Levi looked around. “The four there are the only ones that are left. There are some from others.”
“Do you mind…can I take them to the Archive to study them? I’ll bring them back when I’m done.”
“What’s so interesting about the journals?” Bas asked, weighing Levi’s weapons in his hands.
“Bria Cauly is the last true Bayi hybrid. She’s the reason the Collective was started,” Raven informed them.
Levi frowned. “The Bayi were banned from the Collective.”
“Levi is the first they’ve allowed in a hundred years. Why would the Bayi be kept out of an organization they started?” Bas asked, stepping closer to his mate so he could read over her shoulder.
“It has something to do with her father,” Raven shrugged. “But I can probably give you a better answer if I can study the journals. Do you know what years they are?”
Levi shook his head. “Bas and I grabbed what we could.”
“I was more focused on weapons and the gold his father had hidden,” Sebastian said.
“Those served us better than the journals have,” Levi told his friend with a smile. “You understand how private I am, firefly.”
Raven nodded. “I’ll keep these to myself. Maybe I can find out why the Collective hates Bayi.”
Bas snickered and Levi scoffed.
“You already know?” Amaya asked, curiosity getting the best of her.
“Bria Cauly singlehandedly saved the South from the tyranny of her father, and as payback, the survivors shunned her. My father never told me the full story, but he said they blamed his mother for something they lost. What they lost, I don’t know, but they used my great grandfather’s destruction as a reason to keep the Bayi out of the Collective. ”
“Until Levi gave them no choice.” Bas’s sinister smile held both threat and pride.
“So, you haven’t read these?” Raven asked.
“Over the years, I’ve read my grandfather’s and father’s. I wanted…needed guidance on how to run a coven. Bas and I were, what, fourteen when the Buru swept through our coven?”
Bas nodded in agreement.
“Survival was my singular focus for the past six or seven decades.”
Amaya’s eyes widened, doing the math in her head on Levi’s age.
“Not one hundred, my ass…” Raven gave her mate a narrow-eyed look.
Sebastian laughed. “It’s too late, Red. You’re stuck with me.”
Amaya didn’t understand the joke, so she let it go.
Raven gathered the journals, gave Levi a grateful smile, and escaped the room, her mate in tow, before he could change his mind.
It left Amaya and the king in the privacy and intimacy of the secret room alone.
She took a shuddering breath, suddenly very tired.
“Let me take care of you tonight,” Levi said softly, tipping her chin up to look at him.
Her eyes widened. “That’s not a good idea, Levi,” she whispered.
“I like it better when you call me King,” he told her, kissing her softly.
Her stomach fluttered and a soft shiver trickled up her spine.
“Come.” His tone left no room for argument.
He guided her from the secret room and out of his office, locking it behind him. Amaya’s breath hitched when he bypassed the hallway that led to her room and kept going, taking another set of stairs. She’d never been in this part of the house.
Finally, Levi opened the door to a room that was twice the size of hers. The black she was expecting in his office was present here. Dark luxury was the only way she could describe the space.
Was she really doing this?
Her body disobeyed her mind and stepped further into his bedroom. Gods protect her from her impulsive decisions.