Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
FRANKIE
I made it about ten feet before the energy in the air pulsed so strong it knocked me off my feet. And I wasn’t even there. I braced myself on all fours on the ground and looked up just as two massive shadows slid over me. Two people with massive white angel wings shot across the sky. Thorne and Sage. Thank you, Goddess! I sighed with relief. They were back. Saffie wasn’t alone in this fight. The seelie people would be saved. There may have been rules on Earth for how much involvement the angels could have, but this was Seelie, and those two angels were born Seelie royalty.
Oh my Goddess. They waited for them to leave. That has to be it. The Unseelies waited for Thorne and Sage to leave Seelie so they could bust in. Sneaky bastards.
Unseelies scattered and took off in the air like birds fleeing. Green and blue lightning streaked across the sky. The ground rumbled beneath my feet. Tennessee soared over my head with Michael’s glowing sword gripped in his hand as he chased the Unseelies.
Footsteps thundered behind me. I had just enough time to leap behind a tree before a stampede of Unseelie knights came sprinting in my direction. If not for their silver body armor, I might have thought these were seelies. Their hair were wild colors like mine and Mei-Ling’s and their eyes no longer were as dark as night. They were, however, as soulless as before, just now in pretty colors. I scanned the forest ahead of me, expecting my Coven-mates to pop out and defend Seelie, when tree trunks shot up from the ground to make a wall up ahead. The Unseelies slid to a stop and tried to flee but another wall of trees shot up to the sky. I crept around the trunk of a tree to get a better view just as Saffie dropped from the sky in front of the Unseelies she’d trapped within her tree-walls.
“You made a mistake coming here,” she snarled and threw her arms up, causing her long red hair to whip around her petite little frame. Thick green vines as wide as my thighs burst through the ground, with three-inch-long thorns running along the edges. She curled her fingers, twirled her wrists, then flicked her hands forward. The vines obeyed like they were extensions of her magic, coiling around the Unseelies’ bodies at the same time. Saffie arched one red eyebrow as she stood there looking tall and terrible, her voice cold and steady. “This is my land, and you’re not welcome.”
The vines tightened around the knights, causing them to shriek and hiss in pain. They writhed across the dirt. Purple blood spilled into the grass around them. Saffie narrowed her lavender eyes and vines sliced through their limbs. The knight in the front managed to get to his feet and start for her while throwing magic in her direction. She flicked her wrists and a wave of dark-green dirt rose from the ground and swallowed the magic whole. Thorned vines pierced through the standing Unseelie’s feet and grew through his body. He screamed and tried to move but he was pinned. His back arched, forcing his head to fall back and his mouth to drop open. A wild tremor ripped through his body before a vine shot up into the sky from his mouth— with his heart impaled on it. Purple blood gushed from his mouth. His hair turned black again and his skin returned to that pale grayish-blue color, like she’d forced all of his life force out of him.
“You should’ve stuck to the civilians.” Gold glitter magic coiled around Saffie’s hands. “I shall turn your flesh into food for the bugs to feast on.”
Saffie flicked her hands and threw her arms up like she was conducting an entire orchestra. The Unseelie knights screamed as vines ripped through their chests, stomachs, and thighs. Purple blood splashed left and right, yet Saffie remained unfazed, unmoving. Those wings made of stars just flickered behind her back, her rage unwavering and unrelenting as she ripped them all to literal pieces with a smirk on her pretty face.
I just stared, my jaw dragging the ground. I barely knew Saffie. I’d known she was a Proctor though, and this calm rage was right up our alley. It was gloriously savage and I loved every second of it. She stood in one place and used her magic to tear the knights to pieces, to rip flesh from bone and fertilize the ground. Once there was nothing but purple blood flooding the blades of grass, Saffie shot into the sky on her starlight wings and vanished from sight.
For a few seconds, I didn’t move. There were other knights in Seelie, I’d watched them enter, not to mention the Prince, so I needed to be cautious. I wasn’t quite sure why my projection was different this time. If I wasn’t physically here, then I shouldn’t have been able to feel as much as I could. Right? Shit, I don’t even know anymore. I wasn’t any closer to answers on what was happening to me, and it kept changing every time I started to get comfortable with it.
I was headed for the entrance to Earth, the one we’d come through before. Except I wasn’t familiar with Seelie at all, which meant I had no idea if I was headed in the right direction. I’d only been here the one time and Tenn had flown me so I could watch my stones. Oh. Stupid, Frankie. Ask your stones.
Hi, stones. I wrapped my hands around my bracelet and pushed with my magic. Lead me home? Please?
The stones warmed beneath my fingers, it felt like walking barefoot on a wooden deck on a sunny day. It comforted me, as strange as that was. My pulse slowed to a normal beat and the knots in my stomach loosened. I took a deep breath, then that familiar pink arrow appeared in the air above my wrist. Without another moment of hesitation, I marched in the direction the arrow pointed without looking around. There were screams in the distance. Magic flashed across the purple night sky. If I couldn’t help Seelie, then I needed to get out of Seelie. I needed to get back inside my body so I could help, so I followed the pink arrow blindly as it wove a path through the most beautiful forest I’d ever seen.
“ Lead me home, stones. Lead me home,” I whispered.
The arrow pointed straight down and flashed just as energy prickled against my spine. I cursed under my breath and dropped to the dirt, my knees hitting the ground harder than expected and making me wince. Swirly black magic slithered across the ground up ahead of me. I gasped and jumped back to my feet. Everest? That black magic looked like my soulmate’s. I glanced from shadow to shadow, to every sliver of darkness where he might be lurking. He loved to hide in the shadows. My pulse quickened. My whole body was instantly alert and anxious. I felt restless and panicked to find him. Desperation had me in a chokehold.
Everest. Everest. Everest. His name was on a repeat in my head. I had to find him. I just needed to see him, if only for a moment. I needed to see he was okay, he was alive. And maybe beg him to join me finally. My bracelet sent sharp little pulses into my skin that I ignored. That glowing pink arrow was flashing like it was trying to scream my name to get my attention—because it was pointing away from me now. I’d hurried forward, moving between the trees to search for Everest.
A lone figure emerged from a shadow about fifty feet ahead of me, stepping from between two trees with low hanging branches. Everest. I smiled and took a step forward just as the Unseelie Prince stepped into a patch of light. I slid to a stop. That is NOT Everest. My stomach turned. The Prince hadn’t seen me yet so I just froze in place, afraid any movement would alert him. He crouched down and scooped dirt into a metal canister that was tied around his waist. His navy-blue hair was shiny and vibrant in the blueish light. Those yellow cat-like eyes scanned the forest, sweeping from his right toward me in slow motion.
Heat wrapped around my elbow and then I was yanked backwards and into a wall of darkness. Fingers dug into my skin as my feet were dragged through the dirt too fast to stop it or see what was happening. The hand dropped my elbow but then my back slammed into the tree trunk. I threw my hands up to fight back only to find Everest standing in front of me, so close I could feel the sharpness of his aura and the heat radiating off his body. My pink guiding arrow was pointing straight ahead. Lead me home, that was what I’d asked the stones, and they’d led me straight to my soulmate. That sent a fresh round of tears burning my eyes and threatening to spill out.
“ Ev— ”
His hand covered my mouth, pushing me flush against the tree. My eyes widened. My breath caught in my throat. He’d never behaved like this, and my body was not sure how to react. The Unseelie Prince was right there, I knew I needed to be nervous and careful . . . but Everest was right in front of me. The warmth of his skin pressed against my mouth sent a string of sinful ideas racing through my mind without my consent. Every nerve ending in my body was tingling and hot. I needed more, I needed him, and it was such horribly bad timing for my body to lose control of itself. But it wasn’t my fault. He’d bitten me and claimed me as his soulmate, letting the mark show itself on my skin for the first time, and then left. I hadn’t seen him since, except for those three dreams, which had been fleeting moments that came and went too fast. And those hadn’t been real. I hadn’t been able to feel the softness of his skin against mine. That cinnamon scent of his hadn’t invaded my senses. Need and passion had me reaching out and grabbing fistfuls of his white sweater and dragging him flush against my body.
Yet his gaze didn’t meet mine. His hand remained firmly in place, torturing me as every second the inferno of desire burned hotter and hotter. His blue and white eyes were locked on something to my right with intense concentration. In the back of my mind, I knew that he was watching the Unseelie Prince and was trying to conceal me from his sight, but none of that mattered with him finally this close to me. I pulled him even closer, reveling in the heat radiating through his clothes. His breath swept over my forehead. I looked up at his face and swooned, my insides going all warm and mushy with emotions. He was so beautiful. In this foreign blueish light of Seelie, his hair almost looked blue— Wait a second. No, it IS blue. Everest’s normally white-blond hair was now a pastel blue. It made his beauty near God-like. All I could do was stare.
A single pink rune glowed above his head. My eyes widened. He still hadn’t looked at me, so I reached up and touched the symbol with my fingers, causing a whole list of blue and pink symbols to appear beneath it. I now knew what this meant. This was a potion my soulmate needed. The blue symbols were typical potion ingredients, and I recognized them from when the bottles were lined up on the table: birch tree bark, mother of pearl, seashells, and moonstone. But the pink symbols were angelic runes, which meant he needed Heavenly ingredients . . . and he needed all five, just like Tegan had. I stared up at the symbols, threatening my brain into storing the image to memory.
I had to make this potion as soon as I got back. I had to be ready for him. I had to do my part to protect my soulmate. Panic bubbled into my thoughts. Panic about his safety and fear. So much fear. I was so damned scared for him. I yanked him down to me until his body was pressing my own hands into my ribs, pinching a little.
And then his eyes met mine.
Finally.
I stared up at him, feeling too many emotions at once to speak even if I could. I pushed up on my tiptoes, his hand still covering the bottom half of my face. His gaze was hot and laser-sharp. My pulse fluttered. I couldn’t pull him any closer, so I dug my nails into his skin. His nostrils flared. I pushed into him and his eyes widened just enough to tell me he felt this too. When I licked my lips and my tongue brushed the palm of his hand, his fangs dropped, stabbing his bottom lip. He dragged that hand off my mouth, then fisted my hair at the nape of my neck and yanked me forward at the same time I lunged for him. Our lips crashed together. His fingers tightened on my hair, angling my head back to deepen our kiss. His other arm snaked around my body, his fingers digging into my skin as he held me tight against his chest. My lungs burned with the need to breathe, but I was drunk on his kiss. I slid my hands up his chest and into his hair. When his tongue brushed against mine, I let out a moan and the growl he made sent goosebumps over my body. I licked his fang—he pulled back with a curse.
“ No,” I whimpered and dove for him, dragging him back to my body by his sweater. He didn’t fight me as I reclaimed his lips with mine.
His fingers dug into my chin as he held me there. This kiss was far from gentle. It was desperate. It was panic. It was holding on to each other for dear life, like we may never have a moment like this again. My fingers hurt from how hard I gripped his body. I melted into him, pressing every inch of my body flush against his. He angled my head back to deepen our kiss. The warmth of our breaths swirled and mixed together. My body was on fire, and I would let it burn. I wanted more. I couldn’t get close enough. When I slid my tongue into his mouth, he growled and slid his hand down my throat, then pushed me off of him. My back hit the tree trunk as I whimpered in protest. I reached for him but the hand on my throat slid to my chest, pinning me in place. His cheeks were flushed, and his lips were red and puffy. I took small victory in seeing my own passion for him reflected back. His lips parted and his chest rose and fell rapidly, like he was also struggling to catch his breath.
“ Everest—”
“Stay away from him, ” he said with barely more than a growl. He ducked his head to keep his gaze level with mine. “If you see the Unseelie Prince, you are to run away as fast as possible and not look back. You must stay away from him. Do not let him see you. Do not let him get near you.”
“Okay,” I breathed, my heart still pounding in my chest. I licked my lips, and they still tasted like his.
I must’ve made a face because his eyes flashed with desire. He pressed one finger over my lips. “Do you hear me, Francelina?”
“Stay away from the Unseelie Prince. Yes, of course, I know that?—”
“Then why were you running to him just now?”
I gasped. “I thought it was you.”
His eyes went wide. He dropped his hand. His face was pale. “Why would you think that?”
“I’d asked my rune stones to guide me home and then it led me right to the shadows and the black magic . . .” I shook my head and licked my lips. “I thought it led me to you. ”
His face fell. He closed his eyes—and then I was in his arms, my face pressed against his chest. He sighed and his breath rustled my hair. His arms were wrapped tight around me, one of his hands stroking my hair. “My magic is black because I was born from Lilith’s womb. The Unseelies, among various other creatures devoted to her, have black magic because she gave it to them.”
I flinched and craned my neck back to look up at him without pulling myself out of his arms. “I did not know that.”
“I know,” he said softly before taking my face in both of his hands. “You cannot run blindly to what you think is me?—”
“The stones were leading me home . . . I . . . I thought they had led me to you?—”
“If you had stuck to the arrow, it would have.” He tipped my face back, those blue and white eyes searching my face like I held the answers to life.
Traitorous tears pooled on my lashes before sliding down, but his thumbs brushed them away. “ I was scared . . . ”
“ I know,” he whispered back. “ That is why I came. ”
“I can’t get out of my astral projection?—”
“Because you are not in one.” He pressed a kiss to my lips, then backed away, dropping his hands. “Go home, Gali, and do not return to Seelie.”
“But how am I here?—”
“The answer to that is complicated and one I cannot dare speak of here.” He glanced at something over my shoulder and nodded, then turned his gaze back to me. “But know the reason is the same as the reason your stones led you home to me. Go home, Gali?—”
“Everest, wait?—”
Darkness swallowed him whole . . . and then he was gone.
“ Everest . . . ” I stared but the shadow he disappeared into was gone. I sighed and pushed my hands through my hair. “Dammit.”
“Hey—”
“SHIT!” I threw my hands up and magic shot out of them . . . and flew right at Tenn’s face. I cursed and tried to grab ahold of the smoke but that only made it worse. “Fuck, sorry!”
“Nah, go ahead, this is fun to watch.” Tenn chuckled.
I dropped my hands and grunted. “Dammit.”
“Everest called me over, so I’ll let you have that moment.” He grinned and closed the distance between us and held his hand out. “All right, Cousin, ready to go home?”
“Please. As fast as unhumanly possible.”
He chuckled and scooped me up. We were soaring through the purple sky, but I was too frazzled from my soulmate to see anything other than the flapping of Tenn’s white angel wings. Within seconds we were flying through the gate and landing in the front yard of Coven Headquarters. I followed Tenn through the front door to find everyone else sitting there. Waiting.
I scowled. “Did none of you go in?”
Tegan shook her head. “I cannot, as we’ve discussed before. But Thorne and Sage requested only Tenn follow. If they needed the help, Tenn was to call, but we weren’t needed.”
I nodded and plopped down on the couch. “Well, judging by what I just watched Saffie do with a smile on her face, I’d say I’m not surprised you weren’t needed.”
Savannah cackled. “Assassin Saffie strikes again. I love when she does that. It’s gnarly and graphic as fuck.”
“You don’t say.” I shuddered. “She made vines grow through their bodies and rip them apart. I’ve never been appalled and pumped at the same time.”
Everyone laughed.
Then I sobered. “I have so many questions . . . starting with how did that start as an astral projection and lead to me being there?”
“I feel Everest has to answer that. But you started screaming Seelie and that’s when you vanished physically. I’m guessing it’s not a coincidence that your body went to Seelie when Thorne and Sage did.” Tegan grimaced but then a piece of paper appeared out of thin air, with little orange flames on it. She snatched it, opened it, and then scowled as she read. We all waited patiently. She cursed. “Thorne says you were right. The missing people had been on the news. They’re all half-breeds the Unseelies kidnapped, hypnotized, and used to get the barrier off the archway. The Unseelie Prince did most of the heavy lifting in taking the barrier down. He just needed someone on the inside to help.”
Knots formed in my stomach. Everyone grumbled.
“There are some minor injuries among the civilians but no deaths for Seelie.” She took the note and crumpled it in her hand and then it vanished into a cloud of rainbow mist. “Thorne and Sage are going to remain in Seelie, with Saffie, refortifying their safety. They were able to remove all Unseelies from the realm, so they are safe for now and the Unseelie shouldn’t be able to repeat that.”
“How did you find me so fast?”
Tegan shrugged. “I sent enough magic to locate you and tell Tenn where to go.”
“Well, thank the Goddess you’re back. For fuck’s sake, I was good and lost and stuck.”
Tegan grinned. “Sorry, Everest is quite annoying with you.”
I scowled. “What do you mean?”
“Like, I had it under control, so did Thorne and Sage. We realized well-enough what had happened, which is why Saffie went after you, but nooooo, Everest had to swoop in and hide you from everyone’s sight. Thorne, Sage, Saffie, Tenn, and even me. None of us could see you. Took me a second to find you. It was quite impressive, actually. Can’t wait ‘til he’s on our side officially. I wanna set him loose.”
My heart couldn’t handle it anymore. “I don’t know what he’s trying to do to me. Why he won’t join us . . . Why he’s always hiding me?—”
“Keeping you alive,” Hunter said softly from the couch across from me. His golden eyes were haunted and distant. He didn’t look at me as he spoke softly, “Your soulmate feels unbearable, suffocating terror that he won’t be able to save you, and so he hides you as a precaution.”
I opened my mouth, then shut it. My chest grew tight like it was trying to squeeze my heart and lungs.
“Try not to be angry with him until you know what this feels like.” Those sad champagne eyes finally met mine. “Your Everest knows better than anyone how much danger your life is in simply because your soul is bound to his. Give him this grace. Being Lilith’s son cannot be easy on his heart.”
Tears burned the backs of my eyes. I swallowed through the hot lump in my throat and nodded. “Thank you, Hunter. I’m trying.”
Tegan’s eyes sparkled. “Now tell me about this potion you saw for him.”
“Help me make it and I’ll tell you anything.”
She grinned. “Let’s get started.”