Chapter 15 #2
My time with the Prophet made my stomach churn.
I met Nova’s gaze and understood all at once.
The too-light green of her hair, still unmistakably forest-shaded.
The hands she conjured—lifting a couch with two people on it like it weighed nothing.
He must have realized he needed new blood in his family.
Nova and I hadn’t been accidents. We’d been the beginning.
“That night,” she said, leaning closer, “I heard the glass break.”
A shiver slid down my spine. Ezra’s palm followed, grounding me.
“Blood seeped through a crack in my ceiling,” Nova continued. “And I knew the instant his body hit the floor. I felt his life drain out of him.” Her chin lifted, steady and unbowed. “That was the moment I was free.”
While the others mourned, she’d spit on corpses.
“I would’ve run,” she said quietly. “But that would’ve meant leaving Aludena. And I couldn’t do that.”
She straightened, rolling her shoulders like she was settling armor. “I’m a Westwater. We don’t break.” Her fist pressed briefly to her chest. “Even our war-mad family understands power, and the value of written promises.”
Nova squeezed Aludena’s shoulder. “The weak are always the first to be used.”
Sorrow and rage swelled in my throat. I swallowed both.
Ezra’s hand curled into a fist at my back, trembling. “They are.”
The words were barely more than breath. He hated body snatchers; part of Nova’s story pulled on his past. It had to.
“Did Cayden give you one of those… Intentions?” Aludena asked softly, her voice thin and careful, pulling us back from the edge.
“He did not.” I looked hard at the woman’s sunken cheeks. “He won’t sleep with me. Says he’s cursed.” The words felt stupid, but I wanted her to know Cayden hurt too.
Two fat tears fell out of Aludena’s eyes. “We all are.”
“You’re not cursed!” Nova snapped. “And I’ll spend my life proving it if I have to.”
Nova turned Aludena’s face and kissed her. “I love you. Always. We’ll get through this.” Aludena turned back to me with a faint blush staining her cheeks. “Is Cayden cursed? Am I? I see the way he looks at you as if he now walks in your light. You’ve seen the world. I need to know.”
He walks in your light. The words repeated themselves in my head. My blood chilled.
But I didn’t have time to dwell on the implications. Rage radiated off Nova. If I didn’t reassure Aludena in the next five seconds, Nova might barrel past Ezra and throttle me herself.
“You’re not cursed.” I pictured myself kissing Cayden’s head and reassuring him.
I wanted to be there for my friend, but I suddenly didn’t know if I was helping or not.
“It might feel like it.” I eased my voice to be as supportive as possible.
“And genetically, you’re going to need to be a bit thoughtful, but it looks like you found someone who loves you a lot. ”
Aludena blushed harder. “She’s another woman.”
In my heart, I knew Cayden didn’t have feelings for anyone in his past, but seeing it made whatever sliver of worry I’d buried deep in my subconscious vanish.
I smiled at Aludena. “I can see that. I am happy for you.”
I poked Ezra, and the man stood and held out a hand to me. I took it and popped up.
“Join us for dinner tonight,” Nova said. “It would be good for the girls.”
I wasn’t entirely sure who the girls were, but I agreed. “I’ll find a different spot for now and see you tonight.”
I took another look at Aludena, but she’d buried her face in Nova’s shoulder. She reminded me of a terrified puppy. My heart bled for her.
The moment we exited, Ezra pulled me under his arm. “Are you okay?”
He only asked because I was mad last night, but I couldn’t bring myself to hold anything back. “I’m an outsider, but all of this is so hard to watch. How could one man have messed up all these people so much?”
Ezra shook his head. “Everyone wants to belong. If it had been Xan who had died, I might be one of the people hanging from the rafters.”
I took in a sharp breath and squeezed Ezra harder.
“I was wrong yesterday. Xan and I have a rhythm. You weren’t in it, and I got defensive.” He brushed a strand of hair back. “I’m a blunt tool, Quinn. I fix things with my fists. And you”—his voice dropped—“you’re breakable.”
Heat curled low, dragging me to my toes, desperate to close the space. “In my time, the world revolved around couples. Just one soulmate.” I didn’t want to ask, but Ezra’s opinion mattered, whether I wanted it to or not. “You don’t think I’m selfish? Am I doing this wrong?”
Ezra crushed me against him. “You’re not selfish. You’ll choose what’s right.” He lifted my chin, eyes hard. “That heat last night, your confidence, intoxicating, Kitten. Hardest night of my life, knowing I could’ve had you purring in my lap if I hadn’t been a prick.”
Kitten. Heat rose to my face. He leaned down and brushed his lips across mine, but didn’t kiss me. My legs turned to jelly, and I gripped his waist to keep from falling.
He smirked. “I’ll guard your door tonight and every night until you’re back in my lover’s castle.” He slid his hand across my ass and cupped my butt cheek before pulling my junction into his hard quad. “You’ve undone me. I’ll enjoy the slow ache until you’re ready to claim it.”
My breath came out in short gasps, and my insides churned with need. I didn’t know apologies could sound like that. Maybe I needed to find more things for Ezra to apologize for.
A group of women appeared from around a corner.
Ezra released me. We stepped to opposite walls and let them pass.
His gaze twinkled before he turned and left.
I watched his ass with every step. He didn’t have Rowan’s bubble butt, but his blacks hugged every sculpted inch.
As if he knew, he gave a wiggle before vanishing.
I considered hunting down the nearest cold shower, but unease churned. This was the exact wrong time to be turned on. I took a head-clearing breath and found my way back to Cayden.
Nova’s girls were a group in their late teens and early twenties.
With their abusers gone, their tongues loosened, and they spoke not about God or duty, but about how they felt.
Nova, despite being a similar age, encouraged them without judgment, keeping the trauma of the outside world to herself. My respect for her doubled.
Soft words like ‘love’ and ‘support’ didn’t seem to be a part of their vocabulary. Pieces of Cayden’s personality snapped into place.
The talk slid straight to sex, what they thought they were made for.
My blush might as well have been inked on my face as they compared body parts like veterans trading war stories.
Between giggles, I taught them words like clitoris and G-spot.
They had no education, yet far more experience than I, and no idea that any of it wasn’t normal.
After all of Cayden’s self-hate, it was a much-needed breath of fresh air.
By the next day, Abernathys trickled in, staggered so no rival noticed, ready to claim the land. Ezra’s enforcers followed. Soon, voids bulged, wagons overflowed, even a birdcage was wedged between dressers. It was go time.
With over forty people, just under half being enforcers and highly skilled mages, and five vehicles, two powered by glowing dark-green magic, we couldn’t sneak anywhere. According to Ezra, hitting Edinburgh in the dead of night would prove the least resistance.
I found myself mounted in front of Cayden on his prancing Friesian. His family either found spots in wagons or, like me, had made an enforcer friend. One of Nova’s girls blushed as an enforcer offered to let her ride with him for the first part of the journey.
My heart melted a bit, and I couldn’t stop myself from kissing Cayden’s exposed neck. I wanted the collars off of me, but this had been the right thing to do. His family needed a fresh start. Cayden pulled me close, and soon enough, our caravan rumbled out of the compound walls.
We hadn’t been in the saddle for five minutes when Xan sidestepped his brown Clydesdale next to us. “Quinn rides with me,” Xan stated.
Cayden pulled me closer. “She’s already made her choice.”
“She didn’t get one, Cayden,” Xan continued. “You didn’t ask, and she just assumed you needed her.”
Cayden didn’t respond but squeezed me tighter.
Xan’s eyes flashed. “She’s not your Prophet, Cayden.”
Cayden and I both bristled, and static filled the air around us.
“He doesn’t think that.”
“I don’t think that.”
We spoke over each other.
I bit my lips together, remembering Aludena’s words. He walks in your light.
Xan dropped his reins and laced his fingers together. “The two of you have been tied together for three days—”
“Quinn has to have one of us near, or she can’t heat herself,” Cayden cut Xan off.
“One of us,” Xan repeated. “Not just you. She can’t be your crutch.”
I looked down, not just feeling the truth of Xan’s words but hearing Ezra in the hall. ‘If it had been Xan who had died, I might be one of the people hanging from the rafters.’ Did Xan not realize Ezra worshiped him the same way?
“Quinn’s my world,” Cayden growled, squeezing me tighter.
Xan unlaced his fingers. “And that’s not healthy.”
“And ignoring her because of what others think is?” Cayden asked.
Xan narrowed his eyes. “It’s not. But you can’t possibly understand the pressure a mentalist lives under.”
Cayden laughed bitterly. “Why? Because people thought you were raping your cousins to breed a super race? And turns out… they were right. You were the only one blind?”
This wasn’t a fight I wanted to hear. I squeezed Cayden’s thigh. “You didn’t rape anyone. I asked your cousins. One even bragged about your tongue…” I trailed off, letting them fill in the blanks.
Cayden’s blush almost glowed in the dark.
“You’re festering in your negativity, Cayden,” Xan continued. “And you can, for as long as you want, but you can’t change the past, only shape the future. And you cannot take care of Quinn until you can take care of yourself.”