42. Chapter 42
Chapter forty-two
Micah walks me and Gabriella to the basement of the lighthouse and the room I call the octagon. Apparently, you can’t rift down into this zone, but you can rift out of it. We had no problem leaving the bay this morning, and I make a mental note to ask Micah about that.
Once we’ve completed our walk, standing at the base of the stairs, Micah lifts his chin at Gabriella in a silent command, and like a good little angel, she disappears around the wall, leaving me alone with Micah.
He steps closer to me, though he’s not left my side the entire trip down. “You need me, huh?” he teases, his eyes brimming with mischief and satisfaction.
“I didn’t say that. You did.”
“So, you don’t need me?”
“Okay, fine. I do. I need you. I think you are the only one who can give me the edge I need to defeat our enemies.”
“That’s why you need me?”
“For now,” I say with a smile, and when I would try to leave it at that and walk away, he catches my hand and walks me to him. Close. Really close. I can feel the heat of his body, and the intimacy between us is instant. I feel him inside and out everywhere he touches me and everywhere he does not.
“Talk to me.”
“I’m really fine.” And that’s not a lie, I think. I am. I’ve worked through whatever was going on with me.
“Come on, Ember.” His voice is a gentle song refusing to be lost in the wicked wind of my emotions. “We both know something was going on with you at lunch.”
My hand settles on his chest, over his heart, and I feel it thundering beneath my palm with my nearness. Touching him is everything. Touching him feels right. I don’t know how I stay away from him when he feels more familiar to me than I do, especially when I’m failing in this very moment.
But there is a bigger picture that’s about saving worlds, saving him.
“Ember?”
I blink out of my reverie and meet his stare. “Where’s Zeke? And don’t say on an errand. Where is he?”
To his credit, he doesn’t brush me off this time. “He’s in the kingdom on the pretense of visiting a woman. We all knew when you came of age. They know when you turned twenty-seven. They will be hunting for you. I want to know exactly what that entails.”
“They didn’t tell you as an Overseer?”
“No, which means the king has sent one of his royal guards to hunt you. He’ll want to keep the search quiet to ensure he doesn’t cause fear among our people. It’s expected. This is just me ensuring I know who I’m dealing with.”
“Are his royal guards something we should worry about?”
“Not worry, but knowledge is power. Now, talk to me. What’s going on with you?”
“It’s really nothing. I’m just struggling with all of this, but I’m working through it. I promise I am. I think training will help me do that.”
“You can talk to me.”
“You’ll just tell me to believe in myself, and I do. The problem is not fearing what I will become, and to that, I know you want to tell me to believe in myself again.”
His lips quirk slightly. “Maybe, but I’ll listen, too. I promise.”
I believe him, I do, but I also fear if I take him up on his offer, my fear might scare him when this is just part of my process—I wallow. I work. I move on stronger. “Thank you.” And I dare to reach up and touch his face.
His eyes darken, and the pull between us is insanely present, so much so that it’s as if we’re drugged every time we’re together.
He captures my hand and drags it to his lips, opening my hand and pressing his mouth to the delicate skin of my palm.
And then, he’s gone. He’s rifted away, and for long moments, I just stand there, lost in the moment with him that is already gone.
I wonder then about more than Celine. I wonder about the hundreds of years he’s lived and the women he’s loved.
I wonder if they were all as enamored with him as I am.
I wonder if he left them or they left him.
“Ember?”
I turn to find Gabriella standing in the archway, and I’m curious as to how she knew Micah was gone or if she’d simply grown impatient waiting on me. “I can see the connection between you and Micah.”
“I know what the Knowledge Keeper told you. I overheard. Micah knows I overheard.”
“And it means what to you?”
“That I have to kill the serpent before I can ever move on and do right by everyone who needs me. If he lives, I think Jeremy lives, too, even if I kill his human form.”
She considers me a moment, and I sense she wants to say something she reframes as, “Whatever the truth is, control is everything. Let’s make sure you have it.”
She leads me to the center of the octagon and a giant cauldron of water. “If you want me to turn that to fire, that’s a bad idea. What if I burn down the lighthouse? Not that I think I can even make it boil. I tried all morning with Micah and failed.”
She holds out her hand, and water appears out of nowhere and forms a glistening, sparkly, diamond-laced ball above her palm.
Magic. The diamonds are magic, just like in the bay this morning.
My lips part as I take in the stunning sight, every magical act still astounding to me.
“You can’t burn down the lighthouse,” she declares with a smile. “I won’t let you.”
My mind travels back to the passage in the book:
Fire destroys the most powerful of Nephilim, Seraphim, and demons alike when nothing else will. Those who wield the flames are immune to its destruction.
It hits me then that she’s the greatest weapon against me, should a weapon be needed, but the best defense is to never realize my fire as an asset. I don’t need it to kill the serpent. I need to suppress him long enough to allow the Judgement Tree to destroy him.
“I think I need to start by knowing what skills I even possess. Am I stronger than demons? Or some demons and not others? Can they jump higher, punch harder?”
“The species matters. Some are faster. Some jump higher. Some use magic to seduce you, much like a cat puts out pheromones to lure a mouse forward. In most cases, though, you’re fighting an equal in skill with your lack of experience in play, unless you even the playing ground with fire.”
I wave that off. “I may never learn to use fire. Show me how to fight the way you did out on the streets, before you met Micah.”
She drops her hand, and the water disappears. “You won’t if you don’t try.”
“I’m going to the forest with Micah in the morning, where I can use fire without risking a bigger fire. And I won’t be able to use fire many places in the human realm. I need battlefield skills.”
She purses her lips as if to argue, but then lifts her fists. “Let’s go.”
We grapple, and she kicks my ass, walks me through why, and we repeat. At one point, we’re lying on the ground panting, and Gabriella lets out a bubbly laugh. “I love fighting.”
Adrenaline still courses through my body, and I grin. “I think I do, too.”
“You’re a natural, but I expected as much. The Aza would easily have magic memory. You’re so good, so fast, I think your magic is in play. Kind of like the Matrix when he could fight in the alternate world as if he’d fought all his life.”
“You know your movies.”
“We both have the advantage of growing up in the human world. We know how to fit in. It’s natural to us.”
“You’re right. Micah preaches about us staying in touch with our human side.”
“For good reasons. We can’t protect humans if they fear us, but the truth is, most of us live like humans. Well, except when we’re killing demons.” Her eyes soften, and her voice does, too. “He’s different with you around.”
Of course, she means Micah. “What do you mean?”
“He’s never shown open affection with anyone in all the time I’ve known him, but he does with you. It’s good. He’s good. You two are good together.”
A ball of emotion forms like lead in my chest, and I sit up with her following. “Did I say something wrong?” she asks.
“I think you should all be more worried about my destiny.”
“We’re all in on you, or we try and kill you and the demons win.”
I frown. “What?”
“If you turn, they are stronger. If you die, there’s no one to contain them, and they get stronger.
It’s in the books. We all die with you, even if not in the same moment.
There’s no in between. We win with you. We lose without you.
Things are as they are supposed to be. I worried about Micah being alone so long.
That’s hard on the soul, but he was waiting on you, even if he didn’t know it. This moment in time is about you both.”
“The king of combat has arrived.”
We both glance up to find Silas walking in our direction.
“I can’t wait for you to shock the hell out of him with your skills,” Gabriella declares. “I might stay. This will be fun to watch.” She rolls her eyes. “He’s so cocky.”
I shake off our conversation and file it away for later consideration. We stand to greet Silas, and he holds out his hands to his sides. “Ready for the real deal? I’m going to show you how it’s done.”
Gabriella steps in front of him and pokes his chest. “Feels so soft, I guarantee you she’s going to hurt you.”
He catches her hand. “Don’t be a bitch. I’m not soft.”
“You’re the bitch. Soft little bitch.”
Oh my, I think. These two have something between them. Either they’ve fucked, or they want to fuck, and it’s so ripe in the air, it’s all but setting it on fire for me.
“You want to see a bitch?” Silas demands, and he lifts her up so high she’s at his face level. She lifts her hand, and water splatters all over his face.
I can’t help it. I laugh while he sets her down and uses his magic to dry himself off. “Careful there, you little water witch. One day I’ll make you pay.”
“Doubtful,” she rebuts and waves at me. “See you tomorrow.” And with that, she rifts away, apparently not staying for the show after all.
Silas runs a hand through his blond hair and grins. “She makes me wet.”
“Did you really just say that, Silas? That was bad, so very bad.”
He wiggles an eyebrow. “I couldn’t resist.” He rifts from where he stands to right in front of me. “Want to fight about it?”