Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
Know your strengths. Eliminate your weaknesses.
CELINE
I want Ciprian and Alistair back safe.
I want Malach to fucking talk.
And I want Luca to want the bond.
I want . . . Gods, I want a lot, and I don’t think I’m able to settle for less.
Luca eyes me warily, and I cross my arms. “Relax, I’m not going to pin you to the wall and bite you.”
He winces. “That’s not—”
“Pretend I didn’t say that, please,” I groan. “I’m trying to be patient and understanding. I gave myself a whole lecture earlier—treat Luca the way Luca treats you: sweet, steady, reassuring. Instead, I snap your head off the second you look at me sideways.”
“I’m looking at you head-on, baby.”
And he is. The wariness is gone, and he’s watching me like he sees me, like I matter, like he’ll never look away.
“I’m sorry—” we speak at the same time, and I blink.
“Why are you sorry?” Luca asks.
“For not giving you space to process this without pressure. I know you have a hard time accepting the basilisk.”
He nods slowly. “I’m working on that.” His lip ring disappears into his mouth, and the familiar gesture erases some of my awkward self-consciousness. “It . . . shit, hang on—I’m trying something new—he doesn’t want to hurt you.”
I nod. I’ve known that for a long time, but now isn’t the time to say I told you so.
“Ciprian did the stupidest fucking thing.” Luca rakes his hand through his hair.
“I heard.” I smile. “How did that make you feel?”
“Panicked, pissed, I wanted to wring his neck, but I was so worried he was about to collapse at my feet and foam at the mouth, I couldn’t.”
Right, because Luca would never hurt Ciprian. No matter how mad or frenzied or checked out he got, he wouldn’t forget to treat him kindly. He’s the most caring person I know. That’s exactly why we all trust him.
“Ciprian took a risk,” I say gently. “To prove you’re not a monster.”
Luca nods. “Yeah, I guess he did.”
I take a deep breath, and my eyelashes flutter. “It’s a risk I’m willing to take too, Luca. You’re mine. I’m yours. And I will take a basilisk’s bite a million times over if that’s what it takes to prove to you that we’re inevitable.”
“But we’re not fated, Celine—”
“Fuck fate,” I snap. “Do I strike you as a person who wants magic interfering with her love life? I found you. I befriended you. I fucked you. And I fell in love with you too. I did all that, with some help from you, of course, but I don’t want some crusty old hands to get credit for our story.”
Luca’s lips twitch, then he shakes his head. “You lost me at the hands.”
“You know, the hands of fate.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “I thought fate came on the wind.”
I shrug. “Who knows? Humans use too many metaphors. The point is, I don’t need fate, I need you, and I don’t care what we have to do, I’m prepared to do it.”
Luca erases the distance between us with three determined strides.
He kisses me, sinking both hands into my hair. “I love it when you fight for me,” he groans. “The sexiest woman alive gearing up to kick fate in the balls. It’s hot.”
“So we’re doing this?” I kiss him again, releasing some of the tension I’ve been carrying since he freaked out.
“We’re doing this.”
I smile, and my stomach does a backflip. Not because I think I’m going to die, but because if this works, it’s forever. More serious than marriage. “How exactly do we do it?”
A blush crawls up Luca’s cheeks—pink slashes across his olive complexion. “I think it’s pretty simple. A good old-fashioned fuck and bite situation.”
“We’ve got some experience with that thanks to Alistair,” I tease.
“Without your good friend fate’s dirty old hands, the key will be wanting it to work—which sounds fucking stupid when I say it out loud.”
My magic ripples inside me even though I didn’t call for it. It’s eager on its own, almost giddy, and even though we’re doing this to escape the monster realm and get home, I have a sudden, blinding certainty it’s going to work.
“I don’t think it’s stupid,” I tell Luca. “If fated couples can bond, why can’t we?”
His expression softens, and he drops his forehead to mine. “I wish it was happening somewhere more special than a borrowed bed in a veydra’s safe house.”
I kiss his cheek. “I don’t need roses and violins.”
“Tonight then?” Luca nibbles on his lip ring. “I want there to be a healing potion on hand. Just in case.”
I nod. We won’t need it, but he’ll feel better with a safety net.
The air in the living room ripples and pops, then spits Riven, Alistair, and Ciprian out.
“My nervous system is shot,” Ciprian groans. “I’ll never live normally again after this. Why is everything here oversized and fucked up?” He plops down on the couch and puts his head between his knees, sucking in deep, ragged breaths.
Alistair’s face is gray. He stumbles to the side and leans against the back of the couch to keep from falling over. Riven holds out his hand, and Ali drops the polished rock in his palm.
“What happened?” I look them over carefully. Besides the obvious nausea and the frost coating their eyelashes and hair, they seem fine. “Did you see anyone?”
Alistair nods jerkily.
“Who didn’t we see?” Ciprian says. “There were forty-seven minds in that valley, and that’s not counting the Volkswagen-sized bird.”
“Bat,” Riven corrects him. “A morvex is far closer to a bat than a bird.”
Alistair’s eyes flash red. “Do they drink blood?”
Riven nods. “They also eat meat. Extremely carnivorous, but you wouldn’t have sensed its mind.
” He addresses that part to Ciprian. “Morvex aren’t shifters, but they are highly food motivated.
Some veydra train them to hunt on their behalf, although it’s risky.
They’ve been known to take a bite out of their handlers if the mood strikes. ”
“Awesome, as always,” Ciprian grumbles. “We’ve got a battalion of veydran after us, a gator-shaped kaiju holding a grudge because Malach lopped off his toe, and raptor bats who want to stick a straw in my neck and suck me dry.”
Riven tugs off his gloves. “They wouldn’t need a straw.”
“I’m painting a word picture, dude.” Ciprian scowls. “You have no imagination.”
“And you overuse hyperbole,” Riven says stiffly.
I clap my hands to break it up. “Did they see you?”
“I don’t think so.” Riven glances at his feet; his eyes flitting over everything but me. “Crag will have caught our scent on the cliff by now, but he’ll have nothing to track since we used the stone to leave.”
That’s good news, but Riven’s brow is creased.
I tilt my head. “Then why are you worried?”
He sighs. “They’re covering ground faster than I expected, and the demon’s right—those numbers . . . almost every veydran on this realm is canvassing the forest. They’re motivated.”
I sink onto the couch beside Ciprian and tug at the sleeve of my sweatshirt absently. “That’s my father’s specialty. He inspires no loyalty, but makes up for it through fear.”
“He must have a hold over them. Some incentive to keep them in line.” Malach appears at the edge of the living room. His curls are plastered to the side of his head, and his green eyes are dull and sunken. He looks worse than I’ve ever seen him.
Riven’s hands curl, then his face warps.
“What is it?” I sit up straighter.
“The families on the mainland.” Riven begins to pace. “All veydran are required to serve the arena for five years, but some choose to stay longer. It’s lucrative work. Most send money back to their families on the mainland.”
“A built-in weakness,” Malach murmurs. “S’lach’s favorite kind.”
“Many of the veydran here go home several times a year on leave. If that were taken away . . .”
“He’s gotten to someone at the top,” I say. “Someone in a position of power.”
My shoulders dip. I’m not my father; I know that, but his actions cause so much pain, and I can’t help feeling ashamed. When I was younger, I thought he was content to only hurt Mom and me. Now, I’m not sure. His obsession with control is only getting worse.
From his iron grip on the thatsha class to his cruelty in the lower echelons. It’s endless. And now he’s manipulating shifter politics on the monster realm to torment me. When will it be enough for him?
I roll my shoulders back and hold my head high. There’s no point drowning in the reality of my father’s evil; we need a game plan. “If that many veydran are busy searching for us, who’s left to guard the portal?”
Riven stops pacing. “Not many, unless they’ve added another line of defense I’m unaware of.”
“We’ll fight our way out if we have to, but it would be safer to sneak out.” I glance at Luca. “Provided our bonding works.”
Ciprian lifts his head and grins. “You talked him into it?”
I nudge him with my shoulder. “You know I can be persuasive.”
He licks his lips, winks at me, then looks at Riven. “Alistair and I are about to have a very loud, very heated argument. Where is the most convenient place for us to do that?”
“Downstairs,” Riven says.
I raise my eyebrows and study Alistair. His blue eyes are locked on Ciprian, his expression carefully blank.
Hope flickers to life inside me, and my wings explode from my back. Ciprian leans forward to make room for them, stroking the feathers of the closest wing gently.
“I didn’t know there was a downstairs,” Luca mutters, glancing around as if he expects a staircase to appear out of thin air.
“It’s not much,” Riven grunts.
Ciprian hums cheerfully, braces his hands on his thighs, and stands up. “When you talk about it that way, I imagine the dank basement of a ship. What do they call that?”
Riven sighs. “I have no idea.”
“The hold.” Malach shrugs when we all look at him with surprise. “Imani and I had a pirate-themed vocabulary day.”
My heart pinches. I miss my best friend. She’ll be worried sick by now. About me and Luca, and Malach too. I hope she’s been staying hydrated.
What will my life be like when we get back?
We’ve been missing for weeks. Sal may have replaced Luca and me at the Fang by now, and Resker will definitely have filled my spot on the combat roster.
That should be a relief. I’ve had enough fighting, and the battle still isn’t won. But my heart sinks anyway. I worked too hard to build a life in the Fringes to watch it vanish while I’m trapped somewhere I didn’t choose.
I take in the faces around me. Malach, tired and pained. Luca, laughing at Ciprian’s jokes about the basement. Alistair, pale as a ghost as he prepares for their argument. And Riven, whose amber-coated stare is focused on me.
I shake my thoughts loose and stare right back.
If my life is gone, I’ll build another one.
Because I have everything I need and more standing in this room.