Chapter 38 Asher
ASHER
A second later, Baelfire Decimus darts into the entry room naked as the day he was born.
He looks around frantically for somewhere to set the cut-up, bloodied keeper he's holding tightly in his arms. She's covered in enough gore that I'm actually worried for a second.
Until Amato's daughter squirms a little in his arms. "We're here. You can set me down now."
From her tone, she clearly thinks they're being dramatic. Knowing these guys, I'm inclined to believe her over them—but when I motion at the wood floor, and Baelfire sets her down like she's made of fucking glass, I see why he's quietly panicking.
Aside from dozens of little cuts she's covered in, Maven's organs are trying to spill out of a deep gash in her side. She's pressing a piece of ripped fabric against herself to slow the bleeding. She grimaces ever so slightly, like she just stubbed her toe and wasn't damn near getting disemboweled.
I swear at the sight of the injury. For the millionth time, I'm glad that, thanks to the Legacy Curse being lifted now, I won't have to feel all the agony of what I'm about to heal.
"It looks worse than it is," the demigoddess assures me.
"I can see your guts."
"Right, you see them still inside me where they belong. So I'll be fine," she emphasizes, looking at her dragon shifter like she's reminding him of this.
"Your pain tolerance is fucking disturbing," I grumble, cracking my neck and summoning holy magic to my fingertips.
"Stop all the jabbering and heal her," Crypt snarls from the doorway.
Ignoring the murderous freak, I hover my hands over the injured demigoddess to get the full scope of her injuries. I can sense that she's lost a lot of blood, but aside from the cuts and the gaping wound in her side, she's not bleeding internally or concussed or anything else.
Baelfire's jaw is clenched, blue fire swirling in warning under the surface of his skin as he watches, crowding in on my space. "Tell me she's going to be okay."
"She is."
I hear Jada gasp in surprise when she enters the entry to see what's going on, but I don't look up from healing Amato's daughter. Jada quickly invites Crypt inside, and a second later, he's crouched beside Maven, face pinched with worry.
He's also up in my space.
"All right, darling?" he checks, his voice a harsh rasp.
"I'm great," she promises, finally removing the cloth she was pressing to her side since I've started healing the gash. She's not as convincing as she's trying to be, since she's still pale from blood loss.
Crypt looks tortured. "Gods above, you shouldn't have followed me like that. If I hadn't woken up—"
"Stop. Don't even go there," Baelfire growls in warning, shutting his eyes as his breath shudders.
Everett enters the house next, supporting a limping Silas.
They're a lot less covered in blood than Crypt and Maven are.
Everett helps the necromancer sit on one of the couches, and a second later, I sense more of the necromancer's powerful magic at work as he begins healing whatever is wrong with his leg.
"Is she okay?" Everett demands, swearing at the sight of his keeper.
When the ice elemental steps closer, bumping into my arm by accident, it's the final straw for the focus I need to heal damage like this. I pause healing and huff, looking at them.
"I get that you're all worried and pissed that your keeper is hurt.
I swear she'll be good as new soon, but I'll work faster and better without a horde of panicked, obsessive assholes breathing over my shoulder.
Unless you're fine with me messing something up just because you're all too fucking clingy, all of you need to step out of here, take a beat, and give me room to work. "
"I'm not leaving my mate," Baelfire protests immediately, his voice an anguished, guttural sound.
Maven gives him a gentle yet firm look. He openly pouts before Silas audibly scowls on the couch. Everett shakes his head, looking irritated, before Maven rolls her eyes.
Clearly, they're having one of their telepathic conversations. The Amato quintet's never bothered hiding that they can do that around me. For once, I'm grateful for it because I can go back to healing without their chatter and worry stabbing into my focus.
After another second of Maven telepathically putting her foot down with her quintet, they back off like I requested.
Jada happily welcomes them into her house and leads them to her kitchen in another room, offering water, tea, and food if they're hungry, and saying her quintet will be down soon to say hello.
When Silas is done healing, he goes with them, muttering something about a spell ingredient.
Crypt DeLune just disappears. Pretty sure that means he's still observing from Limbo, sharing all the updates with his quintet members through their telepathic bond. Must be their version of a compromise.
I continue healing, letting the holy magic welling inside of me course over the demigoddess like water that gathers in all the little cuts and the gash in her side, slowly mending everything in its path.
Since Maven is the furthest thing from a chatterbox, I settle into the familiar ebb and flow of healing.
I'm trying to stay relaxed and focused, as Pietro Amato once taught me was important.
But worries about Heidi and the others keep encroaching on my mind.
Kaenon clearly thinks that fucking incubus was here to give us a warning about staying away from Heidi.
I don't like that some monstrous psychopath is out there on the loose and could return any moment.
Once we find him, I'm going to kill him. I held myself back with Ryan, but with this fucker—
"If you're plotting a murder, at least invite me."
I realize Maven is right that I look murderous and tame my expression quickly, focusing on her injuries. "Not that I mind you freaks crashing Jada's place, but why couldn't you just heal this yourself? You don't suck as bad with holy magic spells anymore."
"I was tapped out," she admits.
"Of magic? You're a damned demigoddess. What the hell kind of fiend were you hunting in the Nether that you depleted your magic and almost lost your guts?"
Maven's typically unreadable expression darkens ever so slightly. "We weren't in the Nether. We've been hunting an incubus in this area. The full-blooded monster kind, not a legacy."
I freeze, looking at her.
"The one that escaped the excavation site in the Nether?"
She arches a brow. "Tell me what you know, and maybe I'll share."
As I finish healing Maven, I share everything Kaenon told me, and then I tell her exactly what happened just before they got here. When I'm done, she's thoughtful as she touches her newly-healed side, finally starting to regain some color in her face as she stands. I stand, too.
"Veld," she repeats his name, memorizing it with narrowed eyes. "He's surprisingly decent at fighting. He's also irritatingly elusive and stronger than Somnus was."
"Or maybe you're just losing your touch, Oh Mighty Living Weapon," I can't resist pointing out.
Maven's lips twitch at the trash talk before she fixes me with a serious look.
"Recently, Veld put an entire nearby town to sleep.
Lots of powerful casters, legacy incubi, and others have gathered there to try to wake the people.
No one has had any luck, but while we were there earlier, we found out that Veld has been…
doing things to the people under his influence.
Mostly to teen girls," she adds with a look of sheer disgust.
Sickness fills my stomach. "Motherfucker."
"He needs to die in the most drawn-out, excruciating way possible," she agrees. "We tracked him to a place near the sleeping town, where he was hiding out in Limbo. Crypt went into Limbo to draw him out, but Veld put him to sleep—"
"I didn't know it was even possible for that freak to sleep," I frown.
"It is, but like I said, Veld is a thousands-of-years-old incubus stronger than even Somnus was.
The fact that he can put another incubus to sleep is alarming.
" A flicker of murder crosses Maven's face as she goes on.
"When Crypt went silent through the bond, I had Silas use a spell to send me into Limbo.
I didn't want that fucking incubus to hurt him while he was unconscious.
Veld escaped fighting me when a couple of shades and wisps showed up.
I had to protect Crypt until he could wake up," she adds softly.
"And that fucker makes it hard to wake up," I mutter. "So, what's the plan to take him down? Whatever it is, I want in. That piece of shit needs to die before he comes anywhere near Heidi again."
Maven studies me for a moment before squinting. "You caught feelings for her."
What a fucking topic change. "Mind your business."
"I am. She's my sister-in-law, and I happen to like her."
I scowl. "Just tell me what the plan is for killing Veld."
"We're working on one," the demigoddess says, glancing at the doorway her quintet went through. "If we need to involve you, we will."
"Good." I pause before sighing. "Are you going to tell Everett about Heidi and me?"
"I'm a bitch, not a snitch. You'll tell him yourself. Thanks for the healing," she adds, already walking in the direction of the kitchen to rejoin the others.
Using one of the first spells every healer memorizes, I use magic to cleanse the blood left behind on Jada's wood floor, leaving it spotless before I decide it's been way too fucking long since I last held Heidi.
I need to see her smiling and acting like herself again.
I need her in my arms, kissing me, flirting with me, and calling me Buns of Steel or whatever silly shit she wants.
Gods, I just need her so much in every way, it's killing me.
Seeing her so terrified tonight has awoken something even more viciously protective inside me when it comes to her.
I'll talk to Everett later about resigning.
Worked up, I turn toward the stairs that lead down to the basement. But I stop when I see the scarred ice elemental leaving the kitchen. When Everett spots me, he opens his mouth, a curious frown on his face like he's about to ask a question.
Fuck it, I'll talk to him now.
Before he can ask me what we're doing here or why Ian answered my phone or anything else, I step in front of him and speak in a rush, needing to get this off my chest and get back to her.
"I quit."
Everett blinks, stopping dead in his tracks. "What?"
"I'm done being Heidi's bodyguard. Keep your damn money."
As much as I'm expecting this to be a big argument, I still respect the hell out of this guy for how worried he immediately looks on behalf of his sister. "Why the hell would you quit? You told me yourself about those assholes who showed up at her place. You know Heidi needs—"
"I know everything she needs. Let me clarify: I'm not going to get paid to protect your sister, because she’s all I can think about now, anyway.
From now on, she's going to be safer than any fucking person in this world—and you know what?
" I'm on a roll now, and I can't stop. "Ian would do anything to protect her, too, so I don't even want to hear you ask about why he's here or get mad just because he couldn't stay away from her.
How the hell was he supposed to? We're all fucking in love with her, so if you're here to bust my balls about—"
"I'm not here to bust your balls," he cuts in, still looking bewildered.
"You're not?"
"No, I came out here to look for Crypt, because he's not in the kitchen and he's not responding telepathically.
I thought…" He shakes his head like he's just catching up, pale blue gaze narrowing accusingly at me.
"Hang on, what do you mean, we? And what the fuck do you mean, you're in love with my sister? "
Might as well just say it. "I mean, we're together."
"You fucking—" Everett takes a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose like he's trying to calm down before he speaks evenly.
"Douglas. Heidi has never even been to a Seeking.
In fact, when I found out your dumb ass decided to bring her here with you instead of letting her stay safe at home, I decided I'd give it one last shot at persuading her to go to the Seeking being held tomorrow. "
Shit. I've been so wrapped up in everything with Heidi, I forgot it's tomorrow.
He goes on, glaring at me. "So fucking help me gods, if my sister has fated matches somewhere out there for her who would complete her soul and make her beyond happy, and you try to stop her from finding them—"
"I won't," I cut in. "I'm not standing in anyone's way. If Heidi goes to a Seeking and it turns out that she has matches out there, she'll be with them. But I'll be with her, too."
I would never get in the way of someone being with the ones the gods intended for them.
Not when I've wondered too many times how my mom's life would have ended differently, if she had just left my deadbeat father and gone to look for the legacies she might've been matched with, as an atypical caster.
Everett clenches his jaw tightly. "Will you?
Think logically here. You might change your tune if one day, you finally get your turn at a Seeking, too.
My sister is one of the few truly good people I've ever known.
She looks out for everyone and feels everything deeply.
So if you get her to fall for you, and then you each get matched to other people and have to separate, you might be fine moving on with whoever fate decides—but you'll break her fucking heart. "
I shake my head. "Nope. Not happening."
I could never hurt her like that.
"Don't give me that shit. How do you know—"
"I just know," I tell him, unyielding. "Nothing's going to fucking change how I feel about her. I'm sure about this, Frost. If the gods put your sister in a quintet that makes her happy, I'll be happy for her. We all will. But I'm not going anywhere. Whether you like it or not, Heidi is it for me."