Chapter 19 #2
“We need to get the fuck out of here and this bitch is mine.” Slash is talking through clenched teeth but his anger fades when Sage holds out her hand at him.
“Here you go, Slashy-poo.” Yeah, they definitely need some time apart if she’s handing over golden handcuffs.
“You’re my favorite female ever, little sorceress.”
Sage beams, trying to pull me up to a standing position when my muscles start twitching, but I’m not ready to move, yet.
“Cut. The shit.” My voice is clearer and my strength is coming back but I fucking hate being like this. All weak and shit.
“What was that back there? It looked like she was…no, that can’t be right.” Sage shakes her head like her own thought processes are too illogical to be true. Thing is, she has to learn to think like a kyn and not an anthros. If you can imagine it, it’s probably a reality in our world.
“Like she was sucking the literal life out of us?” Slash grits his teeth as he speaks. The sound of handcuffs snapping shut has me looking over at him and Baba Yaga.
“Ow, you brute of a demon.” The fucking gall of that witch.
“Shut the fuck up, Baba Yougottadieya.” He sniggers at the horrible name he just gave her because his anger comes back tenfold. “This bitch is using dark, evil fucking magic. I’d bet my ballsack that’s how she’s been staying alive all these fucking millennia. Stealing people’s lifeforce.”
I freeze at his words and Sage notices right away.
“Oops? I kinda forgot all about that.”
I don’t answer, just keep staring at her. She forgot…about being soul sucked for two millennia? It’s a good thing I’m too weak to have my muscles working or else I’d put my chosen over my knee with a well deserved spanking.
I see the exact moment her rage plays catch up and it’s not good for Baba Yaga. It’s like she’s pushed away any information that wasn’t immediately relevant and now it’s all coming to a head.
“Sage. No.” I force my voice to regain more strength, pulling it from I don’t fucking know where, but it gets my chosen’s attention.
For a second.
Sage stands, turns on her heel like a fucking general during an inspection, and makes a beeline straight for her surrogate mother.
“You heartless, mean, selfish, unbelievably…unethically…” I think she’s at a loss for words, just stuttering, searching for the right explicative.
“I think the word you’re looking for is cunt. C.U.N.T.” The calm in Slash’s words is completely out of place with Sage’s ire literally glowing off her skin. Slash cocks a brow at me as he holds Baba Yaga down, and that’s when I know, he gets it. This is not good. For any of us.
Turning his captive away from Sage, Slash puts himself between the two females while I try to get my fucking weak ass up off this ground. Once I do, I wrap my arms around my chosen and turn her away.
“Not worth it, Satapti. Not now. Not like this.” I speak softly. Not by choice, but out of necessity. When twin rivulets of tears cascade down her cheeks, my heart breaks for her. I can feel the devastation as though I were feeling it myself. And with the way we’re bonded, I kind of am.
“I thought whatever hex I had was for some greater evil, a dooming prophecy or, I don’t know, something so much bigger than the two of us.
Like, all the lost lives and stolen years had a purpose somehow.
” She sniffles and the sad girl in her is suddenly gone, replaced by the goddess witch with the eyes of two worlds.
“But it’s not. It was selfish. It was about ego and, and…
oh my goddess, Hack. I wasn’t just cursed, I was the hex. ”
My hands on either side of her face, cupping her cheeks, I kiss away the remaining tears before whispering, “Hack and Hex, we make the perfect pair.” Because fuck it, our past and our suffering has only made our bond stronger and for that, I’ll embrace all the pain we had to go through.
“Hack and Hex, huh?” There’s my girl with the mismatched eyes and the smile that blinds.
“Why not? It fits.” Standing on her tiptoes, she brings her lips to mine, and the moment we taste each other, it feels like the rest of the world just fades away.
Well, almost.
“Fucking hell, can we get out of here now?”
I ignore Slash. He’s just jealous because after a fight, he needs to fuck and I don’t think Baba is his type.
“Come on, Zelos. Let me take you home.” I palm the back of Sage’s head and pull her in for a quick kiss before slowly walking along with her, my limbs carrying my weight without too much trouble.
When Trina flits around us, I realize nobody’s thanked her for her contribution, too busy in our own little world.
“Thank you, Trina. Without you, I don’t think we could have made it out safely.” When I look around, I realize we’re no longer inside a cave; that shit’s been blown to bits. We’re somewhere on Earth by the looks of it. Although, where, exactly, is impossible to know.
“You’re so welcome, young demon. I can now turn myself in. But if I could…just one favor?” We’re walking over rubble, exploded rocks of all sizes crunching beneath our feet. Behind Sage and me is Slash, roughing up a magic locked Baba Yaga, and he’s left his manners at the proverbial door.
“Of course. Anything,” I tell her, and with every passing second, my strength comes back to me.
“When the time comes for my George to pass over, could you put in a good word for him and have him placed next to me in the Great Library?”
Making promises I have no control in keeping isn’t ever in my best interest but I can promise to try like hell.
“I’ll do everything in my power but, Trina, that’s not much considering I hold no power among the soulkeepers of the Great Library. You understand?”
“I do, young demon, but you are inventive. I’m sure you’ll find a way.
” She smiles and nods to my hand. “My darling Sage. My work here is done. Know that meeting you and Danika was my greatest gift outside of my husband and daughter. Be a kind queen. A good leader. And when the time comes, be a loving mother.”
“Does this mean you aren’t my spirit guide? And what do you mean by queen?” Sage’s eyes are wide, filling with unshed tears.
“Always full of questions.” Trina shakes her head with a light chuckle.
“Thank you, Trina. For everything. I love you!” Sage’s voice is raw and it hitches on her last word. I wish I could shelter her from the pain of losing a parent—because that’s what Trina was to her when Sage was a human—but, alas, these are life’s obstacles that force us to grow.
As I hold my hand up, Trina’s soul flits around before diving into the globe of light.
“Oh, that reminds me.” By this time, I’m fully back to my normal capacity and I can’t help myself so I don’t. Swinging Sage around, I pick her up and carry her like she’s my bride.
“Of what, Satapti?” I take the opportunity to slam my mouth against hers and devour her with a hungry kiss. It’s been too long—hours for sure, probably days—since last I tasted her, and every second away from her feels like an eternity.
She pushes me away, breaking our kiss, and there’s no stopping the growl that follows.
“I just found out that Atlantis is my father.”
I freeze and my brain has a difficult time processing that information.
“That’s some crazy shit, right, brother?” I ignore Slash and his lighthearted quip.
“What did you just say?” She’s going to have to repeat that because I thought I heard that the Grandei of all kyn, the ruler of rulers, and the father of all angels is my chosen one’s fucking father.
That can’t be right.
It better not be right because if it is, we are all fucked.