Chapter Thirty-Six
Hyacinth
Hyacinth stared at the mirror, unable to look away.
She didn’t remember getting out of bed, but she currently stood in a fresh nightgown, hands wrapped around the frame of the mirror, eyes locked on the woman lingering on the other side.
Sabine stood, dripping wet with crimson painting her mouth.
Teeth filed down to sharp points, a shark’s smile curling broader on the dead woman’s face.
Her eyes were deep set, nearly hollow as if she’d tried to claw them out already.
“The cleric,” Hyacinth finally asked, watching Sabine’s mouth screw up. “What happened? Why did you kill him?”
“He wouldn’t go away,” Sabine snarled, shoulders hunched. “He began to ask questions.”
“So, you killed him. You killed all of them. Why?” Hyacinth’s voice cracked in the middle helpless to tear away from the evil reflection.
“Because they’re all nutrients. They’re all food!
Food for my grove, for my magic! You wouldn’t understand, you thief.
You vermin, crawling around in my body. Allowing them to desiccate it and violate it with their crude spells!
” She lurched forward at the glass only to slam her face against its surface.
Sabine roared out in pain, and Hyacinth also felt it.
Her forehead ached and she winced involuntarily.
Sabine shrieked, “You are nothing but a thief!”
“I didn’t steal anything!” Hyacinth snapped, rattling the mirror.
“You! Stole! My! Body!” Sabine thrashed on her end of the mirror.
The room glowed in red; the moon completely painted in blood as it trickled in through the nearby window.
“I will rip you from my corpse. I will rend that pathetic creature in your bed into pieces. I will shred and tear and destroy everything in this pathetic manor, then, once I am free of this prison, I will feast on all of those in King’s Fall as penance.
Starting with that meddling Lord Commander.
And once I’ve slurped up his massive heart, I’ll hang his lovers from my branches and let their life force replenish my tree. ”
Hyacinth finally stumbled back from the mirror.
Her hands flailed out at her sides, but she fell regardless.
The sudden thwack to her backside did nothing but jar her out of the trance.
Peddling her feet backward, Hyacinth raced to get away from Sabine as she stepped out of the mirror.
All broken and jagged edges. The crack-crack-crack of her bones as bowed legs stumbled forward.
Her hands stretched out to her, hair falling in front of the haunted woman’s face. Sabine crawled after Hyacinth.
Panting for air, tears welling in her eyes, Hyacinth dragged herself back…
back…back from the mirror till her back hit a firm surface.
When she foolishly glanced over her shoulder, she found Austin in the way.
He laid across the floor, splayed open and picked for parts like a vulture ripped him open.
Hyacinth screamed. Hands reaching through her hair, fingers curled around her face and dragged her back toward the mirror.
She fought, pulling at the digits digging into her skin.
Blood dribbled onto her face. Hyacinth shrieked louder, thrashing left and right. “No! No! NO!”
“Hyacinth?”
Her forehead smacked against the bathroom mirror and Hyacinth gasped, rearing back.
She stood in the washroom, wide eyed, and dripping wet.
Everything from her hair to her nightgown was drenched.
Not in sweat, she realized, as she spotted the bath-tub she’d filled up to the edge.
Bubbles sloshed over the side like something recently wrestled in it.
She could see the trail of water from where she climbed out of the basin.
Hyacinth finally glanced forward. Blink, blink. The mirror was cracked.
Austin reached around her, worry etched into his face. He plucked two glass shards out of her forehead. “My flower…”
“She’s trying to take my body back,” Hyacinth murmured. Lightning cut through the darkness in the bathroom, the window to the outside illuminated in sharp white. Then it softened to a slate gray as rain pelted the side of the house. How? “It doesn’t make any sense.”
She wasn’t even sure when she woke up. The last thing she remembered was climbing the stairs, then settling into bed. She laid there, petting snuffles ontop of Austin’s chest, and then…nothing. Everything went blank. Somehow she went from deep sleep to forehead cracked against the mirror.
“Let me help,” he murmured, not answering her internal question.
How?! Instead, Austin turned her around, peeling the drenched fabric back up her body.
It slapped against the sink as he dropped it in the bowl.
Hyacinth shivered, every inch of her terribly cold.
She shuffled forward, stuffing herself into his embrace.
Austin was dabbing her hair dry with a towel while she practically buried herself in his soft belly.
Soaking up any warmth his body could produce; she tried to calm down her thundering heart.
“What’s different? Why couldn’t she possess me back at the temple?” She muttered to herself as Austin pulled away. Only enough to catch her wandering gaze, he smiled apologetically. He’s so tender, so kind. He’s so patient. Hyacinth cocked a brow, searching his face for more answers. “What?”
“Well, maybe there was something interrupting her? I know when Lord Rosemont is trying to animate something, if he gets interrupted or if there’s a barrier, something blocking him out, he can’t do it. So…maybe you’re blocking her?”
“So why can’t I block her now?” Hyacinth threw her arms out to her side before slapping her hands against her naked sides.
Austin’s eyes dropped at the sound and for a moment, she could tell he was memorizing her body again.
He always does this, like he’s not seen it a hundred times.
It made her chest warm and thighs clench to witness his lips curl just an inch more than they were before at the sight.
I swear, it’s like a switch with him, one moment I am buzzing with thoughts and questions and worry, the next I’m flipped and the only thing I care about is him touching me.
Then his gaze returned to her face, slightly hungrier.
What I wouldn’t give for him to fuck her right out of my head.
Wait…
Oh…that…that can’t be it.
Hyacinth sucked in a shaky breath as she stepped back from Austin.
His face was soft, eyebrows knitted in confusion.
Until she sat on the edge of the sink, angling her shoulders to make her breasts pop.
His gaze dropped to them again, making that wonderful buzzing return to her core.
Her cunt hummed to life, begging to be touched already.
“Austin, what if it’s not me that was blocking her. ”
“What do you mean?” He blinked rapidly, laughing sheepishly as his attention darted back up to her face.
“What if it’s you? The times I noticed she was gone…were directly after you and I had sex.”
“So…that means…” Austin trailed off, sauntering forward till he stood in front of her again.
Putting his hands on the counter outside her hips, he grinned down at her.
It wasn’t his usual sweet, playful smile, or even the nervous one he sometimes flashed her.
This one was confident. Hungry. He let out a shaky breath as he loomed over her completely.
“You should tell me to fuck you against this counter. So, we can see if your theory holds.”
Hyacinth hung her head back to be able to look him in the face. “I should?”
“Well,” he laughed breathlessly, red eyes roaming her body once more.
He took an extra moment to study the curls at the apex of her thighs before they crawled back up.
Across her stomach that tightened in suspense.
Over her nipples that hardened at the suggestion that he might touch them.
Landing on her lips that suddenly felt very lonely, he spoke.
“Lord Rosemont teaches that all scientific exploration is about theory and experimentation. How will we know if it’s true if we don’t try. And try a lot, actually.”
“You’re just saying that because you want me to tell you how to fuck me here on this counter,” she teased.
“Desperately. Yes. I very much do. So very much.” he babbled, hips grinding forward so she could feel his cock hard in his pants. “But also to keep you safe. So very safe.”
Hyacinth giggled, pushing herself a little further back on the counter so she could wrap her legs around his waist. I like this experiment.
Austin took ahold of her hips, their mouths falling together like magnets.
Attracted to each other without hesitation, their kiss was electricity.
Her veins were alive with want and desire.
Even if this doesn’t work, even if it’s just a coincidence that I fucked Austin in the woods, then Sabine couldn’t manifest…
I want this. To feel herself so grounded in her body, to feel ownership of it once more, that was worth it.
Plus, she’d be lying if she wasn’t considering it back in the lab. Only he’d been so exhausted, she didn’t want to strain his body.
“Austin,” she murmured against his mouth. “Fuck me on this counter.”
“I was hoping you’d say that,” he groaned.
Austin tugged her across the cold marble till she was teetering back, barely an inch of her cheeks on the counter.
His fingers curved around the globes of her ass, hoisting her up.
Their kiss deepened, teeth scraping together.
There was a crunch behind her, like something was throwing itself against the mirror.
The sound of it was muffled by Austin moaning into her open mouth.
Their tongues tangling till she managed to pop open the front of his pants.
Without ripping them; you’re welcome, Aggie.