Chapter 51 Lennox
LENNOX
“Is that your guy’s thing? Fucking after something traumatic happens?”
“Excuse me?” Luce didn’t look up from her book from where she sat, her legs perched on a stool in the corner.
“I feel like every time something dramatic happens to the two of you, you have to fuck it out.”
“Fuck it out.” Luka placed a kiss behind my ear. “I like that one, I’m going to use that.”
I swatted him away gently. “You will not use that.” I snapped my gaze to Luce. “We were not ‘fucking it out,’ I was sucking his cock while he was eating me out.”
Luce’s face went red as Nico keeled over in laughter.
Nol scrubbed a hand over his face. “This is never going to stop, is it? I’m going to have to hear about my sister’s sex life for as long as I hang out around you lot.”
“Sorry, Nol.”
Kara snickered into her hand. “I want details later, Lennox.”
“Make sure you tell her how I made you scream—”
“Anyways.” I pushed Luka away, my own cheeks flushing at the thoughts he was attempting to put into my head. “Declan, what’s the update on the army after the attack? How many loses did you account for?”
Part of me didn’t even want to know, but when we returned Declan had eluded to a significant amount of loses, but told me not to be concerned and focus on Luka first.
“I debriefed with everyone, they were caught off guard by the attack, but they all did well. They learned a lot.”
“How many loses?” I pressed again.
“Fifty-three.”
I sucked in a breath. It could be more, I reminded myself.
“Luce, where are we at figuring out this whole Keziq debacle? She and Adreona now have everything they need to reverse the spell that created vampires, we need to figure out how—if we can kill her.”
“I haven’t had a lot of time to look into any of my books on Ichor magic about her spell linking her life to others—it might take some time, but I had another idea.”
Luce rose from the chair, closing her book and placing it on the table in the center of the tent. “I think we need to summon Lennox’s best friend.”
“I’m already here.” Nico puffed out his chest.
“I mean Astria, you oaf.”
“I need you all to get your affairs in order sooner rather than later. I’m starting to get annoyed by all these disruptions.”
“Well tough fucking luck, you’re the Goddess, you bend to our will.”
Astria’s starry eyes narrowed as she met my gaze. “I think it’s the other way around, child.”
“Can you guys stop your face off so we can get to the point?” I continued to meet Astria’s gaze as Luce came to my side.
“Fine, but only because we need her help.”
“You always need my help.”
I bit back a snarl as Luka’s hand came across my stomach, holding me back. “It’s me you have to thank for marrying the vampire, hmm? For finding your mate.”
I brushed back Luka’s arm, striding closer to Astria. “I found my way to him all on my own, you—”
“Lennox, now is not the time.” Kara’s tone was sharp.
“I don’t know, I’d like to see her beat the Goddess’s stary ass.”
“Nico!” Luce scolded. “You are all acting like a horde of children. Stop it!”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Fine, Luce you do the talking.”
“Gladly.” She shook her head at me before turning her attention back to the Goddess. “How much of the shit show have you been watching from the sky?”
Astria inspected her nails. “Some.”
Luce blew out a breath as I bit my tongue to keep from snapping at her.
“Well, let me fill you in. Luka bound his life to the witch Keziq, she has lived countless lives by linking her lives to those of others. He didn’t know it at the time, but he did it, and now his life is linked to hers.
We need to know if killing her will kill him. ”
“No, killing Keziq will not kill, Luka.”
I let out the breath I’d been holding. I felt like I’d been holding it since we found out Luka and Keziq were linked.
“But you cannot simply kill Keziq. If you kill her she still has more lives to live out. She will only be dead temporarily. She cannot truly be killed until the last of her lifelines are also dead.”
“How many lives does she still have to live? How many souls has she harvested?”
“That, I do not know. That kind of magic is not mine. My magic only allows me to see so much.”
Fuck. We wouldn’t get anywhere without figuring out how many lives she still had. And who they were.
“But she’s using Ichor magic, right?” I could see it on Luce’s face, she was working out something. Her brows were furrowed, her eyes drawn, face pinched.
Astria nodded.
“Astria might not be able to help us, but I know someone who might be able to.” Luce met my gaze. “Hecate.”
“Astria, what in the stars is this about?”
Hecate froze when she realized she was not alone with the Goddess. “What is the meaning of this?” She spun in a circle, taking us all in.
“They had a question I could not help them with. I summoned you here to answer it for them.”
“What makes you think I can answer a question you can’t?”
“It’s a question about Ichor magic.” Luce stepped into the light, closer to Hecate.
“What about it?” The original witch’s forehead creased.
“There is a witch who has been using Ichor magic to link her lives to others so she can live endlessly.”
Hecate’s mouth set in a firm line. “A spell as such was never meant to be used.”
“But you know of it?” I pressed.
“Yes, I know of it.”
“Luka’s life is tied to this witch,” Luce continued.
“And she’s the witch who’s assisting Adreona in eliminating vampires. She has Astria’s journals. If she is successful, vampires will cease to exist. So we need to kill her and sever any other links to other lives she has.”
“So you want to know how many lives she has left and who those lives are.”
“Yes.”
“I have to touch her, see into her mind to find the information.”
“But if you do, you can see how many lives she has connected to her, and who they are?” I tried my best to keep my hope down. Only a rare few things had gone our way lately, there was still a chance this would fail.
Hecate nodded.
“We can’t let her know we know her secret, not yet. We need to use this information as a weapon against her,” I continued. We needed any advantage we could get over them.
“I see.” She tapped a long brown finger on her chin. “Wait here.” With the snap of her fingers, she was gone.
“I hate it when she does that,” Luka mused.
“I think it’s kind of cool,” Nico said as he fell back into one of the chairs around the table.
The fire once roaring in the tent was nothing but smoldering embers now, as we continued to wait for Hecate to reappear.
Nico fiddled with a coin on the table, spinning it and trying to stop it with his finger without it falling. “How long is this going to take?”
Astria shrugged. “I don’t control Hecate. Anyone who tries to doesn’t value their life.”
The flaps of the tent rustled, Hecate’s form appearing before us once again.
“Took you long enough.”
“You wanted your secret kept, so I had to be careful, princess.” Hecate’s red eyes narrowed at Luce.
I stood. “Where did you go, what did you do?”
“I went to go pay Keziq a visit.”
“You did what?” I all but seethed.
“What did you think I was doing?”
“I told you not to alert her that we know her secret!”
“Which is why it took me so long. I waited until she was sleeping before sneaking into her room. Have some faith, Lennox Adair.”
“What did you find out?” Luka rose to my side.
“There is good and bad news. The good news is, she only has two more lives linked to hers, and her magic will not allow her to link any more lives. The Ichor magic has taken too much from her, trying again might take what life she has left.” Her gaze flickered to Luce.
“So once you sever those two ties, Keziq will cease to exist.”
“What’s the bad news?” Kara pressed.
I already knew what the bad news was. She didn’t even have to say it. Keziq might have only two more lives linked to hers, but one of those lives was Luka’s.