Chapter 1 #2
Jessamine took her time looking through every single spell he’d chaotically spread around them. There had to be a weak spot. Leon wasn’t that smart, and something as random as this couldn’t keep him entirely protected. Could it?
He continued etching his markings on the ground, but then she saw it. Of course there was a hole. All she had to do was make sure not to step on that rune that looked like it was meant to summon crows, and she could get into the inner circle.
A warmth pressed against her spine, and she knew who it was without looking back. The ominous wall of crackling energy could only be one person.
“Careful, nightmare,” Elric murmured in her ear as he snaked a hand around her waist. “We won’t want to ruin the art of surprise.”
“I don’t need him surprised to kill him.”
“Arrogance gets you nowhere.”
“Confidence,” she corrected before turning to press a kiss to his cheek. “Let me work, Deathless One.”
He melted back into the shadows, ready to be there when she needed him, and Jessamine steeled herself for the confrontation she’d been waiting for.
She’d run from Leon at Fortuna’s party in the Pleasure District.
Even now, she could feel her palms growing sweaty.
He’d always had that effect on her. No matter how confident she was when she went into a conversation with Leon Bishop, she always left feeling much smaller than she really was.
But not this time. This time, she would walk right up to him and tell him exactly what she thought of him.
She picked her way through the runes, walking with her chin held high in case he saw her. But he didn’t. Leon was looking at the ground, checking every single etching because his spell had to go right. After all, he was summoning a god.
When Jessamine finally got within eyesight, she stood there and waited for him to turn.
Leon Bishop had always been a handsome man.
Once upon a time, she’d been girlishly intrigued by his blond hair and soft blue eyes.
Though she’d never thought him particularly her type, she’d been certain she could figure out a way to admire him.
They’d need to have children, after all.
But when those blue eyes looked into hers now, all she saw was the hardness and frustration in his gaze. He wasn’t even shocked. Like he hadn’t cut her throat and thrown her off a cliff’s edge.
She frowned. “You’re not even going to ask how I’m here?”
“Jessamine. I’m a little busy right now.”
“You killed me.”
Leon waved a hand up and down her body. “Clearly not.”
Anger made her ears hot. How dare he. How dare he not even be surprised that she was alive!
“You’ve got a lot of nerve,” she hissed. “How dare you act like it’s to be expected that I survived you cutting my throat and throwing me off a cliff.”
“You coming back to life is old news, Jessamine. I’ve known for a long time that you made a deal with your Deathless God.
But that’s fine.” He even had the audacity to chuckle.
“You’re not going to stop me. I suppose it is kind of you to show up here, after all this time.
It’s good to see you. I wish I could say you looked good, but… obviously you don’t.”
Why did that make her want to punch him in the throat? She didn’t care if he thought she looked good. She didn’t care what he thought of her at all. Getting angry over what a stupid man thought of her was a waste of energy.
Jessamine coiled magic through her fingers, threading it between each digit. She would wrap it around him, bind him to the ground so she could figure out what he wanted from her.
“Oh, we’re not doing that,” Leon said.
And then flicked his fingers.
She felt the magic tangling around her before she was yanked farther into the circle he’d been drawing.
Power crackled around her shoulders, sparking like tiny zings of lightning as she was dragged to his side.
Her feet left marks on the ground as she struggled, but soon enough, he had his arm wrapped around her and spun her around to see three witches flinging spells to get to her.
Fire burned on one side of the garden. More plants grew, fighting to get through the runes that were activating wildly. And then there was Sybil, her face creased with rage as she ran through every spell she knew of to destroy all the runes without them hurting Jessamine.
“You brought so few people to stop me,” he murmured in her ear. “And you really believed that you could.”
“I don’t need anyone other than myself to kill you.” She struggled in his grip, but his arm was a band around her, and that damn spell really was a good one.
“Oh, Jessamine. Do you really believe I’d give all the remaining sorcery to Fortuna?
I have some of my own. Magic is magic, after all.
Even if it means consuming an old biddy to get it.
” Leon’s grip tightened, and cold, sharp metal touched her throat.
“I already did this once. It’s such a waste to do it again.
But maybe you’ll stay dead long enough to awaken and meet the God King yourself. ”
“You are not going to kill me this time,” she hissed, her fingers curving around a knife in her waistband. If she could just get her arm to move, then she could pull it out and stab it into his gut.
“You couldn’t stop me last time, Jessamine. What’s going to stop me now?”
Leon’s wrist moved, that cold metal slicing through her skin until it froze. A dark hand covered his own, shadows soon bleeding into flesh as another coalesced into being beside them.
Elric’s face was creased with rage. His dark eyes were endless pools, and his entire being vibrated with bloated magic as he barely kept himself in check. Although it was clear he wanted to tear Leon’s head from his shoulders.
Her god, her lover, her most beloved being snarled, “Last time, she didn’t have me.”