Yours to Command
Time was frozen again, but unlike the last few times, it wasn’t because of me.
I entered the cleared space surrounded by trees and found Cash’s tantalizing figure cast entirely in moonlight.
His hair seemed to adopt the same glow as the bright white moon in the night sky.
His purple cat eyes shot over to me the second I entered his magical barrier.
It was an electric sensation, but the feeling of his magic was oddly comforting—like a warm, welcoming embrace.
In his hand was another one of his cute river rocks, but this one looked more gem than rock the closer I got.
I eyed the vibrating stone with an inquisitive eyebrow and sassy smirk. “Is all of this really necessary?”
His lips twitched. “It is. Harmony isn’t someone you should ever underestimate, love.”
“Fair enough.” I stopped a few feet short of him.
Cash seemed unnaturally conflicted for a moment, but then he took a step closer. “V, Big said that when he dusted you, you thought of me. Is that true?”
It took me a second to figure out what he meant. “Oh, dusted…Goth Tinkerbell Dude…right.” I hesitated before answering, “Yes. I’m not sure why that’s important, but I figured you’d be—”
“Safe,” he finished before I could.
For some reason, the word brought heat to my cheeks, and I turned my head to keep my red face from giving me away. “Yeah, I guess. But what does that have to do with anything?”
Suddenly, there wasn’t any space left between us. Cash was bent over me, his heat radiating off mine. His hands eclipsed my face, bringing our eyes together in an instant. “You might not understand its significance, love, but I do. It means more than you could ever know.”
When his thumbs brushed across my cheeks, my heart couldn’t figure out a rhythm. My face was on fire.
Why was this man so damn pretty all of the sudden?
Wait, is he…sparkling? My eyes did a confused sweep.
Oh. My. God. He’s fucking sparkling. Was that normal?
Did people just sparkle out of nowhere? Looking around, it was almost like I’d stepped into one of my K-Dramas.
He was a-glitter, and I wasn’t sure if my eyes were having issues, or if he’d used magic to put his body on some weird sparkle filter.
More importantly, why was I just standing here like a dumb asshole who’d never seen a hot guy in my life?
I’d been in this position plenty of times before.
Pretty dudes coming out of my ears some might argue.
But with him it was weirdly new. Foreign.
Forbidden. I wasn’t supposed to be here with him like this.
Not sober, anyway.
I should’ve pushed Cash away, but I was frozen to the spot. I waited with bated breath wondering if he’d kiss me again. Like, really kiss me. I wasn’t fighting back. I hadn’t moved my body in seconds. And as a supernatural badass, that was basically hours.
Did I want him to kiss me? Oh fuck, I did. Was I really this stupid? Could I actually be interested in the guy who’s shrill cry of indignation accompanied every single day I spent with him?
What the fuck am I doing right now?
“V,” he whispered, almost as if the mere mention of my name released tension in his body.
His gorgeous eyes shut, and a breath escaped his mouth, the tension in his body gone.
Then his mesmerizing irises beamed their purple iridescence my direction again.
“I might never deserve your trust, but I can promise that you’ll always have mine.
Which is why what I’m about to give you is something that no one…
” His piercing eyes stayed with mine, making the seconds of silence feel excruciatingly slow as he took another breath and then continued, “And I mean no one has ever been freely given by me.”
My eyes strayed to his lips before I managed to rein in the treacherous things. “Ah, okay,” I muttered lamely. “And what’s that, exactly?”
His thumb swept across my bottom lip. It was hardly a touch at all, but it was electrifying. I barely kept myself from shivering. Nothing with Sloan, Phillip, or Jo prepared me for Cash. I was navigating new waters…yet again.
Hope I don’t drown.
Cash’s mouth tilted. “First, I need you to know a few things. I was as bad as Big said. The realm calls magic types like myself Hands of Death. Death is where I find the greatest strength, and for a very long time, I used it without care of who it hurt. Harmony exploited that with her pheromones. She made me her pet, the bloody hag.”
Not sure what I expected, but that wasn’t it. “You were one of her pets?”
“Her favorite for a long time, yes. Centuries, in fact. She stole my magic and made it impossible for me to escape. I digress, at one stage, I gave up trying to free myself for a time because complying was less painful.”
Less painful? Holy shit.
I opened and closed my mouth. “You said she stole your magic, but how?”
“Yes. That’s one of her most volatile abilities. She can lock anyone’s power into an item. And when I say anyone, love, I mean anyone. Ancient Fae included. Her pheromones, it's impossible to repel them. Many have tried and none succeeded. Yet, anyway.”
The last statement felt significant, but he carried on as if it wasn’t.
“The thing is, I have a similar ability. It’s why Eros saw fit to use me.
I can create enchanted items with the power I steal from the dead.
But unlike her, it can be used. And as you personally witnessed, I can do much more than that.
It was the very reason Fae kind are so afraid of Hands of Death.
The magic we wield is strengthened by death, made powerful through pain and destruction, and while I’m not proud of it, I spent centuries using it to do whatever benefitted me most. Perhaps humans would call what I did as something closely aligning with a pirate.
I rarely did anything without a personal agenda. ”
Cash, a pirate? Did he plunder and travel the Fae seas? Hilarious. It weirdly fit him.
I knew his past wasn’t shiny and bright—far from it—but it was hard to hear Cash had been a villain like Phillip always said he was. How many lives had he stolen? How many people had he hurt to serve his purposes? But I couldn’t ask because what I did as a Hunter wasn’t any better.
My family had been a part of the Organization, no matter how much we wished we hadn’t, and I couldn’t argue that our hands were clean.
Hell, I was the product of human experimentation, so I fucking knew these hands of mine weren’t clean.
Who knew what countless acts Grams and my parents had committed in the name of being a Hunter.
How many humans and supernatural kind were harmed or even killed under the guise of a mission with a nefarious agenda?
I didn’t have the moral high ground here, but I was actively seeking to right the wrongs, and maybe that was the reason his admission gave me pause.
He didn’t need to tell me, but he did. He could’ve kept it to himself and pretended otherwise, but he didn’t.
The man in front of me wasn’t the pirate he’d been in the past, and that had to count for something.
His support might’ve been born from self-serving reasons, but even I could see that wasn’t the case anymore.
If I didn’t give him a chance to show me that he wasn’t the man he’d once been, I’d be a goddamn hypocrite.
Maybe it was wishful thinking because he’d etched his name on my heart, but I wanted to believe that Cash had changed; that he was here to do what we all were doing—punishing the true villains behind countless acts of violence.
Cash sighed, catching my attention again.
“That old slag knew that if I’d been given the chance to use my power, I’d gain my freedom.
She’s frustratingly clever, so she locked it away before I could.
That amulet I recovered from Fredrick was where she’d stored most of my magic, and it’s why I can now do more than I ever could.
That’s why Phillip was never aware I had such a power, and it’s why the she-devil looks at me the way she does now.
She’s also just as terrifyingly astute as Harmony is. ”
Jo knew? That would explain why she was wary around Cash since we’d returned.
She saw his magic when we fought Serine and her cloaked dead, and based purely on what I knew about her, she’d figured out he was a Hand of Death.
I’d seen how quickly she put things together—faster than Sloan or Phillip—so I wasn’t the least bit surprised.
But why hadn’t she said anything?
Cash’s words put me on edge, and I caught myself looking back the direction Phillip and Jo were.
Would they be safe now that his powers had returned?
Was I stupid for trusting him despite knowing his past?
Would this be a mistake I made that got someone I cared about killed?
Another betrayal that would live in my head for the rest of my life?
As if he’d read my mind, Cash took gentle hold of my jaw and turned my head back towards his.
“You’re my clever little darling, so of course this has made you wonder ‘Can I trust him?’ but that’s why it’s important you hear me out.
Remember when I said you’ll get something I’ve never freely given anyone else?
I meant that, love. I’m not asking you to take me at my word, but these powers I recovered, their yours.
I’ve only ever used them for myself, but…
if you permit me to, you’ll be the first person I choose to commit all this power to. Let me be your shield and sword.”
My eyes widened.