Incendiary (The Premonition Series (Volume 4)) (109 page)

As I
sit up, my head throbs
painfully. Using my trembling hands, I rest my head in them, hoping that the world will stop spinning. From the corner of my eye, I see an armored Power angel
flyin
g low to the ground near me. His
forward trajectory
switches
in the sky as a hu
l
king Seraph broadsides
him.
They rapidly lose altitude, plumm
eting towards me.

When
t
he angels
tumble to the ground only
a few
feet away
, my hands go up to cover m
y head and I brace myself for their
impact
. Rather than being crushed by them
, I’m scooped up and thrown over someone’
s shoulder. My cheek rests against his strong, blood-colored
wing.
Yelling in Angel echoes in the air as carnage from the war waging around me litters the ground.

“Mo
chroí
,”
the soft voice echoes in my skull like it’s being amplified.

No longer slung over an angel’s shoulder, I awake in my bed, but
I’m
not in my room
in Crestwood
. The bed is in the middle of the battlefield
I’d just awoken to. A thin, white
sheet
barely covers
me as I sit up
against
the pillow
s
with a jerk.

I feel Brennus
in my bones before I ever see him. I breathe him in; his exotic scent makes my skin dance to touch him. I could paint him red and he wouldn’t be anymore startling to me. Brennus’ black,
velvety
wings float around him as dark as a shadow in the night. They’re nearly as black as his hair.

His iridescent green eyes drink in every inch of me. I clutch the stark white sheet to my breasts to cover them, only to find as I look d
own that it’s nearly
translucent
. I push my long auburn hair over my shoulders to cover them. “Ach, Genevieve, have I na told ye before dat yer attempts to hide ye
r beauty from me are made in va
in
? Ye only succeed in looking more seductive.”

“Where are we?” I ask, moistening my lips that have suddenly gone dry. I’m still in my bed, but I’m far from my room.

“Ye tell me, ’tis yer dream,” Brennus smiles nef
ariously as I gaze around in trepidation
. “As soon as I entered dis nightmare, it began to crash down around me—Heave
n is secretive, but I was able ta
discern enough.”

“What did you see?” I ask him.

I shiver and he smiles. “’Tis na a pleasant future. Welcome ta da new age
, eh?
’Twould appear dat tomorrow has been cancelled
.” Brennus lifts
his
eye
brow, looking around as the dream
scape surrounding us is changing, turning from
catastrophic
destruction to a haze and b
lur of shapes. Dust swirl
s in the
wasteland.

“How di
d you enter my dream?” I ask
, deciding to focus on the least scary of everything I’m seeing around me.

“I was worried dat da other
wouldna be able ta save ye. I have been to da aingeal house, but dere are layers of magic surrounding it. I couldn’t be certain it was yer magic. Da other
has a similar scent ta his spells
.”

“Magic has a scent?” I ask.

“It does,” he nods. “Yers is exotic—intoxicating.”

“Yo
u didn’t know I survived?” I cringe inwardly. He’
s been here at the house
s
tudying us
.

“I have been going out
of me mind wi’ worry over it. Me
year
n
ing for ye
w
as so strong dat I had ta find a way ta quench it. I
retrieved
one
of da perfume bottle
s
ye gave ta
me.”

“The ones with my blood?” I ask
with my heart skipping a beat.

“The
moment
I tasted ye on me tongue, I felt ye.
I lay
down and shut me eyes and tought o’ ye. I tought of da way ye smile, da wa
y ye walk, da turn yer eyebrow t
akes when ye’re angry.
It made me heart ache. I was afraid ye died. Dere was a pull
within me...here,” he says, indicating his heart as he lays his hand over it, “
...and I followed it.
..ta
ye
—
ta
dis place
.” He opens his arms, looking around at the contours of my dreamscape.
“Me heart aches without ye
.
”

I’m an i
diot,
I think.
I gave him a gift that provides
him a means to reach me—to get inside my head—my dreams.

“It’s a crue
l world, Brennus. Imagine how
my heart
felt when you tried to kill me,” I murmur, watching him warily as he turns toward me and smiles again.

“’Tis a violent
world, Genevieve. Dat’s why I’m here. I’ve found out a few tings. Tings ye need ta know.”

“Oh?” I ask, stalling for time so I can try to figure out how to wake up from this nightmare. I pinch my arm
hard, but nothing happens except now my arm hurts.

“Have ye na learned yet dat ’tis
us against dem?” he asks me
earnestly
.

My mouth hangs open u
n
til I snap it closed.
“No,” I say heatedly. “I thought it was me against you.”

Brennus frowns, “’Tis na.
We’re on the same side. Ye’re me queen.”

“I’m not your queen! You tried to kill me. I’m divorcing you or dethroning you—whatever! We’re done!”

“Ye really hurt me
. No one has hurt me like dat—ever
,” Brennus says as
he draws nearer
.
His skin is a softer color
; it’s not just the lighting.
His bare chest is like that of an angel’s.
It’s almost like he burns brighter now.
His wings move with an elegance that would be hard to copy. He notices me staring at them. A crooked smile crosses his lips as he says, “But, den, ye gave me back me wings...dey’re na da same color as was
born ta me
—dey once were white
.
”

“Do
they work? Can you use them
?
”
I ask, bi
ting my
lower lip
lightly
b
ecause I have an impulse to go
to him and pet his wings to see if they’re soft like velvet
—b
lack velvet.

“
Oh, dey work grand
,” he says, “dey’
re stronger da
n me old ones. Finn is jealous.”

“Finn...he’s alive?” I as
k, and something within me exalts
knowing that I didn’t kill Finn when I’d un
leashed my wra
th of energy against
Brenn
us and his
soldiers.

“
He was na among dem,” he says, seeing my relief and trying to
suppress
a smile. “
He is
yet
undead
and
more dan a wee bit
angry wi’ me
, truth be told
. He blames me for losin’ ye
again
. He tinks dis is all me faul
t.
”

“It’s not your fault. I just love someone else,” I breathe.

“Ye love me, too
—ye love
me
da most
,” he says.

“I don’t—”

“Ye do love me da most. Ye have ta fight it, shift it ta hate because ye fear it,” he say
s
.
“Ye only hate me because I wi
ll na play by yer rule
s
. I make ye abide moin
.”

“I hate you for what you did to Reed,” I snarl.

“I let him live,” he says with his jaw clenched. “He’ll na be so fortunate should he try ta come between us again.”

“I love—”

“Ye just met him first. But ye’ll need a god o’ war if ye intend ta survive and so ye
’ve
made one. Me.
Ye made
me
stronger
wi’ new found power
.
”

“
That was an accident, Br
ennus. I was trying to kill you, like
I killed all o
f your men
,” I point out
.

“
Den we’
re even and
so we
can begin again—and y
e
only
emp
t
ied da cradle. Da
t
was but a few of me
newest
warriors
ye ended
, na even close ta all o’ dem
. Ye can
na drown da fire wi’out me. Ye feel it now? ’Tis na cold between ye and me. ’Tis fire.”

He’s right; t
he closer he gets to me, the warmer it becomes between us.
He sits on the sheet as I draw up my legs away from him. The bed sags under his weight. He’s really here in my dream. He has a physical presence;
he’s not just a ghostly shape,
but
is
as real as I am.

Barely breathing, I watch him reach for my sheet, tugging it lightly so that I have to clutch it to keep myself covered. The s
upple fabric trails over my flesh
anyway
, feeding his hungry eyes
. I pull harder on it, but Brennus flicks h
is hands and my arms splay wide and are
tied behind me to the headboard of the bed.

My eyes narrow as
I glare
at him, feeling the she
et slip lower on my breast
s
as I strugg
le against the binding on my wrist
s.

Brennus’ eyes go from sultry to frustrated when he pulls the sheet lower only to find me fully clothed in a baggy t-shirt and jeans
, brought about by my hastily cast spell
.
I smirk at him when he l
o
oks into my eyes. I rub my wrist tha
t I unbound
using my own magic
.

“Dat’s no fun, Genevieve,” Brennus says with another smile. He flicks his hand at me and when I look down at myself I’m attired in a silky black corset pulled tight enough to crack my ribs. Skimpy black panties and black-gartered stock
ing
s complete the ensemble.

He r
eaches for me, but I growl
and flick my hand at him. He is thrust backward to the wooden poster
of the bed. Hi
s hands are bound behind him and a metal manacle around his throat keeps his head from turning away from me.

“Is that fun?” I ask
,
getting
up
off the bed and approaching him with my hands on my
corseted
hips.

“Honestly?” he asks me with a raise
of his eyebrow. “’Tis, mo
chroí
.” Then he smiles his wicked smile that seems to touch me everywhere.
I conjure a black trench coat and hastily tie the belt at my waist.

I turn away from him, not wanting
him
to see how he affects me
;
the ache to touch him is there, just under the surface
. Brennus’ arms slip around my waist from behind, startling me
,
not
only
because he freed himself from my spell, but also because his arms are warm against me, not cold.
They cause a riot
inside
of me.

“Brennus,” his name falls from my lips in surprise.

“Do na fight me, Genevieve. I have someting important ta tell ye and it can na wait.”

I allow him to hug me as I grow still. “What do you need to tell me?” I ask in a whisper. I know him, he’s calm on th
e outside, but his voice betrays something...it sounds
like concern...deep concern.

“I was wrong about ye
,”
he brushes my hair aw
ay from my neck, breathing in the
scent
of it
.