A Faerie's Curse (Creepy Hollow #6) (22 page)

Though fatigue has settled over me like a heavy blanket I can't shed, breathing is at least easier now that I'm sitting. I reach for Chase's hand. Despite being stained with blood and dirt, his skin is smooth. Healed and whole. I slide my fingers between his. “We did it,” I whisper. “We actually made it out alive.”

C
HAPTER

T
WENTY-
F
OUR

Chase's eyelids open and his warm brown eyes settle on me. For a long, silent moment, we simply watch each other. Then he raises his hand and rests it against my cheek. His thumb brushes beneath my lashes where dark makeup stains my skin. He moves his hand down my neck to my shoulder, where he rubs a strand of my charcoal-colored hair between his fingers. “My dark angel,” he says. “That's what you looked like spinning around the tower room, fighting off a queen.” His hand slides down my arm and closes around my fingers. “After they began the …” He swallows, choosing not to say it, to skip past the word
torture
. “I was afraid I'd never see you again. I was afraid I wouldn't … last until the ball.”

Perhaps it's my curse-induced exhaustion. Perhaps it's the thought of what he suffered through, or the realization that I finally,
finally
have him back, or the ever-present ache surrounding Victoria's death and my parents' incarceration, or the knowledge that the full moon is only a day away and our fight is far from over. Perhaps it's everything. But suddenly I feel a dam's worth of tears rising up behind my eyes. They spill down my cheeks as my face crumples and a sob wrenches free from my chest.

Chase's arms encircle me, pulling me tightly against his chest. I worry that I'm going to hurt him, but I don't see any remaining lacerations through my falling tears. I sink against him, letting him rub my back as I cry myself empty. I feel terrible because I'm the one who should be comforting him, not the other way around, but I can't seem to stop.

When eventually I stop shuddering, I pull gently away. “I'm sorry,” I mumble as I wipe my tears, my fingers coming away black from the smeared makeup.

“
I'm
sorry,” he says.

I wipe my fingers on my pants. “For what?”

“The smell. And the blood and dirt. You can probably tell it's been a while since I showered.”

I laugh through my remaining tears. “You don't honestly think I care about that, do you?”

He smiles and takes my right hand. Lifting it, he says, “I see you got a few tattoos.”

I nod and sniff. “First mission. Ana said I wasn't properly part of the team until I got some ink. This is the only one that's permanent.” I point to the rose on my fourth finger. It's the clearest shape; the other marks are fading already. “I, um, still want the phoenix on my back. And I want you to do it.”

He raises my hand to his lips and kisses each finger before saying, “When all this is over, I'd be honored to do that for you.” His fingers slip between mine as he lowers our hands. He looks down. “The last time we spoke with the rings—”

“I'm know, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have shouted at—”

“No, stop.” He shakes his head. “I'm not looking for an apology. I … I want to know how you are. How you're … dealing with what happened.”

I pull my hand away from his and wrap my arms around my knees. “It's shameful to admit, but … I wanted to kill Zed. I wanted to kill the witches. I'm filled with so much guilt over what happened that I was desperate to somehow make it right. I'm
still
desperate to make things right, but now I've realized that … I can't. Nothing I do—
nothing
—will ever bring Victoria back or make Ryn and Vi hate me any less. And that leaves me feeling so … helpless.”

Chase nods. “I know.”

Of course he knows. He knows better than anyone what's it like to cause grief and pain and have no way to ever set things right. “What's left, then?” I whisper. “What can I do?”

“The only thing you can do: apologize. Sincerely and from the depths of your heart. After that, it's up to them whether they choose to forgive you or not.”

“And what if they don't?”

“Then that's something both you and they have to live with.”

I look away, nodding as more tears rise to the surface and keep me from being able to speak. Eventually, when I've blinked them away and got my emotions under control, I force a half-hearted smile onto my face and say, “I'm officially changing the subject now.” I look him up and down. “It's remarkable how quickly you've healed.”

He stretches his arms out in front of him, turning them over as he examines them. “It helps to have an unusually large amount of magic. Actually, it helps to have
any
magic. If I were human, I'd have to worry about infection, blood poisoning, scarring. But none of that's a concern.” Eyeing the black vine of thorns twisting down his left arm, he adds, “Even my tattoo has returned to normal, which I find amazing.”

“It is amazing. I thought the tattoo would be a mess once your skin healed. What about your back, though? That seemed to be the worst.”

“Still feels tender,” he says, twisting around so I can have a look. “That was from …” He shudders. “Well, I'd rather not speak about it. Are there any open wounds left?”

“No,” I say with some surprise. “Your skin has healed over every single gash. They look more like pink, shiny burns at the moment. Well, from what I can see past all the dried blood.”

He swivels back around. “I think it's time to get clean. If we have to spend the night out here, which I assume is what we're doing if we can't access the faerie paths, then I'd rather not subject you to the smell any longer.”

“Well, we could start walking,” I say as he pushes himself up, “but it would take us a long time to reach an area we can access the paths from. Gaius will have come back for us before then.” And walking anywhere in my current state of fatigue does not seem appealing.

Chase extends a hand and pulls me to my feet. “Is there a possibility the rest of the team is stuck inside the palace or on the grounds?”

“I don't think so. Our agreement was to run if anything went wrong and regroup somewhere far beyond the Seelie Queen's reach. If there was enough time for the guests to get away, then I assume our team got away too.”

“Good.” Chase climbs between the rocks. He pulls off the remaining shreds of his T-shirt, wincing as his barely healed skin stretches across his back. In the dim light, I take in the full canvas of crisscrossing stripes. I picture the whip cracking down—and look away, blinking and stopping my thoughts before they can make me sick. I look to the sky instead. The blue-purple of twilight and the first stars twinkling faintly. “Are you coming?” Chase calls as he lowers himself into the pool.

“Yeah,” I say, covering a yawn as I follow him. If only sleep would help me, but it's Elizabeth's tonic that I need.

“Aren't you getting in?” Chase asks as I sit on a rock beside the pool and cross my legs.

I shake my head, feeling shy all of a sudden. “I'm not nearly as smelly as you are,” I say instead of admitting my self-consciousness.

“That's true.” He immerses himself fully in the water and rubs his face and hair before standing again. He pushes his wet hair back, then rubs his hands up and down his arms, removing the blood and layers of grime he collected while in that horrible dungeon. “Hey, did you mention a second apple earlier?” he asks.

“I did.” I remove the apple from my pocket as he wades closer to fetch it.

“Do you want some?” he asks.

“No, I'm fine, thank you.” I'm actually pretty hungry, but he needs food far more than I do. “Stand here and turn around,” I tell him. “You eat, I'll clean.” He devours the apple as I lean down and rub my hands gently along his shoulders and the top of his back, wiping his skin clean. My fingers move carefully over the pink twisted scars. They'll soon be gone, but they're probably still hurting as the flesh beneath them continues to knit itself back together. “I didn't know the former queen could be so cruel,” I murmur.

Chase is silent as he tosses the apple core into the trees beyond the rocks. Another few moments pass as my fingers continue to move across his back. I can't reach further down from where I'm sitting, but I don't want to stop either. “I was a cruel lord,” he says quietly. “She was probably just making sure I paid for that.”

“It's too bad she waited so long.” My hands come to rest on his shoulders. “The cruel lord she wanted to punish no longer exists.”

He reaches for my right hand while leaning back so his shoulders press against my knees. As our fingers lace together, sparkles of light begin to dance around our hands. “In the human realm,” he says quietly, “they talk about sparks flying when two people are attracted to one another. It was only after I got here, to this world of magic, that I realized sparks really do fly.”

My heart thunders in my chest, leaving me almost breathless. I want to slide my arms around him and press kisses against his neck. I want to join him in the water and take up right where we left off when the golden river whirlpool sucked us down. But I also want an answer to an important question, and I may not ask that question if I let a distraction get in the way first. “Chase,” I say as he turns his head to the side and kisses my hand. “What did Luna See about me?”

He stills. The sparkles float away. “Elizabeth told you.”

“She accidentally said something. Not much. Just that I didn't need to worry about dying while rescuing you because Luna Saw me in your future.”

“She … she did See you.” He lets go of my hand and turns to face me. “Are you upset that I didn't say anything to you about it?”

“I … I don't think so. I don't know. Should I be? Is this one of the secrets you kept since the moment you first saw me?”

“No. I didn't even think of the vision when we first met. Luna told me about it so many years ago, her vision of a woman in gold—which I assumed meant someone
wearing
gold—that I filed it away in the back of my mind and barely thought of it in the years that followed. It wasn't until the day I first took you to the mountain and Gaius removed the time traveling ability from you that I remembered it. We had returned to Wickedly Inked. You were about to leave, and I wondered if I'd ever see you again, and that must have … sparked something in my memory, I suppose.”

I try to remember the moment, but it's a little fuzzy, obscured by the attack that came straight afterward when Saber arrived in search of his time traveling bangle. But I think I remember Chase looking oddly at me. I think I asked him if something was wrong. And he said … he said … but I can't remember what he said. “So. What was in this vision?”

He hesitates. “Are you sure you want to know?”

“Is it something horrible?”

“No.” He smiles. “At least, I don't think it's horrible. But futures aren't set in stone, and ours could easily change. Perhaps it's changed already. The reason I didn't say anything to you about it is because I didn't want you to feel as if you have no choice. As if you somehow had to make what she Saw come true.”

I frown. “Now I'm not sure if I want to know what it was about. I mean … if it was a picture of you and me and twenty babies, I'm not sure I'm ready for that.”

Chase laughs. Loudly and properly and for the first time since we escaped. “It's up to you,” he says when he's recovered. “If you want to know what she Saw, I'll tell you. But if you want to live life certain you've made your own choices and were never influenced by anyone else's interpretation of a possible future, that's fine too.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Are you trying to convince me not to ask you?”

“No.” His smile is genuine and honest. “I will tell you if you want to know.”

“Hmm.” I shift backward, swing my legs to the side, and untie my laces. “I think—” I pull my shoes off “—I will—” I tug my jacket off “—make my own choices.” I slide into the water and look up at him. “I'm curious about what she Saw, but if you decided not tell me, then I can respect that. And like you said,” I add, “our future's probably changed already anyway.”

His hands slip around my waist and pull me closer. “Did I tell you I missed you?”

I push my fingers into his wet hair, then run them down his neck and over his chest, trailing dancing, flashing sparks across his skin. “Yes,” I breathe.