mythean arcana 06 - master of fate (22 page)

Felix knew the feeling.

“Esha has gone over to their place to ask.”

“Think we could do it tonight?” The sooner the better. The portal had only been growing stronger when they’d been tossed into the past. Who knew what had happened to it in the time they’d been gone? And he had a feeling that the Seer was weaving her web tighter and tighter around them with every second that passed.

“Probably. I’m going to have a shower and hopefully we’ll hear from Esha if she’s had any luck with Sylvi and Loki.” She unfolded herself from the chair and made her way gracefully to the other side of the flat. 

She went through a door that was several feet away from the bedroom door on the same wall. The bathroom was new and he was damned grateful for it. Even the brief time they’d spent in the past had made him loath to return to the days before plumbing.

He heard the roar of water and his mind immediately went to an image of a naked Aurora. Water sluiced over her curves and his tongue itched to lick up every drop. 

He dragged a shaky hand through his hair. He was becoming obsessed. One half of his mind didn’t seem to care what the other thought about touching. It was like having whiplash. One minute, all he could think of was the feel of her skin beneath his fingertips. The next, his subconscious piped up and smacked him in the face with his stomach pitching and his skin burning.

It was a godsdamned nightmare.

The water switched off and Aurora walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later. She’d changed into fluffy pajamas decorated with penguins. Her hair was damp. The sight made Felix’s heart pound. He’d seen her in many different ways these past few days, but comfortably at home, the way he’d see her if they were together, was new. He wanted to hit himself in the chest to get his heart to shut up, but that’d be too damned telling.

A knock sounded at the door. Aurora walked to it and pulled it open to reveal Esha standing next to a man and a woman. The woman was a tall blonde with a distinctly Nordic wholesomeness. The man next to her was anything but. He had harsh features, a scar through his brow, raven black hair, and eyes that sucked up all light.

“Sylvi! Thanks for coming,” Aurora said. “You too, Loki.” She ran her hands over the doorframe. Removing the protection charm, he assumed.

The trio entered and approached him.

“I’m Sylvi.” The blond woman stuck out her hand.

He took it and shook.

“Loki.” The other man held out his hand and Felix took it.

“Thanks for coming. Aurora told me what you do. We appreciate it.” 

“Not a problem,” Loki said as he walked to the fire, holding out his hands until the hearth burst into a flame that licked at the outside of the stone and rose up the chimney.

“Whoa!” Aurora said. Felix made an instinctive move toward her to protect her from the flame.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sylvi said. “Loki is good with flame.”

“Bigger is better for the type of thing you want to see,” Loki said.

“Okay, well, I like this place, so let’s keep it intact,” Aurora said with a grin.

They gathered around Loki, who loomed over the fire like a great black hawk.

“Vatnajökull Glacier?” Loki asked.

“Near Höfn.” Felix added the name of the nearest town. “Just look for the biggest magical signature you can find. And probably a hell of a glow.”

The fire shimmered until an image appeared in the center. The glacier loomed before them, tinged yellow from the flame. Loki shifted his hands and the vision zoomed along the glacier. Suddenly, a glow appeared on the horizon.

“That’s it. Let’s get a bird’s eye view and look down,” Felix said.

Loki nodded and their view changed. They looked down into the rubble of the city. Roads snaked between the towering stone buildings. It looked so different from the times that he and Aurora had visited when they were young. Then, it had been perfectly preserved by the magic of the souls trapped within. Now, with the souls freed to seek out their afterlives, the city had fallen into decay. 

Abandoned for hundreds of years, the stone walls had crumbled, spilling out into the winding streets until they were entirely blocked. Roofs had collapsed and snow filled the buildings.

“Nothing stands out,” Felix said. “Can you check farther afield?”

The vision zoomed away from the city and out toward the glacier. Loki performed a circular search around the city, every circle bigger than the last. 

Aurora pointed toward the upper right corner of the image. “There. What’s that? Is it kind of shimmery?”

Loki zoomed in on the mountains of ice. A fissure gleamed just slightly. Definitely out of place.

“It looks like an entrance or—”

Felix’s words were cut off by Loki’s curse. The fire poofed out of existence until it was just a tiny normal flame in the hearth.

“What the hell?” Loki hissed. “Something was way off there. The image forced me out. Killed the flame.”

“Wards,” Felix and Aurora said at the same time. 

“She’s got a spell on it. It’s gotta be her headquarters.” Aurora met his gaze, her eyes glowing with excitement.

He nodded. “Agreed. We can pay her a visit tomorrow—” A murderous visit. “—when she’s no’ on edge from someone triggering her wards.”

“Good,” Aurora said. “If we kill her, which she sure as hell deserves, her magic will break and the portal will disappear. Two birds with one stone.”

“We can come,” Esha said.

“Isn’t she just a seer?” Loki asked. “Not that I’m saying we won’t help, but do you really need backup with a seer?”

“Normally, nay,” he said. Seers usually lacked any real magic. Their ability to see into the future could be extraordinarily powerful, but they couldn’t manifest their desires or create magic like many species could. Which, of course, pissed them the hell off. “But this seer has something up her sleeve. I’ve no idea what it is, but she has power I canna explain.”

“Maybe she’s a half-blood?” Sylvi suggested.

Could be. It’d certainly mutated his own powers. “Doona know. Either way, come if you want to. I’d appreciate it. If no’, it’s fine.”

“What do you mean,
you’d
appreciate it?” Aurora asked. “Don’t you mean
we’d
appreciate it?”

“You doona need to go tomorrow. We now know the portal wasn’t created by your magic. There’s no need to risk yourself.” The idea of her anywhere near the Seer made his skin crawl. “In fact, I insist on it.”

She laughed. Godsdamned laughed. So did her sister.

“That’s not exactly how things work with us,” Esha said. 

“She’s right. I appreciate what you’re getting at,” Aurora said. “But I’m not sitting this one out. Not after what she did to you. And I’m not particularly fussed about how you feel about it. I’m helping.”

He debated his options, but the steel in her gaze settled it for him. She’d be coming. She was damned powerful and could take care of herself. Not as physically strong as he was, but her magic was hard to beat. It was one of the things he loved about her. But just because he knew that she could hold her own in a fight didn’t mean he wanted her to have to. 

“Then you’re coming,” Felix said. There was no point in arguing with her. “We’ll meet in the morning and head out.” 

Everyone nodded their agreement and said their good-byes. As they filed out the door, he realized that this wasn’t his home. It had been, but that was three hundred years ago.

He turned to Aurora, loath to leave her and having no idea where he’d go. She curled up in her chair and looked so damned good his mouth watered. He supposed he could go back to his brother’s. But he sure as hell didn’t want to leave her. “I’m staying, all right?”

Her gaze snapped to his. “Duh. Yes.”

“Good.” 

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Felix approached her like a wolf on the prowl, which in a sense, he was. He was so tall and his shoulders so broad that he looked out of place in her pretty little flat. When he reached the chair in which she sat, he dug into his pocket, pulled out a little cloth bag, then dropped to his knees so that he was at eye level with her.

“For you.” He handed her the bag.

Her fingertips tingled as she took it. “What is it?”

“Just look inside.” His voice was gruff, as though he wasn’t used to giving presents. 

The string was stubborn under her fingers, but eventually she got the bag open and dumped its contents into her hand. A small glowing orb on a silver chain gave off a dim light that was warm to the touch. It vibrated with power.

Shock cleared her mind of rational thought. “Is this what I think it is?”

His silver gaze met hers. “It’s a tiny piece of the aether. It will never dim or grow cold and will always emit a low level of power. No’ enough to fill you up, but enough that you’ll never be completely powerless again. You shouldn’t ever have to be in the dark or be scared.”

Her throat tightened unbearably and her eyes prickled. There was no way she was going to be able to keep the tears in. He’d figured out everything she was afraid of and given her something to keep those fears at bay. 

She bent her head to hide the tears welling in her eyes and unhooked the clasp. Her fingers fumbled a bit, but she managed to get it hooked around her neck. The stone lay warm against her chest, the chain just long enough that the charm would hide beneath her shirt.

He might not be able to touch. He might not be normal. But he was the best man she’d ever met.

She sucked in a deep breath to brace herself, scrubbed the tears from her eyes, then raised her head and met his gaze. Concern marred his brow. She wanted to reach out and smooth the furrows away, but clenched her fist. The last thing she could do was reach out and touch him.

“Thank you.” Her voice cracked. “It’s the best gift I’ve ever been given.”

He nodded. 

The space between them stretched for miles. She wished he could reach out and touch her, but it was impossible. He seemed to do best in carefully prescribed situations. Sex, when his mind was distracted, and aetherwalking, which was short and necessary.

She gripped the necklace, sighing in pleasure at the warmth in her hand. “I want to go outside.”

“What?” He glanced at the window, his expression saying it was damned cold and dark out there. It was Scotland in the middle of winter.

“I haven’t willingly been outside at night since I escaped the aether. I want to go outside. You gave me this to give me strength. I want to act on that.”

A half smile pulled at his lips. There might even have been a bit of pride in his eyes. “All right. But let me take you someplace.”

“Where?”

“Have I ever lead you astray?”

His direct reference to their past, when he’d taken her all over the world in search of ancient cities, made her heart crack a bit. But she smiled and shook her head. “Let’s go.”

He stood and held out his arms. She stepped into them and called out for Mouse, stifling a sigh at the sense of comfort that enveloped her. Her familiar hurtled from the bedroom, where she’d no doubt been sleeping on the bed, and pressed against Aurora’s legs.

Felix immediately aetherwalked them away. When she opened her eyes, they stood in a small tropical paradise at dusk. The sun was beginning to set in brilliant shades of pink and orange behind the palm trees. Spread out in front of her was a small temple built above a gleaming pool of clear water. Great boulders sat at the base of the pool and a small waterfall fell into it from above. Flowers in all shades were closing their petals for the evening.

She turned to Felix. “This place isn’t real. You’ve taken us to a screensaver.”

He grinned. “It’s real. I thought a place where it would be dusk would be ideal. That way, it’s no’ dark right away.”

“It’s so warm.”

“It’s no’ winter everywhere. I thought you shouldn’t have to deal with the cold as well as the dark.”

He was determined to hit her in the chest with feelings, wasn’t he? How was she supposed to keep her heart safe in the face of all this care?

“But it’s no great ancient city,” he said, gesturing to the little temple.

“It’s perfect.” It was warm and so lovely she’d never even notice when it got dark. She pulled her pajama top over her head and tossed it to the ground. Her pants followed. “Let’s swim.”

His slack jaw made her smile and she turned and walked to the edge of the pond. She stood across from the waterfall on a small stone ledge. The water glittered clear and calm beneath her, deep enough to jump into. 

So she did. She screamed as she fell through the air and plunged into the warm water. It enveloped her like a hug as she kicked her way to the surface. She gasped and pushed her hair off her face. Felix was watching her, his hands at the base of his shirt. 

Mouse sat behind him, glancing at the two of them, then turned and ran off into the forest, no doubt to hunt things smaller than herself. Or larger, if she were feeling feisty. Aurora was grateful she didn’t have to worry about Mouse. As long as she lived, so would Mouse. Familiars were indestructible. She had enough to worry about with Esha and now Felix.