Chapter 16

SIXTEEN

COLLINS

“If I hear about those blue flames one more damn time, I will shove a giant blue crystal up your ass.”

He dropped me.

“ BASH! ” I screamed as I plummeted toward the ground. The muscles in my back tightened the way they always did before my wings popped out, except my wings were gone. Tears filled my eyes for them even while panic choked me. “BASH!”

My feet hit the ground a split-second later. I looked up to find my soulmate hovering in the air from where he’d dropped me. He was only ten feet off the ground. I balled my hands into fists at my side and snarled at him.

He smirked but it was a dangerous expression on the harsh lines of his face. “Threat for a threat, darling,” he purred as he landed in front of me.

“I don’t need to be threatened, Bash. You abandoned me in Third Realm?—”

“Oh, you’re so dramatic.” He snarled in disgust. “I didn’t abandon you, I told you to wait and hide for one minute while I checked something?—”

“ IN THIRD REALM WHERE YOUR MOTHER AND SISTER WERE WAITING FOR ME TO BE ALONE! ” I shouted and stomped my foot in the snow like a snotty child. “Which is exactly what happened. I have no wings, Bash. I couldn’t just fly away to safety when Venus ambushed me. But no, pardon my dramatic verbiage so I don’t hurt your feelings.”

His moonstone eyes blazed with fire in them. “Why are you so blind to these flames meaning something?—”

“Because every time you follow them, they lead us to trouble!” I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “Wake up and smell the trap!”

“If it was a trap, I would’ve been injured or attacked?—”

“ I WAS, BASH! Not every attack on you will be on your literal self. I’m your soulmate, they will come for me to hurt you.” I tapped on my chest, then held my left arm out and pushed my sleeve up to show my soulmate mark. “They sent those blue flames to lure you away from me so they could pounce once I was alone. And you fell for it.”

“That’s not the only time I’ve seen them?—”

“Yeah, and where did they lead us in New Orleans? Oh right, to the back door of MoVaun’s lair, which pissed her off so much she almost refused to help us?—”

“But thanks to me, she did.”

“Right. Yeah, let’s brag about that right now. You’re unbelievable.” I spun away from him and stomped toward the building in front of me. “I still cannot believe you stole something from Venus and didn’t think to tell anyone about it.”

“Tell you that I stole an empty vial? For fucks’ sake, Collins.”

I spun back around and hissed, “Last I checked, potions and crystals were not your specialty, so why don’t you let me decide if I think that vial was important.”

He scoffed. “My opinion no longer matters?”

“It’s the principle, Bash. You kept something from me, something that could have been huge.”

“Why are you even bringing this up right now? That was a long time ago?—”

“ That was TODAY. Mere HOURS ago. ” I closed the distance between us, then jabbed him in the chest with my finger. “And I bring it up now because both times we’ve seen MoVaun you’ve been obsessed with those blue flames to the point that you weren’t paying attention."

“You were doing the talking just fine?—”

“I shouldn’t be in this alone!” I pushed my hands through my hair, but it was still braided so my fingers just ran over them. “I don’t want to feel alone when I’m surrounded by people, Bash. I’m terrified. I need help and support. I need to know you’ve got my back no matter what the situation, but ever since your mother nearly tortured me to death, you just haven’t been there.”

“That’s not fair,” he growled.

“No, it’s not.” A hot lump formed in my throat. My eyes burned but I refused to cry right now. All of this anger I felt for him was breaking my heart. “It’s not fair that you’re recklessly endangering your life to follow these blue flames. It’s not fair that you put me in danger to do so. It’s not fair that I’m trying to figure all this shit out and your sixty years of experience with them is just somewhere in la-la-land. It’s not fair that I feel like I’m alone in this. It’s not fair I don’t recognize my own soulmate anymore even while he stands in front of me!”

Tears pooled on my eyelashes, so I spun around and practically ran away from him. I wiped my eyes and sniffled through the emotions threatening to spill over when I looked up and spotted the Bow residence right in front of me. The white wooden house stretched wide with large windows facing the street and shutters that sat on either side of them. Smoke billowed up from the chimney into the sky. Warm lights shined within the many windows on the first floor while the second level was dark but for a few candles in the windows. It was so picturesque, like on a Christmas postcard. I wouldn’t be surprised if it smelled of warm cookies when we walked through the door.

I raced up the front steps and onto the balcony. When my feet hit ice and slid out from under me, I gasped and threw my hands out to catch my fall—and landed in the cradle of Bash’s arms. My breath left me in a rush and a white cloud of smoke. He lifted me up until my feet touched the ground again, then he dropped one arm and slid the other hand down to my waist.

“I’ve got it?—”

“ Collins, ” he growled and gripped my side, “this part is very icy. Just let me help you so you don’t break your neck.”

“Oh, now you want to help?—”

“Might as well give you something else to be pissy about.” He walked with perfect ease over the three feet of frozen wooden porch as my feet slid frictionlessly. I needed the help and he knew it, and he knew it would irritate me. Win for Bash. He carried me to the mat at the front door, then dropped his arm like I burned him to touch. “There you are, darling. Since I can’t do anything else right and you’re so perfectly flawless.”

“I used to be flawless, then your mother peeled it from my skin layer by layer,” I said with a rough voice. “But I guess you wouldn’t know what that feels like, to be robbed of something?—”

“They took my voice from me for sixty years, you know nothing of being robbed?—”

“And I guess they finally took your compassion.” I nodded and knocked on the front door. “Congratulations, the apple finally fell off the tree.”

The front door swung open. I looked up with a fake smile plastered on my face, expecting to find Peggy or Duvall at the door, but there was no one but the scent of jasmine and chocolate slamming into my senses. I smiled and took a deep breath. He pushed the door open, stepped inside, then gestured for me to enter first, all while glaring at me.

I took two steps inside and a wave of warmth coiled around me. I took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly, letting the heat rush through my limbs. It was only late November, and while I may not have ever lived in New York, I knew this was a bit more snow than they usually had at this time of year. Just my luck. This magically medicated bodysuit would’ve been too cold if Ellie hadn’t turned my faux-fur coat into a bodysuit to wear over it. I ran my hands over the soft fuzzy material of it only to find little cold spots. I looked down at myself and found snowflakes clinging to the fur, so I shook myself like a dog getting out of the water and watched all of the droplets hit the hardwood floor.

There was a click and then a broom stood itself up from where it leaned against the wall and began sweeping the snow and ice off the hardwood floors. It swatted my feet. I cursed and jumped away from it. “Why is a broom attacking me?”

“ You deserved it,” Bash grumbled behind me as he shut the front door.

“Oh, watch out!” Mom appeared in front of me with a chuckle. She grabbed my arm and gently pulled me to the side of the foyer, then pointed behind me. “Betty’s pretty sassy.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Betty?”

“Betty Bow. The broom.” She shrugged. “That’s the introduction everyone gets. Betty’s pretty sassy. She’s bossy and will hit you if you prevent her from sweeping. Best to stay out of her way. Come on. We’re all in the living room.”

I followed her through a wide doorway into a bright room with moonlight streaming in from the back wall, which was made entirely of French windows. The light reflecting off the white snow outside made it almost feel like afternoon. Little golden lights— no, those are candles. Literal candles with flickering flames hovered in the air and seemed to move with us. It was in this moment I realized I’d never been in Peggy’s house—or at least I didn’t remember it. That first trip here felt like a decade ago. I glanced around, distracted by the moving candles and Betty the Broom. Magic was still so new to me that sometimes it captivated all of my attention.

Peggy’s living room was gorgeous. The wall that faced the front had huge French windows in it as well. But the far wall was my favorite. It had four big bay windows taking up the entire length of the wall. Each one had blankets and pillows, like they were begging for people to sit in them. Through each of the windows, I could see nothing but snow, which I had to admit was pretty from here, even if I was literally not born with the genetics to withstand it. The moonlight reflecting off the pale-colored hardwood floors made the whole space feel warm and comforting, like I could climb into the bay windows and read or plop on that tan suede couch in front of me and just sleep—especially with all those pillows and fuzzy blankets lying around.Every inch of my body yearned to plop down and sleep for a week straight.

Something beeped and then the couch grew longer. All on its own. My eyes widened.

“What can I say, Peggy loves her tricks?” Mom laughed and wrapped her arm around my shoulders, pulling me fully into the living room. She pointed to my right. “For example, this sofa adapts to the number of people in the house so that everyone will fit.”

My jaw dropped. “ What? ”

“I forget how new to magic she is,” Jada said softly from a lounge chair to my left.

Then I realized we weren’t alone, which shouldn’t have been a surprise since I asked for them all to be there. That open spot on the couch was, in fact, just a spot. Nickel was sitting in the seat next to it. Though, the couch had grown longer on its own, so now that spot was technically big enough for me and Bash to sit. On the other couch Ellie was cuddled up in Stellan’s lap with her legs curled over his and his arms around her. My heart sank. That hot lump in my throat returned. Bash and I used to be like that. It broke my heart to think we were never going to get back to that. Focus, Collins.

Something moved in my peripheral vision. When I turned toward it, I gasped. A smile spread across my face. “ Phillip! ”

My stepfather stood and hurried over to give me a hug. He pulled away too soon. “It's nice to finally see you back on your feet with my own eyes.”

My face fell. I hugged him again. “I missed you too. Where’s Vic?”

“I’m here.”

I pulled away from the only father I’d ever known to look for his mother, and I found her at the end of the same couch Ellie and Stellan were on. She grinned at me, then blew me a kiss over the top of a cupcake with turquoise icing. I frowned. She held up her other hand to show the two muffins and a glazed doughnut hanging off her thumb.

“That’s quite the dessert you’ve got there,” I said with a chuckle.

It was only then, as all the others held their hands up, that I realized they were all holding a variety of baked goods. My eyes widened. Mom laughed and walked over to sit between Ellie and Phil. No one had taken a single bite out of these desserts and yet they held like five or six each.

“She just pulled out frying pans and half the fridge,” Savina said as she walked in from an opening across the room. She looked up, then did a double take. Her smile was warm and friendly, but worried. “Good. You’re here.”

Bash cleared his throat. “What is going on here?”

Savina grimaced and glanced over her shoulder. “Peggy’s been having some anxiety tonight and apparently her way of coping is to bake. So…” She gestured around the room.

Bash pointed toward the room Savina had come from. “Are you sure she’s not a Wentworth?”

Stellan looked up from the cupcake he’d just licked the icing off of. “Oi?”

Savina sighed and smirked. “I am not.”

“Am not what?” Peggy’s high-pitched voice rang from just out of sight. But Savina was saved from answering that because the second Peggy entered the room and found me and Bash she gasped and leapt back out of sight. “Two more!”

I frowned. “Who is she talking to?”

Savina laughed. “Her kitchen.”

“Her kitchen?”

She shrugged. “You sent them here to be fed . . . She was already baking for no one, so now we might be getting a five-course meal.”

We all chuckled.

Then Peggy re-emerged, bouncing into the room with her light-blue eyes sparkling with excitement. She looked like she’d never had guests in her house and could not believe her luck. But even after midnight with no warning that guests were coming, she looked adorable with her strawberry blonde hair tied in pigtails and floral-printed overalls stuffed into thick, fuzzy socks. Her long gray fleece cardigan fell all the way past her knees and looked comfortable enough to live every day in. She was covered in cake batter and flour. It actually looked like she’d been painting a white wall and splattered it all over herself.

“Okay, grilled cheeses coming right up!” She held her hands up. “How many do we need? Oh, I’ll just make a couple dozen?—”

“ Dozen? ”

“ Keep ‘em coming, guys! ” Peggy yelled into the kitchen.

“I really need to see what’s happening in that kitchen right now,” I whispered.

Bash’s stomach growled beside me. “I just want to eat whatever’s happening in that kitchen right now.”

Jada jumped to her feet and handed Bash the three muffins and two chocolate-frosted doughnuts—with sprinkles—she’d been holding. Then she wiped her hands off on her black pants and nodded. “You can get started on those while Collins starts talking.”

I cursed. I’d gotten so distracted that I’d forgotten why we were all there to begin with. I tapped on my forearm. “Before I explain, Jada, can you contact Gaston and ask him to come here?”

Jada scowled but nodded and plucked a feather from her wings, then scribbled on her skin. “Done.”

“Okay. Okay, right. Um, so I had you all come here just because I know it’s safe and there’d no doubt be food we could eat—of the regular or magically healing kind.”

Peggy nodded. “I have six sons. My kitchen is always stocked.”

Bash cleared his throat.

Peggy blushed an adorable pink. “I’m sorry. I have seven sons.” She winked at him.

Ellie shook her head. “That’s too many boys. Eight of them and only you? We gotta start marrying them off.”

Peggy’s face fell. “Don’t tease me. I keep trying to find them nice girls but no. The only one of them in a relationship is Caleb, and while I absolutely adore and cherish his boyfriend, Trevor Dunn, it just means nine boys in the family.”

“Well, if Bash is your seventh son, then that means you get me?—”

Peggy gasped and her whole face lit up. She grinned. “I might have to pick a favorite son after all.”

Jada snapped her fingers. “Okay, I get that we’re all feeling the warm and fuzzies of Peggy’s magical dessert, but can we get back to the war we’re in the midst of?”

We all groaned.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath. “Right, so I’m assuming we’re all up to date with the revolution the twins started and are still working on in Third?”

Everyone nodded.

“Cool. So, I had a little run-in with Venus, but luckily MoVaun had given Bash this powder stuff to use on her?—”

“She just gave it to you?” Ellie’s face paled.

“No. I’d stolen a vial from Venus in the infirmary when they were attacking, then I saw matching ones at MoVaun’s, so I gave it back to her. She asked me—without giving me much choice—to deliver the powder as punishment for stealing from her.”

Stellan shuddered. “Who steals from her? ” He took a huge bite of his powdered doughnut, sending white powder all over his black sweater and onto Ellie’s black pants.

“Point is, it might’ve saved our lives and definitely helped us get outta there. When we got back to MoVaun and delivered the hematite she requested, she broke it in half and then kept half for herself.” I reached up and unzipped my catsuit enough to lift the silver chain up for them to see. The hematite sat nestled in a silver net that dangled over my fingers. “The other half she put into this necklace.”

Ellie sat up straight, pulling her legs off Stellan’s lap. “She gave half the price back to you? That’s sus.”

“I’m not so worried about the piece she gave back, I fear her plan for the half she kept.” Savina tapped her fingers along the back of an armchair. Her red magic flickered over the material. “She told you what it’s for?”

I nodded. “You’re not going to like it.”

They all groaned.

Mom took a deep breath. “Rip it off like a Band-Aid, sweetheart.”

“Apparently, the answer for how to sever the bond is only known by a girl potentially named Augustine . . .” I squeezed the crystal in my palm and felt its energy wrap around my hand like it wanted to fight anything that came near me. “. . . who just so happens to be the Stone Keeper of Fourth Realm.”

Silence.

Jada shook her head, her face pale. “She told you who the vampire’s Stone Keeper is?”

“Yes.”

Savina squeezed her eyes shut. “That does not bode well for anyone.”

“Well, it gets better,” Bash grumbled. “Go ahead, Collins, tell them the rest . . . and Peggy, you’ll want to pay attention.”

I frowned. So, he had been paying attention. I shook that off and exhaled. “Right. So Augustine . . . turns out she’s over two thousand years old. MoVaun didn’t say her age exactly, but I suppose its semantics at that point.”

“ Two thousand? ” Mom whispered with wide eyes. “How is she a Stone Keeper at that age?—”

“No idea. MoVaun didn’t say. But she did say that while Augustine is that old, she doesn’t remember her life because she lost her memories. Not sure on the details there.” I scrubbed my face with my hands. “MoVaun said that to get the answer, since Augustine won’t consciously know, we have go into her subconscious mind while she’s sleeping.”

“Oh no.” Peggy jumped up and put her face in her hands. “No, no, no.”

My stomach tightened into a million knots. All I could do was stare at Peggy.

“MoVaun said we were to give this necklace to Gaston to give to Augustine because we are forbidden from contacting her ourselves—per Zuriel.” Bash paused to let everyone grimace. “Once Augustine has this on, we wait for her to fall asleep.”

“And then what?” Stellan groaned.

“She said then Eloise and I can tap into her subconscious where we’ll find our answers.”

Ellie’s eyes widened and the candle flames all went out, drenching the room in only the silvery glow off the moon. But then she shook herself and flicked her hand, sending flames back to their wicks. “MoVaun specifically told me to do it with you? Without you mentioning me?”

Bash and I nodded.

Ellie turned to Savina. “What does that mean?”

Savina glared at the ground. “Peggy?—”

“No, no, no. Absolutely not. Nope. No.” Peggy shook her head wildly. She began pacing the length of the fireplace while chewing on her nails. “The hematite is the catalyst, it’s what allows you to do this while keeping her protected but . . . no. Nope. This is dangerous?—”

“We’re at war?—”

“IT’S DANGEROUS, BASTIEN!” Peggy’s cheeks flushed. She closed her eyes and held her stomach. “You don’t want to know all the ways this could go wrong and how.”

I started toward her, but Savina got there faster. She wrapped her arm around Peggy’s shoulders. “Pegs, none of us are ignoring your concerns with this. We hear you. But if this is the only way to find out how to sever Tephine’s bond, then we don’t have a choice.”

She nodded and gnawed on her bottom lip. “This kind of magic isn’t allowed in First Realm. The Vaunteros?—”

“ I am your Queen, Peggy.” Savina pointed to her head just as a crown full of massive rubies and diamonds appeared. “While Zenobia and Ailwin may be older than me, Realm Royals pull rank. Always. You will not get in trouble for your part in this. Just as you didn’t when you hid me in your home all that time. I am your Queen, and I am asking for your help here.”

Peggy’s face softened. “I would do anything for you, Savina. For all of you. But this . . . this scares me. This is magic beyond my pay grade. I know how, technically, but I need someone —I need a mage with top notch potion skills. Someone who knows more about magic than me. And the three of you mages in this room do not count. Your magic is in your veins. I need a wand?—”

“A wand, eh?” Savina grinned. “If I bring a mage here to help you, one I know can do this, will you do it for us?”

“Of course. Of course I will. It’s just so dangerous. And it takes time to make so get me my help fast.”

Savina looked over to the couch. “Nickel, can you please go retrieve my wife and get her here?”

Nickel leapt to her feet and practically flew out the door.

Peggy stood up straight. “Maren?”

Savina winked and nodded. “Everyone else, get in that kitchen and eat the grilled cheeses Peggy’s kitchen worked so hard to make.”

No one moved.

Savina wiggled her fingers and red lightning flashed across the ceiling. “ Now. ”

Stellan and Ellie levitated, then sprinted into the kitchen. Savina still had her arm around Peggy, so she turned her and led her into the kitchen.

“Were the boys all right?” Mom asked softly.

Philip stood, pulling her with him. “They were sound asleep with Mulan on TV when we left them a few minutes ago. Come, you need to eat, and we need to see what Peggy is about to whip up.”

Vic stretched her arms and legs, then jumped up. “Midnight grilled cheeses have always been a fav for me.” She winked and then hurried into the kitchen with Mom and Philip behind her.

Jada stopped in front of me. “No response from Gaston yet, but I fear he may be asleep given the time of day. We may not hear from him until morning.”

I nodded. “Not much we can do about that?—”

“We could go hunt him down?—”

“We’ve infuriated Riven enough, haven’t we, Bash?” Jada shook her head, then headed to the kitchen.

It was just me and Bash.

He sighed. “I’m just saying we give it a couple of hours at most. If he hasn’t responded by then, we go looking for him. We left the twins in dangerous positions . . . and Mother and Venus?—”

“I know. I agree.” I swallowed roughly. “Pissing off Riven is kind of old news for us at this point. We can’t sit around.”

He nodded. “I won’t dare to lecture you, but you need to eat as much as you can. The kind of magic you’re about to endure is going to affect you , too, not just Augustine.”

This awkwardness and tension between us was horribly unbearable.

“I meant what I said before.” I looked up and met his stare. “Regardless of us, I need to know I can rely on you, that you’ll be there to watch my back.”

“I always am—” I must’ve made a face because he sighed. “I will be.”

“Okay. You need to eat too.”

With that, I marched through the doorway the others had gone through. Then I stopped short at the sight before me. They had a large open-floorplan section of the house with a kitchen connected to another living room. The space was massive. The first twenty feet of the room was dedicated to a grand kitchen with marble-looking countertops, stainless steel appliances, and a cool island in the middle with built-in stools. But what caught my attention was that everything was moving.

The stove had four frying pans on it that were cooking grilled cheese sandwiches. Suddenly I understood Peggy yelling into the kitchen. The food was cooking itself. A slice of bread would lift off the loaf and a knife would scoop some butter and then slather the bread before it flew itself onto the pan. The cheese unpeeled itself from the plastic wrap, then swan dove onto the bread. A spatula was hard at work flipping the sandwiches. My jaw dropped. In the sink to my left, sponges were washing dishes in soapy water and then floating over to a drying rack where an actual fan blow-dried them . . . and then they put themselves away.

The timer on the oven beeped and then the door opened itself. The rack inside slid out and then a toothpick flew out of a cup on the counter and checked to see if the cupcakes were done. One of the trays was ready, so the tray lifted itself onto the counter while the other tray slid back inside the oven. I blinked and shook my head. It was Beauty and the Beast in real life.

My God. Tallulah would die.

Something smacked the back of my leg, so I jumped and spun around only to find that the damn broom had followed us. “Sorry, Betty.”

The broom turned and sped toward the sidewall of the kitchen. To my surprise, the cabinets opened up like a giant door to reveal a hidden pantry. I leaned forward to watch because boxes and bags of food were rearranging themselves, then I walked to the edge of the kitchen and checked out the rest of the space. Between me and a giant television that had to be fifteen feet long and took up the entire far wall was a couch similar to the one in the sunroom but bigger and with more pieces.

Everyone had taken a plate with a sandwich and sat on the couches. A plate shot out of a cabinet and landed in my hands. A second later a grilled cheese dropped down onto it. And then it ripped itself in half as if two hands had done it. I shook my head and stared at my magical sandwich as I walked over to sit next to Mom on the couch. A plastic cup soared through the air and sat on the coffee table in front of me.

“Drink, Collins?” Peggy shouted from the fridge. “Want some wine to help the jitters?”

“Uh, white wine? Yeah. Yeah, sure that’d be great?—”

“Coming!”

Sure enough, a bottle of Pinot Grigio shot over to me and then filled my cup before flying back to Peggy at the fridge. I laughed and shook my head. Magic was so cool. Mages didn’t know how lucky they were. For a few moments that could’ve been an hour or two seconds, I sat there enjoying my wine and grilled cheese sandwich—or three. No one really spoke. We all sat there watching Peggy dart back and forth across her kitchen while talking to Betty the Broom.

Finally, Nickel walked in with Maren.

Peggy tackled her in a hug, then ran into the pantry mumbling to herself.

Savina rushed to Maren’s side, pulling her into her chest. She must’ve whispered something because Maren’s face was a bit shell-shocked when she pulled back.

“I filled Maren in on the situation while we flew. She’s ready for you, Peggy.” Nickel cleared her throat. “Right. I’m going back to The Emerald, per usual. Keep me posted.”

“I will,” Savina nodded. She walked over to the couch just beyond the kitchen in the open floorplan. “Maren, you and Pegs need to get to work. I’ll be right here.”

Maren chuckled and shook her head. “Please sleep, love.”

“Yes, all of you,” Peggy ordered as she rushed out of the pantry followed by floating bins. “This is going to take a while. You might as well sleep while you have the chance.”