Chapter 72

Chapter 72

FEY

W hen the sun finally rose the next morning, it bathed the sky in a pink so dark it was almost red. Fey watched it from a window in her sisters’ apartment, watched the colors bleed over the city, tinging everything in a rose-colored haze.

Behind her, she heard the sound of a door opening, followed by light footsteps on the carpet. Her sister’s footsteps.

“You can see him now,” Joy told her. She sounded completely drained. Exhausted. Fey wasn’t surprised. Joy had put everything that she’d had into that healing. And even then, even with all her power, it almost hadn’t been enough.

“Is he…” Fey swallowed. The light from the sunrise looked a little too much like blood to her. “Is he going to be okay?”

Joy’s hand landed gently on her shoulder, turning her away from the window. Exhaustion lined Joy’s face. But so did hope.

“He’ll be fine, sister,” Joy assured her, smiling. “Back to normal before you know it.”

An awful weight that had been pressing down on Fey’s chest lifted, ever so slightly.

“Thank you,” Fey murmured. “For saving him, and for… for everything. ”

Joy’s answering smile was full of understanding.

“You love him, don’t you?” she asked, gently. “You and your Vampire?”

Unable to speak, Fey just nodded.

“I saw. On the rooftop, when you let your blades fall.” Joy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Sister… If I hadn’t made it in time? If he had passed into the afterlife? I promise you—I would have reached into the beyond and pulled him back with my own two hands if I’d had to. For you.”

Fey let out a laugh.

“You know, I almost believe you could, sister,” she said, shaking her head.

“Thankfully, it didn’t come to that. But he needs to rest. I healed the worst of it, but—” Joy rubbed a hand over her face. “I need to rest, too, before I can finish the rest of the healing. I’m tapped out. His hip is still broken, and he has multiple contusions that aren’t life threatening, but…”

“But you both need to rest,” Fey finished.

“I should be able to heal everything else in a day or so,” Joy said. “Until then, yes—lots of rest. And no… no funny stuff.”

Fey raised an eyebrow, and Joy responded with a huff and a roll of her eyes.

“No sex. And I mean it. That broken hip is a problem, and if you—or Alastair—do anything to make it worse, it’ll be a nightmare for me to heal, okay? There’s no guarantee I can repair the bone fully as it is.”

“I’m sure I can control myself,” Fey assured her.

Joy just laughed.

“See that you do. I’m going to call Sana and see if she can come and help with some of the injuries in the meantime.” Joy’s eyes were kind as she smiled. “Go in and see him, sister. He’s waiting for you.”

Intentionally or not, they’d put Jasper in Fey’s old room when they’d rushed him here last night. She smiled as she closed the door behind her, looking around at the place she’d once called home. Then her gaze landed on Jasper, deep asleep on the bed, and her smile fell.

Bruises covered half his face and continued in a molted purple down his body. Joy had made a cast for his hips until she regained enough strength to finish mending the bones there. But…

Fey let out a shaky breath. He was alive. Seeing him lying there for the first time since he’d gone off the edge of the roof, Fey allowed it to really sink in. Jasper was alive.

She wouldn’t cry. She promised herself she wouldn’t cry…

Taking a shuddering breath, Fey wrapped her arms around her own shoulders and curled in on herself. She’d come so close to losing him. Come so close to losing everything. She screwed her eyes shut tight, fighting against the tears she refused to cry.

“Hey,” came a voice from the bed.

Fey looked up.

Jasper was awake, watching her. He tried to lift himself up on his elbow, wincing as he did so.

“What’s wrong, gorgeous?” he asked her, frowning. “Are you okay?’

A startled laugh broke through her lips.

“Okay?” she asked. She shook her head. “Jasper… you’re alive. I’m much, much better than okay.”

He grinned.

“But if you don’t lay back down, I’ll call my sister back in here, and she will break something non-vital until you do,” Fey warned him.

Chuckling, Jasper lowered himself back onto the pillows.

“Come here,” he beckoned her closer, opening his arms and patting the bed next to him. “Lay down with me. Then I’ll have no reason to move, will I?”

Wiping a hand over her face, she moved closer and crawled into bed next to him, curling on her side to press against him. His heart was slow and steady in his ribcage.

I’m alive , it said with every beat.

We’re alive.

“I was so scared when you went over that ledge,” she admitted, burrowing her face in his chest. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“Me too,” he responded, voice thick. “When I couldn’t fight it, I thought…” He trailed off.

He didn’t need to say it. His arm pulled her toward him a little tighter.

“Is Alastair here?” he asked.

Fey shook her head. “He was, before the sun came up. Alice sent him home. We’re lucky she didn’t murder him. He didn’t want to leave your side, and she kept saying he was getting in Joy’s way… one of them threw a lamp. It was a whole thing…”

Jasper laughed.

“How are you holding up?” he asked. His hand stroked down her back, rubbing soothing circles over her.

“Jasper… you’re the one who was hurt,” Fey reminded him. “Not me.”

“Well, sure,” he huffed and shifted on the mattress. “But that doesn’t mean you don’t get to be hurt, too. We already know I’m hurt. But… How are you? Are you okay?”

“No,” she admitted, cuddling closer to him. “But I will be. When you’re better.”

She lost herself for a while in the feeling of him pressed against her, in the comfort of his touch along her back.

“Do you know…” Jasper trailed off, voice breaking. “Do you know what happened to Vivian?”

Fey swallowed.

“She’s alive,” she told him. Jasper released a shaky breath. “Kallista did… something to her. I don’t understand what. But she’s safe, for now. They have her in a cell, in Lunairea.”

His confused frown almost pulled a smile from her. “The soldier’s quarters, behind the palace. She’ll be safe there. Until… until the council figures out what to do with her.”

Jasper nodded slowly.

“Do you think they’ll let me visit her?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Fey admitted.

“This was all my fault,” Jasper whispered. Fey sat up to protest, but he kept going, lips set in a thin line. “I should have known something was happening with her. I should have helped her; I should have done… something.”

“You did everything you could, Jasper,” Fey said. “You didn’t know?—”

“I should have known,” Jasper insisted. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. “I was supposed to protect her, Fey. And… I fucked that up. She needed me, and I didn’t even notice.”

His chest shuddered as he took a trembling breath.

Fey didn’t know what to say. Curling up against him again, Fey just held him and let him mourn.

After a while, his arms came up to circle her again. He squeezed her tight against his body. They lay there together, holding one another, as the silence stretched on and on.

“So…” Fey said finally, sliding her hand over his chest. “Mates, huh?”

Jasper stiffened, ever so slightly, under her touch. The only indication he’d heard.

“Alastair told me last night,” Fey murmured, drawing patterns over his chest with her fingertip. “Shouted it, really, when Alice threatened to make him leave. Said he’d break her neck if she tried to keep your mates from you. But… he didn’t really explain it. Or what it means.”

Jasper remained tense under her touch.

“It’s a Shifter thing,” he told her in a gruff voice. “Not all of them, but… Wolves, and… some of the others.”

Fey waited for him to continue, her hands stilling.

“And?” she prompted.

He shifted uneasily against the mattress. “And… it’s hard to explain. It’s like… being made for someone. Like you’re a part of them, a piece of them that was missing.”

He went quiet again.

“Is that how it feels for you?” Fey asked, curious. “Like you found a missing piece?”

Jasper laughed.

“No, not really. It feels like home,” he said in answer. “With you… with Alastair. When I look at the two of you, it feels like home.”

Home .

Her chest tightened.

“I know you Witches don’t feel anything like that,” Jasper told her, softly running his palms over her back. “I don’t mind. And I’m sorry for not telling you.”

“For not telling me that I belong to you?” Fey asked, a hint of anger coloring her voice .

Jasper shook his head quickly.

“That I belong to you , Fey,” he told her softly. “To both of you. I’m not a missing piece of you… you’re both a missing piece of me.”

His hands felt so good on her, so comforting. And it did feel like home, to be laying here with him, didn’t it?

Letting go of that small flicker of anger, Fey let herself relax further into him.

“Is it common to have more than one mate?” she asked.

“Not common, no,” Jasper answered. “It’s unusual, but it happens. But having a mate who’s a Vampire? Or a Witch?” Jasper laughed. “Now that… that’s rare. That’s something I’ve never heard of happening before.”

“I’m… glad,” Fey admitted. “I wish you had told me, but… I’m glad I know now. Now I understand what makes this so special. The three of us.”

Jasper raised her hand to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to her fingers. Then to her palm, and her wrist. By the time he’d begun to kiss further down her arm and to the crook of her elbow, a guttural moan had started in his chest.

“Jasper,” Fey warned him. His eyes met hers and they flashed with lust.

“Oh no.” She smirked, pulling her arm away. Jasper pivoted, kissing her neck and up to her cheek. “I promised Joy. No funny business.”

“No funny business at all,” Jasper promised. But his hand moved further down her back, to cup her ass. “I won’t move, I swear. I’ll stay right here. Just… let me touch you, Fey. Let me taste you.”

His hand roamed over her curves, and it was tempting, so, so tempting, to let him keep going.

“Sit on my face,” he said. “I’ll be still, I promise. I won’t?—”

Someone’s fist banged hard against the door.

“What did I say?” Joy’s voice was angry through the thin wooden door. Jasper’s hand finally stilled but his shoulders shook with silent laughter.

“The walls here are very thin,” Fey told him, grimacing. “Trust me.”

When the bedroom door opened, Joy didn’t seem at all surprised to find Fey curled against Jasper’s chest. But she did shoot her an irritated glance.

“Get up,” she said, shooing Fey out of the bed. “I had an idea. Sana’s here now, and we want to try something.”

“Shouldn’t you be resting?” Fey asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“I can rest later. But, right now, I need to test something. So, shoo.”

Fey gave Jasper an apologetic grin as she shimmied off the mattress. A moment later, when Sana entered, she was glad for the space between the two of them.

The Water Witch glanced between Fey and Jasper, who was still looking at Fey with raw lust in his eyes, and she flushed red.

“That girl, Vivian?” Joy asked Jasper, stepping forward. “She’s your niece, right?”

A flicker of pain flashed in Jasper’s bright green eyes before he nodded.

“By blood , right?” Joy pressed, and again Jasper nodded. “Good… that’s good.”

“Does that matter?” Jasper asked skeptically.

“For this? Oh yes. It matters.” Joy smiled.

“Shifters and Witches have produced children before,” Sana explained, fiddling with the sleeve of her robes. “Many times, over the history of the realm. But… we’ve never heard of their offspring possessing both sets of gifts, one from each parent. And if Alastair really does have the gift of Blood Magic?—”

“He what?” asked Jasper, frowning.

“—and if that gift did come from breeding with Witches,” Sana continued, unabated. “Perhaps our Factions have more in common than we once thought.”

“That got me thinking,” Joy started to say. Sana shot her a look, and Joy quickly rephrased. “Got us thinking. Maybe… maybe these gifts only appear after several generations of interbreeding between the Factions. Maybe Vivian’s power doesn’t just come from her father being a Witch, but from multiple sources , coalescing in her family line. In your family line. And if that’s the case… Fey, if that’s the case, there’s a chance—a small chance—Jasper may be the same. And there could be many more like him, Shifters with Witch blood. Maybe Demons, too. ”

Jasper blinked, slowly. Then he chuckled, shaking his head.

“Hang on… you’re not suggesting I’m a Witch? Like… like all of you?” he asked with a wry smile.

Sana shook her head. “Not a full Witch, no. But you—and others like you—might share enough genetic similarity with us that, well… certain things may be possible. Things we never considered, before. Like…”

“Like healing sigils,” Joy finished, beaming.

Clearly, the conversation was lost on Jasper, who looked at each of them blankly.

But Fey’s mind roiled with the possibilities. If that were true… if there was enough Witch blood in the Shifter factions…

“Do you really think he—?” Fey began.

“Only one way to find out!” Joy grinned. She held her hand out, palm open, to Sana, and after a moment of hesitation, Sana pulled a thin, silver knife from the pockets of her robes and handed it to her.

“This is probably going to hurt,” Joy told Jasper, with a sympathetic glance, as she set a bowl of black ink on the nightstand. A lick of flame shot down the knife as she held it, hovering over the tip.

“But if this works?” Joy’s eyes flashed. “If this works, this could save countless lives.”

The effect was instantaneous.

The moment Joy finished the last line of the healing sigil on his shoulder, stepping back to admire her work, Jasper drew a deep breath. He stared around at them in shock.

And the bruises marring his body started to fade.