Page 21 of Bound to Burn
My heart stops, but I cannot lose pace. Not now. Not when two drops are already in and the third must be delivered within seconds.
Jinx hikes a leg up and nearly breaks Lucas’ arm when she slams her knee down. She twists her hand in his hair, grabbing his jaw, and wrenching back.
The third drop falls into space. “Stencia.”
Jinx flexes as Lucas surges.
The drop lands dead center in the back of his throat.
Magic pulses, my long hair blowing back and tugging free of my band. There’s no sound from Lucas. His back bows, his mouth stretches wide. His muscles and tendons strain. The air sizzles with magic, the chime of a bell echoing in my ears in a continuous, single-pitched ring.
Then the world sucks inward with awhooshand a gentle mist of sparkling magic clings to the air. Lucas’ body thumpsback on the table and goes lax, his black eyes closing. The magic settles upon his skin and is absorbed like a sponge, leaving the half-clothed magician slightly glowing. Finally, he dims.
I pant, sweat drenching my forehead and trickling down my chin. The room is blurry and all I can hear are my heavy breaths.
Slowly, Lucas opens his eyes. The black fades away like ink diluting in water until his eyes return to normal. Honey brown irises slide around the room until they land on me. He smiles softly, his voice rasping. “Torment.”
I let out a trembling breath, and my legs give out.
Lucas surges forward, his arm wrapping around my middle. He cries out in agony, head thrown back, when his weight compresses his injured shoulder. But he doesn’t let go. He tightens his hold and heaves me forward to stretch out onto the table beside him. He’s hissing breath, body trembling. Several agonizing moments pass before he grinds out through gritted teeth, “Fuckinghell.”
I stare at him, my face near his chest. His bite mark pours blood from him lying on his side. He tries to pull me more on the table, but hisses in pain instead. His body gives out, and he collapses down on his back.
Jinx grabs me before I can slide off the table. My familiar smiles, eyes bright with pride. “You did it.”
I attempt a response, any response, but it’s all too much. My fingers twitch, my pinkie lifting. It slides along Lucas’ hair, snagging on a strand and holding it tightly. I did it.
I don’t remember falling asleep, the exhaustion of my body taking over and pulling me deep into a dreamless slumber. One moment, Jinx is tucking both Lucas and me into my massive bed with dusk darkening the sky, the next sunlight is streaming in through the enchanted windows.
My residence sits above my shop with a winding iron staircase leading up to it in the back of the stacks to dissuade any grimoires from sneaking up. The main floor of it is simple, an open utilitarian kitchen and living room with an enchanted bay window taking up the bottom floor. The books here are my personal collection. They bloom flowers along the massive shelves, vines growing and thickening along the wooden staircase that leads to the open loft where my large bed lies.
All the windows are like the ones in my shop’s back room. Enchanted, except these are set to reflect the outside sky, so I can better track the hours. My perfect sanctuary with my grimoire inventory below to guard the stairs leading to the one and only entrance.
I blink, my body aching horrifically from magical overuse. My voice is raw and I’m barely able to lift more than a finger. The books will take advantage of my incapacitation. They’ll try to sneak through the pocket of reality’s barrier to the human side and wreak havoc on my organization.Those bastards.
My head lolls to the side and my gaze collides with Lucas’. The sun illuminates his slightly too-long hair, his brown eyes even lighter as they glow with it. Lucas, human by blood, still holds a mysterious affinity to the light in a way that I’ve never seen in his kind.
He smiles so beautifully that my breath stops. His soft, husky whisper elicits a tingle across my skin as he reaches over and plucks the lace of my chemise. “Nice nightie, Torment.”
My lip trembles and I burst into sloppy, wet sobs.
Lucas flails on the bed with an “Oh shit,” getting caught in the blankets before he wrenches himself free enough to sit up. The sheet twists around his hips as he hovers awkwardly over my supine, sobbing form, his fingers splayed like I’m a curse for him to tease apart. The despair in his face produces a choked laugh from me. His bandage is soaked and in desperate need ofchanging, but he ignores it, his eyes scanning me. “Fuck, Tor, I’m sorry. I was being stupid. I thought you’d laugh. I swear. It’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Nothing says sexy like woven cotton.”
I shake my head and pant desperate breaths to try to get control of my voice. I rasp, “Lucas, you lost your hat.” I gasp for air, my voice transforming into a warbling wail. “It’s probably spider food bynooooooow!”
He stills before bursting into a joyful laugh. It almost stops my crying, but I’m on a roll. The release of my emotions is like a tsunami, washing me away with all the wreckage of my life.
Lucas’ relaxed body sidles next to me and I’m pulled into a tight embrace. I pant, huffing against his chest and beg, “More.” Lucas’ arms tighten, one sliding around my middle and the other slipping up my spine to tangle his fingers in my rats’ nest of long hair. I gasp in breaths that taste like him, body vibrating against the hard strength of his frame. Lying limp, my sobbing subsides into sniffling as his warmth soaks through the iciness of my skin. Finally, my bones thaw.
His leg slides around mine, hooking at my calf, so our feet touch. My eyes close, and I nearly moan into the comforting embrace that’s held me for four years, one that I almost lost for a chance to read a Dual Thread grimoire.
My eyes burn anew. I squeeze them shut and push them against Lucas’ neck. I shift minutely, trying to get even closer, and my thigh slides farther between his. The edge of my chemise rides up and my bare thigh brushes something.
My eyes blink open. “Are you…” My eyes widen. “Are you naked?”
He shrugs in answer.
“Ew! Lucas!” I try to smack him, but only manage a flop, with my palm colliding into his pec. It stays there, my fingers playing with his chest hair. It shouldn’t be nearly as fascinatingas it is and I cover my blush with snark. “Your man bits areeverywhere.”
