Page 62 of Wicked Warlock
Penny nodded. “Okay, It’s time for me to go see my father.”
Chapter 31
Astrid
I stepped out of Beckett’s portal and, instantly, cold assailed my body and my lungs seized. I nearly toppled over, and Beckett caught me around the waist. “Penny.”
She stepped out of the portal behind us and waved her hand. A mask appeared over all our faces and oxygen flowed right to me. I sucked in deep breaths, loving the feeling of my lungs filling with air once more.
Beckett’s voice came through my ear loud and clear like we were in a helicopter and he spoke through the headsets. “Astrid, are you okay?”
I huddled down further into my coat and thanked whatever manufacturing god invented the gloves that stopped my fingers from falling off and the boots that kept my toes attached to my body. “I’m okay.”
Beckett threw his arm around me and pulled me in close to his side. “I’ve got you.”
I placed my hand on his chest and curled in closer, feeling that connection between us spark to life. I hadn’t known how much I needed him until he wasn’t there, and now that I had him back, I never wanted to let him go again.
The sky was a bright crystal-clear blue. The sun glowed so brightly and spectacularly it made the sky look like it stretched on forever. Below us, clouds drifted over the lower part of the mountain and snow fell in sheets. But at the peak high above all else in the world, it didn’t touch us. No, up here, we were untouchable. I sucked in a deep breath. “I can see why he chose this place.”
Penny walked by us with her pendulum in hand. “It’s this way. Supposed to be hidden by magic. Ostentatious, isn’t it? Living up here.”
Professor Charles marched at Penny’s side like she wasn’t an older woman standing on the top of the world dressed in thick Antarctic gear. “Oh, I don’t know. Rather fitting for the supposed Greek God of the Sky to live on the tallest mountain in the world.”
“You need a mask to breathe up here, the air is so thin.” Penny let her pendulum continue to swing and she followed its path. “Mount Everest is not the place where one makes a home.”
Even layered in my winter gear, I had to agree. A cold tremor overcame my body and Beckett held me even tighter. If I were any closer to him, we’d be sharing a body. He slowed our pace, letting the other two get farther ahead. I looked up at him and he was staring down at me. He reached to his side and flicked a switch on the head gear then turned on mine so we could only hear each other. “Astrid, I’m so sorry.”
“There’s nothing for you to be sorry for.” I wanted to stop and take his face in my hands and press light kisses all over him.
“I wasn’t myself…” He shook his head and lowered his voice. “The things… the things I did. They’re not forgivable.”
My heart nearly broke for him. Beckett, my real Beckett was back, and all we needed was time alone together, but we didn’t have time to even breathe or sleep. Time was moving against us and there was nothing we could do but walk a few feet behind Penny and Professor Charles. He needed me. I felt it deep in my chest.
“Yes, yes, they are. Those people would’ve been sentenced to death. Your father was a murderer.”
“And now so am I.” For a few moments all I heard was the sound of his breaths. “The apple didn’t fall far from the tree, after all.”
“No, that’s some bullshit.” I loved him more than anything. The last few days weren’t him. I knew it and deep down he did, too. “You had something in you that couldn’t be controlled. It’s gone now, that darkness.”
“Is it? Or was it always there and just unlocked?” He sighed. “I didn’t care that they were dead, Astrid.”
“Psh, no one did.”
He froze. “Wait? What?”
“Oh, come on. We all know they were a bunch of psychos who needed to die.” I shrugged. I wasn’t little Miss Innocent. None of us were. Evermore was a brutal world. We weren’t humans; we were witches and warlocks fighting for something bigger than all of us. It wasn’t about the deaths.
“Doesn’t make it right.”
“Like Ophelia says, name one of us who hasn’t killed someone?” I threw up my arms. “I don’t even know how many people I hurt or killed in that club. Or the battles that we’ve been in. And let’s not even get started on Cross and Ophelia’s body count.”
“Just because other people have done it doesn’t make it right. You all were under attack. I wasn’t.” He started to turn away from me, but I grabbed his arm and jerked him back toward me.
“No, the difference is we were under attack for a moment. You’ve been under attack your whole life.” I ripped my mask from my face. He needed to see my face and the sincerity in my eyes. “You survived, and you defended yourself and the rest of us. What do you think would’ve happened if they found out about Penny and me? Do you think for a second they would let me live?”
He pulled off his mask too and sucked in a deep breath. “Astrid… I—”
I grabbed his face and pulled him down to me. His lips crashed into mine and it was everything that I wanted since getting back from Unseelie. I needed him like I needed air. He was my soulmate, the other half of my heart, and without him, none of this meant anything. I opened my mouth and his tongue swept over my lips and mingled with mine. An electrical shock shot through my body, and I sizzled from head to toe. This was him—the real Beckett—and this was us. It was everything I needed and wanted. I felt complete when I was with him.
