Page 15 of Torn Ivy
“Ivy?” Tate says cautiously. “Sorry, babe. Not calling you Poison right now. How did we get here? What’s going on?”
Ivy’s eyes are wide as she stares at us. “I think I did this. Somehow.”
“You did what exactly?” Torin growls, his eyes darting around suspiciously at the others in the room.
“I was practising with this stupid magick, and I wanted to find you,” Ivy explains, her voice shaky. “To know you were safe, and then you were here.”
“Impressive,” a woman I don’t recognise says, eyeing Ivy with interest. “You’re more powerful than we realised.”
“Who the fuck are you?” I demand, stepping protectively in front of Ivy.
“Easy, Bram,” Ivy says, putting a hand on my arm. “That is my Aunt Cathy, you know the rest.”
“Vex,” Tate snarls. “You had better not have laid a single finger on her.”
He smirks. “Only when she asked me to.”
Tate’s fury is like a living thing. He calls his magick to him, but Ivy stops him by slapping her hand on his wrist. “No. Don’t let him wind you up. He’s an idiot.”
“Hey,” Vex snaps. “An idiot who saved you.”
“Noooo, an idiot who brought me here to this shitshow!”
“Okay, back up a fucking minute here. What is going on? Why did you run, Ivy? Was it because of Death?”
Her eyes go wide when she looks at me. Those cornflower eyes that make my dick go hard. As much as I’ve fallen for Ivy as herself, I can’t deny the effect Poison has on me. “How did you know about Death?”
“He paid us a visit,” Torin growls. “And decided to imprison us. We escaped.”
Ivy’s eyes widen in shock. “You escaped from Death? How?”
“Long story,” I cut in. “The short version is we found some weird orb thing that transported us out of there. Now, will you please explain what the fuck is going on?”
Ivy takes a deep breath, looking around at the others in the cavern. “It’s complicated. Basically, Death gave me an ultimatum to either kill you guys or he takes my soul. I ran to try to protect you, but then...” She gestures vaguely at herself and the pink energy still crackling around her. “All this happened.”
“What is ‘all this’ exactly?” Tate asks, eyeing her warily. “Why is Vex here?”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Tate is so caught up in Vex and his jealousy or rivalry or whatever the fuck it is, it’s like they're fucking siblings or something…
Wait. Did I just…I narrow my eyes at them.Nah. They look like exact opposites.
“Apparently, I have chaos magick,” Ivy says, interrupting my wayward thoughts. “Because I’m some kind of cosmic glitch that rejected becoming Death while still in the womb, and now these guys want me to use it to take down Death and The Syndicate.”
I blink, trying to process this information dump. “That’s a lot.” Frowning, I look around the room. “Are you? Do I know you?” I ask, zeroing in on the woman again.
“No, that would be me,” Josh says, raising his hand. I barely know the guy, only by sight. He’s Ramsey’s boyfriend.
“You? You’re the creature that I’ve been dealing with?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“So you guys are really trying to take down The Syndicate?”
“Death, mostly, but The Syndicate is his brainchild, so by proxy, yes.”
“So where do the kills fit into your thing… and don’t give me, need to know. If you want me to get on board with whatever shit this is…” I wave my hand around, “… not to mention the fact that Ivy has something I’ve only ever heard of in tales of the ancient Fae, you owe me this.”
“What kills?” Ivy asks, momentarily distracted.
