Page 15 of Hopeless Magic
We’ve travelled together without further incident for two days now.
A dirty crowd of people, who are trading bread and fruit for blankets and clothes, stop their transactions the moment their beady little eyes land on the four of us.
A woman with creases along her withered features and deep brown eyes staggers nearer. Her hungry gaze watches us with too much interest. My shoulder bumps against Daxdyn’s as I move closer to him. Darrio’s heavy strides bring him between myself and the woman as Ryder walks close behind me, his steps almost brushing the back of my boots.
“The Hopeless,” she whispers in a dry, crackling breath.
My gaze darts down to their arms. All three fae have their sleeves pulled down over the slashing marks of the Hopeless.
How does she know?
“May they return to us and save us all.” Her hand rises as if she’s seeing a powerful god, as if she can shine in our passing. As if these three men could save her tarnished soul.
They cannot save us from this broken world.
No one can.
A tenseness fills my jaw as I begin to walk faster, my head tipped down to the dusty roadway. With intent, I make my way to the one house in particular.
The house stands among a group of deteriorating homes. The others are missing chunks of walls. The boards covering their windows are old and warped, but the familiar homes protect the families inside them all the same.
The one I’m walking to isn’t in shambles. It’s as close to residential perfection this world will ever know.
The three men look to one another skeptically and their skepticism only rises when my knuckles rap against the polished wood of the house facetiously numbered 6969. The white brick is immaculately clean. The little golden numbers above the door glisten even in the pale morning sunlight.
With ease, the door glides open and a woman with long blonde hair sways into view.
“Kara, my little honey squeeze. I haven’t seen you in nearly a year, my love.” Her thin arms wrap intimately around me, holding me to her plump chest that’s exposed over the tight corset of her silk gown. Her hand still drapes across my shoulders even after she pulls back from me. Her emerald eyes eat up every inch of the men behind me. “Who are your friends, Kara?”
I notice the way Daxdyn drags his gaze over my aunt, but the other two only offer kind smiles. Well, Ryder’s smiling. Darrio’s lips remain in a hard line across his stern face.
I haven’t taunted Darrio once since I saw him burn the majority of a man’s face off.
I’ve played nice.
Too nice.
“This is Daxdyn, Ryder, and Rio.” Darrio pins me with a glare at the sound of my introduction and I applaud myself internally for getting under his skin with three simple letters. “Guys, this is my aunt, Lady Ivory.”
Ryder’s brows pull low at the formal title my aunt loves to be called. In all honesty, her name’s Celeste. Celeste Storm. But Ivory Storm has a regal appeal. Full of beauty and prestige. Just like my aunt.
“Welcome to Saint’s Inn, gentlemen.” The purr in her voice hasn’t changed a bit in the last few years. Nothing about her has changed. She’s still as beautiful and kind as the day she took me in almost five years ago. “This is where the magic happens.”
I scoff when the word magic falls from her lips. She has no idea who she’s talking to with these three.
“Kara, can I have a word with you?” Ryder repeats my aunt’s nickname for me and he takes the few steps up to her beautiful home. His chest pushes against my shoulder, his breath warm against my neck.
The excited gleam in my aunt’s gaze shifts from Ryder to me and then back again.
I get the feeling sex is the only thing that ever fills her mind.
Part of me is irritated by her sex-filled life, and part of me is extremely jealous.
“Sure.” I slip out of my aunt’s embrace. I hate being touched, but somehow, it’s different with her. It makes me feel like my father’s still with me because I have her. I’d do anything for Ivory, and she’d do anything for me.
Lady Ivory watches us closely. She doesn’t even pretend to ignore us. Ryder takes a few steps away, his hand gripping mine as he leads me back down the small stairs. My fingers twitch against his. The warmth of his rough palm against mine does something strange to me. Something unnatural. A tingling feeling stirs within me and I quickly pull my hand from his.
“What the hell are we doing here, Kara?” His tone is stern and makes me cringe from the sound of it. “We should not be hanging around outside, in the middle of a village. My step mother will find us. She already knows we’ve escaped. We need to lie low.”
