Page 19 of The Magic of Destiny
“Milady,” he said, offering her the bottle of water like it was a rare jewel.
“Thank you, Viper.” She smiled, taking the water and chugging half of it. Kai grumbled something and returned to his seat.
“Come sit with us, sweetheart,” I encouraged. We'd all been missing her with the madness of the past week.
Despite feeling in better control of my affinity overall, she still grounded me better than any other person. It was like her magic ran on instinct. She quieted the beast within, which I was now starting to accept wasn't actually Faris. No, I had plenty of my own issues and he’d just been the scapegoat my entire life, an easy explanation. Now that he was out of my mind, I needed to own up, and accept who I really was. My dark sexual desires, the need to mentally dominate my opponents… that was all me.
“But I have to go do—” she started, and was quickly cut off by Kai.
“No, Sprout. You've done nothing but run yourself ragged the past couple of days. Come sit down for a moment and let me get you something to eat,” he said, standing and reaching for her.
She stood there, the thoughts rolling through her mind. She'd given up on protecting them and I could hear her inner turmoil.
‘Too much to do. Have to help Sloane and Annie. I'm so fucking tired.’
My heart was hurting for my sweet witch who was always so worried about everyone else before herself. She was desperately trying to keep busy to distract herself from these thoughts.
Her shoulders relaxed though, as she decided to take Kai up on his idea. She stepped forward, and he wrapped his arms around her.
“We'll take care of you, always. Especially when it's too hard for you to do it yourself, Cub,” Kai rumbled against the top of her head.
“Thank you, Alpha. I just get lost in my head sometimes. I am hungry, though,” Saige admitted, giving Faris and I a small smile.
“Well then, let me get you some lunch,” Kai said, stepping back and grinning. His whole mood seemed to perk up at the thought of feeding our mate.
‘There goes your test.’I pushed the thought at Faris, and he leaned back lazily in his seat with a smirk.
‘Oh, I'll find some way to test it. Fear not, brother.’
That was a little terrifying. My legs had been itchy as fuck now that the hair was coming back after his bright idea of compelling me to shave them. I still owed him one for that shit.
“Come sit here, Firefly. You look like you could use some lovin',” Faris drawled, still leaning back in his chair like a fucking king.
“I'm just so worried,” Saige murmured as she walked toward him. “When I try to sleep, I have these... dreams.”
“What kind of dreams, Sprout?” Kai called from the fridge as he scoured for whatever it was he needed to use for lunch.
Fear began rolling off of her and my fists clenched.
“I've been dreaming of those shadow things—the ones that King Thane must've sent a while back to look for me?” We nodded. Of course we remembered. Bette and Saige had cast spells and put up wards to protect the house from those projections. If she was dreaming of them now, that could only mean one thing. Thane was looking for her yet again, and he was finding a way around the protections they’d created.
“I'll talk to Bette after lunch and ensure the wards are all secure.” Kai was prowling around the kitchen now, little snarls escaping his mouth.
“Are you really surprised?” she asked us. “Thane was the first of our problems. Asrael came along after, and now we're completely focused on him. That would make this the perfect time for Thane to attack, if that's what he's planning. Or maybe they're working together like Bram said?”
Kai paused his pacing. “The day Bram got us from the castle, Asrael told him outright he was coming for the throne. If they happen to be working together, either Thane isn't aware of Asrael's plans, or he knows and isn’t concerned. I'd be willing to bet they're trying to use each other, and then it'll just be a race to see who can kill the other first,” he theorized.
I nodded. “Whatever the reason, we need to be more vigilant than before. I don't like not knowing what's happening.” My heart was beating quicker at the thought of impending danger. And it was there. It would come. All we could do right now was wait and prepare.
“We need to figure out how to get on the offense. A surprise attack sounds perfect,” Faris said darkly.
“I do think we need to get to Besmet as soon as possible,” Saige said. “That's where the answers are, and I feel this... pull. I need to go there.”
“Here, Cub. Eat this,” Kai commanded, sitting a plate in front of her with one of those freaking grilled cheeses on it. Gods, that looked amazing.
My eyes darted over to Faris, and I found him staring intensely at Kai. I stifled a laugh when Kai made a puzzled face and spun on his heel, speeding back to the stove. He must’ve pulled up an app on his phone because music started playing.
“Got yours comin' right up, Fish. You want the capicola or the prosciutto?”
