Declan
The room was quiet except for the grumblings of the heat as it would turn off and on, never quite holding its set temperature for more than a few minutes. The beige curtains turned the golden sunlight streaming through them, a brassy orange that reached every corner of the room, highlighting all the imperfections. The chips on the furniture. The patched walls. The messily repaired tear in the faded bed scarf, which now lay in a crumpled heap on the threadbare carpet. There was no pretending this room was anything but what it was: a cheap hotel in a rural southern town.
And Declan had never felt more comfortable or content in his entire life.
He had been awake for at least thirty minutes, a goofy smile spreading across his face as he absentmindedly ran a hand through Lux's dark, tangled hair while she rested peacefully with her cheek pressed against his bare chest and one arm slung across his abdomen. Sleeping is what he should have been doing as well, with only an hour before they needed to leave, but he didn't want to lose a single second of this moment.
Closing his eyes, he recalled last night, wishing there was some spell he could cast to make it so the memory stayed crystal clear. A blush heated his cheeks. Not for the physical elements, though they had been wonderful, but for the words and looks they shared in dark, quiet spaces between the passion- the trust they offered and accepted from the other before coming together and cementing the bond.
He wondered how couples experienced this without that tangible thread tying them together. Because even if it didn't exist, Declan didn't think he could walk away from Lux afterwards. It hadn't just been the barrier of their clothes they'd removed, but the secrets and insecurities they carried. Hers belonged to him, and his to hers.
The stone on his chest had been growing steadily warmer, and a low vibration rumbled through his chest. It was easy to recognize it for what it was. As a sorcerer, he could sense magical energy in objects, and as Lux's soulmate, her signature stood out to him above everything else. Her essence flooded through their shared stone and now through his own body.
One with no ending or beginning.
Yet... He frowned. There wasn't much written about the type of soul bond they shared. Soulmates, while rare, were well documented; however, the previous sanctions against sorcerers and witches being together meant no one studied mates who bonded across both souls. What little he read hinted that the final merging should be intense and all-consuming. One cheeky author said that the couple she studied hadn't emerged from their room for a week.
Not that he was complaining. As nice as it would be, a week of seclusion wasn't practical right now, and they had a lifetime to explore this new part of their relationship. But what if... another blush bloomed, and he was grateful Lux remained asleep. What if the bond was weak because he'd done something wrong?
Inhaling deeply, he forced the intrusive thought away and carefully moved Lux so he could get out of bed. A shower would clear his mind, and there was no point in continuing to waste the morning. This had been a welcome reprieve from the craziness of the last few days- really the last year- but he meant it when he told Kitty they didn't have time to waste.
By the time he stepped into the shower, steam fogged the room, and Declan stood motionless beneath the forceful spray, letting the hot water soothe away the tension in his muscles. He didn't register the curtain sliding open or Lux's presence until her hands slid up his back, her nails raking across his shoulders and down his arms while she pressed her breasts into him.
"Somehow it's appropriate we'd end up here," she whispered, her hands now having moved onto his stomach, drifting lower at a tortuously slow pace.
"Why do you say that?" he asked, putting a hand on the wall in front of him to brace himself as she pressed searing kisses on his flesh and paused her wandering hands on top of his thighs.
"Didn't we meet in the shower?"
Something was off. He couldn't quite place it. The tone of her voice. The aggressive nature of her touch. But it was the knot forming in his chest that truly worried him.
"I think we officially met after you fell out of the shower," he said, hoping he struck a teasing tone as he turned slowly, capturing her hands and pulling them up. The lust clouding his judgment faded, and he focused on her face.
Gods, she was beautiful. Water droplets formed and fell down her unblemished skin, clinging to her lashes and lips, still plump with kisses. Wet, her hair was nearly black, and he knew it ended just above the point where hips flared out, forming an hourglass shape that had mesmerized him as he moved over her last night. His body and heart cried out for him to take what she was offering, to explore her in the light and slowly without the first time urgency that had claimed them both before.
But there was a single flaw stopping him.
The eyes watching him intently belonged to another woman.
"Morgause."
She laughed, stepped back and clapping her hands. "You are something else."
He turned off the water, drew back the curtain, and grabbed a towel. Morgause clicked her tongue against her teeth and pouted. The pout turned to an eye roll when he threw a towel at her.
"Are you sure nothing is wrong with you?" she demanded, drying off one long limb at a time, forcing Declan to look anywhere but at her. "This body pleases you. I felt that last night."
"Let her go," he growled. How had he missed this? When had she taken over Lux? Bile choked him at the thought she'd been in control last night.
"I quite like this body, so no," she replied, lifting her hand high and studying her palm intently. Above it, a spark popped. Then a small flame appeared, dancing weakly before vanishing.
"Please," he begged. A band of anguish constricted around his heart, making breathing difficult.
Morgause flounced by him and went about tugging on Lux's discarded clothes. She made a face for each article, and he wanted to tear the fabric from her hands to stop her from defiling anything else that belonged to his girl.
"You know," she said, her words muffled by the sweater she pulled over her head. She emerged, her hair curling around her face. Any other time, she would've looked younger, more childlike with her messy hair and makeup free face, but with the cruelty burning behind the gray irises, there was nothing innocent about her.
"Know what?" he spat out while eying the door and praying Kitty would knock. She was the only one who could undo the spell trapping him in here with this monster, and without Lux, he couldn't draw upon magic without sorcerer's tools, leaving him with only physical options to put her down. And he didn't think he could hit her.
"When my sister told me how this was going to work, I laughed so hard. I mean, it's really quite perfect when you think of it. I suppose it could have been far worse."
He edged toward the door. Kitty's shadow was faint through the curtains. "You're rambling."
"We tied my rebirth to my death, and since I went out in the throes of pleasure..." she trailed off and winked at him. "I came back during them. So good on you, boy, considering it was your first time and all."
Declan stumbled. The door knob twisted, and suspicion bloomed bright as Kitty stepped into the room. She orchestrated this entire thing. Pushed for them to cross that line.
But any thought that she was complicit in this faded when the smirk she wore morphed into a ferocious snarl the moment she saw Morgause in the middle of the room.
"You," Kitty hissed, her blue eyes flashing with unleashed magic.
For the first time, Morgause looked nervous, and she touched the stone around her neck- Lux's channeling stone. The air behind her rippled.
"While I'd like to say this has been fun, I think I've outstayed my welcome."
Morgan le Fay appeared. She swept her silver eyes over the room. They hardened when they fell upon Kitty, and Declan crouched low, preparing to defend them both from the Fae Queen, but other than a look, she did not acknowledge the traitor in her midst.
"Sister, it's been far too long," Morgan purred, embracing Morgause. She smiled at Declan. It was not a pleasant one. "I was beginning to think I'd put my eggs in the wrong basket, but men are without fail, predictable if not always on schedule."
And then, with another ripple, they were gone. And Declan fell to his knees and let loose a wail that rattled the windows.