Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
She means on the run from the bounty hunters that the Legacy Council would send after us. They’re the ones who hunt down and kill any legacy over the age of twenty-one that hasn’t been officially registered with the Legacy Council.
As warm and fuzzy as it might make these guys feel to have each others’ backs, it’s still disappointing that this didn’t turn into a frightening, bloodied brawl in the woods at midnight.
So much potential, wasted.
With a sigh, I sheathe my dagger into a hidden pocket. “I don’t run, and I don’t need any help staying alive. But if any of you are threatened again, invite me to the party. I enjoy spilling blood.”
The bearded guy raises his brows. “Damn. You sound a lot more badass than you look. Not that you look bad or anything, just…uh, frumpy.”
“Shut up, Evan,” Monica sighs. She looks at me with a sad sort of understanding. I wonder if she can feel how much I want to get away from her. As someone who purposefully ignores my emotions so they won’t get in the way, empaths freak me out. “I sense that you’ve been through a lot, Maven. We all have. Being a human in the world of legacies is…”
“Fucking terrifying,” Evan mutters.
“Exhausting,” another of them tacks on.
“A different world,” Monica nods, smiling a little. “Just know we’re a safe space.”
No such thing.
“Good chat,” I say flatly, turning to walk away before they think they can get chummy with me. “Don’t bother me again unless there’s someone to kill,” I add over my shoulder before retreating into the shadowy forest.
SILAS
I’ve always thought my curse would push me past the brink of insanity, but my keeper might beat it to the cut.
I’m at my wit’s end.
Her behavior is erratic, and her personality is impossible to make sense of. One day, she ignores every attempt to get her attention and refuses to let me heal her, even though knowing her skin is stinging drives me up the wall. The next day, her tongue is like the barbed tip of a wyvern’s tail, and every word out of her mouth is laced with acid. It’s almost like she’s actively trying to mimic every obnoxious person I’ve ever met.
But then, there are moments when I catch hints of the Maven I first saw three nights ago when she first dropped her facade in front of me. A taunting, intoxicating enigma, carefully concealing her true emotions.
I can’t tell what’s a lie and what’s truth with her, but even when she’s shattering potions that took me hours to make, ignoring any texts or calls, and stirring up the voices in my head…
Gods help me—I crave her.
By Friday night, after checking in on Maven throughout the day between classes only to see her bat her beautiful eyes at Everett at lunch while giving me the cold shoulder, I’ve decided I need alcohol to cope with the mounting urge to drag her back to my apartment, tie her to my bed, and tease her delicious body until she understands exactly how she makes me feel—dancing on the edge of a knife, mindless with curiosity, frustration, and desire.
I would never touch her without permission.
But that doesn’t stop me from fantasizing.
Downing the remainder of my glass of bourbon mixed with fae mead, I rub my face and glare at the fireplace in my private apartment. Alcohol barely dulls the demons in my head. Still, it’s impossible to focus on preparations for First Placement or my own magical experimentations when every creeping moment is filled with the creeping knowledge that my keeper is in danger.
I know Maven is in danger.
She’ll be targeted by everyone at this school when quintet rankings officially start. If I can’t get closer to her before then—if I can’t even get her to answer a fucking text message
…our quintet is going to fall apart at the seams.
My attention drifts to the opened letter on the footrest before me, and I scowl.
I’m no closer to winning the wager with the others, but it’s clear they aren’t handling this well, either. It would be satisfying to see them miserable, except for the fact that I’m running out of time and need dragon scales. Perhaps I should start sabotaging the others somehow. They’ll hardly be surprised if I fight dirty.
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I groan, standing to pour myself another drink as I answer.
“What?”
“Meet me and the others in our apartment,” Baelfire huffs.
“Brotherly bonding will have to wait,” I slur dryly, sipping more bourbon. “I’m not fit for company right now.”
His growl crackles over the phone. “I don’t fucking care. We all need to talk. It’s about Maven.”
That makes me go still. “What about her?”
“Just meet in the apartment in ten minutes.”
Five minutes later, I throw open the front door of our shared quintet apartment—which, again, only Baelfire has been staying in. It’s furnished and stocked, fully ready for our group to live comfortably, but no matter how many times any of us have brought up moving in with Maven, she just tells us to fuck off.
In the home theater room off to the side of the entry, Crypt is lounging on one of the large couches, watching a muted black and white horror film I’ve never seen before, while Baelfire is on his back, scowling at the ceiling. Even Everett is here, leaning against the wall.
He glances at me with disinterest. “Good. We’re all here. Now you can spit it out, dragon.”
Baelfire stands, folding his arms. “I overheard from Kenzie that Maven is going out of town tomorrow.”
That catches Crypt’s attention. He turns off the screen. “Not without me.”
“Not without any of us,” Bael says, lifting his chin as he regards each of us in turn. He has dark shadows under his eyes and looks like shit, proving I’m not the only one struggling with what to do about our contrary keeper. “We’re all going.”
Recalling every time Maven has rolled her eyes at me, walked away in the middle of me trying to talk to her, and generally metaphorically flipped me off, I grimace.
“She won’t go along with this idea. She’s been…
difficult.”
“Agreed. Isn’t she deliciously unexpected?” Crypt sighs.
I didn’t think it was possible for him to care about anything or anyone, let alone sigh over them. It’s hard to reconcile the
Nightmare Prince I know with the incubus looking longingly at the door. I once watched him rip a man’s eyeballs out for looking at him in a way he didn’t like.
Being in his presence never fails to make me twitchy. Even the alcohol in my blood doesn’t dampen my irritation. “Before you go stalk her in Limbo and leave us hanging as usual, shut up and let Baelfire explain his plan.”
“Touchy, touchy,” he smirks. “I already have my own plan.”
“No going lone wolf here,” Bael snaps. “This is about bonding with Maven together for the first time since we’ve clearly been fucking things up on our own. As much as I’d love to wrap Snowflake in bacon and toss him into a hydra’s lair?—“
Everett looks heavenwards as if he’s petitioning the gods for patience.
“—when push comes to shove, we need to start working as a team. After all, we’ll be bound to the same woman for the rest of our lives. She doesn’t deserve to be stuck with a bunch of fucking toddlers who can’t play nice.”
“I can play very nice if she’d only let me,” I mutter.
Everett snorts.
Fine. Even I can admit that I sound like a petulant child.
Crypt pulls out his lighter, flicking the flame on and off impatiently. “Fine. What’s the plan?”
Baelfire looks momentarily surprised, and he’s not the only one. Crypt has never been a team player. From the start, I’ve assumed he would contribute very little to our quintet.
He’s the oldest of us and I remember being fascinated by him when we all first met as children. After all, I’d heard so much about Somnus’s bastard son from my mother, ever the gossip. To me, he had seemed stoic, unflappable, stylishly rebellious. But I’d quickly learned that he was a sociopath who lacked all empathy and would happily watch the world burn.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.