Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
Just…nothing, Everett sends back, pulling at the neckline of his shirt like he’s flushed.
“Nothing?” I huff, glaring at him. “We need to bring this up with her.
“
Crypt’s purple gaze darts between us and he scowls impatiently. “Are you two asses talking just to each other now, or is our girl finally done with the man behind the curtain?”
Everett ignores him, glaring at me. “No shit. We’ll talk to her when the time is right.”
You guys are weirdly quiet, she notes.
Did something happen? Who do I need to kill?
So eager, I tease.
Everything is fine. Are you nearly here?
About that. Let’s meet at the Great Hall,
Maven suggests.
My visit with the wizard is nearly done.
We’ll be there waiting for you,
I reply, already striding in the direction we need to go.
“This way,” I tell the others. “I don’t want her arriving at dinner alone. You may call me cutthroat, but the other acolytes here quite literally cut each other’s throats when they can. It’s only a matter of time before someone here tries something with our keeper.”
SILAS
It’s hushed between the four of us, bordering on awkward, as I lead them to the Great Hall.
We slow as we approach the massive open-air dining room lit by a cacophony of holiday-colored mage lights drifting around the Grecian pillars surrounding the dining area. Holly, mistletoe, and other festive plants deck the hall while classy holiday music plays courtesy of someone’s spell. Three or four dozen acolytes are already here, discussing holidays back home, philosophy, religion, holiday foods, and so on. Many glare as we pass, and I’m not surprised when one of them throws a slice of baked ham at me.
It bounces off an easy spell, but I keep my hands in my pockets to draw less controversial attention to my blackened fingertips as we head toward the grandiose main dining table. I’m sure the Garnet Wizard will want us seated near him so he can talk to Maven.
“Is it just me, or do these other nerds hate your guts?” Baelfire asks as we sit. “Especially Overbite.”
“Parker,” I nod. “He tried outranking me a year or two ago. I humiliated him, and he isn’t over it. The others have similar stories.”
“You, friendless? I’m shocked,” Crypt drawls, tapping the empty plate in front of him. “Where’s the food?”
“You don’t eat,” Everett reminds him.
“My thanks for informing me of the fucking obvious, Frost, but I meant for Maven. I want a feast ready for her.”
I tap his plate, activating the prepared charm on it. Popular holiday foods appear: prime rib, turkey, baked ham, scalloped potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts, minced pies, stuffing, and gravy.
“Only casters can use these plates,” I explain.
“If you make me ask you nicely for dinner, I’ll let my dragon eat you instead,” Baelfire warns testily.
I smirk and activate their plates, adding an additional protection charm to each of them out of habit.
Just as I transfigure their water glasses into festive fae wine, a hush falls over the Great Hall. My quintet turns to see Maven walking in with the Garnet Wizard.
The expressions on the other acolytes’ faces are priceless. They range from appalled to furious to outright fascination as they watch her join us at the head of the main table set apart from the rest.
I note that one of the gawking acolytes’ attention quickly moves from Maven to Everett, and he gets that same obnoxiously starstruck expression on his face as the former model received at Everbound all the time.
Baelfire frowns deeply as he watches the Garnet Wizard take a seat at the head of the table. My mentor is far more wrinkled and grayed than earlier. I’ve seen him at every phase of his curse—having been around it for nine years, I forget to find it odd.
Dinner proceeds. Now that we’re more or less alone where the other acolytes aren’t likely to hear, I address my old mentor.
“What do you know of hybrid casters? Those able to use multiple types of magic?”
“I know your keeper became one through years of torturous experimentation,” he muses, sampling the potatoes. “Otherwise, it is highly uncommon.”
Baelfire cuts straight through his plate with his dinner knife, his expression stormy as his eyes shift to dragon slits. He covers his face, trying to calm down.
“Boo,” he says roughly, clearly wanting answers.
“He’s making it sound worse than it is.”
She’s lying. I’m getting better at reading her, but when she pointedly ignores our stares and pretends like the Brussels sprouts are fascinating, I sigh and turn back to my mentor.
“I can still use my blood magic. It wasn’t burned away in the fever transitioning into a necromancer.”
His face lights up with fascination. “Truly? Show me.”
“I can’t until I feed on her.”
The wizard rubs his graying facial hair. “Only from her, eh? How very unprecedented. Perhaps it’s all to do with who you are bound to, as she is also quite unprecedented. After all, the most powerful keepers result in the most powerful quintets and have been known to influence the range of their quintets’ abilities. Or perhaps this has something to do with you being bound to her shadow heart.”
I frown, telepathically reaching out to Maven.
You told him we’re bound? And about your heart?
I told him a lot of things. The good news is we’ll get etherium as soon as it arrives from where he’s been storing it outside the country.
What’s the bad news?
I press.
The price?
She stabs a sprout.
He wanted knowledge. I’ve had to tell him about shit I’ve tried hard to forget.
“Pity, though, that you had to become a necromancer,” the wizard tuts, interrupting us.
I look at my own plate. “I regret nothing.”
“Besides, it’s the best of both worlds,” Baelfire pipes up, his shifter emotions swinging back to cheerful as he finishes his ham. “Now you can heal our keeper and see dead people. I see it as a win.”
“Except for the part where he’s now a feared pariah of society,” Everett points out.
Crypt isn’t eating, of course. He’s trying to balance forks in a tower as he smirks. “Aren’t we all, though?”
Very true.
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.