Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
“Hey. Crypt?”
I emerge from Limbo to show I’m here, but the dragon shifter hesitates, rubbing his neck.
“Just spit it out, Decimus.”
He clears his throat. “Thanks for looking out for me. Back then, I mean.”
Idiot. I thought we had an unspoken agreement not to talk about any part I played in his past, so I roll my eyes again.
“Never mistake us for being friends. If you lose control of that fucking dragon again and come anywhere close to hurting Maven, I’ll kill you without blinking,” I warn.
“I’d deserve it,” Decimus nods. Then he frowns in the darkness. “Was Overbite telling the truth about you burning out from your curse?”
“Piss off.”
“Get over yourself and spill, Stalker Boy. Because if you die, it affects the quintet—and it’s going to really affect my mate, so I have the right to ask, and you’re going to fucking answer. How old were the past stewards when they burned out?”
Cocksure prick.
But he’s correct that my inevitable demise will affect the quintet, so I sigh. “On average, thirty years old.”
“Shit.”
“Well-put.”
He’s quiet for a long moment before glancing at the bed. “She didn’t shower.”
“Don’t you dare wake her for that.”
“No shit, creep. I meant, she didn’t have that delayed reaction where she starts to get uncomfortable about all the touching and scrubs her poor skin raw in the shower when she thinks we aren’t looking. If you’re still helping her with that fucking phobia of hers whenever she’s asleep, it’s helping.”
I have been, but I shrug. “She still can’t stand touch from anyone outside the quintet. Perhaps she’s just growing accustomed to knowing we’re hers.”
“I like the idea of that.”
As do I.
He lays back down with a dramatic sigh. “Anyway, no hard feelings about tonight. You were obviously just doing Maven a favor and saving the best for last. Like a dick appetizer.”
It’s incredible, the things this shifter chooses to let leave his mouth.
His ego is far too fucking loud, so I kick his leg to send a jolt of my power through him, too, sending him into a deep sleep.
MAVEN
Few things in my not-life are as thrilling as the moments before a battle.
As we walk toward the outer ring of the Sanctuary, all of us dressed warmly, I check all the daggers on my person and try to tame my smile.
It’s no use.
Meanwhile, my quintet is not as thrilled.
“I understand this is exciting for you, but your eagerness to fling yourself into danger isn’t helping our nerves, ima sangfluir,” Silas sighs.
It’s early in the morning as we stop in front of the second invisible magic door, but the endless deep twilight overhead remains just as it has since our arrival three days ago. The unsettling dimness reminds me of the Nether.
Outside the Sanctuary, enemies will be waiting for us. It’s inevitable because Parker let them know we’re here, and Douglas also probably tracked Silas’s transportation spell to Alaska. Since our enemies can’t get into the unbroachable, invisible Sanctuary, they’ll simply wait for us to emerge.
And since transportation spells, coming or going, don’t work within the Sanctuary, here we are. Ready to emerge.
For a fight.
I can’t fucking wait. I used to dread the death matches in Amadeus’s arena, but now I miss regular combat.
The Sanctuary acolytes were happy to see us go. Meanwhile, the Garnet Wizard couldn’t get out of bed because his curse was acting up, and he was somewhere in his early hundreds—but he sent Ross to see us off.
The caster is behind us, fidgeting nervously. “I could help fight if you would like. I would be useful, as I’m nearly a fourth-level acolyte.”
“Or you could fuck off, and Maven can stay in here while we take care of things,” Everett mutters.
He’s been broody this morning, but honestly? He’s got nothing on Baelfire, who has been worryingly quiet and downcast. He knows Crypt bound with me last night, leaving him the odd man out. Once we get away from here, I’ll give my poor, praise-loving dragon shifter some much-needed attention.
Then, we’ll track down my next target.
I snort, replying to my testy elemental. “Nice try. I’m not staying.”
“It’ll be brutal out there—a bloody massacre,” Ross warns, dread written all over his face.
“I already said I’m going. Don’t try to sell me on it.”
Crypt laughs at that. He’s in a phenomenal mood this morning, and I’ve noticed his markings have been lighting up far less. I’ll ask my Nightmare Prince what that means later.
In the meantime, I’m enjoying how right it feels to be bound to him.
“Fine,” Everett grumbles. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“Unless you four want to stay in here,” I offer. “That way, if I lose control?—“
“Shut the fuck up. We’re sticking with you, and that’s final,” Baelfire snarls savagely, not sounding like himself. Then he squeezes his eyes shut, rubbing his temples. “Holy shit. I’m so, so sorry, Mayflower. Mr. Alphahole Supreme is really on one today.”
“Keep your distance from Maven during the fight,” Silas advises.
“And mind your fucking tone with our girl before you become a lizard-flavored kebab.” Crypt pulls out his lighter, which morphs into a sword faster than I can keep up with.
I expect Baelfire to snap back, but he grumbles in agreement, not meeting my gaze.
Once again, he must be struggling more than he lets on.
Silas rolls his shoulders, his bleeding crystal in one hand as he approaches the door. He fed from me earlier this morning to fuel his magic for this fight. I may enjoy him feeding from me almost as much as he does, partly because it feels good but especially because of how worked up and out of control he gets.
“Are we ready?” the blood fae checks.
“Wait,” Ross says, facing me. “Do you have a phone? Because if there is ever a time you need assistance with anything at all, it would be the greatest honor of my life to assist?—“
He yelps when Baelfire drags him up by his collar to glare at him with searing amber eyes. “Are you seriously asking my mate for her fucking number right in front of me?”
“No, not at all! It’s nothing like that, I promise. I was only trying to?—“
“Scram before I roast your ass.”
He drops the gifted acolyte, who rubs his chest and grimaces at me. “Right. I’ll go. Please be safe, my lady—Maven, I mean.”
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.