Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
Those were some wild dreams you spun for me.
Say the word, and they’ll become reality. Between the four of us, I’m sure we can give you anything you desire. And if the other three muck it up, I’ll enjoy watching you punish them.
Maven laughs out loud and slips away to enter the bathroom once Frost steps out.
I’m sorely tempted to follow her, but there’s a chance she’s tending to her business. So instead, out of boredom, I step into Limbo and follow Decimus as he gets dressed and leaves to find breakfast for our keeper.
The Decimus family is ridiculously large, what with all the siblings and their quintets, most of whom appear to be here for the holidays or to avoid the contention arising elsewhere. I don’t have an opinion on large families other than how fascinating it is that they make such huge portions of meals.
As someone who doesn’t consume food, I must say it’s baffling.
At first, it’s empty in the kitchen as Decimus dishes up a few heaping plates of leftover breakfast his family made earlier. But then Brigid strolls into the kitchen, smiling brightly at her youngest as she pours herself a large glass of orange juice.
“If you five want breakfast in bed, I can help carry plates,” she offers.
He hesitates. “Um?—“
“Unless you’re not all decent,” she adds teasingly. “The last thing I want is to see a bunch of naked asses running for cover—or anything else that will make me want to stab my remaining eye out.”
Decimus snorts. “I think I get my lack of filter from you.”
“You’re welcome.” Brigid watches him browse the selection of fruits. Her voice becomes uncharacteristically gentle. “I like her, you know. Maven. She seems tough. Like a strong mate.”
“You have no idea. She blows my mind all the fucking time.”
“She also seems haunted,” his mother adds.
Decimus is surprisingly fierce as he turns to face her, eyes blazing. “My mate’s life has been hell. Of course, she’s haunted. Now, are you going to keep beating around the bush, or are you going to tell me what the fuck you meant yesterday about wanting to meet her for a long time?”
Brigid grins. “That temper. Just like mine. If you really want to know, I was invited to sit in on a hearing with the Legacy Council about thirteen years ago. They wanted my help in determining the fate of a human?—“
“Amato?” he guesses, frowning.
She nods. “At the time, the council was facing backlash for rumors of arresting a human. They wanted strong supporters for public image and even tried to bribe me into voting in favor of the execution. I refused to have any part in it, but it made me curious. I looked into Pietro Amato and learned about the Reformist movement he started. And I learned he claimed to be trying to rescue his daughter back from the Nether. People called him crazy, including me…but I learned the truth too late.”
Brigid sips her orange juice. “Remitters show up at the Divide sometimes. Cause trouble with troops, kick up a shitstorm, whine. They want us to go back into the Nether. Pain in the ass, those humans. But the Reformists…they are a much smaller group, but they show up at the Divide sometimes, too. Most of them believe in Amato’s cause so much that they ask for my help to create change in the legacy government. They leave peacefully when asked, but others insist they had children taken through the Divide years ago and beg to be let into the Nether. You know why?”
“Why?” Decimus asks warily.
“Because they believe humans are living in the Nether. For years, I thought that was crazy talk. But not anymore.” She sets down her glass and regards him with all the severe intensity of a woman who has been through countless battles. “So, tell me. Was Maven the only human in the Nether?”
He tenses, protective of Maven’s secrets. “Mom?—“
“Baelfire, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Amato’s execution for years,” Brigid snaps, getting worked up as she shakes her head angrily. “Call it intuition or a guilty conscience or whatever you will, but when the dust settled, I just knew that little girl I read about could still be in that damned hellhole. There’s no passing through the Divide, not if you want to come back out, so I was forced to live with that horrible thought. But then all these rumors started about the telum arriving after a surge in Maine, and you were so tight-lipped about your match—and damn it, I don’t believe the bullshit about her being the end of times. Maven is here for a reason. I just want to know if it’s for the reason I think it is.”
Decimus looks away, clearly conflicted about saying anything without talking to Maven first. But if anyone will be on our keeper’s side, it’s his mother. She has my respect, which means she’s worlds past anyone else we could confide in.
So I slip out of Limbo to sit on the counter beside them, ignoring the flash of pain throughout my limbs from plane-walking.
“You’re spot on,” I inform her.
They both startle and swear, but then Brigid considers me. “You mean, there are humans in the Nether?”
“Thousands.” According to Maven.
“Gods. And Maven is going to free them?” She looks at Decimus.
He sighs, deciding to go along with my judgment call. “Yeah, she is. Really fucking soon, actually.”
Brigid nods slowly as if absorbing all of that. Then she smiles at me.
“At least getting you to talk to me isn’t like pulling fangs. Although I guess I’m glad my son is so protective of his mate. From what little I’ve gathered of her, she seems worth protecting.”
“She is.”
“Have you eaten, Crypt?”
“All night.” Between Maven’s thighs, in fact.
Decimus catches my real meaning and gives me a wide-eyed look as if he thinks I’m insane for implying that in front of his mother. But Brigid smacks her forehead, drawing the expected assumption.
“Oh, right—incubi and dreams. I always forget.” She begins preparing herself a plate of food. “I heard about your father. Frankly, I hope you don’t want condolences.”
“Not at all.”
“Thank gods. He was horrible.”
I couldn’t agree more.
But as Brigid brings up flying later with Decimus and they begin another conversation, I can’t help feeling that it’s been an excessive amount of time since I last saw Maven. Sliding back into Limbo, I return to the bedroom and immediately relax when I see her perched on the bed, frowning as Frost sits behind her to comb through her damp hair.
“I can brush my own fucking hair.”
“But you’ll let me do it for you,” he says, kissing her cheek. He smiles at her, an expression I’ve rarely seen on the brooding elemental. “Right?”
Maven melts a little, apparently done arguing. She mutters something about powerful dimples as he gently tends to her hair.
But her attention quickly slips to where I am in Limbo.
There you are.
I emerge in the mortal realm, winking. “Miss me?”
“Never in a million fucking years,” Crane drawls from where he’s studying one of the old grimoires on necromancy that he borrowed from the Garnet Wizard’s library.
Decimus shows up a moment later with plenty of food for everyone stacked in a nearly perilous fashion. As they take plates and prepare to eat, he glances at me, then Maven. He clears his throat.
“So…my mom kind of knows.”
“Knows what?” Frost asks, glancing up.
“About humans in the Nether,” I clarify.
Maven goes still.
“She already suspected as much. I merely confirmed it.” I hesitate. “I understand if you’re angry with me, love?—“
“I’m not.”
She sets down her fork and examines the four of us. I wonder if our keeper is running out of comfortably loose clothing stashed in Crane’s invisible pocket because she’s wearing a simple black tank top and dark leggings with Pierce strapped to one thigh.
Her expression is serious. “I cannot fuck this up. This is bigger than me or some oath. And as much as I’ve trained and planned, I know I’m not enough. Not on my own. I’m providing the humans with a way out, and I’ll fight like hell for them, but there’s only so much a semi-undead bitch can do.”
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