Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
“
Dagon.
I remember that name, from Crypt’s memories of Maven’s past nightmares. Recalling some of the horrors that obsessive necromancer inflicted on my blood blossom, I grit my teeth.
Crypt sees my ire and nods, his own expression darkening. “When he caught wind of what became of her, he stole her heart from Amadeus and went on the run with it. I had only barely scratched the surface of his true whereabouts when Syntyche caught up to me. Poor timing, that.”
We’re all quiet for a moment, considering this new information. I begin pacing, swatting aside a few imps as I think. But the more I think, the more my ire multiplies.
“That necromantic prick tortured Maven for years,” I seethe. “He oversaw her entire experimental transformation into a revenant and enjoyed her pain.”
“What?” Everett snaps as the room instantly grows colder.
Baelfire snarls in fury and quickly grips his head as agony crosses his features. It’s clear that he’s struggling to stay coherent instead of falling to the beast’s control once more.
“How the fuck do you know that and more importantly, how are we going to kill this motherfucker?” he demands raggedly.
Crypt shoots me a warning look. It’s easily interpreted as a violent threat to harm me if I breathe a word about seeing inside his past memories of Maven’s dreams. So instead of expounding on the matter, I focus on Baelfire’s latter question.
“We’ll track him again,” I decide, stopping my pacing. “If I use some of Maven’s DNA to track her heart, we can?—“
“English,” Baelfire reminds me.
I realize that at some point, I swapped to something between the Nether-tongue and…I’m not even sure what that was. Probably a language the mocking fools inside my head devised. Carefully choosing my words this time, I look at each of my fellow quintet members.
“Maven would never ask this of us. She would handle it herself, alone, to prevent us from being in harm’s way at the hands of this necromancer. But I will not allow that decrepit, twisted scútráche anywhere near her again. I’ll cast the spell. We’ll retrieve Maven’s heart, and then we’ll end his putrid existence.”
They are all clearly in agreement, but our rare moment of unity is quickly dashed when Baelfire gives me a patronizing smile.
“I almost forgot you’re insane off your fucking ass for a moment. Good job.”
Asshole.
Before I can remind him that he’s out of his mind most of the time as well, we all hear the front door of the quintet apartment open and close. This conversation is quickly shelved. As soon as Maven steps into this room, Baelfire has her scooped up and set on the bed, a spoon full of warm food in his hand as if he plans to feed her himself.
“We didn’t have a lot of spices so it’s kind of a crappy, plain meal. But I really need you to eat, Boo,” he pleads.
She studies the rice and beans, takes a tentative bite, and nods. “It’s good.”
He practically preens. I roll my eyes at his predictable shifter pride in caring for a mate, but it’s convenient that at least one of us knows the way around a kitchen.
“Good. Eat all of it, Mayflower.”
She glances at Everett and me, eyes narrowing. “Where’s your food? Are we all sharing this bowl?”
“I’d cut my tongue out before sharing a bowl with those asshats,” Bael says brightly, booping her nose. “There wasn’t much left here, but we’re fine. We’ll eat in the morning.”
“You should all eat tonight,” she argues.
“I certainly will, be it in your dreams or between your lovely thighs,” Crypt winks.
Maven flushes and starts to protest the food situation again, but Everett cuts her off.
“Where the hell were you for so long?” he grouches, but his tone belies his actions as he slips into the bed beside Maven and begins gently detangling her damp hair.
She’s in the middle of chewing another bite, but holds up the bag of salt as an answer.
“For the ghosts,” Crypt understands with a nod, lighting one of his cigarettes and taking a drag.
He wanders to a window to crack it open, which is good because that herb is strong when it’s smoked. I’m fairly certain that’s the first reverium hit he’s had in months, since he’s simply been taking the siphon approach to numbing pain until now.
Maven nods and stands like she’s about to scatter salt at the perimeters of our abode, as I’ve heard must be done to repel ghosts. I quickly take the bag from her, flick an imp off the top of her head, and kiss her temple.
“Allow me. You eat.”
“Sure, let the hallucinating madman be in charge of ghost duty,” Everett mutters.
Flipping off the scarred elemental, I leave her room and get to work lining the perimeter of the entire apartment with salt. I only pause to examine my work when I’m done, and that’s when I realize I’m back inside the bedroom and Maven is closely examining me now that she’s done with her meal.
I smirk. “You don’t seem to mind that I forgot where my clothes are, thanafluir.”
She grins back. “Naked and insane does seem to be my type.”
On cue, Baelfire quickly starts stripping out of the few clothes he has on, making our keeper laugh.
Gods, that sound is sublime.
It’s the laugh of a lying, scheming, filthy little bitch, a voice snarls in my head.
“Shut the hell up,” I mutter in fae.
Before the dragon shifter can strip completely, he hisses in pain, clutching his head and baring his teeth. Maven’s amusement dies as she immediately cradles his head in her lap. The rest of us watch, tensed to see if his dragon is taking over. If so, we’ll have to ensure he won’t harm her.
But Bael pushes through, his breathing turning labored as he groans. “Fuck, I really hate that alphahole. Pretty sure everyone does, at this point.”
Maven makes a face. “I don’t hate your dragon. I hate your curse—I hate all of your curses. And to think, I once wanted to exploit them.”
Baelfire’s brows go up. “You did?”
“Yes. I needed you all to reject me to prevent…well, exactly what happened. You have me to thank for the last six months of hell.”
Crypt scoffs, giving her a penetrating look. “The only person we’ll be giving our very special thanks to is whoever killed Engela Zuma during the battle. Isn’t that what happened, love?”
We all look at her for confirmation. She nods once, but she’s focused on running her hands through Baelfire’s hair as he continues to struggle with his curse.
“Maven,” I prompt, already craving more information about the next enemy we’ll demolish for her.
“Later. We’re not on that step yet.”
Step?
I see. My beautifully vicious minx must have another evolving plan we’re yet unaware of. Something she hasn’t shared with us yet.
But Everett doesn’t let it go. His eyes narrow as he tips her face up to look at him. “The vampire. You knew his name. Is that why?”
Vampire? I know nothing of this.
She huffs. “I’ll handle it.”
“
We,” I scowl, ripping through the blood-soaked vines dangling from the ceiling to crawl onto the bed toward her. With Everett on one side of her and Baelfire on her lap, I have no choice but to drag her away from them and into my arms to whisper against her ear. “
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.