Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
“Everett—” I try next, scrambling to get my stupid fucking leash untied.
“I don’t know,” he snaps, stopping his pacing to cover his face. He looks a breath away from shattering. “I just…I don’t fucking know.”
I’m immediately on the bed beside Maven, panicked as I look her over. The puddle of blood from Silas cutting her open has stained the foot of the bed, but they clearly repositioned her. Her head is on the pillow, hair carefully brushed aside, a blanket pulled up to her waist. The fresh injury on her chest has closed, and someone must have wiped up the blood, but my mate is lying so still.
So. Fucking. Still.
She’s not breathing.
As gently as possible, I press my ear against Maven’s twice-scarred chest, squeezing my eyes shut as I wait and pray to all six gods that they won’t do this to me again. Even they can’t be that cruel.
“You promised you wouldn’t leave me again,” I remind her quietly.
Seconds pass. Minutes. Almost another half an hour.
And then finally—
fucking finally
—I hear it.
The faint flutter of a renewed heartbeat.
PART II
THE BOUND
MAVEN
Ba-dum.
Ba-dum.
Ba-dum.
The heat in my chest is different now. It’s transformed into a rhythmic, steady beat.
“Go get Frost and Crane,” a lyrical voice rasps nearby. “She’ll wake soon.”
Someone else says something quietly, but it feels a million miles away as unnatural drowsiness continues to toy with my consciousness, pulling me under again. It’s not the same kind of restfulness I get from my Nightmare Prince. This is something I did to myself. It’s the result of a heavy anesthesia-like fae spell I tried to weave into the necromantic-inspired revival spell I recited before?—
Before putting my heart back where it belongs.
Oh, my fucking gods.
I have a heart again. That’s what the unfamiliar rhythm in my chest is.
Fighting the lingering effects of my own spell is a serious fucking challenge. I tried to channel all my holy magic before I passed out, and holy hell, it hurt almost as much as the moment Amadeus ripped my heart out.
But now, I feel good. Scratch that—I feel better than I can ever remember feeling.
Aside from the anasthesia-level drowsiness, that is.
“She’s awake?” Everett’s frantic voice works its way through the heaviness of my mind. He sounds out of breath, like he ran here.
“Getting there,” Baelfire agrees before something warm presses against my temple. “Come on, Angel of Death. Two days is way too fucking long to go without seeing your pretty eyes.”
Two days.
That’s not great news. Mostly because with the news of my return raging like a wildfire, Amadeus definitely knows by now. He’s going to make a move soon. I have no way of telling what that move will be, but I don’t like that my matches were left without my protection while I was out.
A coolness settles on my chest before I hear the most relieved sigh in the world from my elemental. The stress has seeped out of his voice. “I could listen to her heartbeat all day.”
“Why didn’t Crane return with you?” Crypt asks Everett as gentle fingertips trace my jaw.
“He’s on his way. Took me a while to get through to him, but not as long as it took trying to get away from that godsdamned war meeting,” he mutters. “The Reformists are gathering here out of hope, but I swear on the gods, if one more person requests entrance to Everbound, I’ll leave them frozen from the waist down on the front lines for the fiends to snack on.”
So violent. I always enjoy when my matches speak my language, but I don’t realize it’s showing up on my face until Baelfire’s breathing catches.
“She can hear us. She just almost smiled.”
“
Ima sangfluir?” Silas asks gently. His fingertips skim my temple before he makes an irritated sound. “She’s still working through the spell. Crypt, maybe if you?—“
“I’ve tried for two days straight, Crane. Whatever holy magic she used, it’s kept me out of her beautiful mind.” His voice turns into a soft whisper near my ear. “I’m ravenous for you, love. Come back to us.”
Determined to shake off the lingering effects, I focus on the lack of holy magic burning in my chest. If I’m not using it to stay alive anymore, then I should be stronger. I should be able to?—
I’m not sure how I do it, but the harder I focus, the more an etherial, warm sensation sweeps throughout my body. It burns away the rest of the exhaustion until I can finally open my eyes and sit up.
Gods, what a sight. Four overwhelmingly attractive legacies, all smiling at me. Baelfire is beaming. Everett’s one remaining dimple is on full display. Crypt’s purple gaze sparkles, and Silas gazes intensely at me from the side of the bed where he sits.
Looking at them stirs something unbearably powerful and tender inside me, but it also makes the rhythm in my chest abruptly turn choppy.
I frown at the fucking bizarre sensation. “Ugh. What the fuck?”
“Ouch. Do we really look that bad?” Everett sighs, instinctively reaching up to feel the scar on his face.
His assumption is so preposterous that it draws a surprised laugh from me. If I thought they looked happy to see me awake before, now my entire quintet looks delighted to see me laughing.
“Not even remotely,” I clarify, not bothering to hide my smile. I tap my extra-scarred chest, which I’m not surprised to still find bare. To be fair, I would keep my guys naked all the fucking time, if I could. “I’m just not used to…whatever the fuck it’s doing.”
Baelfire frowns and leans down to listen to my heart. It picks up even more as soon as he touches me, which continues to freak me out until he straightens with a big smile.
“Baby, that’s what hearts do when you get excited or nervous. That’s your body telling you that you want mine all over it.”
“Or it’s her body reminding her how godsdamned stressful you are,” Everett rolls his eyes.
“It feels weird.” I feel the new scar, glancing down at it. It still bothers me that my chest doesn’t show their marks anymore?—
But wait.
I can get them back now.
I look up, making eye contact with each of my matches. Their smiles and amusement have vanished as they catch on to where my thoughts have headed. Our hive mind is once again full steam ahead as I grin wickedly at them.
Everett’s swallow is audible, but his blue gaze is piercing. “We should give you more time to recover.”
“Pass. Any other objections?”
Crypt is the first to pounce, pinning me to the bed with a consuming kiss. His lips are demanding as they move against mine, his tongue teasing my own as he uses one of his knees to push one of my legs, spreading me wide.
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.