Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
Formulating a sentence around her is so damn hard, but I clear my throat and look out the window, hoping like hell that I look indifferent…instead of how I really feel, which is eager to give her anything in the world she wants.
Seriously. As soon as we’re bound together and curses are no longer a factor, I’m going to spoil Maven in every possible way. If she wants designer dresses, limited edition cars, first-edition copies of rare books, a big-ass mansion, a golden yacht—literally anything, I am going to be the one who gives it to her. I’ve always wanted someone to spoil and adore.
I just…can’t. Not yet.
“Well, what?” I manage.
“You’ve had time to think about my proposal.”
Right. Her proposal. Us getting close to make the others jealous.
Internally, I grimace. I don’t want anything with Maven to just be for show. Although if that’s all I can possibly have with her, I still want it because I’ll take anything I can get from her. But even that is dangerous, with my curse hovering like a dark cloud over all my thoughts.
I can’t let myself forget what’s on the line here.
“No,” I say quietly, even though saying that word to her makes my mouth taste like acid. “Go make your potions, Miss Oakley. Preparation is important.”
Instead of obeying me, she rounds the desk to stand right beside me. I can practically feel the burning stares of Baelfire and Silas across the room, but I ignore them as my heart pounds painfully at the way Maven’s eyes trace over my face.
The way she looks at me is different than the way others do.
They look to see a handsome face. Beauty. Another perfectly flawless Frost.
She looks like she wants to step inside my head and dance with all my deepest secrets and darkest fears, everything I’ve been hiding for years. And I would want her to if it didn’t mean setting my curse in motion.
When she lifts a gloved hand to tuck hair behind her ear, it catches my attention as I remember what Baelfire said about her avoiding touch like the plague. A dozen questions are on the tip of my tongue for her, but no way in hell am I asking her about that while we’re in a room full of other people. And from what little I’ve seen of my keeper, I doubt she would even spare my questions the time of day.
Maven leans closer. “Tell me how to bribe you.”
“You—” My voice wavers, and I swallow hard.
You will never need to bribe me. Anything you want, it’s yours.
“You’re in class,” I manage instead. “We’ll discuss this more later.”
I expect her to move on or roll her eyes or something.
The last thing I could have expected is her looking at my lips while licking her own. She’s blatantly eye fucking me in front of all the legacies and gods and everybody.
Instantly, my cock hardens.
Shit. I absolutely cannot get a boner right now.
At the same time, something akin to shock and embarrassment washes over me when I realize that so many eyes are on us in this room and people are whispering. Knowing that we’re being watched…is making me even harder. My ears burn, and when Maven notices my blush, she arches a dark brow at me.
I open and close my mouth several times before finally tearing my gaze away from her. “Go make potions,” I repeat severely, mentally praying she hasn’t noticed the hard-on I’m desperately trying to hide under the desk.
“If you insist, Professor,” she murmurs, making her way to the back of the class again without so much as a sideways look at the students who are gawking at her.
Silas is immediately focused on Maven, stubbornly offering his potion to her despite the way she glares at him, and Baelfire—damn, he actually winces when she brushes the flowers he brought off her table onto the floor. It brings me a sick sense of triumph in a small way after everything his family has put mine through.
But at the same time, I feel bad for the guy. Whatever happened earlier between him and Maven, he looks miserable. That makes two of us since I know these next few months before graduation will be hell as I try to avoid my curse.
Silas looks increasingly frustrated as she rejects his every attempt to offer her anything.
Maybe Crypt is in just as bad shape.
One can only hope.
MAVEN
I’m making progress.
Silas appears to be getting increasingly agitated, Baelfire looks like he might be sick every time I pointedly avoid looking at him, and Everett is ruffled.
I should be patting myself on the back. Celebrating.
Instead, I feel almost…guilty.
Which is asinine. Mistreating them is the surest way to get them to hate me, and the sooner that happens, the sooner they’ll cut me out of their lives and quintet and move on. I have to force them to do that, so I must ignore the squeamish discontent writhing in my chest.
The moment potion crafting class is over, I try to bolt from the room. I leave Silas behind since he’s still putting one of his many potions in a vial—he made twice as many as anyone else in the class, all for me to use during First Placement despite how flippant I was about it.
But Baelfire is immediately behind me as I stride through the halls, still determined not to look at him.
“Maven, wait. Please wait. I’m—fuck, I’m so sorry,” he whispers so the other students eyeballing us on all sides won’t overhear.
They’re twice as whispery and nosy after my brief attempt to get Everett to flirt with me in front of the class. He’d blushed a bit but simply brushed me off, obviously annoyed with me. I only did it to try making Silas and Baelfire mad, but they seem far more frustrated with other things. Namely, Silas is still pissed I won’t let him heal the burns, and Baelfire wants to talk about what happened earlier, which will happen over my dead body.
“You just wanted to try something, you only had one rule, and I massively fucked it up,” he presses on, stopping abruptly to snarl at a random legacy who steps within five feet of me.
Admittedly, that’s a massive perk of walking anywhere near my rejected matches: they don’t let anyone else close to me. I’ll miss that when they learn to hate me.
As soon as the legacy bolts away, the Decimus turns baleful golden eyes back on me. I’m pretty sure he could melt anyone with that look. It’s so full of sincerity and heartache.
“Tell me how I can make it up to you. Want me to beg on my knees? I’ll fucking do it right now. Just…please talk to me about what happened. Yell at me if it helps.”
I pause, fully looking at him for the first time since I fled his room earlier. Considering his words, I lift my chin as an idea crosses my mind. “There is something you can do for me.”
“Anything.”
“Make me a blood oath.”
That pulls him up short, and he looks surprised. “Blood oaths are…really fucking serious. Not to mention, illegal unless a priest or priestess is overseeing it.”
“And?”
He studies me for a moment and shrugs. “And you’re right, I don’t give a shit about that. But what oath would you want me to make?”
“Promise to appeal to the gods for a different keeper and never speak to me again.”
Baelfire recoils. “Are you serious?”
“Deadly.”
“No. Fuck, no. Never going to happen. You’re my mate, Maven Oakley. Mine.”
His.
Ugh. Why must he be so gorgeous while making that declaration? It’s far more challenging to ignore how attractive he is now that I’ve seen him naked and stroked his hot, thick, veiny?—
No. Stop thinking about touching him.
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.