Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
“He didn’t. He just dropped into Limbo so he can roam and observe the mortal world from there, unseen,” Silas says bitterly.
He rubs his jaw in thought before shaking his head. “Everett has a point. It makes no sense for Maven to turn us down.”
“Or maybe she just doesn’t want you guys in the quintet,” Everett mumbles. “I have to say, it’s nice to see Bael has lost his charm. It’s about time he got his big dragon head resized.”
I give him a droll look. “Real fucking mature,
Professor Snowflake.
We all know if it were a competition between the four of us, Maven would pick me first.”
Everett scoffs. “Over me? Good luck with that. I can give her anything she wants, give her influence in the top circles of the Four Houses, and keep her in the lap of safety and luxury for the rest of her life. I’ll make sure she never has to fight at the frontlines of the Divide. Meanwhile, all you bring to the table is your ego, some scales, and a misguidedly proud family that can’t mind their own damn business.”
I go nose to nose with him, smug that he has to look up when I was once the youngest and smallest, back when we were all kids. Now I’m positive I can beat his frozen ass, and my bloodthirsty, newly spurned dragon is aching for any kind of violent outlet.
No one drags my family name in front of me without earning a few burns, bites, and broken bones.
“You really wanna do this here and now?” I growl.
The air plummets several degrees around us, making my breath plume as he sneers. “Why not? I’ve waited long enough.”
Before either of us can move, a teeth-rattling wave of magic pulses through the air, knocking Everett and me back from each other. My nose singes with a smell like burning copper, the typical scent of blood fae magic. I glare at Silas, but he looks thoughtful. Scratch that—he has his scheming face on.
I used to hate that look when we were little, but now I raise a brow. “Well? Spit it out.”
“A competition between the four of us isn’t a bad idea. What if we make a wager?”
Everett makes a face. “A wager with a fae? No thanks. I’m still not over the time you needlessly tricked me into downing a glass of kraken ink.”
“That wasn’t needless. It was for science.”
“I was seven years old, and it left me traumatized, blind, and sick as fuck for two months. It’s a miracle I got my sight back. The healer said a legacy from a weaker bloodline would have died.”
“And now I know not to mix kraken ink with my gin,” Silas deadpans. “I say we each name our prize. We all want things from each other, either for our family or ourselves. Whoever Maven picks first will win the wager.”
Name our prize? That’s tempting. I narrow my eyes. “How big of a prize are we talking?”
“Land. Money. Rare ingredients,” he adds, giving me a meaningful look.
That asshole still wants my dragon scales. I’m sure he’d ask for tons of them, and then I’d have to grow my armor back slowly and painfully. Dragon scales are scarce and sought-after ingredients since my family is the last branch of dragon shifters—and like most legacies, the inability to procreate is part of our curse.
Even in bound quintets, who can have offspring since their curses are broken, dragon shifters haven’t managed to breed for several generations. None of my four older siblings have kids. I was considered a miracle child since my parents are older, even by shifter standards.
The lack of dragon shifter offspring is a sore subject in my family.
“I want land,” I decide, looking at Everett. “Frost land. The Lyran mountain range, including the dormant volcano. It once belonged to my kind and I want it back.”
“Oh, I’m sure you do,” he replies coolly, leaning against the wall to pick lint off his lapel. “But I’m not interested in joining this wager.”
He always was an angsty fucker. Anyone can see he’s lying. Frosts love a good gamble. It’s part of how they built their empire. Everett has always been incapable of turning down stuff like this. But when Silas and I stare at him, waiting for him to give in as he used to when we were younger, he shakes his head.
“Nope. Talk to the psychopath who just left. This is a bet I won’t take.”
“That sure you’ll lose, huh? At least you recognize a contest you can’t win.”
He rolls his eyes at me as he leaves, probably to grade papers or whatever other shit he does working here at Everbound. I don’t even know what he teaches, and I don’t care.
“Think Crypt has left the university?” I ask Silas.
“I’m not that lucky.”
“Then, since it’s your idea, you can track down that freak and tell him about our little wager. I’m going to go hunt something so my dragon doesn’t kill the first person to look at me wrong, and then I’m going to find my mate.”
MAVEN
Less than a second after I knock, Luka opens the door, and his nose wrinkles.
“If it isn’t the smug little hex-happy witch bitch.”
“In the flesh. Is Kenzie here?” I peer behind him into the shared living space.
This is the quintet apartment that Kenzie painstakingly picked out and reserved last week in her hopeful excitement that she might get matched today. She dragged me here a few days ago to give me the grand tour. I see she took my advice to hang up all her erotic paintings in the living room. A bunch of boxes stacked next to a newly purchased couch is further proof of the others moving in.
“She’s busy,” Luka snaps.
I hear a faint moan of pleasure from behind the closed door of the main bedroom. At least Kenzie is already getting along just fine with the rest of her quintet. Looking back up at Luka, I barely hold back a smirk.
“Seems you’ve been left out of get-to-know-you nookie. Let me guess. Performance anxiety?”
He hisses and steps outside to face me, slamming the door behind him and glowering. If he had a decent personality, he would be passably handsome. Too bad he’s a douchebag.
“That’s it. Lift the damn hex.”
“Not until Kenzie tells me to. She gets to decide when you’ve atoned for making her cry herself to sleep on more than one occasion.”
Luka winces and rubs his face. “Look…I get it. I was a dick to her, all right? She drew my attention too much, and I overreacted. I never claimed I was Prince fucking Charming. It’s just that she can be so…
Kenzie, and I didn’t want to deal with it. I didn’t know how to deal with everything I felt around her. I thought it would be easier to just?—“
“Do I look like your shrink?” I interrupt.
Luka opens his mouth to spew more words I’m not interested in, but then he looks behind me, nose flaring. I glance over my shoulder, but we’re alone in this hallway.
“Thought I saw someone else in the hallway. Must’ve been a shadow,” he mutters by way of explanation.
Then his sensitive vamp hearing must pick up more of the goodie-getting in the apartment because he groans and darts a desperate glance behind him. It’s morbidly satisfying that he gets to hear just how stupid he is for how he’s treated Kenzie.
“Okay. Look—what’s your name again?” he grits, turning back to me.
“Hex-happy witch bitch has a nice ring to it. Why change it?”
Luka bares his teeth. “I’m not the patient type. It’s Minerva or some shit, right? Listen, Minerva, you’re going to lift this hex right the fuck now because”
“Because you feel entitled to a woman now that you’ve been matched to her?” I cut him off, my voice turning sharp. “Or maybe you really do feel bad but need your dick to help you win her over since your personality isn’t enough. Either way, I don’t care, so drop it. I’m not removing the limp dick hex until Kenzie tells me to. Grovel to her, not me.”
Luka finally loses his temper and snarls, fangs extending. Instinctively, my hand slips into one of my hidden pockets where another of my favorite blades awaits, even though I’m not sure Kenzie would appreciate me stabbing her new match. Maybe she’ll understand if it’s in self-defense.
But just as he steps forward the air wavers, and someone blurs into existence between us just as I hear a loud snap.
Luka screams and reels back from…the Nightmare Prince. Who promptly turns around and offers me the gleaming, bloodied fang he just snapped right out of the vampire’s mouth.
“Fucking bastard!” Luka lisps, stumbling back into the apartment and locking the door behind 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.