Filed To Story: Cursed Legacies Series Free PDF by Morgan B Lee
But in large groups, they pose a significant threat to the mortal realm.
All day and all night, I’ve observed more and more wisps pop into existence inside the walls of Everbound. With the no-killing ban lifted, legacies have been whittling down weak competition, and the wisps that remain can’t leave the castle thanks to the powerful wards the Immortal Quintet placed even in Limbo.
It’s only a matter of time before the amount of wisps starts causing trouble for everyone here.
Engela is as taciturn as usual as she takes me to the headmaster’s office, and when the doors close behind us, all of them are here. Including Somnus, who lounges on Melvolin’s sofa while Natalya taps her fingernails against the desk. Iker broods in the corner, his forked tongue flicking in and out as if he’s agitated.
Engela locks the door behind us, and it promptly turns into an indestructible stone under her touch.
“Ah, so this is one of those meetings,” I muse. “Lucky me.”
At least Melvolin is no longer around to paralyze me with his magic. I detest each monster in this room, but aside from Somnus, Melvolin had been by far the worst.
As always, when we cross paths, Natalya wrinkles her nose as if she has never seen anything so offensive in her nearly thousand years of existence.
“Let’s make this short, mongrel. Duty calls, so you will leave Everbound long enough to clean up the mess.”
By mess, she must mean a Limbo-caused massacre that paints them in a bad light. Otherwise, they wouldn’t bother calling me here and demanding that I leave my keeper.
But leaving Maven’s side is out of the question, so I fix the vampyr with a cold smile. “Have your neutered servant take care of it.”
Somnus’s lip curls in contempt at my description of him. It’s always a joy getting under his skin. “Don’t speak to her like that, whoreson.”
I roll my eyes. “Don’t pretend to give a chimera’s scaly ass for her. I know the truth.”
The truth is, Somnus loathes Natalya. Perhaps she cared for him at one point, but after learning of his long history of unfaithfulness and my existence, she threw a tantrum and permanently maimed his wings before she killed my mother.
All my life, I’ve witnessed them make each other miserable. It would be poetically sweet, except it’s mostly obnoxious.
Somnus’s nostrils flare. “Watch your tongue?—“
“Or else what? You’ll kill me?”
Thanks to my curse, he won’t, and he knows it. My smile widens as his face darkens in anger. But Natalya’s voice is cold as she stands, her gaze penetrating.
“Or else I’ll kill your keeper.”
My smile fades.
Never before has there been a weakness they could take advantage of. They could twist my arm and break my bones as many times as they liked, but for all the threats and curses, their attempts to command me were as effective as trying to bottle starlight.
But
Maven
…
I can’t let them anywhere near her, or they may figure out she’s from the Nether. Thank gods that Natalya’s eyes haven’t glowed since I stepped through that door. I can’t have her picking the truth about my keeper straight from my head.
Pushing all thoughts of Maven aside just to be safe, I tuck my hand into my jacket pocket and fiddle with my lighter, wishing I had reverium on hand to take away the aching throb of my joints.
They’re choosing to play hardball, so I make a final attempt—because being parted from my obsession, even to tend to the necessities of my curse, would be torturous. It’s already aggravating to be away from her for the length of this meeting.
“You don’t want me anywhere outside these walls,” I warn. “After all, I doubt the Legacy Council sanctioned any of the changes you’ve made at Everbound, let alone the lockdown. They’re already growing wary of your tyrannical ways. I know you love your political games, but what do you suppose they would do if I spilled on your little tantrum?”
My guess that the Legacy Council has no idea they’re here proves to be correct when they all growl and snarl at me. Well, all but Engela, who remains silent as a rock behind me.
Iker blurs to my side faster than I’m prepared for, slamming me against the stone wall hard enough that I taste blood. As a pure monster shifter, he’s far faster than most.
Natalya prowls around Melvolin’s desk like a lioness closing in for the kill. “You dare threaten me, mongrel? When I could snap your weak little keeper’s neck with barely a flick of my wrist?”
I grit my teeth as Iker shoves me against the wall again, his forked tongue flicking up to wet one of his pale yellow eyes. When I slip into Limbo to get away, Somnus is already waiting there and drags me back into the mortal realm, baring his fangs in pure hatred.
I’m strong, but I’m not a pure monster. They are and always have been frustratingly stronger than I am, especially when they’re working together like this.
“Give us permission to kill his little bitch. It would teach this wretch a lesson for once,” the monster who fathered me hisses.
I go still at that. Natalya’s lips curl up triumphantly as she slinks to a stop just in front of me, enjoying the sight of me pinned by her quintet members.
“Not yet. Just look how pliant he is with her at our disposal! Now then,
Nightmare Prince. If you do as I say, keep your mouth shut, clean up the mess, and return promptly so we can keep watch on you, I give you my word that you won’t return to find your keeper’s head moldering on a spike for all to see. Are we agreed?”
That visual makes my mood quickly veer towards murder, and Limbo starts to seep into this room as it reacts. Natalya just scoffs at the sight of our hair and clothes starting to waft as gravity loosens its hold.
“Agreed,” I smile thinly back, even though I’ve fantasized about killing her more times than I can count.
Unfortunately, killing any member of the Immortal Quintet is outside of my wheelhouse. Now and then, highly trained, hired assassins even stronger than myself have tried and failed spectacularly at dethroning the monsters who reign over the Four Houses.
Which makes it even more impressive if Maven did, in fact, kill Melvolin. I’d like to kiss her for ridding the world of him. And if she didn’t kill him, I’d still like to kiss her.
Natalya tuts and pouts at Iker, her favorite. “I don’t believe him.”
“Prevent him from speaking, just in case,” Iker suggests without missing a beat. “Call it a punishment for daring to threaten you, my sweet Natalya.”
I roll my eyes so hard it hurts my brain. The words sweet and
Natalya should never be uttered in the same room. To say she’s a bloodsucking, mind-leeching hyena with the emotional intelligence of a screaming, tantrum-throwing toddler would be more accurate but still an understatement.
Her face lights up as she giggles and practically prances back to Melvolin’s desk. I grind my teeth and resist fighting. The more I fight, the more they’ll continue to threaten Maven.
Resigning myself to the fact that I’ll have to be parted from her out of necessity, at least for a couple of days until I can get back, I quickly form another plan. One that will hopefully give my beautiful keeper a semblance of peace at night until I can tend to her nightmares myself. All it will take is nimble fingers and a moment of Somnus being distracted.
That moment comes quickly enough when a very gleeful Natalya returns with a wickedly sharp knife and a vial of brightly glowing liquid. My muscles tense as I recognize it. Liquid bronze. A potion Melvolin perfected long ago and thoroughly enjoyed using on me.
Just as fae are weak to iron, vampires fall to oak, and all types of shifters can’t heal from silver, bronze is every siphon’s weakness. Our accelerated healing is put in a chokehold when bronze is involved.
This is about to hurt like fucking hell.
Though I tell myself to hold still to get this over with quicker, I can’t help instinctively struggling as Engela helps Natalya pry open my mouth to cut out my tongue—and
Syntyche’s scythe, it’s painful. Iker and Somnus are still pinning me tightly to the stone wall. Just before Natalya pours Melvolin’s potion into my mouth, I swipe what I need from Somnus’s front suit pocket without his noticing and tuck it up the left sleeve of my leather jacket.
Pickpocketing has always come easy to me.
But then the fucking agonizing liquid gushes into my mouth and down my throat, halting the way my body is trying to mend my tongue, and I momentarily black out from the pain. When I come to, I’m slumped on the floor, coughing up blood. I immediately sense the lack of tongue in my mouth and grimace.
It stings like hell. It also stings that all remaining members of the Immortal Quintet are standing above me, leering, watching me struggle to get to my feet. Natalya giggles and tosses my tongue over her shoulder. Somnus looks like this is the best day he’s had in a long while. I flip him the bird for good measure as I finally stand.
Thanks to the liquid bronze, my tongue is going to regenerate painfully slowly—something siphons can do with missing bones, skin, muscles, and ligaments. I suspect it will take a full two days to recover enough to speak, which is precisely why Natalya did this. She knows I won’t waste time outside of Everbound reporting them to the Legacy Council once I heal, not when I need to return to Maven to make sure she’s safe.
Speaking of which…
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.