Page 15 of A Heart of Winter (Fairy Tale Retellings #4)

Brutus

“— d on’t recall inviting you in,” Kai’s voice came from somewhere behind me.

I wanted to assure him that it was just Morwenna, that she could be trusted, but there she was, wielding a dagger, anger writ across her face and threat in her eyes.

I stood there, frozen as she pushed up against me, then hissed. “Get out of the way, dammit.”

Another voice behind me. “Oh, you don’t have to worry about inviting me in, whoever you are. But you can leave. Johannes isn’t going to need you anymore.”

And that wasn’t Kai or Morwenna.

It was another voice, and one I knew all too well.

I turned around, half expecting to see them right there, Kai and . . . and Michael. Morwenna took the opportunity to shove past me, dagger lifted not in my direction, but toward the door to the kitchen.

“What are you doing?” I hissed.

“Me?” she asked, sounding downright scandalized. “That asshole shows up at your door unannounced trying to get rid of your new boyfriend, and you’re worried about me ?”

Which was fair, in fact.

Where the hell did Michael get off, telling Kai he could go? I narrowed my eyes, scowling in the direction of the door, and then dropping my new blanket to the floor and stalking out into the hallway, so that I could see the entryway, where Kai was standing at the door, Michael on the front stoop.

Fuck that.

I marched in their direction, glare fixed on Michael, and almost didn’t notice when Kai took a step back, then another. It wasn’t until I could see between them that I realized the situation was even worse than I’d understood.

Michael had a gun in his hand.

No fucking wonder Morwenna had shown up with a dagger. I glanced behind me and didn’t find her there, so I assumed she was coming around another way. Because she was smart, she wasn’t approaching the man waving a gun around head on.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I asked, making my voice as hard and cold as I could. Finally, something I could use my magic for even now. I could almost feel the frozen breeze coming off me as I stepped up next to Kai, trying to put myself between him and the gun.

Annoyingly, he was trying to do the same.

“Kai,” I whispered. “Magical. I can handle this.”

“You just told me your magic is on the fritz,” he shot back, concern not ebbing at all.

“Oh, this is too rich,” Michael said, his usual suave smile more of a sneer, full of disgust and judgment. “Let me guess, you’re teaching him to be a witch, too? Is this just what you do? You’re lonely, so you find a new man and offer to teach him magic so he’ll take pity and fuck you?”

“Well gee, now I feel left out.” Kai wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me against him. “You haven’t offered to teach me magic.”

“You don’t have that much in you,” I admitted, apologetic, only to have him give me his usual perfect smile and lean in to peck me on the lips.

As he was kissing me, a few things happened. Michael made a sound that reminded me of a dying moose, and Kai turned us both around, shoving the door and pushing his whole body into it, taking me with him for the ride.

That was followed by a scream, and the door not entirely closing.

I looked down to see one of Michael’s feet wedged in the opening, but I doubted he was too happy about that choice in retrospect, since Kai had put all my weight and his own into slamming the door on it. Still, it meant the door hadn’t closed, and Michael was shoving at it from the other side.

The pop of a gun going off made me freeze in terror for a moment, but then Michael snarled in frustration and shoved at the door again, and I wasn’t in pain.

I looked up at Kai, patting him down, trying to assure myself he also wasn’t shot, but he gave me a tiny, nervous smile.

“Handgun bullet isn’t getting through that solid oak door, I guess.

Didn’t know a wood door could stop a bullet. ”

I didn’t think it was just the heavy door alone, but given the addition of Morwenna’s warding, it made sense that the bullet hadn’t gotten through.

I was ready to melt into Kai, ignoring the fact that Michael was still trying to get in. Trying to shoot us. What the hell was wrong with me? Infatuation, clearly, but no. No more kissing just yet. We had to stop Michael first.

“What the hell are you even doing?” I demanded, pushing my weight into the door, trying to get him to take his foot out so it could close properly. “You left me, Michael. You said you didn’t want me anymore.”

“I never wanted you,” he snarled, pounding on the door with a fist. Oddly enough, while the words stung a little, they weren’t the stab to the gut I might have expected. Especially when he followed up with, “Okay, fine, anyone would want you for a while. You’re hot. But you’re so fucking boring.”

“Hey now,” Kai said, his tone soft and calm, like we were having a conversation over coffee, and no one was waving a gun around.

“There’s no need for that kind of rudeness.

You’re allowed to be interested in different things.

Frankly, Johannes told me about your interests, and I find dancing and shopping as dull as watching paint dry. ”

My heart fluttered at the statement, even though he’d said something similar to that when I’d talked to him about Michael and the breakup. He would rather sit around and talk about cooking shows with me than go dancing. I sighed like a lovesick child, which I supposed I was.

“Of course. He moved on to someone just as boring as he is. That figures. Have you figured out how much he sucks in bed yet, though?”

The ball of ice that had lived for the last month in my belly hardened at the reminder of his cruel words during the breakup, and I couldn’t help but looking over at Kai.

Kai, who looked confused.

“Are you out of your mind?” He leaned forward and stamped on Michael’s foot where it was jammed in the doorway.

Michael yelped and tried to pull back, but it seemed his foot was actually stuck.

Dammit. Kai wasn’t paying attention to that, though.

He was focused on the conversation. “He’s fucking perfect in bed.

So sweet. So vocal. So . . .”—he broke off and stared at me, both of us breathless for a second, lost in the memories of the day before, before he shook his head and went back to shoving at the door.

“He’s perfect and if you don’t agree, you’re wrong.

There’s no agreeing to disagree on this. Just right and wrong.”

I bit my lip, wanting nothing more than to just use the ice inside me to freeze Michael solid and leave him there so I could drag Kai back to my room and have him again. Behind Kai, though, movement caught my attention.

Morwenna, with her dagger.

What the hell was she planning to do with it when Michael was mostly trapped on the other side of the door?

She muttered something quietly that sounded vaguely like Greek, which made sense, as it was the language we’d learned our magic in.

I felt a tendril of something shoot past me, through the door, and Michael’s ranting went silent.

She reached up and grabbed the air in front of her with her free hand, like she’d caught something, and smiled her creepiest smile. She stepped right up to where Kai and I were pressed against the front door, grabbing my hand and shoving it atop Kai’s where he was braced in the wood frame.

Then, without a word, she stabbed her dagger down through both of our hands, pinning them to the wood.