Page 54 of Divine Fate (Cursed Legacies #4)

53

BAELFIRE

Almost a full day has passed since the battle officially ended, and color is beginning to saturate the world once again.

So are the idiots.

“But what is she doing now?” one of the reporters demands. “Everyone wants to see her!”

“Is your quintet the new Immortal Quintet?”

“Tell us what happened to the Entity!”

“What will happen to the Nether now? Is it still spreading?” another shouts. “Is it gone? What about Limbo?”

“The world needs to know what happens next!”

They’re all speaking over each other. Cameras flash as I stand beside Silas, glowering at the massive crowd of humans, legacies, and Nether humans gathered outside of Everbound Castle.

This is where we brought Maven’s body yesterday, after Galene put her into some kind of trance. My mate is inside the heavily guarded castle, inside our apartment with Crypt guarding her closely.

After the Entity took his final breaths and Maven’s mom reaped his soul, everything happened so quickly. What was left of Silas’s Undead army came back to their graves in this area. Fiends and monsters ran to hide deeper inside the Nether, which is no longer growing further into the mortal realm. The Reformists and all our allies have been recovering, burying the dead, and mourning—but they’ve also been celebrating.

A lot of people have started celebrating, even if they’re a little confused about what the hell went down in the Nether yesterday. As the leader of the Reformists, my mom’s been dealing with a shit ton of cameras in her face, just like this.

Everyone has questions, and they keep coming to us. It’s annoying as hell that they can’t read the room and leave us alone when we just went through so fucking much. Especially when I can barely think about anything except Maven’s current condition.

She’s still unconscious as she talks with the gods. Which means my quintet’s extremely on edge, which means Everett keeps freezing anyone who looks at him wrong, Silas is a breath away from losing his mind again, Crypt is a nightmare as usual, and I’m so fucking done with being apart from Maven.

I need my mate. I’m so desperate to hold her and covet her after all the chaos that it fucking hurts.

Finally, Silas steps forward, drawing everyone’s attention. He adjusts his gloves. Probably a good thing that he’s wearing them—a lot of people already know he’s a necromancer, but with so many Nether beings being killed off and driven back into the Nether right now, it’s smart of him not to remind the humans what he’s capable of now.

“As with any great change in history, much will remain unclear until everything has had time to settle. All you must know is that the Entity is dead,” he announces.

Gasps ring out through the crowd, and a microphone is quickly shoved at his face. My temper sparks. Gods, these people are so fucking entitled. Would it really be that bad if I set them all on fire?

Temper, Silas reminds me telepathically when he sees the blue flames flickering under my skin.

Let’s just get this over with and get back to her, I grumble back.

It’s a good thing he and I agreed to deal with this shit together, because if an annoying but innocent human shoved anything in Crypt’s or Everett’s faces right now, they’d be dead.

Not that my patience is much better when a frantic human demands, “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”

Silas’s expression almost makes me laugh. He looks at this guy like he’s a moron and enunciates slowly, gesturing at his pointed ears. “I’m fae . We are literally incapable of lying.”

“And do you have concrete proof that fae can’t lie?” the human asks like he’s onto something big.

I thought brainlessness was reserved for the Undead, he grits through the bond. When he sees that I’m trying not to laugh out loud, he huffs. Prick. Your turn.

Fine. Sighing, I shove the microphone out of our faces and look out at everyone here. “Look, the Entity’s dead as a fucking doornail. Anyone with half a brain has started rebuilding the things we lost during the Upheaval. We don’t know what the hell is going on with the Nether yet, but when we do, the Reformist Council will issue an official statement or something. Until then, I’d better not see my keeper’s precious name in any of your motherfucking headlines.”

“But what about—” another one starts to whine, shoving another mic in my face.

My inner dragon growls at the same time I do, beyond pissed that they’re not getting it.

I’m back, Everett informs us all through the bond.

Thank all six gods. That’s our cue.

Ignoring the heated pain it takes, I breathe fire and set the fucking mic ablaze. The reporter yelps and drops it as I turn to glare at everyone else.

“That’s it. Sharing time is over, so get the fuck off Everbound property before you become dragon chow.”

The flashing lights go wild for a moment before the reporters scramble away, eager to get out of here alive with what little update they just got.

“Way to keep your cool,” Silas snorts as we stalk back into the castle.

How is she? I demand telepathically while the big double doors shut behind us and we hurry through the halls.

Still communing with the gods, Crypt manages to rasp.

He sounds like shit. Like…really weak shit. After Galene did whatever the hell she did to Maven, the incubus collapsed and I had to carry his ass back here.

When we step into our old quintet apartment and slip into Maven’s room, the Nightmare Prince looks just as feverish and exhausted as he did earlier. He’s lying beside Maven, gazing at her with sweat beaded on his brow. I’m not sure if he has any markings left, but he’s clearly in pain.

Everett is already in the room, too, sitting beside the bed and fidgeting nonstop with the reading glasses he holds in his hand. His attention sweeps to us and back to our keeper. “About time.”

My mate looks like she’s resting peacefully, but it’s bothering the hell out of me that her soul projection has been in Paradise for so long. If we didn’t still feel the bond thriving between the five of us, the world would be on fire right now.

“How did it go?” Silas asks Everett, but his red gaze stays on Maven.

“The town’s officially unfrozen,” Everett yawns.

None of us has slept since our little goddess went into this trance.

“What about your creepy-ass ice sculptures in the courtyards? You gonna unfreeze those, too?” I ask.

He shrugs, indifferent as he rubs his scarred face. “Maybe later. I can’t leave her again. It’s taking too damned long.”

I glance at Crypt, noting how ragged his breathing is. “Hey. Stalker Boy. You see anything in her subconscious?”

He reaches up to toy with a piece of her black hair. “She’s not asleep, so I cannot enter her subconscious. I can’t sense?—”

He breaks off and jerks away from Maven as a fit of coughing takes over. I wince when I see all the blood he’s coughing up, and then he struggles to catch his breath, his chest rattling.

Fuck. He’s in bad shape. I don’t even know how long he has.

“Want another injection?” Silas finally asks, solemn.

“Piss off, Crane,” Crypt groans, wiping his face and grimacing.

For a second, we’re all quiet, but then I tip my head when I hear the barest sound from outside the front door of our apartment. No one else in here hears it, but I swear my shifter hearing has only gotten stronger just like everything else since I was rebonded to Maven’s heart.

“Incoming,” I warn the others.

The others swear, irritated.

None of us is surprised to hear that someone else is approaching our apartment. The last almost twenty-four hours have been filled with nonstop visits from various members of the newly-formed Reformist Council—including Kenzie and her quintet, Harlow Carter, Asher Douglas, my mom and her quintet, and almost a dozen others.

I leave the bedroom and stride to the front door, ready to fling it open and tell whoever it is to fuck off. But when I open the door, I pause at the sight of a young woman with warm caramel colored hair, big brown eyes, and a pink splotchy birthmark that covers half of her face. She looks nervous as hell as she clutches some kind of amulet and clears her throat, glancing behind me.

“Oh. I didn’t realize this was such a bad time. Sorry. I can come back and talk to Everett later.”

I frown. It is a bad time, but I didn’t say that, so how did she?—

Everett appears at my side in the doorway, and it looks like the world just dropped out from under him. He exhales sharply in shock.

“Heidi?”

Whoa. Hold up. This is his sister?

I look beteen them, confused. Where Everett is tall and cold-looking, his sister is petite, curvy, and warm as she smiles with relief at her brother. They look absolutely nothing alike.

He steps out of the apartment like he’s about to wrap her in a hug, but Heidi scrambles back, holding up the amulet like it will ward him away.

“Don’t! Sorry, it’s not you. I—it’s a long story, but…” She trails off before looking curious, gesturing at the left side of her face to indicate his. “Did…did that hurt?”

Everett almost goes to cover his scar before putting his hand back down. “At the time. It’s fine now.”

“Oh—I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up a memory that painful. And dear gods, you’re already so stressed out about your keeper right now, and so tired and frustrated and your quintet is struggling so much and?—”

“You’re alive,” Everett breathes, studying her with the intensity of an overprotective older brother. “How?”

“It’s a long story. My best friend made sure I survived for as long as I did,” she adds, her face falling for a second before she fidgets with the hem of her shirt. “And…well, I came here for two reasons. The first was to thank your keeper and Crypt DeLune for getting me out of the citadel.”

“What? The citadel?”

Uh oh. Looks like Frosty is about to have a fucking aneurysm.

Heidi flinches hard, taking a big step back like his freakout is physically assaulting her. Everett notices and swears, taking a deep, calming breath and glaring at the amulet she’s holding.

“You lost your dampening charm.”

“T—the liches took it away,” she says faintly.

Everett pinches his nose, taking two more deep breaths like he’s trying not to lose his shit. “ Liches. You were around liches. Okay.”

Heidi puts on a smile, but it’s strained. “I’m fine now. Really. I’ll find other things to help with it. And I can tell this is a really bad time, so I’ll come back later about the other thing I wanted to talk to you about, because it’s kind of big. I just...” She trails off again, her brow furrowing as she glances behind us through the doorway. “Wow. She’s really exasperated. Is everything okay?”

Wait. She can sense Maven’s emotions right now?

“You’re an empath,” I realize, feeling stupid for not catching on earlier.

Heidi nods, fidgeting again.

“Tell me what else she’s feeling,” I press, desperate for any scrap of information about my mate.

Everett’s sister hesitates, clutching the amulet close to her chest. “This is blocking a lot, so I can’t pick up on minor emotions, but…it seems like she’s getting impatient. She’s also really happy, I think—but in a hopeful way. Like she has something good to look forward to.”

That’s enough for me to breathe fully again, optimism flooding my system. I thank Heidi and leave the front door, returning to Maven’s room. Everett quickly finishes his conversation with her before rejoining us and pacing in the bedroom.

Silas glances at us from the chair beside the bed. “Who was it?”

“Everett’s sister,” I explain.

“Heidi,” Crypt supplies, still exhausted as he breathes raspily beside Maven. “So she survived after all. Good.”

“At some point, you’re going to tell me how the fuck you know my sister,” Everett warns, glaring at Crypt.

“If she hasn’t shared that tidbit of her life with you, it’s not my business to share,” Crypt drawls before breaking into a fit of wheezing coughs again. He hisses in pain, wipes more blood from his mouth, and lays his head on Maven’s chest to listen to her heartbeat. “I’m going to sleep.”

“What do you mean?” I frown. “I thought you couldn’t sleep.”

The incubus doesn’t bother answering my confusion as he shuts his eyes and murmurs, “If I don’t last until our goddess opens her pretty eyes again, tell her it’s still the best rest I’ve ever had.”

The silence in the room grows heavier with every second that ticks by. Everett paces while Silas and I watch Maven and Crypt lay motionless on the bed. I really fucking hope the Nightmare Prince is just sleeping. I think I still see him breathing, but I can’t be sure. He just looks feverish and pale and…

“Fuck,” I mutter. “He really is dying, isn’t he?”

Silas examines his blackened-fingertip hands. “Yes.”

“And there’s nothing we can do?”

He shakes his head.

Godsdamn it, this is going to hurt Maven so fucking much. Seeing her break over Lillian was pure torture—but now this? Not to mention, the idea of Crypt just not being around to pop out of Limbo and annoy us all the time is just bleak as hell.

After everything we’ve been through, is our quintet seriously about to never be complete again?

“That damn incubus,” Everett mutters, stopping his pacing to rub his face.

The tip of the new scar on the center of his chest peeks out from under his shirt, leftover from Amadeus ripping his heart out. He still hasn’t asked Silas to heal the scar, and based on his face, I’m going to take a wild guess and say he doesn’t really give a shit about how he looks anymore.

More time passes. Finally, I can’t take it anymore and blurt, “What if Maven comes back with bad news? Or what if—fuck, what if the gods refuse to let her return to the mortal realm again?”

“She can’t stay in Paradise,” Silas argues. “She made herself mortal to fall from that plane of existence, and mortals aren’t permitted there. Galene said her soul would return.”

“She also said with the utmost of haste, and that was clearly a fucking lie,” I growl.

Everett adjusts one of his sleeves six times in a row. “I don’t like that it’s taking so long for her to fulfill the blood oath, whatever it is.”

That fun little reminder that she swore something none of us has a clue about makes me want to throw up. I start pacing the room alongside Everett, ignoring the heat under my skin and the restlessness urging me to shift and fly to burn off this suffocating impatience.

It feels like hours pass, but it’s probably only a few more minutes before the strangest thing happens. The air pressure changes around us as the morning light sneaking in through the drapes brightens. My entire body tingles with the same feeling I get when casters are wielding powerful magic anywhere near me.

“That’s holy magic,” Silas realizes, getting to his feet. “It’s so fucking potent. This is gods-level magic at work outside.”

Alarmed, I throw open the drapes so we can see what the fuck is happening.

At the height of our quintet apartment, we have a view over the nevermelt walls Everett built far outside of Everbound. The world in the distance is gray and colorless, proof that the Nether’s reach spread there—but as we watch, lights begin to rain down from the heavens. It’s like a meteor shower in the middle of the day, with thousands of tendrils of holy magic falling to the earth.

One beam of light veers sharply, passing through the window before any of us can react and absorbing into Crypt’s motionless body.

Crypt gasps and bolts upright before scrambling to get his clothes off like they’re on fire.

“What the fuck just happened?” I demand, my heart pounding.

The incubus throws his shirt to the ground, and we all watch with wide eyes as swirling markings reappear on his skin like surfacing ink. Instead of both light and dark markings, these ones are only dark as they cover his body once again.

Crypt lifts his hands, sees the curling markings all over his arms and palms, and looks at us with wide purple eyes.

“I’m…something just changed,” he breathes, looking down at Maven with awed disbelief. His lips curl into a smile. “Our girl is making some hefty demands of the gods.”

“What do you mean? Is your curse back?” Everett asks, as confused as the rest of us.

The Nightmare Prince studies his new marks. “No. I sense I’m no longer the steward of Limbo.”

Silas blinks. “But how? I thought your curse was unbreakable. It was killing you.”

“It was,” Crypt murmurs, slipping off the bed to join us in looking out the window. He’s thoughtful as lights continue to rain from heaven. “Which is why I suspect our little goddess is doing some significant cosmic meddling.”

The heavenly light show comes to an end just before a ripple of energy pulses across everything in our sight. Trees in Everbound Forest bend slightly in a wave from the force of whatever just happened, the castle trembles, and something inside my chest burns slightly for half a moment.

I swear all colors get fractionally brighter before all at once, everything gets really fucking still.

Whatever the fuck just happened, there’s something different that I can’t put my finger on.

“I highly recommend waking up to the sight of four sexy asses,” Maven yawns behind us.

Oh, thank gods.

I’m on her at once, straddling her with my arms braced over her shoulders so I can kiss my mate deep and hard. The tense worry that’s been eating at me finally goes away as she kisses me back, her lips curling up into the best fucking smile in the world.

There’s my Boo, I sigh telepathically, soaking up her scent and presence.

Silas moves beside us, shoving me off of her to kiss her next—and then Crypt materializes between them, pushing Silas back to wrap Maven tightly in his arms.

“Stop mauling her,” Everett huffs, pulling a laughing Maven out of what was quickly becoming a dogpile and steadying her on her feet.

He kisses her gently before examining her face. It’s easy to tell from their expressions that he’s checking on her telepathically, and I’m pretty sure my mate is reassuring him with a bit of morbid dry humor thrown in to tease him.

Not ready to be anywhere but wrapped around my keeper, I hop off the bed to hug her from behind, beaming down at her. “All right, Boo. For the next fifteen minutes, you’re going to tell us what the fuck just happened and why you were just in Paradise for an entire day?—”

She blinks. “That was an entire day?”

“Yep. And that’s way too damn long, so once we get the gist, we’re bathing you and feeding you and spoiling your gorgeous ass before we fuck you for hours,” I declare.

“I second this plan,” Crypt grins.

“Third it,” Everett and Silas say at the same time.

Maven is smiling, but she also seems disoriented as she looks around in confusion. “Where’s Cuttrina?”

Eager to get her everything and anything she needs from now on, I dart from the bedroom and return a second later, handing my mate her wickedly sharp etherium knife. The moment she touches it, she inhales sharply as the blade lights up. Her eyes go out of focus, and then she blinks several times.

“Oh, fuck.”

“Well?” Silas checks in a strained voice, pulling her back to the bed to hold her close. “What was your blood oath, sangfluir? Tell us what we missed.”

Maven brushes black hair out of her face and looks between us, hesitant. “Shit. I sort of fucked up your fates. You might all be pissed.”

“We’ll only be pissed if it put you in danger,” Everett says firmly.

We all nod in agreement, waiting for her explanation.

Maven’s beautiful, haunting eyes settle on me for a second, and she sighs. “The blood oath I made to Arati was to cleanse, restore, and…rule the Nether. My soul is kind of tied to it until the end of my life.”

I rock back on my heels as those words sink in. “Holy fuck.”

“I also kind of tied your souls to the Nether alongside mine,” she adds, clearing her throat. “My bad.”

“Oh, thank the fucking gods,” Everett breathes, sitting on the bed near her and Silas like he’s beyond relieved. “I was worried you agreed to do that alone. Good.”

“Very good,” I grin. “As long as I’m tied to you, Raincloud, I’m really fucking happy that’s all the blood oath was.”

A beautifully mischievous smile blooms on her face. “That wasn’t all.”

“Oh, gods above,” Silas grimaces. “Please tell me you didn’t swear to more.”

“I didn’t. But Arati swore to permanently remove the Legacy Curse, which she just did.”

Wait.

Wait, wait, wait.

“What?” I gawk.

Our shocked faces must be priceless, because Maven actually laughs. That sound is so fucking heavenly, but all I can think about is what this means. If the Legacy Curse is lifted...fuck, it means the existence of our kind is about to change. It’s like a fresh slate—a chance to finally belong in the mortal realm without having to lay down our lives at the Divide.

Maven just rewrote all the fucking rules.

“Snowdrop,” Everett breathes, shaking his head. “That’s…”

“A lot,” she agrees. “Arati didn’t like it at first, and it meant the gods had to make some changes. For example, they won’t be putting the Divide back up. Instead, they’re making a singular Gateway into the Nether. Since Amadeus won’t be corrupting and terrorizing the Nether anymore, far fewer shadow fiends will try to flee into the mortal realm. We’ll be in charge of the Nether, and we’ll guard the Gateway to keep anything from escaping.” Maven pauses, and her attention moves to Crypt before she smiles softly. “It also meant changing some things about Limbo. No more stewards.”

He swallows. I’ve never seen the Nightmare Prince so fucking shaken.

“Darling…”

“All incubi will share the burden of taking care of Limbo equally,” she explains, moving to kiss his cheek. She lifts her hand to trace his new markings, admiring them. “Syntyche said she would mark all incubi so they would understand the call, whatever that means.”

“Those were the other lights we saw raining down,” Silas realizes, blown away.

We’re all blown away.

Maven nods, looking at Crypt again. “Your markings are different, though. Yours are tied to the Gateway. You don’t have to take care of Limbo anymore, and you’re not cursed. You’re not—” Her voice breaks before she takes a deep breath, looking at him with that fierce determination that’s all her. “You’re not dying. I didn’t come this far to lose any of you, and now, all that’s left is a lifetime with the men I…love.”

I fucking melt.

All of this extreme change, all for the better. All because of my mate. I wonder if she even knows how much she just did for gods know how many legacies—and she did it with us in mind.

Silas is fighting a smile, too. “Gods above, I adore you. You may drive me mad until the end of our fate, but I’ll crave every moment of it just as acutely as I crave your precious blood.”

Maven smiles at the fae’s morbid confession of love before she fixes each of us with a serious look. “I’m chained to the Nether now, but it wasn’t fair of me to weave your existences into mine without asking. Sorry for bartering with your souls.”

I laugh. “No, you’re not.”

“You’re right. I’m not. I’d do it again because you’re all fucking mine .”

We’re all grinning like idiots. I’m so fucking happy that I scoop our keeper away from Crypt’s side and stand with her in my arms to peck her on the lips.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re all good with your sexy, eternally possessive side, Boo.”

“For the last time, that nickname is dead.”

“Nah,” I grin, kissing the tip of her nose.

Everett’s smile turns into thoughtfulness as he stands, running a hand through his white hair. “To clean and protect the Nether, we’ll need to fight shadow fiends, right?”

“I will. You four can do whatever you want. Including photography,” she adds, giving me a meaningful look.

Oh, my gods.

My mate read me like a fucking book, back when I mentioned my past passion to her in my room in the Decimus territory. My heart feels like it’s going to explode.

“I really fucking love you,” I manage.

“Not as much as I do,” Crypt grins at her. “And when our lifetime bettering the Nether ends, I’ll remain at your side until our corpses decompose hand in hand.”

Maven smiles like that creepy sentiment is the most romantic thought ever. She kisses me. I’m getting pretty damn wrapped up in her kiss until Everett nudges me toward the bed.

I get the hint.

Setting our keeper down on the bed, I continue kissing her as Crypt begins to remove her clothing gently. Silas is already stripping as Everett groans at the sight of her naked body. Maven is breathless when I pull back, her beautiful, dark gaze consuming my face with a loving possessiveness that feels like an oath. A promise. A blessing.

You’re all mine.

Hell yes, we are, I agree, kissing my keeper again.