Page 42 of Enchantra (Wicked Games #2)

41

FOR DEAD

It was the ring that woke her.

At first, she thought the nightmares about Farrow had come back, the fire that used to engulf her every night in her sleep returning to ruin the first week of peace she’d had in a long time. As she cracked open her eyes in the dark, however, she knew she wasn’t alone, and the burning around her finger was very real.

“Good, you’re awake,” Grave said from the foot of the bed.

She shot up, adrenaline pumping through her veins as she clutched the sheets to her naked chest. Umbra was nowhere to be found.

“How did you get in here?” she demanded.

“I can create my own portals,” Grave reminded her.

Right.

“Where’s Umbra?” she demanded.

Grave flicked his eyes to the left, and Genevieve followed his gaze to find Umbra’s limp body lying on the floor next to the wall. She gasped in horror, shooting out of bed to go to the fox, but when she saw Umbra’s chest rise and fall, a jolt of relief went through her.

She spun back to Grave with a glare. “ Why are you here?”

“Because Knox confirmed my suspicions. About his damned loophole.” Grave crossed his arms. “I knew there had to be a catch. There was no way he would let someone out of this game without taking something in return. And I was right. Knox explained it all to me as a little gift—that only one of us could get out of serving him each year. If Rowin gets free, forever, then Knox won’t be bound to let anyone else out of the game. We’ll be forced to play every year with no true winner. Every year we’ll go back to serving Knox in Hell.”

Shock went through Genevieve. Knox had truly thought of everything.

“So, if anyone is getting the fuck out of here, it’s going to be me . Which unfortunately means your time here is up,” Grave told her.

“You’ve tried killing me once before,” she said. “And it didn’t work out very well, remember?”

“But now I know all your tricks. You don’t have the element of surprise anymore, do you?”

Genevieve froze. Or, rather, she was frozen .

“Go ahead, try using your magic,” he encouraged.

She did and—nothing. Not even a flicker. Whatever hold he had on her body made everything except her thoughts entirely still.

She tried to speak. Nothing came out.

He lifted her off her feet then, not with his hands, but with his magic. And Remi had been right—Grave was powerful. In a way that she could feel in the very marrow of her bones. The only other beings she’d ever felt such power from were Knox and the Prince of the Devils himself.

“It will be over before you realize,” he promised.

And then everything around her exploded.

When Genevieve came to, she could not see or hear anything.

The room around her was filled with roiling shadows. And amongst them a single flash of gold. Rowin’s eyes were glowing.

“What’s happening?” she tried to ask, but her voice was drowned out by the thunder of power crackling around her.

Then someone burst through the door, and the shadows disappeared in a blinding flash of light.

“What the fuck is going on in here?” Ellin screeched.

White light was emanating from her hands as she sucked away Rowin’s shadows so they could all see.

“ He was trying to kill her ,” Rowin snarled at Grave.

“What’s new?” Ellin shouted. “You two cannot kill each other over some girl you’ve known for less than a week.” She threw an apologetic look in Genevieve’s direction. “No offense.”

Genevieve rubbed her pounding temples. “None taken.”

In fact, she sort of agreed. She’d made fun of Ophie relentlessly for nearly dying over a hot Ghost with green eyes whom she’d only known for days. She definitely owed her sister an apology. Love did not give a single fuck about time.

“Then how about I kill him over the fact that he’s going to trap our entire family?” Grave spat.

“What the Hell are you talking about?” Ellin asked.

“If Rowin is released from the Hunt, baby sister, then the rest of us will keep playing without any true winner,” Grave explained once again. “Knox confirmed it himself.”

Ellin went slack-jawed as she flicked her eyes between her brothers. “Fucking Hell.”

“Let’s finish it here and now,” Rowin told his brother. “I already told you once, Grave, she’s mine . You are not going to take her from me.”

Genevieve’s breath hitched.

Ellin seemed to sober then. “You need to walk away, Grave.”

Grave looked at her in disbelief.

“Play to win if you want,” Ellin said. “But I won’t let you murder her outside the game either. I like her. She’s earned her spot in this game.”

Genevieve’s pride swelled at Ellin’s words.

Grave seemed to give the decision a great amount of consideration before finally, blessedly, releasing his hold on Genevieve. He transported from the room without another word.

Ellin looked at Rowin and said, “Get your shit together. If I’m going to trust you, I need to be certain you know what you’re doing.”

Then she left, too.

“Is Umbra okay?” Genevieve whispered.

He nodded, turning to wave a hand in the fox’s direction, and Genevieve watched as the Familiar dissolved into smoke.

“I won’t be able to summon her for a while. Until she heals. Broken bones and poison aren’t fatal to Familiars. Not like getting eaten by piranhas would have been.”

He strode over to the bed, pulling her into his arms to bury his face in her neck.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

She nodded. “That was, what, his—fourth? fifth?—attempt to kill me? I’m getting rather used to it.” A pause. “So you spoke to Ellin?”

“I did. She didn’t like it but…well, you heard her. We’re almost there.”

Genevieve whispered, “This is all my fault.”

“No, it’s not,” Rowin murmured. “I started this a long time ago. You just sped up the ending.”

She swallowed. “Rowin?”

“Yes?”

“You called me yours again,” she whispered.

He looked away. “I’m sorry. I know you told me not to.”

Before she could say anything more, he kissed her on the temple.

“Go back to sleep. I’ll be here this time,” he vowed.

As she curled back up against his chest in the bed, she found that this time she couldn’t go back to sleep. Not because of Grave’s attack or because she wasn’t still exhausted, but because of the excitement of everything to come.

And his words still echoing in her mind.

She’s mine. She’s mine. She’s mine.