Page 35

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

FRANKIE

I’d just watched the last pink rays of the sunset from my bed, where I’d been since our big meeting this morning. Tenn and Tegan insisted that we lie low until Everest was back on his feet. We had no idea how our enemy would react to her son betraying her. They also insisted everyone get some rest because we all expected this to get real ugly real soon. So there we’d been all day, just me and Everest cuddled up in my bed. I’d braided little strands of his hair while he slept and watched a Marvel movie marathon on TV before passing out.

However, I was definitely alone in bed now. The sheets were still fairly warm so he hadn’t left long ago, but that logic did nothing to ease the panic rising within me like an angry tide. I knew last night had happened. I knew he’d been in bed with me all day. The room still smelled like him. And yet him not being here when I woke made my stomach turn. I groaned and flipped over to face his spot on my bed, wanting to let his cinnamon scent seep into my bones.

Then I spotted a small piece of paper about the size of a postcard. I snatched it off his pillow and grinned at the sight of his elegant handwriting. My pulse fluttered. I bit my bottom lip and read his words that said ‘ Rest. Your dogs wanted out, so I am taking them. Be right back. ’

A giddy little giggle bubbled up my throat. I squealed and kicked the blankets off me before I jumped to my feet. I’d been sleeping in my clothes the last few days to ensure I wouldn’t be caught fighting our enemies in my pajamas, but I still felt the need to put fresh clothes on. I made quick work of swapping out my black jeans and sweater for dark-blue jeans and a navy-blue sweatshirt. Then I crawled back in bed and pulled the sheets that smelled like him up and over my head until I was in a cocoon. My heart was in a happy little bubble and that scared me.

And then my rune stone bracelet flashed in a pink wave. Out of sheer habit, I wrapped my fingers around the bracelet. Everest’s face filled my thoughts immediately. Lights and colors flashed in my eyes and then all of a sudden, I stood in the backyard of Coven Headquarters. All three of my dogs were running and playing with Olli and Squishy. That black iron fence Kessler had put up around the house was clutch. Now they could run loose and wild while remaining safely home. Albert wasn’t with them, but I figured he wasn’t leaving Braison’s side ever again. I smiled and watched them all play. Since we got here to Eden, my dogs had been so beyond themselves happy that they were barely with me. I kept finding them in other bedrooms. They seemed to want to be with Olli and Squishy at all times, and I was just happy they were happy.

I took a deep breath, and that warm cinnamon scent of Everest wrapped around me. I wasn’t really out here. I knew that. I knew this was an astral projection, and not only because I knew I hadn’t walked out here . . . but also because I couldn’t feel anything. I’d been paying attention to the details for when I was just projecting and when I somehow sent my whole body to a new place. The waning gibbous moon—-or half—-moon as I liked to call it—-shined its light down on me without a cloud in sight, and yet I had no shadow when I should have. The cool breeze that couldn’t decide if it was winter or spring should have made me shiver, yet I only saw it brush through the tree branches.

So why am I here, stones?

“There you are,” Saber’s voice sliced through the silence of the night.

I flinched and spun around, thinking she was talking to me only to find her standing beside Everest on the back porch. My soulmate was sitting on the step, still wearing Tenn’s hand-me-downs. He spoke to her but it was too low for my ears to hear. Saber patted his head, then strolled into the yard.

“Where is she?” she asked softly.

Everest stood and strolled over to where she stood in the middle of the backyard. “In bed, asleep.”

I crept closer, then stopped myself. This was eavesdropping. It was wrong to be here. No one who ever eavesdropped heard things they wanted to or should. Everyone knew that. My curiosity had gotten the best of me for a moment, but I had to be better than my temptations. So, I wrapped my hand around my bracelet and closed my eyes to try and pull myself out of this projection, yet nothing happened. Whatever these stones did that allowed me to project like this . . . I was not in control of it. They had a mind of their own.

“I like this Eden.”

“This Eden?” Everest’s voice held enough chuckle to force my eyes back open. He stood there smirking at her. “Why this Eden?”

“I don’t know . . . this one . . .” She waved her arms around like the answer was obvious. “In all the Edens I’ve seen in my life, this one feels like them. Something about it just feels magical.”

“It’s the Appalachian Mountains.” Everest eyed the tree line. “There’s old magic in these hills . . . the Garden of Eden’s entrance being nearby doesn’t hurt either.”

“I know but just look at this place.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose. “I can smell the power here.”

“Ancient power here.” He smirked. “Eden finally returned home.”

Saber and I both frowned at him.

He shrugged. “At the dawn of The Coven, of Eden, it was right here where we stand now. It is no surprise that The Coven felt drawn to return after the Gap in Salem. Lilith is coming. They will be strongest here.”

I shuddered at that. I wonder if Tegan knows that. Then I realized I was still listening to their conversation. With a silent curse, I rushed to the back door to go inside and yet my hand passed right over the handle. I couldn’t open the door. Someone would come out eventually. I just needed to wait, so I hid behind one of the wooden posts of the porch to wait, but my attention went right back to my soulmate and Saber.

Normally Everest always saw me in my projected form, so the fact he hadn’t registered my presence told me he was weaker than he was letting on. That thought made my stomach turn.

“We’re in Coven Headquarters. In Eden. Can we just embrace that fact for a moment?” Saber spun in a slow circle, her red and hazel-gold eyes were big and bright. “I can’t believe we’re actually free.”

Everest sighed and shoved his hands into his jeans’ pockets. “Almost free. One more piece.”

“Can’t we enjoy this for a second?” Saber was watching the tree line of the Old Lands that bordered Eden. She waved her hand. “I mean, I don’t think I ever fully believed we’d make it this far. Together. Alive. Now that we’re on the other side, I think I doubted it would happen.”

Everest nodded and looked at the ground. “I promised you we would get here.”

Saber spun on her toes and crossed her arms over her chest. She arched one black eyebrow. “Now I need you to promise me one more thing.”

Everest’s gaze lifted until he was looking up at her through his eyelashes. “What’s that?”

“Promise me . . .” Saber closed the distance between them until she was a mere foot in front of him. Those red and hazel-gold eyes were full of emotion. I could even see her pulse beating in the vein in her forehead. “Promise me if it ever comes to this . . . you will not sacrifice your life for hers . I need to hear you say it. Promise me you will not sacrifice your life for Frankie’s.”

I straightened. Wait, what? What the fuck? My pulse quickened.

Everest stared at her with fire in his eyes.

“Promise me,” she growled low in her throat. She licked her lips and swallowed roughly. “I need to hear you say it out loud.”

There was a long, long pause where Everest just stared at her. I gripped the wooden beam for support because suddenly my legs felt weak.

And then Everest nodded. He actually nodded. “I promise I will not sacrifice my life for Frankie’s.”

My breath left me in a rush. What? What did I just hear? And he never calls me Frankie. Ever. What is happening right now?

Saber swayed on her feet. A few tears slid down her cheek before she wiped them away. “Frankie doesn’t need you like I do. I can’t lose you, not yet.”

Everest pulled her into his chest, then wrapped his arms around her tight. “The only life I’d sacrifice my own for is yours,” he said softly.

My stomach rolled. My legs gave out. My body may not have been here, but I felt my soul hit the wooden porch.

Saber looked up at him like he was the most important person in her world. “Don’t say that?—-”

“I will not live if I can prevent your death for I do not want a future if I lose you,” he said with a voice thick with emotion. “And I will not take questions or comments on the matter.”

She nodded, tears running down her face.

My body trembled. My vision blurred a little.

Everest sighed like these words were hurting him. “So, keep yourself out of harm’s way so I don’t have to die for you. Understood?”

She nodded, her bottom lip trembling.

“Say it. Out loud,” he growled.

My heart skipped beats. That was my line. That was what he always said to me. I’d thought it was our thing, yet there he was saying it to her. He was holding on to a woman that wasn’t his soulmate saying things to her he should have been saying to me.

That bubble of happiness was too happy. I’d known it and yet the popping of the bubble still took my breath away.

Saber licked her lips and sniffled. “I will keep myself out of danger so you don’t have to die for me.”

Then to my absolute horror, he kissed her forehead.

The back door flew open, and Albert dashed into the yard with the other boys. Braison laughed from the doorway. “Oh! Hey, guys!”

I was on my feet and running through the back door faster than I’d ever moved in my life. I didn’t want to hear any more of this. I would sit in my room and wait for my body to reclaim itself—-rainbow mist flashed in my face. I gasped. Tegan. And then I was in my bed and under the blanket with his cinnamon scent wrapped all around me . . . except now I felt like I was choking on it.