Page 52 of WitchCurse
“We got all the curses. They shouldn’t still have any ties to him. We searched top to bottom,” Toby said. “Why is he so different in his memories? I don’t mean how thin he is, we both know he’s been starved most of his life, but the hair, the skin, the dimness of his aura, that should all be better now that the curses are gone? He’s a sidhe prince and kitsune, he should glow like Sebastian does, not like a lightbulb about to wink out.”
“I want Liam to look at him soul level,” Nick said, one hand pressing over my heart. It sat there a moment, then circled my skin in a small caress. “Does it hurt when I touch you?”
It hurt to breathe, but less with each passing moment of them coating me in magic. It wasn’t a physical thing, more an adding of layers, slowly, like peeling an onion in reverse. I had spent enough time in Sebastian’s kitchen to watch many a dish made, some of which appeared to be set out before my scions right now.
Nick smiled. “You are a bit like an onion. Can bring a man to tears or flavor a dish to make it memorable.”
I narrowed my gaze at him, food puns were best left to the alpha and his omega. Fae didn’t need food.
“You do,” Nick corrected. He held a bite of chocolate cake to my lips. “Those memories from when you were a kid in this world, you ate both shadows and things like rabbits and squirrels. Eat.”
I let him slide the bite between my lips and savored the taste. Not as decadent as the cake Ari had brought, but rich, and flavorful. Magic and more. I sighed and tried to sit up, feeling exhausted, and muscles twitching in pain. The strange sensation of my skin being raw echoed as I moved, pulling and reminding me there had been a change, though everything looked healed, without scar or blight, smooth and solid. But an occasional turn the wrong way, and there was still a twinge of pain, sharp like a needle. Nothing bled, and there were no visible wounds, did that mean it was a memory of them still aching?
Toby glared, lifting one of my arms to examine my side, fingers tracing along my flesh, causing a ripple of sensation, pain and something more? “There’s something there, but damned if I can find it,” Toby cursed.
“Liam needs to search for bonds soul deep. I can’t use the kitsune sight like he can, but something lingers. Symbols, thorns, curses, whatever, we need them all gone.” Nick’s gaze met Toby’s. “What if something still ties him to Zephyr?”
Toby snarled, his fingers still dancing over my side as though they would magically find whatever it was he couldn’t see. He let go and picked up the cake, devouring three giant slices of cake in only a handful of gulps. “I’ll send Liam a message. If the dreamwalker still has ties to him that deep, maybe I just need to kill the fae lord.”
“Zephyr isn’t going to let you walk up to him and gut him,” Nick said, finishing up his slice of cake and forcing another piece into my mouth. “As if killing any fae is that easy. You’ve only glimpsed Kiran’s memories. He’s a manipulative bastard.”
“Zephyr or Kiran?” Toby asked.
Nick laughed. “Both, actually. Though not in the same way.” His gaze fell on me, studying me with a scrutiny far too sharp. “Kiran has retreated over the years as the drain of the curses have grown. Behind the barriers we saw him learn as a child?”
“There was more to them than basic shields,” Toby agreed. “I need to look at a few other alchemy books Sebastian has.” He studied me. “How do you feel?”
“Not dead.” I said. The memory of pain very vivid, and I had a lot of those memories in my life.
“Warmer?” Nick wondered. With him beside me, it was hard not to feel warm.
“Yes, and tired,” I agreed.
Toby searched me with his fingers, touch gentle, but relentless as he tried to find those needle picks that still pierced my body. “I have thoughts.”
“About?” Nick asked.
“Kiran was a creature of both worlds, but you saw how easily he adapted as a child to this world. He should be able to do that now. Whatever those shadows were kept him fed and helped grow his strength, did you see how he could fly on the wind? Even Sebastian can’t do that.”
“I have not been able to do that since I was a child,” I told him.
“And you’ve had some of these curses since you were a child?” Toby asked, his fingertips lingering over the one on my side, not quite touching it, like he couldn’t find it, only feel it through me.
“Since I was first dragged back to Underhill by theHunt,” I said. The memory of that first attack had faded a little over time, but the pain never did.
Toby nodded. “I have a lot more research to do, and we need to add to our wards, to get you to start healing, but first things first,” he stacked all the trays on the floor and began to strip as he crawled back across the bed. His expression intense, and he stalked me like the wolf.
“It is me, the wolf, we are one and the same,” Toby agreed, straddling my hips and pressing me back into the headboard. “And we need to stake our claim.”
I stuttered for an answer, confused as his hands landed on my chest, warm and seeking. My body responded to him, shocking me, but making the wolf grin.
“We got enough to fix that this time,” Toby told Nick. He looked at me. “You find me pretty, is that enough?”
Enough for what?
“He finds us both pretty,” Nick said, reaching over to turn my chin his way. Then his lips were on mine in a crushing kiss. Not the life sucking thing Zephyr’s had been, but a passion filled caress that had me trembling. Nick’s tongue swept into my mouth and he tasted of the cake, magic, and home. He had been my home, what was left of it, for a long time. Was I dreaming again, or having another nightmare sent by the prince of nightmares?
“Fucking Zephyr,” Toby cursed.