Magicorum Box Set (Books 1-5)

26. Chapter Twenty-Six-1

26

Chapter Twenty-Six

Bryar Rose

After Alec starts the transport spell, my skin tingles with wizard magic. I’ve never traveled by magic before. On reflex, I step closer to Knox. He tightens his grip on my waist, pulling me against his side. His body is warm, firm, and comforting. I lean into his touch. It’s been a crazy day.

The next thing I know, Knox and I stand somewhere that is most definitely not my aunties’ penthouse.

I frown. “Did something go wrong with Alec’s spell?”

“Nah.” Knox’s voice is deep and calm. “Alec brought us to my place. He can only send us to spots that he’s seen before, and he doesn’t know your aunties.”

“He could send us to LeCharme.”

“And we’d appear right in the middle of his office or something? He’s worked hard to hide that he’s a wizard.” Knox rolls his eyes. “You know how humans can get.”

“I’ve seen it.” Last month, I saw some fae get mobbed on the sidewalk for casting a minor spell. Everyone wanted to take a pic and get their autograph. It was creepy.

Now that I know we weren’t delivered to the wrong place, I scan Knox’s apartment. It’s somewhere between a man-cave and a bunker. The place is large and open with lots of exposed concrete and black leather. He’s got a massive screen and couch set up for movies and a whole gaming station against one wall, along with a wall rack that’s filled with all sorts of magical weapons.

I gesture to his wall-o’-guns. “Is that legal?”

“Mostly. Alec knows people who know people. And most of the time, I keep the weapons out of sight.” Knox enters a code into the keypad by the door, and the gun display slides into the wall, only to get covered up by a huge painting of the Manhattan skyline.

“That’s pretty slick.”

“Wait until you see the guns. Most of those are specifically built to kill Denarii.”

Kill Denarii. In my mind, I once again see the image of Jules turning into ash. A shiver twists up my spine. Within the span of a heartbeat, Knox is standing at my side. “What’s wrong? You smell confused and frightened.”

“I’m fine.”

Knox isn’t buying it. He stares at the weapons for a moment and then looks back to me. “How did Jules die?”

“I can’t tell you that. Not now anyway.” I swallow. “I thought you were dead, Knox. I can’t do anything to put you at risk again. And until I know what’s really going on, that’s all details will do. Put you at risk.”

Knox pulls me into a warm hug. “I’m a big, bad wolf, you know. I’m not afraid of a little risk.”

I nuzzle into his chest. “I know.”

“But you tell me when you’re ready, yeah?”

“When I’m ready.” And I’m not sure I’ll ever be ready.

His hug is awesome, but if I stay in it, I’ll do something crazy like tell him everything. So, I step away and finish sizing up the apartment. There are no less than three different hallways lined with doors. For New York, this place is massive.

“You live here all on your own?”

“Yeah.” Knox steps over to the window. “We’re in the LeCharme building. Alec and I have this understanding. I rent this place from him.” Knox makes little quotation marks with his fingers when he says, “rent.” “And then, he can bring his lady friends over when he wants. Sometimes, he’ll have parties here, too. The place has five bedrooms.”

Wow. Alec is a major player.

“So what happens when a lady friend comes back and says she forgot her scarf or something?”

Knox chuckles. “That’s where I earn my rent.”

I pull on the neck of my body armor. This stuff looks cool, but Kevlar isn’t exactly comfy. “You don’t have anything I could change into, do you? This stuff is uncomfortable, and besides, the conversation will be tough enough without having it in body armor.”

“People do leave stuff around after the parties. I tell the cleaners to wash it up and leave it in the last bedroom on the right.” He gestures down the hallway. “You might find something in there.”

“Thanks.”

He hitches his thumb over his shoulder. “My room is down this way. I’ll change as well, and then we can grab a cab, okay?”

“Perfect. I know we have time until midnight, but sometimes Queen Nyxa shows up early. The sooner we get there, the better.”

“Cool.” Knox grips the body armor at his waist. A prickle of awareness moves over my skin. Yet again, Knox is going to strip down naked near me. We’ve only kissed twice, but the nakedness has happened three times. Not that I’m keeping track or something. My face starts to heat. I definitely don’t want him to see me blush again, so I speed my way to the last bedroom on the right. Like the rest of the place, it’s decorated in bare concrete and black furniture. The closet is massive and filled with clothes.

Mostly girl stuff.

A lot of it is ball gowns and cocktail dresses. Some are torn straight up the front. I slide past those hangers with extra speed. Alec is a nice guy and all, but there are some things about him that I just don’t want to know.

My breath catches. Unless Knox has been at all these parties, too?

I push the thought aside. I’ve been doing that a lot today, and I think I’m getting pretty good at it. I soon find some clean leggings and a long sweater. It’s a little more casual than my aunties are used to, but it’s certainly better than body armor. I run a brush through my hair and scheme my head off.

The more I think about it, the more having Knox along is an awesome idea, especially if Queen Nyxa is there. I know just how to bring them all to their knees. It’s not very mature of me, but once I’m finished fixing my face, I rub my hands together and say, “Mwah hah hah” at the mirror.

Aunties, here I come.

I step out of the room. Knox is already standing by the door. He’s back in black leather pants and a dark T-shirt. With his black hair and ice-blue eyes, he looks like a rock star. My heart does this strange fluttery thing in my chest. I try to ignore that too, but it’s not so easy.

Knox looks up as I approach. “You look great. I’ve got a cab waiting downstairs.”

“I think I know how to confront my aunties.”

“I’m game.”

So, I share my plan. My pulse speeds up as I explain things, mostly because the plan involves Knox waiting outside my auntie’s door, and I know he’s a protective type. But he’s totally down with the scheme and even calls me a genius. One of these days, I’ll stop blushing my face off when he compliments me.

Knox takes my hand as we leave the LeCharme building. He keeps holding it in the cab and when we get out at my aunties’ building. He even holds my hand while we take the elevator to my aunties’ penthouse. A dozen questions run through my mind at once. Does this mean that we’re still mated? I know next to nothing about werewolf culture. Being mated is a big deal, but I’m not sure you can hold someone to a proclamation made while they were about to be killed by a sociopath undead mummy-zombie.

My chest tightens. Suddenly, it’s like I can’t pull in enough breath.

I gesture to the door. “This is it.”

Knox cups my face with his hands. “You’re nervous.”

I nod quickly. Yes, yes, yes.

“About your aunties or me?”

There’s no point lying to a werewolf. “Both.”

“Bry, you’ve got nothing to worry about when it comes to us, yeah?”

I start babbling again and am totally powerless to stop it. “But there were all those dresses in your apartment, and lots of them were torn. You must have gone to some of those parties.” I realize I’m speaking so fast, all my words tumble together. Still can’t stop myself, though. “Just because you said you were my mate in a battle doesn’t mean you have to stick to it. And sure, you were my first kiss, but that doesn’t mean—”

“Whoa. Stop right there. Believe me, you’ve nothing to worry about when it comes to us.” He leans in and gently brushes his lips across mine. “We’ll talk more later, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Knox takes in a deep breath. “Now, you smell more settled. You ready for this?”

“As I’ll ever be.” Actually, I’m totally not ready for this conversation. I’ve spent a lot of my precious prep-time worrying about how Jules got turned into charcoal and what’s happening between Knox and me.

Denial much?

Now, I have to face my aunties—and possibly the most powerful fairy queen of them all—and confront them about scheming with Jules. Oh, well. Maybe it was best to avoid those thoughts until now. Just starting to contemplate that level of betrayal, I want to race back into the elevator and never see them again.

Best to just get this over with. I straighten my shoulders and push the intercom buzzer.

Mirabelle’s voice crackles over the intercom by the door. “Just come in, whoever you are. The door’s open, and the party’s started.” I can hear voices babbling and music blaring at full volume. The intercom goes silent.

I close my eyes and focus. I’ve always had good hearing, but after I had my first shift with Jules, it seems like everything is super-loud. And now, I need that skill more than ever before. From what I heard over the intercom, the party is in full swing, and it isn’t even midnight yet. What I need to know now is if a certain fairy is in attendance. There will be no way to miss her voice if she is.

A nasal screech echoes through the door. “And yet again, I win another battle of riddles!” An odd chorus of voices breaks out into cheers. The sound is a mix between a growl and the twitter of birds. Those are definitely fairies.

My stomach drops to my toes. And Queen Nyxa is with them. Damn.

I press my hands to my face and force my breathing to slow. This is a disaster. The whole reason we sped over here was to avoid seeing Nyxa in the first place.

Knox moves to stand at my side. He whispers in my ear. “The queen is there, yeah?”

“Yup.” I make sure to pop the “p” on the “Yup.”

“No worries. We’re fine. You planned for this, and your scheme is brilliant. Now, I’ll just wait out here and listen for you to call my name.” He tugs on his ear. “Wolf hearing, right? This will work.”

I grip my hands tightly at my waist. “Or we could run. I’ve always wanted an assumed identity.” As the words leave my mouth, I realize I’m definitely half serious.

“Not a chance. You just fought Jules and a few hundred undead losers.”

I raise my pointer finger. “I’m not really sure how he died.” For some reason, it feels very important to make that point clear.

“I got that. But you still won. And you can do this, too. I believe in you.”

With those words, I’m ready to pull up my big-girl panties and face things head-on. I grip the handle and push open the door.

I step down the small entrance hallway and into the main living room. It’s like stepping into a funky chic high-end department store circa 1960. We have these egg-shaped chairs and fur-covered couches. The lamps remind me of silver spiders. The rugs are beyond plush. Oh yes, and everything is in different shades of green, yellow, and pink. That’s all the work of Lauralei and Fanna, of course.

The place is packed with partygoers. All of them are fae. There are tall willowy types with blue skin and limbs as thin as reeds. Young curvy types with pink skin and wings to match. And little pixies zip around the air with their bright green bodies, dark wings, and pointed teeth. They all join a frenzy of movement they like to call dancing. I think of it more as a magical mosh pit. The scent of dandelion wine hits me smack in the face. Yipes. Fairies get absolutely toasted on anything to do with dandelions. And based on the number of glasses filled with yellow liquid in this room? These fairies are all well on their way to being plastered.

Lauralei and Fanna stand in the center of the room in their matching yellow Chanel suits, sipping their yellow drinks from wide martini glasses. Today, they remind me of a cross between flamingoes and Big Bird. Mirabelle waits nearby in another red muu muu thing. And in the center of this trio stands Queen Nyxa. She’s hard to miss, considering how she’s seven feet tall with orange skin and moss-green hair. A crown of bluebells sits atop her head. The flowers are the same shade as her floor-length gown and over-large eyes. The moment I set foot in the living room, her gaze locks on me.