Atone: A Fairytale (Fairytale Trilogy) (7 page)

“If you expose me then I could just as easily expose you.”

“Expose me? As what? You mean the part about me being part fae and having magical powers? Good luck with that. Unlike you, I can hide what I am. And Lilia’s papers will stand up.”

Nicholas let out a roar. It wasn’t quite the same as the ear-ringing and ground-shaking performance he’d put on the day before, but it was definitely angry sounding.

Becca didn’t even blink. Just casually crossed her arms over her chest. The nonchalance was mostly a show. Her power was running rampant through her making it hard to remain still.

“So, are you ready to discuss that yet? The sooner I know what happened, the sooner I can leave.” She grinned. “Come on, admit it, the thought of never seeing me again has to be some kind of enticement.”

He whirled away from her and stalked to the other side of the room. “I don’t think you’re as confident about not being exposed as you like to pretend. Why else would you still be here? You want to make sure I don’t have more information on your precious princess.”

“I’ve already told you I want you to leave her alone and that I want to make sure I take all your creepy, stalker files on both her and Alex. Magic isn’t something you mess with lightly, Nicholas...but then you’ve already realized that, haven’t you?”

“I wouldn’t even be in this position if it weren’t for that...”

“Shut up!” Becca held up a hand to cut him off. The magic inside of her exploded in a brilliant shower. Power raced down her arm and shot out of her palm. She had just enough forethought to move her hand so that her open palm pointing at the small leather sofa next to Nicholas instead of directly at him as a stream of gold-tinged lavender power shot out of her hand.

She watched in shock as the sofa exploded into purple flame.

“What are you doing?” Nicholas roared as he leapt away from the couch.

“You’re lucky that wasn’t you!” she retorted. The couch was still smoldering, but she could tell it wasn’t burning like a normal flame. It just sort of glowed with magical energy. She was pretty sure nothing else would catch on fire. But then she’d never magically exploded a couch before. Nicholas really did bring out the worst in her.

“You’re insane!”

“Maybe you shouldn’t insult my friend around me, then.” Becca took a deep, calming breath, trying to get the rest of her power under control. It really wouldn’t help the situation if she ended up frying Nicholas. A magically charred carcass of an enchanted beast wouldn’t be something she could just sweep under the rug. Eventually people would start asking questions.

“She put a spell on me! Knocked me out and left me there, unconscious for days!”

“We were coming to you for help! God knows why, but Alex trusted you enough to ask you for help, and you completely betrayed that trust. Do I wish that Lilia had been able to do something other than knock you out for a few days? Yeah. But we didn’t have time to sit around and discuss it. So quit the ‘poor me’ crap. Lilia’s spell was because of your actions and your actions got you fired from the museum. You’ve no reason to hold any grudge.”

“Ha! No reason? You knocked me out and then you stole from me!” Nicholas paced from one side of the room to the other, glaring at her from under lowered brows.

“The credit card charge? So we could clothe Lilia? Are you freaking kidding me? We sent you cash to cover that...with interest. And I know you got it, ‘cause I found it in your stalker file folder. If you’re so concerned about the money, why are you still holding on to it? Here,” Becca reached into her back pocket and pulled an envelope she’d found earlier in his office. The address of Professor Gagnon’s office in France was written neatly in Alex’s handwriting on the front. There was no return address. She pulled the bills out and waved them at Nicholas. “We didn’t want to use your stupid credit card. We wanted you to help us. But you’ve never been about helping anyone but yourself!” She threw the money at his feet. It felt oddly satisfying to watch the bills flutter in the air before landing on the hardwood.

She could see the anger flashing in his eyes, but she didn’t really care. She was angry too. And she had to get a hold on it or risk actually hurting him. He might deserve it, but she had enough residual guilt about the whole situation without adding that on top of it.

She closed her eyes briefly, finally tethering the last wild strands of her power back into her chest. “Look, I get that you’re angry. You’ve had a spell put on you. You’ve obviously been extremely inconvenienced...”

“Inconvenienced?” Nicholas snarled in disbelief.

Becca ignored him. “It could be worse. You could be asleep in an enchanted bed with the one adult around who should be willing to help you threatening to turn you into a media sensation and run all sorts of creepy scientific experiments on you.” She crossed her arms over her chest and raised an eyebrow at Nicholas. “Personally, I think Luke had it a lot worse off than you. And of course, you’ve got me here trying to help you, someone who has had a least a little bit of experience with fae magic. Although God knows why I’m even trying. You’re acting like you’d rather be stuck like this than accept even a shred of help from me.”

Nicholas’s only response was a low growl.

“I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here,” she continued. “I don’t like you; you don’t like me. But if anyone can help you break the spell, it’s going to be me, Alex,and Lilia. You need to let me help you.”

He was still staring at her, animosity flickering in his deep blue eyes—those eyes that still looked so much like the Nicholas she remembered. It was almost comforting in a way; she’d seen Nicholas look at her with almost that same expression for so many years.

“It needs to be cold in here. I feel like I’m burning up all the time. This just makes it bearable.”

Becca blinked in surprise. He was still looking at her like he wanted to pick her up and toss her out on her butt, but he’d apparently decided that direct confrontation wasn’t going to work. Or maybe he just didn’t want to lose any more furniture.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ll keep the air down.”

Nicholas nodded once and then he turned and left the room. Becca sat back down shakily on the larger couch. She had no idea how she was going to clean up the smoldering remains of the small sofa. And she’d missed the question for Final Jeopardy.

~

Becca sat leaning against the wall opposite the ornately framed mirror. She had been sitting there studying it for a while now. The reservoir of magic in her chest had been burning almost out of control since her altercation with Nicholas the afternoon before, and she wasn’t sure how much of it had to do with being near such an ancient spell.

The face of the mirror, still turned upward and facing the window, reflected the deep blue sky. Occasionally the reflection of a fluffy, white cloud floated across it. But that wasn’t what Becca was paying attention to. She was watching the spell that was wrapped around the golden tendrils of the frame. It floated around and through the spirals in the frame, shimmering softly with a myriad of colors.

Becca had never seen the spell that held together the enchanted bed that had held Lilia, and then Luke. Alex and Luke had seen the pure magic equivalent of the bed when they were in Briar Rose’s stronghold. Alex had described the unusual weaving of the magic—the way the spell had been patched and repaired and had twisted other bits of magic into itself.

Becca couldn’t see any places in this spell that had been repaired, but she could see how it had been woven together. It was definitely more orderly looking than how Alex had described Briar Rose’s spell. There was one place, near the top of the mirror, where there was a small gap, but the magic pulsed around the gap without breaking or changing. She didn't know what to make of that. Honestly, she couldn’t tell much about spell at all.

She idly twirled her protection ring around her finger as she surveyed the mirror. The friendly spell in it calmed her mind and brought her magic into focus. After a few more minutes she came to a decision. There was only so much she was going to learn about the mirror spell sitting here staring at it.

Becca got up and walked to the mirror. She reached out and grasped the frame firmly, one hand on each side. She ignored the electric tingle that shot through her skin as her hands came in contact with the metal as she swiveled the frame so that the mirror faced forward and not toward the sky.

The glass face of the mirror was even larger than she’d previously thought. It was several feet wide and at least twice that tall. She could see the room behind her and her own face, as well as most of the upper half of her body, reflected back at her. Becca squinted at the image. She could make out a violet-gold haze, almost like an aura, surrounding her.

“That’s interesting,” she whispered. It was the same softly focused color that her magic appeared to be when she used it. “I wonder...” she slowly lifted her hand, reaching out as if to touch the image reflected in the glass.

“Don’t touch that!” Nicholas’s roar was even more startling because she hadn’t heard him enter the room. Which wasn’t all that surprising, she knew he could move extremely stealthily. She refused to give Nicholas the satisfaction of seeing her jump in surprise, even though it was all she could do to not to start out of her skin. The power in her chest was burning brighter. She’d thought it was because of her proximity to the mirror, but know she wondered uncomfortably if it was in response to Nicholas entering the room.

“Seriously?” she asked without looking away from the mirror, once she was sure she had her voice under control. It may have come out a bit more high pitched than normal, but overall she was proud of the steadiness she’d managed. “Why’re you sneaking up on me?”

“Don’t touch that thing. It’s full of magic.”

Becca could feel Nicholas moving; he was several feet behind her, but to her left, staying out of the line of sight of the mirror.

“Yes, I can see that,” she answered.

“Turn it back,” he growled.

“No. I’m investigating it.”

“Turn it back or I’ll make you.”

“What are you going to do? Turn it back yourself? I doubt that.” Becca flicked her dark hair over her shoulder, and extended her hand back toward the glass surface.

He moved so fast that she barely had time to blink in surprise before she felt his large paw-like hand encircling her slender wrist, effectively stopping her hand in midair, inches from the mirror.

“Don’t touch it,” his voice, harsh and raspy, sent a shock down her spine. His warm breath blew her hair forward. Anger, desperation, and what sounded like fear, warred for dominance in his tone, but Becca wasn’t paying attention to his voice. Her eyes were riveted to the mirror.

“Nicholas,” she whispered. “Oh my god, Nicholas, what do you see when you look in this mirror?”

“I don’t need to look in the damned thing, I already know what I'll see.”

“Do you?” she breathed. Becca couldn’t wrench her eyes away from the mirror. There was her own reflection of course, the air around her still tinged by the soft haze of the magic aura. She could see her hand extending out toward the mirror…and Nicholas’s hand wrapped around her wrist.

His
hand. Not the paw-like hand of Nicholas the beast, but the strong, human hand of Nicholas the man. She turned her wrist experimentally, watching his fingers tighten against her slim wrist. They were long, but almost blunt at the end. At the same time she could feel his grip grow stronger, the soft pads on the underside of his paw pressing against the tender flesh of her wrist. Her pulse was fluctuating wildly, and she wondered if he could feel it against his palm. He was so strong, he could snap her wrist in a second if he wanted to. And she would be powerless to stop it.

“Step in front of the mirror,” Becca said softly. She pulled her wrist closer to the glass, counting on him not to resist, not to hurt her, but to follow the gentle lead. There was a moment of hesitation, and then he stepped fully behind her and she could see his reflection.

Nicholas.

Nicholas as she remembered him. Dark hair waved back from his broad forehead; it was cut a bit too long, the ends brushing his square jaw. His mouth had always annoyed her; it could slide so easily into a charming smile that she knew the smile had to be fake. Most often when he had looked at her, though it had been twisted into a frown, or a patronizing smile that frustrated her more than the charming half-grin he had used so often on others to get his way. His lips weren’t smiling now, they were pressed firmly together as if he were steeling himself to face something unpleasant.

He was almost painfully attractive. Becca had seen women literally stop in their tracks to stare at him. Even Alex had been deceived by his good looks for years. His masculine beauty affected Becca slightly differently. Maybe it was because of the string of handsome losers her mom had dated for as long as Becca could remember. Men who had used their looks to manipulate and hurt. She’d seen those tendencies in Nicholas. He’d manipulated people with his smile and his startlingly blue eyes.

He looked the same as he had two years ago.

Yet entirely different.

He wasn’t looking into the mirror. His gaze was trained firmly on the wall to their left.