Atone: A Fairytale (Fairytale Trilogy) (8 page)

“Look,” Becca commanded without taking her own eyes from the reflection.

When he turned his eyes toward the mirror, Becca was almost sorry she had asked. His eyes were the same. The same clear almost-navy ringed with silver that Becca had once informed Alex had to be contacts because that color could not possibly occur in nature. Now that she had seen him in beast form, she knew they hadn’t been contacts. Those eyes had stared at her out of his wolf-like face. But now instead of appearing bored, or annoyed, or even mildly amused, as they had when he’d worked at the museum, or filled with frustration and anger as they had been since she’d first seen him as a beast, they looked tortured—filled with horror and revulsion at what he saw before him.

Regret shot through her. Regret, and something that felt like pity. It must have shown in the reflection of her own much darker eyes, because he snarled. “Don’t. Don’t you dare pity me.” His grip on her arm tightened, becoming uncomfortable. “You should fear me, but you’ve never done what you should. I could make you.”

“It’s pretty hard to make me do what I don’t want to,” Becca answered, proud that her voice hadn’t cracked. She didn’t take her eyes off the mirror but found the reflection of his eyes and held it with her own.

He laughed. It was an angry sound, but Becca could hear the desperation lurking behind the anger.

“You're so small—so fragile and defenseless, I could snap you in two right now before you could even think to defend yourself.”

“I’m not completely defenseless,” Becca reminded him. As if in response, the hazy aura of her magic glowed brighter in the mirror, coalescing into the form of violets. Each flower had a deep purple center, the color flowing out across the petals into a lighter lavender and ending finally in a gauzy golden rim.

“Yeah, your flowers. But could your magic stop me if I decided to end your life here and now, with no warning? If I decided I’ve had enough of your interfering and game-playing?”

Becca didn’t answer right away, she wasn’t sure she had an answer. Her power may be strong enough to stop him, if she had ready and easy access to it. She’d been able to best him in their struggle the day before, but he’d given her plenty of warning. Even two years before, during their battle with Briar Rose, she’d never been able to access her magic as fully as Alex had. But then she’d never had a reason, a desperate need. Alex had.

The look in Nicholas’s eyes told her that he could see her answer, even if she wasn’t saying it aloud. He didn’t look any happier about it; if anything, his eyes looked more tortured, as if he hadn’t wanted that to be her answer.

“I’m not playing games.” Becca took a deliberate step backward. There wasn’t much room between them in the first place, and her movement caused her to come up fully against him. It was a weird sensation. She could feel the warmth of him, almost fever-pitched, seeping through her. The soft fur on his chest pressed against her back, and under that she could feel the coiled, tenseness of his muscles. She didn’t take her eyes off the reflection of his, but in her peripheral vision she could see the reflection of her body pressing against Nicholas’s. They looked disturbingly like a couple; his larger frame seeming to cradle and protect her much smaller one, but what she felt wasn’t Nicholas the man. She could only feel the beast.

If Nicholas towered over her as a man, he dwarfed her in animal form. Her head barely came the top of his rib cage. She was in his power even more than she had been a moment before. By stepping back against him she had placed her total trust in him. And he knew. The shock in his eyes would have been almost funny if it hadn’t been accompanied by the desperation and pain. Becca felt that pain clear to the center of her.

“Why are you doing this?” he whispered.

“Making you look in the mirror?” She knew that wasn’t what he was asking. “Don’t you see it?”

His eyes continued to bore into the reflection of hers, almost as if he was afraid to look elsewhere.

“See what?” he bit out. “See the monster I’ve become? What they’ve turned me into?”

Becca was so surprised that her eyes left his, flicking across the reflection, as if to reassure herself. The reflection of Nicholas didn’t look like a beast at all, in fact, he may have been even more attractive than she remembered. The hurt and anger he felt were definitely reflected on his face, his mouth twisted in a grimace, the color on his cheeks heightened. But that didn’t detract from his handsome features; it only served to highlight them. Her eyes darted back to his in the reflection.

She tugged her hand out his grasp, reaching up over her head and behind her, resting her flat palms on his face. He started at her touch and she tried to ignore the fact that she was pressing her body more firmly against his furry, muscled length as she ran her fingers over his face. She could feel the soft, short fur that covered his snout, the heavy brows, the wide mouth that could so easily transform into a snarl.

In the mirror her hands ran over Nicholas face, his aquiline nose and high cheekbones, his mouth—the bottom lip fuller than the top. He was completely impassive under her soft touch, his fierce eyes burning into hers the only sign that he was at all affected.

Her fingers trailed to his hair—her hands looked small and pale against the dark waves—she felt the silky strands of the mane running against and between her fingers.

“You look as if you’re on fire, a purple fire,” he finally whispered in a voice that was raw on the edges. “Purple and gold. Like a goddess.”

“In the mirror?” Becca paused, looking at her own reflection in the mirror. She could see the gauzy lavender-gold power flitting around her reflected form, but nothing to the level that Nicholas was speaking of.

“Yes, there’s magic all around you.”

Becca bit her lip, wondering why they could see such different things. “In the mirror you’re a man.”

Nicholas froze. They stood like that for a moment…just a moment, but it seemed like an eternity. And then, suddenly, he was gone, whipping away from her and out of the room in the space of a heartbeat.

~ Chapter Six ~

B
ECCA LAY ON
the daybed in the room she had claimed as her own, staring at the tendrils of late afternoon sunlight playing on the ceiling. The way the light filtered through the half open blinds and curved against the place where the wall and ceiling met reminded her of the claws in the frame of the mirror.

She didn’t want to think about the mirror. Or the fact that she’d been standing in front of it with Nicholas a few hours before. Or that she’d been so fascinated by the difference between reality and the reflection that she’d run her hands across his face, that she’d pressed her body into his.

And she didn’t want to think about what she’d seen reflected in the mirror.

Or that she still couldn’t get the power in her chest quite under control.

She closed her eyes, blocking out the sunbeams. That was a mistake. Now, instead of being reminded of the mirror, she saw the whole thing painted against the backs of her eyelids. She snapped her eyes back open and glared at the ceiling.

It didn’t matter. As a man or a beast, Nicholas was a threat.

He’d be less of a threat as a man. We’d have more plausible deniability if a regular guy accuses Lilia of being a magical fraudster than if an obviously enchanted, talking beast does. But then maybe he’d be less of a threat as a beast because…

Becca refused to finish the thought. She suddenly noticed that she’d been absently rubbing her wrist—the same wrist that Nicholas had held in his paw. She snatched the fingers of her other hand away from the tender flesh and cursed under her breath as she reached for her phone.

She tapped her fingers as she waited for Alex to pick up. She counted the rings. Three, now four. If she was lucky she’d get the voicemail.

“Hey, what’s up?” Alex’s cheerful voice cut off Becca’s hopes. “Oh, before I forget, Luke and I are going to Magic Mountain Friday; want to come?”

“I, uh, I might be busy Friday.”

“Oh come on, what could top getting on death-defying roller coasters? I’m trying to convince Lilia to go. I’m determined to get her on one that goes upside down.”

Becca laughed in spite of herself. “There’s no way in hell she’s gonna let you drag her on one.”

“You never know. I’m becoming very persuasive in my old age. So what’re you doing Friday?”

“Well, I don’t know for sure if I have anything planned, but I’ve a feeling I might still be here.”

“Where’s ‘here’? Aren’t you at your mom’s?” Alex asked in confusion.

“Um.” Becca took a deep breath. “Do you promise to not freak out?”

There was a long silence from the other end of the phone. “That’s not a super encouraging way to start a conversation.
Should
I be freaking out?”

Becca sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. “Well the thing is, I’m at Nicholas’s house.”

Another long silence. “By yourself?”

“Yes. Well, no. I mean…”

“Becca, did you find Nicholas? Is he there with you? What is going on?” Alex’s voice got higher with every question.

“Okay, stop. You promised not to freak.”

“Actually, I didn’t. Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. And I did find Nicholas. He’s here…he was here the whole time…at his house.”

“Like he was there when we were and he didn’t say anything? He couldn’t have just been like ‘hey, I’m fine, thanks?’”

“Well, that’s the thing. He’s not fine,
per se
. But I am. I’m not in any danger.”

“
Danger?
” Becca winced at Alex’s near shout. “You’re making this worse.”

“I know, I’m totally screwing up this whole conversation. The thing is, the mirror that’s here? It’s not the only enchanted thing in the house.”

“Are you telling me that Nicholas is under some kind of enchantment?”

“Yeah, and I don’t think it’s a very friendly one…I’d probably go with “curse” over enchantment. He, um, he’s kind of…a beast.”

There was another pause on the other end of the phone. “I’m sorry, what was that? I thought you said ‘beast.’”

“I did.”

“Nicholas is a beast? As in he’s an
animal
?”

“Yeah, like a big, hairy cross between a wolf/bear type thing, but he’s got a mane, like a lion.”

“Are you kidding?”

“Do I sound like I’m kidding?” Becca huffed out a breath. “Sorry. No, I’m not kidding. I’m being totally serious. I don’t know if it has something to do with the mirror, or if they’re separate spells…he’s not being very forthcoming, but I think I can get him to…well...let me help him, I guess.”

“Where are you right now?” Alex’s voice had taken on an edge.

“At Nicholas’s house.”

“Yeah, I got that part. Where?”

“Um, one of the upstairs guest bedrooms. The one across from the office where we found that file. Alex? Are you there?” Becca pulled her phone away from her ear and looked at the screen. “Did the call drop?”

“No, I hung up on you.”

Becca jumped back half a foot, looking up in time to see Alex walk through the bedroom door.

“I was a bit off. I thought of the other bedroom.”

“Are you serious?! Are you making a habit of this now? Just popping around, breaking the laws of physics?”

“In emergencies.”

“Cause you couldn’t have just driven here? How much power does that take, anyway? I haven’t seen you do it in over a year.”

Alex shrugged a slim shoulder. “Not much. That first time we all did it together, it felt like it took everything we all had, but when it’s just me, it’s not that hard to flicker into places.”

“Flicker? Is that what you’re calling it?”

“Well, that’s what Luke calls it…cause I guess I kinda look like a flickering image before I get all the way solid.”

“Uh-huh.” Becca raised her eyebrow. “So what you’re telling me is you use your ‘flickering’ ability to go visit your boyfriend on the other side of the country, not just for emergencies.”

Alex blushed as she pushed at her bangs. “It’s more eco-friendly than air travel. No carbon footprint.”

“Hmm. I’m sure. Do I even want to know how often—”

“You’re trying to distract me from the point.” Alex folded her arms over her chest and leveled a glare at Becca. “What exactly is going on here?”

“Well, like I said, Nicholas is currently not in Nicholas form.”

“Can I see him or talk to him?”

“You can try. He’s barely tolerating me. He has some unresolved anger against us.”

Alex pushed up her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. “How long has he been like this? Did he say? Is the curse emanating from the mirror or is it a separate entity? Did he piss off some angry fae in France, or what?”

“I have the answer to none of those questions.”

“But you’ve talked to him?”

“Yeah, our conversations have consisted basically of ‘tell me what’s going on’ and ‘no, damn you and your little fairy princess, leave me alone!’ And some growling.”