Bound (24 page)
Authors: Erica O'Rourke
This was the worst part, I knew instinctively. The language of the magic rendered mute, and inside me the magic felt as splintered as the wood. It yearned to reach out, and so I did, placing my hand on the table leg closest to me, pressing the scar on my palm to the grain of the wood. The Darkling’s wound had been the point of entry for the magic, back when Verity had transferred her power to me. Maybe I could send it out the same way.
The magic swelled a bit within me, like the opening note of a symphony.
Startled, I yanked my hand away. The magic fell silent again. Across the stage, Pascal shifted, and I tried to look innocent.
When he turned back to Luc and Dominic, I stretched my hand out again, opening myself to the images coursing through me—a stirring of a breeze, clouds gathering over parched earth, the tide creeping higher along a beach, the strike of a match against a box. As if pulled by a magnet, the tips of my fingers brushed against the tracks carved into the surface. The faintest glow shone through the wood, like the embers of a fire thought long dead.
If I could restore this table, it would make everything okay. I was certain of it. I could fix the Quartoren, the Seraphim, Luc’s own knotty destiny—the idea that I could solve all of it with a little furniture repair was ludicrous but unshakeable, the belief so strong it knocked down my resistance. “More. Come on. Please.”
But the tremulous light didn’t increase. I chewed my lip in frustration.
Pascal broke away from the group. “What have you done?”
“Nothing! I touched it, that’s all. It lit up.”
“The Darklings drained every ounce of magic from the table,” he said. “Once they’d finished, it was nothing but ancient wood. It couldn’t hold against the onslaught.”
“Maybe they didn’t drain all the magic.”
“Perhaps.” He tapped it lightly, but there was no answering glow. “Or perhaps you can do more than you realize. Try again.”
The rest of the group joined us. Luc touched my shoulder, our connection strong and reassuring. I slid my hand over the path of a glyph, closing my eyes, listening as hard as I could, but all I heard was Orla’s indrawn breath. Luc’s grip tightened in surprise, and I opened my eyes to see the wood glowing brighter than before. The magic surged, and I dug down inside myself, trying to push more power into the table.
Instead, the light dimmed and flickered.
“Don’t rush it,” Luc murmured, but I wanted so badly to make everything go back to the way it had been. I tried to envision myself ordering the magic, the way an owner might scold a recalcitrant dog, but the glow disappeared entirely. The magic folded itself up and retreated inside me, leaving a cold, desolate space in its wake.
“What happened?” asked Orla. “The symbols were returning. What did you do wrong?”
“I don’t know.” Of course Orla would blame me. I turned to Luc, feeling unmoored by the magic’s retreat. “I tried. Even when the magic wouldn’t respond, I tried forcing it. It wouldn’t ...”
Wouldn’t listen.
“Try again,” urged Dominic.
I clutched Luc’s hand and stood up. “I need to rest,” I told the Quartoren. “Maybe when I’m stronger. When the magic’s at full strength again.”
“Sure,” said Luc. “Sensible. I’ll take her home.”
He guided me down the stairs and back to the anteroom, an urgency to his movements I couldn’t quite decipher. I turned to look at the table one more time, felt a longing so strong it nearly strangled me, and then Luc pulled me Between.
C
HAPTER
28
HAPTER
28
I
didn’t know when I’d lost the ability to lie to Luc. It should have been a relief—I’d kept so many truths clutched to my chest that it should have felt like freedom. Instead, I felt exposed. Raw. Like I’d given him an advantage I could never reclaim.
didn’t know when I’d lost the ability to lie to Luc. It should have been a relief—I’d kept so many truths clutched to my chest that it should have felt like freedom. Instead, I felt exposed. Raw. Like I’d given him an advantage I could never reclaim.
If Luc knew all my secrets, how could I keep a safe distance between us?
Definitely something to worry about, but at the moment, there was only one secret he was pursuing. And it had nothing to do with my feelings.
“Thought you needed to rest, Mouse. You sure you’re up for visiting your uncle?”
We’d come Between a few blocks from Morgan’s, on a quiet residential street with plenty of trees to hide our arrival. I braced a hand against the rough bark of an oak and waited for the world to settle. “He’s expecting me. C’mon.”
I started down the sidewalk, and he caught my arm. “What spooked you at the Assembly?”
“I was tired, that’s all.” I couldn’t look at him when I spoke.
“You almost had it,” he said. “The table was responding to you. I felt how hard you were working, how much you wanted it. Why stop?”
“Because the more I pushed, the more the magic resisted. Your mom wanted me to listen to it, right? So I did.”
He crossed his arms and leaned against a nearby tree, watching me closely. “The magic said you needed to get the hell out of Dodge?”
“Pascal’s nearly figured the truth. If I’d stayed at the Assembly much longer, he would have put it together. They can’t know the magic and I are communicating. Not yet.”
“I get it,” he said slowly. “But they won’t. And we’re running out of options.”
“Your mom said I should listen
and
speak. Does she mean I should speak to it? Tell it what to do?”
and
speak. Does she mean I should speak to it? Tell it what to do?”
“Makes sense. You’re the one it chose, so you’re the one who should control it.” His fingers dug into the tree bark, like he was as unsteady as me. “Do you know how much power you’ll have? Controlling raw magic? What people would do to get hold of you?”
A tremor ran through me at the implication. “I couldn’t control it today,” I pointed out.
“Could be you need practice. Or you have to give it a bigger push.”
No. We were on the wrong track. I knew it with the same certainty that had prompted me to repair the table. “It was working, right? The symbols were coming back. And when you joined in, it got stronger.”
Luc nodded. “Kind of the point of bein’ the Four-In-One.”
Right.
The Four-In-One, the Vessel bound.
As the Vessel, I could work with Air, Earth, and Water. No Arc had ever had three talents. And once Luc and I were bound, I could use fire lines as well. It was why I had been able to renew the lines when they were crumbling, why I’d been able to bond with the magic without destroying the balance between the Houses.
The Four-In-One, the Vessel bound.
As the Vessel, I could work with Air, Earth, and Water. No Arc had ever had three talents. And once Luc and I were bound, I could use fire lines as well. It was why I had been able to renew the lines when they were crumbling, why I’d been able to bond with the magic without destroying the balance between the Houses.
It was also the reason Luc believed we were meant to be together. But this was not the time to consider the ramifications for our relationship. “At the end, when I was really trying, something felt ... off. Like it was slipping away from me.” Like water cupped in my hand, trickling through my fingers. “I held it as tightly as I could, and pushed, but it just ... left.”
“Is it still gone?”
“It’s keeping a distance. Like it’s skittish. The magic
wanted
me to touch the table, Luc. It was so sad, and when the symbols started to come back, it was happy again. Relieved. Why stop? I did what it wanted. That’s why I pushed so hard.”
wanted
me to touch the table, Luc. It was so sad, and when the symbols started to come back, it was happy again. Relieved. Why stop? I did what it wanted. That’s why I pushed so hard.”
“Listen,” he murmured. “Listen and speak.”
He mouthed the words, repeating them over and over, pacing back and forth as he tried to work it out. Then he stopped, a grin spreading across his face, eyes lighting with comprehension.
“You know what happened?” I didn’t see anything remotely funny about the situation.
“I’ve got a guess. Maybe the magic chose you ’cause you’ve got so much in common.”
“I don’t—”
I broke off as he stepped closer, nudging me back toward the tree. He bent his head to mine, his breath stirring my hair, his voice soft. “You want me.”
“This isn’t really the time,” I said, and placed my hand on his chest, about to shove him away.
He drew back enough to meet my eyes. “You’re scared it’s not right. You’re worried about getting hurt. You’re worried about Cujo. It’s complicated. So you let me get close, like this. Because you want me, and you like the fact I want you. You like the hum in your blood and the shiver down your back and the butterflies in your stomach. But only on your terms. If I came at you full force, you’d run until your lungs gave out. If I push, you shut down. You tell me no. I push hard enough, and you tell me not ever.”
“Can we please do this later?” My traitorous blood was humming, just as he’d said, at the truth in his words.
He shoved his hair out of his eyes, the gesture impatient, the moment gone. “Don’t you see? Magic’s doing the same thing. The harder you push, the more it pulls back. Even if you’re doing what it wants.”
Without realizing it, I’d curled my fingers around the edge of his leather coat. I let go, very deliberately, and pulled my own jacket closer around me. “Then what’s the point?”
“She said you should speak.”
“I begged. I pleaded. I explained. What else could I do?”
“Those symbols were the purest forms of the magic,” he said. “It’s like a game of telephone. Every time someone casts a spell, they change it a little bit. Their own inflections and accents and voice. It’s never an exact duplicate of the original. But you’ve got a direct line. At the Succession, you spoke the words, and they were the truest I’d ever heard.”
“I can’t say them now,” I reminded him. “It wasn’t really me speaking, it was ...”
I broke off as understanding hit me in the face like a bucket of ice water.
“I spoke for the magic.”
He shook his head ruefully. “You know, I have never once won an argument with my mother. She’s always right.”
“Must be irritating,” I said. He was standing so close that I could see the pulse beating in his throat. “You being so confident and all.”
“Would be, if she wasn’t so sure about us.” He stepped back, and I could breathe again. “Your move, Mouse.”
I started down the sidewalk toward Morgan’s, and he fell into step beside me. “You think I have to speak for the magic? Translate?”
“Makes sense, doesn’t it? If the magic’s as smart as you say, you’re the perfect fit—you were able to bond with it, but you can’t use it. You don’t even want to. Who better to act as its voice than someone who won’t twist it around and use it for their own purposes?”
Deep within me, his words resonated. I didn’t know what to feel about it. “And on the topic of purposes,” I said, “what was Dominic talking about? That you should do what’s best for your people?”
“Doesn’t signify. This is bigger. We need to figure out what the magic wants.”
“I’m actually more interested in what Dominic wants right now. Because anytime he starts making pronouncements about what’s best, he’s never referring to what’s best for me.”
“Forget about Dominic.”
“I would like nothing better. But he’s after something, and he wants you to get it for him. What is it?”
He dragged a hand through his hair and met my eyes. “You.”
Come to think of it, I liked it better when Luc was able to lie to me.
C
HAPTER
29
HAPTER
29
“D
ominic’s after me.” Because Anton, the Seraphim, and two organized crime families weren’t enough. I needed Luc’s dad gunning for me, too. I walked faster. “Perfect.”
ominic’s after me.” Because Anton, the Seraphim, and two organized crime families weren’t enough. I needed Luc’s dad gunning for me, too. I walked faster. “Perfect.”
“Not like that. He wants you to be on the Quartoren.”
“I know that,” I said. “Better me than Anton, right?”
“Taking down Anton is a short-term gain. A big one, sure enough. He’s thinking long term. With you on the Quartoren, and us bound ... it makes the House of DeFoudre stronger.”
“I’m not going to cut him slack because you and I are together.” I paused, hearing what I’d said. “We’re not even together. He knows that, right?”
“He figures it’s only a matter of time. Like I said,
Maman
ain’t often wrong.”
Maman
ain’t often wrong.”
“It would be years before you were on the Quartoren, right?”
“Probably. But even so, that kind of connection between Houses would put the Fire Arcs in control for decades. We’d have half the Quartoren sewn up.”
“Wouldn’t the Water Arcs benefit, too?”
“Sure. But DeFoudres have always held a seat on the Quartoren. When the table was formed and the Quartoren established, we were there. Politics and power struggles are in our blood. Your uncle’s not a bad teacher, but his business is small potatoes compared to this.”
“I see.” And I did—or most of it, anyway. I couldn’t outmaneuver Dominic—I was too new to this world. He’d find ways to manipulate me, even if I kept my guard up. “What do you think?”
He lifted a shoulder, almost surly. “I don’t know.”
“Really? It seems pretty clear-cut. Either you want me on the Quartoren or you don’t.”
“I want Anton stopped. I want the Seraphim scattered on the wind like the ashes of a campfire. I want
you,
Mouse.”
you,
Mouse.”
“There’s your answer,” I said. Relief broke over me like a wave. “Wasn’t so hard.”
He continued, eyes fixed straight ahead. “But I also want what’s best for my people. I’m obligated to do right by my House. If I don’t, I’m not much of an Heir—and Theo died for nothing. It has to matter. I took up this life for him, and I need it to mean something.”
I understood the sentiment too well. After all, I’d felt the same after Verity had died. But I also knew how easy it was to lose yourself along the way. Marguerite’s concern over Luc made perfect sense now. “That’s the Heir talking.”
“That’s a man who’s seen good people sacrificed on account of fate and doesn’t want it to be in vain. If you think that’s only my title, and not who I am deep down, you don’t know me at all.”
“I know both sides of you. What I don’t know is who will be standing next to me at that ceremony. Because if it’s Luc, I can trust you with my life. And if it’s the Heir, I can’t trust you at all.”
His face hardened. “I don’t take kindly to ultimatums.”
“And I don’t like being played.” I hitched my bag over my shoulder. Morgan’s was a block away, and I felt the wards part to let us through. “Speaking of which, I have to go see my uncle.”
“Let me come along.”
“He said to come alone.” Somehow, it seemed even more important to keep my two lives separate now that Billy knew about the Arcs. Like too much contact would endanger both of them. “It might be better if you waited out here.”
“I’ll cloak myself. He won’t even notice me.”
I pressed my lips together. It would be safer, definitely. He’d drop the concerned uncle act he kept putting on for Luc’s benefit, and I could get more information about the list of names that everyone was so interested in.
“You can’t react,” I said finally. “He’s horrible, okay? He’ll say things you won’t like, he’ll threaten me—but you have to stay hidden, no matter what.”
A grin ghosted his face. “Sounds familiar.”
It was, actually. Months ago, we’d gone to the Dauphine and he’d left me at the bar with nearly identical instructions. Of course, while he’d been in a booth chatting with Niobe, the Seraphim had come after me. “Let’s hope it ends a little better this time around.”
“Let’s,” he said dryly.
By the time we reached the front door, Luc had vanished. I could feel him a few steps behind me as I entered.
“Go ahead back, Mo. He’s waiting for you,” said Charlie. Normally, his moon-eyed face was wreathed in smiles. Now it was a mask of good cheer that didn’t quite cover the worry underneath.
“Thanks.” I wound around clusters of people, ducked under the uplifted tray of one of the usual waitresses, and made my way back. The temptation to look for Luc was overwhelming, but I kept my eyes on my uncle, seated in his booth. Showing fear would be the worst thing I could do.
“Feeling better?” Billy asked as I slid into the seat. “Your mother was worried about you.”
“Fabulous.” I sat down, steeling myself to look composed despite the tangle of nerves inside me.
“Glad to hear it. Your mother says you and Donnelly are on the outs.”
“He knows about our deal.” The words tasted like ash.
“Ah. Never say I didn’t warn you, Mo.”
“Did you hear me say that?”
“Ah, well. You’ve plenty of other options at hand.” He pretended to think for a moment. “Like that young man from the alley. Luc. I’m sure he has many fine qualities.”
“Wow.” I made a show of checking my watch. “That took even less time than I expected. Luc’s not going to help you. Can I leave now?”
“You haven’t heard me out!” he said as I slid out of the booth. “The lad’s obviously taken with you. He’d lend us a hand, if you were the one asking.”
“Shame I won’t be asking, then.” It was humiliating to listen to Billy’s machinations, knowing Luc was on the other side of the booth’s wall, hearing everything.
“Not even for Donnelly’s sake?” There was a crafty note to the words, and I paused in the middle of buttoning my coat.
“We had a deal.” So foolish to think Billy would honor it. But he’d always done business on the strength of his word. It was the one thing he wouldn’t break. He’d lie outright, but he never went back on a promise. Magic had changed the rules. Again.
“Sit down,” he said.
After a moment, I obeyed. “You gave me your word.”
“And I’ve kept it. Think of this as a renegotiation of terms. I brought you in because I needed someone who could help me deal with Ekomov. You’ve done well enough, but he’s still a complication. If we could be rid of him entirely, there’d be no need for you to continue working for me.”
Like I really believed he’d let me go. “Get to the part about Colin.”
He lifted a shoulder, negligently. “I want Ekomov removed. You want to start over someplace fresh, with Donnelly at your side. If you can wrangle your new friend into helping me with my situation, that’s exactly what the two of you can do. I’ll even provide for Tess, wherever you end up.”
The high wooden sides of the booth seemed to close in, blocking out the rest of the world. All I could see was Billy, dangling my dream in front of me. Freedom. A future with Colin. We could go to New York; we could go to Des Moines, we could go ... anywhere. We could have the life I’d constructed in my head before everything fell apart, filled with lazy Sunday afternoons and Friday nights at the movies. He’d teach me to drive the truck and keep me company while I did my coursework. We’d be happy. My entire body seemed lighter at the prospect, suffused with a mixture of hope and relief, like I could slip right out of my skin and be free. I could have my life back, even better than before.
All I had to do was ask Luc to kill for me.
I could feel the bubbling happiness evaporate at the idea. I tried to justify it—I’d killed Evangeline. I was planning on killing Anton. Why should Yuri Ekomov be any different? He’d been nice enough to me, but he wasn’t a good man. He was a criminal. He’d ordered countless deaths. He was threatening my neighborhood. Eliminating Ekomov would make the world a better place—and my family, in particular, would benefit. Would it really be so wrong?
I didn’t feel light anymore. I felt weighed down by something dark and sticky, the hunger for vengeance heavy within me.
But this wasn’t vengeance, it was greed. Manipulation. Billy using me, me using Luc. It was wrong.
The things I’d done had been my choices, and mine alone. How could I ask Luc to kill someone in cold blood, so I could be with another guy? I couldn’t imagine anything more selfish. I couldn’t imagine what it would do to us.
Luc stood a few feet away, hidden from everyone but me, waiting for my response. Our connection was as taut as my nerves, but utterly silent. This was my call, he seemed to be saying. But I couldn’t make a decision like this for him. I’d tried that with Colin and it had ruined us. I wouldn’t take that chance again.
“No.”
Billy blinked at me. “No?”
“No. I will not ask Luc to take out Ekomov for you. I will not use the magic to help you. I will not use the Donnellys’ futures as a bargaining chip with you. I have
learned
from my mistakes, unlike everyone else in this family.” I stood up, slinging my bag over my shoulder.
learned
from my mistakes, unlike everyone else in this family.” I stood up, slinging my bag over my shoulder.
Rage twisted his features. “You’ll make all new mistakes, then. And this
is
a mistake for you, Mo. You’ll regret this moment.”
is
a mistake for you, Mo. You’ll regret this moment.”
“Not as much as you,” I said. “Are we finished?”
He caught sight of someone over my shoulder and his expression changed from intimidating to irritated.
“We certainly are. Tomorrow,” he said. “Delivery. Don’t be late.”
“I’m never late,” I said, and left. The bar was starting to fill up, but I searched the room, looking for an indication of what had rattled Billy. Charlie was scowling, and it didn’t take long for me to see why—the two cops who’d harassed my father the day after his return were standing at the bar, scanning the room. One of them caught my eye, nudged his partner, and nodded at me.
They knew who I was. And I was willing to bet they knew I was working with Jenny. Before their attention gave me away, I ducked my head and left, Luc hidden at my side.
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