Relish: A Vicious Feast Book 2 (34 page)

Heart racing, dodging servants and partygoers alike and giving offers of salutations quick nods, I rush toward where the man I love is. I pass Yana and Phoenix flirting with a couple of guys when Yana says, “Luka’s looking for you!”

“Happy birthday!” Phoenix shouts at the same time, which causes raised glasses and cheers from those around us.

I blow them air kisses, but keep going. “We’re so getting drunk tonight!” I shout back.

“I’m bringing the wine,” Yana replies.

I stifle the urge to roll my eyes. From experience, and several mornings after waking up with massive hangovers, I know Yana will bring the good stuff. I actually look forward to it. Today is my day and nothing will stop me from having fun.

At the sight of the two armored guards stationed outside the great hall, my heart leaps for joy. When I pass them, one gives me a wink. I grin back before entering the enormous room with its floor to ceiling windows and fat marble pillars. At the far end my parents sit on their thrones, watching acrobats perform. They are holding hands. I pause as my father brings my mother’s hand to his lips and kisses the center of her palm. She gives him an adoring look before their heads come together and they kiss. Normally, I would find this scene gag worthy because who would want to see their parents making out in public, but in the back of my mind I know I want what they have. The kind of love that everyone in the room feels.

A hand closes around mine and tugs me to the side. I gasp when my eyes meet the warmth of Luka’s gaze. He rakes a glance down my body. The spark of heat in the blue tells me he likes what he’s seeing. I mirror his smile because in his knee-high boots, leather britches, and long-sleeved billowy tunic under an embroidered vest he’s the most mouthwatering guy I’ve ever seen. His tumble of curls frame a handsome face I’ve missed in the hours we were apart. I revel in the fact that he’s all mine.

I open my mouth to complain about him being missing in action but he places a finger to his lips. Then he pulls me toward our secret pillar. Many of the courtiers call it the kissing pillar because it gives the most privacy. My heart skips. I tangle my fingers in his and he squeezes my hand. When we reach the pillar, his other hand closes around my hip. With very little pressure, because why would I struggle against him, he pushes me so my back is flat against the stone. Then he angles his body so his bulk is covering me from view. If someone comes, I can easily slip to the other side while Luka serves as a distraction. We’ve done this many times before.

“I missed you,” he says when our eyes meet.

I pout, not ready to give in to him yet. “Well, you should have spent the night with me then.”

That spark I noticed in his eyes earlier is a blaze now. “I like the dress.” He glides his hand up the curve of my waist until the side of his thumb grazes the underside of my breast. My breath catches, parting my lips slightly. He untangles his fingers from mine so he can trace the arch of my cheekbones. “I love it when you blush for me.”

“Luka,” I whisper-moan.

“Shh.” He bends and gives me what I want, a hot kiss that I feel all the way to my belly, gathering heat there. Every part of me clenches with want for him when he takes my tongue into his mouth and sucks on it gently. He knows how it drives me crazy. I close my fists in his shirt in an effort to keep him from backing away. Still he finds strength to end the kiss. I swallow a whimper while satisfaction courses through me at seeing the same flush burning in me on his cheeks. I know I drive him crazy too.

“How are we going to wait five long years?” I ask.

Touching his forehead with mine, he breathes in my scent. “Don’t remind me.”

“Where have you been?” I smack his shoulder.

He chuckles and lets me go to reach into his pocket. “Picking up your surprise. I honestly thought it wouldn’t be done in time.” He lifts a silver ring between his thumb and forefinger. My eyes widen at the significance of the gift. “Look, I know it’s inappropriate since—”

“I love it.” I close my hands around his so they cover the ring. He pulls away to show me the inscription inside of our names intertwined. In that moment, my love for him knows no bounds. I feel it deep inside when I smile; the same smile my mother reserves only for my father.

“Happy birthday, my love,” he says, taking my left hand and sliding the ring up my fourth finger.

I clutch my hand to my chest, feeling the metal begin to warm with my body heat. A commotion at the entrance of the great hall interrupts my next words. Luka and I peek around the pillar to see the guards thrown to the center of the room. The acrobats scatter. My parents shoot to their feet. A writhing, black, smoky mass enters the room.

“How dare you interrupt our celebrations!” my father bellows.

My mother is already incanting under her breath as a familiar laugh comes from the invader. I gasp upon recognizing Moira’s voice. I’m about to call attention to her when Luka yanks me behind the pillar again. But it’s too late. Moira, as a roiling, undulating black mass, notices us. She leaps, dodging concentrated lightning attacks from my parents. All the witches and wizards in the room chant at the same time. The air buzzes from their words, charging every molecule. Several binding spells don’t reach her in time. I join Luka in reciting a protection spell. Moira leaps over him and is on me before we can finish.

I scream as I’m swallowed whole.

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY
-E
IGHT
D
ARKNESS

Floating in an empty black abyss with my eye closed and hugging my legs to my chest, I let my memories rush into me. All the laughter, all the joy, and all the pain. All the hopes and all the fears. For the first time in what seems like years, I can really feel my heart beating inside my chest. The way my lungs expand and deflate when I breathe. I can finally see when everything began to fall apart. Moira did all this to hurt me for betraying her. I took away the one she loved on the same night he rejected her. All that anger and hate stewed for years until she possessed my body on my sixteenth birthday. She must have known I would be vulnerable because of my power surges. I didn’t have complete control then and because of my hiatus I’m not sure I’m in complete control now. Basically, she’s got me where she wants me.

A part of me weeps for her. I’d been a love struck girl who didn’t think how my actions would affect another. But the other part of me is pissed that she resorted to possessing my body to get her revenge. Surely she knew doing what she did, attacking me during the celebrations, meant her death. My parents sacrificed themselves for our kingdom and the people we rule. No matter how guilty I feel for my mistakes, the consequences of her plot are unforgivable. Too many lives have been affected.

A voice calls my name, echoing from somewhere in the void. “Can you hear me?”

Like an invisible string linking us together pulls taut, I uncurl from my fetal position. “Luka?”

His voice comes again, but I don’t understand what he’s saying, like there’s feedback or something’s disrupting the signal.

“What?” My chest clenches as I twist around. Nothing but darkness greets me. “Where are you?”

“Stay strong. You have to stay strong.”

“Luka!” Panic enters my tone. I want…no…
need
to see him. I need to know he’s alright. He’s not Moira’s target, not really, but the alternate world my powers created put him in a lot of pain. I suspect Moira had a hand in that since he did break her heart and stole her best friend on the same night. Because of all her spite, she made sure we all suffered just as she suffered. In the other reality not only did we forget who we were, we were lost, aimlessly trying to figure out what we wanted out of our lives. Laurel couldn’t decide which law school to go to, pining after a girl he could never have. Graham was reduced to getting girls drunk and attacking them in alleyways. Demitri and Phoenix, though madly in love, couldn’t express their feelings in public for fear of driving Luka crazy. Dray was torn between doing what he loved, which was alchemy, and his responsibilities to the band. Yana couldn’t decide on the way she looked, always having to reinvent herself. And Luka. My throat tightens around a hard lump. He was forced to love a girl who loved someone else then when he finally found the one he did love it seemed the world was trying to pull us apart. Moira really did a number on him, and for that alone I cannot allow her to live. Anger surges inside me.

“Y—” Static cuts Luka off. His voice becomes choppy. “You must—”

What he said before I left Belfast finally made sense. No matter what happened, nothing would change between us. How could he have known? We were all supposed to be oblivious of our true identities.

Light flashes in the distance. An image, not quite solid begins to form. I hover to it weightlessly. I recognize the blond curls immediately and reach out. When my fingers touch the flickering figure he solidifies.

Luka pulls me into his arms.

I return his embrace like I haven’t felt him in years. All my feelings for him come surging back. I bury my face in his neck and inhale, unwilling to believe he is anything other than real in my arms at this moment.

“She separated us,” I blurt out, my anger building.

He fists his hand into my hair. “But we found each other again.”

I pull away only far enough so I can stare into his blue eyes as if finally recognizing him. “Did you know?”

The shake of his head makes my gut tumble. “Not at first. I was too caught up in all the shit with Phoenix to really
see
you. But something in the back of my mind refused to leave things alone.” He cups my face and stares into my eye like he’d done when he first told me he loved me. “Yana had her suspicions about who you were, but Moira is strong, taking your Vessel powers and using it to keep us all ignorant. I only began realizing who you really were the night we were together in Belfast.”

Even if I refuse to blush, my cheeks still burn. Not the right time to remember all that. “What happened after the ritual went wrong?”

The widening of his eyes tells me he recognizes what I’m talking about. “After we failed to get her out of you, a pulse of power knocked everyone out. I don’t remember anything after that.”

Peals of vile laughter interrupts my next question along with the words, “Oh look, the two lovers back in each other’s arms. How heartwarming.” She says the last word like she’s biting down on something.

Luka and I search for Moira without releasing our hold on each other.

“I’m amazed you managed to enter this place, Luka,” Moira coos. “You were always so powerful.”

“He’s not the only one,” I say. “Why don’t you show yourself and let’s finish this.”

Luka’s hold on me tightens as if telling me to be careful.

Ignoring his warning, I face him. “Look, I know you want to protect me, but I have to do this.”

“She’s right, Luka. This is not your fight.” Moira laughs again. “You are merely the prize.”

“I’ll never be yours,” he says through clenched teeth.

“I don’t mind. When I’m finished with my best friend, she’ll never be yours either. I’ll consider us even then.”

“This isn’t over yet, Moira.” I say her name like a curse. It baffles me how we could have cared for each other like sisters. I guess it’s true how those closest to you have the potential to become your worst enemies. It makes me sick how much I hurt Moira, but she’d gotten her punches in too.

“Soon it will be,” she replies in a sickly sweet voice. “And just in time for the final stage of your ascension too. Once I kill your consciousness and fully take over your body I will become the Vessel of our people. A little mind-wiping spell and everything yours will be mine. But first, we need to get rid of distractions.”

Luka takes my face in his hands again and kisses me hard. “No matter what happens, I’m yours, you’ve got to believe that. Stay strong. For us. For all of us.”

I nod then touch my forehead to his like he always does with me on nights he sneaks into my room. “I can do this.”

A clap reverberates in the empty space. Luka begins to fade. I hold on tighter.

“I know you can.” He grins like the devil I know he is. “I will find you. I always will.”

“I love you.”

“I love—” He disappears completely.

“Luka!” I search for him in vain knowing wherever Moira has him isn’t where I am. Teeth-clenched, hands in tight fists, I scream. Power gathers in my chest, forming a ball. Then it detonates, sending rippling energy spreading outward. From where I float, white spreads until it consumes all the black.

“Impressive.”

I turn to see Moira standing a short distance away, her arms crossed. She looks my age now, having returned to her true self. She’s wearing a velvet gown that clung to her body like a second skin. The bright emerald set off the red strands in her hair. I remain in my sweater and jeans. I figure if we have to fight the more comfortable I am the better. I can deal with gowns and cumbersome skirts later. The ground becoming solid beneath us, I plant my feet firmly before I move toward her. “Where did you take him?”

Her lips purse. “He’s safe. They all are. What’s the use of ruling a kingdom when you don’t have any subjects?”

I breathe in, reining in my boiling rage. My father always told me thinking with anger in my heart leads to impulsive, potentially dangerous decisions. I take a mental step back and speak evenly. “Did you really have to go to extremes? Using my powers to create an alternate world, really?”

She shrugs. “Like I said, I didn’t create that world, you did. That’s why you made me your mother.” She gags. “You made me look older, you bitch!”

A thrill of satisfaction spreads through me, but I stifle the grin begging to be let out. No need to antagonize her further. “Yet you made everyone suffer, especially Luka.”

An unladylike snort escapes her as she crosses her arms. “He deserved it. You all deserved it!”

“Moira.” My heart aches for her.

She must have seen my softening features because her own face contorts into a scary mask. “Don’t you dare pity me!”