THE BAZAAR (The Devany Miller Series) (25 page)

TWENTY-NINE

"W
hat do you mean, who am I? Who do I look like?" I put a hand in both Lucy and Tom's guts and shoved, using a bit of the heart to lend strength to my actions. They moved. Tom sprawled backward onto the floor, Lucy banged into the door. Inside, I called out, "Liam? Bethany?"

"Call the cops, Devany," Tom scrambled to rise but a glance at him assured me he wasn't planning to try anything heroic.

"I am Devany," I snapped at him. "Liam! Bethany! Come down here now." The heat in my cheeks rose from the terror that they weren't here after all, that Ravana had lied and my kids were gone.

"Mom?"

Liam's voice made me sag against the banister that rose to the second floor. "Are you okay?"

He frowned. And looked at Lucy. "Mom?"

Pain throbbed in my chest. He didn't know me. What had Ravana done to his mind? "It's me, baby. I'm your mom."

Lucy trembled in the doorway before moving to block off the stairs. "I don't know who you are but this isn't funny. You need to leave."

Tempted to slap her, I hid my hands behind my back. I didn't want to commit any acts of violence in front of my kids. I saw Bethany, peering from around the corner. "Bethany?" My voice shook. I wanted to beg her to acknowledge me, but I bit down on the impulse.

"I'm calling the cops," Tom said, his face flushed and a phone already pressed to his ear.

"These are my kids. How can you do this? Don't you recognize me or is this some game you're playing?" Not a single spark of recognition passed her face. Nothing to indicate that she knew she was only pretending to be me. She actually thought she was me.

"Please, leave us alone."

Okay, she didn't sound like me. I wouldn't have been pleading; I would have been proactive, doing some shoving myself. "These are my kids."

A loud bang on the door startled us all. Tom pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at it for a comic moment. Then he put it back to his ear as he strode around me, giving me wide berth. He swung the door open. "Officer, I," He stumbled back into the house again. I wondered if he was getting tired of being pushed around yet.

"Let's go."

"Tytan." Relief, anger, shock at his battered face all warred for primacy in my head. "Lucy doesn't remember me. My kids, Tom."

"Not now. We'll talk about it later." I saw his beautiful eyes narrow as he stared at me. He held out his hand. "Please."

The please did it. I didn't want to leave my kids but I didn't know what to do that wouldn't upset them. Glaring at Tom, I put my hand in Tytan's and let him lead me out the door. Tom slammed it hard behind us.

"What's going on? Why didn't they recognize me? My own kids, Tytan." He was pulling, practically dragging me down the street. I realized he was trying to get us out of the area in a hurry. That hurry sped up my heart. "Why aren't we disappearing? Take me to the Slip, I don't care. I want to know what's going on and I want my family back."

"I can't go to the Slip. You can't either. Ravana wants you dead. Vasili too, though I don't know how you came to know him." He didn't pause. We walked for blocks before we heard the first sirens. He pulled me behind a blooming lilac. I peered through the leaves until the cop car disappeared down the street. Behind me a thump. I turned to see Tytan on the ground.

"What is wrong with you?" I squatted beside him. Touched a bruise on his cheek with what I thought was a light touch but he flinched as if I'd hit him. "How'd you get away?” A deathly pallor yellowed his bronze skin.

He snorted. "She let me go. Whatever you did to her made her forget about wanting to hurt me."

Another police car drove by, sirens wailing. "We need to get out of here. I'll take us both ... somewhere. Where? Where's safe?"

'Arsinua, Neutria, feel free to chime in here.'

Let him die.

Swamp.

I didn't feel safe there. And as for Arsinua, I was getting tired of her passionate hatred of all things Skriven. "I'm not letting him die."

Tytan glanced up at this, and then let his head hang as if it were too much trouble to hold up. "Witch doesn't like me."

"No shit." The meeting hall, Yarnell's hideout. "I have an idea." I hauled him to his feet. He cursed at my touch—whether because it hurt or because I was being peremptory I don't know. I enjoyed being the stronger of the two of us. I didn't delude myself that it would last, though. I made a hook and stepped through, pulling him with me.

We stepped through into the swamp. No visible sign of the building but I knew it was there and looked for it with the magic. Soon enough it coalesced around me but I was shocked at how it looked. The ceiling had caved in on the far south side. The wall had fallen in a heap of stone and rock dust. Thick cobwebs already gathered in the corners that were still upright and a few large, pale bugs were caught in the webs. One looked like a giant albino mosquito. 

"Nice atmosphere. Decorate it yourself?" Tytan fell to the floor, lying amid the dust and ruin.

"What is wrong with you?"

He grunted, his eyes shut. Maybe I was one sick puppy because he looked sexier, more masculine with the battered face. Then again, it might've been because he looked vulnerable and therefore more human. 

I knelt beside him when he didn't answer. Touched his neck to feel for a pulse then wondered if he even had a heart to give life to a pulse. I felt a faint throb. Good? Bad? I had no clue. "Ty. I need help. I want my kids back. Please." 

One of his eyes opened. "Those pieces of soul she stole from you as payment."

I nodded. 

"When you did whatever it was you did to her, she flew into a rage. Gave those pieces to Lucy."

I sat down in the dust beside him. Shit. "So, what?" I could guess, but I wanted to hear it aloud.

"So she's now your vessel. That's what formless ones are to the Skriven. They hold our souls." His strong fingers encircled my wrist. "You figure out how to work that heart yet without killing yourself?"

His touch made me forget things, made the hormones run amuck and chase the brain cells away. I tried to concentrate. "Funny thing. That's why ole Medusa head wants me dead." His thumb was rubbing the tender underside of my wrist. Back and forth. I sucked in a breath. "Stop that."

He didn't. "It helps ignore the pain."

I snorted this time. "Anyway, I hooked to the Slip since I couldn't get hold of you." I checked to see if he looked guilty. Nope.

"Ravana likes to bite."

Oh. My stomach swooped. I couldn't see any obvious bite marks, but his shirt stuck to wet bloody spots on his chest. "Sorry."

He nodded. "Hooked to the Slip, and?"

"And woke up with Nex licking my cheek. He told me there was a Skriven who could help me use the heart. I figured he meant the guy could teach me."

His eyes were still shut but his lips quirked. "Not without owing him."

"Yeah, but Nex had a message for him. He said that would even things out. Of course, I underestimated Nex's evil machinations. Medusa head was able to help but not by teaching me anything." I paused. I wasn't sure I should tell Tytan. Or maybe I should bind him to me first. Except I wasn't sure what would happen with three Skriven bound to me. His thumb was still rubbing, still distracting me. I tugged at my hand, but his grip tightened enough to let me know he still had enough strength to hold me if he wished.

"Medusa head is Vasili. What did you do?" His voice held amusement and was there, perhaps, the tiniest bit of fear? Naw. Not from Tytan. 

"I made him my Draw."

Silence coiled between us like a snake readying itself to strike. His hand tightened on mine, not hard enough to hurt, not yet. "You bound him to you."

"Right." My mouth was dry. I wished for some water and wondered if I could use magic to get some. "Nex showed me how. Medusa, er Vasili, dripped his eye glop into me and made me breathe it. I won't get lung cancer or anything, will I?" I'd been sure my heart stopped. 

"He dared attempt to turn you, knowing you are my Archaeon Tezrya?"

His voice was soft. Deadly. I was glad I wasn't Vasili. "He wasn't impressed with me."

His laughter surprised me. "Good." Then he choked on his humor. "You didn't."

I licked my lips. "Uh." I knew what he was talking about. He wanted to know if I'd bound Ravana. "Yeah. She pissed me off."

"That's why she started out wanting you as a pet and ended up wanting you dead. It's the only way to break the bond."

I licked my lips with a dry tongue. "How do I stop her?"

"She's an Originator. Her power is unfathomable." He grunted again, trying to get comfortable. "Let's worry about that later. Since you have a Draw, I'm guessing you can use the heart without hurting yourself. So work your magic on me."

"But, I don't know how."

His smile made me instantly suspicious. "Kiss me."

"In your dreams."

"It's the best way to transmit the healing. Through the mouth. Kiss me, pulse the heart, lend me your strength." 

I glared at him. "There's no way I'm kissing you."

"You'd like it."

I'm sure I would, knowing how a simple touch from him felt. "I'm so not going there. How about a hand on your chest, or something?" I gingerly placed my hand below his collarbones, avoiding the blood splotches. I concentrated on the heart, opening up the power slowly, thinking of doctors, of wounds healing. Waited. "Anything?"

"The longer Lucy stays with your children in your house, the more firmly planted your soul will be in her."

In other words, kiss me now or you'll lose your kids. I wanted to kick him. "And how do I get her to wake up?"

"Kill her."

Death. It always came back to death. "I'm not killing her."

"She won't give up your soul without a fight. She thinks of it as hers. When you named her, you gave her a taste. She wants to be whole and Ravana gave her a significant amount of your soul. Enough that she believes she is you."

In this I have to agree with the Skriven, though I hate to do so. Lucy believes she is you. You have to take back your soul and the only way to do that is to kill her.

"I'm not killing her. There has to be another way." Rubbing at my forehead, I considered the visitors in my head. “What's left of you, Arsinua?"

What do you mean? Nothing.

"Not even your soul?" The idea grew fast like a tomato on Miracle Gro. "You can take her over. I'm betting your soul is intact. Right?"

No. I'm not taking another person's body. I am no longer a witch and rightfully so.

"But you could have a life again. Better yet, you could then begin to atone for the mistakes you made." I scrambled to my knees. "It could work, right Ty?"

He looked at me with a bemused expression. "I like it when you call me that."

I shoved him then had to apologize when he cursed, his face pulling tight in pain. "Arsinua's soul would outweigh, outnumber, out-something mine, right? I mean, hers is intact, mine is a fragment."

"I suppose it's possible. How would you make the transfer?" He wasn't asking me; he was musing aloud and maybe talking to Arsinua too.

I don't want to. I don't want to be in physical form. I deserve to be dead.

"Are you telling me you're a chicken? Because I'd never figured you for a coward."

Tytan raised a brow. "The witch is scared. Certainly she was courageous to have survived as long as she did in the Slip."

He's full of lies.

Something in Arsinua's voice gave me hope, though. I would give her time to contemplate my proposal. I asked the Skriven, "Why didn't my kids recognize me?"

He studied my face in an intimate way that made me fight myself not to squirm. "You've changed. Grown stronger. And you look battle weary. Lucy was in your home, she knew all the right words and she looked like their mother."

It wasn't reassuring. What if I managed to get Arsinua in Lucy and the kids wouldn't accept me? What could I do then? I felt sick.

"Please, Devany. I need you to heal me."

Again with the please. I was in danger of thinking Tytan might be something other than a conniving, dangerous demon creature. 'Arsinua? Is it true about the kiss?'

Intimacy aids the healing process,
she said absently, still struck over the idea of having a body again.

'Intimate is not a word I want to use anywhere near Tytan.' A loud buzz of wings drew my gaze to one of the blasted windows. One of the anemic mosquitoes buzzed in, about the size of a hamster. The stinger looked to be half a foot long. I shuddered and hoped it wouldn't come near me.

Tytan followed my gaze then looked back at me. "Devany." He brought his arms up and painfully lifted his shirt. What I saw made my stomach turn over. 

"Oh god, Ty. Don't." I couldn't look at him. "I'm sorry." Tears blurred my vision. "Will you help me stay alive? Stay away from her? I don't think I could survive her."

He grasped both my hands this time. "I will do what I can to keep you from harm. She banished me, Devany. I cannot access the power. And she holds the welfare of my soul in her hands."

“
Cyres. She’s your soul, isn’t she?”

He grunted. I took that as a yes. “Where?”

“I don’t know.” He winced. "Heal me, Devany."

Shit. He wasn't going to let go of that bone, was he? I winced. Not the best word choice, considering. Sighing, I leaned in, finding the close proximity intoxicating. Inches before touching lips to lips, I accessed the power source in my belly, tugging a butt load of power through and enjoyed a grim moment of satisfaction that both Ravana and Medusa head would be suffering for it. Then I connected with his lips, telling myself it didn't mean a thing.

Maybe it was the fact that he'd had thousands of years to perfect his kissing technique. Maybe I was in need of physical touch after being without Tom. Maybe I was making excuses for the way desire and lust exploded in my belly at the touch of his skin against mine. I forced myself to stay at his side instead of jumping on top of him and yelling, "Take me now."

In my defense, I've never said that. That I wanted to say it now only meant I was tired and riding on little brainpower and a whole lot of adrenaline. The magic poured through me, not a trickle but a Niagara Falls deluge. My skin tightened, my breathing sped up while my heart stopped. It all fell away, I'm ashamed to say. My kids, Zech, Ravana, Tom, worries—washed away by the lapping waves of desire. I reveled in the complete takeover of all my faculties.  

He moved under me, his hands tugging me. That alerted me to the change in him, the heat that radiated from him. I moved away, my breath ragged. "What are you doing?" His eyes were red, glazed with desire. "Ty."