The Four Horsemen (The Light Series) (14 page)

I have killed them all
and she will hate me forever. Her voice is
soft,
“You
ever have that feeling when you meet someone, where you just know?”

I can’t stop the
tears.

She shakes her head
slowly, “I know it’s ridiculous, I’m not better than a Mary Sue in every YA
romance novel this side of the Pecos River. But I knew it. I knew, the minute I
saw him.”

I look down, sniffling
and wishing it had been me. Why isn’t it ever me? Why does everyone else
suffer?

She looks down at the
flowers again, “I don’t want an apology from you. I don’t want anything from
you.”

Pressing my lips
together, I walk past her to him. He doesn’t move.

I drop to my knees
behind him, heaving. I reach out for his shoulder but when I touch him, the
shape of him is lost. He crumbles, slowly into a pile of ash. I sob silently.

“DON’T YOU TOUCH HIM!
”
Mona screams. I’m flung to the side.

She stands over me,
“DON’T YOU EVER TOUCH ANY OF THEM!” She starts swooshing the flowers to a pile
separate of the ash. She uses her fingers and puts the ash into a small pile.
She pulls her sleeve of her dress off and collects it in there. She looks
distraught and obsessed.

Her hands shake, and
as her tears mix with the ash, they make black stains on her. She tries to wipe
it off but can’t. She cries harder, putting her hands to her face. “How could
you? How could you do it?”

I look down, “I’m so
sorry.”

“DON’T YOU APOLOGIZE
TO
ME!
EVER! YOU NEVER SPEAK TO ME AGAIN!”

“What happened?”
Wyatt’s voice is like salt on the wound in the room, where choosing him
unleashed death on everyone. I didn’t even realize what I had done.

Mona looks up,
screaming at Wyatt. She screams and cowers. He gives me a look, “She’s gone
mad.”

Mona cradles the
flowers and the sleeve of ash. She gives me a pleading look. I don’t understand
what’s happening.

The palace starts to
shake. Wyatt walks to Mona, “Give me the ash.”

She screams again,
shaking. I jump up, standing between them. “What are you doing? Did you do
this? Is this where you went when you left me in the woods?”

He gives me a look.
It’s smug, but it’s not his normal one. He starts to laugh.

I feel sick, “You
murdered them all? You murdered him?”

He laughs harder.

Mona cries.
I start to shake
,
I can’t stop it
.
My hands shoot up, making a hellfire circle around Mona and me.

I can see his
flickering eyes in the firelight. He stops laughing, “You really are a weak
little chicken shit.”

I drop to my knees,
“Kill him for me please.”

The dead scream for me
but they don’t move against him. Black wings rip from his back, and he turns
and runs for the window.

I drop into child’s
pose, feeling the cold floor against my cheeks. My eyes are burning from the
heat. I almost hope the flames reach me. I almost wish they’d burn me up. But I
don’t. I would never get my revenge against him.

Mona sees the look on
my face, “You didn’t know?”

I cry into the floor,
“I didn’t know.” She starts to cry again. I smile, “I know that feeling you
had. I had that once too, but I’m a fucking idiot who can’t get anything right.
Not even the one simple thing I’m supposed to do.”

She shakes her head,
“I’m sorry.”

I close my eyes, “Not
as sorry as I am.”

We land in the yard of
the castle. Stella comes running, “WHAT IS IT?”

Mona hands her the
sleeve of ash. Stella sighs relief. She grabs Mona’s head, “You smart girl.”
She looks at her, “Got anyone else you brought that you want back?”

I scowl.

Mona pulls open the
top of her dress. It’s filled with daisies.

Stella laughs and
looks at me, “I’m sorry, for before.”

I shake my head,
“Don’t be. I deserve your hatred. All of you.” I walk past them to the house.
The whole thing is beyond what I am capable of feeling. His name is still in my
heart, I realize it when I get inside of my room and collapse onto the bed. The
heaviness of my heart weighs more than if the moon landed on my chest.

The dead take me.

I am in a garden, not
the magical one but an English garden.

There is a girl who
looks like me. She has dark hair and grey eyes. They light up when she sees me.
She looks more like our mother. “Liana.” she says.

I smile. Another girl
comes walking up looking almost the same, almost identical. She nods, “Ezara.”

I sit under the tree I
am next to. They come and sit with me, and then a thin girl, who doesn’t look
anything like us, comes up. She smiles, “Maggie.”

Lastly,
the one who I remember the clearest, Ellie.
She looks similar to me and the other two. I narrow my gaze, “You are my true
sister in some way.”

She grins like a
Cheshire Cat, all the while curtseying like a lady. “Ellie.”

We five stare at each
other.

Liana sighs, “What a
way to finally meet. The time of the fae has ended. Father has killed them all
off and now he will kill the horsemen and take the power.”

I am such a failure. I
look at their faces, “I’m sorry.”

They all smile the
same, except Maggie. Her smile is sweeter than ours. She shakes her head,
reaching for my chin, “Why are you sorry? You think each of us hasn’t lived
this fate? You think for a second we bested him, any better than you? He used
the love in your heart against you.”

“How are we able to
meet now?”

“It is getting closer
to your birthday. Your time is almost up. We will all be free soon.”

I frown, “You have all
been waiting for this to end, instead of going to heaven?”

They giggle. Ellie
gives me a cocky look, “You don’t know, do you?”

“What?”

Liana nods, “We won’t
ever make it to heaven. We may choose our form. I want to be a willow tree,
near a river.”

Maggie laughs, “A
willow tree?”

Liana sighs again,
“The thing I miss the most is the wind.”

Ezara looks up, “I
want to be a speck of dust, floating on the breeze always, exploring
everywhere.”

Maggie shakes her
head, “I want to be water. I want to be part of the rivers and oceans and see
what the nixie see.”

Ellie gives me a hard
look to take, “I want to be ash with my love.”

I look at my
shoes,
“I want to be alone, where no one can ever get hurt
by me.”

Ellie takes my hand in
hers. It sparkles like their voices on the wind. She squeezes, “That is one
thing we will never be, sister. We will never be alone.”

I stare at my shoes
and listen to them. They don’t plan or offer me advice. They expect I will not
win this war. They don’t care either way, not any more. They have all suffered
so long and hard. I love that they laugh and smile and poke fun at each other.
We are the truest sisters ever. They know the pain in my heart and the toll it
has had on my soul. They know. Where no one else does, they do.

Ellie gives me an odd
look, “How is he alive?”

I scowl, “Who?” Dear
God, don’t let it be someone bad. I’m so tired and so hungry, and not in the
mood for another disappointment.

“Go back, see if it’s
true.”

I look at the others
to see if they know what she is talking about, “Go back where?”

She blows in my face.
The others see her doing it and they join in. Suddenly, I am awake.

He is there. He is
alive. He smiles at me, “Didn’t think you would be rid of me that easily, did
you?”

I leap at him,
“Constantine!” He hugs me. I pinch him.

“
Ow
.
What was that for?”

I shake my head, “Just
checking. I couldn’t be sure.”

He hugs me tightly,
“I’m sorry I made you pull the dagger. I thought you would bring it with you,
and we would be no different than we had been. I didn’t know you wouldn’t come
back to the palace.”

I grip to
him,
relief isn’t a strong enough word. I look up at the
ceiling, mouthing, “Thank you!”

“Don’t thank him, it
was the magic of the curse upon my soul. There is only one way to kill a direct
member of my family.” I look up at him, he laughs, “I’m not telling you.”

I nod, “That’s
probably not a bad idea. I tend to betray everyone at some point.”

He kisses my hands, “I
made you do it. I tricked you with the bargain. The fae don’t tolerate
dishonesty. All bargains made in the garden are firm. I made you have my
dagger. I couldn’t bear the thought of not being in your heart.”

I look at him, “The
dagger!” I slump, “Shit, I think Wyatt might have left it in Willow’s picture.”

He sighs, “We will
find another way.”

He pulls back, “At
least your heart has my dagger in it.”

I shake my head, “But
Wyatt’s is in there too and he’s a bastard. He betrayed us.”

Constantine laughs,
“You don’t think that was Wyatt still,
do
you?”

“What?”

“Oh Rayne, it was
Lucifer. That was your father. That wasn’t Wyatt. He has some witches on his
side. They do magic for him.”

My mouth drops opens,
“That’s how he knew I went through Michelle’s phone. He must have put the texts
in there, with magic maybe. To make me doubt Wyatt or cause issues.” I have images
of wrapping my legs around him and kissing his cheeks and neck. “No.” I almost
gag.

Constantine laughs,
“Did you kiss him?”

I make a face, “I
don’t want to talk about it. That was Wyatt.”

He shakes his head,
“My love, let me tell you. Van Helsings are strong and willing to do anything
to win, but they will not kill a fae. They are pure people. That was the devil
himself.”

I drop my head, “Oh
shit. What do we do? How did he know so much?”

“He more than likely
has young Wyatt prisoner. He used him to glean information.” He smiles, but I
can still see the pain in his eyes, “This isn’t his first time at the rodeo, as
you Americans say.”

“What can we do?”

He leans forward,
kissing my cheek, “Get the dagger from the picture, trace Wyatt’s steps to
where Lucifer has him, and kill Lucifer.”

“He contacted
Michelle, he could be here to kill me any minute. I don’t even know why he
didn’t kill me before we went to the garden.”

“He needed you to get
him inside. He must have done a spell where you masked what he was. If he’s
already been here once, he will likely come again. We can’t worry about him
right now. We have other matters.” Constantine’s eyes glisten, “My humanity is
slipping away. No love, no heart. That’s sort of how things are for my family
members.”

“What if he never took
it into the painting? I don’t recall it in there, only him talking about it.”

He looks around the
room, “Where would he put it?”

I look around the
room, getting up and spinning slowly. I smile and walk to the bed. I drop to my
knees and fish it out.

“How did you know?”

I shrug, “I know him.”
I don’t say that he would have been desperate to get to me. He would have
carried it to my bedside and rushed to put the dagger somewhere.

It is still coated in
Lillith’s blood and the nasty nixie slime. I hold a hand out, “Handkerchief.”

He fishes in his
jacket and pulls one out, “How did you know I would have one?” I look at him,
“I know you too.”

I wipe the
handkerchief and fold it carefully. When the blade is clean, I have the
strangest instinct. I slice the blade along my arm, making Constantine hiss at
me like a cat. I ignore him and rub my blood all over it. It sizzles, turns
black, burns off, and then glimmers again.

He looks confused,
“Was there poison on that?”

I shake my head, “I
don’t know. I just had a feeling like I should do that.” I look at my arm and
see a black line like a vein. Then there are a bunch of them. I nod, “Okay, it
was probably poisoned.”

“Oh come on, what the
hell was Van Helsing thinking?”

I grin, “That I might
be able to put the blade back, and he wanted to make sure you suffered.”

He takes my arm and
licks the wound, wincing when the blackened skin touches his tongue. I can see
something behind his eyes, a thought process. He looks like he’s just realized
who the murderer is in a thriller. He looks at me, “Lillith’s blood.”

“What?”

He
nods,
I can almost see the apple hitting him on the head. He has a major ’aha
moment’, but keeps it to himself.

“What?”

He swallows hard, “Put
it back.”

I look at the dagger,
“Under the bed?”

He sighs, like I’m a
child who is annoying him, “Don’t be obtuse. In my chest.”

I scowl, “Obtuse, like
fat?”

“Yes—like fat in
the head! Put the dagger in.”

My right eye twitches
as I jab it into his chest, pressing hard. He laughs, “You were far more loving
last time.”

I roll my eyes, “You
were probably a charming gentleman last time.” We are
chest
to chest
and alone in the room. He growls, lowering his face to mine,
“Let’s seal it with a kiss.” His lips meet mine tenderly. Each feathery stroke
against them is subtle and teasing.

I can feel his smile
against my lips, “You still want me, Rayne.”

I nod. I don’t know if
it’s
me or Ellie,
but we nod. I have a momentary lapse
in judgment. It isn’t that I forget I am
married,
it
is that I am not strong enough to fight him on this.

He pushes me back, “We
have to go find lover boy.”

My lips are still
moving, “No. Kiss me once more.”

He is against me in an
instant, hands roaming my back, pressing me into him. His lips crash onto mine,
his tongue invading my mouth. The kiss is sexual and tense. I moan into the
kiss. His hands scoop me up while my hands roam his thick hair. Our desperate
kiss is ruined by a voice I have never heard before. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

Constantine growls,
“The room you are seeking is the next one over, young prince.”

I look past
Constantine’s face, inhaling sharply. The beautiful man is there. He smiles at
me, “Hi.”

I swallow, “Hi.”

“You’re the angel.”

I nod.

He smiles wider and I
think I moan again. Constantine does his impatient sigh again, “You need to
eat.”

I make a sound; it’s
like a goat bleating or something insane anyway. I can’t tear my gaze from the
beautiful man.

“I’m Prince
Gillan
, everyone calls me Gill.”

“Like a fish, like a
beautiful fish.”

He blushes and looks
down. I make the goat noise again, “What are you?”

He looks up through
his lashes, “Husband to your friend, Mona.”

Lucky bitch. I almost
can’t wait to see the look on Michelle’s face. I nod in the direction of the
front room, “You meet Michelle yet?”

He shakes his head, “I
had a shower. It was wonderful.”

I laugh. Constantine
gives me a hateful look, “Really?”

I laugh again, it
sounds like the goat bleat. I walk past Constantine and offer my hand to Gill,
“Come with me.” His hand is warm and soft. He smells like musky vanilla, and I want
to lick him and suck his soul dry. It’s a bad thought to have, but there is no
stopping it when it hits. I want him, in the worst way possible.

Mona is the only thing
that gets me through it. I know she will kill me if I eat him, and hate me
forever. That’s a long time when you NEVER DIE!

We get to the front
room and, instantly, Michelle turns her head from the massive book she’s
reading, “Hey.” She sees Gill and looks back down at the book, “Who’s your
friend?”

“Mona’s husband,
Gill.”

Michelle looks up
again, “What?”

“Yeah, she got
married.”

“To a gay guy?”

I start to laugh,
“What?”