“Wild cards like River,” she teased.
Mason nearly blushed as he glanced away. “That was a gift. I should’ve manned up a long time ago.”
“I’m not going to argue with you there. I wanted to talk to her, tell her my side, but I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.”
“You mean you didn’t send Phoenix to corner her in the library?”
“He did what?” Indie was standing in front of her desk now, looking like she was going rip someone apart.
“Geez, Phoenix wasn’t joking when he said you were a hairpin trigger away from anger.”
“He told me to keep my distance then he does that?” she raged in a harsh whisper.
“Did what? River looked sick when I found her. He scared her.”
Indie cursed under her breath.
“What’s going on, Indie?”
Her eyes would not meet his, which meant she was searching for a way to speak a truth and not at the same time. She sucked at lying. “He, um, Phoenix is aware of her heritage.”
Before Mason could defend River, Jamison, the whole stock of ‘em, Indie went on. “It shouldn’t matter what ‘breed of souls’ either of you are, you loved each other in the past, she was still able to use her gifts, and you found each other again. We’ll be able to use each others combined resources to win this war.”
Mason was a little lost. He leaned forward. “What gifts do you think she lost or gained?”
Indie’s eyes grew wide, then she looked away.
“Indie?”
“I have to—I have to go through my emails.”
“Don’t do that, what does Phoenix think he knows?”
Indie grunted in frustration. “You’re both home, all right. That’s all you’re getting out of me.”
“We are connected to this manor,” Mason wasn’t sure if he should be relieved by that confirmation or offset by it. All he knew was it was not cool that Indie and Phoenix knew something, and they hadn’t shared.
Reading his expression perfectly, Indie said, “You loved her there Mason, forbidden or not, you did. And you loved her here. You lover her now...don’t ever forget it.”
Indie manifested behind her desk looking all too busy. Abruptly changing the subject she spoke. “Phoenix is at a meeting with a few others tonight in a different dimension. They’re laying down the battle plans. I might need you tomorrow for a few hours to go over what we’ve planned out.”
The kitchen had been paging Mason for the last few minutes, and this conversation was a dead one, so he let it end. When he stood, she spoke again.
“Mason, don’t kill me for this.”
He tensed.
She looked up from her desk. “Your mother came by today. I sent her away, told her you were out. She was a bit ticked that you left the wake without saying a word. She said you were not answering your phone. Tried to tell me that she needed you home so she could make sure you were not going off the deep end again.” She looked at him carefully. “I was protecting, River.” Her expression hinted toward rage. “It took all I had not to tell that woman how cold it was that she used me to come between you and River,” She leered. “Phoenix was with me, so rage stayed at bay.”
One nod.
Chapter Nineteen
Gavin was a smart one. River was starting to wonder why she was even summoned up here in the first place. He’d laid down his massive notebook full of notes along with his electronic tablet on the coffee table in the sitting area, his clear blue eyes looked up at her, rapt with curiosity. River could tell he’d run his fingers through his whitewashed hair more than a few times. She figured it must be what he does when he tries to cram his head full of fun facts, or not so fun facts, as it were.
River assumed he’d read her translations and was going to ask her about those, but nope. He’d not only read the keywords she had up, but also found others in the text. And he understood all the symbols.
She had listened to him tell her everything she already knew for the last twenty minutes.
“I’m missing the question here,” she said as she tried to hide her legs behind a throw pillow and cover more of herself.
“All Lords of Death are mentioned,” he said to her.
“I told you what is down there is more like title pages.” That’s all she wanted to say, the statement kept her objective.
“Right, but the title pages lead to the Lords, more so on two at the beginning.”
River nodded her understanding.
“What do you know about the Lord of Misplaced souls?”
River squirmed in her seat. “I know that shadowed souls are not under their reign.”
“This isn’t about Skylynn,” he said as his clear eyes met hers.
“What is it about?”
“Understanding all the angles. Does this symbol mean what I think it does?” He’d put all of the symbols on his tablet.
All she could think was, please let that device be secure. People seemed to think that energy didn’t move through technology, that ideology made as much sense as saying a text message could not make you feel an emotion. If anything, technology made the connection or message come across faster. Back home River knew people who did spells via phone for others. Same effect, different process.
She stood from her seat and came to his side of the coffee table to look at what he was holding. “Chastity.”
“Like imprisonment?” he asked.
“That’s one way to look at it, all the Lords imprison souls so I wouldn’t state that as a baseline unless it was on all the Lords, and it isn’t.”
“But it’s on the Lord of Lost Souls.”
River didn’t answer. It wasn’t a question. It was an opening to a debate that she didn’t want to have, especially since she kept glancing at the door knowing any second Mason would show up.
“This means he has imprisoned souls somewhere?” Gavin said to get her attention.
“More than likely.”
“Like in clocks?”
She knew where this was going. “That could be a theory. An objective mind would tell you they have all imprisoned souls, hence why we have to overthrow the Lords in the first place.”
“Why are you being so evasive?” he accused.
“I’m trying to be objective.”
“We’re on the same team.”
“Are we?” If you only knew, buddy...
His brow furrowed like he was trying to see how serious she was being.
River shook her head, trying to clear it, trying to take Dagen out of this scenario because he didn’t fit in this manor, but at the same time he was someone she wanted to protect and to help. She didn’t like the idea of him going up against Camlin without backup. He would have his faction, but still, the more, the merrier. “Let’s lay this out. You know Skylynn is part of my family. In some twisted way, she’s the reason I’m here. Camlin imprisons shadowed souls. Obviously, I have an interest in helping her. I also have respect for the words written for your cause.”
He tapered his stare on her. “Skylynn may be your family, but she’s the reason I’m still in this existence. I owe her more than you do, but I’m still looking at this from an impartial point of view. No one is saying we’re not going to free her. We’re trying to figure out when, what the first step is, and to be honest, she’s not helping a lot in the matter.”
“She can’t,” River said before she could tell herself to shut it.
He dipped his head down to catch her gaze.
“You can not interfere in a spell that has to do with your own fate, or at least Skylynn knows better. Her energy can be a part of it, but other powerful souls have to write and speak the spell into life.”
“What spell? We’re talking about Lords, bringing them down.”
“And how do you think you’re going to bring them down? Arm wrestling match?” He quirked a smile. “It will be a spell, you guys need to compare notes because if you’re telling me that Phoenix didn’t already know that I’m calli
ng BS on this organization. A spell made him. It made you. A spell will bring down the Lord you are after.”
“What spell?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t looking for one.”
“What were you looking for?” he asked curiously.
“I was reading. Looking more for predictions, not actions.”
“But now you’re going to look for a spell?”
“I’d rather look for the reasons, but I have a feeling a spell will pop up.”
He moved closer, his body language clearly telling her that keeping secrets was not wise, he wanted them to work together. “Same team, River. Why would you have the a feeling that a spell would pop up.”
She raised her head to look him dead in the eye. “Because one way or another the dead are going to rise.”
His stare searched hers. He could perceive truth now that he was a Phoenix, and her statement was true. River left what dead were going to rise unspoken.
“Gavin,” River heard a deep baritone voice say, one that was on the edge of lethal, her ears didn’t recognize it, but her body did.
Mason’s voice was like a live wire that was sizzling in the rain. Every sensation in her body became aware immediately.
He’d manifested in her room, with a cart full of food and wine.
Gavin looked from River to Mason, then raised his hands as if to say he was innocent. “Just going over notes, man.”
“And those notes were in her eyes?”
“The truth was,” Gavin said with a glance to River. “What truth, I don’t know.”
“What do you mean by that?” Mason bit out.
“Just getting facts for Indie, man.”
“You’re off the clock right now, Gavin.”
Gavin gave a quick glance over River, then looked back at Mason. “I was told to rush it.”
“Yeah, well, I was told to have a good night, and she’d see me at some meeting tomorrow.”
Gavin pursed his lips, picked up his notebook, and then met River’s stare. “We’re going to free her, whatever it takes.”
She didn’t even have a chance to offer a nod. He had already vanished from her room.
Nerves hit River then. Shyly, she turned her gaze to meet Mason’s. She was prepared to tell him all about the call with her mom. How worried she was that it was going to clash with him, but the look in his eyes told her talking wasn’t on his agenda.
He was wearing a dark t-shirt that fit well, loose jeans, and a belt with a skull buckle. He was dressed like any other boy his age, but there was something in his stance that screamed power and dominance. She felt his energy claiming her.
His dark eyes eased down her body and at the same time every light in the suite turned out, a fire sparked in the fireplace, and candles that River thought were just for decoration all birthed a flame. A wave of lavender flames washed over the walls giving the room even more of a sultry ambiance, sealing them in this private sanctuary.
In a breath, he materialized just before her. Now that he was closer she could feel his energy intensely. He hadn’t even touched her, but she still let out a trembling sigh.
He leaned ever so close and let his fingers feather across her brow, she closed her eyes embracing the wave of the sensation. His touch eased down her face, barely making contact. She raised her head to meet his kiss, one that never came.
His hands on her waist caused her to open her eyes. He was shuddering. It was subtle, something River doubted she would have noticed if she was not so absolutely aware of him.
Mason pulled her against his firm body as she reached up and let her hands caress his cheek, her stare questioned his odd reaction.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” his words sliced into the room, into her heart.
She was so confused. She thought they’d connected that day, that they had found their way back to the beginning, that he wanted to be exclusive.
She assumed that whatever happened between them now would not be some physical fling. It would mean something. It would be unforgettable simply because time had put so many barriers and souls between them.
His hands tightened on her waist. She felt his thumbs moving in small circles.
“I don’t…I don’t know my body anymore,” he admitted. “I don’t know my strength, or how this…” he dropped his eyes to the knot that was holding her robe closed, one pull from him and the robe opened wide. His hands moved up her waist daring to touch the base of her chest. “I don’t know dangerous this experience will be…I want to give you the night we almost had a hundred times over, but I don’t know if it can be that tender.”
River relaxed under the fire she felt from his touch. She wasn’t afraid of how strong he was, but reassuring him as to why she wasn’t would kill this mood.
She leaned up so her lips could meet his neck. He moaned in appreciation.
“Nothing has ever been tender between us,” she breathed against his flaming hot skin. “We’re raw, remember?”
His lips found hers that instant and there was no subtle start to their kiss, it went deep fast. River would swear to you that it reached her soul. Her robe hit the floor a breath later. His hands eased over her bare shoulders as they dared to slip under the straps of the cami.
She felt so vulnerable, out in the open, in the skimpy pieces of silk as he stood dressed before her. He was making this all about her, caressing her as if she were a precious piece of art, he made it seem like he absorbed every sensation she felt as well.
His hands eased across the silk as if it were not a barrier at all. River felt the scorching heat of his presence, the power of him, surround her.
Each time her hands moved across his chest he would groan like her touch were a sensation he’d never felt before. She eased his shirt up, found a way to remove it and toss it to the side. She was blown way with how scorching his flesh was; it was pulsing under her touch.
He lifted her, wrapping her legs around him. He was tense trying to make himself take it slow, doubting his every action. His lips were on her neck and easing south, entirely too leisurely for River, it was a sweet misery. She arched forward and teased his ear with her lips just before she breathed, “Let go...”
That was all his body needed to hear, the slow caresses ended there, then they became carnal. Every time she dared to open her eyes, or to shed more of his clothes she found herself in a different part of the suite, the chair, table, couch, floor, the wall.
Every time a sensation caused a noise to erupt from somewhere deep in her throat his eyes echoing with flames would meet hers to question if he was too rough. Her only response was pulling him closer. The exploration, the claiming of every inch of flesh went on for hours, long enough for the fire in the hearth to nearly die out.
Blissful exhaustion tried to claim River more than once. The sensations of his touch, the rapid beat of her heart, the times when her body and soul would seize and she experienced what euphoria felt like; it was stealing her very breath, draining her energy. But she refused to show it, to appear human. She was not going to stop until she passed out. She had waited too long, spent too many nights in her head wishing she knew what his touch felt like.
All at once a new tenderness came over him. River felt the duvet against her bare back. He was just above her, his eyes locked on hers. Mason leaned in and kissed her brow then the tip of her nose before he hovered over her lips. “I love you…” he whispered.
River reached for his face, her body felt boneless, everything was numb with bliss.
“I died last week…I was reborn,” he said holding her gaze. “Purified…you’re my first and last everything, River.”
Her eyes misted up before she could tell him she loved him, even hint that she knew that in some distant past they were firsts, he pulled her thighs around his waist and held his stare as they became one. Nothing they had done over the last few hours had felt solely physical. This didn’t feel that way either. They may have been flesh to flesh, but it felt soul to soul. River s
ensed them rise out of the cages of their bodies and combine every ounce of themselves into one being.
They were pulsing in unison. Moving in sync. This boy was hers. She was his. It had always been that way. There was no doubt in her mind.
When she did catch her breath, when she started to come down from the high, just before she did indeed pass out from exhaustion, she whispered, “I love you.”
~
River wasn’t sure how long she was asleep. The room was still dark when she opened her eyes. Mason was lying next to her. She knew he didn’t need to sleep, but he was most definitely lulled, lost in his mind as his eyes lay gently closed.
She eased out of his embrace. One glance around the dim suite had her questioning how much trouble they were going to be in, everything was out of place, knocked over, even the paintings were hanging at an angle. She wanted to take a shower before she figured out if they had actually broken anything. So she grabbed clothes and locked herself in the bathroom. As soon as the door shut she let herself squint in pain. She was sore, but she would never admit it.
They must have hiked twenty miles around the manor that day, in the snow, and before that River had trucked up and down the stairs looking for a dry erase board, and then, well, then they destroyed her suite. She blushed as the activities of the day rushed through her thoughts, and she took a long hot shower.
He told me he loved me.
He showed her he loved her. River knew she should be on cloud one thousand at this moment, but she still felt the dreadful foreboding sensation. She told herself it was because Mason was now added to all the things she didn’t want to lose, all the people she wanted to protect. And she knew how it felt to lose him in the past. A pain she didn’t want to relive.
When she came out of the bathroom, the suite had more light, and their mess was cleaned up for the most part. It looked like there were a few vases that didn’t survive. The dinner he’d brought hours ago was sitting on the table.
He was wearing his jeans but nothing else.
River was starving and not shy about rushing toward the table. She didn’t care how cold the food was. Apparently, that cart the food was on had some kind of heating element to it because you would think this gourmet meal had just left the stove.