Page 16 of Legendary

I trailed my eyes from his thick dark hair all the way down his long legs, before biting my bottom lip. His father’s cooking was something I had missed, and Maurice Cassial hadn’t done anything to push me away so why punish him by not enjoying his food. “Yeah, sounds great, Nicholas.” His shoulders tensed and went rigid.

Natalia gave each of us one final look before getting the hell out of this tension-filled hallway we stood in. Nicholas reached up to rub the back of his neck, which caused his shirt to ride up. The small sliver of skin that was revealed right above his waistband instantly caught my attention. I rubbed the heels of my hands into my eyes forcibly telling them that they could not stare at parts of his skin that led to other parts of him that I couldn’t help but remember.

Thoroughlyremember.

I gave him a tight-lipped smile and started to walk past him, but I stopped. I may have been upset with him, but he had made it clear that he cared a while back, so maybe I could do the same. That didn’t mean I was going easy on him though.

I leaned my body inward a little, letting pieces of my hair touch his bicep. “I’m happy you’re alright.” I knew Natalia would make sure he had everything he needed to heal at home, and I trusted his father to be the best nurse he could be, but I couldn’t deny the tiny piece of myself that thought maybe the wounds could have been too much. He could have been fine one day and not the next.

He let out a shaky breath and looked down his shoulder at me. “I’m fine, thanks.”

His voice sounded like he was trying to convincehimselfof that fact. Convince himself that he was fine. The silence between us spoke volumes to me. I would never say I knew Nicholas really, really well, but I’d known him long enough to know when he wasn’t being completely honest. His eyes searched my face, and his lips moved a bit as if he wanted to say something and I stayed put, waiting.

“Dani, I…”

His words were cut off by an annoyed voice that rattled against my eardrums. My hands balled into fists at my sides, my nails digging into my palms.

“Did you two figure out your lovers quarrel yet or are you going to make us all wait to eat?” Elise asked, her hands on her hips.

Nicholas cleared his throat. “Yeah, we’re coming.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, but then glanced over at me and licked her front teeth. Her gray eyes pierced into my brown ones as if she was sizing me up. “She sure does know how to hold a grudge, doesn’t she.” She didn’t let me respond as she twirled around and walked back into the living room.

She was a mood killer if I ever met one. I inhaled a deep breath and tried to think of any reason not to yank her outside and rip her to shreds. I felt fingertips graze mine and I looked down to see Nicholas not quite touching me, but almost ghosting the pads of his fingers against mine.

“Come on,” he said, walking away from me and taking his electricity inducing fingers with him.

The wind picked up as we all huddled around Natalia in front of the building that had once looked like an abandoned church. The place where we had met with her during one of our trips here. Where there was once broken pews and pounds of dust, now sat a grand building made of red clay stones and the pews were solid oak without a speck of dirt on them. The windows created a kaleidoscope of colors as the sun snuck out from behind some clouds. Everyone looked so antsy around me, as if they were eager to either get this over with or they were silently wishing they didn’t have to be here at all. It didn’t take a genius to figure which person fit which scenario.

I had watched from a distance as Nicholas and his father shared words outside his house before we left this morning. There were no tears, but it looked meaningful, and their ending hug spoke volumes. Reese had gotten a hug as well, one with just as much love and devotion as Mr. Cassial had given his son. It dawned on me that the blonde angel never really spoke about his parents besides that one time we’d talked and even then, it was hard to get a true grasp on his family situation; not that he would ever tell me the entire story anyway. I had gotten alookfrom Nicholas’s father before I’d backed away to walk into Natalia’s waiting portal to take us to Oculus.

He had told me to be safe and the typical things I was sure normal people said for stuff like this, but then he gave me alook. He had looked over myshoulder at where his son was speaking with Natalia, and I followed his eyes. When I looked back at him, he had slightly raised one of his eyebrows and looked at me with the face of someone who was trying not to meddle but knew there was no way that they couldn’t. He had a son and he cared for him. He wanted Nicholas to be happy and thrive. Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, I wanted that stupid fucking attractive man to be happy and thriving as well.

“Everyone one hundred percent sure this is what we should be doing?” Reese asked, reaching behind his head and fiddling with his new bow that he had strapped across his chest.

Elise scoffed. “If you want to back out now, that’s completely fine. Then we can add real muscle to thisteamand bring Sir Muscles over here.” She nodded over to where Zane stood next to Natalia. His plain black vest was buttoned, but he wore nothing underneath. His various tattoos were displayed down his arms.

Reese brought his blonde eyebrows together. “I wasn’t backing out. I’m just double checking.” He pointed his finger at Elise.

“Can you guys just leave whatever this—,” Nicholas pointed between them. “Is here and not bring it to Purgatory. I have a bad feeling both of you are going to get us killed because you can’t shut the fuck up.” He rolled his eyes, taking in a breath before tugging his portal key out of his shirt.

I clucked my tongue, choosing to let him have my attention for a moment. “Someone is a bit feisty today.”

He scratched his eyebrow. “I’m not being feisty.”

“You’re being a little feisty.” Reese answered, tilting his hand back and forth. “But fine, I’ll behave.”

We all looked at Elise whose black hair swished around her earlobes as she stared back at us. “We all know I can never and will never promise you any of that bullshit.”

“You really put your trust in them to fix this?” Zane’s deep, gravelly voice rang out around us. He didn’t seem to mind that we all heard him speculate about us.

Natalia let out a small chuckle that caused her shoulders to bounce. “Yes, Zane. I really do.” She winked over at me and started to walk into the middle of our makeshift circle.

“I want to ask you all to please, please be careful. I know you’re doing this of your own volition, and I know you have your skills, but be smart about your decisions and your movements going forward.” The High Priestess pressed; the colors of the stained-glass windows behind us bouncing off of her glittering shoulders.

I crossed my arms over my chest, tapping my fingers on my biceps. “I think we are aware of what lies in Purgatory.”

Natalia hummed. “Well of course, but after everything do you honestly believe that place is exactly the same as when you left it.”

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