Page 5 of Beltane

“Iwantmy wife,” he said, taking a slow step toward me. “I will make you a deal…the same deal I offered to Ivette and Alexei. I will remove this so-calledgift.In exchange, you will deliver the queen to me.”

I took a deep breath and shifted my gaze to the impending threat behind the king. Finally, my earthly allies had caught up, their vines and roots twisting through the atmosphere like a tsunami wall of vegetation.

Devour him,I commanded, and they were all too willing to comply. They descended upon his body, snaking around his legs and arms, seemingly intent on bringing him down.

“Have you forgotten who I am?” he taunted, pulling his lips back into a sneer. With one simple jut of his chin, the ropes of ivy closest to him turned black and charred, crumbling away as they disintegrated to ash. A stab went through my midsection at their loss, and I dropped to my knees in agony, instinctively wrapping my arms around myself. I gasped, struggling to inhale even the slightest bit of air.

“Give up this tedious charade,” Alberich said, his footsteps coming closer. “There is nowhere for you to run. Where will you go? Back to your beloveds?” He tutted and shook his head, squatting down so he was eye level with me. “Will they even have you after what you did?”

I narrowed my gaze, choking back a sob as more tears ran down my cheeks.What did he mean?I focused on that memory from Monaco, the one with the shimmer around it, the one where I’d been certain something had been done to me…but what? It had only been a dream, right? A terribly realistic dream?

No, no, no.

“You were always meant to end up here, my darling,” he said, grabbing my chin, his fingers surprisingly gentle despite our altercation. He tilted my head up so I had to look him in the eye. “This is where it ends. You and me, forever in this dance of wills.”

I hated him, and I hated what he’d done, whatever it was. I hated that he could manipulate my memories, make it so I couldn’t trust my mind. Was any of this real? Or was I like my family, standing in my room somewhere with obsidian eyes, locked inside my mind with whatever visions he decided to give to me?

“Let me go,” I whimpered, the words sounding pathetically weak to even my own ears.

“That, I’m afraid, I cannot do.” The king shook his head, his features softening as if he were taking pity on poor pathetic me. “Come now. It is not so bad. I will take care of you…if you take care of me.”

“No.” I couldn’t…I wouldn’t. Bleeding Christ, I had been such a fool. How could I ever think I could protect anyone? I could barely protect myself. A wave of anguish rose in me, so desperate and overwhelming that it had nowhere else to go. I couldn’t hold on to it. I couldn’t contain it. I dug my fingers into the grass, gripping it for dear life.

This was a fairy tale cut from my worst nightmares, and I had no idea how the princess would save herself in this one.

I stared up at him, willing the energy to coalesce around me. The branches from my plants regrew, spiraling toward us, wrapping around his neck and body, yanking his limbs back faster than he could defeat them. I poured myself into them, sucking in air as hot, sticky liquid dripped from my nose, over my lips, and down my chin.

“Grow,” I said, holding my hands out to reach for them, to give them whatever I had left…which admittedly wasn’t much. “Grow!”

He burned through them as quickly as I could get them around his body, and just when he’d gotten free, just when he was about to go for me again, a big black blur slammed into him from the right, catapulting him to the left with a sickening crunch.

I blinked, gaze rooted to the spot where he’d once been as I focused on the dark SUV in front of me.

“Miri!” called Carter’s voice as the back door opened. “Get in!”

* * *

Carter dancedhis fingers through my hair as he sat on the sofa in the chartered jet with my head in his lap. He’d called Ivy and Lex to let them know we were coming and explained he had hit the king with a Range Rover.

“Knowing that piece of shit, he’ll be after us again no matter what.” Carter had told them. “I’ve only bought us some time.”

“Come home,”I heard Ivy say.“We need to regroup and figure out our next steps.”

“How did you know to come for me?” I asked him once he’d gotten off the call.

“My luck told me you wouldn’t make it to the airport,” he said. “I was supposed to come rescue you.”

“I’m glad you did,” I said. “I nearly exhausted myself trying to get away from him.”

Because of Carter’s newfound fame and connections, he had spared no expense on his publicity tour. Now, his agent, who also happened to be my cousin, was on the phone in the back, doing damage control to his career while we passed the eight-hour flight to DC watching the newest season of a Scottish television show about a woman who goes back in time through a set of stones.

Honestly, even with the chaos that had ensued, I would have given anything to fall into a big rock and wake up in the arms of some six-foot-six ginger who had no idea who I was or where I came from.

“I’m sorry for staying away,” I said, glancing up at Carter. “Please forgive me.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he said, his features soft and adoring. “And there’s nothing to forgive, Miri. I love you.”

“Are they properly upset with me?” I murmured, a small tremor shooting through my nerves at the thought of seeing Ivy and Lex again. Ever since we spent the summer in California together, Carter had become a safe haven for me—my best friend and confidant. The love between us didn’t simmer like it did with Ivy, nor did it slice sharply inside me like Lex. But that was what made my relationship with Carter so unique. Lex and Ivy were a force unto themselves, and loving them often came with a harsh smack of reality. Carter was the only other person on this earth who knew that as well as me.

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