Page 89 of Don't Tempt Me (Nora Jacobs 4)

I bark out a sob of relief, but I can’t rid myself of the guilt. I did this to him. At the time, Iwantedto do this to him. I wanted to kill him. I wanted to kill them all.

I rest my forehead on Illren’s chest and cling to him. I can’t stop crying.

“Nora,” another voice says. The hands on my shoulders pull me back and turn me around.

I struggle, needing to feel Illren, but I’m scooped off my feet into the arms of the largest man I’ve ever known. “He will be all right,” Terrance says. He shifts me in his arms and squeezes me in the best hug of my life while my feet dangle at least a foot off the ground. “We will all be all right.”

At his words, I gasp, realizing that my entire clan plus what seems like half the underworld just fought a huge group of mercenaries and then a small army of vampires. I do a quick headcount and breathe a sigh of relief. They’re dirty, bloody, and a complete mess, but all of my clan are present and accounted for. Even Nick is on his feet. Enzo must have cleansed the gold dust from his and Kat’s systems before helping Illren. The only one unconscious is the man I made that way.

My eyes well up again, and I push myself out of Terrance’s arms. I back up, not wanting any of them to come near me.

“Nora, what’s wrong?” Rook asks, hesitantly stepping forward.

I back up even more, staying out of his reach. Hurt streaks across his face, but I can’t let him get close. “Don’t come near me. Stay away.”

I meet Nick’s eyes because he’s the most levelheaded of the bunch, and he might be the only one who will understand the request I’m about to ask of him. “You have to kill me.”

As I suspected, my clan explodes with protests, but I keep my watery eyes locked on Nick. “Please. You saw it. I can’t control myself. I nearly killed Illren. I’m cursed. You have to kill me before I hurt all the people I love.”

My men all argue, but Nick’s face softens with understanding. “You know I won’t do that,” he says.

Tears stream down my cheeks, and I cross the crowd to him, pushing several men out of my way until I can stand right in front of him. I clasp his hands in mine. “Please, Nick. You know the spell didn’t work, even with the power of four mythics. There’s no other way to protect my clan from me. To protect the entire city from me. You have to kill me.”

In his thoughts, Nick is torn. He’s not going to kill me, he could never do it, but he knows I’m right. The spell didn’t work, and he can’t see another way to break my curse.

“Nick,” I plead.

He shakes his head, his face tortured. “No, Nora. Forget it. The spell didn’t work, but we’ll figure something else out. We’ll find another way.”

“I’m dark! I am a danger to anyone around me! There is no other way!”

Aziel clears his throat and steps forward. “Actually, there might be another way.”

Everyone in the room freezes. I hold my breath as I meet the gryphon’s eyes. I don’t want to feel hope just to have my heart crushed.

“I had not heard of the spell the sorcerer spoke of. I’m not sure where he found it, but his theory was correct. When a being consumes too much dark magic, it eventually takes over them. They themselves become dark. It stands to reason that the opposite is possible. If you take in enough light magic, you yourself should be changed.”

I want to believe him, but the truth is lying unconscious beside me. I shake my head and wipe at my tear-stained face. “But the spell didn’t work. It had no effect on me.”

The gryphon gives me a soft smile that a teacher might give to their pupil. Looking at him closely, I can see the ancientness and the wisdom. This being might just be one of the oldest and wisest creatures in the world. “Mythics are born of magic, not physical parents,” he says. “Our power is not in our blood. It is in our very beings, in our essence. I believe if we each give up a piece of our essence to you, we may just fill you with so much light that you can be turned.”

My eyes drift back to Illren. I took some of his essence, and look what happened. I could never take essence from Aziel, or the others, for that matter. Especially not Sapphire. She’s still a child. “I couldn’t,” I say, shaking my head. “I don’t want to take anything from you. Especially not if it would hurt you or make you weak.”

Aziel steps up to me, and with that soft smile still in place, clasps my hands in his. “I will give it to you freely. You helped rescue us. You are so strong that, even compelled, you stood up to the vampire when he threatened to kill the child.” He waves his hand around the church at all of the people still standing there watching us. “You have saved lives and helped so many people that an entire city of underworlders came to help you in your time of need.”

I follow his gaze around the room, and many of the underworlders smile. Some of them even bow. In the front of the crowd, Alpha Peter Toth and Alpha Evan Fuller stand among the wolves. Laagh, head of the brownies, Vesryn, a representative of the sidhe that once asked me to be the new fey queen, and even the trolls of Terrance’s home clan all stand around me, battle-bloodied and on my side. It warms my heart that they all showed up to help my clan when we needed it.

Nick slings his arm over my shoulder. “Aziel is right. You deserve such a gift, and I will freely give it.”

My tears start up again, and I shake my head. “Nick, no.”

Kat comes forward, holding Sapphire’s hand. “I will give my essence freely,” Kat says, holding her free hand over her heart in a tight fist.”

“So will I,” the young girl whispers.

“Sweetheart, no.” I smile at the girl. “I could never ask you to risk hurting yourself for me.”

She gives me a timid smile. “You did not ask. I offered.”

“Nora,” Nick murmurs, squeezing me to his side. “Please do not insult us by refusing this gift. Allow us to make our own choice on this matter.”

I gulp back another sob and look at Nick through an ocean of tears. I don’t want them to do this, but how can I refuse? “Okay.” I sniffle. “If you’re sure.”

Nick turns me toward him and rests his forehead against mine. “I need my partner,” he promises, not a trace of play in his voice.

He takes my hands while still holding his forehead to mine, and he closes his eyes. A warm power pours into me. I gasp, and Nick clamps onto my hands so that I can’t pull away from him. I close my eyes and absorb the energy that’s filling my soul.

Hands clamp onto either of my shoulders, and a small hand takes one of mine from Nick. A tidal wave of power rushes into me so strongly that I cry out and collapse. Nick catches me in his arms, and still the life pours into me. I start to tremble, and I begin to cry again, but this time my tears are of joy. I have never felt anything more amazing than the energy filling every fiber of my being. Something so pure, sogood.

As if my body can simply take no more, a burst of power explodes from me in a flash of light, and for what must be the hundredth time in my life, I lose consciousness.

---