“It will still take all of us,” he pointed out as if I didn’t know it already.
Tabitha stood naked in the middle of the circle that Beck finished off drawing in the dirt with a stick, blindfolded and shivering from both the cold and what I’m sure she’d expected to come here for.
But I wasn’t having sex with her. Not this time.
The rest of us spread out, and I retreated to the Ferris wheel house, where it was empty and secluded, selfishly focusing on Fallon with my cock in my hand. I dropped my head back against the wall, drowning out the orchestra of moans and slaps all around me. It didn’t take much for my shaft to thicken, heavy and stretched in my fist. All it took was the mere thought of her smile. The one that haunted me when she didn’t even know she was doing it. The one she’d do twenty feet away, lost in thought, eyes distant, the small curve around her turned-up lips, the top lip a little plumper than the bottom on her diamond-shaped face with the moons in her eyes.
I thought about the way my hand felt between her legs, the way she tasted, the way her body shuddered in the dark as I pulled the orgasm right out of her, coming undone so lightly and private like a whisper as she melted in my arms. She hadn’t put on a show for me. She was so quiet, so honest in the way she let go.
And the way she kissed me …
Memories of that night caused the wind to rise with great violence from the circle in restless waves, slapping at my buzzing skin. My abs tightened, my muscles jerked, remembering the way her soft skin felt under the tips of my fingers. My eyes sprang open to see the moon had reached her summit in the sky behind thick gray clouds, and a thunderous clap broke apart the sky.
“Shit,” I gritted out, slamming my eyes closed once more as my cock jerked in my hand.
I wasted away in the color of her.
White hair. Milky skin. Dusty pink lips. The winter season in her eyes.
Utterly wasted, I’d almost forgotten the reason why we were here—the reason why we were doing this.
I tucked myself back inside my pants and jumped to my feet, zipping up.
Chants grew louder around me. I walked toward Tabitha, hazy, dazed, and selfishly high on a certain moon girl, the others joining in as they finished.
Three times, we chanted the same verse around the circle, summoning Clarice Danvers. A bolt of lightning lit above, blue neon ripping across the black sky. A dry storm circled overhead, a lazy dirt cyclone below.
Then the sky went calm, the clouds dispersed, and I dropped my gaze to Tabitha.
“What’s your name?” I demanded.
Tabitha smiled.“Kyden Wildes.”She snapped her head in Phoenix’s direction, and Phoenix crossed his arms over his chest.“You’re a son of fire, are you not? This time, tread through water. Your heart is entering dangerous territory.”
Phoenix narrowed his eyes. “We summoned Clarice Danvers, why are you here? Where is she?”
“All that I know is that I’m here,”Kyden said through Tabitha.
Zephyr took a step forward. “We read your journal entry about what happened between Clarice Danvers and Matteo Cantini. Is it true? Sacred Sea was always the one behind the curse of the Heathens—”
“Do you know how to break the curse?” I interrupted because it was more important, and we didn’t know how much time we had.
“No,”Kyden stormed through Tabitha.“I only know this. Clarice was desperate and foolish and would have done anything, including to tempt and seduce another, even one from Sacred Sea. Then, on a separate occasion, she and Matteo fought in the caverns about our ancestors’ journals. There was a missing journal. The following day, Clarice disappeared and hasn’t been seen since. Foster Danvers went mad and took his own life, believing his wife had abandoned him. I’ve never confessed to what I’ve seen, and for that, I’ll remain a guilt-ridden spirit. But I did what I thought was best for the coven. The Danvers element may be absent from the Hollow Heathens, but you, Blackwell, are all four elements, embodying spirit, or the dark void depending on your shadow-blood. You are the key to holding this coven together. That is, if you don’t succumb to the darkness. You need to wake up, Blackwell!”the deep voice roared from the small girl, stunning all of us.
“You’re telling me Matteo got rid of her?” Beck threw his arms in the air, bringing the subject back to what was at stake. “Because she went to them for help? Because she may have stolen a book from them?”
Stolen a book.“Who’s journal?” I asked with urgency. Three books were missing from the Chamber. One of them had to hold the answers.
Tabitha’s head snapped to me.“That, I don’t know for certain. The Cantini’s are the keepers of secrets of Weeping Hollow. It is possible they know how the curse came to be, but if it can be broken? I’m not so sure.”
“Congratulations, Nix. You come from a line of idiots who are of no use,” Zeph stated dryly, darting a venomous green glare toward Phoenix.
“I don’t get it.” My fingers tapped vigorously against my thigh, and I stepped forward, needing more. “Why would she go through all this trouble? She already bound herself to Foster, accepted him for what he was. Accepted the curse as my mother had and every woman before her. Why would she betray her husband and steal books from the Order? Why would she care enough to risk everything?”
Tabitha straightened her spine.“Why would any take such extreme measures, turning into something they are not?”
Then it hit me, remembering a past I’d tried so hard to forget.
“For the love of a child,” I whispered.
