“Promise.” I land a kiss over her lips that ignites like a flame.
I’d move to another planet entirely if that’s what it took to be near Laken.
Not that we’d ever get away from the Counts.
After all, you can never truly outrun yourself.
In the late afternoon, the sky turns an ashen shade of soot. The clouds pulsate in and out as if it were the fur of some prehistoric animal. It’s getting ready to drive down rain like the plague, and soon all of Ephemeral will be swimming in it.
The library stands like a monolithic stone set in my path, and right about now it feels like one. The stained glass windows glow an eerie yellow as if there were flames licking the building from inside. I walk right in and head to the back, to the locked passage that only a select few have access to. I let myself into the dim lit room. A candle glows in the center of the round mahogany table illuminating the leather-bound volumes that boast of angelic history.
“Wesley.” The whites of Edinger’s eyes squint in my direction as if they were smiling. It doesn’t surprise me one bit that he’s here, ready and willing to mock me. In truth I expected nothing less.
A fresh rage boils in me at the sight of him.
I flip the table over and scoop him up by his dress shirt. A thin veil of light trickles in from the windows that line the top of the bookshelves.
“You fucking piece of shit.” I knock him hard against the stacks of angelic lineage until one historic volume after another knocks him gleefully over the head. Swear to God, it’s as if they were aiming for him—and I’d like to think they were. “Why the hell would you take me from my home? You kidnapped me.” I rattle him like a ragdoll. “God only knows what you’re doing to Laken’s poor family.” I throw him down to the floor, and he’s quick to spring back up and get in my face.
“I’m not responsible for bringing you anywhere.” He dusts himself off with a casual restraint. “And you and I both know what’s happened to her family, now don’t we?” He taps me over the chest, and I fall back into a waiting seat. He pulls a chair up beside me, pressing in until our knees touch.
“I want them out. Flanders’ mother, too. And give me Casper.” I lean back and wait for it because if there’s one thing I can rely on from Demetri, it’s resistance.
“They’re yours.” He cocks his head with a token smile hovering on his lips. “One condition.”
“Isn’t there always? What impossible quest do you have for me now? You need some moon dust for one of your potions? You want me to stop up a black hole with my body? I can hardly wait to hear it.”
“I want my son. One life in exchange for many. It’s a thing of beauty, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Who the hell’s your son, and where is he?”
“That’s for you to find out.”
“I will.” My legs start pumping because I’m just about ready to drill him a new one. “And then what?”
“Bring him to me, unharmed, willing to serve, and I’ll free them.”
“And what if he’s not so willing to serve?”
Edinger tips his head back with a silent laugh. “He will be. He was born to serve and to rule. I think both you and I know how lucrative, how enticing having all that power would be.”
“What good is power if it’s your lousy face he needs to report to every day. No wonder the kid’s in hiding.”
“My son will have power and prestige that I could never achieve. He’s part Countenance and, most importantly, part Fem. I know him through and through. He won’t give up that power for anything or anyone. An entire kingdom waits for him. He alone will hold dominion over the Countenance people.”
“So that’s it? I drag your ingrate of a kid back, and you let whoever the hell I want walk right out of the tunnels?”
“Without hesitation.”
“I want Laken, too.”
“That’s your job not mine,” he’s quick to fire back.
I lean in to inspect him. “How did Flanders get to Paragon?”
“With my aid.”
“Why the fuck would you help Coop?” I pluck a book off the shelf and fling it across the room like a Frisbee.
“Because Coop is helping me.”
And with that he vanishes.
Just what in the hell is Cooper Flanders helping Edinger with?
3
Dancing in the Flames
Laken
By evening, Jen has my bedroom picked clean of all things Hattie, and I try to hide the fact I’m more than a little sad to see her go. In fact, I’m not sure where in the hell she did go, but one guess is she’s hanging out with that Spectator boy toy of hers, Flynn. I plan on paying a special visit to him in the very near future for a whole lot of reasons but the most important being Hattie. She’s so darn innocent. If she’s not with Flynn, she could be hitchhiking her way across the country with some wild band of bikers.
“So, Jones called,” Jen says as she gets up from inspecting beneath Hattie’s bed. “Mom’s birthday is coming up, and he invited us over next weekend.”
“No thanks.” I flip open my laptop and check my emails. There are three forwards from Marky, two viral videos featuring kittens and one manicure demo from YouTube—a tutorial for a Minnie Mouse inspired look. Cute. My heart warms just thinking about hanging out with her—then drops like a rotten apple when I think of the way I’ve made Coop feel. I need to have a minute alone with him.
“What do you mean no thanks? She’s your mother.”
“Maybe she is.” Biologically it seems to be true. Coop tested my newfound family, and it turns out that Jen, Fletch, and Mom all worked out as far as the bloodlines go. No so much for the fake father the Counts tried to thrust upon me. Ironic because that’s the one family member I’ve always secretly craved. “I don’t really care about her birthday.”
“Laken!” Jen straightens. Her wide eyes spin like a kaleidoscope with the blue flecks falling in turn.
“Jen, what if I told you that the Counts have been kidnapping people? That neither Fletch, Wes, nor I are from around here? And to be honest, I have no clue where you might have come from.”
“I’d say your head injury has made a grand comeback, and poor Jones is going to lose his sanity.” Her eyes sparkle with tears as she makes her way over. “That man loves you more than you will ever know.” She rakes her fingers through my hair. “Oh, Laken, I’m so sorry.” She shakes her head as if a tragedy just unfolded, and it did.
Carter bursts into the room with all her blonde enthusiasm and leopard print luggage in tow.
“Let the party begin!” She spikes her hand in the air, and an entire line of girls file in from behind, dragging in more suitcases and stuffed animals than should ever be allotted to just one person.
Jax bursts in and butts her shoulder into Jen’s. She’s cradling an oversized polar bear with an obnoxious red lacy heart sewn between its paws, glaring at Jen as if she had the power to make it come to life and claw her eyes out.
“Hey,” I bark as Grayson and Kres file in with a group of girls. “Nobody touches my sister like that.” I spike to my feet and push that polar bear right out of Jax’s stringy arms.
“Look, Anderson.” Jax gets her snarky face up in mine. Her hair is freshly dyed a deep shade of copper, and the scent of ammonia clings to her like a toxic cloud. It’s cut just below her jawline so angular and sharp, it looks like she could slice me open with her hair alone if she wanted. And judging by the look of sheer hatred on Jax’s face, a follicular felony isn’t off the table just yet. “If and when I decide to touch your sister is my business. If you want to line up for an ass kicking, go right ahead. I’ll be glad to administer one to you both.”
She huffs a silent threat to Jen before stalking out of the room.
“What was that about?” Carter asks, stunned, and now I’m afraid my confrontation may have ruined her good time.
“She’s just jealous that I won Blaine’s heart.” Jen sweeps her hair behind her shoulder a
s if she couldn’t be bothered with it. “Some people just don’t know when to give up.” Jen almost looks sorry for her. “But Blaine can only be with one person, and he chose me. Someone’s heart was bound to get broken.”
My entire body fills with grief because Wes and Coop are both bottling up their rage just like Jax, and it’s all my fault. I’m sure the only beating they’d like to administer is to each other.
Carter stretches her limbs in the air. “So where should we go to dinner?”
“Maria’s,” I volunteer a little too quickly.
“I second that.” Grayson pushes out her chest in approval until her oversized boobs spill into the room uninvited.
Wes and Coop. Someone’s heart is about to get broken.
Mine already is.
Maria’s humble green and white sign lights up the streets of downtown Trinity on this dismal Saturday night. It’s all I can do not to push Carter and her exuberant crowd of girls out of my way as I crash my way to Coop.
We head inside, and his gorgeous eminence lights up the place. Coop is a torch in this dark cave of a world the Counts created.
“Ladies!” He gives a generous smile, but his eyes pierce through mine as if it were all for me. “Let’s get you seated.” Coop points Carter toward the back and waits as the gaggle of estrogen passes him by because he’s a gentleman like that.
“I missed you today,” I whisper as we hold up the rear.
Coop glances down. His tongue whips over his lower lip like an afterthought.
“I miss you too, Laken.”
The girls take a seat, and the booth fills to capacity.
“I’ll grab a seat for you.” Coop looks me in the eye a heartbeat too long, and a spear of pain shoots from him to me.
“That’s fine. I was going to head to the restroom for a minute anyway.”
I follow him back to the kitchen area, and he leads me to a darkened hallway with a door that leads out into the cold night air.
We ditch into a dim lit alley, and I fold over him, holding on tight while burying my face in his neck. It takes everything in me not to give in and cry.
“It’s okay.” He rubs my back with his warm, thick hands, whispering his reassurances that everything will be all right. I wish I could believe it. “Anything new you want to share?”
I pull back and nod, still biting over my lip to keep from losing it. “Wes says there’s a chance we could get promoted. That, if we do, the Counts will trust us more, and we can get our families out of those haunted woods without getting killed.”
“Promoted?” He looks as baffled as I did.
“Through the Ensign program.” I shrug. “I’m going to do it. You know I’ll do anything to get our families back.” I sharpen those words with the poison that my love has become and shoot him right through the heart. I’m pretty sure I’m going to do anything to get our loved ones home safe and nothing—not one part of my body is exempt from making that happen.
Coop nods, never letting his gaze fall from mine. “I hate this, Laken. I really do.” He pulls me in and exhales hard over my shoulder. “But if it means your sister and mother are safe, I know it’s a price you’re willing to pay.” Shit.
I hear him loud and clear.
I pull back and touch my finger to his lips. “I want to kiss you.”
“No,” he says it soft as a demonic whisper, and now I never want to hear that word again. “Not yet. When this nightmare is over, then you decide with a clear heart and mind who you want to be with. Let’s ride this train out on the track it started. You’re with Wes, plain and simple.” He swallows hard. “Is it different now?” His lips twitch as if he’s trying to hold it together. “Now that he remembers.”
This moment, right here, is somehow solidifying itself over my heart as the single toughest moment of my existence. There’s something tragic, something heroically noble and horrific watching Coop distil his love for me until nothing but support strains out. Our relationship was like a shooting star, coming and going in a shock of beauty that leaves you questioning whether or not it really happened once it’s over, but the memory stains your mind’s-eye, magical, beautiful. It was all panning out to be so tragic, so unbearably sad—enough to soak the handkerchief of God.
“Not really.” I’m not sure why, but it is. “He’s the same. I mean he’s always been the same with the exception of not remembering, and now that he remembers…” A dull laugh rattles through me. “I guess I thought he’d be fuming—that heads would role. I thought we’d have stormed the gates of hell by now to get Lacey out of hock, but he’s cautious and wisely so. It will all work out in the end, I can feel it.”
“Maybe you can get him to take you there.” Coop’s forehead wrinkles into three neat lines.
“That’s a great idea.” I bounce on my toes. “I’d die to see them.” A tear rolls down my cheek unexpected. “It’ll kill me to leave without them. I don’t know if I can do it.”
“You’re right.” Coop presses me against him until I can make out every nuance of his body, his lean abs, the bulge in his boxers growing all for me, and a rush of heat floods my cheeks. “You have a big heart, Laken.” His steel-colored eyes drill into mine, and my adrenaline spikes. “That’s what I love about you best.”
“This is all going to end soon, right Coop?” I bow my head into his chest. “I’ll lose my mind if I have to spend the next ten years trying to get our loved ones out of those tunnels.”
Cooper gently lifts my chin until my eyes meet his once again. “I promise you, I will do everything possible to speed along the process.”
“I still love you, Coop.” My stomach pinches with a bite of heat as the words slip from me like oil. “I swear to you, I’m not trying to hurt you. I would never—”
Coop runs his finger over my lips, and I kiss it. I want nothing more than to pull him in and cover his mouth with mine, but I’m too afraid I’ve already become who I swore I’d never be—the girl that runs around kissing two different boys.
He touches his cheek to mine, and everything in me swims with relief. It feels electric like this with Coop, erotic beyond measure, and my entire body pulsates in rhythm to my heart.
“Flanders!” A male voice gruffs from behind.
“I’d better let you go.” I wrap my arms around him tight. Ironic because the last thing in the universe I want to do is let Cooper Flanders go.
He pulls me back by the shoulders and steadies his eyes over mine. “Wes is still the key, Laken. He needs to know he’s number one in your life.” He gives a somber nod. His sad eyes pull back and forth to each of mine. “It’s okay if he is.”
I shake my head as I back my way into the restaurant.
It’s the second time he’s said that, and I don’t like it one bit.
Cooper
The night sky above Trinity rolls and shines like liquid mercury as it glides over the expanse above.
I almost kissed her. Her lips were this close, and I waged a war with my dick to keep my tongue out of her mouth. No matter how chivalrous it was to show restraint, it just makes me dislike Wesley that much more.
I head back into the restaurant and give a shout out to Ernie to let him know I’m taking out the trash. I clean out two bins and head to the dumpster. I need a lungful of fresh night air to cool me down after that heated exchange. If I ever do kiss Laken again, I know for a fact it will be electric. I damn near fell to the ground and kissed her feet for the simple act of being near me. I thought for sure once Wes copped to remembering everything, she’d run fast and hard the hell away from me, give me the finger if I ever dared step in her path. But she didn’t. Laken still feels something for me. Her bones vibrated their love right into mine. I could feel it.
A pair of headlights speed over as a truck pulls into the spot next to me and stops just inches from taking out my kneecaps. The lights die, and the driver’s door opens.
Speaking of the douche.
Wes nods over as Laken’s brother, Fletch, jumps
out of the passenger’s side.
“What’s up, Coop?” Fletch socks me in the arm as he makes his way inside.
“Be there in a sec,” Wes calls out, his Range Rover still warm from the drive as I lean against his grill.
“You here to help me take out the trash?” I toss the plastic sacks over the dumpster wall and listen as they give a soft whoosh.
“I guess you could say that.” Wes nods me over to the shadowed part of the structure. “I spoke to Edinger today.”
My heart lurches because I’m afraid he may have let Wes in on our little deal. A game of keep Laken the hell away from Wes or you suffer in the tunnels for all eternity.
“And what?” I flip the hand towel off my shoulder. “You need me to tutor you in Lit?” I’m only half-teasing.
“I need you to help me find his son. Edinger says he’ll let whoever the hell we want out of Tenebrous as long as we bring him home.”
“Edinger’s son, huh?” I shake my head at the idea. “First I’m hearing about it.”
“You think we can find him?” Wes heaves it out as if he just sprinted around the block.
“Hell, yes, I think we can find him. As long as he’s alive—he’s as good as here.” I study Wes as his expression grows dim. “So what are you keeping from me?”
Wes takes in a breath, and his chest expands the size of a football field. “He said he needed his son to serve.” He shakes his head. “I don’t know what the fuck it means, dude. It all sounds too easy. Find some poor kid who has the misfortune of being related to Edinger and throw him into the lion’s den? He said he’d let them walk out of the tunnels just like that.”
“It almost sounds too good to be true. Most likely means it is.” I run my fingers through my hair. “I’ll start digging around tonight. My dad might know something.”
“I don’t want you to tell Laken.”