Breathless Magic
The Star-Crossed Series
Book 6.5
By Rachel Higginson
Copyright@ Rachel Higginson 2014
This publication is protected under the US Copyright Act of 1976 and all other applicable international, federal, state and local laws, and all rights are reserved, including resale rights: you are not allowed to give, copy, scan, distribute or sell this book to anyone else.
Any trademarks, service marks, product names or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if we use one of these terms.
Any people or places are strictly fictional and not based on anything else, fictional or non-fictional.
Other Books Out Now by Rachel Higginson
Love and Decay, Episode One
Love and Decay, Episode Two
Love and Decay, Episode Three
Love and Decay, Episode Four
Love and Decay, Episode Five
Love and Decay, Episode Six
Love and Decay, Episode Seven
Love and Decay, Episode Eight
Love and Decay, Episode Nine
Love and Decay, Episode Ten
Love and Decay, Episode Eleven
Love and Decay, Episode Twelve
Love and Decay, Volume One (Episodes One-Six)
Love and Decay, Volume Two (Episodes Seven-Twelve)
Love and Decay, Episode One, Season Two
Reckless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 1)
Hopeless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 2)
Fearless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 3)
Endless Magic (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 4)
The Reluctant King (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 5)
The Relentless Warrior (The Star-Crossed Series, Book 6)
Starbright (The Starbright Series, Book 1)
Sunburst (The Starbright Series, Book2)
The Rush (The Siren Series, Book 1)
Bet in the Dark (An NA Contemporary Romance)
Striking (The Forged in Fire Series) a co-authored Contemporary NA
To Eden and Kiran,
My favorite couple of all time.
You’re real to me.
Chapter One
“Aren’t you dizzy?” my good friend Seraphina asked from across the room. Her model-long limbs were draped over a plush, velvet ottoman that was older than me- much older. She twirled her shiny blonde hair on the tip of one of her fingers and her beautifully angelic face did a fantastic job of masking the sharp pain I knew was hidden underneath her happy façade.
Seraphina was broken and hurting and that was why I’d asked her to stay with me at the Castle.
But right now she was bothering the bejeezus out of me.
“I’m not dizzy,” I told her snappishly. “I’m worried. I have a lot to be worried about.”
She sighed, sounding utterly exhausted with me. “Eden, pacing the length of the room for hours at a time is not going to bring Lilly back. It’s not going to wake up that human. And it’s really not going to make your husband happy.”
I glared at her. “I don’t want to make my husband happy. He’s the reason that pacing is the only activity I haven’t been banned from! He’s the reason I’m stuck in this stupid Citadel to begin with instead of out there!” I waved a wild arm and pointed out a random window that I was pretty sure did not point in any direction I wanted to go. “I should be on a mission right now! I should be actively searching for Lilly! Or at the very least I should be allowed to try to take Ophelia’s Magic before it bonds with her blood.”
Seraphina rolled her ice-blue eyes and released another exasperated sigh. “First, my lovely Queen, if you take her Magic now, she could very well die. The Magic might be the only thing keeping her alive. Second, she might be nothing like her sister. She might realize exactly how wonderful Magic is. She might be normal.”
“Olivia’s normal!” I defended the girl I hardly knew at all. Seraphina pinned me with a look until I finally relented. “Alright, she’s not exactly… normal. But she’s sweet.” I laughed before I could stop myself. “Fine, she’s not exactly sweet either.”
“What you are trying to say,” Seraphina corrected me with the tone of someone who knew everything. “Is that she’s good for Jericho.”
“Well, she is good for Jericho.”
“As long as she stays Immortal,” Seraphina said quietly. It was the first time in a long time I’d heard her drop her usual guard of perfected elitism and sound unsure.
“I’m not sure she has a choice about that,” I agreed in that same anxious tone. Olivia and Jericho were clearly in love. Well, maybe not in love yet… but very close to it. I had never seen him look at a girl like that- not even me. And the way he protected her, as if he could shield her from every terrible thing left in this world just by keeping her close, was something new with him, too.
He had never behaved towards me with that same defending assertiveness. It was one of the reasons I’d been so drawn to him. He let me have absolute freedom without once trying to hold me back in a time when all my freedom had been restricted. But that was him, he didn’t try to control, or possess. He was very much partnership-oriented.
Not that I was jealous now, but I was a bit astounded. It had been so long since we were together… and he was single this whole time. I worried about him a lot. We were friends. We would always be friends. And I just wanted to see him happy and settled.
Seraphina stood up and followed the same path I’d been pacing. The huge, carved fireplace in the center of Kiran and my apartment had become somewhat of a walking track for me lately. “I just hope she doesn’t get bitter about it, you know? They deserve a real shot at happiness.”
“That’s very sentimental of you.”
“It’s not like I hate all love,” she laughed humorlessly.
“Sera…”
“Stop, E.” She spun around and hit me with the full force of her intimidating gaze. “We are supposed to have soul mates. That’s supposed to be our thing. Only, I don’t have a soul mate. I have a string of douchy ex-boyfriends.”
“Hey!” I tried to stick up for my husband but she continued on, ignoring me.
“And so fine, I’m a little bit of a vicious shrew right now; but that doesn’t mean I don’t think other people deserve to find happiness.”
“That’s very benevolent of you,” I grinned at her. I knew she would find happiness. I even knew she’d already found her soul mate. They were just stubborn as hell, and loved to hate each other. It turned them both on in this really gross way that I never wanted to think about.
“I can be benevolent,” she huffed.
The door opened then and Kiran stepped inside our west-tower apartment that took up the entire wing. He glanced impatiently between Seraphina and me; the frown that drew his eyebrows together deepened. He stalked toward me in all his dominating, I-run-this-Kingdom, ocean-blue-eyed glory and I practically melted into a puddle at his feet.
It wasn’t fair that he was so breathtakingly gorgeous, or that I could feel his charged, anticipating Magic like it ran through my own blood. Just by being in the same room as him, feeling his presence as it sunk into every pore and vein in my body, made my knees wobble together and heart pick up speed with my own secret expectations.
I was supposed to be mad at him.
“Out, Seraphina,” he growled at my guest. “I need my wife.”
She all but choked on her laughter, but disappeared quickly. Although I heard her mumble under her breath on the way out, “See? Douchy.”
I suppressed a smile because he was, in fact, being a little douchy and stepped away from the man I made eter
nal vows to.
“I thought you had a meeting.” I narrowed my eyes on him when he started unbuttoning his gray oxford.
“I canceled it.” His words were clipped and short, his eyes hungry and his body taut with repressed tension.
My stomach flipped.
We’d been married for years now and I had to wonder when he would stop doing this to me. When would the butterflies stop? The consuming desperation to touch him, love him… be with him?
He could as easily infuriate me as he could melt my bones and start a fire so hot I thought I would burn forever in the blazing inferno that was solely him.
I loved him with a fierceness that was so complicated at times I knew I’d never understand it; but then I would realize how simple this was, how natural it was to love him, how easy it was to fall into this devotion and never leave it. Maybe our love was multifaceted and deeper than oceans, but it was the simplest thing to feel, to know and to be.
Still, I had a point to make.
Right?
“The Witch will be angry,” I told him. My back was to the cold, stone wall by now, my fingers pressing into the gritty rock desperate to find some secret passageway I’d somehow missed over the years.
“The Witch can burn,” he grunted.
And then he was in front of me, his hands hot and possessive on my hips. I could feel the heat of him through my silk blouse, the Magic that vibrated and hummed in his blood just below the surface of his golden skin. Our Magic lit with a thousand colors in the room around us and I felt my own body thrum to life with the nearness of my husband.
But I couldn’t let him see me fidget. “That’s not very nice.”
His telltale smirk twisted his lips and he leaned in so that he was just a breath away from my mouth. “You’re right. It’s not. But then again, I’m not very nice.”
I opened my mouth to argue with him and the bastard took full advantage. His mouth crashed to mine in a worshipful reverence that made me whimper. His tongue invaded my mouth with a sweetness that belied his rough grip on my hips.
We’d done this enough by now that our kisses had become somewhat of a routine. Our mouths moved in practiced tandem that was comfortable but still sexy, familiar but infinitely successful in making us desperate for more.
There were beautiful, exciting moments in the first parts of love: the butterflies, the tingles, the newness of every touch and feeling. But the depth and intimate knowledge that came with being together for years was something I would never give up or trade for anything.
The beginning was hard for us, even after we were together. Our new relationship was plagued with insecurity, mistrust and only the shaky promise of a future. Throughout our short marriage I could see how easily this ache could die out instead of intensify. The comfortable familiar wasn’t always sensual or exciting; sometimes it could fall blah and forgettable. But we tried. We actively made an effort to let this routine push us into something smoking hot and passionate. Each touch was a promise for something more intimate, each kiss a reminder of flames that could be so quickly stoked.
And because we let this craving for each other deepen and intensify every day we were together, every minute we let ourselves give into it… I knew we would be alright in ten years, in one hundred years. In one thousand years. And every day after that.
Kiran broke from my mouth to trail wet, scorching kisses down my throat and across my collar bone. His fingers nimbly began unbuttoning my shirt, pushing it roughly away before the top buttons were undone. They popped off easily as he tore the blouse from my arms.
“Kiran!” I gasped.
“I’ve felt your irritation all morning.” His words were a gruff rasp on my tingling skin. “I know you’re angry with me. I know you’re upset that I don’t want you involved with the missions, or healing dangerous Magic; but you have to know it’s because I love you, more than myself, more than anything on this Earth.”
“I know that,” I whispered, surprised by how moved I always was by his eternal promises that never wavered.
He continued, “While you grow my children in this body that belongs to me, there is a lot that you cannot do.” He emphasized his words by splaying his hands across my growing belly. They stretched over my swelling stomach, branding my body like he claimed- as his. My heart kicked into overdrive and all feminist thoughts of equal rights and girl-power flew out the window. I had this thing for when he talked to me like this… with that accent… um, yum. I could not help it. And I for sure couldn’t resist him. His voice softened just enough and became more teasing, “While you may not be able to chase down bad guys, there are still plenty of activities I will allow.”
And then he set off to show me exactly which activities he meant.
However, we were more than just a married couple in love… we were rulers of a Kingdom at war.
Not five minutes later, whilst Kiran had me with my legs wrapped around his waist on the way to our massive bed in the middle of our massive bedroom, there was a knock on the door.
“Let’s ignore it,” he mumbled into my mouth.
I nodded because I was incapable of coherent speech at this point.
“You’re Highness,” the Guard called through the heavy door. “Sebastian has returned. You’re needed in the Throne Room at once.”
Kiran let out a defeated sigh and I slid down his hardened body.
“I’ll go see what this is about.” He let his hands glide down my side with wistful reverence and then pressed the sweetest kiss to my forehead.
Sometimes those light, loving kisses could bring about just as many butterflies as the charged, passionate ones.
I ducked into our bedroom and dug a new shirt out of the closet. Not paying attention to the color or style, I slipped it over my head and followed Kiran to the doorway. Maybe Sebastian had returned with news of Lilly.
“The priest and the Shape-Shifter,” the Guard was saying when I joined Kiran in the front room.
Kiran stumbled, letting his back smack into the door behind him. “Gabriel and Silas,” he rasped out.
“Sebastian brought back all that remains,” the Guard finished. His dark brown eyes flickered to me with sympathy and his own grief.
“What?” I asked dumbly. I couldn’t think of any other word. I couldn’t get any other sound out of my mouth. All that remains? What could that mean?
How horrific was their death?
Kiran grabbed out for my wrist and yanked me to him. I fell easily into the warmth and safety of his body. I was too shocked to cry, too stunned to feel the building anguish yet. Those men… they were more than mentors, more than friends. They had become family over the years and represented such a poignant period in my life where they were not only guides to the uncertain journey of rebuilding the Resistance, but pillars of strength and stability.
Without those men to point me in the right direction, I would have been lost. Without those men to stand by my side and unite the Kingdom with me, I would have fallen before I even began.
Without those men to encourage me when there was no hope, or push me when I wanted to stop, or remind me why I fought for justice, peace and equality, Lucan would still rule, my brother would still be in captivity or dead and the rest of the Kingdom… the rest of what could have happened was even more unthinkable than I could imagine.
“We’ll be there in a moment,” Kiran told the Guard.
I heard his polished boots click down the hallway with his retreat, but my eyes were shut tight and the shock I felt moments before had begun to turn into heart-wrenching pain.
And then it hit me all at once.
With a gasping sob, a dam released from behind my eyelids and tears poured onto Kiran’s chest. He clutched me against him with all his strength and I felt his entire body heave and shudder as his own emotion surged with mine.
His knees gave out, and since I didn’t have any of my own strength to hold me up, we slid down the open door until we were a tangle of grief, limbs and sorrow
.
I don’t know how long we stayed like that, both of us lost in our own memories and despair. But we clung to each other. He held me in his lap fiercely and protectively, as if the same evil that could kill giants of men like Silas and Gabriel could descend upon us at any moment and threaten us as well.
I let him hold me like that, crush me against him, melt my body into his as if we could truly become one soul in our heartache.
This was not fair.
I had been forced to lose so much in my short life. We had been forced to lose so many. And we were still so young. How much more would we have to endure as our endless lives carried on?
There was hope in knowing that I would never lose Kiran; that we would forever have each other. But that optimistic thought seemed small and insignificant in the wake of such powerful loss.
I didn’t know how much time passed as we sat there, comforting each other and grieving two of the best men either of us had ever known. But when we resurfaced into reality, our room was dark with no sun to shine through the long windows; not even the moonlight dared enter our own personal blackness.
Kiran kissed my temple, tasting my salty tears with his soft lips. His hands released his severe grip and he rubbed soothing circles over my back.
“We will vindicate them, Love,” he promised me in a husky voice, hoarse from spent emotion.
I nodded against his chest, wet from my tears.
“Eden,” he said so forcefully I had no choice but to meet his ocean blue eyes. He held me there in that moment- still and unmoving. There was comfort in the resolve buried in his stern gaze, conviction and promise in the aqua depths. “We have not failed to bring about retribution to those who deserve it, yet. This will be no different. I will find their murderer and I will give him exactly what he deserves.”
“I know you will,” I whispered. “I know you’ll give them nothing less than the justice they are owed.”
“They were great men.” His eyes closed with those words and his voice cracked under the truth of what he’d said.