AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What about us?” Moni asks as she takes a sip of her coffee and cuts up some food.
Murmur smiles as he steps forward. “Ahh, my little niece. You guys get to play with me in the training room.”
“Ugh,” Moni whines again, and I stifle a laugh.
“Okay, let’s get ready to go,” Lucifer announces, moving past me to head down a hall toward the front door.
Rez says her goodbyes to Knox, Ryker, and Zeke, before pulling me off to the side. She tucks herself into my side as we find a small nook to talk in, and despite our night together, it feels great that she includes me in her goodbyes, given all the crap we’ve been through in the past. I wasn’t sure how she felt about being claimed by my magic without having a say, and we didn’t go over any of that early this morning.
“I feel guilty,” she admits.
“Why?” I question as she wraps her arms around my waist.
“Well, because one: I’m glad I’m not going with you because I might not be able to handle myself around Emer. And two: I can stay here and work on getting Knots and Lynx their memories back. Then again, I’m missing out on seeing Emer’s face when you tell her you’re already mine.” She smiles coyly.
“So, you’re okay with my magic claiming you?” I ask, a little shocked that she’s this open about it. I would think being raised as a human and not knowing how things work, she would be more upset about all of this. Time escaped us after learning about the prophecy and what my magic did for us. We needed that stress relief from the trampoline room more than just sitting down and talking.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” she asks, tilting her head and peering up at me with a worried line between her brows.
“Well, you didn’t have a choice in the matter,” I point out. “And I know how big it is in the human world to have a choice.” Was I worrying about all of this for nothing?
She giggles and squeezes me. “Levi, just a few days ago we were worried that you were about to sign over your life to the Queen Harpy, and it turns out you already chose who you wanted to be with, and it’s me. Do you know how amazing that is?” she asks, her eyes sparkling with mirth, and I feel her excitement.
“We chose each other,” I correct, realizing it wasn’t all one sided. “And I guess I just never looked at it that way. I was afraid you would feel like you were trapped and stuck with me,” I admit.
“Never. I will admit that it’s been one hell of a learning curve, and being mated to you all, one after another, is mind blowing. But I’m happy with you and the others, and most of all, I’m relieved that you’re free from Emer and you can be with me.”
I sense a thread of worry, and I pull back to gaze into her beautiful gray eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“You do want to be with me, right? You’re okay with your magic going AWOL and choosing me?”
My cheeks hurt from how big my smile spreads. “Of course I am. The Fates brought you to me before I even knew I needed you in my life. You are the best thing to ever happen to me,” I say as I cup her face and gently kiss her. “I’ll see you soon, and we’ll all celebrate my freedom from the Elverson debacle and Lynx and Knots' memories being restored. This will all be just a bad memory,” I promise as I hear the moody Door Knight himself down the hall.
“Keep it up, fur ball, and I will make you into a pair of boots as soon as you get your memory back,” Knots threatens.
Rez laughs as she leans against me. “Or a funny memory to bring up down the road.”
“Or that too.” I chuckle as I grab her hand and guide her back to the group, where Lucifer stands with the rest of my family.
It’s amazing to look at everyone here and consider them all family. At the beginning of the school year, I kept to myself and only thought of what I could do to receive Lilith’s approval. Now though, Rez has crashed into me with the force of the Fates and has freed me from the road of loneliness and self destruction I was heading down. If I had continued upon it, I’m pretty sure I would have ostracized myself from my entire family and not have even seen it coming.
“All ready?” Lucifer asks, glancing over our small group. I nod and give Rez another kiss before stepping away.
“Hopefully, we’ll meet up with you in a few hours,” Lucifer calls out and walks out the door with our small entourage following.
The red sun is barely grazing the horizon as we walk down the path from L.A.M.B.’s. mansion to the black iron gate surrounding the premises. We follow the path down to the crossroads where instead of going right—toward the market—we go left.
“Where are we going?” Zeke questions as he spins the ring Rez gave him.
“To the Crucible,” Astaroth says as he smiles over his shoulder.
“Why is it that every time you smile, it’s never a good thing?” Ryker states, coming up behind me.
“Because you’re learning,” Astaroth calls back.
“Isn’t a crucible a vessel that’s used to melt extremely hot metals and such?” I ask, wondering how they settled on the name. “Why didn’t you just open a portal like you’ve done in the past?” I ask.
“We tried, sweetie. For some reason, we aren’t able to. So we’re going to the Crucible,” Lilith explains.
