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Her eyes met mine, searching for any sign of uncertainty. “It will be covered once we are done.”
“And I said to pay it no mind.” I’d be damned if I let Blackbeard fuck with my life yet again. I should have flayed his brand from my skin years ago.
“As you wish.” Tiger Lily took a deep, centering breath and began again. “Blood and bone,” she spoke the words while simultaneously slicing the razor-sharp claw down from the crook of my elbow to my wrist. I groaned at the searing pain. “Ink and skin,” she said, pouring the colored bowls she had enchanted only moments ago over my now bleeding wound. “Memories held within.” Tiger Lily’s eyes rolled back, and her head followed suit, flopping back at an unnatural angle. Her arms seemed to move of their own accord. With the raven’s claw still in hand, she began to draw. The sharp point dug into my skin painfully, pooling in a mess of color and blood. “In skin and soul, let them entwine. This is his will; hear me, Divine.” The raven’s claw dropped from her grasp, echoing around us in the deafening silence. Tiger Lily’s head returned to its normal position.
Excruciating pain consumed me as memories flooded my mind. My birth, my parents, the night Peter first took me to Neverland, the first time I tried to fly with faerie dust. Everything I had previously forgotten came crashing down as my life flashed before my eyes. The searing pain in my head was unbearable, like my skull was about to split in two. Surely, I was about to die in agony. It all became too much, and I collapsed into Tiger Lily’s arms.
“So shall it be.” An otherworldly voice spoke, and I couldn’t be sure if it were all in my head as I sunk deeper into the abyss, darkness consuming me.
“Jas,” Tiger Lily whispered, stroking my forehead. My head was cradled in her lap, and I was laid out before her.
Katherine tenderly wiped the tears from my eyes while holding my hand, concern plastered on her face.
“It is done.” Tiger Lily sprinkled faerie dust over the bloody mess of my forearm before wiping it clean.
There, emblazoned on my arm, obscuring Edward’s brand, was a beautifully animated tattoo. A grotesque anatomical heart. The aubergine and crimson muscle was encased in root-like arteries that sprouted out the top like some kind of visceral tree. Three swords pierced the vessel, a visual representation of the past, present, and future. Dripping from the center sword, in time with the beating of my own heart, was a drop of aubergine-colored blood.
“As long as your heart beats, the enchantment will hold fast. Your memories are now sewn permanently into the very fabric of your soul.”
“James, are you okay? You passed out.” Kat turned to Tiger Lily. “Can we please get him something to drink?”
“Katherine, I’m fine. Just a little…disoriented.” I sat up, pinching the bridge of my nose. My head hurt, and my heart ached. I hadn’t taken into consideration how much of my childhood I had forgotten during the countless years I’d spent in Neverland. How much those memories would affect me here, now. I needed to dull their rawness and get my focus back on Peter. We still had a mission to accomplish before we left the village and Tiger Lily had made it effortless. “Maybe some mead… to clear my head?”
Katherine squeezed my hand in acknowledgment, keeping her face stoic.
“Guard!” Tiger Lily called out as she stood, straightening out her clothing. “Get Jas a bottle of my finest mead and see them on their way.” She reached for my hand and helped pull me to my feet. “Please forgive my quick exit. I have obligations on which to attend.”
“Thank you, Princess. I’m at your service, shall the need arise.”
“You haven’t said much about what happened today.” Katherine pushed as she added exactly five drops of the chartreuse poison to the bottle of Tiger Lily’s mead.
“What do you want me to say? It wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience. I relived every single moment of my life in a matter of mere minutes. I had forgotten the entirety of my childhood while here in Neverland for the first time. I didn’t even realize those memories were gone.”
“Did you remember things you would have preferred stayed lost?”
“Life is difficult and often shrouded in shadows, Katherine. You know this all too well yourself. But we must seek our darkness and revel in it, or we’ll never know where to shine the light. My journey has never been an easy one. It’s molded me into the man I am today. I will never regret my decision to protect my memories.”
“So… do you still want to deliver this bottle to Peter?”
I laughed maniacally. “Are you serious? Do you think I remembered something that would change my mind?”
“I mean, I guess it is possible that a memory shifted your thoughts.”
“I won’t rest until that ungrateful little shit is dead.”
“Do you think she fancies you?” Kat asked, completely changing the subject.
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “Are you jealous? Of Tiger Lily?”
“I’m not jealous.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“She seemed awfully comfortable eyeing your ‘grown’ physique, is all.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, and I loved it. “Tiger Lily does not interest me.” I made my way over to her, hugging her from behind and nuzzling in by her ear. My love for you is like no other.” I allowed my hands to wander over her delicious curves. “I only have eyes for you.”
Katherine spun around to face me. “This,” she grabbed my cock, “belongs to me. Only me.”
