"Your bloodline is both revered and feared, Felicia. Some of magickind dislike the fact that Untouchables are meant to ... balance us. They've been hunted for millennia.
If you hadn't stumbled onto magickind by meeting Duke, it's likely Mathias could have sought you yet failed to find you for years, perhaps for the rest of your life."
The witch's words sank in, and Felicia realized that she didn't regret her current path entirely. As appealing as peace and security sounded, if she had married Mason and settled into comfortable suburban life, did it follow that she would have been happy? If she hadn't come on this whirlwind journey, she would have never really known Hurstgrove. He might be too frightening to love ... but he was too fascinating to regret.
"Thank you for that."
Sabelle nodded. "I have more details about them, names, biographical history, locations of graves, if you ever want them."
In Felicia's estimation, the witch was part psychic, part angel. "I will. But right now, we must deal with the immediate issue. Hurstgrove's signature."
"Yes, of course. I can't honestly tell you if sex with Duke will make a difference in that respect. But I think it will in other ways. His ability to protect you increases when he has adequate energy, for instance."
"And he wouldn't go to a ... surrogate?" The thought of enduring that again agonized her.
"No. A mated wizard never chooses that option unless he must. Not only that, if you and Duke cemented your bond, you would be more prepared to work as a team through the danger. Ice and I had our share of troubles whilst running from Mathias with the diary. But now that we've completely bonded, I swear sometimes I know exactly what he's feeling and thinking, though I can't read him the way I can others."
Felicia believed that. Since exchanging vows with Hurstgrove, she'd felt an invisible thread tugging her insistently in his direction. Even now, she knew he prowled the perimeter of the caves, restless desire filling him. How was such knowledge possible?
"Do mates usually ... love each other, the words of the bond aside?"
"Deeply. There are exceptions, but it's rare."
Sabelle's answer struck a chord of fear in her chest. Felicia had mated with Hurstgrove for a "rare" reason. Did that mean she might possibly be one of the exceptions to the whole love business? But was she willing to bet her heart on that? "Thank you. I must decide what to do quickly."
"Only you can." Sabelle patted her shoulder. "I know you've only known me a handful of hours, but I'm here if you need to bend my ear some more."
"Thank you for everything." Felicia bit her lip. "But I must ask for one more favor. Merlin's books about Morganna's tomb--"
"I'm ahead of you. Whilst reading for anything about Untouchables, I've been skimming for mentions of the tomb. I've set aside a couple that I believe contain relevant passages. But they require closer scrutiny. He was brilliant but not orderly. I'll continue searching, but if you'd like to start reading--"
"I would. I need to see what I'm up against. Hurstgrove will try to stop me, no doubt, but I'm certain we won't be able to avoid that tomb forever."
Sabelle nodded sagely and rose. "I'll show you where to find them."
As she followed the witch back to the cave being used as an office, Sydney stood in the open door. "Where do you want this for safekeeping? And which of us will take it?"
It was a book with a slightly battered red cover and yellowing pages. An intricate pattern of rubies adorned the cover, raised and dazzling. And worth a serious fortune.
"What is that?" Felicia asked.
"The Doomsday Diary." Sydney held up the book.
"Notice the symbol all decked out in rubies on the front?" Olivia pointed out.
"The letter underneath is an M. The piece that locks it is the L. My great-great grandmother believed in bling."
Felicia felt her jaw drop. "Morganna le Fay was--"
"Yep. Don't I have a fun family tree?" Olivia quipped.
Stepping closer to Sydney, Felicia reached for the book. Thinking better of it, she looked back at Olivia and Sabelle. "May I?"
The two women glanced at each other and shrugged. "Have a look."
A sense of electricity overcame her when she grabbed it. Not that she felt magic from the book. But to think she was holding a piece of ancient history that most humans would never know of ...
"Why have you sacrificed everything to protect this book? Is it worth that much money?"
"It's more critical than mere money," Sabelle said. "It grants wishes."
Felicia stared at her, then the book. "Wishes? Like click your heels together three times and ... ?"
"Not exactly, but not far off." The gorgeous blonde cocked her head to one side with a considering look. "Open it. I'm curious what you'll see."
Shrugging, Felicia gripped the binding and opened the front cover. Immediately, she saw a very bold script, old, angry. She skimmed the words. "A curse?"
"You can read that?" Olivia's mouth dropped open.
"It's right here." Felicia pointed.
"Not for us," Marrok's mate said. "Magic erases the ink from our view once the wish comes true. That curse was one Morganna put on Marrok a millennium and a half ago. Once it was broken, he could no longer see the words."
Felicia flipped ahead, skimming. "The curse's end is visible on the following page."
"Um ..." Sydney said. "Maybe you could skip a few pages there that I--"
"Too late." Felicia grinned. "You have quite the imagination."
Sydney flushed pink. "It worked."
"I can see why you caught your man. He must be quite happy."
The redhead laughed. "I like to think so."
Felicia turned another page and read again, before casting a gaze to Sabelle. "It truly must grant wishes. Ice is whole, alive, and with you."
The witch nodded. "I wrote in the diary when Mathias had captured Ice. I didn't know what else to do. The moment Ice reappeared beside me was one of the happiest of my life."
"Why doesn't someone just write in the book to bring Tynan back, if this grants wishes? Or kill Mathias. Clearly, I can't, but ..."
Sabelle sighed. "It's not that simple. The book has idiosyncrasies. One is that the person writing the wish must be female. It won't respond to a man at all. Their ink simply disappears off the page."
"Believe me," Olivia added. "Marrok tried."
Felicia winced. "I could tell."
Olivia snickered.
"The second catch is that the wish must be the writer's fondest, something she wants with all her heart," Sabelle supplied. "A wish she somewhat hopes will come true won't suffice."
"And saving Tynan is no one's fondest wish?" Felicia grappled with the concept.
"Oh, we very much like him," Sabelle rushed to answer.
"Absolutely," Sydney added. "Tynan is smart and brave."
"Marrok says he's a workhorse," Olivia tossed in. "But the diary only works when you really, really care about the person in your wish."
"I see." The book's methodology dawned on Felicia. She felt sorry for Tynan.
"Since the woman who loved him is gone ..."
"Mathias murdered Auropha," Sabelle said. "The rest of us have spent enough time with the diary to know its limitations."
Kari sniffed. "It makes me so damn sad. Tynan has been a great friend to me. A shoulder to lean on. But as much as I care about him, when I tried to write in the book once for his happiness, my wish was ignored. I don't think this time would be any different."
Amazing. Magic so vast and complex, reaching across the centuries and looking into a woman's heart. Morganna le Fay might have been a total bitch, but she was clearly talented.
"What about killing Mathias?"
"I don't think killing is in any of our hearts," Sabelle said. "No matter how much we'd all like Mathias dead."
Which made complete sense.
Flipping through the book a bit more, Felicia found page after blank yellowing page. Until near the end.
She lifted her head to Sabelle. "Emma ... isn't she Bram's missing mate?"
Everyone froze. Bram's sister stepped closer.
"She is. Do you see something?"
Felicia nodded and pointed to the page in front of her. "She wished for Bram to be unable to find her."
The women all looked at each other, stunned. Apparently this was news to them, and not of the good sort.
"What exactly does it say?" Sabelle asked with a worried frown.
Looking down at the page, Felicia recited, "'I've made a terrible mistake. Bram Rion has captured my heart and will hate me once he learns what I've done. I will miss him always, but I can't stand to see the betrayal in his eyes. Please make it impossible for him to find me, follow me, track me. If he tries to locate me, confuse him. Frustrate him.
But don't let him near me. I would rather him believe I left him than to know the truth.'"
"Oh God," Sabelle breathed.
"That was her heart's desire." Sydney shook her head in disbelief. "He'll be crushed."
Though Bram had been a thorn in her side, she felt somewhat sorry for him.
"What did she do?"
"Stole the diary from him." Olivia shook her head. "The question is, why?"
"And why did she then give it to my assistant?" Sydney mused aloud.
"All good questions." Kari sighed. "As often as I wanted to rip out Ronan's eyeballs when we first met, the one thing I would never have wanted was to make it impossible for him to find me. He angered me, but I loved him too much to stay away."
Olivia nodded. "I think that's true of all of us with our mates."
"And if you have even a hint of doubt, once those mating words are spoken ..."
"Like cement," Kari agreed.
Their words staggered Felicia. She, too, had been impacted by the Call and her own Binding. But that was magical, so how could it be possible? Or did the words merely reflect what was in her secret heart of hearts?
"Do we tell Bram?" Sydney grimaced.
Olivia wrung her hands. "I don't know what passed between him and Emma in that one night, but--"
"It was profound," Sabelle finished. "I've never seen my brother like this. He was always snappy, on top of life, and happy for virtually any energy source. Now ..."
"Won't he want to know that it's her conscience, not her heart, keeping her from him?" Felicia asked.
Sabelle hesitated, then nodded. "Knowing this will kill him, but I don't think it would be fair to withhold the information. He should--"
A series of gongs and bells interrupted Sabelle. The witch frowned. In fact, all the women did.
"What is it?" Felicia asked, her senses on alert. "Trouble? Should we flee?"
"No," Sabelle was quick to assure her. "It's Anka."
"Lucan's former mate?" Felicia asked.
"Precisely. She'd never come here unless something was terribly important."
The blond witch darted from the room and headed up the stairs. A few moments later, she appeared with another woman. Gorgeous. Centerfold dimensions. Pouting red mouth. Pale ringlets any red-blooded man would love to sink his hands into. Large breasts, tiny waist, lush hips, flawless golden skin. Felicia had always been termed classically pretty. This woman stopped traffic. If Anka hadn't looked so anguished, Felicia would have hated her on sight.
"Hello," she addressed everyone nervously, her gaze skittering over the other women. Then Anka looked her way. "Oh. Oh my ... Are you with Lucan?"
Anka's expression made it clear that even asking the question pained her. Felicia's heart broke for the witch, who clearly had feelings for her former mate. So why was she with Shock?
"No. I'm ... um, mated with Hurstgrove."
"Who?" Lucan's former mate asked.
"Duke," Sabelle supplied.
"Indeed." The relief on Anka's face was palpable. Felicia wanted to tell the woman that Lucan still loved her. But clearly more stood between them than their feelings.
Anka peered at the space around her. "You have no signature."
"Because I'm an--"
"Is something troubling you, Anka?" Sabelle cut in, then sent Felicia a quick glare.
Right, then. Sabelle wanted to keep the Untouchable thing mum.
"No." Anka shook her head. She appeared teary, disoriented. "Where is Bram?"
Sabelle hesitated. "Out with all the others. Except Duke. He and Felicia mated earlier tonight."
Surprised skittered across Anka's face. "He's let you out of bed already? When Lucan and I mated, I don't think I saw daylight for nearly a week."
Dear God. Surprise coiled through Felicia--along with a jolt of heat. Was that a figure of speech or did being magical give them ... other abilities? That had never occurred to her. Thinking about it now made her blush twenty shades of red.
"It's been a hectic night," Sabelle segued back to the subject at hand. "You know that Shock took Tynan to Mathias earlier this evening, yes? We're desperately trying to rescue him."
