Shadow Heart (Cursed Legacies, #2)

by Morgan B. Lee

"Be good for me and rein in your dragon, and perhaps I'll reward you later," I whisper quietly enough that only his shifter hearing will pick it up. He swallows thickly, looking torn between frustration and want. "I need to know who hurt you."

The changeling appears to be panicking, but then it sees me and sneers. "Of course, you don't care how they feel about this. You never cared how Gideon felt about things, either. No wonder he decided it was better to strangle you and be done with it after he popped your cherry."

"I am not fucking ignoring this, and we're not leaving you here alone," I snap. "You promised answers, so tell me all about this Gideon motherfucker."

Seriously, why did my quintet have to be made up almost exclusively of violently unhinged psychopaths?

You're so fucking adorable." She looks appalled. "I am not. Take it back."

Silas studies the dead changeling. "I should harvest its spikes before we go." So. Fucking. Weird.

"Actually, changeling spikes make a great spell ingredient. I'll help." Why did I have to end up with two casters in my quintet? Or at least one caster and…whatever Maven is now.

Chase leers. "I put my whole tongue on her, you huge fucking moron. That's why I'm saying it makes no sense. If she was so completely powerless, then how did she just⁠—" "You licked my mate?" Baelfire roars.

Silently, I wave at Everett to step back. He glowers at me for a long second before moving back so minutely it would be comedic in any other situation.

"I said watch his back. I said they'd go for him. You didn't listen, but now I'm fucking telling you to heal him before he dies of blood loss. And don't you dare get in my way," I snap at Everett.

Terrifying. But in a really hot way.

I clear my throat, which is still hoarse from all the screaming. "Is anyone else turned on right now, or is that just me?"

A snarl rips from my throat. "Don't call yourself that. You're not a bitch." "I punched you," she points out. "So what? I probably deserved it."

He catches me observing him and grumbles, "You need to eat dinner, and I highly doubt your pet lizard can manage cooking tonight." "There's a dining hall," I point out. "The one full of legacies who would try to kill you in a heartbeat? Yeah, that's not happening." I give him a deadpan look. "I just gave you all a front-row seat to the fact that I excel at homicide. Shocking as it may be, picking up food is well within my wheelhouse." But when I turn away, a foot-thick sheet of ice crackles into existence, blocking the front door. Everett hasn't even looked up from digging in the fridge.

When I give him a silently furious look, he sighs and looks away. "I was going to stay in Limbo and see you safely back to the apartment without you seeing me like this, but that vampire chose death by touching you."

I pause when I see Silas asleep on the couch in the nearby TV room. A blanket is haphazardly tossed over him. "Why is he sleeping here? I thought his paranoia prevented that." Baelfire looks at me, then Silas, then back at me like he's trying to decide whether to tell me the truth. "It's nothing. He's fine." "Why wouldn't he be?" I ask more menacingly than I intended. Because if another one of them is hurt, I'm going to snap. Bael glances behind me at Crypt, and I look back just in time to see Crypt shaking his head. He quickly gives me an innocent smile as if he wasn't just telling the dragon shifter to shut up.

"Are the markings all over you?" I open my eyes to give her a seductive grin. "Ask me to strip and find out."

Maven gives me a deadpan look. "Are you really trying to instigate something when your hand is covered in fourth-degree burns?" "Why not? It's not my hand I intend to use."

When I turn back to her, Maven seems deep in thought. I smile. "What is Question Number Two?" "Sexually speaking, are you interested in men?"

If this were a children's cartoon, his eyes would be hearts popping out of his head every time he looks at her.

When Baelfire tries to get Maven to sit on his lap during lunch so he can hand-feed her, I finally can't take it anymore. "That's it. Why the hell can't your lovesick lizard keep it in his pants today? What, did you finally decide to fuck him or something?" I snap. Maven takes another bite of steamed carrots. "Yep."

"Perfect. Let's start with Crypt." The Nightmare Prince flickers into existence right beside her with a twisted smile. "And what exactly are we starting, love?"

I hold up a hand. "Nope. Everyone needs to keep their fucking pants on." Crypt grins. "Unless we want to use this room for an orgy instead." "My vote's with him," Baelfire says, raising his hand.

“I don't even remotely like you, I just⁠—” Maven leans forward and kisses me. Oh, holy gods above. Her lips are so fucking warm. Suddenly, I can't seem to pull her close enough. Her fingers tangle in my hair, and I moan when I feel her slide closer, her chest pressing against mine.

She's like a fucking heater compared to me, and it feels insanely good. I've never held someone like this, but I know I'll be panting after Maven's warmth for the rest of my godsdamned life.

I clear my throat hard and mutter, "Can you, um...could you get off for a moment? I'd like to throw myself out the window now."

Before I can tell her that I'd rather kiss Baelfire's scaly ass than ever let her sleep on the ground, I hear a knock on the door in my office and leave my apartment to go answer it. It's Crypt, and he glares at me like he's envisioning ripping my head off.

He glares at the expensive-ass dreamcatcher hanging just inside the threshold of my office before he holds out a backpack and a strange, round object. "She sleeps with this under her pillow." "What is it?" "None of your damn business, Frost. Just give it to her and know that I'll make you pay later for taking our keeper and her dreams away from me tonight."

"We don't know that. What if I end up being the death of her?" "Then I'll shred your psyche and piece it back together over and over until we both die. Sleep tight."

"Can you wait a second? I'll be right out. I just don't like the idea of you alone in the halls. There are too many psychopaths wandering Everbound right now." Why do they keep saying shit like this? They saw me fight. By now, they should know I'm the biggest danger in this castle. "I'll be fine on my own. Plus, I'm sure the others are already waiting outside.” "Exactly. Psychopaths," he huffs, walking into his room. "Hang on."

He turns back to me, shrugging off his brown jacket. "Wear this. I need my scent on you. Now." Did he just growl at me? I fold my arms. "Let's try that again."

Kenzie looks up with a grin. "If someone's staring at Maven, it's probably because she's so pretty." Luka makes a face. "I can't tell if you're kidding. No offense, it's just she's kind of bland and⁠—" "Close your mouth. If you ever open it around me again, you'll learn what your innards taste like," Crypt drawls.

Kenzie looks at me wide-eyed. "Oh, my gods. And I thought your matches were insane before my little hiatus. This is so cute!"

Crypt materializes beside me a moment later, one elbow resting on the table while he gazes at me dreamily. "Have I mentioned I adore you? I could watch you bare your claws all day."

"If I beat you, will you truly tell us what you are, sangfluir?" "Cross my absent heart."

"Let's do this." "Hang on," Everett mutters, waving Silas over. I raise a brow when they convene—all four of them. It's practically a huddle, and that makes me grin. Are they going to try teaming up against me? That could be entertaining.

"Care for a hand in the shower?" I ask, trying to keep my voice light and teasing. Not pushing is difficult, especially when my cock has been achingly hard all night. My heart flips in on itself when she smirks over her shoulder. "If you're offering."

You see, at their creation, these beings would be assigned one objective to fulfill, typically one of vengeance or justice. And once they fulfilled their purpose, their soul would immediately pass on to the Beyond." The temperature of the classroom drops, which means Frost is just as agitated as I am hearing that Maven might die as soon as she fulfills some unknown purpose.

Crane whirls on Maven, his jaw clenched and crimson eyes severe. "Tell us your purpose." She pauses. "If you're mad because you're stuck with a monster⁠—" "That's not why he's mad," Decimus snaps. "I'm fucking pissed, too, Raincloud, and it's not because of what they made you. All I want to fucking know is what your purpose is so we can stop you from fulfilling it because you passing on is not an option. It's just fucking not. Okay?"

Decimus growls, "Okay, then who did you make the blood oath with if it wasn't that Undead king-of-the-assholes wannabe father of yours?"

Dirk guffaws. "Damn, Maven! Have a heart." A laugh rips from my mouth.

"I'm going to get ready. Could you wake them up for me?" He smirks and slips into Limbo. Half a second later, all three legacies on the bed wake in a blind panic. Everett shouts as spikes of ice bloom around him, Baelfire falls off the bed, and Silas's red magic flares through the room, crashing into one of the walls and knocking off the clock. When Crypt reappears with a wicked smile, I give him a sardonic look. "I meant nicely."

"Welcome to First Placement. Many of you will die today." If she wasn't one of my targets and a selfish monster, I would like her more for leading with that.

"If I lose control in there and begin berserking, you four need to abandon me and run." Crypt snorts. "Good one, love."

I'll be hunting them. They'll be hunting me. It's going to be a viciously bloody mess. But even that knowledge doesn't cheer me up as I stare at Silas, lying unconscious on the bed.