In the Wake of the Wicked (The Veridian Empire, #1)

by V.B. Lacey

I relearned my old spells without the aid of herbs and charms, relishing the release and thrill of practicing magic based in my very blood. They were simple spells, ones that didn’t require much, but even that was enough to unlock a new part of me. Power soared and coated my veins, unchaining me. I’d been living my life with one hand tied behind my back. But now, I was free.

As the tip of my finger throbbed with heat, I felt that same addictive, tantalizing sensation of every pore, every vein, every cell flooding with power, like a window being thrown open to let in the sun. There was a small crack.

Rose, who was smiling softly into her glass of sparkling wine. “What’s that look for?” I murmured. Trailing a finger along the rim of the glass, she shrugged and said, “This is…nice. Being with you all.” She met my eyes and smiled. “Being with friends.” I would give the world for that smile. It got a little brighter, a little more genuine, with every night we spent together.

“Rose, come on!” Rissa said, waving a hand at her. “We need to find you something to wear.” Rose pretended to look disgruntled as she heaved herself from the cushions, but I saw a smile flash on the corners of her lips. She looked back at me and the grin widened, her nose scrunching with hidden excitement, when Rissa took her hand and hauled her away. “You’re beaming like a fool,” Chaz’s deep voice said from beside me. Was I? “She’s got to you,” he continued smugly. “I knew it.”

When I saw Rose, my lips parted on an exhale. Chaz guffawed. “Like I said. Goner.”

I met his gaze across the dress salon, and everything around us faded. I didn’t know how I felt about the look he was giving me. It was too much but not enough at the same time. His eyes were dark, hot coals, and I was the flame they craved. Even in the middle of the shop with others surrounding us, he made me feel like I was the only person in the room. The only person that mattered.

“Turn around,” he commanded, and I obeyed. I set the mask down and faced the full length mirror, watching as his hand carefully brushed my mass of hair over one shoulder, knuckles kissing the nape of my neck. His fingers trailed down the bare skin at my back, eliciting a shiver through my entire body. He met my stare in the mirror as he found the first button. “Look at you,” he said, lowering his lips to brush the tip of my ear. “So beautiful.” The entire world could have been drowning and I wouldn’t have cared. I was set ablaze, every part of me honed in on his fingers, his chest at my back, his lips grazing my skin.

His stare made my cheeks blush and my breath catch.

But the way he looked at me, the way he called me beautiful…it felt like devotion. A plea for me to see what he saw, to see past the layers of armor I wore like a second skin. He thought I was beautiful. Even after seeing my bitterness, my anger and fear and everything in between. It was…liberating, to be wanted so deeply, despite all of the reasons nobody had wanted me before. Because of those reasons. But more than that was the way he made me believe it could be true. The way he helped me see myself through his eyes. A woman who didn’t have to hide. A woman who could challenge others instead of push them back.

“Is this the one you’ll be wearing to the ball?” he asked, fingering the sheer fabric of the sleeves. I spun to face him and patted his chest. “Maybe. Such a shame you can’t go. I’ll have to find someone else to wear the matching suit.” He gripped my wrist, narrowing his eyes. “Careful, little wolf,” he rumbled, the sound shooting to my core.

I’d enjoyed spending more time with her today. There were so many things about the bright-eyed, exuberant yet level-headed leader that intrigued me. She was an enigma; calm and easy going, full of jokes and laughter. But I’d seen the other side—the calculated Sentinel, the woman who could take charge and bend others to her will with a single sentence. How had she become this fearless figurehead who commanded such respect?

She flushed. “Here I was thinking you were trying to get my brother to fall in love with you, not me.” My heart stuttered, then picked up speed as my body jerked reflexively. “What? I don’t⁠—” “Oh, please,” she said with a smirk. “I can hear your pulse from a mile away.”

In the blink of an eye, her dark irises took on a golden tinge and her human ears lengthened until I was staring at two fox ears on the side of her normal human face. She wiggled them at me.

Leo’s staying quiet. Probably brooding since I took you away from him.” My cheeks heated again and she laughed, turning me so she could lace up the gown. “I haven’t seen him this happy in…I don’t know how long. I think you’re good for him, you know.”

Rissa raised an eyebrow. “You think I don’t notice him sneaking back home at the crack of dawn every morning?” She fixed my hair so it flowed down the side of my neck. “You light a fire in him, Rose. One I haven’t seen in ages. I think my little brother is so used to being the protector that he sometimes forgets how to live his life outside of that role. He’s become jaded and cynical, with a one-track mind. But lately, he’s been like his younger self. More present. He gets along better with everyone and even makes jokes. A little irritable, sure”—we both laughed at that—“but he’s finally passionate about something other than the mission.”

“But think about this. If none of this existed, no rebellion, no tournament, no divisive provinces and hundreds of miles between you…would you want to be with him?” My jaw shifted. What was I supposed to say? That Leo was the first man to see beneath my armor? That he made me feel valued and cherished and desirable and protected, all at the same time? I’d spent my entire life hiding from emotions like this, and yet in mere weeks, he’d uncovered my angry, smothered heart and showed me how to make it feel joy.

Imagining anything but Feywood and the shop felt futile. Except sometimes… Sometimes I wanted more. In those brief moments of solitude, those stolen breaths between the expected and ordinary. I wanted freedom. Freedom from the past that weighed me down like an anchor. Freedom from the shadowed reputation I couldn’t seem to run from. I wanted purpose. I wanted my work, my magic, my voice, to mean something, even if it was just to myself. And perhaps…I wanted him, too.

I took it one day, one night, one flirtatious smile at a time. Nothing more. Because in the end, I was still keeping secrets from him. From everyone. I was the rose with thorns on the vine. I was the one with hidden secrets, the deceitful tongue, the poison the Oracle had spoken of. Anything in my path was likely to be struck. How could I expect Leo to want me once he found out the truth? That despite his vulnerability and trust in me, I’d still lied to him?

do you like the dress? Is this the one?” I faced the mirror, twisting my hair into a bun and assessing my reflection. It was a beautiful dress. The silver vines and flowers on the black fabric made it look like something out of a dark fairytale. But in the mirror, another dress caught my eye. It was cast aside from the others, as if an afterthought. Discarded. Unwanted. My lips curved upward. I nodded my head to the shadowed corner where it lay tossed over a stack of boxes. A matching mask rested on the ground beside it. “That’s the one.” She followed my gaze, then looked back at me with a feral grin. “Perfect.”

But somehow, I was still falling. I had been since the moment I found her in that dark alcove. I swallowed hard, taking in her words and the truth behind what she said. “You would condemn the world for the sake of one man?” “I know. I know it’s wrong,” she murmured, drawing nearer. Her breath was warm on my neck, the scent of lavender and sage enveloping me. The forest faded around us as she reached out to brush aside the lock of hair that had fallen over my eye. I caught her wrist, and her fierce gaze snapped up. “But I don’t care.” She grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me to her, crashing her lips into mine.

This kiss wasn’t timid. It wasn’t hesitant, like two beings scared to learn one another for the first time, afraid to lose themselves or push too far. This kiss was my annihilation. The tearing down of everything I’d known before. The second I held her in my arms, the second I tasted her, the damage was done. My anger, betrayal, desire, dread, and passion collided and fractured as my fingers wound in her hair, a groan of relief vibrating between our bodies.

This kiss was my destruction. My downfall. But if this was falling, I...

I raised my tail and wound it around her wrists, yanking them away from me and holding them above her head, pressed into the tree trunk. She blinked, her chest heaving. “I—I don’t⁠—” I silenced her with another kiss. My Shifter half emerged against my will, summoned by my adrenaline, and I was flooded with so much of her that it almost brought me to my knees.

“No more lies. No more secrets. Only us.” “Only us,” I agreed softly. “You don’t have to be scared with me, Rose. I want all of you.” I placed a kiss on her jaw. “Every piece you keep tucked away”—my lips skimmed her neck—“every part you think is too dark”—I kissed the edge of her lips—“I want it all.”

“You are so beautiful,” I said, voice gravelly as I tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. She caught my hand and held it to her face. “Kiss me, Leo.”

If the first kiss was my destruction, this was my creation. My entire being centered on this single moment, forging what was broken into something whole. I craved her like the night craved the dawn.

I was hers. Completely, utterly, wholly hers.

“I’ll be your distraction, if that’s what you need. But I also want to be your peace. I want to be the thing that tethers you when you feel your world crumbling.” I rested my hand on his heart, feeling its wild beats. “Take what you need tonight, but I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” His eyes softened as he tucked away a lock of hair that whipped across my face in the wind. “All I need is you.”

I covered his hand with mine and kissed his palm, mapping the lines on it with the tip of my finger. His skin was smooth yet rough at the same time. Soft and calloused. Strong and gentle. Much like him. I pressed my palm flush to his, marveling at how we fit so well together, his hard edges to my soft curves. At the fact that this man wanted me.

There was another way out of this curse. There had to be. And I would burn the world down to find it.

He put his forehead to mine and breathed out. “I don’t like this,” he said. I laughed softly. “Is the big, bad half Shifter worried about me?” He kissed my cheek, stealing the humor and replacing it with a heavy warmth deep in my chest. “You have no idea. I become a useless wreck every time I know you’re with him. Every time I know I can’t help you if something goes wrong.” A dry chuckle left his throat. “Chaz called me a stalker last time.”

“He represented something I didn’t think I’d ever have again. He could tell me about my father, about his life before me, his dreams and passions and talents. And when I found out about the blood magic…it gave me a sense of purpose. Power. I’d always been told it was this monstrous, evil magic that corrupted you and broke every law of nature.” I pressed my lips together. “Maybe it is, in some ways. But he made me think about it differently. And maybe…maybe not everything is so black and white. Good or evil. I think all magic can have a bit of both in it. Fates, people can have a bit of both.”

I’d always thought my freedom relied on keeping myself untethered, on fading touches and distant words that meant nothing. But I’d never known such freedom and peace as I did when I finally let someone in.

It was as if all my pain, all my guilt and confusion and the shadows that were bottled inside of me no longer weighed as much as they once did. Leo was there to share it with me. When the dark thoughts pushed at my mind, when memories of my father or moments of self-loathing and anger threatened to pull me under, I didn’t shove them beneath the surface as I so often did in the past. There was someone who cared, someone who wanted to know every last part of me.

I wanted to know him, too. More than I’d ever wanted anything. I wanted to cut through the fabric of his heart and mind to carve out a spot for myself so he would always know he had someone who saw him, who desperately craved his lig...

Arowyn leaned forward and snatched the bottle. “To our last night of normalcy,” she toasted, then took a swig. I laughed along with Nox, the sound unfamiliar to my ears after being tucked away for so many days. Perhaps moments like this would be worth having to say goodbye.

“That was Arowyn and Nox. You have nothing to worry about.” Recognition lit in his eyes at the names. “I didn’t realize Nox was so…pretty,” he said grudgingly. “Not my type,” I said with a wink. “I prefer my men tortured and brooding. And with tails,” I added, then tapped my lip. “Which Nox might have, actually.” With his hands at my waist, Leo pulled me closer. “You’re incorrigible.” “And I have a feeling that’s your type.”

He laughed and took a breath. “So these ideas of yours. Where do we start?” “Well, are you up for some light reading?” “The night is young. Put me to work, little wolf.”

“Now,” Nox started, clearing his throat. “We’re all in agreement that after tonight, we go back to being enemies?” “Obviously,” Arowyn said. “How else am I going to beat the two of you in the third trial?” I turned to straighten Nox’s lapel. “Of course. I can’t stand you anyway.” He scowled and gripped both my hand and Arowyn’s, forcing us into twirls in front of him. “At least the pair of you keep me humble.”

I fumbled at my head with the thin strand of ribbon on my gold, serpentine mask. “Allow me,” a deep, familiar voice said at my back, before warm hands covered mine. My heart jolted. “Leo,” I breathed out as he tied the mask in place. “What are you doing here?” He ran his fingers along the exposed skin at the back of my neck, then replaced them with his lips. “I wanted to surprise you.” I twirled to face him and found myself staring into dark eyes surrounded by a simple but elegant black mask, complementing his black jacket and white dress shirt. “What if you're caught?” “It’s a masquerade,” he said with a smirk, motioning to his mask. “And Horace said he would hold an illusion over me. That’s the only way I could convince Rissa it was safe to come. Nobody will know who I am.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” I confessed.

“I love our nights tucked away together, but I want just one where we don’t have to keep it a secret. You’re not meant to be hidden in the dark, little wolf, but adored in the light.”

My breath caught in my throat. His dark eyes glittered with the depth of his feelings for me. It was a look I wished I could freeze on his features for eternity.

I didn’t want to think about her competing in the third trial so soon, of her being out of reach, surrounded by people she couldn’t trust, facing magic she hadn’t been prepared for…it made a fear I’d only reserved for Rissa and my mother grip me.

Fear for her safety, and fear for what these emotions meant. For how much I wanted her.

She gave me a light smirk, the one that made my skin heat.

“Do you remember,” I said as we swept across the dance floor, “that morning in the alcove?” She nodded, her eyes never leaving mine. “I recognized you the moment I saw you. The Alchemist from the forest. I remember wondering what could have made that same fierce goddess appear so…” “Weak?” she interjected when I paused. “No, Rose. I don’t think you’ve ever been weak.” I twirled her in time to the music, and she spun back into me. “I was going to say lost. And afraid. All I wanted was to take that fear from you. To see you light up the way you do now. To hold you like this”—I pressed my forehead to hers as we moved—“and tell you that you weren’t alone. That I was lost, too. I didn’t even know your name, but still, I wanted you then.” Her breath hitched when I tightened my grip around her hand. “And when you broke into my house⁠—” She scoffed softly. “I didn’t break in.” A chuckle rumbled through my chest. “So stubborn.” When I saw her red lips twist into a smile and her green eyes sparkle, all thoughts left my mind. “So beautiful,” I said, the words leaving my mouth unbidden as my thumb brushed her jaw.

I smiled and dragged a finger along the edge of her mask, skimming her cheek. “Not even you can stop fate, little wolf.” Her features tightened. “Watch me.” My eyes stayed trained on her lips, captivated by them. By her. That ferocity inside I loved so much.

“And I’m scared of you,” I confessed. Eyes wide, she said, “Of me?” My brow furrowed as I took her in. “All my life, I’ve been driven by a singular purpose. Steady, unyielding resolve. But you…you have consumed me, Rose. My every thought, my every breath.” I brought her hand up to gently kiss her palm, then her wrist. “I’ve placed all of myself into your hands, and that’s a beautiful, terrifying thing.”

“I’ve already chosen to love you, Rose Wolff. Beyond sense, beyond reason. There is no part of you I do not choose.”