Dark Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 1)

“Keeping a forest illusion up for that long is pretty hard. Especially one that you can feel and smell as well. It drained me, but I’ll be fine in a few days. Did he buy the woodland spell thing?”

I nod slowly, looking over him in disbelief. I didn’t realize the cost of such an illusion or I wouldn’t have asked him to do it.

“He assumed it was the woodland spell without me even mentioning it. Chaz, man, I swear I didn’t know it would do this.”

He smirks while shaking his head. “I’m fine. I messed up a long time ago with Alyssa. I swore I’d always be there for her when I came back. I meant it. As long as that fucker is dead, all is right with the world.”

That has me frowning, and he groans. “Don’t tell me she saved him,” he says, exasperated.

My lips thin, and my silence is his answer.

“What’d she do with him?”

Looking up, the field is barely in immortal sight. “I’m going to find out, and then I’m going to finish it.”

***

GAGE

“Gage!” The familiar feminine voice calling my name has me whirling around, and I see Morgana being forcefully tugged in a line of shackled prisoners that will finally see the right side of bars for all their crimes.

With quick strides, I make my way over to her and use my magic to take her out of the link, reassembling the chains to the prisoner walking behind her.

She throws her arms around my neck, and her lavender scent wafts toward me as I slowly return the embrace. Her hot tears leak through my shirt, and she sobs softly against my chest.

“What happened to him?” she asks through a choked sob.

Sighing, I look around for the only girl who has the answers to that question. Kimber is with Drackus, and it looks like they’re in a heated argument. I guess he’s having the same amount of luck I am.

“He’s still alive, but I can’t let him stay that way.”

She sobs harder, and a fleeting moment of guilt fills me. “You need to get out of here and stay far away from anyone affiliated with Gavin. Understood?”

She leans back, clutching handfuls of my shirt in her fists. “I’ll come with you. I can’t be alone.”

I forgot how fragile she is. “That won’t work. We have a lot of shit to do, and they won’t let just anyone in the circle.”

She frowns up at me. “I never wanted him to be this way, Gage. And he wouldn’t let me leave. I wanted you. I always just loved you, but he cast the Aphrodite spell. Please let me come.”

My heart clenches, but not for the reasons it once would have. In the place of the strong feelings I once had, is nothing more than immense pity and sadness. She simply doesn’t want to be alone.

“The Aphrodite spell is tricky, Morgana. In order for it to work, one of the intended targets has to be in love. And if the other person is in love with someone else, it doesn’t work at all. Believe me, I know.” With a reverent sigh and a freedom from understanding, I offer her a forced smile. “If you had loved me, the spell would have never worked on you.”

I always wondered if he had done that, but I refused to believe he was capable of something like that back then. But if she had loved me, she could have never been forced to love him.

“No,” she whispers. “I know I loved you.”

I look over as Kane and Alyssa kiss each other with all the passion I once envied. That’s real love. What I feel for Kimber… It’s maddening, but it’s real love.

“I need to go, and you need to get out of here. Start over somewhere nice, Morgana. You deserve a break from the darkness.”

“Take me with you,” she pleads, hiccupping against her choking wad of emotions.

Kimber is suddenly beside me, and I notice the blood on her cheek. Immediately I tilt her head back, inspecting the wound.

“It’s not mine,” she says, smiling at me when I scowl at her. “Hedge hugged me, but he had… someone on his chin.”

She tosses her thumb over her shoulder, pointing to her ogre friend from the Somage, and my stomach roils as bile rises to my mouth. I suppose he took this as a buffet night.