Gold: A Bandia Novel Part 28

Austin takes my hand and leads me through the church, past Liam and Sherri, past Sam and Mick. Austin's gait is smooth and graceful considering the beating he took. Braden holds the door open for us and winks at Austin as we walk across the threshold.

I glance up at Austin as we get into the car. Dried blood still stains his chin, but there's no sign of the cut on his lip. Both his eyes are open and clear. The bruising on his face is already faded to a light shade of brown, and getting lighter. I bring my finger to his cheek just as the last of his injuries disappear.

"How did you do that?"

"Magic." He laces his fingers with mine. "Either Joe is really p.i.s.sed at Liam or he wants to make sure that I'm at the Gathering. He gave me access to my power."

"I don't understand." Joe gave Austin access to his power? How? Joe is a freaking historian.

The car doors open, and Mikel slides into the back seat with us. Joe and Samuel take the front.

"Where's Braden?" I ask.

"You see room for a b.l.o.o.d.y waterhorse?"

"Watch it, Mick." Sam turns around to face us. "That bloke is my charge."

Mick waves him off. "Don't look at me. I'm not the one who returned magic to a sodding G.o.d."

Joe puts the key in the ignition. "Don't think you can call him a G.o.d anymore."

Mick snorts from the seat next to us.

Austin squeezes my hand.

"What the h.e.l.l just happened?" I look at the four boys in the car.

"Joe restored Austin's powers," Mick says. "It's our job to keep the balance, and Liam had too d.a.m.n much power."

I try to process this. "Just what kind of magic do you guys have?"

"We have only what we need," Joe says from the front seat. "When we need it."

Austin laughs. "I don't know whether to love you or hate you."

Joe stares at the road. "It's not my concern."

Mick takes my hand and squeezes it. It dawns on me what Austin meant when he said that Joe wanted to ensure he was at the Gathering. Austin has his powers back. He won't be able to ignore the call to the Gathering. Austin is back on the front lines of the war whether he wants to be or not.

In this case, restoring the balance means arming a soldier for battle.

I don't say anything as we drive the rest of the way to Lorcan. The place has already been cleaned up inside. The table in the front entry even has a new vase on it, complete with fresh flowers.

Austin doesn't let go of my hand as he leads me down the hall and up the stairs. He doesn't stop until we are inside his room with the door shut and locked behind us.

He turns to face me. "What the h.e.l.l were you thinking coming after me like that?"

I push against his shoulders. "That I couldn't let them hurt you?"

"And you were going to stop them how?" Austin raises his voice. "With logic and reason?"

"I had a sword. You taught me how to use it. I didn't realize I was supposed sit back and let them kill you." Not that I ever could.

The little creases between his eyebrows are back. "It helps no one if we're both dead."

"Stop acting like a whiny, domineering G.o.d. Just because you got your powers back doesn't mean you can start bossing me around."

"Is that what you think I'm doing?"

"Aren't you?"

"Maybe." He flops down on the leather couch, still dressed in only his underwear. "Since when do you care what happens to me?"

I feel caged. Trapped. "What?"

He shakes his head. "I'm the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that got you to kill your boyfriend, remember?"

"Why are you bringing this up?" Is he going to do this now? He has to know that things have changed between us. Of course he does. He's told me he loves me, and we both know that I haven't exactly reciprocated. He wants to force my hand.

"You tried to kill me yourself. Now you want to save me?" Austin's eyes are pained, accusing. "You can't help me anymore. Your powers are gone. You need to get out of here while you still can."

"I won't let you fight by yourself." The words come easily. Why can't I just admit that what I feel for him is something more than like. More than l.u.s.t.

"That's the stupidest thing you've ever said." Austin's face turns haughty. He looks every bit the obnoxious G.o.d I used to loathe. "I've got powers now. I'll be fine. You won't survive five minutes."

"I won't leave you."

"Why not, Brianna?" Austin is on his feet again, stalking me like a predator. I back up until the wall stops me. He keeps coming, closer, until his bare chest nearly touches me. "Why won't you leave me?"

I reach up to rub away the dried blood that still sticks to his chin.

"Why?" he asks again.

I know what he wants, but I can't give it to him. I care about Austin. I want to be with him. These last few weeks have been perfect. Can't that be enough? At least for now? "Don't make me say it."

I stretch up to kiss him, and he kisses me back, pressing me into the wall. Into him. His tongue thrusts into my mouth with a force that steals my breath.

"G.o.d, Brianna," he says, his breath hot in my ear. He licks a line of kisses down my neck and along my collarbone, pushing a gauzy sleeve off my shoulder. "You were magnificent. I've never seen anyone, human or G.o.d, act so brave."

"I thought-"

"Shh." He lifts his head and meets my gaze. "I didn't get this chance at life so I could watch you die Brianna. Don't take chances with your life for mine."

"I'm not letting you go to the Gathering by yourself."

"Tomorrow, and tomorrow and tomorrow." He slides the sleeve of the dress from my other shoulders, baring me to him. "We have all of tonight before we need to worry about tomorrow. I've waited over a thousand years for these moments with you, and I do not plan on wasting a second." His lips blaze a trail to my breast.

I tangle my hands in his hair and pull him closer.

I can't give him the words, but I can give him tonight. For now, it's enough for both of us.

FORTY-EIGHT.

In the morning, Mick greets me in the kitchen with a steaming mug of coffee. I walk past him and pour a cup of tea.

He pushes the mug at me again. "But I made it with the steamed milk you always say you miss. And some vanilla syrup."

I place a lump of sugar into the tea and stir. "You've been pushing tea on me since I got here. I'm kind of used to it now."

Mick lifts the corners of his lips in that almost smile. "So I guess bribery is out."

"Since when do you need to bribe me?"

He sits down at the counter across from me. "What if I told you there was a way to stop the war? To prevent the battle that Liam has planned from ever going forward?"

"I'm listening."

"Last night, Joe told me about a bandia and a Son of Killian who bonded, and lived to tell about it." He raises his eyebrows at me.

Me and Blake. "It's old news."

"That's never happened before. The bond always ends in death. Always."

"Didn't Joe tell you that part? It did. End in death, I mean."

Mick shakes his head. "It should've ended there. In the normal course of things. By the end, the bandia and the Son want the other one dead. They pray for it. But you brought him back. Even after sharing a soul, you cared enough about the son of a b.i.t.c.h to bring him back."

"It doesn't mean anything."

"It means everything."

"You're losing me."

Mick picks one of the sugar cubes out of the bowl and turns it over in his hand. "The point of the bandia's curse was that the Sons and bandia could never really love each other. They could feel only feel l.u.s.t."

"Loost?"

He laughs at my bad translation of his accent. "Attraction. Not love."

"Got it." I sip my tea. "Been there. Done that."

"You and Blake. You didn't grow to hate each other. You grew to care for each other. It's the only explanation."

My teacup clatters against the saucer as I set it down. "We weren't in love."

"But your souls didn't try to overpower each other either. You had something more. You broke the curse. Together, you could change everything."

"What are you saying?"

"That you and Blake, if you gave it a chance, you could break the curse and end the war."

"I love Austin." The words come so easily in the light of day.

Mick closes his fist around the sugar cube, crushing it into powder. "I love him too." When he looks at me his eyes are wet. "But this is bigger than him. You can stop the bloodshed. You cared for Blake once. Enough to keep the soul bond from eating you alive. That is the most powerful magic I know."

"No." I meant it when I said I wouldn't leave Austin. I want to spend my life, whatever's left of it, with him. "If you care about Austin, you won't ask me do this."

"Just consider it. Joe is not wrong about things like this."

I walk out of the kitchen without looking back.

Austin waits on the other side of the door. His face is a mask of indifference, but the crease between his brow is there.

I bring my hand to his forehead and smooth the crease away. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough."

"Enough to know that it doesn't matter."

He grabs me by the shoulders. "It should. If Mick is right- you could end this. It's what you want."

"You're what I want."

He pulls me to him, holding me against him. "You could stop a b.l.o.o.d.y war."

"I couldn't."

"I don't understand. Mick said-"

"Maybe Blake and I could've beaten the curse at one point. I don't know, but I don't think so. I don't know if you've noticed, but Blake bonded himself to another bandia. And before that, he sent me away, knowing the Sons would try to kill me." I run my fingers in the wild curls at the back of his neck. "And then I found you."

"He would take you back if he could."

"He wouldn't." And I wouldn't have him.

"I would."

"Yeah, but you're a flipping lunatic who doesn't know how to handle his human emotions."

Austin laughs into my neck. And then I kiss the smile right off his face.

We have to find another way.

FORTY-NINE.

Austin and I spend the day like the days before it. We take the horses for a gallop in the large field and race back to the barn. As the last of the light fades into night, we spar with swords near the edge of the bluff.

"Keep you sword up." There's an edge to Austin's coaching tonight. We both know that I have little time left to get it right. The Gathering is tomorrow.