Chapter 24

 

 

“Heads I kill them, tails I let them live,” I said, balancing a ten pence piece on my fingers as Edison sped across the city, expertly weaving through the streets and flirting with the speed limit.

His car wasn’t like Dean’s—normal to blend in. It was bright, shiny silver, smooth and sleek, and definitely had a fancy make and model that would have meant something to someone who loved cars. I liked the zoooom feeling of it, but getting in the damn thing was a nightmare. Why did a car need to be so close to the ground? These things must have been invented by paparazzi for upskirt photos; there was no other explanation.

“I vote heads,” Edison said, his grip loose on the steering wheel and his posture relaxed, confident.

I was leaning that way, too. Catalina, Wednesday, and Vasa seemed so nice, and so fun. But they’d only befriended me to drag me into their Discard Society nonsense, and I honestly had enough going on right now without adding in a secret society.

I blew out a sigh. See, this is what happened when a woman was crazy successful at her job. Popstars’ fans wanted selfies and autographs. Hitladies’ fans wanted them to overthrow bullshit establishments and change the damn world.

Did I want the trials to be a thing of the past? Yes!

Did I want someone else to do it so I could lounge in bed with my mates all day? Also yes!

The car flew so smoothly, even at crazy rollercoaster speed, that the coin didn’t even wobble where it was balanced on my thumb. I flipped it, watching the nickel-plated steel spin end over end before it landed on the back of my hand. I caught it before it could tumble off, and gave Edison a grin.

“Moment of truth.”

He rolled his dark eyes, tattooed hands steering us down a small road with trees on either side. My stomach flipped and knotted, but I focused on the coin. “Just get on with it.”

I took my hand off the top, revealing… “Tails.”

I slumped in relief. Part of me really didn’t want to kill them; I’d give them a few weeks to redeem themselves and consider forgiving them. If they grovelled enough.

“Maybe some light stabbing?” Edison suggested with a smirk. “I could put a hex on them. Nothing serious.”

“Ooohhhhh,” I breathed, turning sideways to give him a wide-eyed stare. “Can you give them pussy itches? Those are the fucking worst! ”

Edison’s loud laugh filled the tiny car interior, his eyes creasing and shoulders shaking. “I don’t think there’s an incantation for that, Blossom.”

“I’ll invent one, then,” I decided with a nod. “Wait, what do you mean incantation? I’ve never heard anyone say any magic words.”

The look Edison shot me as he stopped at a red light was … deeply confused. “Witches only need to say them when they’re starting out. Most of us just think them.”

His eyes sharpened. “Have you been pulling magic without an incantation? Jesus fuck , Rebel, that’s dangerous.”

He dragged both hands down his face, light catching on the signet ring he wore—the Bray ring. I didn’t ask why he still wore it when they’d rejected him.

“This is why your nose keeps bleeding. You’re taking in unfiltered fucking magic.”

“Well how was I supposed to know?” I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest and glaring out the window at the residential road. I once walked into that lamppost over there on the way home from the pub in the nearest village. I squinted at it, warning it not to come for round two. “I’m new to having magic at all.”

Gentle fingers ran through my hair, softening the hot twist of embarrassment in my stomach. “Sorry, Blossom, I didn’t mean to sound judgemental. Forgive me?”

Well, since he asked so pathetically and sounded completely miserable…

I turned from the window and leant across to kiss him, just a chaste brush but one that made my heart skip when he smiled against my lips.

“The light’s green,” I pointed out as his fingers tightened in my hair, pressing my forehead to his.

“I don’t give a shit,” he replied, and kissed my lips. “My mate’s feeling insulted and embarrassed; that’s more important than a red light.”

Ughhhhh, how could he be so sweet? It was making my heart go all erratic and soft.

“Can I interest you,” I said after another soft kiss, “in a quick round of car sex?”

Edison’s breathy laugh caressed my face. His lips pressed to my forehead before he let go.

“Maybe on the way back.” His thumb skimmed my cheekbone in the sweetest gesture. His gentle touches melted all my hard, stabby edges until I was pure fluff. “We need to find out who keeps sending assassins after you.”

His voice changed, feather-softness to razor-sharpness, which did not lessen my interest in a quickie.

A car pulled up behind us and leant heavily on their horn. Edison pressed a button to make the window retract with a whoosh and stuck his middle finger out the window long enough for them to get a good look. With a smirk on his face, he hit the accelerator and we sped off down the road.

“You’re a bastard,” I said, feeling soft-hearted as I ran my fingers through his ice-blond hair. “You know that?”

He slid a slow look in my direction.

“Bastards are my favourite,” I informed him, and kissed the killer edge of his cheekbone. “And you’re my favourite bastard.”

He laughed, but I didn’t miss the way his eyelids fluttered as my kisses travelled down his sharp jaw to the ink on his throat. He was dressed in a sharp black shirt and trousers today, his shoes as shiny as the sea and coming to a deadly point at the front. If they were my shoes, I’d have a secret blade in those sharp points so I could gut people with a single kick. That would be so fun!

“Edison?” I asked, drawing back enough to see his face as he drove.

“Yes, Blossom?” he asked, his body language growing more tense with every mile we drove.

“You know I like you, right? Like a lot. A lottttt.”

He placed a hand on my thigh and squeezed, his thumb caressing patterns over my tights. I’d worn a sexy as fuck black dress, but not because I wanted to look good for all the bastards at our destination. This was officially a date night for me and Edison. Our first trip out. I’d made my eyes smoky and dark and worn a bright red lip, too. The whole nine yards.

“I like you too, Rebel. A lot.”

Eeeeeeep, he was so cuuute! And mine, all mine.

“I know,” I said, sounding as smug as I felt. “You’ve got my name tattooed on you.”

His mouth flickered, but didn’t form a smile, and when I looked away from him, I saw why. We were here.

The scrolling iron gates fell behind us as he drove up the hedge-lined driveway, the obnoxious topiary carved into animal shapes like a grassy zoo. I wasn’t feeling too charitable towards grass after the grassy cube of my trial. The trial that almost killed my Edison.

I gripped his arm, hugging tight, and made a soft sound when his lips pressed to my forehead.

“We’re gonna be fine, Blossom,” he promised. “You’re far more dangerous than anyone in this manor.”

I was deadly with a weapon but … I didn’t know how to use my magic, not really. Apparently it took words. And no one else bled when they used it. So if any of the witches in this ridiculously large house challenged me, I was fucked.

“And anyone who even looks at you wrong will have their eyes melting,” he added. “I might not know how to give someone a pussy itch, but I know some pretty bad magic.”

Edison killed the engine and laid another kiss to my head, squeezing my thigh.

“If anyone looks at you wrong,” I replied, drawing his scent into my lungs, “I’ll rip their intestines out of their belly buttons.”

He shuddered and then laughed. “I’d normally say that’s impossible, but nothing you do would surprise me.”

Another kiss, and then he said the words I knew were coming. “Come on, Blossom. Let’s go see your family.”

I gave Falcon Manor a narrowed glare through the windshield, and knew the second we stepped into its shining halls, blood would be drawn.

I just hoped it would be theirs, not ours.