Jules didn’t wake until the day was almost over. It had been an agony just to sit there and will her to wake in time, but it was even more of an agony to watch her once she finally did.
She barely touched the meal Violetta brought her, instead sitting on the window seat to stare out the window at the gathering shadows of night, flinching at every strike of the city’s bells as the hours passed. The slump of her shoulders and the stiff line of her back told him all he needed to know about how she felt. Tension sang from her, almost as loud as the Carnevale celebrations lifting from the streets and plaza below.
Bastien wished he could tell her everything was going to be okay, that despite her thinking she was weak, she was the strongest person he knew, but he couldn’t say any of it. He was still a cat. All he could do was sit on the bed and watch her.
Damn his changes. It was bad enough it took so much out of him, but that it had almost taken down Jules … Even though Tamuel had grabbed him and magicked him away, it hadn’t been fast enough – or far enough away. There hadn’t been time. The magic of his change had already begun to cut into Jules – there had been so much blood – so rather than pull Bastien away, Tamuel had just grabbed him and gone.
The scream that had followed them – hells. He thought he’d killed her. Somehow though, she hadn’t been too badly hurt. Lots of bruises and shallow cuts, the worse one on her forehead from when Tamuel’s translocation magic had hit her that hadn’t even needed stitches. All that magic so close had drained her though, far too much. She looked almost as bad as he felt.
She turned back now to smile at him, face drawn, the bandage on her brow just under her hairline only a little paler than her face.
She touched it. “Please, Bastien. Don’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault.”
He wished he could tell her it wasn’t her fault either. It would have to wait until he changed tonight.
But his change, when it came just before eleven, was brutal.
Afterwards, he needed Tamuel’s help to shower and change and get downstairs, helping him to sit in the chair at the little table outside opposite Jules. Her aura was slow and a little muddy, but not as bad as it was when she woke. Still, she wasn’t herself.
As he ate, Tamuel announced they wouldn’t try for the Forum again tonight. “We have discovered what works to get you into place, Jules, but need to find more information to grab your attention and help keep you in the now.”
“I think it’s good idea,” Violetta said before either he or Jules could protest. “Besides, I think it best if you both preserve your energy. You’re going to need it tomorrow night.”
“I’m fine. If Jules wants to go down and try again, I’ll be ready.” He had to be.
“No, you’re not. You look like shit.”
“Stop trying to baby me,” he snapped to Tamuel with mind-speech. “I won’t let this curse stop me from helping Jules break it.”
Tamuel placed his hand on Bastien’s shoulder, the buzz of power giving Bastien a little boost of energy. “Of course not. But while I can help you with a little boost of power, I cannot do so for Jules. She’s exhausted. She must rest. Surely you can see that in her aura? But she will go down there again if you say you’re okay. We can’t let her do that. Not if we want her to be as strong as possible tomorrow night. Given what’s been happening to you, losing so many hours in your human form, this might be our last chance.”
Bastien fell silent, then said, “Actually, I do feel terrible. Resting up tonight and researching more information sounds good.” He picked up a chop and tore into it.
Jules slipped onto the bench beside him. “Is it really that bad?”
“This is helping,” he said, waving the chop bone.
She cleared her throat but said nothing.
“Eat up, Bastien,” Violetta said briskly. “Then Jules best head upstairs and get a good night’s rest. Bastien, you can do some research for a few hours, but then you need to rest too.”
“That’s my cue to go then,” Tamuel said, standing and grabbing his coat.
“Go where?”
Tamuel’s aura twinkled. “Our success last night helped me pin down where the HeartsBlood Gem is. And it’s probably better I get it tonight than risk waiting until tomorrow. I’d also like to do some prep on the area to make certain everything is as ready as it can be for tomorrow night. Rest up, Bastien. You too, Jules. I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
Jules, at Violetta’s urging, left Bastien to finish his three plates of food in silence and think over everything that had happened so far. Violetta disappeared as well after saying she was off to the Roman Coven to find some more information that covered the magical history of the area around the Forum.
Bastien finished eating and then spent an hour doing research and writing down some notes for Tamuel. But after an hour, he struggled to focus, his gaze returning more often to the stairs. He still had two hours as a human. He didn’t want to spend it alone researching or sleeping. He wanted to talk to Jules now. Needed to talk to her, to touch her one more time as a human before whatever happened tomorrow night.
He made his way upstairs to her room and halted outside.
There was no sound. He pushed the door open.
Soft sounds of her sleeping reached him – she really was exhausted. Even though he ached to talk to her, to hold her one more time before everything changed, he backed out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
* * *
Jules awoke mid-morning, feeling far more refreshed than she had in days. She blinked into the bright sunlight streaming into the room, then sat upright with a gasp.
She’d missed talking to Bastien last night before he changed back into a cat.
She spun. He was on his bed, curled up and fast asleep – he must have come in after his change. She ran her hand over his soft head and down his body – so thin – but he didn’t wake, so she left him alone and went downstairs to prepare food for him.
When he finally padded into the kitchen, she turned with a bright smile on her face. “You’re awake. I’ve made you all your favourites.” She gestured to the table. He gave a grateful meow, leaped up and began to eat.
She continued to cut up more ham. She’d never felt the need to fill the silence with him, but now, suddenly, she couldn’t stand it. “So, Valentine’s Eve tonight. Big one, hey? Maybe by Valentine’s Day, we’ll both get our happy ever afters.” Her face crumpled.
Oh Goddess. What did I say that for?
She tried to pull it together, but it didn’t work. Already, she felt the loss of her best friend in all the world – the one person who wasn’t family who liked her for her. Maybe even loved her for her.
Pain spiked through her head at the thought, but she hid her wince, spinning away from Bastien’s curious gaze. “I need to clean my teeth,” she said and rushed out, sprinting up the stairs and into their room. She went into the bathroom and only then realised she still had the big knife in her hand she’d used to cut the ham. She put it down with a shaky hand and tried to breathe, tried not to vomit, tried to just keep her shit together. But it was so hard.
“Don’t you want to help him?”
“Of course I do. But I’m going to miss him.” She rubbed her chest. “I just wish Bastien could be my forever love, my soulmate— Agh!”
She pushed the base of her palm into her eye where pain stabbed. “Bloody, stupid, idiot, bastard, fuckity-shit curse,” she said, smacking her other fist against the bathroom counter, the sting on her knuckles bright and an almost welcome relief against the throb in her head and the heavy sensation of claustrophobia squeezing around her heart.
“If Clodia wasn’t already dead—"
She looked down at the knife she’d picked up.
“I’ve long wanted to stab that ancient bitch-witch in her cold dead heart.”
Wow, she never realised she had such violent urges. Or were they Lianna’s urges? It was hard to know. How could she trust how she felt about her lo— No. She wasn’t going to think about him.
“Meow?”
She swung around to see Bastien sitting in the doorway, eyes full of her pain. “Don’t,” she said to him, rushing past to stare out the window. She couldn’t face him now – not with this raw, empty hole in her heart. It was like he’d already left her and she was left with … nothing but memories.
But of course, Bastien being Bastien leaped up on the windowsill, rearing up to put his paws on her shoulders and look in her eyes.
“Bastien,” she said, unable to stop from meeting his unblinking gaze. Such beautiful peridot eyes.
Peridot eyes like Seba—!
Pain exploded behind her eyes, her vision fracturing, split between Bastien’s peridot-coloured cat-eyes and a pair of long-lashed almond-shaped eyes, the flashes of gold and emerald in the depths sparking with heat and an eternal passion she dreamed of every night since … since … he’d been taken from her by Clodia and cursed.
“Bastien,” she whispered. “Bas … tien. Bas ... Bas.” Darkness flew towards her and she was falling, falling …
So lonely. She knew there was only a month to go, but she needed Bas now.
Power flared around her and he appeared as if he’d heard her need.
He always came when she needed him.
“Bas.” She held her arms out.
“Lianna,” he said, his deep voice a caress. “My love.”
“I need you.”
“Come.” He wrapped his muscled arms around her, holding her close to his warmth, then transported them away. They landed softly in the bed he’d made for them in a little cottage in the forest. Their clothes were already gone – all except her golden armbands that never came off. His magic tingled against her skin, caressing, making her gasp.
He rolled over her, bare skin sliding against bare skin as his lips took hers. Passion that had simmered for the days she’d been without him flared to vibrant, all-consuming life. Their tongues tangled, his breath becoming hers. His taste – oranges and spice – filled her mouth. She moaned deep in her throat. It was her favourite flavour, essence of Bas. As was his scent – spicy and citrus with a bit of something deeper, like fresh-cut wood.
Her hands dug into the silkiness of his thick black hair as his mouth left hers to explore her neck and shoulders. “I love you,” he said between nips and licks and suckles.
“I love you too,” she gasped.
His hands were on her breasts, then his lips were there. She cried out as he sucked a nipple into his mouth, his free hand diving into the curls at the juncture of her thighs, stroking in time to his licks and sucks in that way that drove all thought out of her head and lit lightning sparks behind her eyelids.
“Look at me, Lianna. Look at me.”
She opened her eyes and met his gaze. Such fire in the beautiful green-gold depths. It made her gasp and shiver as he drove a finger inside her, then another, his thumb playing her pleasure like a finely tuned harp. He kept his gaze locked on hers as he pushed her into orgasm then over the edge once, twice, three times, ignoring her begs and pleas to come inside her.
But then finally – finally – he was there, the thickness of his erection pushing into the slick heat of her, filling her in one quick glide. She moaned, her fingers digging into his hip and back as he seated himself deep inside her and began to move. Slow – oh so torturously slow. He loved to tease her with his control. But she knew some tricks herself.
She ground herself against him, fingers moving over his bottom, up his back and into his hair. She pulled his head down for a long, gloriously wet kiss before kissing a path down his strong neck to the glory of his shoulders. Then she bit down on the place between neck and shoulder where his pulse beat fast and strong.
“Witch,” he groaned, then pumped faster, deeper, harder, just as she needed him to.
“God,” she shouted as her muscles clenched, riding his rhythm.
“Demi-god,” he said, full lips quirked in that bewitching smile she so loved.
“My demi-god,” she said, before capturing his mouth for another long, lingering kiss.
He reared back. Gazes clashed, held as their hands gripped. Stars sparked as the wave broke over her, through her, their cries of shared passion joining in the night, a magical note of joy.