Lianna came to, wrapped in his arms, legs tangled, her face pressed against the warm strength of his chest, his breath brushing over her crown. She looked up. Their gazes met. He smiled and pressed a kiss to her forehead, then one to her lips.
She settled back against him and revelled in the sensation of being here with him.
Home. Love. Fulfilment. She’d never thought to have any of these things and yet Bas gave them to her every time they were together and promised a lifetime more when she was finally free.
There was a little slither of guilt that she’d broken her vows – but there had been no stopping this once they’d met. One look and they were lost in each other. It didn’t even have anything to do with the cupid’s arrow he’d loosed at the woman behind her but had accidentally hit her instead. She’d never needed Bas’ assurances that he hadn’t ‘done an Eros and Psyche’, as he called it. That bolt meant for another had never worked on her. All it had done was made her turn and see him. The fact they were soulmates had taken care of the rest.
Still, it made her a little nervous. The timing was terrible – she had only a few months left of her service. She should have held back, but she couldn’t. Neither of them could. And now there was one month to go until she could be with Bas openly and honestly.
One month more to be in Clodia’s control. One month until she could remove these horrid golden armbands that ceded her powers to Clodia while she was in the service of Vesta. She touched one now, cold where it should be warm.
Clodia said their Goddess had given Lianna the powers of a High Priestess by mistake, that she was too weak-hearted and not intelligent enough to hold her own among the cut-throat Senate and High Priesthood of Roma. “I’m doing you a favour,” she’d told Lianna time and time again as she’d sapped her of her power to use in the Goddess’s name, to increase the hold she held over the Senate and the people in her machinations to make the Coven of the Temple Vesta a true power. To stay in power herself. She should have stepped down years ago, but Lianna’s power enabled her to keep her youth and position – and if Lianna had to put up with a bit of pain and Clodia’s temper tantrums about power being given to the undeserving, she was happy to do it if it meant she never had to become like Clodia.
Power corrupted. She almost wished at times she could get rid of hers. If she had, then she wouldn’t be in this position now. She would never have been a Vestal Virgin and would have been able to be with Bas free and clear right from the moment they met.
“Not long now,” he murmured, speaking her thoughts out loud as he often did.
“I just hope she doesn’t turn her eye to Esta.”
He nuzzled her neck, his erection brushing against her side. “She won’t. Esta isn’t powerful enough to tempt her. She’ll be looking for another Goddess-touched witch like you to use. Esta will be safe. And you will soon be free and have full control over your powers. I can’t wait to teach you a thing or two.”
“Really,” she said, rolling over him and taking him inside her again. “Perhaps you could teach me now.”
“Perhaps I could.”
After their passion was spent for a second time, she snuggled down, cuddling Bas’s head to her chest, rubbing her cheek against him.
He yawned. His hand brushed over her stomach, then froze. “Lianna.” He bolted upright, lines of confusion furrowing his brow. He moved his hand over her stomach again as his eyes met hers. “Lianna. There is life growing in your womb.”
“What? No. That’s impossible.” She sat up, shaking her head. “I’ve spelled precautions. I should not be able to fall pregnant until I release them.” The dregs of power she had access to were strong enough for that.
He ran his hand over her again. “I’m not wrong. I can feel him. Our son. Growing even now.”
She grasped at her stomach. “Impossible.” But it wasn’t. She felt what he felt. The spark of life inside her growing where it shouldn’t be able to grow. How was this possible? She closed her eyes and checked her binding spell.
It had a break in it. A black thread of Clodia’s control had snaked out from the armband and sliced through the binding. She was no longer protected against the seed of a demi-god.
“No. No.” This was proof she’d broken her vow.
“It will be okay. It is just taken. You will be free before anyone knows.”
“But the babe … it will grow faster than usual because of who you are. I will show in a few weeks.”
“I’ll help to keep the babe hidden. It will be okay. Soon you will be free and then we will be together in full – you me and our son.”
She wanted to cling to his words, to hold onto them and never let go, but realisation hit her, making her feel sick. “You don’t understand. She won’t let me go. She never intended to. She did this on purpose. She’ll use this to bind my power to her forever.”
“I won’t let that happen.
“How? She’ll sense your interference. And she’s too clever not to have thought of every single plan we might make to get out of this. Oh Goddess. If she accuses me of treason and I am buried alive, she’ll be able to syphon off my power and I won’t be able to stop her. She made certain of that.” She touched one of the gold bands on her arms then clutched her stomach. “This is the proof she needs so that she can do it with nobody able to stop her. To take my powers for her own. I knew she seemed too accepting about my time under her power coming to an end. She meant for this to happen.” Her gaze slammed into his. “Oh, Bas. Is she the reason we fell in love? Your bolts never miss their target – so why did you hit me?”
He grasped her hands. “I don’t know. But it didn’t work, so even if she was involved, it has no bearing on this. You are my soulmate.”
“That is just a lucky coincidence. I know she did this. She meant for that bolt to hit me so I would fall in love with you. She didn’t need for us to be soulmates.” Her stomach rolled and she swallowed down bile, trying not to show how truly frightened and panicked she was. “I know she did this. She made it so I would break my vows and now she’s going to use it for her own gain.” Goddess – if she could do this to one of her own Coven, then what would she do to anyone else who got in her way? Tears streaming down her face, she pushed away from him. “You have to go. Save yourself.”
“I will never leave you and our child.”
“But you must.” She shoved at him, trying to get him to leave their bed. “It is our only chance. I fear she will soon discover this pregnancy through whatever magic she has spelled these armbands with. She will strike quickly. I need you to be safe from her machinations. I need you to make sure our child is safe.”
“I’m a demi-god. What can she do to me?”
“This.”
Lianna swung around at the sound of Clodia’s voice behind her. The High Priestess stood in the doorway, eyes gleaming in the red glow of the gem she wore around her neck. “No!”
Bas made a choking sound. She turned to see him frozen in place, mouth open, eyes popping like he was choking.
“Stop. Stop! What are you doing?” She scrambled off the bed, legs tangling in the sheets, and landed at Clodia’s feet to look up into eyes of madness. “Please. Please stop this. I’ll do anything you want. Just don’t hurt him. Don’t hurt our child.”
Clodia cackled. “I have you now.” She gripped Lianna’s arm, fingers pinching, and hauled her to her feet. “You thought you could leave me and have it all – a man, a child, a happy life and the power that was meant to be mine too?” She leaned in, her spittle sizzling on Lianna’s cheeks as she spoke. “You will never have your true love and perfect life. They, like your powers, belong to me now.” She put her hand over Lianna’s stomach. “He’s already quickening.” Lianna looked down to see her stomach expand, the child inside her growing ten times faster than a human babe because of the powers that lived in his cells. “The child of a demi-god and a Goddess-touched witch. The power will make him even more valuable to me than you and he’ll be in my grasp so very soon.”
“No!” She cried, trying to engage her powers, to save herself, Sebastio, their child, but Clodia lifted the glowing red gem, its red-heart pulsing with a sickening throb, and she was falling, falling …
… “Wake up. Wake up, you silly bitch.”
Her cheek stung as a slap sounded in the air. She blinked, pulling herself up and out of the vision.
“Wake up. Faster.” Another slap.
Head ringing, she raised her arms in protection, peering through them to see who was hitting her. “Grandmama?” Violetta had slapped her?
“I am not your grandmama. By the Goddess, are you too stupid to see?” She lifted her hands as if to showcase herself. Her perfect bob was a crackling halo around her head, and her features kept flickering between her own and someone else’s.
“Clodia.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Clodia?”
The ancient witch wearing Violetta’s face smiled viciously. “Yes. Your grandmama came snooping around my temple the night she arrived in Roma. So eager was she to help break my curse, to try to gain back more of Esta’s memories, that she stupidly came to the temple ruins at the witching hour and called on the spirits. The moment she did, she opened herself to me and I slipped in. I’ve been with her, controlling her, since before you arrived.”
Jules pushed herself upright from where she’d slumped on the floor. The room swayed around her as she gasped, “How were you still there?”
Clodia chuckled, low and raspy. “I’ve been haunting the place, knowing you’d be back one day to break my curse. And here you are.”
“But why take Violetta?”
She sniffed. “She was easy pickings. I’ve been pretty convincing, don’t you think?” She patted her hair. “Even the cupid didn’t know it was me.” Her smirk made icy fingers crawl up Jules’s spine.
“What cupid?”
Clodia snorted out a laugh. “Your son, of course. Tamuel. Sorry, I mean Tomaso.” She chuckled. “Clever cupid escaped me all those years ago somehow even though he was but a new-born; and he almost escaped me now. I would never have guessed who he was if he hadn’t used his magic to whisk Sebastio away from the Forum two nights ago. He didn’t even think to mask his magical scent. So like his father.”
“His father?”
“Your lover, of course. Sebastio. Bas. Bastien.” She pointed at him – he stood frozen on the bed, back arched, fur ruffled, mid-hiss. “He’s not the servant you thought he was. There was never any servant – that was just a false memory planted to make it so you never remembered who he was. Although, given all the visions you’ve been having, I thought maybe you had guessed. I guess my curse is not as weakened as I thought.”
“Weakened?” Was she crazy? “It’s stronger than ever.”
Clodia snorted. “You’re stupider than Lianna ever was. And more gullible. The curse hasn’t been getting stronger. If it had, you would never have seen the things you’ve seen in your dreams and visions and you wouldn’t have been able to speak to Bastien, let alone be friends with him. Violetta had started to suspect how weak the curse was becoming, but thankfully I got to her before she could mention anything. And then it was a simple matter to make you all think it was strengthening with the help of all this lovely magic she has access to. Do you know how delicious it’s been, using your beloved grandmama’s magic against you?” Her smile was horrible – Violetta’s face moving in a way it never had before. “It was so much fun to make things harder for you. You always had it too easy.”
“You won’t win. I’m going to break the curse.”
“Goodie.” She clapped her hands, cackling. “Oh, the look on your face. You think I was trying to stop you from breaking the curse? On the contrary, I’ve been waiting here since my death, unable to take my rightful power or place among the Gods.” She leaned closer, the ghostly eyes behind Violetta’s manic. “I will break the curse at midnight on this Valentine Eve so that I can slowly drain you of power as I meant to do 2,000 years ago, and you will be unable to stop it. Finally, I will get my due.”
“Tomaso will stop you.”
Clodia’s shriek of laughter rang around the room, making Jules’ head throb more. “Tamuel has already been bound into the pentacle.”
“What? But he went to get the HeartsBlood Gem.”
“And he never came back.”
“Yes. You were right about where it was. After your power failed to come to me, powering my curse in a way I never intended when it buried itself deep inside you, I couldn’t make the HeartsBlood Gem move from your burial place. I had to leave it there, in its own grave at the heart of the pentacle. Tamuel was so thrilled to find it, he didn’t even question why I was there as he freed it – something he could do only because he is your son despite the fact it is magic only meant for women of power to use. But once he’d freed it, it was easy enough to take it and use it, as I did against Sebastio, binding him to the pentacle as I did the night of his birth and hiding his presence from everyone until I am ready to cast my spell.”
“You’re a monster.”
“No. I’m a Goddess in the making. Now, for your instructions for tonight’s events.”
Jules struggled up from the floor, limbs heavy and uncooperative. “You can’t make me do anything – if you could, you already would have.”
“True. Like that night centuries ago, you had to agree to be there of your own free will. And like that night, I will use your love against you. When I threatened to abort your unborn babe, you agreed so easily.” She flung out her hands. There was a pop of noise and a rush of wind and suddenly Bastien lay in her arms.
‘No!’ Jules took a stumbling step forward.
Clodia gripped his neck, squeezing. “If you do not come, your lover will never be human again. And I will make sure Violetta and Tamuel pay too. I’m very good at curses, as you know. And I have the HeartsBlood Gem to help bind them.”
“No. You can’t.” The ground pitched under her; her head still hazy from her vision.
“I can and I will, if you don’t do as I say.”
“How … how do I know you will free him – free all of them – if I come like you ask? You broke your word last time. You cursed all of us.”
“I was wrong. You aren’t as stupid as Lianna.” Clodia’s slow smile made her shiver. “I vow on the life and power of our Goddess that I will not harm them if you come of your own free will. But if you do not come, all will die.” She glanced at the clock. “You have an hour to decide.” Then with another pop and displacement of air that pushed Jules against the wall, Clodia disappeared.
Jules scrabbled over the bed, grabbed her phone and stared at the date and time.
11:00 pm.
13 February.
Despair flooded her, stealing her breath.
She’d lost the day to her vision of Lianna and Sebastio.
“Why did you show me now?”
“You had to know. To know who Bastien is to us.”
But she had known. Had always known. He was her best friend, her constant companion and the one she loved as she loved no one else.
And he loved her. Her. Not because she was Lianna. He’d shown it in so many ways over the years and she’d never seen it. Never been able to see it because of the curse. And her own self-doubt. But none of that mattered now – she loved him. She had to do anything to save him.
“Hang on. Wait a minute. Why is there no pain?”
“Oh!”
Her power. It hadn’t punished her via the curse when Clodia had used Violetta’s magic just now. Had it all been Clodia? No. She’d felt pain before coming here. Something else had changed – what? Did it even matter if it gave her an edge now?
She prodded at the power that had been locked inside her entire life. It flared under her touch – but not painfully so. Bright and strong, it leaped to life, making itself available for her command as if it had only been waiting for her to welcome it, to make herself open to it.
“Goddess. I can feel our power!”
“Can you use it?”
“Can you?”
“I have no idea. I know the theory but I never got to use any of it myself.”
“Well, you better figure out how, because it’s the only thing we’ve got going for us.”
“Not the only thing. You are so smart. I know you’ll think of something.”
Lianna was right. She might not know how to wrangle her power, but she’d spent most of her life reading about how others used their power. She could … no, she would work something out. And if this was the last time she would ever have to use her power, she was going to make it count. She could feel it now, coursing inside her, a spark quickly turning into a fire, a blaze. One she could not allow Clodia to have control over.
But how could she make certain of that and save Bastien, Tomaso and Violetta?
She had no time to figure it out. She just had to hope it would come to her. Disaster would reign if she didn’t.