Black Blood (Series of Blood Book 4) Emma Hamm (popular novels txt) 📖

“You have not learned humility. I will teach it to you someday.”

She left the luxurious room and Malachi to his own defenses. Her eyes snapped open as her mouth gaped into a silent scream.

Electricity arced from her chest to her fingertips. Her body shook uncontrollably, contorting into positions that were at once painful and debilitating. Drawing in one final aching breath, she fell limp onto the floor.

Dark eyes stared down at her. Pitch’s hands pressed firmly between her breasts. “Are you back?”

“I think so.”

“You died.”

She met his gaze, saw the horror in his eyes. “I guess I did.”

“I brought you back.”

“You did.”

He lunged forward, dragging her into his arms and pressing her so close she could feel his heart beating against hers. He rocked her back and forth, whispering against her hair, “I thought I lost you, was certain I lost you. I can’t bear it. You cannot die, Lydia.”

Weak, she dragged her hands through the heavy air and stroked his head. “I don’t want to go. I would never want to go.”

“You are everything. My light, my darkness, good and evil, right and wrong.”

“I’m not going to be here forever, Pitch. I stopped Malachi, Mercy is alive. The rest is up to them.”

“I don’t care,” he whispered against her throat. “I couldn’t care less that they are alive.”

“That’s what we’re doing, isn’t it? We’re keeping them alive?”

“Not if it takes your life.” He pulled back, his expression fierce and his hands clutching her jaw. “You stay with me. If that means the world ends, then so be it. I will not lose you again!”

Breath shuddered from her lips. The magic burning inside her swelled, rising like a wave and tasting of crisp salty air. It bubbled down her fingertips to heal every ache and wound.

Her nails lengthened into gold tipped claws. Skin sparkling like diamonds, she reached up to pull him down into her arms.

“I would never choose to leave you.”

“You almost did.”

“Never again,” she whispered. And she meant it. There was no choice between him and the world. They could create a new world, but she would never find another shadow hiding stardust inside it.

She sighed as his hands traced the outline of her body. His fingers swirled in patterns that were suspiciously close to words as his lips met hers.

He tasted like bleeding raspberries, metallic and sweet. A bitter ambrosia with a bite of poison. Her dress rose over her knee.

Emotions danced through her head, jubilation, love, exhilaration, but what she felt more than anything else was liberation. No matter how many times she had him, he would always make her feel freedom as if for the first time.

“I love you,” she whispered against his lips. “More than life itself.”

“You are the flowers on my grave, the shaking omen of a time untold, the heartbeat of my body and the song of my soul.”

Smoke curled between his lips and dripped from his nose. Lydia leaned up. She inhaled the emotions overflowing from his mind and licked the Juice from his chin.

Love, in its purest form.

She bit her lip, caught his hands in hers, and pressed them against her heart. “No more nightmares. No more monsters in the dark. I want tonight to be you and I, Pitch. No other.”

“I could deny you nothing.”

He gathered her into his arms, stood, and strode toward their room. Shadows tickled her shoulders, smoothing her hair back and whispering down her body as he still checked her health.

“I’m fine,” she assured him.

“You just died.”

“Only for a few seconds, and you saved me. My magic healed me the rest of the way.”

“Why didn’t it stop you from dying then?”

Lydia wasn’t certain. She had wondered the same thing. Perhaps it didn’t need her to be alive. Perhaps it didn’t care because her job was over.

She didn’t think either was true.

“I don’t want to think about that tonight.” She placed her hand on the back of his neck and dragged his lips to hers. I want you, and only you.”

He shoved the door to his bedroom open and slammed it shut on the world and their worries. They spent the night reveling in the feeling of each other’s skin, reminding themselves that, for now, they were both alive. Pitch stopped time multiple times, prolonging their time together. They lived a lifetime in a second so they would never, ever, forget.

Lydia sat in front of her mirror counting each stroke of her brush. The repetition soothed the nerves fluttering in her belly. She could use all the help she could get today.

Pitch had been gone for a few days. He wanted to check in on all his people. Their lives were busy and he no longer had time to run the Juice business. Thankfully, Louis had a son who was all too happy to step in. Liam was a quick witted boy who spoke in numbers rather than words. He was a perfect choice.

In Pitch’s absence, Lydia had been left to her own devices. The longer she lived, the more she realized that was a bad thing. Her mind wandered when she was alone. She understood why Pitch battled with himself so much.

The Present sang to her. It called out in siren songs that lured her into the lives of those she loved. Lydia found it strange how much she loved them. She’d never even met them before, but those who were attached to her self made prophecy were like her children. She had always seen what their choices would be, and how they might affect them, but she had never dived into watching their lives in real time.

Temptation was a difficult affliction to bare. She sighed, mid stroke, and let her mind wander.

They were all in a cabin at the edge of the woods. Fitting, as they were all realizing just how close to their magical roots they needed to be. Mercy’s family, the creatures who were no longer human, had set up camp nearby.

She walked through their tents, smiling as the