Chapter Ten – Marco POV

Goddamn that was amazing. I rested my head on Jade’s chest, the blankets pulled up over us. I closed my eyes, just listening to her heartbeat as it slowed. She stroked my hair, making me even more sleepy than I was after we finished our little session. The only thing I could compare it to was when she was my “queen” in the realm. But she was under a spell then. This was different. She genuinely wanted me, which was a serious turn on. The only word I had to describe it was perfection.

“You know,” she spoke quietly, “we need to do something about Damien.”

I laughed softly. “That is interesting pillow talk.”

She laughed with me. “As long as stuff like this keeps happening, our pillow talk will be far from normal.”

I grinned and propped myself up on my elbow, gazing at her. “So you admit this isn’t the only time this will happen, huh?”

She giggled. “Absolutely.” She got serious. “But seriously, I want to kill him with my bare hands for what he put you through. The only option we have is a fight.” Her voice shook at the end. I suspected it was because she had trouble figuring him before, when she and the others revolted against Damien and I.

“Jade,” I stroked her cheek. “You were practically powerless then. The struggles you had were because of that. Now, if we fought together, we could get him down in almost no time.”

“Without black magic?” She asked.

I stopped. She had a point. Damien would fight dirty and with black magic. I had sworn off such magic during my change from evil to good. I couldn’t fight him with the same strength if I couldn’t fight back with the same magic. I would risk both of us being banished from the realm.

Permanently.

I sighed. “I think with our combined power, no form of dark magic would be necessary.”

She seemed skeptical. “Are you sure?”

The truth was, I wasn’t sure, really. “Maybe.”

To my surprise, she let out a small laugh. “I’ll take it. Maybe we could round up other casters.”

I shook my head. “I really don’t know if that’s wise. More spellcasters doing their own thing in a disorganized way just puts lives in danger. We can’t risk it. If we go in with a clear plan, we could defeat him, as long as we always work together.”

She nodded. Truthfully, I knew both of us just couldn’t stand the thought of a magical fight. Yet, we didn’t have much of a choice. He was relentless.

But so was I.

“Let’s sleep,” I said, pulling her toward me to rest on my chest. “We can think about this tomorrow.

She nodded again. “Okay.” She sounded sleepy. “Good night, Marco.

I smiled. “Good night.”

I woke up with her in my arms, snuggling close. I smiled and stroked her hair as she slept. So last night wasn’t just a really good dream?

“Mi reina,” I whispered. It had been awhile since I had spoken any spanish. I had grown up in a bilingual household, with my mother being hispanic and my father being white as a ghost. It was an interesting setting. Focusing my attention on Jade again, I smiled. Of course, I’d never tell her that “mi reina” was “my queen”. I didn’t want to bring up any bad memories. But if we were to pursue an actual relationship, I would treat her like one. The right way. Not the way it was then.

I cringed thinking about it. I know I was told numerous times to forget the past. But it was hard. How were we even like this right now? I couldn’t help but think that I would wake up, cold and alone because of my mistakes.

“This has to be a dream,” I whispered, closing my eyes.

“Mmm,” Jade stirred. “Then don’t wake me up.”

I blushed from embarrassment. Oops. She heard my thinking aloud. “Good morning,” I smiled.

She pushed herself up to kiss me. “Good morning.”

I rested my head on hers. “How did you sleep, mi re-” I stopped. “Uh…how did you sleep?”

She gazed at me with a raised eyebrow. “Surprisingly well,” she spoke quietly, skeptical. “¿Y tu?”

My eyes widened. Oh, she also spoke spanish? “¿Hablas español?” (You speak Spanish?)

“Mmm, un poco,” she moved her hand side-to-side as she told me she spoke a little spanish.

“Ah,” I grinned. “Mi bonita.” (My pretty.)

She giggled. “Gracias.” (Thank you.)

“De nada, mi reina.” I bit my lip, nervous. (It’s nothing, my queen.)

She pushed herself up and gazed at me. “¿Tu reina?” (Your queen?)

I looked away. “Sí.” (Yes.)

“¿Qué es la reina?” (What is “la reina?”)

I cleared my throat. I said I wouldn’t translate that, but I was considering it. “My…” I stopped and sighed. “My queen.”

She grinned. “It’s somehow endearing now. How do you say ‘king’?”

“Rey.”

She rested her head on my chest. “Mi rey.”

I smiled and closed my eyes. “Tu rey. Para siempre.” (Your king. Forever.)

She giggled. “Sí. Para siempre.” (Yes. Forever.) She reached up and stroked my cheek, and I closed my eyes and rested my head against her palm.

“You’re too sweet to me.”

“You saved me,” she whispered. “Or at least my sanity.”

I laughed softly. “I guess we’re even then. You saved my life. Technically twice.”

“Nah, the first was a revival. That doesn’t count.” She grinned playfully.

I kissed her softly. “It counts to me.”

She pulled herself up and kissed me again, tilting my head back. The kisses became fierce, and I laughed, gently pushing her away.

“We should be productive today, no?”

She grinned flirtatiously. “Fine. But you’re mine later.”

“Of course, mi reina.” I kissed her forehead. “For now, we need to think of a plan.”

She agreed. “I don’t even know where to start, though.”

I thought for a moment. “Lure him somewhere. Alone. Without Vlad.”

“I don’t want to kill him this time.”

“Then I will.”

“No, Marco. I don’t want either of us to be responsible for anyone’s death, okay?” She looked down. “There has to be a way to defeat him without death.”

I thought about it. “Banishment. Again. To the other realm.”

“Alone?”

I shrugged, remembering. “We were alone before.”

“Yes,” she stroked my cheek. “But you were alone there together. If he was completely alone, he would go mad.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll banish a dog too.”

She laughed. “Marco, what if we somehow got him to change? Be on our side?”

I shook my head quickly. “That’s not possible.”

She raised an eyebrow, gazing at me. “Oh, it isn’t, hmm?”

I grinned and closed my eyes. “For him.”

She pushed me down and rested her arms on my chest playfully. “You are impossible, Mr. Lew. If you can do it, anyone can.”

I narrowed my eyes with a grin. “Ouch.”

She tilted her head. “Am I wrong?”

I smiled and kissed her softly. “No, you’re not. But we’ll see. I don’t know if there’s a peaceful way to end this.”

She threw the blankets off of us, possibly forgetting that we were still nude. “Well! We have work to do then!” She jumped up and grabbed my arm, practically pulling me off the bed. I laughed as I caught myself with my knee.

“We can get to work once I take a shower,” I said.

She grinned flirtatiously. “Mind if I join you?”

I smirked. “Not at all, mi reina.”

We started planning as soon as we dressed.

“So,” she said, pacing. “What’s Damien’s one weakness?” She turned to me. “We know yours was the obsessive need for power and to win every fight, even if you fought unfairly.”

I nodded quietly. I knew this conversation would bring up my old deeds, but it certainly didn’t help my inner self-loathing.

“So what was Damien’s?”

I thought back to our time in our realm. He was always talking about alluring spells, finding love in a much different way than most would, casting spells to get exactly what he wanted. I shook my head. How the hell would that help us in a fight? “I don’t know.”

“Oh, I saw those gears turning. You thought of something.”

I shook my head again. “What I could think of wouldn’t help us.”

She stared at me, waiting.

I sighed. “He had an obsessive need to find love, but through spellcasting.”

She thought for a moment. “Hmm. Okay. So we could use that if we have someone to cast that spell on.”

I lowered my head. “No. He has someone now. Her name is Crystal.”

“Is she under a spell?”

“Yes.”

She grinned and walked up to me, poking me in the chest. “Then you need to break that spell.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Me? How?”

“It was cast in dark magic.”

“Jade, I can’t go against the wishes of the council.”

She shrugged. “Is there another way?”

I shook my head, but then it dawned on me. Like any cheesy fairy tale, one thing could break an alluring curse. “A kiss from another.”

She grinned at me.

“No. Absolutely not.” I furrowed my brow. “How would I even get to her? Damien literally brought me to the edge of death!”

“Go back to old Marco,” she said. “Don’t fight fair.”

She was right. I sighed and hung my head. “You’re going to be the death of me.”

“I’ll be there too. I’ll kick his ass if he hurts you.”

“Or he will cast a curse on you,” I warned. “And then I might just have to kill him.”

“Oooh, protective Marco is sexy.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Hush.”

She laughed with me. “Okay, okay, back on topic. So, I distract Damien with a duel. You go In and kiss Crystal, right?”

I gazed at her. “Seriously? You think I’m just going to waltz in there and throw myself on her? I have to get to know her, make her like me.”

She furrowed her brow. “I don’t like that idea.”

I used her own words against her. “Protective Jade is sexy.”

“Stop!” She laughed. “Okay, new plan. Wait until she’s sleeping.”

I groaned. “Ugh. I still don’t like that.” I started to pace. “No, I don’t like any of it. At all. We need something else.”

She sighed. “Fool Damien. Finally join him.”

“No way. I tried that and it failed miserably.”

She walked up to me, stopping me and grinned menacingly. “I’ll join the dark side with you.”

“You could never be a villain,” I scoffed.

“Try me.”

“Okay fine, and of your sage duties?”

She sighed and turned away. “I’ll go missing to play the part. When I emerge again, I’ll be ‘evil’.” She made air quotes when she said it. “No one will suspect a thing, assume I was under a spell and temporarily suspend my sage duties.”

I rolled my eyes. “Or replace you completely and blame me for the spell.”

She growled and put her head back, angry. “Ugh! Nothing will work!”

I shrugged. “I’m kind of used to being hated, if I’m honest. Let’s just go for it. Back to evil.”

“But it’s fake, right?”

“All fake.” I nodded. “I don’t want to be him anymore.”

She kissed me. “Good. I’ll see if Caleb can take Orion. I’ll act like I’m already under a spell.”

I gave her a worried look. “Yikes. That may be a bad idea.”

“You have something better?” She crossed her arms.

“We’re going on vacation?”

She pondered this. “Sure! But not us. Just me. Then he will suspect you.”

“Ah, true.” I nodded.

She wrapped her arms around me and rested her head on my chest. “Are you ready?”

I stared off, giving a menacing grin. “I’m ready.”

Chapter Eleven (click here)