Tarot Academy 4 - Sarah Piper Page 0,80

he’s the only thing anchoring me here right now. The only thing keeping me from spiraling and spinning right out into space.

“It wasn’t him,” I say against his chest, fresh tears leaking from my eyes and soaking his T-shirt. “All those people, the fire… Please tell me it wasn’t him.”

Baz rests his cheek on the top of my head and sighs, his hands winding into my hair, his heart beating like a drum against my ear.

He doesn’t answer me.

He can’t answer me.

Because for all his faults, Baz Redgrave—truth in advertising—is not a liar.

Twenty-Eight

STEVIE

It’s well after midnight, and I’m lying awake in Ani’s bed, running my fingers through his soft, coppery hair, watching him sleep. I’ve been here since we finished dinner—a somber affair of soup and salad, none of us able to speak more than a few polite words in the wake of the devastating news coming out of California.

We are truly fugitives now, a house full of witches and mages with no legal rights, no country, no home but the one we make together.

The enormity of it hasn’t even hit me yet. And it can’t—not now. Because if I let myself think about it for more than one minute at a time—really think about it—I’ll crumble.

So for now, I close my eyes and focus on the sound of his steady breathing, singing him a lullaby of eighties rock ballads until I finally drift off to sleep.

I’m dreaming. I must be. Because when I open my eyes again, a flickering candle burns on the night table, the golden flame reflected in a pair of the most beautiful caramel eyes I’ve ever seen, peering down at me over a smile as big as the sky.

“Ani?” I gasp, my heart banging inside my chest. I don’t move. Don’t even blink. Because if I do, and he vanishes…

“How’s it going, Stevie Boo Boo?” He laughs, then scoops me into his arms, rolling on top of me in a crushing hug, suffocating me with a kiss so sweet it makes my chest ache.

“I’m dreaming,” I say, pulling back to take his face between my hands. His hair is wet, dark and curling around his ears, his skin carrying the scents of soap and sunshine, as if he’s just stepped out of the shower. “And you’re… naked?”

The hard evidence becomes more apparent—and, well, hard—the longer he lies on top of me, nothing more than a sheet and my T-shirt and underwear separating us.

“Maybe I’m the one who’s dreaming.” He lets out another soft laugh. “On second thought, scratch that. I’ve had enough dreams to last a lifetime. Right now, I’m only here for what’s real.”

“Did you shower? When? Should you be walking around just yet?” I try to sit up and turn on the nightstand light, but Ani claims me in another kiss, pushing me back down against the pillow.

I don’t fight him. The kiss is too delicious. Too sweet. To real.

Goddess, it’s really him. He’s here. He’s home. He’s mine.

Tears spill unbidden, and Ani pulls back, brushing them away with his thumbs.

“I feel fine, Stevie. Seriously. Stronger than ever. Whatever you guys did to take care of me? A-plus, five stars, would recommend.”

“Magick,” I whisper, gazing up at him with awe and wonder. “We should…we should get up. Everyone will want to see you.”

“Yes, but I only want to see you. You’re way hotter than the rest of those scrubs.”

I laugh. “I’m not sure our Arcana brothers would appreciate being called scrubs. Especially—”

“Stevie? I’m not sure I care.” He slides his hands into my hair and lowers his mouth again, his weight settling perfectly between my thighs as he steals a deeply seductive kiss that has me damn near moaning into his mouth.

After all the shyness, all the sweet and subtle gestures along the winding path of our relationship, I have to admit… This new, assertive Ani is pretty damn sexy, his demanding kisses igniting a fire low in my belly.

For the briefest instant, my mind flashes back to the news that broke tonight, to the haunted faces of journalists and firemen and police officers, to the fires still burning through the streets of Moonlight Bay Beach.

But I can’t bring myself to tell him about it just yet. The news will still be there when we wake up tomorrow, just as heartbreaking as it was tonight. And right now, in the aftermath of so much death and destruction, suddenly all I want is to feel whole and alive. To live in this moment, and