Kate Daniels, tome 6 : Montée Magique

Au plus profond de ma nuit intérieure, lorsque tout s'écroulait autour de moi, il m'avait dit que tout irait bien. Son odeur, le goût de ses lèvres sur les miennes, la façon qu'il avait de faire disparaître le monde avec ses baisers, comme si j'étais la chose la plus importante de son existence.

Quand un homme souhaite partager sa vie avec une femme, il lui offre le monde.

Il y a toujours un prix pour tout et ce n'est jamais quelque chose que tu peux te permettre d'abandonner.

− Merci de votre inquiétude. Je peux me débrouiller.

− Cela ne pose aucun problème. Vous pouvez vous blessez. Je sais que même quelque chose de mineur comme une cheville tordue pourrait être un gros problème pour un humain…

Ne pas cogner la princesse de la meute ; ne pas frapper la princesse de la meute…

− Nous ne voudrions pas que vous ayez du mal à suivre.

D'accord, elle allait trop loin. Je lui fis un beau et grand sourire.

Le visage de Curran prit une expression neutre.

− On vient juste d'arriver, bébé. C'est trop tôt pour toi pour commencer à tuer des gens.

Les yeux de Lorelei s'écarquillèrent.

− Je ne cherchais pas à vous offusquer.

Si, tu le voulais.

‒ Quelqu'un tue des personnes au château, dis-je. Mais j'ai vu des images de statues de lamassu. Ils ont de la fourrure et des visages humains.
Atsany agita sa pipe.
‒ Il dit que c'est une, quel est le mot... allégorie. Il n'existe aucun animal avec un visage humain, c'est ridicule.
Regardez qui parle. Un magicien de quarante-cinq centimètres dans des bottes d'équitation, des chacals-garous, et des dragons de mer ne posent pas de problème, mais des animaux avec des visages humains, ça, c'est ridicule. Eh bien, contente qu'on éclaircisse ça.

“Would you care for something to drink ?”
“Is it poisoned ?”
“It’s Saturday,” I said. “We only serve poison during the week.”

« That’s not what it is.”
“Yes, it is,” I said quietly. “Curran, think about it for a minute. My life is in danger and you don’t trust me enough to tell me about it. You have no idea how bad you made me feel.”
“I was trying to keep you alive. Even if it meant we couldn’t be together. Even if it meant watching Hugh making circles around you like a fucking shark. You don’t trust me either, Kate. All the shit we’ve been through should’ve bought me some time, but you believed I lost my head over some girl after three days.”
I didn’t even hurt anymore. I just felt this empty dry sadness.
“And that’s exactly the problem.”
“Kate?” He crouched by me, one knee on the ground, and leaned forward to look at my face. “Baby? Punch me or something.”
I struggled to sort everything into words. It didn’t work. I just shut down like an overloaded circuit.
“Talk to me.”
Some sort of words finally came out. “Where can we even go from here . . .”
“I don’t want to go anywhere. I love you. You love me. We’re together. We’re a team.”
Suddenly my emotions sorted themselves out and anger finally ran to the front of the pack. “No, we’re not a team. You made me a patsy in your scheme. You treated me like I’m an idiot. I thought about hurting her. I thought about hurting you.”
“You wouldn’t hurt her. She’s weaker than you.”
“You’re an arrogant bastard.”
“Fair enough,” he said. “You got more?”
“Yes. You’re a smug asshole.”
“Yes, I am.” He motioned at me. “Don’t hold back. Tell me how you really feel.”
I punched him in the jaw. It was a good solid hook. »

He spread his arms.
“I can’t change who I am,” I told him. “Neither can you. I get it.”
“I love you and you love me, and we’re both too fucked up for anyone else. Who else would have us?”
I sighed. “Well, clearly we’re both crazy and this relationship is doomed.”
“I love you so much,” he said. “Please don’t leave me.”
He leaned forward. I knew he would kiss me a moment before he did, and I realized I wanted it. I remembered him holding me. I remembered him risking himself against impossible odds for me. I made him laugh, I told him things that would make most normal men run screaming, things I spent all my life keeping secret, and I drove him to the point of near-blinding rage. In my darkest moments, when everything was crashing down around me, he told me everything would be okay. The taste of him, the feel of his lips as his mouth covered mine, the way he made the world fade, as if kissing me were the only thing that existed in his life, pulled me right back through time, before the castle, before Hugh, and before Lorelei. Curran was mine. If my life were on the line, he would do it again, and I would be mad at him again. And if the reverse ever happened, he would rage and roar, and I would tell him that I loved him and that I would fight to the death to keep him breathing.
He was right. We loved each other and nobody else would put up with us.
“I’m still mad at you,” I whispered, and put my arms around him.
“I’m an ass,” he told me, pulling me closer. “I’m sorry. You should make my life hell for the next hundred years.”
“Do we need to give you some privacy for the makeup sex?” Astamur asked.

The colossal lion jumped and landed a foot away from me, the dark mane streaming. The impact of his leap sent sparks flying from the fire. His eyes burned with molten gold. The powerful feline maw gaped open, showing terrifying fangs as big as my hand. Curran snarled.
I swatted him on the nose. “Stop it! You’re scaring the people who rescued me.”
The gray lion snapped into a human form. Curran jerked his hands up as if crushing an invisible boulder. “Aaaaaa!”
Okay.
He grabbed the edge of a big rock sticking out of the grass. Muscles flexed on his naked frame. He wrenched the boulder out of the ground. The four-foot-long rock had to weigh several thousand pounds—his feet sank into the grass. Curran snarled and hurled the rock against the mountain. The boulder flew, hit like a cannon ball, and rolled back down. Curran chased it, pulled another smaller rock out of the dirt, and smashed it against the first one.
Wow. He was really pissed.
Astamur’s eyes were as big as plates.
“I can get him to put those back after he’s done,” I told him.
“No,” Astamur said slowly. “It’s fine.”
Curran picked up the smaller rock with both hands and threw it onto the larger boulder. The boulder cracked and fell apart. Oops.
“Sorry we broke your rock.”

A massive beast dashed along the mountain apex. Huge, at least six hundred pounds, the creature covered the distance in great leaps. The moonlight traced his gray mane and slid off the thick cords of his muscles. He was neither beast nor man, but a strange four-legged meld of the two, built to run despite his bulk.
How the hell did he even find me?
Atsany jumped up and down, waving his pipe. Without taking his gaze from the beast, Astamur reached for his rifle. “A demon?”
“No, not a demon.” I might have preferred one. “That’s my boyfriend."