Wicked Deeds on a Winter’s Night (Immortals After Dark #4)(64)
Author: Kresley Cole

Within a quarter of an hour, the witch was healed… completely healed.

Mariketa blinked open her clear gray eyes, gazing up at Bowe.

"Lass, are you all right?" – his voice broke an octave lower as his throat tightened – "Say something tae me."

When she whispered, "What’d I miss?" he just kept his emotions in check.

He’d almost… lost her.

With shaking hands, he tucked her against him and absently murmured an explanation about where she was and what had happened. When she shivered, he lifted her and hurried back to the house, passing a visibly stunned Lachlain.

Inside, Bowe took her to the bathroom, then ran a bath. Gently setting her in the tub, he scooped water over her back and shoulders with an unsteady hand. He wanted to apologize for everything, for being so stubborn and stupid, but didn’t trust himself to speak about something so important. Not yet. Every time he tried, his voice broke.

"Bowen, did I hear my friends outside?"

He coughed into his fist, then said, "Aye, they come by all hours of the day and night. Carrow and Regin are here now."

"Could you tell them that I’m okay? And that I’ll be out in a minute?" Mariketa asked.

"Will you be all right by yourself?"

She nodded. "I’m fine. Back to normal via greenery."

"Aye, then, of course. I’ll be right back."

In the sitting room, he found Lachlain and Emma, Carrow, and the Valkyrie Regin. After he delivered Mariketa’s message, her friends hugged each other.

"I told you people she’d pull through," Carrow said, then cracked open a bottle of champagne – for herself.

"Aye, she’s a clever girl," Bowe told them, feeling like his chest was about to burst with pride. "Healed herself." His lass got the very earth to give to her. How many mates could do that?

Lachlain and Emma were clearly delighted for him. "Now, I’ll get to regale her with stories about you… "

Suddenly, everyone grew silent, and all eyes fell to the front door behind him.

"What?" Bowe asked, turning. "What is it?"

At the doorway stood… Mariah.

48

What trickery was this? He still scented Mariketa in the bath.

This must be another being. This was… Mariah.

"I… I… " He couldn’t form words. There’d been no reincarnation?

In her tremulous voice, she said, "I can see I’ve shocked you, Bowen."

"How… how can this be?" For so long, Bowe had ached for this, had imagined their reunion in a thousand different ways. He’d gone to his knees and begged fate for one more chance.

Apparently, he’d been given it.

"I was brought back to you," she said, gliding over to stand before him. "Resurrected by a sorceress."

Bowe scanned the room as if hoping for someone to explain this. Everyone appeared as dumbstruck as he felt. "How did you come to be here?"

Her tentative smile was rapidly fading. Of course, she would have believed he’d be overjoyed. And two months ago, he would have been.

"Once I was revived, I was sent to wherever you were."

"Why now?"

"B-Bowen, you sound almost angry." Her violet eyes watered.

He’d gotten so used to his witch going toe-to-toe with him that he’d forgotten how timorous some females could be. "I mean, why no’ sooner? It’s been nearly two centuries."

"The sorceress needed the energy that surrounds an Accession to be able to bring me back." Just as Mariketa had said about another reincarnate. "As I lay dying that night in the forest, I wished that I could have had a life with you, wished it with everything in me." She lowered her voice to say, "I wished that I hadn’t run from you."

He winced at the memory.

"The being heard my cries, kissed me gently, and took my pain away."

"A sorceress would no’ do this out of kindness to you. What did she demand of you?"

"She demanded my eternal soul. But I gave it up gladly, Bowen, just to have another chance with you." Mariah smiled softly. "Though you’re going to have to protect me so that I may never die again."

The sacrifice she’d made staggered him.

Yet instead of feeling joy at her return, or gratitude for what she’d given up, all he could think was how much he just wanted to get back to help his witch with her bath.

Why hasn’t Bowen returned?

Mari hoped he wasn’t having words with Carrow, though she could definitely see that happening – the most pro-witch female Mari knew versus the most anti-witch male?

Once she found a bag with her things in the adjoining bedroom, she hurriedly dressed, determined to douse any conflict. When she entered the sitting room, her friends stared at her, seeming stunned.

"What?" Mari asked Carrow and Regin, but they remained motionless by a wall. "I know I look like hell, but damn, I was in a plane crash this week… " No, they were staring over her shoulder.

Mari got chills on the back of her neck, and she slowly turned. Somehow she knew what she would find. The female standing there was… Mariah.

Chapter 22

There’d been no shared soul between them.

The blond princess stood, tall and graceful, by Bowen’s side, resplendent in a long, white gown. And they looked perfect together. Her violet eyes glinted with emotion as she glanced from Mari to Bowen. Bowen’s own eyes burned with some inscrutable light.

Stay standing… stay standing. "She’s returned?"

"Aye. Resurrected by a sorceress. You knew what I believed about you and her. So tell me how this is possible, Mariketa."

He wasn’t outright accusing her of an enchantment again, but there was a suspicious note in his tone. Faced with this scene, even she began to doubt herself. "How would I know?" She pinched her forehead between her thumb and her forefinger. Though she’d just come from a healing, her head had started to pound.

"Because you’re a witch – "

"A witch, Bowen?" Mariah sidled even closer to Bowen as if for protection. "But you despise them!"

As he absently patted her hand, he said to Mari, "This is your area of expertise."

"Resurrection is not my area of expertise. I only know that there are a very limited number of beings on earth that can do it. Most of those won’t," Mari answered. "Look, I don’t know what’s going on – I’m fresh from a plane wreck and a shade bewildered here. But I do know we can figure it out." She met his eyes and held out her hand. "Together."

Just when she thought Bowen’s body tensed to move – to cross the ten feet to Mari’s side, the princess said, "Bowen, who is this woman? Did you… did you find another? You told me I was the only one," she added softly. "You vowed to me that you’d never want another as long as you lived."