Christina sneered through the lounge window, pretending her heart wasn’t weeping in sorrow at never having experienced the love she could feel almost as if it was a living, breathing thing.
She gave them a sweeping glance before she floated to Stuart and Joe’s home, hoping to find Max. She’d had enough of this waiting. And she had an odd feeling that this time she might not get her way. The fact that Max had been missing in action and Princess had also disappeared worried her more than she would let on.
When she’d tried to connect to the guardians this morning, she’d been blocked. Christina stomped her foot. As her temper built, she searched the garden and the house but found nothing. She went to Aaden’s, but she knew the minute she entered that Max wasn’t there. His essence had always had a certain signature, which had alerted her to his presence. Now all she sensed was static.
She mumbled. She cursed when she couldn’t come up with an answer as to where they had disappeared to. She paused when a wild thought popped into her head. No, it couldn’t be, could it? Would the king interfere?
The thought no sooner entered her head than she felt the tug on her soul. She groaned in despair. The air lifted her as she disappeared from Aaden’s home only to find herself staring down the king.
Christina’s mind raced.
This is so not good!
“Hello, Christina. I was hoping you would have come of your own accord, but is seemed that was not going to be the case.” The softly spoken words were laced with ice, making Christina want to shrivel away from the coldness.
“Come now. Don’t you think it’s time to explain what you have been up to?”
The quiet demand had the words pouring out of her mouth unheeded.
“I have no clue as to what you’re referring to…” Christina bit her lip when the angry snarl stopped her dead.
“Do not lie to me. You have been causing mayhem. I stupidly gave you too much rope, and now you’ve managed to tie yourself up in it.” The chuckle that followed those words was bereft of humour. “I have had to waste considerable time trying to ascertain what you have been up to. The crimes, it would seem, are far too many to catalogue if my sources are correct. So what am I to do with you?” The king’s hard, cold eyes released her as they moved to look at the two cats she’d been searching for.
Christina knew better than to answer, knowing fine well he wasn’t asking for her opinion. But the urge to speak overrode common sense when she caught Max’s sorrowful expression before he looked away.
“I would be happy to take Princess’s body and be with Max eternally.” A low growl emanated from behind her, causing her to move swiftly to the side, out of harm’s reach. A small black cat, not dissimilar to Princess, stalked towards her, hackles raised.
Shit!
Sidestepping the angry cat as she sailed past, Christina took a deep inhale but coughed it right back out when the king spoke.
“You cannot inhabit Princess’s body. It is impossible now that Max has connected to her soul. They are inseparable.” The last word was drowned out when a flying Princess landed on Max’s large white body, attacking him for all her worth.
Christina froze, along with everyone else, for a second as the screeching became unbearably loud.
“Enough, Princess!” The loud bellow had Princess finally releasing Max and stopping the screeching. But Christina could clearly see her eyes promised retribution.
“Max did the only thing he could do to save your life. If he hadn’t listened to your mother, you would have died.” The chaos died as the words penetrated past the anger filling the king’s chamber.
The words rang with a finality that had Christina crumple to the ground, sobbing.
“Christina, get up.”
The harsh command had her slowly stand. Wiping her cheeks, she raised her head, and she pushed her auburn hair away from her pale face.
“I have thought long and hard about your past digressions. That being said, what you did to Nick and Brody as children, it needs to be fixed. You messed with soulmates, and the fates are not at all happy with you. For that, you will become human until you can fix what you broke.” His large hand waved. The air charged around her before she found herself standing outside Aaden’s home, shivering from the freezing, biting air.
“Oh, Goddess Freyja, how am I supposed to survive like this?” The loud cry was met with a thud behind her where a bag landed.
A voice danced on the air around her head.
“You will find everything you need in that bag. Money and clothes, but the rest you will need to source yourself without the means of magic. I will not give back your magic until you make amends for what you tried to break because of your petty jealousy. Remember, I will be watching.”
The air blew fiercely before it stilled, leaving her alone in the dark cul-de-sac. Christina felt a shiver of fear skitter up her spine. “What if I fail?”
The ominous silence spoke volumes and turned the shiver into full-blown trembles as she picked up the bag, searching for something to block out the icy cold.
She pulled out a black full-length padded jacket from the bag and put it on. She searched through the bag, grateful for small mercies when she saw how much money she had.
Christina walked away from Aaden’s, unsure what to do now, knowing she wouldn’t be welcome in any of their homes. Walking to the main road for the first time in more than nine hundred years, she tried to get her bearings.
The sound of a car had her click her fingers, but nothing happened as it sailed past. Her eyes shimmered as she trudged down the road with the large bag slung over her shoulder. The reality of her situation finally sunk in.
She was magicless.
Goddess Freyja, now what?
She prayed to whoever was listening that the damage she had caused to Brody and Nick was repairable and she wouldn’t be stuck in her human form forever.
Christina shuddered, thinking that was a fate worse than death.
The chuckles that filled her head warned her there could be worse things, and she was, maybe, about to find out what they were.
The End.