Total pages in book: 47
Estimated words: 44211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 221(@200wpm)___ 177(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
It was exactly the kind of place where Dax would love to live, if it weren’t for the lingering darkness of black magic that prickled his skin as he walked with Everett through the house. Magic that grew stronger when they reached his grandfather’s study. Something in this room was spelled in a way that raised the fine hairs on Dax’s body, and he knew he needed to find whatever it was. It could be that very thing that had put Everett in danger.
The office was two stories tall, with actual sliding ladders connected to bookcases on each wall. There was so much stuffed into this room, it would take him forever to find the bespelled item. And he could sense it was just one thing—one powerful thing.
“As you can see,” Everett said, “Wilson never threw anything away and he liked…things. All sorts of things as well as books. All those spell books in your boss’s office would have made him dance with joy.” Everett picked up a chimera statuette off the large desk and turned it over in his hands as he frowned at it. “I got the feeling he was always searching for something. To the day he died, he still had boxes of books shipped here from all over the world. But his true passion was anything of Norse myth.” He waved a hand over a shelf that held Valkyries and different depictions of gods. “With each new box of books, Wilson would spend weeks and even months poring over them.”
“He never told you what he was searching for?” Dax asked as he walked around, trying to get a feel for the thicker magic. It filled the room, so he couldn’t narrow anything down. It could be a book, or one of the collectibles. Hell, it could be a pencil eraser. Fuck, this wasn’t going to be easy.
And neither was being around Everett. His attraction to the man was beyond anything he’d experienced, and he was still working through the disappointment that Everett wasn’t one of the unique humans who could be a preternatural’s soulmate. No, it was more than disappointment. It felt more like devastation—which made absolutely no sense, since he’d just met the man.
Dax watched Everett grab a box before coming to stand next to him. The man was so small, he made Dax feel like a lumbering ox.
“I’ll help you pack,” Dax offered as he held out his hand.
Everett handed over a roll of tape with a thankful smile. “I will definitely take you up on the help. There’s so much stuff, it’s overwhelming. Thankfully, the estate sale company is handling the rest of the house, but this room—and everything in it—means something to me. I’ll be keeping a lot of this.” He chuckled as he started gathering the items on the desk. “Though I have no idea where I’ll be putting it. My house isn’t even close to the size of this one. I have one room dedicated to my grandfather’s things, but this is more than one regular room’s worth.”
“Why don’t you hand things to me and I’ll wrap them and put them into the boxes? That way, you can go through and organize everything the best way for you.” And Dax could hold each item and figure out which one was emitting so much magic.
“Sure. I’ll be going up and down the ladders, so that’ll be a huge help.” Everett went to a shelf with figurines and started pulling them down, setting each one onto the desk next to Dax. “So, tell me about yourself. How long have you been a bodyguard?”
“A few years. Normally, I’m a student.”
Everett looked over his shoulder, eyebrows climbing up his forehead. “Like…a professional student? How does that work?”
“I just mean I was in school when Xavier approached me for this job. He was hiring my two best friends, Ivor and Emory, so I suppose that’s why he asked me.”
“That and your size, I imagine. I’ve never met anyone who takes up so much space.” He clapped a hand over his mouth, mumbling from behind it. “Oh, was that rude?”
Dax laughed. “No, it wasn’t. I do stand out a bit.”
“Do you get your height from your dad?”
“From both my parents. My mother is over six feet herself.” She was actually closer to seven. As full-blooded ogres, their size came with their species. It wasn’t just the height that set them apart; there were plenty of humans just as tall. It was their overall breadth. His mother had spent her life being stared at and shrugging off the strange looks she received.
“So what were you studying?” Everett asked.
“Physics this time.”
“This time?”
“I have several degrees.”
“In physics?”
“That and mathematics and literature.”
Everett paused, holding a figurine in front of him. “Wow. That’s impressive and surprising.”
Faintly offended, Dax narrowed his eyes. “Why surprising? Because of my size?”