Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 47894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47894 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 239(@200wpm)___ 192(@250wpm)___ 160(@300wpm)
“I doubt I can, not in the middle of all this. Every second this goes on, I feel like we get further away from unraveling it. Which is maybe why he created the slip here, in this time, so that more of it passes.”
“That makes sense, because for you it’s one night, and maybe that’s because you’re a witch and your magic can discern reality. For me, as I’m magic adjacent,” he said with a chuckle, “it feels like so much longer. But for people here, they perceive my time with them as years.”
“I know.”
“That’s madness.” He shook his head.
“And because I heard that, I was worried you might have forgotten me.”
“No, love, I’ll never forget you.”
I nodded quickly, unable to speak.
“We have to figure out how to undo what he’s done to Corvus.”
Silently, both of us thinking, he walked me to his bathroom, where there was the biggest bathtub I’d ever seen.
“Tell me that’s not solid gold.”
“Oh, I think it’s solid gold,” he teased. “My thought is, because of all those years bouncing around, having to move from place to place, never having a home, now that he can, he’s created this monument to indulgence and bad taste.”
“Lots of triggers and unhealed trauma here.”
“Without a doubt,” he said, moving around to plug the tub and turn on the water.
“Hot and cold running water?”
“Only the best for Giles Corey.”
“I hate that he locks you in here.”
“He does it at night, which doesn’t bother me. I have free rein of the house and grounds all day up until after my evening meal.”
“He doesn’t worry about you and Argos cutting out during the day?”
He shrugged. “Where are we gonna go?”
“Then why lock you in at all?”
“To have some semblance of control, I’m sure.”
“And you don’t care?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It’s only the outer door. For whatever reason—and I do have a theory—he can’t pass the threshold into this room. Neither can Ilara, his companion, which is a constant source of frustration for her.”
“It sounds like she wants you.”
“I think wherever she came from, she was either a princess or was treated like one. She wants this place to function like a court, and she wants me downstairs, kissing her ass, like all the other men and women who live here. The fact that she has no dominion over me, added to the fact that neither she, nor Giles, can get rid of me, makes her crazy.”
“He could kill you, just as he could me.”
His scoff was loud. “He can’t kill either one of us. There’s a residual power in you through your ancestral ties to Corvus that he can’t sever.”
“Everything I ever read says he—”
“No. It says he’s powerful, yes, and that he’s killed others, but not one has reported him ever hurting a member of his family.”
Funny that Lorne knew the archives, the journals, better than I did.
“So yeah, he can’t kill us. That’s not to say he can’t make life unbearable by keeping us apart, but thus far, that doesn’t seem to be working.”
“He can throw one of us through the rift.”
He shot me a look. “That’s dark. But again, no. That could be construed as a death sentence, and your power wouldn’t allow that.”
“You’re talking about my magic as though it’s separate from me.”
“And it is and isn’t. Because as you explained it to me before, there’s universal or passive magic, and then there’s the kind you practice, which is intentional or active. In this case, that active magic will not allow you to be harmed, and so it will work instinctively to shield you.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am. It’s kept me safe here while I awaited rescue.”
“Some rescue.”
“Stop talking yourself down. You’re doing great.”
“As long as you’re with me, I’m counting it as a win.”
“Smooth talker.”
“Knock it off,” I groused. “Because he could do lots of things to hurt us.”
“We’re gonna get this figured out before he lashes out again.”
“He’ll be livid when he finds out I’m here.”
“I’m sure he knows.”
“How?”
His mischievous grin, coupled with the glint in his eyes, made my breath catch.“You made biscuits.”
“How did you know?”
“Because I ate, like, five.”
I laughed.
“What? They’re good. I prefer the sour cream, chive, and ricotta ones, but that’s because I’m spoiled. The fact of the matter is, when I walked by and smelled them, then took a bite, I was happily surprised to be eating my husband’s biscuits again.”
“Why is everything out of your mouth pervy today?”
“Because I’ve been away from you for nearly a month.”
The man annihilated me, and when I reached for him, he took my hand in both of his, turned it over, and kissed my palm.
“Tell me about the clothes this Ilara wanted you to wear.”
“She had her servants deliver them to me, and when I tried to carry them in, I felt a push in my chest. I must have said no to a hundred pieces of clothing before she finally gave up and brought me items purchased in town.”