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“As you see, I protected my mate. While you…what? Disappeared? Methinks you did little to prevent the Anarki from capturing her.”
Olivia gasps. “He helped defeat Mathias by tricking him—at great personal risk—because it was the right thing to do. I read about it.” She grabs a book from a nearby table abutting the wall, and shoves it in my hands. “Why don’t you do the same?”
“I know how events look, but I’m no ally of Mathias,” Gray insists. “Do you realize how badly he wants me dead?”
I grunt. “He would keep you alive long enough to lead him to the Doomsday Diary.”
“I deeply regret that I was ever part of the Anarki. Once I figured out his scheme, I did the best I could to eradicate him from magickind. All I want now is to know my daughter. Please see reason. Mathias will look for her here. By now, he knows who helped you defend your cottage, so he will deduce where you hide.”
Bram snorts, suddenly beside me. “I would love to see him try to invade.”
“He knows better,” Gray assures. “He’ll find a more subtle way in. But rest assured, he will find it. He needs the book, and I’m sure he suspects Olivia is most likely to open it. Let her come with me. I know how to protect her. She should not be—”
“No!” I grab Gray by the throat and back him to the wall. “You dare come here when your very presence is a threat? When the Anarki could be right behind you? You are a fool if you think I will let her leave with you, even for a second. Try to separate me from my mate again, and you will find out how unforgiving my wrath can be.”
“Marrok!” Olivia tugs at my arm. “Let go.”
“Nay.”
Bram clears his throat. “If Gray wanted to, he could rip out your entrails with a spell.”
“Not before I knocked a few screws loose in his head.”
On Bram’s right, Shock laughs. “Pound him. I know all about Mr. Gray. Smarmy bastard who tossed the Anarki over when shit got too deep. After betraying his boss, the coward ran and hid like a rat in a hole.”
That sounds accurate to me. I disliked Richard Gray on sight. Naught has changed.
“Let him go.” Olivia stamps her foot. “Right now!”
She refuses to see the threat her father presents. It infuriates me, but I dare not push her toward him.
As I release Gray, he clears his throat and rubs his neck, milking the injury for her sympathy.
“He’s just trying to protect me in his way, like you are,” Olivia insists. “You’re being an asshole. This is my choice.”
“You wish to leave with him?”
“No, we’re safer here. I know that. I just want you to listen.”
“Mayhap I will, once he stops trying to part us.”
“He’s talking to me about the diary. He has information that might be useful. You dismissing him doesn’t help.”
I turn a sharp glance to Gray.
“The diary is locked, yes?” he asks.
If the shifty wizard has information, I must play his game. “Aye.”
“According to my great-grandmother’s writings, the diary requires someone special to open it.”
“Who?”
Gray shrugs. “You knew Morgana far more…intimately.”
I appreciate not the reminder.
Olivia tries to smooth over the moment. “One of my history professors called the diary an object of feminine reverence. I read something today that made me think it’s more powerful in a woman’s hands. Maybe that’s what she meant.”
