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Regret crosses the wizard’s face. “I don’t know.”
“You have no way to trace their location?”
“I’m not a GPS tracker. Listen, it’s no secret Gray wanted to part you and Olivia. But—”
“To what end? He tried to steal the book, too, did he not?” When Bram remains silent, it takes all my will not to upend the table and fling him about the room. “You suggested giving the knave enough rope to hang himself. He has.”
“He won’t hurt Olivia. At the very least, he needs her to use the diary.”
“And after that?” Horror and frustration swell. “Without me, she will lose energy quickly. The lack will kill her if Gray does not. And if he is again in league with Mathias, as I suspect, you know what that monster will do.”
The very thought shreds me.
“We will find her before then.” Bram pauses. “You love her.”
I flinch. I have fought this feeling in vain. Almost from the moment I realized Olivia was not Morgana, I began seeing her. I began falling for her. Her compassion and her willingness to help. Her strength and her vulnerability. Her sparkle, her beauty, her acceptance. And what did I give her in return? Anger and distrust, along with my stiff cock. I withheld the love she has sought all her life because I feared she would use it to hurt me. I punished her for her bloodline, which she couldn’t help. I denied her affection. Oh, I craved her, so I took her as often as she allowed. But I was too cowardly to tell her of my feelings.
And now I might never have that chance.
“Aye.” I scrub a hand down my face, my pulse a wild thing in my chest. “I cannot live without her. I must find her.”
“We.” Bram claps me on the shoulder. “And we have a bargaining chip, something Richard desperately wants, badly enough to deliver a trio of killing spells at you.”
“Those blasts of pain were killing spells?”
“Puts a new spin on terrible in-laws, doesn’t it?”
“I am in no mood for levity.”
Bram holds up his hands. “That also tells me you’re still immortal. His treachery is unforgivable, and he’ll pay for it. He’s either a coldhearted bastard willing to manipulate his daughter to acquire a weapon against his own people, or he’s in bed with Mathias, who has the same wish and is ten times more powerful.”
“What good does having the diary do us, unless we ransom it? And still, we must discover where Gray hides.”
“There is…another way, perhaps.”
My patience gives way, and I slam my fist on the table. “Every moment she is gone, I feel our bond straining and twisting. ’Tis painful, like dull blades gouging my soul.”
Bram’s brow furrows. The wizard is pondering something—but far too slowly.
Though I hate magic, at the moment, I wish I was filled with it. If it would bring back Olivia, I would hoard magical power until my own is so strong, I glow.
“Tell me!”
Bram lifts the book and flips through the pages, starting at the beginning, turning from one to the next—and whipping past the page that holds Morgana’s curse on me.
Grabbing the book from Bram, I try to breathe past my panic as I thumb back to Morgana’s damning scrawl. Can I find some answer here to change the balance of power against Gray?
I expected a wisecrack from Bram, an arched brow—something upon reading Morgana’s words. Nothing prepares me for what the wizard says.
“What are you staring at? I’m looking for the page where Morgana cursed you. So far every damn page is empty.”
“What nonsense do you speak? Can you not see the words before you?” I point.
“What words?”
“I know not what game you play. Stop now and find my mate.”
“Maybe we can find her using the book.”
