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“Absolutely. Starting now.”
33
JACE
KING OF WANDS: BE BOLD. BE BRAVE. BRING THOSE DESIRES INTO ACTION AND REALITY.
Or Find Someone Charming and Cocky Enough to Do It For You.
Atticus paces the great hall like a wounded beast primed to attack. I understand his despair, his anguish, his self-hatred. I felt all those things after losing Dyphena, except this time, Atticus knows what he did and where he went wrong. He just can’t quit playing us all like pieces on a gameboard.
“Should we check on Rosemarie?” he asks.
“Not unless you want to risk one of Rona’s wards zapping you. She has shielded the kitchen with Rosemarie and Hudyakis in there which means no one goes in or out until the brownie drops the magical forcefield.”
He stops in front of the windows, not seeming to notice the sunlight pouring in over his bowed head. “What should I do?” My twin, the consummate planner, must be desperate if he’s asking me.
“We wait. Give her the time she needs. Be glad we’re not trapped in stone so you can do whatever she asks when she returns.”
Rosemarie gave us the ability to walk in daylight just by loving us. She’s a fucking miracle, our mate. I can’t wait to kneel at her feet and lick between her thighs until she comes undone and I can taste her smile. I’ll worship her any way she wants so I can pin her with my wings and keep her screaming my name.
“I would’ve given anything to save you,” he says, snapping me out of my fantasy.
“Including selling me as a blood slave? Can’t say I’m going to thank you for that. In fact, I’d beat the shit out of you, but you’re suffering enough unless…” A horrible thought crosses my mind. “Did you promise Rosemarie to the demon in your negotiations?”
His lack of an immediate denial has my blood boiling. “I wouldn’t…”
He’s lying. We both know it.
I fly across the room, slamming him into the wall. “What’d you give him?”
He shoves me back. “It was for her own good.”
I take him to the ground. “What did you do?” I snarl in his face.
He gives in, his surrender telling me this is bad. “She went to the house, and he was going to give her the contract to sign. If she signed it before we took her and if she loses the crown, she’ll be matched to her fated mate.”
Her fated mate? I laugh, rolling off him to lay on the floor beside him. “You idiot, we are her fated mates. Theodopolis might be a filthy dealing demon, but he has the best reputation among the highest of the royals for matchmaking. He knew who she’d been destined to be with as much as he knew who she would choose. No thanks to you being an asshole.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He doesn’t move from where I left him. “Strategic planning might not solve everything, and I probably should’ve asked you how you’d feel about what I did. Asked both of you. We good now or do you need to?—”
He stops talking when the door swings open. The scent of Rosemarie’s sweetness washes over me. She stares at us as though seeing us sprawled on the floor made her forget whatever it was she meant to say. I push to my feet, and Atticus does the same although more slowly, as if she might knock him back down with a word.
Rosemarie composes herself, clasping her hands in front of her like a shield. She doesn’t need to. I would never let anyone—not even Atticus—hurt her. Besides, Hudyakis sits on her shoulder, and he would slice, dice, and devour any threat.
Lifting her chin, she says, “I will be queen. You will still be my mates. Jace will be by my side.” She looks to Atticus. “I would like you to stand with me if you can help me figure out how we rebuild our trust in one another.”
Atticus shakes his head. “Not our trust in each other. You’ve done nothing wrong. It’s rebuilding your trust in me.” His wings dip. “How can I prove that to you other than a solemn vow?”
If the situation wasn’t so serious, I might tease him about the great brainiac being out of answers for once just to get a reaction. Instead, I go with my gut. “I have an idea of how we can do that if we’re up for it.”
“I’m in,” Rosemarie says.
Only Atticus has the good sense to cut me suspicious side eye. “Up for what?” he asks.
“You’ll see,” I promise.
An hour later, when we stand atop the cliff in the Borderlands we used for training without anyone for miles around, Rosemarie puts her hands on her hips. “Nope. Nuh uh, Jace. We trained for climbing up the cliff, not down. I should’ve known you were up to trouble when you said we had to leave Huey at home. We’re not doing some kind of trust fall so you can hear me scream.”
