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"One problem at a time, Ernest."
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Kellan
“It took me years to learn how to open a portal.”
Josie turned her gaze toward mine, the gentle breeze tossing strands of her hair around her face. She was tucked into my arm while we laid on a bed made out of leaves.
It wasn’t the most magical place to be, but I was glad to be there with her. To have someone sleep next to me helped me sleep better. It’d felt like forever since my eyes closed and stayed that way until the sun woke me.
Josie ran her fingertips along my bottom lip and jawline. “You don’t think Ernest can do it?”
I sighed heavily. “I didn’t say that. I’m just not sure he can do it in the amount of time that we need.”
Josie closed her eyes. “How long do you think we have before she shows up with all her witchery to take us out? What’s she waiting for?”
I pulled her closer to my side and inhaled her scent. “She needs Ernest gone.”
Josephine chuckled.
“What’s so funny?” I whispered, listening to the wildlife wake around us.
She peeked an eye open. “Ernest seems like such a sweet, old man. For Deidamia to be scared of him is strange.”
Sliding my palm down her back, I glanced over at Ernest asleep against the base of a giant pine. “Yeah, it’s weird. I think he’s holding back his abilities. Deidamia has a reason to want him gone.”
Josephine curled closer into my side.
I tangled my fingers into her ebony hair. “Do you think your family will tell you who took the spindle?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I think that I’ll have to pry the information out of them.”
My mind raced with possibilities of who it could be.
“What about your dad’s assistant?”
“Luther?” She chuckled. “Doubtful. He’s been with my father for years. We’ve never had any problems out of him. I doubt he would know how to maneuver through a portal, but then again, I didn’t realize my father knew about them.”
Fern stirred in her sleep across the small campsite. The campfire flickered into the night air, rising toward the tops of the pines while my mind wandered even further.
“What about your ex-boyfriend?”
Josephine’s gaze opened, and those too-blue eyes landed on mine. “What about him?”
I shrugged, feeling like a child digging into her past relationships, but I couldn’t stop myself. “What happened? You said he proposed to you?”
“He did,” she said exasperatedly. “I asked him if we could talk alone, and he just sat there on one knee, waiting for me to say yes.”
The dominant part of me loved that she rejected him. What would have happened if she had said yes? She wouldn’t have woken up the deadened part of me. I would have longed for her to no avail.
“I said no, and everyone caught it on video. They posted it online, and it humiliated us both. He’s bitter, and I’m sure he’ll be waiting when I get back.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t go alone,” I said, knowing I couldn’t go with her, no matter that I wanted to. “What if he hinders you to return?”
“I’ll handle him,” she whispered.
The pain of her returning without me settled in my body. It weighed me down. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to sleep with her intoxicating scent wrapped around me like a blanket.
