“Fine.” If he turned into stalker number two, I’d deal with it then. Maybe I could pit him and Brody against each other. “If you want to poof my hangover while you’re at it, I wouldn’t say no.”
Cayden’s finger brushed my cheek, already drawing. “Demanding thing, aren’t you?”
I dropped my jaw in mock horror. “I’m not a thing, but my ass still hurts from yesterday. In for a penny, in for a pound?”
Cayden narrowed his eyes as if trying to understand what I just said. “I don’t know what a penny is, and I can’t make your ass weigh more. Magic can’t create something out of nothing.”
I turned bright red and tried to figure out if I should be insulted or embarrassed.
He finished his drawing. A rush of warm tingles ran down my body, making my cheeks heat for a different reason. My headache intensified before vanishing. My body hummed happily, and the tension in my shoulders drained.
Cayden, wrapping his ankle with mine, made me realize I’d closed my eyes. I didn’t move my ankle, and he didn’t acknowledge what he’d done. “Book, now. Before any of your dumb rubs off on me.”
I grinned and pulled out Rowan’s book.
Chapter 12
Ezra
Thehumanbodywasn’tmeant to lie still. Muscles seized. Sores opened. Skin broke. The body ate itself to survive.
The first time my lover went under, I panicked. That was days after we took this castle. Seven years later, I had this down to a science.
I placed Xan’s leg back into its resting position and sat at the end of the bed, rubbing his toes. The door opened without a knock. Only one person was bold enough to enter the Architect’s rooms.
“You know, we have a medic who works with him twice a day.” Morgen’s dry voice carried in the too-silent room.
A medic, but not one with my lover’s skills. And unconscious, he couldn’t heal himself. Not even his abilities as a mentalist, which didn’t rely on his magic or Majekah, helped him now.
I let my gaze unfocus.
My lover was always moving, talking, pacing, turning pages. Not this stillness. I closed my eyes, and Quinn rose to the front of my thoughts. The half-dead woman who had somehow made it to ourcoliseum, who had yet to explain how she accomplished the feat, was the same woman who ran from her past so fast, it was a miracle I’d caught her before she splattered against the thousand-year-old castle walls.
She was the first woman to make my heart race and my cock ache.
Morgen cleared her throat. If I’d been capable of blushing, I would have. Fortunately, I’d banished such frivolous reactions long ago.
I released my lover's toes and turned to the bent, pink-haired, self-named chancellor, though she could be whomever she wanted. That was our deal when we came out of the tunnels.
"What do you want?” I asked.
“An Adler Michelson showed up at our gates,” Morgen stated.
I turned. Despite our age difference, we worked well together for this reason: blunt, to-the-point communication.
“We have him entertained at the Happy Rooster,” Morgen continued. “But he’s asked to join the new trainees. His very late request comes with a chest of gold.”
I reached out, squeezing Xan’s ankle. I needed him awake. Our family needed its Architect. I couldn’t make these decisions. Requests piled up: money, alliances, threats wrapped in politeness. My lover’s annual Mixer was a few months out, and I was drowning in the workload.
My lover was the planner, the visionary. I was now, and always would be, his loyal soldier, supporter, and assistant, but never more.
Morgen sighed into the silence. “Forty-two, three now, if you count the Adler Michelson, new trainees. The most we’ve ever had. Many from families we never expected to hear from. At least half of Grady Hall consists of spies, sons from families who will vanish once they’ve gotten the information they want.” She chuckled. “Spies imply importance. I’ll take it.”
I nodded. “We’ve outgrown our castle.”
“When are we taking The Mile?” Morgen asked casually.
The Royal Mile was the highest road in Edinburgh, connecting our castle with our Abernathy allies at the bottom. Commerce and housing there were necessary. Our aggression wouldn’t make us friends, but it would anger everyone equally.
