Page 12 of Trapped By Clocks and Hearts

I couldn’t believe this was even happening.

This girl should be so incredibly, uncomfortably aroused by now. She should be wrapped around my pinky finger and begging to do me favors, begging to climb me.

With another brief look up at me and her mouth full of food, Allie mumbled, “Aren’t you going to put another shirt on?”

My entire face suffused with heat. Though I wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or insult. This was absolutely unprecedented.

Outside, a cacophony of faint howling echoed across the landscape of my desert. Every other living creature in the vicinity was no doubt having a time of it, having been triggered in serious heat from my spell.

Allie pushed a piece of tomato off to the side of her plate and began to pick out more of the mushy fruit from her meal as though it was a wretched thing.

Suddenly feeling drained, I swallowed hard.

For some reason, I couldn’t catch my breath. My throat was itchy. My skin clammy and hot. What in the actual hell was going on?

My head spun. I almost lost my balance, tipping to one side in my seat.

Allie watched me with wary, wide eyes. “Whoa. What’s going on with you, big guy?”

Something was definitely, seriously wrong… But I couldn’t quite pin it down. What was it?

Was I more fatigued than I realized from the lack of sleep and the strain of the rescue earlier today? Perhaps traveling all the way back from Tulgey Woods without teleporting expended a lot of my magic.

I felt weak. Feverish.

Allie tilted her head to regard me with a look. “Oh, hey, are you sick?”

I dropped my gaze in concern.

Could it be that because of the looming countdown, my mystical core was draining easier and I had become more susceptible to mortal nuisances such as being sick?

I rebelled at the thought. “I have never been sick before in my entire life.”

She pursed her lips. “Maybe you caught a cold. I told you to put a shirt on. It’s freezing in here,” she noted with a gesture around us.

I stood again but I couldn’t stay standing upright. I had an incredible undeniable urge to shut my eyes. I swayed on my feet.

“Oh, shoot.” Allie stood to catch me before I toppled over. With a roll of her eyes, she groaned in seeming resignation. “Fine, jeez, come on. Let’s get you to bed. Looks like you need to have a little nap.”

“I do not need a ‘little nap’. I am—,” I halted, almost slurring, “the most powerful sorcerer in Wünder.”

Her tone was wan. “Yes, of course. Sure, you are. Now, give me your arm so I can help you walk.”

I frowned. She was so exasperating. I wanted to muffle that smart mouth, possibly with a pillow. But no, I wouldn’t just kill her. I would disassemble her piece by piece, feed her to the desert wolves, burn the leftover scraps…

“Ugh. God! How heavy are you?” Whining, she slung my arm around her shoulders.

Her bare neck was cool against my hot skin and I hissed under my breath.

“Whoa, hey, you’re—you’re actually burning up. It feels like—like you’ve got a real fever.” Glancing to one side, she mumbled, “That’s not supposed to happen.”

“What?” I jerked to straighten up, the inklings of suspicion settling in. “What the hell is that supposed to mean? What have you done to me?”

Allie’s gaze strayed over to my goblet of wine.

Oh, what the actual crap—

My eyes widened in fury. “Just what in the hell did you put in my drink?”