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Eleven. I’m not getting there any earlier than damn necessary.
I repeated the time to Maelle.
“Excellent,” she said. “Roger will take her through to the accommodation wing.”
“Thanks, Maelle.”
“It is entirely my pleasure.”
“I’m not liking the sound of that last comment,” Belle muttered, as I hung up. “And wing? How can there be an accommodation wing on a building that’s basically square?”
“Either she’s purchased the buildings on either side or she means the basement. I suspect the former, given the escape route from her aerie.”
She took another drink. “It’s one thing for me to go into hiding, but what are you going to do? You can’t stay at Aiden’s—you’re both far too vulnerable there.”
“I know.” I lightly swirled the whiskey around in my glass. “But I think I’ll be safe enough here, as long as you’re elsewhere.”
“‘Think’ isn’t a reassuring term, you know. And if he can’t find me, he may just concentrate all his viciousness on you—and trust me, you don’t have to be a telepath to know he intends to take what we denied him thirteen years ago.”
The memory of his weight on me as his cold hands tore at me rose. I shuddered and gulped down the whiskey, but it did little to burn the memories away. “I don’t think he’ll attack me directly. Not until he has a means of ensuring my compliance—either via you or maybe even Aiden.”
“Aiden should be safe enough at the compound, but he won’t be there twenty-four seven. He’ll insist on continuing to work.”
“Of course I will.” The bell above the door chimed merrily as he stepped through. “Why is this suddenly a problem?”
I rose and met him halfway across the room. After a long kiss hello, I said, “It makes it easier for Clayton to snare you.”
He tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers warm against my skin. “Clayton doesn’t scare me.”
“He should.”
“Over the last few months, I’ve had to deal with all manner of powerfully evil supernatural entities.” His voice was dry, his eyes warm. “A witch hell-bent on revenge seems mild by comparison.”
“You won’t think that if he gets his mitts on you.”
“I’m more worried about him getting his mitts on you and Belle. What are we doing to counter that?”
“Belle’s going into hiding.”
“Rather reluctantly,” Belle said. “You staying for coffee, Ranger?”
“Love to, but I’m on my way to another council meeting.”
“Then I’ll put it in Liz’s travel cup. Just make sure you return it, otherwise she’ll get grumpy.”
He grinned. “I can handle her grumpy.”
“Just as well, considering you’re going to be living together.”
I moved back to the table and sat down. Aiden followed me across. “Why is she going into hiding rather than staying here? I was under the impression neither he nor your father were able to break through all the protections here.”
“Only because they didn’t know about the wild magic,” I replied. “That’s now changed.”
“They attacked the place twice—if they’d been able to do something about the wild magic, wouldn’t they have done it the second time?”
“They wouldn’t have had time to do the research then, but Clayton now has.”
“I was under the impression wild magic couldn’t be countered.”
