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“What?”
“I don’t know, Ian. Her confidence troubles me. I know I mentioned this last night, but her superior attitude has me worried more than anything else she’s done over the past year. Even though she was defeated out at Angler’s Cliff, she doesn’t seem concerned at all.”
He turned the mug in his hands, then tapped his thumb ring against the ceramic. “Your inability to see all the tents in the encampment because of the spell has me worried. I mean, what you’ve described sounds massive all by itself.”
Regan set her cup down and slid off her stool. She walked to the eastern window with a vista leading to the Leberion Plain.
The shutters had already come up, the sun having set on the other side of the house. From the eastern view, she would be able to see the forest on both sides of the gorge.
“I have to go back,” she said.
“And you should. You should be with your people.” His gaze fell to the shape of her ass, the snug jeans helping him to visualize her naked. He mentally placed a hand on her left cheek. He loved Regan’s figure.
She turned, looking at him over her shoulder, and shook her head. “Not to Swanicott. I mean the fortress. I want to fly over there at full-dark and see what the mist tells me. You have to remember, I only saw the mist when I was trying to escape. It wasn’t visible from the tower and I need to study it, at least for a few minutes.”
“You didn’t see the mist when you first arrived?”
“I was unconscious. I woke up in the tower in a lot of pain.”
Ian repressed a shudder. He hated the idea that she’d suffered. “Well, there’s no way I’m letting you get anywhere near the mist.” He set his mug down and rose from his seat at the same time. “I just got you out of the fortress. It would be foolish as hell to be anywhere near that place.”
“Temper, Ian.” She offered him a taunting smile. She could always set up his back.
He gritted his teeth, grinding his molars. “No way you’re going back there.”
“Really?” She pivoted in his direction. “Are you forbidding me?”
“Hell, yeah, I am.” Once more aware that his vision had been healed, that not even indoor light hurt his eyes any longer, he crossed to her. “This is my realm, in case you’ve forgotten, and my word is law. You are not returning to the fortress, the mist, the gorge, nowhere. I want you in Swanicott.”
She moved within a handful of inches from him. “If I can find a way to help all of you bring that woman down, then I’ll do whatever I need to do. I want to help, and for that I need to be close to the spelled mist. Besides, you’re not the one who was stuck in Margetta’s fortress, who had to endure her torture.”
“And you’re not the one who sat in the dirt night after night, praying for some kind of opening in the shielding mist so I could find you.”
An arrested expression entered her doe eyes. He always forgot how beautiful she was until he stood this close to her. Her skin was like cream, her cheekbones high, and the fae point of her chin softer than most. Her eyes were so warm his heart ached just looking at her. Her sweet jasmine-lime scent rose in a sudden wave, a powerful reminder his life had changed because Regan was a blood rose.
“I wasn’t thinking of what you went through,” she said in a quiet voice. “Only what needs to be done.”
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“And what do you think that is?” he asked.
Her brows rose. “To destroy her army, of course.”
“So your intention is to swing by, take a look at the mist, hope to hell she or a hundred of her Invictus pairs aren’t hanging around looking for you, then head to Swanicott.”
“Something like that. Once back at the Fae Guild, I’ll start working on a counter-spell. I just need to get a feel for her mist, how she constructed it. And it would help if I was there.”
“It’s too dangerous right now. My guess is she’ll have part of her army out hunting for you tonight as it is.”
She caught his arm. “Then take me out there yourself.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking. Margetta will be on guard now. She’ll be waiting for you.”
But her gaze fell to where her fingers now touched his skin. “You still work out.” Her voice had deepened and sounded hoarse.
Desire rose all over again as he remembered how she liked to touch him and do other things. No one had ever pleased him as much as Regan. At the same time, her hand fell away and she shifted to look back out the window. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I shouldn’t have touched you. Sweet Goddess, I’m scared.”
Nothing she’d said had surprised him more than these words. “You should be afraid of Margetta.”
