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ChapterTwenty-Three
CALEB
Moriarty’s voice grated on my last nerve as we finished our final circuit of the witch’s garden. Night-blooming jasmine filled the air, at once cloying and delectable, the only thing that had been able to overpower the memory of the scent of lilacs that haunted me. Even when she wasn’t with me, I smelled her. I could taste her honey on my tongue.
Bloody fecking hell, I couldnothave an erection right now. Not with this arse standing next to me telling me about some variation of spores, mold, and fungus.
“That reminds me, have I told you the one about the mushroom?”
I was going to murder him.
“No,” I gritted out.
“Well, you see, it’s really quite punny. A mushroom walks into a pub, and when the bartender tries to shoo him away, he says, ‘but I’m a fun guy.’ Get it? A mushroom is a fungi.”
His obnoxious wheezing laugh floated on the air. The fool had no clue he was a single breath away from death.
I didn’t respond. If I was honest, from one moment to the next, I forgot he was there because I felther. Sunday was near. Her heartbeat matching my own. The lilacs I had tried so hard to forget permeated my senses.
As we came around the final bend, she was there, marching our way with a single-minded determination I knew spelled trouble for me. She was too damned stubborn for her own good.
“Father Gallagher, I need to speak with you.”
“It’s a little late for a chat, isn’t it?” Moriarity asked.
“Away with you, you toady fool. Miss Fallon is clearly in a state. As her adviser, it’s my job to hear her out. You wouldn’t want to keep me from my duty now, would you?”
Moriarty gave me a lascivious wink. “Of course not, Father Gallagher. I’ll leave you to it.”
What the hell was that about?
Unease built in my gut, but I couldn’t let it keep me from seeing to Sunday.
“What’s all this, then?” I asked, forcing myself to keep my distance even though I wanted nothing more than to hold her tight and feel her curves against my hardness.
“The man we brought through the portal was Tor, Alek’s twin. I’m going to Novasgard to bring my mate back.”
“Why can’t you simply heed the headmistress’s advice and let us go? Marry the wolf and be done with it.”
She scowled at me. “You know I’d never put any of you above the others that way. Marrying Kingston was never an option unless I could marry all of you.”
My heart lurched at that.
“I want you to come to Novasgard with me.”
“Sunday, I can’t let you do that.”
“You don’t have a say. You stopped having a say when you decided I wasn’t worth risking your precious job for.”
I glared at her, even as her blow landed. She had no idea how much it pained me to deny her—to deny myself. But everything I did, I did to keep her safe. If I had to make her believe I didn’t love her, I would. I could bear her hatred, but not her death. Just the thought of it sent a chill down my spine, reminding me that what I wanted didn’t matter. Only the greater good.
“You’re not.” Fuck, those words burned on my tongue like acid. Still I kept going. “You’re insolent, stubborn, spoiled rotten, and nothing more than a child.”
“Everyone’s a child to you,grandpa.”
“There you go, proving me right once again.”
“What are you going to do, spank me? Is that what you need, Caleb? You always feel better after punishing me. Do you need to bend me over your knee so you can get your mind right?”
