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Damon all but bared his teeth, and Seth’s hands clenched. But I strode right past them, right up to Derek, stopping just a few feet away. Fury churned in my stomach. It must have shown in my gaze too, because the arrogance in Derek’s expression faltered.
“Don’t try me,” I said, letting my magic crackle into my voice. “Myconsortshave given me more than you ever could have.”
Derek’s eyes widened. “Your consorts?”
“But let’s not talk about that,” I said. “Let’s talk about you. Where should we start? Maybe with Polly? Exactly how witching is she? What did you get out of those little liaisons, other than your dick wet?”
His jaw twitched and then firmed. “I don’t think you’re in any position to complain when—
“Sure,” I said, cutting him off. “We’ll skip the ‘who betrayed who first’ argument. Because I have a contract that shows it was definitely you, months before we even got to this estate. What bothers you more, Derek? The fact that you didn’t get to claim my body or that you won’t get to take over my magic?”
The color drained from my ex-fiancé’s face behind the bruises. He didn’t seem to have anything to say about that.
“Yeah,” I said. “I know. And you’re not getting one shred of my magic—if you still thought you had any chance of it now that Celestine is gone. Did you expect this to still somehow work out in your favor? That my dad would arrange it for you?”
I tried not to put any special emphasis on that last line, not to give away how much I still needed that confirmation, one way or the other. Derek wet his lips, his gaze darting from me to the guys who’d come up behind me and back again.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I was committed. I was going to see the consorting through, however it turned out.”
“And what did my father think about that?”
“What would he think?” Derek shot back. “It was all Celestine. He had no idea about anything except the regular consorting.”
A tight band of worry that had been wrapped around my gut released. Dad had nothing to do with it. I’d gotten worried again with Celestine’s “accident,” with Mrs. Gainsley going around helping Master Cortland, that he was involved somehow.
But maybe the crashhadbeen an accident—or if it hadn’t been, someone had pulled the strings without Dad knowing. I’d bet Master Cortland had been worried Celestine would turn him in for his assistance if she were caught. He’d already been in contact with people who’d arranged for “problems” like that to be solved in murderous fashion before. Blaming him made more sense anyway.
“Great,” I said to Derek. “Then we’d better fill him in on all the details of your crimes. We can go have a word with him right now.” But I couldn’t let him reveal what he knew about my consorts. I had to bring that to Dad in my own time. And the last thing I wanted was anyone in the Assembly finding out.
“You won’t say anything about what you saw out here, though,” I added. “Nothing about my behavior or my magic or who may have kindled it.”
Derek scowled. “All right,” he said hesitantly.
I stepped closer. “Of course, I can’t just take your word for it. So why don’t you have a taste of that magic you wanted so much?” I gathered my power in my throat and poured it into my voice. “You, Derek Conwyn, will never communicate anything you saw me say or do here at the pond, or the implications of anything you saw or heard, or make any indication of those things to anyone.Accept.”
“I accept,” he croaked, the words driven from his mouth by my magic. It hissed in the air between us and clamped around his mind, seeing my will be done.
I left him there, his feet still frozen to the ground, and turned to Seth and Damon. “You’d better leave. I’ll let you know as soon as this is over.”
“If there’s anything we can do by staying…” Seth said.
“No. One thing at a time.”
I brushed a kiss to both of their mouths. Damon held me a moment longer. “Don’t give him an inch,” he muttered.
“Not planning on it,” I said. “You stay safe too.”
As they faded back into the woods, I made a motion to release Derek’s feet and bind him at a safe distance from me. He’d have to follow me to the manor, but he couldn’t get close enough to hurt me.
“Let’s get this over with,” I said. “The moment I never have to see your face again can’t come too soon.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Rose
For the first several minutes tramping back through the forest, Derek was sullen and silent. He walked slowly, with a bit of a limp. When he glanced over at me, I thought I saw him checking out my breasts. Augh. Yeah, I was definitely going to need some brain soap after today.
Insect sounds hummed around us. The light through the trees was getting thinner—it’d be almost dinner time now, but the sluggish breeze that drifted over me was still warm.
