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"Our ancestral home. Fallenmouth Manor."
"It's amazing you didn't turn out to be a whackjob like your brother when you both grew up in a house with a weird name like that. Does it have gargoyles on the roof?"
"No." He gives me that squinty-eyed look he always gets right before he's about to snarl something nasty at me. "And Iama whackjob. Don't start to think I'm the sort who will cuddle with you and soothe your fears. I'm a monster, just as my brother intended."
"Bullshit." I throw my arms wide. "He's the one who destroyed the freaking world. You've helped me."
He slings his arms around my waist, hauling me into him. "Strictly because I wanted your body."
"Oh please. Your threats no longer impress me, and I'm not scared of you either. Quit trying to tick me off."
He cuffs my wrists behind my back with one hand. "You should be afraid, love. Because I am going to tear my brother limb from limb the next time I see him."
"Can't shock me that way, Dax. Not anymore."
Behind him, the roiling darkness creeps ever closer, and lightning bolts slam into the earth with enough force to make the ground beneath us shiver. Fireballs punch into the earth too, sending volcanoes of dirt and debris pluming into the air. Soon, this beautiful landscape will be a wasteland.
"Sefton might be at Fallenmouth Manor," I say. "Why do you think we'll be safe there?"
"We won't be. But he won't kill you, that much I'm certain of. Sefton believes he loves you, which means he will protect you."
"He hates you."
"But he won't kill me, not yet. He still needs his anchor, or else he would have murdered me already." Dax releases my wrists but keeps his arms around me. "Your body belongs to me. Remember that."
"You just opened up to me in a big way, and now you're feeling weird about it. I get that." I wriggle against him, rubbing against the bulge in his pants. "Your body belongs to me too. But the next time we have sex, I'll be the one who decides when and how it happens."
One corner of his mouth twitches upward the tiniest bit, but only for a split second. "Can you transport us to Fallenmouth Manor?"
"Not sure. I've only done the transporting thing once."
"You are a part of the Echo. You control at least some of its power. Harness that again."
"Don't remember exactly how I did it before."
He releases my wrists and holds me close in a much less obnoxious way. It feels almost tender. "What did you want most of all in that moment, when you took us away from Sefton and his golem?"
"I—" Wanted to save myself, yes. But I also fervently wished to save Dax too. That's probably a sign I've gone crazy, but everything about this new world is bonkers. "I just wanted to escape from Sefton and his creatures. It was too much, and I was afraid of what he might do next."
"Tap into that fervent desire to escape. Use it now."
Wrapping my arms around him, I squeeze my eyes shut and take his advice. I wish with everything I have that we could be at Fallenmouth Manor. I don't even know where that is, but I'm tapping into magics now, not plotting a course on a map. That weird sensation of electricity and cool water rushes through me, and I sense the world shifting around us. The bomb blasts of fireballs and supernatural lightning fall silent as a temperate breeze kisses my cheeks.
I open my eyes. "Is that Fallenmouth Manor?"
"Yes." Dax pushes away from me. "I've come home at last."
He doesn't sound happy about that.
The house squats inside an expansive clearing, its boxy shape a sharp contrast to the almost whimsical way the shrubs and flower beds around it have been sculpted. The gray stone structure features windows with wrought iron sectioning the panes and wrought iron benches in the garden that I can just see to the left of the house. I can't see the cemetery from here, but I imagine that's situated out of sight on purpose.
Dax and I are standing in a circular driveway covered in pea gravel that crunches under our shoes. A concrete fountain hunkers in the middle of the circular drive, and water pours out of the mouth of a leaping stag.
Something about this place creeps me out. Maybe it's the apocalypse doing that, but I think it's this estate too. It feels…haunted. I know we will meet Sefton here. It's inevitable. But I dread the moment when he'll arrive and bring who-knows-what kind of creatures with him. His golem? God, I hope not.
Dax takes my hand to lead me into the house. Wooden double doors block our way, but he twists the knob—and it turns. Nobody locks this place up, I guess. Maybe Sefton has the whole estate surrounded, guarded by his Echo minions. Dax pulls the doors shut as we waltz into the entryway, and shadows envelop us. But dim light spills out of a room further down the hall.
A chill sweeps over my skin, raising every hair.
