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“Now, what do you say I carry you off to my bed and make sweet love to you all night?” Seer proposes, smiling down into my eyes.
How can I ever resist that sweet smile of his?
“Yes, please,” I whisper with a silly laugh, still conscious of our unknown audience in the living room.
CHAPTERTHIRTY
With a heavy sigh, I close the book in my hands and set it aside. I haven’t been able to read past a paragraph in the last thirty minutes. I look up at Pocus–the cause of my distraction, catching his eyes just in time.
“What’s this about?” I ask quietly.
Pocus shrugs, choosing to feign ignorance. “What’s what about?”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes at his terrible acting skills. “You’ve been throwing glances at me since I settled into this chair. You obviously have something to say to me, but you think it may not be your place to broach the subject.”
“You’ve got me figured out, mon ami,” he says with a short laugh. “I have a few concerns.”
“What’s this about?”
Pocus remains quiet for a few seconds after I speak, probably trying to find the best way to lay out his thoughts. My chest tightens in anticipation as I wait for him to enlighten me. I might have an idea of what Pocus wants to discuss, but I don’t think I’m ready to broach the subject. But maybe I’ve put it off for long enough. It’s time to get out of this fairytale in which I’ve been living ever since Victoria broke her silence and face real-life business. In real life, I have a murderous twin brother who happened to lose his memory conveniently the one time it looked like I might have the upper hand. In real life, I have to decide on what to do about my brother.
“I can understand not wanting to address the problem, especially after everything that’s happened,” Pocus says, looking solemnly into my eyes. “But isn’t it better to face the problem head-on and get on with life?”
“I wish I knew what the problem is,” I say with a soft sigh. “I can’t get past my rage each time I think about Edward. How do I make a rational decision?”
“How about you think about that instead,” Pocus says, his tone softening a little around the edges. “Take your time. With the last pounding that you gave him, Edward isn’t leaving his sick bed anytime soon.”
I bite down hard on my inner lip to stop myself from asking how he’s doing. I hadn’t cared to check or even ask about him after I beat him to a bloody pulp, and I won’t start now.
Pocus reaches into his inner cut’s pocket and takes out a familiar jagged stone. “And this.” He holds out the Zoramhus stone to me. “It’s not for me to hold on to.”
I take the stone from him, amazed all over again as it shines in my hands. “What do I do with this?” I ask, turning the stone around in my hand.
Pocus shrugs. “You’ll figure it out, I guess.”
* * *
Seer’s staring intently at my face, his expression a combination of apprehension and expectancy as he waits for me to respond to the confession he just made. He hasn’t told me that Edward is in the house with us.
I wonder what reaction he expects of me. Maybe then I could play along.
“You aren’t saying anything, babe,” Seer says, his brows creasing together to form worry lines on his forehead. “Are you mad at me for not telling you that Edward has been in the clubhouse all along?”
I shake my head at him. “No, I’m not.”
Seer actually looks surprised to hear that. “You aren’t?”
I shrug. “I feel… indifferent. Edward has nothing over me anymore. He tried to break me, and he failed. I’m not afraid of him.”
Seer remains quiet, looking at my face with amazement and respect.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Seer shrugs. “It’s just… I wish I had your courage. How can you be so unfazed?”
“I forgave him,” I say with a small shriek. “That way, he doesn’t have any power over me.”
“I can’t.” Seer shakes his head. “I can’t just live like the past twenty-eight years of my life didn’t happen. So much of the pain in my life stems from Ed. Do you know how hard that’s been?”
