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“Do you have something… vegetarian?” I asked.
Uma glanced down at the platter.
“Oh. Right, that would make sense.” She giggled. “This is a house full of carnivores, so I never thought about your diet. The staff are making you vegetarian meals, right?”
I nodded. “Yes. Jane made sure that my meals are meat-free.”
“Great!” She looked into the fridge again and grabbed some hummus and veggies. She handed them to me.
“Isn’t that for someone?” I asked.
“Yeah, for us. There’s always food in here. Seriously, you should get out of your room and grab something if you want it. Come.”
She carried the platter through the large house, her feet barely making a sound on the wooden floors. I followed her to a bar with stools and couches and a large television against one wall with speakers on either side. It was off right now, but the room screamed mancave.
Uma pushed open the sliding doors, and I followed her out.
As soon as I stepped outside, I gasped.
The deck we stood on extended over the valley, away from the house that leaned against the side of the cliff, and when I stood on the edge, the world fell away. The valley lay below my feet, stretching on either side of the house, and I felt like I was floating.
I’d only seen the other side of the house, the front garden my room looked out over, and the front door where I’d run from.
The breeze picked up, and it was icy, but I didn’t feel the chill. I closed my eyes and breathed in the smell of the forest that surrounded us, the crisp smell of water in a stream far below.
“This is incredible,” I breathed.
When I turned around, Uma beamed at me. She sat on a lounger, the platter on a low table, and she chewed. She pointed at another lounger on the other side of the low table, and I sat down.
“Can I come out here whenever I want to?” I asked.
“You can. You should.”
I nodded and picked up a cucumber, nibbling on it.
Maybe I would do that. Until today, I hadn’t felt the liberty to move around the house, and I’d stuck to my room, but being outside was like a dream. It wasn’t the forest, but it was as close to it as I could get, and if this was going to be my new home, I might as well get used to it and do what I could.
Between the spell and my things being here and the fact that I was owned, I knew I couldn’t leave, but a part of me didn’t want to.
A part of me wanted to stay with Braxton.
It was the rabbit part again, the part that didn’t make sense at all. I had no idea what I was feeling, why I was so drawn to Braxton, and why this place felt like home. But Iwantedto be here, even though the logical part of my brain told me differently.
“Thank you,” I said and looked at Uma. “For everything today.”
“Of course,” Uma said with a smile. “I told you that I’m here if you need anything.”
When she’d said that first, I’d figured she meant clothes or something, but now I realized it covered a lot more than that.
Even friendship.
8
BRAXTON
She wasn’t in her room when I went to find her. A myriad of thoughts ran through my mind—she’d infiltrated to look for a weakness. She wasn’t as innocent as she looked. She’d killed, after all, and she was going to be my downfall.
I frowned, panic washing through me before I could manage to squash it.
