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There was more awkwardness after that, but it was a different kind as the three openly scrutinized him. Ruby’s scrutiny was the longest, so he eventually lifted his head and met her gaze.
“You look like you are seeing me for the first time,” he mused.
“It feels like it.”
“We worked together.”
“That was different.” She waved a hand, then hesitated. “We came home very late, Maddox, Moon, and I. And Pearl had to leave early. She has a task for Gendry Hamlock and he hates tardiness. She takes her tasks very seriously.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“In case you get offended that she’s gone.”
“I won’t. I know the deal.”
But while he wasn’t offended, he didn’t agree with it—not with how Pearl responded to his touch last night, and how she just fell apart like a dream. Every second of their coming together felt like a dream, the release a long time coming and leaving his imagination in the dust. Her eager, bold nature drew him in steadfastly, but it was the vulnerable, yielding Pearl who surrendered to their attraction and gave as good as she got that made him addicted. The idea of not experiencing that again filled him with such fierce longing that he couldn’t help rubbing his stomach. It couldn’t be this intense for her with her past men…but what if it was? What if one night was all she wanted from him and she was over it now?
“More juice?” Ruby offered, cutting off his reverie.
“Thank you, but I have to go.”
“Oh. Do you want to leave a message for Pearl or something?”
“No.”
Not when he had plans to return and talk about this face-to-face whether she liked it or not. Whatever the conclusion, Henry was going to make sure they came to it together—even if it meant confronting what was easier to hide from.
He got out of there before the casual breakfast could turn into an intimate bonding, something he wasn’t ready for yet. Pain coursed through Henry’s stomach halfway through his trek home, then intensified as soon as he spotted his house. There was a moment of wondering if whether Ruby had poisoned him before the pain punched him a second time in the gut, then yanked at it as if ready to tear it apart.
He tried to brace himself, but all he could do was push his magic out once before darkness surrounded him.
Henry woke up out of sorts for a second time, but this time, he was in his home…and not in his bed. He pushed off the cold tiles of the floor, then looked around the hallway for an explanation as to why he was even lying there. That he was naked was another matter, his clothes torn to pieces and scattered all around the place as if he just run around his house.
“Martin?”
There was no response and he felt a sense of apprehension. Belatedly, he remembered that his butler was taking a few days off, an order that Martin had heavily protested before Henry threatened the man. Mostly it was to recharge in privacy and shut out his family, but now it emphasized that he was truly alone. He readied his magic and got dressed, on edge. After a triple-check of his property, he locked up his house and got to sleuthing, starting with his recording devices installed everywhere.
Most of them showed nothing, relaxing his shoulders just a bit as the hours in the devices crept up. Daylight pushed on to the night and he went to his throne room, where the hexes were still in place and nothing seemed amiss. Then the blinking recording device facing there caught his attention, mostly because…well, it hadn’t been blinking before. He took it down to review, and found himself stilling at what he was seeing.
The treasures remained undisturbed for a better part of his unconscious hour, up until the last few minutes when a figure entered—not just any figure but something larger, taller, and wider than any witch or warlock he knew, because this was no witch or warlock.
“Replay,” he ordered the device, using his magic to rewind until it got back to the entering part. He watched as the giant of a man hulked in the shadows, trying to tiptoe but not really knowing how…then, giving the attempt up and rolling in the gold coins like his life depended on it. It was such a crazy sight, distracting him for a long while, but also playing with his nerves when he surmised that it wasn’t just a vision but an actual, physical being. “You didn’t steal anything. The red hue didn’t react to you, either.”
What’s going on?
The giant was naked as well, his body a mix of odd proportions and rough, bulging rocks. For a second, he wondered if he was being pranked—if Pearl had done this to mess with him. Then Ruby’s words floated back in.
She takes her tasks seriously.
A chill cruised down his spine just as he was about to contact her. His fingers stilled from calling as he scrutinized the video for the last time, noting every area the giant went to and how only one treasure was damaged: a marble head sitting at the back, hidden from plain sight and now broken into little pieces. He had missed that spot earlier, but the shards should leave some kind of mark on the creature, like a scar…
Like the faint slice on Henry’s palm.
The chilly feeling remained, building as he dropped the recording device and ran back to check the others still playing in another room. The feeling turned into ice when the other recording devices finally showed the giant leaving the throne room, then crumpling to the ground…right at the spot where Henry had found himself awake.
“Replay,” he ordered again, his voice shaking.
In slow motion, he watched the start of the video when he entered his house’s front door, his body already struggling with pain. He knew his mind was already knocked out at that point.
