AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Heat creeps up the back of my neck, prickling my scalp, and I wait for him to say something else. A suggestive comment, maybe. To point out that I clearly just revealed something mortifying to him.
But instead, he meets my eyes, holding them for a moment that feels much longer than it is, and juts his chin to the side. “Two laps, then we’ll get started.”
* * *
The night comes and goes,and still no sign of Reid. No feelings from him through the bond either. If there’s been news on the Carrington estate situation—or James Westcott—no one’s telling me. A search through news sites and social media for updates proves fruitless as well.
I haven’t been back to the tower’s roof since the night the Marionette leapt from the edge, the memory too fresh, but it seems no one else has either, leaving it the perfect place to get some peace and quiet.
At the Carrington estate, I’d opt for the garden, but from what I’ve seen in my short time at Auclair, there’s much more foot traffic here than back home. The path from the servants’ quarters to the estate cuts directly through the gardens, so there’s constant movement back and forth. The view from up here is usually the best on the grounds, but the fog is thick tonight, mingling with the darkness and snuffing out the light from the stars and the moon.
With a moment longer of hesitation than usual, I prick my finger to light the torches along the railing. They ignite at once, the thick flames standing proud against the dark, but thankfully, just as quickly as it’d come, my magic ebbs away again without a fight.
I swing my legs over the side to sit on the ledge, looking out at the never-ending darkness. If it weren’t for the flames flickering around me, I might think I was back in the shadow world.
I feel it when he starts looking for me. The bond in my chest rises from sleep. That feeling expands, building and filling the rest of my body until I hear the metallic creak of the door behind me opening.
I don’t turn, and he doesn’t say anything as he makes his way forward, climbs onto the ledge beside me, and hangs his legs over the side. I haven’t seen him since the shadow projecting spell three nights ago. Every one of my senses is hyper alert, like the chemistry in my body has been craving his presence, no matter what my mind has to say on the matter. Now pure instinct is fighting to lean over, to touch him, to let myself fall into him.
But all the recent reminders of our situation are fresh in my mind. The conversation with Anya in the library, seeing her in the gym. What Magnolia told me.
What’s also fresh in my mind is that damn dream.
Do I tell him about that? But that would be pointless, wouldn’t it? People have weird dreams all the time. They don’t mean anything.
“A scouting team reported back about one of Westcott’s compounds,” Reid finally says. “It’s south of here, down in Washington. It’s close enough to Locklear to get their attention. They’ve been in discussions with Auclair and my mother. But even still, they’re not confident about the numbers. Especially since we don’t know how many other compounds we’re dealing with, or where they are.”
I nod slowly, a confusing tangle of emotions warring in my chest.
He’s here to talk about business. I don’t know what I’d been expecting. And I’m his partner. Of course I want to know what’s going on.
“The scouts also reported something else. No one knew quite what to make of it, but I thought you might be able to.”
That gets me to look at him.
The troubled pinch in his forehead is more pronounced than usual. “They reported seeing people wearing a single shackle, kind of like what you had at the camp.”
The cuffs. I can taste the smoke in the blacksmith tent at the memory, feel the cramps in my fingers as I spent hour after hour helping assemble them.
Feel the pain blazing through my arm as Terrence branded me.
“What kind of people?” I murmur.
“Humans, witches, everyone. The scouts said it looked like everyone was going about their day as normal. No signs of distress or anything like that. Not the way someone being forced to wear it would act. Do you know anything about this?”
I shake my head a few times. “I—they were making them at the camp. I helped make them. I don’t know what they’re for. They aren’t the same as mine. It wasn’t red salt embedded in there, but there was something. Cam said he thought they might be for protection against vampires.”
“Were you looking for me earlier?” he asks suddenly. “I thought I felt something from you, but I wasn’t sure.”
“I was.” An eerie numbness slugs through my veins, and I grasp my hands together in my lap. “I went to see Magnolia, and she told me some things…about you.”
“About me? What did she say?”
I dig my nails into my palms and focus on the darkness, my voice nearly getting lost to the wind as I say, “Does the wordanapófefktosmean anything to you?”
He doesn’t respond for what feels like a very long time. Long enough that I peek at him out of the corner of my eye. His gaze is lowered to his hands so I can’t quite see his expression.
Finally, he murmurs, “Yes.”
