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“Yes, exactly.”
“But they couldn’t do that ball of light thing that you did. Is that what you mean?”
“Precisely.” I nodded. “Of course, they can do other things…”
“Mind control?” she asked. She was likely thinking of the enchantment that demon woman cast on me. I felt my face grow warm.
“Yes. It’s more like a strong persuasion to do as they wish. An enchantment that creates a bit of an obsession in the victim.”
“Interesting. How do you know if you’re being enchanted?”
I shrugged. “You don’t, really. At least not until it’s over and you snap out of it. If you snap out of it.” I studied her face closely. “Did Nigel…?”
“No,” she said, cutting me off before I could finish my question. She scrunched her face a bit. “At least, I don’t think he did. I’d know it if he did, right?”
“You would have just blindly obeyed him, thinking it was your idea. Later you might have wondered what you were thinking, or realized you didn’t want to do or say any of those things.” If he’d tried anything, I would make his death a slow and painful one.
“Okay. I don’t think he did that. That’s interesting, isn’t it?”
“Perhaps. Let’s save that for later. I think we have more pressing matters to attend to.”
“Yes, like keeping you away from that red-horned she-devil so she can’t get her claws into you again.”
I smiled. “You almost sound as though you care.” I pulled her close to me.
“Well, you looked like an idiot.”
I scowled at her. “You’re ruining the moment.”
She smiled. “A cute idiot,” she added.
I leaned down and kissed her smiling lips. She wrapped her hands around me, and for a moment, I dared to hope that we’d find a way out. And maybe even a way to be together. But I sensed a shift in the air and began to worry we wouldn’t be able to stay hidden much longer.
“You’re handling all this quite well,” I said.
She shrugged. “Right now, all I care about is getting us out of here. I’ll probably freak out later. If there is a later.” She frowned.
“I promise I’ll get us out of here. But first, we need a plan,” I whispered, my nose still pressed to hers. “Quickly.”
14
I leaned into Liam,my brain sorting through everything he’d told me, everything I’d learned, searching for a solution. Now that I knew the truth about Edric and Godda, I attempted to piece together a plan, but I still had so many questions about this supernatural stuff. Nothing seemed to fit together in any useful order. We needed to escape, but we didn’t even know where the exits were or how well they would be guarded. I took a step back, away from Liam, and shivered.
“Not very polite, you know,” a voice said. I turned and found myself staring at Nigel. I felt Liam grab for me, but Nigel beat him to it, wrapping his hand around mine and pulling me next to him. He slung an arm over my shoulder and turned to Liam. “Tsk-tsk,” he said. “The two honored guests, off hiding themselves in a corner, sneaking a snog.” He shook his head. “Best come rejoin the party before Edric notices you’ve gone missing.”
“Take your hands off her,” Liam said.
Nigel clucked his tongue. “Ah, but you forget, she’s my date for the evening. Don’t worry, I’ll let your escort know I found you. She was quite upset that you’d run off. I calmed her down a bit.” He looked out over the crowd, then turned back to face Liam. “Here she comes now.”
My muscles tensed, and I searched among the figures in the direction Nigel had been looking. There she was with her dark hair curling around blood-red horns above her beautiful—even while scowling—face. The she-devil looked like she might tear someone’s head off at any moment. I turned to Liam, my eyes wide in fear.
“Run,” I said.
“I’m not leaving without you.”
“Neither of you are going anywhere,” Nigel said. He tightened his arm around me. I squirmed and pushed him away.
Liam looked from me to the demon woman and back again.
