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“What?” I sit up. “Why? Can’t we at least identify all the locks?”
Doctor Prince chuckles. “I love your drive. You were a joy to teach and you’re reminding me why. But no. One step at a time. Identification. Classification. Neutralization. That’s how to proceed with a magickal injury of this type. I’m going to write you out a chant. I want you to repeat it three times before you sleep and drink a cup of chamomile tea. We’ll examine you again after breakfast.”
I blow out a breath. Now that I have real hope of healing and getting back to my boys, I want to press forward. But I’ve been studying magic for long enough to know that sometimes you have to let the potion brew.
Gabe stands from the opposing galley bench where he and Darwin have been sitting and watching. “I’ll put the kettle on.”
The stereotypical British sentiment, said in his American accent, in this floating cave of magi, makes me smile.
* * *
After Doctor Princeand her brother leave for the cottage Darwin’s arranged for them—the only downside of the houseboat is it doesn’t have a guest room—I sidle up to Darwin and put my arms around him.
He kisses my forehead. “I should say goodnight.”
“Stay,” I say.
“Teddy ... I-it’s hard for me.”
“Anything worth doing is. Please, stay.”
“Teddy,” Gabe says, a sliver of reproach in his voice. “Don’t ask too much of Dar.”
“It’s not for me,” I explain. “It’s for you.”
“Me?” His deep voice rises in surprise.
“Both of you. You should be together and you’re not. I know a big piece of that was the pressure on Darwin to produce a blood heir that you couldn’t give him. That pressure’s gone now.”
Gabe moves up behind me and presses me against Darwin. This would be the man-sandwich of my dreams if it weren’t for all the reasons I can’t be with them. Still, I can enjoy the closeness of my husbands, the warmth of their bodies, and the affection I can feel seeping from them.
“Teddy, things aren’t that simple,” Darwin says, caressing the edge of my cheek.
“I know. You lads have a decade of history I don’t know about. Shite’ll have happened. But it’s not right that Gabe’s your dirty secret again. You can’t just pop in and out when it suits you and leave Gabe on his own the rest of the time.”
Both men protest, but I hold Darwin’s eyes. I see when the silver ice of them melts.
“I haven’twantedto leave him alone.”
“I know.”
“Did you stage that confrontation with my father?”
“I didn’t plan it, but when I heard what you were arguing about, I took the opportunity. If all this Time-Walking shite’s taught me anything, it’s that none of us know how long we’ll have with each other. I reckon you three promised each other forever—”
“We did,” Gabe murmurs, his breath whispering warm across my ear.
Darwin’s hands flatten on the small of my back and press me close. “I’ve always known I’ll lose you two—”
“Yeah, in a couple hundred years,” I interrupt him. “Not in ten. You should have had a lifetime together. You can’t tell me you’re resigned to being alone. And even if you are, Gabe shouldn’t be.”
Darwin lifts his eyes to the man behind me. “I’m sorry.”
Bloody hells, he’s learned to apologize in a decade.
“Stay tonight. Stay tomorrow. Stay the night after. It’s that simple,” I say.
Darwin lowers his eyes to mine and kisses me on the forehead again. “You’re too young to be wiser than us.”
