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“Oh no.” She wags a finger at me. “That was equal play, and I came out ahead on the receiving of orgasms, which means the score went to you.”
I disagree, but I’m not arguing when she scolds me so sexily. “I’m sure you’ll think of a way to get ahead of me in our game.”
“I’ll level up so hard,” she boasts. “Just give me time.”
Time is the only thing we don’t have, but I refuse to say or do anything that might steal the sparkle from her gaze.
Meg lets me feed her the best bites off the plates that the servants left in my room, nipping at my fingers now and then. When she falls asleep in my arms, I glance at Oggie, who has curled at the edge of the bed. “Any ideas on how to keep her here?” I ask him.
He lets loose a low-pitched meow that sends dread sliding along my spine. It sounds as if the demon’s as worried as I am about losing her.
“We’ll have to figure it out together,” I say, unwilling to face the alternative.
The next day, I wake with a jolt. Meg’s gone—her side of the bed rumpled but cold. The memory of the ground almost swallowing her roars through my mind. Panic sends my heart racing. My fear intensifies when Oggie flies in a dizzying circle above the bed and tears off toward the passageway connecting my suite to Meg’s. Yanking on pants, and catching the fabric on my hooves, my hocks, my tail, I stagger after the cat. The darkness drives me insane.
Arguing to myself that it’s not wasting magic when the realm has so much now, and those powers depend on Meg’s safety, I push a beam of light ahead of me. Colorful flowers line the space that was only blackness, earth, and stone yesterday. Blooms stretch along vines climbing the walls, dipping into every crack, and twisting along the ceiling. My mate’s off-key voice sings a hilarious tavern bawdy tune about shaking that booty. When she gets to a lyric that ends with pop, another purple bloom opens.
She’s making these.
Her happiness has the magic creating beauty.
My fated mate, my queen—she is the magic.
I step into her room, finding her at the table next to her bed. She has sketched an entire game set since we sat here together last. How long has she been up?
“Leander.” She says my name with sunshine warmth. “My creativity went haywire in my dreams last night. I couldn’t wait to capture some of the ideas before I lost them. You don’t mind, do you?” The uncertainty in her question has my breath catching. Why would I do anything to steal this joy from her?
“You design your worlds, my warrior. I’ll go see how the kingdom has fared without us for a few hours and find us some breakfast.” If I could summon her self-confidence, keep her from wondering how far I would go to make her happy, I would do that as well. But that’s beyond my powers, even with the magic she has given us. The least I can do is help her create.
As I’m walking out, Bess bustles in, bringing food and directing the castle’s carpenter to install a door between our suites. “Milady’s entitled to her privacy,” she says in answer to my protest.
She’s right, but I won’t admit it. “Make sure there’s no lock from my side.” I won’t ever keep my mate out. “And let me through first to finish dressing.”
Bess hoots a chortling moo that follows me to my suite, along with the hammer of the carpenter at work. I’m almost ready to start the day’s business, so I can finish it quickly and get back to loving Meg, when a hard rap comes from the mirror hidden in the corner of my bedroom. I don’t like looking at myself, so the damn thing has been cloaked most of the last few decades.
“Leander?”
“Theo?” I tug off the cloth. “It’s a little early for checking in on my mate, and she isn’t here. You’ll have to invoke the glass in her room.”
His demon form appears in the mirror. “I need to speak with you.”
The tension in his voice sends a chill brushing along my spine. “What’s wrong? What has happened?”
“You returned the magic to your realm.”
Only epic-level magic would’ve had Theo calling me personally. “We have. Or I should say, Meg has.”
“Then she has fulfilled her end of the bargain. I can open a connection to bring her home early.”
“No.” My world shifts sideways. A sharp pain knifes through my chest, and the mirror cracks with the force of my magic lashing out. “I won’t let her go. I still have time to convince her to stay.”
“Three days.” Theo shakes his head, his horns glinting and growing in the warped reflection. “What can that get you?”
“A chance at keeping my mate.” Which means everything to me.
“At the risk of killing her.” He lets out a very undignified, un-Theo sigh. “You can’t keep her, Leander. Your realm’s stronger now, but you’re losing magic faster than you should be.”
The light I created in the passageway, the fire to spark the candles, each little slip I’ve indulged in since magic returned—they all rush to mind. “I’ll stop wasting it.”
