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“That’s the spirit.” He smirked at me, and then darkness engulfed me, and we were gone.
Chapter11
When Laith’s magic cleared,I found myself standing in the throne room of the castle my mate had grown up in.
An image of his mother and father on the throne flicked through my mind, and I shivered.
At least they were gone.
“It’s too quiet. I don’t hear anyone upstairs, and the restaurant is the only source of noise down here.” Laith’s eyes were narrow as they scanned the castle. His entire posture had changed; where he’d been relaxed before, he now carried himself like the king he was.
“You’re not going to use your illusions on me, right?” I asked, my voice lowering.
“I’ll have to.” His words were quiet, and I felt his dislike toward the idea. “You’ll be able to see through it, if you focus long enough. Knowing its there changes its efficacy, which is why the illusion aspect of my power was always a secret.”
That was good to know.
He lifted my hand to his lips, quickly pressing a kiss to the center of my palm before lowering it back to my side.
“Don’t forget, we must act like we are in love. My illusion will be far more effective if we play the part properly.”His voice touched my mind, and made me shudder as it did so. The ability to communication mentally was part of the mate bond we had solidified, but we rarely spoke that way because it felt too intimate. The sex and the claiming, we were both very invested in, but everything else… well, it was different.
I dipped my head instead of answering, not wanting to reach further into his mind to speak. The mate bond was too intense to acknowledge every aspect of it.
“Espen will probably have stayed in the room he grew up in. He’s a creature of habit,”Laith murmured, as he led me toward a massive staircase.
I didn’t reply, not sure what to say. That statement alone led me to believe he knew his brother better than I’d thought he did, which was either good or bad. Maybe a little of both.
When we made it to the top of the staircase, I looked around the third floor uneasily.
Where was everyone?
Laith’s castle was empty, but in a cozy way. And the dust made it pretty damn clear that no one else was there.
But Espen’s had no dust. The smell of food cooking lingered in the air pleasantly, and the stone beneath our feet gleamed as if it had recently been cleaned. There were enough lights to keep the space bright, too, yet the top floors really did seem empty.
We kept moving anyway.
I was nervous, but Laith was a hell of a lot more tense than I was. He gripped my hand like he was prepared to throw me behind him at any moment, as if he believed someone was going to come out of nowhere and attack us.
Stars, I hope that didn’t happen. I definitely didn’t need any new terrifying memories to encourage my nightmares.
“What if they’re not here?” I whispered to Laith.
“Then we’ll wait.” He didn’t so much as hesitate.
At least one of us was willing to act confident.
We crossed the hall, and I pretended not to notice that Laith had positioned himself almost completely in front of me, ready to take whatever magic might come flying toward us.
None did, though.
We finally stopped in front of a large door, and Laith simply twisted the handle and stepped inside.
Like the rest of the castle, it was empty.
How strange.
We peered into the room.
