Page 31 of The Warlock's Kiss

“We wouldn’t mind helping out with whatever you need.”

“There’s little that requires tending, at least while the rain persists. It is enough, for now, that you simply respect my home. I ask that neither of you enter my study, which is the room at the top of the steps, or my bedroom, which is at the end of the north hallway—just down the hall from your room. Keep the noise down, don’t break anything, and clean up your messes. You may eat from my stores, but be responsible with your portions.”

Adalynn nodded. “We will. Thank you.”

Silence stretched between them as Adalynn ate. She used only a minimal amount of peanut butter on the crackers she took. Even if he’d offered it freely, she didn’t feel right taking too much, especially considering things like peanut butter had become a rarity in the modern world.

“I must insist you take more than that, Adalynn,” Merrick said, “lest you insult my hospitality.”

Adalynn paused as she was spreading peanut butter on a cracker to look up at him. Heat flooded her cheeks. “I…I don’t need very much.”

“Which is no reason to take too little. I grant you permission—indulge yourself.” As he spoke those last two words, fire rekindled in his gaze.

Adalynn didn’t think he was talking about the peanut butter anymore.

Her body reacted to those words, and she recalled how close he’d been to her in the bathroom, how warm his breath had been on her skin, recalled the feel of his touch, the powerful energy he’d exuded—and thecandles.

But the candles weren’t all—the window by the front door was intact this morning, as though it hadn’t been broken last night.

She dropped her gaze to the butter knife in her hand, brows creased as she dipped it back into the jar and added more peanut butter to her cracker. Her guilt at what she saw as excess lingered, but he’d insisted, and she wasn’t about to decline a second time—this was an opportunity she wasn’t likely to get again. Besides, she needed the nutrition as much as Danny did, so she could help him on his journey for as long as possible.

Adalynn ate a few more crackers; in her mind, the candles flickered to life in unison on a ceaseless loop, and she could almost feel their heat on her skin.

“What troubles you, Adalynn?”

Adalynn started; she hadn’t realized that she’d been sitting there fiddling with the cracker packaging and staring off blankly. “Nothing.” She twisted the package closed, reached across the table, and grabbed the lid to the peanut butter jar. Setting the knife aside, she screwed the lid onto the jar.

“It’s in your face. In your eyes.” He sat forward, leaning his arms on the table. “A great many things trouble you at every waking moment, I imagine, but there’s something bothering you more than the rest now. What is it?”

“The window,” she blurted.

“The window?” he asked flatly.

“By the front door. It’s not broken.”

“Good. I don’t need the wind blowing in rainwater to ruin my floor.”

Adalynn frowned. “But itwasbroken.Ibroke it.”

His brow creased infinitesimally. “I’ve not seen broken glass in the foyer. Perhaps you’re mistaken?”

“What?” Adalynn drew back, confused. “But you mentioned it last night, right before you brought us back in here.”

Merrick turned his gaze upward and drummed his fingers over his chin. “Ah, yes. Idorecall. The repair was so simple it must’ve slipped my mind. No harm done.”

“Repair,” she repeated with undisguised disbelief. “I don’t know much about repairing windows, but there is no way that you could have repaired that overnight. There wasn’t even the faintest crack on the windowpane this morning. You would’ve had to at the very least have replaced that whole pane, and I doubt you just had one on hand.”

He shrugged. “I’ve a fondness for puzzles and a healthy supply of fast-drying glue.”

“That…that doesn’t make sense.”

“Think about everything going on beyond these walls,” Merrick replied. “Doesanythingin this world make sense?”

He was right. She couldn’t make sense of anything out there; none of it should’ve existed, none of it should’ve beenreal. But the window… Shehadbroken it.

“What about the candles in the bathroom?” she asked, fresh warmth flooding her cheeks. There was no way to think about the candles without thinking about what had transpired between her and Merrick, and she guessed his mind was going to the same place. “How did they all light up at once?”

His expression faltered, but only long enough for her to wonder if it had happened at all.

---