Page 68 of Magic Betrayed

She paused. Her wide eyes landed on our hands and she froze, mouth hanging open, looking so utterly gobsmacked that I would have laughed had I not been floundering so badly.

“This,” she announced with a crooked grin, “is rotten timing, I’ll have you know. I’ve been shipping the two of you for months, but now this is only the third best thing to have happened today.”

I assumed finding Ari was the first. “What’s the second?”

Her expression shifted to grim satisfaction. “Seamus thinks he knows where they are.”

I shared a quick glance with Callum, and he simply mouthed, “Later.”

We would have to talk later. And I was going to have to make some decisions before that happened.

So it was with reluctance that I pulled my hand from his and rose on unsteady feet to follow Kira from the room. Because as long as we were in that safe, protected space, I could pretend that there wasn’t a world outside, waiting to tear us apart. Waiting to explain why I was the worst possible choice. To remind me of how short I fell of what Callum needed. Of what his people expected of him.

But just before I passed through the door, he caught my hand again and drew me up short.

“Raine, promise me you aren’t going to walk out there and worry about this on top of everything else.”

Hah. That was such a guy thing to say. “That’s a promise I can’t make.”

“I hope you know that no one is going to be angry with you if you reject me,” he said softly.

“I don’t want to reject you,” I blurted out. “But I also can’t jump in blindly without thinking through the consequences. For both of us.”

His gaze turned worried, but he let go with a nod. “Fair enough. But as I said, this changes nothing about my promises to you. I will help you. I hope you’ll allow yourself to lean on me when you need to. With no added pressure, no expectations. Just… don’t give up before we have a chance to talk.”

Drat him for being basically perfect. Double drat him for making me feel like crying—for happiness, for fears, for all the hopes and dreams I was afraid to acknowledge.

“Thank you,” I whispered, then turned away to hurry down the stairs after Kira.

I had enemies to confront. My family to rescue. And then—only then—would I have the space to consider my future.

And in that moment, I truly couldn’t tell which one terrified me the most.

FIFTEEN

When we returnedto the ground floor, the remaining loose bricks had been swept to the side, and the newly constructed model had been placed on one of the high-top tables.

And even I, who knew more or less what to expect, found myself staring in open-mouthed admiration at my sprite’s creation—in all its multi-hued Victorian glory.

Despite the wild array of brick colors, the shape and style of the house were clearly recognizable. It was relatively large, generally square and featured three floors, with a wraparound porch, a balcony on the second floor, and the promised turret occupying one corner.

It was clear that some bits were hazy in Ari’s memory, but I had no doubt that I would recognize it if I saw it.

“Ari-bug.” I caught her up in a tight hug. “This is amazing. You did such a great job!”

She hugged me back before squirming out of my hold to beam proudly at the structure. “I had lots of help,” she acknowledged graciously.

I looked over at Seamus. “You think you know where it is?”

He nodded. “Almost positive.”

“Seamus is an Oklahoma history buff,” Kira noted. “Basically knows all there is to know about where and how things happened, and some of his stories are pretty wild.”

“It was a wild place,” Seamus protested. “And all of my stories are verifiably one hundred percent true.”

Kira tilted her head pointedly. “The house?”

“Yes. Right.” Seamus turned to look at Ari’s model. “Given the turret and the gables and the extent of the porch… I’m pretty sure we’re looking at the Haversmith House. It doesn’t get as much attention as the Overholser Mansion or the Harn Homestead, but it’s still a fascinating piece of city history.”

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