Page 49 of Claim the Twilight
The carriage rocked from side to side, and Lorenzo gripped me harder before releasing me with a gentle nip that shot straight to my core.
“Later,” he said against my lips.
I kissed him back. “It’s a deal.”
At the carriage park,I opted to ride with my Order team in our official van and took Lorenzo with me. If the other guys wondered why I didn’t decide to ride with them, they didn’t question it. They could probably smell Lorenzo on me, which was my reason for not opting to sit in a confined space with them. They’d all agreed to share me, but it felt wrong to rub it in their faces.
Lorenzo and I sat in the back of the Order van with Holly, while Merry sat in the front passenger seat, and Padma drove. It was a silent journey, one filled with tension and reflection, and my stomach used the time to tie itself in knots. What if we failed to trap the entity? What if we succeeded and it knew nothing? We’d have wasted precious time and resources on a spell that did nothing to help us. We could have been helping Kaster find Loviator’s faith warriors instead. And that’s what we’d do if the entity turned out to be useless.
But my gut told me it wasn’t. The entity’s attraction to Padma, the fact he’d called her a witch, everything Jacqueline said, it all fit.
“I miss Edwin,” Merry said suddenly.
The silence deepened.
“He’ll be back,” Padma said with certainty. “And we’ll have kicked Loviator’s ass by then.”
A prickle washed over my body.
“We’re here,” Holly announced. “We just passed through the wards.”
I sat forward to peer between the passenger seats at the impressive park walls, gray stone topped with wrought iron spikes, woven with flowering ivy.
Lorenzo exhaled. “Extremely powerful. I agree that this is where your entity would have come to recharge.”
Padma parked the van, and we all climbed out.
Betsy rolled up behind us, engine purring.
“Merry, go let Crush know what we’re up to,” Padma said. “Last thing we need is some kind of mystical backlash for activating a spell within their ward boundaries.”
“On it!” Merry hopped out the van and hurried toward the gates and the stone sentry—a knocker in the form of a grotesque with a ring in its mouth, waiting to be woken.
Car doors slammed, and the Tepes brothers strode toward us.
“What now?” Ordell asked when he reached us.
“Now we wait for Merry,” Padma said.
Chapter 21
MERRY
Every resident of the park has a unique key that admits them, a key that only works if the owner wields it. I don’t have one yet, but Barathol, the Brimswood sentry, knows to let me pass. The grotesque knocker senses my approach, and the gate opens a fraction to let me through.
One step and the world rushes by, and when the strange displacement passes, I’m in the market square, a place that is always bustling and busy but tonight seems to be in a frenzy of activity.
The market is crammed with bodies and the cacophony of excited voices. Are they discussing Loviator and the events taking place outside the park? No, the bright eyes and smiles are at odds with what I’d expect from people fearful of the evil goddess.
I hurry away from the odd scene, mentally summoning the path to the pavilion where Crushale lives.
The world shifts again, and the path materialized beneath my boots. I glance up, and my pulse skips at the sight of Crush striding toward me. His eyes widen as he spots me, then hebreaks into a jog, his troll blood frame eating up space as he advances. My heart lifts as I’m swept off my feet and into his powerful arms. He’s never held me like this—so tight, so close. Never been so familiar with me before, but it feels right, and I relax, giving myself permission to reciprocate by wrapping my arms around his neck and inhaling his sandalwood scent until I’m dizzy.
“Thank goodness you’re here,” Crush says, his voice a delicious rumble against my senses. “I didn’t hear back from you. I was coming to find you.”
I pull myself out of the haze of bliss his embrace has drawn me into, registering the meaning of his words. “What do you mean? Did you send a Raven?”
He draws back slightly but doesn’t set me on my feet, his eyes darkening as they sweep over my face. “Yes, I sent one as soon I received yours.” His gaze drops to my lips for a lingering beat, and my pulse quickens.
