Page 24 of Warlocks Don't Win
Not me. Clearly. Or I wouldn’t be marrying someone against their will. Although he did have the ring in his pocket. That wasweird. And he had kissed me. That reminded me. I had to kiss him.
It wouldn’t be fun. This would be a kiss to divide the death curse evenly between us and hope that together we could defeat it. It would be giving him my strength and energy when I was already strained. But it would also be kissing the only man I’d ever wanted. I’d do my best to enjoy it.
I took a deep breath and then pressed our foreheads together before sliding down and tilting enough that our lips met.
At first, it was the creepy sensation of trying to kiss a corpse. Then it was agony as the death spell hit, dragging me under along with him.
Chapter
Nine
Iwoke up feeling like I could sleep for another hundred years.
Someone was pounding on the door. What door? Where was I? Had I sold a cursed coat to someone who had survived the wearing and come back to complain about it?
“Are you going to get that?” Winston murmured, his chest beneath my cheek.
I wasn’t stretched out over his body anymore. No, now I was curled up against him, around him, like he was my precious heart I had to protect.
Curses!
I sat up and blinked in the darkness.
What could I possibly say to the man I’d married while he was unconscious? Nothing. Better to focus on the person outside the door. Hopefully it was a psychotic golem that could put me out of my misery, without Winston’s interference.
“Come in,” I croaked.
The door opened, spilling light into the room. The butler, Parsley entered, carrying a tray with a large pot of tea and breakfast food like I hadn’t seen since my mother had been alive to direct him, and threaten him with her smile if he made a wrong move.
“Congratulations to the happy couple,” he droned, putting the tray down on the side table, then going around the bed and throwing open all the curtains in a puff of dust, like I wanted to be able to see Winston. It was bad enough being in the darkness with him.
Parsley continued cheerfully, “Your phone has been buzzing nonstop. Apparently your Singsong Coven felt the drain of energy and demand to know what’s going on. Then there’s the Winstons. They want to know what Young Winston has gotten up to, binding himself to the Sage house after all this time. There’s quite a gathering outside the gates of his coven members who want him back in one piece, and the Salem coven members who want to know how you shut them out of the property. They haven’t killed each other yet, but I imagine it’s just a matter of time. Jessica and Jordan are at the front of their groups in a wordless standoff. Would you like me to put out your clothing for the day?”
I squinted at him. In the light, wasn’t he supposed to be the one squinting? I felt so bad. Like I’d been run over like a skunk. Where was Tolly? She jumped on my lap at the thought, curling against me, providing some comfort in the disaster of this day. Week. Life. I’d married Winston? What had I been thinking? I should have killed myself instead. Yes, that would be much more logical than this marital breakfast tray.
My words came out of my tight throat somehow. “Thank you, butler. That will be all.”
He bowed and then left me with the drapes open so I could look out and see the crowd past the gates if I tried. The house had shut them out? I guess that was one good thing.
I just sat there, aware of Winston’s heat against me while I tried not to panic. I’d married him against his will. Death was better than marrying him! Maybe he wouldn’t notice.Particularly after the butler called us the happy couple. Parsley clearly hadn’t noticed either.
Winston stretched out his long arm and pulled the tray onto the bed then started pouring tea.
“Do you think it’s hemlock?” he murmured as he passed me a cup. I took it, still not looking at him. He was behind me. Where he would hopefully stay.
“No. The butler’s poisoning with sunshine today. If only I could fire him. There must be some way to untangle his soul from Sage.”
“He seems happily tangled.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him. He looked…I wasn’t sure. He was holding a teacup made out of ebony, sipping it like he wasn’t worried about hemlock. His eyelids were heavy, sleepy, and that lustrous hair falling around him like silk satin. He definitely didn’t give off shocked and appalled, then again, he was an actor.
I licked my lips. “Yes. Untangling souls should definitely be the priority. Your soul would come first, naturally.” I gave him a polite smile.
He blinked at me. “Drink your tea. It’s hibiscus. Very nice.”
I took a cautious sip. He was right. It was hibiscus, my favorite. I took a deeper drink.
He waited until I was almost relaxed to say, “You aren’t untangling my soul from Sage.”
