Page 49 of Warlocks Don't Win
“You can call me Nettle. I love it.”
I wanted to stab someone. Guess who. I’d been trying to irritate him, but he loved it? What was wrong with him? Also, we were absolutely not talking about our intimate lives over the past however long.
“You really haven’t sucked the life and magic out of anyone in fifteen years?”
Nope, apparently we were. “Four months ago I stole your magic,” I said stiffly.
“But…You’ve really been waiting for me that whole time?”
I shot him a hard look. “Right. The only reason I could possibly have to not run around draining the life and magic out of strapping young men is my love for the man who threw me away in jail. Unless, hm, it might be the lesson I learned beforeI met you about how men act after I seduce them if I let them live, and how little I like killing people. Don’t worry. For you, I’ll make an exception.”
I flipped my hair and lengthened my stride. We were only a few blocks from the elevators that would take us to Sing’s street level.
“Right. Evan the toad. We should probably talk about that.”
“We already did, otherwise you wouldn’t know about it.”
He cleared his throat. I didn’t like that sound. It meant he was going to say something extremely disagreeable. “Actually, he showed up the other night.”
Yep. I stopped walking. My heart also stopped beating. “That’s impossible. I took him to my mother to take care of.”
“He said that he was stuck in a crypt with the bones of Rasputin. At least that’s what it sounded like he was saying. Wasn’t very coherent for some reason.”
“She didn’t kill him? And now he’s running around talking to people? Did he mention me at all?” I turned to face him. I needed to never have an amorous toad wake me up in my bed again.
He blinked at me twice. “He may have once or twice.”
“Does he want to kill me or seduce me?”
He stared, covering up any emotion he felt. “Both.”
“Dang it!” I kicked the sidewalk and then continued walking, scowling at the werewolves we passed. “If he was going to kill me, I wouldn’t care, but there is nothing worse than waking up with a toad trying to…”
“He’s not a toad anymore. His family has quite a bit of money. They’re going to bring a lawsuit against you.”
A cold chill swept over me. “At least this time I’ll hire a proper lawyer.”
“The best,” he agreed. “The coalition has the best representation in the world. I make a point of it.”
“I’m not part of your coalition.”
“You’re married to the president.”
I shuddered. “Don’t remind me. Why is this day so bad? It started out so good, happy, optimistic… Ah. That’s why it’s crap. You start thinking it’s going to be good and it has to devolve into trash or you’ll forget your place in fate’s coils.”
“Perhaps you can find a new fate.”
“I was trying.”
“The ball is tomorrow night in Apple City. We could take a train in the morning or tonight if you’d like to stay over, go to some shows, see some sights.”
I actually needed to go to Apple City about merchandise, but I wasn’t going to any ball. Except I had a house that was cursing people. I had to end the curse. Soon, or it would be too late. Four months for the curse was a long time. She was stronger than she looked or my shoulder wouldn’t still be sore and she’d already be very dead.
“You’re thinking about it,” he said, sounding surprised. No, more amused than surprised.
“If there’s a chance to break the curse, I’ll take it, unless the odds are too low that no one will talk to the convict.”
“They might not talk to the convict, but they will absolutely talk to my bride.”
