Page 54 of Warlocks Don't Win
“Ties for hanging,” I said with a sweet smile at Winston before I gently stroked his delicious skin from ear to collar. Strangling him would feel so good.
His eyes flickered with purple lightning and my skin prickled with awareness. Was that wifely? I couldn’t tell. My parents had danced together, but not publicly. No, Rasputin and his animated bones were not for public of any kind.
“Wait, you guys are really together?” Gabby asked while her mother looked at him intently.
“I’m serious about that cologne. Are you one of those people who keep all the good vendors to themselves? Hm?”
He glanced at me, like he wanted to know what I thought about all this.
I shrugged. “Old people are weird.”
Gabby made a choking sound to cover up her laugh while Winston smiled charmingly at the Grand Sorcerer. “I’ll be certain to send you a bottle. It’s my own home brew. I’m trying to seduce my wife. You don’t think it’s too strong? I was worried it lacked subtlety.”
I elbowed him. “You’re the one who lacks subtlety. Sticking the ‘W’ word in there where it doesn’t belong.” Also, he’d intentionally tried to smell better to me? Why would he do that? I was already stupid enough about him.
“Well we were going to announce our marriage publicly.”
I winced and then stood up straight. “That’s right. We are married and in love. I would never intentionally kill him, however many times I’ve been convicted of murder.”
“You were acquitted,” Winston said.
Gabby’s eyes brightened as she studied me. “You were acquitted of murder? How long were you in jail?”
“Five years. Winston here wrote to me every week and kept our love alive.” I batted my lashes at him while he looked slightly queasy.
“Are you going to stand here all night, blocking the stairs?” The woman behind us demanded. She looked familiar, long dark hair, large eyes, managing helpless and femme fatale at the same time.
“Oh! You’re Felicity Raven,” Gabby said, looking at the woman’s nails. They were tipped in gold that matched her gown.
Wait, this was the woman who kissed my husband? I stepped against Winston, smoothing my hand up his chest before she could realize who he was.
The exact second she tied the man in the purple suit to Winston the Warlock, her whole vibe shifted, like a flippedswitch. She looked at me with this big shock, then at him with hurt and vulnerability.
“Winston? Do you need help with your stalker? I’d be glad to lend you a few of my bodyguards.” She pulled out her phone like she was going to text one of them.
“I can take out a few bodyguards,” I said coolly, still feeling up Winston’s pectorals.
Winston coughed to cover up an inappropriate laugh as he smoothed his arm around my waist and pulled me tightly against my side, making it impossible to feel him up at all.
“Lois, this is my wife, Clary Sage.”
She frowned in confusion. “Wait, you married the show’s competition?” Then to me, “You look different off screen. Much shorter. And what’s with the hair?”
“No,” Winston said softly, gripping my waist even tighter as he spoke clearly, focused, like he wanted to be heard. “This is the real Clary Sage of Sage House, in Salem.”
There was a moment of utter silence and then Gabby broke it. “Aaaah. You were convicted of murdering your mother. Grisly case. You were acquitted on a technicality, not because anyone actually thought you were innocent. Also, wasn’t that like twenty years ago?”
I glanced at her. She still looked intrigued, not shocked.
Lois gurgled and then launched a tirade. “You think that you can come here and seduce the greatest warlock of our time? You…you…harlot!”
I sniffed. “Wow, really bring the big guns. Harlot? That’s really the best you can do?” I tugged Winston down the steps with me. “Nice announcement,” I murmured. “Did you magically project your voice so that everyone heard you?”
“Yes. Where are we going?”
“Dancing. We’re going to dance and look madly in love while everyone gossips about us. Then, when it seems like I’m more or less in control, you can introduce me to the house people.”
He smiled and nodded at people we passed until he swung me out in a small space and began dancing. The music started and his grip on my waist tightened while he pulled me into a close hold, close enough that I could feel his warmth. He was so warm, from his hand against my back, his body against my heart, to his eyes, gazing down at me.
