Page 32 of November Reign
I looked up and met Oak’s eyes. For a brief second there was a look of tenderness on his face before he shoved it back under the stoic mask he wore.
“Is that… are you ready to go?”
“Yeah.” He took a step into the room and closed the door. “I just wanted to ask a favor.”
I tried to get up from the floor, but struggled. Oak held out a hand to me. When I took it, he yanked me up with such force I crashed into his hard body.
“Sorry!” I stood paralyzed against him. This close I could feel his heart beating fast.
He took a step back. “Could you help me with something? It’s a lot to ask.” Oak looked beseechingly at me.
“Uh… sure. I’m… uh… sorry about before. With Damon. I feel like I should be going with you.”
Oak huffed out a sardonic laugh. “Why let Basil ruin your life too? I mean, it hurts, I thought…”
The tension in the room ratcheted up with all the words unsaid.
“You need to be here to look after them. I get it, I really do. I just wish…” Oak looked so sad.
I needed to do something, anything, to let him know he only had to call. He wasn’t alone.
“What do you need me to do?”
“Read these.” He thrust his phone at me, unlocked it and opened his texts.
My gasp startled Hela who had moved from the floor to wind herself around Oak’s legs.
“How? He can see you? What the hell?!”
“Basil has some of my hair. I think he’s scrying for me.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. He can’t do it all the time because the hair burns away in the spell and he only has so much, a small lock of it he cut awhile back.”
“True, there are some limits to this spell. It’s only for a glimpse. He can’t hear anything, can’t see much of the others around you. Still, it’s highly invasive. You never get to choose when he can see you.”
“I think he’s been saving it. Using it then was just to show his power over me.”
“Did he call you?”
Oak just nodded.
“What did he say?”
I saw his barriers go up bit by bit.
“Just that he misses me, which is bullshit. He misses sex maybe, but I’m sure he’s getting that elsewhere. He loves having power over me. Making me feel small and helpless.”
“Shh,” I soothed, going closer and rubbing his arm. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to tell me.”
“He was trying to convince me to come back to him. I won’t. I’d rather—“
“Don’t! Do not invoke fate by finishing that sentence. You don’t ever give up, understand. No matter what, you LIVE and you fight another day.”
Oak wrapped his arms around me. “Can you help me? Make it so he can’t see me whenever he wants?”
Thinking back to my education, I thought I had something to stop Basil peeping. It would take a lot of trust on Oak’s part.
