Page 80 of Happily Ever Witch
“Yes.”
He hesitated at the simple reply. “Really?”
“Really.I’m sorry you went through it, but I’m glad you escaped. Anything you had to do to survive, I’mgladyou did it.”
“Marrok disagrees.”
“He’s always been nobler than us.” She loved the wolf, but he liked to play by the rules, far more than she did. Esmeralda hated rules. “You should have killed Snow White, once you had the bitch alone. That’s what I would have suggested, if I’d been there.”
He gave a snort of amusement. “You would have, I think.”
“Yep. I’m all-the-way Bad, Trev. I don’t care what the Rabbit’s Magic Matrix says. And you’re even Badder than me. You want me to cry because we do Bad things?” Esmeralda made a face. “No. I don’t give a shit, just so we win.”
He pressed his lips to her hair and said nothing. He just held her.
She ran her thumb over the back of his hand, soothing him.
After a while, Trevelyan spoke again. “The Queen of Clubs likely took Marrok, because the wolf pushed Snow White into the Lake of Forgetting. And before that, he refused all of the doctor’s sexual advances. Repeatedly. The woman was fixated on him and he only ever cared about finding his True Love. He wouldn’t so much as look at Dr. White. Not even to get out of prison.”
“Marrok is insanely in love with Letty. Even without the True Love bond they’d be together. But, the True Love bond isso strongwith wolves. I think he was married to her in his head, before they even met.” Esmeralda envied that kindof commitment. Given a choice, her own True Love would be halfway to Oz, by now.
Trevelyan scoffed dismissively, hearing the wistfulness in her tone. “Dragon’s might not know much about love, but we knowloyalty. The wolf isn’t capable of it. That’s all that should matter to a mate.”
That video tape from their interrogation room tryst had given Esmeralda hope, but she still wasn’t sure she could teach Trevelyan what she needed him to learn.
“In any case,” he went on, “Marrok hurting her stepdaughter has no doubt pissed off the Queen of Clubs. He’s probably not her favorite person. She and I remain enemies, but we do have that in common.” He hummed in appreciation. “I hate both sides of their fight, so I win either way.”
Esmeralda “accidently” elbowed his spleen, ignoring his amused chuckle in response. “Scarlett was the one who yanked Snow White into the water and gave her amnesia, you know. But all of us in the Tuesday share circle like to take some of the credit.”
“I don’t blame you. It must have been a lovely sight to see.” He was quiet for a moment. “My share circle was on Tuesdays, when I was locked up, too.”
She liked that. “Tuesday share circle sticks together.”
“I killed at least two of the members of mine. The only ‘sticking’ they did was to the bottom of my shoes.” He paused. “Wait… Bluebeard might have been part of my share circle, now that I think of it.”
“You said you’d never met him.”
“I can’trememberhim, per se. I just recall beating him to death one session.” He made a “huh” sound. “Did helive?How disappointing.”
“Black and shriveled soul.” She reiterated with a sigh. It was a wonder he could feel anything at all, through the steady diet of vengeance and horror. The man was just ahugemakeover project.
“Your turn, Ez. Tell me something true.”
She pursed her lips. “I’ve been thinking about the ‘separate lives’ part of our True Love bargain.”
“What about it?” He didn’t seem pleased with the new topic. “Our relationship is going fine. Except for the part where you refuse to kiss me, we’re not having depraved sex, and you insist on saving that whiny wolf, we don’t need to change anything.”
They didn’t? Was he completely oblivious as to how relationships worked?
“I just want some clarification. Like I said, I hate rules. So, I’m not great at figuring them out. I need to be sure we’re both on the same page.”
“Alright.” He was still wary.
“Do you see us living together, after we get out of here?”
“Yes.” The word was emphatic. “You are in my bed and in my arms, from now on. Separate lives isn’t physical distance. It’s…” He floundered for a second, like even he didn’t know what the rule meant. “We’re just separate.”
“So, we don’t have to tell each other everything?”
