Page 76 of The Secret of the Three Fates
I opened my eyes, resting my chin on my fist, and looked up at him at last. “I’m glad you’re not. I don’t like ordinary people with ordinary lives. They’re boring.”
A flicker of something crossed his expression, that deep divot forming between his brows. Worry.
I reached up, smoothing his brow with my thumb. “I’m not afraid of what you are… what you might yet be. I never have been. Besides, you could never be boring, Ruan Kivell. Even if you were an ordinary man.” The words relaxed him somehow. As if he feared that I might no longer care for him if he was no longer the Pellar.
Ruan leaned closer, his nose touching mine, and I might have let out an undignified whimper. I certainly inhaled, breathing in his scent. How could this man ever be ordinary? Even now, unable to hear my thoughts, he controlled every one of them without even trying.
He moved slightly closer, silencing me with a kiss and stealing the last of my good sense. It was madness. Utter madness the way I craved him and yet I could not stop. Could not walk away.
Witch indeed.
The edge of his mouth curved up as he broke the kiss, then pressed a far more chaste one to my forehead before pulling the blanket over the both of us. “Now. Sleep.”
I let up a startled laugh. “I cannot believe you.”
He chuckled beneath his breath, holding me closer against his left side. And for the briefest of moments I saw it—a glimpse of peace, locked away as we were from the rest of the world.
“You tricked me into your bed. I thought…”Well, I had perhaps an idea of where this might have gone.But neither of us was in any condition for that sort of exertion.
“I wasn’t about to let either of us sleep on the floor. Besides, it’s not the first time you’ve spent the night in my bed.”
“It’s the first timeyou’vebeen in it with me.”
“Good night, Miss Vaughn,” he mumbled with his eyes closed and his fingers tangled loosely in my hair, holding me against his heart like some precious thing he could not bear to lose. My lidsgrew heavy and I fell asleep memorizing the scent and feel of his body against mine. Angelica and rosemary. Sage and feverfew. Primrose and calendula.
Oh God.
I loved this man.
And that would never do.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-THREEA Tiny Problem
RUANwas gone the next morning—a realization which might have stung, if I hadn’t been debating how to extricate myself from the situation. It wasn’t as if anythinghappenedlast night. But whether we intended it or not, something had shifted between us and I feared that we would never go back to how we had been before. We were beyond friendship now. We were… well, I didn’t knowwhatwe were, which meant that he would want todiscussmatters. Especially as he could no longer hear my thoughts. Dreadful man.
A ghost of a smile crossed my face as I recalled the scent of his skin as I fell asleep. Oh, good God, I was in deep water. I’d have to deal with this when I had more time.Muchmore time.
I threw my legs over the side of the bed, before noticing that he’d left a stack of fresh clothing and my locket on the chair by the recently stoked fire. A hastily scratched-out note sat on top.
Gone to deal with the body. R.
Not the most romantic of notes, and I was grateful for that. At least he wasn’t spouting off sentimental nonsense when we hada job to do. I quickly donned the emerald-green suit that he’d fetched from my room, and had started for the door when a loud knock came from the other side.
“Morvoren, let me in.”
Hecate.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I tried not to think on precisely how bad it looked that I was alone in here, especially as my chemise and dressing gown were now in an incriminating heap by the fire.
Heat rose to my face. Ah, well… in for a penny… Bracing myself for her scorn, I opened the door.
But instead of sharp words Hecate stormed past me into the room. She wore a pale gray dress this morning, the shade of smoke from a dying fire. It was the closest thing to a color I’d ever seen her wear. “Where is he?” The bracelets on her wrist jingled as she shut the door behind her.
I rubbed my face hard, struggling to gather my wits. I’d not even washed my teeth or run a comb through my hair and was in no condition to carry on intelligent conversations with anyone—let alone her. I gestured to the closed curtains. “He’s gone to search the ruins.”
The witch’s expression shifted to one of alarm. “What do you mean bysearch them,child?”
Images of the dead woman’s body flashed in my mind and I squeezed my hands to keep the damned tremor from returning. “I found the missing medium… the woman you replaced… she was murdered.”
