Page 23 of The Midwinter Mirror
I feel I should move, but I’m not sure I can. That was…
Yeah, I think it’s safe to say he’s had a lot of practice.
Another shiver runs through me, and I wrap my arms around myself. He picks up my clothing from the various places it landed and hands the bundle to me. I pull it on, not looking at him.
“Are you sorry it happened?” he asks in a quiet voice as I tug on my second boot. I glance at him. He’s frowning.
“No.” I’m sort of sorry it’s not still happening. Because now that it’s over, the whole horrible mess is trying to slink back into my head.
The children. My parents who aren’t really my parents. Monsters who can’t exist.
Ugh.
“Are you?” I ask. “Sorry, I mean.”
“Hell, no.”
“I’m on the pill so you don’t need to worry about…”
“I’m not worried.”
I press my lips together for a second. “I used you.”
He smirks at that. The old Zayne is back. “Yeah. I noticed.” Then his expression goes all serious. “But, princess, I’ve realized something since I’ve been back. I am yours to use. Wherever. Whenever. Whatever you need.”
My eyes sting, and I blink. I don’t know what will happen next, but those words undo me.
“But,” he continues, “don’t think you’ve totally distracted me with that hot little body. We still need to talk.”
Shit.I pout. “You wouldn’t rather we do it again instead?” A tingle runs through me at the thought. I glance down his body, my gaze settling on the bulge in his pants, and my mouth goes dry. “I could…you know…” I lick my lower lip in what I hope is a suggestive manner.
He chuckles. “Nice try. But you would probably kill me. I need at least ten minutes between. Plenty of time for that talk.”
More shit.I might as well get my side in first. “I think I might be having hallucinations,” I say.
He snorts. “Try again, princess.”
I frown. He opens his mouth to say something else I don’t want to hear, and I raise my hand. “Don’t,” I rasp. “Don’t say it. I didn’t see what I saw.”
He reaches between us and takes my hand, squeezing it. “Yes, you did. You saw my beast. Stop fighting it.”
I whirl on him, my voice jagged. “I have to fight it. I don’t know why, but there’s a part of me that won’t give in. The monsters aren’t real.”
He takes my hand and looks down into my eyes as though he can see inside my head. “I think something was done to you when you were a baby, before your mum and dad found you that day.”
“What sort of something?”
He grins as though he knows I’m not going to like what he says next. “A spell.”
“Really? A spell? Have you completely lost it?”
“Princess, you literally saw me turn into a twenty-foot basilisk. If you can swallow that, a spell isn’t such a stretch.”
A basilisk? Is that what it was? I search my memory. “Is that some sort of mix between a serpent and a…?”
“A cockerel,” he says.
I have to press my lips together to stop a hysterical giggle from escaping. That didn’t look like any chicken I’ve ever seen. I force my mind back to the spell thing.
