Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Chapter
Forty-Four
Sydney
Night descends and mealtime arrives. Bram, Ice, and Hurstgrove look sweaty and haggard after a long day of physical exertion and a fruitless evening of searching for Anka.
The one responsible for their sore muscles, Marrok, eats energetically, seemingly untaxed by the day’s hard work as he consumes nearly his body weight in food. How any one man can eat that much, I have no idea. His heated glances at his mate, Olivia, hardly escape my notice, either.
Everyone else ignores them. Especially Caden.
Seated beside me, he carefully avoids brushing elbows or looking at me. He says absolutely nothing. After my day of nursing Aquarius in a desperate attempt to cool her down, fending off a hundred questions during a brief phone call to Holly, scribbling thoughts about my next magickind story in a borrowed notebook, and trying not to feel my heart shattering into a million pieces—the distance he’s put between us hurts.
Maybe he’s come to care for me…but not enough to cross the chasm between us. He wants to abandon the very world I’ve been seeking my whole life. He has some dislike of magic I can’t fathom, and if he ever discovers that I wrote in that book to bring him to my bed, he’ll hate me.
“Any change in Aquarius?” Bram breaks the heavy silence.
I shake my head and pick at the tender meat on my plate. Guilt and heartache are appetite killers. “No.”
I suppose I should be thankful that Zain left my friend alive. I don’t know if his spell prevents her from dying from her injuries or if my efforts to keep Aquarius cool with compresses and ice packs helped. Whatever the truth, I’m grateful my resilient friend is hanging on.
Bram turns to his sister. “Did you call for Conrad, the healer? He’s had more experience than Millie, and he tended Marrok well enough a few weeks past.”
The blonde’s gaze skitters over Ice and lingers before she focuses on her brother. “He popped by earlier. Said he’s never seen anything like it. He can’t help, but suggested a helbresele spell.”
“A what?” They’re speaking a language I don’t understand.
“It’s a healing spell. That would be lovely, but until Zain wakes and agrees to do his part, that’s impossible.”
So another dead end. Even if Zain was conscious, he likely won’t lift a finger to help Aquarius.
Sabelle turns toward Caden. “He also looked in on Lucan.”
Caden nods grimly. “I spoke with Conrad before he left.”
“Then he told you that we should try moving him to his own home? That he might improve with exposure to familiar surroundings?”
“Yes. I’ll prepare his room over the next day or two. Anka put up quite a fight, and some of the rooms are still in shambles. Once it’s ready, I’ll move him.”
Sabelle nods. “I’ll help, especially if it will improve his condition.”
“I can lend a hand, too,” I offer.
“No,” Caden bites out. “But thank you.”
His immediate, adamant refusal stings. Can everyone at this table see my heart breaking?
Caden leans closer and murmurs, “I don’t want to involve you anymore. Let me protect you.”
Is he trying to keep me safe or is that a lie to soften the blow? What danger could there be in cleaning up a house? None. He simply doesn’t want me there.
Was the tenderness he once showed me manufactured by the Doomsday Diary? After all, it grants wishes, and I fantasized about him on the page. What we shared was more than sex—for me, anyway. Now that the spell is gone, so it appears is his caring.
In some ways, I wish I never laid eyes on that book. But had I not, Caden would never have let down his mammoth self-control and become my lover.
He has a lot on his plate, true. But deep down, he doesn’t want me for more than a shag, it seems. I have no one to blame but myself.
Rather than dwelling on my screw-up, I should focus on my story. Once this ordeal is over, I’ll release it. With great copy and proof of magickind’s existence, I’ll be a journalistic sensation.
But right now, my old life seems a million miles away. I push my plate aside.
“Anyone seen Shock?” Hurstgrove ventures, more to change the subject than anything else, I suspect. The man disappeared late last night, and I haven’t seen him since.
“I tried to reach him earlier to coordinate some last-minute plans for our—” Bram glances my way, then purses his lips together. “He didn’t answer.”
Whatever Bram was about to say will remain a secret. I understand why he doesn’t trust me, but I would never write a word for Out of this Realm when doing so would endanger magickind. I made that clear when I’d called Holly.
But they have no reason to trust me.
A series of trills and gongs sounds. Bram sits up straight, listening intently. As the last note fades away, he rises, looking bemused, and stalks from the room.