“Yes, I’m sure the St. Regis is a hotbed for attempted sorceress kidnappings, especially this time of year.”
He pressed his back against the opposite wall without acknowledging me. His eyes seemed to gloss over as he locked his attention on me. I watched him until the door clicked shut, and I was on the opposite side.
As soon as I was sure Callum wouldn’t let himself in, I set off in search of my phone.
I was sure Liam had put my bags down in the sitting room, but I couldn’t find them in there or in the second bedroom. After swallowing a panic attack, I ran to the main bedroom and found my clothes hanging in the closet and my bags lined up on the floor beneath them.
“Who…” I stopped dead in my tracks as I discovered a stunning emerald-green satin ball gown spread out on the bed with a delicate red-and-green tartan sash beside it.
I ran my fingers over the smooth satin, almost swallowing my tongue when a woman cleared her throat behind me. I whirled around, nearly giving myself whiplash. I didn’t recognize the slender redhead in front of me, but I knew from her tartan sash that she must have been part of the clan.
“Hello, Miss Ivie.” She held out her hand to me with a smile, and I blinked at it. “I’m Nora, your dresser.”
“My dresser?” I scrutinized the woman from top to bottom. She couldn’t have been much older than me. She was about my height and weight, though she didn’t have my ample chest. We could have been sisters.
“Your…” She shifted her turquoise eyes toward the ceiling, as if trying to pull the words out of the air. “Attendant. Yes, that’s what you might call me.”
“Attendant.” I’d officially become a parrot. But Nora beamed as understanding dawned on me. “You mean, you’re here to help me get dressed?”
“Yes, miss.”
“You’re a…” I almost said “witch” but bit back the word for fear of her reaction. I let the question hang there, hoping she’d finish it for me.
“A sorceress?”
“Yes!” I let out the breath I’d been holding. “A sorceress. Are you?” I managed a few more words this time, but still, she must have thought I’d lost my ability to speak.
Nora chuckled as she smoothed the wrinkles from the dress where I’d touched it. “No, miss. My father is a sorcerer, but my mother…”
“So your mom’s a muggle, like mine?”
Nora tilted her head and looked at me sideways. “A muggle, miss? I’m not sure I understand.”
Maybe Liam was right when he said I read too much Harry Potter. “So even though your father’s a sorcerer, you don’t…?”
“Have the gift? No. It’s extremely rare, actually. Mortals muddy the gene pool, I’m afraid. You’re a rare jewel indeed.”
“So you’re a-a servant then?”
Nora whipped her head toward me with fire in her unusual eyes. “I am not! I volunteered for the job. My mother’s Marion’s hairdresser, and, well… it’s quite an honor to be part of a binding ceremony, especially this one. Not everyone was given the privilege. I had to request special permission to miss my classes to come here.”
“You’re in school?”
Her anger dissipated, and she smiled. “University. I’m studying to be a teacher.”
“I’m a teacher… well, I was a teacher. I really miss it.” I slumped down on the bed, careful not to mess up the dress.
“You look exhausted, miss. Would you care to take a short nap? I can hang the dress—”
“No. Thank you, but I need to find out where my parents are. They didn’t show up for dinner. And to be perfectly honest, I’m much too nervous to sleep. Until a few days ago, I had no idea about any of this.” I waved my arm around the room.
“I understand. It is a lot to take in.” Nora stepped over to the bedside table and opened the drawer. As if she could read my mind, she handed me my phone. “Believe me, I’d be nervous in your place, but you should at least grab a quick catnap. You’ll be needing your strength for later. ”
A bubble of nervous laughter climbed up my throat. “Will I be expected to do a lot of heavy lifting?” Images of me carrying Liam over the threshold ran through my brain like a slide show.
“I suppose that depends on your point of view.” She blushed crimson.
“Huh?”
“Well…” Nora tugged her lower lip between her teeth. “I wouldn’t imagine you’d engage in any acrobatics for your first time.”
“My first time?” I was back to repeating her every word.
She let out a frustrated groan. “You Americans don’t say much, do ya? I’m talking about consummating the union. After the binding ceremony?” When I didn’t comment, she went on. “The clan has to witness your consummation.”
“What?” I shot up from the bed, clipping the lamp with my elbow and knocking it to the floor.
Nora winced and clutched her hands together in front of her as if praying. “I’m sorry. I assumed you knew.”
“The whole clan?” My entire body went up in flames, but Nora seemed oblivious to my horror. All I could think of was Liam alluding to that very thing when we’d spoken earlier. No wonder he’d turned several shades of red when I didn’t understand what he was trying to say. Redbeard’s comments suddenly made perfect—yet horrific—sense.
“Well, the leaders…” Nora glanced at me, shrinking back as if I might attack her. “And of course, the parents.”
“Oh, no!” I paced in front of the bed, exchanging glances between the dress and Nora. “I’m not having sex in front of my father!”
“It’s traditional!” Nora pleaded with me as if I’d stripped her of her belief in Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy in one sweeping proclamation. “The clan leaders have to be certain the deed has been done, so to speak. It’s quite the production. Afterward, they take the bloodied sheets and burn them over a ceremonial fire.”
Burning bloody sheets? I had to find a way out of this. I would absolutely not be part of a pornographic display for a bunch of strangers, Marion, and my parents.
“I’d rather get on my knees for a goat than have sex in front of my family and Liam’s mother.”
Nora coughed to keep from choking. “I-I don’t think we brought any goats. I could go ask if ya like.”
“No! Please don’t ask. I need to be alone.”
“Would ya like me to draw a bath for you?”
“Just please go. I-I just need some time to think.” Or plot. There had to be another way out of that hotel without going past Callum.
“All righty, then.” Nora shrugged as if this was all commonplace. And maybe it was in her world. It sure as hell wasn’t in mine. “I’ll be back in an hour to dress you.”
The instant I heard the suite door close with a quiet snick, I hit the autodial for my mother.
“Hello?”
“Mom! Where are you?” My voice got progressively more frantic and high pitched. “You and Dad were supposed to be here for dinner, but you never showed up, and now I’m freaking the hell out because these crazy people expect me to not only marry a man I barely know, but to have sex with him in front of the clan leaders!” I left off the part of about my parents being present. The situation was bad enough.
“Is that you, Ivie?” I immediately recognized her bored tone.
“Don’t you dare pretend you don’t know it’s me. My patience is hanging by a red-and-green tartan thread at this moment.” I plopped down on the bed, this time not giving a single thought to the stupid dress or whether it got wrinkled.
“I’m sorry, dear. Your father wasn’t feeling well, so we decided to sit dinner out.” She didn’t sound sorry. Not at all.
“He wasn’t feeling well? Are you kidding me?” If I could have pulled her through the phone, I would have. Better yet, if Liam had taken th
e time to teach me to disapparate—and the hotel wasn’t on magic lockdown—I would’ve been standing in my parents’ living room, throttling her within an inch of her life. “Do you have any idea what’s going on here? I feel like I’ve been sold to a white slavery ring in order to get Dad out of trouble with the government.”
“Oh, no. It isn’t like that at all. This is all a big misunderstanding that goes back long before I even met your father.”
“Big surprise!” I’d already heard enough to know this was all on Dad. “What I’d like to know is, why isn’t he here fixing things instead of leaving me to fend for myself?”
Mom dropped her voice to a whisper. “He is. He’s working on something right now. That’s why we weren’t there. Ivie, I can’t talk right now, but I promise, we’ll be there before the ceremony.”
“You’d better be. Because—”
The line went dead.
Before my phone had had a chance to cool off, I tapped out a text to Chloe, bringing her up to speed. My phone rang almost immediately.
“They can’t make you have sex in front of your parents!” She sounded as scandalized as I felt. “That’s just sick. And I know for a fact they can’t make you marry Liam. I looked it up. Forced marriages are illegal, even in Scotland. You have to find a way to escape.”
I climbed into the glass shower to make sure Callum wouldn’t overhear our conversation. “I can’t escape. Jack’s life is at stake here.”
“I also know for a fact Jack would rather die than let you go through with this.”
“Did you tell him?” The question came out in a shrill squeal.
“Of course I didn’t tell him.” She cleared her throat. “I told Jon, and Jon told him.”
“Chloe!” As much as I couldn’t tell him myself, part of me was relieved Jack finally knew the truth.
“You can get mad at me later. Right now, we need to figure out how to get you out of there.”
“Well, good luck with that. There’s a guy outside my door who looks like an extra from Braveheart, and I have an attendant in the other room waiting to dress me.” Even if I could get past Nora, I’d never get by Callum.
“Listen, if we could outsmart that scary guy with the gun in Vegas, we can slip past some dude in a kilt.”
“No. It’s hopeless. In a few hours, I’ll be married to Liam and trying to explain to the elders why they won’t have any bloody sheets to burn.”
Chloe laughed. “That’s so gross.”
“I know, right? What’s wrong with these people?”
“After seeing the things your dad’s been up to lately, I’m beginning to think it’s something in the sorcerer gene.”
“Don’t remind me.” I heard pounding from the next room. “I’ve gotta go. Someone’s at the door.”
“Okay, go get the door, but don’t lose faith. We’ll figure out a way to get you out of this, Sabrina.”
I only wished she could.
The pounding got louder the closer I got to the door. “Hang on. I’m coming.” No sooner had I grabbed the handle than it flew open, nearly knocking me off my feet.
“Ah, there you are, lass. I thought maybe you’d somehow managed to sneak by me.” Callum stood like a linebacker in the doorway, blocking my view of the hall.
I coughed over a laugh. “Right, because you’d ever let that happen.”
“No.” He smiled without showing his teeth. “I wouldn’t.”
“Are you going to let me in?” My mom’s voice came from directly behind Callum.
“Mom?” I gave my bodyguard the “what-the-hell” face, and he stepped aside with a chuckle.
My mother squeezed past him, nudging me back from the door, then closed it in his face. “Finally. I thought he’d never let me in.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Make up your mind, Ivie.” Mom rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “You either want me here, or you don’t want me here.”
With a whimper, I pulled her into a hug. “I do. I want you here.”
“I’m not sure you will after I say what I came here to tell you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have a confession to make, and I’m afraid you’ll hate your father when I’m done. And believe me, that’s the last thing I want to happen.”
“Mom?” My stomach did a full rotation. The lamb chops I’d eaten for dinner threatened to make a reappearance.
She dropped her purse and walked over to the sofa and sat then got back up, wringing her hands together until they were red and splotchy.
My pulse kicked up a notch. “You’re really scaring me.”
“I swear to you I had no idea about any of this, not until after you changed your father back.”
“Just tell me what’s going on. Please.” I sat on the sofa and patted the spot beside me until she nodded and joined me.
“I never told you any of this because I didn’t want to worry you, but when he first changed back, he had nightmares. He went on and on, ranting about some promise he’d made. I had no idea what he meant by it. I mean, honestly, it could have been anything. I never expected it to be…” She got up and paced. “Things only got worse when Liam arrived. It took me a while, but I put two and two together and realized whatever promise your father had been talking about involved Liam.
“About a week ago, after we’d gotten another letter from Scotland, he finally admitted what he’d done. I wanted to tell you then. Guilt had all but eaten me up—to think some of this is actually my fault in an indirect way—but he’d already set everything in motion. There was nothing I could do to stop it.
“Ivie, I’m so sorry. I wish I could fix this for you. I wish I’d known when you were younger, or at the very least, before your magic presented itself. I would have warned you. Your betrothal to Liam should have never been allowed to happen.”
“Rose.” My father stood in the doorway with his mouth agape. “You’ve said quite enough!”
“Daddy?” I stared, openmouthed, at my father as he panted to catch his breath. He looked as though he’d run the whole way there.
“Rose, you shouldn’t have—” Dad eyed Callum, who stood off to the side, still very much in the room.
“Shouldn’t have what?” Mom jumped up from the sofa. “Told our daughter the truth? Don’t you think she deserves to know?”
My father turned to Callum. “Would you excuse us?”
Callum shot me a glance, and when I nodded, he let himself out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Once my bodyguard had gone, Dad turned to Mom with a sigh. “No, I mean, you should have waited for me. It should be me telling her the truth, not you.” He waved us toward the sitting area again and waited while Mom and I took our places on the sofa before sitting in the chair opposite us. “I was a lad of thirteen when I first met Marion Kincaid.”
Chapter 21
“There was a time when you could’ve searched for miles around without finding anyone as lovely as Marion Kincaid. She had fire—so full of life—you couldn’t help wanting to be around her. And I was no different from anyone else in that regard. She played as hard as the boys, but not a single girl could hold a candle to her. Marion flirted with everyone. It didn’t matter who they were. But no matter how much she flirted, she’d been promised to me.” Dad wore a huge grin as old memories seemed to overtake him. I had the urge to stick my fingers in my ears and chant “la, la, la” until he finished talking, but if my mother could sit ramrod straight beside me without a single wince or groan at anything he said, I could stick it out too. Still, listening to my dad talk about another woman with such obvious affection threw me off balance. It would break my heart to hear Jack talk about a past love that way. I could only imagine how my mother felt.
“Our clans wer
en’t close,” he continued. “But a match between them had been brokered over many generations. Ours was the first to produce viable heirs. Luckily for us, Marion and I developed a quick bond. I would have done anything for her, and she felt the same. For five years, nothing came between us.
“After my father’s unexpected death, we were forced to delay our binding ceremony. Naturally, as his only son, all of his responsibilities fell on me. I spent more time out of the country than in it, but Marion’s dedication never wavered. She helped my mum run the family holdings without once complaining. She would have waited for me forever; I have no doubt.
“I’d just completed university and started a new position when I met your mother. I’d gone to London on business, and there she was at the local pub with a group of friends.”
“What was Mom doing in London?”
Dad threw a wink at Mom. “Studying at Oxford for her semester abroad.”
I whipped my head around and gaped at my mother. I’d had no idea she’d studied at Oxford.
“Close your mouth, dear.” Mom smirked. “You’ll catch flies.”
Dad laughed, but the besotted look he gave Mom soothed some of the anger I’d felt toward him and filled me with hope. “I had to believe fate had brought us together. I knew instantly Rose was the woman I was meant to spend my life with. Don’t get me wrong. It wasn’t easy by any stretch, but despite the obstacles in our path, we wasted no time working toward that goal. I made arrangements to leave the country in secret, and we eloped without telling a soul.”
“Wait…” I slid toward him until I sat on the edge of my seat. “You didn’t tell Marion?” Why I felt sorry for her, I had no idea. But maybe I understood her just a little better.
“No, I told no one. I should have been man enough to tell her in person, and believe me, the guilt still keeps me up at night. As you can imagine, she didn’t take it well.” He winced.
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