“Will I be able to feel the changes too, or is that only something you can do.”
“You might be able to learn with a few hundred years of practice.”
He ran his fingers up the back of her knee and she jerked away, ticklish beneath his fingers. He laughed and did the same to Victor, who apparently was not as ticklish as she.
“I have to find my friends,” she whispered. “You did something to take them from me. Something that made me forget about them.”
He ducked his chin. “I cast a spell. One that crumpled when you called your power. You should be able to remember them now.”
Shame spread through her. After two thousand years, she forgot her friends with some Fairy magic. No doubt they hated her by now. She thought of Katherine and how much it would pain her to pass her room every day. A tear trickled down the corner of her eye. “Yeah, but the question remains as to whether or not they will want me.”
Victor caressed her arm. “They are your sisters. Explain what happened, and they will forgive you.”
She nodded and climbed to her feet, shaking out the dress. As the wind whipped around her, she swayed slightly until Gwyn caught her elbow to steady her. The touch of his hand sizzled through her, and the warmth of it settled into her bones, the connection to him, and Anwyn. She couldn’t give him up. It would be some time before she forgave him, but she wouldn’t be able to leave him.
She looked down at Victor. “Can you forgive him?” She was truly curious. Victor had to stay in Anwyn no matter what. Would he able to face his once-murderer every day? Right now, he looked particularly comfortable soaking up the sun. If he could forgive Gwyn, maybe it wouldn’t be so difficult for her to as well.
Victor stretched out in the sun. “I’m alive. If he hadn’t done what he did Hel might have removed my head and even the wild hunt wouldn’t have been able to repair that.”
She considered his words. That was true. Hel had looked like she would have liked his head for a Christmas tree ornament before Gwyn stepped in.
The only thing she could do was think on it. But right now, she needed to find her friends and explain. An apology wasn’t going to cut it, but she had to try. Had to do something.
She stepped around Gwyn, but he caught her arm. She glared at his grip and he let her go before waving his hand and opening a portal in the pool nearby. She gave him a grateful look before stepping into the water and closing her eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Four
BIANCA STOOD OUTSIDE THE coffee shop. Her cell phone told her it was Monday at ten A.M., but the door was locked and nobody appeared to be inside. Where would Katherine be at ten in the morning on a Monday if not in the shop?
The click of heels caught her attention, and she considered bolting at Cloris’ approach. She stopped a few feet away and crossed her arms under her breasts. “You’re alive.”
It didn’t sound as if she were terribly happy about that fact.
“Yes, for the moment it would seem.” She smoothed her dress down, nervous around a friend she’d spent the last two thousand years with.
“Katherine is gone.”
Bianca swallowed and met Cloris’ crystalline gaze. “Where did she go? I have to talk to her, all of you, and apologize.”
“You don’t. I know what happened in the Underworld. We all do. We know Gwyn put you under a spell. And Tyr is going to have words with him if he ever gets his hands on him.”
Despite Tyr’s size, Bianca thought Gwyn might be able to match him in a fight. Tyr did everything with grace, precision, and in a gentlemanly fashion. Gwyn wasn’t afraid to employ tricks and scrap if need be. Cloris would have been one of the first to hear about the fight as she regularly escorted the dead through the gates.
Bianca waved at the dark window. “If she knew, then why did she leave?”
Cloris shrugged. “She said she needed to get away for a while. That was it. I haven’t been able to get her on the phone, and if she isn’t in mortal danger, I don’t want to disturb her privacy. And you shouldn’t either. Maybe now that she isn’t taking care of you she can do other things.”
The words stung Bianca and she forced out her thoughts between gritted teeth. “I never asked her take care of me.”
Cloris held her hands up in surrender. “I know, but she did it anyway. She took care of us all, and you leaving like you did touched something inside her I think. Maybe she will start living her own life now.”
That didn’t sound too bad to Bianca. Katherine having her own life would be a good thing. She wanted that for her friend. Although, if any man dare to hurt her, she’d take his balls as a trophy once she dismembered him.
Cloris stepped closer. “Do you want me to open it? Katherine gave me the key.”
Bianca shook her head. She didn’t feel like making coffee or being around humans, and she didn’t bring her keys because she hadn’t considered Katherine would ever leave the cafe. She wanted to curl up in bed with Victor and a book. Bianca shook herself back to Cloris.
“No, thank you.”
Cloris produced an envelope from somewhere and handed it to her. “She left this for you.”
The stationary sat crisp and clean in her hands. If she knew Katherine, and she liked to think she did, the letter inside matched the envelope and her long sloping handwriting would fill the page.
Cloris leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be in touch. Even if it means coming to Fairy to see you and kicking the shit out of your husband.”
Bianca smiled up at her. “Don’t worry. I’ll be taking care of that.”
With a wink, Cloris popped out of existence to whatever realm she traveled.
Bianca sat on the window ledge in front of the shop and cracked the heavy wax seal on the envelope. The cream paper matched the envelope perfectly and Bianca couldn’t help but smile as she opened the letter to Katherine’s words.
Dear Bianca,
I had to leave for a while. This has nothing to do with you and how everything fell out between us. Now the threat of Hel is gone, I need to regroup, de-stress, and spend some time away. I’ve travelled across an ocean, and I plan to drift along. Feel free to run the shop while I’m gone or leave the staff on a paid holiday, your choice; although, I assume they’d prefer the free money.
I hope whatever happens between you, Gwyn, and Victor can be repaired. You may be a strange bunch, but I see so much love there. I’m so happy you found someone to love. It’s time for me to do that too.
Love,
Katherine
A tear hit the paper with a tap before Bianca folded it and placed it back in the envelope. She reached out and touched the window of the shop, calling her magic, and a portal opened under her fingers. She glamoured herself out of sight and stepped through to her room in Anwyn.
Victor lay across her bed, wrapped around Gwyn whose eyes popped open when she entered. He grinned and snuggled deeper into Victor.
“What is this?” she whispered, not wanting to disturb the beautiful sight. The two men snuggled together made her stomach flip flop. Did Victor only want to be closer to Gwyn now because he was so tied to Fairy, or was he beginning to open up to other possibilities. The thought of Gwyn and Victor together made her throat dry up.
Gwyn shrugged. “I don’t know. He has been warmer to me since the hunt. I don’t mind it one bit.”
She spied Gwyn’s erection pressing into the fly of his pants and chuckled to herself. “Katherine is gone,” she said, shaking the envelope before putting it on the side table.
“Where?”
She shrugged, and he took that as an answer.
Bianca looked down at the two men who had become her family. She loved her friends dearly, but these two had entered her heart as well. Even after every awful thing Gwyn did, she would forgive him, maybe she already had. Her friends were safe, Victor was safe, there really was no reason to hold on to the grudge. Forgiveness was one thing, but trusting him again might be awhile coming.
“Scoot
,” she told him. He smiled and slid over, clutching Victor to shift him as well. She curled into his arm so she faced away from him and sighed as the weight of the world slipped off her shoulders for the first time in what felt like an eternity. Without her seal, the world opened up into an unimaginable amount of choices. She was queen of a realm and could do anything she pleased. Right now she wanted a nap.
Sleepily she nuzzled into his arm, folding it around her waist. “You do know we have a long way to go, right Gwyn?”
He nuzzled her neck and whispered in her ear, “you can start the punishment anytime you want.
Acknowledgments
THERE ARE A COUPLE of groups I need to thanks first: The Blackship Fangirls who always keep me going and are always present with something funny or inspirational. Next, The NCOW Group...without you this book would never have been written. Thanks for running Nanowrimo 2015 with me and I look forward to many more. Next, The RomCritters which is my critique group. I could never function without them.
Some specific people I need to thank are my Mother who spent many a nights watching Zoey for me. Rachel Montoney Haus for the exact same reason…so many weekend and evenings during Nano spent with my toddler.
Carma Haley Shoemaker, Valerie Schwartfigure, Nikki Shaw, Barbara Dittmer, Chris Brown, Jamie Burger, Sheila English, Jill Cochran, my main beta Christine, and my frabjus editor and cover designer Victoria Miller.
If I forgot to mention you by name or spelled your name wrong, please forgive me. I love you all so much and continue to be in awe of everything you put up with on my account .
Do you like time travel romance? Get a free copy of King Takes Queen by clicking here now!
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Acknowledgments
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