“Don’t choke with your mouth open, darling, it’s a sign of weakness.”
For a split second I close my mouth and wallow in the strangled sound before gasping, spewing chunks of food over the shining tabletop, and then dabbing my mouth sweetly at the corner.
“Excuse me.”
I meet her astounded gaze to find her lip curled back just slightly.
A muffled cough—or is that laughter?—comes from behind me, and I instantly know it’s Sinister.
“I was saying”—she pushes back her plate and smooths the front of her white gown—“I want your help. We can help one another. As long as we have trust.”
The faith she has shining in her gaze is locked on me.
“Do you trust me, Arlow?”
No. “Yes.”
“Unshakable trust. A partnership cannot work without unbreakable trust. Do we have that?”
Not at fucking all. “Completely.”
Another short pause of consideration passes between us. The dim lighting of the room doesn’t stop her from studying every lie I’m hiding beneath my smile.
“Good,” she whispers.
A pent-up breath slips from my lips, and she continues.
“I wondered if you’d choose your mate over me yesterday. I must admit it was a test of sorts, but devotion must be tested, don’t you agree?”
I’m not a psychopath.
Not at all in comparison.
“Of course.” I nod genuinely.
“I trust you, Arlow. I really do. And I want to remove the magic that’s binding you. I want you to practice as much as you possibly can in the next forty-eight hours. I’ll be saving my energy until then but I’d like to practice with you the way your own mother never did. Starting tonight.”
The passive-aggressive is really preening now.
I don’t immediately notice that I’ve been nodding my head illogically since she started talking about trust several minutes ago.
I stop abruptly.
“That sounds like a perfect plan.”
She’s full-on beaming but she has absolutely no idea what I have planned for her. I have to buy us time. I need backup. Quite honestly, I need my fucking mommy. And any other mage who’s willing to help me. So, I’ll stall for as long as I can.
Ellise picked the wrong mage.
I’m an incident waiting to happen.
* * *
The ancient stone of the castle floor trembles beneath our feet. Ellise’s eyes grow wide with an alert gaze that hasn’t stopped sweeping since we started this practice run over an hour ago. The magic in my fingertips builds like I haven’t felt since I stepped foot inside this kingdom. She unleashed me, and right about now I bet she’s wishing she hadn’t.
Then…a very pronouncedbockcalls through the room. Just one at first. A single rooster yelling out for help before thousands follow after it. The feathered creatures land on their feet but quickly fall over, scuttling around and finding their footing but ultimately stumbling onto their sides all over again in a mass destruction of chaotic rooster madness.
The entire room is a disarray of frantic clucking and ruffling feathers. Bird shit starts to litter the stone floor left and right, and I see the calm in Ellise just fucking combusting right before my eyes.
