“When I arrived at the place I now live, it was a dilapidated hovel in the woods.”
Maybe unkind, when it had been free and secret and safe, but it wasn’t far from the truth.
Biting her lip, she reached her hand out and into the ether. This was easy to show him because there wasn’t a Sorcerit in all of the Evesong that couldn’t manipulate its strange hidden places to some degree.
And it cost almost nothing.
“A few weeks in, I heard rumors of a nasty injury in a nearby village. The male in question turned out to be a right arsehole.”
She closed her eyes and tried to remember where she’d set that book down. Sometimes goingthroughinstead of just accessing a pocket within took a little longer.
“Unfortunately for him, I’d overheard a conversation with his equally disgusting companions, bragging about how they’d cleared a copse of luminescent trees in order to sell the lumber to other realms in secret. Highly illegal, as I’m sure you know.”
In her mind, she saw herself walking through her cottage, glancing at every crowded surface. Into her bedroom and?—
Ah! There, on the dresser.
“So, I took it.”
Light flashed as she pulled back, the book in her palm.
“It was slightly complicated because I had to grab each piece of hewn wood and drag them through individually, which took ages, but it was worth it to keep it in Nachthelliae. As the laws require.”
“Yes, I’m sure it was all about adhering to realm law.” Brand chuckled as he slipped the presented tome out of her fingers. “And you built your home with that?”
“I didn’t technically build anything in the end. For the next year, my price for healing was construction. I merely provided direction on what I would like and gave them the materials to do so.”
And then made them forget they’d ever been there.
“Remarkable.”
There was a sparkle in his look, an approval, that washed over her. She welcomed the swell of pride that came with telling a true story and garnering such a reaction from him.
Do not go and get any ideas. You still have to go back to that home after this, with no one the wiser.
Remembering the way everyone had looked at her earlier, Lunara was nauseatingly certain that particular cat might be well out of its bag.
“The Wolflord Who Ravished Her.”He raised a questioning brow, his lips pinched between his teeth, and a giggle bubbled up out of her.
“Well who doesn’t like bodice-ripping and swooning?”
She watched the apple in his throat bob as he swallowed. “Who, indeed.”
“Besides, I had to find a way to experience the other realms somehow.”
“Yes, and what better way than this. Let’s see…” He thumbed through the pages before stopping and cracking the spine open.“‘Axanderus shifted, his drenched fur sinking into wet, golden skin right before my eyes. Still dripping, he flexed his hard, rippling muscles, stalking stealthily towards me as I fingered my moist—’”He practically choked on the last word before turning a panicked look toward her.
They stared into each other’s eyes for a split second before they both burst into uncontrollable laughter.
“I didn’t say it was good!” she squealed, wrapping her arms around her stomach. For once, the soreness there had nothing to do with using power she didn’t have.
It was freer than she’d ever seen him. Not that a couple of days was much to go on.
She wasn’t sure when Solyrian had finally dipped below the horizon, making way for the moons to hover in the sparkling night sky, but Lunara let some of their light in to bolster her. Just a drop to ease the clenching in her gut.
Blame it on the twilight and cocooning shadows. They made her brave. Reckless. Made her want more than giggles and sad stories that only reminded her how damned alone she was.
Except she wasn’t. Not tonight, at least.
