“My hand slipped on that part. That’s the pommel, the quillon, the ricasso.” I pointed to each. “I don’t have to tell you that’s the pointy end.”
Maggie turned the page, then turned it again. “Did you draw this with a stick?”
“I have trained in the arts as one of the many aspects of my title. That is an authentic representation of the Calix.”
“Oh yeah. It’s great. Really great. I can tell you tried really hard.”
She stopped just short of sarcasm. Is that how she treated me after I saved her from being squashed like a pancake?
Anger loosened my tongue. “How are things with Evie?”
Her jaw hardened to the point of cracking a tooth. “I don’t even understand all the ins and outs of what happened with Evie, so you certainly know nothing about us. Do you even have siblings?”
That surprised me. Somehow Maggie didn’t see the link between what happened with her sister’s ex andhow her witch’s cup filled–why she craved physical connection. When the urge was upon her to fill her magic, not even I would be strong enough to resist the call. Then I remembered her training was probably cut short… by me. Therefore, it was my responsibility to teach Maggie how to survive in this magical world. She was a sitting target without access to her power. If I wasn't going to mate her, at least I wasn’t heartless enough to leave her helpless in a world full of monsters.
“I don’t need siblings to know more about it than you do. When you’re on that mat, trying to burn out the fever. It doesn’t bring you peace, does it? Sometimes you catch a glimpse of your magic’s potential, but it dies too quickly.”
Her involuntary jerk backward made me flinch. She looked at me in horror, as if I had just exposed one of her deepest secrets. My Nightmare knew, the moment he tasted her, what kind of witch she was.
I held out my hand, more than willing to educate her on the fun part of what we might do together without a mate bond tangling things up.
“Let me show you your secret, Pumpkin.”
Chapter 4
Maggie
Iknocked his hand away. “I don’t trust that smirk on your face.”
He stepped back and picked up my elk leg as if it weighed nothing. It was very unfair that he was crazy strong. I thought my quickness would overcome his monster, but the sight of that bloodbath made me pause. He’d never done anything like that at the Keep.
His shrug remained infuriatingly casual for someone who had just pierced my secrets. “You can always find your way on your own.”
He meant the thicket, but he also meant the truth about my magic. I couldn’t find my way. I had tried and he knew it. Rue, the single individual who grasped my magic at all, had left this world.
I looked around the impenetrable wall of trees just waiting for me to run again. As much as I hated the Elf, hewould get me out of here or I would kill him. And now I was determined to understand what he kept in that flighty head of his. If it concerned sex, like his smile implied, I could remain crystal-clear. Enough men had suffered my indifference over the years; Noth would be no exception. I picked myself up off the ground.
“I wouldn’t let you off the hook so easily,” I said.
Sunset filtered through the trees. Who knew whether it was real, or an illusion created by the wood. Rat Face took my hand and pulled me up, and I ran straight into his chest. We tumbled together, and the forest floor tilted ass-over-tea-kettle until we stood in a moss-covered bower, vines and soft petals arching in a frame around a luxurious carpet of plants. My head certainly didn’t swim because of his heady charred-ruins musk. I swallowed the unexpected longing back down.
“Did you do this? Is this what you wanted to show me?” The display screamed romance even with the rest of the thicket dormant.
Noth shook his head no. “I don’t need parlor tricks. It’s probably trying to help.”
A trench before the bower smoked and then sparked with flame. I barked out an uncomfortable laugh. Help us what? Hook up?
“Trying a little too hard, isn’t it?” I took in Noth's bemused expression.
“You’re really not a romance girlie, are you?”
I would never admit it, but I didn’t hate the idea of allthat. I just never found anyone who meshed with my particular flavor of it. Actions always spoke louder than words for me because I wasn’t the sort of girl you “dated”. I was the girl you fucked for fun. So romance became just another part of the dance.
The clearing filled with the soft glow of fireflies.
“Okay. All right.” I spun around to leave the bower and found a wall of trees behind me.
“Well, this is perfect. We get a two for one, Pumpkin. You and the thicket apparently need the same thing.”
