18
DISCOVERY
On Diana’s list of things currently irritating her, the dog was at the top.It was locked up somewhere nearby, and it had been barking and howling all morning.Its pitiful wailing reminded her of Merlin.And she could not escape.No leaving the house now that Temple knew her secret.He seemed more worried than she about someone finding out.
Quite endearing.
Quite infuriating.
She could use a glamour after all.
But until the last few days she’d had no real desire to leave.She felt safe in Temple’s terrace.It was a narrow little house composed entirely of straight lines and right angles, but each room held an abundance of books.And at least one surface for Temple to toss her on or against and make her body sing.Between her husband and her intellectual explorations, there’d been no need to leave.How cozy they were—Temple worked in the forge, and she took notes in the study.They popped in on one another and exchanged little kisses, tiny touches, until one of them broke and demanded more.
And the bedroom of course.
Sometimes she thought Temple could not be real.He must be a dream she’d wake from.A single smile from him could make her forget all her fears.In this little house she did not worry about being discovered, did not worry about a future that seemed so very constricted.When he kissed her, she could approach the question of how to rid herself of her talent as if it were an intellectual puzzle rather than an immediate need.
“I’ve found a fairy.”
Diana looked up, her heart thumping.“Temple, you scared me.”
“Are you summoning the god of literacy?”He stepped into the circle of books she’d made around her on the floor and sat next to her.“Am I safe entering the fairy ring?”
“Do so at your own peril.”
He kissed her cheek.“You look perplexed, frustrated, irritated.”
“Have you swallowed a thesaurus, Temple?”He kissed her cheek again.“Do you know, when I met you, you were rather growly.What happened to that man?”
“He swallowed a bit of love potion.”Said while nuzzling her neck.“Thank Juno.”
She shrugged him away.She wished she’d never bought that love potion.He didn’t seem to mind.Teased her about it, but a little voice had wedged itself inside her mind, and it said one thing only:All of this isfake,nothing more than a glamour created by a bit of love elixir.
He shifted away from her enough to look into her face.When she turned her chin to her shoulder, he nudged it back around.“Diana, something’s wrong.”
“It is only that I’ve never heard that phrase before—thank Juno.Like you’re thanking God.”
“Ah.In a way, she is sacred to alchemists.The mother of Vulcan.But that’s not what’s wrong.Tell me.”
Nothing for it but to meet his gaze.Gray eyes, worried, gentle.
“It’s that dog,” she lied.Only partly a lie.“It’s been barking all morning.I cannot concentrate, and… it reminds me of Merlin.”
“Merlin?”
“My grandfather’s dog.Apollo’s dog now.Not that Apollo cares.I worry about him.He must miss me.He was the most adorable thing.Fluffy fur you could sink your fingers into.Apollo never liked him that much.And dislikes him now because he cannot glamour away the dog hair on his clothes.Also…” She sighed, looking at the chaos of books spread out around them.“I find myself a bit bored.”
“Bored?Have I failed to entertain you?”
“Yes.”
“Sometimes honesty is not desirable,” he grumbled.
“Oh!Oh no.”She leaned against him, kissed his shoulder.“I did not mean itthatway.Oh dear, your face has gone mottled.Calm down, Temple.”
“I am calm.And apparently boring.”
“Not at all!You yourself are highly entertaining.It is only remaining here day after day that is tedious.At the potion shop, I had work to do, new things to learn.And before that, before my grandfather died, I acted as his nurse.That was a particularly time-consuming job.He was something of an amateur scholar, and I helped him with his papers when he lacked the strength to write.I read to him when his eyes were too weak to do so for himself.He did not trust our footmen with messages for his colleagues, so he would send me instead.I have walked from one end of London to the next, I dare say.”
