Now that he’s released me, I whirl and hurry into the house, straight to his bedroom. I tug off my borrowed swim gear and throw on my clothes from yesterday before quickly attaching the jeweled cuffs to my wrists again. I grab my phone off the bedside table. There are a couple of missed calls from my mom and a message asking where I am. I don’t have the energy or emotional strength to deal with her right now. It’s taking everything I have to keep my shit together at the moment. When I turn, I find Nox leaning against the door, watching me.
“Talk to me, Colbie,” he begs.
“What do you want me to say, Nox?” I say flatly. “Do you want me to tell you that I am the very last person who wanted this? That the thought of it makes me feel sick to my stomach? That I am the worst person for the job? That I secretly want to run away and pretend it never happened? That I wish I could wear the cuffs for the rest of my life and pretend the marks aren’t there or find someone to tattoo over them so I can forget about them?” I’m shouting at the end of my tirade, and tears spill down my cheeks.
He pushes off the doorframe and hurries toward me, gathering me into his arms and holding me tightly. I sink into his embrace as he murmurs words of reassurance, but they are empty promises. There is nothing I can do to stop this runaway train. I’ve spent enough time hiding. When I leave here today, I will return to the neutral zone, get my affairs in order, and then present myself to the shifters. There’s no more avoiding it, the goddess made sure I knew that.
He leads me out into the living room and helps me onto the couch. Nox pulls a blanket over me and hurries around the kitchen, doing something. I watch, kind of in an emotional daze. He removed his wet suit and is only wearing a pair of boxer briefs, so all his golden skin is on display, but even that’s not enough to get me out of the funk I’m sinking into.
When he returns, he has coffee as well as the plates of pie we didn’t get to last night. He hands me one and puts my coffee on the table in front of the sofa before returning to grab his own. When he joins me on the couch, we are both silent as we eat our pie, but then he clears his throat.
“For what it’s worth, I think you’re going to be an amazing queen. I know we haven’t known each other very long, but I can tell you’re a good person with a kind heart, and I think that needs to be the core makeup of someone who is chosen to be ruler. I don’t think you will let the power and status go to your head like some have in the past, and I’m sure the shifters will be proud to have you as their queen.”
I scoff and continue to eat my apple pie. It’s pretty good. “Easy for you to say. I’m sure you’ve never disappointed anyone in your life.” I wave my empty spoon.
He frowns, pausing with his spoon halfway to his mouth. “Oh, I can assure you, I disappoint plenty—my parents, my friends, the people of my village, just to name a few.”
We sink into silence, a pity party for two in the making. “You know that any shifters you come across are going to know who you are, right? The magic in those marks will call to them, and it will get stronger the longer you leave it.”
My mouth drops open, and I gape at him in shock. “How do you know that?”
“It’s my business to know about magic. They may mistake it for magic in the cuffs, but eventually, they won’t be able to ignore it.”
I groan and slump down on the couch. “One of my employees is a shifter,” I admit to him. “I was hoping for another day or two at least to get my grandparents situated and up to speed in my bakery before I had to present myself to the palace.”
This gets his attention, and he whips around to face me. “You’re going to do it?”
“Well, like you said, I don’t have a lot of choices, and I may have gotten a visit from Aramis just before I ended up on your porch,” I admit sheepishly, and it’s his turn to gape at me with shock. I can’t stop the little giggle that bubbles up out of my chest at his stunned expression.
“The goddess Aramis visited you? That’s unheard of.” He sounds awed.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure she knew I was thinking of bailing and wanted to let me know there was no escaping this.”
“That’s slightly terrifying,” he remarks before shoveling another bite of pie into his mouth.
“You have no Idea,” I agree as I lean forward to grab my coffee, washing down the last of my pie with it.
The silence is loaded, and I feel like squirming, but I hold my shit together. Suddenly, Nox jumps to his feet and starts pacing back and forth before stopping and looking down at me.
“Will you let me help you?” he asks, and I feel my eyebrows jump in surprise.
“What can you do?” I ask skeptically. “I can’t hide out here forever, no matter how much I would like to.”
He spins and hurries across the room and into his office, talking loudly. “You know how I do security and web design, but I also have an interest in everything supernatural? Well, sometimes on my research trips, I come across items of interest.”
I frown, kind of lost with where he’s going with this. “You’ve lost me,” I call, but all of a sudden, he shouts, “Ha!”
When he returns, he’s carrying a corded pendant much like the one he has around his neck—even the stones are the same gold and black—and he thrusts it toward me.
“I picked this up on a trip to the witch kingdom. This should hide the magic in those marks from any shifter you come incontact with at least for another couple of days, long enough for you to do what you need to do with your bakery.”
I stare at him, feeling confused and hopeful all at the same time. I reach out and take the offered necklace. The weight of the pendant is surprising. I hold it up to the light, and the stones shimmer. I narrow my eyes, looking from it to the one around his neck. He sees my gaze and shrugs, unconcerned.
“I liked the stones. There’s nothing magical about me whatsoever, but there was something that made me buy them.” He looks out the window like he’s lost in his thoughts for a moment before returning his attention to me. “Take it. I hope it gives you a small reprieve before your life dramatically changes.”
I sigh and place it over my head, and my eyes widen with surprise as the marks shimmer and fade from view. “It works,” I exclaim, and he nods, looking pleased.
“That’s great.”
