Axell gave him a wicked smile that made Dan blush a little brighter than he wanted, but all Axell said was, “You like me, though.”
And Dan couldn’t help but smile and reply, “Ja.”
20Maggie
Maggie was walking through the castle when someone called out her name in a way that was overly familiar. “Maggie!”
She turned to see Monahan and Axell. She felt a strange sense of panic at seeing them after the hob’s elusive comments to her earlier.Are they “the maker and the singer”? She was working on a plan to figure out what the hob wanted her to do, but she wasn’t ready to break all the rules just yet. If she was going to try to outwit the chief witch and his cronies, she wasn’t going to be all willy-nilly about it.
Life seemed to come at her faster than she wanted now that she was a witch, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. She knew that listening to the hob she met was her plan, that figuring out what she’d forgotten was the plan, but beyond “escaped and was returned to Crenshaw” her mental gaps were pretty vast.
I rescued my son. I negotiated for his safety.
I was already sleeping with Sondre, so our relationship is not exactly a bad fate.
I was only ordered to stay away from Ellie… not them.
And they clearly know me.
Axell wasn’t approaching her like she was a stranger to him. Monahan was hanging back. He was the cautious one. Axell was impetuous and bold; it made her like him. Monahan? He was cagey, but Maggie had cracked cases with more reluctant witnesses.And Craig is safe.
This gamble is about establishing my own place here in Crenshaw.
“Come with us. I am exploring the castle. The acoustics are good in these halls. I can sing for you.” Axell closed his eyes and did just that, voice lifting in some sort of song she couldn’t translate. As he did, drums thrummed from somewhere, and other instruments—not all familiar—wound around that thudding beat.
“Why would I do that?” Maggie scanned the hall for threats.
“So we become friends,” Axell said intently. The braid against his head waved slightly as he nodded, looking exceptionally self-satisfied. “Better than magic.”
Something about the moment felt familiar, almost like déjà vu, and Maggie took a good look at them. Monahan looked nervous, refusing to meet her gaze. Axell looked like he was defiant.
“Werewe friends?”
“She remembers us!” Monahan said with a wide smile. “That’s such a rel—”
“No, she does not.” Axell leaned against the wall with one combat boot–clad foot propped on the stone wall. He looked like a model at a shoot, and she found it the most artificial thing about him. “She figured it out,ja? This is what happened, Maggie? You deduced?”
“Yes.”
“Oh.” Monahan slumped slightly. “I hoped… it doesn’t matter.” He looked over at Axell. “This is a bad idea. Do we really need to breakmorerules?”
Maggie paused. “Were you toldnotto be my friends? I wasn’t told that.”
“Well, no, but… I sorta thought we shouldn’t, considering everything that happened.” Monahan shrugged. He reminded her of a lost puppy. Where Axell oozed confidence, Monahan had the look of someone who was vaguely starved. Of affection or food or happiness, she couldn’t say, but he had an edge to him that made her think of desperation.
He’d be a good informant back in Carolina, easy to manipulate,she thought.
Why can’t he be that now?followed quickly on the heels of the first thought. She had a few questions that she thought they might be willing to answer.
“So, we were friends, but I forgot.” Maggie folded her arms over her chest and leveled a stern stare at one and then the other. “Why should I believe that? Why should Icare,for that matter?”
“You’re a scary woman,” Axell said approvingly. “Do you remember medical-magic class? I was the volunteer. Dan touched your shoulder while you were… evaluating me, and we shared much pleasure. You and me and the doctor all at once.”
“No!” Her mind rejected what he just referenced. In her memory, that was someone else, but she knew that Axell’s words were true. Shehadbeen there, and that awkward memory was her own experience.
Why wasthatmemory erased?
She frowned, thinking about Sondre.Was he jealous?She wasn’t harboring any rage over whatever thing she’d been forced to forget, but this? This had nothing to do with her missing memories of escape.
