Steig went eerily silent on the other side of the door. Ena couldn’t see his face, but the silence was heavy with anger. When Steig spoke again, his tone was low and menacing.
“Are you fucking serious, Ty? This whole time, you didn’t say anything? I left Lara and the kids home alone for this. I followed you on this fool’s errand becauseyouconvinced me things could be different—better. Tell me the truth. Was that all an excuse so you could find this girl again?”
“No!” Ty answered loudly before quieting down again. “No. I promise, it wasn’t. I didn’t go looking for her on purpose. It was pure chance that she found us, and then Ididhave a good reason for taking her. I promise, we are still doing this, finding the amulet—it’s still my main goal.”
“Really? Because last I checked, we kidnapped her and burned her house down. She has every reason to hate us. Yes, we need the information she has, but you can’t trust her, Ty. What if she’s manipulating you?”
“What? No, she’s not. And besides, I haven’t told her anything.”
There was a weighted silence from Steig on the other side of the door.
“Look, I hear you,” Ty continued. “It was a mistake, and it won’t happen again. She’s going to help us get the amulet, she knows it’s not worth her effort to try and escape, and then we’ll let her go and we’ll be long gone before she tells her Coven about us. That’s still the plan.”
“It better be, Ty. Because I’m not gonna watch you get all torn up again over this girl. Need I remind you, you almost died the last time you refused to let her go? This won’t end well. For either of you.”
She heard Ty sigh again on the other side of the door. “I know,” he said. He sounded resigned and exhausted.
“Good,” Steig said, sounding annoyed but convinced, then she heard him mutter something about going to get Turner, but Ena wasn’t listening anymore.
She stood up hurriedly and started putting on the clean dress she’d been given. Now that the desire had drained from her body, she was flooded with shame.
What the fuck had she been thinking? Her sad, lust-addled brain had led her so far astray it wasn’t even funny. This was bad. It was worse than bad—it was fucking delusional. She and Ty couldn’t do this. They could not be together. She needed to get her shit together and focus on why she was here, why she had chosen to stay. She needed to find a way to get the amulet before them and take it back home to her Coven. That was her path.
Ty opened the door and came back into the room. She could tell in an instant that things had changed between them again. This was no longer Ty, the man who’d comforted her; this was Ty the daemon, who would complete his mission at all costs.
He looked her over once, taking in the fact that she was dressed, then said sternly, “Come on. Let’s head downstairs. We’ll meet with Steig and Turner over breakfast.”
He turned, and Ena followed him wordlessly out the door and down the stairs. The tension between them was palpable. Clearly, they were both having second, third,andfourth thoughts about what they’d just done. They’d gotten way too carried away, too lost in their own world, and now that Steig and Turner were back, all the reasons why they couldn’t and shouldn’t go down that path came screaming back at her.
You’re mine.
The words he’d whispered to her as he made her come ran through her head. Had he meant them? Fuck, did it even matter if he had?
They walked into the dining room to find Steig and Turner sitting at a secluded table near the fireplace. Ena and Ty sat down, and the same woman they’d met yesterday brought them some ale and a delicious-looking breakfast of eggs, sausages, and bread with apple preserves. Ena ate greedily as she listened to the three men catch up, and tried desperately not to think about the fact that she could still feel the ghost of Ty’s fingers inside her.
“We’ve been scouting out the Occidens Coven’s village and we think we found the house the witch described,” Steig explained, gesturing harshly at Ena.
They were back to this? It all seemed ridiculous at this point, and Ena was tired of it.
“My name’s Ena,” she said. “No use pretending everyone doesn’t know it anymore.”
Steig turned slowly to look at her. “Okay, fine,” he replied, giving her an untrusting look. She wondered mildly why he seemed to hate her so much. Was it just because she was a witch?
Turner, sensing the tension, interrupted with a practical question for Ty. “The issue is, we need to find a way to get into the house and look around for a while without being disturbed.We saw several witches coming and going from the house, but there’s no major gatherings coming up that will ensure everyone is occupied.”
“It might help if we had more specifics to go on,” Steig said bitterly. “Did you see anything else in your vision? Anything specific about where the amulet might be in the house?” he asked Ena.
“I already told you everything I saw,” she replied curtly. It was a lie, of course. She had a very specific idea of where the amulet was, but since it was the only advantage she had at the moment, she was keeping it.
“I could start a fire as a distraction,” Turner offered. “We could sneak in while everyone’s busy putting it out.”
“I don’t think we should alert them to our presence unless absolutely necessary. There will be too many variables to control,” Ty explained, his tone taking on the assuredness of a commander. Ena again wondered vaguely what his position was among the daemons that enabled him to command such respect, but before this debate could go on any further, an idea occurred to Ena. It was risky, but maybe for the best.
“I could help with that,” Ena said.
All three heads swiveled towards her.
“What do you mean?” Ty asked sternly.
