Ty sat up frantically, reaching for Ena’s clothes and handing them to her. “Quick, someone’s coming,” he said to her, her eyes widening with understanding.
He was just pulling up his own pants as Turner rounded the corner, entering the chamber.
“Whoa, sorry,” he said, putting a hand in front of his eyes. “Should’ve realized you guys would be fucking naked.” He was smiling widely, the asshole. “My bad.”
Ena laughed nervously, pulling her shirt over her head and then working on the strings of her leather corset. “It’s okay, I’m almost decent.”
“What is it?” Ty asked, apprehension filling him. There was only one reason Turner would come all the way here out of the blue, and Ty dreaded it before he even spoke.
“It’s Cole,” Turner replied apologetically. “He wants to see you right away. Something about meat stores being low.”
Motherfucker.
Ty sighed. “Alright,” he said, rubbing his beard and still smelling Ena’s pussy in it. Oh well, the bastard would have to deal with him in his current state. “I’ll go straight there. Can you take Ena back to my room?”
“Sure,” Turner said.
“I’ll see you back there,” Ty said, turning to give Ena a quick kiss, before regretfully leaving her.
There’d be time to tell her later, he thought. But as he made his way towards the Great Antre, towards his uncle, anger surged in him anew. Because this was the exact reason he’d been afraid to say those three words to her.
He may be Ena’s, may be deeply in love with her above all others, but he always had another Master.
Chapter Twenty-one
Ena
Tyleftinthewee hours of the next morning. Apparently, the meat stores were getting low, and Cole had sent him and a few other mid-level daemons out on a hunting trip to harvest some game from the surrounding area. He’d explained that this was a fairly common task, and that because of hisvenator,he was often requested for these types of outings, but somehow, Ena still had a bad feeling.
The way he’d been called away had been so sudden, and she’d never admit it aloud—because she knew Turner, Steig, Lara would do their best—but she felt significantly less safe without him around. Turner had been tasked with escorting her to and from the Archives, as he did most days, but knowing that Ty wouldn’t be there at night when she slept, even for a few days, well…it concerned her.
Maybe she was just being dramatic because she missed him. After their trip to the hot springs yesterday, she’d been positively glowing. Not just from the sex, which had, admittedly, beenfucking fantastic, but also, there was this…feeling. This feeling had been growing between them for a while now, but she’d felt it more acutely than ever when she’d been laying on top of him. She had felt so calm, and content, like she was, for the very first time in her life, exactly where she was supposed to be.
And then he’d given her that ring… She reached into her pocket as she sat at her usual table in the Archives, twirling it gently between her fingers. It was absolutely the nicest thing she’d ever been given.
Witches didn’t usually give presents; the only Gifts they received were from Gaia. She knew it was a common practice among mortals on certain occasions like one’s birthday, but witches treated their belongings more communally anyway, so there was never much reason to gift someone something when they were all encouraged to share what they had.
Not to mention jewelry was rare to come by this side of the Chasm Mountains. Most of the metal that was traded was used to make more practical objects, but Ena supposed that since the daemons had such an abundance, it made sense that they could spare some for more luxury items.
But she couldn’t deny that the most special part about it was that it had been made exclusively for her by Ty’s own hands.
She fiddled with it now, thinking of the giddy, head-in-the-clouds way he’d made her feel, and how it somehow felt like so muchmorethan before.
She’d known for a while what that feeling was, but now it was undeniable. It was practically screaming at her.
And part of her wanted to tell him what was in her heart, but another part of her was so, so scared. What if she was just being naïve again? Just like she had been nine years ago. What if she gave him everything again and it didn’t work out? She had hope for their future, hope that she could have everything she wanted,but still…the thought of telling him felt like jumping off a cliff. Throwing herself into a rushing river she might drown in.
But…
That was the old Ena talking. The one who was so scared of the unknown she wouldn’t even get in the water. Now she was getting in. She had faced the unknown—time and time again—and it had led her to some wonderful things. And she didn’t want to go back.
So when Ty returned, she’d leap off that cliff with him. She’d tell him what was in her heart.
Smiling to herself, and feeling very proud of her brave decision, she began flipping through another daemonic book on runes. She’d again been fruitlessly trying to figure out the spellwords the witches had chanted during her vision of the binding spell, but there were only a few books on Wiccan magic here.
For some reason, she’d been feeling an increasing sense of urgency about it all. The last few nights, she’d been having dreams of the ritual—memories of what she’d seen and heard had woken her up in the dead of night—the witches’ chanting echoing through her mind:
Diabolus vocare
