Landing next to Brady on a country lane, the first thought Lucius had was how good it felt to be free to go wherever he wanted to without pain. Glancing at his mate, he saw him bent over, breathing erratically. “Brady…oh my…are you all right?”
Keeping his eyes closed, Brady nodded once, knowing speech was impossible at least until his lightheadedness subsided. Trying to get his breathing under control, he inhaled slowly and held it briefly before exhaling to a count of five. After doing it several times, his world righted itself and he could stand without any possibility of throwing up. Seeing the worry on Lucius’ face, he said, “It’s silly, actually…when I lost my magic I got dizzy translocating, even when I was just a passenger, so to speak. Then, when Oracle told me the Fates had restored my ability to translocate, I foolishly thought it wouldn’t happen anymore.”
“Maybe it’ll get better the more you do it,” Lucius said. “It did for me.”
“Lucky you,” Brady smiled at his mate. “I always feel like I’m going to lose my cookies.”
“It was more than a feeling for me,” Lucius said, grinning. “The first time Strix told me to translocate, I landed right in front of Valerian and immediately vomited all over him. He wasn’t very happy…but I was.”
Chuckling, Brady said, “Serves him right.”
Not wanting to dwell on what happened to him after that, Lucius looked around, spying the roses on the other side of the fence. Pointing at them, he asked, “Are those your girls?”
Looking at where his mate was pointing, Brady sighed in relief at how well his roses were doing. Mystia had kept her word and he saw that not one of his girls had suffered during his absence. “Yes, that one is Hilda, next to her is Matilda and over there is Gilda…”
Laughing, Lucius asked, “Do all your girls have names that rhyme?”
Ignoring the question, he pointed over to the next row. “The pale yellow one is Tilda, then next to her is Rosilda…okay…they might sound a bit alike.” Pink dotted Brady cheeks at his “secret” being so easily deciphered by his mate.
“I think it’s cute,” Lucius murmured, tugging his mate close to him.
“Yes…well…” Brady muttered, his face now deep pink. “That’s our home and there’s a kitchen garden behind it along with more of my girls.”
Staring at the bright, pink door to the ivy-covered cottage, Lucius wondered if the inside was as charming as the outside. “That’s where we’ll live? Can we go inside?”
“Yes…that is where I hope you will want to live, and no, unfortunately this is as close as we can get, for now,” Brady replied. “Mystia put the whole place under a stasis spell which keeps my flowers, especially the girls, healthy and prevents anyone…including us…from entering the property.”
Nodding absentmindedly, Lucius’ attention was drawn to the serenity of his mate’s home. It was such a far cry from what he felt at Valerian’s place in Spain—a chaotic place where it was impossible to be happy. But here, with Brady, he knew he’d find what had been taken from him so many years ago.
