Duke and I walked away.
“Nowyou understand how important your books are to the world?” I asked him.
Too moved to speak, he merely nodded.
“And that,” I said, glancing back at Adam, “is why I’m a Book Witch.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sadly, the high of that touching moment had worn off by the time we got back to my car.
“I know you’re disappointed, love,” Duke said, “but Medda did warn us we’d probably suffer another defeat before we figured it all out.”
“But we wasted so much time,” I said and slammed the door of the Sun Buggy closed behind me. “We drove all this way and found the only March Hare in this, the Pacific Wonderland, and it was all for nothing. I’m almost glad my mother isn’t here to see how badly I’m screwing this up.”
“Don’t say that, darling. I know you’re frustrated, but it’s not all for nothing. Like Medda said, we’re gathering puzzle pieces. And we did get engaged,” Duke reminded me as he put on his seatbelt. “Surely that counts for something.”
Because I can multitask, I was able to glare at Duke while putting on my own seatbelt.
“What was that sourpuss look for?” he asked.
“We arenotengaged,” I told him.
“I’ll ask Adam to be my best man,” he said. “Surely that lass Penny would be your maid of honor.”
“Need I remind you—and clearly I do need to remind you—that you are a fictional character who lives on a completely separate plane of existence than I do?”
“You could live with me, couldn’t you?” he asked. “In my world? Even if only part-time?”
I can’t begin to describe how tempting it was to say yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
“It’s against the rules.” I started to put my key into the ignition.
“Sod the rules, love. I need a duchess.”
Before the key went in, I stopped, looked at Duke. “The Black and Whites exist to protect the—Wait, did you say ‘duchess’?”
He grinned at me. “I did. I did say ‘duchess.’ I’ll even say it again. Duchess. You can have your own coronet. We’ll wear them around the house and nothing else.”
“Duke.”
“Listen,” he said, and the teasing in his tone had vanished. “Rainy. They’remybooks. Do you understand that? My author is gone, dead. That’s sad. It is. I would’ve liked to have met the man—”
“That might have killed him on the spot.”
“True, but still…the point is…for better or worse I know what I am now. I’m not a puppet anymore. There’s no one left to pull my strings but me. I want you in my world, Rainy. If we can’t be together out here…why can’t we be together on paper?”
“This is why fictional characters aren’t allowed free will,” I said.
“I’ll still solve my cases. Only this time, with you by my side. The Duke and Duchess of Chicago? How does that sound?”
It sounded against the rules.
It sounded very, very against the rules.
But it also sounded like something I’d read.
“I’ll think about it,” I said, which I shouldn’t have said and knew I shouldn’t have said, but I said it anyway.
