“He’s at Kitty’s.” Swallowing, I kept my voice steady. “As a ‘paying customer,’” I quoted with my fingers, repeating Warwick’s pointed statement.
“Faszszopó!”Dickhead. Ash hit his leg, bolting up, anger clenching his jaw. “He is such an idiot.”
“He can do what he wants.”
Ash gave me the same leveled look again. “Don’t give me that... you two... everyone alive, hell even the dead, can feel it. You guys are?—”
“We have a link,” I inserted. “Doesn’t mean we have to be together. We don’t even really like each other.”
“Please.” He let out a laugh, cutting sharply in the quiet room, his head shaking. “What bullshit. Warwick knows it too—that’s why he’s being an asshole. He doesn’t handle emotions well. I mean, at all. Believe me, I’ve known him a long time. How he is with you?—”
“It doesn’t matter,” I cut him off again, the feelings I was trying to stifle fizzing back up. “I’m not here to talk about him.” I tugged at the ends of Opie’s handiwork, brushing the braids over my shoulder. “I need to go into the book again.”
Ash folded his arms, his shoulders moving with a heavy exhale. “You sure?”
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
“I don’t know. The book is different with you. It worries me.”
“You never had a problem or concern with it before.”
“I didn’t really pay attention until the last time with Tad. It didn’t lethim in, Brex. I thought it was strange when it kept me out, but he is one of, if not the most, powerful Druid alive. If anything, the book should be bowing to him. It is made by his kin.” His forehead wrinkled. “But it’s like it’s obsessed with you... drawn to you.”
“If I hear that fucking word again.” My lids shut briefly, growling under my breath. “I don’t have another option.” A flare of anger prickled at my spine. “I have no leads on the nectar, except for some pirate stealing it, which Killian says is a dead end. I need to see for myself what the book knows. It has to be in there, right?”
“Not necessarily. The books will show you what truly happened, not someone’s version of it, which doesn’t mean every single moment was recorded if there was no contact with it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just like your history, ours is recorded through people. They don’t follow inanimate objects if they aren’t in contact with people.”
“Someone had to take it. Worth a try. I only have a month and nothing to go on.” I licked my lips. “I have to try... for Eliza and Simon.”
Ash’s head bobbed, lips pinched together, a sadness flickering his expression. “Yeah,” he replied with a heavy sigh, reaching over, picking up the bag on the floor next to him. “Lead the way.”
It was hard to locate a room that was free of people or not jammed with weapons and supplies, which is why Ash and I found ourselves sitting on the floor in one of the only private rooms available, crammed with potatoes, wilting vegetables, stale bread, and canned items. Pulling out the book, Ash set it between us. I instantly felt the vibrations buzz at my skin, the magic curling around me. It felt as if the book and I had known each other far longer than I had even existed.
Ash watched me closely.
“Stop looking at me like that.” I sensed a seesaw teetering in my stomach, the balance of magic tipping toward me.
Lines dented into his forehead. “I’ve never seen a book act this way toward a person before. It’s like you are its master or something.”
“I thought these books weren’t owned by anyone.”
“No.” He wavered. “Books are available to anyone if they deem you worthy. But at one time, centuries ago, the first ones, the original fae books, were gifted to a fae king from his Druid servant. Other fae kings heard about it, and all wanted one. There were originally ten, which were technically owned by each noble family. The book was crafted for the family, to be passed down through the generations, staying in the magic line.”
“Magic line?”
“Each family, no matter how many generations, has a signature magic characteristic to them.”
“You think this is one of those books?” I motioned to the ancient volume.
“I doubt it.” He scratched his head. “Those volumes are said to have been destroyed or lost a long time ago. This book is one of the oldest I’ve come across, but I couldn’t imagine it being an original. If it survived, it would stay within the family.” Ash’s mossy green eyes met mine, his sexual aura always humming at the edges. “It seems to be draw?—”
“Don’t you dare say it.” I held up my hand. “I will hurt you if I hear that word again.”
His lip curled up on the side of his mouth. “Don’t tell me you are upset people are draw—attractedto you.”
