Chapter Fifteen
Blake was frustrated long before Max sought him out later. Max said, “You look surly.”
Blake grumbled, “That’s because I am.”
Max asked, “What happened? Christy hit you in the head with a board or something?”
“It feels like it.”
Max said, “You look like it.”
Blake bared his teeth at his cousin. “I don’t think I’m cut out for romance.”
Max lifted a dark eyebrow. “How long did you try? For like two minutes? Blake muttered something under his breath, and Max just grinned at him. Max said, “It’s not a magic formula; you know you don’t just pour on and—”
Blake said, “That’s what I should do.”
“Don’t even think about it,” he warned. “You know damn well love spells never work out. What’s more, you know very well they are forbidden. Are you really willing to break the law?”
Blake said, “At this point that would probably be my best chance. She completely shot me down.”
Max said, “It doesn’t sound like it went well.”
Blake glared at him. “Do you listen to me at all? I just said she shot me down.”
Max surveyed his face for a moment. “Then you need to try harder.”
“I think I’m just about done taking advice from you, thank you very much.”
“I have no idea why. I absolutely got the human girl. It seems to me like I have a lot of experience in this matter.”
Blake snorted. “There are two very different women.”
“I’m going to have to concede that point.”
Blake decided a change of subject was seriously needed. “What are we doing about these Orcs? I don’t even really know if I prepared for the number of them.”
Max’s easy-going manner shifted abruptly. He said, “For once we’re in complete agreement. Their numbers are greater than we imagined. I’d say they’ve managed to breed themselves right back to the numbers that they held near the last wars. Our numbers have decreased though. Even with the help from the humans and our magic, it’s going to be a hard fight.”
Blake knew that it wasn’t going to be just a hard fight. It was going to be a full-on war. One that they might not be able to win. His mind immediately went to Christy. He said, “I need to get her back to her own world.”
Max said, “I was just thinking the same thing.”
Blake said, “I guess you picked a really bad time to decide to go get her back.”
“Time is different over there. I was afraid I’d miss my chance if I didn’t act.”
That was exactly how Blake felt. Like it was everything running through his fingers, and there was nothing he could do to save it. He had no idea how Christy felt about him. Had she truly just come back to see Heather? It was somehow ominous is that she had shown up just when Max was considering sending Heather back into safety. It felt like everything in the world was conspiring against him and the relationship he wanted so badly.
