Tiddly Jinx (24 page)

WHEN JESSICA WALKED IN we bombarded her. She accepted the hugs and words of encouragement stoically, which wasn’t unusual for her, but she looked tired, fragile, and there was still something a little off about her. Of course she’d just spent 24 hours in a damp, windowless dungeon that I knew from my own experiences had rats—big ones—so who could blame her.

She cracked her neck and massaged the muscles in her shoulders with both hands. “So where are we with the binding spell?”

“I think Gram has it worked out. We need to do a practice cast on another book to make sure it works, but otherwise I think we’re good.”

“Let’s do it,” Jessica said.

Together we bound a completely innocent book about the great brownie invasion of 1485 that probably hadn’t been cracked opened since…well, 1485.

“Try it,” Katrina said, nudging the book toward me.

I picked it up and opened it, but every word and picture was gone from the inside. I flipped through the pages to make sure, but nothing was there. I smiled and tossed the book back to the center of the room. “It worked.”

Devin picked up the book and looked through it. “I can’t believe it. Not that I didn’t have complete faith in you, Kat, but wow. This was a very specific spell. You’re really growing as a witch.”

“So we’re ready?” Leslie asked.

“Not quite,” Jessica said. “Who’s helping Frost and who’s casting the spell? We won’t be able to set all of this up like this tomorrow. I mean, Frost has to be able to use the book, and once we know her spell works then we need to cast on the book. So we have to split up. It will be tricky. Is there a way to quickly break the spell if we’re wrong on the timing? Like, what if it’s the wrong spell?”

All smiles disappeared as we stared down at the harmless book. It looked like our work was just starting.

Several hours later we finally had everything sorted out. Jessica would help Frost—though none of us were happy about it, she insisted she at least knew what to expect and it wasn’t dangerous because she wasn’t actually going to be reading from the book. I would be on the side with the elves (Cheney, Sy, and Sebastian), but I would use my telekinesis to move the book to the center of the circle between Grandma, Katrina, Leslie, and Devin to be bound as soon as their spell had worked, then I would focus on making sure we retrieved the Pole. We practiced every scenario, even the ridiculous ones. By the time I headed up to bed, I felt prepared and ready for whatever could be thrown at us tonight.

Cheney wasn’t in the bedroom, so I turned around and went to search for him. I found him sitting in front of the fireplace in his office. He looked worried and tired, but it all vanished from his face when he glanced up at me.

“How’d it go?” he asked. “How’s Jessica doing?”

“Surprisingly well on both accounts. I think we’re as prepared as we can be for tonight, and Jessica fell right back into planning and helping like nothing ever happened.”

He scratched his jaw. “So she seems fine to you?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t she be?”

He sighed. “I spoke with Alanna. She’s in a cell that’s a little bit away from where we put Jessica. She…she indicated that we shouldn’t trust her.”

I scoffed. “I think we have a pot-and-kettle situation here. Alanna is hardly the most trustworthy person. She’s probably just trying to make trouble.”

“I had the same thought….” He looked back at the fire. “But we
are
depending heavily on all the pieces falling into place just so, and there isn’t really room for error.”

“Jessica is fine. But even if she isn’t, what exactly do you think she could do to hinder us?”

“She could take the Pole or the book just as easy as Frost.”

“She isn’t doing anything with the book tomorrow. She’s assisting Frost on casting and we have a plan to bind the book before they finish their spell. It will be safe for me to give it to her, then once she sees it’s empty we will take it back and destroy it.”

“What about the Pole?”

“That’s our job. I’ll be with you, Sy, Sebastian, and Corbin. Our main goal will be to get the Pole from whoever has it. The coven and Grandma will take care of the book. Hopefully, Frost can find a spell that will immobilize it for long enough for us to take it. Once we have it in our possession, it shouldn’t be hard to put everything back.” I bit my lower lip. “But we might need a little luck…”

He looked back at me, blinking those golden eyes a couple times. “It’s too dangerous to bring Lily into it. And not just for her. Her luck isn’t free. One lucky event can be followed by disaster in all other things.”

I stood up and mentally counted to ten. “I am doing the best I can here. Honestly, Cheney, you need to work with me on this. First you tell me we have to kill Frost and when I get on board with that, you treat me like I’m a monster for agreeing to what you already agreed to. I get Corbin on board to help and you don’t want to trust him. I prove Jessica didn’t willingly kill anyone and you still want me to punish her when all she has ever done is help us. And now you won’t involve your ‘sister’ who you have only known for like, two seconds, whereas I have everyone I have ever known and loved putting their lives on the line. How is any of this fair?”

“I’m not the one who brought the Pole back,” he snapped.

“Oh, so this is my fault? You’re punishing me? I see. Tell me, would you rather that I had just stayed dead?”

The tension between us broke when my phone rang. Cheney let out a breath, his fingers combing restlessly through his hair.

“That’s not what I’m saying. You’re putting words in my mouth.”

I answered the phone. “What?”

“I need to see you,” Corbin said.

“Where?”

“My house. It’s almost sunrise.”

“Okay.” I hung up, promptly turning on my heel and walking out. Seething anger still coursed through me. Why was Cheney making this so hard? I was trying to make things right, but I couldn’t do it alone. Outside of the castle, I transported to Corbin’s house. He let me in before I could even knock. He was wearing a slight, knowing smile that I wasn’t in the mood for playing at the corners of his mouth.

“What did the elf do to cause this face?” he asked tilting my chin up.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, my voice barely a whisper as I met Corbin’s dark eyes. The fleeting thought that my life would be so much easier with him crossed my mind. The old, familiar, alarming yet comforting urge to run away from all my responsibilities beckoned and caressed my mind, urging me to accept it. I didn’t have to do any of this. The Pole wasn’t really my problem. Corbin and I could leave and everyone else could sort it out.

His eyes came to life as if he felt the shift in my thoughts. I shifted my gaze to his unmoving chest in front of me. So still, so cold—I could feel the chill of his skin though we weren’t touching. My heart thudded in my ears and my mind warred with itself until finally one side won out over the other. I took a step back from him, bumping into the closed door. “What did you need?” I asked with a stronger voice.

The intent, hungry expression on his face didn’t change. “I guess that depends on you.”

I frowned at him. “Corbin, why did you call?”

“Ah. So that’s how you want this to go?” He took a step forward, closing the gap between us. “Shall I persuade you?”

I shook my head.

“You can’t always get what you want, pet.” He braced one arm on the door then leaned down, his cold lips grazing mine.

I turned my head away. “Stop.”

“Why?” he asked, the vibration of his voice in my ear making goosebumps pop up all over my body.

“I love Cheney.” I forced myself to look at his sinfully alluring face. “I won’t leave him.”

“But you want to. You might be good at faking it, love, but I can feel what you try to hide. I know your deepest, darkest desires even if you refuse to see them.” He brushed a finger over my pulse, his eyes half closing. “Your frustration, your anger, your guilt, and even your jealousy when you saw me with Frost. I know it all. I just don’t know why you resist. You should never be tied down—” A smile eased across his face. “Unless that’s what you’re into.”

I shook my head until my voice worked again. “I don’t want to leave him.”

Corbin’s lips grazed my jaw. “Are you really so certain?”

The ever-so-slight pull of him drawing on my soul made my insides tighten, and I shoved him back with my mind. “I’m positive. If you didn’t need anything, I’m going home. I’m tired.”

He gave a vague surrendering gesture and sauntered over to his chair concealed in shadows. “I have decided on my price.”

“Okay.”

“My price is you don’t marry the elf.”

A mixture of relief and panic seized me. “What? No. You can’t ask that.”

“I can, and I am. Our connection suits me at the moment. Later, if I choose, I may allow you to marry him and break your connection with me, but for now, I want to keep it.”

“But—I—No.” I moved into the room. “You don’t even know if the marriage will break our connection.”

He steepled his hands and drummed his fingers against one another, a red-jeweled ring I hadn’t noticed before catching the dim light. “It’s not a risk I’m willing to take. You said anything you are able to give. You have all the power to give me this consideration. I’m not asking for your love or for you to leave the elf. I’m simply asking that you do not marry him.”

“Corbin—”

“Don’t forget, you came to me. You need me, pet. Not the other way around. This is what I want or I will kill the necromancer now and any other witch you try to use so you will have no one for your spell except yourself. I promise you, I am a much better friend than enemy.”

My mind raced for a moment. Cold calmness slowly crept in along the edges of panic and soothed the tension. “So am I. What’s to keep me from killing you right now?” I released my magic, cracking the floor in a perfect line from me to the center of his chair, making a blackened window shatter to reveal the pink and yellow sky of the sunrise.

He winked, unfazed. “I’m willing to take my chances.” He stood up and yawned, expertly avoiding the light as he retreated deeper into the house. “Think about my offer, Selene,” his voice drifted back to me. “I expect your answer by tonight.”

“Are you running away again, Selene?” Cheney came from my right. His back was against a large pillar and his hands were half in his pockets as he watched me.

“I’m tired.” I was done talking to him, to Corbin, to anyone who wanted to force me to submit to their will.

“Don’t do this again. Don’t walk away. If we are going to be together for the next couple thousand years, and I fully intend for us to be, we’re going to have fights. There are going to be times you hate me. You can’t run away every time things get hard.”

“I didn’t run away. Something came up.” I couldn’t look him in the eye. “What are we doing here, Cheney?” Maybe we were clinging to something that was never going to work out. Maybe it would be best for everyone if we stopped fighting and just admitted it.

“We’re having an argument. These things happen.” He didn’t move toward me. He stayed in his casual position against the pillar, watching me like I was deer that would bolt any minute. “What did Corbin need?” he finally asked.

The center of my forehead began to ache from stress, exhaustion, and general worry. “Just to update me.”

Cheney nodded, then let out a sigh. “I might have been unreasonable. I don’t like any of this. Every move we have made is because someone’s forcing our hand. It’s my instinct to resist that.”

I couldn’t fault him for it—it was probably a good instinct. The fact that my back had been against a wall since I returned was allowing one problem to bleed into another and another and another. It had to stop before the problem became too large to handle. I lifted my hands and shrugged, eyes filling with tears. There was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t slow things down and I couldn’t make the people we needed to help us do so willingly. The only way I could assure everything was our decision and ours alone was if I fell on my own sword.

“Lily’s going to come tonight. She was mad I wanted to leave her out to begin with.”

I closed my eyes. I didn’t want her to come anymore. I couldn’t take one more burden placed on me. After all this, if she died, I knew that we couldn’t survive it.

“You were right. This is my mess and you shouldn’t involve yourself or your sister in it. I’m sorry I had a meltdown.”

He pushed off the polished stone with one foot and came toward me with his graceful and lethal gait. “What happened?” His fingers curled around my shoulders, worry settling over his face.

“Nothing happened. I just—nothing. Nothing happened. That’s just how I feel.”

“That’s how you feel?” He raised an eyebrow.

I nodded, my throat tightening and tears threatening to spill over under his scrutiny. “It’s best this way.” My voice broke, and the first tears dribbled down my cheeks.

He pulled me into his arms. My head rested on his chest where I could hear his heartbeat and feel his warmth as my tears soaked into his shirt. All the worry and stress eased, and I could feel myself backing away from the edge I was about to jump over. Cheney was my home. I always saw things more clearly with him. His hand ran down my hair and traced the line of my spine.