She wanted to scream, did she? How the hell did she think I felt? “You evanesced across the feckin’ island without knowing how to get back. What was I supposed to do? Let you accidentally end up in the Forest?”
“Rían Joseph O’Clereigh. What. Did. You. Do?”
“I bound your magic.”
A dark cloud descended over her petite features.
My fingers itched to smooth the tiny wrinkles between her gathered brows. The devastation in her eyes left my heart in tatters. I’d known this would happen, that this decision would drive her away, and yet I’d done it anyway.
Her head dropped, her golden curls falling forward to curtain her face. “You know, I thought getting your heart back meant you would be in control of your own life. Instead, you’re still letting the Queen pull the strings.”
“I’m sorry.” What other choice did I have? To indulge in my own selfish desires? We both saw how that had worked out the first time.
Her shoulders stiffened. What had I expected? Forgiveness? A man like me knew better than to hope for that after making all these mistakes.
“When is our first lesson?” Aveen asked, looking not at me but through me.
“Not today, anyway. I’m far too busy.” I needed to strengthen the wards before heading to an execution in Swiftfell. “Maybe I’ll find the time tomorrow or the following day.” We’d struck our bargain and without a time constraint; technically, I could go centuries without having to lift a finger.
If I glamoured her myself and hauled her fine arse outside the wards in a day or two, she’d be mad enough for her magic to swell. Then it was only a matter of directing that magic into evanescing back to Hollowshade. She got to see her sister, and I got to put her back where she belonged. Everyone won.
“You promised to teach me!” The flush to her cheeks and rapid rise and fall of her chest made her look positively delectable. I really deserved some sort of medal for resisting Aveen in such a fiery state. She’d probably rake the skin off my back with those nails of hers. Maybe she’d punish me with her teeth.
“How about I teach you about bargains instead?” I shifted an old tome from the study that my reprobate father had slammed down in front of me when I was only a boy. “I think you’ll find chapter four positively riveting.” I tossed the book onto the bed.
“Building Better Bargains,” Aveen murmured, reading the title aloud. She flipped through the yellowed pages to chapter four. “Time constraints?” Her eyes flew to mine. “You bastard.”
I held up my hands in surrender. “You made the bargain, Aveen. I simply agreed. Once you’ve read the book cover to cover, I’ll consider discussing glamours.”
She released a frustrated groan as I turned and started for the door. Something whizzed past my head. I smiled to myself as I bent to collect the book. “Here. You dropped this.”
She yanked the covers to her chin and turned over, giving me her back.
“I’ll leave it on the nightstand so you can have a look when you’re feeling better.”
“I despise you.”
A lie never tasted as sweet. “I missed you too.” More than she would ever know.
With that, I evanesced to the kitchens, where I found Eava dragging a wooden spoon around the edges of a mixing bowl. Buns and cakes and biscuits crowded the countertop. She must have been preparing for Keelynn’s return tomorrow.
Waste of dessert if you asked me.
When Eava saw me, she set the bowl aside. “Why do ye look as if someone left an iron too long on yer favorite silk waistcoat?”
“My human is back.” And I was trying my best to bear in mind that this was not a reason for celebration.
“In the castle?” When I nodded, her face brightened. “That is brilliant news. Isn’t it?”
Brilliant news until the Queen found out.
Eava’s hands landed on her wide hips, dusting the dark material with flour. “Isn’t it?”
“You and I both know it’s not safe here.”
“Little Rían, ye cannot control this world and everyone in it.”
I didn’t want to control the whole world. Only the parts that could hurt the woman I loved.